Question for the X-men about motivation.

NorthernPolarity

Thugpatrol wrote:

FaerieMyst wrote:

So what exactly is it about shield hopping over and over again just to put up a big number that you enjoy?

I love match three games - and play a bunch of them. MPQ is the only match three that has a strategy element to it. When I play Farm Heroes (every day) I don't think beyond the game board. How I play one level will in no way impact the next level. MPQ has more. One of those strategy elements is shielding. Yes, you can simply shield to not lose points and at a point in every PVP I do that. You can also use shields as a way to acquire more points. There is a strategy to doing this.

Except there really isn't a whole lot of strategy employed in shield hopping. You load up some boosts and bomb away with your team of choice, which among this crowd means Sentry and whoever. Set your timer for however long as you are brave, when it's up you finish your match and shield. We're not talking about some kind of grand chess match for the ages here.

Now granted there's an element of coordination involved when you have a group of people communicating "I'm unshielding now, queue me up....okay, I'm shielded again, fire away" but that's logistics, not really strategy. If logistics was a big draw the number one app would be The UPS Store game, which I don't think is a real thing, but then again...

Most people don't enjoy this kind of repetition without some kind of tangible reward on the line, and most people don't revel in fairly mundane feats of logistics. So the draw of the behavior in question is confusing to many, myself included.

I think that some people just find a lot of value in establishing themselves as the highest ranked players in the game, and there's honestly no problem with that. People spend money to feel good about themselves, whether it feeling cool by showing off their new prada bag in public, or in this case, seeing that they're 400 points above the nearest competitor, and having fun competing with their alliance members on who can get the arbitrarily highest score in the game. At the end of the day, I'm pretty sure that the X-Men are just doing what makes them happy, and I don't think it's right to villify them for doing so (the line is very thin right now in this thread). Their spending is actually a good thing for all of us: d3 gets their money to continue the game, the x-men gets to be happy with their number one rank, and everyone else gets to be happy with the ridiculously easy acquisition of 1100 covers and the continued health of the game funded by their money.

Unknown

Sandmaker wrote:

The game's always been on the side of pay2win

Of course it is...the devs would be stupid not to...if people could do just as well without dropping a cent the game the game would be done or we would start to see ads...do ppl like you not get that this is someone's livelihood? Would you want to work for free?

FaerieMyst

personally, I'm on a mission to own ever shade of purple eyeshadow on the planet..

Mine seems to be eyeliner in every shade imaginable.

My hair is purple so I have to be careful clashing colors.

Unknown

FaerieMyst wrote:

personally, I'm on a mission to own ever shade of purple eyeshadow on the planet..

Mine seems to be eyeliner in every shade imaginable.

My hair is purple so I have to be careful clashing colors.

Green eyes here, so purple is a must (and red, but much harder to find)...and I miss my purple hair....

OK boys, I'm shutting up

Unknown

PPPlaya wrote:

Started off as a question about why they invest so much time and money into a mobile game and devoled into a rant how you can't compete because they spend more than you.

You lost me at this sentence.

Let's all be honest with ourselves here, there is really no skill or secret strategies to this game.

If you are really curious and not just trying to vent:
They do it because they can. They have the time, they have the money. Some people collect stamps, others build a car in their garage and the X-Men play hard.

This is gonna turn into a sentry nerf thread but i'm sorry, explain to me how this is wrong? I could set up a full boosted match with sentry and bring in someone who has never played the game before and just tell them: "make one green match and make one yellow match as fast as you can, then use the green and yellow powers." Boom. Successful shield hop. As I said earlier, it's not skill that determines how high you can go, it's amount of HP willing to be spent. Sentry trivializes everything.

Unknown

sms4002 wrote:

PPPlaya wrote:

Started off as a question about why they invest so much time and money into a mobile game and devoled into a rant how you can't compete because they spend more than you.

You lost me at this sentence.

Let's all be honest with ourselves here, there is really no skill or secret strategies to this game.

If you are really curious and not just trying to vent:
They do it because they can. They have the time, they have the money. Some people collect stamps, others build a car in their garage and the X-Men play hard.

