FIX REQUIRED: prevent game exploitation

[Samura|]

I'd submitted a prior post about FTA, queue stacking and matchmaking and how the 8-wit fix would help to address these issues (at least partially). I thought I'd wait until after the next patch before posting the need for further fixes, but given that a lot of the beta testing is done, I should just post this.

I think the cumulative of the 'bugs/loopholes' in the game makes it possible for players to really exploit the game, to work their way up to a top 100 or higher ranking with minimum effort.

Exploiting the game Here's how the game could be completely exploited to climb the ranks:

1) start as a new user ID (to re-take your placement matches)
2) exploit game queuing to stack P1 games (to exploit FTA - should be partly fixed with 8-wit for P2 update)
3) pick the optimal race for your favourite map (or map with strongest FTA)
4) only play on your optimal maps (with your race of choice)
5) win your starting games and it's possible to be placed immediately into Super Titan
6) repeat the process and, assuming you're actually a decent player (or excel in one map), you could easily get into the top 20 list!!

I hope OML is paying attention to this, my view is the following fixes are required:

a) reduce FTA (already being done with P2 starting with 8 wit - thanks for listening guys)

b) prevent map-shopping / queue stacking - the incentive for queue stacking will be reduced with the 8-wit change, however P1 still has a small positioning advantage and unit advantage (on small maps P1 can always have 1 more unit on the map, on larger maps there's a small +1 wit mathematical advantage). Add to this the possibility of map-shopping (and therefore being able to select your race of choice to match the map) and the incentives clearly remain to queue-stack.

How to fix this? My preferred choice would be to alternative between P1 and P2 games. The problem is that players could still quit 'unmatched' P2 games and therefore only play their P1 games. However this is definitely more difficult as they could be immediately matched in their P2 games (but still possible as they could start enough games until there's a shortage of open slots). A better fix would be to only disclose whether a player is P1 or P2 once a game has been matched. The disadvantage is it slows the game a little because P1's turn is not taken immediately. But I think matchmaking is slowed even more by the fact there's a mismatch between P1's and P2's in any event. If we alternate between P1 and P2 games for every player, then there should always be an almost equal number of P1 and P2 players waiting to be paired, resulting in much quicker matchmaking overall. Plus this also fixes the fact that very high level players tend to get more P1 games as it's less likely there's an open slot waiting.

c) alter the effect of 'league placement matches' so that it's not possible to jump straight into Super-Titan league. A good new player should get reasonable competition working their way up Masters, and 30 or so games isn't too much to ask to reach Super-Titan league (and indeed many Masters players are in the top 100 list, therefore you don't even need to make Super-Titan to be a top 100 ranked player).

Why are these fixes important?
To be honest these loopholes make me question a lot of things about this game and my opponent:

1) how many players in the top 200 are there because they exploited the game?? How many of their games have been played as P1? This is a big issue, as it's a goal of many players to make the top 200 list and where the integrity of that list is called into question (for example if we know lots of players are there because they used hacks to cheat), then so is a key incentive to play the game.

2) am I playing an opponent who has pre-chosen the race and map? Yes I'm prepared to play any map with my choice of race, but it doesn't feel good knowing that my opponent may have rigged the game.

[Ravernoth]

(10-25-2012 06:04 PM)Samura| Wrote:  How to fix this? My preferred choice would be to alternative between P1 and P2 games. The problem is that players could still quit 'unmatched' P2 games and therefore only play their P1 games. However this is definitely more difficult as they could be immediately matched in their P2 games (but still possible as they could start enough games until there's a shortage of open slots). A better fix would be to only disclose whether a player is P1 or P2 once a game has been matched.

I agree this would be the best fix - if we don't want the predictability of rotating P1/P2 games, it could be decided with a 50/50 chance each time and disclosed when a game is matched.

I would also add to only disclose which map a game is on once the game is matched.

[joelduque]

(10-25-2012 07:53 PM)Ravernoth Wrote:  

(10-25-2012 06:04 PM)Samura| Wrote:  How to fix this? My preferred choice would be to alternative between P1 and P2 games. The problem is that players could still quit 'unmatched' P2 games and therefore only play their P1 games. However this is definitely more difficult as they could be immediately matched in their P2 games (but still possible as they could start enough games until there's a shortage of open slots). A better fix would be to only disclose whether a player is P1 or P2 once a game has been matched.

I agree this would be the best fix - if we don't want the predictability of rotating P1/P2 games, it could be decided with a 50/50 chance each time and disclosed when a game is matched.

I would also add to only disclose which map a game is on once the game is matched.

Dear devs, FTA is present. It can be remedied by alternating p1 per player on league games. Like a ticker or marker that I am now p1 on the game I queued. Then the next game I am automatically p2. p1 with different group than p2. p1 matched with a player from the 'p2 pool'.