This is NOT a casual game. :(

Unknown

I first played Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords, and I loved that game. After getting a tablet PC, this was the first game I made sure to get. (Apart from Angry Birds.)

However, after playing over 40 days on this game, I have to say I'm a little disappointed that this game is not exactly casual or relaxed in terms of gameplay. Like most of the Internet connection required apps, this one has the same issue of forcing players to wait. Unlike those other games that force your character to wait and recharge stamina before being able to take on quests, this one forces you to sit out and wait for damage to recover. But same mechanic, really.

But what I am really most disappointed by is the tournament and prize system. The most important prizes are usually those covers which are an absolutely necessity for strengthening your characters. But obviously, the ones who can get those prizes are the players who are already powerful in the first place. Simply put, we're trapped in this vicious cycle, where the strong can get even stronger by snagging up the top prizes, while the newcomers and weaker players are trapped never being able to come close to the prizes.

If anything, due to the heavy competition, I cannot honestly say this is a casual game.

During the Bad is Good tournament, I managed to get into the top 5 position. And I did it without a team of Lv 85s or 3 stars. How did I do it? I played 3 hours non stop, match after match after match, exhausted a good amount of ISOs buying power ups. While I did get a good result, I have to say, it was anything but easy, and it was really stressful. And if I don't push myself hard, what will I get? Nothing.

I can honestly say this game is for hardcore players only.

CFacto

I tend to agree with you.

But then, the people who invest a lot of time are probably also the ones that are most likely to pay a serious amount of money to level their characters up. It probably makes sense commercially.

Unknown

If you walk into MPQ expecting a game like PQ1 and 2, of course you're going to be shocked at first. I know I was. It doesn't help that the game expects you to figure a lot of things out on your own. But any game that puts you in such a competitive environment is not going to be casual, the players are going to make sure of that.

You don't have to participate in tournaments, you can focus on the prologue or the pve-events like the Hunt, where you don't have to fight other player's characters. Of course, then you are going to miss out on a lot of rewards and fun.

This game attracts a lot of experienced gamers, so if you want to be one of the top dogs, you have to invest a lot of time and/or money to do so.

Unknown

That's what makes it great, don't you think? There are lots of alternatives in the app store for casuals.

Unknown

ihearthawthats wrote:

That's what makes it great, don't you think?

When you don't have to wait 7 hours for Thor to recover, when anyone who participates in an event and sticks to the end gets a good prize instead of just the top two Ragnarok + Magneto users, when you don't have to worry about some random idiot dragging your scores down due to a match that you have no control of and is in no way due to your fault at all, then yes, I will agree that it is great.

Unknown

Well, yes, there are a lot of issues with the game's system mechanics and balance, but there's nothing wrong with it being a competetive rather than casual game.

Dev's have been constantly trying to improve it. Been here since day 1, and day 1 version was nothing alike what the current version is.

Unknown

I think they have already provided us the solution. Buy a million Hero Points. Buy packs. Get uber 3 star chars. Own the game. Solved.

Unknown

You can easily win some tourneys with low teams and without spending anything. What you can't do is winning consistently, because at some point you have to compete with the full 3 star teams.

Unknown

mechgouki wrote:

ihearthawthats wrote:

That's what makes it great, don't you think?

When you don't have to wait 7 hours for Thor to recover, when anyone who participates in an event and sticks to the end gets a good prize instead of just the top two Ragnarok + Magneto users, when you don't have to worry about some random idiot dragging your scores down due to a match that you have no control of and is in no way due to your fault at all, then yes, I will agree that it is great.

Though I agree with your assessment of it not being casual, I'll say you never have to wait 7 hours for Thor to recover - a health pack will generate in 30 mins if you're out.

That said, if you want to be more casual, you'll have to wait for PvE events like the red iso and The Hunt missions, and just play the PvP when bored or when you don't care about losing. At this point, with the player base, you'll never win your first Ragnarok cover in a lightning round. You can hope to get into good brackets in tourneys, but don't get agitated because it can get super frustrating super fast.

