A look forward to 2018

Bowgentle

Orion said:

The 5* tier isn’t really opened up. Some of them have 4* feeders, sure, but at the rate they’re going, it will be the end of 2018 before they all have a feeder. The draw rates are the same and the cost of the LTs are the same. So nothing has really changed much.

There needs to be a real effort towards making 5*s more accessible, probably by making the rate 25%. Also, there needs to be more of a focus on new characters being 5*s and not so many new 4*s. At the current rate of growth, the 5* tier will have 70 characters by the end of the year?  That’s nuts and makes it impossible for new players to cover old 4*s. 

Finally, D3 need to accept that 3*s are not that useful anymore. Move the PvP progression 3* down from 800. No one who needs 3* covers can get that high in PvP.  Make 3*s more likely in Elite and Heroic tokens. Have more 4* PvP events.

They don't care.
The game wasn't ready for 5*s two years ago, still they rolled it out.

They'll roll out 6*s two years before the reward structure has caught up, too.

Gotta keep the whales chasing the new shiny.

Dotproduct

jredd said:

speed up pve by having a 'replay node' button after you beat it. restarts the node with the same characters in the state they finished the battle in. or have the node selectable as a wave option. 

half of this game is cycling through reward screens, sub/event screens, character select screens, etc. you could save a tonne of time doing this. they started with some quality of life changes recently. this would be another step in the right direction.

That would reduce the PvE times much more than turning off animations without it turning into a meaningless match 3 game. 

fight4thedream

Great post @The Rockett! 

First, I think it is important that we consider the significant changes that the devs implemented this year so as to get an idea of what we can expect in 2018. Then I will go into "Full Fight Fantasy" mode which is just my wish list for the game (wishful thinking though it may be, I hope some of the seeds bear fruit )

The changes of 2017:

*Mobile UI update (which I think is awesome btw)
*Introduction of S.H.I.EL.D. Training for new and rebalanced characters
*Raising of S.H.I.E.L.D. Rank to 200
* Change in acquisition of SR points
*Gradual introduction of 5*s for 4* Champion progression rewards
* The Behemoth Burrito node (was that this year? It might have been last year. Bad memory but feel free to correct me if I'm wrong)
* CL9 for both PvE and PvP
* 4 week 5* boost for newest character 
* 5* boost for PvE events
* Heroes for Hire including 5* characters
* 5 debut tokens shift from one character at 10% to three characters at 15% pull rate
* Alternative tokens for 5* characters (Family Legends, Cosmic Legends, No More Guns...)
* Introduction of Elite tokens
* Discontinuation of vaulting 4* characters
* Bonus Heroes
* The great PvP debate: Points vs Wins systems pt.1 and pt.2
* The OML Nerf
* Death of roster based scaling in PvE
* The expansion of group affiliations 
* reuse of 4*PvP events
* character specific boosts
...and more than I my poor memory can recall.

I know a lot of us tend to focus on the negative, but I do feel the game has improved greatly over the past year, particularly in the realm of farming and opening up new avenues to 5* characters as well as some pretty cool new events (here's looking at you Apocalypse and the X-men) so I do want to take a moment to thank the dev team for their hardwork and dedication to improving the game. Thank you!

What we can reasonably expect for 2018

*Continuation of 4* champ rewards update. Perhaps once a season?
*The Death of Tapping. (A popular complaint of competitive PvE players on the forum)
* 5* Classic character boosts for PvP (maybe yes? maybe no?)
*Another change to PvP (it something the dev team seems keen on doing)
* Further utilization of the affiliation feature (hopefuly 12 days of Marvel is just the beginning of something greater)
* An awesome event for Avengers: Infinity War 
* Growth Industry-like event for Black Panther and Ant-man movies
* And the big question: Will 2018 see the introduction of 6* tier? 

Now, with that, said there are still areas that I think they can focus on improving the game. Hopefully in 2018 we will see:

*Better Utilization of Shield Rank system

While I think everyone appreciates the ISO boost, I think the system could stand a bit more tinkering with. One issue that it could be utilized for is gating players from using their CP too early in the game. Time and time again, we here about how a younger roster got "lucky" and managed to build a 5* and how it ruined their playing experience, specifically now with PvP. 

