Rumbles were starting to loss their appeal to me over a month ago. Most guilds usually get matched up with three other guilds that are equal and one other guild that will always gem their way to a victory no matter what. This has made winning rumbles very difficult, but thats fine because as long as we finish in the money, meaning first, second, or third, i am perfectly fine with that. However as of yesterday rumbles have almost become pointless for me. The rumble point system has once again been changed and it only works for those select players, which there is noting wrong with these players by the way, that push rank to increase their guilds standing on the leaderboards and their standing personally in the game. Instead of giving a bonus to those who push rank, who do desire extra for their efforts, the points were cut down considerably which will force everyone that keeps their rank below 200-300 to increase their rank just to stay competitive in rumbles. As a ph10 I used to be able to get 298 pp for a 3 star ph8, 455 pp for a 3 star ph9, and 666 pp for a ph10. Now that total has been slashed by more that 60% in some cases. Instead of giving a bonus to to those who have a high rank, the points were dropped to penalize those who choose to have a lower rank like it is bad and against the rules. Plunder Pirates was the best game in the world, imo, when you could play the game the way you wanted. Now its you play the game the way we want it or you cant compete at all. I have a feeling though that when everyone increases their rank to get more pp, the same problem of players wanting more pp, bp, grog, and gold will still exsist because the low end numbers will have just been moved from pr1 to say pr201. So the only thing that will happen between now and then is how many more gems will the active rumblers have to buy to compete in the game.
Im really not being a jagoff when i say this, i am Deadly serious... Who are these guilds who gem their way to a victory? The Dead would like to rumble with them We need more fun and challenging rumbles
Just move up to rank 400. Many of the same friends and foes will soon be there. I imagine rank 400 will soon look like rank 200 used to look. I also imagine there will be easier high value targets hiding in the lower ranks once everyone moves up. This only makes farming for chests a little more challenging if you used to farm chests while rumbling.
+1 to that. I don't mind the idea of driving my rank up to be more competitive in rumbles/seasonal leaderboards, but the reality of it is what is upsetting. Too many players have repeated the same general base design, especially at the higher ranks. I enjoy the challenge from someone designing their base matched against the troops I recruit. I think it's boring to repeatedly execute a routine vs the same general base design just because you know that your odds of getting 3 stars vs most variations are best with a specific recruitment set. This game is overpowered on offense, so it really doesn't matter what base design you have ... it will be beaten ... so just make up your own design and save everyone from having to recruit 45 min of troops to attack it. It's going to get beaten one way or another. The rewards haven't changed, and I thought they were kind of not worth gemming for in the first place ... now it seems like a sucker deal ... Step 1. Up your rank to get more PP Step 2. Attack increasingly difficult bases, of the same general design Step 3. Recruit lots of time intensive troops in order to get through that base design Step 4. Watch your WD wander off and your HG shoot walls that don't need to be attacked Step 5. Recuit more WD and HG because eventually, one of them will do the job Step 6. Gem Gem Gem, because no one wants to wait 45 min to recruit the troops needed to attack that base design Step 7. Rinse, repeat, recruit additional HG as needed. Maybe I'm wrong here. Is anyone recruiting in 30 min or less, and consistently getting 2-3 stars on the corner ship base design?
I would like to disagree here, but this would just be my opinion. With the new streaking, those that really have 'skill' are able to last high in ranks, and score more than the gemmers that constantly gem, but don't have what it takes to stay high. Also, with everyone pushing their rank up, I am hopeful that the diversity of bases higher in rank will also increase. However, I do agree that it is the same old layouts time and time again after you hit a certain rank. Those that wish to score higher than most can always bump up their rank, like gemmers, to score more. It may ot be as quick, but then again, that is the point of gemmig in the first place. To speed things up. We have been working at figuring out all the scores possible at certain ranks, and it is very comforting that the game can adapt to your play style. A PH9 that has their rank pushed high is able to score more than a PH10 that is farming or just hanging low. If you wish to score, then rank, and you can always farm and score less, but collect resources. Its all about finding your sweet spot. Gemmers will always be at the top of the game, as they investing money into the game, but I think this closed the gap on those who pay to play, and those that simply fight. The way attacking works has only been separated into tiers, so that those that work hard to push rank are now rewarded, which is a positive change in my opinion.
