The fallout aftermath of healing changes (alliance wise)

Unknown

Unless you been hiding under a forum rock, most will be aware of the general disapproval over the healing changes. I kept my alliance informed over the changes and many weren't happy with what was announced a few days back. A relative who played the game didn't understand what the fuss was about until he saw the effects of the change which he described as "stupid", which is perhaps the most polite way of all the people I have spoken to about the changes has put it. Some of my alliance member's responses would make the dialogue of the Die Hard movie look exceptionally tame by comparison!! Much of this isn't new to anyone who has been playing the game and been following what is going on the forums.

Since the end of the Heroic event I have had 4 of my 20 man alliance member tell me they are taking a break from the game because of the healing change, To be honest I'm not even sure they are likely to return, given how angry some of them are over the changes. Anyone familiar with herd mentality, will know once the rot sets in, it's hard to get out. Some members aren't even up yet and I'm already worried that I am going to lose more than just those four members who have been up front about their feelings over the healing change.

So what am I to do? I have no idea if D3 is going to reverse the healing changes, because 3 have said they're not returning until these recent changes are removed, one said he's taking a break and then reassessing things after his break whether hes going to continue or not. So already I have a quarter of my alliance non-functional. Do I boot and replace or do I wait and see what d3 does next if anything? Right now I'm under the assumption D3 is sticking to their guns and I have effectively lost a minimum of 20% of my alliance members for good! What I find worrying is not one of my alliance members had anything positive to say about the healing change and I'm concerned a herd mentality will take place, more members stop playing because other members have.

Previous games I played which took unpopular changes leading to members quitting guilds/alliances, often did not return to the game. A very low percentage return and even then it takes some serious persuading or that that person has some emotional tie within the guild still remaining.

I'm stuck at how long to give these members who have chosen to take a break before I remove them from the alliance. Come to think of it I already have a non-vocal member not play in two days since I mentioned the healing changes and he/she has always played every day ever since he/she joined.

OnesOwnGrief

For those that have stated they are taking a break or leaving, you should boot them. You should explain to them that you are going to boot them before doing so and see if they reply within this last tournament. There is no point keeping people who are not going to contribute in your alliance unless its something in real life affecting it. Even then, it may be best that you request them to leave if they don't think they will be back anytime soonish (4-7 days).

For those newer players in your alliance, you're gonna just have to level with them and guide them through this period. Explain to them that these changes mean that they can't just rely on the top 3 characters in their roster anymore. They must level and experiment with various teams and that it will keep them in 2* for much longer. When they decide they are equipped enough to move into 3*, do not (and I can't stress this enough) dump a punch of ISO-8 into a single character to 100+ and level them EVENLY. From my own experience, it was fairly safe to get them to 97 before I ended up seeing regular 3 start at 115-141 after I pushed 1 to 100 during a tournament.

The long term effects will not be seen for maybe a few weeks. Right now, all you're getting is knee-jerk reactions and almost every change to the game has been met with negativity. We honestly can't tell where Demiurge and D3 wants to go with the game right now but these changes promote slowing progression. It will most likely smooth the transition for newer players and they have stated that there is some nudging in brackets. That stuff is always being tweaked.

We as a community now have to reexamine each character and see which builds will suit the type of style a player wants to have. Some characters are faster than others but burn out quicker and others are good for the long term. We should have plenty of information to how the game handles AI and adjust our defense teams accordingly. I predict that the "rainbow" teams we have come to expect are going to fade and teams will be more set in a theme will rise as they will focus more on specific color collection.

Personally, I feel the current PvP setup is outdated. It needs to be tweaked and allow for fully customized teams like Shield Simulator. We just have to keep in mind that a lot of this stuff takes time and it won't change quickly. We are still very much playing an ever changing game still. Think of it as if the game is still a Beta and there a lot of games F2P that have in app purchases that are still in beta. Doesn't stop people from spending and feeling entitled though.

OneenO

This is going on in my alliance as we speak. Its like dominoes, as soon as a big gun leaves the rest start to fall. We have already lost 4 and more keep hinting at throwing in the towel. I just keep reiterating that it will all blow over and the game will continue to operate just fine after the initial adjustment period. I know the change sucks but we will all get use to it eventually, just like all of the other **** changes we have had to go through.

