My review, and rant, all rolled into one:

Unknown

Let me preface this by saying that I LOVE LOVE LOVE PQ:Dark Reign. I am a daily player on both my phone and my tablet. Sadly 2 different accounts since I did not pay attention that I could link my PQ account thru FB to both devices. But it has given me the opportunity to play both with real money invested, and with no money invested, at the same time, through the same events, so maybe that will help me with my review and help me state my compliments, complaints and suggestions better.

THE GOOD: (Compliments)
1-Wonderful graphics and story line, especially if you are a marvel fan.
2-Great match 3 type game that is FUN and competitive for those who enjoy it purely for that.
3-Great PVP environment (kinda... Your team versus another persons team, the AI makes the moves for the other team)
4-Easy enough to level up and even to a degree, max out basic 1* characters (IM, Storm, BW, Hawkeye, etc)
5-In the beginning, and even through out the game, you get LOTS of 1* covers to help build and max out your original team.
6-Always lots of new events to play to gain recruit tokens and ISO. (And occasionally HP)

THE BAD:(Complaints and Suggestions)
1-Free to Play (FTP) basis, but HEAVILY Pay-to-Win (PTW). I understand that the game was created to make money, I have sank $20-25 (cheaper than what I would spend on most of my Console games) in to the game myself in the beginning to get on par with the teams I was being matched up against. But it does appear that the game creators are after a little too much money.
2-TOO MANY DUPLICATE COVERS! For the love of Pete, Once a player has maxed out a character, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE find a way to REMOVE those covers from the rotation. And if they have all the 1* characters maxed out, they should get 2* covers as randoms.
3-Too many ISO 20's. Find a new algorithm that doesn't create 10-15, or more in some cases, of ISO 20's in a row when repeating (grinding) a course when there are still "possible rewards" left. I have read the boards, I understand the percentage rule, but it needs to be changed. (If there are 4 "PR", you have a 25% chance at each and each one you claim is replaced by an ISO 20 reward. 3 PR left, gives you 25% chance of ISO 20, 2 PR left gives you 50% chance of ISO 20, 1 left gives you 75% chance of ISO 20.)
4-After you build your roster up, it gets expensive to add new slots. Slot price should not increase with the size of your roster. That is just pure greed there, as most players unknowingly in the beginning, waste their HP (Hero Points-Gold Coins) on leveling up their characters.
5-Getting 2* characters, while it does seem to be a little easier now, is still too difficult. And if you do get them, good luck leveling them up without spending real money or A LOT, and i do mean A LOT of time playing.
6-Cannot play on FB platform, but can sync to FB. That makes no sense. I can think of a lot more people who would play if they could just log in to FB from their computers.
7-Since we get so many duplicate covers, if the Dev's aren't going to change that, why not let us "gift" them to our FB friends who play or to our Alliance members?

Unknown

A few things I'd like to respond to:
1. This game is hardly HEAVILY pay-to-win. Read some of the other forum posts about how much it actually costs to max out characters. I think the bigger thing is just other people have been playing longer than you, and trying to catch up can be painful.
2. Any pack is a game of chance. Yeah **** pulls can be frustrating, but the gambling aspect of it is what actually gets this game money. Besides you can always sell them for ISO at least. Gifting/trading would be nice, but given that there are so many sandbox people already ( a different issue), trading/gifting isn't likely to happen.
3. ISO-20 is a huge pain in the **** and they need to fix it.
4. While the price of slots might be a tad high, the prices increasing does make some sense and is hardly just pure greed. Remember they do need to balance out somehow to get a paycheck. It makes some sense that you'd have to make choices about what characters you want to keep and which to toss. The week timer on new cards is maybe a bit much, or maybe they could start you with a larger roster, but the mechanic itself does make some sense.
5. I was able to grow regularly in my 2* stage without spending money or "A LOT" of playing time, this seems more like an issue on choices you made, how long have you been playing?

