Teaming up/Cheating in Encounter. An examination.

[Seahawks12 1]

Hello support team and developers, thank you for creating the wonderful (yet frustrating) game that we love called Vigor. That being said, We have an issue here that I believe any responsible Dev team should place a priority upon addressing. We need to have a serious conversation about the surprising amount of cheating that We ( everyone) may experience every time we play Vigor, specifically in the form of highly ranked players teaming up in the free-for-all game mode Encounter.

 

I understand this has been discussed before.  I also understand that you have admitted to using reasoning at least once before to close a thread discussing this very topic in which you indicated that, essentially, two people were arguing and cursing at each other.  That was a ypretty convenient reason to close a thread with bad optics, let’s see what happens to this one.  What was not convenient for myself, was my two best Xbox live friends dropping Vigor like a hot potato because of people teaming up in free for all CONTINUOUSLY and nothing being done to prevent this from happening.

 

  I told my friends that it rarely happens, as both of them separately reported to me that they had been teamed up on, or invited to team up on other players, several times.  As they were complaining about it, I totally agreed with them that yes, it does happen but pretty rarely,   Or so I thought!  Unfortunately, I was wrong.  In totality, once you have the eyes to see it and experience identifying it, you see it ends up happening in a significant enough amount of matches to make you wonder what the developer is doing when they spend time on updates and new maps but zero time on eliminating the blatant cheating when it would be very easy to do so.  Other games have done so.  That’s all there is to it.  It’s almost as if it’s supported? (Hint: it’s supported.  Whales and their brethren are the biggest money makers in free-to-play games.)
 

I found out that it is supported the hard way.  See, I sent a message to one of a group of THREE people who were teamed up together on Broadalen Bridge, the only time I’ve ever been able to accurately and positively identify a team of three, thank gosh!  Something like, “for real?  You have to team up with two other people to effectively participate in free-for-all matches?”  Their response was one that I did not expect.  Usually I get apologies, shyness or embarrassment.  You see, people know that what they are doing is wrong.  Cheaters know that they have been cheating.  This time, the answer was something to the effect of  ‘lol you suck noob, the Vigor devs support this, look it up! ‘. And that is why I am here today, folks. I did look it up, and I found the developers largely downplaying a significant cheating issue which I am trying to understand how a development team actually thought was a good idea.  It’s because of the amount of money they make from these wealthy highly ranked players who make many purchases and feel they must “cheat” often in the above described fashion in order to keep up with others who cheat as well, often in furtherance of self perpetuation of the myth that they are a good player.

 

 Before a significant number of games start, while in the lobby, I receive a party invite or friend request or the like from someone else in the game lobby. .  At first, I Naively would assume that they wanted to team up in a future match, only to realize literally one hundred percent of the time that they want to team up in THIS free for all game mode.  Every single time I am asked this, I respond in a similar manner.  I always tell them how I feel so they can hopefully understand that they are literally ruining the game for many players and helping keep the Vigor user base small. Are you kidding me?  You’re asking me if I want to cheat me way through this match?  I play this game to have fun.  I would not have fun if there was no challenge, coming from the fact that I had the advantage at all times knowing it was always 2 against 1.’  Why would you ever cheat yourself out of an enjoyable time like that?  To get a better ranking?  It’s very interesting, I I think. Thats why no one except gramps likes playing games on Easy mode. Unless you suck.  Yes, that’s correct.  Teaming up in Vigor Free-for-all matches is for people who suck.  Any self respecting human being would clearly have the guts to brave the outlands on their own, without their mommy or daddy close to them at all times.  

 

That system is indicative of a completely broken game that DOES NOT work as intended.  The main game mode, Encounter, is NOT currently a free-for-all game mode.  It is “hopefully” free for all, with a significant chance you’ll get some cheaters teaming up in your match, ruining your fun and making you wonder why you even play this game in the first place and why you spent money on that armor and portable signal detector when you have to face two enemies at once.  

