April Q&A with Demiurge_Will

Demiurge_Will

Thanks for the new thread!

Have you ever considered doing live Q&A chats? 

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire, and one of the tools I see put to good use is live chat. I'm not sure whether that would be right for MPQ - it's seemed like many more people would rather check out a transcript of the video content we've put out in the past than watch it, and forums just seem more efficient - but there's some relationship-building that happens there that might be helpful.

It's challenging to do satisfying stand-alone Q&A - so many of the things that people naturally want to know are "when is X coming" or "how will Y change in the future", and those aren't questions that can really be honestly answered until there's an announcement to make. Maybe the solution there is to have that sort of interaction around announcements, and then there will be a bunch of questions about whatever change we're talking about that have a more interesting answer than "we're looking into it".

Also, I type much too slow for a live text Q&A (actual typing speed is solid, thanks P.A.W.S., but I fiddle with phrasing & grammar too much).

Demiurge_Will

wymtime said:

How often do you feel major updates should occur in the game?  Examples of major updates would be DPDQ, champion rewards, 5* tier, CL. 

Examples of of non major update: balance changes, new PVE, New boss events

I think more often than we did in 2017.

Our strategy last year was more, but smaller, changes, and while that I think that led to some real and steady improvements in the game, no amount of smaller changes adds up to the excitement of a big new feature.

Demiurge_Will

Demiurge_Will said:

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire...

Question back at the group - if you could transplant the community approach from any other game onto MPQ, whose would that be and why?

Demiurge_Will

Would you ever consider using a small panel of vets as a sounding board for new ideas/characters? 

Yeah, this is an idea that has comes up internally.

The games that I'm aware of that have done this successfully are >10x our team size. It's a ton of work for both the panel and development to keep information flowing smoothly enough for the panel to make informed recommendations, and for development to turn that into a revised plan of action to run by the panel, and for the panel to respond in a timely way.

It might be that there's a different way to do this that works for a game our size. I think maybe we could have some of those conversations with a wider audience at a lower level of detail.

Demiurge_Will

In the current state of the game, burn out is real and seeing more and more players going casual or leaving.  Do you have any long term plans to address this?

To put this response in context, MPQ is in a really healthy place right now. We don't want anyone to burn out, and anyone that leaves means that there's something we could be doing better. But players aren't leaving significantly more now than they were in, say, 2014, and more folks stick around for longer than in most comparable games.

But yes! We think about this a lot.

Our high-level strategy to address burnout is pretty straightforward:

• release exciting new things
• fix pain points
• listen carefully to players to improve our understanding of what's most painful and what might be most exciting

wymtime

Demiurge_Will said:

Demiurge_Will said:

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire...

Question back at the group - if you could transplant the community approach from any other game onto MPQ, whose would that be and why?

Great question.  I would give 2 examples.
#1 supercell with clash Royale.  They mainly communicate through reddit and discord, but they come out with regular Q&A’s.  They also invite pro players and you tubers to their base of operation to go through updates they are working on and content creation to play test and get their feedback.  These visitors have to sign confidentiality agreements and if they were to spoil content are removed from posting YouTube videos about a their games and lose future supercell visits.  Another thing they do well is let the community know ahead of time when they want to do big updates.  They said in one Q&A they were aiming for a update in March but then announced later the update would come mid April.  Overall it is just strong communication.

#2 is battle bay through Rovio.  With battle Bay the community manager does a good job of putting contests out for the community to post videos and share fun stuff.  Another thing they have done is swiftly adressed community issues.  They had come out with a big update and there was a big loophole players could exploit.  When they fixed it they also reset the players who took advantage of it and announced it on the forum.  The devs have also been very active on the forum and their updates have really felt like they address the concerns of the community 

Sluggo

I didn't see this in the OP list of questions: 

There was a test event a few weeks ago to address overtapping nodes in PvEs. Can you share any observations from that test, and if we should expect any more tests (or permanent changes) in coming weeks? 

Stax the Foyer

Demiurge_Will said:

Thanks for the new thread!

Have you ever considered doing live Q&A chats? 

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire, and one of the tools I see put to good use is live chat. I'm not sure whether that would be right for MPQ - it's seemed like many more people would rather check out a transcript of the video content we've put out in the past than watch it, and forums just seem more efficient - but there's some relationship-building that happens there that might be helpful.

For me, at least, the big appeal of a live chat type interaction is the ability for immediate followup and clarification.

I think the best format for getting information out there is a quick response with a couple brief followup questions, at least compared to a single announcement that you spend a lot of time wordsmithing.

For the videos, I always checked the transcript and let other people do the watching, but when IceIX did the chat on LINE, the followup questions were where we really got the information that we wanted, and that made the discussion so much better.

TPF Alexis

Demiurge_Will said:

Demiurge_Will said:

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire...

Question back at the group - if you could transplant the community approach from any other game onto MPQ, whose would that be and why?

It's in a very different format, but Games Workshop (Warhammer, etc.) has really turned around their (previously very adversarial) relationship with their player base in the last couple of years. The key changes seem to have been mostly in terms of communication and openness.

