As a player with an XBOT token now, I agree with your sentiments and many others as well. I have been playing for almost 2 years now. The player DNA in me was really frustrated for a long time facing bot farms and private bots -- draining the rewards intended for real players.
I WAS manually playing my account and really love every battle I face. I was playing in Diamond to Champion League before. I saved battle replays to look into it in the future. I moved down to silver since the soul-bound reward cards update because it was not sustainable for me as a renter to play at the higher league without liquid rewards.
The time I got the token is when I was so really busy with life that I don't have the energy or time to play anymore and will choose to rest whenever I got home. I still manually play on weekends but not too much. I use to play for loooooong hours until my energy runs dry. (Good ol' ECR days! <3 ) I have been building my modern silver deck constantly even if it takes me longer to complete it. I am really looking forward to NO BOTS MODERN update. I want to play on that format. I love this game and really want to match with real players that I really look up into. I just don't have any idea when will this be implemented. I hope soon.
First of all, thank you for writing your opinion here even though you are an xbot user.
My personal opinion is that using battle helpers and using xbot is cheating. So I have no sympathy for you for whatever reason. However, if I were to judge from my own good and evil, I think the real evil is the xbot and the splinterlands that let it go unchecked.
The idea that you use a bot because you are frustrated by it means that you are using it when you can imagine that others would be just as frustrated and emotional. I think it's not good of you to use xbot because you know that.
If you don't have time, why did you choose xbot instead of Archmage?
I think there was a personal interest there. They don't charge a fee. It contributes more to winning. There are many advantages of xbot such as.
I use AM when I am busy. However, even with my card assets, AM is only strong enough to be in the 10~20.
I AM a fan of players who don't actually play because I don't think they should stand out.
I also think that a private bot would have a lot of trouble with the effort and funding to create it, and the maintenance after it is updated.
With that in mind, there will not be many private bot users and they will be digging into the red. For me, there is no reason to stop people who want to win from sticking with a bot to that extent.
I think they are making an effort, albeit a bad one.
But it's not a good idea to start up a service to expand it horizontally. Those who use it are just joining in the evil and being exploited, and creating a structure where those who are not involved are further deprived of enjoyment and exploited.
Once you use xbot, you get addicted to it and your skills will drop so much that the more you use it, the more you will be afraid to play manually.
I have seen players who say that and can no longer play the game themselves. I hope you meant what you said at the end.
If you don't have time, why did you choose xbot instead of Archmage?
Reasons:
I bought the token at $50 and ArchmageA token was higher at that time and has fees. I need to focus mostly on my on-field work and my next goal of getting engaged that will limit my time and energy playing the game. By these, it pushed me to try automated services. Just like you, I use XBot when I'm really busy. I still do manual battles but not like before where I can drain my ECR below 0 over and over again. Using battle helpers in Ranked is pointless because it very expensive and does not justify the DEC required versus the SPS gained per battle win. I also rent most of the cards for grinding. I do hope SPL does have an option in their practice mode to try custom battles with complete cards.
I still consider myself as a real gamer. I really like the game which I wished that I have discovered it in 2018. When I was new to the game, whenever I won against players with titles and top players, I feel so happy. I'm sorry if you felt cheated. I felt cheated too before. I get your frustration and I am frustrated too. If I have my opinion, I want the battle to be interactive and disable battle helpers in modern during the implementation of no bots modern. I also want to have a PVE mode where players can only gain their focus/season points in PVE mode. PVP/Ranked Mode will be just for leaderboards which only gives/takes ratings.
Again, I am really looking forward to no bots modern format. I want to get to feel that excitement of battling and beating top human players again. I don't care if I will not be able to reach leaderboards, I just want to play the game normally with fellow humans. Also, I hope SPL tournaments should add the no battle helper tag in their tournaments to disable it.
Thank you for the response! I still do respect you as a player and a great contributor in this community and game. You and Ueyuey was my go-to-guide in Silver League when I was just started playing the game.
Much love.
I understand your thoughts.
However, I do not fully believe it. In fact you have been matched and drawn on the last day with the same xbot user.
This is a very bad impression.
Because it looks like the bots and BHs don't seem to be grinding rates against each other. Everyone feels that this is no different than a win trade.
If you really like manual play, why go bot beat someone who is doing well in manual play on the last day? It is incomprehensible and sad to me.
But I will try to believe you for stepping up to me, and I know that the draw between BOTs was not intentional on your part. I just can't help myself to be calm right now. ueyuey feels the same way I do.
Sorry for being so emotional.
We both love the game in different ways, but we are both still in love with the game.
Let's make this a community where everyone can enjoy playing.
Don't feel sorry, bro. I understand your feeling and thoughts. As much as I wanted to not have draws when faced with other Xbot users, I don't have the ability to evade them during queue or use different lineups for the battle. I don't like it and it is a waste of energy. Although, there are more battles that me and PKM Pirates face each other and I ended up losing than winning or having a draw.
I'm still doing manual battles within the season too. When I reached my target rating or chest count, I let the bot to play the rest of my energy.
If you're getting frustrated with SPL like me, you can try to play Legends of Runeterra. I play that game just to have a breath of fresh air. It is also a card game. I prefer playing meme decks because it is fun and very satisfying to watch. I hope you look into it.
I also want to add that I do not like monopoly in LB. I am only using 1 account and letting it play in silver league. I am also trying to beat those accounts in the same guild that is trying to reach the top 3 places.