 

if this thread is deleted or otherwise fails to appear, it will reappear, thrice fold and more in other locations across the net.  Please guys, let this be the final and only resting place for this topic and thread.  I don’t want to have to spend the time to let everyone know about this but this is kind of an evaluation of a developopet at this point.  Players, do your due diligence and spread this word.  Pressure these developers (who have created a good game here, aside from this blatant cheating.) to actually do something to address these blatant cheating issues that favor the rich whales that form the bulk of the surplus revenue for the developer.  They are catering to these “pro” cheaters by allowing them to play with each other in free for all mode without penalty. I am SO tired of playing with two clan members in a free for all game mode.  That is just ridiculous.  You know why that happens? Because the player base is so small that it’s actuall possible for players in the same clan to join the same match.  Why is the player base small? We have been discussing that! This is a huge oversight in my opinion by the developers.  You could have marketed this game so much better but instead you rely on selling it to a few whales instead of all the players who play fairly without cheating by teaming up!

 

also,  Please, do NOT be rude to the devs as even I understand they are caught in a spot here where they are trying to cater to their wealthy player base that spends money all the time (the cheaters; the free for all team-uppers, the ‘I will do or pay for anything to get an advantage’ kind of people.  These people probably lack integrity in real life too, it is what it is.

 

and the ultimate end all be all is the following fact: the developers made a system where there are two ways to play vigor.  One way is WITH teams.  That is, every single player is either part of a team or has selected the lone wolf option.  The only other way the developers have allowed us to play the game is of course the exact opposite, without teams, a free-for-all game mode.  This, due to the fact that the other game mode has teams, it makes literally zero sense for you to support people teaming up in this free for all mode!  If they want to play teams, they can select that mode!  I want to play by myself some times so I select free for all.  In fact I almost exclusively play this mode nor that my friends have abandoned the game, haha!  
 

It’s time for the gaming community to stand up for ourselves.  I ended up spending some money on Vigor because I truly like the game (with its many flaws) and wanted to support the job, and continued effort, that the developers have given.  After finding out, however, how widespread this cheating issue of teaming up in free-for-all game mode is, I am feeling pretty stupid that I paid money for this game.  I’m feeling like I got suckered and lied to.   I feel like I’m playing a game in which the developers support cheaters because they make them miney.  Gosh, it’s just like the government now that I think about it! 😉 but that’s for another day.

 

thank you all for reading and I hope you all take this seriously, devs.  Thank you very much for creating this game and I really do like it.  I just don’t understand why you hold the little guy down and go so far out of your way to keep the Vigor player base small.you are effectively sabotaging your own game for money.  In doing so, you have sacrificed sales from the future in Vigor and most definitely sacrificed sales from your next future game release. It kind of boggles the mind that this strategy would be used, so I think we deserve an explanation? Thank you! 
 

-Sincerely, 

 

Matthew

Just Want The Truth

Integrity is the light that guides my way

Seahawks12

[Matthew Aiken 132]

A very formal and very long description for this issue to which I hold no particular fault to in your point though too much here for me to comment on it all. I would like to highlight that the topic in question was removed at the request of both myself and a a large number of other individuals both because it breached the forums terms of conditions and because it breached both mine and one of my friends rights too. I’m effect defamatory and egregious claims to which the offending player had no proof and in fact I had recorded that proved my innocence. I’ve been labelled a “cheater” by a number of people who get jilted because they died either to a meta weapon im using at that time or a common weapon like an m2 carbine that I’ve trained to be good at and they would have adrs or some other good weapon. People assuming cheating happens all the time and in many cases this can be true i merit! I won’t name anyone here but I’ve seen 3 different clan tag teams using cheats and aim botting, some of which I still hold clips for! As for your other points you have to take it with a pinch of salt. I have no issues with genuine dynamic teaming where your pegit solo and bump into someone who’s unarmed. I know it’s seldom rare but such occasions have arisen and I work with them to both get loot. Admittedly though I usually just hunt for kills as it’s all I have left to do and is worth more battle pass exp. the devs have made modes like Elims and shootouts which does help a little bit to filter out the bad ones but it’s always going to be hit and miss. I must say as well on the money side of things it is a small player base so I can understand the need to charge for things. They do offer sales on cosmetics with occasional freebies and crown packs. standards of cosmetics are also much better compared to what they used to be, the battle pass was also extended by 25 levels with ample time to complete. I could go on forever with the list of changes they’ve made to improve things so I feel I must defend their practices here, compared to so many other games that have purchaseable loot boxes and gambling mechanics this game thankfully avoids all that with the only real gamble being a player boosting the drop and not getting it. Vigors a good game 🙂 stick with it outlander! Thanks for the feedback! 

