End Game

Gmax101

Over the last few weeks I have been pondering my MPQ future….

I am in a fun alliance who all seem to enjoy playing, even if we do seem to finish just out of the top 100. I have spent a fair sum of money over the last 2 years, but I value an enjoyable past time quite highly, so until very recently I have never “regretted” that investment.

And I am also willing to admit that characters like Dr Strange (along with his new event) and Medusa have been interesting.

But in general, a combination of numerous bugs in every patch and the general attitude that we should be grateful when something new is delivered, even when that “new thing” actually dilutes the current game. (I struggle to believe that Elite Tokens in the Shield intercepts have done anything other than reduce the chances of 1,000 or 2,000 ISO rewards or the Heroic Tokens, so net worsening the output. They could easily prove us wrong with clear communication of the odds before and after)

As a 4* transitioner, with 20 champed 4* and a multi-million ISO shortfall stopping the max-levelling of my 4* roster as-is, the only logical point of progression is 5*

A tier of the game that is fundamentally flawed in terms of scaling and over-all game impact, given the fact that using the full roster is nigh on impossible, and the only method of progression is RNG.

So my question is WHY?

Why should I strive to complete my 4* champions when there is a new one every 2 weeks, making it literally impossible…

Why should I invest hoards of hard-earned CP to try and get 5* characters that I either leave at a low level due to poor cover splits or invest in at the expense of what fun I have left in the game…

Why should I complete Enemy of the State for the 4/5/6th time, when the story hasn’t changed and now with Quake and Luke Cage powerman, whatever challenge there used to be due to caltrops is now no more...

Why should I battle hard in PVP only to have 10 whales wipe out multiple games of progression in the time it takes me to get the 40 points I need to get past a certain point…

Now I do actually want to get the current selection of 4* fully covered, I need 22 covers… but that is because I have a slightly obsessive approach to these things… but I can only do it grinding the same fights against the same characters over and over again…. Which is less enjoyable.

So what keeps the high end players playing… they have everything… they are stuck in 5* MMR hell, their scaling is off the charts… and it is the same old stories over and over again but yet they keep playing and paying… and again, I wonder why…

Alsmir

In reality the answer should be plain and simple. You should continue playing MPQ if you are still enoying the game. Any other reason might be indication of some problem.

Sadly enough in these forums plenty of users are seriously addicted to MPQ. I've encountered numerous players who feel forced to play every event, do X clears every day etc.

Mechahamster

You play because

1) you find match 3 games fun and like the marvel universe over the other alternatives
2) you casually want to waste some time and aren't too concerned about your general progress compared to other players
3) you like collecting the covers and don't fret too much about iso shortages, just pick your faves and keep the rest for completionist sakes
4) you like competing at the top and aim to be the top dog so you play like a maniac aiming to get every little advantage over your peers

If none of those sound appealing to you then perhaps you need to evaluate wether or not you're currently trapped in a sunk cost fallacy.

Gmax101

Mechahamster wrote:

You play because

If none of those sound appealing to you then perhaps you need to evaluate wether or not you're currently trapped in a sunk cost fallacy.

I'd be lying if I claimed this wasn't some part of the problem

With any game where there isn't new content to engage with, the drive to continue is difficult to maintain. Where the money sunk in so far is significant, it can be difficult to let go.

SCL and championing were great ways of re-invigorating the game... and the new Dr Strange event was a lot of fun... a good mix of enemies and even a genuine puzzle at the end of each day (love him or hate him lol)

But there are a lot of issues with the game that make it hard to really enjoy the plus points...

Mechahamster

If you don't like playing don't play. Life's too short for wasting on stuff that doesn't give you enjoyment.

Or take a break, see if you miss it. If after a week the prevailing emotion is relief then you got your answer.

mpqr7

Try some other games. See if you miss MPQ. I started playing Clash of Clans, because my husband plays it. I tried to get him into MPQ, but he doesn't like it.

And sometimes I play the games that are advertised in the MPQ Shield Intercepts.. they're actually pretty fun!

Jabrony_Geoff

Why, Mr. Anderson? Why, why, why? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?

High end players stuck in 5* MMR with scaling off the charts:-
Because they choose to.

broll

Jabrony Geoff wrote:

Why, Mr. Anderson? Why, why, why? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?

High end players stuck in 5* MMR with scaling off the charts:-
Because they choose to.

Straycat

There probably should be more end game content. Right now the end game is just brute forcing rng to have enough covers. You end up with harder gameplay but the same rewards. There aren't raids or anything for the 5* champ players to do.

