No one is going to point out that no one cares about war anymore, shell alliances are for donation drops these days.
Clearly you don't have a sense of what alliances are doing. They are using shell alliances to better their position and rank.
To me, this is borderline cheating as it gives then a certain advantage over the alliances they face in wars. Is it illegal, no, not explicitly, but it is a practice that provides an unfair advantage to high alliances using this method.
This is the problem I have when it comes to "fixing" issues like this. It was the same thing with tanking. Now an alliance can't push in off season to start the next season in a higher tier and the only thing that happened is now everyone is crying about a different problem, shells. How much do you want to see legitimate players hindered to possibly (bc you know people will always find a grey area to try to gain an advantage) address a "problem"?
I'd rather see the whole matchmaking system completely revamped than continuing to remove options from players simply trying to play the game
I see a lot of discussion surrounding the use of AW and shell alliances. What about the people using shell alliances as a means to stock up treasuries with third party purchased resources (gold, loyalty, battlechips). To me this is a bigger issue regarding shell alliances. In order to run at a high level 77777 requires substantial amount of donations. Alliances are getting around this by purchasing donations from third parties and using shell alliances.
For matching I'd rather see something based on actual season rankings than something like war rating or prestige. Like say taking the average ranking of the top 10 ranked players in each alliance from the previous season to determine matching for the first 6 wars then base it off either the average ranking of the whole alliance for the first 6 or those same top 10 players for the last 6.
That gives you player mobility still as someone can move up to more competitive alliances without really affecting matching, puts a higher likelihood off top alliances actually getting matched to one another, but is still some detriment to a player moving down to a less competitive alliance for at least half a season
I guess it would work similar to war rating being tagged to individuals unfortunately though which I don't like as I don't like punishing an alliance or player for wanting to take a break. I think it would increase the odds of top alliances actually matching each other though
Another solution seems easy. If more then 20-25 members switch to a new alliance, just exclude that alliance for 1 AW season.
If u remove them from 1 AW Season, the Master alliance would not be that interested to move to a shell alliance. They will miss a full AW season worth of rewards.
Real problem is not only the tanking war rating. They doing it to get in donation mercs. U cant donate for 7 days, if u are tanking rating in shell alliance, u can bring donation mercs in. Next season u can do the same trick to the other alliance.
We also posted several shell alliances as at ticket. Nothing has been done to fix it. Last season we countered shell alliances 75-80% of the wars. It makes quite some members burnout and leave, which is very bad for the tier 2 alliances.
Shell alliances are rarely much lower than the normal alliance in war rating so their already is minimal affect on lower tiered alliances. What they are used for is donation dumps since even with arena gold is a pain and loyalty gain is far too low compared to what donations cost.
Well, how come we as t2 alliance operating in p2 are nonstop facing them then?
I have multiple examples of shell alliance who have 300-600 less warrating then master alliance had. So that is quite a difference. Might not be for the alliance it self, it is for all the lower alliances facing them.
With the updated glory store, there is no point in playing AW at any sort of high level. Get more rewards in a week of high AQ for half the cost as trying in AW for a month.
Well obviously war cheating is still going on otherwise why would they go and shell in other alliance so why disagree remove the wars it removes the cheating also removes shell alliances from happening as there’s 0 reason to do so
As long as you dump item's into those wars (and units of course) nothing will change. For Kabam this is Working as intended...
Just stop spending When you see a shell. Drop your own warrating. Next season will be more easy to you.
When all Players stop spending (top shell User dont have to, the others dont want to) someone at Kabam HQ will chime the alarm "something is going wrong" but until then...
Don't enrage bout that. Just shrug and move on. It's better for your health and Well beeing.
Bumping the thread. We need kabam to acknowledge this problem and act on it. War matchmaking is broken. Another season facing countless shells will break our alliance, we want fair opponnents.
