There's a whole lot of complaining going on. Team leads are up in arms over every aspect of this race. Rather than pile on with each issue (and each one sure has merit), I'd like to be constructive here.

Social Point, you NEED to improve your communication.

You have a tremendously active, invested, and knowledgeable community. Stop letting us get all our info third-hand, or from Taringa!'s data-mining. YOU are the cause for all the confusion over monster skills, traits, and so on. Your silence frustrates us all.

Case in point: SHADEMOON. Between the nerfing, new mechanics, and ambiguous skill definitions on the wiki, NO ONE KNOWS WHAT THEY'RE RACING FOR. And considering how prohibitively expensive laps 50-100 are, we need some solid info. At the beginning of each race, we'd appreciate a FULL explanation of the prize. Please be open about stats, skills, and how the monster's mechanics work. Enough with the "if you don't like it, don't race" attitude we've been getting over on Discord. You know EXACTLY how much the latter half of this race costs us, and we deserve to know what we're getting for our time and MONEY.

Furthermore, not everything needs to be a mystery. For example, regular schedules of events would be tremendously appreciated by all. Open discussions - or at least explanations - of game-altering new mechanics BEFORE dropping them in our laps can make them much more clear. Preventable grievances like these accumulate in your hardcore players' minds until they just give up and quit the game.

Finally, this is not a solo rant. Before I wrote this, I talked to a number of team leads and they not only agreed with this sentiment, but encouraged me to make this post. We're tired of playing in the dark. Lift the shades and shine some more light on our gaming experience!

I totally agree. Thats what i always said and will continue to say so: Communication is everything! About 99% of frustration and complaining would stop with more transparency. And as you said: this is not only about Race but about everything in this game.
Thanks for that post!
And i wanna ask everyone to upvote this and speak out their opinion on that in such a constructive way.

@sinisism I completely agree. I have scaled back on my time & spending on the game because I cannot know what I'm getting and because I cannot plan ahead. After too many times using up my gems and money on event monsters and then finding that the next event overlaps it and has monsters I'd rather have, it starts to feel pointless. After spending hours on an event and then finding another time consuming event right after it, I stop being willing to commit the time.

I used to invest a lot of time and money in races. I was often in the top three scorers on my team. This time I'm finding it hard to get motivated. I can't dedicate race time for eleven days. I've barely qualified for individual rewards.

Yes!

This race is way more expensive than all previous races, but we don’t even know what we are racing for. Skills are still changing on wiki, there is no clear info about the monster from SP as well. I don’t even know if he’s worth it, considering new tasks. There is still no official info if his “dodge area” can be removed with aoe positive effects removal. There is no clarity about his skills, if they are aoe or single target.

Totally agree! New format of the race is rediculous and the lack of information even more so. We usually do a minimum of 50 laps and 100 when it is a 5 star. Nobody is wasting their gems to get past 25 on this money grabbing race.

100% agree, it's so hard to decide what to aim for when you have 0 clarity about both lap tasks and monster's skills.

Also, gemming cost for hatching is seriously bothering me, considering the number of "breed/hatch X thunder/sea UC" tasks. Getting rares while breeding and speeding them up as well turns these nodes into mini-epic nodes.

I couldn't of agreed more. Seems like every event gets more and more expensive. I understand that this is a form of business and in order to continue a business its all about profit, but a business can easily fall when its customers are not happy or contempt. Greed has taking over and everyone knows what happens when you get greedy. You end up losing it ALL at the end.

Co-Lead of a top 100 team Tidal Pools

Totally agree !, game many years ago and the reality is that SP makes things worse and worse. I'm tired of seeing how many players leave the game every day or try to sell their accounts. SP has become a society that only wants to press more and more so that we spend more money while they diminish what they offer ..... we play in the dark, it's real !, and we support day to day, errors, bugs, failures , etc. that SP simply solves with an "I'm sorry" but for us it means, time, effort and money. Here there is a contract between parties (in fact, simply because we spend money), and SP constantly unilaterally alters the conditions of the game, and simply, that is not legal.