MPQ_Daywalker

broll wrote:

Jabrony Geoff wrote:

Why, Mr. Anderson? Why, why, why? Why do you do it? Why get up? Why keep fighting? Do you believe you're fighting for something? For more than your survival? Can you tell me what it is? Do you even know? Is it freedom? Or truth? Perhaps peace? Could it be for love? Illusions, Mr. Anderson. Vagaries of perception. Temporary constructs of a feeble human intellect trying desperately to justify an existence that is without meaning or purpose. And all of them as artificial as the Matrix itself, although only a human mind could invent something as insipid as love. You must be able to see it, Mr. Anderson. You must know it by now. You can't win. It's pointless to keep fighting. Why, Mr. Anderson? Why? Why do you persist?

High end players stuck in 5* MMR with scaling off the charts:-
Because they choose to.

Ha, well that explains why I didn't recognize that Matrix quote. I loved The Matrix. Was thoroughly annoyed/bored by Matrix Reloaded when it came out, and have never had the desire to see Matrix Revolutions. Everything I've heard about the movie has only solidified my decision.

Regarding the original topic, I'm almost at the same point in the game where the OP is -- I'm at 19 4* champs, soon to be 20, no 5*s above nine covers. And everything I hear about the current 5* endgame, where you are forced to use your 5* champs for every single fight due to MMR/scaling, sounds horrible and not fun.

I'm not asking why I'm playing though -- for now, I'm still getting fun out of champing another 4* and using them when they're boosted in events, making those events feel a little new to me since I'm using a character I've never used before on them. I still like setting goals, saving up ISO and champing characters. It's silly, and a little pointless, especially when I champ characters I will rarely if ever use (Carnage, I'm looking at you), but then I think "Well, it's just a match-3 game with comic book characters. Isn't it silly and pointless to begin with?"

I have some hope that the new content they're promising in 2017, which I expect will be the stuff they were doing surveys on last month will throw a little new-ness to the daily experience.

GrumpySmurf1002

Easiest way to avoid burnout in this game is to skip PvE. Sure, you lose some rewards, but you gain a ton of sanity when you get off the clock. I've said for months to years now, I have no idea how people can be in T10 or even T50 PvE-based alliances. That kind of commitment on a consistent basis is Crazytown.

Anyway, for the most part, MPQ to me is like solitaire or crossword puzzles or pick your favorite solo hobby. It's something I just kinda do while hanging around watching TV now. If life gets hectic, PvE is always the first to go, and I don't think twice about missing nodes, subs, placement, new releases, whatever. I haven't had to punt a PvP in a while but no problem doing that either.

My end game is just finishing characters, be it 3s, 4s, or 5s. Usually when I'm nearing burn out something new comes along, be it DDQ or Championing or Shield Rank or whatever is being teased in beginning the Cpt. Marvel article. I'd love to see more events, different game mechanics, etc....but it's not essential at this point.

The only thing I don't like right now is that as my 5 year olds start to show some interest, I can't build them a diverse roster quickly for them to play themselves. Even that has a bright side though, they're great at farming the easy PvE nodes for me.

broll

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Easiest way to avoid burnout in this game is to skip PvE.

Or just play PvE but don't go for progression, optimal play. Since I gave up caring about progression and/or optimal play I'm enjoying a lot more fun.

Stopping PvE might be an option if you have a good enough roster to focus and do well at PvP. I'd rather die than resign myself to just futile PvP with my roster. That would be a recipe for me leaving the game for good more than likely.

Calnexin

Sunk cost.

I'm nowhere near the 5* tier but I still feel it. So much time investment to get where I am. A moderate cash expenditure - more than double what I'd spend on a premier console title, but not a lot more. More than 2 years of daily play.

It's hard to let go of something like that.

I could dump it entirely and do something more productive, but I don't. It's still thrilling to throw out the CP on a classic and hope for a 5*. It's still gratifying to champ 4*s. I enjoy chatting with my alliance - helping the newer players and discussing strategy with the vets.

I see the end at some point. I can't keep doing this forever, and I know my life could be more productive if I dropped it now. It's just a question of what breaks first - the game, or my desire to play it.

AE_Fios

The only way to progress to 5 star tier at this point (without being a megawhale) is to save up 6-8 months worth of LTs and CP and unload all at once on the latest legendaries in an attempt to fully cover one or two of the three newer 5 stars. That's about it.

