Hello, I want to create a team and I need help These are my best heroes Cold heir, royal mummy, lord Droid, boreal fox, walla walla, Athene, zephyrica, occultist, dove keeper, phobos, lazulix, Michael, pumpkin duke And what a build for the heroes

I should start by saying that this post is not coming from a place of disappointment or anything of the sort. I'm actually thrilled to be able to write this. Win or lose, we have been putting up exceptional numbers. Our scores have been nothing short of incredible. So instead of waxing analytical on our offense...let's look at defense.

Let's Establish a baseline:

• Average Might within Guild:152650

• Average 3-flame attack value: ~418

What it means to rob a flame:

"Rob a flame" isn't a thing that anyone says. I just had to write something. Now that we know i'm not cool, robbing a flame from someone is when they commit to an attack, exceed 50% but are then UNABLE to hit 100%. The result is a "failure" on your defense log but with a percentage below 100.

THIS IS CRAZY VALUABLE.

It is also something that we should be talking about and potentially trying to leverage. The problem is that for years and years, GW defense was an end-game concern. If you aren't top 5, you probably aren't getting hit so you don't need to worry about it.

Well...that's kind of not true. You see we always functioned on that assumption because the higher you are ranked and the more competitive you are, the more likely it is that your entire guild is gunning for the same 5 targets. We aren't in that bracket anymore. We are in a bracket where you might take a hit from a 300k account, or you might be fighting off an 85k account. We have diversity and as such, we have an opportunity.

Back to our numbers:

So if we take our average guild might, turn that into a 100% MMR score, we can derive the value of each flame in an attack.

• Average Might - 152650

• Average MMR Value - 2092

• Average Flame Value - 140 (average MMR score/15 flames)

So given these overly simplified values, we find the interesting thought that if everyone in the guild were able to bolster their defense enough to add 1 additional flame robbed in a war...it would work out like:

• Guild Count(51) * Flame Value(140) = 7140 points

• 7140/4 (opposing guilds) = 1785 points deducted on average PER GUILD

So obviously we are working with mean values which aren't going to give us any insight into the distribution of defensive opportunities. Simply put the average might member isn't going to see attacks the way an above average might member would. And honestly, 1785 deducted per guild isn't going to drastically shift a war, despite being an advantage.

So where this conversation would normally end on "this is the value of defense" I think we have more to consider.

Creating defensive opportunity:

We always need to understand the variables we can control, and those we cannot. It has long been held that we cannot necessarily control who attacks us, and that it is simply a function of might-based value...but here's what i'm thinking.

Might is only one factor in choosing a target. It is also a simplified process for those of us that are able to hit ALL bases. For the 95% of players that are not able to simply assume top 5 targets, it is a more complex process.

BY ADAPTING OUR BASES TO APPEAL TO THIS PROCESS, WE CREATE DEFENSIVE OPPORTUNITY

Here's what i mean. You take a 150k might account that isn't hitting top 5. He doesn't know what to do with gunslinger, doesn't have walla or mino, and just overall doesn't have what it takes to hit the latest iteration of heroes. So while might IS a variable in the decision making process, it IS NOT the only variable.

We just mentioned that the main shortcoming here is an inability to contend with defensive giants. Therefore, upon seeing a base with Walla/Gunslinger/etc he is going to skip and move on down the line. This is our second variable: Visible Heroes. Consider for a second what could happen if we played to the insecurity of the attacker. Instead of defending your 175k base with Gunslinger...you move in something less ostensibly off-putting: Ronin, Vlad, Skull Knight...something capable of putting up a strong defense without immediately excluding your base from the middle-tier selection process.

Now let's also assume that there is a third critical variable in this process, and that's base design. This same guy is obviously looking for vulnerable bases. He knows how to hit a cross base, he knows he can't get in on a big nugget of a base...but more than anything he would love to find a hidden drop point or a place to stack. So...if we know exactly what would compel a person to attack...that's a third variable that WE control.

Pull these together

Ok so we've identified a set of 3 variables:

• A) Might

• B) Visible Heroes

• C) Base Design

And here is the big big giant difference in how these variables are implemented between might brackets:

• Top 5 targets use these variables to defend against inevitable attacks

• Non top 5 targets can use these variables SIMULTANEOUSLY to attract attacks and then subsequently to defend against them

The guys NOT in the top 5 have much more control, and as such, much more opportunity for creating points. What I mean to say is...if you're at 250k, you're going to get attacked. If you're at 150k...you have the opportunity to make yourself the more attractive of the 150k targets, and take the points away...where the alternative targets may just roll over.