I think instead a gate system should be implemented so as to prevent them from harming their own progress. For example:

Reach SR1: Unlock Standard tokens
Reach SR10: Unlock Elite Tokens
Reach SR30: Unlock Bonus Hero Tokens
Reach SR75: Unlock All 5* Tokens

On the screen, it will show how many tokens they have earned behind a lock so that they have something to look forward to when reaching that level. The only major issue with this that I can anticipate is that people will use their CP on 3* and 4* covers instead of wait but I think it should be made clear that CP can be used to acquire 5* tokens in the beginning, with a link explaining CPs purpose, its various uses and recommended uses for it. An informed player is a happier player.

*Restructuring of Game Tabs and Modes

There are currently three primary game modes: Prologue, Story (PvE), and Versus (PvP). I feel there should be a fourth: Alliance.

Prologue: The Mode that Hooks the player
I think most players of fond memories of this game mode and would love to see more done with it. Character restricted Heroics, once despised the forum community, has become a much requested event. I personally would like to see the Prologue expanded with a new event maybe once every 4-6 months. We have quite a few 3* characters in the game now (47?) so I think new prologue events would be a nice chance for players to gain some Iso, HP and 3* covers.

If I were to design the next prologue event, it would be X-men focused giving the player an opportunity to fully cover maybe 3 characters (ex: Beast, Storm and Cyclops). It would also introduce the Sentinels and Brotherhood of Evil Mutants.

Then the next chapter can either continue that storyline offering another batch of mutants (Psylocke, Colossus and Gambit) or you can do a different story featuring a different set of characters like Daredevil, Spider-man, Elektra. 

I also would allow nodes to be replayable even after all rewards have been acquired as a few players have voiced that they used to allow their children to play freely in the Prologue section.

PvE: Making the case for non-competitive play
I'll be honest, I like the current form of PvE, with the exception of the tapping issue, because it has the best effort/rewards ratio in the game. Be that as it may, I think it would greatly improve the experience of a lot more players if the PvE were made non-competitive. One of the biggest criticisms against the current PvE system is that it favors players who can play at a specific time and I think it is a fair critique. 

Removing the competitive component would eliminate both this criticism and tapping. However, we shouldn't just stop there. I think PvE events should implement "conditions-based wins" system. Instead of simply downing the enemy, PvE events will feature various challenges that require players to meet certain conditions to complete the node. Each completion would result in a more difficult condition with a better reward tied to its completion.

Say for example, in a Spidey themed PvE you have to blind the Juggernaut using web tiles.

Node: Cob Webs in my Eyes
Mission: On the board will be special "eye" tiles. Cover 2 eye tiles with web tiles to blind the Juggernaut! If eye tiles are matched away, they will be regenerated. Less special "eye" tiles will appear on board with each completion

First challenge: 24 eye tiles on board. Reward: 500 ISO
Second challenge: 12 eye tiles on board. Reward: 50 HP
Third challenge: 6 eye tiles on board. Reward: 1000 ISO
Fourth challenge: 2 eye tiles on board. Reward: 5 CP

Now instead of rushing through each node, you have to think carefully about what characters and team compositions would be best to meet the challenge. It also adds value to characters that don't have hard hitting abilities.

With the exception of a few boss battles, the game is heavily focused on downing enemies as fast as possible. PvE should be the place that offers something else.

PvP: It's time for a change

Recently one of our forum members made a rather insightful post about the PvP experience for newer players and while I don't necessarily agree with the solution proposed there, I do believe it is an issue worth looking at. Simply stated, the current structure of PvP is flawed. A lot of what it takes to be successful in PvP at higher level requires outside knowledge and for some players outside communication. Furthermore, with MMR, we often hear about a player who lucked into a 5* character has suddenly found themselves thrown into the big fish tank with all the whales and sharks and what have you feasting upon their ill-prepared roster. While the devs are toying with the idea of a win system, I think they need to rebuild the thing from the bottom up.

I used to play Yugi-Oh Duel Links (awesome game btw) and I really liked their PvP system. Now, I doubt we can get real player-vs-player interaction but I think the system can be made to be more intuitive. So borrowing from the Duel Links structure, you would have a win based system that does away with shielding and retaliations and focuses primarily on the ability of a player to win matches.

Basically, you establish different reward tiers and require the player to win a certain amount of matches to advance to the next tier in succession. If they lose a match, they have to start over within that tier.

