Dear devs, please fix your cheating AI on console

I’ve been playing on PS4 for over a year and am around level 850, so I have a reasonable amount of personal experience with this. I see what you’re seeing, but to say that it “literally happens every 2nd match” is seriously exaggerating things. I absolutely agree that some goofy stuff happens, like the AI makes a harmless-looking vertical 3-match, then the next three gems that drop in all match the top gem, giving them a 4 match, then 4 more gems drop in that are all the same colour. That kind of stuff happens all the time, but I think it happens just as often for me as it does for the AI. People that play both platforms tend to agree that there is definitely something different about the way that the gems refresh, but that doesn’t mean that the game is cheating.

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I think the term “cheating” needs to be thrown out. I at least think so based on how the AI is with PvP (ranked) as compared to every other game mode. In PvP (ranked) the AI is on some whole different mode which is ridiculous at times. I see this happening after every certain amount of battles.

It feels like it moves from being normal as in the other game modes, to being abnormal like some different game that’s not normal to Gems of War. I notice this from playing the Quests, Arena, Explore, Challenges, and Casual PvP. If the AI’s behavior in these different modes are what I consider to be OK for me then why it’s so different in PvP (ranked)?

I’ll be the idiot to say why don’t the Devs just make the AI’s behavior in PvP (ranked) the same? Because I don’t know what they know in order to fix it, but me being an idiot feels that it just needs to be that. But this is what I notice from my end. I don’t see it as a cheating issue if everything else is fine. I just think PvP (ranked) is screwed up that’s all, as if there’s some glitch that needs fixing. I always felt this was the case.

I think viewing it as a cheating problem just confuses the issue. (Unless the AI was meant to behave like that then that’s another story :sweat_smile::laughing:)

The console version has more players than any other version of this game currently. So why wouldn’t the AI be coded to be a bit more difficult when playing in PVP battles? I have noticed several things that the AI does, and for the developers to claim that it is random or coicidence is blatant lie.

For example; the AI purposely skips over a skull match or a gem match that would give them an extra turn, but ironically a new skull match or gem match (already lined up perfectly in their favor) falls from the top of the game board in their favor. This has happened to me more times than I care to count.

Another example; cards like Kererbos that has the ability to devour an enemy 50% of the time. Well, that should be reworded to say “Only if you are the player. If you are the AI then the odds increase to 90% of the time.” I can’t tell you how many times an AI team has used Kerebos (even a level as low as 5!) and has 'luckily" devoured my ENTIRE team!

I can’t recall the card(s) off the top of my head now, but the ones that have a certain percentage of chance to summon a new card upon death. Yeah… if the AI has one of those cards you may as well plan on fighting more than four opponents in that battle.

So you want to continue to try and convince console players that there isn’t some sort of coded bullshit going on in the console version of this game? The coding is designed to make the game near impossible to win. It doesn’t happen to EVERYONE, but it does happen to more than it should. I for one have gone weeks at a time without losing a single battle in PVP. Well today alone I have lost 12 battles and only won 9 so far. And I have mythic cards that are maxed out with all three traits unlocked. And I am losing to players 100’s of levels lower than me and with overall point values 1000’s of points below my team(s). Explain to me how a player using level 10-15 cards can somehow 'luckily" manage to defeat a player with level 18-20 mythic cards.

This game is a lot of fun, don’t get me wrong. And I have invested a LOT more money into it than I would like to admit over the course of the past year or so; but this OP AI crap is getting really old really fast. I’m not saying that I should win every game I play. But I am saying that the BS of having exact gem matches needed for the AI, multiple extra turns for the AI, and skull matches magically falling from the top of the game board for the AI isn’t just ‘luck’, it’s programmed bullshit.

Stop lying to your players; stop making excuses and start fixing the problems and make the game more balanced before you begin losing your player base.

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For the 2.1.5 update with Gem Preferences to the Console AI, that would be me.

There should only be 2 differences between the AI in Ranked PvP and all other game modes, but in all other cases be the exact same.

  1. Playing on Normal difficulty does affect the “luck” the AI will get, in which it enables what is generally called “Combo Breaker”. The AI will also be a bit more random with it’s decisions on Normal difficulty as well. These changes are always disabled in Ranked PvP, as you are unable to select a difficulty.

  2. Gem Preferences. Players can influence their AI for gem matches in Ranked PvP. This is were the AI will now no longer be baited for Skulls if the Defending player modified the slider to give it a lower preference. This means that the AI will, in general, act closer to that human player.

If it helps, we do take these claims seriously and are currently investigating.

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This is the sum of my issues but for some reason I think it would be attributed to the players influencing their gem matches (I’m guessing that’s what would be said) which in my opinion in screwed up to begin with if so, but I agree that would be bullshine to begin with. They’ll check it out.

