What is VIP? *Updated (6/16/16)

CrimsonHulk

I've been on the verge of finally championing my Hulkbuster and Jean Grey for months now but instead of getting the last red and blue covers I need respectively, I'm tormented by an endless flow of useless black and green covers for them. If they swapped the legendary tokens out of this VIP deal and replaced them with a generic 4* cover token that can be applied to any power in 4* land I'd buy instantly. As it stands it's just not worth it for me when tokens are so RNG dependent.

Maybe I'll push my luck and suggest replacing two of the heroics with a roster slot increase. Give me these two suggestions and you'll have my $10 every month.

PeterGibbons316

Vhailorx wrote:

"Relative bargain" != good value.

Here you are wrong. Value is not determined by your individual opinion, but what people are currently willing to pay for a good. And currently people are paying much more for much less, so this is objectively a good value.

It may not be a good enough value for you or me to purchase it, but that doesn't mean it still isn't a good value.

Crowl

Mawtful wrote:

It a pity that the rewards weren't updated a little better.

I'd prefer:
less HP (~150-300) but a guaranteed +1 roster slot every 4 weeks, (this gives me some "pocket money" for some daily deal tokens or a shield or two)
no ISO upfront but a guaranteed +100% ISO buff, (this give me double ISO, but I have to remain "engaged" to get it)
no tokens but more CP (~80)

I need to talk a bit more about that last point. The rift between heroics and legendaries is huge, one gives 2* covers and the other gives 4* covers and there's really not a whole lot of overlap in the player base that needs both equally. The other issue is that tokens are a commodity and CP is a currency. I can't do anything with tokens except redeem them and hope I get lucky. With CP, I can choose where to spend it. A trio of LTs is nice, but maybe I still really want OML covers (maybe? is that guy good? I don't know?) or maybe I've decided to save up and buy the last Howard covers that I need. In any case, I'm supposed to be a VIP right? Very Important Payer. Give me the CP equivalent of those tokens and let me make my own choice.

That seems like a much better approach to the whole thing than the shield resupply on steroids that they have introduced (which sadly explains why they have not updated the resupply to dump standard tokens and other trash yet), giving people things that are more flexible and generally useful to everyone, while at the same time increasing how much they play the game at the same time too.

For those who are saying this is good value, contrast it with similar schemes from MFF another marvel-licensed f2p mobile game, one of theirs gives almost enough bios to get an entire 6* character (their equivalent of a 4*) or their cheaper one that gives out 2k of crystals over the course of a month.

Pylgrim

kmaroz wrote:

It's a good deal for me.
Most of people complaining here are actually "senior player" but if you are on the starter position, you might feel different.
It will be a great help for new users. Just think about it on a bigger view.

Actually, that's an entirely separate problem: it's slightly too much for new players, particularly the 2 LTs. Those lucky enough to open a 5* will automatically skip at least two tiers of progression at the cost of facing impossible challenges in PVE due to scaling. It was bad enough that new users could get their hands on the PVE top progression 25 CP, but at least those had already reached a roster and ability capable of playing PVE that much. Now literal day-1 players can access 5*s! That's going to be a huge mess.

VIP rewards should be doled in relation to each player's roster. That way, veterans don't get too little and newbies don't get too much. We've been saying this since they first sent the surveys but as usual, we were ignored and now the game will suffer because of it.

Vhailorx

PeterGibbons316 wrote:

Vhailorx wrote:

"Relative bargain" != good value.

Here you are wrong. Value is not determined by your individual opinion, but what people are currently willing to pay for a good. And currently people are paying much more for much less, so this is objectively a good value.

It may not be a good enough value for you or me to purchase it, but that doesn't mean it still isn't a good value.

We are getting terribly close to arguing over semantics rather than substance. But I will stand by my statement. VIP is a bargain only relative to the regular pricing. And people clearly do pay the regular prices. But people also play slots and the lottery, and other 'games' that are clearly bad values. Sure, everything gets squishy when discussing the price of entertainment, but i think it is entirely possible for something to cheap relative to some other good, and yet still not worth buying. And my post was just stating my personal answer to Davybang's question.

TLCstormz

kmaroz wrote:

It's a good deal for me.
Most of people complaining here are actually "senior player" but if you are on the starter position, you might feel different.
It will be a great help for new users. Just think about it on a bigger view.

Uhm.....no.....this deal is paltry, REGARDLESS of how new / old you are to the game.

PeterGibbons316 wrote:

Vhailorx wrote:

"Relative bargain" != good value.

