Dear Will, You Were Right

Colognoisseur

Tl;dr: The devs have improved the game over the last three months, really they have.

Dear Will,

As promised I am addressing this to you. I was wrong. Back in March it seemed like the game was definitely on the wrong track and I vented on the forums. It seemed like the direction you were taking was tilted towards new players and someone like me who has been here from almost the beginning was being actively pushed out. Three months later after all of the changes have been implemented the game is better for me and I suspect every level. Let me say it again I was wrong and you, Will, were right.
For those who think you might have somehow coerced this admission by holding my roster hostage let me recap the last three months of changes
The nerf of 4* Thor and X-Force were good for the game. That they came together with health boosts for other characters and the inclusion of weekly buffed characters in PvP has made PvP contain more variation than ever. There is a go-to team of Iron Fist and Hulkbuster but it is beatable and not oppressive like pre-nerf Thor X-force was. Now that we’ve played through a whole season plus, PvP has been reinvigorated. Also I still use 4*Thor and X-Force a lot.
PvE has recently been “fixed” with the removal of community scaling. The fairly rapid response to the experiment of events with it on and off; to turn it off for the future was great. It was a quick response to overwhelming desire for it to happen. With 8h refreshes and the scaling that is left being personal PvE feels fun again.
You have also made it possible for a real 3* to 4* progression. With the recent addition of the 1300 progression award in PvP. There are nine 4* covers up for grabs every seven days. Plus the change in points makes achieving 1300 possible. Odds changes with tokens and The Vault add in more chances. The other huge component to this being achievable is the drop in iso needed to max a 4* from 430,437 to 365,896 a 64,541 drop in resources necessary. If you are mining LR’s and playing DDQ every day you should have enough iso to max any 4* you finally acquire covers for, through playing, with the new greater flow.
This was necessary because it seems like you are clearly transitioning the main game to a 4* game. Since March there have been as many 4* as 3* released, five of each. If there is going to be that kind of alternating between new 3* and 4* such that each month we get one of each; that pace is sustainable for a player who is playing daily especially since the iso to max a 3* is now 119,979.
Finally let me mention the last two video Q&A’s. I appreciate the answers given and the changes made. Please keep that up.
There are some things I would still like to see changed but I will save those for the next Q&A you solicit questions for because I now believe I will get an answer.
Thanks Will the game is better than it was three months ago for me.

Sincerely,
Colognoisseur

P.S.: I don’t care what you say Rags blue power still sucks. I have to be right about something.

LXSandman

Agreed!

I think they have done some great things. Especially the changes to the SIM, the addition of 3* and a 4 at the end make it fun to fill the time with.

Good Job!


LXSandman

acescracked

I still think vets shouldn't face mostly maxed teams from the start and maxed teams 95% of the climb. Would be nice if it ws a little more gradual. Yes that means new players get beat on a bit...but what doesn't kill ya only makes ya stronger

I do like the weekly 3* buffed characters.

Punisher5784

I don't remember what you had vented about as many of us vented a lot the past few months but you were not wrong. I feel that the reason the game got better again is because we as a community of players came together to vent our frustrations. The devs slowly started to listen to us, especially with the last Q&A. While everything is still not perfect and there are still some pieces missing or needing improvement, the devs really stepped up lately. I can now play the game at my own pace without being stressed and frustrated. I hope things continue to see improvement with additional new content. Thank you for listening to us.

mjh

Colognoisseur wrote:

Tl;dr: The devs have improved the game over the last three months, really they have.

While I agree for the most part..

Colognoisseur wrote:

The nerf of 4* Thor and X-Force were good for the game.

Yes, but XF was still an overnerf and needs addressing sooner than later

Colognoisseur wrote:

Odds changes with tokens and The Vault add in more chances

Chances are still that, a chance. I am still pulling 1 and 2 golds per 10pk every season. This is unacceptable after a 3* odd increase not once, but TWICE! Bring back guaranteed covers or guaranteed minimums. I vote for guaranteed FOUR 3* or better per 10pk.

