PS:if you would like to see the pictures being referred to, please check out the Valiant Force Global Facebook Page and search for this article.
The Arathos Times #004
This newsletter is NOT sponsored by INFINITY. It is written purely by the author's volition and is not supported nor backed by the guild he is residing in. Therefore, if this article does step on any toes, the blame solely lies on the author's shoulders alone. That being said, if you are looking for an awesome guild in the Everglades server, are interested to sign up and meet the requirements in the picture below, please feel free to leave a comment at the bottom stating your interest and someone will contact you. Alternatively, you could also send me a pm.
With the closing of the recent ladder less than 12 hours ago and the pain stemming from the senseless expenditure of our gems still fresh within our minds, I would like to speculate on how much it would take to get rank 1 in Everglades and perhaps the various means of doing so.
<How many kidneys need one sell to attain Rank 1 in Everglades?>
If you could kindly turn your attention towards the ranking table, you will realize that the top 2 ranks exponentially surpass the scores of the next 8 ranks. I will be using my score(Rank 7) as a baseline in my calculations to estimate how much gems the top rank would have needed to spend.
Now, if you could then scroll to the next picture displaying a white piece of paper filled with scrawlings and a sexy looking hand, I have shown how I have come to the conclusion that in order to attain rank 1 in Everglades for the last ladder, a person need spend 14025 gems !!!!
Yes, what the hell right?! Seems like a damn suspicious number. Granted, I did make some assumptions in my calculations. However, I also compensated by magically making every of their chest, be it Arena or Guild, plus the Waterfall, give energy. So now let's begin our speculations.
Speculation #1: Both rank 1 and 2 are really passionate individuals of the game whom are both willing to go the extra mile of spending more than SGD$1000 on a single ladder. At this juncture, all the dolphins, ikan bilis as well as Fish2play players would like to thank you for your immense support towards a game we all love.
Speculation #2: They have somehow found a way to keep triggering the energy bundles. If that is so, the cost of the ladder would drop from more than SGD$1000 to perhaps just SGD$300 which is a much more believable amount. Well, if that's the case, please impart said skill to us and teach us how to trigger the bundle more than once. I have tried installing/uninstalling, using another device. My guildmate even tried nox. Didn't work. Awaiting enlightenment.
Speculation #3: Their King's Eggs always gives them 2000 gems each so every month they get 27000 gems from the purchase of 12 King's Eggs. 14K gems seems chump change in the face of such luck Dear XII Braves, I have been a loyal supporter of your King's Eggs since you first released them, always never hesitating and buying all 12 every month. Till date, I have yet to receive a single 2000 gems opening from a single King's Egg. Please transfer some of that luck that you seem to be bestowing upon others and bless just a little on me.
Speculation #4: They received a huge amount of compensation of energy before the ladder. This is absolutely possible as someone within the Discord channel managed to get awarded more than 100 arena orbs in one go. Given that 5 arena orbs equates to 25 energy, it would mean a compensation of over 500 energy is possible, thus putting said player at a discerning advantage. The onus lies on XII Braves to fix the faults that come with connection issues as well as to look out for repeated abusers of such a fault. It doesn't seem fair that just because a person's internet connection "repeatedly" has a problem, legitimate players cannot compete fairly during a ladder event.
We have now covered all 4 speculations I deem to be on the bright side. What with all the cheating in raids as well as the multitude of bugs in the game, let's delve into the possibilities that could arise if one were to decide to dabble in the dark arts.
Speculation #5: Buying of cheap gems. If we look back into the brief but dramatic history of Valiant Force, we are reminded of a formidable guild going by the adorable name of Loveables who once dominated every aspect of the game for a short period of time before their demise because the heavy spenders of their guild were banned for allegedly buying cheap gems. This saga, before the banning began, caused a few members of Infinity to leave the game as we are a very competitive group but when faced with unfair odds, there is simply no way to compete. Anyway, I am not accusing anyone of doing so. I am merely exploring all possibilities of the willingness to spend 14025 gems in a single ladder. At this juncture, I will apologize if I have offended anyone.
Speculation #6: My ex-guildmate proposed this wild conspiracy theory that the top rankers might be GMs(moderators) of the game and thus are entitled to gifts such as free gems, energy etc...This serves to firstly, reward the moderators for a job well-done and secondly, increase the competition and thus cause players to spend more. Take for example if there are 30 people vying for Top 25 and 5 of them are moderators given perhaps 200 free energy. The other normal players would then have to spend gems equivalent to that of 200 free energy in order to compete against the moderators. Let's translate this to the vying for the top position where there is perhaps one moderator account given free reign of energy to create competition for that first position. As crazy as it seems, it has happened in other games. The Naruto Shippudden app does reward its moderators by giving them free unique characters and in-game items. If that is really the case, I suggest you all stop or change the rewarding fashion to that valianites instead of gems and energy as legitimate players will stop spending against such insane and unfair competition and who will you have left to moderate.
So what do you guys think? Is it one of the above? Or is there some other method of attaining energy in which only a minority are privy to?
I have come to the end of the article and would like to leave you, be it player, developer or moderator, with a motto "Be Valiant. Play Fair." We all just want to compete on equal grounds and if your wallet is truly fatter than everyone's else's, I congratulate you from the bottom of my heart and would implore you to impart some "How to be successful" life tips to the rest of us.
About the author:
The author is of Chinese descent and hence his Maths should be automatically regarded as having no mistakes at all. If you do happen to spot any errors in his calculations, it would be good if you could sound them off privately to the author or he might risk banishment from his family due to dishonor and disgrace.
Edit: the white paper should show 14025 gems not 16325 gems
Edit 2:One way of triggering bundles is to use different servers to trigger bundles. So even though I bought the energy bundle in Everglades, I can trigger it again in Arathos and if I return to my account in Everglades within 15 minutes, it will still be there. However the downside is that the bundle is linked to the level of that account. So my level 9 Arathos account can only trigger a Gold Bundle that gives me a pathetic 25 Energy. In order for this to be worth your money, you will need 4 high level accounts in each of the servers.
Edit 3:You can trigger Edit 2 infinitely by uninstalling and reinstalling the game. Example: I have already triggered and bought my Fortune Bundle in the Everglades server. I will then go to the Arathos server and trigger it again by having no gold to summon. I will then go to the Everglades server and purchase the bundle that was triggered in the Arathos server. After which, I will uninstall and reinstall the game again. I will then go to the Arathos server and trigger the Fortune Bundle again. I will then go to the Everglades server to purchase the Arathos triggered bundle. Uninstall. Reinstall. Rinse and repeat.