How much time do you think the devs spend playing?

MaxxPowerz
MaxxPowerz Posts: 276 Mover and Shaker
edited April 2016 in MPQ General Discussion
Because something tells me if they tried going for a top 50 placement in this new PVE they would either scrap this format immediately or suffer a mental breakdown!

I beginning to get concerned with their insistence on running so many tests that they think this new format is an improvement. Now far be it from me to scold them for trying to make improvements, but I never thought I would find myself longing for good old days. Heck, I would take a heroic event with the worst characters boosted over the current state of PVE.

That being said it was nice talking to you guys but I have to get back to the game, got a solid block of 3 hrs of grinding ahead of me. 25cp here I come!
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Comments

  • dr tinykittylove
    dr tinykittylove Posts: 1,459 Chairperson of the Boards
    I am of the unshakeable opinion that they think we are a bunch of weak tinykitties. We couldn't deal with ultron 2, galactus 1 or Howard's duck army, we wailed pitifully over 2.5h refreshes and their experimental pve format. Clearly, their MPQ prowess and endurance is, dare I say, INCONCEIVABLE.
  • Twysta
    Twysta Posts: 1,597 Chairperson of the Boards
    Play testing their own game?

    giphy.gif
  • Escape2victory
    Escape2victory Posts: 64
    Just enough time to kick the tyres. They need a new UAT cycle which should include event simulation testing using data gathered from this Prodigal Son insanity. If they were to make a few of the team play through the new test cycle against the grind 'bots ...the madness should be apparent. If they don't (already) do this then at least have some people 'planted' in the actual event to provide real-time feedback on the effort needed to keep your head above the tide line.

    Automation cannot simulate mental fatigue, boredom or apathy.
  • Malcrof
    Malcrof Posts: 5,971 Chairperson of the Boards
    They most likely play in the 3* transition range like 95%+ of the actual playerbase (not the forumites, which is a small sample), to see how the changes affect the majority of players.
  • Mawtful
    Mawtful Posts: 1,646 Chairperson of the Boards
    The new PvE format tests aren't being run for our benefit, they're being run for the devs. This new format will become the only format very soon, otherwise they would never have even attempted a second test and just scrapped it. The tests now are to find out breaking point; PvE will become always just a little bit harder than is comfortable. That's the "Pay or Quit" point of equilibrium. There's this whole psychology behind keeping the game unstable in order to encourage more sales. That's what they're looking for now.
  • PeterGibbons316
    PeterGibbons316 Posts: 1,063
    MaxxPowerz wrote:
    Because something tells me if they tried going for a top 50 placement in this new PVE they would either scrap this format immediately or suffer a mental breakdown!

    I beginning to get concerned with their insistence on running so many tests that they think this new format is an improvement. Now far be it from me to scold them for trying to make improvements, but I never thought I would find myself longing for good old days. Heck, I would take a heroic event with the worst characters boosted over the current state of PVE.

    That being said it was nice talking to you guys but I have to get back to the game, got a solid block of 3 hrs of grinding ahead of me. 25cp here I come!
    I don't think they understand the effort required to hit top placements - especially for more veteran players (and how backwards that is).

    But with that said, I really like the new format. The scaling has been much better this time around with the easy nodes actually being kind of easy for a change (still not quite easy enough IMO, but whatever), and the harder nodes not really ramping up to insanity levels as quickly as in the first test. The timing is awesome. I have always played in S4 which ends at 11PM for me so I can do a final grind, then clear a new sub and go to bed. Now I prefer S3 where I can start grinding a new sub after dinner for as long as I want. Usually I'll play at night, get all my green checkmarks, and call it quits for that sub. So far just 7 clears has me T50 without having to care at all about the refresh timer. Being able to play on my time and hit T50 is a huge win for me.
  • Colognoisseur
    Colognoisseur Posts: 807 Critical Contributor
    I think the devs spend a lot of time playing.
    They don't spend a lot of time playing like the small percentage of us in the forums.
    Will said in one of the video Q&A's (Y'know when the devs used to do things like that) that he starts from the beginning again every few months trashing his roster. That is an experience I would love to hear Will talk about how it has changed over the 2.5 years he has done it. (Yeah might as well wish for unicorns)
    About a year ago Will responded there were a few high level players among the devs and I believe that.

