Would more story help keep your interest?
So I could be wrong, but it seems a lot of the recent problems in the game have been caused by D3 attempting to do 2 major things:
1) Assist new players, by making their introduction and progress through multiplayer easier.
2) Give the veterans more of a challenge so they don’t run out of things to do and leave.
Can I suggest that maybe the answer to both of these problems is more story?
D3 seems to think the only hook in their game is earning covers and certainly that’s a big part of it, but it’s simply not sustainable. The more characters they add, the more overwhelming the game becomes for newcomers, the harder it becomes to level any one character, and the harder it becomes to balance.
I've only been playing multiplayer for around 10 weeks and I've already seen the introduction of about 7 new characters. With every new one I feel a little bit more pressure because I simply cannot keep up. It’s been hard enough for me to start building up the older characters, but I feel a need to get every single new character too because missing just one will make me weaker in the next event.
So here are my suggestions/examples for what could be done story-wise, and why it might help both D3 and the gamers.
1) Add the already existing episodes to the single player.
Go back to having the “prologue” tab instead of “story”, and then add a second tab for episodes. Adjust the difficulty so new players can progress naturally from the prologue (with a little bit of multiplayer to buff their levels). Adjust the rewards so that by the time they've finished all the extra episodes they’re on their way to at least having a few 2* characters with which they can compete in multiplayer.
Then just keep producing new episodes. Is it too much to ask for one a month? Maybe 1 every 2 months? I know that a good story is infinitely more likely to keep me coming back than another character that I can’t yet level and who is only slightly different from the ones before.
2) Gate progress between episodes in such a way that newcomers are encouraged to dip their toes into multiplayer.
For example, have Fury pop up and say, “hey kid, I don’t know if you’re ready for episode 2. Go win 5 matches in an event to prove yourself.” Personally I found the jump from single to multi very daunting and had no idea at what point I was ready. Giving me that nudge would have helped and I wouldn't have wasted 30 days purely on single player because I thought that was most of what the game had to offer.
3) Every new character should be accompanied by their own side event.
These stories don't have to be as big as an episode, just 5-6 scenes – something even I could write in a matter of hours. It should show how that character entered the iso war that is apparently going on, not just dumped in at the end of an unrelated event.
For example, we recently received LazyThor at the end of an event that was clearly supposed to introduce hulk. This event and character would have been far more interesting (and better accepted by the players) if it had revolved around Thor. Maybe he gets bested in a fight; goes away to train; and then comes back buffed, just in time to save the day – or something along those lines. It ain't that hard.
How much more interesting would it have been if new look Daken had been introduced in a story about wolverine trying to help his son? Or Steve Rogers was introduced battling a rogue Shield faction to tie in with the movie? Or Falcon had swooped in to save a downed Cap at the end of an event, thus explaining his introduction?
It wouldn't need new art assets, wouldn't take much time to make and it would alleviate a lot of the boredom/grind from repeating events that are really dragging long-time players down.
4) Add these side events to an “Extras” tab.
Much like the episodes tab, this would be single-player content at the end of which the player gets a single cover for the character introduced in that event. By playing this single-player event, new players would get a character to pump money into; veterans that competed would now have 4 covers to kick them off; and players who couldn't compete in the event because of real life wouldn't feel penalized - they could still experience the story and compete in future events/nodes where this character is required.
5) Added rewards for clearing every reward on every node of an episode/side event.
I read in an old review that clearing every node/reward opened a heroic version of a map. I don’t know if this was taken out, but it would provide a good challenge for new players and something less stressful for veterans to play with. By the time newbies had cleared a lot of this content - even if they've barely touched multiplayer - they would be ready to enter at a higher level, maybe even making the transition from 2* to 3*, thus avoiding a lot of the problems associated with new players versus old.
TLDR: There are loads of things D3 could do with the solid foundation they've set up (Read Clintman’s thread for a great example), all of which will help players progress through the game. But could they not be done in conjunction with more story to hold people’s interest?
The big advantage D3 has over many other very similar games is Marvel’s rich characters and stories. I came to MPQ because of those characters and because of the RPG stories I’d come to expect from the Puzzle Quest games. At the moment it’s just one big Skinner box, but surely, the key to attracting newcomers and keeping long-term gamers pumping money in, is to maintain the fun?
