Can anything be done about the pathological cheating in alliance wars?

Around 5 years ago the community decided that cheating in AW was bad and decided to learn the game instead of having someone pilot their fights, and ever since the community has skyrocketed in skill and knowledge.

Despite that, teams still cheat and one team in particular who shall go unnamed gets docked every other season.

And what happens to them? I could be wrong but from what I've seen, nothing. They cheat teams out of points, get docked at the end of the season, sometimes barely lose placement (which can made up with a cheap offer), then go back to cheating the next.

No meaningful bans, no nothing. If you get docked once, fine. Twice? Bad recruitment maybe. But every other season for many years straight?? Your alliance is cancer and should be obliterated. Everyone should get stone rewards and it's rating set to zero. And if you buy a shell alliance, THAT gets set to zero.

Officers from legit teams don't spend all season having officer calls, new map reviews, war planning calls, chasing down members for rosters, log entries, rankups, consoling members for losing attack bonuses or wanting to retire, worrying about recruitment, and generally spending many hours a week babysitting wars only to have their and their stressed out fellow members' blood, sweat, tears, and cash get erased by a bunch of cheaters who can't play their own account.

Something has to be done to make cheated teams whole again.

Losing placement is the most demotivating thing in the world and docks aren't good enough. Why can't teams get their points back after a post-season review?

If a team gets docked for cheating, the other team automatically get their points clawed back as well as any win rewards. There has to be tech for this, this would literally solve almost every problem. No docks, no compensation of course. *If* there's docks, the other team gets the points.

If this makes the leaderboard throughout the season unreliable (which it would), which can also have downstream effects, then remove the leaderboard altogether and if no leaderboard is not possible, put up giant banners all over the game saying that leaderboards aren't accurate until a post-season review.

They've never properly compensated cheated players in alliance wars and I would die a happy man if they did. Players deserve a better system. Please make this happen.

Comments

laserjohn26

Tcn has big spenders. I think the fact that no one respects them and they are laughed at by even new players bring balance to the realm. Kind of like if someone was to claim they were one of best in the world at path of exile 2 while paying someone else to play it.

willrun4adonut

I've always wondered (I don't play high tier wars at all), how do you know when an alliance is cheating?

startropics

I've always wondered (I don't play high tier wars at all), how do you know when an alliance is cheating?

If they have a long history of cheating, pay attention to their fights and monitor them directly while they clear the map. Look at them as they clear, look at the matchup, how much health they started with, how much they ended with, and how fast they do it.

Some matchups aren't possible and they're modding. Other times it's possible and they're piloting and we won't know until the end of the season, but try and get information on how many times they're dying each war. If they die 25 times against a crappy alliance then go 150-3 against you and you historically have a much better defense, they might be up to no good.

Look at their alliance tab. Sometimes you'll see players get banned mid war (sometimes even several) and look at their last login times. If they all haven't logged in for X amount of hours, and they don't clear the war and login since, they probably all got banned.

willrun4adonut

I've always wondered (I don't play high tier wars at all), how do you know when an alliance is cheating?
If they have a long history of cheating, pay attention to their fights and monitor them directly while they clear the map. Look at them as they clear, look at the matchup, how much health they started with, how much they ended with, and how fast they do it.

Some matchups aren't possible and they're modding. Other times it's possible and they're piloting and we won't know until the end of the season, but try and get information on how many times they're dying each war. If they die 25 times against a crappy alliance then go 150-3 against you and you historically have a much better defense, they might be up to no good.

Look at their alliance tab. Sometimes you'll see players get banned mid war (sometimes even several) and look at their last login times. If they all haven't logged in for X amount of hours, and they don't clear the war and login since, they probably all got banned.

Dang, that's so much work on the alliance. That's terrible.

startropics

I've always wondered (I don't play high tier wars at all), how do you know when an alliance is cheating?
If they have a long history of cheating, pay attention to their fights and monitor them directly while they clear the map. Look at them as they clear, look at the matchup, how much health they started with, how much they ended with, and how fast they do it.

Some matchups aren't possible and they're modding. Other times it's possible and they're piloting and we won't know until the end of the season, but try and get information on how many times they're dying each war. If they die 25 times against a crappy alliance then go 150-3 against you and you historically have a much better defense, they might be up to no good.

Look at their alliance tab. Sometimes you'll see players get banned mid war (sometimes even several) and look at their last login times. If they all haven't logged in for X amount of hours, and they don't clear the war and login since, they probably all got banned.
Dang, that's so much work on the alliance. That's terrible.

Looking out for cheaters mid-match takes little time compared to what it takes to properly run war (it's run like a business, everything takes a lot of time, knowledge, and skill).

It's why getting cheated is so devastating. Players put everything on the line and feel horrible after dying and letting their teammates down, not to mention the giant costs, only to lose against a bunch of scrubs who get piloted.

This has to end. If you can't erase the cheaters, at a minimum please compensate players with full rewards.

smdam38

Where are you seeing this and have you reported it?

laserjohn26

I've always wondered (I don't play high tier wars at all), how do you know when an alliance is cheating?

When they had the big arena ban 2/3's of their alliance was banned for a week.

Mrmr13

It's a good point, we have face an alliance 4 times out of last 7 seasons, each season they get docked points for cheating and end up lower tier

But that does nothing for the wars we lost to cheaters that we could have won if we were on a similar playing field

Polygon

Where are you seeing this and have you reported it?

TCN alliance, they have a history of being rank #1 in AQ and Raids events because of their high prestige.

However they have been docked a boatload of times. That includes this war season that just ended AND last season as well.

The crazy part is that despite this, they get away without serious punishment (the guy who was cheating received a generous only 7 day ban).

My gut tells me its because that alliance is a heavy spender , but that would really suck as that would imply Kabam makes exceptions for players that spend.

Gamer

The thing with the tech it might be there but it different dos so you have to wait for all that would delay AW rewards even more there should be do it I agree

BigBlueOx

Will* anything be done? - Fixed the tag for you…

Plenty could be done but it seems unlikely the golden geese get slaughtered

startropics

Will* anything be done? - Fixed the tag for you…

Plenty could be done but it seems unlikely the golden geese get slaughtered

My main focus is getting points back to alliances. If individual war rewards (shards, loyalty) makes giving comp trickier, let’s focus on the points.

I want harsher punishments for chronic cheaters but if Kabam doesn’t want that, let’s just do what’s right and make the legit players whole. The question is whether Kabam wants to do that.

BringPopcorn

Will* anything be done? - Fixed the tag for you…

Plenty could be done but it seems unlikely the golden geese get slaughtered
My main focus is getting points back to alliances. If individual war rewards (shards, loyalty) makes giving comp trickier, let’s focus on the points.

I want harsher punishments for chronic cheaters but if Kabam doesn’t want that, let’s just do what’s right and make the legit players whole. The question is whether Kabam wants to do that.

Any point adjustment is done manually I believe, and they all have been a mess,..