Vision: I have an equation. Sam: Oh, this'll clear it up.

CrookedKnight

aesthetocyst wrote:

If their product / service cannot support itself, through sales or investment, it dies.

My point is that if their cashflow doesn't allow them to actually make a functioning game, then it's not supporting itself. To borrow a phrase from Nextwave, their business model is ☠☠☠☠.

HaywireII

I'm also a Software Engineer for a living and every time they make a change that breaks existing gameplay I have to ask myself "Why aren't they using Unit Tests". Every character and every power should have some tests built that get run every time they do a build of the game.

Professor X's blind spot unit tests wouldn't be all that hard.

Apply match damage. Professor X took damage? Fail
Apply single target damage. Professor X took damage? Fail
Apply AOE damage. Professor X took damage? Pass

There are so many unit testing and mocking frameworks out there for every development enviroment that it doesn't make sense that they are having these kinds of problems in this day and age.

That being said I'm happy with the actual improvements they've been making to the game. I like Champions, I like Shield Clearance Levels, I like vaults for events instead of plain tokens. I LOVE having 10 CP at 575 in PvP. The game is completely self sustaining for me in terms of Hero Points and I don't feel I have to pay to win. I only have to drop money on my terms when I feel the need to treat myself or support the game.

smkspy

I do give them credit for many of the changes, champions, xp, and shield levels have made me play more. Yet I can't help but feel they didn't go far enough with the changes to match the user bass. The difference between scl 7 and scl 8 pathetic, so why wait this long to introduce it.

Likewise placement rewards are horrible. Other than a couple.of hundred iso there is little incentive to place 50-100 as there is to place 100-200. And node rewards are just sad. Mystery Boost for clearing the 6 turn on the hardest nodes? C'mon son.

And vaults are still the worst. I'd much rather a season long vault that includes all events and pvp than this random per event **** that still rewards majority of 2 stars...and conveniently those 2 stars are the ones you probably don't have rostered if you don't have a dedicated 2 star farm...which is itself hard to do because of the constant release schduele.

udonomefoo

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

udonomefoo wrote:

The "if you don't like it you don't have to play" line gets used a lot. It's kind of like people here in the US who protest because they want positive change and get told "if you don't like it then leave". How about no? Wanting something we like to be better and believing that it can be better makes more sense to me than just giving up on it and leaving.

Well...leaving a country you don't like in search of better options tends to be a tad more difficult than leaving a video game you don't like to do the same.

Ok, you either don't like analogies or you really like to find their flaws. Either way you're disregarding the important part and picking the part you want to disagree with that's totally irrelevant. Here, let me help you:

THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART:

Wanting something we like to be better and believing that it can be better makes more sense to me than just giving up on it and leaving.

cardoor

bbigler wrote:

...

As for the difficulty in getting 4* and 5* covers: they want to keep this money train going for as long as possible. If players progressed quickly and got 5*s covered and leveled up in just a few months, then everyone would be at a 5* level and the game would get boring and people would start quitting. People like something to shoot for, an ultimate goal; once you get there, you glory in the moment, but then it fades and you move on to something else. Progression is on a reverse exponential curve, the further you go, the slower you progress. So, that is why 5* progression is very slow and SCL8 rewards are only slightly better. They don't want players to get to the end and then quit.

...

Last night I was playing Vampire: Bloodlines. There are several old games that I play for no other reason than I enjoy them. I have already got to the end of them several times (Baldur's Gate trilogy probably holds the replay record for me).

MPQ does something very enjoyable. They pay attention to the source material of the characters they add to the game. I would not say they are 100% successful, but overall they do a good job of making character powers reminiscent of the comics.

With that said, I understand the hamster wheel you described, but there is a danger. I want to play with the characters. I played all of the 1,2,3 and am solidly in 4 land now. You might think knowing I still have 5* to look forward too drives me forward. It has its appeal, but the danger is if the 4* tier (I will be theoretically champing/exploring/playing them all) takes too long it starts to feel more like work than fun. That's bad mmmkay.


Edit: just wanted to add the ISO from ranks and the champ system are very much appreciated and took a chunk out of the "work" feeling I mentioned above. A little more ISO from a daily 4* crash and I would probably be happy.

carrion_pigeons

Yeah, putting in a daily Crash that rewards 5k Iso 4 days out of 5 instead of LTs would be totally fine by me.

bbigler

cardoor wrote:

Last night I was playing Vampire: Bloodlines. There are several old games that I play for no other reason than I enjoy them. I have already got to the end of them several times (Baldur's Gate trilogy probably holds the replay record for me).
...
With that said, I understand the hamster wheel you described, but there is a danger. I want to play with the characters. I played all of the 1,2,3 and am solidly in 4 land now. You might think knowing I still have 5* to look forward too drives me forward. It has its appeal, but the danger is if the 4* tier (I will be theoretically champing/exploring/playing them all) takes too long it starts to feel more like work than fun. That's bad mmmkay.
...

It's satisfying to get to the end of a game. In the past, I enjoyed playing Return to Castle Wolfenstein from beginning to end many times without using any cheat codes. I've played Doom 2 on a Windows 3.1 from beginning to end many times and that was fun too. I've also played Red Alert - Command & Conquer a lot just to explore all the different maps and gameplay strategies. This game is unique in that it has held my attention longer than any other game (nor have I spent more money on this game than any other game - although, I have more disposable income now than I did 10 years ago). I bet I'll never get to "the end" of this game with a full 5* roster because by the time I get there, there'll be something else to shoot for. Plus, there's a good chance I will quit again because this game is taking away too much time from my real life.

Anyway, I'm rambling so I'll get back on topic. I'm also working on my 4* tier like most people. I'm making steady progress daily, which motivates me to keep going. It does look like it will take forever, but I'm sure more features/improvements will be added to the game to make it go faster than we expect. What I like most is when I get a character strong enough to start playing them and discover new strategies and teams I've never had before (Star Lord being a good example). I'm also getting one or two 5* covers per week, so that gives me hope for the future as well. Many times late at night when I should go to sleep, I stay up to play through some PvE nodes just for the points/rewards; those are the moments when it feels more like work than fun. I suppose this game is a double-edged sword, if you know what I mean.