Grepo: Current problems that need to be solved

[Forwandert]

You don't need to roll back everyone back. Just provide the .apk to players that want the option provided they turn off auto updates on play store can roll back. Doesn't even need to be via play store. Just requires the apk available for download somewhere. You only need to adjust one setting for a minute if that to accept non marketplace apps on android. Provided they haven't coded anything into it to force you to update.

The current option isn't viable in anyway. Especially when two different operating systems now have different variations of the app notification sounds. Any idea how much fun it is to wake up to a notification in the middle of the night grab your phone for it to be an email?

People are quitting or hitting vm because of these issues. It's not fun internalling 100+ city players for weeks because someone ain't putting enough focus into a bug fix. There's no point even mentioning the same thing over and over to support they can't help.

 

[Michael Cook]

The current information we have on the notification sounds being broken is that they are a high priority and are being worked on. I do wish we had more to say on the matter but unfortunately that is all we know. The current devblog mentions it.

It's now March 20, 2018 and the alarm bug is STILL NOT repaired.

 

[Zyrd]

Figured there needs to be a thread about this.

First and foremost, app alarms.

This one is simple; app alarms should be removed from the game, once and forever. Nobody sane wakes up at nights because somebody launched an attack on him in a game. The devs should really think of how to make app alarms unnecessary in the game, not how to implement app alarms on devices.

 

[The DeamonBG]

This one is simple; app alarms should be removed from the game, once and forever. Nobody sane wakes up at nights because somebody launched an attack on him in a game. The devs should really think of how to make app alarms unnecessary in the game, not how to implement app alarms on devices.

Hmm, you again. I seem to be reading the most rediculous comments today, and all from you, as I said in the Talos topic - go to FARMVILLE. Anyone who has a 5:1 ratio Points:Battle Points, you don't deserve to have reached 100+ cities. People should have abused the absence of that alarm in your playstyle and should have deleted you repeatedly.

 

[dadofwildthang]

This one is simple; app alarms should be removed from the game, once and forever. Nobody sane wakes up at nights because somebody launched an attack on him in a game. The devs should really think of how to make app alarms unnecessary in the game, not how to implement app alarms on devices.

No Problem here just disable your attack alarm...
you dont need a developer to turn it off.... you can do that 1 yourself

As well if the volume is up the wife tells me I am being attacked

 

[Zyrd]

Hmm, you again. I seem to be reading the most rediculous comments today, and all from you, as I said in the Talos topic - go to FARMVILLE. Anyone who has a 5:1 ratio Points:Battle Points, you don't deserve to have reached 100+ cities. People should have abused the absence of that alarm in your playstyle and should have deleted you repeatedly.

I am sorry, I did not want to hurt your feelings. Still I play the game as I like to play, and if it hurts you, you better go to farmville or whatever.

 

[Stykrk agi]

The app needs updated. Server time is a need not a want in this game. We need to lead a coalition of one staring the app in playstore so the devolpers finnally take notice. Can someone make a forum so everyone sees this idea. Im new to the forums so im not sure how they work. I joined just for this. Please spread the word and lets see ifbwe can get change. Thank you

 

[Zarun]

So I was reading about the new dominance endgame (google the grepolis devblog if you wanna read about it) and at first I was excited.

But then I started thinking about the main problem with this game at the moment: the fact that endgames are generally 2 or more top alliances trying to beat another top 5 alliance that tends to be more skilled, by using sheer numbers.

I think many can admit this scenario happens in world after world. Dominance is only going to increase this problem, possibly by orders of magnitude. If city count/slots are what wins the game then having a sister alliance (or sisters) feeding you points and cities will be the path to victory. Making it even easier to win a server by numbers than ever before, instead of skill.

Quality over Quantity had something around 50% of the top 30 players in Abdera, but still lost after nearly winning because it was 40 players vs 300.

 

[Kal Gordon]

I can appreciate that point of view, however Domination should see fewer multi-branch alliances in the late game. In Domination, there is only 1 "victory" - attaining and holding the threshold percentage of cities in the valid area. There is no second-stage of victory, like the crown for 7/7 wonders, that can be rotated to multiple branches of players. So in the end, only 1 branch of players can get a win of any form. Therefore there is no incentive for people to play in a supporting branch and feed cities to the main branch, as they will not get anything in return at the end.

