Re. Disconnections
I'm on the fence on this one - at this point in time - because I think there are bigger fish to fry at the moment. I recognise this sounds controversial, so please hear me out.
I started breaking down what could be improved with the arena. If anyone has read my other long posts (in Discussions, Suggestions and Bugs & Issues) you will know I'm trying to look at it in a structured and pragmatic manner. Removing the emotion to break things down into bite sized pieces then presenting this to Gameloft as suggestions for impovement (and/or bugs to be accepted as bugs then to be addressed) seems to be the right way to go.
Disconnections was in the top 3 on my arena scribble list several months ago, but now it's not - largely because:
1. My arena disconnection rate had been trending down - from around 1 in every 7 matches to as low as 1 in every 13 more recently - but I confess that I stopped recording it a while back because I just couldn't be bothered - so those numbers may have changed. It all becomes a little academic to record these things anyway.
2. Gameloft acted and made some changes to improve the situation (as it was) specifically related to disconnections - which I think were fairly (comparatively speaking) good for me as a customer (as compared with other areas in the game).
Ever since I started playing SF (without doubt) the screen I spend alot of time looking at is the one that says "Reconnecting". Now I admit I'm comparing against a fairly low base line here, but...
At the moment, there is no where else in the game, other than the arena, where a disconnection means:
a. my score at least does *not* go backwards everytime
b. I get 200,000 XP
Sure, I still lose any boosts I used during the match and energy invested - but it is most times a significanlty better outcome in the arena than anywhere else in the game at this point in time.
Sure, it's annoying when you throw 100 rubies at the "not go backwards / double rewards promise" for 30 minutes - then throw 20 rubies per five matches on top of that and a disconnection still means you go backwards (go figure eh?) - but - at least I get the XP and (more often than not) my ranking does not go backwards when I'm disconnected.
Now, I'm fairly certain Gameloft changed this arena "disconnection" outcome scenario when they tweaked the arena after the beta season. I'm thankful for this small improvement. In fact - I'd like it if this thinking was extended to the rest of the game (for example: my PvP win streak would certainly reflect my actual performance rather than just being a counter that highlights how many PvP matches / Skirmishes I've done since the last disconnections awarded me a loss!)
Lastly, the threads in these forums on the arena are high in number, typically of a general nature and (very understandably) sometimes charged with passion & emotion. There are many many other threads in this forum that cover wider opinions / game-play matters / rewards not dropping when players expect them to / scoring ranges / other sub-topics relating to the arena - they're not hard to find. So...
In my opinion - and I say all this very respectfully of others - I think we've already done the topic of "let's passionately highlight the what we don't like in the arena" to death. It looks like the arena is here to stay as a bolt-on / tie-in to the SF product. I think we need to move past sweeping general negative statements like "the arena is busted" and give Gameloft something mature and structured that they can sink their teeth into considering in order to possibly making the necessary improvements. Measures of disconnection rates (like those above) are a good start.
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Player name: Snipe (was SnipeyMcSniperFace but the game won't let me change it back) / DT: a78d2d5b (was a78d2d5) / Version: Android / Server: APA / 1. Been playing SF since UPD6 (Aug 2016) & every day since Nov 2016 / 2. I am a Gameloft customer not employee / 3. Sometimes I find it annoying when SF changes / 4. I value privacy so I am not on Facebook / 5. I do not take cosplay selfies dressed in latex as SF characters like Val or Daisy, etc. (no matter how cute it would be!)
