I'm arrogantly going to quit and leave my thoughts here

Unknown

Sooo, I'm quitting the game now. Not for any 'rage' reason but simply because I can't live my life around it anymore.

Having played for over a year and campaigned strongly for better end times and longer refresh rates, here's my concluding thoughts on the state of the game from the perspective of a ‘top tier’ (but not whale) player.

One step forward, one step back (Shield Cooldowns)

Thanks to the MPQ team for implementing sharded end-times. They were only really needed in PvE because ‘shields’ in PvP, but you did it for PvP anyway. Slicing has it’s own issues, mostly because there are too many (3 slices would have been fine) but the scheduling freedom it gave to players was then snatched back by shield cooldowns.

Shield cooldowns force top players into a fixed schedule revolving around rotation of 3hr and 8hr shields. If you want a competitive (top 5) score then it can mean having to play at times that are really, really inconvenient or alternatively forking out for a 24hr shield you don’t need. This change is why I’m quitting… because sitting outside my office in my car during work hours to play MPQ because of cooldown rotations is not good. I also appreciate it’s an issue that won’t affect 95% of your players who don’t use more than a couple of shields. But at least add a cooldown timer... why the hell was dev time spent on Goon banners instead?

Out of game communication

I like banter and game communities but the shield cooldown change forced the top players to use even more out-of-game communication. That’s completely at odds with what you wanted isn’t it? Yet what else was going to happen if you made each hop so critical? It’s not like we can take a loss and go again in 30 mins anymore - so we have to communicate to an extreme level so that we’re not ripping into each other.

So, not only do top players have to schedule their lives around shield cooldowns now, they also have to communicate in up to 12 chatrooms to stay on top of what's going on. Still, you get to know people.

New characters

A great job has been done recently with DrDoom and Loki (not so much with utterly destroying Sentry tbh) but Invisible Woman has been an utter joke since her release and is still being given out as the highest progression or #1 placement reward. Yeah, you’ll rework her eventually but the glut of so-so characters given out while we’ve been waiting for this seems like wonky priorities. Slow down the releases until you’ve sorted the problems.

PvE Slices

Slicing works very well in some ways but if you’re late to the event you can enter a slow filling slice without any chance of getting near the top. I’d strongly recommend that if you’re going to have slices then reduce the number of players per bracket (to half) and consider a mechanic of having the bracket fill completely before the event starting for that group. It would allow everyone to start on an even keel. The difficulty would come at the end of the event if a bracket didn’t fill, but hopefully that would encourage people to enter earlier.

PvE node refreshes

4 hours or 8 hours… both are infinitely better than 2.5 or 3hrs. PvE makes everyone tired of the game and needs either 4 hour refreshes (AND a couple of days between events) or 8 hour refreshes (downtime not so important). At the top end, we face teams with HUGE health-pools and subs that can take up to 45 mins per clear… at 2.5-3hrs that means spending over a quarter of your life playing MPQ. That just isn’t sustainable in the long run. Looks like 8hrs is here to stay, but man it took a while following either Will or IceIX stating the 2.5hr refresh 'wasn't ideal' over 4 months ago.

Scaling is also an issue (everyone knows that level capping your team is now optimal for PvE) so that should be the next issue sorted. It would also be nice to conclude the Dark Reign storyline but maybe you’ve nerfed Sentry so hard he can’t mount an attack on the home of the God’s anymore

That's most of it because lets face it TL;DR but...

and it's a Kim Kardashian sized 'but'...

Thanks D3 for making a game that I've had a lot of fun with over the last year or so, and that I'll probably dip back into every now and again. I've played at the top tier of a few mobile games and some people don't appreciate that you actually give more feedback to players than the vast, vast majority of games out there. Thanks also for listening to the plight of players outside the US with end times, and trying to do the right thing for the masses in many cases - everyone knows deep down that profit has to be a factor in decisions but it's hard to be objective when you spend so much of your time investing in the game.

Thanks SKYNET for being a fantastic home this last few seasons - the leadership and community there really work for each other in a way I've rarely seen in gaming. Thanks too to my former alliance colleagues in Chaos Rising who kept the alliance in the top 50 despite only ever seeming to have about 10 properly active players.

