Sandbox Volunteer

TxMoose

all the work that goes into progressing becomes useless and enjoyment from placing/earning stuff goes out the window. unlimted hp (if you hack) means unlimited 40pks until you get the covers you need then buy out the character. my guess is that there are slices where pvp first place isn't too difficult but you'd be competing against coordinated cc hopping, but unless you're coordinating on line with that group, seeing them unshielded will be pretty hit and miss and most of your matches would be against full teams instead of ccs. I can almost guarantee that the big comptetitive, high pt slices would be very hard to place first, even running sandboxed 450/450/290 because coordination/cooperation > brute force. I don't know that for a fact, but just my strong guess.

Heartburn

just cause your sand boxed doesn't mean you need to hack( but can still do it cause why not). As for the sense of accomplishment just cause you have it doesn't mean you need to spend it. you can 1/2 build characters to semi usefulness and win the rest if you so desire. there are so few chances to try out new characters it would be nice to play a few rounds other then the one or two nodes, with a hand picked teams to destroy, to get the feel for them. also not having to make tough decisions on who to keep and who not to keep( one of the most irritating features of this game). i already stopped playing cause my real life friends in my alliance already quit. so those alliance event were mostly always me pulling the other random people who joined, no big lost there i might actually get farther with all the extra progress i would make in sandbox land playing the event myself then my current state and group.

i would probably pay a nice fee for a sandbox like version of the game were the progression, event rewards and winnable awards were 2x-5x what they are now even if im not "competing"( it was only indirectly at best, all game boards are different, bringing different teams to the match, different level, ect.)with everyone else. I only played most events for the rewards. also no roster slot cost/health packs( everyone is healed after fight).

kalex716

Heartburn wrote:

just cause your sand boxed doesn't mean you need to hack( but can still do it cause why not). As for the sense of accomplishment just cause you have it doesn't mean you need to spend it. you can 1/2 build characters to semi usefulness and win the rest if you so desire. there are so few chances to try out new characters it would be nice to play a few rounds other then the one or two nodes, with a hand picked teams to destroy, to get the feel for them. also not having to make tough decisions on who to keep and who not to keep( one of the most irritating features of this game). i already stopped playing cause my real life friends in my alliance already quit. so those alliance event were mostly always me pulling the other random people who joined, no big lost there i might actually get farther with all the extra progress i would make in sandbox land playing the event myself then my current state and group.

i would probably pay a nice fee for a sandbox like version of the game were the progression, event rewards and winnable awards were 2x-5x what they are now even if im not "competing"( it was only indirectly at best, all game boards are different, bringing different teams to the match, different level, ect.)with everyone else. I only played most events for the rewards. also no roster slot cost/health packs( everyone is healed after fight).

Yes but to what end? We need to be honest with each other about how much fun this game actually is, on its own, as a match game. Not very.

The compulsion to play and stay active is completely driven out of the challenges, competitiveness, walls, and community that the game as a service provides us. We get out of this game what we put into it, and thats why its worth playing. You undermine that by going to the sandbox, or otherwise trivializing all the pain points; and you'll so much more quickly realize this is just bejeweled.

TxMoose

actually, an R&D area witch unlimited resources/characters to just play a prologue/gauntlet type nodes would be great - no rewards, just try stuff out. that would catch some of the pull towards the sandbox for some. they need that, especially for new characters.

Monged4life

kalex716 wrote:

Heartburn wrote:

just cause your sand boxed doesn't mean you need to hack( but can still do it cause why not). As for the sense of accomplishment just cause you have it doesn't mean you need to spend it. you can 1/2 build characters to semi usefulness and win the rest if you so desire. there are so few chances to try out new characters it would be nice to play a few rounds other then the one or two nodes, with a hand picked teams to destroy, to get the feel for them. also not having to make tough decisions on who to keep and who not to keep( one of the most irritating features of this game). i already stopped playing cause my real life friends in my alliance already quit. so those alliance event were mostly always me pulling the other random people who joined, no big lost there i might actually get farther with all the extra progress i would make in sandbox land playing the event myself then my current state and group.

i would probably pay a nice fee for a sandbox like version of the game were the progression, event rewards and winnable awards were 2x-5x what they are now even if im not "competing"( it was only indirectly at best, all game boards are different, bringing different teams to the match, different level, ect.)with everyone else. I only played most events for the rewards. also no roster slot cost/health packs( everyone is healed after fight).

