Customizing defense power preferences?

Alex502

I understand that playing against the AI is a part of how the game works, but I feel like in PvP there is an opportunity missed to create more of a feeling of playing directly against another person, rather than the admittedly predictable play style the AI has. I just defeated a Championed Riri and basic Beast in the "Real McCoy" event because the AI would never fire Riri's blue or green powers. I also feel like there are times I try and pick a really strong team, only to find my list of defeats ring up faster than I change my team.

What I'm asking about is a way to set up our own AI preferences for defense. Choose which powers to prioritize, so that we can get some good defense and make PvP more interesting.

AXP_isme

There’s no way to override the AI decision-making process of choosing what to fire. If you want to ensure the use of a specific skill then the only way to do that is by choosing a team with only one active power in that colour (or by picking another character who can stop you from firing certain powers). 

When you have two active powers in one colour, there is a a higher likelihood that the AI will fire a lower cost power just because of the way the decision making process works. Knowing that means you can choose a team with cheap and expensive powers in the same colour in the knowledge that the AI is more likely (but not guaranteed, obviously) to fire the cheaper one. 

Rod5

You need to win a match with the team spec’d as you want to make that the visible team on defence.

Dragon_Nexus

I've seen a Gambit/Gladiator Thor team reach 30 red AP before firing a power. Maddening -.-

Rod5

Dragon_Nexus said:

I've seen a Gambit/Gladiator Thor team reach 30 red AP before firing a power. Maddening -.-

That team is dead before it makes 30 red AP surely 

Jarvind

Dragon_Nexus said:

I've seen a Gambit/Gladiator Thor team reach 30 red AP before firing a power. Maddening -.-

Which seems great until you kill Gambit and then Thor just unloads all up in yo business.

DyingLegend

I wanna see how my team faired after a match. Like a brief snap shot of the end to see if it was close or a blow out. 

Alex502

@AXP_isme yes, I understand that there isn't currently a way to alter the AI's choices, I would love if they developed some access to that for us to customize the AI to our team, and how it's played.

@Rod5 you misunderstood me, I want to select which powers will be preferenced for the AI to use, not the power setting on the character itself. For example, Dragon Age has a great AI control format. You can command characters to play defensively, or offensively, ranged or healing magic or up close attacker. You can prioritize their powers, and make specific situational commands based on say, how many enemies are near by or if they have high armor or health.

I'm not saying I want that deep a level of control over the AI in this game, but just being able to say "prioritize yellow and red matches" or "use Riri's green power over Beast's" would make an astronomical change. I think allowing us to set these kinds of things will give a greater challenge, and make it more customized so that it feels more like a live PvP match. Playing directly against someone in real time would be amazing, but allowing for more AI control would be an excellent alternative.

Besides, this will also validate some characters as a defensive player. Like 4* Star Lord. Amazing character, but only in the hands of the player. The AI never waits for his yellow tiles to made, or for countdown tiles to stack up before he uses his red power. I just find myself so disappointed by the fact that these great characters can do me no good as a defense team, because I cannot control a few settings on the AI.

Also @DyingLegend, I think seeing some level of recap to the fight would help dramatically too.

Alex502

Here's an example. I use Wasp and Peggy Carter together a lot. It's very important to fire Wasp's black power before Peggy's blue one, so that the entire enemy team is stunned for 3 turns, and maximum damage is done. If I used them for a defensive team, I would want to set the AI to do that too, so that I can optimize their performance against a live player.

PS: I love using Jean Grey or Medusa as their third. Makes for some awesome matches. More often Medusa, I like her healing and stealing powers.

Phumade

while you might prefer that.  I'm sure the human opponent on the other side wouldn't appreciate teh AI acting in weird ways.


The devs have said it before.  Its pretty easy for them to code a better AI,  but customer reviews have consistently said they don't like fighting an improved AI that makes intelligent matches and plans out powers.

Right now the AI is actually remarkably consistent (consistently bad) in how it behaves.  Its the main reason humans have such a good win rate against similarly level teams.