Other than sniping really weak low bases for chests, there has never been a reason to be at an extremely low PR - and you were never intended to be able to score highly while doing that. This change was made to punish people who farm extremely weak bases for easy points. You were never supposed to get equal points for a rank 1 base as a rank 700 base. When we had BP instead of PP, higher ranks got more BP. PP was introduced in a rudimentary form before it was finished, to deal with an issue (minis), but it was made clear months in advance that it was going to factor in PR in the future once they finished getting that working. Lynsey had posted this several times way beforehand. Even before the change, my PR rarely went below 350. There is plenty of loot and weak bases up higher (streaking players dropping rank drove bases up higher by forfeiting!). I can find plenty of full collectors, and 1m loot bases, and underdeveloped PH10, at this higher range. You don't HAVE to raise your PR, but its a very serious nudge in that direction, which should just further drive bases up to a more appropriate level. In general, PH10 should be higher rank than PH9, and the fact we have been able to exploit that system for so long has been a major flaw everyone has gotten used to. You don't have to fight all the same design with maxed out bases and super expensive armies. I've gone my entire current rumble in the 350-450 range, not really trying very hard, and still doing perfectly fine. I've found a lot of PH10 with lv5-7 walls! Not even bone walls yet! Bases at this range aren't some super difficult maxed copycat base like people are implying. Down low you may find some of those because of players that had been streaking and taking advantage of low rank bases, but if you move up to where you should be (around pr400 for an average-level player), there's plenty of easy, unique, high loot PH10s to get easy points off of. I'm still getting 666 points an attack, and if anything they are even easier than before, as more and more weak players are forced to finally move up. I have a serious question for anyone that is struggling with this new system: WHY are you, as an endgame player, fighting at a super low PR to begin with? You don't need to be top of the leaderboard to make normal points, you just can't be ranked super extremely low, which, if you have to be honest, you cannot say you were ever meant to be at your current progression. Even at PR201, you're only getting a 20% reduction. This isn't much at all, and that's an absurdly low PR. At a 20% reduction, you have to make 6 attacks instead of 5 to get the same points as before. One extra attack, that's it, not a huge punishment. And 201 is way lower than you should be as a PH10. I STRUGGLE to keep my PR below 350, defenses just keep pushing it back up. Being low rank isn't good for loot, I actually find it to get abysmally low anywhere below 200, which is where the more serious penalties start kicking in. Being low rank wasn't good for points beforehand either - the PH10 bases that were easy to beat but couldn't be quickly sniped were pushed up by players dropping rank to go farm those pr1s- there are tons of these in the middle ranks now - so if you want easy PH10 wins, its been better to be a middle rank for a couple months now. Its only good for fighting PH8s for 1* wins for easy chests. The only change now is you have to choose - do I want easy chests, or do I want to win a rumble?
You just explained every bit of my frustration. Some of these updates we just need time to get used to, but this point change is making the game not fun anymore. Not to mention that in the 400+ rank I cannot get enough grog in my battles to recruit the pirates I need.
@Skye - the reduction is more severe between 1 and 2 star wins. I got 38 PP from a 1 star win. I think I was around PR 200-250ish. I look at Plunder Pirates as a fun themed tower defense game where you aren't playing a computer generated attack series that is repeated every time you start a new session. You have both aspects of tower defense, the obvious defense, and the deployment of troops. Most tower defense games only let you play the defense side. I like trying to adapt to a strange, often imperfect, base design and use the 30 seconds of preview to quickly develop a unique attack strategy. So, I keep my PR low so that I can enjoy playing the way I want to. I'm not even looking for "easy" bases. I'm looking for a fun challenge that continues to change. I don't want to change my play (and the way I enjoy this game) just to keep minimum expectations for guild rumble requirements. I'm probably not in the majority of opinions, but I'm probably not alone.
The 1* and 2* reductions are additional, they are not affected by PR. 2* you get 60% of available points, as has always happened. 1* wins gives 10% of available points, down from 25% previously. This is the case at ANY PR. It doesn't affect low PR players any more than high PR players - just make sure you get a second star! The available points you're getting a percentage of are based off PR. A 2* win now is the same as a 2* win before if you're pr401. The reduction for 2* wins isn't any greater now than it was before, regardless of your PR. You're still getting 60% of available points. Being a low PR doesn't make a 2* worth less than it did before, it makes the available points lower. The PH10 bases you fight at PR100 aren't any different than the bases you fight at PR401, the ones down low are actually generally probably harder! You don't have to change how you play to fight PR401 bases, you just can't drop rank between battles. But I promise those bases are just as easy, and fun, with just as much variety. I can share countless screenshots of bases I got 666 points for after the change, which you could 3* with a 120k grog army, without an LP or GS or perks available, without any thought or effort. I don't go up on the leaderboard for the exact same reason you described, lack of variety. But I promise there is currently even more variety among PH10 bases at pr401 than there is at pr1, and there has been for a while. I've been fighting around this range since way before the change, because all the streakers dropping rank have been forcing those fun, unique bases up higher and higher. If that is truly the way you like to play, you can do it just as easily, if not easier, in these middle ranks. You don't have to climb to pr800 and fight the same top ranked max base over and over, 401 isn't high enough to make the leaderboard, its not a challenging PR, I promise. You do not have to change how you fight bases, you just have to keep your pr from going too low. That's the only change, and I don't see how anyone could argue that purposefully forfeiting hundreds of times a week in order to be able to be competitive should have ever been in a game's design.