Yes but to what end? We need to be honest with each other about how much fun this game actually is, on its own, as a match game. Not very.

The compulsion to play and stay active is completely driven out of the challenges, competitiveness, walls, and community that the game as a service provides us. We get out of this game what we put into it, and thats why its worth playing. You undermine that by going to the sandbox, or otherwise trivializing all the pain points; and you'll so much more quickly realize this is just bejeweled.

I like bejewelled... That was why I'm here in the first place, and I manage to still like it and play it without feeling forced to play it 5 hours a day if I want to progress.

kalex716

Monged4life wrote:

kalex716 wrote:

Heartburn wrote:

just cause your sand boxed doesn't mean you need to hack( but can still do it cause why not). As for the sense of accomplishment just cause you have it doesn't mean you need to spend it. you can 1/2 build characters to semi usefulness and win the rest if you so desire. there are so few chances to try out new characters it would be nice to play a few rounds other then the one or two nodes, with a hand picked teams to destroy, to get the feel for them. also not having to make tough decisions on who to keep and who not to keep( one of the most irritating features of this game). i already stopped playing cause my real life friends in my alliance already quit. so those alliance event were mostly always me pulling the other random people who joined, no big lost there i might actually get farther with all the extra progress i would make in sandbox land playing the event myself then my current state and group.

i would probably pay a nice fee for a sandbox like version of the game were the progression, event rewards and winnable awards were 2x-5x what they are now even if im not "competing"( it was only indirectly at best, all game boards are different, bringing different teams to the match, different level, ect.)with everyone else. I only played most events for the rewards. also no roster slot cost/health packs( everyone is healed after fight).

Yes but to what end? We need to be honest with each other about how much fun this game actually is, on its own, as a match game. Not very.

The compulsion to play and stay active is completely driven out of the challenges, competitiveness, walls, and community that the game as a service provides us. We get out of this game what we put into it, and thats why its worth playing. You undermine that by going to the sandbox, or otherwise trivializing all the pain points; and you'll so much more quickly realize this is just bejeweled.

I like bejewelled... That was why I'm here in the first place, and I manage to still like it and play it without feeling forced to play it 5 hours a day if I want to progress.

My point was progress, is only meaningful in relation to those other things (competition, walls, challenges, and community). If you genuinely believe progress for you, is completely confined to the relationship you have with only you and the features inherent, then I relent... Sandboxing is perfect for you.

cooperbigdaddy

I don't know if I'm the only one, but if I had unlimited hero points, I wouldn't just use them on tokens and beefing up my characters covers. I would just have them to make sure I had unlimited slots. That way, whenever I got a cover, I knew I could keep them. My least favorite thing in the game is not having a slot for a character and having to get rid of them. And I don't need 2 or 3 copies of a certain maxed character. I truly would like to have every character in the game (maxed, eventually) because I earned them. PVPs, PVEs, other gameplay types, whatever. Earning a new character AND BEING ABLE TO PUT THEM IN MY ROSTER is my favorite part of the game. Maybe I'm a collector.

I don't necessarily want to be sandboxed because I like my alliance. I like the casual atmosphere we present and the congrats we give each other when we do something fun. It's fun to be in! But I do like not having to sell a cover because I don't have room.

kalex716

cooperbigdaddy wrote:

I don't know if I'm the only one, but if I had unlimited hero points, I wouldn't just use them on tokens and beefing up my characters covers. I would just have them to make sure I had unlimited slots. That way, whenever I got a cover, I knew I could keep them. My least favorite thing in the game is not having a slot for a character and having to get rid of them. And I don't need 2 or 3 copies of a certain maxed character. I truly would like to have every character in the game (maxed, eventually) because I earned them. PVPs, PVEs, other gameplay types, whatever. Earning a new character AND BEING ABLE TO PUT THEM IN MY ROSTER is my favorite part of the game. Maybe I'm a collector.

