Was "Operation Vet Purge" a success?

Square

Operation Vet Purge:
-nerf XF
-boost health in characters that don't 'true heal' or AP drain
-MMR 'fixes'
-lower boosts available

Plus earlier greatest hits, like shield delays and so on.

All of this is meant to help to the new player, and maybe it does, but it adds up to punishment of the veteran player. The Gamorra and Quicksilver PVPs have been, simply put, not fun. Battles are extended since the best damage dealer has been taken out, and other characters live longer. End result? More health packs used, and more sniping of people at high levels, since they can't shield jump nearly as well as before.

Possibly this is what D3 wants, just a perpetual influx of fresh blood. Maybe my $20 each sale isn't worth the $5 each five noobs pony up for roster slots. Fair enough. They don't want my business. And that is key, they don't want my business. It's fair enough, loads of companies select their market.

If you're about to quit, this is a chance to let D3 know that they have successfully shut out their longest supporters.

I've paid about $80 so far on this game, more than I would pay for a PS game on it's own. It's because I have played this for 11 months now, and felt it right to pay from time to time, and of course want to use the HP. And I don't think I will be paying from now on. Costs jumped 20% in my country (the US dollar is on the rise), and the game is much more frustrating, and there is no sign it'll improve.

There was an article recently about how the majority of games like this get their profits from a small minority of users, and I can't find the one from 2015, but this one will do:

Swrve research finds 46% of all revenue comes from .22% of player base, two-thirds of people stop playing after one day
http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2 ... pay-report

Do they think that the .22% of the base are the noobs or the vets? Hmmm.

I'll add more options to the poll if asked.

Unknown

I went from a hardcore, daily player, scoring 1000+ in PVPs, participating in LRs, and PVEs to only playing DDQ. The time and money spent building up characters aren't worth anything, knowing that the devs can easily destroy them with the almighty nerf bat.

It feels like a slap in the face and a punch to the gut when you build up a Sentry, TGT, XForce, etc, then see them get hacked to shreds with the latest and greatest update promising fun-balancing.

-enz

esoxnepa

I'm going to ride out the changes for a couple weeks and see where they go.

The nerfs to X-Force and Goddess give me little to strive for. Sure, I'd like to get Fury up there, but it feels like 4* tier is becoming a cash grab and nerf tier. I had expected X-Force to come down a bit, and Goddess not so far, and the other 4*s up to them, but that doesn't look to be the plan.

Basically, they released a whole new game with the health buffs and nerfs. Is this game going to be one I like more or less, I don't know yet.

RWTDBurn

You need another option on there for those who are still playing the same amount (for now at least). My vote would be for "No, but I'm not paying again."

Square

RWTDBurn wrote:

You need another option on there for those who are still playing the same amount (for now at least). My vote would be for "No, but I'm not paying again."

Added, but it wipes past votes, so we should add options sooner rather than later

Square

By the way, if you haven't been playing more than, say, six months, you probably shouldn't vote. You're not really a vet.

<edit>
Did a last update. Sorry, but I need to have clarity on a poll like this.

GrumpySmurf1002

Day 429 and counting (happy Nick Fury day to me!). I'm not going anywhere. As I've said before, the thing that attracted me is "Match-3 with Marvel Characters." Even that is somewhat loose, as the extent of my Marvel knowledge is limited to the X-men and Spiderman movies (and now maybe a Ben Affleck-less Daredevil). Anyway, until "Match-3 with Marvel Characters" is no longer a part of MPQ, I'll keep playing.

The changes they made now alter game play, yes, but in the same way every change before has. Characters come and go, game mechanics change, PvP strategy changes. Sometimes I've been able to take advantage (XForce, Sentry), sometimes I haven't (4Thor, cMags, Spidey).

I will say that the variety in PvP is refreshing. As much fun as it was chewing through XForce/4Thor every 3 days or so on autopilot, this is a bit more interesting, even if it can be health pack intensive.

I completely get why others would seek greener pastures, and I have started to pick up a couple other games in between shielding, but this is still a nice diversion at the end of the work day. And at lunch. And on weekends. And before dinner. And....

babinro

There's been almost no impact on my PvP.
Just need to start earlier and do multiple pushes.

These changes have impacted my LR's a LOT by essentially forcing me to give up after the seed teams because I can't afford to expend resources to climb in them regularly like I could before.