Dropping to very low levels is a byproduct of farming, not a goal to be at all the time. Once we do not need to farm there is no reason to drop rank other than when you legitimately get beaten by another player. We were already nixed on attacking much lower PH to thwart farming them, which was the intention to keep new players interested. That system seems quite fair. So why not just limit the PR one drops to based on PH value? Such as: PH1: minimum pirate rank one can drop 1, PH2: 50, PH3: 100 ... PH10: 300. Problem solved. @Skye, your analysis, input and all the hard work you perform as a service to this game and its proliferation is admirable. Thank you for all of your efforts to keep our little game alive.
Actually, those with a high rank relative to their Pirate Hall do get bonuses to their Plunder Points - the bonus goes up to 75% extra for the highest rank on top of what the previous points were. Those with an average rank to their Pirate Hall get the same amount as before, and those with a poor rank get a lower amount. People can still drop rank and farm (or just be a bit rubbish at attacking), and are rewarded with easier bases, but shouldn't expect to be additionally rewarded in Rumbles or on the Leaderboard in the same way as those who choose to play competitively, push rank and challenge themselves against harder bases.
Can you tell me how I'm supposed to save up 7 mil grog while ranking in the 400's and attacking once every 45? You might as well say rumbles are for end game only or those who spend more gems than they win back every rumble.
Do you want to save up loot, or do you want to win a rumble? If you're trying to save up loot, don't use a full army that takes 45 minutes to train every attack. Use a cheap, fast army thats just enough to get the loot. Snipe a bunch of collectors, or use thieves to take grog from the bases that have 1m+, I find enough of both in the high 300s, which you can see from the low 400s. I slowly snipe my way down to build up as much grog as I need, use it, and then fight/defend my way back up before the next rumble starts. During a rumble, if you want to do both at the same time, then every other attack snipe collectors, wait out the rehire, and then on the second attack win a battle. Your PR will stay more or less the same, you'll get an extra 385k grog every session, and you still get a win in. Or use the gems you get for free to speed up a bunch of attacks, that works too! You get plenty of free gems, use them! 20+ a day from sailing, 35 from a rumble win, a couple thousand across all the quests (minus the ones needed for the builders huts, you should still have a lot leftover). Get up to around 5m grog by the end of the rumble, and the reward will push you the rest of the way. Stay signed in more often so no one can attack you, if your design isn't good at protecting your grog. I personally only lose stores once every twenty or so defensive battles, so I take it in much faster than it gets stolen from me. If you have a good defensive layout, you should win enough defenses that forfeiting a couple battles here and there between your wins to snipe collectors doesn't drop you very far, and your loot doesn't get stolen very often, so that shouldn't matter. But if it does, just don't let your game sign out while you're trying to build up grog after you get to 4m or so.
I don't have the luxury of leaving my phone on while at work. Today I tried to get to 4 mil grog and I would go up to 3mil log off get plundered for 800k log on grab 800k lose 300 of it to rebuild troops log off get attacked for 700k rinse and repeat.
I ended up farming people's collectors when I had a free hour and got the 10 mil grog to get my pirates going again. As far as my base design is concerned, everything is maxed out and collectors are well guarded. People can't easily walk in.
If you're getting plundered for 800k, your stores aren't being protected well enough - its time to change your design if you're losing too much to defense to build up grog. The trick is to get people to destroy your PH to give you a shield without being able to get to your stores, and to waste too much of their army destroying the PH to be able to continue on and get your loot.
My stores are protected quite well thanks. I could leave my PH out in the open to get a free shield but then I'm not going to rank up at all. Every base can be broken with Max troops and I assure you the ones that attack me are using them.
