[VC] Developer Update - May 24th Challenge Help Bonus Fix

Today we closed a "hole" in the game with challenge help that could be abused and was being abused under certain circumstances, we were notified through support channels by some concerned players and after taking a closer look we had to take action to impose limits on the bonuses as we do in every other help feature in the game. This was overlooked by the developer responsible for this feature and I apologize for it being open for so long.

Players will now receive maximum bonus for the first 25 challenge helps in a 24-hr period and will receive 1 XP for all helps after.

What is the harm of not having any limits? Well, people potentially could create automation to aggregate help links from all their friends, suck down a bunch of "free" XP and level without actually really playing the game. Having players high in the game without actually playing the game (outbreaks, fights, bosses, challenges) is something that I think everyone can agree we want to avoid.

That being said, those players that are upset with this change that was not abusing it, there are still plenty of areas to get bonus XP from outbreak help, boss help, world boss help and challenge help.

Today we also released bonus XP for repeat attacks on the World Boss which will hopefully offset the players that were not abusing this feature to make up any losses and add further incentive to go after the world bosses.

We thank you for your understanding while trying to keep Viking Clan a fun, fair, balanced and competitive game.

If you have constructive input we would like to hear it, but going back to unlimited help is not an option since it has been found to be opened up to abuse.


***** UPDATE *****
- first 50 Helps in a 24-hr period will reward maximum XP bonus
- helps from 51 to 75 will degrade linearly to 1 XP
- helps beyond 75 in a 24-hr period will reward 1 XP

I hope players see this as a fair compromise to the original change and with the potential abuse that could happen without imposing a limit.

 

XP from challenges

That's fine with me. I find it an incredibly weak excuse however considering this was brought to your attention in October 2010.

I can't WAIT to hear what you intend to do about the bogus complaints regarding BOTS. Before you do anything? Ask people on both sides of the issue. I received some emails that would curl your hair or cause it to fall out. Be sure to make an informed decision because this BOT claim is total garbage.

Thank you.

 

i'd be worried about it hurting the players who can't get on until later in the day, or those who can't ask for help until later in the day because they don't start the challenges until then. i mean, personally, what's my incentive for even looking at the challenge requests anymore, after i hit my 25 in the day? maybe if the limit was 10 or 20 percent of your total crew/guild, then it could still be worth it. my opinion, at least.

 

10% seems just about right

even if its 1000 crew max

thats 100.

enough for maybe 1 level if lucky

but usually it wont since trying to regain lost exp

and fact that alot of them fill up fast

wont be worth it for just 25

 

sorry to those that NEED the help

im no longer helping on these as of now

unless it gets raised higher

 

We just increased the limit to 50 help, we can look at a slower degradation after the fact but right now it jumps to 1 XP as it does for Boss Help.

If 50 is still to low for your liking, what is your suggestion for a reasonable cap that will meet your needs, +1000 is not acceptable as that opens up the possibility of over abuse of this feature.

We are reasonable and ask players to be the same with their input. What are your needs / expectations?

 

The issue that was brought up in October was that Challenge Help links do not "expire" when a new challenge is started, clicking on an old link will give help to the new challenge. It works the same way that Boss Help worked until we made unique links for each boss help. This issue was not raised to us until recently with how badly some individuals were able to abuse this feature.

 

how about the first 50 you get max exp for it

from 51 to 60 you get half of max exp

everything after 60 how bout 10 exp

1 is a bit harsh

 

They STILL do not expire.

How can someone "abuse" this feature? That's akin to saying someone is "abusing" bosses by doing too many.

There's no right or wrong way to click the mouse. Everyone has their own individual style of play and I don't think anyone has the right to dictate how to play the game.

All this new rule does is make it more difficult to get the XXX number of people required to gain extra chips.

I keep telling you guys that every new rule, every new feature, has unanticipated consequences.

In this case it's not productive. It hurts the players who post.

 

If a player asks for help on a Rune Challenge, then 4-days later starts up a new turn at the same challenge, the original link will work for both games. That is what we are talking about correct?

 

***** UPDATE *****
- first 50 Helps in a 24-hr period will reward maximum XP bonus
- helps from 51 to 75 will degrade linearly to 1 XP
- helps beyond 75 in a 24-hr period will reward 1 XP

I hope players see this as a fair compromise to the original change and with the potential abuse that could happen without imposing a limit.

 

Wow. I don't think I even helped half of that, but yes I can see how it might have been abused. It's definitely fair.

Re: More bonus points for multi-attack World Boss fights... this is super and rewards those dedicated Boss fighters. Ex: I will normally get about 25-35 attacks in per Boss, however I have guildmates w/ double that, and on every boss. Always felt guilty, but I am glad these players will be rewarded w/ more XP points.

 

50 is actually a good, reasonable amount per day, i would say. as for help on one challenge carrying over to the next.. i've had that happen maybe 4 or 5 times, in all the months it's been up, and i play 4 apps. i rarely take the time to scroll that far back to try and help; i'd rather actually be playing the game.

 

i agree completely with the bonus for world boss fights. i've got one guild member who gets upwards of 60 attacks every boss, and i'm sure he'll LOVE that!

 

Yes that is what we are talking about Eric. I can still scroll down through my challenge help list and pick up a few from last week.

I don't know what that has to do with "abusing the feature" though. I just don't understand the logic behind it.

Perhaps if you could explain how people are abusing it that might help. It is my understanding that you need 100 of these to gain one level, regardless of what level you are. If that's how someone chooses to level then I don't see what the big deal is but that isn't how I choose to level.

According to you, you don't condone how I choose to level - does that mean you are going to place more restrictions on that as well?

There's a 500 level difference between me and the next lowest person and the next highest one.

I guess I am still waiting for you to answer my email to you - how the heck do you want me to play the game? Just sit here and do nothing until someone comes into my range or slaps me?

I have no intention of joining a guild to attack people who are 3000 levels beneath me = guild wars or no guild wars. (Let me qualify that by stating that if some level 1000 player shows up on my rivals list for axe slapping me - I will attack back.)

I just want to play how I have been playing since level 900.

I don't know when or why that became such a problem and as far as I am concerned - this non-issue over rune challenge helps is the same old same old.

Leave it be. That's my 2 favor points and like everything else - it'll be ignored.

For a change.

 

some are able to dig through and find 1000 of these things i guess

that was the issue

 

So what? So they can gain 10 levels by doing nothing BUT scrolling through the challenge help list all day long. I don't see what the big deal is. I think there are far more effective and efficient means of gaining 10 levels but guess what?

Kano doesn't like the way I level either. I'm still waiting for an answer on what they consider appropriate. So far we can rule out leveling with a partner and doing 1000 challenges a day.

If Kano doesn't like it then they should have thought about it before they instituted "viking poker" and furthermore, they were made aware of problems with this entire challenge help in October of last year.

Who cares about this, really?

 

Since the Calender Help is a special type of thing and does not occur very often and is a celebration we have gone ahead and removed the Calendar from having any type of XP help restrictions. Enjoy!