Good luck MPQ and all who sail in you!

p.s. Devs, it's pink you know? Right? Not purple.

p.p.s Congrats to whoever read through all that. Have a cookie.

Unknown

The game has just reminded me of another thing...

I just opened 2 x Heroic 10 packs and got 20 x 2*'s. It would be kinda nice to guarantee one random 3* or above pull in each 10 pack so that paying customers don't feel utterly ripped off. Kind of like how packs of trading cards sometimes guarantee one 'premium' card.

hurcules

Sad to see you retire DrUnpleasant. All the best with your new found time Are you gonna be more active on the forum now?

Unknown

hurcules wrote:

Sad to see you retire DrUnpleasant. All the best with your new found time Are you gonna be more active on the forum now?

Thanks Hurcules! I'll probably find something new to be addicted to and end up posting copious amounts on a German Young Botanists forum, even though I'm neither German, young or a Botanist.

Bowgentle

DrUnpleasant wrote:

hurcules wrote:

Sad to see you retire DrUnpleasant. All the best with your new found time Are you gonna be more active on the forum now?

Thanks Hurcules! I'll probably find something new to be addicted to and end up posting copious amounts on a German Young Botanists forum, even though I'm neither German, young or a Botanist.

Ah, that's alright - just need to find a link between plants and MPQ.

"Those venus fly traps are a beauty to behold. There's poison ivy too. Oh, did you know Poison Ivy is a character from a comic? It's DC, but I prefer Marvel.
Actually, there's this game with Marvel characters called Marvel Puzzle Quest, which....
<3000 word diatribe>"

I call this "the Phantron method" where you switch to a completely unrelated topic, which you have beaten to death 1000 times already, after one sentence.

Sad to see you go, good Doctor, was a pleasure to share a BC with you, even if it wasn't for long.

Unknown

Sorry to see you go. Liked your posts and at least you got the finish times changed (I am totally crediting you for that).

SnowcaTT

Unknown

Thank you for this farewell message I've read from top to bottom.

I've said that numerous times in the past "let's wait for better days".

The days in MPQ are better, but the nights are still chaotic.

So, let's wait for better nights also...

The devs are facing the "financial" problem and focus the development on things that will not bring the cash most in the long run.

But well, I'm sick of explaining the same things, and the forumites are sick of my trolling.

So, in brief, DrUnpleasant, I hope you will come back. We need guys like you here.

DrNitroman

DrUnpleasant wrote:

Sooo, I'm quitting the game now. Not for any 'rage' reason but simply because I can't live my life around it anymore.

Having played for over a year and campaigned strongly for better end times and longer refresh rates, here's my concluding thoughts on the state of the game from the perspective of a ‘top tier’ (but not whale) player.

Farewell DrUnpleasant and many thanks for your defense of better ending times.
We owe you

AXP_isme

DrUnpleasant wrote:

p.s. Devs, it's pink you know? Right? Not purple.

+1 for that

Sherlock1

I wish you the best, and please enjoy your life AND your future new addiction!!!

tanis3303

Farewell Doc, you will be missed. We'll keep you around on Line, if you ever want to come back get ahold of us, we'll make room

user311

Just gonna leave this here.

Kavel

Take it easy, Doc. Gotta tip my hat to you after 10 seasons together.

Unknown

I salute you, Doc.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHH-QDV2e1E

slidecage

if people dont like 3 hour refresh why dont they just replay it 3 times and then their refresh will be 9 hours. Yes you might get a few points but you should still take top 20 easy

Unknown

slidecage wrote:

if people dont like 3 hour refresh why dont they just replay it 3 times and then their refresh will be 9 hours. Yes you might get a few points but you should still take top 20 easy

When your enemies are level 300+ doing 3 refreshes at once means by the time you finish that third run your first refresh will almost be over. So it's more like 2 hours of play for 6 hours of rest, pending luck, health packs, and burn out.

Unknown

Besides, it's really boring.

Unknown

Pleasure serving with you Doc. We'll miss you.

morph3us

I'm relatively new on the forums, but it was always a delight to read your posts, DrUnpleasant (and I think I may have attacked you a few times in PvP ). They were well considered, and you were always very... pleasant You will be missed.

Fair seas, and a following wind, Doc.

atomzed

Can I have a cookie?

Sad to see you leave. You had been a voice of reason in the forums.