Overall its probably better to have a dumb limited AI that is predictable and easy to beat vs a smart AI that makes good decisions with respect to matches and order of firing powers

justsing

Making the AI smarter means that you’ll have a harder time when you’re on the offensive too though... Do you really want to deal with harder matches all the time (and possibly more offensive losses) just so you have fewer defensive losses?

For me personally, the answer to that question is no.

Arctic_One

Wanna play pvp where the AI wins 30%, 40%, 50% of the time? I dont think so.

entrailbucket

There's no defense in MPQ and there never has been (except for Gambit, which is being taken care of).  Everyone loses every match on defense every time.  I'm running 500+ 5* or 479 buffed 4*, and I get maybe 1 or 2 defensive wins per event (and frequently none at all).  The only defense in PvP is to: be invisible due to the matchmaking algorithm, run a team that players choose to skip, join a truce and collude with other players, or be a well-known crazy person.

So if you're taking a lot of losses on a particular team, it's because players think your team is weak (not because they actually are weak, because every team is equally weak on defense).

They actually had developed a smarter AI a long time ago, and players *hated* it.  This is the reason why Gambit is such a big problem; he's good in the hands of the AI, unlike every other character.

Rod5

Arctic_One said:

Wanna play pvp where the AI wins 30%, 40%, 50% of the time? I dont think so.

This. Big increase in wipes and healthpacks - it wouldn’t be just you that could do it...

Alex502

All fair points. Perhaps a live action event would satisfy my need for better plays. I'm really trying to drive for the feeling of playing directly against another player. The AI is dumb, we all agree, and that in itself is a kind of failing. I understand wanting to win and feel successful, but at the same time it's pathetic that every character sucks at defense. And I wasn't going for a fully upgraded AI, but to provide setting for the players to choose that better synchronize characters when defending. This would leave room for stupid players to still suck, casual players to just slide by, but I want a mode that really brings out the strength of these characters.

Chrono_Tata

The real problem is that the game is designed to punish losses heavily (cost health packs, time, points/ranking, etc.) while wins are marginally rewarded, so any losses are very frustrating to players. Any changes to the game that makes the AI more likely to win would be poorly received. There are other games with much harder AI but players don't get nearly as frustrated because of how their reward structures are designed.

Alex502

@Chrono_Tata this is the best translation of what I'm seeing. The loss rate is huge and I can strive and struggle for my measly wins, but just an hour later loose all that progress. The punishment for losing is so high, and the reward for winning is so miniscule. It creates a very big gap in my desire to play the Story mode or Versus.

Dotproduct

Phumade said:

The devs have said it before.  Its pretty easy for them to code a better AI, 

MtGPQ has a much better AI (can find L shaped crits rather than just chance them with linear matches) and so it is  much more punishing when playing only slightly higher level oppoinents. Getting wiped there with the wrong card set can be really demoralising. One of the reasons why I gave up that game and not MPQ.

entrailbucket

PvP isn't about finding a magical team that people will skip though, or getting a higher level team that will generate more defensive wins for you (neither of these things is possible at any level of roster, so don't worry about that).

I figured this out a few years ago: MPQ PvP isn't a puzzle game at all.  It's a weird survival horror game.  You're trying to climb a mountain as fast as you can, but the mountain is full of zombies trying to knock you back down.  If you stop (shield), you can't go any further ahead, but the zombies can't see you until you move again.  The fun is in you and maybe a few of your friends trying to outrun the zombies and get to the top.

Some people think it's easier to make truces with the zombies so they won't bother you, but I find that doing that takes all the danger out of the game, which makes it very boring.  Leisurely strolling to the top of the mountain isn't nearly as much fun as running while you're being chased.

Alex502

This why I don't enjoy it, as in order to smash up that mountain, you have to have SPECIFIC Championed 5 stars to even begin to compete, and the only quick way to earn command points is to place high in PvP. This creates a cycle of loss return, meaning I can push and push and push but then fall right back down to where it means nothing for me to have done that much work. This is why I want the defense to work better. To be honest, the win based progression is great for this issue, and I'm glad they added that in, but it doesn't help with the fact that I still lose all point progression I earn, because the losses just rack up by the dozens.

Alex502

Perhaps if the AI skill increased with SHIELD rank? I find it boring that the AI acts the same at rank 2 or 7.