If MPQ were like other Puzzle Quest games

Unknown

It's easy to criticize a game as **** as this for all their poor decisions without providing positive feedback for how they can improve it. So here goes - it's actually quite simple. If this game were like other PQ games:

1) There would be no health packs, and no healing. You'd either win a match, or lose and try again.
2) Characters with "game-breaking" abilities would not be nerfed. Instead the AI would be smarter, and use them against you as often as you did. AP denial would be even more important (like in the original PQ games)
3) No required play-times, cool-downs, etc.. Just play whenever you want, stop whenever you want, play whenever you have the time / inclination.
4) No grind, no pressure from competition to seek out easier matches. Greater rewards for playing difficult matches and winning.
5) The ability to come back to your game / save a year later with your progress still intact, and not finding that there're now 100 new characters / abilities that you need if you want to keep progressing.
6) It would cost a fixed amount with no micro-transactions / nickel-and-dime routine (Puzzle Quest 1/2 are both $10 list if you don't get them on sale. $10 will get you 1/13th of an MPQ character)
7) There would be no stealth updates that make the game enjoyable and/or more frustrating in the name of short-term profits.
8) The game itself would actually be fun, instead of feeling like a repetitive chore that you only play to collect more covers instead of feeling like you'd spent time doing something enjoyable.

The only really positive aspects MPQ has are the superhero thematics and alliance chat. The rest of the game is vastly inferior to its predecessors IMHO. There's way more that can be said for ways that MPQ could improve, but the above points demonstrate that it's not rocket science. There's clear examples from other games with the same branding (Puzzle Quest) that actually work well and are enjoyable.

Unknown

Good morning, Sir! We have a whole topic group for suggestions and feedback, it was filled with all kind of good stuff through the lifetime of the game. Also on General there was ton of discussion and suggestions.

The devs never gave a damn about it, most we had was some blatant **** "explanation".

People got tired of no interest to the level there was even a suggestion in that group to close the suggestion group for good as it is only a time sink nothing else. You can search for it and look at the date. The state of game got worse, not better ever since in all regards including this.

Unknown

I can only imagine how happy I would be, and likely forever intensely loyal if I got a message from the devs saying "thanks for your suggestion on x/x/x date. We are looking into implementing something like this and wanted to offer you a cover of your choice for the idea."

Want community loyalty? Run a monthly poll gathering up the most viable suggestions, have the community vote for their most desired feature/fix and give a small reward to those with the winning suggestions.

Oh, and then actually implement said suggestion. That part would be important too.

If they took control of the polling it could even be limited to things that are possible instead of 83% of the forum voting for something like "I want a pony"

Cragger

I came to MPQ having played each previous iteration on Nintendo DS. I was initially put off by the "cooldown" effects, but bought in anyway. The one glaring difference between this and previous versions of the game is that there is only one way to play the game, and no i don't count PvP/PvE to be any different. You match colors, fire effects, KO opponents. There are many other ways to change the gameplay to have interesting variations. Some of the ways used by previous iterations of Puzzle Quest:

Timed matches: you have only X amount of time to make a move or you only have Y amount of time total to complete the board.
No "reset": if you run out of moves... game over. None of this magical reswapping of tiles to allow for moves.
REAL PUZZLES: you have three moves to accomplish this goal/clear this board/match all blue...
Upgrade your base: invest resources in finite durable ways. Currently we only have roster slots.
Alternate mechanics: change up the physics! Have powers that cause cascades up! sideways! Pac-Man across the sides!
Special tiles: PQ1 had coins (think Hero Points) as a matchable tile! Even if rare, it would be interesting.
Special abilities made "trap" tiles that would kill you if matched, but were visible.
Wildcards that aren't critical tiles, just help make matches and prevent board seizure.
Permanent locked spaces. Some locations may have blocked spots on the board for variety.
Mini-games: Crafting minigame: match 23 craft tiles to upgrade your sword.
Healing minigame: match 50 bandages in two minutes to heal your heroes.
Gamble minigame: spend your ISO and solve a puzzle for variable odds prizes.
Team bonuses: Think of any other Marvel IP game out there, you get team bonuses. Seriously. All of them.