We may still see a lot of multi-branch alliances and MRAs early on, so that teams have lots of internals to feast on for quick growth. But as the endgame nears, there is no reason to play in an academy/supporting branch, so leaders will find it hard to actually maintain/recruit members for those extra branches.

 

[ZUES had returned]

This one is simple; app alarms should be removed from the game, once and forever. Nobody sane wakes up at nights because somebody launched an attack on him in a game. The devs should really think of how to make app alarms unnecessary in the game, not how to implement app alarms on devices.

That is key.
I've played for 7 years or so now.

Majority of the old school players quit soon after the alarm was updated because we used to stay up late waiting for someone to go offline, or sneak a CS in. But with the alarm the whole - 'SUPRISE' element is removed. Send an attack while someones asleep. They wake up - dodge. Back to sleep. Wake up - Snipe, sleep.
This becomes extremely boring. EXTREMELY. It also becomes extremely unfair too. All its done is make a balanced game - unbalanced.

Especially with instant troop building (instead of the 50% reduction of cost) using gold in simple build a nuke in less than an hour. Where as before even with the 50% reduction it took 1-2 days, which evened the playing field for none gold users/gold users.

Add these together, you get a gold user waking up to an alarm (thanks to app), seeing a CS incoming and builds up to full using gold. First couple of times its like yeah, GG, work better as a team. But then it just gets boring. Gets boring = Less players.

I for one used to buy gold and use it on advisers or on special occasions, but due to how abusive it is now, i've stopped because these little benefits have no effect. I know im not the only one which probably decreased the turn-over for INNO.

These implements (yes I know they need to make money) are kicking the F2P side out, and becoming P2P / 24/7 Players.

I think most people will call for the APP alarm to be removed. (not the app) just the push notifications for an attack.

 

[FutbolTango]

@grahamrobe - @Rachel.L is right. Here's what happens:

• You put in a support ticket asking for someone higher than the Community Managers, because the Community Managers are refusing to deal with an issue.
• The moderator forwards the support ticket to the Community Manager, who says that they are the final authority and will listen to your concerns.
• You grudgingly explain your concerns.
• They take over a week to reply, and when they do reply, they parrot the previous answers, which heavily implies that they didn't bother to review the case as they claim to have done.
• You email InnoGames. The email then gets sent to the "appropriate person", who happens to be the Lead Community Manager. The Lead Community Manager takes your issue back to the same Community Managers and Moderators who were the cause of the issue anyways. In the meantime, no-one emails you to tell you that someone is actually dealing with your concern, so it seems as though they are dead-ending you again.
• If it's serious enough, you find their parent company and email them. The parent company sends it straight back to the Lead Community Manager, who only then gets back to you.
• Some of the issues get sorted (albeit not particularly fast, and not necessarily in a consistent matter), and the other half of the issues are explained away with "you don't have proof that that is an issue because there's information that we won't show you that means we are right no matter what".

So in the end it goes back to most of the same people who are ignoring/dead-ending the concerns in the first place, except with a bit more pressure to give some sort of explanation for their actions/inaction. It may get your issues/concerns sorted, but at the same time there is no guarantee.

*Screenshotted for future reference.

Well said...@Kalgordon

 

[FutbolTango]

Just talking about poor customer support, I just had another experience. Seriously guys, we love Grepolis. Is it possible that they hire consultants and psychologists and tell them how to handle people.

 

[Azoa]

Because innogames is too cheap to care. They name a world Methone and ban players if you use the word meth in your city name. They act like idiots and take your money from this game to create other games, not really progressing this game. They don't care about this game. Thats why it doesn't change like other games. Example is stormfall rise of balur those developers care. The game is constantly changing and New units are always being introduced. Don't you think it's time for a new unit here? This game is fun but it's like an old dinosaur. Nothing different. You can write them if you want. Info@innogames.com but I warn you the will act like idiots and then block you from replying to the conversation.

 

[Jalmundr the Bear]

Here's some more problems that need addressing:

1) MODs are STILL deleting posts and otherwise giving personal bans/infractions because they don't like being called on their BS or told that they're wrong and then shown why they're wrong.

2) When a Ban is placed, the player needs to be IMMEDIATELY notified in email associated with their account AND explained WHY they were banned. The appeal process also does NOT need to be to either start over or ghost and change worlds. I've noticed and been told that a lot of people who are getting bans are getting this kind of option and NO option to even appeal... This is ridiculous.

