Popular Post lovedwallflower Posted June 3, 2014 Popular Post Share Posted June 3, 2014 1. Firstly, the number of all-star groups / cheat groups that band together and join one particular team is making the AC beyond ridiculous. The AC is now exclusively a competition between these groups and while playing to compete has its own joys, playing while knowing you have no chance of winning is frustrating to say the least. I mean, Faerieland is actually topping the chart right now for heaven's sake. With all due respect to fellow TDN members and guests who are genuine supporters of this team, we all know that the team is getting some type of external help. Why bother if it's going to be rigged anyway? 2. The games are repetitious and boring. From year to year the format hardly changes - the brackets system made things worse instead of better, as I know that most of you agree. There should be new games every year, some type of achievement unlocking scheme, and generally something to look forward to every year. The same 4 games a bajillion times a day are hardly a motivation to anyone I know. If anything, people play DESPITE how boring this whole thing is. 3. The prizes are insanely out of reach. I am not an All-Star player myself (mainly because of the reason above). But if I were, what would be the point if All Star doesn't even get me the highest prize possible? The fact that Double All-Star exists as a concept is understandable - yes some people will want to play their fingers to the bone - but I hardly think this should be a requirement to get the best prize once a player has supposedly maxed out. Does TDN really expect players to spend 8+ hours a day playing the same 4 games? The prize to effort ratio is highly out of balance and in this day and age, kids are NOT willing to do so much for so little. Is there anything you guys are frustrated with? Please add! leverhelven, ~Ğǿǿmy~, Finn the Human and 18 others 21 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saxen Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I couldn't agree more. I really want to support my team and play a lot of games because I love Maraqua, but knowing that there's not a chance we'll win unless we're backed by an ASG group is really demotivating. It's not that I don't like to play if we won't win, but just knowing that what I'm doing doesn't really count for anything and the prizes are so difficult to acquire makes the cup even harder to have the will to participate in. It's a really good idea to change the games every year - or at least have several that are switched around from year to year to spice things up a little. I also think that it shouldn't be a month long - young kids play this site and it's stopping them from going outside and enjoying their summers and getting sunshine! Two weeks, max. Aquamentis12, agrinwithoutacat, Lady Lyuba and 4 others 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrinwithoutacat Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 As much as I kinda *like* the AC, I don't *love* it, for exactly the reasons you guys described.I like the opportunity to play for prizes and trophies, even if the odds of getting something good are kind of astronomical without playing constantly. I like something to break up my usual neopets routine and give me something new to do. However, yeah, you guys hit the nail on the head for why I don't love it. .Brianna. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angeló Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 The Battle of the Obelisk had achievements and some random challenges .. that can be a good idea for the Altador Cup ! Lady Lyuba, Nubisbully and Aquamentis12 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oberyn Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I kind of agree, part of me really wants to get involved with it because years ago you could actually make some pretty decent friends while chatting and playing, but going on the boards now it's usually just people posting scores or just talking about the AC and nothing else. It kind of took the fun out of everyone coming together and talking about something and playing alongside each other. Might just be me being in the wrong place at the wrong time but I've felt this is the case the past few years. I think they need to lower the scores for the ranks, I just can't understand why people sit there day and night and play it, and are on Rank 4 by the second day of games... Fair play if that's what they want to spend their day on but I try and play a few games and it's just so dull. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgJu Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 it IS rather frustrating that the whole tournament seems to rest on ASGs or cheating groups.....on the one hand, it keeps the same big teams from winning year after year but on the other, if your team isn't one of the ones being backed by such a group then you're in for a struggle. it sucks when you play your hardest only to watch your team lose every match. i keep going for the ranks and because i want to say i at least did my part, but it does get discouraging at times. This bracket system is so inflexible as well.... Lady Lyuba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovedwallflower Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 I think maybe lowering the caps would help both with score senders and unrealistic scores for prizes. I know they've lowered them this year but I don't