Could something be done about how people forfeit?

[SilentAngel88]

Several times today now I've spent a good 15-20 minutes amassing my armies and taking over the board only to have the them forfeit from the game because they're too weak or stupid?

This means I waste a good amount of time only to get 400 or so essence? Since I didn't quit should I not still get the bonus multiplier? It's not very fair that they keep doing this sad

[Erogenous Jones]

LOL!
Yeah, yours is a common complaint, and one that many, including the staff at Gaia have been trying to find a way to address.
I also find it frustrating when people forfeit, especially early on, because, as you say, you can potentially invest a fair amount of time, only to find that time wasted to some extent.

It does get better once you get to the higher levels, but even in the Open Bracket (31 and up) I still run into the odd, early forfeit.

Part of it may come down to people simply not perceiving forfeiting as being inconsiderate.
They may just quickly do the math in their heads and, figuring that theirs is a lost cause, concede to their opponent with no malice intended.

Hopefully as most people progress in the game, and spend a bit of time browsing the Forum, they'll recognise that many feel forfeiting to be in some ways, punitive to their opponent, and play every game out to it's conclusion.

Heck, even when you lose, you win to some extent, because your Post Game Bonus Card isn't affected by whether or not you won or lost, and you get at least some Essence out of it.

It's just a case of getting the message out there. smile

[SilentAngel88]

Yeah I understand that but still I can get more essence losing to the "nightmare" difficulty computer in less time than what I put onto pvp sad
Besides what I don't get is why they don't try to make a last stand then at least you can get more essence killing enemies and be better off. I had an awesome last stand opponent a day or so ago, that was a lot of fun.

[Supreme Kyle16]

SilentAngel88

Yeah I understand that but still I can get more essence losing to the "nightmare" difficulty computer in less time than what I put onto pvp sad
Besides what I don't get is why they don't try to make a last stand then at least you can get more essence killing enemies and be better off. I had an awesome last stand opponent a day or so ago, that was a lot of fun.

Perhaps they don't want to be taken advantage of and essence farmed? I've fought out a losing battle to the end where this guy was building his forces against my small number of units. I can relate to the feeling, so it's understandable. Also, if you are fighting a battle where you've clearly lost, it gets boring waiting for the other guy to hurry up and win. So it's a bit of a time saver on their part maybe? xD

[Sagebomb]

As the guy above said, were you amassing forces "after you could have already won easily enough"? If so that is farming and frowned apon by most people.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/heralds-of-chaos/uncommon-sense-how-to-use-your-brain-in-hoc/t.84137443/?_gaia_t_=3934 talks about various etiquettes.

If you wernt holding back to farm, then there are some fofiet things in place now for you.

- if you forfeit while battles are pending, the other player is granted essence from all of your units locked in battle
- there is a time penalty for forfeiting more than twice a day. Upon third and subsequent forfeits, you'll be prevented from entering PvP immediately. The penalty increases the more you forfeit
- forfeit penalty applies to timed-out games
- forfeit penalty now does NOT apply to friendly games
- forfeit penalty only applies if user forfeits before turn 3.

[Ursus the Grim]

Sagebomb

As the guy above said, were you amassing forces "after you could have already won easily enough"? If so that is farming and frowned apon by most people.

http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/heralds-of-chaos/uncommon-sense-how-to-use-your-brain-in-hoc/t.84137443/?_gaia_t_=3934 talks about various etiquettes.

If you wernt holding back to farm, then there are some fofiet things in place now for you.

- if you forfeit while battles are pending, the other player is granted essence from all of your units locked in battle
- there is a time penalty for forfeiting more than twice a day. Upon third and subsequent forfeits, you'll be prevented from entering PvP immediately. The penalty increases the more you forfeit
- forfeit penalty applies to timed-out games
- forfeit penalty now does NOT apply to friendly games
- forfeit penalty only applies if user forfeits before turn 3.

Thanks for the info Sage. Makes me feel a little better about just went down. I'd prefer if the penalty applied regardless of the time in the game though. Nothing like having someone forfeit as they realize they underestimated you and are about to be steamrolled. sweatdrop
Time for my personal rant.
I just had someone rush me. First time anybody's tried this in PvP against me. He had two (Veteran) infantry, a Tower Guardian, a Night's Agent, and Sir Corwin knocking on my door by turn five. I managed to fall back to my portal (the second of two) and pull out a Mountain Wyrm to augment Rakyl, Artillery Golem, and Man-at-Arms. The funny thing is, I couldn't have afforded that Wyrm without the refunded mana from his dogpile on a Clawfighter and GotP the turn before. So its basically by his own hand that it happened.

