Forum thread

aesthetocyst

Forum post.

LXSandman

48mos+

They got me early.  A friend was playing it, so I saw it pop up on steam and tried it.

Raud

24-36mos

I'm big fan of originally Puzzle Quest I and II and of course Warlords and Marvel universe.
So one time i found on Steam that is Marvel version of PQ and has UI better than mobile version 

sinnerjfl

48mos+

Big fan of Puzzle quest (original and 2), saw it in the store when it released and installed out of curiosity, was pleasantly surprised.


Btw, good luck getting more steam users, there's like 200 games a day coming out on Steam now, its really difficult for games to get noticed these days.

tchipley

12-24mos

Referred by a friend to the game. Really like it on steam.

ursopro

12-24mos

I started playing the game when it got released back in 2013, build my roster and kept playing until the Hulk event (when you had to battle alongside all the community iirc), I even spent money when the DLC wasn't a one time only thing during the Winter Steam sale.

All this was before the game got Steam cloud save support so, one day I decided to change my video card and since this game was somehow tied to your hardware (and I'm pretty sure still is) my entire progress was gone. After contacting CS I got told there was nothing they could do to restore my progress or refund my purchase so I just uninstalled and forgot about it.

Then at the start of 2017 I was bored so I decided to download the game again to see if anything had changed, found out about the LINE community, got into a nice alliance and have been playing since.

Ironically I probably would have stopped playing again a long time ago if it wasn't because I found the community outside of the in-game app.

Unless some big changes happen to the way this game is monetized (good luck with that) the player base in Steam is not gonna increase and the way they pushed the UI changes and the dev response about the issue, if anything, is gonna keep decreasing.

HoundofShadow

I think a handful of players forgot that the dev gave two possibilities and focused only on the first. To be fair to the dev, here are both possibilities:

It would move higher on the to-do list IF

1) the number of PC players increased to be a bigger share of the total player population.

or

2) we figured out how to get enough faster at building UI to efficiently support different UIs for different platforms.

The reason for merging Steam UI with the mobile UI is because they are going to roll out new feature.

Currently, D3 is supporting 3 platforms: IOS, Android and PC/Steam. The Steam version of MPQ was released on 6th December 2013. So, it has been in the market for about 3 years and 3 months.

Here are some possible business decisions:

1) the top management sees that the number of increased players on the Steam version over the years did not meet their target or did not generate satisfactory profits.

2) The market is moving towards smartphone/tablet gaming (aka mobile gaming). The market shares for mobile gaming has surpassed PC gaming and it is expected to increase further in the future.

Unsatisfactory playerbase increase over the years for MPQ Steam version + bigger and increasing market share in mobile gaming = poor ROI. Therefore, less resources are allocated to Steam players. Thus, that could be why those two reasons were given.

The second solution would be hiring more experienced coders, which would need justification from the upper management. They will look at the data and... 

steakleather

48mos+

I found it when it first came out. I had played both of the original puzzle quests and was intrigued even though I didn't know much about marvel comics.

I also wasn't familiar with the f2p model, and this was the first f2p I'd played. I played free for a long time, until finally buying some of the Steam DLC. By the time VIP came around, I was devoted enough that I thought ten bucks a month was a fair price to support a game that gave me hours of consistent entertainment.

This game got me more into Marvel; I now have a Marvel Unlimited subscription, too, and am reading comics for the first time in my life.

DrNitroman

48mos+

I found the game on Steam when it was released in 2013.

I liked the original Puzzle Quest games and I was interested to have a casual game installed to release the pressure just after work. I wasn't familiar at all with the f2p model

At first, I wasn't even a daily player and played once in a while. After a few months, I was intrigued and searched for more informations about the game. Then I became a regular daily player, I joined an alliance (Extraordinary) the day alliances were created but I remained a somewhat casual player for the first 15 seasons.

Then we merged with Lock and Load, I started to play more competitively, built my 4* roster (then later my 5* roster). Now I'm back to a semi-casual pace of play... but with a much stronger roster

I'm a bit sad that this game never really found its audience on Steam. But after playing for so long I know that the recipe for a sustainable play is to not worry too much... therefore I don't!

Simplicius

<6mos

I only recently started playing the game. Most of my friends play some Star Wars game on android, but I don't have a smartphone so I couldn't play. I don't like android emulators so I went looking for similar free-to-play casual games, with a nice aesthetic, just to see if I could find as much enjoyment as them.

