5* democratization, 6*s? 2016 crystal ball thread

Vhailorx

The 4* tier is currently approaching 30 members. Assuming that the 3* and 4* tier will end up at roughly the same total size, the tier will be full in approximately 5 months. And by that time, the 5* tier will have 12ish members. (not counting any special releases for civil war, Dr. Strange, other other multi-media tie-ins).

So some time arround the third anniversary, the game will be due for another shakeup. 4* will need a true ddq-style building mechanic, 5*s will need to become event rewards, and 6*s (or equivalent) will have be rolled out as a new trophy-class reward for the super whales.

How do people think demiurge will democratize the current end-game characters for the masses? Expand 4*ddq? More 4* placement/prog covers? A new daily event a la few for 4*s with 5* rewards? PvP leagues?

Sure, these changes are still a ways off, but they are definitely coming and the current game format is getting a little stale (as someone else said, we still have a reward structure largely designed for a 3* meta despite having a 4* end game). So predicting/suggesting new mechanics might be fun.

gigatilburg29

This is easy, once around 40 4* will exists they will do the following:

- The will introduce a new feature called "godly champions"
- They will nerf the 4* so the boosted characters cant compete with 5*.
- With the new feature you will have to collect addition 100 covers per characters to bring them to a level before the nerf.
- Rewards systems will stay the same based on 3*
- ISO shortage will get bigger and bigger

Polares

Man I hope you are wrong and we don't have 12 5s in six months time (I don't even have one cover maxed after six months!!!! imagine having to max 6 more!). But yeah the end of the 4s is approaching fast, and I don't think just adding layers (6s, 7s, etc) is going to fix anything. They have released 4s too fast, they have burnt their own gold machine

First they need to undo what they did in the last months and base progression in performance and not just luck and money. Then, I think the only hope we have for the game is adding more game modes, as I said, I don't think new layers is going to help (new layers would make the game impossible for new players for example).

Iso it is also something they need to fix

I guess we will have soon 4s PvPs, it is the only way of making this new transition to 5s. So you will need to chose between the actual 3s PvP or 4s PvP, or maybe they will run them together, who knows...

Crowl

Polares wrote:

I guess we will have soon 4s PvPs, it is the only way of making this new transition to 5s. So you will need to chose between the actual 3s PvP or 4s PvP, or maybe they will run them together, who knows...

If they do split up pvp, I would hope that people would have to choose which one to enter as otherwise it would just mean that 5* rosters hoovering up the rewards in both events and not solving the problem for 3-4* transitioners yet again.

GrimSkald

Here's the thing - the game really isn't set up to get another tier. At least not yet - maybe in another year or two - but right now another tier (with it's corresponding even lower rarity,) will only have any appeal to somewhere around 1-3% of the gaming population. Sure, they're the ones who spend the most money, but that won't keep the game afloat.

I suspect what is more likely is they will find a way to change up the character distribution so they can open up the existing tiers. Lets face facts, there are tons of potential characters out there so they can keep adding new characters until the cows come in. It would be more to their benefit to change the game to allow them to double the existing tier size (for example, by giving the players more control over the characters they draw,) than to create a new tier that doesn't really add to the game's sustainability.

Vhailorx

I don't see how adding more characters to the 3* and 4* tier will solve the problem grimskald. If new 3*s are in par with the existing characters, then the vets will just shrug and keep using iron fist and cyclops. Same with the 4*s (iceman, rulk, cyclops etc). And if the new characters are more powerful, then vets will just complain about power creep.

So beyond a certain number of characters, adding tiers is the only way to keep growing the game. They are just controlled power creep. So demiurge will make the earlier tiers easier to get, and then add on a new uktra-rare tier at the top. The problem is that they might add a new tier without making the old tier sufficiently easy to get (as they did in September 2015.)

wirius

I imagine they'll think of something good. It needs to happen too. After I maxed out my first 4*, I realized the continued reward vs. effort just didn't pay off anymore. Once the game's 4*s obtainment and leveling becomes more like the 3* level I'll come back to play. As of now its not fun or rewarding so I even stopped doing DDQ.

Eec411

I think they should replace ISO rewards with cover equivalents.

100 ISO reward replaced with standard token
250 ISO reward replaced with heroic token
1000 ISO replaced with legendary token or 25 command points

Create a rare token with 3/4 star characters possible and replace 500 ISO reward with this token

This makes the tier transition easier and provides the ability to luck into bonus ISO if you sell off the cover.

They should also look at adding a season layer around pve. Just bonus rewards for participating in those events.

Calnexin

I don't think they're going to add another tier. At some point in the future maybe, but at this point most of the playerbase would view that as jumping the shark.

I also don't think they're going to anything to catch up newer players or even out the 4* transition. While frustrating to the middle class of the game, it's likely managing to retain play, and possibly convert a few players into paying customers.

For freshness, I'd guess they will open up "elite" tiers in both PvP and PvE. They'd have better benefits - more iso, higher level covers, maybe that shot at a 5* progression/placement reward. Events will be the same except the competition is even more fierce, to justify the rewards.

