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Player Strategies - Recycled Newbie

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Colleen12
Colleen12 Posts: 800 Level 4

Many of you recognize me from the King Community where I've been active for several years. I feel like I've come to know some of you personally. What you may not know is that I worked as an Advocacy Officer for the Government upon retiring. My primary role was to prepare documentation and client statements for legal representation in their fight for benefits against the system. You might wonder how this relates to my post. For years, I've been presenting my case about the inequities of Candy Crush directly to King Customer Care. You've likely seen my posts regarding some of the responses I've received from their representatives. I've made numerous detailed online submissions. At one point, @Alienscar you might recall I sought another email contact when they were ignoring my complaints, particularly about the Gold Box. My detailed submissions often elicited varied responses from different representatives. Fortunately, I often received Gold Bars and Boosters for my valid arguments and encountered genuinely helpful Customer Care Representatives. Sometimes, I requested that my submissions be escalated to a supervisor for further clarification, providing excerpts from various emails to support my case. However, this ceased on Friday, May 24, 2024. Currently, I have three submissions pending a response; one is a direct result of the Community Manager's advice to link my King Community Account to my new account. This has led to a series of automated emails redirecting me back to the King Community. My subsequent correspondence with Customer Care was to inform them that the Candy Crush Moderator instructed me that the linkage must be done through Customer Care.

The King Community recently announced a reward of 200 Gold Bars for assisting newcomers in Candy Crush. This, coupled with the continuous stream of emails suggesting that the King Community is the go-to place for answers, seems to signal a shift towards the community becoming the primary Customer Care for most issues in the future. I invite comments from @christinewupp @rebelchild @Scooterpie, and @Pyrolight @PummyRaj or any other Community Member on this matter.

Below are some images of my progress in the game since I established my new account. I'm not sure how long I'll maintain this pace, but for now, it's enjoyable. And until the weather in Newfoundland decides to warm up—if it ever does—I'll be here, eager to hear your comments and thoughts on my post. I will just be interested to see if this gets posted today on Sunday, June 2, 2024 at 08:07 am Newfoundland Time.

Have a great day everyone 🙂

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  • christinewupp
    christinewupp Posts: 6,873 Level 5
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    Hello @Colleen12 I have had my suspicions in recent months that much of King is turning into the realm of being largely AI run with a reduced human workforce. I suspect that real, human, customer support have been overwhelmed with complaints regarding All Stars and that your emails are not high on their list of priorities.

    As for the community here I have also noted that there is a reduced moderator presence certainly. Kiara is or uses a bot, PummyRaj is overworked and trying hard to keep up with all the posts, other moderators of a year or two ago have disappeared and not been replaced, and there is clearly a move towards hoping (or even expecting) that those of us who have been picking up questions will continue to do so and welcome newbies into the community. Given that most posts here are complaints about the app not working and the only useful response will be for us to send them to Customer Support, the fact that customer support send them to us in the community is ridiculous! It creates a merry-go-round of shifting disgruntled customers from one place to the other without ever solving anything.

    This year the entire All Stars forum was deliberately left devoid of official King support or feedback, and any poor soul mistakenly posting there instead of the place they should (Discussions or Support) will never get an answer, not even an automated one, while those of us who felt sorry for all the lost souls posting there were being assumed to be a King employee by someone, simply because we took pity on the lost souls who tried to reach someone at or from King in that forum. This is clearly not something I plan to continue to do in the future, since I don't and do not wish to work for King, either paid or unpaid!

    As for your progress I have noted how astoundingly fast you are progressing, so well done! You might find yourself in the horrible 13,000+ levels before long at this rate! I'm glad you are having fun. So am I, in fact, still. If you play with the app, not against it, I find the game can indeed be enjoyable and fun. Happy Crushing!

  • Colleen12
    Colleen12 Posts: 800 Level 4
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    Thank you, I appreciate this response. The influence of AI is indeed a concern for me. Last week, I uninstalled my Facebook account because I was unable to turn off Meta AI permanently and I will not reinstall the app until the tracking feature is removed.

