Feedback: Live Event – Seekers

[Lewie4]

Last Friday (22/07/2016) the seekers competition went live. We have noticed a lot of mixed emotions towards the event and are looking to gather player feedback. As we aim to make competitions as enjoyable as possible for players, we are looking to find what players like and dislike about both the current and previous events.

Please be as descriptive and constructive as possible so we can continually improve future live events.

Thanks

Topic

[TheRedBird]

firstly,your not a known rovio staff member so whats the use?
anyways,yes the event is TOO short.I was expecting like 30 days of ABT event fun.

[jasebree]

@lewie4 For me, the main con I have is the high target amounts for the tokens. Especially for those players who have not been playing long, spending a lot of gems is not a viable option. If the targets were such that a person who started at the beginning of the comp could reach the 100 token level with only 1 or 2 recharges, that would boost moral significantly.

I love that fact that I don’t have to use my TFs for this comp. During bonus squad comps, I have to pay attention to which TFs I have on missions, or I’ll be short handed. Me personally, I love that this competition takes more skill and planning to reach high scores. One all my TFs hit level 10, the regular game play doesn’t contain much challenge.

For this comp, it would be nicer if all 3 TFs had a chance against the boss pig.

The ability to top off tokens when gems is also a nice addition and takes some of the stress out of trying to get 1st place every day. especially since there are so many prizes this time.

[AngrLee]

@lewie4 Best comp yet imho.

Likes:
– TFS for comp not in competition with regular missions
– TFS recharge after each round
– use gems to buy extra tokens

Would like:
– TFS to be able to use energonicons in comps
– spend less time on comps AND OPEN NEW AREAS AND THE COMING SOON THING

Thanks for asking.

[jasebree]

@20qmindread disconnecting from FB stops the program from syncing with the cloud. Once you reconnect, it’ll start syncing again. You’re progress should be fine.

[ph]

@lewie4

I agree with @angrlee likes. Need to allow either use of energonicons or a buddy. Leaving the new TFs basically defenseless is a huge dislike.

[Anonymous]

I like how challenging each node is, and that it’s not easy to hit the 100 token goal. Wish the amount of tokens needed to unlock the TFs was lower, but I’m not sweating it too much, since I imagine they’ll all be available again soon enough. I prefer the events where we use our own TFs and get bonuses for using TFs from the right squads, because I enjoy the challenge of having to manage my missions, but it’s also cool being able to use the TFs I haven’t won yet in this comp. not enough variety though. That’s really my main complaint about this comp. Too monotonous. But generally, I think you’re dealing with a situation where the complainers are the loudest, and those of us who are enjoying things tend not to say it without being prompted, so good on you for being proactive about it this way.

[Optimus_Pig]

@redbird-justin

FYI @lewie4 is an employee, not of Rovio, but based on the logo he uses as his profile picture, is an employee of Exient a game developer working with Rovio on the ABT game, and appears to have assumed the role here on ABN that @gradientturtle7, @arceemega, and others used to fill.

[Optimus_Pig]

@lewie4

Thank you for taking the time to solicit feedback.

Likes:

– the ability to use gems to make up the difference when you don’t have enough tokens in the token exchange. This is probably the most positive recent development.

– several events ago, we were able to choose two TFs and then swap them in the middle of a run back and forth. It was a bit of a pain to get used to, but in the end I did enjoy the tactical flexibility of choosing between different TFs to complete a run.

Dislikes:

– Not being able to reach level 100 of the Challenge without using gem recharges. Even if a player manages to run all 27 “natural” runs each game day by starting at Hour 1 and playing every hour between then and Hour 24 (severely disrupting their sleep patterns, which is a health and safety issue, IMO), it’s impossible to reach the Level 100 benchmark. At least give us some credit for enduring that for eight days straight. If a player chooses to start late or end early or skip runs in between and make up the difference with gems, that’s their choice, but there’s really no good reason to not give your most dedicated (OCD?) players a reasonable shot at reaching Level 100 without gems.

– Bringing in a random Boss Pig that’s impossible to kill. At least when we had free choice of the TFs to use, we could prepare in advance. But unless the intent is to force us to run the current event exclusively with Starscream (who can take down BP instantly with his EMP effect) then any run in which he shows up is a total write-off.

– the extreme variability of scores from one run to the next. How is it reasonable to score over 2,000 points in a run and then less than 200 in next? This is obviously random, but then the “Challenge” has nothing to do with skill and has all to do with persistence.

– not knowing in advance of the start (or at least right at the start) how many days the event will be going for, so that we can plan properly from the outset. The newsfeed message for this event didn’t show up until early on Day 3. Was this a bug? An oversight? Or deliberate?