I don't necessarily want to be sandboxed because I like my alliance. I like the casual atmosphere we present and the congrats we give each other when we do something fun. It's fun to be in! But I do like not having to sell a cover because I don't have room.

The good news is, your problem can be easily rectified by a very modest expenditure of real money from time to time. And when I say modest, I mean like, 20 bucks a few times a year.

Considering the amount of game time you have to be putting in to accrue enough covers where your problem is a major sticking point, you shouldn't feel too bad about supporting your hobby in that capacity.

Anything other than slots though, and the money required per value extracted is a fools game.

scottee

I think it's funny that progression has become enough of a slog that people would find it more fun to hack to get unlimited HP/Iso and get sandboxed.

The part that is even MORE funny is that if MPQ released a version where you get unlimited HP/Iso and access to all the characters but no alliances, and they charged $20 for it, they'd probably make a lot of money.

XandorXerxes

scottee wrote:

I think it's funny that progression has become enough of a slog that people would find it more fun to hack to get unlimited HP/Iso and get sandboxed.

The part that is even MORE funny is that if MPQ released a version where you get unlimited HP/Iso and access to all the characters but no alliances, and they charged $20 for it, they'd probably make a lot of money.

This thread isn't about hacking unlimited HP/ISO in the sandbox. It's about playing the exact same way as the person is playing right now inside the sandbox. Instead of hoping to pick the right shard, watching top players to queue against, joining LINE, etc a sandboxed player can hit 20-30 point targets all day up to 1K and get the cover. It's about playing the same game, but playing it on our time as opposed to everyone else's time. If I didn't like the people in my alliance I'd have asked for it as well.

scottee

XandorXerxes wrote:

scottee wrote:

I think it's funny that progression has become enough of a slog that people would find it more fun to hack to get unlimited HP/Iso and get sandboxed.

The part that is even MORE funny is that if MPQ released a version where you get unlimited HP/Iso and access to all the characters but no alliances, and they charged $20 for it, they'd probably make a lot of money.

This thread isn't about hacking unlimited HP/ISO in the sandbox. It's about playing the exact same way as the person is playing right now inside the sandbox. Instead of hoping to pick the right shard, watching top players to queue against, joining LINE, etc a sandboxed player can hit 20-30 point targets all day up to 1K and get the cover. It's about playing the same game, but playing it on our time as opposed to everyone else's time. If I didn't like the people in my alliance I'd have asked for it as well.

Oh yea, I got that. I was just thinking actually for myself, it would be a lot funner to run around with all maxed characters so that there's no progression left. But then again, I've heard people get tired of god-mode after a while.

Unknown

You can still play the game legitimately by say hacking yourself 100K Hero Points and use it all to buy roster slots, and then play normally from that point. You'd get sandboxed but your roster is still roughly the same as before except you don't have to worry about where you'll come up with the next slot for the new guy every week or so, and sure it's cheating but I've never heard of anyone claim high roster slot prices is a draw to the game.

I wonder if D3 offer a $10 one time fee to go sandboxed with the option of being un-sandboxed anytime you want (and your account rolled back to the last known legit state), would people go for it?

notamutant

scottee wrote:

I think it's funny that progression has become enough of a slog that people would find it more fun to hack to get unlimited HP/Iso and get sandboxed.

The part that is even MORE funny is that if MPQ released a version where you get unlimited HP/Iso and access to all the characters but no alliances, and they charged $20 for it, they'd probably make a lot of money.

Isn't that exactly what the PS3/4 and Xbox versions are?

puppychow

Monged4life wrote:

What you've just said there makes no sense at all for PvP:

You still need to score more than the 1st player yes, but it IS EASIER because you cannot be attacked by anyone else, so forget shields/shield hops/line cookie team shenanigans/having to time your day around when to play or any of that rubbish, just play when you want without fear of return attacks and every game you play will give you points that you get to keep.

It depends on your personal roster. Can you beat 450 defenses in pvp? If the answer is no, then you still won't be able to get higher scores than the non-sandboxed #1s.

As for the pve side, if you are LUCKY and land in an easy bracket, then yes you could possibly get 3 colors for a new character event. I think pve is easier to reach t1 than pvp actually.