Can't wait to see what the next boogeyman everyone is going to blame will be. Everytime people have screeched enough about something to get it addressed be it piloting, donation drops, tanking, etc.... you still don't seem to see a huge shake up at the top of AW/AQ leaderboards. The same alliances are still competing for top spots and the people making a whole lot of noise, usually aren't. I don't particularly care what they do or don't change but certainly find the whole thing funny
Can't wait to see what the next boogeyman everyone is going to blame will be. Everytime people have screeched enough about something to get it addressed be it piloting, donation drops, tanking, etc.... you still don't seem to see a huge shake up at the top of AW/AQ leaderboards. The same alliances are still competing for top spots and the people making a whole lot of noise, usually aren't. I don't particularly care what they do or don't change but certainly find the whole thing funny
That’s because they are going into a lower ranked alliance with the same alliance names then jump back to other alliance when season is over or they jump back in the last 6-5 wars
Can't wait to see what the next boogeyman everyone is going to blame will be. Everytime people have screeched enough about something to get it addressed be it piloting, donation drops, tanking, etc.... you still don't seem to see a huge shake up at the top of AW/AQ leaderboards. The same alliances are still competing for top spots and the people making a whole lot of noise, usually aren't. I don't particularly care what they do or don't change but certainly find the whole thing funny
That’s because they are going into a lower ranked alliance with the same alliance names then jump back to other alliance when season is over or they jump back in the last 6-5 wars
Yes I'm well aware how shell's supposedly work. I don't think they have a major effect on the outcome however. Cracking down on piloting didn't change much. Addressing tanking changed basically nothing. I don't think doing anything about shells will either. All that ever happens is people playing the game legitimate end up losing options. It's rarely worth it in the end. Having that scapegoat to blame for shortcomings makes people feel better though so I'm sure they'll find something new if shells are ever address.
Can't wait to see what the next boogeyman everyone is going to blame will be. Everytime people have screeched enough about something to get it addressed be it piloting, donation drops, tanking, etc.... you still don't seem to see a huge shake up at the top of AW/AQ leaderboards. The same alliances are still competing for top spots and the people making a whole lot of noise, usually aren't. I don't particularly care what they do or don't change but certainly find the whole thing funny
Let the top allies battle each other in stead of tier2 allies. We stand no chance against them and its costing us possible plat 1 rewards and a lot of winnable shards. The end rank for them may be the same but for tier 2 allies its a horror **** show.
The people on here complaining about shell alliances simply don't understand how/why the vast majority of alliances utilize their shell. Take about 20 seconds to log into the game and click the little trophy in the bottom right corner, then go to the alliance leader-board and sort by war rating. Tell me what you see.....
Trust me, none of you people in gold 1 are facing master level alliances. In almost all cases, a group's "shell" alliances have the same war rating. So whether in shell 1 or shell 2, they are getting matched vs the same group of alliances.
In no way does this impact the balance of power in the game. People just like to complain to complain. And what's worse, some people like to complain about things they just don't fully understand.
Relax a bit folks, its the holiday season! Cheers!
The people on here complaining about shell alliances simply don't understand how/why the vast majority of alliances utilize their shell. Take about 20 seconds to log into the game and click the little trophy in the bottom right corner, then go to the alliance leader-board and sort by war rating. Tell me what you see.....
Trust me, none of you people in gold 1 are facing master level alliances. In almost all cases, a group's "shell" alliances have the same war rating. So whether in shell 1 or shell 2, they are getting matched vs the same group of alliances.
In no way does this impact the balance of power in the game. People just like to complain to complain. And what's worse, some people like to complain about things they just don't fully understand.
Relax a bit folks, its the holiday season! Cheers!
Morning Mel,
I’m completely relaxed, thanks for pointing it out. Never have we said gold 1 alliances are facing master alliances. P1/p2 alliances are facing them, the difference in war rating is only 400-600 points.
It won’t affect the top 10-20 in ranking because most of them are doing the same (not all). It affects the alliances just under this bracket.
U state that we don’t know how shell alliances work and why they are here: could u explain the reason then?
Its simple: there are only 3 possible reasons for a shell alliance:
1. Tank war rating to have easy matchups 2. Fill treasury with gold, bc and loyalty by donation mercs. 3. Combination of both of the above
Both reasons are cheating. Only reason to have a shell for donation is buying donations, because if u dump ur own resources, u do not need a shell alliance to do it in: u can just do it in your own alliance. Left or right, it’s doing something that is not allowed by kabam and using a loophole to bypass the rules preventing this.
@Kabam Miike many are interested to hear Kabams perspective.
