Loot, League Bonuses and Trophy Offers : Nov 2015

Hello Chiefs, once again!

We’re here one last time this update to go over the last of the supporting changes surrounding the shield system revamp and theaddition of Village Guard. In the previous posts, we discussed lots of changes to support fairer defense, increased focus on attack, and greater flexibility in play sessions and shield times. Now it's time to bring it all together with what all Chiefs strive for: the spoils of battle! Whether you're a Trophy pusher or hunting for sweet loot, these last set of changes aim to make the spoils of battle more rewarding for skilled attackers, better tied to gameplay objectives and better balanced in attack vs. defense.

The first set of changes involves the Town Hall becoming a primary loot target. Even Trophy pushers should take note of the last item on this list!

• Available loot is now distributed to the Town Hall as well as storages (maximum loot is unchanged)
• Town Halls contain a share of loot equal to one Gold Storage, one Elixir Storage and 1/4 Dark Elixir storage
• The Town Hall is now looted only when it is completely destroyed by an attacker
• Town Hall Gold, Elixir and Dark Elixir storage increases by Town Hall Level
• The Town Hall and Clan Castle now count as resource buildings, so Goblins can target them for double damage

Also for the loot hunters comes changes to the League Bonus system to make it worth more, but only if you attack well:

• All League Bonuses have been significantly increased
• League Bonus loot is now progressive from 0% to 100%, based on destruction percentage of a victorious attack
• 100% League Bonus is earned at 70% destruction

Also, the Trophy pushers out there will be seeing some much needed rebalancing of high-level Trophy offers. High-level players will be gaining more Trophies from attacks and losing less from defense:

• Trophy offers of defenders with less Trophies now increase based on total Trophy count
• Trophy offers of defenders with more Trophies now decrease based on total Trophy count

Finally, there are some general-purpose multiplayer matchmaking changes to support all the rest:

• Available loot percentage on Town Hall levels 6 through 10 has been slightly increased
• Multiplayer targets one Town Hall level lower are now worth slightly less loot to attackers
• Multiplayer matchmaking is now less likely to offer targets at a 2-level Town Hall difference (only below Champion League)

The overall goal of these changes is simple: the better of an attacker you are, the better your spoils of battle should be! Let’s dive in deep one last time to discuss a better balance in how players fight for rewards. Whether you’re after Trophies or loot, there is something here for you!


What’s In a Town Hall?

The Town Hall is the heart of a village, so the building should always be of prime importance to attack and defend. Even though Trophy pushers are always eager to flatten every Town Hall they find, loot hunters haven't really much cared. Now that Town Hall destruction no longer grants shield, what practical value does the Town Hall bring to a loot hunter? In the upcoming update, the answer will be simple: more loot!

Think Town Hall sniping is gone? Try telling that to a Goblin.

Every destroyed Town Hall will now be worth a significant share of Gold, Elixir and Dark Elixir to attackers. Loot that used to be only available in storages will now be distributed also into the Town Hall. Let’s take an example of a Town Hall 10 defender with available loot of 100K Gold, 100K Elixir and 1000 Dark Elixir (any loot from collectors is ignored here):

Available loot is being distributed into Town Halls as well as storages

Doing the math, we’ll find that players who defend their Town Hall well will be losing less to attackers than they used to. However, poorly defended Town Halls will carry a price tag. Also keep in mind that Goblins, obviously, will not turn a blind eye to such a sweet share of loot, and will target the Town Hall for double damage just like they target other resource storages and collectors. GoGobWipe, anyone?


Better Attacks, Better League Bonuses

This update has been all about encouraging and rewarding fair and skillful attacks, and changes to the League Bonus system only further this goal. The main mechanic is simple: the better your attack, the bigger your League Bonus. Making this change also has allowed us to increase League Bonuses across the board, as well as reshape the League Bonus curve to provide more compelling steps of growth as players climb the ranks.

Find the right League for your attacking skill to maximize your bonuses!

The League Bonus now counts up for each percentage point of destruction, from 0% bonus at 0% destruction up to 100% bonus at 70% destruction. The League Bonus counts up rapidly at first: the first 80% of the bonus is already earned by achieving 50% destruction. Note that you still have to win the attack. Failed attacks give no League Bonus!

