Frustrating/conspiracy theories/ranting

[TestUser23]

I’m not a “conspiracy” type person by nature, but something’s afoot here. I don’t use power ups, which is probably part of the larger problem. It is so evident that scoring is arbitrary. Toil in a league long enough? Ok, we’ll throw you a bone. Get high scores by skill alone? Time to have you throttled back. It’s so messed up I can’t believe I’m still playing. I could buy power ups with all of my accumulated coin, but that’s not in the spirit of things, is it? I know it’s in Rovio’s best interest to make money, but I refuse to be *forced* into the power up game. The only ROVIO game I’ve spent money on is Star Wars, which is semi-worth it. My solution? Two levels every week – scores for clean players (with advancement in the clean league), and those that feel the need to cheat.

Topic

[PurpleMoon]

1) There are rare occasions that no power-ups are required to be in the top 3 of a panel. Rare but i have done it. Usually (not always), power-ups are needed to be in the top 3 of tourament play in a single panel. Also to be in the top 3 overall of your group of 40 , power-ups in all or most of the panels will be required (at least for gold and above)
2) I have played online games since they were first developed and wrote games before online existed back in the late 1970’s. ALL games that have “purchase to help play” are designed to get you to pay real money. Some will let you play for a very long time until you reach a level where to gain more almost REQUIRES you to purchase. Thats how they are designed, deal with it.
3) Cheaters exist, always have, always will. Rovio does watch for them, i proved it myself, when i ended up “invisible” only to be declared “ok” because they had set the max to low for a panel’s maximum possible score. Invisible is when you go over a max possible score value for a panel, they make you invisible to other players (total players go down from 40 to 39 if 1 is set to invisible). If they determine your score is ok, you are reset to visible again, if NOT possible, then ??????? (i dont know but you wont get a + score for sure)
4) Forced? Well, you need to rethink life in general as to what is important and what isnt.
5) Keep smiling , life is only what you make of it.

[Zack Voyager]

@tis4fun Well, there is no obligation with PUs, but sometimes even with the luckiest one-birder game in thee world, you’ll be 10th. Only in this case, buy power-ups. Tip : buy 20 Wingmen, 20 King Slings and 20 Power Potions. When one or two levels do have a really tough leaderboard, just destroy the level with an FLW, which is the acronym for “Fully Loaded Wingman” and consists in activating Wingman + Power Potion + Wingman. It should bring you in the top 5. However, it’s possible to be #1 in general leaderboard without being #1 in any of the 6 levels !

[angindnix]

I feel the same way. Power Ups are useless. Especially Wingman alone. Have combined all 3 as mentioned and it waddles like a lame duck. I am pretty skilled. Follow Walkthroughs, without getting any higher score. Just as I am getting ready to quit I tell myself “it is what it is. A GAME”

[Alan Thorpe]

Do you think when your Angry Birds program puts the brakes on my game play that it could make it a little more realistic, I mean come on when the red bird wont make it through 3 pieces of wood it doesn’t even make me want to spend anymore money on this game and I have spent some I admit and I know thats the whole object of your game but still you are not winning my business over here with things like this but I will see how it goes for a little while longer but I am tempted to find another game to spend my money on.

[Makin Bakin]

There are many AB games that do not require in-app purchases (power ups). AB Friends is not one of them. Furthermore, on Nest, power ups ARE allowed only on ABF and maybe one other game. I’ll have to check with @sal9 or @amslimfordy on this, however. I could be wrong.

Many of us PU users have spent hundreds of dollars on PUs before we realized that we can earn free power ups daily simply by befriending each other on Facebook and gifting regularly to each other. The more FB friends you have, the more bird coins and misc. power ups you’ll receive–free! Fully legit by Rovio. For example, I have one FB friend who is also a Nester and avid ABF player. She won’t disclose exactly how many PUs or bird coins she has in reserve, but last time she shared with me (over four months ago), her PUs were about 22k each with several million bird coins in reserve! All free, simply because she exchanges gifts with hundreds of other FB friends daily. You can do the same, if you want. Fully legit.