    Moreover, I feel sorry for @PummyRaj, who, as I understand, is a volunteer in the Community and just another player like us, and likely has received much criticism from the members here.

    Have a great day 😊 Sadly, no real sunshine expected here for the next two weeks just RDF Days☹️

  • Scooterpie
    Scooterpie Posts: 5,929 Level 5
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    Greetings @Colleen12! Not sure what you are asking about strategies? Mine are forever changing but the main one is to try and outsmart the Game maybe a little bit. Just get my little tweaks in and have fun with it. Never worry about the contests anymore. Live with the bad glitches and a work those good ones, try to sway things my way.

    I am here in the Community to talk about the game and this is the only place I have to do so. No friends nearby who play the game. My two friends that I do chat with, one is in England and the other is in Australia, not exactly close by as I am in Florida, USA. Really, I gain the most incite by reading other players' posts.

    Just play my game and let the rest of the world move on.

    /ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ/\ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ\Also, we have the option to just stop playing if we do not like things. The Game is what it is and it is going to be what it is developed into.

  • Alienscar
    Alienscar Posts: 14,810 Legend
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    seems to signal a shift towards the community becoming the primary Customer Care for most issues in the future. 

    I have to say I disagree with your conclusion @Colleen12

    This forum has been the go-to place for answers since at least 2021. The T&Cs of the game even tell players to come here first for answers and even litigation issues.

    Take a look at my last response in the thread I have linked below.

    I also disagree with the AI assessment as AI wouldn't need an automated response.

    you might recall I sought another email contact when they were ignoring my complaints,

    I do recall Colleen, did you receive a response from that email address.

    I've been presenting my case about the inequities of Candy Crush directly to King Customer Care

    This is probably the cause of your issues I would guess

    My opinion of King Support isn't a good one and I sometimes wonder if the people in King's Support have any actual technical knowledge of the game

    I think anything outside a remit of simple game issues (try restarting your device) is beyond the purpose of King's Support, so presenting a case to them is not the intended use of the service

  • Colleen12
    Colleen12 Posts: 800 Level 4
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    Thank you all for your responses which are as always helpful and appreciated.

    @Alienscar Your responses are always excellent. I'm aware that King Community members have been offering help to players for many years. Often, when I visit, I tend not to comment on posts; instead, I read and understand what others are posting to gain insight, and I did the same on the Facebook Candy Crush All Help Page until I recently deleted my Facebook account.

    Here is where our opinions differ with respect to King Customer Care. I can confirm that I did reach out with the email you provided but I did not receive a response. At that time I was very frustrated with my game to the point that I was ready to give up at level 16400. I was getting nowhere with King Customer Care over my issues with the Gold Box and I decided to write again using the online submission form. Miraculously they responded and gave me back the one Piñata that I thought I was using to finish the final task in the Gold Box. At that point the final task changed without warning just as I was about to finish and collect the Gold Bars.

    After months of back-and-forth emails, I expressed my frustration and slight addiction to Candy Crush to King Customer Care, despite not purchasing Boosters or Gold Bars. They suggested resetting my game to level 1. However, after several weeks, it became clear that the Customer Care Representative had erred by not explaining the consequences of a reset; they should have advised me to open a new account to regain access to the Episode Race. Consequently, after playing for a few weeks and collecting approximately 700 Gold Bars, I set up a new account. King Customer Care generously transferred my Gold Bars to the new account, including:

    20 x Lollipop Hammer, 20 x Striped & Wrapped, 20 x Jelly Fish, 20 x Lucky Candy, 20 x Coconut Wheel, 20 x Free Switch, 20 x Color Bomb, 5 x UFO, and 5 x Party Popper.

    I was pleasantly surprised as I had only a few boosters remaining, and receiving 5 UFOs and Party Poppers, along with retaining my Gold Bars, was a welcome bonus.

