Serious pre-promo issues with this game

Unknown

Please keep in mind that I'm not saying this to be mean. This is intended to be helpful feedback.

I've been holding off on saying anything, but with this new event underway, I really don't think it can be avoided any longer.

This game has a real problem with pre-promotion for events. Namely, there is zero pre-promotion for events.

Hulk has been the single most requested character in the forums and I have to imagine he has been a very high priority request elsewhere. (Punisher could also probably have been a much bigger deal if people knew he was coing.)

Had this event been properly pre-promoted weeks in advance, with "save the date" type messaging, D3P could've mobilized just about every active player to clear their schedule for this and locked in tons of participation, and probably a lot more HP purchases.

The company also could have turned this into an opportunity to re-engage lapsed players *and* bring in a fair number of new players.

Instead, zero communication, zero pre-promo, and I just happened to log in Thursday, and oh. Hulk event. How about that. Huh.

Here's how I would've handled things:

********************************************************************
A month before the event started (11/19/13)
Step 1:
Post a cryptic text update on the FB page mentioning something "indestructible" coming soon. Have the art team mock up a simple, blank graphic that only has the following numbers on it in MPQ font:
" 12. 19. 13 "

No D3P employees on the forum mention anything about it.

--
3 weeks before (11/26/13)
Step 2:
Have the art team create a silhouette version of Hulk's fist smashing against the ground with little bits of debris flying off it with the only caption at the bottom:
12. 19. 13
Post a cryptic text update along with it along the lines of "Have a smashing holiday season from Marvel Puzzle Quest! Like and share the holiday spirit!"

No D3P employees on the forum mention anything about it.

--
2 weeks before (12/5/13)
Step 3:
Have the art team create a silhouette version of Hulk (just take the existing image but shadow it out, obscure the form somewhat if you want to add more mystery) with the only caption at the bottom:
12. 19. 13

Upload to official FB page with the text entry: "Can *you* guess the big news coming soon to Marvel Puzzle Quest? Like and share if you think you've got it figured out!"

Begin seeding the press interviews (if they haven't already), scheduling them to drop on 12/18.

No D3P employees on the forum mention anything about it.

--
1 week before (12/12/13)
Add greyed-out version of Hulk event in-game to events tab with silhouette character only. No text labels, but with the date clearly listed as:
12. 19. 13

and the start time listed as (whenever it was, 3:00PM EST?)

Post the exact same image to the MPQ FB page with no caption.

At some point during the week, IceIX takes a moment from his understandably busy schedule to post one single ";)" as a reply to one of the doubtless many Hulk threads that have taken over General Discussion. Otherwise, no D3P employees on the forum mention anything about it.

Begin whatever cross-promo marketing is available on mobile or Steam.

--
1 day before (12/18/13)

Post a non-silhouette version of the Hulk image on the MPQ FB page and officially announce that Hulk is coming to the game tomorrow (12/19/13) at X:00 time EST/GMT whenever.

Send out the press release.

Press interviews (however many) start popping up on the web, the community is at a fever pitch of excitement. Everyone has cleared their calendars to play tomorrow.

--
12/19/13

D3Ps servers hopefully stagger under the enormous amount of traffic from the huge amount of players who have been counting down to the event, second by second.
********************************************************************

I realize IceIX, Electroblast, etc. are basically doing double-duty as community managers so I'm not trying to point fingers. But this is a lot of money that's being left on the table here, guys.

Unknown

This all assumes they knew the exact date it would be ready to launch a month ago. Which may be true, but it very well may not.

Unknown

Bartok wrote:

This all assumes they knew the exact date it would be ready to launch a month ago. Which may be true, but it very well may not.

Actually you're right...the App Store could've screwed them over on the date during approvals, for instance.

I still think the Hulk reveal could've been way bigger than it was, and I reckon it could've brought in a lot more new & returning players. There should've been *some* kind of pre-promotion. There was zero, is what I'm saying.

Unknown

There wasn't ZERO.

There was an announcement on the FB MPQ page a few hours before it went live.

I'll agree that that's awfully close to zero, but 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000001 is not zero!

Unknown

Definitely agree, promotion wouldn't have hurt. Even if they didn't know the exact date until the day before, they probably should have been screaming it from the rooftops. Even a "coming real soon now!" wherever they could would have helped.

If they had some in-game mechanism for agreeing to occasional emails (maybe with a HP lure for opting in) I bet that would have been a good draw for players who drifted away as well.

IceIX

While we agree that we could use more promotion for an event like this, as stated above by some of the users this one came in hot and fast date-wise. We were running through approvals on multiple levels, including last minute QA bumps to make sure everything was in place to push this out before most people went on Holiday Break. We knew we wanted to bring Hulk out and knew how we wanted to do it. Timing was an issue. Looking at other games, it's great when they announce the next huge user update ahead of time, but it's also very annoying for users when that update doesn't come soon. Even worse, when it's delayed past the original date. Suddenly something that is supposed to improve the user experience actually becomes a drag on the playerbase even though it's a 100% net benefit.

Thanks for the overall feedback on the planning, our PR team will be thrilled to see that someone is being critical (in a good way) of the work they do.