Here you are wrong. Value is not determined by your individual opinion, but what people are currently willing to pay for a good. And currently people are paying much more for much less, so this is objectively a good value.

It may not be a good enough value for you or me to purchase it, but that doesn't mean it still isn't a good value.

Uhm......again........

Vhailorx

Pylgrim wrote:

Actually, that's an entirely separate problem: it's slightly too much for new players, particularly the 2 LTs. Those lucky enough to open a 5* will automatically skip at least two tiers of progression at the cost of facing impossible challenges in PVE due to scaling. It was bad enough that new users could get their hands on the PVE top progression 25 CP, but at least those had already reached a roster and ability capable of playing PVE that much. Now literal day-1 players can access 5*s! That's going to be a huge mess.

VIP rewards should be doled in relation to each player's roster. That way, veterans don't get too little and newbies don't get too much. We've been saying this since they first sent the surveys but as usual, we were ignored and now the game will suffer because of it.

More or less this! For an older game like this one, with players spread out over many different stages of play, "a little of everything" is not 1-size-fits-all, it's 1-size-fits-none. that's true for character abilities and digital goods purchases.l, and one scaling and PvP matchmaking!

We need more customization options tailored to different needs. So an iso/LT/Cp heavier pack for elder players (locked behind a 365 Or 500 day time gate), and an hp/heroic heavy pack for newer players. (and personally I find $5 much more compelling as an impulse purchase than $10, but that will vary significantly across the playerbase).

tizian2015

kmaroz wrote:

It's a good deal for me.
Most of people complaining here are actually "senior player" but if you are on the starter position, you might feel different.
It will be a great help for new users. Just think about it on a bigger view.

You will see how this help will be a curse. From a bigger view, this will gets you quicker in the position "senior player", where you see the real problems of the game. With a distribution rate of 2-3 new chars you need up to 3000 hp to roster them, if you get them. Then you need about 1 million iso a month to level them. Look in the shop, how much this will costs you in $s.

So, from the view of a senior player, take this advice: Enjoy the game as long as you can, you will hit the walls, we all hit, you dont need this VIP to progress, because progress is punished by scaling (you will see, how this will help you, if you open a legendary token and you get a 5*), the same enemies gets harder when you level up your roster to cover lack of content. Scaling and distribution of new chars is mostly the content you will experience.

This is the bigger view.

mega ghost

I've blown money on this game while drunk before and finally swore it off, and I was really, really hoping the $10 a month VIP package would be convincing enough to sway me while sober, but it's sadly not.

$10 over the course of about a month will only get you:

2 Legendary Tokens
6 Heroic Tokens
9 CP
700 HP
10,000 ISO
25% faster heal time.

I'm going to propose something more meaningful without going too crazy here, something that also won't give VIP players a notable edge:

1) Forget the Legendary Tokens, just translate those two into CP, which can go towards purchasing Legendary Tokens or covers. Let's say 80 CP all-in-all. That's three Latest Legends tokens (with 5 CP to spare), or four Classic Legends Tokens. It's really only an increased value of 21 CP from what's currently being offered, which is nothing. But it's more flexible, and if you want to spend your CP on Classic Legends, you're getting an extra token out of it.

This can be divvied out in 20 CP increments, thereby covering the 20 CP that would come with the purchase, and then three more reward days.

2) 1,500 HP. It's gotta at least cover one additional character slot. If you're adding 2+ characters a month at least let us pay to be able to roster one of those characters.

This can be divvied out in 500 HP increments, covering three more reward days.

3) The ISO should not be a part of the reward days, it should be an additional fixed amount added to our play bonus and it should be 2,500 ISO a day. That would give us 70,000 ISO in 28 days, which is just about what's needed to level up a single 2-star character. If the ISO rewards aren't enough to level up a single 2-star, a tier most of us have long moved past, then it's not worth our time and money. Even 70,000 ISO will barely make a dent in what we all need, but it's enough to make it worthwhile.

4) Forget the heal time. Just increase the max number of health packs from 10 to 20. For those of us that don't grind every node and aim for the highest progression rewards, we'll only even notice the difference on big boss events and the rare PvP we want to be really competitive in.

5) Forget Heroic Tokens, six of those will get me six 2-star Dakens or Johnny Storms. In the 75-ish I'd get in a year maybe one or two would be a 4-star cover, 15 to 20 would be 3-stars, and the rest would be 2-stars. Someone can calculate what the actual pull-rates would be, but you get the idea.

The remaining 22 rewards day should be taken up with 22 VIP Vault Tokens. The VIP Vault could be 80 items like any other vault, except there would be no 2-stars, and no boosts or health packs. And you can't buy more tokens with HP or CP. You get your 22 per vault, and you get what you get. Everyone gets the same vault, no variation in prizes.