*****SEPARATED FOR EMPHASIS****
6. You just don't actually know how making games works. Using FB for an authorization platform is hugely different than letting you play from your browser. You might as well complain that you can't play on your xbox (or whatever console). They decided to make a mobile game (plus a Steam game which is also an entirely different process than a browser one), it makes perfect sense to use FB authorization and not have a browser app. FB is essentially only there so they don't have to have their own user identification stuff / friend lists etc. It's an entirely different job to make a website/application/whatever that connects to FB than it is to make an application/game/whatever that runs in FB.

Talahamut

7. Instant rampant abuse using alt accounts...

Unknown

This game isn't a game that you can win, so how can it be pay to win? Finishing first in an event isn't much more fun than finishing 50th...

You just spend your time progressing and enjoy doing so.

Unknown

Microtom wrote:

This game isn't a game that you can win, so how can it be pay to win? Finishing first in an event isn't much more fun than finishing 50th...

You just spend your time progressing and enjoy doing so.

Err, placing first in something like an event is the definition of winning lol. Under that logic no game would ever have a winner, just two players....which of course is silly as most games came out of an attempt to teach war games to children and keep the same war games as a way to sharpen up older ppl's skills and thought process. Winning = life losing= death. I mean, either you say only winning =a game if life and death or winning is receiving an advantage over someone else (see: winning and games).

I do think I see where you are coming from maybe, as there is no "end" but thee is certainly winning (losing too, but to a lesser extent).

Unknown

Talahamut wrote:

7. Instant rampant abuse using alt accounts...

It was not my intention to have 2 accounts. I just wanted to be able to play on a larger screen. At the time, I thought if I linked my tablet to fb, that it would delete my game, so I just played separately.

AethD wrote:

6. You just don't actually know how making games works. Using FB for an authorization platform is hugely different than letting you play from your browser. You might as well complain that you can't play on your xbox (or whatever console). They decided to make a mobile game (plus a Steam game which is also an entirely different process than a browser one), it makes perfect sense to use FB authorization and not have a browser app. FB is essentially only there so they don't have to have their own user identification stuff / friend lists etc. It's an entirely different job to make a website/application/whatever that connects to FB than it is to make an application/game/whatever that runs in FB.

You're right, I don't know how making games work. But I do have a basic understanding of platforms. So wondering why it is not available on FB, versus Xbox or PS3-4, is totally different.

As far as Steam, this is not something I am familiar with. Do you have a link?

Unknown

Microtom wrote:

This game isn't a game that you can win, so how can it be pay to win? Finishing first in an event isn't much more fun than finishing 50th...

You just spend your time progressing and enjoy doing so.

What I meant by PTW, is placement rewards. Those who have the means to put sufficient amounts of real world cash into the game, skewer the odds for people who don't. With exception to those who have been playing since inception and have naturally built up their teams. Even the small amount that I payed in, which I am not complaining about, I chose to pay to level up my characters because I was getting sliced and diced every which way in the PVP's, has made a tremendous difference.

I never said I didn't enjoy the game. As a matter of fact, I prefaced the whole post by saying that I "LOVE LOVE LOVE" the game. I enjoy the game so much that I believe I am clinically borderline addicted to it.

But the fact of the matter is, that my phone account that I put $20-25 into is only 10, maybe 12 days older than the tablet account that I have put no money into, and while I have made better choices because of the little bit of experience I got beforehand, my tablet account still gets decimated on a regular basis. Whereas my Phone account, can sustain more and longer battles.

Unknown

I fell into the trappings of thinking this game was pay to win... because at first, it really, really looks like it. So I spent some dough...

And... nothing.

Really, this game has a lot, lot more to do with figuring out when to play at the correct time vs. when to tap away until your fingerprints are smooth. Now that I've spent a little money... I'm actually starting to think D3 doesn't want you to spend all that much, because it doesn't make as much difference as you'd expect. I mean, in order for a random chance at something decent, you're paying $1-$2, but for a guarantee, it's $12. Or, you just play a lot, get better, and be patient. It's a costly lesson.

