I would like to say as the person who kinda got this discussion started thank you all for keeping this conversation friendly even tho it has been a disagreement to an extent. It really is beneficial to the issue and keeps things moving forwardđ
1 Like
When this 1 troop defence was first being explored by players, I believe Sirrian himself said that the playerâs defence team wasnât supposed to have any effect on their PVP matchups. Iâll dig around and see if I can find the quote but it will be pretty difficult to find. I remember that @Donboba (and I think @htismaqe) was in on that discussion and there was a lot of back and forth about whether changing your defence team actually had any impact.
Anyway, given that the devs stated that their belief and intention was that PVP matchups should be based on player level and progress, then using a 1 troop defence IS glitching/exploiting and always has been. It hasnât been seen as abusive, since the primary benefit was increased variety, but once it spread too far and players began to be able to battle 1 troop defences exclusively, then something had to be done.
Fair enough Vangor, they are a bit different when you put it like that.
I guess Iâm thinking back to the time when large sections of the community expressed strong opinions about collusion in guild wars, because it:
- Benefited some players at the expense of others
- Was against the spirit of the game (if not the rules)
- Led to an unequal distribution of rewards based on the route of least resistance rather than fair rewards for fair play.
Iâd apply all of the above to the tactic of using 1 troop defences despite being aware that the game keeps the low team rating but sends out a random, much stronger team.
Anyway, hopefully the Devs will pop up with a response soon.
4 Likes
Even if something did have to be done (which is a different discussion) it is evident the implementation was fumbled
2 Likes
They need to deploy solution, not talk. 
.
4 Likes
I hear ya brudda. I guess my point is most ppl still with 1td set arent intending to hurt anyone else
3 Likes
This was my only objection, too. I think once you are aware that the game is going to use what youâre doing in a way that is unfair to other players, and IF there is a way you can change what youâre doing without sewering your own results, then it is reasonable to adjust what youâre doing.
Again, I donât have any experience with your malfunctioning system, so I canât say whether the possible workarounds are reasonable or not.
1 Like
And found it:
Also in that thread, a very prescient post from November 2016:
1 Like
I never run a team on defense bellow 4 level 20 troops. Yet i regularly got offered single troop defenses. So i didnât see a problem with diversity. Is defense team raiting taken into consideration? I am not sure that it isnât. But i got the diversity with using 9k+ defenses.
Need more event defences please 
thank you in advance
1 Like
Kingdom under siege bonus? An enemy of the event kingdom gets a bonus while on defence.
Based on that, then any player lowering their defense below their âlevel and progressâ would have to be considered âglitching/exploiting and always has beenâ. That would include @Gouki 8k defense, or my 6500 one. 1TD is simply one way that some players can achieve the âglitchâ (your words 
), and 4x weak troops is another.
[quote=âStan, post:532, topic:24808, full:trueâ]
This was my only objection, too. I think once you are aware that the game is going to use what youâre doing in a way that is unfair to other players, and IF there is a way you can change what youâre doing without sewering your own results, then it is reasonable to adjust what youâre doing. [/quote]
Just to be clear, you will âskewer your own resultsâ if you are a higher VIP player. As @Jainus posted, his lowest score is 8500, while others can go down to 5-6k. If there were no impact on the player Iâd agree about doing the better thing for the other guy, but there is an impact.
And echoing @Vangor , another good conversation here. Much respect to the wrong opposing opinions on keeping everything so civil and on topic. Great discussion!
3 Likes
I agree with everything youâre saying. Having the ability to alter your PVP invade matchups by changing your defence team leads to all kinds of problems, which is why the system should work the way Sirrian thought it did, and the way it does work on console. Iâm 200 levels above my wife and generally get more difficult PVP matchups than she does. She is in a more competive GW guild than I am, and she gets more difficult GW battles than I do (on average). This all seems inherently fair.
Everything about the way the matchmaking works on PC/Mobile seems deeply unfair, and these problems are magnified by defence glitching (my words), VIP effects, and now the 1TD replacement âquick fixâ, which gives non-endgame players deceptive and sometimes impossible matchups against late and end-game players who are just trying to get a break. This needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed quickly, but it needs something better than the âquick fixâ that was deployed.
For context, this is now Sirrianâs most successful thread ever (based on total number of âlikesâ given within the thread), so people are clearly fired up about this.
