MPQ Interview At Marvel.com: Mystique Revealed!

Unknown

Funny, nowhere in my post do I see me saying, "The devs didn't cancel the Heroic so they did nothing." In fact, if you'll recall, the devs waited almost 2 whole days to even send somebody out here to tell us that they know we're upset, but don't worry because shhhh, it's a secret. So yeah, I'd call that doing nothing. No apology, no response, no "Oops, we didn't realize you didn't like it," not even a "We understand that you don't like this event, but it's too late to stop it." From the timing, it appears that they actually waited until the event was running to actually give a public response.

So yeah, I believe that they did nothing. For a smallish company that seems to pride itself on its fan interaction and "You spoke, we heard" persona, it seems a bit suspect that it took this long for an official response, especially one so tactfully dismissive.

And white knighting isn't the "defense du jour." I have been lurking on these forums for a while now, and I have noticed that every time there is a "Grumble grumble D3" thread, you usually seem to appear with a snarky "Pfft, D3 is great and you're just an ingrate" response.

GuntherBlobel

Thanks David! I'm looking forward to new stories! Let's finish off Dark Reign and jump right into an X-men campaign.

HailMary

Fievel wrote:

Funny, nowhere in my post do I see me saying, "The devs didn't cancel the Heroic so they did nothing." In fact, if you'll recall, the devs waited almost 2 whole days to even send somebody out here to tell us that they know we're upset, but don't worry because shhhh, it's a secret. So yeah, I'd call that doing nothing. No apology, no response, no "Oops, we didn't realize you didn't like it," not even a "We understand that you don't like this event, but it's too late to stop it." From the timing, it appears that they actually waited until the event was running to actually give a public response.

So yeah, I believe that they did nothing. For a smallish company that seems to pride itself on its fan interaction and "You spoke, we heard" persona, it seems a bit suspect that it took this long for an official response, especially one so tactfully dismissive.

They're sometimes slow to respond, but it's silly to confuse "we heard" with what you actually mean, which is "we obeyed."

For example, I'm sure the devs heard the extended raging about True Healing (heck, they even predicted it in a forum comment before True Healing even debuted). They just didn't obey and change course.

Fievel wrote:

And white knighting isn't the "defense du jour." I have been lurking on these forums for a while now, and I have noticed that every time there is a "Grumble grumble D3" thread, you usually seem to appear with a snarky "Pfft, D3 is great and you're just an ingrate" response.

So, whenever you say "every time", you mean "every time except for 'grumbling' about PVE scaling, the slow 2*-3* transition, MMR, event-token probabilities, the free-alliance-slot change, etc." Duly noted.

I mean, your crudely selective memory is entirely on you, but just as a friendly self-improvement tip: jabs tend to be less self-defeating when they're based on actual reality.

Unknown

HailMary wrote:

So, whenever you say "every time", you mean "every time except for 'grumbling' about PVE scaling, the slow 2*-3* transition, MMR, event-token probabilities, the free-alliance-slot change, etc." Duly noted.

I mean, your crudely selective memory is entirely on you, but just as a friendly self-improvement tip: jabs tend to be less self-defeating when they're based on actual reality.

I don't think he is being selective or making stuff up. I know for a fact that you have a fetish with replying to "negative posts" even if you agree with them. While your sentences are well formed and pretty, you can always read the hidden "I love D3" in them.

It's nice to play devil's advocate, but the guy has a point and it is a solid one. Paraphrasing what I understand from his post "There was a huge reaction about the Jugs Heroic since the 1st second the announcement went up and D3 did nothing about it until the event was already up." This is actually true. And yes most of the people expected them to cancel the event. Wasn't that the point of all the fuss? David's post is something, but it did literally nothing about the Jugs Heroic issue.

Now, Claiming that the guy said something absurd and putting words such as "D3 did not obey us" in his mouth, is something not "based on actual reality".

over_clocked

As much as I, too, hate Juggernaut Heroic, I did not expect it to be replaced, postponed or anything else to be done with it just because a considerable part of a tiny minority (we, forumites, are a very tiny minority in the actual playerbase of 100k+ players) had a strong reaction to the announcement.

simonsez

locked wrote:

As much as I, too, hate Juggernaut Heroic, I did not expect it to be replaced, postponed or anything else to be done with it

Same here, but what I didn't expect is, "I told the devs all you guys hate it, and yeah, they already know". That came across as some sort of combination of apathy, antagonism and sadism.

Unknown

simonsez wrote:

Same here, but what I didn't expect is, "I told the devs all you guys hate it, and yeah, they already know".

I might be wrong, but i think we shall not forget the part having "and they are working on other content to enrich your PvE experience as soon as possible"

Thanks to David, to finally providing feedback and information into this discussion.

cg2912

Meutrich wrote:

simonsez wrote:

Same here, but what I didn't expect is, "I told the devs all you guys hate it, and yeah, they already know".

