How Should D3 Compensate Commanders?

ErikPeter

I think it'd be pretty easy to just give back the HP. They have the data. If they'd done that right away, instead of this mild backlash there'd be a twitterstorm of players espousing how awesome it was to spend the fat pile of HP they woke up to.

But since they apparently don't want to do that for some reason, I think they should put the balance into a new form of Alliance currency, "Prestige Points" or whatever, that accumulates through events and lets alliances spend it on aesthetic perks like name colors or banners. Just imagine you're picking a PvP node and, oh, this opponent is a red X, because they're in the X-Men alliance or whatever. Maybe it's a target to take you down, maybe it's a badge of pride. Whatever. HP could be turned into Prestige so that existing 20-person alliances have a leg up on worldwide prestige high scores that last between seasons as a permanent show of team accolade.

Or they could implement (sometime down the road) useful, paid features like "base storage" (cover swapping), ISO generators etc. And the HP balance spent on those hero slots could be put into an Alliance bank, to be used later on. Making the HP just vanish is the weirdest choice, unless they actively want to alienate their devoted/paying customers...

... topic shift ...

...Which, spoiler alert, might be beneficial. Reading on the forums, you'd think 90% of players have a maxed XForce or Sentry bombs their way to the top of every event. While those characters/strategies are degenerative in the long run, they really don't effect most of the playerbase. Most people are still playing with 2* Thor and OBW. (And the third most popular character is IM35?!) But as a long-time, not hardcore player, I've noticed all the Xforces and power teams. It takes more work to get top 100 than it used to, and top 5-10 which used to be pretty attainable with a little elbow grease is now basically out of reach unless I get a lucky bracket, because the competition is better and more motivated and has better characters (it sure does seem like everyone has an X-Force, and mine's only 1/5/1.) If a bunch of the most hardcore, money-spendingest dudes left, the game would be better for me and everyone more casual than me. Maybe that's why D3 doesn't seem to worried about their "No Refunds" policy.

Unknown

ErikPeter wrote:

I think it'd be pretty easy to just give back the HP. They have the data. If they'd done that right away, instead of this mild backlash there'd be a twitterstorm of players espousing how awesome it was to spend the fat pile of HP they woke up to.

Yeah and it would be super easy for Apple to just give free iPhones to people and twitter would be storming about the awesome free iPhones and not about the bending thing

Just because something is easy doesn't mean it makes sense

pmorcs

Well, MPQ HP has no actual cost, unlike free iPhones.

Unknown

gamar wrote:

ErikPeter wrote:

I think it'd be pretty easy to just give back the HP. They have the data. If they'd done that right away, instead of this mild backlash there'd be a twitterstorm of players espousing how awesome it was to spend the fat pile of HP they woke up to.

Yeah and it would be super easy for Apple to just give free iPhones to people and twitter would be storming about the awesome free iPhones and not about the bending thing

Just because something is easy doesn't mean it makes sense

Here!!! These Smart A... answers. Ur kind is why these companies can bend customers forward and take it.

Unknown

pmorcs wrote:

Well, MPQ HP has no actual cost, unlike free iPhones.

Exactly but these kind they always have a smart A .. answer for everything.

Unknown

pmorcs wrote:

Well, MPQ HP has no actual cost, unlike free iPhones.

Fine then, we'll compare it to giving out a free digital copy of Skyrim for everyone who got suckered into playing Oblivion

pmorcs

There you go.

IamTheDanger

Post deleted... D3 made an announcement on this, so I'm deleting my complaints.

pmorcs

Is this just a scorched earth kind of plan I guess? Because you could buy a few whole x-men meta-alliances for what it's going to cost you to get a lawyer to unsuccessfully pursue this complaint.

Zen808

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

Also, just wondering, can someone please tell me how to find the End-User-Licensing-Agreement, (EULA), for MPQ? I would really like to read it myself.

Within the Apple App Store, if you navigate to the page for the app itself, Under the details tab, there's a section called "License Agreement." Not sure about Google Play. Standard boiler-plate stuff for video games with in-app purchases: virtual goods, our discretion, no refunds, yada yada yada.

Chrono_Tata

I don't think that D3P should refund every single person who has ever bought an alliance slot. I just think that they should increase the cut-off time from a week to, say, one month. They say that people who has bought a slot some time ago have received the benefit of it, but there's no realistic way someone would have won back the cost of a 20th slot back in 2 or 3 weeks. Even when characters get nerfed, everyone gets a bit of extra ISO for selling them, so I really don't see why they are being so stingy on this.

Unknown

This is getting kind of ridiculous when people start talking about law suits.

Mpq is not "taking" anything from anyone; they are "giving" roster slots yo everyone.

Anyone (including current commanders) can get a pre-expanded 20 person alliance.

Should current commanders be upset? Yes, why wouldn't you be.

Would current commanders like to be compensated? Yes, who wouldn't want that.

Does mpq owe current commanders compensation? Nope. It's not an easy pill to swallow. But, it's one of those that's just life and you got to move on. Instead of complaining, people should have done what the smart commanders did and fortify their alliances so they continue to have an advantage over the new alliances. You know the whole we have a good placement track record and an alliance full of top rosters, so why not join us and not them pitch.

IamTheDanger

808SpicyToro wrote:

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

Also, just wondering, can someone please tell me how to find the End-User-Licensing-Agreement, (EULA), for MPQ? I would really like to read it myself.