The top 15 rewards should include a special 5-star token (like a Legendary Token that only pulls 5-stars), four different 4-stars with a cover in each color, 20,000 ISO, and 1,000 HP. The remaining 65 items would all be 3-stars. Heck, maybe even be nice and make the vault a 60 item vault, and increase our odds of getting one of the top 15 prizes.

Give us that, and I bet you'll get buyers out of nearly everyone that commented on this thread in dismay.

Bowgentle

mega ghost wrote:

3) The ISO should not be a part of the reward days, it should be an additional fixed amount added to our play bonus and it should be 2,500 ISO a day. That would give us 70,000 ISO in 28 days, which is just about what's needed to level up a single 2-star character. If the ISO rewards aren't enough to level up a single 2-star, a tier most of us have long moved past, then it's not worth our time and money. Even 70,000 ISO will barely make a dent in what we all need, but it's enough to make it worthwhile.

Their baseline is 78000 ISO for 99 bucks.

Yes, I would like more ISO in the VIP package too, but 70K for 10 bucks simply isn't going to happen.

Crowl

Vhailorx wrote:

We need more customization options tailored to different needs. So an iso/LT/Cp heavier pack for elder players (locked behind a 365 Or 500 day time gate), and an hp/heroic heavy pack for newer players. (and personally I find $5 much more compelling as an impulse purchase than $10, but that will vary significantly across the pkayerbase).

No, to any gate being based on time played since it cannot be certain of accurately correlating to roster strengths or needs, base it on actual roster strength in some form instead.

Bowgentle wrote:

Their baseline is 78000 ISO for 99 bucks.

Yes, I would like more ISO in the VIP package too, but 70K for 10 bucks simply isn't going to happen.

That says more about how overpriced iso is rather than how much they should be including in any package, also the iso is getting doled out a small amount at a time so it should be getting given out at a better rate since it is less immediately usable.

Polares

Well this one is hard.

On one hand the value of this package relative to other things you can buy is good, but it is true the other packages are over priced, so after reading the description it leaves a bittersweet taste.

I think there are some things that are clearly a I missed opportunity and could be improved before it goes live. Specially the heal faster, heal faster in 4 land and beyond is worth NOTHING, healing times are so long that it is like we are not receiving anything (going from 6 to 4 hours? not a big improvement ), this will just help 1 and 2 players basically. As some other have stated what it should do is give you two extra (or 5) health packs, that would be something. Also the HP we get, it should be at least 1000HP in total, one new roster position! And finally LTs should be CPs, so two 25CPs, and then Heroic should be replaced for 5 CPs. All this changes would make the package far more appealing for both new and old players.

So instead of

10k iso
700hp
6 heroic
1 legendary (2 if you count sign up)
9cp

Something like:
13k (why some days is just 500 iso instead of 1k? All days should be 1k)
1000 HP
2 - 25CPs (LTs), 6*5 = 30 CPs (before Heroics) and 15CPs (I have also upgraded this from 3 to 5) for a total of 95 CPs (also 50+15+9=74 I guess is reasonable)
2 extra health packs a day

If we would be getting what I have described I would buy the package every month without hesitation, as is I might buy one, and see if it helps in that month, but I am still not 100% sure it is a good investment...

Tony_Foot

Could have been interested but not with those rewards. I'd want at least two roster sposts per month for being a vip to free HP for shields. That would be better than faster heal. I understand the reasons for not giving away ISO to heavily but the CP and roster slots is too low. I will pass until they improve those.

Yoik

I used to play World of Warcraft. That was 9.99 a month too. I’m pretty sure you cannot compare the two. The depth and variety of WOW and interaction of other players justified the price I believe. Enough to of kept me playing up to level 90.

I like Marvel Puzzle Quest. I’m on my 912th day or some such. But you cannot justify that price for the current content. The extra rewards are not worth the price. I know there are a lot of players who pay into the game and to them this price is probably negligible and my thanks to them for supporting it. However when I first saw the VIP banner I thought it would immediately create an even bigger space between people who pay and who do not. However I do not think the rewards will make that much difference.

To me MPQ is a diversion. It’s a fun game that I play when I have free time. I’m interested in the characters and the mechanics and as ive been playing for as long as I have they must be doing something right.