– not knowing what accessories will be available for token purchases until we’ve unlocked the TF. Again, it’s about being able to plan and budget in advance.

[Optimus_Pig]

@poptimus

“I like how challenging each node is, and that it’s not easy to hit the 100 token goal.”

I agree that it should be challenging, but it’s moved beyond challenging and into the realm of totally unreasonable when you can complete 27 natural runs and still fall short by at least two sets of recharges of that goal.

[Pampeans]

Likes:

Competitions in general are a fun and challenging addition to gameplay.
Unlocking bots as opposed to paying cash for them.
Gems as an award during the competitions.
Unlocking accessories during the competitions.
Buddy challenges introduced strategy into the competitions.
Ability to use Energonicons during the competitions.
Comradeship in the forums during the competitions.

Dislikes:

Competitions require extremely high time commitment to be successful.
Glitches in the competitions working against player success.
Underpowered bots and accessories that undermine skill of players.
Imbalance in the level of difficulty between the competitions and the regular game.
Dramatic difference in gameplay during competitions vs. the regular game.
Competitions seem to negate the importance of regular gameplay.
Lack of variety.

Suggestions:

New achievements for completion of squads since the node values fluctuate.
New skill based achievements.
Ways to win accessories during regular gameplay.
Secret characters during regular gameplay.
Tie the building/upgrading/accessorizing of squads to success in competitions.
Secret portals that open for short periods of time (like the time a few players accidentally got into the cave) that are competition based.
Calibrate/balance the bots so that all of them have some awesomeness.
UPDATE. THE. GAME.

Thanks for asking…

[renta1964]

Totally agree with all comments by @optimuspig
It should be fun to play events, regular or competition. These competititon events are not fun to play, merely frustrating since you are forced to leave so many targets.
The 3 characters are ridiculously inefficient in the competition events, adding to the frustration.

Not specific tot his competition but for all competitions: You need to find a way to have the start and end moments of the 24 hour periods vary. For a given player, that will make them start/end sometimes at convenient, sometimes at inconvenient moments in the day. Now, Western Europe is always asleep, Australasia is always at work etc. Varying moments (which does not mean unpredictable moments!) will allow sometimes one region, sometimes another, to be available for play towards the critical end of the 24 hours. Too many times I’ve gone to bed with a comfortable lead, to find myself in 2nd/3rd place when i wake up.

Generally for the game, you need to finally sort out the many persistent bugs (FB connect, leaderboards, buddies, scores in competitions) and start implementing some sort of quality control. As long as you cannot get even simple things like the end date of the competition right the first time round, you will keep losing players.

[Mechanic Pig]

(Awaiting moderation)

[Nightcrawler]

I would like to see accessories for other tfs available during the competitions

[MillForce2k]

@lewie4 Thank you for asking us for some feedback on the competitions.

This Event:
Not much to like about this event, other than the chance to unlock new characters and the option to use gems to supplement tokens if we fall short of being able to exchange for the bot or accessories.

There’s not much to this event beyond picking a limited selection of weak bots and shooting some targets while trying to stay alive with the over abundance of flying pigs, WMTs, and falling monoliths. While it is challenging, there’s no real strategy and the repetition makes it somewhat boring.

Eight days is fine for a single event, but knowing this in the beginning and knowing if and when there will be future events would be helpful for planning for the event. Especially one like this since it’s mathematically impossible to unlock all three bots with tokens alone.

Hitting the 100 token level should take a bunch of recharges. If we complete all 27 runs in a day and hit a high number of available targets in the runs, we should be at or within one recharge of the 100 token level. Granted, we will need recharges if we want to place high on the leader board. But, if there are some crazy spenders high on the board, we should at least be able to reasonably hit the 100 token level if we don’t want to make a big board challenge.

During regular play, we earn materials and gems to upgrade our bots to higher levels and accessorize them. Having an event that leverages these upgrades is best, otherwise there is no point in earning, or in some cases buying, gems to finish an upgrade early or add accessories.

The best event format was Heatwave. Here, you have to consider each bot in a squad and choose the ones that you feel make the best pair while making sure you don’t send them off in a mission. Being able to switch between the two bots made the runs fun knowing one bot or the other is good against pigs, blocks, WMTs, or Boss Pig and switching back and forth throughout the run.

Another part of the Heatwave event that made it strategically challenging that I liked was the changing bonuses. Thinking about how many runs to do during a squad block and whether or not to use two bots from the squad or settle for half the bonus for a weak squad kept it interesting.

Suggestions:
With a wide range of players, from those that are new to those that have been playing from day 1, the leader board should be grouped based on player level as well as start time.