We’ve also straightened out the progression of bonuses through the Leagues to make each higher level have more compelling rewards than the level before, and thus encourage players to play at as high of a League as they can. Let’s look at a few examples:

League Bonus examples after a 70% or 50% attack

Notice how the League Bonus for a 50% attack in one League is comparable to a 70% attack in the League before. If you find yourself regularly getting over 70% destruction on your enemies in one League, it might make sense to push into the next League to get more bonus out of your attacks! Even if you can only manage 50% destruction in the tougher league, your League Bonus payouts will still be similar.


More Trophies, Less of a Grind

Clashers who play in the highest Leagues all share a similar frustration: huge Trophy losses on defense and infuriatingly small +1 Trophy offers on attack. Indeed, much of competitive Clash play is centered around trying to grind more +1 Trophy offers than will be lost on defense. This “+1 Trophy grind” has led directly to a need for incredibly long play sessions, constant online-time, and a certain saltiness towards the Personal Break system - all things related to the revamped shield system and Village Guard.

Now that we are shortening the Personal Break online-time limit to 3 hours, we have taken a careful look at the top-level Trophy grind and rebalanced Trophy offers to make sure competitive Clashers can still push, and now in a more meaningful and productive way. With these changes, we will be increasing Trophy flow, softening Trophy losses and allowing all high-level players to push with less grinding and more breaks.

Let’s take a look at a direct comparison of how Trophy offers will be changing. First, we'll look at the current system, for both high and low level players. (Warning: These matrices are FRESH off the Dev's Desk - number spam ahead!)

Old system: Attackers at high and low Trophy counts are treated the same

Above, we see Trophy offers for attackers and defenders of differing Trophy levels, and see that they are identical regardless of how many total Trophies they have. The Clash Trophy system has always treated score differences the same, which has led to a growing misrepresentation of player skill at high levels. The skill difference between an attacker at 5000 Trophies and a defender at 4300 Trophies is likely much, much less than the skill difference between an attacker at 1000 Trophies and a defender at 300 Trophies, however they still get the same +1 Trophy offer. On the flip side, a defender with 5000 Trophies is worth a whopping +56 Trophies for an attacker only 500 Trophies beneath them!

New system: Attackers at high Trophy counts fight for more Trophies and lose less

Here we see how the system is changing. Now, the effect of Trophy differences becomes lessened as players gain more and more Total trophies. That 5000 Trophy attacker now sees a +6 Trophy offer from that 4300 Trophy defender (instead of +1), and they are only worth +48 to an attacker 500 Trophies beneath them (instead of +56). This means that attackers will be able to accumulate bigger Trophy gains with fewer attacks and will lose less Trophies when they defend.

An important detail here is that the range of available targets is NOT changing. We are not offering any fewer targets to high-level players, we are simply making them worth more to attack, and less to defend against. For top players, +1 Trophy offers will be a thing of the past:

Fight for more Trophies at higher Leagues!

Yes, for players in Titan I and Legend, the minimum Trophy offer seen will be +6, which should not only make the Trophy grind more forgiving, but also make it actually meaningful to push for 2 or even 3 stars in every attack!


Welcome Chief, to a Better Clash

As might be apparent from these three posts, there’s nothing more The Clash of Clans Dev Team loves more than talking Clash, and we are tremendously excited to finally be putting so much of this talk into action in the next update. We truly believe this package of changes will improve and elevate the Clash experience for all Chiefs, from the casual to the hardcore, from the Trophy pushers to the loot hunters. We will be signing off for now, but we urge members of the Clash community to continue to discuss these changes, ask questions and help one another out in understanding these new systems and the better Clash to come!

Part II: Village Guard and Personal Breaks : Nov 2015

In our last post, we laid out the groundwork for the revamped shield system. We are increasing focus on both attacking and defending while better supporting players' daily schedules. Town Halls will be coming back inside villages, players will have to defend fairly to get shields, and fair defenses will earn more shield more reliably. Players will also be able to attack more, and when they want, by being able to attack through shield. However, to make this system truly work for Clashers as it should, we must think about “online time" as well as shield time.