It's also had a HUGE impact on PvE. A single clear in Hard Simulator Sub alone ate up all 5 health packs and left me with 2 retreats to boot. More and more this game is forcing the choice of do you want to do well in PvP or PvE or LR's? Because doing well in everything without watching your hp stockpile plummet from health pack purchases is exceedingly difficulty with the changes.

It's unfortunate I can't do 'all the things' anymore...my game play has been scaled back. But I can't deny that I love the fact that far more of my roster is useful than ever before. It's not all negatives...just mostly negatives

Lidolas

I'm 400+ days.

About 4 months ago, I went casual. I love it. I play about every other PvE and every third or fourth PvP event. I have some alliances I can merc with if I want the alliance cover for any event I do play. It's been great.

I've spent about $350 on the game. My wife wouldn't say it's worth it, but given the number of hours this game and the community I've discovered because of it, I say it is. It's a fun game. I like that it changes and adaptations need to be made. I don't really like face-rolling type games.

OnesOwnGrief

I don't wanna be that guy but a true healer did get a health increase... >.> Rocket & Groot...

Unknown

I was a 1300+ scorer in the Sentry days, a 1200 to 1300 scorer in the Xthor days and a 1000-1100 scorer in the shield cooldown days.
I was going on my 14th month playing the game and had spent somewhere between 150 and 250 dollars on this game total.

I was planning on taking this season off, as I was coming off my 7th consecutive season in a top 100 alliance (top 10 for the last 2.5 seasons). I was getting busy in my personal life and the game was getting to feel like a chore, rather than a source of enjoyment.

I left my alliance and joined a small “holding alliance” for my break. I still played DDQ and would occasionally dabble in the PVP scene when I had some free time.

Then they announced the changes. The MMR stuff made it unattractive to return. It was already a grind to get to 600 or 700 prior to shielding before they messed up MMR. Beating up on little pip squeaks who could never retaliate against me. I often felt “Why can’t I just start at 600? It isn’t fun to get here, it isn’t a challenge. It’s 100% time wasted grinding.”

Well, now you’re getting hit from 100 points and beyond. There was no “resting” point in PVP.

Prior to the change, I could sit at 600 to 700 and be left relatively undisturbed until I decided to start my ascent into the 1000 range. That time is gone. You need to hide under a shield at all times or risk losing all your points and, by translation, your time.

At that time, I was pretty happy not having the responsibility of playing this game as much as I needed to to get to 1000. But I was still open to coming back after I cooled down and started looking forward to playing again.

Then they nerfed Xforce and increased everybody’s health.

When I saw the announcement thread, I uninstalled.

You’ve gotta be kidding me. They know the 0-600 climb was a grind for veterans. What was their solution? Making you fight max teams from the second you start your climb, increasing everybody’s health so that you are playing longer, and then nerfing the only character (left) designed to shorten games.

Nobody wants 10 minute games. This game is a poop break game. No one is going to go to the bathroom for 20 to 30 minutes to get a hand full of games in. Your co-workers will think you died in there…

To add to that, the 3 straight PVEs made me seriously question whether D3 actually liked their customers or if they viewed us the same way farmers view cows. Just keep them healthy and happy enough that they’ll be able to milk them. And when they begin to run out of milk, or if they were never suitable for producing milk in the first place, just send them to the slaughterhouse and bring in the young cows to milk all over again.

I gotta say, my life has been a LOT better since I uninstalled too. I didn’t realize it at the time, but I was subconsciously basing my entire schedule around this game. Not in a neglectful way. I wasn’t missing work or hurting personal relationships. I just would make plans based on my shields. Dinner at 6? Can we make that 7? I got a “thing.”

And if I had an hour or 2 of free time, I’d have to play this game rather than a bunch of other stuff that I could, and maybe wanted, to do instead.

It is less stressful not having to worry about that stuff, I don’t have to wake up early for morning PVPs, I don’t have to stay up late to get my final shield in before bed on late PVPs.

It’s just….better. In every way. I strongly encourage others to consider it as well if you feel the same was as I did then. It’s hard to let go. It’s a routine that you’re used to. But the quality of life sky rockets as soon as you just…release it. Uninstall and live your life.

simonsez

Currently sitting at 400 in PvP, and really don't want to have to play it anymore. That's as casual as it gets...

Nonce Equitaur 2

I like the character changes, but dislike the MMR changes.

I have all the characters. Out of the top ten, only Nick Fury got a buff, and 2 got nerfs. The mid-range characters all got health buffs. The lower-tier characters all got buffs. This opens up my roster to experimental teams considerably.

