Why do you SKIP?

Unknown

I'm skipping because my field fills with retaliation options that are well beyond my team.

My top character is lvl 30 Juggernaut & lvl 30 Wolverine, and I've got level opponents fielding 60 Rags or Lvl 66 C. Storm or level 60+ Thor.

Unknown

Because im fat and i need the exercise

Unknown

All of these are valid reasons, and most of them are the result of the poor/limited matching system currently in place. The current skip tax design is classic "treat the symptoms, ignore the problem" on the part of D3. The skip tax is idiocy, and lazy, and further, not how I expected the system proposed by IceX to operate. I had thought that the system would apply a variable modifier to your next match between +30 to -10 depending on how many skips had been performed, never going below -10. This is probably my mistake, but this model is far, FAR superior to the current design, which takes ISO from our coffers because their system is lacking. It properly incentivizes less skipping by providing a reward to those who take on all-comers. It allows those of us plagued by MMR problems to find reasonable opponents. It doesn't actually cost hundreds of ISO just to play the game.

If you are going to charge 10 ISO for a skip, then I want AT MINIMUM - the ability to refresh ALL THREE encounters for that cost, AND the ability to tailor the match rank to only provide encounters that net a particular amount of event reward. Look, we know the matchmaking sucks. That's why WE ARE DOING THE WORK FOR YOU of selecting appropriate matches from the poor options provided.

Unknown

After trying the skip tax in the new lr, I can certainly say that i'll be playing this game only for the pve's.

All my matches were against 100+ lvls, yeah I may win a couple matches but then what, after 3 or 4 I ran out of medipacks and that's it, 0 chance of placing for any kind of token.

I really liked this game, it sucks that they're changing it this way.

Unknown

Combination of 1, 4, and 8 mostly.

I also skip teams with Daken, because I find his animation so freaking annoying that I don't want to deal with it.

The skip tax logic encourages us to "take risks," but mostly it encourages us to lose battles in order to lower our MMR and get easier teams in our queue.

Going into a battle, knowing that I have no chance of winning, watching my team die one by one, just isn't fun. And not fun=not good business.

And this is a process that would constantly require us to lose these types of battles, because the instant we start winning again, even against teams around our own abilities, the MMR goes back up and starts giving us huge, terrifying teams again, and the cycle starts back over.

Unknown

I feel like D3 is trying to fix MMR but allowing the entire playerbase to pick and choose every battle makes that an insanely complicated proposition. And lets face it if they promised us perfect MMR by removing skipping all together there would be riots. This is a compromise of sorts...

Now what I would find really interesting is if event ranking was a separate currency.
Want a shield 100 match ranking
Want to heal your team 30 match ranking
ect.

Unknown

Cryptobrancus wrote:

I feel like D3 is trying to fix MMR .......

What? Where? Really?

Is that just a hunch or did I miss them say something?

Unknown

MikeHock wrote:

Cryptobrancus wrote:

I feel like D3 is trying to fix MMR .......

What? Where? Really?

Is that just a hunch or did I miss them say something?

Yeah, I think they're trying to avoid or postpone having to fix mmr.

Unknown

Or I should say the algorithm that determines MMR for thousands of players (many of which have figured out how to game the system through tactical use of skipping and tanking) sounds complex enough that I don't envy the task of "fixing" it so everyone is happy with the results.

Fixing it so every match *I* see is exactly what I want may break it for hundreds of others.

The skip tax seems like an attempt to get player behavior to fit the algorithm better. Which is one way to reach the end goal of player and MMR actually matching up properly.

And over the last several weeks I recall several tweaks along the way dealing with MMR some of which did make it much worse briefly. So as I see it yes they are trying to improve MMR, which will likely be a never ending continuous process and some people will complain every step, tweak, and adjustment along the way.

Unknown

A good match for you is almost certainly a very bad match for the person on the receiving end. It's not possible to always show you the good matches, because then the system has to show good matches for your opponents, which would be terrible matches for you when you got smacked for -40 repeatedly.

Honestly people are really saying "can I have all cupcake opponents on my way to climb the ladder?' Sure, the system can actually do that, except you'd also be the cupcake for someone else, and you'd still never get anywhere if you don't have a roster to back up your rating.

Unknown

Phantron wrote:

Honestly people are really saying "can I have all cupcake opponents on my way to climb the ladder?' Sure, the system can actually do that, except you'd also be the cupcake for someone else, and you'd still never get anywhere if you don't have a roster to back up your rating.

There is a world of difference between having all "cupcake" opponents versus now, where you can get one set of underleveled that lead to a set of opponents all 10 to 30 levels higher than you. Realistically, they need to bracket in level groups rather than some mystery number. As it stands, I just had to stop playing at one point and let the skips refresh (they do after some time) because my SHIELD vs. was full of attackers who were level 60+. I'm sorry, but I was the cupcake there, served up by the broken matching system with my team of two 20's and one level 6.

The PvP is broken as hell, skipping was the only saving grace for the lower end people. Shame the higher end used it to cherry pick and now we all pay.

My proposal: If the group is base 10+ levels higher, free skip. If they are the same, then do the +30/+20/+10/-10, and if they are 10 levels under, free skip but max one "cupcake" per board of 3.

Unknown

I think the skip bonus should regenerate after a while. if you skip a bunch and cant find a proper opponent, you should be able to leave for an hour and be able to skip when you come back.

