Originally Posted by
MisterOz
This started as a reply but figured those who need the info wouldn't see it buried somewhere on page 8 of whatever thread it was going to be in.
Seeing recently logged off bases is NOT new. It's one of the ironies of the game... has been for a long time.
That is... I'm going to barch the collectors BUT all the bases I am shown are recent log offs who emptied their collectors before they logged off. My only courses of action are...
Action 1: Keep clicking next until I find an abandoned base
Action 2: Build a stronger army, say with some giants and wb, so I can punch to the core.
My buddy has a base which, pre update, was getting smashed every 12 hours. He had an outtie TH but due to 14 hour work days had to put the game on hold. Collectors full, drills full, he would get sniped and collectors hit. 12 hours later when his shield expired the same would happen. Now? He is not getting attacked at all. See it yourself in the clan Guns & Honey player Juna.
But there is a logical reason for this that doesn't require SC conspiracy...
Imagine you hit the Attack button and are logged into a server with a packet of bases to choose from. Maybe there are 200 bases in this packet. They are a mixed grab bag of old bases, logged off a small while ago bases and just now logged off bases. Let's assume 5 are totally dead.
The bases you are shown first are, the most active, the most recently logged off bases. If the line-up was unchanging, eventually all you would need to do is click next 195 times to get to the dead bases. Simple right?
The problem is, the line-up is not stagnant. It is a living line-up. As other people log off they get inserted into the line. So you might be presented with a person who logged off 10 seconds ago, then 2 minutes ago, then 30 seconds ago and so on. They have the higher priority.
The only way you'll see the dead bases is if you clear out the recent bases, or others do too. And then you come across the randomly inserted dead base - randomly higher because someone before you hit it and it only now came off shield and enough other bases were nexted out of contention.
Pre update, a lot of those undesirable bases had outtie THs and were removed from the line. So you got to your precious dead base sooner. (Undesirable being... low loot and high def or whatever made them undesirable to you.)
Post update, those undesirable bases are not being removed quickly. They are hanging around, clogging up the system. The result is, ever more and more bases in the way of you finding your abandoned dead base. From your POV, the dead bases have disappeared.
Pre update, it often took hours to get a shield in Gold even with an outside TH. Because the bonus for a snipe down there is so pathetic there was no incentive for a player to remove themselves from the search line. Doing so, sniping your TH, may have gotten them a few cups and some paltry loot, but it meant they were back in their village and needed to start the search again. Possibly missing out on a dead base.
Post update, that base now goes further and further back as more recent log offs jump the line and go in front. The only reason many of those are coming back to the front is due to trophy dropping. They stay in the line, up near the front, because they aren't earning shields and are being trophy dropped on.
It isn't a SC sneaky to ruin your day, it is an unintended consequence of forcing EVERYONE to stand in line.
The end result is the same as before... garbage base are the ones left to be seen. But it is worse now because most of those garbage bases cannot be removed easily like previously with a TH snipe. And no-one is going to drop 1/3 an army to give them a shield. BUT, we could all take out a builder hut or something, lose our own cups but put them into VG for 30 minutes so they are out of the line up. But, asking gamers to do that won't get you a result.
So the end result is... dead bases are still there and still available. You just need to wade through ever more and more bases now before you see them.
Some leagues report more dead bases than others. All that tells you is, there are many many more people down there removing the unwanted base so the dead one's come to the surface more often.
Unfortunately I don't think SC did any kind of focus group with actual gamers to get a true idea of what would happen If... and in their isolation their assumptions on the behaviour of the gamers has turned out to be completely wrong.
I don't think they anticipated the mass trophy dropping, the inability of most people to get full attack bonus and thus dry up the elixir in the game, the mass unhappiness getting smashed all the time would cause, the huge backlash from war, farmers (not snipers) and casual players all at the same time. No company goes out to upset their entire customer base.
Of course, as soon as the sneak peeks came out the gamers were telling them what would happen. But I think, by that time, the juggernaut had too much momentum and could not be stopped. Too much code would need to be rewritten so close to update release day they couldn't do it. And delaying the update until after Xmas, even into Jan, would make them a laughing stock and who knows what performance bonuses and whatnot they were on or what penalties they would have been subjected to.
Their only option left was... go ahead with the update and Then try to make the fixes and changes as they went.
For mine, a simply change to bring the dead bases more into the light, would be some kind of Shuffle. So when you log in, the list of bases available to you is calculated and shuffled. Giving you a higher chance of seeing a dead or dead like base. Instead of automatically giving me the most recent base.
But as it stands, the MIA dead bases are a result of forcing everyone to be visible while giving a preference to recent log offs as those bases being shown to attackers.
