IS anybody listening

Crnch73

Since that post a while back (I believe by Cthulu) that said they were listening... I haven't felt like they've been listening. Please note, this post is just meant to vent. I am not asking for pity or playing the martyr card, just griping.

I saw the patch notes posted by Brigby, and I can't say any of it truly matters to me in the long run. Banners from fired powers, improving the level up buttons... sure they can be considered quality of life improvements. Sure, when those things go wrong, they are annoying. But those are small peanuts compared to the huge issues still in this game.

1) I do not imagine we will ever get a true "mea culpa" for Boss Rush or the terrible way it was handled, but it still grinds my gears that it was only swept under the rug. Explaining that they only tested it on lower level rosters doesn't fix anything, it just makes the developers seem like buffoons. Not wanting compensation, just a "whoops" would suffice.

2) the massive shortage of ISO. I can't imagine anyone shelling out real money for ISO, so handing out extra wouldn't truly hurt the business model, no?

3) Getting the umpteenth cover in one color for one character, while the other colors sit at zero. I understand this is a slow-play method of building a roster. But other than releasing the new characters, my roster has stagnated. And I am only at the 3* land, on the cusp of 4*. No usable 4* yet, but I can beat Clash of Titans for certain characters and some are usable when boosted. But I keep throwing away extra covers because they are the one color I can't use. 4* shouldn't be like panning for gold, just like 5* shouldn't be like mining for blood diamonds. They should be obtainable by a method other than pure luck.

4) Customer Service is, usually, a joke. Sure, they surprise us sometimes and help us out. But most times, they are ridiculous. We should not be surprised by good CS, but rather we should come to expect it.

Remind me again... what true improvements have been made since they started "listening"?

stochasticism

Crnch73 wrote:

Since that post a while back (I believe by Cthulu) that said they were listening... I haven't felt like they've been listening. Please note, this post is just meant to vent. I am not asking for pity or playing the martyr card, just griping.

I saw the patch notes posted by Brigby, and I can't say any of it truly matters to me in the long run. Banners from fired powers, improving the level up buttons... sure they can be considered quality of life improvements. Sure, when those things go wrong, they are annoying. But those are small peanuts compared to the huge issues still in this game.

1) I do not imagine we will ever get a true "mea culpa" for Boss Rush or the terrible way it was handled, but it still grinds my gears that it was only swept under the rug. Explaining that they only tested it on lower level rosters doesn't fix anything, it just makes the developers seem like buffoons. Not wanting compensation, just a "whoops" would suffice.

Listen to the first half of this, which has an interview of D3 employees. http://www.puzzlewarriors3.com/pw3-e65.html

Crnch73 wrote:

2) the massive shortage of ISO. I can't imagine anyone shelling out real money for ISO, so handing out extra wouldn't truly hurt the business model, no?

ISO earning has increased significantly lately. It will never be enough to max every character as soon as it becomes possible. It's about picking and choosing.

Crnch73 wrote:

3) Getting the umpteenth cover in one color for one character, while the other colors sit at zero. I understand this is a slow-play method of building a roster. But other than releasing the new characters, my roster has stagnated. And I am only at the 3* land, on the cusp of 4*. No usable 4* yet, but I can beat Clash of Titans for certain characters and some are usable when boosted. But I keep throwing away extra covers because they are the one color I can't use. 4* shouldn't be like panning for gold, just like 5* shouldn't be like mining for blood diamonds. They should be obtainable by a method other than pure luck.

You and everyone else agree on this point. Colorless covers for 5*, at the very least, should already have happened.

Crnch73 wrote:

4) Customer Service is, usually, a joke. Sure, they surprise us sometimes and help us out. But most times, they are ridiculous. We should not be surprised by good CS, but rather we should come to expect it.

No comment.

Crnch73 wrote:

Remind me again... what true improvements have been made since they started "listening"?

Let's see how they handle Boss Rush 2, The rerun of the Dr Strange PvE and what features they have coming up. There have been many positive changes lately and we can't expect all the players desires to ever be fulfilled, let alone in 2 weeks.

Crnch73

maybe I am just wearing blinders... but I am sorry to say I can't remember a truly great improvement in a little bit. I do emphasize little, because there have been some great things.