So for example:

Beginner: 2 successive wins to advance
Rookie: 3 successive wins to advance
Bronze: 3 successive wins to advance
Silver: 3 successive wins to advance
Gold: 4 successive wins to advance
Platinum: 4 successive wins to advance
Champion: 5 successive to wins to advance

Get rid of MMR. Strong rosters will naturally progress to the higher tiers while younger rosters will gradually face stronger and stronger opponents. The ultimately aim is that Beginner and Rookie should be for rosters moving from the 1* to 2* transition, Bronze and Silver 2* to 3* transition, Gold and Platinum 3*to 4* and Champion 4* to 5*. I suppose to add more of challenge, increase the AI difficulty by each tier. Doing this will allow the player to try out different team compositions and the meta will no longer be defined by the "fastest" teams.

Obviously this sort of system is open to exploitation so I suppose the devs will have to require the 3*/4* loaner to be at a certain level to play (a la S.H.I.E.L.D training) and limit what kind of teams you can see at certain tiers. So yes, if you can win a match using a 2* character on your team that's fine but that team would not be visible for other players in your tier.  Additionally, you only fight players at the same tier level. After an event finishes, you drop down two tiers from where you completed, so if you finished platinum one event, you would start at silver the next event.

It is unfortunate that real time player vs player play is unavailable as it would make such a system more exciting but I think it would help address a lot of the issues newer players have with the current system by placing their progression solely on their ability to win and come up with viable teams to reach the next level.

But what about the ultra-competitive players? Yes, if you have been paying attention I have (purposely) shifted the three major game modes to cater to more casual players. But worry not! I have not forsaken the ones that thirst for competition.

Alliance: Battle Grounds

Under the Alliance tab you will have two main kind of events:  Battle Grounds and S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Forces. With Battle Grounds, at the beginning of every event every alliance will start off with a set amount of points which in turn is dispersed equally among each member of the alliance, so for example each alliance starts off with 1000 points and each member begins with 50 points.  The goal is to build points in your alliance by taking the points from other alliances. Point values for target nodes would be determined by two factors: difference in roster strength between target and attacker and the difference in current point totals. The stronger the target roster the more points they would be worth, with the point difference being the other weighted factor.  Obviously, under this system, a player won't be able to gain points if the target shields before the match is complete which will drastically change the PvP meta as players will no longer be able to inject points into the system. In order to encourage player participation, they can use the win progression mechanic but set the top awards to 22 wins. Ultimately, the point is to encourage healthy competition.

With S.H.I.E.L.D. Special Forces, you and your alliance mates have to complete a large map with possible subs that are filled with various challenges that will require full participation of your alliance to complete. For example, a choose your own path adventure where there are four different routes with only one route leading to the final goal while the other routes lead to traps or secret submissions. Boss encounters will be similar to Boss battles where you need your whole alliance to chip away at the health of a boss or a certain number of members to have met the win conditions of the battle like survive 15 rounds against Dormammu who has 2 AoE abilities and a passive ability that does various attacks based on board conditions. 

The ultimate goal is to move away from the current battle paradigm that prioritizes "speed" (and therefore, fast, hard hitting characters) to allow for other abilities likes defense, special tile creation and board manipulation to have a chance to shine. Having win conditions like having x number of shields on the board or simply surviving an encounter against a boss character that cannot be downed by traditional methods (a la Kaecilius) will add value to characters who are not seen as top tier.  Have missions where the win condition is having all members invisible in order to infiltrate Hydra headquarters or a certain AP pools must be maxed to 30 in order to send an emergency communication to Avengers HQ for back up. 

It seems pretty clear to me that the next phase of MPQ should be focused on creating challenges that encourage players to use more than just a handful of characters on their roster. 

Miscellaneous things on Fight's Wish List

Now for the fun, frivolous stuff:

* Introduction of skins for 5* characters: Weapon X or Weapon Omega for OML, classic Kirby surfer with underpants or Norrin Radd for Silver Surfer, Cap with a Beard for Captain America, etc
* Guerrilla Battles against various arch enemies of heroes: Wolverine vs Sabertooth, Ironman vs the Mandarin, Spider-man vs Green Goblin, etc
* Player profile that keeps track of stats like wins, number of 1st place finishes in PvE and PvP, highest damage achieved, longest win streak
*A streak breaker for LT pulls
*A Deadpool's weekly task list: Defeat so-so characters, achieve so and so score in PvP to get a nice ISO and/or HP boost or tokens
*New NPCs: Sentinels, Hydra henchmen, the Phalanx, Spider Slayers, Heralds of Galactus, the Black Order. 
 