This is gonna turn into a sentry nerf thread but i'm sorry, explain to me how this is wrong? I could set up a full boosted match with sentry and bring in someone who has never played the game before and just tell them: "make one green match and make one yellow match as fast as you can, then use the green and yellow powers." Boom. Successful shield hop. As I said earlier, it's not skill that determines how high you can go, it's amount of HP willing to be spent. Sentry trivializes everything.

I've said before, I'll say again, sentry isn't OP. Use him without boosts for a while and he is actually pretty horrible. Takes a while to get going so he takes damage from the match. When he finally does get the ap he hurts himself even more and to really fk himself up, if his sacrifice tile is negated in 1 of the 1000 ways it can happen, then he's pretty much killed himself without doing anything to the enemy.

The only reason sentry even comes close to being OP is because you can start with +6 to all main colors. Without boosts, sentry isn't even a top 5 cover. Nowhere close.

Unknown

Psykopathic wrote:

sms4002 wrote:

PPPlaya wrote:

Started off as a question about why they invest so much time and money into a mobile game and devoled into a rant how you can't compete because they spend more than you.

You lost me at this sentence.

Let's all be honest with ourselves here, there is really no skill or secret strategies to this game.

If you are really curious and not just trying to vent:
They do it because they can. They have the time, they have the money. Some people collect stamps, others build a car in their garage and the X-Men play hard.

This is gonna turn into a sentry nerf thread but i'm sorry, explain to me how this is wrong? I could set up a full boosted match with sentry and bring in someone who has never played the game before and just tell them: "make one green match and make one yellow match as fast as you can, then use the green and yellow powers." Boom. Successful shield hop. As I said earlier, it's not skill that determines how high you can go, it's amount of HP willing to be spent. Sentry trivializes everything.

I've said before, I'll say again, sentry isn't OP. Use him without boosts for a while and he is actually pretty horrible. Takes a while to get going so he takes damage from the match. When he finally does get the ap he hurts himself even more and to really fk himself up, if his sacrifice tile is negated in 1 of the 1000 ways it can happen, then he's pretty much killed himself without doing anything to the enemy.

The only reason sentry even comes close to being OP is because you can start with +6 to all main colors. Without boosts, sentry isn't even a top 5 cover. Nowhere close.

I will agree with this as I tried some cheap hops in the HT tourney not using the +3all boosts and it went horrible however the fact that we CAN come in with +6 all DOES make him OP and P2W. I would be fully ok with removing all boosts from the game but I know d3 would never do that so the best we can hope for is a sentry nerf but I am getting off topic here.

Unknown

sms4002 wrote:

I will agree with this as I tried some cheap hops in the HT tourney not using the +3all boosts and it went horrible however the fact that we CAN come in with +6 all DOES make him OP and P2W. I would be fully ok with removing all boosts from the game but I know d3 would never do that so the best we can hope for is a sentry nerf but I am getting off topic here.

I can understand your frustration and your view on it. It can feel like you are fighting a uphill battle against someone who has unlimited resources.

I am also a member of the x-men (but just a small fry in X-men 3) and i usually play HP 'neutral' to positive. i score to 900- 1200 range depending on rewards. so far this season 4 i have net gain 1200 HP. Many of us X-men members don't shoot for those ultra high scores. I personally see this as a 'win-win' situation like a few others have expressed on the thread. D3 makes $$$, X-men are happy, other alliance gets to enjoy 50 points hop off the whales.

Sentry does make shield hopping easier, however i think even without sentry, we will still likely see those 1500+ scores from those who are already doing it. A few of the x-1 and X-2 members actually uses other characters like patch/c-mag/thor to hop, and they were still getting those 1500+ score.Ultimately i think the score is a result of time +HP, along with some co-ordination between members. Sentry only made the whole business easier.

daveomite

I disagree that there is zero strategy involved in this game.

You can have the strongest roster in the world, but you have to know how best to use it. Choosing the best times to join a bracket, or even the best time to break a shield for a match. The right boost to use, what matches to get first/second, etc. Speed of your actions/moves. Those things, and many others, are part of the process too IMO.

Yes, there are a lot of logistics too. But just giving someone a ton of HP and even a maxed Sentry does not mean they are going to be overly successful.