XandorXerxes

Phantron wrote:

I wonder if D3 offer a $10 one time fee to go sandboxed with the option of being un-sandboxed anytime you want (and your account rolled back to the last known legit state), would people go for it?

When I asked Ice about it before, he gave a definitive once you are sandboxed you can never come back answer. Obviously they're allowing some people to come back on a manual basis for this latest round of exploiters, but they're being returned to a pre-sandboxed (and pre-exploit) state, which would defeat the entire purpose of asking to be sandboxed in your example I would think.

babinro

ammenell wrote:

this sounds like there is finally some kind of progression
why is this considered punishment again?

Look at ye old PC games or NES games with the Game Genie and you might appreciate how it could be viewed as a bad thing.

Playing WarCraft 3 isn't nearly as fun when you start every mission with 10,000 of each resource and god-mode active. The initial fun is there but it's fleeting.

It's good if you just want a quick game to play for a couple weeks and put down forever but for me at least sandboxing would ruin the game.

puppychow

babinro wrote:

Look at ye old PC games or NES games with the Game Genie and you might appreciate how it could be viewed as a bad thing.

Oh wow. It's probably been at least a decade since I came across a post mentioning the Game Genie. You sir are OLD. Don't worry, I'm probably in your age range.

squirrel1120

I've thought about this quite a bit myself. The points mentioned above as to why someone might want to sandbox all pretty well resonate with me. I mean I like playing the game most of the time (yet hate the feeling of 'I have to' and/or II need to play right now or everything I put in to the event to this point was for naught'). I've also said to myself several times that if I did go this way, it wouldn't be on my main account AND there would be limits set after the initial sandboxing, mainly because of the previous posters' points about how incredibly not-fun a game can become once you start cheating. I'd still be earning my rewards and progression in the game, I would just rely a LOT less on the silly timers and scheduling. PVE is the epitome of boring and less fun than most thing I've disliked having to do in games to date. I mean, if I never have to square off against a 395 2* Daken again, it'll still be too soon.

There isn't necessarily a *need* to cheat for those looking at the sandbox as a favorable thing. You certainly need to do so to get there, but the reasoning for wanting to get there isn't necessarily even related. You don't HAVE to give yourself unlimited resources, nor to buy yourself every cover.

I'm old enough to remember game genie, as well as other types of god mode devices, codes, etc. I know how quickly a game gets ruined by using them, and wasted many a $40 on a console game back in those days because I didn't like some part of the game and just cheated my way into the end. It was a very hollow feeling for sure. On the other hand, after having gained that experience and not wanting to rob myself of all enjoyment from a game, I've certainly using limited cheats and mods in games to actually keep them interesting. Played Skyrim tons, but very little of it was played without the mod to allow unlimited weight. I didn't find that part of the game very fun at all, and if I hadn't installed that mod, I'm not sure I'd have even finished the story once with my first character, nevermind several times through, not to mention all the characters/builds I started and made progress past the tutorial with.

I think those looking toward the sandbox as a positive thing are probably among that mindset. 'Cheating' to remove a single negative aspect of the game is possible, and with a bit of willpower, probable.

Vinmarc43

Don't need to cheat to get sandboxed, just a lot of iso.
Save it and you will become a ghost.

cardoor

After reading everyone's responses, it looks like one more piece of info might be helpful. I think MPQ does a great job of bringing the marvel comic characters into the game. I like the way each hero can face a board in a somewhat unique way using powers they have in the comic books. However, I would rather play 5 or 6 strategic matches at my slow pace than to blast through node after node hoping for favorable cascades. Since there can be strategy involved in setting up possible cascades, this point might be better understood by saying I prefer a chess game over playing a slot machine.

If you add that info to what I wrote in the OP hopefully you can see how the sandbox is appealing (at least PVP... PVE sounds worse w/o alliance).

Thank you to everyone who responded to my questions in the OP. It sounds like sandbox PVP best fits my play-style, but I am going to go contemplate all the food for thought now... with one last comment that I would not want the unlimited ISO/HP, I do not mind earning the covers or giving money occasionally to a game I enjoy.