TheOncomingStorm

Colog, in fairness to you, the game today is not the same game as 3 months ago. Dwill did have the advantage of knowing the subsequent changes that would bring us the current landscape.

The funny thing is I was just thinking about 4or and Xforce. With all these special tiles, how nice it would be if they finally fixed 4or yellow (I'm talking about since her release) or ever so slightly bump the damage for xforce green. While I think these changes are warranted, I am pretty sure they will not happen any time soon.

I continue to think all these changes are good for the long term health of the game. I think we just have to accept that this game will not have an end game component. I didn't like that thought for a while, but now I'm loving it. Any time I want to take a break for a season, it's not problematic due to the current design. In fact, I've seen a lot of ppl come back from larger layoffs and enjoy the game.

Unknown

yeah this game is better but Venom heroic sub 3 was bad, there's still characters that need fixing, they admitted they wont do PVEs since they dont provide $$$$

Pylgrim

As someone who stood on the devs' side during that period of transition, this is really moving.

But yeah, Rags's rework was an abhorrent misstep.

tanis3303

Pylgrim wrote:

But yeah, Rags's rework was an abhorrent misstep.

But Pylgrim, those are CHARGED tiles! Don't you know how valuable those things are?!

Yea, all the changes looked awful on the surface, but after playing with the new game (because it pretty much is a brand new game now) I find that I'm able to actually play LESS while still progressing MORE. Never would have guessed it, and because of it, I'll have more faith and patience with y'all's design decisions in the future. Keep up the good work!

Unknown

Colognoisseur wrote:

PvE has recently been “fixed” with the removal of community scaling. The fairly rapid response to the experiment of events with it on and off; to turn it off for the future was great. It was a quick response to overwhelming desire for it to happen. With 8h refreshes and the scaling that is left being personal PvE feels fun again.

I agree to almost everything but this.

Ever since the new 8hrs refresh has been implemented, you MAY clear every 8 hours that's true, but at the end of each sub, you need to grind the nodes to 1 if you want to be in the Top 10, that's at least 2.5 hours grinding. Which is 6 additional clears. This is too much.

There has been improvements in the grinding fests though : no more concurrent subs, no more 12 hr subs...

Still...

PvEs take far too much time when your personal scaling is high (a total of 60 000 health team to kill is tedious).

Unknown

"The nerf of 4* Thor and X-Force were good for the game."

Respectfully disagree. Milking the player-base of their $$$$ with OP characters & then nerfing those characters is a common MPQ theme. It leaves us feeling ripped off and scared to spend again (or waste months trying to max out what will eventually be nerfed).

Unknown

MikeHock wrote:

"The nerf of 4* Thor and X-Force were good for the game."

Respectfully disagree. Milking the player-base of their $$$$ with OP characters & then nerfing those characters is a common MPQ theme. It leaves us feeling ripped off and scared to spend again (or waste months trying to max out what will eventually be nerfed).

they said they have no plans to change any 3* or 4* are u suureeeeee you dont wanna buy covers for hulkbust x?

pizzaburger

I also want to say cheers to the devs for listening and changing a few things, thus making the game challengingly fun instead of just plain frustrating.

DDQ is awesome, and I like the vault. I've noticed gold is more available in the game.

I was really irritated with this game in May but here in July, I'm glad to say things are better. I kind of sort of trust you guys more now...

Ok this is getting weird. I'm accustomed to using forums for complaining. being nice and complimentary is just.... i feel like i need a shower. bleh. *shudders*

TheOncomingStorm

arktos1971 wrote:

Colognoisseur wrote:

PvE has recently been “fixed” with the removal of community scaling. The fairly rapid response to the experiment of events with it on and off; to turn it off for the future was great. It was a quick response to overwhelming desire for it to happen. With 8h refreshes and the scaling that is left being personal PvE feels fun again.

I agree to almost everything but this.