It doesnt make sense to force someone who has 0 ISO to fight a match they know they can't win. you are basically asking that person to stop playing the tournament.

Unknown

Levels just don't mean much as you improve your roster. Especially at the level of Spiderman versus Spiderman mirror matches, level 141 means practically nothing when the other side never gets to move again after 10 turns. I was fighting level 141X3 teams when my highest character was level 99, and there wasn't anything particularly harder about these teams. It just takes longer and if you have Patch, you're talking about 2 or 3 turns longer. The only exception is if the level 141 is also the featured character, but if you see a level 141 Magneto or Psylocke, then yeah spending 10 iso to avoid that team that can literally wipe the floor with you is a very good idea.

Eddiemon

MikeHock wrote:

Cryptobrancus wrote:

I feel like D3 is trying to fix MMR .......

What? Where? Really?

Is that just a hunch or did I miss them say something?

Ah you're one of those people who feels that they should 'fix' MMR before actually getting any data from you on what you can and cannot beat. How do you expect them to fix it exactly?

Unknown

The main reason I skip is because I want to play the game. Once I run out of health packs, and I lose a match or two, I'll have to wait for timers to allow me to continue playing. If I play the matches I think I can win, I have a better chance of not being shut out of the game. If I play every match that gets thrown at me, I'll end up having zero fun watching my team get killed, and then I'll get locked out of playing the game. Lose-lose scenarios don't seem like the best deals to me. I don't really care about getting top tier rewards; I'm happy slowly leveling up my team and getting cards randomly through earned recruit tokens.

From reading through these comments, it seems like my agenda in playing the game is just going to make things worse for everyone here (sorry!). You guys seem to enjoy the competitive aspects of the game and the top tier rewards you can get. I would, of course, like those rewards, but I feel like earning those are more like end game content and I haven't been playing long enough to be in the running for that stuff just yet. I'm plenty happy playing PVE, but because there isn't too much of that, so I come over to MMR.

I'm not sure if this helps the devs. I just really love Puzzle Quest and I love Marvel. Putting those two things together is amazing, and I just want to enjoy the gameplay. If skipping matches means that I can play longer, that's what I will do. If more PVE is added, I'll get out of everyone's way and stop making a mess of things in MMR.

Unknown

carcusgod wrote:

The main reason I skip is because I want to play the game. Once I run out of health packs, and I lose a match or two, I'll have to wait for timers to allow me to continue playing. If I play the matches I think I can win, I have a better chance of not being shut out of the game. If I play every match that gets thrown at me, I'll end up having zero fun watching my team get killed, and then I'll get locked out of playing the game. Lose-lose scenarios don't seem like the best deals to me. I don't really care about getting top tier rewards; I'm happy slowly leveling up my team and getting cards randomly through earned recruit tokens.

[. . .]

I'm not sure if this helps the devs. I just really love Puzzle Quest and I love Marvel. Putting those two things together is amazing, and I just want to enjoy the gameplay. If skipping matches means that I can play longer, that's what I will do. If more PVE is added, I'll get out of everyone's way and stop making a mess of things in MMR.

Yes, this, exactly. Games you can't actually play are no fun.

Unknown

Not worth enough points.

Unknown

carcusgod wrote:

I'm not sure if this helps the devs. I just really love Puzzle Quest and I love Marvel. Putting those two things together is amazing, and I just want to enjoy the gameplay. If skipping matches means that I can play longer, that's what I will do. If more PVE is added, I'll get out of everyone's way and stop making a mess of things in MMR.

+1 to this entire post and this specifically.

Unknown

Max Mag with Max Punisher = skip. I might be able to do it, but I don't feel like having my **** in pain by the time I'm done. And it's a waste of time cuz I'll undoubtedly have to heal up afterwards and possibly waste a health pack or two. For 25 points? Pass.

Max Mag with high level Patch. Another potential **** pain scenario.

Other than that, I'll consider other teams, after deciding what strategy I could use and what my odds are of coming out without too much cursing.
So to sum up, if it's a fight I'm likely to lose, I won't do it. If it's pukey points, I hesitate to do it. If I feel like just getting in a quick match for fun and don't feel like putting in effort and having to think, I'll likely pass.

Unknown

Basically the last several posts.

You cannot have a fun and competitive game where you want the player to face harder and more ever challenging opponents until they break, and have a health system that punishes you for losing.

It does not benefit the majority of the player base and you will not make up whatever "dream up in the clouds revenue" from the hardcore elitists than you will from the casual player base. You will not even be able to keep most people interested in a game going this direction.

If the answer to your question is to lose matches and therefore stop playing for several hours/rest of the day, get a better question because this is not the road to success.

EDIT: I have stated my anti health pack scenario in a few threads now (Free healing after every match except for downed characters, health packs revive) so it should be fairly known. To show I am not a one trick idea man, how about this one. Each PVP event resets your MMR to base zero, each instance or MMR is specific to that tourney only, and now MMR is more volatile. You win it scales fast, you lose it drops fast, the people who deserve to have tougher matches will see other people with comparable rosters in short order. This fixes the need for tanking, the different PvP events where you have a limited roster or a non leveled buffed hero, seeing the same 5 people through skipping. Newbies would get hammered initially once or twice then even out appropriately.