Hello. Remember us?

jp1

Hi,

It seems we have fallen out of touch. It’s disheartening that we no longer speak. Have you still been receiving our funds? 

You just seem so distant lately. We just want to know what’s going on with you. We’re worried about you. I understand we all have busy lives and other obligations but this relationship is starting to feel one sided. 

I hope this this letter finds you well and in good spirits. I hope you will reach out old friend and talk to us again. We can be a little hard on you, we know that...maybe we can work on our communication too. Let’s talk about it.

Sincerely,
a paying customer

The rockett

The answer @jp1 is no.  They don’t remember us.  

DyingLegend

Would love an honest Q&A from the devs and a road map of things to come, not just "maybes"

Bowgentle

DyingLegend said:

Would love an honest Q&A from the devs and a road map of things to come, not just "maybes"

Hard to give a road map when your game plan is "milk everyone before the game finally shuts down".

Requires quite the marketing spin.

Sm0keyJ0e

As long as paying customers keep paying despite the litany of issues with the game currently (not gonna mention them here because they are literally posted all over these boards without any formal responses), why do they need to talk to you?

And trust me, people keep blindly paying--in some cases it's an addiction, in others it's just plain ignorance. But stopping the flow of money is the only way to change things. And that flow hasn't stopped.

Full disclosure: I was a paying customer as well. But I refuse to throw money at this anymore until things are fixed/changed/improved/etc. Where the tinykitty are supports for God's sake? I want a yaro root!

bluewolf

The top end of the players will be the last ones playing.

Those vets who are committed enough to spend money and oodles of time on the game......addiction is the word, OK?  What's the first thing you do each morning when you wake up?  Checking Line? The app?  Something else related to the game?  Those people will stick around until the servers turn off.  And keep spending until the bitter end.

I'm working on tracking the PVE brackets but the clear recent trend is a significantly higher number of players in SCL 9 vs SCL 7 across the past 5 events.  Honor Among Thieves being the exception, because man, that event sucks.

The point is that in a healthy game you'd expect to see approximately similar counts in the hardest SCL and the one that offers the beginning of the true transition to the 4 tier (SCL 7 gives out the progression 4 for the first time).  But when, in some events, you see twice the number of seasoned vets as transitioners (15 flips in SCL9  vs 8 for SCL7 in the last run of Unstable Iso 8)....that is truly worrisome for the game's longevity.

Bowgentle

bluewolf said:

The point is that in a healthy game you'd expect to see approximately similar counts in the hardest SCL and the one that offers the beginning of the true transition to the 4 tier (SCL 7 gives out the progression 4 for the first time).  But when, in some events, you see twice the number of seasoned vets as transitioners (15 flips in SCL9  vs 8 for SCL7 in the last run of Unstable Iso 8)....that is truly worrisome for the game's longevity.

Don't worry, the usual white knight will arrive soon and tell you that everything is fine.
Vets just need to quit in droves, then everything will be solved, from dilution to supports to costume pricing.

DAZ0273

The thing is those stats won't tell us much about the state of the lower end of the game. What are numbers like in SCL5 or 6? I still see plenty of true 3* teams in PvP. Is it possible that PvE has just become too boring and they are not willing to put the time in for that? New content like we have had this year can only help but anything that reduces time commitment is going to be favourable because our time available for entertainment is having more and more things vying for it year on year. It could simply be that the MPQ PvE way of doing things simply is too outdated now in terms of time/reward ratio.

Are people transitioning faster? Saved Covers changed things a lot for the 4* transition. Or is it still a slog and offputting? Is the lack of new content for 3* players killing things? The Vets are almost locked into a Stockholm Syndrome relationship with this game, it is actually the new guys who need the bait. Look at the sort of things that Vets often ask for - Character Rebalances for 5* - absolutely meaningless to a very large percentage of the player base but obviously a massive boon to those with these characters at decent levels. That isn''t going to help recruit new players.

Whenever I visit the MPQ Facebook page, which isn't very often to be fair, the number one complaint I see is "Where are the new 3*?" It has been suggested new 3* are not profitable but I reckon they can be, especially if it leads to new players who are all potential spenders sticking around.

Only new players can give us these types of answers.

bluewolf

Dilution HAS to be making the 4* transition difficult.  

People ask for 3's because they are the main goal for many casual players (who probably are a large % of the Facebook commentors).  You can make fast, observable progress in the 3 tier via bonus covers, Elite tokens, Heroics, Standards....for a lot of players, a new 3 represents something that is attainable and could be a new thing to realistically expect to use. Whereas the 4 tier is a huge hurdle without serious play commitment and/or cash.

For the devs, a new 3 (even a lazy copy of a 5) represents almost as much work as a 4 or 5 but also requires a lot less commitment on the part of the players to finish.  Other than the roster slot, the iso is a lot less and therefore faster to acquire. Covers can be quickly collected if you choose, and champ rewards can begin rolling in.

Lastly, the 3 tier is the true divider between a casual and hardcore player.  Making that tier bigger delays the decision point for a player to either quit or move up to the true hardcore commitment needed to try to make progress in the top tiers of the game.  And often, spending is going to be part of that commitment - especially now.

pheregas

Sm0keyJ0e said:

 I want a yaro root!

But its not ripe yet...

Hendross

Think about how easy top 100 will be, when there are only 88 players left.

pheregas

Hendross said:

Think about how easy top 100 will be, when there are only 88 players left.

