Is the game dying?

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  • UnsmashableTim
    UnsmashableTim Posts: 81 Match Maker
    Easy to get frustrated. I used to get frustrated with every change, especially if it impacted my roster or style of play, but now I welcome it. When you get so good at the game and play so much, it's nice to change it up. But then again, I know I'm in the minority here
  • fmftint
    fmftint Posts: 3,653 Chairperson of the Boards
    I keep seeind this $100m number thrown around but no one ever says if that's net or gross, Google and Apple keep 30% on all ap sales, the remainder is split between publisher and developer
  • Jarvind
    Jarvind Posts: 1,684 Chairperson of the Boards
    fmftint said:
    I keep seeind this $100m number thrown around but no one ever says if that's net or gross, Google and Apple keep 30% on all ap sales, the remainder is split between publisher and developer
    Also a good point. Companies and marketers looooooove cherry-picking numbers that sound good.
  • SummerGlau
    SummerGlau Posts: 1,027 Chairperson of the Boards
    a lot of recent developers decisions have left players feeling like Demiurge no longer cares about anything but transparent cash grab attempts

    I'm in a casual public alliance that had only 11/20 players play for almost a week (back up to 13-15 now)
  • Wonko33
    Wonko33 Posts: 985 Critical Contributor
    therightwaye said:
    Looks to me like the forums are less active. I have a few daily players who haven't played in a couple of weeks. And the competition seems lacking. 

    Is this game slowly dying? Having not been on the forums for longer than five months, does this come and go?
    I don't know if it is dying or not but I know this post will never die... every week for about 4 years now it resurrects.... oh how eastery! 
  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 6,244 Chairperson of the Boards
    Of course it comes up a lot...people always hope there is an end to the grinding.  :smile:

    I think there is less play in the events overall right now, but it is too early to predict anything yet.  I know placing T100 in Lightning Rounds is easier than ever.  And my (young, all under 283) 4* champ roster recently hit T5 in a PVP, first ever, at just about 930 points. It was surprising.

    The devs aren't helping spur interest, though.  
  • MaxxPowerz
    MaxxPowerz Posts: 276 Mover and Shaker
    If I must say, the never-ending influx of new characters is really becoming a burden. I realize I'm never to champ everyone, but even getting the occasional side character champed like Kate or Quake is becoming harder and harder under this release slate. I have Coulson, Medusa and Hawkeye waiting for some iso love with new characters like Iron Fist and Cloak and Dagger up and coming. I'm really starting to feel the burn and the temptation to throw in the towel is greater than ever. A double iso event is needed now more than ever, if not only as a sign of good faith.
  • Mordee
    Mordee Posts: 53 Match Maker
    I don't care anymore really.  I agree with most on the poor gaming decisions, but it has been done.  They rarely reverse their calls; it's like complaining to a ref in a game.  

    I still play.  I'm not bored of the game, yet.  I just find ways to make it work.  Fewer people playing then better placements for the rest.  Lucky for me, my clan just has 1 revolving door.  

    Every game eventually hits its peak. 
  • babinro
    babinro Posts: 771 Critical Contributor
    The game is definitely less fun for long time players but I have no idea if that translates to the game 'dying'.  We have a 5* tier of play that's frankly AWESOME but it's so inaccessible to the player base that it can't be appreciated. 

    The design of the end game is also such that elevating yourself to the final tier of play typically means discarding all tiers before.  Now that's always been the case but you might not appreciate it as much when the tier you moved to means adding new characters to it maybe twice a year with hardcore play.

    Vets are left with three options...
    1) Have the patience of a saint and accept very little progress yearly for 20+ hours of gameplay each week. 
    2) Spend literally thousands of dollars to keep up with 5* tier
    3) Burn out due to boredom, lack of progress or just frustration regarding the realities of this endgame.

    So back to the main question...is MPQ dying?

    I have no idea.  I can say that historically speaking its the vets that tend to support F2P games far more than any other group.  Forcing what is probably your biggest supporter in the above 3 categories does make some of them spend but it does so at the cost of a lot of morale and negativity at the upper tiers of play.  This doesn't strike me as a sustainable way of doing business.

    For all I know MPQ's vets only make up a small portion of the pie.  The early game is very well put together these days and there's very much the beginners trap of ISO purchases while also juggling the more legitimate decision of HP for roster slots.  If most of the money is being made by newer players then this game should have a lot of life left in it.
  • El Satanno
    El Satanno Posts: 1,005 Chairperson of the Boards
    babinro said:
    The game is definitely less fun for long time players but I have no idea if that translates to the game 'dying'.  We have a 5* tier of play that's frankly AWESOME but it's so inaccessible to the player base that it can't be appreciated. 

    The design of the end game is also such that elevating yourself to the final tier of play typically means discarding all tiers before.  Now that's always been the case but you might not appreciate it as much when the tier you moved to means adding new characters to it maybe twice a year with hardcore play.