And finally, my character Wish List of 2018:

*God Emperor Doom 
*Hela (I am keeping my fingers crossed she will be released with TR DVD release)
*Scarlet Spider (preferably both Ben Reilly and Kaine Parker versions but either of the two would be really awesome)
* Squirrel Girl (5* version)
* Omega Red
* AoA Nightcrawler
* Nebula
* Spider-man 2099
* A good comic-lore specific counter to Gambit (either Bishop or Mr. Sinister, I still think a 5* that has a passive that automatically absorbs charged tiles will open up the 5* tier a bit more but there are other potential counters)
* Zenpool 

Although there are a few more, I think I will keep the list at 10. I do think the 5* tier could definitely use a stronger female presence so I have my fingers crossed for Hela, Nebula and Squirrel Girl although Jessica Jones is also a good candidate. If 6* do become a thing, I think God Emperor Doom would be a prime candidate. 

Well I think that's about it for what I am hoping for in 2018. Obviously I doubt most of it will happen but am still looking forward to another awesome year. Best wishes everyone!ﾞ☆⌒o(*^ｰﾟ)ｖ

The rockett

@fight4thedream great feedback and kinda what I was going for. While i know there are some game functions that need work on, their "Go to Market" game plan needs to be looked at.  The general core make up of how information is released to players, changes happening, truly listening to player feedback and reacting to it in a swift manner, being proactive with issues that are brought up so they can be corrected before a foreseeable problem happens.  Even been transparent with some things going on to get the trust back from the player base.  

Bowgentle

The rockett said:

@fight4thedream great feedback and kinda what I was going for. While i know there are some game functions that need work on, their "Go to Market" game plan needs to be looked at.  The general core make up of how information is released to players, changes happening, truly listening to player feedback and reacting to it in a swift manner, being proactive with issues that are brought up so they can be corrected before a foreseeable problem happens.  Even been transparent with some things going on to get the trust back from the player base.  

Come now.
After four years of botched communication you suddenly expect them to do a 180?

Things will continue exactly like they are until they shut the game down.

Why would they change anything, anyway?
You've seen the buys yesterday.

Nick441234

Bowgentle said:

The rockett said:

@fight4thedream great feedback and kinda what I was going for. While i know there are some game functions that need work on, their "Go to Market" game plan needs to be looked at.  The general core make up of how information is released to players, changes happening, truly listening to player feedback and reacting to it in a swift manner, being proactive with issues that are brought up so they can be corrected before a foreseeable problem happens.  Even been transparent with some things going on to get the trust back from the player base.  

Come now.
After four years of botched communication you suddenly expect them to do a 180?

Things will continue exactly like they are until they shut the game down.

Why would they change anything, anyway?
You've seen the buys yesterday.

Exactly this. After the woeful Christmas celebrations I shall not be hoping for anything from now on with this game. Expect nothing and then anything you do get is a bonus. 

LifeofAgony

The amount of money that got pumped into the game yesterday is all you need to understand about why nothing changes from their end.  

The rockett

@Bowgentle @Nick441234 @LifeofAgony
yea I know. You are all correct and I may or may not have been apart of those crazy buys yesterday.  I don't think anything will change in fact i don't know how much worse it will get. I am hoping for something from D3/Demi. Something. Anything. A recommitment to the player base.  Maybe I am still hung over drinking too much whsikey hoping for this. 

LifeofAgony

Money is all that matters;  even after the absurdity of yesterday, there’s more buys going today like people didn’t get enough yesterday.  Nothing will change other than things they feel will drive more $$.

Nick441234

The rockett said:

@Bowgentle @Nick441234 @LifeofAgony
yea I know. You are all correct and I may or may not have been apart of those crazy buys yesterday.  I don't think anything will change in fact i don't know how much worse it will get. I am hoping for something from D3/Demi. Something. Anything. A recommitment to the player base.  Maybe I am still hung over drinking too much whsikey hoping for this. 

Dont. Dont hope for anything. Simply dont, you will only be disappointed. Expect absolutely nothing, and then anything is nice. 

These people let us down all the time, every month of every year. Its time to give up hoping for positive things with this game.