Dear GameLoft,
first of all I would like to apologize for my poor English; I am writing this letter with a translator. My English is simply not good enough for such a complex subject.
I have been playing Asphalt 8 for many years and I have been playing Asphalt 9 since the first day of publication. Yes...I still play Asphalt 8 every day...why?
I've always liked Asphalt 9 too; the graphics and other things are simply better; more modern than in Asphalt 8.
The multiplayer in both A8 and A9 was always a lot of fun...until the day you - for whatever reason - introduced the current mode in A9. Now I'll compare the multiplayer of A8 and A9:
In A8 a multiplayer race is not possible at all if there are not at least 4 players in a lobby; in A9 there are lobbies with 2 players....why???
In A8 you can choose between 3 tracks and leave the lobby WITHOUT LOSS OF POINTS if you don't like the track (at least for a certain time - after that it's your own fault)
The allocation of the points is - at least for me - much more comprehensible in A8 than in A 9 - for example: one becomes third in A8 in a lobby of five and gets 2 plus points...in A9 up to 10 to 20 minus points...why????
Then my biggest annoyance: THE CHEATER!!!!! Yes, I know, they are in A8 too and I can imagine that it is very, very difficult as a company that publishes and hosts such games to fight against them REALLY. But there is a big difference if you get up to 40 points deducted in a multiplayer race because you are last due to a driving mistake or the wrong choice of car or because you have NO CHANCE at all against the other players who are cheating (no collision detection, some players can fly over ramps as if they were sitting in a F16, players with cars that are more than 1.500 points lower in their car rank than you are will leave you standing from the start as if you are driving backwards).
None of this would even bother me - after all, there are many people who cannot win by skill but only by deceit.
But: then the points should be awarded in such a way that you might lose one or two points....in the next race you will have the chance to catch up again.
To come to the end: On the whole I think that both A8 and A9 are good games and yes, I have already invested real money in both games and would be willing to continue to do so....but only if something changes; at least in the points I have mentioned!!!!
A "healthy" mix in the multiplayer of A8 and A9 would probably - my opinion - be positively received by the community!!!!
With kind regards
Andreas/Hoppeditz #0dc1f/Club GriMu #7438