The people on here complaining about shell alliances simply don't understand how/why the vast majority of alliances utilize their shell. Take about 20 seconds to log into the game and click the little trophy in the bottom right corner, then go to the alliance leader-board and sort by war rating. Tell me what you see.....
Trust me, none of you people in gold 1 are facing master level alliances. In almost all cases, a group's "shell" alliances have the same war rating. So whether in shell 1 or shell 2, they are getting matched vs the same group of alliances.
In no way does this impact the balance of power in the game. People just like to complain to complain. And what's worse, some people like to complain about things they just don't fully understand.
Relax a bit folks, its the holiday season! Cheers!
Morning Mel,
I’m completely relaxed, thanks for pointing it out. Never have we said gold 1 alliances are facing master alliances. P1/p2 alliances are facing them, the difference in war rating is only 400-600 points.
It won’t affect the top 10-20 in ranking because most of them are doing the same (not all). It affects the alliances just under this bracket.
U state that we don’t know how shell alliances work and why they are here: could u explain the reason then?
Its simple: there are only 3 possible reasons for a shell alliance:
1. Tank war rating to have easy matchups 2. Fill treasury with gold, bc and loyalty by donation mercs. 3. Combination of both of the above
Both reasons are cheating. Only reason to have a shell for donation is buying donations, because if u dump ur own resources, u do not need a shell alliance to do it in: u can just do it in your own alliance. Left or right, it’s doing something that is not allowed by kabam and using a loophole to bypass the rules preventing this.
@Kabam Miike many are interested to hear Kabams perspective.
If it was against the rules then kabam would punish them for it.
Since they aren't then there is no breaking of the rules... now how exactly would you like kabam to stop it? Please give 1 valid idea to prevent/limit this?
The people on here complaining about shell alliances simply don't understand how/why the vast majority of alliances utilize their shell. Take about 20 seconds to log into the game and click the little trophy in the bottom right corner, then go to the alliance leader-board and sort by war rating. Tell me what you see.....
Trust me, none of you people in gold 1 are facing master level alliances. In almost all cases, a group's "shell" alliances have the same war rating. So whether in shell 1 or shell 2, they are getting matched vs the same group of alliances.
In no way does this impact the balance of power in the game. People just like to complain to complain. And what's worse, some people like to complain about things they just don't fully understand.
Relax a bit folks, its the holiday season! Cheers!
Morning Mel,
I’m completely relaxed, thanks for pointing it out. Never have we said gold 1 alliances are facing master alliances. P1/p2 alliances are facing them, the difference in war rating is only 400-600 points.
It won’t affect the top 10-20 in ranking because most of them are doing the same (not all). It affects the alliances just under this bracket.
U state that we don’t know how shell alliances work and why they are here: could u explain the reason then?
Its simple: there are only 3 possible reasons for a shell alliance:
1. Tank war rating to have easy matchups 2. Fill treasury with gold, bc and loyalty by donation mercs. 3. Combination of both of the above
Both reasons are cheating. Only reason to have a shell for donation is buying donations, because if u dump ur own resources, u do not need a shell alliance to do it in: u can just do it in your own alliance. Left or right, it’s doing something that is not allowed by kabam and using a loophole to bypass the rules preventing this.
@Kabam Miike many are interested to hear Kabams perspective.
If it was against the rules then kabam would punish them for it.
Since they aren't then there is no breaking of the rules... now how exactly would you like kabam to stop it? Please give 1 valid idea to prevent/limit this?
Lol.. people are still using arena bots, buy fraud odins, but arent banned. So that means it is not against the rules? If u only break the rules if you get punished: if someone murders someone else.. he isn’t wrong until he is caught? Weird theory..
I think Kabam has plenty of capable employees to think of a solution. 1 could be, as stated before: when more than a certain amount of people join a new (shell) alliance, they are ruled out for 1 AW season. Let’s say: if one alliance gets 20 new members during off season (which is really unlikely), they are ruled out.
Another solution posted before: make war rating person based, like prestige. The alliance is war rating is based on the war rating of the members.
Just 2 ideas, most likely there are more solutions possible.
The use of Shell Alliances to basically cheat is rampant and is at a point of severely compromising both AQ and AW Leaderboards.
You know it’s going on, just as you knew piloting was - and still is - going on.
