i have lemons

fight4thedream

so let's make lemonade!ﾐｬｰ♪ヽ(∇⌒= )( =⌒∇)ﾉﾐｬｰ♪

i'm not going to weigh in further on whether or not D3 owes those who put up the moolah to build their alliance (or those F2P commanders that sacrificed their own rewards for the sake of the team) compensation; suffice to say my sentiments on the matter fall in line with Paintsville's, thedude's and Sun Crusher's(whose post actually nails it for me: viewtopic.php?f=7&t=18406&start=140#p243181.) <it seems the the devs never learned that a spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down>

the only "compensation" i ask is to make alliances more worthwhile and interesting.

To be honest, i do have beef with this whole alliance thing and i'm going to take this wonderful opportunity to release my furious anger and righteous wrath upon those who dare continue to read further. [rant alert. don't forget this is muchacho likes to talk. a lot. at least on the internet.]

and by this whole alliance thing i mean *ahem* alliances.

i liked the whole idea of alliances for about a whole of 2 weeks.

i remember when alliances first roled out. the idea of playing together with your friends in a "team" sounded so cool! i definitely wanted to join forces with my then-rival and good friend samuraiduck-man to take on the world. But me being the shy guy i am decided to wait and see if he would say anything about joining forces. Lo and behold a few days later, he does say we should join forces! BUT he asks me to be the leader and founder of our alliance.

Not giving much thought to what kind of responsibility that held i agreed. That was probably the biggest misstep of my MPQ career. i would later invite another friend who i had introduced MPQ to join my alliance. With that move i had sealed my doom.ヽ(´o｀；

To be honest, i (we) weren't really sure what to make of this whole new alliance business. We were all rather new players and still flying on the high of making it to the 2* level. Yes, my dear reader, you read that correctly. There was a point in time in this game where actually making it to the 2* level was something you could take a small amount of joy and pride in. (More on this later) Actually me and samuraiduck-man are probably in the last generation that got to experience what it was like to actually shoot for 2* characters in PvP on purpose.

Anyway, before i get sidetracked, let me get to the point of this preface of my rant. two or so weeks of alliances are cool quickly vanished when i realized we were not in a Top200 alliance much more Top100. In those early days, we managed to once or twice get in Top 400 with just 5 people. Wonders never cease! Actually we had a pretty strong dude (3 3* semi maxed characters!) on our team who left within the week they joined and it was then that i realized this is what was going to be my experience of alliances. Get a good player for a little while who then jumps ship for greener pastures leaving behind people around or more than likely below my roster level [your such a snob] <hey, can't harp on the dude. Tis the nature of the beast>

Having witnessed the barbarianism of the 1st three seasons and the complaints of burnout plus my own distaste for "being social" i decided i would run my alliance as a silent dictatorship. There was only one rule that no one in my alliance except myself knew and that was you just need to log in every day so we could get our Iso reward* (there are exceptions to this rule but that will take forever to write out). And that is how i ran my alliance while being a F2P player.

During that period, i was able to surpass my rival samuraiduck-man. He was the one who introduced me to the game; he had a 4 day start and invested about 20 US dollars to buy roster slots. So my first couple of months playing this game was mainly playing catch up. Knowing samuraiduck-man's penchant for spending money on games (we both were big Puzzle & Dragons players, i gave that game up promptly once i started this game, he continues to play it since has invested so much money into it) i made him promise not to spend anymore money on this game, to keep the competition between us somewhat fair.

How was i able to overcome my longtime gaming rival in this game?

「俺たくさん寝るし！」(English trans. "Because I sleep a lot") sent to me on April 18th.

Yes, my friends and enemies, what separated me from my one time rival was not so much a matter of skill but rather a matter of timing, knowledge and sacrifice.

Timing: due to the nature of my work, i am able to play most events around their end times. So i probably have had better opportunities than samuraiduck-man.