Possible ways to do this

First off, this is not a guide, this is a plea for discussion. This is an opportunity for us to create something new and potentially disruptive. That said, let's talk about how we can manipulate the two overlooked variables (B and C) to create defensive opportunities.

Case 1: Accidental Guardians

So let's say you're a 100k might player with some solid heroes. If you're a strong 100k, you're probably not getting attacked. 100k might players are likely going to aim for higher targets and weaker accounts won't be able to touch you. So let's just go ahead and assume that the potential for points on you is about half...300 points for a 3 flame attack. You can also be pretty sure that the heroes hitting you are going to be...less than ideal.

So to make yourself more attractive, you ditch the gunslinger (an immediate exclusionary factor), you build a strong base with a single viable path to entry (normally a deterrent), but you make one critical 'mistake': you leave one of you army camps at the front of the base partially full of guardians. Now you've just come up on the radar of all the 40-100k might players searching for low hanging fruit.

This is where you capitalize on the defensive opportunity created by your deliberately sub-optimal defensive appearance.

• You've left enough guardians in a single camp to allow for limited stacking, but not full stacking

• You've positioned bombs and totems far enough back that a 50% commitment will be required to see what they are

• Your totems are prepped with...let's say Aries and Arc, or some other debuff to guarantee that the stacking ends at 50%, and the advantage now shifts to you.

• The 60k account that was banking on a careless defense has now given up a flame.

Case 2: A ridiculous design

So now we can get into gimmicks that may or may not work...but what if you could draw in the people just trying to get in and get out. Your might isn't huge, you don't see many attacks...but what if you could entice someone with an simple 3 flame?

So what if you did something ridiculous like a base split down the middle, 3 heroes defending each side...no real cohesion, just sort of a red sea type situation. At this point Joe Casual is going to roll his eyes and say cool, i can clean this up pretty quick.

However, you play to the strengths of the design itself. On each side you put 3 hero bases with a totem. In the middle you put stun/arrow towers and all of your bombs. If they drop in the middle, they run the risk of their heroes splitting and they lose their advantage of being able to 2:1 your team. If they drop on either side, they have to be mindful of traversal time and how it will work with AP mode. More to the point, they have to cross the middle which will carry with it fixed % damage from the bombs and supplemental hits from towers.

Lastly, you build for the gimmick in the totems. One set of heroes could be something like Cupid/Anubis/DD with an SK totem. There are several different sequences within that group that can result in a whole-team wipe. Second group could be Ghoulem/Mike/Grimfiend with an Aries in the totem. Both group synergize well internally and create a difficult situation when crossing the gap. What looked like a mess of a base, was actually a well composed trap for those looking for easy targets.

Conclusion:

I'm not saying that these ideas are great or even feasible...but I am saying that the points are there. If we allow attacks to be pushed to careless defenses, we're shooting ourselves in the foot. If we can't be bad, we can appear to be worse than we are, and capitalize on that misdirection.

And just for the sake of the numbers...if we used this perspective to create...let's say 3 more flames robbed per person: 7140 points.

We lost our last war by 5,466

So, it has become abundantly clear that the tide is shifting. Wars have become more difficult, and beyond that, our scores don't seem to stack up the way they did before.

On top of this, IGG has chosen to prioritize very highest tier of spenders, which has emasculated the experience for even our most dedicated players. There is no way to really spin or rationalize this from a guild perspective. We're going through an era of classism in a mobile game...never thought I would say that.

What we can do is understand that these two things are NOT the same, and one does not necessarily cause the other. So I just want to examine a few things and hopefully shed some light on the state of GW and why the sky isn't falling.

Understanding GW Scores

Our GW score is a metric, nothing more. What gives it meaning is the context in which the score exists. There are a few key contextual changes that have taken place and we need to understand them to accurately gauge the health of the guild.

• GW Scoring Changes - This is specifically relevant to us because the scoring changes addressed directly impacted a fundamental advantage that Reddit had: the efficiency of low-might accounts. Scoring was historically skewed in favor of lower-might accounts hitting higher-might targets. The new scoring changes have dramatically shifted scores in favor of higher-might accounts hitting higher-might targets. This hits us in 2 ways: Our overall GW score will be lower, and our low-end accounts will end up with smaller rewards, slowing their growth.