Shield ranking, SCL7... even making daily ISO drop from alliances 2k. Those were all great. Since then though? maybe I am being forgetful, so I apologize if that is true, but what has improved since then?

I am not saying I want enough ISO to max champ every character as they come. I just know, like we all do, that there still is a shortage. I do have high hopes for improved play in Boss Rush 2, etc. However, let's not forget that Peggy Carter was the prize in the first go-around of Boss Rush, a character highly thought of (in the 4* tier). She has been so rare for me that I still have no yellows for her.

Calnexin

The "We are listening" post was Nov 22. That's less than 2 weeks ago. I don't know what the development cycle is like, but I'm willing to give it more than two weeks.

That said - most of this is par for the course. It's not very fun to play under those rubrics, and we'd like to enjoy the game more. But at its heart this game provides a set of rules and mechanics for the players to compete against one another. Everytime we get an impossible mission, everyone gets the same impossible mission. I felt particularly burned by the ProfX Clash where they let Elektra punch through his invisibility with both Dance and Shadow. I spent all 10 health packs that morning trying to win it.

I was a fool. I should have recognized it was unwinnable around round 3 and done something else. I didn't because I'd won it previously, and had a preconceived notion that I could do so again. That really sucked, and the only recompense offered was "we'll re-run it as a double".

Everyone else had it just as bad as I did, so no one gained. It was a colossal waste of the community's time, and should have been addressed better.

But going back to core gameplay - that being competition with your peers - it equals out. So long as there aren't handouts given to preferred alliances or gifts to specific individuals, we're all in the same boat. The same applies to Iso limitations, RNG covers, and all the rest. Everyone's on or above your tier has the same or worse story to tell.

Punisher5784

2016 is a million times better than 2015. With the exception of DDQ last year, everything else was just OK last year. This year this have made many great changes (e.g. SCL) and fixes (Filter for Selling covers). I have been earning Iso and HP at a much higher rate. They made slight changes to earn CP at a faster rate such as breaking up the 25 CP to 5, 5 and 15 at the end which is helpful if you can't continue to grind. I agree on the Colorless covers or some sort of mechanic to prevent earning overs over 5 in a specific cover. This needs to happen and I believe the devs are working on some sort of solution but at least I am earning Tokens and Covers at a much faster rate to make up for it. My big issue with the devs is simply they need to stop releasing buggy features (e.g. Boss Rush). I would prefer if they prevent the problems instead of correcting them.

I am trying to be optimistic and I expect a big feature at the start of the new year

Crnch73

as I said, I was merely venting, so again I apologize if this comes off as whiny... I can totally understand that it might.

I was not trying to say "oh poor me" and claim other people don't have it as bad, if not worse, than me. But I have never been one to think that misery loves company. All that means is more people are miserable, IMO.

SCL7 (or SCL in general) has been great. But my overall team is basically the same with the exception of leveling up my 3*. My 4* are still useless, and SCL7 isn't helping that enough. SCL8 is, by far, a giant joke.

BatteryHorse

ISO earning has increased significantly lately. It will never be enough to max every character as soon as it becomes possible. It's about picking and choosing.

There really is a lot more ISO in the game. They've added so many new features that give out ISO that it flows faster than I've ever seen.

If you play a lot, as in you play every event and fight for placement, etc, between ads, rewards, progression and placement, maybe VIP, DDQ, shield resupply, selling covers, champion rewards and potentially a 2* farm, you can pull in tens of thousands of ISO daily.

mpqr7

ISO is way increased. I probably used to make 20K to 30K, and now at this point, I feel I make 40K to 50K pretty easily.

I should actually start counting. PVE is an ISO-gold-mine these days. Grind away, my friends!

HaywireII

They are definitely listening but just because some complains or makes a good suggestion it doesn't mean it makes it into the game. Shield Clearance Levels didn't magically happen for no reason. Shield Intercepts also shows them finding to a way to address the ISO shortage complaints while making more money at the same time.

I expect to see 5 star classic covers in vaults in 2017. There is money to be made.

thisone

Calnexin wrote:

The "We are listening" post was Nov 22. That's less than 2 weeks ago. I don't know what the development cycle is like, but I'm willing to give it more than two weeks.