As to why some people climb higher than others, depends on the person and their goals, etc. For me, it does have part to do with season placement, as I am a competitor. However, more than anything, it's about also being a possible target for alliance mates in case they need one. Of course, more than anything, it's about our alliance as a whole.

If I just climbed to 600 and called it a day...would it hurt us? Maybe not in a particular pvp as bee, reck, francky, zen, noob... whoever, could pick up the slack. However, every point I don't actively try to get now affects beyond any one pvp. It affects the overall alliance score in the pvp, season standings, etc.

All of those types of things is why i sometimes push more. Sometimes i break shield and climb more, not for me, but for the alliance and/or another member of the alliance. That's my choice to do.

At the end of the day, and maybe it's a bit naive of me, but I'm part of a team of players. That team is why I push, who I fight for, who I play this game for. There have been times that I want to stop, or not to even play another rehash of a pvp, but my actions affect the team as a whole, not just me.

Unknown

Psykopathic wrote:

I've said before, I'll say again, sentry isn't OP. Use him without boosts for a while and he is actually pretty horrible.

The only reason sentry even comes close to being OP is because you can start with +6 to all main colors. Without boosts, sentry isn't even a top 5 cover. Nowhere close.

Not to derail this thread completely, but this is a pretty significant exaggeration. He still has top tier hit points, and while not nearly as good as winning a battle in 2 matches, winning a battle by himself with 6 matches (or less) hardly makes him Bagman. In a world without boosts (where CMags finally gets nerfed) he's still going to be one of the better options for fast wins. Just not the insane wtfpwnzor machine he is now.

Spoit

I wouldn't take him into fights with the 10k people unboosted, but against "normal" health level people? I do it all the time. I don't bother with boosts because 3 sets of laken tiles is enough to pretty much finish them off with minimal HP loss (because laken is tanking when you match green). Hell, if there's only 1 other high HP guy, you could probably double tap them of with chemical reaction after they're weakened from the WR

Unknown

Why do cats lick their crotches?
Because they can!




This game can be played a number of ways. Generally like to try to see what I can score being hp neutral others want to see how far they can push the ceiling. Some may want to score as high as possible with one or no shields.

There really isn't a right or wrong. I know what works best for me personally and while 50 dollars a month doesn't make sense to me I know a lot of you might gawk on how much I spend a year on snowboarding or the light weight tent I bought for camping.

We all have our hobbies so I won't fault the X-men for choosing MPQ.

I do think in the past X-men tried to distance themselves by alienating the community. I think that might be changing now and I hope we can drop the nonsense. Let’s all be honest with ourselves. The game is pretty poorly designed. Half of what we call strategy is just trying to figure out the hidden mechanics of the game and optimize our game play.

So let’s just all have fun. If you have the urge to lick yourselves go ahead, just use the kitty box and don’t **** all over everything.

Kelbris

Nemek wrote:

Coupled with the homophobic and mean-spirited comments made from them in other avenues

Are they still around?

Could I get some names?

Please?

Unknown

Wait... People spend money on this game?

Seriously though... If I don't have the top PvP score how else will people know what a good looking, muscular, wealthy, well endowded genius I am??

Unknown

What motivates the X-Men is simple : the X-family.

The high scorers help the medium scorers n d medium scorers help d low scorers. There's a lot of banter, advice going on in the line chat and it keeps everyone motivated to push each other to get better.

And of course, everyone loves and wants d rewards. We love it and of course, we wont wanna let go

NorthernPolarity

Psykopathic wrote:

sms4002 wrote:

PPPlaya wrote:

Started off as a question about why they invest so much time and money into a mobile game and devoled into a rant how you can't compete because they spend more than you.

You lost me at this sentence.

Let's all be honest with ourselves here, there is really no skill or secret strategies to this game.

If you are really curious and not just trying to vent:
They do it because they can. They have the time, they have the money. Some people collect stamps, others build a car in their garage and the X-Men play hard.

This is gonna turn into a sentry nerf thread but i'm sorry, explain to me how this is wrong? I could set up a full boosted match with sentry and bring in someone who has never played the game before and just tell them: "make one green match and make one yellow match as fast as you can, then use the green and yellow powers." Boom. Successful shield hop. As I said earlier, it's not skill that determines how high you can go, it's amount of HP willing to be spent. Sentry trivializes everything.