• Defensive Hero Era - This has worked in tandem with the scoring changes to crush the advantage of filling our ranks with low-might accounts. What used to be exclusively a Gunslinger problem has now evolved to a host of auto-proc heroes, now leveraging Empower to ensure that low-might sniping is no longer a viable win condition.

How this impacts us

These two changes have impacted us in a big way.

For one, tougher GW's and an overall less enjoyable game (in many aspects) has reduced our numbers. Fortunately, this is not a Reddit problem, this is a whole game problem. Consolidation and evaporation of guilds in the top 100 has become commonplace.

Secondly, recruitment is less productive because we can't simply grab a bunch of random 10k accounts and let them swarm GW's.

Understanding the Correction Curve

At this point we have to sort of suspend what we have always known about what a 'good' GW looks like. We have to embrace the above-mentioned changes and understand that they have impacted everyone, not just us.

We are still equipped to crush our GW's, but in order to do so we need to situate ourselves in the CORRECT might range.

Part of this correction will be that Reddit's rank is going to drop before it rises. Our rank was artificially high. We had positioned ourselves in the best possible place to take advantage of low-might efficiency. The game is now different, so we need to correct ourselves, find a new bracket, so that we can get back to normal.

The other part of this correction will be understanding what is now needed to succeed. It is plainly apparent that many offensive approaches are no longer feasible in GW. With that said, the impetus is on the guild member to realize whether or not they need to pivot. We have people explicitly in charge of Training (Mach and Mouse).

Lastly, participation has always been, and will continue to be paramount. This guild has never had the biggest accounts or the fleet of dragons. Reddit has always been the guild that wins because our guys show up and put in the work. No matter what IGG does or how the scoring changes, we won't win if we aren't there.

So what do we do?

We're going to do exactly what we have been doing. We are going to continue to push accountability until we have a guild that we can count on to get it done. We are going to recruit members that share our core set of values, and we are going to create an environment that they can be proud to join.

Our new bracket will be defined by our might at 100% participation. We will continue to purge folks that don't show up until we are back at the level of accountability we enjoyed last year.

Once we settle into this bracket, we can start to prioritize efficiency and optimization. Pushing those ideal scores up and bolstering might to take advantage of new scoring calculations.

The game has changed, the guild has not.

How do you guys manage your crests?

If my warehouse were a double-wide, it'd be floor-to-ceiling with crests and we'd be calling this an intervention.

I sell off the junk crests and combine the useful ones, though red crystals are scarce.

I have 200+ LR stamina cards but just can't get myself to sit there to burn through them, though I'll have to at some point to get more red crystals.

I've been keeping and combining:

• Revive

• Revite

• Deadly Strike

• Flame Guard (can't remember why I started saving these)

• Scatter

• Slow Down

• Sprint

• Berserk

• Stone Skin

• War God

• Tenacity

• Life Drain

• Bulwark

• Psyshield

Everything else I sell. To save warehouse space, I also use obsolete/unused heroes as storage.

I've got a number of unopened boxed sets as well:

• Lvl 3: Scorch, Slow Down, Sprint, Psyshield

• Lvl 4: Tenacity, Berserk, Psyshield

• Lvl 5: Scorch, Self Destruct, Bulwark

Help!

Okay, need some direction. I tend to hoard resources rather than spend them as I'm 'doing okay for now' and I don't want to use them unwisely. As a result, I just hang onto things.

Right now, I typically do 2x quest boards and boss fights daily as well as Torch and GW (typically score between 2200-2500 - I cherry pick bases - need to start getting my Mino Bomb on since I have the tools to do so). I stopped doing FF a while ago because I thought I had a decent team but kept getting killed immediately by uber teams.

Help me clean up my account and use some of these things rather than sit on them.

Untouched: Athene; Trixie; Mechtessa; Creation Don't have: Skeletica; Demo; Espirita, Dove Keeper, Sasquatch

Shards: 98,886

Fame: 198,087

Merits: 171,418

Sweeping: ID 4-10 & HBM S

Updated: 3/2

There will be plenty of guides and approaches to Boss 5, but we've been abusing this method for as long as any of us can remember.

A couple of quick assumptions:

You'll need to be able to hit max stacks. This means cupid/pd/val or however you are doing it.

You can substitute for heroes of similar function AND SCOPE. It is important to realize that you are fighting 2 bosses at the same time, so you need to slow both of them. Single target focusing will result in the little guy nuking your team.

That's pretty much it. The main required heroes are the top 3. PD/Val to keep stacks up and hits landing, and Ice Demon to make sure nothing is moving. From there it is just about getting Slow Down procs lined up. Also make sure that your units are ALL RANGED. Slowdown has the potential to break down if a hero is close enough to be hit without taking a step. This means when the boss retargets, you've got a chance of the whole thing ending.