I initially rejected the game when the tutorial bugged out but I came back the next day determined to give it another shot. I ended up loving it, and, yes, the UI was a big part of that; I enjoyed getting new characters and taking a look at things on the vine even when I wasn't going to pick them up.

I've bought one package of HP, because I had a few characters I desperately wanted to find room for. Now, however, training characters and checking them out is a chore. The idea that developer wants to wait for more people to come aboard before fixing a problem, is frankly baffling to me.

I'm not leaving, because the game itself (the Puzzle part) is still fun and I'm at a stage where there's still a ways for me to go until I'll be satisfied with my roster. The only thing that could push me away is if this new feature is a premium currency or some such (that would just add far to much salt into the wound).

marshall

36-48mos

Got in through the original Puzzle Quest, still has a place in my heart even if a lot of the sequels didn't live up to the first one.

This game helped me through a time where I really needed a daily routine, shame it's not more popular on PC and we always got the short stick on everything.

Freelancer

24-36mos

I heard MPQ being talked about on a gaming podcast, and during some free time over Christmas 2015 I chose to have a look for myself. I'd never played the original Puzzle Quest and haven't even read any Marvel comics. I only really was a fan of the MCU and the vague memories of the XMen cartoon from my childhood. The Marvel license was a strong enough draw though and I enjoyed being introduced to characters I'd never heard of and finding out more details about them.

I've enjoyed playing the game on Steam, but with this UI change fiasco, it really does reinforce the feeling that the devs don't care about us Steam users. During the months we went without Shield Intercepts I began to feel bitter, frustrated that mobile users I have to compete with for placement were getting far more rewards than I was. Every time a 'Free [Character] Cover' thread pops up on the forums I die inside a little. I used to justify to myself that missing out on the occasional Free covers and not having any sort of Facebook rewards was a trade off I could live with to be playing the superior version of the game, but now I'm not sure what I think...

LeaveMyCookies

12-24mos

I found Marvel Puzzle quest on Steam after I was looking for a replacement game when Marvel Avengers Alliance closed on Facebook. I believe it was 2015 or 2016? Time flies, really. At the time my phone wasn't good enough to allow me to play on mobile comfortably, but after a year or so I upgraded and I switched from Steam to mobile, never really looked back, it's just much more convenient carrying the game around in my pocket instead of having to use my laptop. 

Alfje17

24-36mos

My best friend invited me in in Nov. 2015: he's a console-junkie, while I've always been a PC-head (going back to the C64) and this was one of those rare occasions where we could both play the same game on different platforms.
We're both long-term Marvel fans, so this was a great way to have some fun.

As I play on 3 different PCs each day, Steam is the obvious way for me, so I'm hoping this UI issue gets sorted soon: don't want to give up on this game, but if they abandon Steam, then I'm gone too.

Houtro

36-48mos

Ahh almost 48 mos I think, found the game through searching on google about puzzle games in a time I had nothing better to do... Still on it

y4747

48mos+

i've been a puzzle quest fan since, well, puzzle quest.
a friend who is also a fan told me about mpq, which was just taking one of my favorite games and throwing marvel on top. couldn't miss out on THAT. downloaded like a week after it hit steam.

Moon Roach

36-48mos

I started my Wolveroach Steam account when True Healing was abolished.  I already knew about MPQ because of my main account.

DFiPL

36-48mos

Had Steam on my laptop at school in winter '13. Was in the library looking for an excuse not to study for midterms and what's this Marvel AND Puzzle Quest?

Played one game on my laptop at school and another on my desktop at home until the devs said 'here ya go cloud saves' and I didn't realize it. The laptop save overwrote my at-home save, and when I realized I'd lost my stronger roster, I quit for a few months. Eventually came back when I saw some friends start playing.

Currently on day 1,321. So just over 3.5 years of active play. According to Steam, 5,402 hours invested. My next most-played PC game is at 1/10 that.

So...yeah.

XandorXerxes

36-48mos

Day 1270, over 1,900 hours on record (though I've left the game running for a few days on different occasions before, so that's higher than active time). I've thrown a couple starks to the game because of how many hours I've played, but the current state of the game on Steam is terrible.My play time had already slowed, this is probably just the death-knell for me. I might look into switching my account to mobile, but for all I know they'll just cut android support later.

