Troop Donation overhaul! Big interface change, small mechanic change.

[Sanjakimo]

Firstly l just want to point out that Babu suggested this earlier today. And this was originally a response to his post, I ended up getting a bit too into it and decided to make a new pos.
also if its in a sticky I apologies, i forgot to check before i started writing.

Similar / Relevant posts:
Babu. - http://forum.supercell.net/showthrea...ion-at-the-top.
Ortenga - http://forum.supercell.net/showthrea...uesting-troops


How i would personally combat the problem you are suggesting is create an additional tab in the chat menu, so we would have.

Global / Clan / Donations

Whenever anyone asks for a donation it would automatically populate the Donation tab, the donation tab would be able to store all the donations in exactly the same format we see it now, with the auto message and Green/Empty bar depending on how many donations have been received, we can also improve it while we are at it, ill come to that.

So how do we know people are asking for donations if its in a new tab? Well if you have the chat menu open the lettering of the "donate" tab would glow green or there could be a little circular LED flashing intermittently, signifying there are donations to be made. Press the tab there is your full list of people requiring donations, in ORDER of who requested first. (No more chasing down the chat log because someone got missed)

If you have been tabbed out of CoC or you have the chat menu closed you wont see the text glow green, so how would you know? In exactly the same was as you know how many chats have been posted when you have been offline, a little green number decal on top of the orange expand chat arrow, situated directly underneath the chat count indicator (the little red square) again with the number of donations currently pending in it.
The only difference would be that the chat counter only populates when you are offline so yo can see directly how much chat you have missed. The green donations indicator would pop up whenever you have the chat closed and a request comes through.

Example would be logging back In after a break, top red decal indicating [101] chats missed, and directly underneath, the green decal indicating [7] donations pending.
As soon donations are satisfied, green indicator goes away, as to not be annoying.

Now we have a donations tab we can even add a bit more organisation. So when we click our clan castle and press "request troops". Instead of it immediately populating it gives us a menu (exactly like pressing research on your lab).

now this would be the "preferred donation" menu with all troop icons. The player would pick the Preferred troop, to stop all the "dragon plea........ooohhhhhh maaaan". In chat.

Now the reason i say preferred is because its not a HARD lock, it doesn't mean that ONLY this troop can be donated, all this will do is place a thumbnail icon of said desired troop next to your donation request, nice a clear.
But why are we not making it a hard lock to stop incorrect troop donation altogether?
Two reasons, the troop might not be available so it still allows people to donate alternatives, the second reason is Because we may want a mix of troops, this would itself have its own special specific icon. So if people saw this in the donations list, all it would take is a quick post in chat "what do you need". The requester checks his castle, oh ok i need 2 giants and 5 barbs please. Job done.

EDIT: Due to some good feedback, the Clan Castle also comes with an additional feature. "Dismiss troops". Once every hour, 2 hours or even day. Whatever SC see fit you can go onto your CC and dismiss the troops inside. This sends the troops offscreen (like they do when they are donated), and disappear into the aether. This of course frees up your clan castle again, and resets your "request troop". Hence why there needs to be a cool down. This will allow you to reset your troops if a WRONG donation slips through the net.

[SirBacon]

Well thought out, great idea. Don't have any changes yet.

[KimuGaijin]

Well thought out, great idea. Don't have any changes yet.

I agree it would defiantly make donating troops easier when your not very active one day and your just checking in every so often

[Sanjakimo]

Thanks for the feedback guys.

[dahimi]

I think I like this. Definitely like a seperate tab with its own notifications.

[Sanjakimo]

I think I like this. Definitely like a seperate tab with its own notifications.

Thanks Dahimi, Imglad you like it better than my gems thread haha!

[BarackObama]

A hard lock is an absolute neccessity. 99% of the time people will want archers and if it doesn't fill asap Who cares? Wait a couple of minutes and re req. I'd rather use 2 req's for 25 archers then 1 with 10 barbs or any other ♥♥♥♥ in. A solution to your (self created) problem would be to be able to use multiple troops which can only be donated, when starting a new clan, I'm sick and tired of having to say archers only every 10 ♥♥♥♥ing minutes, it is a much requested feature. WE REQUEST AND CHOOSE WHAT WE WANT TO RECEIVE. Ain't rocket science, other ideas are good but the donations should still be in reg chat as well, because people won't look on that donation chat very often.

[Rager]

A hard lock is an absolute neccessity. 99% of the time people will want archers and if it doesn't fill asap Who cares? Wait a couple of minutes and re req. I'd rather use 2 req's for 25 archers then 1 with 10 barbs or any other ♥♥♥♥ in. A solution to your (self created) problem would be to be able to use multiple troops which can only be donated, when starting a new clan, I'm sick and tired of having to say archers only every 10 ♥♥♥♥ing minutes, it is a much requested feature. WE REQUEST AND CHOOSE WHAT WE WANT TO RECEIVE. Ain't rocket science, other ideas are good but the donations should still be in reg chat as well, because people won't look on that donation chat very often.

I hate castles full of archers. And if in attack being donated minions is good as well or even giants. If I have a castle full of archers it's rubbish when I attack and defending I prefer wizards with giants to support and a barb.

[Sanjakimo]

A hard lock is an absolute neccessity. 99% of the time people will want archers and if it doesn't fill asap Who cares? Wait a couple of minutes and re req. I'd rather use 2 req's for 25 archers then 1 with 10 barbs or any other ♥♥♥♥ in. A solution to your (self created) problem would be to be able to use multiple troops which can only be donated, when starting a new clan, I'm sick and tired of having to say archers only every 10 ♥♥♥♥ing minutes, it is a much requested feature. WE REQUEST AND CHOOSE WHAT WE WANT TO RECEIVE. Ain't rocket science, other ideas are good but the donations should still be in reg chat as well, because people won't look on that donation chat very often.

