Battle Hero medals, recent changes and Ethics...
Day 1,684, 04:20
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Published in United Kingdom 
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by
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by Mr Knee
I have a certain dislike nowadays for the Battle Hero award, partly thanks to the new battlefield module. And I suspect things will be getting worse with the new Rocket Factories.
Historically...
... if at the start of a fight someone Leeroy Jenkins’ed the battlefield and lay down 800k of damage (give or take) then it was clear that the person was going for the medal (especially if done largely with bazookas) and there was a certain unspoken rule that other players wouldn’t steal it. Of course, there were some (enter your favourite insult) who would steal the BH because they could. Likewise, sometimes a medal was considered stolen although the person who took the medal could claim at times the battle was swinging a few percent either side of 50-50 and that the damage was done in order to win the battle. I know myself I have been in this second situation once – it is a dilemma whether or not to overtake the person currently at top spot and win the battle yourself or hold off and hope someone else your side comes in and does the extra damage needed to win the battle. Personally I don’t consider it stealing if your motivation for doing extra damage is for winning a battle rather than a grab for gold and personal glory.
Either way, there was an unspoken rule that held 99% of the time.
And then came recent changes...
... to the military module which has seen the battlefield split into 4 divisions. One of the consequences of this is the sudden increased number of BH medals in play with the situation that suddenly anyone could win a medal. Before, the smaller players would basically have to save up a month’s worth of bazookas, Leeroy Jenkins the battlefield and hope the 900k-1million damage would be enough. Since the smaller players are no longer directly competing against the bigger players who can do more damage with one kill than the smaller players can do in a day, the ‘benchmark’ damage needed has dropped – at least for those in the lower divisions.
Marked with this increased number of BH medals available is the increased number of complaints from smaller members in my MU about wasting a batch of bazookas etc going for the BH medal only to see it snatched at the last minute by someone who waiting until the last minute to steal it. I'm sure people in other MUs have had the same complaints in their channel.
On the flip side, I have also seen people in IRC etc boasting about stealing BH medals at the last minute – and some of the people admittedly were of my own MU. There seems to be an attitude forming that it is ok to steal a BH off someone else if the other person is a non-eUK player and/or of a different MU.
Enter the new rockets...
... and the situation will get worse. As someone in division three, the benchmark for BH medals is probably around 750k-800k although it naturally depends on the battle. With 650 health, I can typically do 250k-300k damage. Every day I fight, I can burn my health (saving 10-20 health), and be around 500k short of the person in the lead. Now I can wait until the last few seconds of a battle and BANG – a 500k rocket goes off and at the very last second I go from 20th top damage (and not on the battle statistics) to top of the damage charts and “Hello BH medal”. The numbers are different at the lower divisions but the same problems and principles apply.
The solution is...
... erm, I am not sure what – I am hoping that once everyone has won a BH or two that things will calm down slightly and people become more patient about winning their next medal. Likewise, people who have the gold to get rocket factories will show restraint and not look to win a BH medal every day. In the past where people wanting BH medals didn’t directly compete against each other all the time and force the price of BH medals up (by forcing players to do more damage to remain top) then players were able to keep more resources back. Consider this: If a small player uses up 8 bazookas to get to 240k damage in trying to get a medal and then at the last minute someone drops a 250k rocket to win the medal, that is 8 less bazookas that the eUK has for any future big battle. In recent years, the eUK has been wiped out and despite some hard battling, failed to have a congress for several months. Those extra bazookas that the player has, multipled by the number of smaller players could add up to a lot of extra damage to win the points needed.
The other thing is, people wait until the end to steal the medal when the battle is already effectively over. That damage that you did to steal the medal would benefit the eUK so much better if you held back and used it instead at the start of the next.
But back to the “Ethics” in the article title. There does seem to be a selfishness of entitlement to the BH medals. Remember that when you deliberately steal someone else’s medal, you are frustrating and annoying the other player the same way that you felt annoyed when someone did the same to you.
Historically...
... if at the start of a fight someone Leeroy Jenkins’ed the battlefield and lay down 800k of damage (give or take) then it was clear that the person was going for the medal (especially if done largely with bazookas) and there was a certain unspoken rule that other players wouldn’t steal it. Of course, there were some (enter your favourite insult) who would steal the BH because they could. Likewise, sometimes a medal was considered stolen although the person who took the medal could claim at times the battle was swinging a few percent either side of 50-50 and that the damage was done in order to win the battle. I know myself I have been in this second situation once – it is a dilemma whether or not to overtake the person currently at top spot and win the battle yourself or hold off and hope someone else your side comes in and does the extra damage needed to win the battle. Personally I don’t consider it stealing if your motivation for doing extra damage is for winning a battle rather than a grab for gold and personal glory.
Either way, there was an unspoken rule that held 99% of the time.
And then came recent changes...
... to the military module which has seen the battlefield split into 4 divisions. One of the consequences of this is the sudden increased number of BH medals in play with the situation that suddenly anyone could win a medal. Before, the smaller players would basically have to save up a month’s worth of bazookas, Leeroy Jenkins the battlefield and hope the 900k-1million damage would be enough. Since the smaller players are no longer directly competing against the bigger players who can do more damage with one kill than the smaller players can do in a day, the ‘benchmark’ damage needed has dropped – at least for those in the lower divisions.