Thanks for the response. I made this thread the other night out of aggitiation. I really enjoy the game, and appreciate all the devs. It does seem like you all listen to the players on a lot of issues. I am aware of recall bias, and I’m sure it is partly to blame. But, the differences are quite obvious between console and pc. And I’m not talking about how the ai can be tweaked on console. I don’t mind that. It makes the ai less predictable and more challenging. The amount of “lucky” drops that seem to fall in favor for the ai is what is annoying. I’ll still be playing anyway, if that makes any difference.

What I do when the AI goes off is retreat because it will save you a minute and a half so you can move on to the next match! I suggest you do the same! I f you have zero chance of winning a match it’s best to move on to the next one that you do have a chance of winning!

Yea @Sirrian I wouldn’t say the game cheats but I noticed alot of you are saying basically your Hero’s levels are close to 1000 or 1000+. Many hasn’t noticed this but the games difficulty actually scales to your Hero’s level. Truth be told only things that needs fixed are :

  1. All Goblins
  2. All Dragons
  3. And skull drop rate needs to be reduced.

That’s about it honestly :slight_smile:

I’m going to make a video (or a series of videos) exposing all of this garbage and tag the creator of the console code. Once all the evidence is on the table, then there will be no more room for excuses. I just watched the AI get 17 extra turns in a row and with them managed to kill three of my four troops with skull matches. And it wasn’t even a goblin team!

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As a PC/mobile only player, I’m very curious to see this behavior as it definitely sounds horrible and is nothing I’ve ever seen (obviously, since I don’t play on console). Video proof is always the best proof. :slight_smile:

It’s horrible, but to be honest with you my guess is that it’s something that stems from players having the ability to manipulate their gem preference and the AI having a lot of miscalculations. Here’s what gets me tho’, if players can influence their AI for gem matches in Ranked PvP to act closer to that human player, then this should be consistent.

I would beat a team and then later lose to that same team because of some weird behavior from the AI. The weird behavior has been expressed enough, gems droppings being screwed up, and certain troops just acting ridiculous is another too, but my issue is with the gems. If players are influencing their gems, then the next time I meet that team I should most likely beat them the same. Especially if I have the ability to.

I’ll beat a team a lot in a row, because I just could but then later lose to that team because of some ridiculous AI behavior is foolishness to me. Why? Did the player do something to his gem preference all of a sudden? OK sure. How about after I beat them, did the player do something to his gem preference again making it easy for me to win this time? And then again every few often? Which player manipulates their gem preference after every match for the same troops?

How about the gems not being in your favor? The AI forcing you to make bad gem matches, skulls being in its favor as a result of that? If this comes from gem manipulation then can someone please show me a tutorial on how to do this.

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Did you actually count 17 extra turns in a row or is that an angry over exaggeration? I’ve certainly had the ai get ten extra turns, but 17 is nuts! I’ve also had strings of 6 vertical skulls drop on me, huge L shapes all of the same colour etc etc. Yes there’s some crazy drops but it does seem to work both ways. For me anyway.

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25 extra turns for ai is my record,lol
today against dragon teams ai get 20 extra turns in a row,sylva and dragon souls get +2 life every 4 or 5 gems
20x2=40 easy life for ai

another bug/glitch,25% respawn from dragon souls is 75% for ai and 0% for me
dragon souls respawn 3 or 4 time every game,ai start with 4 troops and finish with 7 or 8

i hope understand,my english is not good

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I think they’ll get the point. My English is bad and I’m from an English speaking country, so yea they’ll get the point.:+1:

Everyone just calm down.

Lmao :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

I have experienced a 20+ AI cascade on PS4. Grated it was a goblin team using their extra turns, but I have never had anything close to that in my favor before. Ever. The team destroyed me after a bad setup drop, I had no chance.

Hey @HADuke,

We highly encourage you to make any videos to point us towards any issues we may have. We do have to recommend that you record all matches you play instead of only the ones where the AI is cheating though, as only posting the unfavorable times and removing the favorable times skews results. Good luck with the recording!

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I have to admit, when playing a PvP match on the console, Luck seems to be a much bigger factor than skill.

It often feels like the AI “knows” what gems will appear from off screen and is playing accordingly - especially when they miss a 4+ match in the open and end up getting a couple cascades that ends in a 4+ match. Sometimes their luck is so amazing it feels like the game may be generating the gems it needs…

Also (at least for me) I feel this started happening before the update that allowed you to change your defense teams gem preference. I remember because I was experiencing my greatest win streak (which according to my profile was 185 wins) when suddenly I started loosing every 2nd - 3rd match and someone told me that higher ranked guild PvP had been “balanced”

i agreed with that this is why i never fight on pvp against : queen mab , bone dragons , famine , korvash (this week )