Personal Break Clarification and Transparency

[WarrenJames]

Sorry if this is 'yet another spammed idea thread' (YASIT?), but after looking through many similar threads, I couldn't find one I could stand behind... and so making one that is hopefully more organized.

Let's get right down to it; people are confused and irate about this Personal Break system. Why?

1. The fact that it measures cumulative playtime, without a Shield, which still counts against you, even after what most would think is a long enough amount of downtime. (aka, too complex for most people to just casually grasp until it is too late)
2. The 6-15 shuffle, where after the end of the 3 hour (or 5 hour with extra Village Guard) you are bounced off for 6 mins, allowed back on for 15 mins, and this repeats 3 times if for some reason you still aren't attacked nice a proper like.

Earlier today I wrote up and then didn't post this nice big block of text in regards to this. Long story short, I shot down my first rendition of this idea. Why? A posted timer might be used to help metagame the system, and also add some undue stress over obsessing over the time.

Now that I think about it more, something really is needed, since the confusion is really getting out of hand, and can see how unintuitive the system is currently. I think that trumps the risk of people gaming the system.

So, a a few ideas... (yes, some are not original)

• Not just a timer, but a timeline bar. This way, at a glance, a player can see not only when the Personal Break will hit, but also can see the progress of the 6-15 shuffle just before it starts and during the shuffle. This will also show other projected events like the start of or the end of the Battle Day for Clan Wars, when an upgrade is almost finished, and other events of interest that could be affected by the mandatory downtime.
• An new feature, Idle Mode(?) - Mode to allow base to be attacked while online. Since much of the complaints where about "I was only watching <something>. Why should I be kicked off?", this could allow people to watch stuff, and still give the game the downtime it demands from its players. Instead of booted off, you can opt to be locked out of a few village features, but still be online, and donate troops, or finish that base design.
• An optionally/conditional push notice to tell you when the break is over, and if you are still going to be 6-15'd. That way you can make the most of those 15 min blocks when you do need to be on to take care of stuff A.S.A.P, since time sensitive situations do occasionally come up... more often for some than others for some odd reason.

I think that covers most of what I've seen. I may edit this post to update a few things.

In short, the system isn't going to be reverted back anytime soon (barring any mass violent riot demanding action), and the conditions that were put in were put in for a very good reason. However, those reasons aren't clear to most people, nor is it easy to see and predict. I just cannot see even new players getting a good grasp of this if they installed the game and played it right now. It isn't just an issue with people being used to the older system, it is just down right confusion, and that confusion can very easily make people angry when they want to have fun right now... which is the entire purpose of a casual game; to have fun right now.

[DeVos1]

My gaming fun is decreased enormously on account of this new silly rules. I want to play and grow in the game! I did spend my money in it to help me grow. It is now impossible to collect enough gold/elix to update! Also it is impossible to monitor my clan during the war... kicked off every time! I think about quitting the game! So no more buying gems for me.....Pleasy Supercell turn back this new dictates (the 3 hour, the timer and the impossibillity to farm)..

[WarrenJames]

My gaming fun is decreased enormously on account of this new silly rules. I want to play and grow in the game! I did spend my money in it to help me grow. It is now impossible to collect enough gold/elix to update! Also it is impossible to monitor my clan during the war... kicked off every time! I think about quitting the game! So no more buying gems for me.....Pleasy Supercell turn back this new dictates (the 3 hour, the timer and the impossibillity to farm)..

I keep seeing these kind of responses to this Personal Break system, and I can't help but feel it is more of a bad glitch, or people are being melodramatic about it. It more sounds like some people, with multiple forum accounts, are being greifers because they strongly disprove of some aspects of the update, likely the fact Town Hall sniping is unviable all of a sudden.

Granted, some attack methods have to change due to the fact the average target has changed, as well as game mechanics, but that's for the better as far I can see. I admit, I felt like I was rather crappy at attacking, as Barcher was still way too viable for what I felt was way too long in a person's village growth (as in still being practically up into being TH9, when maybe it should have stopped being so at TH7) but that doesn't mean one should flip a table over a rage quit because this development.

Anyway...
I will report any posts like the above for deletion.

• If it is a glitch, as I can't currently see the Personal Break system being anywhere near that disabling; then look into the Problems & Bugs forum for answers. Do not post here about bugs in the system.
• If you are upset about the system changes, then go elsewhere with your complaints, like the General forum, since it is unhelpful and disruptive in this forum. This is a forum for brainstorming ideas, not solely for venting one's anger.
• If you are just wanting to disrupt and cause problems in retaliation, because you want things your way, and don't care about others opinions, then leave; and come back only after you have grown up and calmed back down. That kind of behavior is not welcome here.

I'm trying to find a way to fix the confusion here. I don't have anywhere near the time to listen to every emotional, melodramatic, rant every forum goer has. I totally understand being ticked off, but that feeling has to be put to one side so a level headed plan can be developed. Otherwise, you will undermine your appearance of sounding legitimate and just be labeled and dismissed as an immature whiner.