Unknown

So TL;DR is whether to wait or go ahead with restructure?

That depends on your alliance aims really. If you wait a week without changes you'll lose out on the alliance prizes of events for that period only. At the moment it's a mighty DD cover. I would not rush for that. For the upcoming things you can decide what tier you'd et with and without action.

For season and a possible long PVE you need not worry ahead as you can add the new members in the last hour and get the prizes. (You may lose out some token on PVE subs, yey).

If your alliance is more about community than prizes the best is probably just take a collective ease for some period until the dust settles and start reorg later, I expect most alliances face this same **** having several members leave or pause, the stir is close to the level of the original assembly of alliances.

The rule of tumb in MPQ was always PATIENCE, the stress is created by impatient player who can't live a day without some cover even if it is never used actually... You can have way more peace if being okay that it will come your way little later anyway and will sell them in multiples if just hang on.

Jonny1Punch

I feel your pain. This was the final straw for many of my members and although I can't stand quitters I couldn't blame some of them for leaving....especially my guys who don't have much money to spend and rely on OBW because they can't afford health packs.
.
My alliance ranges in age from 16 to 60 ( my own grandpa included ) and they can't afford this pace,not many can.

So as much as I'd love to post some giant angry rant I'm far too busy dealing with the heartbreak and cleaning up the mess of the aftermath. I won't debate any further the issue of the "true healing" update I will only say it has greatly and negatively impacted my alliance and our overall interest in competing and investing has declined drastically . A Very sad day indeed.

Unknown

This sort of thing does not bother my alliance, we have a play at least once (even Prolog nodes) every 3 days or you are booted. Every time we have some one new I will post this one rule. So far no issues (3 or four boots though).

Unknown

We are seeing the same issue in our alliance. About 20% of the members are on the brink of quitting.

I feel that this speaks volumes how many people are upset and continually get upset over these "funbalance" ideas that don't get tested or aren't well thought out.

Unknown

I gave up my own alliance because I quit over this. Oneeno, you mean IggyFenton or your old alliance? Either way, it's no big surprise. If you don't have a big-**** 3* roster or the ability to be on numerous times over the course of the day then congratulations, you can't compete any more. I'd try to find new players. Good luck - pretty much everyone is suffering at the moment.

Unknown

dragma wrote:

This sort of thing does not bother my alliance, we have a play at least once (even Prolog nodes) every 3 days or you are booted. Every time we have some one new I will post this one rule. So far no issues (3 or four boots though).

Generally I do the same too, but the thing is here the situation is unique in the sense

1. A lot of people are very annoyed/angry with the healing change, certainly over 50% of the playerbase I would say if I was to gauge my own alliance and the forums, maybe a lot higher.
2. A number of these players is in a wait and see mode to see if D3 what does next
3. A fair number of these members are very active contributing members of the alliance that took a while to find.
4. The not so active members, the healing change doesn't impact them at all as they don't play frequently enough for the healing to even impact their play. I only have a couple of these in the alliance and they don't talk anyway so I have no idea what their feelings on the matter are.

So I'm stuck in a position of potentially removing "wait and see" active members who have chosen to take a break as a way of making their opinions felt. 20% isn't a big number right now, but like I said this number has the potential to snowball into something larger.

What I find worrying is, things like this if it happens once, it happens again, until the appropriate parties learn their lessons/mistakes.

IamTheDanger

I guess I got lucky here.

When I get a new recruit, I only look at scores. One of my guys only has 7 characters, but finished top 10 almost every time. A lot of the guys on my team never used OBW or Spidy. Some did not even have them. Of course, most of my guys/gals are newbs, so they hadn't really discovered healing too much yet. Only one of my team really had a problem with it. But the way he handled it was trying out new strategies.

I never really understood why when I would try to join an alliance, the commander would ask what my roster was like. Some would only take players with several maxed 3*. One of the reasons I started my own team. Heros-R-Us.

Remember that name, you'll be seeing big things from us,

Unknown

Many in my alliance are mad at the change and on the brink of stopping play. Lost one member already and I think it will only get worse.

babinro

These changes were made with a long term improvement in mind.