He spends two turns trying to retreat, then forfeits.

I felt extremely cheated. I received a measly 300 essence for my efforts (though the satisfaction of seeing zero for him helped) and none of the satisfaction of fighting someone 56 levels higher and winning. I've had this happen in RTS before. People rush me with whatever they can play, I stop them, they quit. I get all of the frustration of losing and none of the happiness of a victory.

I was so pissed I nearly sent him a sternly-worded pm. xd

I know if the forfeit wasn't there, people would just walk away from the computer when the tables turn, but isn't there anything better we can do? I never forfeit unless being farmed, and I never essence farm players, so having someone strip away the fulfillment of a good win because they screwed up is really. . . irritating.

[SilentAngel88]

Aye I agree, this is happening to a lot of people sad

[Only Gray]

Lol, it's already been improved lots.

They get penalties for forfeiting.

[I PIECES I]

i just lead my units to death. but the other person keeps pinning with weak units? xD
just let me die gonk

[VKiera]

It's unfortunate when that happens, but it's hard to punish people who forfeit in such a way without punishing people who forfeit for more legit reasons, like a game bug, my one and only forfeit was for such a reason, the game froze on me and I was unable to summon or move units or click on anything.

Though it does get very annoying I agree, I never forfeit, even if I'm going to lose, it's just very unsportsmanlike conduct to quit a game just because you're losing. You don't see professional sports teams quite with 3 mins to spare, even if there's no hope of winning.

I'm in the 40s lv currently and had someone forfeit on me that was in the 60s, I'd hoped by reaching the higher bracket those sort of things would happen less. It wasn't even early on in the game either, it was closer to the end we both had about 4 portals each and were about to duke it out for a 5th portal and then BAM he forfeits right as the battle was about to start. I was like, 'wth?' emotion_eyebrow

Unfortunately it's something we as players have to contend with.

[Gavyn the Mighty]

Ardent One

I was so pissed I nearly sent him a sternly-worded pm. xd

Yes, the situation sucks, but you still did win, and you got the essence... and it seems as if your time wasn't really 'wasted', as it sounds as if it was a relatively quick game.

Personally, in that case (and I really hate forfeits), seems like a good win. You were backed into a corner and 'angered' the opponent to the extent (via your strategy/ability to summon things to deter them from winning) where they had to forfeit because their loss was eminent. In that situation, I think quickly turning the tables is the bigger win than running them back over and potentially farming them. Had they not forfeit, and you 'took over' from there... you were in the dominating position and anything they summoned would basically be essence farmed to you as you 'ran them over' (which you said you don't do and don't like doing)... so I think, even though forfeits suck, that this was one of the times that it could give you a more satisfying win for the quick turn around... and your strategy.

Not sure how you can still feel cheated since you won the game and got all of the essence from battle. they put a lot of things in place with regards to forfeiting to both deter them from happening, and to award the winners for putting the opponent into the position where they needed to forfeit. They've also blocked the first turn forfeits (which were nearly as bad)... so.. you got the win and essence... not much left at all to feel cheated on, IMO.

Good on you for not sending that PM. No need to harass people. smile

[musicalpoet2010]

I PIECES I

i just lead my units to death. but the other person keeps pinning with weak units? xD
just let me die gonk

haha yep!!! exactly how i feel when i play pvp. i just started pvp, so my cards are still pretty weak. but i've never forfeited, even when it was obvious that i was going to lose. the guy i was against started building his army and not moving for like 3 turns and i got tired of waiting, so i jumped on his portal instead lol. i mean, he had me down to 6 people and 3 spots on the map, and was just sitting there. i'd rather die in battle and see the game through to the end than forfeit.

[AzurePrototype]

"Waaaah! I wanted to keep curbstomping the same person instead of moving on! Oh if only they didn't have the built-in 'stop the rape' button, I could harvest his corpse forever!"