think it's enough to make sure kids aren't playing 24/7 and that generally, players aren't bored Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Secre Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I enjoy it at this stage in the tournament but by the end of it I'll be playing with a pure dogged determination and out of pure stubborness...you can't play the same game game over a thousand times without starting to detest it with a passion... ...They do need to shake it up somewhat and offer more variety as those games get stale quickly and aside from the release of the new game a couple of years ago little has changed. It's the auto character select that gets me...I struggle with the mouse but with kewboard controls it keeps switching between players and drives me barmy! Lady Lyuba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siniri Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I like the idea of introducing more games. I could see the AC and Daily Dare concepts fusing. The supporting games could rotate each day, with each "host" team featuring some of the games from its land, but including YYB and the "regular" side games for the fanatics. The caps should be set so that someone could reach them in 2 hours (and that should be a total cap across all games -- you could mix-and-match or play all of one game, but once you hit that cap, you're done for the day). It could be a single round robin (giving each world a chance to feature its own games once), followed by a short playoff that only featured the standard AC games. There could be bonus prizes for beating a minimum score in all the games, and it would give people more variety. Saxen and Lady Lyuba 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovedwallflower Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 The supporting games could rotate each day, with each "host" team featuring some of the games from its land I like this idea a lot! I think in order to fuse Daily Dare with the AC they would have to take it offline for a year , considering what a major revamp that would be. But I would be fully on board with it. The World Cup is every 4 years, I wouldn't mind if the AC was bi-annual at least! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nubisbully Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I dislike any plot or event where you're almost required to play excessively to get anything. I liked the Obelisk plot but again, there were people I talked to who gave me a bit of grief for only being at 100 fights when they had 2000+ (I was also trying to train my BD pet at this time so I wasn't as helpful.) I'm have A.D.D. issues anyway and without a super fast internet connection and top of the line computer/upgrades, it was a lot of hassle to get there. Neopets as a whole bothers me with the amount of rampant cheating. In theory it seems like you could keep a handle on it (in the AC at least) if they just linked IP addresses to new accounts created during this time (or a few months prior) or just didn't allow new players to compete/go past a certain level... at least not without raising serious flags. I'm not sure how they have it set up and what they can actually monitor but being able to rely on greater support from the honest players seems like it would help. If I were them, I'd probably just ban accounts with known activity on "cheating" sites. I'm not very democratic sometimes I guess. leverhelven 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
leverhelven Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Lowering the caps this year is an improvement, but not as much as it could be since I've read people are just creating shell accounts to keep on sending scores. So... yeah, it sucks. I find the AC very frustrating. I love the stories behind the teams and the players, and I love feeling part of a team, but the whole system is indeed exhausting. I just HATE Yooyuball, for example, and still I'm drawn to playing it over and over. The fact that some groups end up deciding the outcome (hey there, Moltara, I see you're miraculously 2nd place overall right now!) makes it all so pointless I can't even... Gah. Perhaps the fact that I KNOW all of this and yet STILL can't make myself ignore the AC completely is a sign of Neo-addiction... Gash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lovedwallflower Posted June 3, 2014 Author Share Posted June 3, 2014 Neopets as a whole bothers me with the amount of rampant cheating. I completely agree. It seems that TNT gets so freeze happy sometimes but users who are actively ruining a major site event go unpunished year after year. They can't possibly not know about them... so what's the deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