Announcements further in advance (tho still with some vagueness because things don't always work out as planned), faster response to player issues with rules and game balance, and more frequent minor changes to fix those rules and balance issues.

Brigby

Stax the Foyer said:

Demiurge_Will said:

Thanks for the new thread!

Have you ever considered doing live Q&A chats? 

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire, and one of the tools I see put to good use is live chat. I'm not sure whether that would be right for MPQ - it's seemed like many more people would rather check out a transcript of the video content we've put out in the past than watch it, and forums just seem more efficient - but there's some relationship-building that happens there that might be helpful.

For me, at least, the big appeal of a live chat type interaction is the ability for immediate followup and clarification.

I think the best format for getting information out there is a quick response with a couple brief followup questions, at least compared to a single announcement that you spend a lot of time wordsmithing.

For the videos, I always checked the transcript and let other people do the watching, but when IceIX did the chat on LINE, the followup questions were where we really got the information that we wanted, and that made the discussion so much better.

What kind of announcements would you envision live chat working out better than the traditional method of posting a discussion thread? Or do you see it as being in addition to that?

Spudgutter

Brigby said:

Stax the Foyer said:

Demiurge_Will said:

Thanks for the new thread!

Have you ever considered doing live Q&A chats? 

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire, and one of the tools I see put to good use is live chat. I'm not sure whether that would be right for MPQ - it's seemed like many more people would rather check out a transcript of the video content we've put out in the past than watch it, and forums just seem more efficient - but there's some relationship-building that happens there that might be helpful.

For me, at least, the big appeal of a live chat type interaction is the ability for immediate followup and clarification.

I think the best format for getting information out there is a quick response with a couple brief followup questions, at least compared to a single announcement that you spend a lot of time wordsmithing.

For the videos, I always checked the transcript and let other people do the watching, but when IceIX did the chat on LINE, the followup questions were where we really got the information that we wanted, and that made the discussion so much better.

What kind of announcements would you envision live chat working out better than the traditional method of posting a discussion thread? Or do you see it as being in addition to that?

Not my question, but i would like to respond.

Maybe we don't need a live chat, but if you look at several announcements over the last year, they are posted late in the day, sometimes on a Friday, and that is the end of it.  If you look at those threads, there are usually plenty of questions that people have.  If we are lucky, you will still be on and respond that you would pass it on, and we may or may not see the response in a timely manner.  And not having the answer over the weekend before or during something new, is worse than just getting a 'no' at the beginning, imo.  I would like there to be more interaction during those times, at the very least.

Stax the Foyer

Spudgutter said:

Brigby said:

Stax the Foyer said:

Demiurge_Will said:

Thanks for the new thread!

Have you ever considered doing live Q&A chats? 

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire, and one of the tools I see put to good use is live chat. I'm not sure whether that would be right for MPQ - it's seemed like many more people would rather check out a transcript of the video content we've put out in the past than watch it, and forums just seem more efficient - but there's some relationship-building that happens there that might be helpful.

For me, at least, the big appeal of a live chat type interaction is the ability for immediate followup and clarification.

I think the best format for getting information out there is a quick response with a couple brief followup questions, at least compared to a single announcement that you spend a lot of time wordsmithing.

For the videos, I always checked the transcript and let other people do the watching, but when IceIX did the chat on LINE, the followup questions were where we really got the information that we wanted, and that made the discussion so much better.

What kind of announcements would you envision live chat working out better than the traditional method of posting a discussion thread? Or do you see it as being in addition to that?

Not my question, but i would like to respond.

Maybe we don't need a live chat, but if you look at several announcements over the last year, they are posted late in the day, sometimes on a Friday, and that is the end of it.  If you look at those threads, there are usually plenty of questions that people have.  If we are lucky, you will still be on and respond that you would pass it on, and we may or may not see the response in a timely manner.  And not having the answer over the weekend before or during something new, is worse than just getting a 'no' at the beginning, imo.  I would like there to be more interaction during those times, at the very least.

Like Spudgutter said, this could be interaction in the announcements thread.  We do have more interaction and followup in the announcements thread than we have in the past, and that's good.  There's often a delay, though, because we're not always asking for information that you have available.

My point was more that the original post in the announcements thread doesn't have to be perfect, as long as there are quick responses to questions.  It's touch to anticipate all of the questions that we might have, so coordinating the announcements with a small window of availability to answer some questions would make the most of the announcement thread.

Another component of the Q&A format that might be able to be provided in some cases is a little peek behind the curtain, whether it's some information about the underlying metrics that drove a decision (like we got with the OML nerf), or some commentary about how they expect a new feature to change the way we play the game.

JHawkInc

I want to say, it's not technically a live chat, but having all of these questions answered so quickly in the new Supports release thread is awesome. Being able to get some immediate feedback and iron out various concerns AND get some insight into how this feature came to be (and what things it attempts to accomplish) is very much appreciated. I think we could get by without an actual live chat if we had this kind of engagement for bigger announcements.

The rockett

Has there need any thought of updating season rewards?  