Daiches

XandorXerxes said:

Day 1270, over 1,900 hours on record (though I've left the game running for a few days on different occasions before, so that's higher than active time). I've thrown a couple starks to the game because of how many hours I've played, but the current state of the game on Steam is terrible.My play time had already slowed, this is probably just the death-knell for me. I might look into switching my account to mobile, but for all I know they'll just cut android support later.

1900 hours on 1270 days is only an hour and a half a day. With an hour minimum of that needed for clear and grind of PVE, 10 minutes of DDQ, that doesn't leave a lot of time for PVP. You don't often see casual players stick that long with the game. How has your experience changed as a casual player over the years? 

XandorXerxes

36-48mos

Daiches said:

XandorXerxes said:

1900 hours on 1270 days is only an hour and a half a day. With an hour minimum of that needed for clear and grind of PVE, 10 minutes of DDQ, that doesn't leave a lot of time for PVP. You don't often see casual players stick that long with the game. How has your experience changed as a casual player over the years? 

I've never cared about placement since shortly after I started playing, but I used to play a lot - 4x clears, 1K pvp, etc. My roster was never good enough for more than the 4* in PvP and I was never motivated to play for more than the 4* in story. Even now I've only got 12 champed 4*s and my highest covered 5*s (2) each have 7 covers. I haven't leveled them at all as I figured that'd pretty much just hurt more than help. Only one I use reliably is Thanos for DPD.

I stopped going for 1K points in PvP each time, and once the scoring system changed I didn't bother getting 900. I would play to get the first 100 hp in the solos, the 4* cover from the Shield Sim, and the 10-pack overall. That eventually dropped to 3-400 points in PvP just to hit the 10-pack, then eventually it was just the shield sim, now it's not even that because of the covers it offers. I got on Line once, and quickly determined that it wasn't for me - I wanted to play on my own time.

I did the DPD every day until a little past when the Burrito node came out. I eventually stopped doing the lowest 3 missions, I just did the burrito and the cover missions. I still do the burrito every day, but not always the cover missions.

I used to still do PvP until fairly recently. I would do each node once, then grind down the essentials and last non-essential node. That was usually enough to get me the 4* cover. I stopped doing that more recently. I was going to restart for the black vulture cover (mine is 1/5/5), but ended up coming home really late one night exhausted from work and missed a day. No vulture cover for me, so I didn't bother on the last day. I still try to help out in team boss battles, but I go from getting really far in the progression to getting not far at all more recently. Our alliance is also really casual, and in general we've dropped from getting the first 4* cover reward (with the occasional 2nd) to getting about 1/3 of the way past the last 3* cover.

Couple that with the steady new releases, especially ones that I don't care about, and that I pretty much use the same few team comps to clear I was wearing down. If I had to point to a single point in time that I knew I lost interest hard, it was when those shield training missions started. I saw I had to have a level 207 new character and I stopped doing much at all.

I use the same team comps because of time. When I was in 3* land I used cagefist, then I got Thoress/JG/4clops champed and pretty much used them + IM40 everywhere. Now it's Carnage+Medusa. Using other characters (especially lower-tier characters) just isn't efficient, takes way too much time, but using the same ones over and over was just causing burnout.

Some friends also got me into Fire Emblem Heroes and Fate Grand Order, which give me more progress in less time (even with their stupid gachas) even though I haven't given any money. Playing those games just meant fewer time for MPQ. Trying to be social a few times a week meant that I can't always play every day (still try to log in and do the burrito to get CP/give my alliance +100 iso).

Playing mobile would probably help in terms of my ability to play for small bits of time here and there, especially on the train to/from work. Don't know that it helps with the burnout, and since PvP still revolves around other people's schedules to play it's still a no-go for me. If I still played story a lot, that would mitigate the new UI issues somewhat - but I don't, so I have a large amount of dealing with the switch between the new UI and the old one. I don't know why they didn't just pick one or the other, but whatever. It's aggravating, and when I came I'm only hanging on to becomes aggravating it normally doesn't end well.

That's a wall of text, but hopefully it at least somewhat gives you what you're looking for.

TL;DR: Used to be a lot more into it, but it was easy enough to make a little progress just logging in for daily rewards so I kept logging in. New UI is aggravating and I see it a lot more than I would if I played a lot (based on what UI content changed), so I'm quickly headed towards the "why even bother" moment. That combined with slower progression since there are more 4*s to cycle through for rewards, and more 4*s coming out every few weeks just push me away.