Harpooning whales... November 2021 So there's been a massive strip on a top ten ally LB after ATA banned several accounts. I'm not gonna comment either way on either side, rather I'd like to discuss if ATA should be harpooning it's own whales! (which incidentally isn't good for the real world either hence it being banned since 1986). So why should ATA be allowed to essentially at will kill an account that will have spent tens of thousands of dollars on kaw? (and incidentally is worth a lot...but we won't go there). Why should ATA hang it out to dry and allow it to be gutted and picked clean by the gathered sharks piranhas and amoeba (you know which one you are...) when its very success has depended on these whales since the games inception!? it's a death sentence not to mention the very fabric of the game is often damaged by the big name loss. (Yes I do care about the little fish too). Now the TOS applied to this may have been black and white and appropriate in the early small years of kaw many moons ago, but the game has gone way beyond that point (with stupendous value charms furnishing and bfa) so why should ATA be judge jury and executioner now it no longer seems appropriate. Don't get me wrong, I don't condone the use of anything that gives unfair advantage and agree with some sanction if applicable (having befallen hidden ally strips myself - you know who you are) but I do think ATA needs to "Save the Whales" and give a second chance, I dunno bubble wrap or ring fence their account whilst banned allowing them to return... a new rehabilitated man... and in so doing give us all a bit more time to enjoy this crazy crazy, crazy world. After all those players have funded the game for you all to enjoy and once gone.... they're gone... you be gone. Just a thought... One final thing... ATA should be responsible for any strip losses beyond the 20 visible allies (if the spell temporarily drops and is put back prior to strip) when all NON-visible allies are also miraculously stripped.... why you ask yourself? because they are not visible right? that's what the spell (part of the ATA game design) is designed for and ATA servers are secure so for me this squarely sits on your shoulders and shouldn't be in dispute because it cannot happen right because your game is secure and designed to stop it. THE END. Ajax
At the end of the day, a cheater got banned 🤷🏻‍♂️ Having/spending more money than someone else shouldn't give you unfair privileges.
I agree if you cheat you must suffer the consequences. That’s not the point I got from Jax statement. It’s very rare that you see brand new accounts join and grow their kingdoms to our size. Instead it’s more common for main accounts to build their kingdoms using many alts. When KaW asks for ideas in a survey they don’t act on the ideas provided too them. Instead they say it’s a major transition. When they say it’s time for server maintenance, it’s not replacing/updating software it’s more defragmenting the disk. When KaW goes down all there games go down at the same time. Obviously all are partitioned on the same worn out server. The (whales) are funding this and we deserve better quality for our money. Harpooning whales hurts us all, if KaW is not going to listen to us and not reinvest profits to bring the game we love to play up to date, then who will?
My biggest beef with all this is people have been complaining about this to the devs for years….for years. And now suddenly they’re cracking down because there’s an unfair advantage? C’mon! To me it just seems like they’ve picked sides. So no, I don’t think they should harpoon the whales. What they should do is reach out to each account suspected of it and issue one warning and if it doesn’t stop then proceed as they would. At the current point it’s just too little, too late.
They have a right to do this, after all it is their game doesn't mean they won't be judged for it. However, in this case I think most would agree with them. Aside from being against the TOU that you agree to (which gives them all rights and you none) macroing provides a clear unfair advantage to any honest player. Botting is destructive to any game and it can completely ruin it if left untamed. So really this was the best move for everyone regardless if you see it that way. I'm sure they wouldn't have banned any accounts without having the proper justification to do so. I feel you, hiring allies through spells is a huge problem and it seems to be undetectable whatever it is. They should address this as multiple people have experienced it and shouldn't have to.
Support. As for your second segment regarding hidden allies, I disagree. Namely because any proposed “evidence” is absolutely inconclusive. For example, I have experienced multiple cases where an enemy - who’s allies are hidden - has shared their entire ally list with their clan mates on a third-party application, to then be subsequently relayed to us by a mole. From the targets perspective, we hired through their hidden ally spell. Similarly, there has been countless cases where an account has owned multiple of our alt accounts, or purchased allies off of someone who then relays the information to us - again, from the targets perspective, it appears as if we are hiring multiple allies off of their back pages. This effect has the potential to increase exponentially as your network of potential “nodes” increases. This is particularly true in large alliances, where the nodes in the network - accounts, alts, and leaderboard players - exist in mass amounts. These nodes function as data providers. Within these examples, it is not hard to see how an account’s “hidden allies” can be easily exposed by means within the definition of “fair play”. There is no way to conclusively isolate these cases from those of so-called “technological abuse” - therefore, no line can be drawn.
It’s interesting to see those who have casted their votes to leave them out to dry, really paints a picture. Wrongful bans happen. The devs admit to this. If it’s not the players fault then they shouldn’t be punished🤷‍♀️
I'm glad they're banning the cheating whales, it would also be nice to see them track down the secret server and ban everyone taking advantage of it!