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Why has this game changed so much, and not for the best!

Creative_Elsa

I am tagging @LoFiGummy so I hope that he reads this and can get me some answers.

I have been avoiding the community off and on for the last month or so, but now it's time for me to speak out! For the last few weeks I have not been offered the daily reward on Windows 11. @LoFiGummy is this a glitch or am I in one of those AB Test groups?

Why have the levels now changed to less moves? Are you serious, Soda studio? Could this be an AI test? I gave up on all King games and Soda was my daily go-to game, but with less moves now to clear levels it's discouraging! I have always spent money to get extra moves and boosters but I can't afford it anymore so now I sit on a level for a while or wait for the cake event to finish to collect the two supersonic lollipops, which get used up immediately!

Years ago the Saga studio did the same thing when we were in the old King Care community. They dropped the number of moves from 50 down to 12. Eventually they had to make adjustments because there were so many complaints. So now the Soda studio is doing the same thing!

@LoFiGummy please get me an answer because to hear back from a game expert doesn't give me an answer. It's just the same comments over and over again. Do I have to completely walk away, not only from the community, but from the game that I loved the most? I know that I'm just one game player out of millions who play the game. But please, try to convince the studio to back away from AI and bring the game to what we all loved before!

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HeathT

Sorry, but they are all lying to you. They have no intention of restoring the actual moves needed per game because they want you to purchase to play now. It has been months of them lying and feigning innocence at this point.

Creative_Elsa

@LoFiGummy thank you for responding to my question. First I want to address the daily reward on mobile vs Windows 11.

I play this game on desktop, iPhone and 2 iPads. Years ago when King created the app for mobile, their data was showing that more game players used mobile vs computer, so the developers created many events which were geared towards mobile devices and not computers. So, having the option of using computer and desktop I was able to get those events, if I was lucky enough to be in their AB test! You mentioned the 'Sweet Streak' which I have on all 3 mobile devices, but not on Windows 11. If some players have it on Windows 11 then that AB test is nonsense and it should be made available to all!

Now I will try to address your comments about the difficulty in the game. You are seeing the game from the developers point of view, and I understand that. But is the studio ever taking the game players point of view seriously? If there are so many complaints about something, like the number of moves reduced in a level, does the studio take these frustrations seriously? As I mentioned previously, Saga had so many complaints about the number of moves reduced that they stopped lowering the levels, well I assume they stopped because the complaints stopped.

Another thing that I'd like to mention is this ……….. what is the purpose of going back to the older levels to tweak them? Players that have been playing for years have done those lower levels and any new players just starting will only be seeing those levels for the first time, so what is the need to go back and have AI make changes?

I was doing some Google searching this morning to learn more about AI and what role it plays in the games. Below is a print screen and you can see what question I asked.

I understand this a bit better but that doesn't mean that I agree with everything. As far as the Automated Level Balancing, how can they compare an AI bot to a game player? No matter how many times an AI bot replays a level, can that determine if a game player can match it?

As far as the Efficiency at Scale, it says that AI helps the studio to reconfigure and drop the number of moves on the older levels. Like I mentioned above, older players have passed those lower levels and new players will just see those levels for the first time. So maybe it should only go back to the lower levels to update the blockers, new boosters or candy, and leave the number of moves alone.

Here is my first pet peeve, Engagement and Monetization Strategy! I understand that King is a business and they are in it for the money, but I have to tell you how many players in the old King Care Community talked about the greed and how King was only in the business to make money. And here we have it in black and white …. by decreasing the number of moves it does drive the players to make purchases!

And now we get to my second pet peeve, A/B Testing Player Reactions. My all time favorite pet peeve! I remember posting a message somewhere in this community asking why the studio developers don't test these new levels, by playing them, before releasing them instead of doing those darn tests! I never expected to get an answer from the studio, but it would have been nice if they did take my idea into consideration.

It can't be easy for the studio to keep up with the release of so many levels. So I have a suggestion, even though I know that this has been tried before. Why aren't they trying to develop some new games? I know that Candy Crush Solitaire made it, but there were a couple of other candy crush games that never passed their "Data" test. I can't remember the name of those games but they were fun. Perhaps it didn't bring in as much money so they dropped it. Whatever the reason, AI and the studio are trying to make changes but the game players are getting fed up. Do they not care enough to retain those old players?

In your last paragraph you mention older videos not matching up to the changes on the levels and I can tell you why. We had and still have a couple of old moderators who used to create a video for each new level that came out. But then when the studio made changes the players were upset that the videos found online didn't match up to the level that they were playing. The moderators couldn't keep up with the changes so they stopped making them. So, for a new player looking for help, people shouldn't even encourage them to look for videos because they are not updated with the level changes.

One final remark, I am on a level for a couple of days now. It only has 17 moves but I won't even bother doing a print screen for you to discuss with the studio, because almost every single new level has been cut down on the number of moves. If and when I finally clear this difficult level, I might get an easier level but then the difficult levels with less moves will come again! There are many more difficult levels with less moves than the easier levels. I think the studio needs to rethink the rewards. If they are going to keep lowering the number of moves which encourages purchasing, why can't they offer some better rewards like more Supersonic Lollipops? We get only 2 when the cake is completed but then when I start playing the levels on the map I get so fed up with repeating the same level over and over so I use them shortly after I earned them.

I think I wrote enough for now. If you can get me any updates, I'd love to hear about them.

LoFiGummy

Hey there @Creative_Elsa, apologies for the slow response - seems like the tag got lost in the wave of notifications.

For the daily reward on Windows 11, it could be that you're not in the assigned group as you suspected. There are some updates and changes for the Daily Reward currently with Sweet Streak so this might come to change soon.

As for the difficulty in the game, the studio and staff are continually working to balance, improve and adapt the challenge in the game, and level difficulty and the number of moves may be updated as part of ongoing development and testing. The studio monitor these changes and review feedback and game data to decide whether further adjustments are needed.

I understand why seeing fewer moves, especially compared with older videos, can be frustrating. If you share the level number along with screenshots of the level I can share it with the studio for them to review it.

Creative_Elsa

Hi @michimune! Thank you very much for your offer but it doesn't sound legit so as tempting as it sounds, I have to pass. I'm more concerned about not getting the daily reward on Windows 11 or the less moves that we are given.

michimune

I sit on a level for a while or wait for the cake event to finish to collect the two supersonic lollipops, which get used up immediately!

If your team has vacancies, I can give you many boosters by the Team Rewards ⤵️

Creative_Elsa

Hi @CaramelKat! Thanks for responding. I hope that @LoFiGummy can get me some answers.

CaramelKat

Hi @Creative_Elsa! Thanks for taking the time to share all of this feedback, especially as a long-time member of our community. I’ll leave your questions here for @LoFiGummy , so they have a chance to take a look and get back to you when they can but wanted to let you know that we really appreciate you taking the time to share your thoughts with us 💛We hear your concerns about the Daily Reward, the changes to the number of moves, and how these changes are affecting your experience with the game.