Within the Apple App Store, if you navigate to the page for the app itself, Under the details tab, there's a section called "License Agreement." Not sure about Google Play. Standard boiler-plate stuff for video games with in-app purchases: virtual goods, our discretion, no refunds, yada yada yada.

Oh, that. I was thinking there was something else actually called "EULA". But all the things on Google I've read and followed all the links and read that. And I will say that I've already found 1 thing on the Google Play store policy that D3/Demiurge has violated. Which means taking it too them should fix the situation. But on the off chance that I do need to go to a lawyer, it won't cost me anything. Where I work, there is a program that's been set up for all officers. My company takes a bit out of my check as a retainer so that I can use the company lawyers anytime I want for free. All it would cost me is one phone call. But I really love this game and don't want it to end, which means I have no idea if I'd go the legal route or not.

madsalad

I just want my slot equivolant HP back. I forwent buying Roster slots to try and build my alliance, which had me sell some * and ** dudes (who were maxed out) to make room for some *** and **** guys I got while saving for alliance slots.

Zen808

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

808SpicyToro wrote:

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

Also, just wondering, can someone please tell me how to find the End-User-Licensing-Agreement, (EULA), for MPQ? I would really like to read it myself.

Within the Apple App Store, if you navigate to the page for the app itself, Under the details tab, there's a section called "License Agreement." Not sure about Google Play. Standard boiler-plate stuff for video games with in-app purchases: virtual goods, our discretion, no refunds, yada yada yada.

Oh, that. I was thinking there was something else actually called "EULA". But all the things on Google I've read and followed all the links and read that. And I will say that I've already found 1 thing on the Google Play store policy that D3/Demiurge has violated. Which means taking it too them should fix the situation. But on the off chance that I do need to go to a lawyer, it won't cost me anything. Where I work, there is a program that's been set up for all officers. My company takes a bit out of my check as a retainer so that I can use the company lawyers anytime I want for free. All it would cost me is one phone call. But I really love this game and don't want it to end, which means I have no idea if I'd go the legal route or not.

I know a few lawyers, and despite what he stereotype says, they're good people, who will be the first to say that sometimes a good life is better than a good lawsuit. You gotta figure in time, fees, and most likely pro-rating your recovery depending on when you bought the slots - alliances were first introduced about 5 months ago, and that's kind of a long time as far as digital purchases go.

D3 has already extended the refund period to all of October, and they seem to be discussing it further. Give them a bit, see what they come up with. If you still don't like it, your next step should be to go to Google/Apple for a refund. If you paid with a credit card, then your CC company would be the third option. Really, lawyers should only come into play after every other path has failed.

famousfoxking

ErikPeter wrote:

I think it'd be pretty easy to just give back the HP. They have the data. If they'd done that right away, instead of this mild backlash there'd be a twitterstorm of players espousing how awesome it was to spend the fat pile of HP they woke up to.

Sure, they should the HP back to everyone who wants it, then, go back and recalculate event scores based on the first five slots of the Alliances who want their HP back. Then, based on their calculations, they should take back any HP, ISO or covers that were earned by groups who want a refund, putting them into HP/ISO debt if need be. There, everyone is happy!

homeinvasion

can we have an answer to this please, I emailed a refund request but you ignored it.

Please everyone start directing your complaints to stan@marvel.com or http://www.consumeraffairsusa.org/

FaerieMyst

The alliance slots I paid for as a commander has more than paid for itself in terms of rewards. Frankly, I never thought they should have charged for it in the first place so they are only correcting a previous error in my view.

babinro

If we truly want them to be fair than they should do all of the following:

1) Refund 100% of all hp spent on alliance covers to both commanders and players who spent it
2) Subtract all HP and ISO rewards earned through alliance rewards even if this puts said player into negative quantities (which it likely will with HP).
3) Erase all cover rewards earned via alliance from those players active character. The ISO used to level them can be refunded to the player as well.

The end result.
You never 'wasted' hp on alliance slots. Therefore you never deserved to win the added rewards for however many days, weeks, months you've been enjoying them.

Simply rewarding everyone who had the foresight to buy alliance slots with exclusive refunds only serves to punish those who didn't buy them and lost rankings as a direct result of inferior alliance sizes.

Note: This is my playing devils advocate.
The point I'm trying to present is that the impact of spending hp on alliance covers is far greater than simply just an hp expenditure. It directly impacted the amount of *** covers you and your alliance received. It resulted in 1000's of extra hp and ISO being split among your alliance members. It also directly prevented OTHER alliances who would have won those rewards if not for your spending to miss out on these rewards. Imagine how many 5 player alliances would have won top 100 if no one ever went beyond the 5 person limit? Asking for a refund on hp without considering the impact on everyone's gameplay seems rather selfish to me. I can understand how those who spent significant hp on the weeks leading up to this announcement might warrant compensation. But it's safe to say the vast majority of us got our moneys worth either directly, or through benefiting the alliance as a whole.

_RiO_

808SpicyToro wrote:

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

Also, just wondering, can someone please tell me how to find the End-User-Licensing-Agreement, (EULA), for MPQ? I would really like to read it myself.

Within the Apple App Store, if you navigate to the page for the app itself, Under the details tab, there's a section called "License Agreement." Not sure about Google Play. Standard boiler-plate stuff for video games with in-app purchases: virtual goods, our discretion, no refunds, yada yada yada.

A EULA isn't even presented to players of the PC/Steam version of the game. The ingame options menu has a link to what is labeled a privacy policy, and even that was only added fairly recently.
IANAL, but since no EULA is presented that categorizes HP and alliance slots as anything other than purchase of goods ...