I totally agree as well, and not just about the race. New monsters, new events and a lot of existing events could really use some clarifying. Chest odds of getting a certain prize, percentages on "special breed monsters", especially when 2 result can come out of the same combo. When it comes to race, it would be much better if we could test the race monster and all his skills before or while the race is active.
Another problem I have with the issue is maze discounts, you never release any sort of official info about these discounts and you certainly dont allow third-party info to be shared on discord or here.
Be communicative, be helpful!

Staying on topic - I appreciate when SP does communicate with us. Take war matching, for example. They offered us two solutions and asked us for input. Personally I don't care for either one, but at least they're listening.

Look, I know not everyone at SP is so callous towards players. Some are genuinely trying to help our situation. But the policy makers need to change their tune.

@arclord said in Racing in the Dark:

I totally agree as well, and not just about the race. New monsters, new events and a lot of existing events could really use some clarifying. Chest odds of getting a certain prize, percentages on "special breed monsters", especially when 2 result can come out of the same combo. When it comes to race, it would be much better if we could test the race monster and all his skills before or while the race is active.
Another problem I have with the issue is maze discounts, you never release any sort of official info about these discounts and you certainly dont allow third-party info to be shared on discord or here.
Be communicative, be helpful!

Great examples here.

I could not agree more strongly. This would make the game playing experience leaps and bounds more positive.

Maze discounts are a great example. Knowing that there “might” be a 30% discount some players will literally set alarms for 2 in the morning to try and make it. Sometimes it turns out, usually it does not. In the long run players begin to get burnt out and don’t feel as good about the in game experience whether they are ftp or p2p. Eventually they will move on.

This is a very solid and enjoyable game in many respects. Better communication could make it great.

I have brought it up many times previously but only way to stop sp trying to bankrupt everyone is to boycott the race only way that sp will get message or we can just keep moaning on forums that seems to be working not.

@sinisism I agree 100% communication is the key to making everyone happy. SP need to have more transparency, not only for races but for every aspect of the game.
There are so many issues that need to be addressed and yet it doesn’t appear that anything is being done.
To release this race when they are on holiday so that anything that goes wrong can’t be fixed is just ridiculous.
Many are complaining about not only the race, but maze, matching, overlapping events, the list goes on.
I have said this continually that SP needs to slow down on events and introducing new content at such a fast pace, all aimed at taking our well earned money, while not fixing known bugs or glitches.
I’m aware SP has a small team to do all this, then maybe they should be looking at employing more people to resolve these issues.
We need transparency if you want us to continue playing this game, so many have just given up and quit and so many more will do the same.

really good statement.

most important thing is a complete and overall communication. I want to have the chance to see all aspects of a monster, an event or whatever in the game and not on an unofficial wiki or taringa.
E.g. possible skills of a new monster, what’s his strength, speed, live a any level I want to see/check. All these informations has to be already there in the app it can only be a question of development to make these informations visible in the game itself.
Also there is no official information how to breed a monster And wiki is still not working any longer for this. When someone wants a breedable UC, R, or E monster. How should they get these monster? Trying thousands of combinations until the correct 2 monsters are found.
I hope there will be some changes in the game, that the players feels getting enough and good informations to play the game successfully and having fun with the game.

We've been raising this communication issue so many times, in so many ways, and we still do not have an effective response from SP, only patch-up work and promises. People are so revolted right now. Great accomplishment for 2018.

Couldnt agree more with everything said here. Hope it gets upvoted a lot. Symbiosis can make things greater. If Sp doesnt hear us there will never be an symfony. Playing this game mostly makes me annoyed more then pleased by far. Mostly because of things like this, keeping us in the dark trying to rip off instead of openly deserve our will and efforts.

So I agree with the fact that all right info about all new monsters should be available to us before or at start of every event, because we should know if we want to invest our gems and or money in a new monster.

I make charts not alone for my own conclusion if a race/maze/progressive is worth and im well aware I only can make race charts with the help of players that still are racing.

That said I think that my point and from others of saying dont participate if you don't like it is the strongest point you can make, we can complain about a race untill the earth stand still but at the end if profits are made it will be hard for the ones that listen to our complaints to bring over our point of view to the ones who runs the business.

