SHIELD Rank. Too little, too late?

san

Hi all,

I've been a forum regular for quite some time here, and have played MPQ for longer than that. I may even be in the "vet" category, judging by the fact that I was instantly given rank 65 in SHIELD, as well as played the game for just over 2 years (see roster for san.). Over the last couple of months, I've put MPQ on the back burner. Prior to that, I was playing fairly regularly, and was part of several amazing alliances (latest being BCats).

Alright, now that the cred is established, here's what I have to say.

Reason for my (semi) retirement was burnout. I don't think I need to explain that to anyone that plays this regularly. Since, I've played mostly DDQ... actually, almost exclusively, though I did dabble in some PVP, I suppose. When I saw SHIELD rank, I really wanted it to work. It sounded so amazing. Until...

Well, I got my 850K +change ISO, and I boosted a couple of 4*s to 270 status. That said, I already had the main ones that anyone cares about (Ice, HB, JG, RHulk, DP, Cyke, Thor, etc) at that level. The rest, for the most part, are inconsequential (Elektra, XFW, lol...), other than poorly covered new ones (i.e. Peggy). My OML is at 3 covers, JG5 at 10 and already max level for her covers. Neither have moved up in covers over the past 5-6 months (curse you RNGeesus!). The other 5s are poorly covered and the reward is < effort. Now, I sit on some 500K ISO, with very little incentive to use it on the 4s, which are almost obsolete (3s even more so). I have very little to play for, and really only enjoy the 4* 1:1 fights.

I would have enjoyed the SHIELD ranking system in my earlier playing days. It seems fun. It adds a level of excitement for new and intermediate players. However, it does very little for me now, and I do feel that it is a bit too little, too late. I am sure I am not the only one in this boat (yacht? cruise ship? transatlantic cargo vessel?), and am wondering what others think. Comments?

San

Rodolfo78

Sounds like you'll be more interested in the next phase of this project. Tiered rewards, accessed based on rank, are in theory what addresses problems like yours. If that underwhelms you, well, you might be out of luck!

IamTheDanger

A few weeks ago I posted that I still believe in Demiurge. That the game is constantly changing. On monday, my faith was rewarded.

Don't give up on the devs yet. We still have the S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance levels coming.

mpqr7

I'm in a similar boat. I used my SHIELD ISO to champion Miles, Spider Gwen and X23, since I've already champed the top 4*s a while ago.

I then went and hit 1300 in pvp, opened a LT for 20 cp and won Prof X...

But I do like this new achievement system... I'm hopeful that the Clearance Levels offer something more than what I seem to have lost from receiving gifts.. still not sure if that's a bug or a stealth nerf. I hope that it's a bug they fix soon. And yes, I have posted about it in the bugs forum and also sent CS a ticket.

wymtime

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

A few weeks ago I posted that I still believe in Demiurge. That the game is constantly changing. On monday, my faith was rewarded.

Don't give up on the devs yet. We still have the S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance levels coming.

I am excited about this item too, but I also have some concerns. If we go to a system of 3*, 4*, 5* PVP rewards what will this look like? Top placement for 3* PVP might be 800 points. 4* and 5* might be 3000+ points. For players who are struggling to get 4* and they go into a 4* PVP they might start seeing max 4* under 400 points just because there are so few 3* players playing.

Then again these changes might be PVE based compared to PVP. Either way I want it to be successful, but i am cautiously optimistic. I am really hoping more details come out this week.

dsds

wymtime wrote:

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

A few weeks ago I posted that I still believe in Demiurge. That the game is constantly changing. On monday, my faith was rewarded.

Don't give up on the devs yet. We still have the S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance levels coming.

I am excited about this item too, but I also have some concerns. If we go to a system of 3*, 4*, 5* PVP rewards what will this look like? Top placement for 3* PVP might be 800 points. 4* and 5* might be 3000+ points. For players who are struggling to get 4* and they go into a 4* PVP they might start seeing max 4* under 400 points just because there are so few 3* players playing.

Then again these changes might be PVE based compared to PVP. Either way I want it to be successful, but i am cautiously optimistic. I am really hoping more details come out this week.