Ever since the new 8hrs refresh has been implemented, you MAY clear every 8 hours that's true, but at the end of each sub, you need to grind the nodes to 1 if you want to be in the Top 10, that's at least 2.5 hours grinding. Which is 6 additional clears. This is too much.

There has been improvements in the grinding fests though : no more concurrent subs, no more 12 hr subs...

Still...

PvEs take far too much time when your personal scaling is high (a total of 60 000 health team to kill is tedious).

Personally, I think that's a consequence of pve really being pvp. While it brings a unique feel to this game, I continue to hope for more events like gauntlet, Ultron, and possibly ant man. Events that let me better manage my mpq time.

Wil88

I am going to pretend this post was addressed to me, and came from my wife. It's nice to be right occasionally.

Dauthi

Colognoisseur wrote:

Back in March it seemed like the game was definitely on the wrong track and I vented on the forums. It seemed like the direction you were taking was tilted towards new players and someone like me who has been here from almost the beginning was being actively pushed out.

I missed this vent, where's that at?

I agree to everything except PVE being fixed. It still feels too grindy for few rewards. I am not convinced that removing community scaling will fix it either, and wonder if it will instead make it more grindy towards the top end (top 50 and above). It will be interesting to see the top PVE players opinions once they remove community scaling for a new character PVE for the first time.

I have faith in their decisions since they fixed PVP. I feel it is finally at a place where it is well polished.

Lidolas

MikeHock wrote:

"The nerf of 4* Thor and X-Force were good for the game."

Respectfully disagree. Milking the player-base of their $$$$ with OP characters & then nerfing those characters is a common MPQ theme. It leaves us feeling ripped off and scared to spend again (or waste months trying to max out what will eventually be nerfed).

Maybe a better way to put it: The current powers of XForce and T4or are about where they should be. The game would have been better if they'd been released (or in Xforces case, the first buff) as they are now, instead of being OP and then nerfed.

Unknown

Just have to point out that we haven't seen a comment from anyone with a red name yet.

At least they are consistent.

easy...marc

Unknown

raisinbman wrote:

MikeHock wrote:

"The nerf of 4* Thor and X-Force were good for the game."

Respectfully disagree. Milking the player-base of their $$$$ with OP characters & then nerfing those characters is a common MPQ theme. It leaves us feeling ripped off and scared to spend again (or waste months trying to max out what will eventually be nerfed).

they said they have no plans to change any 3* or 4* are u suureeeeee you dont wanna buy covers for hulkbust x?

LOL, a sucker is born every minute.

Unknown

Lidolas wrote:

MikeHock wrote:

"The nerf of 4* Thor and X-Force were good for the game."

Respectfully disagree. Milking the player-base of their $$$$ with OP characters & then nerfing those characters is a common MPQ theme. It leaves us feeling ripped off and scared to spend again (or waste months trying to max out what will eventually be nerfed).

Maybe a better way to put it: The current powers of XForce and T4or are about where they should be. The game would have been better if they'd been released (or in Xforces case, the first buff) as they are now, instead of being OP and then nerfed.

If XForce is where he should be now then they shouldn't have buffed him into the OP version, wouldn't you say? I'll see you in a few months when some OP character is nerfed.

Lidolas

MikeHock wrote:

Lidolas wrote:

MikeHock wrote:

"The nerf of 4* Thor and X-Force were good for the game."

Respectfully disagree. Milking the player-base of their $$$$ with OP characters & then nerfing those characters is a common MPQ theme. It leaves us feeling ripped off and scared to spend again (or waste months trying to max out what will eventually be nerfed).

Maybe a better way to put it: The current powers of XForce and T4or are about where they should be. The game would have been better if they'd been released (or in Xforces case, the first buff) as they are now, instead of being OP and then nerfed.

If XForce is where he should be now then they shouldn't have buffed him into the OP version, wouldn't you say? I'll see you in a few months when some OP character is nerfed.

I thought that is what I did say.