Again we dont have to make our point clear to the ones who are listening they already know how we feel

@marianne-van-es valid arguments indeed, I agree totally !!! However, if we start ignoring whatever event we don't like, I'm afraid soon we'll be reduced to playing only dungeons when we feel like it, maybe occassionally PvP to break the boredom. Generating revenue is fine, and they deserve a fair bit, given the few interesting monsters that have come up recently, but trying to force it to come up from near about every aspect in-game is a tad too extreme imo, but then, its an individual thought, and entitled to disagreement .
On another thought, your point on ignoring these events, if followed by a sufficiently large amount of the playerbase, might be the best way to bring senses into those who are in charge of marketing and generating revenue, but I'm concerned that it'll take several weeks, if not months to make them realise their error. What'll players do in the meantime? Log in to do dungeons, maybe breed a few monsters missing from collection? Take a break ?(hopefully temporary)

@johnml said in Racing in the Dark:

@marianne-van-es valid arguments indeed, I agree totally !!! However, if we start ignoring whatever event we don't like, I'm afraid soon we'll be reduced to playing only dungeons when we feel like it, maybe occassionally PvP to break the boredom.

What is wrong with that? I play war, play PVP, do TBGR and ransack all the events for easy loot without really playing them. I stopped caring a flying duck about events long time ago.

@hellfire said in Racing in the Dark:

@sinisism I agree 100% communication is the key to making everyone happy. SP need to have more transparency, not only for races but for every aspect of the game.
There are so many issues that need to be addressed and yet it doesn’t appear that anything is being done.
To release this race when they are on holiday so that anything that goes wrong can’t be fixed is just ridiculous.
Many are complaining about not only the race, but maze, matching, overlapping events, the list goes on.
I have said this continually that SP needs to slow down on events and introducing new content at such a fast pace, all aimed at taking our well earned money, while not fixing known bugs or glitches.
I’m aware SP has a small team to do all this, then maybe they should be looking at employing more people to resolve these issues.
We need transparency if you want us to continue playing this game, so many have just given up and quit and so many more will do the same.

From a player's perspective, it's hard to argue with any of this. But from SP's perspective, they've gotta have some whacked priorities just to make Take-Two happy. That's why I try to choose my battles carefully.

I truly believe there are two camps within SP. One worried not one lick about the players, and the other being actual gamers themselves trying to make ML fun and functional. If I'm right, it's clear which side is winning the internal struggle.

@marianne-van-es said in Racing in the Dark:

That said I think that my point and from others of saying dont participate if you don't like it is the strongest point you can make, we can complain about a race untill the earth stand still but at the end if profits are made it will be hard for the ones that listen to our complaints to bring over our point of view to the ones who runs the business.

Sorry @Marianne-van-Es but this is a terrible attitude to have in both life and as representing a business. What the players are asking for is NOT so outrageous it should be dismissed in such a way. If this is SP's official stance, someone needs a serious attitude adjustment.

@sinisism said in Racing in the Dark:

@marianne-van-es said in Racing in the Dark:

That said I think that my point and from others of saying dont participate if you don't like it is the strongest point you can make, we can complain about a race untill the earth stand still but at the end if profits are made it will be hard for the ones that listen to our complaints to bring over our point of view to the ones who runs the business.

Sorry @Marianne-van-Es but this is a terrible attitude to have in both life and as representing a business. What the players are asking for is NOT so outrageous it should be dismissed in such a way. If this is SP's official stance, someone needs a serious attitude adjustment.

The gaming industry is fast and ever changing, aimed at short term high profits. Even outside the gaming industry there are not many company chiefs who look beyond numbers. If SP sees races are generating profit it will be very hard to convince them to change anything about them. Only took them two years to change the race format to lap rewards after all, and probably only after being convinced it was more profitable to do so.

Yes, would also love them to take a look at the bigger and more humane picture, but it is hardly surprising or typically SP that they (whoever makes the end decisions) do not.

@johnml I dont say Ignoring events, what i tried to say is dont do things you dont want to do and on other stuff spend what you think its worth it or dont spend.
I do mazes until my coins are finished and I spend gems on progressives till the point I think is worth, which is normally not more than about 100 gems, if there is a monster which i like to rank and is just of my reach I think about it, is it worth the extra gems.
I dont want the new shiny monster because I dont have the room for every new one and sure as anybody else if I know its worth than maybe I do want the new shiny toy but only as OP mentioned only if im sure he is worth it, so I race but we are on lap 18, time enough to get to 25 maybe if the monster is worth to 50 but I doubt we will do that.