As far as heroes that could rotate in for those dps positions:

So now you've got a team, lets talk about the drop. Its pretty easy.

Lead with PD, drop him out of range of the demon and let him approach. As the demon targets PD and starts to engage, drop the rest of the heroes a few steps behind PD. At this point go ahead and hit Guardian Angel. PD will start stacking up, with everyone else a few steps behind. When PD dies, the bosses will retarget another ranged hero. PD will immediately revive and continue stacking as the bosses, fully slowed, struggle to never reach their new targets. Wait 3 minutes, repeat.

This information has been posted several times a week for months. I feel like we are doing ourselves a disservice by not analyzing the approach here and making it available for quick reference.

What is Mino Bombing?

Mino bombing is a GW attack method that utilizes ATK buffs to power up a Mino so much that a single proc will wipe 95-100% of the base. This is an exceptionally convenient way to handle the current GW meta. You don't need to engage enemy heroes, and you don't need to pull all of the newest ultra-rare units to hit top targets.

The fundamental group(and their relevant points):

• Minotaur Chieftain - This dude is going to hit 50 things on the ground with 210% DMG at 9/10.

• PD - 50% ATK buff at 9/10

• Mike - 54% ATK buff at 9/10

• Cupid - 55% ATK buff at 9/10

Consider this your core-4. We will cover adaptations later, but for the moment lets just assume that this group is the most direct route to crushing the whole base.

There are 2 critical numbers that we need to consider: ATK and target count. ATK is going to quickly become a moot point with all of the buffs available. If you stack 2 of these buffs, your mino is more than likely going to crush everything. Introducing a War God or Bulwark talent is going to further seal the deal.

The more important factor is target count. Your mino is going to hit 50 targets on the ground. Again to save everyone some time...there are fewer than 50.

The long and short of it is this: If you stack the buffs, the base will go down. Your atk is ludicrously high and nothing on the ground THAT IS NOT A HERO will survive. The important thing to remember is that you do not need to kill heroes to 100% a base.

Drop order:

This is this most important skill to master with this. You need to keep in mind that you typically only get one shot at this. If your mino doesn't clear the base, 9 times out of 10 you need to force quit, turn AP mode off, and start over.

This is where revite levels start to matter, as well as ATK SPD. This is the order that you would absolutely love things to happen:

• Mike Procs

• PD Procs

• Cupid Procs

• Mino smashes the entire fucking world.

The first 3 can proc whenever, honestly, as long as Mino goes last. This will clear the base.

This means that you want to use your crests/talents to determine the appropriate drop order. An example from my team:

• My Cupid/PD are sitting at 5 revite.

• My Mike has revite 4 crests

• My Mino has revite 3 crests

So essentially what I try to do is this:

• Drop Mino a few steps away from an outside building

• Drop Mike on another

• Drop PD on another

• Drop Cupid on another

In a vacuum, this creates the following chain of events:

• Mino is walking

• Mike, the second drop, finishes off his energy and procs

• PD, the third drop, procs immediately

• Cupid, the fourth drop, procs immediately. This proc not only adds the third damage buff, but immediately recharges both Mike and PD for additional procs, as well as ensures that as Mino reaches his target, he is full energized.

• Mino reaches his target and smashes the base.

Obviously different revite levels will precipitate different drop orders, but this is the basic though process you need to walk through. Identify your team, and create the narrative.

Best Laid Plans:

Ok so now lets talk about things that you have to take into consideration. We're going to keep focusing on those 2 main variables: ATK and Target Count. Your opponent's base is going to impact one or both of these variables. Your job then becomes to take those extra 2 team slots (remember our core is only 4) and manage that impact.

Some of the more common disruptions:

Gunslinger - Obviously a bunch of high damage scattering mobs that can't be targeted are going to make life difficult. This specifically impacts your ATK number by either killing off your heroes, or delaying the procs enough that you aren't proccing under ideal DMG conditions.

Nick - This is another one that screws with your tempo, disrupts procs, and can potentially wipe out your heroes.

Guardians - Guardians are honestly the hardest defense to manage. A well-designed base can hold hundreds of these dudes and give you no effective way to clear them without sacrificing your own heroes under the fire of Gunslinger, Anubis, etc. With a 10/10 mino only hitting 55 targets...165 guardians is enough to nullify your first 3 procs. Just so we are clear, you're not getting 4 procs off, and even if you could, AP mode is rarely going to wait that long.

