Subject
[FAQ] What contributes to trophy inflation in top alliances? How do Zombie accounts effect trophies? How do you gain trophies? What happens with trophy dropping? ( includes Giraffe/ Human hybrid example )
Q:
Do zombie accounts contribute to trophy inflation in the top alliances?
A:
Trophies are not like food at a buffet. If the first ten people take all the steak, that does not leave the chicken for everyone else.
Trophies remain the same with two players or 1 Billion players.
The trophy measurement is like measuring the height of everyone in the world.
Elo’s math assumes that the official tallest person in the world is 3000 trophies tall.
Think of the distribution of trophies like the distribution of height in the world.
As younger players are born, the average goes down, but the maximum is still around 3000. As taller players die, the average goes down, but the maximum is still around 3000. As younger players grow up, the average goes up, but the maximum is still around 3000.
To continue with this example, better food, and medical care, increases maximum height. So the current official tallest man is taller than the tallest man in 1800 B.C. But at the time, both were equal to 3000 trophies. The increase in the official tallest man is Elo based rating deflation. Elo based rating deflation was seen when troops were added to Empires, and again when the Barracks was added.
The last two living person in the world is automatically 3000 trophies if they are the same height. If they are 2 feet tall, they are still 3000 trophies. If they are 8 feet tall, they are still 3000 trophies. Live PvP MMOs experience this Elo based rating inflation when their player base starts to die. Empires A.I. controlled raid defense teams prevent this problem.
Astronauts temporarily grow taller in zero gravity. So the Official tallest man could be temporary above 3000 trophies, maybe as high as 3400 trophies, but would go back to 3000 trophies when returning to 1 gravity. This is edge case boundary conditions.
Adding Giraffe/ human hybrids can increase height. If the Giraffe/ human hybrid is 8 feet tall and 3000 trophies, 4 feet players will drop to 1500 trophies. This is the rumored class system ( skill tree/ hero buff) creating Elo based rating deflation. The rumored class system will allow players to fight 15* Titans with the increased defense, HP and attack required.
Zombie accounts are simply adding the height of dead players to the distribution. They do not change the height of the living players ( toddlers, children or adults ). If a dead player is 1500 trophies after 3 months, they will stay at 1500 trophies until hero defense, HP and attack are increased or better special skills are added. Then the zombie 1500 trophy account will drop, due to Elo based rating deflation.
Zombie accounts are a good business investment because daily, and monthly players, suffer dips and spikes. Fighting Zombie accounts encourages new players to get 5* 4.80 heroes, 4* level 30 troops. Without Zombie accounts, a dip, or spike, in active players would artificially inflate or deflate an active players rating by a substantial amount. Gryphonkit, my wife, runs into this in Platinum/ Diamond arena whenever the Elder players get bored, then come back for the latest update. Gryphonkit’s rating swings would be even more extreme if inactive accounts were removed from the opponent pool.
Zombie accounts are often cured when major player requests features like alliances war, and hero trading, are added to a mobile MMO.
Q:
What causes trophy inflation in the top alliance?
As more players level 5* heroes, 4* troops, and acquire past HotM, like Alberich and Athena, their raid attack, and defense teams, become more powerful. Since top alliances only have 30 slots, but want the best of the best, the trophy requirement keeps rising.
If there are 2% of the people in the world over 5 ft, there are more people over 5 ft when the world has 1 Billion people than when it has 100,000 people. But a thirty bedroom apartment complex can still only hold 30 bedrooms. You need to build more buildings ( or alliances ).
So ##SPOTS## in the top alliances are like food at a buffet. If the fastest ten people get to the buffet, and then take all the steak, the slower players will have to settle for chicken.
You can also see this when increased hero team effectiveness in introduced. When Barracks were added, the race to get 4* level 30 troops started among everyone with 2900+ trophies.
Q:
Don’t trophies disappear when a player does not upgrade to the latest version?
A:
You cannot Revenge against a player on another version.
Zombie account exist because you can attack any account, within 300 trophies of your rating, if they are offline.
As a zombie account rating drops, it eventually gets within 300 trophies of active players who cannot beat it. So the Zombie account gains trophies until it rises up to within 300 trophies of players the Zombie account cannot beat, so it starts to sink again.
Q:
But I gained 30 trophies!
A:
Elo’s math does not directly measure you height and compare it to the official tallest person in the world.
Instead Elo’s math tries to guess which of two players is taller.
When you gain 30 trophies, the math’s guess about your height was too short.
When you lose 30 trophies, the math’s guess about your height was too tall.
That is why players that quit raiding, level thier troops and heroes, then come back to raiding, they get so many trophies.
Elo’s math assumes you are the same height as when you left, but in reality you grew taller.
Q:
What about trophy dropping?
A:
Those players are slouching.
Q:
What about trophy dropping with rating 0 ?
A:
Those players are lying down.
