The Devs Wager on the Furture of MPQ

Various38

I think Malcrof's suggestion is probably one that has been floating around the forums for a while. Admittedly, I didn't think about the timed gauntlet idea, but it sounds like it could be pretty fun. I like the tiered game within the game idea though. It may even need to go a step further by dividing up the brackets a third time for events. Maybe even say that once you score a certain amount of points, then you can be considered a level 2 player. Then another amount of points or something, you go to level 3 and so on. You would only be able to get 1 star players at level one and then when you move up to the next tier you can start obtaining 2 stars, etc.

Raffoon

Lidolas wrote:

TheOncomingStorm wrote:

simonsez wrote:

Cryptobrancus wrote:

What they aren't doing is telling us that all these changes are part of a grand plan and explain to anyone what they are trying to achieve and why these changes help them achieve that.

I don't say this out of anger or cynicism... just being realistic: they can't say it because veteran players would not like the answer.

In fairness, it's always been that way. They didn't tell us ahead time about gauntlet or DPDQ or countless great characters that were coming down the pipeline like Grocket, Blade, Cage, Fist, etc. I still remember the surprise when got a free sentry in the first run of Prodigal Sun.

I think they like being mysterious, or they're just very good at undercommunicating. Truly, they're gifted either way.

I may be wrong (and I'm not saying that ironically or sarcastically) but didn't they try announcing a CMags re-balance would come soon, and then it took months and months? And they caught a lot of grief for it? I think they really don't like saying things that aren't set. Turul has forced their hand a bit with character releases so Ice started doing the Unknown threads.

It took almost a year.

Raffoon

Demiurge_Will wrote:

Lidolas wrote:

I think they really don't like saying things that aren't set.

This. Game development is notoriously hard to predict, and we try not to make promises before we're very sure we can keep them.

(Sorry that I don't have much time today to respond to threads here, but we've been listening.)

Yeah, you keep saying you're listening. Then you keep making changes that people hate.

Spoit

Lidolas wrote:

Cryptobrancus wrote:

TheOncomingStorm wrote:

Let's be honest. A lot of these changes is how the game should have been all along. I certainly wish it had been that way when I was a noob. I think that's the hardest part in all of this. It's the change now. I know speaking from my personal experience, in many ways I feel like a noob all over right now. Although I understand that these changes are in the long term best interest for the health of the game, that knowledge does not make it any easier for me to adjust to this new environment. Let's face it: AP boosts limits, buffs, mmr, nerfs, shield cool downs, etc. We've had a lot of big changes in a short period. I cannot imagine how that kind of change can be easy for any player to quickly adjust to. However, I also cannot imagine that given more time we will all adjust to it and get back to enjoying the game again, just in a new way.

I do however remain hopeful. I remember just a short while ago there was that big explosion over placement rewards for gauntlet and outrage the developers did not come on the forum and address it properly. It turns out that was due to them working on DPDQ. I'm not sure what will come out of all this. But, I'll be here. I may play a more casual style, but I still love the game despite the changes.

I also think they are, from their side of things, trying to improve the game for the most people. What they aren't doing is telling us that all these changes are part of a grand plan and explain to anyone what they are trying to achieve and why these changes help them achieve that. So from our point of view we just see, "Hey all, we changed some stuff, hope you like it!" and that is a complete non-explanation and gives the players no sense that they are working with a plan in mind, just doing whatever over there and we are given the option to either deal with it, or not deal with it. Hard to inspire confidence in the future if we don't even know that they are planning ahead.

The Devs have been a lot more involved than any other video game I've ever played (not that I have played a lot of games)

Maybe I'm still stuck in the 4-6 months of com silence from last summer, but this is nowhere near true. Comparing the amount of dev involvement to a game like marvel heroes, and it's like they're not even here

Vohnkar

Demiurge_Will wrote:

Lidolas wrote:

I think they really don't like saying things that aren't set.

This. Game development is notoriously hard to predict, and we try not to make promises before we're very sure we can keep them.

(Sorry that I don't have much time today to respond to threads here, but we've been listening.)

Sorry but thats ****, X-Force has been like that for a long time and people asked for a nerf, you decided to let X-Force be an unstoppable force even after 4*Thor came out and got nerfed, so people though (YOU make us think) that X-Force was ok for you. And eventually you hit us again and destroyed the character out of the blue...

You've change the MMR, matchmaking or whatever and now PVP sucks too (PvE has been pure **** for a long time with the insane scaling to make artificially dificult and miserable the game for the ones that has been here for a long time). I'm sorry but the game has been fun for the most part, I've amnaged to stay positive around most changes, I left PvE when I saw that even after the 8h resets (good change btw) the scaling made those events painful for me. I sticked to PvP where I could play at my own pace, but now my roster gets a critical hit with the changes, and to top it off you make most chars get more HPs so it will take even longer to clear matches.

Try to keep listening please, theres a lot of feedback around. I'm ok if you want to make the game ok for new people, but tru not to destroy the players that has been around for so long please.

Pylgrim

I believe it is fair to say that game developing is always a wager. This is especially true for games with a continued, ever-evolving state, like MPQ or MTG. Stagnation is a huge risk, should the status quo remain unchanged for too long, people will get bored. That's why characters need nerfing: no matter how many new characters they release if everybody keeps playing with X-Force nothing will ever change, and since making a character more powerful than X-Force couldn't be the answer....

So playing it safe... well, it's safe but also risky. It is a wager in and out of itself that players will tolerate the current status quo for a bit longer. Change is a wager too. Players will riot at the slightest change of the status quo, not realising that it is done for their benefit, even if it is harder to see now. All these changes happening in April are a huge wager indeed, which may be a hint that things were getting stagnated enough that not bringing a significant change would be risky as well.

And yeah, as all wagers, there's always a chance to lose. To over or under-shot. To create a status quo that is even worse than the previous. The good news is that the aforementioned ever-evolving nature of the game means that they can give it another go to change and fix it. Odds are that eventually you'll get it all right. On the other hand, always avoiding change will unavoidable end in doom.