In the meantime, there are many Nesters who prefer to play “non-PU.” @terribletom is one of them. Tom posts excellent non-PU strategies regularly on ABF-Nest. Check out his posts each week as well as those video walk-throughs by Sal9 or Amslimfordy. Most importantly, have a good time and enjoy! The fun for me is NOT how well I score but the social interaction with fellow Nesters just like you!

–MB :)

[sasilik]

PU’s or no PU’s, there is no way to achieve any competition spirit when there is no way to get same score on different platforms and even on same platform but with different screen resolution. How do you compete with other guy when game behaves and even looks different on PC and Android and iOS? Sometimes I really curse Rovio when I play on PC and send bird flying and it just hits some invisible point on screen which is seen if you play on Android. And I curse them also when last bird is sent flying and game just ends when pieces are falling or bird is still bouncing around. And I gave up cursing when I play on PC and birds behave totally differently when I play on Android. I just accept the fact. And I gave up on competition quite a while ago and just playing for myself.

[BeeGuy]

I bounce back and forth from top 3 to sometimes dead last the next week, then back to the top, and this has been happening consistently for months now. It’s a bit spooky but I don’t have time for conspiracy theories so I just roll with it. I’m convinced there’s some manipulation by Rovio but it’s likely just clever application of learning theory a la BF Skinner cuz damn if I’m not jones’n to try again after a dismal week. Just remember, it’s only a game, and a free one at that, so no need to lose sleep lol.

[TestUser23]

I’m replying to my own post. I’ve pretty much had it with AB Friends. It’s utter bullshit. I got to 9pts away from Diamond league without using any power ups. Basically, I went from silver to practically diamond by winning a tournament, even though I toiled just getting there. Now, I’m poised to go back to silver, because apparently, I haven’t “paid my dues”, even though I got this far without cheating and lining Rovio’s pockets. After a certain point, it’s impossible to increase my scores. The decks are stacked. I’ve spent plenty of money on Star Wars,(where I’m only competing against myself for higher scores, as I don’t post scores), but will not do so on ABF, because of the unfair, uneven playing ground. I know it’s all supposed to be for fun, but it’s not fun if playing skills are not rewarded. So, all you players that need PU’s to win? Have at it.

[Christine]

Ditto tis4fun. I was on the verge of breaking into diamond leave, and now I am dropped to “eligible for silver.” Playing daily I used to get into the top 10 with some effort; occasionally I came in the top three. Now I can’t break out of the 30s, and my reward is to get points deducted. At least I used to be able to count on 200 coins a week for winning the “friends” portion, now that is gone too? If I keep playing daily I suppose eventually I’ll be in the negative in coins. Thanks ABF

[TestUser23]

I hear you, loud and clear. After this week’s tournament, I think I’ll stop playing. Negative reinforcement, which is what Rovio is using, does not make for happy, nor more, players.

[BeeGuy]

I have actually won leagues up to gold level using nothing more than free Wingman as a PU. And without fail the next week I end up in the bottom, often demoted back to silver. Then I usually rock all the way back to the top. So it’s clear Rovio is manipulating the game likely in the hope that I will be so desperate to win I will piss away my money on PUs to get back on top. When I don’t take the bait they let me win fair and square after tanking and the cycle begins anew. So I’d have to say I’m happy half the time and not losing any sleep over this since the game is free. If you’re spending money on PUs you’re a chump playing into their hands cuz that’s what they want. Don’t give them that satisfaction. I actually enjoy those weeks where I’m dead last cuz I know I stiffed them.

[TestUser23]

Yup. I got within 9 pts of Diamond without using any power ups at all. I do believe Rovio is manipulating the game, and I’m not going to play their game. I only entered this week’s tourney because the underwater theme sounded interesting. However, the character’s don’t behave as they have in past underwater Rovio games.

[Jkhab69]

@sasilik , you’re right about the game behaving differently on PC. There was one level where on IOS, FLW would easily go down, bounce, and get to the top of the other side. On PC it barely made it down. I believe Rovio has rewritten the levels on PC for worse performance in order to drive people away since they dont want to support that platform.

[TestUser23]

I’ve only played on an Android phone.