Especially for second chance, third chance, etc (I’m sure these will come) events for a character, have additional offerings such as different or special accessories or gems as prizes for those that have already unlocked the character.

Have a type of short event or quest where we play a certain number of progressively harder nodes where we can stop at any given node to win accessories or gems. The further we progress, the better the prize. Failing a node would cause us to start from the beginning.

[rlc]

I have never been so frustrated with a game in my life. There is a big difference between being challenging and being frustrating. Rovio needs to remind whoever designed this challenge just who their players are. Most are not hard-core gamers who relish the most difficult of challenges, they’re ordinary people with an expectation of being challenged without being overwhelmed by obstacles on every run. If regular play was like this competition I’d have deleted the game after the first ten minutes of play and I suspect that you wouldn’t have a tenth of the people who currently enjoy playing the game.

Likes:
None, nada, nothing.

Dislikes:

The TF’s are always priced too high. If anyone thinks pricing them high and making the competition so difficult that you need to buy gems to get them is going to work, there’s no way. I’m so angry at this competition that at the moment I wouldn’t consider giving Rovio a dime.

Playing with underpowered level 1 bots is no fun, that’s why we upgrade them. These bots don’t even come close to being able to defend themselves adequately.

Far too many obstacles, I’ve spent too many runs running, trying to stop in time to take a quick shot and immediately running again without being killed. (See frustrating above)

Inadequate notice of how long the competition was to run.

[Anonymous]

@lewie4 I think the event is decent.Boring colored blocks though,I think.Got Sunstorm and will try to get his accessory:Shrapfnel.I don’t think is was fair that only people with tons of gems got them.I will try to get Starscream and Skywarp in the encore event for them if there is.Also,offer accessories please next time.

Thank you and have a wonderful Summer.?

[eugene]

Likes
The ability to get multiple new characters
Be able to use gems instead of just tokens to get the characters and accessories

Dislikes
The competition in general – you can get sniped at the end regardless of how many gems you spend
Constant crashing – I have had nothing but crashing every day, many times a day, on every device I play on
Unable to reinstall on my cellphone. I uninstalled it in hopes of correcting the crashing and have been unable to reinstall because it says it is unable to connect to the internet when I am on my home wifi.
Boss Pig – Only Starscream can kill him. This competition encourages players to use specific characters each day for maximum points. Two of those characters are useless against Boss Pig. Below is a picture of a whopping score of 4 that I got going against Boss Pig. Please note my plane is in flames

The return of End of Game/End of the World glitch
I experienced this about 24 hours ago. I lost the 1210 points shown since I was forced to close the game. What makes it worse is I lost first place as a direct result of that.

[Geli]

@lewie4 Thanks for starting this thread.
I agree with much of what has been posted by @poptimus @millforce2k @optimuspig @pampeans

Likes:
Any opportunity to get new TFs and/or accessories via competition is appreciated.
Seekers event offers more than one new character.
Chosing the right buddy and the varying value of the buddy squads presented a challenge: who to dispatch on missions and for what duration, who to keep available for event use. Big thumbs up.
As noted by @pampeans the interplay on this board generated by the events.
As noted above by others, the changing bonus buddy’s to deal with different threats during an event (Heatwave also?)
Use of Energonicons during events.
Event do-overs, I.e, Windblade 2nd chance.

Dislikes
The 3 day delay in the announcement of the length of the current event.
Weak TFs in the current event. Not strong enough to destroy a WMT with numerous hits? Really?
Pace is uneven in the Seekers. Some runs are faster than others. Fast runs combined with weak TFs, swarming helopigs, multiple WMTs and falling monoliths is frustrating.
Seekers event too short to obtain all 3 characters.
Repetive runs, as in getting a number of like location runs during an event. I had the following nodes in 1 day during the Windblade event:
City, city, forest, beach, city, city, city, desert, falls, city, city, forest, beach, city, city, desert, beach. That’s 9 city runs, 2 Forest runs, 3 beach runs, 2 desert runs, 1 falls run.
In regular play and events, the blossoming/blooming/zooming in that occurs when using iOS. Current event specifics; zooming in occurs, theTF almost fills the screen, then is beset by a swarm of helopigs and not all the pigs are seen. Minute portions of Higher flying pigs are seen, if at all. Photoblast shoots at what I can only believe are balloon pigs off the top of the screen. That is confirmed when the balloon pig drops straight down.
Inability to get 2 characters that were available before I started to play the game.
Please, develop the rest of the island and the COMING SOON black hole. The current nodes are getting stale for me; I’ve been playing for only a bit more than a half-year.
No carry-over of unused tokens to the next event.

For your consideration
Ability to exchange tokens for gems at the end of the event. It happened recently.

Again, thanks for the topic.

