Let people buy specific characters.

firethorne

Let's be honest, this is a money making venture. So, why not let the consumers buy what they actually want? The main reason I don't put any money into this is that I don't trust a random number generator will give me what I want.

So, my solution: let people buy specific characters they don't have. I think the daily challenges also offer a great chance for promotion. I don't have a Storm. I'd happily buy a first card, or starter set of all three colours. But, I'm not going to buy a random pack that has a 2% chance of getting her. With an every growing number of characters, getting what you want is problematic. I don't go to the grocery store, buy an unmarked box with a 2% chance of it being flour, salt, or onions.

If you want to keep new guys "special" for a bit, you can exclude them. I'd even accept just selling whoever is the daily.

esoxnepa

Packs USED to guarantee the featured character.

D3 claims people enjoy the lottery of no guaranteed character in the packs, because sales increased.

I know I stopped buying any tokens once it went to lottery format.

Unknown

I used to feel the same way and would have loved buying the covers I needed. Once you give it a little thought though you see that it becomes unsustainable. Since you are stating this I will assume, possibly incorrectly and apologize if so, that you have never hit the x-force/TGoT wall before. If not, it ain't pretty out there. What reason would anyone want to play this game when you hit that wall match 4? That's what would happen. Nobody would ever have another character and you wouldn't need rosters slots anymore

I would be all for a "customizable" card pack of some type or at the least, a color of choice selectable reward!

How about a way to "trade-up" unwanted or unneeded covers. Three copies of one cover for one copy of the same cover with the desired color.

Here's a viable idea, select a 4 star character when you start the game that you can change each time you collect it and earn a copy of it every 75 days!

How about a running tally of PVP and PVE points that net rewards as you accumulate them?

Here's a novel thought, a one star tournament that yields two star cover grand prizes grouped with a two star tournament that yields three star cover grand prizes and open tournaments that yield four star Grand prizes!

While you're at it... Why do the new cards have to be three and four stars!!? Limited Edition one, two and three star characters available only as prizes winnable in truly even tournaments would be so damn awesome!!! Build "OUT" not just "UP" or you will fall over!!!!

If you want veterans to buy more roster slots then make them!!!

GothicKratos

[EDIT]: I'll edit in a reasoning, since I understand where you're coming from (as to say, I can understand my post being construed as brash), but it's pretty simple really; one of the best things about the game as it stands it is it not pay-to-win. Sure, you can but tokens with an abysmally low chance of getting something good, and you can buy individual covers but you have to win that specific color first - then the icing on the cake is ISO which is so high priced, if you bought enough to decently level anybody good you might as well have put out a mortgage. Personally, I like it this way.

In some ways, it's a bit of a love/hate relationship, because I do want to financially support the developers, but the way they have the micro-transactions setup, it's just a horrible investment.

The only remotely pay-to-win segment of the game is shielding, and it's perfectly plausible to shield enough to get to 1000 points without going negative per event - especially so if you're in a decent Alliance.

Unknown

Reputation of 516. That is in fact the largest number to ever comment on a post of mine and I get a meme.... I don't mean this aggressively but I spent a fair amount of time spitting out a number of possibilities, while you may be correct and I'm not doubting that you are, a cohesive retort with options and counteroffers carrying with them your implied wisdom (516) would have been expected and appreciated.

GothicKratos

BBTBob wrote:

Reputation of 516. That is in fact the largest number to ever comment on a post of mine and I get a meme.... I don't mean this aggressively but I spent a fair amount of time spitting out a number of possibilities, while you may be correct and I'm not doubting that you are, a cohesive retort with options and counteroffers carrying with them your implied wisdom (516) would have been expected and appreciated.

Reputation is misleading. I'm just a dummy in a spandex suit.

(But I did edit in an explanation.)

Unknown

Hahaha! Fight on brother

GothicKratos

BBTBob wrote:

Hahaha! Fight on brother

I'm a good little solider.

Unknown

I do thank you for your perspective. I agree totally that purchasing initially unearned covers would be detrimental but must disagree when it comes to the game staying as-is on a fundament level.

Most humans, while creatures of habit, find the repetitive and predictable nature of "SSDD" to ultimately be repulsive. This can't be the end game or what's the point? To have struggled for over a year in most cases to hit a wall and suffer in our collective good fortune while we wait for the next 4 star that MAY improve us?... And I mean us in the most plural sense of the word because we all improve in the same week in the same way. In a very real sense we will have all worked for what in effect becomes the new level 1 with no hope of separation. It's even worse for the longest lived players who paid their dues since the first year and now for the foreseeable future are already stuck. Now they have to watch as their hard work, early support and roster advantage are taken away.

