6 Ideas that I have you all need to read (YOU TOO SUPERCELL!)
My six ideas!
(To save reading, I've posted a shorter edited version below the original in italics courtesy of Col. Slacklyne; my co-leader to Morpheus Road, in charge of moral, big words and everything else)
Ok I know for a fact I'm not the only one that has founded and am leading a clan. There are TONS. So here's my thing. I feel there are a few changes, as a leader that would help make managing a clan and recruiting much easier. Sure it's not easy at all. But these would help A LOT.
Here's my issue:Freaking war trolls. Yes. I said the t-word. WAR TROLLS. The people that join your clan, participate in a war, and leave before they attack, either after once, or even not at all. Sick of them! SICK! I started Morpheus Road a month ago and it has gotten so bad here, we've literally won only one war (if someone would like to drop some tips below that would be great). Getting the stars isn't the problem. It's the war trolls. This is a serious problem. For new clans, the only way to win a war it seems is to get matched up a clan that has a few war trolls in them. For new clans that puts a HUGE dent in recruiting. Guy comes on, sees the clan is losing, immediately thinks "oh this clan sucks," and promptly bounces. Problem? I think yes. Also I have an issue getting ahold of my members. Sure, I can send a clan mail, but just because I do that doesn't mean they'll actually get on and read it right then! Also, what's with all the inactive members? Sure you can tell if a persons storages are full, and base demolished, but how can you seriously tell the difference between who's just on vacation, and who's actually deleted the game from their phone? And what about the immense count of inactive CLANS! Like typing in a clan name and all these clans Pop up with the same name that only have one member! I'm sure that's filling up your guys' servers! NO DOUBT! What about never being able to find your friends? Guy leaves your clan, and then not in a clan, where do I go to find him?!? Dilemma? I think yes! And then walls? What if I don't like pink!?!? Hmm!!? Ok. Banter over. Here's how I think you guys can fix these issues.
1. To solve the war problem! I say don't let them join a clan until the war they're in is over! Wanna join a clan and leave as soon as the war starts? Be penalized for it! Or find some other way to punish them. Like, don't let them be in a war for a whole week! LET US END THE WAR TROLLS' EXISTENCE!!! See I know a lot of you might have a problem with my first idea. A lot of you like to hop, come back, attack, and that's fine! So here's where I get to the nitty-gritty. I've tjought of a way that puts the other ideas to SHAME! War leave requests! If you wanna go somewhere, you have to have permission! Send a war leave request to your Leader or a Co! Right to their inbox! Most clans have one leader and about three to four co-leaders. More often than not, those co-leaders are people trusted by the leader! So that would TOTALLY work out. That leader or co could ask that person back (which leads into my next idea) "Hey, what for?" Or "No! I don't want you to." Or "Yeah sure, be back soon!" Then that person can accept or decline the request, and of accepting, choose an elotted time in increments of 30 minutes (under a max of a few hours) that that individual clan member canbe gone. If that person is gone longer than that time, that co-leader/leader can approve/decline an automatic extension, which would mean, one, if the extension request was approved, they get more time, or two, if it was declined that punishment I talked about earlier would automatically apply to that person wherever they go. Either them not be allowed to participate in a war, or not be able to join a clan, for a week. Like a clan/war cool-down for bad CoC boys/girls (otherwise known as war trolls). It sounds like a lot but really, it wouldn't be any more complex than the village edit mode that was introduced on these forums pages (remember that Supercell? I do!)
2. Moving on. As I stated before, I have an issue getting a hold of people. In clan, or out. General mails don't always work, and what of the people/friends that got so good, they joined a higher clan! What, you gotta either hop to their, clan, find them on global (sure that's an easy task), or get them on kik, groupme, or line. How about this. Clash messages! A new system to privately be able to talk to people! (Literally can go hand-in hand with the previous war-request idea). Yeah, a lot of you negative Nancy's might say "no that would never work!" Or just get a GroupMe. Get a kik. Get their phone number!"