So I want you to think what happened in Patient Cyber race at start we all thought the monster wasnt worth the effort and gems what happened to patient Cyber halve way really it doesnt take months to show SP what we think

The only problem with this approach is that players get burned out, even "paying customers", not just f2p "part of the product". How many players do you know have retired during this year?

If a game stops being fun and becomes your second (or main) job while it's you who pays and not getting paid with the "fun" part then what's the point of playing. Less players = less revenue as far as I know.

@ekto-gamat said in Racing in the Dark:

The gaming industry is fast and ever changing, aimed at short term high profits.

While I do agree that the gaming industry is fast and ever changing, I strongly disagree that their aim is/should be short term money grab. Building strong relationship with your customers is the way to go, something that SP is missing currently, or at least their PR department is lacking. The game is still making millions monthly. It may not be on its prime, but hell they are not losing money for sure.

We are all aware that SP is a company, and a company got to make money, no one denies it. However, the way they try to do is shady, if you know what I mean.

Totally agree with every point!

@esentis said in Racing in the Dark:

@ekto-gamat said in Racing in the Dark:

The gaming industry is fast and ever changing, aimed at short term high profits.

While I do agree that the gaming industry is fast and ever changing, I strongly disagree that their aim is/should be short term money grab. Building strong relationship with your customers is the way to go, something that SP is missing currently, or at least their PR department is lacking. The game is still making millions monthly. It may not be on its prime, but hell they are not losing money for sure.

I completely agree that is how it should be. And I will spare you my general anti-capitalism rant.

However, the life span of mobile games is not exactly decades, so sadly less interesting for CO's to build lasting relationships with customers.

@esentis not excusing anybody but I spoke to a friend of mine who plays another game, I will quote his exact words here: I asked if he was having fun? his answer was "Its complicated. Better graphics but more greedy devs with less communication than SP"

I dont play other games i like ML just fine did I change how I play 4,3,2,1 year ago yes but if wouldent enjoy I wouldent play it

@ekto-gamat I developed the same attitude towards events as you a few months back, then all the new generation monsters started to look quite interesting, and now, it feels quite agonizing to watch the good stuff either out of reach, or obscenely expensive. People should not be MADE to pay to get something which will make surviving in a competitive gameplay feasible, sometimes its good to have things handed a bit easily- its good for the morale . And not everybody is a long term experienced player like you with an impressive collection
@Marianne-van-Es don't remind me of the Cyber race... It was a disaster !!! I don't remember them changing Shork when the player base clamoured to have him improved, (I still remember their replies regarding the issue) and I consider the betterment of a race monster after more than halfway through nothing short of a real low move. So you see, ignoring/ playing a race can be both quite punishing. What stand are we to take then?

@marianne-van-es Cyber Race...oh boy. I was so pissed, my team decided not to race because we thought it wasn't worth it. But then all of sudden, "recently controlled" was introduced which made the nanovirus gimmick much stronger aaaand skill changes. But I digress now, back to the topic. I don't say SP is the only company with such tactics, but that doesn't justify their actions towards their own customers. We were all waiting for holiday period to have some fun, but the only part having fun is SP...

@ekto-gamat said in Racing in the Dark:

@sinisism said in Racing in the Dark:

@marianne-van-es said in Racing in the Dark:

That said I think that my point and from others of saying dont participate if you don't like it is the strongest point you can make, we can complain about a race untill the earth stand still but at the end if profits are made it will be hard for the ones that listen to our complaints to bring over our point of view to the ones who runs the business.

Sorry @Marianne-van-Es but this is a terrible attitude to have in both life and as representing a business. What the players are asking for is NOT so outrageous it should be dismissed in such a way. If this is SP's official stance, someone needs a serious attitude adjustment.

The gaming industry is fast and ever changing, aimed at short term high profits. Even outside the gaming industry there are not many company chiefs who look beyond numbers. If SP sees races are generating profit it will be very hard to convince them to change anything about them. Only took them two years to change the race format to lap rewards after all, and probably only after being convinced it was more profitable to do so.