I might be wrong, but i think we shall not forget the part having "and they are working on other content to enrich your PvE experience as soon as possible"

Thanks to David, to finally providing feedback and information into this discussion.

But is that really new info? Haven't they been saying for quite some time that they are working on new content?

Unknown

cg2912 wrote:

But is that really new info? Haven't they been saying for quite some time that they are working on new content?

They've been saying it for a while now - most/all(?) of the previous interviews about new characters have talked about how they're going to "open up new doors for storytelling."

The more they build this up, the bigger chance we're disappointed with what the new PVE stuff looks like. I really, REALLY hope it's:

a) Substantial - maybe an entire new set of chapters, along with new timed events. Really add a bunch of PVE content that can keep us thirsty dogs slated for...weeks? Maybe?

b) Well-written - there's some solid writing in this game, considering that there's not much dialogue. Let's keep it up.

c) WELL-DESIGNED - More an amorphous desire, but we all know badly-designed gameplay when we see it.

If they hit all three of those, I'll be in hog-heaven, as I much prefer PVE over PVP, which I find to be pretty awful in this game.

HailMary

Okin107 wrote:

I don't think he is being selective or making stuff up. I know for a fact that you have a fetish with replying to "negative posts" even if you agree with them. While your sentences are well formed and pretty, you can always read the hidden "I love D3" in them.

I reply to posts that I sometimes agree with and sometimes disagree with? Wow. Now that you put it that way, I can see how that is indeed a grave "fetish."

I'm glad, at least, that this is coming from someone with enough objectivity and common sense to not screech at length about wanting D3 to go bankrupt and MPQ to disappear just because he didn't like Heroic Venom... oh, wait. But hey, at least he has enough sense to not wish for PVPs to turn into the most brutal PVE-style slogs we could ever imagine, right? ... oh, never mind.

Okin107 wrote:

And yes most of the people expected them to cancel the event.

"Most" forumites expected them to literally cancel an event less than a day before it's about to go live, just because roughly 150 people complained (or rather, upvoted a complaint) about not liking it? My goodness, I truly hope you don't think that poorly of forumites' basic grasp of reality. As a springboard for negative feedback, the "Cancel the Juggernaut" thread makes sense. As a literal demand to cancel an event that's just about to start, it's more than a tad idiotic.

I, for one, don't share your monumental cynicism towards "most" forumites' grasp of something called "perspective."

Okin107 wrote:

Now, Claiming that the guy said something absurd and putting words such as "D3 did not obey us" in his mouth, is something not "based on actual reality".

If you'd like to point out where I actually put that quoted phrase into his mouth, I'd be much obliged. For a guy who knows so many things "for a fact," this should be trivial.

I mean, never mind that you just alleged "most of the people" expected D3 to literally and perfectly obey our demand to cancel HJuggs when you "paraphrased what [you understood]" from his post. For the moment, let's generously pretend you didn't just shoot yourself in the foot with a double-barreled shotgun, shall we?

Unknown

loroku wrote:

Because new characters do PUNISH the playerbase - period.

I wholeheartedly disagree! New characters are the spice of life.

RefinedBean wrote:

She's not doing anything new. Countdown tiles, AP drain, and changing tile colors. WOW. IT'S LIKE A COMPLETELY NEW GAME.

When you say these abilities are nothing new, what are you expecting exactly?
For me, these abilities look interesting to play with and combine. While rising AP cost of skills is a concern, I think they're at least trying to make new abilities interesting, as opposed to damage, damage, and stun. Both her and Blade have had way more interesting and usable abilities compared to some of the previous characters, and neither of them look game breaking, though they might be challenge the user to use appropriately.

Heroics suck, and are boring. I really hope they add in new events sooner rather than later. I'm sure people even wouldn't mind not having new characters for a month if new story lines were brought in.

So we had a Dark Avengers arc, are we going to have a Dark X-Men arc?

Unknown

daibar wrote:

When you say these abilities are nothing new, what are you expecting exactly?

A new game mechanic, or working off the new charged tile mechanic. All her abilities are things we've seen before. The game is STAGNATING. She brings nothing new to the table. She's "new" in the sense that she has different art than other characters and slight tweaks of powers we've seen before.

I'm not calling it lazy - I'm sure a lot of time and thought went into her design. I'm just calling it boring.

So we had a Dark Avengers arc, are we going to have a Dark X-Men arc?

Heh, that reminds me of Norman Osborn's "dark" X-Men team. It had Cloak and Dagger on it, and they were all like, "We're not even mutants!" And he's like, "Yeah, no one knows or cares." Loved it.

CrookedKnight

What have we seen before that works like Shapeshift?

Unknown

CrookedKnight wrote:

What have we seen before that works like Shapeshift?

...like, every other countdown timer?

Are you focused on the "drain based on the opponent matching something" mechanic? I guess that's...KIND of new? I mean, it's still just drain.

GrumpySmurf1002

CrookedKnight wrote:

What have we seen before that works like Shapeshift?