Ok, I get you. But here's the problem. I can download groupme, kik or line myself no problem. The problem lies in trying to get your members/elders/co's to download it as well! A lot of people find it ridiculous that to be in a clan, you gotta download three freakin apps and get on safari and check out the forums! I don't disagree! It's a Lot of effort. But if you want a serious in-depth, professional clan, this aspect is crucial. So here's what I propose! Give more space and expand the players inbox's! Allow where an individual can View profile, visit, kick, promote, invite, et cetera the option to "message" and the. Pop up similar to sending a clan mail, where you can write a brief message to that individual. Of course, limit it to where, for one, unless you are in-clan (for us adult players), your'e censored, and two, you can only send one message at a time until that person responds to that message. Boom instantly that takes away the problem of getting ahold of somebody. Also add in the feature where that person gets a notification on their phone or lock screen, briefly saying who sent the message, and what the message says. That way that individual see's it. Immediately after looking at their phone! They don't even have to get on the game! Like this for instance: "Sattlerj11 sent you a message: Hey! It's your leader! Get on the game and use your GoWiWi attack in the war before it's over!" Or "Father Fatality: Hey, can you jump on real fast and donate me those max loons? I need them fast for my war attack!" Or even, "Col. Slacklyne needs your attention! 'Hey bro. This guy says he knows you and wants to join? He doesn't meet the requirements." Better yet, "Matt Mercer wants to catch up! "Hey man, how's the clan going! You guys are a lot better!" My favorite: "Warrior Claire sent you a Private Message! "hey can I join real fast and get a Pekka?" Better yet, how about request for troops through a MESSAGE. That would be AWESOME! Am I not right? No more having to jump on Norsk global and find someone to donate you a max golem! Lol. And the message limit I mentioned earlier would totally help someone from getting spammed. Also keep an inbox limit like normal (I would suggest 50, 100 for Th9s and 10s as they attract more people with their high level. Of course that person should be able to easily delete messages for more room. Okay, I'm just saying, this idea opens the door for all kinds off possibilities. Here's an idea that just popped in my head: what about on here? All of us know, and no offense Supercell, the way to message on here to recruit is CRAZY! Being able to find a person's clan, and send send that leader, co, elder, or member a message like "John123456 sent a message to you: Hey! You think I could meet the standard to join?" From there that person could visit them and inspect their base. Of course, to my last point for this idea, there will always be spammers. So, Supercell, and you gotta do this message thing. You just gotta (please please please please, with cherries on top?), if and when you do, you need to limit the amount of messages a person can send per hour. Like the cool down for clan mail, maybe ten minutes a message? Again this idea sounds like a lot of work for you, but I believe you can do it. (Also to make you guys money. For the cool downs for clan mails and messages (if you do bring that into the game, start offering people the ability to gem the cool down away. I'm just saying. I'd drop 20-30 gems to be able to skip that cool down and send another clan mail/message, especially if I'm a leader and need to remind my clan something and feel 12 hours is a tad ridiculous anount of time to wait. *cough cough*
3. Next part of this novel: active button. Not too sure if this idea is ruled out, but I've said it before, and I'll say it again. All these members that join, and suddenly decide, "hmm I don't like this game anymore!" (Face it Supercell haters gonna hate, I know. I know.) or you know, they die, like some people do (rest in peace, respect to those who have passed), or maybe they dropped their phone in the toilet and decided, "heh, I don't need another one for a while" leaves the leaders and co's and elders (Oh my!) with the hard job of discerning if theiyre still in for the long haul of the clan. Sometimes it's a guessing game and you don't always get it right! Kick a valued member that's inactive just temporarily, and your'e gonna get some hate! Sure it's that persons responsibility to tell a leader or a co but of course people make mistakes sometimes, right? I think a simple "Last log on: 4:15 P.m." Or "Last clashed: January 3, 1923" on their profile would do the trick. Or if their active, a simple green dot next to their name in their profile/clan roster would make it real easy to know they'll fast respond to that war leave request I said earlier. I don't see how that could hurt anybody! "Like OMG Justin! Everyone knows I'm on clash! Someone's gonna steal my identity and buy a house in my name! Don't ya know???" Right... About that...
4. Clan removal! Along with the active button, if no one in a clan has been active in, let's say, a month? I vote! Remove that clan! Recycle some of those well thought up clan names! Get rid of the thousand dead (and hated by some) Req N Go clans. This will also help recruiting by forcing some active players out into other clans of their choice. Yeah small mechanic. But seems like it would help that storage space of yours, Supercell!
5. Bookmark friends. Or "favorites." So here's an idea, you introduced clan bookmarking, and I got this WACKY idea in my head that you should allow the same for individual clashrs. Ok. So here's a way to find somebody currently: either, have them on Facebook, or have them as your friend on game center. I don't know about you, or anybody else, but that's a lot of trouble for some. You got to go on Facebook, find somebody that lives all the way in Idaho or Michigan or Timbuctu, add them on your personal Facebook or Game Center, turn around, reopen the app and then look in your friends list to see if clash of clans is updated with your Facebook/game Center. I don't know if anybody has thought about this idea before, but if you guys have, You need to get the ball rolling in at this little mechanic into the game.