I've said before, I'll say again, sentry isn't OP. Use him without boosts for a while and he is actually pretty horrible. Takes a while to get going so he takes damage from the match. When he finally does get the ap he hurts himself even more and to really fk himself up, if his sacrifice tile is negated in 1 of the 1000 ways it can happen, then he's pretty much killed himself without doing anything to the enemy.

The only reason sentry even comes close to being OP is because you can start with +6 to all main colors. Without boosts, sentry isn't even a top 5 cover. Nowhere close.

This logic frankly doesnt make any sense, because it doesnt matter how much ap you start with since you could start with the same +6 ap for any other character. The reason why sentry is broken is because his skills are significantly more ap efficient than any other character in the game. World rupture does ~5k damage with daken for 7ap, or 9k+ damage for 7 green ap and 8 yellow ap, which literally no other character in the game even comes close to efficiency wise. Yes, no boosts means sentry kills dont take 1 min and slow down to 3 monutes or whatever, but this also means that the other characters kills slow down by exactly the same amount. I use sentry without boosts all the time: him and daken still trivialize matches by doing 5k team damage for 7ap, and removing boosts isnt going to do a thing to his position as a top tier character.

Unknown

Well,

I cannot answer the question what motivates all of us, but I can gladly tell what motivates myself. At mid of season 3 I came to the xmen looking for a challenge. I was on my mid 800 points and generally getting attacked like hell. But I wanted to do more. So I knocked their door and the accepted me. For sure you have to keep up the score, but if you have ever run a marathon or done any kind of professional sports you see people cheering for you. And that makes you go further. I cannot forget that the first time I crossed the 1K line, almost everyone in the xmen (and I am talking about 100 people) droped me a line to congratulate for my achievement and cheering me to get to the next step.

I compare this game sometimes to sports and my wish to discover my limits. And you can set different challenges for you: longer game without a shield, craziest character combination (I am in general trying different things in early part of the game) and bigger scores as a team. For sure we have also internal competition among us, but it is much more for going further than anything else. It's always a team work.

And I do have another motivation, which is related to something personal. Being part of the xmen for me is an amazing journey discovering new people and new limits. We talk a lot to each other and sometimes you are just talking to someone across the globe not only for the game, but exchanging ideas for holidays among many other stuff that really goes beyond the game. And that binds us together. And that makes us cheer for each other.

Reaching scores like 2K, you definitely have to spend money, there is no hidden secret here. But you can reach also very far without spending a cent. And this has a lot to do with strategy.
And we should not forget, this is just a game (though many people would say this is a way of life )

Unknown

Everyone says it's sentry that's OP
It's boosts & shields that are OP
As Psyko said, sentry is kind of horrible without boosts
However boosts make any strong character OP, +6 takes most guys to power use level within two matches
Then shields are simply overused. If shields had a cool down timer, so that a person couldn't do two within 3hrs, then the balance between free & pay is close to even

IamTheDanger

Just going to drop my two cents here, which no one wants to hear, but I'll post anyway since I've got nothing better to do right now.

IMO, the major advantage comes from the boosts. All you vet players take a second and think back to your 2* days. Which for me was only about 6 or 8 weeks ago, but still. I can't begin to count the times I started with +6 all with MN Mags and C Storm just to match a couple purple, set off Mags, then hit Storm's blue. If that didn't end the match there, it came pretty kitty close.

Just, to be clear, this is not a condemnation of boosts or anyone that uses boosts. Sometimes I use them, sometimes I don't. But I DO NOT want the boosts to be taken away completely. Like with TUs, I don't always use them, but it's nice to have them in case I need them.

JJ

FaerieMyst

I'll face a fully powered Sentry any day over CMags. CMags is often death by a thousand papercuts. He's just tedious to play against.

I don't consider Sentry overpowered. Yes, he can do a wallop but in the process damages himself and his team. World Rupture can be beaten in a number of ways including ways that let it go off doing minimal damage to you but lots more damage to Sentry and his team. The yellow strike tile is the most pernicious but most of the time that can be eliminated quickly.

As for the TU Sentry, I have yet to see one that did more than minimal damage. Maybe I've just been lucky.