Those that DO get to appeal, do NOT need to be waiting 2+ hours or even days to hear back from the MODs. Especially when given an attackable ban. That is CLEAR unfairness to the player banned with an attackable ban since they have to wait so long. Most of the time, their bans are unwarranted and the MODs messed up. Prime example of this was a recent US world where 90% of the world got banned because the tool system changed. And INSTEAD of the MODs checking and testing it, they went ahead and asserted 90% of the world was cheating. Guess how many actually were? ZERO

3) The Rules in regards to the game AND the forums need to be concrete. NOT a matter of opinion by whichever MOD you happen to get or views your posts. Currently, it's a matter of opinion. So at that, I can say that all the MODs suck and I'd be right. Because that's my opinion (they all don't). The rules need to be both fair AND concrete. No more "well I think you're a bad guy so ban for you!".

4) Fairness to the game needs to be brought back - Grepo has largely gone towards favoring the big money spenders (this was confirmed by MODs and the PC) and is currently going through discussion to FURTHER make the game unbalanced and cater more to the "elite" (big money spenders and years long vets). This game is NOT attractive for a newcomer at all now and it's killing out our player base AND eliminating the potential growth for income (more events is NOT the solution to lack of income).

I know everyone has seen it. And everyone has dealt with it directly or indirectly.. including every MOD who views this post. These things I've said have been said for ALMOST 10 YEARS now and still these issues are largely ignored or told "no you're wrong get over it". Which only further proves the exact points that are made here. These need addressing, and need fixing. The player base went to Inno directly and got a COMA removed for her corruption (allowing these issues, giving free gold to people because she liked them, banned others because she didn't like them, and etc). So here's the player base AGAIN asking the MODs to STOP ignoring these issues and start addressing them. We don't need to be going to "Big brother" in order for this game to remain great and stay that way. But a lot of times, we have to now. Because admitting mistakes and correcting them seems to be something nobody (players and MODs alike) will do.

In the "old world grepo", these mistakes were admitted and fixed. Now, it's as if players and MODs can't make mistakes. And that's ridiculous.

 

[antz2013]

You make some interesting, albeit inaccurate comments. As a Moderator and at the risk of being trolled I am going to respond... I will state that these are my opinions and are based as my experience as a Moderator and not that of the Innogames or the Community Managers. I will also not be replying further.

1) MODs are STILL deleting posts and otherwise giving personal bans/infractions because they don't like being called on their BS or told that they're wrong and then shown why they're wrong.

Forum contributors are expected to know and follow the posted rules for the forums.


It is the forum moderator’s job is to enforce the rules of the forum. This is done by editing and/or deleting posts and, where required, issuing punishments to those that cross the line otherwise how would enforcing the rules work? I would direct you to the Forum Rules which are posted here: https://wiki.en.grepolis.com/wiki/Rules#Forum_Rules


I would point out this comment within these rules:


The moderators have the right to edit or delete posts and close topics. Please follow their instructions.


I have seen many players claim their posts do not break the rules however when compared to the same rules, the violations are often blatant and obvious.


If you feel that a forum moderator is abusing their authority, then follow this rule:


If you have a query or problem with any of the moderation, do not create a topic about it. Please PM Baudin Toolan.

2) When a Ban is placed, the player needs to be IMMEDIATELY notified in email associated with their account AND explained WHY they were banned. The appeal process also does NOT need to be to either start over or ghost and change worlds. I've noticed and been told that a lot of people who are getting bans are getting this kind of option and NO option to even appeal... This is ridiculous.


Those that DO get to appeal, do NOT need to be waiting 2+ hours or even days to hear back from the MODs. Especially when given an attackable ban. That is CLEAR unfairness to the player banned with an attackable ban since they have to wait so long. Most of the time, their bans are unwarranted and the MODs messed up.

EVERY in game player that is banned is informed that they are banned by a pop up when they attempt to access Grepolis. This pop up indicates that they are banned, why they are banned, and for how long.


EVERY player has the option to appeal a ban. There are processes in place for this.


As for the timing of appeals. I personally would love to be on line when a player comes online to discover they were banned, however that maybe immediately after the ban was placed or literally days later. I have personally seen players that wait to appeal their ban a day, if not hours, before the banned account was to be removed and ghosted. Moderators cannot be on 24/7, we have lives outside of our volunteer support team duties.


