Going on a 50+ winstreak, but there's one issue...

[iLikeToSnipe21]

I was told that recent changes had improved the gameplay and made it less "pay to win". So, I decided to come back and give it a try. I had stopped just short of the Tiberium League and I found that my opponents now had roughly the same level units as I had. I quickly made it to the Tiberium League and started working my way up. I think Rivals is a good game, but there's one major flaw keeping it from greatness.

Here's my army comp and win rates:

I don't know why, but the game stopped recording my wins and losses on my profile. I've had about 40 wins with the GDI army and 3 or so losses. My Nod army is at about 95 wins and 7 losses.

Only one of my losses has been from a disconnect on my end and only two have been from being genuinely outplayed. The rest have been due to the enemy having overleveled units. My level 9 attack bikes just can't take out a level 12 harvester fast enough for any strategy to work. It also doesn't help when a level 12 Talon almost takes out my bikes.

Rivals is a good game, but it's not a great game. There are a few major/minor issues here and there. But there is one issue that MUST change for it to be a great game. There is no negotiating or debating this, this IS holding back the game.

Issue #1:
Unit levels MUST go, there is absolutely no question about it. I can't experiment with new units because I'm facing levels 11-12. I've had to stop playing as GDI, the new units are too low of a level because I haven't had the chance to earn the cards.

Having these unit levels lowers unit diversity and really does make all the difference in winning or losing a match. You have to be exceptionally bad to lose with units at a 2-3 level advantage. By definition this game is pay to win. You pay money, you get higher level units, and as long as you have light grasp on strategy and tactics you will beat a more experienced opponent 100% of the time.

I am not against microtransactions. You want to charge us money to buy skins and new maps, even new commanders, I'm all for it. But you HAVE to get rid of unit leveling. This game will never succeed as long as you keep it.

"Rivals delivers an RTS experience focused on competition, skill, and strategy. That means you test your commander skills against opponents in heated, live 1v1 matches that unfold in minutes. Every victory will be earned by your commander skills. We want every match to be fun, fair, and competitive. That’s when the game is at its best."

"We need your help and feedback at scale. Two of the goals for the pre-alpha are for us to test combat balance and matchmaking, as both are critical to ensuring fun, fair, competitive matches. We will update our gameplay and matchmaking systems directly from player and community feedback we get in the Pre-Alpha and beyond."

I pulled these quotes directly from the EA website. It's wrong to say this while putting mechanics that let you spend money to win and not putting in a serious effort to fix it.

I want Rivals to be a great game and for it to succeed. We all do as players. And I'm telling you that it can never be great without removing unit levels. You have a game with so much potential on your hands. Please just do this, it'll fix so many problems with the game.

On the topic of minor issues, here are a few I've found.

• Going on long win streaks (50+ wins) seems to break winstreak bonuses. Purposely lost a few and then waited for daily reset. Haven't gotten any winstreak bonuses in the past three days.
• Army stats stopped updating for me after getting a lot of wins in a row. Not sure if that's a coincidence.
• Had several times where I click on a unit and either that unit doesn't get selected or another one does. Don't think it's my touchscreen, seems pretty accurate in other apps.
• Still have a handful of matches that randomly lag.

[Aussiet00]

I agree with this. I remember playing back on Red Alert2 quick match. Was a great game at the time as you hit the map with the same units up against each other they were level. You won a game with skill or playing your side the best against the side they picked. If you remember you would pick a team like America they had the special Para troopers and if your opp. picked a different side you would have to play your skills against there's. This game stinks when you play up against a opponent and you have a nod bike level 8 and they roll out a level 9 bikes. Same as with the Titan I played up against a guy with most level 9 's and I had max of level 7 - 8 what was the point of the match. Not a chance of me winning regardless of my skills.

[iLikeToSnipe21]

The season reset has amplified this issue. I'm now having matches against players with level 11-13 units while I have 9-10. It's insane, my units are completely helpless against the exact same unit or units they should counter.

By no stretch of the imagination is this competitive. Remove the unit levels, add cosmetic items, and I'll drop a bunch of money on this game.

[BattaIia]

"Each employee at Supercell is worth more than $5 million. Supercell, creator of games like Clash Of Clans, generated $2.3 billion in revenue and profited $964 million last year. The $5.5 billion-dollar gaming company is worth more than Evernote, Eventbrite, and BuzzFeed combined."

Can't blame the Dev's for wanting a slice of that pie. Levels are here to stay, and I doubt that will ever change. I hope there are level neutral events in the future, but only time will tell. 

As for your other issues: a 1 level advantage is a minor advantage in most cases. There are some niche ones like flammers/shocks at high levels will win on defence and attack with +1 level but this mainly only affects trades/soft counters. Hard counters work just fine. +2 levels you need to rely on hard counters. Trading will lead to a defeat very quickly, but they are winnable. But the odds are stacked heavily against you. +3 is a death sentence, but the matchmaker doesn't allow many of those without your permission (aka, bringing in an under leveled unit on purpose)

But the crux of your argument is that you are basically the best player out there with a 93% win ratio (I'll believe it when I see it, but for now lets just take your word for it) and you are upset that out of 143 matches played, the game pit you against higher levels 7 times? Forgive me if I don't sound too empathetic, but that is like the "free to play" gamer's dream. Man, I'd kill for your matchmaker luck, haha. Almost every match of mine is against players above my level.

Trick is to beat them with tactics, not trades. After all, this is a strategy game. But again, if you only lose 7% of the time to players who out leveled you, then what's the issue? You are still one of the best players in the game of all time with a 93% win ratio. So work on your tactics just a little and I'm almost positive you can bump that number up to a golden 94% maybe even 95!