Eh, not siding with anyone here, just wanting to point out that post was suggesting they've always been listening. Not that they started on the 22nd November

WelcomeDeath

No, no improvements in 2016. Well, except champions so you don't waste covers(and earn hp and earn cp and earn more covers) but what else have the devs done for us? Nothing!....well, they did eliminate the 20 iso that everyone asked for and made pve nodes give out awards in order so you don't have to hit the hardest node 20 times for 1cp. So, there's champions, and node progression awards, but what else have the devs truly done for the playerbase? ....what about the Civil War run that gave out 2 5* covers to some lucky teams? (And 1 5* to a lot more lucky teams). Oh, and getting rid of 8 hour timers in pve so you can make progression playing whenever you want. Oh, yeah, and shield rank levels with grandfathered iso rewards paid out on day one (many got 1 million iso that day...), and shield clearance rewards so you can pick who you play against/improved rewards there. And shield intercepts....character rebalances....OK, OK, so apart from champion levels, node progression rewards, civil war, no 8 hour pve timers, shield rank, shield clearance levels, shield intercepts and character rebalances (buffs only!), what have the devs REALLY done for us?....NOTHING!!!!

TLCstormz

Omg, people.......

Things take MONTHS AND MONTHS AND MONTHS to implement into the game.

You think a post from LAST WEEK was going to presto-chango all of your needs and wants and desires?

Twysta

The Bob The

All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... WHAT have the Romans done for us?

El Satanno

The Bob The wrote:

All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... WHAT have the Romans done for us?

If there's one thing we hate more than the Romans, it's the **** Judean People's Front.

mpqr7

The "improved" level-up button has definitely lowered my faith in the listening power of devs. It's by far the worst change they've done in a long time. Why in the world would they think that's a good idea to highlight how glaringly awful the ISO economy is in this game?

To think I'm expected to pay hundreds of dollars just to level up a few characters???!!!!?!?!?!?! Ugh.

Calnexin

The Bob The wrote:

All right... all right... but apart from better sanitation and medicine and education and irrigation and public health and roads and a freshwater system and baths and public order... WHAT have the Romans done for us?

Secularized Christmas and inspired some rockin' movies.

Crnch73

Welcome Death wrote:

No, no improvements in 2016. Well, except champions so you don't waste covers(and earn hp and earn cp and earn more covers) but what else have the devs done for us? Nothing!....well, they did eliminate the 20 iso that everyone asked for and made pve nodes give out awards in order so you don't have to hit the hardest node 20 times for 1cp. So, there's champions, and node progression awards, but what else have the devs truly done for the playerbase? ....what about the Civil War run that gave out 2 5* covers to some lucky teams? (And 1 5* to a lot more lucky teams). Oh, and getting rid of 8 hour timers in pve so you can make progression playing whenever you want. Oh, yeah, and shield rank levels with grandfathered iso rewards paid out on day one (many got 1 million iso that day...), and shield clearance rewards so you can pick who you play against/improved rewards there. And shield intercepts....character rebalances....OK, OK, so apart from champion levels, node progression rewards, civil war, no 8 hour pve timers, shield rank, shield clearance levels, shield intercepts and character rebalances (buffs only!), what have the devs REALLY done for us?....NOTHING!!!!

as I mentioned before... outside of character rebalances (some good and some bad) and shield intercepts (some good, some bad), all those great changes that you mentioned, haven't been recent. That is what I meant, that the changes they made 5 months ago were great, but I feel like they have been resting on their laurels since then. If you separate everything into perspective, yes 2016 was much better than 2015. But September until now has been nothing special. Yes, that is only about 3 months, but they have released a lot of new characters in that time frame so they clearly have the ability to make medium-size changes without taking months to do so.

Stax the Foyer

The NSA is always listening.

broll

Tried to thumbs up the OPs post, but can't because he's banned. They said they're listening, they didn't say who was listening and what the outcome of said listening would be....

jredd

gotta disagree about the perceived lack of iso. it's flowing at greater rates than it has in the 2 years i've been playing. doesn't take long to save up 100k, really...