Marked with this increased number of BH medals available is the increased number of complaints from smaller members in my MU about wasting a batch of bazookas etc going for the BH medal only to see it snatched at the last minute by someone who waiting until the last minute to steal it. I'm sure people in other MUs have had the same complaints in their channel.
On the flip side, I have also seen people in IRC etc boasting about stealing BH medals at the last minute – and some of the people admittedly were of my own MU. There seems to be an attitude forming that it is ok to steal a BH off someone else if the other person is a non-eUK player and/or of a different MU.
Enter the new rockets...
... and the situation will get worse. As someone in division three, the benchmark for BH medals is probably around 750k-800k although it naturally depends on the battle. With 650 health, I can typically do 250k-300k damage. Every day I fight, I can burn my health (saving 10-20 health), and be around 500k short of the person in the lead. Now I can wait until the last few seconds of a battle and BANG – a 500k rocket goes off and at the very last second I go from 20th top damage (and not on the battle statistics) to top of the damage charts and “Hello BH medal”. The numbers are different at the lower divisions but the same problems and principles apply.
The solution is...
... erm, I am not sure what – I am hoping that once everyone has won a BH or two that things will calm down slightly and people become more patient about winning their next medal. Likewise, people who have the gold to get rocket factories will show restraint and not look to win a BH medal every day. In the past where people wanting BH medals didn’t directly compete against each other all the time and force the price of BH medals up (by forcing players to do more damage to remain top) then players were able to keep more resources back. Consider this: If a small player uses up 8 bazookas to get to 240k damage in trying to get a medal and then at the last minute someone drops a 250k rocket to win the medal, that is 8 less bazookas that the eUK has for any future big battle. In recent years, the eUK has been wiped out and despite some hard battling, failed to have a congress for several months. Those extra bazookas that the player has, multipled by the number of smaller players could add up to a lot of extra damage to win the points needed.
The other thing is, people wait until the end to steal the medal when the battle is already effectively over. That damage that you did to steal the medal would benefit the eUK so much better if you held back and used it instead at the start of the next.
But back to the “Ethics” in the article title. There does seem to be a selfishness of entitlement to the BH medals. Remember that when you deliberately steal someone else’s medal, you are frustrating and annoying the other player the same way that you felt annoyed when someone did the same to you.
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Comments
You can not steal something some 1 does not own, and you dont own the BH an till you win it.
Well, from the parimeters of the game, then you are correct you cannot steal what you don't own. It is more of a moral question. Before if it was clear someone had used up a load of resources in going for the BH medal, then people would hold fire and not deliberately do more damage and win it at the last minute. I'm in a MU with 267 members - many of them low level. I'm seeing inceasing numbers of them getting frustrated at using up all their limited resources for someone to come along at the
last minute to win the medal. I'm also seeing people who have won the medal at the last minute gloating about it. In a game where the military module is the only thing that works (relatively) then the fact people seem to be taking delight in deliberately annoying others makes me weiry. I wonder how many newer players might ultimately think "what is the point?" and lose interest.
A very worthy article Mr Knee.
I too have had many 'stolen' within the dying minutes, but I also must be honest in saying my first BH medal was a 'stolen' one. I go by the rule that if your not a pro/ONE member then your fair game. The gold won would be better spent by me fighting against them rather then them fighting against me.
voted mate good article
wayne also has a point though
I'm not sure there was ever any agreed upon ettiquette. People didn't go after BH medals in the past simply because they were being pragmatic and were loathe to waste their own rockets if someone else was already gunning for the same medal. It had more to do with that than any real unofficial agreement.
The main point of any battle is dealing damage for your side. If you get a medal, hurray! But if you don't, then you've still helped. Medals are a reward, not an entitlement.
My 2 cents
I agree with Elle Roslin (it was not about rockets but about bazookas in earlier times). With the divisions change many more BH were possible. The rockets indeed makes it easy to "steal" a BH medal in the last minute.
I for myself do not care for BH medal. I want my nation to win battles, so I do waste bazookas & candies when it is needed to win a battle instead of saving them up for a BH medal. Each battle in a campaign 8 people do win a BH medal. Use your damage well for your nation.
If an average medal goes for (say) 1m damage, just save up to do 1.3-1.5m at the beginning and nobody will try and get "your" BH. If however you have done 800k in the battle you shouldn't be surprised if someone rockets past you at the end. It's simple really, people just want maximum medals for minimal damage; make it not worth their while to challenge you.
I very rarely go for a BH which can be seen by the fact it took me 2 and half years to get my first. The other day I saw an opportunity to win one and help my country which would be my first BH for the UK. I made about 1.7 million of damage only for, at the last minute someone, who already has like 25 BHs, came in and made 2 mil. It's annoying, especially when someone is obviously just a BH collector, but you've just got to get on with it. It's one of those things and nothing can be done to it.
Sometimes fighters are wasting damage chasing a BH medal,when it could be better served in another battle, also i have seen fighters fighting for the other side to win them, these fighter are traitors !
i steal enemies bh , one to french , one to irish, i killed 4 british as much in both . 13000-20000 damage done. the enemy got a bh less. i call it bh. guerrilla war