As for your other issues...

• Going on long win streaks (50+ wins) seems to break winstreak bonuses. Purposely lost a few and then waited for daily reset. Haven't gotten any winstreak bonuses in the past three days.

Seeing as you are in tiberium league as you claimed, you should know that in masters and tiberium there is no medal bonus gain on win streaks. You gotta earn those medals the hard way at the top.

• Army stats stopped updating for me after getting a lot of wins in a row. Not sure if that's a coincidence.

Army stats work just fine. If you edit a deck, as you can see at the bottom of your picture under "previously equipped" stats for your previous decks are found there.

• Had several times where I click on a unit and either that unit doesn't get selected or another one does. Don't think it's my touchscreen, seems pretty accurate in other apps.

Some users with a notched screen have reported this. Sometimes clicking just feels off. Close the app and bring up a fresh version from time to time if you frequently "dashboard" the app or lock your phone.

• Still have a handful of matches that randomly lag.

This has been a very minor issue for me, most matches are fine. If you are experiencing lots of issues, try playing on data rather than wifi.

Hope this helps!

[BattaIia]

"59m ago

The season reset has amplified this issue. I'm now having matches against players with level 11-13 units while I have 9-10. It's insane, my units are completely helpless against the exact same unit or units they should counter."

You are in Tiberium league. You are playing against the best of the best. The gloves are off. Play hard, and play to win. The players with level 13 units are far and few between right now. 12 will give you trouble yea, but it's still winable. 11 is the current average for most players and your 10's can handle that just fine. Besides, you are at a 93% win ratio, whats the issue?

[BattaIia]

The season reset has amplified this issue. I'm now having matches against players with level 11-13 units while I have 9-10. It's insane, my units are completely helpless against the exact same unit or units they should counter."

[BattaIia]

You are in Tiberium league. You are playing against the best of the best. The gloves are off. Play hard, and play to win. The players with level 13 units are far and few between right now. 12 will give you trouble yea, but it's still winable. 11 is the current average for most players and your 10's can handle that just fine. Besides, you are at a 93% win ratio, whats the issue?

[iLikeToSnipe21]

The issue is that there is simply no skill based aspect to unit levelling whatsoever. Last season I did have a very high win ratio of 90%+. I don't care about that, I care about having fun. I have fun in a competitive strategy game by going head to head on a level playing field. Pitting my strategy and tactics against another person. A level 12 Talon beating level 9 attack bikes is the exact opposite of skill. It isn't even a challenge, it's a brick wall.

I've spent the beginning of this season experimenting with different armies, having fun and trying crazy comboes. But you know what? It's stopped being fun at all. I can't use disruptor infantry because I simply don't have the cards to get them above level 8. My opponents routinely have their infantry at 10-12. For the same reason I can't use any of the drones. I'd also like to try the APC, but I would have to stop levelling my core units in order to have the credits to level it up.

Unit levels destroy unit diversity and skill based challenges. It's not actually about "best of the best". Grinding for hundreds of hours or paying hundreds of dollars is not an indication of skill. Skill doesn't even reward you with any additional unit progress in this game.

I am at a pretty high level in strategy games, I've been playing them since the original C&C in 1995. I have a life outside of this game though, I play it as a time killer when I'm waiting for the doctor, a meeting, whatever. I'd happily pay for skins to support the game. But I can't bring myself to spend $30 for a unit I couldn't actually use because it'd still be too low of a level.

If I recall correctly, Yuri's Revenge released at $49.99. It added dozens of new units, two complete campaigns, and new maps. When you look at that, can you think of the current in-game system as anything but greed or being completely out of touch?

I have been facing some opponents with level 12 units that I can beat. But it's honestly because they're dumb. It's not like I'm just sllightly better than them. This is completely killing the fun of the game for me and I can't believe there are people who don't think it's an issue. Video games weren't always like this, they used to be much more consumer friendly.

[punishertrd]

i agree with you 100% here ive been seeing P2W players with high lvl units and you right its damn near impossible to win 

so ya this game caters to P2W players  

[iLikeToSnipe21]

I've been experimenting more with my army loadouts, and would really like to use disruptor infantry. But I have mine stuck at level 8 and my opponents have their's at 10-12, which is enough to make a huge difference. At this point, unit levels are severely limiting the strategies I can use.

[punishertrd]

ya ive got mine to 9 but the pay out for the units after that is astronomical

[BattaIia]

I hear ya, getting the wrong cards can be frustrating. I'm hitting the same will with my shock trooper infantry, they are level 9 but my snipers are already 10, so I guess I'm using snipers now, haha. +3 levels is more or less a death sentence, so when you lose to them, don't take it personally. +2 is a HARD fight. But winnable. But in tib, it usually means high skill plus level advantage means you are screwed. +1 is easily beaten with enough skill. But still a noticeable advantage. 

However, a feature coming to the game soon should help deal with your problem. Soon, there will be rank resets, so you get pushed back down a few ranks, and can earn goodies back up the ladder. This helps incentive you by rewarding play, and reduces the hurt feelings that comes with advancing too far too quickly. 

The good news about playing people with higher levels than you however, is it forces you to learn unit counters rather than brute force strategies. So when you do face even levels, your army seems like it packs so much more strength than it did before. 

Lastly, joining an alliance and requesting the cards you need to level up units helps round out your army. Consider giving it a go =)

Keep playing casually, and you will get there. At higher tier levels, it's hard to maintain a level playing field for all your units. You have to pick a core group to stick with. Or pay real money for the luxury.