I personally disagree, you cant specifically speak for everyone saying that "99% of the time people will want archers" therefore the system should be balanced towards archers, that to me seems like a horrible way to approach a problem, and also just wrong. Very large parts of clan donations are level 3 dragons and PEKKAS, Balloons are on the increase too. So if the meta game makes an abrupt turn and balloons become the default CC troop but our system was balanced towards archers because we approached it one dimensionally.

"and if it doesn't fill asap Who cares?" - I can think of plenty of circumstances where its beneficial to be flexible in donations. People are doing a few raids before bed they want a dragon, no dragons online - ok ill take archers guys thats fine. People are trying to build up a defence before work and want to make sure their castle has the correct troops in it. People accidentally request the wrong troop type! Fat fingering happens. I wanted archers but I accidentally pressed wall breaker.

"Wait a couple of minutes and re req. I'd rather use 2 req's for 25 archers then 1 with 10 barbs or any other ♥♥♥♥ in"
Its a 20 minute cool down, precisely the reason i did not put a hard lock on it, also bearing in mind the reason above. Some people wont have the time to wait another 20 minutes if they make a mistake, and that could lead to trophy or resource loss! Not a great design when we can actually get around it and allow more flexibility.

"A solution to your (self created) problem would be to be able to use multiple troops which can only be donated, when starting a new clan, I'm sick and tired of having to say archers only every 10 ♥♥♥♥ing minutes, it is a much requested feature."

Firstly, i fail to see a problem i have Created? Maybe i haven't fixed it to a standard of 100%, but I am about to go and edit my thread and make it about as foolproof as I think i right now while still keeping the changes relatively simple, and still retaining the flexibility I wanted to make sure it had. I'm sorry i can't really understand the second half of your statement, the part about starting a new clan?

"WE REQUEST AND CHOOSE WHAT WE WANT TO RECEIVE"
yes thats exactly how the system i put forward works also, with the added benefit of, if the troops you request are not available, or you make a mistake. You can still get the troops you want without waiting 20 minutes of inactivity, or 20 more additional minutes before you got to bed, because it is NOT hard locked.

"other ideas are good but the donations should still be in reg chat as well, because people won't look on that donation chat very often"

Thanks for the positive feedback, but i still disagree. With the new feature that tracks donations, and lots of clans measuring how much people are donating and getting rid of low donators, there is actually a really great donate culture developing in CoC. There are even threads on the forums in competition for the MOST donations. Don't donate? People wont donate to you, and then you will probably get kicked. Great incentives to press the donations tab and donate.


Even though it seemed a bit aggressive at times, genuinely thanks for the post, i may have underestimated the frustration levels of wrong donations, ill edit in a fix now.

[BarackObama]

I personally disagree, you cant specifically speak for everyone saying that "99% of the time people will want archers" therefore the system should be balanced towards archers, that to me seems like a horrible way to approach a problem, and also just wrong. Very large parts of clan donations are level 3 dragons and PEKKAS, Balloons are on the increase too. So if the meta game makes an abrupt turn and balloons become the default CC troop but our system was balanced towards archers because we approached it one dimensionally.

"and if it doesn't fill asap Who cares?" - I can think of plenty of circumstances where its beneficial to be flexible in donations. People are doing a few raids before bed they want a dragon, no dragons online - ok ill take archers guys thats fine. People are trying to build up a defence before work and want to make sure their castle has the correct troops in it. People accidentally request the wrong troop type! Fat fingering happens. I wanted archers but I accidentally pressed wall breaker.

"Wait a couple of minutes and re req. I'd rather use 2 req's for 25 archers then 1 with 10 barbs or any other ♥♥♥♥ in"
Its a 20 minute cool down, precisely the reason i did not put a hard lock on it, also bearing in mind the reason above. Some people wont have the time to wait another 20 minutes if they make a mistake, and that could lead to trophy or resource loss! Not a great design when we can actually get around it and allow more flexibility.

"A solution to your (self created) problem would be to be able to use multiple troops which can only be donated, when starting a new clan, I'm sick and tired of having to say archers only every 10 ♥♥♥♥ing minutes, it is a much requested feature."

Firstly, i fail to see a problem i have Created? Maybe i haven't fixed it to a standard of 100%, but I am about to go and edit my thread and make it about as foolproof as I think i right now while still keeping the changes relatively simple, and still retaining the flexibility I wanted to make sure it had. I'm sorry i can't really understand the second half of your statement, the part about starting a new clan?

"WE REQUEST AND CHOOSE WHAT WE WANT TO RECEIVE"
yes thats exactly how the system i put forward works also, with the added benefit of, if the troops you request are not available, or you make a mistake. You can still get the troops you want without waiting 20 minutes of inactivity, or 20 more additional minutes before you got to bed, because it is NOT hard locked.

"other ideas are good but the donations should still be in reg chat as well, because people won't look on that donation chat very often"

Thanks for the positive feedback, but i still disagree. With the new feature that tracks donations, and lots of clans measuring how much people are donating and getting rid of low donators, there is actually a really great donate culture developing in CoC. There are even threads on the forums in competition for the MOST donations. Don't donate? People wont donate to you, and then you will probably get kicked. Great incentives to press the donations tab and donate.


Even though it seemed a bit aggressive at times, genuinely thanks for the post, i may have underestimated the frustration levels of wrong donations, ill edit in a fix now.

I really don't see the point in using specific unit requests which isn't a hard lock. What's different from typing what you want then? If you can select multiple troops, what does it matter? You should have the option to either: anything, or a X amount of units, now should we really not implement a great feature because of 'Fat fingering', come on now.