Most of the changes follow suggestions I made months ago.

The game has more exploits now. I just posted one of them, Quicksilver-Prof X-Iron Fist. There are others. As the devs make the game impossible to play, it's sometime fun to do a computer analysis to find ways the game can still be played. The larger playable roster helps a lot.

Wonko33

actually this has happened already- I left my alliance, toned down playing and haven't spent a dime since the 4thor nerf. ( I was no whale but I must have spent around 150$ altogether all on HP)

After a 2 week break:
I play the DP daily
have only played a few PvP but to about 400-500 (used to min 800, max 1100 in all pvp before)
Only played 2 PvE to progression limit for Kamala and Quicksilver (used to be min top 25 when the rewards were good, got many 1-2 finishes )
I am on day 498
have 62 roster spots
12 166level
4thor xforce 13 covers level 210
15 fully covered 3* (not counting the 166s)

So yeah, I'm not a top player but I would say I am part of the "purge"

Marc_Spector

Square wrote:

The Gamorra and Quicksilver PVPs have been, simply put, not fun. Battles are extended since the best damage dealer has been taken out, and other characters live longer.

I personally found the Gamora PVP one of the most fun PVPs in awhile -- predominantly due to the increase in buff amount for featured character. My Gamora's only level 110 and 5/5/1 (just due to how covers fell), but I enjoyed using her so much as featured that I'm now planning to pour more ISO into her for next time. To that end, the PVP character rotation probably served its intended goal, which was to get me to want to use/level a character I hadn't had much interest in until now.

I do, however, hate the first PVP featuring a brand new character (like the Quicksilver one happening now) -- although a part of that is due to thinking the loaner version should have one cover of each power, if the intention is to show what they're capable of (albeit, yes, at a low/uncompetitive level)

Wonko33

I think the main reason I toned down is because there is nothing to aspire to, no ultimate goals. 4* are a joke and I got a stable of 166 3* , yeah some new ones are ok, but I can do just as well with mine. Also even if there was something I wanted to get, it will get nerfed by the time I have it.

Unknown

I hear a lot of people hanging on till "end of season" or "after Ultron" Will be interesting to run this poll now, and again after new content hits.

Unknown

Square wrote:

By the way, if you haven't been playing more than, say, six months, you probably shouldn't vote. You're not really a vet.

<edit>
Did a last update. Sorry, but I need to have clarity on a poll like this.

Well, my apologies, but I have only been playing for 148 days. One more day til XF Green daily reward. That's not 6 months, so I'm not a vet, but I've spent considerable amount of $ to get covers for my first few 3* from packs, as well as to get my Xhor running, to be competitive, and to be in top5 PvP alliance for the past 2 seasons then finally joined X-men, one of the biggest competitive PvP alliance this season.

I would like to also cast a vote in this poll as well and my vote shall be, no, I'm not quitting, yet, but I no longer have any intention to spend.

I like Marvel. I like Match-3. And I like this game, a lot.
However, these recent changes happened all at once was just too much for many players, including myself.
The most important reason that impacted my feeling would be the importance of 4* being significantly reduced and the difficulty to obtain the covers and the resources require to upgrade them is simply far too unreasonable when comparing to the 3* these days.
I used to spend a lot more time and resources in this game by doing both PvE and PvP and enjoyed it. But I've greatly reduced my PvE activities after seeing these changes.
I do not wish to express all of my negativity regarding the reasons to make me cast this vote in here, but I'll be sticking around with my friends and these cool people in the forum, then see which direction the game is heading to.

PeterGibbons316

I used to have to shield to get 600 pts / top100 easily. Now I'm almost always top 100 without shielding, and can stretch to 800 pts for a 3* cover if it is one that I really want.

So the new MMR is really helpful for me.

snlf25

This is the kind of thread the devs really need to pay attention to. You can't foster this much dissatisfaction among the players who have stuck with you the most loyally and make it for very long. Will there be a third anniversary? I'm much more pessimistic about it than I was four months ago.

Unknown

snlf25 wrote:

This is the kind of thread the devs really need to pay attention to. You can't foster this much dissatisfaction among the players who have stuck with you the most loyally and make it for very long. Will there be a third anniversary? I'm much more pessimistic about it than I was four months ago.

we wouldn't be in this situation, nor would there be this many threads with the same theme, if the devs actually paid attention to all that the vets have been saying.