HailMary

aaronschmiz wrote:

What I meant by PTW, is placement rewards. Those who have the means to put sufficient amounts of real world cash into the game, skewer the odds for people who don't. With exception to those who have been playing since inception and have naturally built up their teams. Even the small amount that I payed in, which I am not complaining about, I chose to pay to level up my characters because I was getting sliced and diced every which way in the PVP's, has made a tremendous difference.

Well, yes, spending money will help, because otherwise there's literally zero incentive to pay any money at all. However, F2P players can do very well if they play well.

I started playing almost exactly three months ago, which is long after inception (and long after Inception). I have spent zero money on it so far, and I just finished Top 10 in the inordinately intense Hulk PVP event that just ended. I place top 10 in both PVP and PVE pretty consistently, and have been doing so for at least six weeks. I'm not, by a long shot, one of the most adept or most dedicated players.

As for your OP criticisms:

2. This would accelerate mid-game and late-game progression by a huge amount. The devs would need to compensate by drastically reducing the rate at which tokens are given out. That would, in turn, slow initial 1* progression to a crawl. High-level players with cover-maxed 2* rosters will progress at Mach 6. I doubt you want that.

3. Yeah, making the real rewards drop more frequently would make me happy.

4. I think the price scaling is too steep (I'm at 34 slots now, and the next one costs 450 HP), but the fact that it scales at all doesn't really bother me. The concept is similar to the way successive levels in a character cost more and more Iso.

5. Actually, with the placement reward tweak, I'd say getting usable 2* characters is harder now. But, I went from nothing to 4 maxed-out 2* characters in two months with dedicated (but not obsessive) play and zero money.

7. Commoditizing covers would open the game up to MMORPG-style gold farming for covers, which would transform every competitive event into a nightmarish hellscape. On a cruder, ad hoc level, a metric f---ton of alt accounts would appear literally overnight.

Unknown

HailMary wrote:

7. Commoditizing covers would open the game up to MMORPG-style gold farming for covers, which would transform every competitive event into a nightmarish hellscape. On a cruder, ad hoc level, a metric f---ton of alt accounts would appear literally overnight.

I think if it was limited to FB friends and your alliance members only, I don't think it would have much effect, other than slowing down your own personal bank of ISO that you get for selling duplicate covers. These things come a dime a dozen (I prob make 1500-2000+ per day selling off duplicates that I can not use.) and for your friends/Alliance Members that are just starting out (The ones you got hooked in the first place. LOL), it will help them get involved more quickly and actually increase the competitiveness of the game overall. I also think it will drive sales (Which I am not a huge fan of, but if they are in it to make money, here's a good marketing pitch).

Unknown

I want to add to what HailMary said. I'm on day 90 and I have spent some money on the game. I found that the first $30 dollars was really helpful, but the next $50 has definitely had some diminishing returns for me. It's great to be able to shield whenever I want and it's also nice not to have to worry about roster slots, but I wouldn't call the game pay to win. It can accelerate your progress, but ultimately YOU have to make smart choices in order to really get any bang for your buck.

As far as points 2-7 go, here's my take:

2. I hate the duplicates too, but no matter which way you change it, it will just shift the balance towards whatever is being given out. I would love some more two star covers (OBW/Ares/Daken) but ultimately that would probably mean less covers on the other levels, which doesn't help newbies or veterans.

3. I hate the 20 ISO as well.

4. Slot price reduction would be nice, but honestly that was the reason why I first put money into the game and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

5. It would be nice if they went back to the multiple 2* covers they used to do.

6. It has already been addressed by people better versed in the subject than I am.

7. While I like that idea in theory, alternate accounts could cause a major problem, especially alternate FB accounts.

aaronschmiz wrote:

I also think it will drive sales (Which I am not a huge fan of, but if they are in it to make money, here's a good marketing pitch).