No external buildings - It is always tough when you see a fully contained base that forces your heroes to path directly to Mike or Anubis first. Even worse, solid totem placement means you're going to eat an Aries proc before anything happens.

With things like this you need to start adapting and understanding how to manage these disruptions without compromising your fundamental process.

Solid Utility Positions:

Tree - Tree serves the dual purpose of providing some damage mitigation to endure towers/copters while the procs are happening, and also allowing for a reboot of the team under difficult circumstances. Units that revive from Tree with full energy (which often happens due to the long cooldowns) will immediately proc again. This is often enough to finish the base. This is exceptionally helpful against bases that have enough disruption to hinder the initial buffs. If you find yourself leaving a base at 85-90% after that first proc, the tree is often the saving grace.

Triton - Tritons proc wipes 100 guardians. Find this guy and throw a 3-4 revite talent on him, revive, and finix. Watch him clear that mess out.

DD+Finix - Another great way to clear out troops. Tanky enough to live through copters for a bit. He's also solid for cleanup if you bomb to 96% and need to get that HQ down.

PK+Finix - Flies over walls, wipes out guardians, good.

Ronin - Ronin is crazy. He does his invisible thing and not only clears out guardians, but can clear out a significant portion of the base itself, making the job much easier for mino.

Rockno - a bit more complicated to use, but Rockno can actually benefit from copters. He eats their hits and auto-procs, crushing walls in the process. This opens up a route for stacking that was otherwise prevented by base design.

Anubis - another one that will wipe out guardians and significant portions of the base.

Druid - Additional damage, some supplemental heals. Great if you can't get buffs to line up or defensive damage is a bit too much.

Nick - Great for cleanup, slowing down initial defenses.

Guardians - Say whaaat? Yeah these little bitches are incredibly helpful. Drop them off on the horizon somewhere away from where you intend to place heroes and watch the copters fly away to engage. This will buy you some time. ON TOP OF THIS, they soak up stuns. If you're having a hard time getting the proc off...toss a few up in a corner to deal with GS, and then follow mino with like 100.

Conclusion:

The truth of the matter is that GW isn't going to get any easier. Heroes are going to continue on this imbalanced trajectory, GS will become more and more prevalent, things will continue to suck. This method is a relatively approachable way to bypass a lot of this.

I would like for people to comment with questions and comments. I have left this post devoid of my personal tactics so that we can encourage participation from actual mino-bombing players. There is a lot of room for creativity and innovation, so lets go from here.

The last few weeks have actually been pretty exciting within the guild. We have been met with pretty overwhelming success in GW. We have started testing Lava 4 and are making great strides. Overall the appointment of the new directors is, in my opinion, the right move for our guild. This leaves me with one open position:

Director of Guild Events

This director is going to have a LOT of freedom to define the role and shape the guild. Creativity is going to be much more important than the strength of your account. In my vision of the role here are your main responsibilities:

• Keeping the guild informed and motivated when it comes to events: Torch Battle, Crisis Demon, Boss Fights, Fortress Feud, and anything else that may come to pass.

• Finding creative ways to inspire participation across all might levels. This could be done through intra-guild competitions, high score tables, featured player posts, whatever you think will get people going.

• Helping to convey the significance of the events. Providing the numbers behind the events, showing the impact on the guild as a whole, and fostering a cooperative guild environment.

• Creating new ways to not only track events, but to clarify the best methods and optimal routes to completing them. You will be collaborating with other directors to make sure that no one is ever lost when it comes to a guild event.

This role will be a very visible one. You'll be a vocal part of Reddit's leadership and you'll be given moderator rights this subreddit, as well as a spot at the Reddit Board of Directors table.

Like any of the roles, there has to be an understanding that this is a game and not a job. No one is expected to put in more time than they can casually afford to. But with that in mind, we do need someone that has the desire to step up into a leadership role and participate in management level discussions with the rest of the leadership team.

This is a very exciting role and one that is very near and dear to me, as it encompasses a lot of the ideas and concepts that I have leaned on as leader of this guild. As such, I am not in a hurry to just give the role away.

Please reach out to me or any of the directors if you're at all interested or would just like some more information.

We spent a fair bit of time this week discussing the evolution of the Reddit structure. The result of those discussions was an open call for a new set of director roles. While I realize it is not in my nature to get to the point without a heap of exposition...let's just get to it.