The amount I have enjoyed the PvE tournies more than the standard tourneys is like it's a whole other game. I prefer the challenge aspect of different matchups and actual puzzles to solve rather than brute forcing certain fights. I too loved PQ1. I suggested a long time ago that they add some variation to the game in the form of different types of missions that maybe generate iso only but still offer a different play style so it remains an interesting game even when you don't have much to do but grind. Hopefully they implement stuff like that eventually, but if not they're definitely on the right track with the clever formation/splitting of the Hunt missions.

Unknown

mechgouki wrote:

When you don't have to wait 7 hours for Thor to recover

The longest you ever have to wait for any single character to recover is 35 minutes. That's how long it takes a health pack to regen even if you're completely out.

mechgouki wrote:

when anyone who participates in an event and sticks to the end gets a good prize instead of just the top two Ragnarok + Magneto users

Yes, let's hand out the best prizes to everyone. That'll work out great. Game design clearly says you should never present a sense of challenge or accomplishment in order to retain customers, and definitely don't have a reward curve. The term "flat line" applies in multiple ways here.

mechgouki wrote:

when you don't have to worry about some random idiot dragging your scores down due to a match that you have no control of and is in no way due to your fault at all, then yes, I will agree that it is great.

I'll agree here; I think the scoring system needs to be revamped, and always have. They're continuing to tweak the matchmaking system at least, and I hope the scoring system is being worked on as well. But realize that if they started working on it tomorrow then it would be 6 to 8 weeks, minimum, before you'd see it live. Unless you'd like to see the nightmare that has been rubberbanding happen to PvP as well.

I'd still like to see more permanent PvE content. Transform the chapter 1 and 2 red ISO events into permanent content. Possibly chapter 2 could be made into a perpetual PvE environ (with much longer restarts on the sub missions and lower rewards). Reduce the absolute need to do PvP to gain things.

Change SHIELD tournament to actually have useful/reachable rewards. Have it restart every month (no ranking rewards; it's pure progression).

CFacto

I also get the impression that once you have Red Ragnarok then PvP becomes much easier, but I have not been blessed.

Unknown

Zathrus wrote:

Yes, let's hand out the best prizes to everyone. That'll work out great. Game design clearly says you should never present a sense of challenge or accomplishment in order to retain customers, and definitely don't have a reward curve. The term "flat line" applies in multiple ways here.

Like I just said in at least 2 messages, the current reward system favors anyone using a full Raggy or Maggy. The whole balance thing is out the window.

What I'm suggesting is that anyone who goes through a long event and sticks with it throughout, even if he doesn't already have an uber team, gets a good reward.

As I have said before, this current reward system favors the players who are already very strong, and those not in the same league will never get a chance. Thus, the vicious cycle, the strong get stronger, the weak get deprived of the prizes no matter how hard they try.

Unknown

[quote="mechgouki"
As I have said before, this current reward system favors the players who are already very strong, and those not in the same league will never get a chance. Thus, the vicious cycle, the strong get stronger, the weak get deprived of the prizes no matter how hard they try.[/quote]

Except that you're wrong.

I personally witnessed someone with just a L50 IM35 and L40 Juggernaut get top 8 in the last Ragnarok Lightning round.

Numerous people have said they've placed well (top 2-10, or top 1 if they wanted) in the Bad is Good tournament without a high level Rags.

The Hunt lets just about anyone do well.

The way matchmaking works means that you're not fighting against the top level players if you don't have a top level team. It's entirely possible to place well in a tournament with a middling team as long as you do well against the other teams in your ranking. If the teams you're fighting are too hard then lose to them. The matchmaking system will adjust things downward.

Unknown

I disagree.

After 40 days playing also i have been in first and second place in two tournaments and in the best 10 in some others.

I got till now:

Thor - 59
Iron Man M40 - 59
Captain America - 47
Hawkeye - 46
Black Widow - 38

My strategie is always spend the iso in the buffed character of the tournament. That's how i got my Iron Man in 59 in those two tournaments from last week. Also i always try to get at least one standard recruit from lighting rounds, you win two fights and is yours and that could mean a good character for your team.

All of this without spending a single dime. Well, today i spent more than a dime for those 10 packs and i got nothing good, so i'll never spent again, at least is my way to pay for the good work from devs.