Knowledge: i studied up on the game quickly but since samuraiduck-man does not understand English and i'm not sure what kind of info is out there in Japanese but there is no question my knowledge of how the game works propelled me to success and left him in my dust. i had to explain a lot of the mechanics to him (i.e. how to use shields, when is the best time to join events, etc) and chastised him for using his HP on daily deals instead of saving to buy a alliance member slot as he promised. (He did buy one slot, i believe it was the 8th one.)

Sacrifice: Even with the flexibility of my schedule, events do end at late hours for me sometimes which means sacrificing sweet sleep. Obviously, samuraiduck-man made the healthier choice.

The result, while I was a F2P player: I was able to fully max Punisher, 3* Daken, Sentry and 3* Thor. Currently, my former-rival and good friend only has Doctor Doom maxed. He is waiting for one more Punisher and Hulk cover to finally step into 3* land but when that will happens who knows.

Stealth Groove Assassin Girl, my other friend who is in my alliance, started about 1 month later than us. She reaped the benefits of the 2* covers falling from the sky but has no fully covered 3 stars. Her top three characters are Daredevil at level 114 (8 covers), Punisher lv.114 (9 covers) and Ragnarok lv. 114 (8 covers). i also told her not to spend money on the game since i have always been suspicious of free games as being money traps. Bless her soul she has only missed three days since starting and has a load of Iso but no characters to invest it in.

And yet, i did end up spending money on this game (the first time for an app game at that) Why? The Android sale in August. This sale happened to fall on my 6 straight months of play anniversary so after talking it over with samuraiduck-man (was he the devil or angel your shoulder?) i decided that it was good to show the devs my appreciation for such a great game and for the many, many hours of fun times i had been having.

i remember that the ad for the sale mentioned expanding your alliance with the HP on sale and outside of the desire to show the devs some love and appreciation that was the main purpose for my purchase. the reason why invested in my alliance was because i wanted to help my friends get a chance at winning an extra cover. i don't know if you remember, but when the alliances were first roled out, the cover progression scheme was different than it was now. i think you could only win 2 covers for solo play and the extra third was for alliances. These cover system basically locked out my two friends. With the help of samuraiduck-man's one slot purchase i was able to expand our alliance to 11 members F2P and originally guesstimated that we would be able to reach 20 members by the following February. But seeing the sale as a a fortuitous chance, I bought a Tony Stark Salary and grew our alliance to 19 members. I decided to wait on the 20th member because it was a lot of HP and I wanted to know how close we would be to breaking the TOP100. Plus Deadpool covers were on the line.

It turned out be a prescient choice because i would have been one shield short of Top5 in the Category 5 pVp had a bought that slot. Not only that my alliance has never had a real shot at breaking Top100 and seeing that only one other member in my alliance has a maxed 3* character, i wasn't holding my breath for that day to come. Honestly, I don't think anyone in my alliance besides myself has broken 900. But i was content to be a top 500 and collect my 25HP and 500 Iso.

However, recently my alliance doesn't even crack the T500 anymore. A lot of our members including samuraiduck-man have gone uber-casual and because samuraiduck-man is a co-commander i feel a bit awkward kicking people off when the co-commander isn't really contributing. That's not to say i haven't done my share of cutting and pruning, but recently i don't see the point anymore.

i don't want to sound like i'm putting blame on the devs or my friends for my less than perfect experience with alliances, i take full responsibility for my choices. i should have known better than to agree being a commander. i don't blame my alliance mates for going uber casual either. They are stuck in the 3* transition phase and i know it takes a lot of time and effort to get all the covers you need and that this is just a game.

But i do think this transition situation is only going to continue to get progressively worse as more 3* characters are added to the game. And because of that players will be less interested in continuing to play since pVp is a no go and pVe is a grindfest.

i've heard a lot of people talk about the positives of alliances and i'm glad there are people that like it. hell, i probably would have liked it more myself had my fortunes played out differently. but i'm stuck with the alliance i made and have no plans on abandoning it since the original reason i started it was to play with my friends.