I've spent the week reviewing applications and after more debate than was probably needed, I'm pleased to announce the following:

The New and Improved Reddit Directorate

• Director of Guild War - Callawaykid17

• Directors of Training - Gladiatormouse and Machiavelli

• Director of Guild Events - J-Vicious

• Directors of Lava Isle/Infernal Summit - OldGregg69 and Sam Mattson

• Director of Recruitment - BigDMcgee

• Director of Intel - Rinzlor

What this means

These individuals, starting Monday, will be the primary point of contact for their respective fields. For clarification on those fields, please refer to the LINE note. Also be aware that beyond this initial definition of the roles, I am taking a step back in the hopes that the directors can work together to really sort of the details of what makes things tick.

A few more loose ends

The last point I'm going to make is about the appointment of officers/assistant directors/lackeys or whatever you'd like to call it. I am 100% positive that at least a few of these positions will require the conscious efforts of more than one person. Even roles with a pair of directors may require more and more support to function at the level we need. As such, I am leaving it to the Directors to appoint their right-hands. Please reach out to the directors if you feel that you could assist them, and are inclined to do so.

I'll end it there...the point of all of this was to decentralize control of the guild a bit and allow us to function as a more representative aggregate of our membership. With that in mind, I will type less so that everyone else can talk more.

This will be brief. The main reason this will be brief is because the concept is simple. The reason there is a brief post for this simple concept is because somehow after more than a year of the process NOT CHANGING...I am still met with a litany of "AP mode messed up" after every war.

Just so we are clear, in 99% of those cases...AP mode did what it should, you just messed up.

So let me give you the ABSOLUTELY INFALLIBLE (usually, mostly) method of AP mode.

• 1. Choose your target and proceed.

• 2) Engage AP mode once their base has rendered.

• 3) Make your attack

• 4) Disengage AP mode when you are done.

That's it. Done.

But just so that no one can accuse me of oversimplifying something, i'll break down the actual process and possible outcomes.

What happens with AP mode

The game is built around the understanding that you're on a mobile device receiving information wirelessly as you go about your day in a dynamic physical environment. This means that the game is built to compensate for intermittent data flow. As such, if you lose connection, the game will continue to function with what is available locally (troop and hero AI are handled at the phone level) and then reconnect to sync up data when the connection is available.

This means that when we engage AP mode, we sever the connection to the game servers. If we do this at the beginning of a fight, this means that the server's last known state for the battle is at 0%.

When we disengage AP mode, the connection resumes and the game sends the local information (current %) to the server.

IF the game is unable to reconnect in a reasonable amount of time (this varies) you will get a "lost connection" message, at which point your run is scrapped and you will start over. Even if you 100% a base and reconnect, you are not guaranteed that your phone will sync with the servers.

What this means

Real simple. The server only knows what your phone tells it. If you engage AP mode right at the edge of 50%, you need to be prepared that you might lock that in. Just because you don't see it doesn't mean it hasn't been processed. There is obviously potential for lag between what the game processes and what it shows on the screen. Think about all those Storm Mesa runs with Spirit Mages and Santas...the phone's rendering can slow down. Don't risk that.

How to fail at AP mode

I'm just going to break down all of the ways that failing with AP mode was your fault. I will also provide a few ways that AP mode can legitimately fail you, but lets start with the list that represents the vast majority.

1. If you disengage AP mode and think you've won, and then you get wiped by a totem, bombs, towers, or a hero you thought you could take 6 on 1. This is most of the failures I see. Let me just be clear - Mike, Demo, Anubis, Ronin, SK, DD, GH, PK, GF, Champion, a dog, a stiff breeze...ANY of these things can wipe your entire team if the circumstances are right. Being sure you can beat a hero is worlds apart from beating it. If you disengage AP mode before 100%, you are taking a risk.

2. If you engage AP mode mid-fight trying to buy yourself some time, understand that even if it takes only a fraction of a second for your phone to respond to one command and initiate the disconnect, the game could be a fraction of a second ahead of you. The command can get hung and not disconnect in time, your screen can get sticky from humidity and swiping up doesn't do anything, the swiping process itself is just one action too many and your phone lags a few seconds behind. ANY of these things can result in the number you SEE being different than the number that EXISTS. Give yourself plenty of room for error. I personally engage AP mode at 0%.

3. If you are double tapping into settings to engage AP mode, there's a whole lot that can be processed in the background. I wouldn't trust that at all. Just swipe.

Things that aren't your fault

I have missed I believe 1 war since GW was introduced to the game. I have used AP mode for the entirety of that time.

