Soul Stone Season Updates (5/25/18)

HoundofShadow

Our thinking here is that we don't want to pull the rug out from under someone who's been working towards a particular reward by changing who's rewarded before they get there. We've updated the characters that are in champion rewards before, and may do so again, but want to do it rarely for that reason.

The Devs' explanation...

It's going to be a while.

DyingLegend

Ezrius said:

DyingLegend said:

Ezrius said:

I really wish they'd fix the 3* -> 4* champion rewards.  I get that there are too many 4* characters now for all of them to have a feeder, but do we really need two feeders for Jean Grey, Starlord, X-23, X-Force Wolverine, and Elektra?  When 26 4* characters have no feeder?

I said this in the Champion Rewards thread, but at the very least, Gamora should feed Gamora, and the two older X-Men that are currently part of a dual-fed 4* (Beast and Colossus) should probably feed 4* X-Men without feeders (Nightcrawler and Jubilee).  Ragnorok might make sense for Valkyrie, and I'm sure something could be worked out for a lonely 4* between Daredevil and Elektra.  I don't really think these are enormous adjustments in the grand scheme of things, certainly not compared to a Supports system that... I'm still not sure myself or half the community is even sure they care about (outside of fear of it ever having PVP implications).

I would assume they haven't made any of these changes as they don't want to retroactively give out rewards to people that already hit that reward  milestone or upset people seeking those current rewards.

I mean, it's not like it stopped them before, and they didn't give out retroactive rewards in those cases IIRC?  They did it in October 2016 and in April 2017 for 3*s and changed 2* Hawkeye in August..  They've even changed both 3* Captain Marvel and Iron Fist both times.

Yeah but i think it angered the playerbase to the point where they haven't done it since. 

Ezrius

When/where was that quoted from?

When they made the change last April, there were only 6 more 4* characters than 3*s (and Brigby noted in the thread I linked that it would soon be 5 when 3* Star-Lord would be released).  It's 20 now, hence, it's been a while.

I'm only pointing out options with two feeders here.  I get not wanting to change someone for thematic reasons when there isn't another way to farm the character (like if Black Panther was changed to feed 4* Black Panther with no one left to feed Mr Fantastic), but having two characters feed 4* characters, a majority of which aren't considered "meta," doesn't really seem to make much sense anymore with the widening gap.

There are strong characters in the 4* PVP meta (Gamora and Rocket & Groot, particularly), that have no feeders, while several dual-fed 4*s are not exactly considered priorities (Elektra, Wolverine, X-23).  Jean Grey and Star-Lord are still pretty decent, but not exactly thriving against some of the newer powerhouses like the Gamora/R&G/Medusa nightmare.

Maybe I'm just frustrated because I've been one of those people that had the rug pulled out from under me before (I was counting on Iron Fist to feed IMHB once upon a time), gotten over it, and now I just want a clear path to feed and grow my 4* champion roster over having two converging paths to a garbage character I'll probably never use un-boosted (looking at you, Elektra).

The rockett

HoundofShadow said:

Our thinking here is that we don't want to pull the rug out from under someone who's been working towards a particular reward by changing who's rewarded before they get there. We've updated the characters that are in champion rewards before, and may do so again, but want to do it rarely for that reason.

The Devs' explanation...

It's going to be a while.

10 months and counting. Here is the timeline. 

Januray 2016-Champing goes live. 
October 2016-updating to Champing 
April 2017-updating to Champing 
August 2017-updating to Champing 

So this is now the longest time we have had since this went live without an update.  Like I said in another thread, this is just non supported. 

HoundofShadow

The quote was made in this year's March Q&A with Will.

https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/comment/784921/#Comment_784921

The likely possible scenario is the number of players upset by the change is greater than the number of players benefited by the change. If this scenario is true, then it's a democratic decision.

The rockett

@Avalancher or @HoundofShadow , the difference is that we have 4 dupe 3* feeders that can be changed with no issues.  That is a very simple process to do since they did fix all of the other dupes. That’s not too much to ask for is it? 

Brigby

Arix90 said:

mega ghost said:

If Brigby were to tell us that character rebalances are still being pushed back in exchange for focus on yet another feature that's in development, even if he can't go into any details now, I'd still be completely sated if we could get some very rough projections (i.e. expect a new feature in June or July, and character rebalances in August or September, for example.)

Someone at D3 mentioned a new feature coming in the next off season (not this week the one after the next season)

That's correct. We do have some features and updates coming down the pipeline, one of which we do anticipate to be arriving sometime during the next off season. As always though, please keep in mind that until there is a set date when we announce it, details may be subject to change.

When it comes to why we don't usually communicate much in advance, Demiurge_Will said it best:

Demiurge_Will said:
While we usually say little about future plans*:

-snip-

*: Reasons for this: software development, creative work, and entertaining people are all messy and unpredictable, and when you cross the three together in a live game, making very many promises can lock you into disaster. And we know most of you are happiest with more detail and dislike when something you're expecting changes, so we typically talk about new things when we're certain of the details. Because of the nature of game development, that's usually when the feature's about to come out.

