I was pushing hard to get Hacker level, I was at 79% of the way there, then my points dropped to ~50% today as I assume they retired a box.
Then tonight I got root on my next machine and I’m back to 79% again after a weeks work. So basically a week of work for nothing.
Does anyone else not find this really frustrating?
Not really. To do it any other way would give those who’ve been here longest an unfair advantage. Everyone goes through the same system.
IMHO, the only element of unfairness with the point/rank system is with the challenges. They don’t expire, so the more they add, the harder it is to get to omniscient. However since rank is never lost, those who get the max rank earlier do not need to get the additional challenges.
That’s true for rank level, however, if they’re not doing the challenges and only have a certain rank level because they’ve been here since the beginning, you should be able to get more overall points than them. The rank doesn’t really matter much anyway other than granting you access to a couple higher level labs as far as I know.
I think the points should age off in order to make it fair in the long run. But the rate at which they are reduced is way too fast at present. The current system leaves people feeling super pissed off right now.
No one would feel that way if the points only reduce at 30-40% the current rate.
If people are no longer active, their points would slowly drop to zero, and active members can still have a chance to get up the points table.
But also those of us who may have limited time on htb have at least some chance of making progress.
Most paying members loose points faster than they can gain them.
HTB will loose vip subscibers eventually if they don’t tweak it a bit imho.
Just my 2 cents worth.
Im sure no one will listen. ?
I agree with @3mrgnc3 at the moment it feels nearly impossible to pwn boxes fast enough to stay ahead of the rate they are retired - also it seems like each new box is a fair bit harder than the one it replaces.
This weekend Ypuffy (6/10) replaces Canape (5/10). Small but enough of a difference to be off-putting for new people. Almost every new box over the last few months has had a higher rating than the one it replaces. Either the ratings are meaningless or the site is getting steadily harder for new people to join.
The challenges make it a bit more confusing - the never seem to be retired (so you never get to see a walkthrough) and can be disproportionately hard for the points you get.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my time on HTB but there are things which chafe.
By the way, I’ve noticed that the points for a retired box go quite some time before the replacement box is live.
I was at 99% but lost mountains when Canape was retired. However as of this writing, Ypuffy still isn’t available.
@TazWake said:
By the way, I’ve noticed that the points for a retired box go quite some time before the replacement box is live.I was at 99% but lost mountains when Canape was retired. However as of this writing, Ypuffy still isn’t available.
I was at 99% to pro hacker after getting Reel earlier this week (9/9-9/15). So I did a few challenges to get over the hump. Today I lost .12 points. Previous week, was at 82% and dropped into the 60s after another machine I had root (maybe Celestial) was retired. Good luck getting to the next level this week!
@3mrgnc3 said:
I think the points should age off in order to make it fair in the long run. But the rate at which they are reduced is way too fast at present. The current system leaves people feeling super pissed off right now.
No one would feel that way if the points only reduce at 30-40% the current rate.
If people are no longer active, their points would slowly drop to zero, and active members can still have a chance to get up the points table.
But also those of us who may have limited time on htb have at least some chance of making progress.Most paying members loose points faster than they can gain them.
HTB will loose vip subscibers eventually if they don’t tweak it a bit imho.Just my 2 cents worth.
Im sure no one will listen. ?
Okay I chimed in on another thread about this and here I go again with the heredoc response because it is so demoralizing for me. It really affects the way I do these machines now and I ahve been absolutely trash since I realized it was on the clock. I lost all my progress to level up now from about 60%. I am not entering in any more flags until I am ready to level up as I don’t want to lose the points. I would not mind but the last few boxes have been REEEALLY long-winded Smasher/Fighter/Reddish and the infrastructure has been falling over, it took me hours and hours trying just to get a stable shell yesterday - swapping from one thing to another and in the end you just have to wait until it is less busy and as your points drain away.
takes a breath<
Certainly you are correct - as soon as I do level up I will probably cancel my sub as I won’t be levelling up again. It is too much of a slog especially when there are factors beyond your control.
@Underworld said:
So basically a week of work for nothing.Does anyone else not find this really frustrating?
A week work for nothing; you did pick up and learn a bit about something, right ?
So that’s not really -for nothing- in my opinion.
Unless you’re only here for the ranking of course.
I think it is quite fair the way it is done to keep the audience alive.
Sure it sucks when you drop back in progress but if you are active enough you can make it to the next level. Maybe pick newer boxes to rank up faster to not drop back in progress ?
Not entering flags doesn’t really help as the flag won’t be of use once the machine is retired 
Entering does add the user/root to your ‘credits’.
Is there a place to see what machines are retiring when? Or is there a certain pace at which active machines retire (i.e. 1 every week or 1 per month) ?
@thrash a machine is retired every week, and a new one is released. They can be seen under the unreleased tab under “Machines”, and the box to be retired is the one at the top of the active list afaik.
Ah - got it. Thanks @Cobaas
Well, obviously not the box on top that goes. Looks like Dev0ops is going this weekend.
The most annoying thing, as mentioned, is that you lose the points before the new machine becomes available. I already lost the points of Dev0ops… I have suffered the points loss on 4 macines I owned! 
It would be better to hoard or keep the flags (machines that won’t retire anytime soon) until you had enough points to rank up.
Nice tip, I will definitely do so from now on!
I thought the ranking was down to what percentage of the total systems you’ve owned and the points were just your overall position on the chart?
@rocux what do you mean by hoarding the flags?