It's a variation of OBW's Espionage - except triggers on opponents match and requires an active countdown tile. Haven't seen it specifically obviously.

Unknown

She also has an ability that deals damage. Super un-original, I mean, practically everyone has those!

Unknown

adamLmpq wrote:

She also has an ability that deals damage. Super un-original, I mean, practically everyone has those!

This brings up another good point - eventually, they're going to run out of things to do with the match-three system.

This is why it's really unpleasant to see so many new characters pushed out, and no new PVE. PVE will eventually be the lifeblood of this game, simply because there's only so much you can do with a match-three game. We're already starting to hit the barrier of it.

Your snark is well-heard, though. Obviously people are going to have damaging abilities, there's no way around that. But it'd be nice if other abilities had something new and fresh about them. I think this is why everyone would've been pumped for a charged-tile Gambit character. Mystique is nice, but she's not really moving the needle.

GuntherBlobel

RefinedBean wrote:

adamLmpq wrote:

She also has an ability that deals damage. Super un-original, I mean, practically everyone has those!

This brings up another good point - eventually, they're going to run out of things to do with the match-three system.

This is why it's really unpleasant to see so many new characters pushed out, and no new PVE. PVE will eventually be the lifeblood of this game, simply because there's only so much you can do with a match-three game. We're already starting to hit the barrier of it.

Your snark is well-heard, though. Obviously people are going to have damaging abilities, there's no way around that. But it'd be nice if other abilities had something new and fresh about them. I think this is why everyone would've been pumped for a charged-tile Gambit character. Mystique is nice, but she's not really moving the needle.

One of the things I really appreciated about the Colossus release was that it had new mechanics (the first since Trap tiles) that could be used in the future in new and creative ways. You might say that a countdown tile has been around forever, but his Immovable Object power was the first to allow an effect to be active so long as that countdown tile is still counting down. His Fastball Special allows you to chose a character in order to activate an effect, which was not possible before either. These new mechanics are what allow for Mystiques' Shapeshift ability to work and hopefully, feel true to the character. And with 4* Thor, we now have charged tiles. I think they are on a roll, actually.

Think about how many different abilities rely on countdown tiles to create abilities that feel very different (Flame Jet, WR, Peacemaker, Immovable Object, etc.). I don't think they need a new mechanic with each character to create interesting abilities that feel right for the character. The three new mechanics introduced recently might just go a very long way. It also shows that they are putting a greater focus on new mechanics, meaning that we will probably see even more new mechanics in the near future. I'm looking forwards to the new characters. Rogue is up soon, I bet, because we finally have the mechanics to do her justice.

Unknown

GuntherBlobel wrote:

One of the things I really appreciated about the Colossus release was that it had new mechanics (the first since Trap tiles) that could be used in the future in new and creative ways. You might say that a countdown tile has been around forever, but his Immovable Object power was the first to allow an effect to be active so long as that countdown tile is still counting down. His Fastball Special allows you to chose a character in order to activate an effect, which was not possible before either. These new mechanics are what allow for Mystiques' Shapeshift ability to work and hopefully, feel true to the character. And with 4* Thor, we now have charged tiles. I think they are on a roll, actually.

Think about how many different abilities rely on countdown tiles to create abilities that feel very different (Flame Jet, WR, Peacemaker, Immovable Object, etc.). I don't think they need a new mechanic with each character to create interesting abilities that feel right for the character. The three new mechanics introduced recently might just go a very long way. It also shows that they are putting a greater focus on new mechanics, meaning that we will probably see even more new mechanics in the near future. I'm looking forwards to the new characters. Rogue is up soon, I bet, because we finally have the mechanics to do her justice.

Fastball Special was good, definitely - added a new condition and lets you use a power for free! I think we're all on board with that.

Immovable Object was meh to me - long countdown tile, but STILL a countdown tile, and had precedent with both Torch's greens (although those never countdown, so why are they countdown tiles anyway? Because it was easier to code that then, say, an entirely new type of tile, is my guess).

I know a lot of people are excited for Shapeshift, and it's certainly not a bad ability - but people were over the MOON for 4* Thor's charged tile mechanics because it was COMPLETELY NEW. They just threw it out there and said "Hey, we can do this!" and then took it back and aren't doing anything with it. Then they tease a new mutant (Gambit?! Charged tiles?!) and instead we get Mystique, who does some nice things that are kinda cool but nothing we haven't seen before.

I'm not trying to denigrate Mystique as a character - she's not my cup of tea, but plenty of people like her. That's great! But I'm just troubled by the fact that, like Blade, we're getting a new character so soon that doesn't push the needle forward any. It's another character that I feel I have to collect sincerely just because she's new.

If MPQ is going to feel "new" to me, it's going to need drastically different characters OR drastically different PVE/PVP modes/content. The characters they've released lately...a 2* lazy character and two 3* characters (we needed more of those, amiright) that both drain AP and work off existing mechanics. Meh. Meh meh meh.