I understand I'm a little off topic "let people buy specific characters" and I apologize but the original poster is on to something fundamental. Even though it's easy to understand and dismiss the thread as born out of frustration, there is no denying an issue that effects us all at one time or another exists and should be discussed. Too tired to continue my friend but I may still be up another few minutes to get your last say.

KrazyKeylime

i would have to agree with OP. In may of the other marvel games, it is a one click and get your favorite characters. This game's pricing is soo horrible that to make this in the realm of possibility it would be either too expensive to make sense or so cheap compared to other current methods that it become way to good. i think the event tokens should have way better draws ~25 % for featured 3* and that would be an outlet but like i said why would you ever buy any other token?
MPQ is stuck in the horrible pricing it set from the beginning and has not adapted. it should not cost a small mortgage to max a character to should only take about $30. they missed their mark on pricing roster slots should should not be any where close to where they are now the total slots amount was based off a smaller total amount of heroes so it only makes sense to cost so much to have 3 of each character when in reality we only are trying to get 1 of each.
The whole roster slots issue needs to be handled like the alliance slots, refund plus zero cost for 1 of each only cost additional HP for second Character and this can be based on s. I like to support the games i play but roster slots was the dumbest thing introduce into games i have seen in awhile( i finally randomly got my favorite character sorry can afford roster slots. watch timer expire) . I spend $20-30 dollars a month on DOTA 2 to support them buying event items or new character sets that are purely cosmetic. And I insta-dropped $60 after taking a break from MPQ in season 6 because you could do soo much with their premium resource it felt like money well spent compared to MPQ and i don't even play that game anymore. Like many people pointed out that that the best cost/benefit spending is on shields and that is where my money will be going to support MPQ until they get their act together and make prices more realistic. i already gave them free advertising getting friends to join ( 1/2 of which are inactive or quit, but maybe this game wasn't for them idk)

Please make your game better so i can support it.

GothicKratos

The only way I'd really be okay with this is say, if it gave you the ability to only buy a single cover, so say, you really like Sentry, so you wanna pick him up to play with - you'd be able to buy any one cover without already owning him.

This would allow you to play that guy, without letting you just pay your way to victory. Yeah, you could totally buy to five covers in that color, but it wouldn't be a very smart move in most instances (the only one I can think of off the top of my head is Hulk Black that would be even worth the investment). This would also give players a chance to cover them with Deadpool Dailys (and give players whom are missing a cover on a DDP day to get them).

My only concerns making the pricing appropriate. I feel like it should cost about 50% more than buying a cover like it is now, because at least then you have to earn it first. This would put 1*s at like 200 HP, 2*s at like 750 HP, 3*s at 1900 HP, and 4*s at a whooping 3750 HP. 3* feels a little bit too high though - something like 200HP/750HP/1750HP/3750HP might be better? I like the idea of keeping 4*s a serious premium, but really, it seems like the most likely place this'll be used is in the 3* arena to keep up with DDP awards.

KrazyKeylime

the whole pricing issue is a tricky issue to tackle. 1*s at like 200 HP, 2*s at like 750 HP is ridiculous they should be changed to an iso cost.
600 hp is $5 dollars. that is $15 for a single 3*, for 4* it is around $30. these HP prices are unreasonable.
I think they should drastically reduce the cost of buying covers by at least 1/2 to 1/4 of what they currently are, but limit how much you can purchase of each character to 6 or 7 covers the rest you have to get by other means this amount can be reduced as you go up in rarity. I think that is a bit more reasonable approach. It is a hard to bridge the gap with current prices so far out of whack, they far exceed their actual worth so trying to adjust the cost messes the game up so much.

CrookedKnight

If anybody listens to the War Rocket Ajax comics podcast, both the hosts are MPQ players and they brought this up in this week's installment - that it's frustrating for a character to come out that you want to recruit, but who you can't get without throwing money away on the token lottery for a vanishingly small chance of getting what you actually want. The phrasing was "Just tell me how much money I have to pay you to get Squirrel Girl on my team. Is it $20?" So there are people actively complaining about the lack of this feature in the real world.

Here's how I'd do it: After a character enters the token pool, let players who don't already have that character, or any of their covers in the recruit queue, buy a single random color cover for 1.5X the cost of buying a level of one of their powers. So it'd be 750 HP for a specific 2*, a hair under 2000 for a 3*, and almost 4000 for a 4*. That way people can get the characters they want but it's expensive enough not to be a shortcut to success, and you can't use it on new characters for their essential PvEs.