I would think your shield rank would lock you out if you lack the roster strength for it. I guess in theory, if you play enough pve and keep leveling 2* and 3*, you could technically get a higher rank than your roster, but that would be very rare. On a positive note, 4* pvp events probably offer more rewards, so even if you were only able to beat 1 or 2 fights, those rewards would not equal the rewards of 3* pvp.

Let's face it there will be some people at the bottom of events, there's no way to avoid this. If you are at the bottom, you don't stay there forever. Progression is slow but if the rewards are going to better, it might not be as slow.

Meander

I honestly have felt this way as well. I finished my 2* and 3*, champed Star Lord (mostly ragechamp to not get skunked on pulls, and had 3 in q), and brought some 4* up to 120 in anticipation of DDQ matches, but all of it rang hollow. It's not OML covers or the last phoenix cover I need. It's not the last Peggy cover I need. It's nice, but it did nothing for my progression. I'm holding out to see part 2, but as long as my personal pull rate is stuck in a rut (1/40 lately) then I'm hanging on by a thread.

TxMoose

might be too little too late for you because you already disengaged. for those nearing that point, this likely helps keep them around a bit longer, especially to see what phase 3 is like - coming in the next update. if that is done right, I think it will help retention a lot. if not, won't make any difference at all.

Spiritclaw

I like what they are doing to improve the game. It seems like every time I start thinking "this is a problem with the game, and maybe I should quit" they come out with a solution within the next few weeks. It's not usually the solution I envision, but it almost always addresses my concerns and I keep playing. Seems to me that they are doing good work, and I'm looking forward to the clearance level stuff.

GrumpySmurf1002

The only time I've really experienced burnout with MPQ is whenever I've played PvE competitively. Even with the new system, it's really draining to play that repetitively for that long each day. There's like a week recovery period for me every time I play one, where I don't want to really play much (but still do, because PvP and DDQ are still fun).

This feature is great, and I haven't even spent the Iso yet. It makes it feel like you're always working towards something, even if it's just Iso plus whatever R109 brings. I don't think it changes my feeling on the game as a whole right now, however, as the above is still all too likely at any given moment.

TxMoose

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

The only time I've really experienced burnout with MPQ is whenever I've played PvE competitively. Even with the new system, it's really draining to play that repetitively for that long each day. There's like a week recovery period for me every time I play one, where I don't want to really play much (but still do, because PvP and DDQ are still fun).

This feature is great, and I haven't even spent the Iso yet. It makes it feel like you're always working towards something, even if it's just Iso plus whatever R109 brings. I don't think it changes my feeling on the game as a whole right now, however, as the above is still all too likely at any given moment.

you just described where I've found myself. wish I realized how effective cycles of tanking could be sooner. now its likely coming to an end. one last hurrah for me (maybe)

Dragon_Nexus

TxMoose wrote:

might be too little too late for you because you already disengaged. for those nearing that point, this likely helps keep them around a bit longer, especially to see what phase 3 is like - coming in the next update. if that is done right, I think it will help retention a lot. if not, won't make any difference at all.

Wait, was that a typo? What was phase 1?

GrumpySmurf1002

Dragon_Nexus wrote:

TxMoose wrote:

might be too little too late for you because you already disengaged. for those nearing that point, this likely helps keep them around a bit longer, especially to see what phase 3 is like - coming in the next update. if that is done right, I think it will help retention a lot. if not, won't make any difference at all.

Wait, was that a typo? What was phase 1?

The devs referred to this as part 1 and 2. Not sure why persay, but this was part 1 and 2.

TxMoose

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Dragon_Nexus wrote:

TxMoose wrote:

might be too little too late for you because you already disengaged. for those nearing that point, this likely helps keep them around a bit longer, especially to see what phase 3 is like - coming in the next update. if that is done right, I think it will help retention a lot. if not, won't make any difference at all.

Wait, was that a typo? What was phase 1?

The devs referred to this as part 1 and 2. Not sure why persay, but this was part 1 and 2.

my assumption (total assumption on my part) is part 1 was coming up with a ranking system and part 2 was implementing rewards based on rank advancement. and the graduating iso reward makes complete sense. that's what I think part 1 and 2 are. part 3 has to do with event tiers and rewards. nobody knows exactly what that will look like, but we are all looking forward to seeing what it might be.