Do i regret spending money on the game? No. Do I wish I had invested my HP elsewhere in the game? Yeah. As many of you know, to be "good" at this game not only requires some skill and luck with matching three puzzle pieces but also requires effective resources and time management. As a player, i understand that the devs are trying their best to make a game enjoyable for as many people as possible and that the game is still "a work in progress". But as a paying customer, this "act of generosity" stings and i believe is a blow to customer confidence in general.

i guess the lesson to be learned from this is that if the devs provide a new "product or service" that can be purchased whether it be a new OP character or some new function like alliances, you're best bet is to buy in as soon as possible to maximize your benefit.

With that being said, my actual concern is: How does this move benefit the game?

The arguments i have heard in favor for this say that now everyone will have a chance to gun for T100 alliance position. (whether or not this move makes the game more social is another issue that i won't speculate on)

Well i say poppycock!

This only "evens the playing field" marginally at best. i suppose alliances hovering around T100 who do not have a full 20-person alliance will now have a better shot at T100 but i doubt there will be too much shifting in the land of T100. [unless of course, the X-men decided to go X-men 100.] It's not like there are a bunch of Attila's outside T100 who have only be held back from invading due to not having a strong enough Alliance. i honestly doubt most of the people playing this game casually are suddenly going to increase their play time since they are now in a 20-person alliance. Why? because there is a nice big wall preventing them from progressing.

and i'm willing to bet that the vast majority of sharks and whales are already in a Top100 Alliance.

Let's not forget that the transition to 2*-3* is a long, arduous journey if you are going the F2P route, especially if you are not in a Top100 Alliance.

This move does shake things up a bit outside of Top100 and i realize if i don't exercise some leadership my alliance is at great risk of being pushed out of T500 completely.

The problem is, i don't want to. Why? Because alliances as they currently function in the game are mainly a point collection hub. Which ever alliance gets the most points at the end of the season "wins". This does not inspire the leader in me. i am amazed by those in mega alliances (X-Men, Deadlies, Sparta, et al) because they must have some pretty darn good leaders and organizers.

What i had envisioned when i first learned about alliances was alliance focused events, boss battles and raids and pillages and war with other alliances, not let's race to see which alliance can score the most points in pVp. i don't want to henpeck people over "why didn't you reach 600 points?"

What i am hoping for is that this move is intended to set the game up for a "true alliance experience" (hey if we can have "true healing", we can have "true alliances" no?) Give us a reason to communicate further with our alliance mates than just coordinating shield hops and points negotiation. Give us our boss battles and alliance wars. Make the game more fun!

What i suspect this move is meant to do at least in the short term is to increase the user base. Now Jimmy and Jane can play the game together with their office mates, family, sports club friends, chess mates, etc. And of course, i'm happy with there being more people playing the game.

However, if the devs don't fix the 1*->2*->3* transition problem, they won't be able to keep the casual players for too long either.

We often hear about the 2*->3* transition problem but IMHO part of that problem is directly tied to the devaluation of 2* tier due to an overabundance of those covers. As i mentioned earlier, back in my day when i was still a new kid on the block and pVp was not the hot mess it is today, i would forgo going for 3* characters in pVp to get the 2* awards. Why? Because i knew having one cover of a 3* character would just sit and rot in my roster for a looooooooong tiiiiiiimmmmeeeee and i had better chances with an useable 2* character. i said goodbye to a few Loki covers and *gasp* Hood covers to make room for OBW and 2*Thor, and i still remember fondly the glory that was Classic Storm + MNMags combo.

However, nowadays i see so many new players filling their rosters with 3* that have no business filling their roster with 3*. What happened to your 1* characters and where are your essential 2* characters is always a thought that goes through my mind as i promptly kick them off my team.

But the game has changed since i started; the devs now force beginners to buy roster spots in sets and there was the level shift that makes it a lot more difficult for a good 2* character to take on a proper 3* character (although i occasionally do get hit by a 2* wonder every now and then in pVp and i'm always left stumped as how they were able to get through my X-force/Daken combo).