So unless you're ready to hoard until August (or they change the game) you're about as high as you're going to climb. If you just keep pulling as you go you'll end up with 3 or 4 covers for each 5 star without any of them becoming usable for years.

And what is waiting for you in August if you're lucky and you DO transition to 5 star MMR? A hundred teams of champed OML-Phoenix waiting to cut you down.

The game is broken at the top, that's probably why they've made it almost impossible to reach the top.

chamber44

I have to be honest - i'll probably bounce after this season. I got Lego Marvel Heroes for my old 360, and it's way more fun to play that with (or without) my son then it is to play an endless grind of Featured Character/Boosted 4*/Boosted 4* in PvP.

It sucks for both the sunk cost as well as the fact that i'm finally champing some 4's after 975 days in the game.

But on the flipside, the last two daily bonuses i got were a standard token and a heroic token. on Day 975. (point being is that the devs just don't care enough. There's just no reason not to have updated the daily bonus. No one past 365 should ever get a standard token. It's just rude)

revskip

Gmax101 wrote:

I struggle to believe that Elite Tokens in the Shield intercepts have done anything other than reduce the chances of 1,000 or 2,000 ISO rewards or the Heroic Tokens, so net worsening the output.

I've read this in a couple of threads and I'm not sure it's really that big of a deal. Let's for arguments sake suppose that the Elites do reduce the odds of specifically the 2k and 1k rewards. Each of those elite tokens for someone at your roster level is at worst a champ level which in turn gives out more rewards and XP. Not really that big of a dropoff.

Gmax101 wrote:

As a 4* transitioner, with 20 champed 4* and a multi-million ISO shortfall stopping the max-levelling of my 4* roster as-is, the only logical point of progression is 5*

A tier of the game that is fundamentally flawed in terms of scaling and over-all game impact, given the fact that using the full roster is nigh on impossible, and the only method of progression is RNG.

So my question is WHY?

Why should I strive to complete my 4* champions when there is a new one every 2 weeks, making it literally impossible…

Your roster is slightly ahead of mine in 4* champs and I assume you also have the 3*s all champed and your 2* farm going.

The main reason to champ more 4*s is to get the rewards which in turn will lead to more draws at the 5* level. If you have the patience hoard all CP and legendaries for a while. As you work towards a hoard level one 4* after another each of which will then hand out rewards which cascade into more Legendary tokens and more CP.

I really hope they do something to alleviate the terrible odds of covering the older 5*s. I'd love to see them do something along the lines of what they do with the new 5* releases like Black Widow and Thanos. Tokens which give 10% chance of a specific 5* character. I'd like to see those run on a monthly basis with the 5* included in the pack rotating every month so that the older characters can get covered. Either that or just split classics into smaller packs so that you aren't looking a sub 2% chance of pulling the character you want.

As to the rest of your questions about motivation I really don't have an answer for you other than if you aren't having fun just stop playing for a while. Come back after a break and if you still aren't having fun stop playing entirely. Your hobbies should be fun and not frustrating.

IamTheDanger

Part of the problem is that you are missing the End Game. You see, 3, 4 and 5 stars are meaningless. There is only one true objective. ONE !!! That is to acquire a max champed, level 144 Bagman. After that, you will have beaten the game in it's entirety, and can then retire.

The serious answer is this; the thing that keeps me playing is mostly the variety of characters. I use 3 random characters, 3 that work together in the game, (Peggy, IM40, Teen Jean), 3 that go together in the comics,( three Avengers, Xmen, Fan Four, Villians, Inhumans), 3 that I haven't used in a long while, whatever. Playing with different teams, good or bad, helps keep the game fresh and interesting with different teams and power combos.

Also, I like to set goals or many games within the game itself. For example, in Big Enchilada, I'll use 3*Cap with IM40 and someone thst changes basic tile colors like KK, then use his blue protect tiles to draw a small pic on the board. The objective is to draw a pic and keep the Ai from destroying it. About two weeks ago I successfully drew a little face.....










The challenge of putting it on the board and then keeping it is a fun little way to add to the game itself. I use Caps blue because it keeps the enemy stun locked without killing them which gives me board control and enough time to complete the pic. His yellow is usefull for removing unwanted blue tiles.

Another is I'll use special tile makers and see just how many strike, attack or protect tiles I can get on the board. (Not using Storm or Carnage though. That's too easy).
Or, using Xavier and/Falcon and/or Punmax or others that buff tiles, I will attempt to put a tile on the board and buff it as high as I can. Buffing it to 1, 2, 3 or 5k is the first part, the second is keeping it on the board.