Village Guard - Online Time Support

Village Guard is a new, short-term way to prevent attacks on your village while your shield is down:

• While Village Guard is active, your village acts as if you are online, even if you close the game or get disconnected
• Players can freely attack through Village Guard with no penalty
• Free Village Guard time activates automatically when shields expire, from 15 minutes to 3 hours long based on League
• 2 hours of extra Village Guard can be bought for 10 gems every day in the shop, when your shield is down (23 hour cooldown)
• Active Village Guard can be dismissed at any time
• Buying a Shield from the Shop will dismiss active Village Guard

Think of the Village Guard like giving your device to your little brother to keep you online - except that the Village Guard won't embarrass you in Clan chat and spend all your gems. If you ever need to step away from your device for a small period of time, the Village Guard stands ready to watch over things until you get back, even if you close the game. The Village Guard will also help players get back to the game even if they are a few minutes late after their shield expires, and will let top-level players play completely free of the stress of an unintentional disconnect due to inactivity. "Anyone There?" Yes! The Village Guard!

The existing Personal Break system is also related to any talk about online time. Personal Breaks place a time limit on how long any one player can stay online without a shield until the game says, "Okay, to play Clash you have to defend, and it's fair time other players get a chance to attack you." The player is then kicked offline for a few minutes of matchmaking time to allow attackers that chance.

Personal Breaks make sure everyone defends regularly

In line with our other shield system changes, the Personal Break system will also be undergoing some changes to make sure all Clashers participate in regular defending as well as regular attacking, and in a fairer and more flexible way:

• A player is forced offline for 6 minutes after 3 hours of cumulative online time (or Village Guard time) without shield
• This Personal Break 3-hour limit is only reset after getting a shield, or in some special cases covered below
• Buying the 2-hour Village Guard from the Shop will extend a player's current Personal Break 3-hour limit by 2 hours
• The Personal Break 3-hour limit for online players is paused during server maintenance, but not reset

We're already discussed a whole lot of changes, and there are still more changes to loot, League Bonuses and Trophy offers to tie them all together, which we will discuss in our next post. For the rest of this post, we are diving into finer details of the revamped shield system that are somewhat complex. The Personal Break rules, especially, will not be a factor for most players, so if you just want to wait for the update and learn by playing, please do! We're sure all Clashers will get the hang of it after just a few attacks and defenses. However, if you want to dive into what this new system means in practice, learn exactly how the Village Guard differs from Shield, and go over even finer details of the revamped Personal Break system, read on to find out more!


Support for Dedicated Clashing

As we discussed in our last post, many Clashers have adopted gameplay strategies that rely on specific use of the shield system, including uninterrupted online time for long periods of time. Even further, sometimes you just need to step away from the game for a little bit, but aren't yet ready to take your next defense. The main motivation to introduce the Village Guard on top of the existing shield system is about exactly that: building directly into the game a way to help players stay online when they need it, and when it is fair.

Go online, offline and attack freely, safe from attack with Village Guard

While both the Village Guard and Shield do the same job of holding off the next attacker, they are used in different ways. Village Guard is intended to support active play time, while Shield is intended to provide opportunities for downtime from the game. For example, if you need a 15-minute break for a shower or a 90-minute break to go pick up a friend, or if you want to boost your Barracks and have an intense 2-hour play session of constant attacking, the Village Guard can be used to make sure you don't get attacked in the middle of it, even if you get distracted for a while or accidentally go offline.

A side-by-side comparison can help us understand the differences between Village Guard and Shield:

Village Guard		Shield
Short period: 15 minutes - 3 hours		Long period: 12 hours - 7 days
Attack anytime with no penalty		Attack anytime, but it costs some shield time
Get free Village Guard automatically when Shield expires		Get free Shield automatically after defending
Free Village Guard time improves with League		Free Shield time is the same for all players
Extra time available for 10 gems in the Shop every day		Extra time available for 100+ gems in the Shop every few days
Only available to buy while Shield is down		Can be bought at anytime
Always counts towards Personal Break timer		Never counts towards Personal Break timer

Keep in mind that active Village Guard time will ALWAYS count towards the Personal Break 3-hour limit, even if the player is offline for all of it. However, buying the extra 2 hours of Village Guard from the shop will add 2 hours to the current Personal Break 3-hour limit to make sure it can be fully utilized.