I can understand as a business they are looking for revenue and this will certainly generate it. It’s just a shame that the content was not address first before they brought out VIP. You will be paying for the same stuff you get now. Even the most optimistic person should step back and think “ er? “. Because you only need a little savvy to see that the priority for the company is money above all else. This as a player, is a kick in the boat race and then when you are reeling they give you a poke in the eye by offering VIP.

“ We know our content needs looking into, we know there is an iso shortage, we know there are technical issues with some aspects of the game and we know that the mechanics are sometimes a little flawed, HOWEVER! We thought if you pay for all of that which is already in question it would help.”

My 912th day of playing daily reward was a Silver standard token……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. . . . . .

Gmax101

It is one of the most underwhelming VIP options I have seen for a mobile game.

It will generate revenue for the company, no question. I dare say that the majority of the player base, ie, not Forumites, who are playing casually will see this as a nice boost. It is certainly reasonable value when compared to existing options....

BUT it is utterly irrelevant for experienced players, and is relying on the fact that players do not recognise how tight fisted this actually is...

The ISO is barely relevant, as it is maybe 5/6 levels if you are lucky...
The HP is not even a roster slot. So not actually useful.
The CP is nice but not even 50% of an cheap legendary token. So not actually useful.
The tokens are ok I guess, but frankly if I am a VIP then make me feel special. RNG is simply not special. It is still, without doubt, the dumbest method of progression I have witnessed in any roster building game.

So if I am just starting out then it is a nice boost.... I just hope I don't pull a 5*

The have vaults which are a nice mechanic for doing prizes... why is there not a VIP Vault that I can spend my HP in? with juicy prizes or special VIP Cover Tokens that can be used to level up any single cover of the relevant tier.

There are so many interesting things that COULD have been done.... but we end up with a deeply underwhelming collection of gifts that do nothing to inspire or enthuse a player. If anything, being a VIP might actually be more frustrating... Yay I got a Legendary Token.... oh look Chulk see my wonderful Heroic Tokens, oh look Moonstone.

The rewards illustrate how little the devs actually think of the players... e.g. why exactly are there days with only 500 ISO.... and not 1000 ISO. There is literally NO cost to the company, and while 1000 ISO is still not great, there is simply no reason to have this ridiculous distribution. None of this costs them anything... its nothing more than code...

This is simply money for nothing. Which is a great song but rubbish customer engagement.

Alsmir

kmaroz wrote:

It's a good deal for me.
Most of people complaining here are actually "senior player" but if you are on the starter position, you might feel different.
It will be a great help for new users. Just think about it on a bigger view.

I'm trying, but I still don't get it.

I AM a new user (about 3 weeks now), my roster has one 2* champ and I'm working on champing 2 more 2* characters.

What I need right now is ISO.
What I needed one week ago was ISO.

CP and legendary token are pretty much useless. Oh I can get a cool token and decide whether I wan to keep it for weeks (months maybe) or pull some 4* character that I have no slots for. Right, and the chance that I will pull 5* char that will mess up my scaling.

Heroic tokens - kinda cool, but not needed that much.
2* chars - I collect covers for 4 more chars, some of them I can already level to ~70+, but I would need about 200k ISO for that.
3* chars - not that usefull for me now and I don't have slots for any new ones

700HP - Sure, 1 slot for 400 and 300HP left for more tokens or shields.

10k ISO - it costs me more to level my OBW from lvl 86 to 94.


Great deal for new players indeed.

nwman

This doesnt feel very vip like others have said.

Throw in an iso multiplier and increase health pack regens to 12 every day you are vip and then it feels vip.

Current vip program is garbage except that 26 legendary tokens for $130 is much better than 2-9 for $100 (2 offseason 40packs and the cp from 7 to 140 if in a buy club)

The Herald

Just a x1.5 multiplier on iso8 would probably have people throwing their money at them...

madsalad

The Herald wrote:

Just a x1.5 multiplier on iso8 would probably have people throwing their money at them...

I was just coming here to say this. If the iso portion of the VIP package was a multiplier applied to the ISO I'm already acquiring by playing/daily reward, whatever, I would be throwing my money at it.

Dragon_Nexus

nwman wrote:

This doesnt feel very vip like others have said.

Throw in an iso multiplier and increase health pack regens to 12 every day you are vip and then it feels vip.

Current vip program is garbage except that 26 legendary tokens for $130 is much better than 2-9 for $100 (2 offseason 40packs and the cp from 7 to 140 if in a buy club)

See, the ISO multiplier was the thing I didn't want to say.
I DO NOT want to need to subscribe to this game to get an ISO flow that feels like it meets the demands we have. The double ISO week STILL felt under the demand I have, so having them say "Pay up if you want to catch up" makes me feel ill.