Pylgrim

Lost all cred when bundled X-Force with Elektra and called him "inconsequential" *goes back to dealing 20k+ damage with XFW+XDP all day*

wymtime

dsds wrote:

wymtime wrote:

JCTthe3rd81 wrote:

A few weeks ago I posted that I still believe in Demiurge. That the game is constantly changing. On monday, my faith was rewarded.

Don't give up on the devs yet. We still have the S.H.I.E.L.D. clearance levels coming.

I am excited about this item too, but I also have some concerns. If we go to a system of 3*, 4*, 5* PVP rewards what will this look like? Top placement for 3* PVP might be 800 points. 4* and 5* might be 3000+ points. For players who are struggling to get 4* and they go into a 4* PVP they might start seeing max 4* under 400 points just because there are so few 3* players playing.

Then again these changes might be PVE based compared to PVP. Either way I want it to be successful, but i am cautiously optimistic. I am really hoping more details come out this week.

I would think your shield rank would lock you out if you lack the roster strength for it. I guess in theory, if you play enough pve and keep leveling 2* and 3*, you could technically get a higher rank than your roster, but that would be very rare. On a positive note, 4* pvp events probably offer more rewards, so even if you were only able to beat 1 or 2 fights, those rewards would not equal the rewards of 3* pvp.

Let's face it there will be some people at the bottom of events, there's no way to avoid this. If you are at the bottom, you don't stay there forever. Progression is slow but if the rewards are going to better, it might not be as slow.

Considering I have a championed OML I don't think I will be locked out of anything.
My concern is more for the seasons. If you have someone in your alliance who wants to go for the 3* PVP they won't be able to score as high as the players playing in the 4* PVP. This will make alliance recruiting difficult as if there is a 3* player playing 3* PVP they won't score as high in either event to be in a top 100 alliance. Hey might need to completely rethink seasons and alliances.

jffdougan

The timing would actually be about right for that. Two weeks from this last Monday would be the last week of the season.

JeffCascadian

I wasn't burned out, anyway, so this is just more awesomeness to me. D3 just keeps making the game better and I appreciate it.

Is there still room for improvement? Things that could be changed for the better? Yeah. I wouldn't argue against that but I mostly love the game.

simonsez

Shield ranks aren't too late, nor too late. The problem is that when I look back on the rollout, I'm always going to think of this as another time when the devs let cheaters prosper, so long as they didn't do it egregiously...

mckauhu

Definitely not too little nor too late. I haven't felt like quitting this game except as said above, when grinding for placement (is really tiring) and often. But now that devs keep making improvements (and actually listening to us), I feel constantly excited about it. I'm waiting for the new improvements.

Kojubat

wymtime wrote:

My concern is more for the seasons. If you have someone in your alliance who wants to go for the 3* PVP they won't be able to score as high as the players playing in the 4* PVP. This will make alliance recruiting difficult as if there is a 3* player playing 3* PVP they won't score as high in either event to be in a top 100 alliance. Hey might need to completely rethink seasons and alliances.

I keep seeing the assumption that Phase 3 means multiple heats running at the same time for events. I don't think anyone official has actually said that will be the implementation, right?

The implementation could just as easily be custom reward paths based on your clearance, but otherwise leave the events themselves unchanged. Everyone competes as normal like they do today. The higher clearance players just get 'more' for the same milestones, commensurate with their needs and efforts.

From a programming perspective, nobody needs to figure out split leaderboards, change the MMR formula, or even come up with artwork. The code would be strictly limited to something like:

If NewScore >= PvPProgression850 And PvPProgression850AlreadyAwarded=False Then
   If Clearance=1 Then
      RewardType=ISO
      RewardValue=1000
...
   Else If Clearance>=10 Then
      RewardType=Cover
      RewardValue=Array(4,TotallyAwesomeHulk_NoReally,Green)
   End If
   Execute GivePlayerAward
(etc.)

Not saying I'm right either, just that my opinion is that it is an easier implementation than having twenty-seven different tiles in the Story/Versus tab.