Shield allows players a chance to take longer breaks from the game, the Village Guard helps players stay online reliably when they want, and the Personal Break system makes sure everyone defends fairly. The three go hand-in-hand with the overall goal of supporting Clashers' existing gameplay strategies, and to do it in a fairer and more flexible way. Changes to multiplayer matchmaking, loot and Trophy offers, covered in our next post, will help balance things even further.


Free Village Guard, Competitive Fair Play and the Mercy Rule

There are two cases where free Village Guard time will be automatically granted for free to players.


1) After a shield expires

Top players have 100% of shieldless time protected by VIllage Guard!

All Clashers know the frustration of forgetting about their shield expiry, opening the game just a few minutes too late, or leaving the game idle a bit too long, and getting attacked right under their nose. To help prevent these cases, an automatic Village Guard period is activated every time a shield expires. The amount of Village Guard awarded is based on the player's League:

• Champion I League players and below get a free 15-minute Village Guard when their shield expires
• Titan III League players get a free 1-hour Village Guard when their shield expires
• Titan II League players get a free 2-hour Village Guard when their shield expires
• Titan I and Legend League players get a free 3-hour Village Guard when their shield expires

The competitive Chiefs out there might notice something important: in Titan I and Legend Leagues, the most competitive place in Clash of Clans, the automatic 3-hour Village Guard is exactly as long as the new Personal Break 3-hour limit. This means that Clashers in Titan I and Legend League will ALWAYS have 100% of their shieldless time protected by Village Guard. Whether they are online or offline will no longer affect their vulnerability to attack, and when their Village Guard expires, they will immediately go to Personal Break. In essence, all top players will be automatically kept "always online" when their shield has expired and will take every Personal Break limit to term, without having to resort to any additional hassle or workarounds.


2) After defending a weak attack

No shield? Take 15 minutes to rearm for the next defense.

As we discussed in our last post, defenders should now get shield much more reliably, provided they have a good layout that invokes fair attacks. 30% destruction is now the lowest threshold to get a shield. However, in the case of exceptionally poor attacks that do less than 30% destruction (or for Chiefs who neglect to bring their Town Halls inside and get "sniped"), an automatic 15-minute Village Guard period will activate to give shieldless defenders a chance time to rearm traps, reload their defenses and request defending troops. This defense will also extend the Personal Break 3-hour limit by 15-minutes, but will NOT reset it (unless the Mercy Rule, explained below, kicks in).

• Every defense that results in a shield will reset the defender's Personal Break 3-hour limit
• Every defense that DOESN’T result in a shield will instead result in a 15-minute extension of the defender's Personal Break 3-hour limit and Village Guard time
• Every 6-minute Personal Break kickout period that doesn't result in ANY defense will also result in a 15-minute extension of the defender's Personal Break 3-hour limit and Village Guard time
• "Mercy Rule" - The 3rd consecutive 15-minute extension will instead fully reset the Personal Break 3-hour limit and trigger the automatic Village Guard based on League
• If an offline player is not attacked for 3 hours, their Personal Break 3-hour limit is reset, though no Village Guard is awarded

For example, say a player reaches their Personal Break 3-hour limit. They will get a 6-minute Personal Break timeout to give other players a chance to attack them. If 6 minutes goes by without a defense, the player can then come back online for 15 minutes protected by Village Guard (and attack as normal, if they like). Then comes another 6-minute Personal Break timeout. Say, this time, someone attacks them for 15% destruction and loses. As this is a weak attack, the player can again come back online for 15 minutes protected by Village Guard. The 3rd time they get the 6-minute Personal Break timeout, no matter what happens, they will get a full reset on their Personal Break 3-hour limit and a full automatic Village Guard (via the Mercy Rule).

