Boosts Shouldn't Slow You Down, Right?

professorplum9

Boosts shouldn't slow you down, but they do. They do so in two main ways.

1. At the start of a match there is an additional delay due to the banner that is shown for each boost you have equipped
2. The inability to bulk buy boosts makes it necessary to do so at inconvenient times (i.e mid PVE clear, mid PVP hop)

I understand the rationale behind the banners. I'm not going to lie there are many times they've reminded me when I've inadvertently left a boost equipped. This is particularly valuable when they are boosts that cost HP to replenish. However, more often than not they are a nuisance and honestly if I had the choice between leaving banners enabled for boosts or not I'd take the potential hit from unintentionally equipping and turn them off (this goes for most banners in the game).

I do not understand the rationale behind not allowing buying more than 5 (or 10 as the case may be) boosts at a time. While I can appreciate the fact that they don't force you to buy 30 every time (after all if you've got the time it's nice to let them replenish naturally through post match rewards), however it is annoying to not have the option to buy in bulk.

Do the developers realize how much of a difference a few seconds can make?
@Brigby @IceIX

After the first sub of this current PVE event the delta between the top 5 scores in my bracket was 4 points. On a PVP hop, seconds can easily make the difference between taking a hit(s) or having a clean hop. There is a big difference between being able to blow through the TU/Boost loading screen and having to go through the process of

1. Selecting a boost slot
2. Selecting the boost tab
3. Scrolling to the boost you want
4. Selecting it
5. Confirming you're willing to pay the associated cost
6. Bypassing the animation that shows the boost quantity count incrementing
7. Hitting the the boost more option up to 5 times to stack the boost

It may be necessary to repeat this process up to 3 times if you want to equip all three slots. Sure there are some tricks that can be used to bypass some of these steps. For example, if I have say 5 damage boosts left I can choose to only apply 4 of them one match so the remaining one will be automatically loaded prior to the next match and I can skip the most time consuming Boost selection step, but why should I have to compromise the amount of damage boost I'm willing to pay for just for the sake of saving time.

Improving this process seems like a mutually beneficial thing. I know there are times where I've decided a boost is not worth the time to equip for these aforementioned reasons and I have to believe that others have done the same.  Whereas, if these drawbacks were removed, I might have left them equipped either for the incremental benefits they offer and/or not wanting to take the time to remove them. I'm not saying this represents a huge revenue stream for the developers, but at the end of the day these boosts require in game resources that can only be acquired through player engagement or spending, both of which I would think would be activities a business would like to promote. It just seems to me that if you have something that people want and are willing to "pay" for but aren't because of drawbacks that could be addressed it's something worth looking into.

Would you use more boosts if these downsides were addressed?

whitecat31

No

Even though I agree with you on your premise. I voted no. I will explain why.  
The vast majority of the top 10 finishers in non SC9 PVE do not buy boosts except maybe in the forced character nodes and the 5 star essential (in SC8). Otherwise It is normal match damage with Thanos.  Tap tap tap tap tap Next node.  You will normally see the same people win time after time and you can talk to many of them in LINE.
So you are asking to change the game for basically for what I am assuming is SC9 PVE where purchasing boosts might be important on some of the nodes.
Confirmation is important in any type of purchase and some people will want to see it. Although, I guess an option to turn off in game notifications would be nice.
    
On the other hand, I think the solution to speed up a little is being able to buy in bulk.  We pay 200 iso for 6 boost. So an option to buy 30 boost of a type of boost for fives times of the normal price would be nice. Same thing with other types of boost. Give people an option to do max boosts to 30 with purchases, would be helpful.  

Speaking of purchases, buying the VIP or some other cash purchase will actually cost you time, because of those bonuses rewards that pop up.  
So an option to turn off those reward notifications would be nice.

spidyjedi84

Yes

The banner is unnecessary, as we were just in that screen and can see what AP advantages we have going into the match. Likewise, with Mindless Ones, we don't need an animation for their starting tiles. Just start the match with them on the board. We'll know which of them we're going to try to eliminate as quickly as possible. 

smkspy

Other

Everything slows you down at one point or another.

Boost banners.
Mindless ones putting up powers.
Characters like grocket putting up powers.
The lag when hitting that first pve regular node.

DeNappa

Yes

I find your poll question confusing (or is that just me?)

My vote is 'Yes' - they should slow you down. Not because of some of the points you mention because I agree some of that design could very well be improved (I always cringe at the effort it takes to unequip a boost). But because it's your choice to take extra steps in order to trigger said boost(s). And hopefully, the net effect of the boosts is time-positive because you do more damage or start with more AP.

zeroswitch

I'm not that top tier, still just playing at SCL6; but man, the slowness of the normal game can be tiring sometimes.   I turn off power animations to make it go faster, but even still.  The amount of time I spend swapping tiles, to the amount of time i have to watch the opposing team match, effects occur, damage numbers apear and then move across the board to their target, it's like 1/10th of my time is actually playing, mostly i just sit watching the computer play and resolve stuff.