These are some things I do just to add a little something extra to the game.

Crnch73

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Easiest way to avoid burnout in this game is to skip PvE. Sure, you lose some rewards, but you gain a ton of sanity when you get off the clock. I've said for months to years now, I have no idea how people can be in T10 or even T50 PvE-based alliances. That kind of commitment on a consistent basis is Crazytown.

when I get burned out on the game, I only play PVE but forget about placement. I pick the slice that ends at 2AM (EST), then I don't play until 9am or so of the day. All you need to do is complete every node 4 times at your leisure before you go to bed, and you get all rewards. Most times, I don't even do that. I play for like 30 minutes in the morning, another 30 minutes at lunch break. Maybe 30 more minutes after dinner when I am just sitting on the couch. I have no troubles getting to the 4* reward on SCL7 or 8, and that also includes 10CP as well. So I get to play at my own pace, on my own schedule, and I still get rewards.

Pongie

revskip wrote:

I really hope they do something to alleviate the terrible odds of covering the older 5*s. I'd love to see them do something along the lines of what they do with the new 5* releases like Black Widow and Thanos. Tokens which give 10% chance of a specific 5* character. I'd like to see those run on a monthly basis with the 5* included in the pack rotating every month so that the older characters can get covered. Either that or just split classics into smaller packs so that you aren't looking a sub 2% chance of pulling the character you want.

It doesn't even have to be 10% like the release token (which kind of defeats the whole point of having the limited time token open release if the exact tokens are repeated). Somewhere around 5% is still better than the dwindling odds of classics.

GurlBYE

Sunk Cost is why people stay, (some genuinely enjoy or enjoyed the game) a lack of insight into the real problems in the game is the issue.

The issue isn't how hard it is to get to the 5 star tier but the fact that game play doesn't change.
Enemy of the state will come again.
Venom Bomb will be here again.
Another boss rush will come.
Another Galactus will come.

The difficulty in getting to the tier exacerbates the issue. Gating it behind RNG was probably due to not testing the scaling and buying time on content.

Whether you are 1,2,3,4 or 5 star, the game doesn't change. Game play doesn't change enough to warrant the chase at the moment. (well arguably, 1 to 2 does. 2 to 3 more so. but flat lines due to the variance of characters from that tier up)

You become a bigger whale in the same pond, hence why 5 star champ players don't like much of anything except punching each other in pvp for 4 points a match till they hit 2k. And win 3 covers of characters they have champed but can't use due to scaling, until they are boosted in an event to win more awards that don't benefit them.

The rarity system itself is kinda of a problem (characters have a sort of level of timed obsolescence due to the next tier and scaling) and the lack of evolving gameplay.

End game isn't "end game" at the moment, and is problematic mainly because it isn't an endgame. It's the same game. With bigger numbers, but not in the favor of the player, just all over the place.

The tool set gets smaller overtime instead of larger and seems to be more of a regression than anything at this point. Largely due to the rarity system, scaling and lack of varied gameplay. (additional puzzles like strange boss, even though people seemed to not have liked it)

WelcomeDeath

GurlBYE wrote:

Whether you are 1,2,3,4 or 5 star, the game doesn't change. Game play doesn't change enough to warrant the chase at the moment. (well arguably, 1 to 2 does. 2 to 3 more so. but flat lines due to the variance of characters from that tier up)

You become a bigger whale in the same pond, hence why 5 star champ players don't like much of anything except punching each other in pvp for 4 points a match till they hit 2k. And win 3 covers of characters they have champed but can't use due to scaling, until they are boosted in an event to win more awards that don't benefit them.

Ok. To the first point, the game actually gets considerably worse in some ways in the 5* tier due to lack of variance (sure there's 12 characters in that tier, but RNG will only allow you to use a few unless you're spending...a lot. So, agreed on 3* and 4* tier being more varied, but "on up" just isn't an honest portrayal of gameplay at that tier (unless you have insane luck or tons of cash).

To the second point....nobody in the 5* tier is hitting 4 point targets to 2k. That's just not how the system works. Anything after 1k is an equal amount won for you as loss to the other player. And 4 points would mean you'd have to be hundreds of points above other available 5* targets, who would be finding you for 70 points. That, added with the fact that matches take considerably longer in 5* play make it impossible for someone to do that in that method. That's 250 matches from 1k to 2k without a hit AND people hopping off each other hundreds of points below and skipping you. It just wouldn't work. They get there by shield hopping a bunch off of each other to maximize point gain. How it works now, how it's always worked.