voteforpedro333 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Easily, my favorite year of the AC was the one with the achievements for playing certain amounts or getting specific scores. It really felt like you could play for yourself in case your team wasn't doing too hot. And each year I've tried and succeeded in getting a higher rank than the year before, but this time around I really don't feel like I can. I think what frustrates me now more than ever is how little effort that they're putting into the Cup. They hardly ever have those story updates they used to run, they do little to flesh out the players and their interactions aside from team trades, and I know, I just KNOW, they've gotten huge complaints about this bracket system and from the looks of it didn't bother to tweak it. I want to see something, ANYTHING, that is new or different from the last few years. Lady Lyuba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patricebee Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 This is my first year of doing AC and to be honest, I'm already bored. After two days! You guys who have done it for years all deserve a stealth PB or something. I really dislike the games - especially Slushie Slinger and Make Some Noise. Nothing like pounding on the keyboard! :/ Btw - these ASGs - do they scour the site for the top players and just invite them to join? It is kind of demotivating if that is really the way things work. I mean, I'll play everyday just to get the "participant" thing on my user lookup but I'm not going to put in hours on it. I'll probably do the minimum. Can you imagine little kids who play?! How demotivating for them! Of course little kids are probably playing more intricate and progressive games than Neopets! ha! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ravensrequiem27 Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 Agreed with everything. And ooooooooh my goodness do I HATE HATE HATE the redone YYB!! (Well, I don't know how "new" it actually is, I'm coming off a 2-year hiatus so maybe it's been this way for a while?) But seriously, wat. The ball doesn't go ANYWHERE when I shoot it! No matter what kind of ball it is! And does the fire ball automatically shoot itself now or something? O.o And I feel like I have more trouble getting my players to move/switch than I used to...I used to be able to get 9-0 easy; so far the best I've been able to do is a tie :( And yeah, all the other games had gotten super old when I left...still old now that I'm back. :P They need to either shorten the event or make it every other year like someone else said -- it was fun when it was new, now it's just a boring, frustrating slog. Edit: ARRRRRRGH!! I *finally* won a game, and when I went to send the score it said "can't send score in offline mode"! ARE YOU KIDDING ME :grrr: Lady Lyuba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hrtbrk Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I think the biggest thing that people need to remember in order to enjoy the cup is that you have to play for yourself. Secondly, it's not supposed to be an easy event. It's supposed to be challenging. It's supposed to be rewarding for players who put in a lot of time playing. And it is. That's why they have double, triple, all-star with the top prizes being out of reach. You put in the time, you should be rewarded, and players are. That said, if you're playing largely with the hope that it will make your team #1, it's going to be incredibly deflating and won't be enjoyable for you because of these All-Star Groups. Play for yourself and your own accomplishments. It's much more enjoyable. I don't even look at the scoreboard at the start of the new day. I just focus on completing my own goals that I have set for myself. Come chat with us in TDN CHAT (link in my sig) while you play, too :) It makes it more fun and less daunting! Mouseykins, AgJu, Wildbreeze and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mouseykins Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 1. Firstly, the number of all-star groups / cheat groups that band together and join one particular team is making the AC beyond ridiculous. The AC is now exclusively a competition between these groups and while playing to compete has its own joys, playing while knowing you have no chance of winning is frustrating to say the least. I mean, Faerieland is actually topping the chart right now for heaven's sake. With all due respect to fellow TDN members and guests who are genuine supporters of this team, we all know that the team is getting some type of external help. Why bother if it's going to be rigged anyway? 2. The games are repetitious and boring. From year to year the format hardly changes - the brackets system made things worse instead of better, as I know that most of you agree. There should be new games every year, some type of achievement unlocking scheme, and generally something to look forward to every year. The same 4 games a bajillion times a day are hardly a motivation to anyone I know. If anything, people play DESPITE how boring this whole thing is. 3. The prizes are insanely out of reach. I am not an All-Star player myself (mainly because of the reason above). But if I were, what would be the point if All Star doesn't even get me the highest prize possible? The fact that Double All-Star exists as a concept is understandable - yes some people will want to play their fingers to the bone - but I hardly think this should be a requirement to get the best prize once a player has supposedly maxed out. Does TDN really expect players to spend 8+ hours a day playing the same 4 games? The prize to effort ratio is highly out of balance and in this day and age, kids are NOT willing to do so much for so little. Is there anything you guys are frustrated with? Please add! You've been misinformed. Faerieland does not have an All-Star Group helping them out. The only reason we're in top place according to the rankings, is because we swept Altador. It's only day 2 of the AC. As hrtbrk said play for yourself and reach your own goals and nevermind the standings. It's too early to care about them anyways. The Battle of the Obelisk had achievements and some random challenges .. that can be a good idea for the Altador Cup ! They actually did this a few year ago. It was different but I found it rather annoying. Like you had to score so many goals with your goalie. I'd much rather play this way and just focus on getting goals and winning YYB, rather then specific set things to achieve within the game. I think maybe lowering the caps would help both with score senders and unrealistic scores for prizes. I know they've lowered them this year but I don't think it's enough to make sure kids aren't playing 24/7 and that generally, players aren't bored They've already lowered them quite a bit this year and honestly I think they're way more reasonable. It will still take work to reach the caps as it's supposed to. They're not going to make it downright easy for those who want to cap and reach double/triple all star. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shelley Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 This is the first time I've played, I have been having fun and I'm not really caring too much if my team wins (although it would be pretty nice) ;) But I am pretty bored and it requires a lot of game play. I also have limited internet usage each month. The month just started and I've already used up such a huge chunk of it :X Going in to the AC, I heard so much excitement about it, everyone I know really built it up to be this huge exciting event...so I've just kind of been a bit "wait, this is it?" haha Overall though I'm glad I signed up this year, and hope to achieve my personal goals, one of which is to rank up to level 3 tonight :D and I actually really enjoy playing yooyuball...just maybe not hundreds of times..I may go a bit insane :S Mouseykins 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kurokiwina Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 This does seem to be a carbon copy of last years cup. A few member switches? For which they can't even get any of the graphics right? Everything is the same, I was excited to see something new. I've signed up to play this year and I don't want to let my team down, but I don't think I could handle next year's cup being the same. The same games, the same format, the same anything. It's not exciting, it's day two and I'm bored. The only reason I'm playing is because I want my team to do well, even if there's no chance we can actually win the cup. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HomuraAkemiTheHero Posted June 3, 2014 Share Posted June 3, 2014 I can see why the Altador Cup is repetitive and the only reason I'm playing is because I love Shenkuu so much. I'm not caring for the winning I just want to have enough to get some books for my pets. I think they should make it easier to rank up at the beginning especially if they are during weekdays because most people can't play 4 hours or more to rank up and maybe only get 1 or 2 ranks up. Also I agree that they should add more games and perhaps more achievements and prizes to at least give some motivation to those who don't want to play due to the hackers grouping together for just one team. Angeló 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anime Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 Everyone is correct in saying that they usually change more than they did this year, but I think some parts can be chalked up to the ownership swap. They stated a few weeks ago that they're having some staffing shortages. Which, that doesn't excuse a lot of things, but it does explain the lack of funny content on new days to go with the standings and upsets. Lady Lyuba 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgJu Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I think the biggest thing that people need to remember in order to enjoy the cup is that you have to play for yourself. Secondly, it's not supposed to be an easy event. It's supposed to be challenging. It's supposed to be rewarding for players who put in a lot of time playing. And it is. That's why they have double, triple, all-star with the top prizes being out of reach. You put in the time, you should be rewarded, and players are. That said, if you're playing largely with the hope that it will make your team #1, it's going to be incredibly deflating and won't be enjoyable for you because of these All-Star Groups. Play for yourself and your own accomplishments. It's much more enjoyable. I don't even look at the scoreboard at the start of the new day. I just focus on completing my own goals that I have set for myself. Come chat with us in TDN CHAT (link in my sig) while you play, too :) It makes it more fun and less daunting! i play for myself because i want the rank, the prizes, and be a top player for my team, but it does get a bit disconcerting when you do all that and still see your team lose. Doesn't stop me from playing though :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
~Ğǿǿmy~ Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 I totally agree with you. But i am still an avid fan of the AC, but one thing needs to go, the Bracket System. You can see my annoyance with the bracket system here: http://www.tdnforums.com/index.php?/topic/41456-reasons-why-the-bracket-system-is-absolute-trash/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AgJu Posted June 4, 2014 Share Posted June 4, 2014 this bracket system IS very inflexible and often doesn't make a lot of sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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