Unknown

You guys have a PR team?

j/k

Hope you're having a good break man, rest up and get ready for a whole new year's worth of complaining come 2014

Unknown

IceIX wrote:

While we agree that we could use more promotion for an event like this, as stated above by some of the users this one came in hot and fast date-wise. We were running through approvals on multiple levels, including last minute QA bumps to make sure everything was in place to push this out before most people went on Holiday Break. We knew we wanted to bring Hulk out and knew how we wanted to do it. Timing was an issue. Looking at other games, it's great when they announce the next huge user update ahead of time, but it's also very annoying for users when that update doesn't come soon. Even worse, when it's delayed past the original date. Suddenly something that is supposed to improve the user experience actually becomes a drag on the playerbase even though it's a 100% net benefit.

Thanks for the overall feedback on the planning, our PR team will be thrilled to see that someone is being critical (in a good way) of the work they do.

I think the biggest single problem with this and all the other recent events is the lack of communication on how to actually play it. Throw us a friggin bone already.

Unknown

dmendro wrote:

IceIX wrote:

While we agree that we could use more promotion for an event like this, as stated above by some of the users this one came in hot and fast date-wise. We were running through approvals on multiple levels, including last minute QA bumps to make sure everything was in place to push this out before most people went on Holiday Break. We knew we wanted to bring Hulk out and knew how we wanted to do it. Timing was an issue. Looking at other games, it's great when they announce the next huge user update ahead of time, but it's also very annoying for users when that update doesn't come soon. Even worse, when it's delayed past the original date. Suddenly something that is supposed to improve the user experience actually becomes a drag on the playerbase even though it's a 100% net benefit.

Thanks for the overall feedback on the planning, our PR team will be thrilled to see that someone is being critical (in a good way) of the work they do.

I think the biggest single problem with this and all the other recent events is the lack of communication on how to actually play it. Throw us a friggin bone already.

Lol this is the single best app game I've ever played, definitely most addicting and the first I've ever spent money on. I've won spideys from tokens, gotten thousands and thousands of iso, and a ton of playing time just from the hulk event already and you're saying throw us a bone. Play it and figure out how to play like everyone else.

Unknown

squirrel85 wrote:

dmendro wrote:

IceIX wrote:

While we agree that we could use more promotion for an event like this, as stated above by some of the users this one came in hot and fast date-wise. We were running through approvals on multiple levels, including last minute QA bumps to make sure everything was in place to push this out before most people went on Holiday Break. We knew we wanted to bring Hulk out and knew how we wanted to do it. Timing was an issue. Looking at other games, it's great when they announce the next huge user update ahead of time, but it's also very annoying for users when that update doesn't come soon. Even worse, when it's delayed past the original date. Suddenly something that is supposed to improve the user experience actually becomes a drag on the playerbase even though it's a 100% net benefit.

Thanks for the overall feedback on the planning, our PR team will be thrilled to see that someone is being critical (in a good way) of the work they do.

I think the biggest single problem with this and all the other recent events is the lack of communication on how to actually play it. Throw us a friggin bone already.

Lol this is the single best app game I've ever played, definitely most addicting and the first I've ever spent money on. I've won spideys from tokens, gotten thousands and thousands of iso, and a ton of playing time just from the hulk event already and you're saying throw us a bone. Play it and figure out how to play like everyone else.

I dont like them treating this as just an game app. This is much more than that, or at least the potential is huge! Its just that there is a ton of improvements needed, from small to big. At this time game is average, when there were villain lightnint rounds then it was even more interesting. I hope they evolve this game into more than just mone making machine. Really wanna this game to succeed!

Unknown

someguy wrote:

Had this event been properly pre-promoted weeks in advance, with "save the date" type messaging, D3P could've mobilized just about every active player to clear their schedule for this and locked in tons of participation, and probably a lot more HP purchases.

I'm extremely thankful there wasn't pre-promotion. That would've meant more incessant popups. We already have to close like 3-5 before we can even begin a single match, and another 1-3 every time we change screens. It's annoying enough.

I will say that I discovered that the Invisible Woman and the Punisher were even IN the game only because they were required to play some PVE matches? In the Big Hunt, I was like whaaat? Invisible Woman? Same thing with this one. I needed the Punisher and was like whaaat? The Punisher? Since when? But still, I'd rather discover them that way than with more popups, which actually make me exclaim out loud sometimes with annoyance.

Unknown

pumkin wrote:

I will say that I discovered that the Invisible Woman and the Punisher were even IN the game only because they were required to play some PVE matches? In the Big Hunt, I was like whaaat? Invisible Woman? Same thing with this one. I needed the Punisher and was like whaaat? The Punisher? Since when? But still, I'd rather discover them that way than with more popups, which actually make me exclaim out loud sometimes with annoyance.

Uh, maybe you should actually read those popups, at least once.

Both characters were advertised in them as prizes.

Unknown

Zathrus wrote:

pumkin wrote:

I will say that I discovered that the Invisible Woman and the Punisher were even IN the game only because they were required to play some PVE matches? In the Big Hunt, I was like whaaat? Invisible Woman? Same thing with this one. I needed the Punisher and was like whaaat? The Punisher? Since when? But still, I'd rather discover them that way than with more popups, which actually make me exclaim out loud sometimes with annoyance.

Uh, maybe you should actually read those popups, at least once.

Both characters were advertised in them as prizes.

Uh, what for? They're annoying. I want them off the screen as quickly as possible. I thought it would be clear from my post that it's not a big deal to me that I didn't realize IW and Punisher were in the game until they were required for some matches. Maybe it wasn't. I'm not one of those eager to get the newest character ASAP. What difference would it have made if I'd read the popups? I still wouldn't have had them, whether I knew about them or not. It's not a super huge deal to me. The annoyance of the incessant popups, however, is.