These are some pretty detailed edge-cases that should not apply for most players. but need to be there just to make sure there are no loose-ends in the system.


Tying Up a Tighter Shield System

If you've managed to read this far, you must be an exceptionally sharp and savvy Chief! Hopefully, you've been able to tie together this broad and complex package of changes to the shield system, Personal Break and the new Village Guard, and understand how both attacking and defending will become more flexible, dynamic and fairer than ever before. These changes aim to support the way all players Clash, from the casual to the super-competitive.

There are even more supporting changes to loot, League Bonuses and Trophy offers that we will cover in our next post, but until then, take a little personal break! You certainly deserve it.

Shields - Part I: Attacking and Defending : Nov 2015

Hello Chiefs!
A major focus area in the coming update affects how people play Clash of Clans every single day: shields. Improving the shield system is a complex and delicate job, so coming update includes a broad package of changes designed to make village defense fairer, play sessions more flexible, and attacking more encouraged.

TL;DR: Here's a recap video of the shield changes: https://youtu.be/U1udJ8U5xlg

A Revamped and Improved Shield System

Over several posts, we will go over all of the fine details about how shields, attacking and defending will be changing, and how the changes will affect different kinds of players. However, there are two headline items that all players need to be aware of, first and foremost:

• Town Hall destruction no longer grants a shield - bring your Town Halls inside!
• Attacking while shielded no longer breaks the entire shield, but instead costs a bit of shield time

Under this new system, it will be entirely possible to get attacked, get a shield, and then attack two or even three times without forfeiting all of your shield. At the same time, we're changing how shields are acquired:

• A 12-hour shield is granted at 30% destruction
• A 14-hour shield is granted at 60% destruction
• A 16-hour shield is granted at 90% destruction
• However, NO SHIELD is granted if the attacker does not deploy at least 50% of a full army

Regarding attacking while shielded:

• Being shielded no longer prevents entering multiplayer matchmaking, browsing targets, or attempting revenge
• Executing a multiplayer or revenge attack while shielded will deduct 3 hours from the remaining shield time
• Additional attacks while shielded will deduct increasing amounts of shield (4 hours, 5 hours, etc...)

There are plenty more changes coming to support these, including the new Village Guard and rebalanced loot and Trophy offers, but this is already more than enough for one post! Curious about the reasons and details behind these changes? Interested in how this might affect your daily attacking/defending routine? Read on! We'll discuss the interplay of attacking and defending in Clash of Clans, and how these changes will breathe new life into both for every single Clasher.


The Simple Shield That Started It All

The shield system in Clash of Clans has remained largely untouched since the game was brand new. Its original intentions were simple: after a player gets attacked, they should get a chance to recover safely before being put back out into the fray.

Clash is about both attacking and defending, and defending can sometimes be nasty. Your buildings crumble and your resources and Trophies can be stolen. However, half of the excitement and fun of Clash comes from building villages and watching them battle. There are few things as sweet as watching your carefully planned defense crush an attacker! A balanced shield system is crucial to enjoying this back-and-forth between attack and defense. It should make sure players don't get hit too hard, too often, but keeps them "in the fight."

Our initial shield system couldn't possibly have hoped to anticipate the intense gameplay strategies that would evolve in Clash, from hardcore farming to competitive trophy pushing. Players have made the Clash of Clans shield system their own, and shown us creative ways of playing that we never could have imagined. Now, over 3 years later, the Clash of Clans Team understands much better the complex ways players use shields. We've learned how it supports different gameplay strategies, player goals and, most importantly, we've learned how our shield system does and does not meet the needs of our players.

Town Hall outside: A sure sign players need a better shield system

It is true. The "free shields" that come from leaving the Town hall outside are going away, and we realize this is a core part of many gameplay strategies. However, this change is part of a much bigger package that supports existing gameplay strategies in new ways - ways that are fairer, better balanced, more flexible, more fun, and more about what makes Clash the game it is: battle.

It all starts with one of the longest-standing questions in Clash:


How Do We Make a Better Shield System?

