What do you think will actually happen next?

TheVulture

What do I think will happen next...

No more major nerfs/balances for a while, maybe a round of buffs for older 3*s
I'd say major nerfs will be done for a while (though Kamala is pretty likely to have her green nerfed sooner rather than later), so for public-relation if nothing else I'd predict the next round of rebalances - in a couple of months - focusing on the older dud characters e.g. IM40, Spider-Man, Psylocke.
The devs have often cited usage-level as a reason such characters are "in an OK place", but the more aggressive balance policy + Deadpool daily meaning people don't have to stick with such duds any longer = another pass at them.
Possibly-coincidentally, expect both Iron Man and Spider-man buffs to happen after shiny new 4* versions of each character have arrived and taken the attention.

The 4* initiative to fail
Cannot fault the devs pro-activity in trying to make the 4* tier 'a thing', but frankly they've been sinking like stones...
Outside of the top 0.01% of players & those for whom money is no object, everyone post-Thor has gone un-collected, unloved and - critically - unseen.
As changes, bitter-experience & natural migration cause veteran players to move on, what enthusiasm/money there is for 4*s will simply dry up - how many recently joined players even know Electra & Star-Lord are in the game?
Beyond the disproportionate difficulty & investment required, non-broken 4*s have no role in PvE (offensive capabilities don't scale like NPC health does nor are any 4*s focused on PvE relevant powers) and are being - by design it appears - shoe-horned into the unsexy role of slow, methodical tanks in PvP.
There might be one last hurrah for 4*s when D3 try using them as (post-launch) essentials for a spell, but when that fizzles I expect the currently planned wave of 4*s to be the last for a good while.

Achievements conquer the MPQniverse
At some point the devs are sure to overcome the technical hurdles of achievements, and I expect when they do they'll prove a huge success.
Even if they have only trophy rewards & a point tally, I expect these will be lapped up and become the talk of the boards for some-time - the quirkier the better (e.g. tactics for winning with 1 hero left at 1 health).
If achievements were to have some kind of material or cosmetic rewards (e.g. unlockable covers, costumes or even new character covers at x point thresholds), the sky's the limit!

rednailz

Kelbris wrote:

Also, 3* Thor is doomed

Compare his green to xf's

Well, going by how D3 fumbles through 'balancing' the game- nerf the top, wait a month for whomever emerges on the top then nerf them too I would say he'd be near the top of the list, if not enemy #1. In 3 months beast and bagman will rule PvP

Vinmarc43

I will still play, but with hotter weather around the corner, might play a lot less, but for sure, I am not spending money on this game....ever again.

Unknown

Since the developers have no way of coming through my ipad screen and causing me physical pain, to go along with all of the mental pain... I'm not sure what their next move will be.

Unknown

So, this is more of a life statement than just MPQ.

An online game has the ability to change game balance immediately. Games like Magic The Gathering have to ban cards outright and if you think you're angry you leveled up an X-Force that got neutered, wait until you explain to the guy that just dropped $200 on a set of four cards that they are now banned in the tournament he was playtesting for. The benefit here is that the changes can be made so the entire cost isn't sunk. You still have a 4 star X-Force that blows up a lot of tiles on green, does a **** ton of damage on black, and either heals a lot or damages a lot on yellow (9000 at 5 covers maxed. How that's "bad" I'll never know.)

People are resistant to change. 99% of the anti-posts on here are about "Well, I did it this way, and now I can't." Yes, that's the point of the change. The change is being made so that the long term attraction to players is more attractive then it was before. As opposed to working towards gathering two or three different characters that dominate the world (i.e. X-Force, Thor, Hood, some combination therein), the hope is now that you will have a plethora of characters to build a menagerie of options with. Where you won't spend 75% of a PVP climb playing against the same 3 characters over and over and over again, as many of us were in Smash Hit and others from this season.

To some, the change is good. It represents an opportunity to expand the game. To others, it's taking the only way they know how to play and it takes it away, and they feel cheated and lost. It's perspective. Yes, you likely won't get to finish a game on the john anymore unless the laxative still needs to kick in. This never struck me as a "play for 3 minutes and put it down" type of game anyway. Obviously it did to some people.

Unknown

ShazamFTW wrote:

(...) You still have a 4 star X-Force that blows up a lot of tiles on green, does a **** ton of damage on black, and either heals a lot or damages a lot on yellow (9000 at 5 covers maxed. How that's "bad" I'll never know.)
---
The change is being made so that the long term attraction to players is more attractive then it was before.

(1)How that's bad? One good offensive skill + unreliable healing (due to countdown tile) and defensive skills do not win games.
From fast killer to one-trick pony (similar to yellow pre-buff BP and due to this he wasn't top tier). Just by looking for similar colors - Thor is indefinitely better, KK: One good offensive skill which is powered by great purple + passive team healing, BP, Luke Cage: 2 nukes with great (passive) defensive skill and these are all 3* which required much less resources/time/money.
(2)Long term attraction to players? 4* tier was goal for most veteran players, they devoted their time and/or money.
Now than is clear 4* are not worth effort and Demiurge showed big middle finger to those devoted players for their progress - how this is more attractive than before?

Unknown

Not to mention the fact that most buff/nerfs change what your best spec would be for the character... and of course many people may have passed on the option of respecing in the past, because it was not good, at the time. It just really ticks people off when they do stuff like this. I know they have made me regret at least 3 respecs so far, since I started the game 400+ days ago.

TLCstormz

I seriously think that the developers will come back with "another offer."

Common in business practice is negotiating a deal, where each party names their preferred price on a thing or what you want to be paid for a thing. You negotiate until you meet somewhere in the middle, usually.

What if all of these crazy and seemingly random changes from the past few weeks is ACTUALLY them just softening the blow for an upcoming real system-wide / character change? That is honestly and truly the only way that I can make sense of all of this ridiculousness that has been going on lately..........That they are actually going to nerf characters and buff characters and change matchmaking, but it will not end up being as bad as they previously stated.

And PSYCHOLOGICALLY, this would actually make everyone feel as if they are still good people and developers and that they "saved the game," but in truth............