[eKLaB 100]

To the OP, I think you answered your own question.

If people are pumping money in to this game, what do devs care if people team up?

Ultimately I believe that unless its a game breaking issue they have no reason to fix it.

People will continue to pump cash in to it...

[Seahawks12 1]

On 8/12/2022 at 9:49 PM, eKLaB said:

To the OP, I think you answered your own question.

If people are pumping money in to this game, what do devs care if people team up?

Ultimately I believe that unless its a game breaking issue they have no reason to fix it.

People will continue to pump cash in to it...

Please bear with me if the format of these is incorrect as this is the first time I have posted on this forum.  I want to thank you for your thoughtful responses.

 

To the poster above, you have illustrated my exact point on this topic and I will flat out say it now.  My aim is to lay out the fact that the devs simply do not care about preventing this cheating and teaming up in free for all mode from happening.  This is being allowed to happen but it is NOT being ignored as the devs have acknowledged that it exists and that is documented.  My goal is that changes are eventually made to improve the fairness of the game and allow a much better experience for new players.  
 

The longer a player has been playing Vigor, the more apt they are to take part in this team up/cheating thing in free for all mode.  They use the “hey” gesture for example as a clarion call to identify each other and then team up in a match.  I have enjoyed thoroughly hunting these players down, watching them team up and killing at least one of them.  They are tough as they have all the equipment and armor and many are founders.  Simply eliminating the gestures that make sounds from the free for all game mode Encounter would do a lot to eliminate that specific “clarion call” being used to facilitate this cheating.  And yes, it is cheating to team up in s free for all mode when there is clearly and option to make a party and play in a team mode against other teams.  The point of free for all is that you’re playing against other individuals, so these people cheat to get an advantage and it ruins many matches on what really is a great game.  
 

I am doing nothing but simply speaking out on the truth of the matter at hand.  The cheating clearly exists and has been documented by myself and many others and acknowledged by the developers.  I have posted this message in the support section of the forum so that the developer would see it but perhaps the community at large would not.  There is a reason for that.  I do not want to hurt them!  I want to assure the Vigor community of that.  I really like this game and I’m excited for whatever game they put out next (i think…?). I simply want to make this a more enjoyable game for myself and all of my friends who are extremely put off by the rampant and apparently supported cheating.  They are not ignorant about it, so I cannot say that the cheating is ignored.  That is really all it is. 
 

Thank you again for taking the time to read this and I hope you take this seriously as all I want is a better, more authentic gaming experience for everyone.  I have a feeling most of these people cheat out of frustration because their peers do it too so it’s like you must do it as well to be at the top.  Very odd.

 

Then you think of the fact that they are charging money for performance based items without telling you that there is a team up/cheating scheme in free for all mode in the background that you are not aware of.  Something to think about.

 

Edited to include stated goal.  Thank you.

Edited August 15, 2022 by Seahawks12

[Seahawks12 1]

Matthew I appreciate your long reply as well.

 

However, if saying that there is something wrong with a developer charging for performance based items while simultaneously acknowledging a team up / cheating scheme in the background that they appear to be doing nothing to fix, is breaching terms of the forum, then there is something inherently wrong with the forum you are on.

 

Thank you.

[Seahawks12 1]

Also, I’d like to add that getting your feelings hurt due to truth or facts is not defamation.  Some users cheat, many don’t.  It is what it is.

[Matthew Aiken 132]

I’m afraid sir you’ve misread my reply the defamatory post was regarding a player falsely accusing me of cheating to which I had proof I did not. I did not imply anything you had said was defamatory or against the terms of the forum, perhaps it was how I had worded it that made it less clear I know it was a large block text so my apologies. The teaming topic is a completely different subject matter and wasn’t the point of discussion in the other post that was removed. I had been accused of aim botting but had twitch footage to prove this wasn’t the case. Anyways hope that clears this up?