Now I admit that a mobile F2P game with rolling content addition is going to be very different from a static platform release game, but how they have managed to ignore the positive lessons of previous iterations of the game is very hard for me to understand. Any one of these would be a welcome addition, yet the only "improvement" we have seen has been removal of content.

Unknown

Cragger wrote:

No "reset": if you run out of moves... game over. None of this magical reswapping of tiles to allow for moves.

In PQ Challenge of the Warlords (1st game iirc), there was a reset but it also drained all AP from your enemy and you. You are either thinking of Bejeweled 3 or another PQ game. I'm not saying you're wrong

There are lots of interesting things in here but I doubt devs would realize any of them, as in implementing, not as in noticing since they make money out of micro transactions and not a set amount of payment. They'll abuse whatever they have in the game till they can't get enough anymore.

Unknown

If it was like other Puzzle Quest Games, I would have played it for a week or two and uninstall it.

I played all King Match3, it was fun for a few hours.




Most of the reasons why we hate this game are the same reasons why we are addicted to it...

Unknown

Honestly, if MPQ were like other Puzzle Quest games, there would be four characters, and they would all be either pre-nerf Rags or pre-nerf Spidey

Unknown

Did anyone play PvP in previous PQ games? I know there is an online mode for Challenge of the Warlords but I never played it.

Unknown

If MPQ were like other Puzzle Quest games

I'd own a copy and likely still be playing it

Cragger

KevinMark wrote:

Cragger wrote:

No "reset": if you run out of moves... game over. None of this magical reswapping of tiles to allow for moves.

In PQ Challenge of the Warlords (1st game iirc), there was a reset but it also drained all AP from your enemy and you. You are either thinking of Bejeweled 3 or another PQ game. I'm not saying you're wrong

There are lots of interesting things in here but I doubt devs would realize any of them, as in implementing, not as in noticing since they make money out of micro transactions and not a set amount of payment. They'll abuse whatever they have in the game till they can't get enough anymore.

Different game modes had different rules. In normal gameplay in PQ:CotW you are correct, you'd mana-drain. In other modes, you'd just lose. I'm just saying that it is a resource that could be exploited. Attach a character mechanic to it, something. Acknowledge that it happens and reward/punish players when it happens. I know in PQ1 I would blow my mana then try to drain to screw the opponent.

For instance:
Loki
Overthrow - Green (Passive)
Loki’s evil plot comes to fruition. If no matches are available and the board resets, Loki does 125 damage to the enemy team.
Level Upgrades
Level 2: 156 damage.
Level 3: 172 damage.
Level 4: 188 damage.
Level 5: 208 damage.
Max Level: The enemy team takes 1850 damage.

FaerieMyst

I am a match 3 junkie . . .and I played the previous PQ games - on my DS, tablet and computer. PQ1 was far better because IMO PQ2 was dumbed down. I loved Galactrix although I hated having to play the same character every time. I liked PQ Warlords and played through quite a few times with different strategies.

Since discovering MPQ I haven't played any of the other PQ games. I'm not burnt out because when I start to get frustrated with MPQ, I put it down and do something else. I look forward to the evenings when my husband and I relax playing MPQ in our recliners. We compare strategies. We talk to our games and to each other. He plays slow and deliberate. I play fast and spontaneous.

I like that MPQ evolves - accepting that I won't always like specific iterations. If I want a static game, then I will buy a console or computer game. For me, I haven't played on my DS in ages and ages.

over_clocked

gamar wrote:

Honestly, if MPQ were like other Puzzle Quest games, there would be four characters, and they would all be either pre-nerf Rags or pre-nerf Spidey

I loved playing as Wizard in PQ1; the class is similar to Human Torch in that Wizard is a glass cannon character and is the more powerful the more specific mana he has (red mana, to be exact, same as HT with red/green). I never felt the class was OP, but I heard that Druids can be quite nasty and they indeed look a lot like the pre-nerf Spidey, stunning the enemy and healing themselves with impunity, all while packing some serious punch.