3 Likes
I dont blame the ppl who set 1 troop defenses despite the knowledge of its consequences, as i believe its design fault (not players fault) that players are treated unequal and some have worse consequences for taking what they can and some not (especially vip difference)
in same time i am grateful to all who stopped doing it in consideration for the consequences to others
i also strongly believe that all players should have a choice between:
- meta hard and high rewarding fights
- and the easier low rewarded fights with lots of variety
2 Likes
I really donât mind people setting 1TD. I never used it, but i see why people did.
If 10-20% of player base did this, then this change is very stupid. Preventing that amount of players for playing like that is wrong.
And rewards for fights are very bad. I havenât seen a fight over 1500 base gold reward since the start of 2.0. Yet in Vangors picture his third trophy option offers 1700? Wtf is that? Am i being penalized for being in a strong guild that completes all tasks and there for has statue bonuses active? Scale the gold reward based on the defending team score not on the difference between the attacker and defender 
It would also solve the âissueâ with 1TD. 1TDâs have a very low score and if those give letâs say 500 base gold - those wouldnât be attacked as much if the 9k teams gave 1.5-2k base gold reward.
3 Likes
The wrong team scores really should have been fixed within a day, two max.
Leaving it this long is just sad 
5 Likes
40 posts since I posted yesterday, I canât keep up. 
Let me put this out there because I donât see anybody saying it:
The DEVS said the 1-troop defense was creating easy matches, too much currency, and went âagainst the spirit of the gameâ.
People have gone and started using 4 un-traited, un-leveled troops to get a marginally higher power level and theyâre still getting easier matches, too much currency, and theyâre still using sub-standard teams which the devs EXPLICITLY said violates âthe spirit of the gameâ.
As @beanie42 said:
Why are we still having this discussion? Why havenât the devs âfixedâ this permanently, objectively by implementing the console mechanism that @Stan has suggested?
The selective âbug fixingâ and other apparent favoritism (towards mechanics, not people just to be clear) is what is really driving me nuts right now. Too many people are getting left out in the cold, not enjoying the game because of apparent ARBITRARY decisions by the devs.
3 Likes
I agree with most of your post, but I think there is one point where I might disagree, specifically:
For the first time ever this week, I am starting to see a significant number of 1-troop defences on PS4. When these 1-troop defences are a fully levelled and traited dwarven miner, it is a guaranteed win (though I had a slow one when I failed to remember that my Mab team would have a bit of a problem with impervious troops). However, when multiple people are putting up single Elspeths as their defence, the lure of that becomes irresistible, because it is not only a guaranteed win, but a guaranteed ultra-fast win. If that approach becomes epidemic, then I can see how it breaks the PVP system. I donât know how widespread it was on PC/Mobile, but if people were able to get a significant proportion of their PVP battles like that, it had to be stopped.
Again, this was a symptom of a collection of problems, only one of which was addressed by the devs. Some of those problems are not present on console (like getting relief from PVP monotony through changing your defence team), but if this same behavior starts to take off when people see the mutually beneficial opportunity, I expect the devs will need to do something about it. As I read it, that is the part that is violating the spirit of the game, not just putting up an âeasyâ defence. An âeasyâ defence should still be appropriately scored and rewarded for whoever is attacking it, so a level 25 player attacking a level 20, fully traited dwarven miner from an end-game player is still in for a fight and gets a reasonable reward in PVP points trophies and gold, while you or I would presumably get the minimum amount of all 3.
2 Likes
Ok heres a new one⌠I didnt get a pre-battle screenshot because the team score was 5k ish and it showed mist stalker and a level 400 ish player so i didnt even scout before handâŚ
When i entered battle i found a team of
Mist stalker
EK
Mist stalker
Draak
All lv 20 and full traits⌠So yet again im fighting a battle that wont give appropriate rewards
When i finished the battle i again viewed profile, clicked fight and saw thisâŚ
So needless to say now i am totally confisedâŚ
@Saltypatra @Sirrian @Nimhain any reason this should happen? Was this caused by the 1td âquick fixâ? Should i scout every team before and after spending 100 gold per battle?
Im just at a loss about thisâŚ
Look if the answer is âwe know about the problem and the fix comes with unityâ cool but please let us know
Thanksđ
2 Likes
My guess is they were just in the process of changing their defense when you were fighting them, but thatâs just a guess.
As for whether unity will fix this, thatâs a good point, since my understanding is that on console you canât influence the defenses you get presented with by nerfing your own defense. Probably worth asking some of the beta testers - pinging @Lyya @Jainus @Ozball : if you field a really weak defense (say 4x level 1 commons), do you see weak opponents or do they match your offensive score?
1 Like