Thoughts anyone? Am I alone in wanting more story? Am I crazy for wanting it from a match 3 game? Am I underestimating the work involved? Do you think it would help their retention rates as much as I do?
1) Assist new players, by making their introduction and progress through multiplayer easier.
2) Give the veterans more of a challenge so they don’t run out of things to do and leave.
Can I suggest that maybe the answer to both of these problems is more story?
D3 seems to think the only hook in their game is earning covers and certainly that’s a big part of it, but it’s simply not sustainable. The more characters they add, the more overwhelming the game becomes for newcomers, the harder it becomes to level any one character, and the harder it becomes to balance.
I've only been playing multiplayer for around 10 weeks and I've already seen the introduction of about 7 new characters. With every new one I feel a little bit more pressure because I simply cannot keep up. It’s been hard enough for me to start building up the older characters, but I feel a need to get every single new character too because missing just one will make me weaker in the next event.
So here are my suggestions/examples for what could be done story-wise, and why it might help both D3 and the gamers.
1) Add the already existing episodes to the single player.
Go back to having the “prologue” tab instead of “story”, and then add a second tab for episodes. Adjust the difficulty so new players can progress naturally from the prologue (with a little bit of multiplayer to buff their levels). Adjust the rewards so that by the time they've finished all the extra episodes they’re on their way to at least having a few 2* characters with which they can compete in multiplayer.
Then just keep producing new episodes. Is it too much to ask for one a month? Maybe 1 every 2 months? I know that a good story is infinitely more likely to keep me coming back than another character that I can’t yet level and who is only slightly different from the ones before.
2) Gate progress between episodes in such a way that newcomers are encouraged to dip their toes into multiplayer.
For example, have Fury pop up and say, “hey kid, I don’t know if you’re ready for episode 2. Go win 5 matches in an event to prove yourself.” Personally I found the jump from single to multi very daunting and had no idea at what point I was ready. Giving me that nudge would have helped and I wouldn't have wasted 30 days purely on single player because I thought that was most of what the game had to offer.
3) Every new character should be accompanied by their own side event.
These stories don't have to be as big as an episode, just 5-6 scenes – something even I could write in a matter of hours. It should show how that character entered the iso war that is apparently going on, not just dumped in at the end of an unrelated event.
For example, we recently received LazyThor at the end of an event that was clearly supposed to introduce hulk. This event and character would have been far more interesting (and better accepted by the players) if it had revolved around Thor. Maybe he gets bested in a fight; goes away to train; and then comes back buffed, just in time to save the day – or something along those lines. It ain't that hard.
How much more interesting would it have been if new look Daken had been introduced in a story about wolverine trying to help his son? Or Steve Rogers was introduced battling a rogue Shield faction to tie in with the movie? Or Falcon had swooped in to save a downed Cap at the end of an event, thus explaining his introduction?
It wouldn't need new art assets, wouldn't take much time to make and it would alleviate a lot of the boredom/grind from repeating events that are really dragging long-time players down.
4) Add these side events to an “Extras” tab.
Much like the episodes tab, this would be single-player content at the end of which the player gets a single cover for the character introduced in that event. By playing this single-player event, new players would get a character to pump money into; veterans that competed would now have 4 covers to kick them off; and players who couldn't compete in the event because of real life wouldn't feel penalized - they could still experience the story and compete in future events/nodes where this character is required.
5) Added rewards for clearing every reward on every node of an episode/side event.
I read in an old review that clearing every node/reward opened a heroic version of a map. I don’t know if this was taken out, but it would provide a good challenge for new players and something less stressful for veterans to play with. By the time newbies had cleared a lot of this content - even if they've barely touched multiplayer - they would be ready to enter at a higher level, maybe even making the transition from 2* to 3*, thus avoiding a lot of the problems associated with new players versus old.
TLDR: There are loads of things D3 could do with the solid foundation they've set up (Read Clintman’s thread for a great example), all of which will help players progress through the game. But could they not be done in conjunction with more story to hold people’s interest?
The big advantage D3 has over many other very similar games is Marvel’s rich characters and stories. I came to MPQ because of those characters and because of the RPG stories I’d come to expect from the Puzzle Quest games. At the moment it’s just one big Skinner box, but surely, the key to attracting newcomers and keeping long-term gamers pumping money in, is to maintain the fun?