I kinda agree that sometimes is impossible to get the top ten prizes, but with that tournament: "Bad is Good", i got three Wolverine just we three characters in nivel 20 and i ended up at 14.

I don't play all day also, i got to work and the afternoons i play when i'm watching TV or something. Sometimes i do play a lot, but usually doing other stuff or while i'm on the bus.

OnesOwnGrief

I've been playing since Day 1 and I can assure you I don't have these Rags, Mags, or IM40 levels that people here seem to have. I finished most of the prologue before they up and changed all the rewards for it. I was pretty dishearted honestly because there were a lot of missed tokens I didn't get. Was also midway through it when they decided to switch the number of covers needed for skills. Also another blow to my system.

Got over that, kept play, didn't really place well in the tournaments until they started limiting the brackets to 200. ISO-8 events I managed to get some mainly Cap and Hawkeye Modern covers. Also focused more on leveling Daken that I probably should have as well as Classic Storm. Also sold off an almost max level Venom (Got be through Ragnarok PvE with devour) and a somewhat leveled Modern Storm to fund my IM35 and Black Widow Modern levels. Was probably the single best and worst decision I made at the time. Great cause it allowed me to compete better, bad because of these last two Bad is Good tournaments that were Dark Avengers focused. Also helped that I've been getting regular Moonstone covers since she released to the point I have to sell covers.

Had a single black Doom cover (from daily reward) that I managed to get some covers for during the Bad is Good, got black for each. Placed #2 in the first tourney and top 5 in the second. Used those to power up my Classic Spider-man I pulled from a Standard token and now I have a Doom/Spider/Modern Storm doing okay in this weekend tournament. I am playing prodominantly on Forest to take advantage of the AP generation so I can place. Hopefully will make it to 1100 after classes today so I can get my first blue Doom. Could also use that Blue and Purple Spiderman to be 3/3/5 if I place top 5.

Haven't sunk a single dime into the game and I am honestly happy with where I am with the game. I probably put more hours into the game than average but its engaging enough to warrant the playtime over my PS4. Sometimes I just do a quick round inbetween loading stagest in Warframe. Also, its a good time waster while I'm in class and seriously not caring for what the instructor has to say. The game can be challenging at times but not impossible for those who don't spend any cash. Hero points add up quickly and so does ISO. Even The Hunt has been a huge source of ISO for leveling my team.

I'm actually hoping for a flip in the story at some point where you will be playing mainly as Dark Avengers. It just seems odd that they would dump all these Dark Avengers on us like this and it smells like a Storyline is on the way. Maybe it will allow an easier way for people to get Ragnarok while they decide which way further to balance the game.

Unknown

The tihng is...you're supposed to spend money. I mean, that's how the developers get paid.

You can spend 13.99 on HP and get a very nice set of covers to provide a solid progression base. if you don't want to to do that then yeah, it's going to be hard. Players who have played longer and have stronger characters are going to place higher than you in tournaments, just like the strongest sports teams finish higher in the league.

You're comment is really strange. I personally don't acquaint 'casual' with 'easy' and everyone in the game has the same opportunity, it is simply up to you how quickly you want to get there as the true currency conversion in MPQ is time:money

Unknown

abuelo wrote:

, it is simply up to you how quickly you want to get there as the true currency conversion in MPQ is time:money

Very wise words here. Yes, I bought hero points, which went to cover space. I've also earned far more (something north of 9000) in game than I bought.

Sure, spending can get you a leg up, but it is not the case that you can't compete if you don't. There are plenty of examples, like Polkio, that disprove that.

There are no pay walls in this game, though there is at least one point that feels like one, when you are trying to transition into 3* characters. I get why people feel like it is one, and there was a period a few weeks ago where I was starting to feel like that too, but it isn't ally the case.

Unknown

I think there's plenty for casuals to do, actually.