The forfeit button has an important place. When there's no way I can win, and the enemy is just rolling back and forth having their laughs until I want to snap the screen in half, YES, I'm going to forfeit. It's already a loss, but behind YOUR screen you see endless opportunity. Then that same person goes onto the forums and complains about "cowards" or the "weak and stupid". Do you see why this might be a problem? I understand most of you don't just farm for essence, but that's something that can happen. What about regular games? A smart player will realize they've lost only a couple of turns in, sometimes. At that point, they should continue (I do) but you'll honestly think less of them for somehow robbing you of more essence? A drawn-out, epic battle where the loser receives almost as much essence as the winner is awesome, but you can always have shorter ones with under 1000; why not?

There's no sense prolonging a game when you can't continue. I hate seeing my forfeit counter go up, so I don't use it, but I certainly don't think less of my opponent for having had enough. I get my essence, and they get to move on. Maybe we'll end up in a match again right afterward, and then we both get another chance. Besides, it counts as a win for me, and that's why I play.

Essence is important, sure, but if they forfeit, they don't get ANY. THEIR time was wasted, not yours.

[AzurePrototype]

Ardent One

He spends two turns trying to retreat, then forfeits.

OK, so you won, awesome. I don't see-

Ardent One

I felt extremely cheated.

Wat

Ardent One

People rush me with whatever they can play, I stop them, they quit. I get all of the frustration of losing and none of the happiness of a victory.

Whoa, hold on. You destroyed him (or were about to), he caved, you won. Those shining blue wings appeared on your screen, yes? You should feel proud of that. The euphoria of whittling him down and making him suffer before finishing him was shorter than you'd hoped, but the victory stands. What kind of masochist do you think he is, to continue after that? Besides, forfeiting is humiliating, but so is suffering turn after turn where things have flown so far south that you know you can never recover.

If I could suggest only one change to the forfeit system... I'd say that the worth (or half, I dunno what's more balanced) of every enemy unit on the field when they forfeit should be rewarded to the winner as if they killed them. The last time I forfeited I had only one unit left alive, and he was about to die too. I didn't have the resources to summon another one.

[Ursus the Grim]

AzurePrototype

"Waaaah! I wanted to keep curbstomping the same person instead of moving on! Oh if only they didn't have the built-in 'stop the rape' button, I could harvest his corpse forever!"

The rest of that particular post was arguing in favor of forfeiting, using a situation that neither I nor the OP nor really anyone agreeing with us is endorsing. I assume you didn't quote anybody because the "you" that you are addressing is scaring away ravens in a Nebraska field. I think we're all in agreement that forfeiting is warranted when being essence farmed. There's a difference between being farmed and losing, a concept that it sounds like you may not be grasping, I'm afraid. Riding it out as the tide turns against you is not "being raped."

AzurePrototype

]Whoa, hold on. You destroyed him (or were about to), he caved, you won. Those shining blue wings appeared on your screen, yes? You should feel proud of that. The euphoria of whittling him down and making him suffer before finishing him was shorter than you'd hoped, but the victory stands. What kind of masochist do you think he is, to continue after that? Besides, forfeiting is humiliating, but so is suffering turn after turn where things have flown so far south that you know you can never recover.

Let me put it to you like this. Let me propose a theoretical situation.

I'm playing against Blue Relic.
Relic summons a unit every turn, sending them directly towards my herald.
I miss a unit summon on one of my turns, and therefore suffer a significantly lowered chance of victory. That's one less unit to grab land or fight.
Therefore, I quit just before battle is joined, because in my opinion, I have no way of winning, and I'm no masochist.

Or how about this.
I go into a battle using Jakyr the fang. Blue Relic has tactfully pinned me using a gang of clawfighters and other relatively weak units. I take a beating, but manage to destroy most of his forces. He has a single unit left but my Jakyr can only take one more hit. So I quit. There's "no way" for me to win that fight now. I know I'm going to lose so it doesn't make sense for me to sit it out. After all, I'm not a masochist.

Well, I may be, but its probably actually irrelevant to the given situation.

Do you understand the flaw of those situations, though? I certainly hope so. It would be rude and childish of me to forfeit as soon as I realize things aren't going my way. Its a middle finger to the opponent, much like the 12 year old who ragequits from Call of Duty with a flurry of swears. No given battle is perfectly fair all the way through. Why not have the game determine who is most probable to win in advance and have victory decided on the first draw? When I played tee-ball or soccer/football as a child would I have been justified in storming off the field after the other team scores?

No. Because as any child older than seven can tell you, that's being a poor sport.