6. Finally. The last idea on my mind. Better stop now before I come up with 10 more! As I've said before, I feel like not everybody is going to enjoy the design you guys have put in place for each level of walls. I feel like, there should be the ability to add an option to which color you would like your walls of your base to be. I've said this before, in a very simple thread on the forums, with not much response from anybody. So now that I'm actually taking the time to draw out and think out everyone of my ideas, I figured I might as well add that in there even though it has nothing to do with clan management. It's a really cool idea, and I thought of a way that would help benefit you guys at super cell as well as make all the little millions of clasheers happy! How about adding dark elixir into your walls to upgrade the color of your level walls. like, what if a person just really hates the color blue? And they've maxed out their base 100% and can do no more upgrading (congrats by the way!), how about adding it in there where you can spend a specified amount of dark elixir to choose from multiple wall designs at every level? Maybe even do the same with structures and town halls? make the game a little more individualized. I've got this idea from call of duty advanced warfare. With the recent release of this new awesome game that I'm addicted to, people online have all kinds of different customization options for their characters. So I got to thinking, "why not do that with clash of clans?" I think this is a really good idea that needs to be revisited. I know a lot of you creative designers at Supercell would, no doubt be more than happy to come up with five, 10, 15, or even 20 different base options all with different dark elixir costs, That you could add to any structure in the game. I mainly talking about walls right now, but while I'm at it might as well throw in the idea of making that archer tower looked all kinds of different? Make your whole base color coordinating? Or even… dare I say it, I had a whole new aspect to base building and come up with all kinds of cool different designs for bases? Like for instance, a rainbow base. Or a solid black base. Or a color coordinatingbase that just so happens to be the same color of your favorite NFL team. you have all kinds of options, you could do here supercell, I really think you guys should do this. There are already people on the game but have maxed out their bases, and are now most likely bored at home with nothing to do playing boom beach or some other gang that isn't a supercell game. Bring them back! Advertise you cannot customize your face! Like when you did the clan wars announcement! Anyone at all Townhall 10, sees that they will jump right back onto the app and immediately start raiding to get the best looking base out of anyone. it's a great idea, and with more dark elixir, comes more rates, comes more troops, becomes more gems to make you guys more profit.
I know those were a lot of ideas, but they were all ideas that have been on my mind for a while. I really hope you guys look at each one of these and look at all of the great possibilities that comes with them. Or more, I'm hoping you'll actually do one of these making all my time writing this extremely long post worth it.
to anyone reading this, drop a comment, bump this up, let's super cell see this! If you really like anyone of these ideas you will do just that. Because the more views, and the more reads, the more likely these mechanics will get done.
Thanks all and have a good day.
Edited shortened version: written by col. Slacklyne:
I've been a member of a globally ranked clan family for over two years, and more recently am the co-founder of a new clan that I created with the intent to serve dedicated, developing players. Along the way I have learned more than a few things about Clash of Clans, and have seen many things within the game that could use some attention from the developers. Fortunately, Supercell has been very active with game improvements and upgrades, but I still feel there are a few things that warrant further improvement.
I know many of you reading this are probably just like me, in that you're dedicated, experienced, and invested in a game that you enjoy, so please read on...
I have four general issues to bring up, and I am looking for your feedback and your support in elevating this post to hopefully gain the attention of the developers. In order to prevent this post from possibly turning into an unwarranted gripe-fest, I'm asking any responders to stay closely on-topic, and stick to addressing the matters presented below.
1. War Trolls. The dreaded T word. These people join your clan, participate in a war, and hop out leaving one or both attacks unused. As the leader of a new clan, this is far and away our biggest issue. It has contributed massively to our losing streak in wars. This in turn really hurts recruiting and retention, and a vicious cycle gets set into place. How to fix it? I propose two ways....a a FURLOUGH, and aPENALTY INCREASE.
If you wanna go somewhere and you're in war, (say hi to other friends, ask for troops, etc) you should be able to ask permission. This would involve sending a FURLOUGH request to your Leader or a Co, delivered right to their inbox. The decision maker can then accept or decline the request. Accepted requests are "hall passes" that can be granted with a specified time limit associated with them of either one, two, or four hours. If the departed player is gone longer than that time, then the leader or a co can either opt to extend the Furlough, or allow the Furlough to expire. Expired Furloughs would be treated the same way that a player who leaves a clan war without during a war, which is addressed below.
Hopping clan war or breaking Furlough should result in a stiffer penalty than the current one, which is just the remaining time left in the abandoned clan's war. This penalty is clearly not enough to prevent War Trolls from hopping, so I truly believe it needs to be increased to a full week.