    There are many things which could be improved (Communication perhaps? Yeah I know more unicorn wishes) but the amount the devs play I don't think is one of them.
  • Jathro
    Jathro Posts: 323 Mover and Shaker
    My snarky answer is "not nearly enough."

    But in fairness, it's probably more than we give them credit for. Now the type of playing they do... that's a whole other ball of wax entirely
  • Linkster79
    Linkster79 Posts: 1,037 Chairperson of the Boards
    As a part of their day to day work, most probably a lot on the test servers where they can control what characters they have and at what levels.

    For fun and out of work I would guess at very little, after all they have a full time job, most likely a family or a social life and they wouldn't want a game to rule their free time.
  • TxMoose
    TxMoose Posts: 4,319 Chairperson of the Boards
    I'd like to see all of them take a early-mid 4* transitioner (similar to mine) with a handful of 4s champed and see what it takes to place t10/t50 in the old system and the new. and I'd love to see their data and comments. I know some answers are 'business reasons', but putting the screws to a big chunk of the vets just doesn't seem smart. and especially hurts when I'm one of the ones on the short end of the stick.
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited April 2016
    Mawtful wrote:
    The new PvE format tests aren't being run for our benefit, they're being run for the devs. This new format will become the only format very soon, otherwise they would never have even attempted a second test and just scrapped it. The tests now are to find out breaking point; PvE will become always just a little bit harder than is comfortable. That's the "Pay or Quit" point of equilibrium. . .

    This is one of the best statements yet about what is happening with these tests. The new format is here to stay. The devs are just tweaking the scaling down incrementally until player uproar dies down to a more manageable volume. We should all just accept as fact that pve is about to require more time for the same return. The only thing we can do is voice our complaints here and decide what these changes mean for us personally: more grinding, quit, pvp-only, ddq only, etc.
  • JamieMadrox
    JamieMadrox Posts: 1,798 Chairperson of the Boards
    Colognoisseur wrote:
    About a year ago Will responded there were a few high level players among the devs and I believe that.
    When he left, IceIX was the highest level player from either D3 or Demi and he was still transitioning to 4* characters.
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    Jamie Madrox wrote:
    Colognoisseur wrote:
    About a year ago Will responded there were a few high level players among the devs and I believe that.
    When he left, IceIX was the highest level player from either D3 or Demi and he was still transitioning to 4* characters.

    I would be interested in knowing where Ice still plays.
  • chamber44
    chamber44 Posts: 324 Mover and Shaker
    I don't think they play much. I bet they all have a couple accounts - one with all the newest characters and then their "real" one account, that similar to a player that plays a few times a week.

    With the absolute dearth of ISO and 4* covers, I can't fathom that any of the devs who actually have the ability to make significant changes actually play like normal people.
  • JamieMadrox
    JamieMadrox Posts: 1,798 Chairperson of the Boards
    Vhailorx wrote:
    Jamie Madrox wrote:
    Colognoisseur wrote:
    About a year ago Will responded there were a few high level players among the devs and I believe that.
    When he left, IceIX was the highest level player from either D3 or Demi and he was still transitioning to 4* characters.

    I would be interested in knowing where Ice still plays.
    As far as I know he doesn't. He hasn't been on Line (that I know of) in forever.
  • Colognoisseur
    Colognoisseur Posts: 807 Critical Contributor
    Jamie Madrox wrote:
    Colognoisseur wrote:
    About a year ago Will responded there were a few high level players among the devs and I believe that.
    When he left, IceIX was the highest level player from either D3 or Demi and he was still transitioning to 4* characters.