Yes, would also love them to take a look at the bigger and more humane picture, but it is hardly surprising or typically SP that they (whoever makes the end decisions) do not.

You're missing the point. We're not asking for the impossible here. In fact, it would cost them nothing and arguably could increase long term profits by not driving their most avid player base away. Their (silent) argument would probably be "but we want to be able to change things last minute without blowback", but I'm sorry, that ship has already sailed. Call Taringa! "unofficial" all you want - it's still out there and readily accessible. Showing their players customers a little respect is not so hard, and they could use a little good will right now.

@siberity said in Racing in the Dark:

The only problem with this approach is that players get burned out, even "paying customers", not just f2p "part of the product". How many players do you know have retired during this year?

I had two great people on my team retire mid-race. This whole event just pushed them over the edge.

If a game stops to be fun and becomes your second (or main) job while it's you who pays and not getting paid with the "fun" part then what's the point of playing. Less players = less revenue as far as I know.

This is what we've been trying to tell SP since the buyout. They're squeezing and squeezing their most loyal players. They know these people are already at least somewhat addicted, so they keep at it. Well, they've squeezed too hard over the last 6 months and we're seeing MANY top players vanish from the scene. It's sad really, because at its heart it's a great game.

I completely agree with @sinisism. This race has not only been more expensive than previous ones but the skills of monster we are getting haven’t been clearly explained, leading to tons of conjectures and speculations. Why can’t sp release a test of each monster like they did for nemesis and warmasters? Each team will know if that’s a must have and how much to invest to get it.
A game that was so much fun has become a source of added stress. Sp please pace the events and bring back the fun in the game we so much love.

I agree @Sinisism but I say go to the official ML facebook community page and look at the holiday video card they posted and you tell me if a staff that size can handle any of the things you're asking? ML has been in the top grossing games list for a LONG, LONG time so money is not the problem (the amount of money SP made was why they were bought in the first place). Most companies this successful would be making new apps, looking for their next hit. SP can't because they don't have enough people working there to do any development. They got a skeleton staff there treading water until the money dries up and they move on to other software companies.

Thank you for writing a concise explanation of how many players have been feeling about the game. I’m one of those who have been complaining about the race and the lack of information that you allow us to know about your rewards. You stated the problem in a way that I hope that SP will do something about the future races.
Communication is the most important thing that we need for all of us not just to a few players or leaders.

@marianne-van-es said in Racing in the Dark:

That said I think that my point and from others of saying dont participate if you don't like it is the strongest point you can make

Exactly that! If a significant portion of players don't participate in events then the stats on the SP servers will tell them and they WILL react. If they reduce breeding chances in breeding events and increase payout tasks in races and the stats show that the combined player base is spending more, not less, on these events - guess what happens???

@david-ml that’s only partially true. No one I know of participates in breeding events, and by participate I mean throw loads of gems at the event, except new people who don’t know better. The numbers have to be down, way down from before the bloated epic breeds and lowered chances. Everyone complained, but nothing is done.
And how would you even know since the breed events often overlap events like races where people are spending loads of gems on hatching tasks anyway. “Whoa look at these numbers on Breedy Days! Players must love this event!” Mean while we are all speed hatching thunder Uncommons.

Ok, so.

Chests give random stuff without any chance breakdown.

And they're still here.

Which means people buy them.

Guaranteed race monster stats are not available.

And people still race.

Which is why they're still here.

@sinisism said in Racing in the Dark:

@marianne-van-es said in Racing in the Dark:

Sorry @Marianne-van-Es but this is a terrible attitude to have in both life and as representing a business. What the players are asking for is NOT so outrageous it should be dismissed in such a way. If this is SP's official stance, someone needs a serious attitude adjustment.