Why are you letting it continue
It’s not hard to prevent so when are you going to do something about it?!?
Simple, there isnt a rule against it....yet. Until they actually make it against AW rules and find a way to prevent it, there isnt anything anyone can do about it. It's frowned upon for sure but still legal.
That sure is a valid point! I do not play AW myself, haven't for at least a year, so I haven't really followed these discussions. But, as long as something might be considered morally wrong by many, but isn't actually breaking any rules there is not much to do. The discussion should be about whether such a rule should be implemented, and only when it is can you require Kabam to do something about alliances or players doing this.
Comments
To me, this is borderline cheating as it gives then a certain advantage over the alliances they face in wars. Is it illegal, no, not explicitly, but it is a practice that provides an unfair advantage to high alliances using this method.
I'd rather see the whole matchmaking system completely revamped than continuing to remove options from players simply trying to play the game
That gives you player mobility still as someone can move up to more competitive alliances without really affecting matching, puts a higher likelihood off top alliances actually getting matched to one another, but is still some detriment to a player moving down to a less competitive alliance for at least half a season
If u remove them from 1 AW Season, the Master alliance would not be that interested to move to a shell alliance. They will miss a full AW season worth of rewards.
Real problem is not only the tanking war rating. They doing it to get in donation mercs. U cant donate for 7 days, if u are tanking rating in shell alliance, u can bring donation mercs in. Next season u can do the same trick to the other alliance.
We also posted several shell alliances as at ticket. Nothing has been done to fix it. Last season we countered shell alliances 75-80% of the wars. It makes quite some members burnout and leave, which is very bad for the tier 2 alliances.
I have multiple examples of shell alliance who have 300-600 less warrating then master alliance had. So that is quite a difference. Might not be for the alliance it self, it is for all the lower alliances facing them.
For Kabam this is Working as intended...
Just stop spending When you see a shell. Drop your own warrating.
Next season will be more easy to you.
When all Players stop spending (top shell User dont have to, the others dont want to) someone at Kabam HQ will chime the alarm "something is going wrong" but until then...
Don't enrage bout that. Just shrug and move on. It's better for your health and Well beeing.
Trust me, none of you people in gold 1 are facing master level alliances. In almost all cases, a group's "shell" alliances have the same war rating. So whether in shell 1 or shell 2, they are getting matched vs the same group of alliances.
In no way does this impact the balance of power in the game. People just like to complain to complain. And what's worse, some people like to complain about things they just don't fully understand.
Relax a bit folks, its the holiday season! Cheers!
I’m completely relaxed, thanks for pointing it out. Never have we said gold 1 alliances are facing master alliances. P1/p2 alliances are facing them, the difference in war rating is only 400-600 points.
It won’t affect the top 10-20 in ranking because most of them are doing the same (not all). It affects the alliances just under this bracket.
U state that we don’t know how shell alliances work and why they are here: could u explain the reason then?
Its simple: there are only 3 possible reasons for a shell alliance:
1. Tank war rating to have easy matchups
2. Fill treasury with gold, bc and loyalty by donation mercs.
3. Combination of both of the above
Both reasons are cheating. Only reason to have a shell for donation is buying donations, because if u dump ur own resources, u do not need a shell alliance to do it in: u can just do it in your own alliance. Left or right, it’s doing something that is not allowed by kabam and using a loophole to bypass the rules preventing this.
@Kabam Miike many are interested to hear Kabams perspective.
Since they aren't then there is no breaking of the rules... now how exactly would you like kabam to stop it? Please give 1 valid idea to prevent/limit this?
I think Kabam has plenty of capable employees to think of a solution. 1 could be, as stated before: when more than a certain amount of people join a new (shell) alliance, they are ruled out for 1 AW season. Let’s say: if one alliance gets 20 new members during off season (which is really unlikely), they are ruled out.
Another solution posted before: make war rating person based, like prestige. The alliance is war rating is based on the war rating of the members.
Just 2 ideas, most likely there are more solutions possible.
I do not play AW myself, haven't for at least a year, so I haven't really followed these discussions.
But, as long as something might be considered morally wrong by many, but isn't actually breaking any rules there is not much to do. The discussion should be about whether such a rule should be implemented, and only when it is can you require Kabam to do something about alliances or players doing this.