Perhaps the problem with this particular issue is the difference between a L80 player that has been playing for 5+ years, and those that have been playing for a year. The level of resources will be vastly different. New players use items when they get them. If I have less than 50 of something (bonus, repair items etc) I will be on edge. I won’t drop below 100 launch prep.FYI - a copy of a post on the GI Facebook group:
In the beginning the separation between us was 3000 hats ... and the parting was reduced to 1000 hats ... while he was sleeping I used to play at night and the separation weakened again to 2000 hats and now he is in the first place ... I want to know how he did that ... I play for more than 12 hours a day without interruption ... it is confusing for me..and I am very sad because I am so tired and exhausted for 7 days
There are a lot of similar posts floating around. Newer players see others post large numbers and accuse them of cheating on Facebook. And GI read those posts.
I am not excusing the action of GI against DarekK and others - I suspect that GI's motives are probably fuelled by profit. But the "cheat" accusations are plentiful and GI is probably looking at who is more profitable - whinging newbie or well informed experienced player.
The obvious answer is additional levels to reduce scale of players in the same competition.
There are a lot of accusations that fly around. I have my own opinions; some valid, some are far far from it. Weekly we see players appear from nowhere with <200 stars and max land with loads of MSB buildings and max land that eventually disappear. Logically you would deduce that there are loop holes where players can get unlimited greens, and when G! catch on they remove/ban the players. That’s my conclusion anyway. A recent one of note was a player with less than 200 stars and a full fleet of black S3 planes. I can’t conceive of a way that would be possible without buying huge numbers of ‘mysterious plane’ chests from the event store at 99 greens a pop. The number of stars doesn’t tally any other way. Someone either has seriously deep pockets, or the more likely scenario....
On that particular issue, it’s pretty dumb. 2000 points is nothing. Around 2000 fuel with speedups < to Rome which is a drop in the ocean for most. That’s before you consider the numerous variations between people’s cities and playing patterns that can contribute to that. Then there is the Normal, S1, S2, S3, VW, Jet Pack, Friend in need bonus, building ad speed ups, gold sub that could all be a contributing factor. 2000 points is not worth arguing about (and yet here I am).
I think the reply @DarekK got is disgraceful. If I was in that position, I’d be fuming. The money and time that was poured into the game to get those upgraded buildings initially. The 100 limit was the first kick, again I would have been fuming if I’d spent that amount of greens on something which is now worthless. But to add insult to injury, the company now tell you that your game is ‘not up to standard’.
Why!?
Tell me exactly why it is not acceptable?
Because you gave me the option to upgrade my factory which I took?
Because you then changed the rules and promised that existing items we have gained would not be affected?
And now you have the outright cheek to say you will only unblock the game if I agree to give up those items? Disgraceful. Is that even allowed under trading standards?
And to add insult to injury, every player that visits is told I’m blocked for violating the terms of service? Well I’ve been through the terms of service and there is nothing in there concerning this scenario.
More to the point, the items they have stored makes next to no difference to the average player. They aren’t using them to dominate top spots on flight rankings. They aren’t doing questionable things in the alliance leagues unlike some that have posted publicly about it here.
And they are now blocking players for storing large amounts of fuel and passengers. So after removing the ability to stock things in the warehouse, we now can’t store large amounts in our bar?🤔 So that being the case, I wonder how these people are doing 1.2M + a week, you know, those that don’t get blocked, those that do it once or twice a month 🤔
And yes I know you can use JP and VW with S3s doing a more steady number daily throughout the week rather than doing all via instant returns and still get huge numbers. There are other tell tale signs if they knew what to look for - the difference between a player that is working their city for their achievements, and those that are exploiting other avenues (whether it be their own cash or illegitimate means). Obviously one will never know how much another player spends on their own game.
But those that want to save a large amount to do instant returns are deemed to be ‘violating game policy’? Well I suggest the game policy needs updating so we all know exactly where we stand.
They really need to get to grips with the loop holes that are being exploited, rather than those that have been playing a long time legitimately.
If they are planning on targeting players that store fuel and passengers in their bar beyond the limit, then we’ve basically got a game that becomes unplayable.
Oh and as a final point, storing loads of passengers in the bar for this event is pretty detrimental to earning points in the rankings before someone starts querying that. You don’t earn the currency when a VC contract is running.