If any player has a VALID issue with how a ban appeal was conducted or how long a response takes, then they should be contacting the Community Manager and lodging a complaint.

Prime example of this was a recent US world where 90% of the world got banned because the tool system changed. And INSTEAD of the MODs checking and testing it, they went ahead and asserted 90% of the world was cheating. Guess how many actually were? ZERO

You might want to consider knowing the facts prior to stating speculation as facts. I was there...

3) The Rules in regards to the game AND the forums need to be concrete. NOT a matter of opinion by whichever MOD you happen to get or views your posts. Currently, it's a matter of opinion. So at that, I can say that all the MODs suck and I'd be right. Because that's my opinion (they all don't). The rules need to be both fair AND concrete. No more "well I think you're a bad guy so ban for you!".

The Rules are posted. While some may be subject to interpretation, they need to be vague enough to give everyone an understanding of expected behavior but not specific enough to bog down game play or the forum. Does this occasionally cause issues? Yes.


Moderators are expected to follow specific protocols and standards, those that do not get the title “former moderators”. Moderators also frequently consult with other Moderators to ensure that the protocols and standards are applied correctly.

4) Fairness to the game needs to be brought back - Grepo has largely gone towards favoring the big money spenders (this was confirmed by MODs and the PC) and is currently going through discussion to FURTHER make the game unbalanced and cater more to the "elite" (big money spenders and years long vets). This game is NOT attractive for a newcomer at all now and it's killing out our player base AND eliminating the potential growth for income (more events is NOT the solution to lack of income).

Not sure who you had confirm this, but most mods cannot access player information on premium (gold) so they cannot tell if a specific player has gold or how they spend it. Personally, I don’t care if you spend nothing or your weekly paycheck. If I can prove you broke the rules, you will face the appropriate punishment.

I know everyone has seen it. And everyone has dealt with it directly or indirectly.. including every MOD who views this post. These things I've said have been said for ALMOST 10 YEARS now and still these issues are largely ignored or told "no you're wrong get over it". Which only further proves the exact points that are made here. These need addressing, and need fixing. The player base went to Inno directly and got a COMA removed for her corruption (allowing these issues, giving free gold to people because she liked them, banned others because she didn't like them, and etc). So here's the player base AGAIN asking the MODs to STOP ignoring these issues and start addressing them. We don't need to be going to "Big brother" in order for this game to remain great and stay that way. But a lot of times, we have to now. Because admitting mistakes and correcting them seems to be something nobody (players and MODs alike) will do.


In the "old world grepo", these mistakes were admitted and fixed. Now, it's as if players and MODs can't make mistakes. And that's ridiculous.

"to err is human" Mistakes do happen despite the best intentions and it's what we do when we discover them that define us. I know I have apologized to players for errors on my part and players have apologized to me for theirs.


I just shake my head at the amount of rumors and speculations about what happened to the CoMa you are referring to. Am I going to expand on that… no. Are you correct? That information falls under our privacy rules and, from my perspective, is quite simply none of your business.


Are there issues? Anything is possible and when it does happen the evidence, and not speculation, needs to be presented to the Community Manager to be addressed.


Is there room for improvement… always but trying to draw attention to issues using rumors and speculation stated as facts does not help your cause.

 

[Jalmundr the Bear]

You make some interesting, albeit inaccurate comments. As a Moderator and at the risk of being trolled I am going to respond... I will state that these are my opinions and are based as my experience as a Moderator and not that of the Innogames or the Community Managers. I will also not be replying further.





Forum contributors are expected to know and follow the posted rules for the forums.


It is the forum moderator’s job is to enforce the rules of the forum. This is done by editing and/or deleting posts and, where required, issuing punishments to those that cross the line otherwise how would enforcing the rules work? I would direct you to the Forum Rules which are posted here: https://wiki.en.grepolis.com/wiki/Rules#Forum_Rules


I would point out this comment within these rules:


The moderators have the right to edit or delete posts and close topics. Please follow their instructions.


I have seen many players claim their posts do not break the rules however when compared to the same rules, the violations are often blatant and obvious.