    Vets are left with three options...
    1) Have the patience of a saint and accept very little progress yearly for 20+ hours of gameplay each week. 
    2) Spend literally thousands of dollars to keep up with 5* tier
    3) Burn out due to boredom, lack of progress or just frustration regarding the realities of this endgame.
    It's interesting how you said the 5* tier is awesome, and then elaborate a bit on how not-awesome it is. You're a funny guy, Babs.
  • Phaserhawk
    Phaserhawk Posts: 2,676 Chairperson of the Boards
    The game has always been terrible. If it wasn't for the Marvel license and these were made up heroes like every other collectible game it would be nowhere near as successful. It's the perfect freemium game. Get license of a successful franchise. Create a constant source of new content, monetize everything. Do just enough to keep the player base intrigued.  Balance when you either need to appease the masses or make more money under the guise of long term health of game. 

    Yup they will continue to make money as long as people continue to believe they are getting value 


  • babinro
    babinro Posts: 771 Critical Contributor
    El Satanno said:
    babinro said:
    The game is definitely less fun for long time players but I have no idea if that translates to the game 'dying'.  We have a 5* tier of play that's frankly AWESOME but it's so inaccessible to the player base that it can't be appreciated. 

    The design of the end game is also such that elevating yourself to the final tier of play typically means discarding all tiers before.  Now that's always been the case but you might not appreciate it as much when the tier you moved to means adding new characters to it maybe twice a year with hardcore play.

    Vets are left with three options...
    1) Have the patience of a saint and accept very little progress yearly for 20+ hours of gameplay each week. 
    2) Spend literally thousands of dollars to keep up with 5* tier
    3) Burn out due to boredom, lack of progress or just frustration regarding the realities of this endgame.
    It's interesting how you said the 5* tier is awesome, and then elaborate a bit on how not-awesome it is. You're a funny guy, Babs.
    lol, maybe I should have been more clear.  Its awesome because the character design and balance of the game within that tier is actually really well done.  You have several teams that are viable and pretty much every character at 5* tier can be used effectively for something. The characters that could be seen as failures in design have since been fixed.  While Banner or Ironman might not be among the best 5s to have they can still do well as I understand it.

    My gripes were entirely with the accessibility of 5* tier to players and snails pace progression of it all leading to people quitting.
  • Polares
    Polares Posts: 2,643 Chairperson of the Boards
    I don't know if it is dying, I guess the answer is, it depends. I think the game is probably awesome for new players, but for veterans it is a completely different thing. This game has been antiveteran (not anti whale) for quite a bit of time.

    The only thing I know, is that every single day I care less and less. Last PvP I didn't even get to 575, and I didnt care. The game is general is in a terrible state in the high end:

    - Still no scl9 or scl10
    - Scaling is still awful (Kaecilius level 550 against Patch and Loki and one 5 as shield)
    - 5s still require a lot of luck or a lot of money

    and now we add

    - Vaulting
    - Bugs (match4 doesnt do damage to K)
    - 5 nerfs

    The game is a joke.

    Next season I wont buy the VIP. Hopefully this will mean that I will go fully casual or I will stop playing after three years
  • Crnch73
    Crnch73 Posts: 504 Critical Contributor
    Honestly, I don't think it's dying. Much like as has been said before, you don't just burn down a mansion for no reason. They are still making money.

    However, I do understand where the question comes from. There have been many questionable/bad/terrible decisions lately. I believe these decisions were made as attempts to fix or alleviate some problems, but they only seem to have either done nothing at all, or even made it worse. The lack of attention to detail and the lack of forethought can lead anyone to start questioning the developers. They sure seem to be phoning it in, from a creative idea standpoint. Some may say they are just getting lazy and riding out the wave for all it's worth. Some may say they have lost sight of what the customer base wants. Some may say that the business side of the game and the development side of the game are not seeing eye-to-eye, which results in "fixes" that require the customers to pay more.

    Regardless of the reasoning, I do not believe they are just going to bury the game and move on... not yet at least. But they do need to remove their heads from their anuses and start making changes that actually mean something good. It feels like forever when Shield Rankings and SCL's were introduced. I honestly can't remember a good development since then.
  • optimus2861
    optimus2861 Posts: 1,235 Chairperson of the Boards
    RtW said:
    Maybe the should look at the model that Marvel Future Fight uses. That game also has a lot of characters. And they are very generous how often you get characters. No roster slots so you can keep expending. The more you play characters the more they level. The reason why you should ever pay in that game is for extra's. New costumes on characters. And I pay sometimes because I think they have a very good and more important FAIR model. 
    I'm a FF veteran myself, but I do see signs that it's going to start going stagnant too. I think it's hitting the bottom of the barrel for Marvel characters to put in the game, since they can't draw from the X-Men nor Fantastic Four pools. New characters there are likely moving the needle less and less. They are working on some new content for GoTG2 and Spider-Man: Homecoming, so we'll see if that helps keep the decline at bay.

    MPQ's root problem is that it's outlived its original design parameters (2* and 3* as the main tiers with 4* as a trophy tier). Moving to 4* and 5* as the main tiers without really altering the core design just keeps exposing problems; but they make enough $$$ from whales on the 4* and 5* tiers so they feel no incentive to address said problems. And when the whales stop feeding the $$$ train on 4* & 5* characters, they'll either pull the 6* card or just start shutting the game down. So, I don't expect much for player-friendly changes at this point in the game's lifecycle.

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