[Goerge5]

I really appreciate this post, it has cleared up a lot of confusion I had for this new system. I do love those ideas mentioned above especially the one about having an "idle mode". I find myself watching war attacks a lot throughout the day and I can care less if I am attacked to be honest. I just want to watch the live war attacks but get kicked out sometimes because of the new system and miss attacks. I think this would be a great addition!

[WarrenJames]

Thanks. Though I get the feeling I scared off, or put off, people that want to rant about the issue, and likely killed off a source of activity to keep this topic viewable. lol Woops.

Anyways I find it amusing as heck, that the one old idea of an Idle Mode is quickly becoming relavent given the new Personal Break system. Never would have called that one.

And yes, I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud of the fact that I might have been a head of my time with that idea... though likely it was probably just luck, but still proud to.. uh.. be lucky?

But it does mean some of the concepts are already hashed out, which means it would take less time to find something that is agreeable. I've already found some details that could be changed on idea that I linked, but will save that for later, after I (hopefully) get some more feedback on it.

[DemonicTide]

Great job! I really like this idea- I think it would fix much of the complaining and problems.

[WarrenJames]

Thanks. Only problem I see is getting people to check it out and calmly try to hash out something people can agree on.

I mentioned in a couple spots already that we, as players, really can't offer very useful suggestions on how the times on the Personal Break should operate. The different points of view and biases will give a mess of answers, and this forum system is too impractical to tally such results... assuming the answers people give are even useful.

We can (and some of us currently are) use the forum to tell SC how well (or rather unwell) the current Personal Break system is doing. They have the stats and figures, and they should (hopefully) be smart enough to know what to tweak once enough data is gathered.

This thread is meant to address the sheer obscurity of the system, and offer up ideas on how to give better transparency and understanding on what is about to happen when your base needs it's fair share of hits.

The breaks are short! But they can seem to happen too sudden, despite the 5 min or so warning, and it is very unintuitive. That's a good recipe for ticking off players, because no one really likes a sudden disconnect... even if it is a graceful one.

[AMurray]

I keep seeing these kind of responses to this Personal Break system, and I can't help but feel it is more of a bad glitch, or people are being melodramatic about it.

• If you are upset about the system changes, then go elsewhere with your complaints, like the General forum, since it is unhelpful and disruptive in this forum. This is a forum for brainstorming ideas, not solely for venting one's anger.

My suggestion / idea - go back to the old system where the raiding and break system didn't get in the way of actually playing the game. Much simpler than spending creative juices on devising other ways to fix a problem of their own making!

[BrettBoone]

my biggest beef is that I've been booted without warning on 4 boosts since friday and my boosts weren't paused. i made a youtube video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A56BVxestrI ) of the one because i started my boost and literally 1 minute later i got booted and lost my entire boost. it can't be that hard to add a pause feature if you're getting booted and using gems you've paid for.

I purchase gems all the time and have over $500 dollars into my village. I was a completely maxed th9 (including walls and heroes) and I've been a th10 for a few days and i need to farm to get my new upgrades going. i spent 4 hours farming today (on boosts) and only cleared 1m Elixir. pre update i averaged 2-3 milling of each during a 2 hour boost. they need to make farming more efficient. i loved the game but my clan mate and i really think this update ruined the game. i regret buying the gems i did a few days ago (spent $100 to get 14000 gems).

[WarrenJames]

my biggest beef is that I've been booted without warning on 4 boosts since friday and my boosts weren't paused. i made a youtube video ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A56BVxestrI ) of the one because i started my boost and literally 1 minute later i got booted and lost my entire boost. it can't be that hard to add a pause feature if you're getting booted and using gems you've paid for.

I purchase gems all the time and have over $500 dollars into my village. I was a completely maxed th9 (including walls and heroes) and I've been a th10 for a few days and i need to farm to get my new upgrades going. i spent 4 hours farming today (on boosts) and only cleared 1m Elixir. pre update i averaged 2-3 milling of each during a 2 hour boost. they need to make farming more efficient. i loved the game but my clan mate and i really think this update ruined the game. i regret buying the gems i did a few days ago (spent $100 to get 14000 gems).

huh.. The video, besides having gone sideways, doesn't prove the key point in your claim that your boost was gone when you returned. If it had, it either means, 1) A glitch prevented the actual boost command from being registered on the server, and lost no gems, 2) A glitch that lost a legitimately done boost. The first one seems more likely, as I can't see the server making a mistake like that.

The timeline bar idea is to help prevent losing 6-8 mins of boost time (equivalent of 24- 32 mins of training time). Some may say that isn't a big loss since most big armies worth boosting would take longer to do that 6 mins, but it highly dependents on how much is already trained up, and how much you can queue before having to leave.

Anyway, sorry about the frustration, but part of that is really a technical issue, in regards losing the entire boost; and another is on a different topic of available targets.