Impossible Levels - “Consistently”

srb1974

I am writing to report a severe progression issue on Level 19819 that has completely ruined my experience with the game.

Despite hundreds of attempts, it is statistically impossible to clear this level without purchasing items.
To document this issue, I have taken hundreds of screenshots showing that the level layout or drop rates are entirely broken.

I was comfortably in first place in the race event.
I have been stuck on this single level for weeks & I mean “WEEKS” the other players have passed me, and have finished the level.. 2 weeks ago.

The daily spin wheel now constantly highlights the Flying Saucer with an extra 250 moves, heavily pushing me to buy gold bars to pass a level that should be clearable through normal gameplay.

I refuse to spend real money on gold bars to bypass what is clearly a broken or poorly balanced level. Please review the algorithm and difficulty tuning for Level 19819 immediately.
Im so sick of playing “Nightmare” levels that consistently take.. I kid you not 80-100 attempts to pass.

As a result I’ve missed out on the last two offers to collect pins!

I’m not remotely interested in these but you need the Gold Bars as you have no chance of passing a level all the time.

I estimate easily 200 gold bars, yes I have screen shots.

I will lastly add you don’t get to nearly level 20,000 without knowing how to play the game.

frustratingly & sadly a game I love to play to relax has for some time now become.. “RUINED”

christinewupp

Hello @srb1974

Interestingly I played this level just last week. Here my board today. Does yours look any different?

This is the video from one year ago, when in fact there were more blocker layers:

https://youtu.be/M_Rf5Jm3CDw?si=tOg7FbTCAE23aZVO

Interestingly Jonah B got a lucky board and managed to pass this level.

I am afraid the game is what it is, and we have to accept that Candy Crush has changed from a level passing to a gold budgeting game now. This is what Candy Crush has become. You are not meant to replay levels hundreds of times to pass. You are meant to pay 10 gold bars when the Wheel offers you enough extra moves to pass. The fact that your wheel has gone up to a whopping 250 illustrates this very clearly. There is no lucky board for this level that will let anyone pass without boosters. This level is NOT broken, it's been made this way deliberately.

Players approaching the level 20,000 milestone with no gold bars left in their inventory have very few choices left. They will have to give up or start paying. There may be one more option: Take a long break. When I went on a two week holiday in September and came back to my iPad and to this game after a two week absence I did get some extra moves added and a timed UFO as a welcome back present. It meant the next two episodes were a lot easier. However, at this level range the levels are furiously hard right now. I am finding that many need more than just one party popper to pass. This is likely because we are approaching the big 20K milestone. King want our money.

Added comment:

I did just pass this level using one party popper. I think using a party popper on your second move may induce a lucky board and I will illustrate this below in my screenshots. So this opens up one more option for you: If the game gifts you a party popper, such as from the daily spinning wheel, use it during your first three moves. Then watch out for any chance of creating a colour bomb + special candy combo.

I used all three starting boosters:

This is the opening board.

I play one move, the wrap+ stripe combo.

At this point I play a party popper:

A party popper completely clears the board, so this is a point at the which the app can change the algorithm to create a lucky board. This is exactly what it did for me! Look at this opportunity to create a colour bomb with the five orange candies in the middle:

This luck now carries on….

and on….. (another chance to make a colour bomb with the five greens on the second row)

and on….

I don't think I played the best moves from here on, but it doesn't even matter. At this point I just mostly follow the hints and don't use much planning:

Which leads to this eventually:

Again I play the hinted move (red match three to set off the striped candy on the screenshot above)

And the next move (fish + wrap above) finishes it off.

What I'm trying to say is: This level is working just as intended. It requires a party popper to get a lucky board. That is what the algorithms is. The design of this level has incorporated this. There is now a possibility for all players to get this party popper for free from the daily spin wheel if the app decides to gift it. So this is King's way of being able to continue to claim that the game can be played for free. You might want to complain to player support about this level, and perhaps they will give you this booster as a gift. I have heard of this kind of help being sent to players who complain about specific levels.

Unfortunately however it won't be long before you will get stuck again on another impossible next level. I have found that in order to pass on a first attempt many levels in the run-up to milestone 20,000 need more than one party popper to pass. It really is quite grim up here at the moment.