Dormammu

I don't mind the boost banners so much, though I agree they don't need to be there. But what does drive me nuts is the banners in wave nodes 'updating' me who is down and who just showed up. It was so horrifyingly slow during the last PvE when my boosted Okoye was taking them down 3 at a time...

~Mindless one is downed~
~Mindless one is downed~
~Mindless one is downed~
~Mindless One has arrived~
~Mindless One has arrived~
~Mindless One has arrived~

Yes, I know they are down. I just watched them fall. And I see three more have arrived, I'm not blind.

justsing

Dormammu said:

I don't mind the boost banners so much, though I agree they don't need to be there. But what does drive me nuts is the banners in wave nodes 'updating' me who is down and who just showed up. It was so horrifyingly slow during the last PvE when my boosted Okoye was taking them down 3 at a time...

~Mindless one is downed~
~Mindless one is downed~
~Mindless one is downed~
~Mindless One has arrived~
~Mindless One has arrived~
~Mindless One has arrived~

Yes, I know they are down. I just watched them fall. And I see three more have arrived, I'm not blind.

Yes, please get rid of enemy down banners. Also, speaking of MIndless Ones, can their special tile placement at the beginning of the match be sped up? Those animations make the trivial nodes take twice as long XD. In general, it'd be great if attack tile animations were sped up. Those take forever. *sigh*

Back on topic, I actually like having the banner for the boosts because I'm always forgetting to take them off when I'm done using them. Without the banner, I'd go several matches without realizing that and would waste all my boosts... 

But I definitely agree with needing an option to buy them in bulk!

ABaker84

Yes

I wish the cache would be increased, from 30 to like, idk, 100? If adding that extra digit is troublesome, 99 would suffice. I mainly use them for PvP. If a key power I want to use costs 7 or 10 AP I'll use one boost of that color. If it costs 8 (C4rol's black) or 11 (Riri's Red) I'll use 2. I hate being 1 or 2AP short to fire a power.

professorplum9

Yes

DeNappa said:

I find your poll question confusing (or is that just me?)

My bad, was trying for a catchy title and forgot it doubled as the actual poll question (no preview option for polls).

The real question is: Would you use more boosts if these downsides were addressed?

jackstar0

I think boosts should slow you down to offset that you are adjusting the odds in your favor even more than they already are.

While mildly annoying, it does seem fair on the whole.

professorplum9

Yes

jackstar0 said:

I think boosts should slow you down to offset that you are adjusting the odds in your favor even more than they already are.

While mildly annoying, it does seem fair on the whole.

Fair enough. I can understand opposition to what may seem as another pay-to-win aspect of the game.

However, would your opinion change if the player was only using resources they had gained from their in game efforts? For example, let's say a person earned 30K ISO just from node/progression awards from a PVE event. They had a choice between using this ISO to level a character and permanently increase their match damage a little or increasing their match damage by quite a bit more, but just for the short term using a Match Damage increasing Boost (or invest HP from event rewards in boosts vs a cover store). Don't you think someone who is willing to sacrifice long term benefits for short term gains are entitled to every benefit the boosts might offer?

In other words one could say that leveling a character is "adjusting the odds in your favor even more than they already are". Surely you wouldn't advocate a character level based slow down at the beginning of every match to even the odds.

I would consider strategic utilization of boosts to be well within the parameters of fair game play and not requiring any offsetting drawbacks. For the record, I don't begrudge those who have invested money to level their characters higher than mine or buy boosts. They deserve every advantage their hard earned dollars can buy them.

dr tinykittylove

I think boosts are very helpful when I'm faced with a match I'm hesitant about due to a huge disparity in power (not often), or when I want just that bit more safety margin for shield hops to move things along. One banner takes half a second and doesn't really make a difference to me. Also it livens up the dreary dullness of ddq when I wander in without thinking and flail about oh no my boosts! 

That said,  most of the time I'm at 30/everything... If I was seeing them every match I might feel differently.  

Eddiemon

I'm fine with boosts having an inherent slowing effect.

If boosts had no speed penalty then by default to get the best results you would need to buy boosts. Which makes it pay to win. And I want no part of that model.

But allowing you to get a power boost to get you through a rough match, or to get those last two wins to 900, that's where boosts should live.

professorplum9

Yes

If boosts had no speed penalty then by default to get the best results you would need to buy boosts. Which makes it pay to win. And I want no part of that model.

Totally agree. I would never want to get to a state where it became necessary to constantly be running with boosts in order to compete. I don't wish to give the impression that I use them all the time. I feel the resource costs alone keep their usage in check and no other in-game drawback is necessary. It's just that on the occasions I do feel inclined to use them (i.e. to speed up a shield hop or perhaps on a couple of the more challenging pve nodes when I feel like I'm racing against the clock, having to waste time fumbling around to equip them and then be notified that I have equipped them, seems like an unnecessary and preventable drawback.