Association Concerns

[pcmacdaniel]

First, I want to start by saying I really love this game, and I spend a lot of time playing it, supporting matches, discussing tactics and so on. Associations is my favorite feature of this game. Unfortunately, its entirely broken. Associations was designed as a system which was a competition between equal quality teams. It began that way, but over time exploits have become the norm; with the loan exploit being the first one many of us became familiar with. To nordeus credit, they have closed that exploit, and over time those teams have steadily been dying out. There is some talk about troll results, especially in associations, but i'm not going to get into that here, i'm solely going to focus on the exploits which should have closed a long time ago.

Now, the biggest issue is the association draw exploit, but i'm getting into this because a quick glance at the World Top 100 and it'll be seen by all. Plus, pretty much anyone that's in a 5* association in the platinum league has encountered one in all likelihood.

However, exploiting the draw isn't the only exploit in associations play currently. There are is another one, which I'll describe in detail while examining the case of the following player,



The player in question has a 1% skew on an 18 year old, and a speed skill at 524%. Add all 15 skills together and you a total of 2273. 2273/15 = 151.5. However, this player has an average quality of 130%. This means some of those skills are sub 1%. This is on the youngest aged player available as well. So how can a 130% 18 year old, have an average skillset of 151.5%?

This player belongs to a manager is the current world #32 association, XXX Sparta, so all can see it. World #4 Exclusive Ru, is also using this trick. How does this not fall under the "Using an alt to train your main" or "Power-Leveling" clauses, which is in the code of conduct, and against nordeus policy, and can be punished? It's pretty clear that manager in question has access to lower level accounts and is using those accounts to power-train said player, then sell to a higher level manager through negotiations.

We also have the problem of tanking, in an attempt to improve ones chances in associations, and only playing in the cup. How many managers playing the game with the intent of leveling up every season (which should be what nordeus pushes for) are having treble bids spoiled because a 150% team is showing up in their cup draw?

With that being said, I've seen nordeus make several great addition to improve the gaming experience of managers in this game in the 3 years that i've been playing. We've seen the new training system, live animations, associations, etc..., so I have faith that nordeus will one day fix this problem. That being said, this feature isn't even enjoyable for many nowadays. The draw exploiters can for the most part be avoided if one plays with a higher average quality; a few are around but not as many as exist at a 5* average quality. Unfortunately for many, this isn't a practical solution and this feature has hence, lost its allure. Building above a 5* average requires access to good farming, and since some markets get more free boosters than others, it's more challenging for managers from some nations to develop their teams. Add in the new transfer market, which at season reset is flooded with massive bids for the stronger players, several going up to the 35+ token range, replacing players isn't even an option (that's not to say the new TM is all bad, its nice being able to bid on players at any time of the day; just that cost wise it's impractical). Associations could be an outlet from the grind of the league, cup and cl campaigns against 6*+ squads for such managers; however, the current system has them thrust into a system where if fortunate enough to make platinum, will get thrown into the ring with draw exploiting associations like "Legends Never Die" or "System of a Down".