Thoughts on No Destructometer in MEBC.

[mrsnevilledevil]

ditto. I’m happy it’s back!

[Nik]

I reckon it’s a shame they brought it back. It was better imo when it didn’t take as long and brought in the element of skill. Was also good to see the top 100 wasn’t dominated by pay to play cheats.

[Thanos]

[Thanos]

Cheaters or hackers

[Thanos]

[Thanos]

today MEBC

[Thanos]

Today MEBC

[Thanos]

[mrsnevilledevil]

I just don’t understand how these players are getting these scores… are they hackers?

[hogbeater]

Yes they are obviously hackers, @mrsnevilledevil

Last week I made a mistake because I posted that the destructometer fills up based on your base score and the amount of destruction caused, not on your FP. Since then I have discovered that it is also based on your FP. This therefore makes the current destructometer very unfair – those with higher FPs have more cards than those with lower. My main objection to getting rid of the destructometer was because I was getting about 15 bootcamp coins less after each round – which would work out to be about 700 less in the season. On the flip side I was getting about 10 points more each round, so I would have ended up with a higher frame and therefore more coins as a reward (but that would not have offset the amount I was losing).

Rovio should have introduced the change at the start of the season, and waited till the end of the season before deciding what to do. However, IMO, the best and most fair thing to do would be to change how the destructometer fills so that it depends only on base score and destruction, so that lower FP players are not disadvantaged.

[Thanos]

[Thanos]

<p style=”text-align: center;”></p>

[Thanos]

[Thanos]

• 

[Buster]

I can’t agree that earned firepower shouldn’t count in MEBC rounds. If you have played a long time and accumulated a high level of achievement, it should have a payoff. Skill level should mean something.

But I do mean “earned” firepower. Not cheating or hacking the system. The examples provided above suggest something is very wrong.

[AggieGuy]

Anytime you see someone with low FP, but extremely high scores, it is an obvious cheater.

Unfortunately, online games have had to deal with cheaters since they’ve existed.

[Thanos]

[Thanos]

[Thanos]

[Thanos]

[hogbeater]

@douglas

Those with higher FP do get higher scores than those with lower ones in any case. Someone with FP 1400 will get a score approximately 10 times more than someone with FP 140, assuming the same shots/damage is done each time. I think it’s unfair that the person with the higher FP gets considerably more cards also.

 

As for the hackers/cheats, there are several types:

Those who hack their actual score and have low SR/FP but end up first on the leaderboard – very easy to spot

Those who hack just the feathers and have SR 20 and FP 1600. They have probably played MEBC legitimately, but again they are easy to spot

Those who hack the Star Rank to a ridiculous level. There was someone called Helen Frost on the leaderboard yesterday with SR 3107. Impossible. Easy to spot

Those who have hacked SR to somewhere between 150-300 and hacked their FP to max, and consistently get good scores on the leaderboard (which they probably play legitimately). These people are impossible to spot and are therefore the worst cheats. I know this is true because I personally knew 2 people who did just this, and were in the top 40 of the leaderboard every day. They don’t play anymore as they got bored.

 

[Buster]

I’ve never managed to figure out how the star ranking affects anything. Just bragging rights?

[hogbeater]

@douglas: SR doesn’t affect anything. However, it makes it easier for us to spot hackers so we can report them to Rovio. Up until a few months ago, it was very easy to hack your star rank. But Rovio have now patched that, so only the best hackers can now hack the star rank.

 

I get the feeling that the only hackers Rovio bans are the ones that get reported to them, so I advise everyone to watch for any inconsistencies in the MEBC leaderboard, or the Arena or your clan, and report suspected hacker to Rovio, eg. a sudden rise in star rank or one or two birds going up several levels overnight. There is also a facebook group dedictated to that purpose. I think that’s why you can’t opt out of the Arena. Even if you don’t log into it for a long time, you will still be seen on there by others.

[Thanos]

3107 star rank

[Thanos]

star rank 139 Amethyst arena