“The Road to Better World War Matchmaking” aka Sandbagging!

[TimTrain]

Hello Leaders,


After some investigation into Alliance composition, Attack and Defensive ratings, and our Glory system; we have determined that there is an imbalance in how matches are made, and we have scoped out some strategies to fix them. We want to thank the community for their insight into this issue, as it was extremely helpful is making sure that we address all of the major points.

A fix like this has the potential for a variety of pitfalls, so we intend to take our time making incremental fixes to ensure that the changes we make don’t disrupt normal gameplay. For example, any change we make to ensure better matches could mean longer wait times to find a new war. We want to encourage diverse alliances, not punish them in matchmaking, and we don’t want to upset the game balance by making too many changes at once.

Stay tuned for updates on this issue. We plan to make the first of many adjustments over the next few months. We appreciate your continued support and dedication to helping us make DomiNations great!

 

[Vixen]

Yay - finally a response... I am happy you recognize there are issues but you bought in glory overnight so maybe "over next few months" could be sped up to undo the damage it did. I am happy something is being done though. Thank you for listening.

 

[GailWho]

First step is admitting there's a problem... Right?

Thank you so much for your response to our pleas! It concerns me that the FIRST of many changes to fix this problem will be happening in the Next few months... When will the fix finally be complete then? Several months or years? I suppose we'll just have to deal with it. At least now we know. As this has offered us the strange feeling of combined excitement to the prospect that you are listening and the supreme disappointment of the timeframe, please continue to keep us informed, no matter how grumpy the following posts get. Thanks again.

 

[Sletteer1987]

Again Thank you for addressing this issue. There are many great alliances out there that are doing the right thing and are not trying to manipulate the system but they are getting taken down by these Sandbag alliances. I am one of the leaders of The Borg Family and The Borg 2.0 has just been matched up with their first major sandbag alliance. We are doing our best but our well rounded allilance with great players are even having difficulties against a strong Global and IA team who padded the bottom 15 with Iron Age players

 

[Riyad604]

Thanks for acknowledging that there's a problem. My alliance Vancity is with Sletteer1987 and the other alliances that refuse to use the sandbagging tactic to win. Please resolve the issue sooner, rather than later.

 

[Sletteer1987]

I saw that you all lost your spot on the boards and was sad to see that. It is nice to see other teams doing it the right way!

 

[Canuck]

Thanks Sletteer, VanCity had 3 stacker alliances in a row so we dropped way down in the standings. Got a nice non-stacker natch up this time around so hope to get back on the winning ways.

 

[Wendy]

Thank you so much, Bhg!!!!!! We were losing interest, happy to read this!

 

[Wendy]

VanCity has been the first alliance that defeated us a long time ago before glory came out, without stacking...respect

 

[Europeos]

What about stalemates?

 

[glorfindel]

AKA Sandbagging

????? Are you serious

Do you not realize sandbagging is a symptom and not the main issue?

The main issue is the imbalance between offense and defense ---> STALEMATES EVERYWHERE ---> We need to do something to get some glory ---> Sandbagging

 

[Green Master]

Some alliances will always know how to maximize the system to get glory or whatever.
And some guys always find a reason why they lost, and they find it somewhere else - that's easier than looking at themselves.


It is a big difference if you face a alliance with 15 global /IA and 15 irons, or a alliance with a mix-up of Global, IA, EA down to classical/irons.

 

[Hugh Jazz]

????? Are you serious

Do you not realize sandbagging is a symptom and not the main issue?

The main issue is the imbalance between offense and defense ---> STALEMATES EVERYWHERE ---> We need to do something to get some glory ---> Sandbagging

That is false. Some alliances may use the sandbagging strategy to fix their stalemate problem but it was adopted by other groups just to fix their suckability. In fact there is at least one alliance that has been using this strategy for nearly their whole war career and it had nothing to do with stalemates. Nexon even gave the posers an interview on facebook which gave it traction.

Im not saying that stalemates are not a problem but that isnt the driving factor behind sandbagging. Stalemates are an easy fix if the glory is given out the same way as the loot. Roughly half the winnings. But that wouldnt be good enough because then there would be another outcry that it isnt enough. It will be impossible to please everyone but nexon is making strides to stop the bullying and for that i am content?

 

[Hugh Jazz]

What about integrity

 

[Max_imus]

That is false. Some alliances may use the sandbagging strategy to fix their stalemate problem but it was adopted by other groups just to fix their suckability. In fact there is at least one alliance that has been using this strategy for nearly their whole war career and it had nothing to do with stalemates. Nexon even gave the posers an interview on facebook which gave it traction.

Im not saying that stalemates are not a problem but that isnt the driving factor behind sandbagging. Stalemates are an easy fix if the glory is given out the same way as the loot. Roughly half the winnings. But that wouldnt be good enough because then there would be another outcry that it isnt enough. It will be impossible to please everyone but nexon is making strides to stop the bullying and for that i am content?

Its not an easy fix at all Hugh. The problem behind stalemates is OP offense in comparison with defense. And we are not talking here about rushed offensive globals with IA defense. The problem is that its so easy to five star even a maxed defense base, which is a farce imo. 5 stars should be something done few times during war on such a base, not on every base (if its against the same age offense).
I dont like sandbagging in order to avoid this either, but OTOH Nexon should do something with game balance - stalemates. Its not about glory (for me) but I really dont want to be a part of an great alliance and be Punished for that by having more than 80% wars (potentially great battles) ending in stalemates.

And this Tim's post is the exact reaction I expected from Nexon. They will solve matchmaking and sandbagging but not game balance, which is the main problem for top alliances. I know we are talking here about the top alliances with lot of maxed defenses (maybe 5-10 alliances, but it will be more with time!), but amongst those are the biggest crown spenders. So Nexon should care about game balancing. Maybe not to solve it right now, but consider it that when realising Atomic age. We need more mortars or tank depots, or whatever else. Not additional 100 tactics, 200 army space and half an hour to get a QV for god sake. The offense is just too much OP, and thats what causing the kind stalemates I am talking about.

Altough I agree that sandbagging is a priority no.1, ( because all those "top alliances" who are in the top like laughable QG,Dankness,UA etc ruin the game for us) but balacing game with intention of reducing top teams stalemates should be no.2.

 

[Brand Marrow]

Nb4powerup Thnx, good to hear that a fix is in the works. I, for one, will no longer post on this issue as it's clear that a solution will have to be tested extensively as u indicated over a few months and that developers will be weighing a lot of factors that us forum goers don't have access to or don't prioritize (like $, which obviously must be a priority for Nexon as it is not a charitable institution). I am sure that both stalemates and sandbagging are being considered. Good luck! Hope to see these changes soon.

 

[Europeos]

What's the connection between asking for stalemates to be addressed and integrity? Or maybe you only care about problems that affect you...

 

[S_How]

This is true for the top 10-20 alliances or so, but to the rest of the population sandbagging is THE problem.

However, I completely agree with you that stalemates absolutely must be fixed along with sandbagging

 

[S_How]

I have the same feeling as a few others that posted in the thread. I am glad it is being looked at. But this is only a statement that just acknowledges a problem, something most your player base have known forever. And the followup of "stay tuned we will start in the next few months" is actually a bit discouraging. No substance about the number one issue that has been plastered all over your forums for 2 months. Anyhow, wish there was something more concrete.

By the way, if you cannot fix stalemates at the same time as sandbagging, you will actually make glory even worse than it currently is for your top advancement alliances. Please do both at the same time.

 

[Vixen]

Where is the like button on replies HJ