[Marty Schofield]

I don’t understand why some levels would be designed with so many falling monoliths, hey finally some blocks to shoot – oh well need to dodge 10 monoliths and miss all the blocks!

[eugene]

One thing I would like to see: the ability to turn the coins in for accessories, characters or gems.
The game has gotten very generous with the coins to the point that I have well over 60 million coins. They are useless. You use a few hundred thousand each time you get a new character, but after that they serve no purpose.

Maybe do an offer of every million coins (or 10 million coins) = 1,000 gems. Or offer a couple of exclusive accessories for each goal of coins we reach.

It gives players somethings to strive for since the coins are worthless beyond a certian point.

[Optimus_Pig]

“One thing I would like to see: the ability to turn the coins in for accessories, characters or gems.”

Gotta say, @eugene-alex’s suggestion is an excellent one.

Coins to gems at a 10,000:1 ratio seems fair. It’s not so much as to unbalance the game, but it’s enough to keep players interested in running nodes and earning coins outside of these special events.

As it is, I probably haven’t run a regular node since late last year; there’s really no point to it after maxing out all my TFs’ levels.

[PBJ]

I don’t really have much more to add. I agree with most everything that has been said above. The seekers challenge is the least fun I’ve had playing a competition with the exception of the very first one (Halloween) which had problems with the targets being scant and hard to destroy. The under powered bots are really terrible to use and with a Boss Pig that can only be destroyed by one of the bots, makes it even more frustrating. I do like the gems for tokens option and availed my self of it to get all 3 bots.

Please add an option for rolling over tokens or exchanging for gems. Many of us will never need more coins unless the game suddenly has a new options by which to use them. I’d actually like to see accessories be available for coins. Heck, charge millions of coins for them. But coins are almost useless once you have amassed more than 20 million or so.

Most importantly, the game is overdue for some new areas to explore. I’ve suggested in past posts that there should be advanced levels that you can only use very high level bots in, e.g. level 12 or higher. That way new players can still play the lower levels until they level up their bots. The higher tier should have new achievements to complete or unlock. Also, it would be nice to get some new characters through game play instead of only through competitions.

Thanks for listening to us.

[Deszaras]

Likes:
New bots to get
Being able to try them out and having the recharged after each run.
Being able to use gems to get tokens even though the tokens are overpriced.

Dislikes:
This is the most difficult and frustrating event I’ve played.
Incredibly underpowered bots for their level.
Discrepancy in length of runs and blocks which are almost Unbreakable.
I have no problem with an event being challenging but this is intolerable and I think it’s impossible to get the daily token max without lots of gem recharges.
You might as well make us pay for them.
Missed blocks because the bots don’t transform back quick enough.

Suggestions:
Lately the bots are getting more expensive token wise and I feel the game is increasingly pushing us to spend money. If that’s what you want, be open about it instead of disguising it with tokens.
Instead of constant events for bots, open up some new areas. Adding new bots while playing the same places doesn’t change how stale the game has become.
If I didn’t like Transformers so much, I wouldn’t still be playing the game.

[CD]

Likes
Choice and chance of 3 new TF’S
Ability to buy gems with tokens
Use of buddy in previous event

Dislikes
Unbelievable gap between scores. Example, 3.5 hrs into today’s comp and the leader in my group is at 24,000. Next closest is 12,000. The rest are 8,000 and under. No way to catch up even if one spends gems to get extra nodes/runs.
Weak TF’S, 2 in this comp can’t kill much of anything
Too many flying pigs, towers, monoliths etc. No time to shoot at colored blocks without getting killed.
Don’t know how long comp is going to run at beginning of comp.
Can’t use coins for anything.
I could go on, but I’m tired of typing…

[Francis Crawford]

Generally like: That competitions are “hard mode”.

Generally dislike: Any bugs, including ad prerolls that are more than the 7 second standard.

Generally dislike (this competition is an exception): One can end a competition with lots of tokens and nothing useful to spend the on. A simple fix is to make accessories from previous competitions repeatedly available. In the extreme case, I got all the tokens I needed in Second Wind the very first day.

General no comment: “Prices” for stuff. You want to sell gems. We don’t want to buy gems. That divergence of interests is excusable.

General like (this competition is an exception): A structure leading us to use multiple TFs over the course of the day, rather than the same one all day.

General like (this competition is an exception): Using TFs we invested in improving.

Dislike to most of the “bonus squad” competitions: Wildly different rewards at different times of day, making it advisable to do all most of one’s playing in a narrow time windows. A simple fix is make all the bonuses be of the same value, even if different squads earn them in different time slots.

General dislike: Poor communication in support of planning. How long will a competition last? Which bonus squads will work at what times? Etc.