    That is a sorry statement because there was a time when I called out the development team for not playing the game at a high level to understand what the top 10% were going through.

    At that time Will was clearly irritated with my questioning of their playtesting abilities and assured me there were many high level players on the development team.

    It is part of the whole non-communication issue which shows they are so thin skinned to criticism that they have to invent things to justify their behavior.

    It would've been annoying but I would have preferred the truth that all of their playtesting is done in the middle of the bell curve and at the beginning.
  • wymtime
    wymtime Posts: 3,762 Chairperson of the Boards
    Being a small team I would hope you had 1 person who would play a high level PVP, 1 at high level PVE and the rest in the middle. Even if one developer would be hitting 1300 in PVP not even pushing for 1st place which is usually over 2k.
    I feel most of the devs consistently play, but are more in the middle 3* teams and play more PVE then strive for high scores in PVP.

    The devs have been trying to drive more engagement to PVE for months now through new rewards, champion features, CP in progression, growth industry type events, and now play testing new match making and clear structure.
    I would like to know how some of the devs did in the play testing event. I would be surprised if any made top 20 and started the event right away.
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    Well, there are two different issues here. I very much doubt that many devs have personal accounts with high level rosters. Most people don't want to spend their free time on whatever they do for work. That's fairly understandable.

    But we also know from cthulu's various comments while post new character stats that they can easily set up a high level account for playtesting purposes.

    I would bet that they playtest new characters at all levels. But what I suspect they don't do is roster build at a high level. When you can quickly mock up a lvl 270 drax to make sure that he isn't stupid broken, why would you ever bother playing through the 4* transition? So little wonder the devs don't seem to grasp the magnitude of the iso shortage in the game. Or have no real experience with the frustration of a game that requires players to drop hundreds of dollars or wait 6-12 months to really use each new 4* released.
  • Soitswritten
    Soitswritten Posts: 102
    PeterGibbons316 wrote:
    MaxxPowerz wrote:
    Because something tells me if they tried going for a top 50 placement in this new PVE they would either scrap this format immediately or suffer a mental breakdown!

    I beginning to get concerned with their insistence on running so many tests that they think this new format is an improvement. Now far be it from me to scold them for trying to make improvements, but I never thought I would find myself longing for good old days. Heck, I would take a heroic event with the worst characters boosted over the current state of PVE.

    That being said it was nice talking to you guys but I have to get back to the game, got a solid block of 3 hrs of grinding ahead of me. 25cp here I come!
    I don't think they understand the effort required to hit top placements - especially for more veteran players (and how backwards that is).

    But with that said, I really like the new format. The scaling has been much better this time around with the easy nodes actually being kind of easy for a change (still not quite easy enough IMO, but whatever), and the harder nodes not really ramping up to insanity levels as quickly as in the first test. The timing is awesome. I have always played in S4 which ends at 11PM for me so I can do a final grind, then clear a new sub and go to bed. Now I prefer S3 where I can start grinding a new sub after dinner for as long as I want. Usually I'll play at night, get all my green checkmarks, and call it quits for that sub. So far just 7 clears has me T50 without having to care at all about the refresh timer. Being able to play on my time and hit T50 is a huge win for me.

    I hate to break this to you, but that won't be enough for a character release. Youll be lucky to be top 100. I say this because most vets are either just hitting progression and not playing at all. Mr Fantastic rewards aren't going to get anyone growing this at the level required for placement.

    I finished 183 in my bracket only going for ISO and CP for r most part until the final sub. In that sub I put up 40k and got all nodes below 200 points. Yet that grind wouldn't have been anywhere near enough for placement in a release. The amount of time required is going to quadruple. Honestly the only good thing is not needing to wake up and clear in the middle of the night.
  • Nick441234
    Nick441234 Posts: 1,496 Chairperson of the Boards
    I dont think they play at all. They test new characters to ensure they work correctly, and I reckon thats as far as it goes.

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