2. In-Game Communication Means (i.e., Mail) - this really needs to improve! We need a better Clan Mail system, the introduction of the ability to keep a Friend List, and the ability to send Personal Messages to other players. There is no reasonable way to keep track of in-game friends outside of your clan, and many seasoned players have connections in the game that extend way beyond their current clan. Other games have incorporated more functional mail systems, and I am not quite sure why a game that is designed to rely on group mechanics does communication so poorly. From creating a personal mail system to creating block-lists to enabling Elders, Co-Leaders and Leaders to have varying levels of ability with respect to the clan mail they may be entitled to send, it all needs work. Because there are so many examples out there or mail systems for games that DO work, I don't think a huge dialogue is needed on this point. Just pick one, model yourself after it (or improve on it!) and implement, PLEASE. Clan mails with 12 hour cool downs and directives stated on a chat log with a rapid scroll-out coded into it doesn't cut it, and the countless people who have to use Kik, GroupMe, or other out of game chat methods are just having their communication made more cumbersome and challenging.
3. Next, a "Last On" report, viewable only to leaders and co-leaders, when pertaining to a clan roster, or pertaining to a Friend List (see above), when pertaining to any individual. Could the developers please consider coding a button that would generate a list of "Last On" data when it is pushed? This could be viewable on another player's profile, or on a clan roster if a leader or co. The clan roster report would list the clan members in the same order and list their Last-On data. The individual report (used to determine when a clanmate or an outside friend was last on) would simply show the individual in question's Last-On data. As things stand now, there is no way to tell when a player has gone truly, truly inactive. This would at least give clan administrators the chance to more fairly enforce their decisions about activity and continuing membership. A noted omission in this request would be the ability to see a players Connected status, but as I believe this would not disallowed by the developers regardless and could lead to pestering on clan chat channels, it has been purposefully left out of the discussion.
4. Database purges/clan removal! No one in a clan has been active in, let's say, a month? Remove that clan! Purge the Clan Search results of BAD data, clean up the database, and make Clash of Clans more closely resemble the phenomenally popular and populated place that it is!
Thanks for taking the time to read this through, think about the proposals, and respond with your comments. I really do appreciate it. Happy Clashing, and have fun!
Sincerely,
Justin Sattler - JOIN MORPHEUS ROAD! Recruiting avid and strong war members now! Clan purged of lesser adequate members and ready for strong ones!
(I really liked the one he wrote better, but I liked my version too :p as they were my ideas, I posted mine first and saved the best for last)
Please don't delete! I noticed there is a ruled out idea here.
There's an active button idea mechanic here. I just found out! Please don't delete! There is more to this than just one idea! I love this post and most of the ideas in it, which are all good! As for the active button, as yes there are too many in game names, does not mean the active can't be added in the clan itself. The mechanic is used for in clan only, and can still work. You don't need to be able to see anyone active in the global chat itself. Just for your clan only. The clan itself can keep up with that information. This would solve the issue of there being too many people with the same name. Each member has a #id if I'm not mistaken. This could work this way!
Thanks for heads up, and the reply
Theking8133 - much appreciated. Sattler will hopefully get in there and edit his post. I don't want any credit for his ideas (though things like the desire for better in-game communication methods are probably nearly universal), but I am hopeful people will read and respond.
The thoughts above can be further summarized, and I might as well throw in my own thoughts about them. For the sake of your eyes, a TLDR of sorts:
1. War Furlough &/or Longer War Penalty Time
My thoughts: Can be mitigated by having more stringent war participation requirements, but is a significant challenge to younger, building clans. Combined with Clan Levels (which I do like!), this makes starting out a new clan that much harder. If implemented this idea could end up cutting both ways, though, because there are many bad clans out there and it is hard to want to stay in one once you realize you've made a mistake!
2. Better in-game mail, personal mail options, friend lists, and block lists.
My thoughts: Supercell can and should fix this. No reason at all why a game built on a social dynamic isn't already supporting more rewarding and simple in game communication.
3. Idea deleted from consideration.
4. Clan removal, aka Database Purges
My thoughts: We are talking about purging inactive clans, not players. I don't see why not. I hate looking over lists of clans and seeing parties of one (okay, or MAYBE two) dominate. Clean house! On a related note, I don't know if there is already an internal game function that recognizes a player's idle-timer and pulls them out of normal game mode, but it might be nice from the developers standpoint to recognize this after a certain extended idle period and put the account onto a reserve server, marking it somehow as inactive.
5. Friend bookmarks.
My thoughts: Sounds good, let's get it done. (Addressed by me as a subcategory of point 2 above.)
6. Customizable base elements (for end-game players).
My thoughts: While I agree giving the end-game player something to spend & save for is an interesting thought, my concern is that customized or semi-customized design will be too much for the eyes to bear. COC is played on mini devices, mainly. COD is played on larger screens. And the mechanics of COC require that a player cursorily scan over a base and make a quick decision to strike or not strike, and if so, decide HOW to strike, and so forth. An abundance of color and pattern beyond the already very busy map of a high level player is perhaps too much to readily take in.
Col. Slacklyne
Morpheus Road Co-Leader
aka Just a Dude