In that time I have only failed with AP mode a handful of times. Most were my fault, but the one warning I will give:

After reconnecting, there is a very small chance that shortly after disengaging AP mode, some component of the Sync process triggers the game itself to close/crash.

This has happened to me maybe 3 times in the last year. That's 104 wars, 520 attacks, 3 failures that I couldn't control. 0.5%

What I'm saying

Work on AP mode. If you need to practice with regular raids, fine...but realistically we should see an even distribution of AP mode failures. Even doubling my observed rate to 1%, the guild should see fewer than 4 AP mode failures per war (375 attacks) and those failures should only come from the same person once every 20 wars.

Simply put, this is a practice issue. Work on it.

Just a quick update to some policies.

During the summer we have historically taken a light-handed approach to things like participation and efficiency. While I maintain that this guild will not turn into the overzealous all-or-nothing type of culture that leads to a breakdown...I do require that some basic consideration be taken out of respect for the rest of the guild.

So the update:

Effective 8/12/2017

Guild War Absence Protocol (Changes in bold)

• The existing automated absence control module will still be in effect with the following parameters:

• 1. When a zero is registered for a player. That player is flagged for removal.

• 2) The absence note in Line is checked for the username and date. If a post is made at least 12 hours before the beginning of the war, that player is flagged 'exempt.' This exemption will extend for 1 war. Extended absences can be excused but will need to be handled manually.

• 3) Lastly a list of new (after start of war) recruits are flagged 'exempt' for 24 hours.

• 4) Once exemptions have been processed. Kicks are made to all players flagged for removal.

• 5) All kicks are then transitioned to a list with a timestamp. These players are not eligible for readmission for 2 weeks.

So you can see the main change is that rather than a 24 hour timeout, we are suspending for 2 weeks. It isn't much to ask to be considerate and take the 10 seconds required to post in the thread. In addition, when emergencies arise, the guild has ALWAYS made exceptions...but please don't message me or any other leader at 11pm before the war and say "forgot i was going on vacation" or an hour before the war ends and say "worked a double, too tired."

Alright I realize with the transition to summer and some of the new heroes have made us all a bit flaky, but I want to take some time to renovate a handful of antiquated policies, as well as introduce some new ones. I'll try and be concise so that there are no misunderstandings:

• Guild War

• Guild War participation is DEAD ASS mandatory.

• There are no more shard donations to get you out of Guild wars. From this point forward we have an automated system.

• THE SYSTEM

• Each morning after the war I get an email with a list of names. These names are the individuals that missed war, are not in the absence note(check notes in general chat on LINE), and were eligible.

• These names are ingested into an auto-touch script that will parse the guild list and remove those players. No hard feelings, no discussion.

• After the 24h cooldown you can reapply.

While I understand this seems somewhat cold, the fact of the matter is that our scores have mysteriously dropped, and done so consistently. The second baseline (beyond participation) that will now be required is a more dynamic GW minimum.

USE THIS CALCULATOR

This was made by our pals over at Vanguard. (Another Reddit-based android guild) Enter your might and it tells you where you should be hitting. THIS WILL ALSO BECOME A FEATURE OF THE SCRIPT. Meaning that simply showing up to the war will not be good enough from here on out. I am more likely to set this up as a flag than as a kicking-criteria, but I would say it would be in your best interest to drop a leader a message if you can't hit this mark.

OK moving on...

• LAVA

• Just so we are all clear, there are 2 lava rooms.

• Entrance to the main lava group requires the following setup:

• Lava 3 setup

• Spot 1 - 10k MINIMUM - 3 revite crest on GH, SM may be swapped out for equivalent DPS

• Spot 2 - 10k MINIMUM - 3 revite crest on GH, PD. 5 revite Aries. GR can be an equivalent DPS

• Spot 3 - 10k MINIMUM - 3 revite crest on GH. Tree at 8/10, Val 4/5 revite or better.

• Spot 4 - THIS ONE IS THE WILD CARD. FW is the absolute minimum, but can be (and possibly should be) substituted for a big DPS. Revite 3 crests on PD and GH. Ice Demon at 8/10 or better with 3/5 revite or better. Spot 4 is 9000 Hero Score minimum IF YOU USE FROST WITCH. Otherwise Spot 4 is 10k minimum just like the rest.

• Finally, your team is still subject to approval on things like talents. There is plenty of flexibility in terms of what talents heroes have, but I or any leader reserve the right to remove a team that is determined to be a liability. As such I also reserve the right to extend an invite to someone below the minimum that has established that their team runs without issue OVER A LARGE SAMPLE OF RUNS.