If you feel that a forum moderator is abusing their authority, then follow this rule:


If you have a query or problem with any of the moderation, do not create a topic about it. Please PM Baudin Toolan.





EVERY in game player that is banned is informed that they are banned by a pop up when they attempt to access Grepolis. This pop up indicates that they are banned, why they are banned, and for how long.


EVERY player has the option to appeal a ban. There are processes in place for this.


As for the timing of appeals. I personally would love to be on line when a player comes online to discover they were banned, however that maybe immediately after the ban was placed or literally days later. I have personally seen players that wait to appeal their ban a day, if not hours, before the banned account was to be removed and ghosted. Moderators cannot be on 24/7, we have lives outside of our volunteer support team duties.


If any player has a VALID issue with how a ban appeal was conducted or how long a response takes, then they should be contacting the Community Manager and lodging a complaint.





You might want to consider knowing the facts prior to stating speculation as facts. I was there...





The Rules are posted. While some may be subject to interpretation, they need to be vague enough to give everyone an understanding of expected behavior but not specific enough to bog down game play or the forum. Does this occasionally cause issues? Yes.


Moderators are expected to follow specific protocols and standards, those that do not get the title “former moderators”. Moderators also frequently consult with other Moderators to ensure that the protocols and standards are applied correctly.





Not sure who you had confirm this, but most mods cannot access player information on premium (gold) so they cannot tell if a specific player has gold or how they spend it. Personally, I don’t care if you spend nothing or your weekly paycheck. If I can prove you broke the rules, you will face the appropriate punishment.





"to err is human" Mistakes do happen despite the best intentions and it's what we do when we discover them that define us. I know I have apologized to players for errors on my part and players have apologized to me for theirs.


I just shake my head at the amount of rumors and speculations about what happened to the CoMa you are referring to. Am I going to expand on that… no. Are you correct? That information falls under our privacy rules and, from my perspective, is quite simply none of your business.


Are there issues? Anything is possible and when it does happen the evidence, and not speculation, needs to be presented to the Community Manager to be addressed.


Is there room for improvement… always but trying to draw attention to issues using rumors and speculation stated as facts does not help your cause.

Antz,

It's good to see you around again old friend. Anyways, I'll "give you the win" with this. A lot of what you said is exactly what was needed to be. Anyways, thanks for addressing this. A lot of this information is rarely voiced to the player-base. So thank you

 

[Three-Toe-Mutant]

Alarms, and it's issues known to be an issue for some.

I think or in my opinion this isn't really too much of a unknown issue, and I realize there are some who don't want to be alarmed but this is a war game, that being said means that attacks can happen when ever and where ever they want. If you want to improve on this part of game play you'll need to do a bit more to limit the participants the times attacks can be launched from being an issue. (Just the thought of developing that makes my mind numb)

1.) Do not allow people from different time zones or different countries to play each other, I've seen US players Play English server just because the time difference allows attacks to happen at all hours meaning time compatibility. It's not really part of a war game. On-line times should be compatible with the players who play that server. (Good Luck trying to implement this and maintaining this, I believe it is unattainable.)

2.) Enforcing blanket rules over all servers don't seem to be to the liking of most of the old players, (Constant Game design modification isn't good for the players stuck in their old ways) after all this game has many more issues besides the specifics of attack the alarm issue, for instance I play multiple worlds on English Servers and US servers my alarm is only good for just one server I'm currently logged into at a time so I can't be monotoning all 5 of the worlds I'm playing with an audio alarm. So alarms for me aren't really doing what I need them to do anyway. Suggestion: I would like an email alert instead of a audio alarm notification that way I can get real time data for each world and server I play.

I think alarms can be addressed with email alerts, I think this can be a possible solution but just like an alarm your email notification must be an audio alarm which will happen in the middle of the night, until the players to adhere to rules decided by you and your teams the playing game experience will be under constant scrutiny.

I have other issues with this game and will post them in another part of this forum, cheating and game modification seem to be the number one concern for me, alarms aren't that high on my priority scale.

I would like to state for the record, the intent of an online gaming company is create revenue and without that revenue the game simply cannot exist.

Since most gamers don't want to purchase a game outright the in app purchases is a way to keep Grepolis alive. So I assume that design intent has this single component considered above all other concerns, so I do understand when the concerns of it's members isn't often considered when opposing this single important objective.

Regards,

The "Three-Toe-Mutant"