Thoughts anyone? Am I alone in wanting more story? Am I crazy for wanting it from a match 3 game? Am I underestimating the work involved? Do you think it would help their retention rates as much as I do?
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Comments
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HOLY TINYKITTY BAGMAN! this is way too long for me to read0
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I agree with all of your point & I really enjoy when a new chapter of the story is added.
That being said, your points don't really translate into D3 making more money so I doubt any of them will happen0 -
PorkBelly wrote:I agree with all of your point & I really enjoy when a new chapter of the story is added.
That being said, your points don't really translate into D3 making more money so I doubt any of them will happen
You’re probably right. I guess my thought is simply that by making the game more entertaining, more people will hang around to spend money. I was used to past Puzzle Quests and almost dropped the game very early on when I realised the prologue was all the story there was.
Now, I can see myself getting bored and leaving once I have a decent group of maxed 141’s, which seems to be the pattern of many before me. D3’s answer will probably be to add 4*s and then 5*s to keep me pushing forward, but that’s a dangerous route as it only increases the divide between newcomer and veteran. Story might be the pull that keeps me coming back and spending.0 -
Suggestion for OP: be more concise.
Suggestions:
EPISODES- Introduce a new episode every 3 weeks - 1 month. Rerunning the same events gets boring, even simulator.
- Retire oldest PVE to Story section when a saturation point of old events is reached. Maybe 1 reward per node.
- Add 1 of each Ares and Moonstone cover as rewards for new players in retired story events. Do the same for new 2* characters to further added events.
- Have a 3* character be the boss of each retired event, maybe with some goons. Make them hard.
- No more 10 day events please.
NEW VILLAINS- Introduce new villain characters so we aren't fighting the same DA all the time.
- Villains don't have to be attainable when they are introduced.
- Since they aren't immediately attainable, they don't have to be completely balanced. Make them bosses!
- Balance them while they are story-only,
- Release for attainment when YOU (developers) feel they are good and ready!
EXISTING CHARACTERS- Nerf / Buff monthly (or more often at least)
- Announce a month in advance the design goals of how the character will be buffed/nerfed
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ICEIX explanations of Spidey changes are a good example
- Complete 2 cover characters - Loki, Rag, Doom. Maybe Bullseye (could use some other-than-Moonstone love).
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Give them a weak 3rd ability and buff later if necessary! Added levels will increase their power anyway.
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Yep. Agreed on pretty much all counts0
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Rhedd wrote:Adjust the rewards so that by the time they've finished all the extra episodes they’re on their way to at least having a few 2* characters with which they can compete in multiplayer.
One thing, Rhedd: Until you have a useable trio of 141s, you'll never be evenly matched. The game will always have the difficulty set a little higher than you are. That's not entirely a bad thing, but the points where you're in an even match are occasional, not a norm.
That said, I would like moar story. I wouldn't even need a cover prize from it.0 -
Yes, more story please!0
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Yes, yes more story would definitely help keeping my interest high. I don't even care how it's done, use the episodes, make a new chapter, I don't care. I just want to casually play a few matches here and there with all kinds of different opponents - including difficult goons and goon&villain combos WITHOUT the pressure of worrying about placement and scaling and refreshes and whatever. PvE is PvP in thin disguise because of the competition aspect and I still enjoy it ten times more than PvP.
PvP is a pain and I hate it, constantly playing against the same one or two team combinations (hell, I'll attack random 1x85 + 1x141 teams, even if the chances of losing are higher and retaliation is a 100% certainty, simply because I'm so starved for different opponents). S.H.I.E.L.D. is a little bit better, but still fairly limited and there's no clear goal that you're working towards, like there would be in a new Story chapter.
Just give us something we can play slightly more casually again. I'm so tired of the never ending competition once you're out of the prologue. I don't even need super special rewards, just keep the level of rewards you had in the story, with iso + some tokens (heroic if the difficulty level is higher) and some HP and a handful of covers. They don't even need to be 3*, although one 3* in the end fight would be nice.0 -
I've been playing since the very beginning of MPQ, which means I've already seen each of the episodes run at least two-three times. The monotony is unbearable. Naturally, a plot advance would get my interest up a serious bit; however, with the current state of the game taken into consideration, it's just one of a ton of improvements that need to be made in order to get me properly hooked up again.0
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