You don't have to wait for your heroes to heal back, if you know a "trick". The Venom prologue campaign is unlocked (either early or immediately, I forget), and pits you against Venom with a buffed 3-star Spiderman with two critical abilities: Web Bandages and All Tied Up. ATU is a cheap blue ability that puts web squares down and stuns Venom. WB is a more expensive yellow ability that heals all your characters for over 100 per web tile. So when your heroes are low, do that mission, farm blue and yellow until you have as close to 13+ yellow and 30 blue as you can without getting killed (while denying Venom black), spam ATU (while making more matches while Venom is stunned), WB, kill Venom, presto, all your heroes are back up. Spidey will tend to do all the work for you at first until your heroes level up, and he'll be fully healed every time you start it.

Once you get to the point where it's hard to do this without knocking Venom down, unlock the later mission (actually you'll unlock the 2nd one as soon as you do the 1st) where he's a bit burlier, and repeat. There are four in all IIRC, and by the time you get to #4 you'll really know what you're doing (you might even have your own 3-star Spidey by then). Meanwhile, your heroes will be ready to do whatever you want after only 1-2 Venom heal runs.

For what you want: easy tournaments (it's pretty easy to get top 200 most of the time and even top 50 fairly often), while cracking the prologue missions that yield hero points for roster space. Before long, you're maxing out the boosts you find (10 each), and using them up just to make room for more. Do lightning rounds when they're up, hide behind your buffed hero, and beat up on lower level teams (they're all over the place at first), and again, top 200 is not hard. Place in every tournament you see, even if you play only one match. Even one match guarantees you crystals for minimum work. Pump crystals into leveling heroes, and keep rolling.

There's plenty for casuals to do. You won't place 1st in tournaments, but I never sweat that (all I'd get is another hero I have no roster space for anyway). Push through the Hunt and Prologue and enjoy the story.

Unknown

mechgouki wrote:

I first played Puzzle Quest Challenge of the Warlords, and I loved that game. After getting a tablet PC, this was the first game I made sure to get. (Apart from Angry Birds.)

However, after playing over 40 days on this game, I have to say I'm a little disappointed that this game is not exactly casual or relaxed in terms of gameplay. Like most of the Internet connection required apps, this one has the same issue of forcing players to wait. Unlike those other games that force your character to wait and recharge stamina before being able to take on quests, this one forces you to sit out and wait for damage to recover. But same mechanic, really.

But what I am really most disappointed by is the tournament and prize system. The most important prizes are usually those covers which are an absolutely necessity for strengthening your characters. But obviously, the ones who can get those prizes are the players who are already powerful in the first place. Simply put, we're trapped in this vicious cycle, where the strong can get even stronger by snagging up the top prizes, while the newcomers and weaker players are trapped never being able to come close to the prizes.

If anything, due to the heavy competition, I cannot honestly say this is a casual game.

During the Bad is Good tournament, I managed to get into the top 5 position. And I did it without a team of Lv 85s or 3 stars. How did I do it? I played 3 hours non stop, match after match after match, exhausted a good amount of ISOs buying power ups. While I did get a good result, I have to say, it was anything but easy, and it was really stressful. And if I don't push myself hard, what will I get? Nothing.

I can honestly say this game is for hardcore players only.

I've been saying that since this seems to be the strategy of D3 to cater to the already top of the line players and force casual players to buy packs with real money. This really started becoming apparent when they introduced Lightning Rounds. Before that I spent around $50 on this game. I haven't spent a dime since and refuse to until they start rewarding casual players more.

Unknown

I would agree that on the "casual-competitive" spectrum, this game leans more toward competitive. I enjoy both casual and competitive games, but I must say this is the first app game I've found that REALLY scratches my competitive itch.

Unknown

Day one player here, spent $5 so far because I wanted to support them a bit. Will pony up a few more but not to win, just to support.

I've won a fair amount or tournaments and can generally place wherever I want. I find a good strategy to be playing the last hour or so of a tournament; that's when you jump the most. I have a pretty good squad and around 27 character slots. I have all of my one stars, most if not all 2 stars and a Gray Black Widow maxed (cards wise). Again, no money spent. I wasted well over 200K iso pulling cards, too, so I could have easily used that to level. I'm addicted to pulling cards, frankly, so that was to be expected of myself. This game requires time and effort, yes, but you don't need to put a cent into the game to be competitive.