And then there is the alliance problem with pVp: Often you will hear forum members that aren't on the 3* star gravy train complain about how everyone in the top5 already have the cover for that 3* character and you will hear sharks and whales reply, sorry but i'm participating in this for my alliance.

So in one sense they made the game easier for beginners and in another sense, they made it harder. What needs to happen is a better sense of progression. You don't shower the newbies with 2* covers so that they those wonderful 2* characters go under appreciated.

i think part of the reason i was able to deal with months wandering the desert between 2* and 3* land was because i had already learned that it took patience and time to build a proper 2* team. But now that a player can get 2* with less effort and the influx of new 3* characters has widened that desert. And when a player feels they are not progressing guess what usually happens: they stop playing, either a reduced amount or totally.

<end rant* wooooh that felt good haha but i'm beat>

Now it's time for some lemonade!

So now that i have pointed out my problems with alliances and the current progression system of the game, i'm going to see if i can't squeeze these lemons and make something wonderful out of them.

Recipe:

the lemons
-Fix the 1*->2* transition: Restore the value of 2* characters ideally by striking a proper balance of dispersion.
-Fix the 2*->3* transition: With the current influx of new characters, the devs need to consider a better way to distribute older 3* characters (GSBW, Iron Man 40, Magneto, et al) to non-Vets. Under the current system, those covers will only continued to be converted to Iso as the top guns aim for their season rewards. One proposed solution has been to make separate pVp events where the player has a choice of rewards and is locked out of the event. my suggestion is a bit more simple, just add a new non-competive game mode where you can earn those covers. perhaps not 3 covers at once, but once a week?
-Get rid of the slot sets for early players: i really don't see how this benefits them at all.

the sugar:
-offer alliance specific events: a lot of people have be been talking about this for awhile now and if you are going to give everyone a chance at a 20-person alliance there is no excuse not to look into modes that utilize. Boss battles with major villains like Apocalypse, Doctor Doom, Ultron, etc. with restricted rosters that make sense (fight Apocalypse with X-men characters, Doctor Doom with FF and Spider-man, Ultron vs the Avengers, etc).
-create a better alliance system: make different ranks like general, commander, lieutenant, and private. Offer varying rewards for those ranks. Such a system may (or may not) help reduce the amount of swapping that goes on with the mega alliances.
-extend progression rewards for pVp: it's getting to the point that T5 for pVp goes beyond the final progression reward. The rewards don't have to be anything too special, just some HP and Iso would be a nice gesture and maybe another token?


tequila:
- balance competitive and non-competitive gameplay: it's ironic, when i was playing Puzzles & Dragons i wished for a competitive game mode and now with MPQ i wish for more non-competitive game modes. The Gauntlet is a great first step, but there is so much more you can do. Guerrilla events, special holiday events, mini-games, etc. Particularly with a game that has so many casual players, these are the things that keep them hooked! Not oh i ranked 454 in the last pVp and got some Iso.

Mix it all together and voila! We have a recipe for knockout success! haha



But in all seriousness, i hope the devs or the business department or whoever made this decisions realize that by giving away for free one of the most expensive "items" of the game you have undercut the confidence your customers have in the value of the product you provide. As far as i can see the only "safe" investment are shields (when there aren't server hiccups) since you receive immediate value for your investment. [yes there are slots but i wouldn't put it past them to fiddle more with that, too]

Anyway, awesome work on Blade! He is a totally cool character! Looking forward to the new things you have in store for the game!

Hope you like the lemonade!(*^◇^)_旦~~ ｲﾗｯｼｬｰｲ♪

tldr: the OP was never a big fan of alliances to begin with and is hoping this is not another push for more competitive play. there are serious issues regarding keeping casual players interested in the game that the devs need to address beyond giving them a "freebie" that for the most part won't actually help them achieve much in the way of progression. [i give the X-men 6 months to have to conquer the Top 25] and let us not forget what our lady Mary has to say about this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vLkp_Dx6VdI

And don't forget to give Spider-Man an attack buff!