We want to make sure that whatever we announce now will still be true when it goes live. The further in advance we communicate things, the more likely it is to change over time, and that's just something we're unfortunately unable to anticipate.

Bowgentle

Brigby said:

Arix90 said:

mega ghost said:

If Brigby were to tell us that character rebalances are still being pushed back in exchange for focus on yet another feature that's in development, even if he can't go into any details now, I'd still be completely sated if we could get some very rough projections (i.e. expect a new feature in June or July, and character rebalances in August or September, for example.)

Someone at D3 mentioned a new feature coming in the next off season (not this week the one after the next season)

That's correct. We do have some features and updates coming down the pipeline, one of which we do anticipate to be arriving sometime during the next off season. As always though, please keep in mind that until there is a set date when we announce it, details may be subject to change.

When it comes to why we don't usually communicate much in advance, Demiurge_Will said it best:

Demiurge_Will said:
While we usually say little about future plans*:

-snip-

*: Reasons for this: software development, creative work, and entertaining people are all messy and unpredictable, and when you cross the three together in a live game, making very many promises can lock you into disaster. And we know most of you are happiest with more detail and dislike when something you're expecting changes, so we typically talk about new things when we're certain of the details. Because of the nature of game development, that's usually when the feature's about to come out.

We want to make sure that whatever we announce now will still be true when it goes live. The further in advance we communicate things, the more likely it is to change over time, and that's just something we're unfortunately unable to anticipate.

Yeah, perish the thought that you announce stuff like supports way in advance.
You might have enough time to incorporate feedback into the planned rollout.
That of course is just a terrible idea compared to the AWESOME reception supports got when you rolled them out on short notice with zero follow-up communication.

Punter1

Bowgentle said:

Yeah, perish the thought that you announce stuff like supports way in advance.
You might have enough time to incorporate feedback into the planned rollout.
That of course is just a terrible idea compared to the AWESOME reception supports got when you rolled them out on short notice with zero follow-up communication.

To their credit, they were available after the initial supports announcement, more so than in recent memory.  There were a number of questions answered promptly in the initial thread that was a welcome change.

Following that initial flurry though it has been eerily quiet...

LifeofAgony

Call it a reason or an excuse, but I love that every conceivable we’ll say reason is given as to why things can’t be communicated in a timely manner.  The new reason du jour is that they’re working on new features.

As community manager, what projects does @brigby work on that precludes him from communicating?  He’s not working on the actual game in terms of coding or content creation.  What exactly does a community manager do if not keep the lines of communication open?

mega ghost

Thanks for the confirmation, @Brigby!

JHawkInc

LifeofAgony said:

Call it a reason or an excuse, but I love that every conceivable we’ll say reason is given as to why things can’t be communicated in a timely manner.  The new reason du jour is that they’re working on new features.

As community manager, what projects does @brigby work on that precludes him from communicating?  He’s not working on the actual game in terms of coding or content creation.  What exactly does a community manager do if not keep the lines of communication open?

You realize that if the dev team doesn't have something ready to communicate, it doesn't matter how much free time Brigby has, right? Brigby being available to tell us something doesn't magically create news.

Also, it's a little insulting to imply Brigby isn't doing his job.

wymtime

@Brigby before supports came out you advised you were going to voice our concern over the fact that there have been no 5* balance changes in the game since last year, and we expressly asked for balance changes to 5* gambit.  When you let the devs know did you get a reply from the devs about that?  We are now looking at 4 seasons I believe since you voiced our concern and there have been no changes.  Having one character dominate he meta is not good for the overall health of the game and Gambit has been dominating for 9 months now.

Gold_Dragon

Gambit is fine. 

Brigby

wymtime said:

Brigby before supports came out you advised you were going to voice our concern over the fact that there have been no 5* balance changes in the game since last year, and we expressly asked for balance changes to 5* gambit.  When you let the devs know did you get a reply from the devs about that?  We are now looking at 4 seasons I believe since you voiced our concern and there have been no changes.  Having one character dominate he meta is not good for the overall health of the game and Gambit has been dominating for 9 months now.

Yes, I did pass along the feedback players have provided, and informed them of the continued concerns surrounding Gambit (Classic). While I don't have any updates to communicate at this moment, taking time to evaluate the character again is certainly on the list of priorities for the team.

Player1575

Can we expect to not see one of these topics at the end of June since you guys got rid of the latest/vintage designations on 4*s?

I mean, it's not like there's been anything else in these updates since before 2018 started...

fmftint

Player1575 said:

Can we expect to not see one of these topics at the end of June since you guys got rid of the latest/vintage designations on 4*s?

I mean, it's not like there's been anything else in these updates since before 2018 started...

Well they'll still have to announce "Iron Spider" has entered the draw pool,  so there's  that

bluewolf

And Wiccan!