It would be in keeping with the "rich get richer" rubric that's in play, plays to the elite, but also possibly serves as a boon to the lower tier players, because the big boys will be shunted off into special-category land and no longer be in competition with the rank-and-file.

Jam_Adams

My prediction:

at some point, MPQ will reach its end-life. Devs will do all they can, add/edit/blackmagic, and milk for all it's worth. but at some point, returns diminish on the game. updates for MPQ will therefore end, and subsequently MPQ2 will be released.

I don't think this happens in 2016. 2018 maybe?

loroku

Vhailorx wrote:

Assuming that the 3* and 4* tier will end up at roughly the same total size

I disagree with this assumption. There's no reason to think they won't continue to pump out 4* characters, nor that there would be an upper bound to the total any time soon.

Given their track record, I assume: no new tier, continue to release 4*s with some 5*s well into their 3rd year. Very few other changes. No additional game modes. Maybe another boss at some point.

I'd be quite surprised if we got anything different than the status quo for all of 2016. The underlying game mechanics won't support much more.

TxMoose

and I'm not sure how much more of 'the same' the player base can withstand. if it really is nothing but more of the same in to Q3 and 4*s blow past 40 with no end in sight, that'd do a lot to thin the ranks out near the top I imagine.

Vhailorx

Ioroku,

I have articulated why I think that the tiers will all cap somewhere around 40 or less (because player enthusiasm for yet another member of the same tier wanes unless there is power creep, and players also hate power creep within a tier). So there is at least one reason to think that there is an upper bound. Is my thinking wrong?

I think my position is both logically sound and supported by the existing data (player's discussion of the 3* meta around this time 1 year ago, and demiurge's decision to switch the meta to 4*s and roll out 5*s).

I haven't seen anyone in this thread articulate a strong counterargument. Am I overlooking something? Or are people just reluctant to accept that a new tier is inevitable (i swear I had this exact discussion about 5*s around this time last year)?

NickHewitt12

I think adding a non-luck way to receive 5*s, which while probably widely received as positive, would absolutely alienate the super whales and the buyer's clubs which are spending thousands upon thousands to have a stranglehold over the other players. That being said, there's definitely a mass exodus happening due to pull rate frustrations which has become evident in Line chats, so it may be a case of "damned if you do, damned if you don't".

TxMoose

the problem is that we are nearly 3/4 of the way through the 4* releases and the event rewards are still geared towards 3* progression rates - mainly the iso, but placement cover rewards too, and also ddq. on ddq - 1 of 5 days is not sufficient when about the same time during the 3* roll out they implemented 3* ddq - every day. the 4* ddq really needs to be every other day at this point, and there desperately needs to be a vehicle to increased iso for those working on 4*s/5*s.

just a thought @ Nicholas - what if they set a 5* cover at 2K in pvp? can you imagine the point inflation in pvp then? I'd spend a crapload of hp hopping for oml yellow and black. I'd also spend some for phoenix, but she's starting from 1 cover at this point.

carrion_pigeons

The game's current trajectory is not sustainable. We've all probably seen a few similar F2P games go the way of the dinosaur because of monetization issues before.

MPQ lives or dies based on the sense of progress it instills. Once a metagame solidifies, people stop whaling, and the whole thing starts to collapse. We saw it in the 3* meta, we're seeing it in the 4* meta. A new tier is inevitable. The question is whether they're going to do enough to bring up all of us scrubs too, so the whales have someone to stand on.

Mawtful

All good things must come to an end.

As others have already pointed out, the game has stagnated on a fundamental level but continued to seek growth/expansion which cannot be sustained. We've also already gone past the point where those fundamentals could be changed without too much disruption. Now, it would be better to let MPQ die and put all those changes into whatever comes next.

gigatilburg29

The championing is a prime example of pushing the day the mpq will day forward a little bit.

The feature is just a way to continue grabbing more covere thats all, it has no other meaning. It did not enhance the gameplay, this game is dying. Only 2 game modes (not counting prologue and dd) is just not enough in addition as these modes are broken from the beginning.

Crowl

Judging by the way things tend to go, they will introduce more features that are designed to milk the whales and other stuff that will further disillusion and alienate the more regular users.

fmftint

Which Wolverine will occupy the 6☆ tier? Movie style? Feral? Bone claws? Original appearance? Naked Weapon X?

babinro

The game does feel as though it's reaching a reasonable endpoint.

Rather than go to 6* tier I'd like to see them elevate other tiers to higher levels so that all tiers are effectively equal. Take the core idea of championing and expand on it.

Using Classic Storm as an example:
- Level max to 94
- Champion (ISO Cost)
- Level through classic storm covers to new max at 144
- Unleash (HP Cost)
- Level through ????? covers to new max at 266
- Master (CP Cost)
- Level through ?????? covers to new max at 370
- Legendary (CP, ISO and HP Cost)
- Level through ??????? covers to new max at 550

I know a lot vets hate Balance of Power and wouldn't stick around to max out everyone but this feels like an appropriate direction to take the ultimate end game.