    • My opinion of King Support isn't a good one and I sometimes wonder if the people in King's Support have any actual technical knowledge of the game
    • I think anything outside a remit of simple game issues (try restarting your device) is beyond the purpose of King's Support, so presenting a case to them is not the intended use of the service.
    • So in response to this statement I have had a very good relationship with King Customer Care up until two weeks ago when the responses started becoming automated. I have read your response to @Carol-38 and I can honestly say these no response issues did not start for me until May 24th. The automated responses with the referrals to the King Community Page is creating "a merry-go-round of shifting disgruntled customers from one place to the other without ever solving anything" as @christinewupp suggests. Now I am getting requests to submit Feedback when I have not even received a response and I just keep replying to these in the hope that someone will answer me. Am I giving feedback to an automated email suggesting that I visit the Community Page?
    • @Scooterpie To answer your question about my strategy, it is simply to play an episode and then stop. I resume playing the next full episode when I'm ready and have the time, then stop again. Since starting a new account, I've found that another strategy is to relax and enjoy the game. I'm not interested in the contests, but I find myself winning them with my new account without even trying. Like you, I gain the most insight by reading other players' posts.
    • Have a great day everyone, another RDF day here today so I may have to bake a cake and take a break from Candy Crush for today. Cheers 😊
    • June 4, 2024 - 08:05 am Newfoundland Time

  • Carol-38
    Carol-38 Posts: 11,027 Level 5
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    Must say @Colleen12 my strategy is exactly the same as yours, simply to play an episode and then stop. I resume playing the next full episode when I'm ready and have the time, then stop again. Had to change my strategy some time ago for the chance of winning the race and getting the so needed gold. Think that sounds a great idea about baking a cake 🎂 enjoy.

  • Alienscar
    Alienscar Posts: 14,810 Legend
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    I'm aware that King Community members have been offering help to players for many years. 

    What I meant by this forum being the go-to place for answers is that for as long as I have been playing Candy Crush (Feb 2021) the automatic response that everyone receives from Player Support has been to tell people to check the King Community for answers.

    In my opinion the automatic response is just an acknowledgement that Support has received your query and the additional information about contacting this forum for answers is just King being their 'sweet' selves.

    The biggest issue with Player Support, which I think is a recent (ish) change, is that now people are expected to wait 72 hours before an agent contacts you after you have sent a query.

    To my mind the biggest problem with the 72 hour wait is that the automatic response doesn't inform people of this, so people think the auto response is their answer. Additionally people tend to immediately reply to the auto response which just generates another auto response which then leads to people that need help just thinking they are being ignored.

    The feedback form is just yet another automated reaction used by King's Support. If I receive one before I have received any actual help that is the feedback I send.

  • christinewupp
    christinewupp Posts: 6,873 Level 5
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    I have been waiting for about two weeks for a response other than automated ones with my query, but can't really be bothered to chase it up any more now. I'm not sure anyone still works at Player Support and if they do they are maybe all still dealing with All Stars queries. The system used to work for me the way you describe @Alienscar and I have had many good experiences myself, but not with my latest email, which I sent §do via the app as I always recommend to others. I'm not sure what to recommend now because I haven't heard from anyone receiving any useful reply recently, but I may have missed something.

  • Alienscar
    Alienscar Posts: 14,810 Legend
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    @christinewupp Having to wait 72 hours is a bit of a joke really especially as King don't tell anyone. The only reason we know about the 72 hour wait is because the Moderators/Managers here have told us.

    Something went wrong with Player Support (can't remember what now) last year and it has never been the same since.

    Whether it is lack of manpower, or lack of knowledge that is causing all the issues I guess we will never know.

    The advice is to reply (above this line) to your first automated response (and only your first automated response) after 48 hours stating that you still need help.

    Also tagging QueenB here has helped some people get a response from Support

Hey! Would you like to give us your opinion?