Let's consider the flaws in the current system:

• Getting a shield is unreliable - others might not attack for a long time, and you might not get a shield when they do
• A good defense can force you to defend again - low destruction means no shield and multiple defenses in a row
• Shield timing is inflexible - the shield you get is often too long or too short for what you need to fit your daily schedule
• Forgetting a shield can leave you stuck in a new one - starting Clash 5 minutes too late can mean a new 12 hour wait
• Shields overly discourage attacking - breaking a large shield is often a poor tactic, even if you would want to attack
• Shields are given to players who don't actually defend - this hurts matchmaking, hurts resource and Trophy flow, and makes attacking boring and unrewarding

Darn it, shield, you had one job!

Clearly there is a lot to improve! Clever Chiefs out there will also realize that many of these issues are related. Unreliable shields can lead to multiple defenses. Inflexible shield timing can lead to forgotten shields. Forgotten shields can lead to being stuck in shields constantly and discouraged from attacking.

There is no simple, small tweak we can do to straighten this entanglement of issues, and that is why the upcoming update contains so many changes all at once. To improve one area, we need to improve them all, and making a better shield system has everything to do with how Clashers attack as well as defend.


Attacking Through Shield: Anytime Is a Good Time to Clash

When we want to Clash, we want to attack. Clashers spend time and resources training troops, brewing spells and getting Clan Castle reinforcements. Then, when it's all ready, it's time to go! Or... wait, is it?

If you have a shield, often times the answer is “No," even if everything is ready. Someone had to attack you to grant that shield and, if you break it, someone will be attacking you again very soon. Many times, the optimal choice has been to wait until a shield will naturally expire, then try to be ready to attack once it does.

Attacking costs some shield, but look all you want

The new shield system changes all that. Players can attack whenever they want while shielded at the cost of 3 hours shield time (though this cost increases with multiple attacks). Not only will this make it a viable choice to attack any time troops are ready, but smart trimming of shields can help them better fit your daily schedule!

Players can enter multiplayer matchmaking and browse targets (or surf the clouds) while under shield at any time. However, an “Attack cost” will be shown that indicates how much shield will be reduced if an attack is performed. “Nexting” does not cost any shield, but once an attack is started that amount of shield time will be deducted.

Revenge without broken shields? Angry Neesons everywhere rejoice!

Revenge also works in the same way. Pressing the "Revenge" button will not be prevented while shielded, but once the attack is performed, shield time will be deducted. If you press revenge and decide not to attack, you will not lose shield.

Clash is all about the thrill of battle, so allowing players to attack at any time, even if they are shielded, is a key feature of the new shield system. Not only does it empower players to Clash when they want to Clash, but it will also help players recover better from their losses on defense via the extra income from the extra attacks.


Fairer Defenses - Better Raids - More Clash

The Clash of Clans Team wants to uphold our original intention of helping players recover safely and productively from their defense losses. Along with the Village Guard concept, explained in the next post, changes to shield acquisition should help ensure that no player has to defend without a fair opportunity to recover.

New 14-hour shield at 60% destruction

The limit for acquiring a 12-hour shield has been lowered from 40% to 30% destruction on defense. Additionally, there is a new 14-hour shield that is acquired from 60% destruction, regardless of Town Hall destruction. Victory and defeat conditions for battles remain unchanged, but players will, on average, be getting more shield than they used to, more reliably.

Conversely, players who try to work around the shield system will get no shield at all. Attacks of less than 50% maximum army capacity (based on the Army Camp, Clan Caste and Hero capacity of the defender's Town Hall level) will not grant any shield, regardless of the destruction done. Leaving the Town Hall outside to get "sniped" will become an incredibly poor idea.

Fairer defending means better loot!

There is a huge upside to making sure all players defend fairly: more and better targets in matchmaking. With the upcoming shield, loot and Trophy changes, Clashers will be defending more, offering more to attackers, but also attacking more and fighting for more from every attack. Clash is healthiest and the most exciting when all players are active and engaged in the back-and-forth between attack and defense, so we feel strongly that this is the right direction for the future of Clash.

However, we're not done! To help make our revamped shield system even better and address even more of its current flaws, we will be introducing the new Village Guard and changes to the Personal Break system in the next post. Stay tuned!