If they coordinated, everyone gets t20.

tiomono

Bowgentle said:

bluewolf said:

The point is that in a healthy game you'd expect to see approximately similar counts in the hardest SCL and the one that offers the beginning of the true transition to the 4 tier (SCL 7 gives out the progression 4 for the first time).  But when, in some events, you see twice the number of seasoned vets as transitioners (15 flips in SCL9  vs 8 for SCL7 in the last run of Unstable Iso 8)....that is truly worrisome for the game's longevity.

Don't worry, the usual white knight will arrive soon and tell you that everything is fine.
Vets just need to quit in droves, then everything will be solved, from dilution to supports to costume pricing.

"None shall pass." The Black Knight

Communication has been rough for ages. We need a little love on the forums. I hope nobody thinks the communication we get on here is fine.

It used to be decent. Poor brigby hardly ever knows what's going on either.

Malcrof

New forum, who dis?

Cactus_Jack_87

As a "retired" player, I would like to offer some advice. I spent two months deprogramming my brain by not playing MPQ at all, not even turning on the game. I am now to the point where I no longer care about new characters, new costumes, placement in PVE/PVP, VIP, hoarding, taco tokens, etc. I will climb to 1200 in PVP if I'm bored, or maybe I won't boot up the game at all that day. MPQ is no longer an obligation, it is something to do when I don't have other stuff going on, which is how it should be. The ways that this game sucks people in really is amazing, they deserve credit (and maybe notoriety) for that. If you are bothered by the direction of the game, just stop playing and stop caring, it's much easier than you'd think.

jp1

Cactus_Jack_87 said:

As a "retired" player, I would like to offer some advice. I spent two months deprogramming my brain by not playing MPQ at all, not even turning on the game. I am now to the point where I no longer care about new characters, new costumes, placement in PVE/PVP, VIP, hoarding, taco tokens, etc. I will climb to 1200 in PVP if I'm bored, or maybe I won't boot up the game at all that day. MPQ is no longer an obligation, it is something to do when I don't have other stuff going on, which is how it should be. The ways that this game sucks people in really is amazing, they deserve credit (and maybe notoriety) for that. If you are bothered by the direction of the game, just stop playing and stop caring, it's much easier than you'd think.

I can certainly appreciate the sentiment here. I don’t know if I agree with the idea that they have done such a great job that if I don’t like it the way it is I should just quit. However, if it has been a positive experience for you, I’m sure that is well intentioned advice. Thanks for that.

Honestly, it could come to that. I usually make some effort to communicate my dissatisfaction with a company before breaking ties. As someone with deep roots in a sales/metrics performance based environment I know how important and beneficial the feedback and criticism can be. Further, the time and money I have invested warrant a little effort on my part before simply giving up.

That said, the complete lack of communication thus far is possibly the worst customer service I have ever witnessed in my life. If this is the “usual” it will become increasingly difficult to stick around. 

Without hesitation, if a member of my team pulled something like this with a coworker they would be in for a written, with a client I’d be pulling their card. I guess things are different wherever you go though. *shrug*

Nick441234

I quit MPQ exactly a month ago today and I honestly dont miss it at all. I drop in here from time to time to see if anythings changed and other than a new boss event (same format as all the others) its all still the same. I'm genuinely enjoying all the extra free time I have now. It was still very much the right decision to quit. 

DAZ0273

We are neither coworkers or clients. We are consumers and consumers are a group that is rarely something that can be pacified across board by customer service. The gap is much wider in terms of intimacy than either of those two comparisons in your last paragraph. We are, outside of this forum faceless and replaceable - if we announce we are quitting we might get a "Sorry to see that happening, bye," at best, never a "please don't go". Inside this forum we are in an unequal relationship where the communication channels are one-sided. Sorry. 😶

jp1

Client may be a strong word, however I disagree that it is debatable whether or not I am a customer. They certainly have no problem taking my money.

I am of the opinion that common courtesy would at least entitle paying customers to a response. No matter the semantics.

If you like a better comparison, I am a consumer for Netflix. If I contact them through an official channel with an inquiry, I’m likely to get a response. This is just part of running a business. Of course they can’t pacify everyone, but the dismissive attitude of ignoring the people, at least in part responsible for your paycheck, quite frankly is ridiculous.

Edit: In regards to your other point. One of the most humbling and valuable lessons I’ve ever learned professionally was to ask someone who was passing on our services what I could have done differently to earn or retain their business. There is always something to learn. Despite the occasional urge to say “Sorry to see you go, take care.” Again though, I guess things are different wherever you go.

Dragon_Nexus

Anyone here a fan of Jim Sterling?

I've generally considered this game not one of the bad ones when it comes to Pay to Win mechanics. While I'd never recommend this game, it's a heckin time sync and I cannot imagine starting from 1* again, I still kind of enjoy my time with it.

But this week's Jimquisition focussed on the cost of addictive mechanics in games and several clips from a speaker talking about how to psychologically hook your players into spending. And good lord I realised most of it applied to MPQ.

Give it a watch and...this might change your minds.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7S-DGTBZU14

bluewolf

That video was quite good.  I definitely recognize (and have for a while) things that MPQ does, using the techniques  that are pointed out by Mr. Sterling, which are designed to manipulate people in a well established and proven fashion.

"Buy this bundle now before it's too late!"  etc.

Artificial scarcity is one main way you convince people to spend money on digital goods.  Social pressure is another.

I do feel for anyone that is spending beyond their means and unable to control their addiction issues.  Some people's brains are just simply wired differently and are more vulnerable to manipulation.

I do think MPQ is pretty gentle in using these techniques; if it wasn't, I'd have walked away long ago.  

Thanks for sharing it.