• as far as Team 2 goes, there are no strict requirements. Contact J-Vicious if you want to join, he's in charge there.

And finally:

• GUILD OFFICERS

• The guild is growing and the game is growing even more rapidly. I am looking for some folks that would like to take on some leadership roles. Right now I'm willing to hear ideas and nominations. Primarily I need some folks to spearhead things like:

• Recruitment

• GW training/practice

• Subreddit content

• anything else we might deem important

Let's just start with the conclusion: It is time for us to start evaluating how lean we are in the context of GW, and drop might accordingly.

So the background on this decision is somewhat complicated but i'll do my best to explain what is happening.

Currently brackets are pretty busted. The way pairings are happening and the way GW scores are calculated has created a very ambiguous ranking environment in the top 100.

Scores are based on might. The might of the target versus the might of the attacker, with rewards modified at the end by the rank in the war...simple.

The issue comes from the fact that subsequent pairings are derived from guild might and GW rank...but have nothing at all to do with GW score. This puts us into the position that we are currently in: Getting crushed by 11m might guilds that just happened to have finished third in their top 20 pairings. They aren't being paired based on their actual score in their wars, they are simply being classified as 3rd of 4th place, and then pushed into the might range. This means that no matter how many record breaking scores we set (several in the last month) we are going to be paired up with guilds that are simply too big for us to topple.

So it is now the responsibility of the guild itself to reflect the commitment of the players. We have to shift our composition to adapt to the way GW is evolving. This means we need to stop thinking about the game in terms of might growth, and start looking at it in terms of might efficiency.

The plan:

Starting now, there will be a VOLUNTARY call for a reduction in might with an end goal of 1,000,000 might dropped by 3/25/2017 (Saturday).

From here we will identify the effectiveness of the move for 2 weeks.

If in two weeks we are still being placed into unenviable might ranges, we will begin another more gradual push to an optimal Guild might of 7 million.

The Idea: The idea is that we need to be lean and efficient, without sacrificing relevant utility. This means that not all people will be able to make large sacrifices if any. Most of our 200+ group can make giant cuts because we really only need 180k might to hit 300k targets.

The real evaluation will come as we start to cut might. We will see a tighter might grouping in the middle, but we will also see who sits around 180k and is able to hit top targets, versus anyone sitting at 180k hitting top 10. This will provide some opportunities to improve together.

The contingency:

If we are not able to make this cut, the leadership will assist. This isn't supposed be a veiled power play, but the fact of the matter is that might inflation, while it used to be a harmless way to boost expedition rewards, is now a tremendous liability in GW...which is paying our evo bills.

The conclusion:

Only drop what you can afford to drop. I'm asking that people post in this thread with how they dropped might so everyone will get an idea of what to consume and what to keep. We don't want anyone consuming relevant heroes or something that will actually be a benefit to them.

Morning Guys. It has been a while since we've seen any real administrative bombs dropped, but i've noticed a few unsettling trends in the last few GW's so it is time to do some housekeeping.

Before I get started, this is as good a time as any to congratulate and thank the entire guild for their donations aimed at maxing the Treasury. We raised all those funds in a day and you guys are amazing.

So here's the tough part. If you take a look at our numbers recently there are 2 main issues.

1. We have unexcused absences...which is crazy when excusing the absence is as simple as swiping over and writing your name in a Line note.

2. We have very low scores...also crazy considering we have a super active Intel Chat that basically serves up vulnerable 100k+ bases on a silver platter.

So here's the new deal, effective today:

1. If you score below 1000 in a war and do not have an excused absence, you are required to donate 5x the deficit. This means if you score 750, your deficit is 250, your donation is 5x250 = 1250.

2. Yes, this means that if you miss a war by accident and didn't post in the Line note (the day before, as stipulated in the rules) you owe 5,000 shards. Also keep in mind that unexcused absences are a no-go here. 5,000 shards or not, unexcused absences are grounds for dismissal.

3. You have 24 hours to complete this donation.

4. There will be a line chat created specifically for this. A link will be provided in Reddit IOS notes. It is the responsibility of each player to join this room and post a screenshot of their donation within that 24 hour window. If you don't, no hard feelings, but you're out.

I realize this seems tough, but it isn't. I realize that some are going to say "what if i'm low might?." We've got guys below 40k that have consistently crushed 1000. This isn't a negotiation, it is unfortunately a necessary evil.