Whether you agree or disagree with a big game shift like this is a matter of opinion...but it was 100% expected that a fraction of the population would up and leave with this change. Panicking and making a sudden change in response to the short term quitters would be the absolute worst thing D3 could do right now. They haven't even begun to see how this change will impact the game as a whole be it positively or negatively.

I'm keeping an open mind about the subject.

On one hand it sucks that I can't simply play Hood+OBW+Thor for 6 straight hours and dominate the field.
On the other hand, it's refreshing that I have reason to bring out characters like Psylocke, Doom, and BP more regularly.

I'm on the side of the fence that believes this is a positive change in the long run.

Based on my initial experiences with this change I'd have a couple of recommendations to consider after sufficient testing:
1) The sooner we see the blue power mags rebalance the better. He's pretty game breaking at the moment especially when combined with Patch

2) I think the game would be better off it EVERYTHING was temp healing.
Why even have true healing at all? It seems to hurt the intended build diversity.
Patch and Daken are perfectly usable characters with temp healing since they are essentially built in protect tiles. I don't see why it's necessary to make that healing last or how it's beneficial for the long term game they are going for.

3) Character heal rates outside of battle SHOULD be based on star rankings rather than HP. For example:
1 star = 30 minutes regardless of health
2 star = 90 minutes regardless of health
3 star = 180 minutes regardless of health

The actual numbers used are merely for illustration. I don't see why a powerful character like Hood or Spidey should be used twice as often as a tank such as Hulk. This mechanic feels arbitrary rather than intuitive.

Unknown

I agree that this change could be good in the long run, and I especially agree with your point that all healing should be temporary. With the current mechanics Patch and Lazy Daken (already two of the most powerful characters) are going to be even more amazing.

OnesOwnGrief

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

I never really understood why when I would try to join an alliance, the commander would ask what my roster was like. Some would only take players with several maxed 3*. One of the reasons I started my own team. Heros-R-Us.

This is the biggest problem I have with my alliance. They look at the roster and thinks that all to the game. They have no knowledge of MMR or anything that influences it. You're really better off with a new player who can score consistently than a person with a more built roster who is struggling due to MMR. They are also booting people based on scores trying to semi competitive but does not extend that rule to everyone. Actually, I think I'm going to jump ship to another alliance. Any vacancies?

Unknown

babinro wrote:

These changes were made with a long term improvement in mind.

Whether you agree or disagree with a big game shift like this is a matter of opinion...but it was 100% expected that a fraction of the population would up and leave with this change. Panicking and making a sudden change in response to the short term quitters would be the absolute worst thing D3 could do right now. They haven't even begun to see how this change will impact the game as a whole be it positively or negatively.

I'm keeping an open mind about the subject.

On one hand it sucks that I can't simply play Hood+OBW+Thor for 6 straight hours and dominate the field.
On the other hand, it's refreshing that I have reason to bring out characters like Psylocke, Doom, and BP more regularly.

Or, more realistically for 2* players:

"On one hand it sucks that I can't simply play Ares+OBW+Loaner for 6 hours straight and barely reach high enough to get a 3* cover.
On the other hand, it's refreshing that I have reason to bring out characters like Moonstone and Daken more regularly."

Or, for the steam players:

"On one hand it sucks that I can't simply play Ares+OBW+Loaner for 6 hours straight and barely reach high enough to get a 3* cover.
On the other hand, it sucks that 99% of my health packs just end up getting wasted."

I'm on the side of the fence that believes this is a positive change in the long run.

Yeah. Because you have more than 5 viable characters, because there ARE more than 5 viable 3* characters. You apparently have forgotten what it's like for 2* players. Do yourself a favor - spend an entire PvP event without using your 3*s and then come back and tell me this again.

Unknown

@Babinro...

The fact someone with multiple 3*s is fine with the change is expected and pretty irrelevant. It's no different for me, in fact I NEVER used OBW (or Spidey). All the healing nerf has done to me is make placing easier.

The REAL impact is on 2* players who are trying to get some 3* covers. There are a limited number of spots they can aim for because us 3* players will be dominating the top spots and now, rather than active 2* players competing with other active 2* players it'll be players who can play regularly in a day dominating players who had to play all in one go unless those guys want to pay to play.

