I think this is why IW hasn't been buffed

lukewin
lukewin Posts: 1,356 Chairperson of the Boards
edited March 2015 in MPQ General Discussion
SnowcaTT wrote:
When a character is underpowered, it limits their usefulness, slightly reducing the number of possible solutions to a problem. When a character is overpowered, it limits the usefulness of every other character, and they become the solution to every problem. We can intentionally keep a character below the power level of other characters, like we've done with Devil Dinosaur and Bag-Man, without having a negative impact on other characters.

I don't think a single person would be upset if D3 took time out of their schedule - by say, not releasing a character in a given two-week period - to instead fix characters that need fixing rather than releasing more characters, and further obsoleting those characters that do need fixes.

Other folks later in the thread pointed out that that would have an impact on the business end of things. That's totally true, but we've also seen that improving underpowered characters doesn't have a noticeable impact on any of the ways we try to understand how much people are enjoying the game: ratings of how fun the game is and how likely you are to recommend the game from one-on-one interviews, how much people play in a sitting, how much they play in a day, how long they stick around, how much they think the experience is worth and are willing to spend, ratings on the app store, the mood of these forums and other places on the internet where MPQ players hang out, the feedback that shows up in the mail. If we saw that improving underpowered characters had big effects in those areas, I bet my bosses would choose a short-term loss of revenue in order to get to a game that people enjoy more and stick around in longer - we've made that trade-off many times.

To be totally clear: I think balance is really important. I think it's important in vital and subtle ways that only show up in the game's success in the very long term. I think improving underpowered characters plays a part in the long-term success of Marvel Puzzle Quest. We're going to continue to make balance changes, and just today I reviewed early drafts of changes to several underpowered characters. It's a piece of the puzzle, but we'll probably continue to put the majority of our effort into other things that seem to bring more joy to more people.

I bolded and colored for emphasis. Felt like starting a new thread, would grab more attention. The fact that most people have IW fully covered already, means there will likely be no $$ for D3/Demiurge from buffing her. But they might be willing to buff her/other characters if they saw a reason to, in other factors than $, including sending feedback via ratings on the App/Play Store and comments/letters sent via snail mail.

So instead of clicking No or Ask Me Later, when asked to review, leave a review and mention that they need to buff some of these characters. Even if it didn't get characters buffed, it's not much to ask for, for a shot at getting them buffed.

Comments

  • wymtime
    wymtime Posts: 3,762 Chairperson of the Boards
    I would consider placing a review if the request did not keep popping up right after I started my shield hopping. I will tell D3 right now if I accidently hit uest I will rate you now while I am shield hopping you will not like the review I give when I lose 100 points because your review poped up on my screen.

    In all seriousness I think they will buff IW in the near future. I think they wanted to fix some 3* first since they are more readily available than 4*. I also think as they are making 4* they have seen how OP they can be (Xforce, Thor) and they want to make her usefull but not dominate. I can see her being re-released in the next 30-60 days
  • esoxnepa
    esoxnepa Posts: 291
    That's an argument for X-Force's nerf. He's the complete can opener. Quick damage, board shake, AP gain, AP drain, massive damage, and true healing.

    Or they can wait for those players to hit day 180 for players to spend.
  • SnowcaTT
    SnowcaTT Posts: 3,487 Chairperson of the Boards
    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2 ... 6-blizzard

    Talking about Diablo : you know, a game that you do the same thing again and again, trying to get players to continue playing.
    What do players react most strongly too? Content? Bug fixes? What hold the most value for them?

    Josh Mosqueira: Depends what kind of player you are. Our really hardcore community? They obsesses about the little details like "that changed by 5.5 per cent, finally they fixed that." So that's why we tend to have very transparent communication, letting them know that we're making these changes.

    But I think the vast majority of players, I think when they see there's new content, like for example when we added some new zones to Adventure Mode, we have a whole slew of new treasure goblins we're adding to the game...

    So what have we learned here? Perhaps to keep all players playing - NEW CONTENT (DPD, PVP changes sort of count towards this! New characters - not so much). But to keep your hardcore happy - MORE OPEN COMMUNICATION.

    I mean, really. We have no idea when IF is going to be put into DPD, or if we are seeing the second cover next....how hard is it to release simple information like this? Some data on the character release lately has been a nice step forward. It would be nice if we saw responses to things like the +200 upvote "no more T50 4* release" thread.
  • lukewin
    lukewin Posts: 1,356 Chairperson of the Boards
    SnowcaTT wrote:
    http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2015-03-16-blizzard

    Talking about Diablo : you know, a game that you do the same thing again and again, trying to get players to continue playing.
    What do players react most strongly too? Content? Bug fixes? What hold the most value for them?

    Josh Mosqueira: Depends what kind of player you are. Our really hardcore community? They obsesses about the little details like "that changed by 5.5 per cent, finally they fixed that." So that's why we tend to have very transparent communication, letting them know that we're making these changes.

    But I think the vast majority of players, I think when they see there's new content, like for example when we added some new zones to Adventure Mode, we have a whole slew of new treasure goblins we're adding to the game...

    So what have we learned here? Perhaps to keep all players playing - NEW CONTENT (DPD, PVP changes sort of count towards this! New characters - not so much). But to keep your hardcore happy - MORE OPEN COMMUNICATION.

    I mean, really. We have no idea when IF is going to be put into DPD, or if we are seeing the second cover next....how hard is it to release simple information like this? Some data on the character release lately has been a nice step forward. It would be nice if we saw responses to things like the +200 upvote "no more T50 4* release" thread.

    Agree with you 100% on communication. Funny that the Gauntlet is coming up again, because I was pushing for more communication Why change 3* prize to 2* prize on gauntlet? Streamlined, after the 3*s on the 10 pk fiasco. I don't expect we'll see better communication, but I hope we do.
  • esoxnepa wrote:
    That's an argument for X-Force's nerf. He's the complete can opener. Quick damage, board shake, AP gain, AP drain, massive damage, and true healing.

    Or they can wait for those players to hit day 180 for players to spend.

    This is why it's hard at all to care about words coming from MPQ.

    Actions, words. Words say one thing, actions are saying another. Is homeboy getting nerfed or not.