Example: 
Prog in PVP is 1200. 
10 PVP Events per season X 1200 = 12,000
SIM Prog 2000
10 PVP event prog 12,000 + SIM prog= 14,000
Season Prog 10,000

It just feels like something is missing here and needs to be updated.  The 10,000 season Prog has been the same for as long as I can remember.  

Lystrata

Is there any plan to review/revise roster slot costs at lower levels?

I know this isn't an issue for most forum players anymore (certainly isn't an issue for me), but a lot of newer players that come through my alliance end up quitting because of the roster slot expenses - and there's 0 advice I can give about that.

Either they hit a paywall that even multiple Logan's Loonies can't fix, or they need to hoard for months - neither of which is an encouraging option or something that keeps someone interested in the game.

There are 150+ playable characters in this game now, but from the time you have around 30, roster slots are at 500hp. That's really, really expensive for new players, who have far greater odds of opening yet another new character these days.

From what I can tell, obtaining the volume of characters isn't so daunting as the timeline in which they can even just be added to a new player's roster at all.

We had a mass forum meltdown a while back (a year? two? hell if I know, time blurs) about roster slot costs, and it got fixed to a point where it's not an issue for us anymore. But anyone joining the game now is basically locked out in a way that we really never were.

acescracked

Thanks for answering questions!

Where's your favorite place for lunch? You sack lunch it or use that big game developer $$ and eat out?

Who's the most annoying co-worker? We'll keep the secret.

Michaelcles

How much $$$ is red iso going to cost.  Will it allow for faster tapping?

DFiPL

Demiurge_Will said:

Thanks for the new thread!

Have you ever considered doing live Q&A chats? 

For sure. There are a few games/companies. mostly in the PC world, that are doing community work that I really admire, and one of the tools I see put to good use is live chat. I'm not sure whether that would be right for MPQ - it's seemed like many more people would rather check out a transcript of the video content we've put out in the past than watch it, and forums just seem more efficient - but there's some relationship-building that happens there that might be helpful.

I don't know as I'd necessarily say "rather."

Some of us (*raises hand*) want the transcript as backup. I'm happy to watch a video, but I can't always understand what's been said because of my hearing impairment. Having a transcript, or even an accompanying document that isn't verbatim quotes but delivers the same information so I don't have to go bother other people to find out what was said, is really hugely helpful to me.

For others, it might be a question of location. Consumption of video at work may not be feasible where a scan of a transcript is.

Other thing you could conceivably do to make the video content more attractive to viewers might be video sneak peeks of whatever it is you're discussing. So if the video is talking about a character announcement, an early look at how that character plays would probably catch attention. In the case of the supports feature, a dev talking about the feature while demonstrating on camera how it works would probably catch attention, and might even answer some questions pre-emptively. Etc.

You see that with some games, where the developers do preview streams with influencers/streamers to get the word out about something that's coming (new game, expansion for existing game, new feature, whatever); you don't necessarily need to go quite as far as that, but introducing content to the videos that goes beyond two people talking at the camera? That could be something.

Jrlrma

Lystrata said:

Is there any plan to review/revise roster slot costs at lower levels?

I know this isn't an issue for most forum players anymore (certainly isn't an issue for me), but a lot of newer players that come through my alliance end up quitting because of the roster slot expenses - and there's 0 advice I can give about that.

Either they hit a paywall that even multiple Logan's Loonies can't fix, or they need to hoard for months - neither of which is an encouraging option or something that keeps someone interested in the game.

There are 150+ playable characters in this game now, but from the time you have around 30, roster slots are at 500hp. That's really, really expensive for new players, who have far greater odds of opening yet another new character these days.

From what I can tell, obtaining the volume of characters isn't so daunting as the timeline in which they can even just be added to a new player's roster at all.

We had a mass forum meltdown a while back (a year? two? hell if I know, time blurs) about roster slot costs, and it got fixed to a point where it's not an issue for us anymore. But anyone joining the game now is basically locked out in a way that we really never were.

As a newer player (90days) i completely agree w this. The hp costs to get all 2s and 3s rostered w a 1 for ddq is something like 30k hp. Thats ridiculous and the only reason im still around is i happened to start playing the game wheb the shiled bundles started dropping. I enjoy the game, and an happy to compensate you guys for your work, when im offered a good deal for my money. If i satrted in like october or november or whenever, i wouldve quit by now. People can do math lol and when they see that the $100 bundle of hp isnt even close to getting you a playable roster thats a real issue. 

Either the hp scaling has to be fixed, more hp become available through pve/pvp (the latter of which is basically off limits to new players) or make the bundles permanent-

maybe rotate the covers every few weeks, just make it easier for new players to get to the point where they feel ok to be in for the long haul. 

Mattjimf

Do you look at your competition and see what they are doing and look to see if some of that could be incorporated into the game?

Thinking mainly WWE Champions and the variety of ways to play:
Multiple Single mode play styles with dificulty levels (normal/hard/very hard)
Alliance mode where you submit characters to battle other teams (limited by type of fighter they are)
Gauntlet mode where you select a team of characters that meet certain criteria that you can't change out/heal until you win/lose.