As far as nerfing Daken and Patch that's nonsensical. They are no different to how they were before and they are balanced in the same way they were before. It's not like ANY of my other 3* heroes (besides Spidey and he was **** terrible post nerf anyway) are any worse AT ALL from this change so why would you need to alter those 2 in particular. They are still worse than Sentry and Thor, for example, so why make them EVEN MORE worse than those 2 heroes? Beggars belief.

I think the only things in your post I agree with are rebalancing (but NOT BREAKING) C.Mags and fixed health respawns. Oh and the fact the healing nerf probably doesn't affect you all that much.

Try tanking to playing vs 2* lvl 85x2 teams and the occasional 85 + 100 ish then pick 4 lvl 85 2* heroes to use and only use regenerated health packs. Then play once, or at most twice a day and tell me how you did in a PvP event with that VERY COMMON setup. Previously you could compete with that setup and play pattern. If you're still on the side of the fence that thinks the changes are great then it'll carry a lot more weight .

Unknown

babinro wrote:

These changes were made with a long term improvement in mind.

Whether you agree or disagree with a big game shift like this is a matter of opinion...but it was 100% expected that a fraction of the population would up and leave with this change. Panicking and making a sudden change in response to the short term quitters would be the absolute worst thing D3 could do right now. They haven't even begun to see how this change will impact the game as a whole be it positively or negatively.

I'm keeping an open mind about the subject.

On one hand it sucks that I can't simply play Hood+OBW+Thor for 6 straight hours and dominate the field.
On the other hand, it's refreshing that I have reason to bring out characters like Psylocke, Doom, and BP more regularly.

I'm on the side of the fence that believes this is a positive change in the long run.

Based on my initial experiences with this change I'd have a couple of recommendations to consider after sufficient testing:
1) The sooner we see the blue power mags rebalance the better. He's pretty game breaking at the moment especially when combined with Patch

2) I think the game would be better off it EVERYTHING was temp healing.
Why even have true healing at all? It seems to hurt the intended build diversity.
Patch and Daken are perfectly usable characters with temp healing since they are essentially built in protect tiles. I don't see why it's necessary to make that healing last or how it's beneficial for the long term game they are going for.

3) Character heal rates outside of battle SHOULD be based on star rankings rather than HP. For example:
1 star = 30 minutes regardless of health
2 star = 90 minutes regardless of health
3 star = 180 minutes regardless of health

The actual numbers used are merely for illustration. I don't see why a powerful character like Hood or Spidey should be used twice as often as a tank such as Hulk. This mechanic feels arbitrary rather than intuitive.

Daken's power would need to be reworked if it's temporary healing, because otherwise you'd end up with games where Daken took no damage but ended up with significantly less health than he started with due to heat. I assume the point is that the drawback of heat is usually mitigated by his healing so he doesn't have a power that just makes him randomly lose health for no reason. Patch should've been changed to Wolverine 2*'s model a long time ago. I mean they literally said regen on 2* is too powerful and then immediately duplicated, and even if we say that's just a money grab trick, they clearly already made their money by now.

Healing should be the higher of X% of your health per minute or Y health per minute since I assume they want lower level characters to regenerate faster. Having some flavor with faster healing characters is okay but otherwise this should be a constant time for maxed out characters.

OneenO

Budget Player Cadet wrote:

I gave up my own alliance because I quit over this. Oneeno, you mean IggyFenton or your old alliance? Either way, it's no big surprise. If you don't have a big-**** 3* roster or the ability to be on numerous times over the course of the day then congratulations, you can't compete any more. I'd try to find new players. Good luck - pretty much everyone is suffering at the moment.

Talking about Iggy. Dont worry we will keep the alliance in top form until you return.

Unknown

OneenO wrote:

Budget Player Cadet wrote:

I gave up my own alliance because I quit over this. Oneeno, you mean IggyFenton or your old alliance? Either way, it's no big surprise. If you don't have a big-**** 3* roster or the ability to be on numerous times over the course of the day then congratulations, you can't compete any more. I'd try to find new players. Good luck - pretty much everyone is suffering at the moment.

Talking about Iggy. Dont worry we will keep the alliance in top form until you return.

Damn... 4 people. I mean, I knew it'd be bad (we're mostly in the range that gets **** **** BY THIS BABINRO), but ouch... Sorry.