Feedback on dog tags event from a newer player.

I'm a new player who, at the time of writing this post, has 38 days into the game. I am loving the game so far, but I was personally fairly disappointed by the dog tags event.

My first event in Torn was the Halloween trick-or-treating event. The Halloween event was awesome for me as a new player; it's designed in a way that players of all levels/ages could participate (once they are able to obtain a basket, which is another discussion entirely). As a new player, I was able to collect over 100 treats, which catapulted me from barely having a million or two net worth to probably 10 or 20 million. It was a huge boon, and it got me really excited about future events.

Then came the dog tags event. At first, I didn't know what to expect. As the first few days went by, I noticed an uptick in being attacked, much like the Halloween event. While it was a little annoying, this didn't surprise or frustrate me at all. I lost my dog tag almost immediately, which I expected would happen. Over the course of the event, I even managed to snag maybe 10 random dog tags from attacking targets for Duke missions. However, it became increasingly clear as the event passed the halfway mark that the event was designed in a way that gave only well-established players a fighting chance. I could no longer find any players in a range that I could attack who still had their tag. While most of the attacks were done in stealth, one by one I lost the tags I collected to players who clearly had significantly higher battle stats than I did.

I do support the concept of players of any level/age/stats being able to attack anyone. Without the leveling lists suggested by veteran players, I wouldn't have a fraction of the XP I currently have. However, I feel that events like these could be altered in a way that encourages newer players to participate, and gives them the chance at rewards. One thought that I had was to only allow dog tags to be stolen by someone within a certain range of your level/age/play time/ battle stats. It could be tiered in a lightweight/middleweight/heavyweight manner or something similar.

While I understand that the developers need to keep the long-time players happy, I feel there should be some balancing done to not discourage newer players from sticking around, or at least give them an opportunity to participate.

I'm looking forward to hearing other players' thoughts on the topic, and to seeing how other events play out as I venture through my first year in the game. Also, thank you to the player who returned my tag to me right before the event ended so I didn't walk away completely empty-handed.

38 days

/Graved

IMO it is pretty easy if you are level 15+, but a lot harder if lower than that or a "well known" player. It is probably also a lot harder for a casual player or someone who doesn't check in much during the day, but that is to be expected.


While I have been in the game a couple of months more than you, I have similar combat stats and am level 15.
I placed 452nd, with (from memory) a little over 300 tags, and yes I was getting attacked and gradually losing tags during the event. Every single tag (apart from 1, which was worth 15) was worth either 10 or 5 points.

If you are active, you can do it (I went into the event thinking I would be happy if I managed to get the 50 dog tag award on my first attempt).

I stopped doing missions, stopped posting in forums etc., stopped racing (anything that would make me visible to other people). If I was awake I would spend the day on ~2 hour flights and back buying plushies/flowers while my E recharged. Before going to bed I would try to fail kidnapping to get ~8 hours hospital time just to "play it safe". When landing I would use up my E on attacks, my nerve on some quick safe crimes, and hop onto a new flight.

I used YATA to keep a list of targets, and when landing would hit 5 (deleting them afterwards) and fly again. In the time I would be "playing" normally, I would keep the list up to date (check defends lost, delete any from the list who had been hit, add new targets etc.)

It wasn't anywhere near as hard as I thought it was going to be. It took time, and some dedication, but was easy enough.

Don't let your player age be a deterrent to your gameplay. You can always challenge yourself and challenge the norms. You don't need to be at the top, but putting in the effort is all that matters. :) All the best!

I would agree. the main reason for a relatively calmer event would be halloween event.

I don't think It needs ay change the style. (I didn't participate though).

It must be changed to different time on calendar.

Anyone that claims this a bad competition because low level, low statted or new players can't make money off of it, is just completely wrong.

I know of a 20 day old player that managed to sell a 500 point tag and profit at least 50million. And that opportunity is there for any new players and those with very low stats.

There are fundamental flaws that do make this a bad competition however. Profit opportunity for players of all ages and stat ranges is not one of them.

I was placed 199th last year in my first Tags..

Granted I was older than you and had 20k battle stats then, but the event is definitely not impossible..

Most importantly, is never to go in blind.. Ask questions and prepare yourself..

But one can definitely make the most of it and learn during these events..


P.s. If you think Tags was hard, you should definitely read up for Eliminations or even consider giving it a pass until much later..

Welp, as someone who doesnt have too many stats to go around (started event in the range of 60k total, now sitting somewhere in the 80k), all I wanted is to get 250 tags merit and stop there.
This took a whooping week (I mostly missed out on weekend as had stuff to do and was flying majority of time).
The merit came on the 12/11 and took 367 winning attacks (you can check statistics 5-13 Nov). This obviously covers all the tags that I also lost in process. I only used xanax, natural e and daily refresh.
After this we had a chain, which brought my total tag count to 290-300 range. A total of 8* days of participation (more like 5-6 fully spending e on attacks and searching for targets) got me to 202nd place. I'm pretty sure I could easily make it into top 15-25 if I fully committed to 3 weeks of this glorious event.
Finding targets was just a chore, but it was not impossible.

Rofl! Says the player who sat on me and mercilessly farmed me when I tried to do tagging as a new player. Nice.

The incentive is shit
That's all.
I know damn well during elim new players were donated by older team mates.
Halloween also gave nice incentives for new players.
But dog tags? Enjoy burning ur money on drugs and boosters to get nothing but few merits n tokens.

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Irrelevant to the point too.

I know you don’t. I was just irrelevant new played that you abused 5 years ago who has never forgotten how you treat new players and will always pound on you at every chance

With that attitude I can see why you got whatever you got. No real memory of it, but I'm getting the feeling you brought it on yourself.

Personally I like the war time/peace time thing that’s going on with the way the events are scheduled

And for people, like me, that have bought all the merits you c an and don't give a damn about the backgrounds/hairstyles, there is zero incentive.

The only thing that would cause me to expend the resources would be for the 250 tag merit or try to get 1st place. It's just not worth it at this time in my Torn career.

Different time slot of the year is definitely a nice idea, also shortening it to 2 weeks would also be great as it becomes a grind after the first week.

Those "Well established" have put the work in, therefore I don't see the problem if there's a unfair advantage.

Train, hit it hard next year.

Life hacks:

Step one: Search all lvl 1 players inactive for 1 year +
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Step 2: Go to the last page of all numbers and change the URL link to a totally random number, like 342379
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Step 3: Open tabs of profiles and look at peoples stats, keying in on the "defends lost" statistic
If the number today is the same as before the event started, this person still has their dog tag.
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I was able to help several people get from 0-50-250 in a short span of several days doing this method.

To enjoy dog tags you have to accept that unless you have high stats and people willing to feed you tags, you will not "win" - however you can still get 10 tokens easily and both the 50 and 250 merit, even if you have ONE THOUSAND TOTAL STATS.

Instead of saying you didn't like the event, next time ask for tips on how to do better at your age and current skillset. You would've gotten 2 merits and 10 tokens if I read your frustration before the event ended.

Wait a minute... You're the guy that cried in the forums and got EXPOSED by Ched!

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Looks like your grievance should be with the game owner, not me. But I guess Ched is a bit of a dangerous target to ruffle again, huh?

He DID offer to remove you from the competition, did you take him up on his generous offer that year?


Thread link for that Ched post for anyone interested.