If sales aren't made, at some point the game won't be around. They have to be in it to make money.

This brings me to another point that I've been wondering about.

I'm not sure where this mentality that the game has to be free came from. Maybe people think mobile games are only time wasters, but there are games of varying complexity around and while I would be totally fine with a game like this that had a free trial and then you paid money for it, that doesn't seem like the way the mobile games market is generally set up. I've personally only purchased one mobile game and that's because I had heard that it was similar to something else I had played.

Unknown

Players starting out shouldn't be able to win top 10. Top 100 should be considered a win in my eyes.

It's called progression. I see too many players nowadays trying to do 1-star -> 3-star transition.

Unknown

aaronschmiz wrote:

I think if it was limited to FB friends and your alliance members only, I don't think it would have much effect, other than slowing down your own personal bank of ISO that you get for selling duplicate covers. These things come a dime a dozen (I prob make 1500-2000+ per day selling off duplicates that I can not use.) and for your friends/Alliance Members that are just starting out (The ones you got hooked in the first place. LOL), it will help them get involved more quickly and actually increase the competitiveness of the game overall. I also think it will drive sales (Which I am not a huge fan of, but if they are in it to make money, here's a good marketing pitch).

There are already people with duplicate FB accounts just for the game, they could start a new MPQ via steam or another device, link it to their real account or another dupe and start laundering their covers. If both accounts are in an alliance together and they get the new 3* for alliance reward it can be filtered to the better account giving them a huge leg up on the next event where that character is sure to be massively boosted. Or they could hack the low level account generate covers and share them. It's a slippery slope.

As for some of your other issues:
The 20 iso reward is what allows you to grind, it may show up a lot, but it enables you to play beyond the four times to get all the rewards.

There needs to be random covers that you already have in packs, otherwise everyone would have max covers of everything. If you can take covers you've maxed out of your card packs you're left with 0 cards for the 2-power characters and 1/3 available for all your 13 card characters which increases your odds of pulling something you don't have incrementally until you have only the new character with 3 covers available making it truly p2w.

Paying is not required, it really isn't, I swear. the times you feel it is are when you are transitioning and feel everyone is outperforming you, but if you tank MMR and stay patient and persistent you will get there.

Unknown

aaronschmiz wrote:

Talahamut wrote:

7. Instant rampant abuse using alt accounts...

It was not my intention to have 2 accounts. I just wanted to be able to play on a larger screen. At the time, I thought if I linked my tablet to fb, that it would delete my game, so I just played separately.

AethD wrote:

6. You just don't actually know how making games works. Using FB for an authorization platform is hugely different than letting you play from your browser. You might as well complain that you can't play on your xbox (or whatever console). They decided to make a mobile game (plus a Steam game which is also an entirely different process than a browser one), it makes perfect sense to use FB authorization and not have a browser app. FB is essentially only there so they don't have to have their own user identification stuff / friend lists etc. It's an entirely different job to make a website/application/whatever that connects to FB than it is to make an application/game/whatever that runs in FB.

You're right, I don't know how making games work. But I do have a basic understanding of platforms. So wondering why it is not available on FB, versus Xbox or PS3-4, is totally different.

As far as Steam, this is not something I am familiar with. Do you have a link?

The point I was trying to get across is that FB is a completely different platform than Android or iOS. Wondering why it isn't on FB isn't all that different from Xbox or PS3. Being able to connect to your facebook account is much easier, and an entirely different thing than making a game playable online.

Steam http://store.steampowered.com/ is a PC client (mac and linux as well) that allows you to buy/download tons of different games. I think MPQ is windows only, but I don't remember. Basically, you can play this game on your computer by downloading it from Steam. Although, Steam doesn't have FB connect and you can't link the accounts as far as I remember. Also, remember this is another different platform than FB/Browser games.