Dont know if your attacking me by this but lets say for arguments sake you do, do you really think I or most of the dedicated team I know and love think that way? No we dont because I know them and I know they are dedicated to make a great game, however they dont have the end say in this. Its in all big business area's the same profit counts is that my personal way of life? If it was I would not do the things I do here, making charts for race (with help from others) maze or progressive Im not the kind of person that believes money talks in my personal life. However my Husband and I (in a former life) work(ed) for a big multinational and see the changes there no longer quality counts but ways to save money to keep shareholders happy. Im sorry to tell you @Sinisism (that name does that still fit) but thats not my attitude, thats the attitude of business all over

@c0ntr1v3d people are easily mislead. Such a shame.

@keki14 said in Racing in the Dark:

@c0ntr1v3d people are easily mislead. Such a shame.

isnt that a bit condescending, I hope the majority of people have common sense. I read a lot of the time I know the chance on getting that or that is low but I bought it anyway.
Also I get the question on Discord so often is that chest worth i always say if you want to gamble on the small chance you get what you want sure, if you dont want to risk that don't.

@marianne-van-es said in Racing in the Dark:

@keki14 said in Racing in the Dark:

@c0ntr1v3d people are easily mislead. Such a shame.

isnt that a bit condescending, I hope the majority of people have common sense. I read a lot of the time I know the chance on getting that or that is low but I bought it anyway.
Also I get the question on Discord so often is that chest worth i always say if you want to gamble on the small chance you get what you want sure, if you dont want to risk that don't.

I wish it were condescending. But if it were, casinos would be out of business.

@c0ntr1v3d True but the 4 times I've gambled in a Casino I was very aware of what I was doing. Im always assume there are more like me but maybe I shouldent

@sinisism said in Racing in the Dark:

@ekto-gamat said in Racing in the Dark:

@sinisism said in Racing in the Dark:

@marianne-van-es said in Racing in the Dark:

That said I think that my point and from others of saying dont participate if you don't like it is the strongest point you can make, we can complain about a race untill the earth stand still but at the end if profits are made it will be hard for the ones that listen to our complaints to bring over our point of view to the ones who runs the business.

Sorry @Marianne-van-Es but this is a terrible attitude to have in both life and as representing a business. What the players are asking for is NOT so outrageous it should be dismissed in such a way. If this is SP's official stance, someone needs a serious attitude adjustment.

The gaming industry is fast and ever changing, aimed at short term high profits. Even outside the gaming industry there are not many company chiefs who look beyond numbers. If SP sees races are generating profit it will be very hard to convince them to change anything about them. Only took them two years to change the race format to lap rewards after all, and probably only after being convinced it was more profitable to do so.

Yes, would also love them to take a look at the bigger and more humane picture, but it is hardly surprising or typically SP that they (whoever makes the end decisions) do not.

You're missing the point. We're not asking for the impossible here. In fact, it would cost them nothing and arguably could increase long term profits by not driving their most avid player base away. Their (silent) argument would probably be "but we want to be able to change things last minute without blowback", but I'm sorry, that ship has already sailed. Call Taringa! "unofficial" all you want - it's still out there and readily accessible. Showing their players customers a little respect is not so hard, and they could use a little good will right now.

I was not talking about SP's lack of communication. That should indeed be improved and all stats and skills of each race monster should be public before every race.

My point is that all arguments will fall on deaf ears if, often the same people who complain, still give indirect highly positive feedback on races by doing 50 or 100 laps.

@Marianne-van-Es they may have common sense, but they still support SP by doing 50-100 laps or by buying the random chests (and they constantly make the game a little bit more expensive, but people still do everything they did before).
I know it's business and all (I studied it), but it's still not okay. But keep the investors happy at all costs, what could go wrong ...
But I truly believe they are good people

@c0ntr1v3d said in Racing in the Dark:

Ok, so.

Chests give random stuff without any chance breakdown.

And they're still here.

Which means people buy them.

Guaranteed race monster stats are not available.

And people still race.

Which is why they're still here.

So, your point is we don't try to improve the system? Bend over and take it? However well SP may or may not be doing, THEY COULD BE DOING BETTER. Both in PR and financially. It's in their best interest to make the majority happy, not just the RNG buyers.

I read something so completely different in the message from @C0ntr1v3d, I read as long as it works what is the intensive to change, that doesnt mean Ekto or C0ntriv3d or small me agree its a fact. business 101

@marianne-van-es if it works so well then why teams are losing loyal players due to them quitting the game?