MPQ Sneak Peek: August 2019 Edition *Updated (8/23/19)

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  • shardwick
    shardwick Posts: 2,121 Chairperson of the Boards
    Who green lights this stuff?

    More alliance events, more pve side content like the gauntlet, lightning rounds run throughout the week, a double iso day once a week.

    D3: Ehhh we could do that stuff and keep our veteran players more interested so that they don't get bored and quit or we could just try to gouge people on trying to get the latest 5*. Hmmm what to do, what to do.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    Just tell the devs whenever they come up with something new, they must stick to these few rules:

    1) make sure that all players can complete 100% any event, regardless of whether it's old or new, without paying. As you can see from past new tweaks to events, like the Places of Power event last year and the upcoming PvE that require Prof X, they hate not being able to 100% the events.

    2) The devs can only monetise the game and come up with bundles or new monetising methods by selling things that the players don't want. Let's see... Players want more CP, ISO-8, 5* covers, HP for free or without increase in effort or being competitive. Hmm... So, the only solution to make this work is to ask the devs to request Sega to fund this game and incur losses on their financial books. 

    As long as there's any sign of monetising, this place will always go into frenzy mode.  :|  

  • waywreth
    waywreth Posts: 303 Mover and Shaker
    Brigby said:
    Hi Everyone,

    With the release of Professor X, many of you are aware that we are trying some new things out; details can be seen in his Character Release article and the above Sneak Peek update. While we’ve already seen some positive feedback regarding the additional option to earn him with Hero Points, we’re also aware of players expressing their concerns about Professor X being featured in the upcoming Unstable Iso-8 event.

    We understand that this scheduling is different than what players may be used to, but rest assured that this is merely something new that we’re trying out this time, and is not necessarily reflective of the schedule moving forward. While we won’t be making any changes to the current schedule, we always welcome and encourage players to provide any feedback they may have, and we’ll be sure to take a look and review them!

    Thank you for your patience and understanding!
    This is a disappointing change to the character acquisition aspect and timeline we're used to for events.  If this change is consistent for future events, I will not spend anything on the game (honestly my spend at this point is minimal anyway due to the repetitive nature and token dilution).
  • wymtime
    wymtime Posts: 3,760 Chairperson of the Boards
    Devs if you insist on making Professor X essential you should have made 4* Professor X a feeder first so many players would be a able to get a cover through champ rewards.  You should have then placed 5* Professor X in a vault instead of a pack and made it so the vault could not be reset.  This would basically be letting players buy 1 Professor X with HP.

     Overall even if you did things this way I still would not want Professor X essential when he is not in the Latest Legendary packs. 

    The worst thing about this experience is it is obviously a bad experience for players from 10,000 miles away or from 2 inches away.  Just force an update and make it so Professor X is not essential in the next PVE.
  • DarthDeVo
    DarthDeVo Posts: 2,178 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2019
    And just in case anyone is wondering, I'm HP poor at the moment as I'm finishing out building my 3* farm. Still have to buy 13 more roster slots before I have each 3* at 266 with a dupe to farm rewards. And I tend to front run in S1, so spend a fair amount of HP on shield hopping. 

    I have enough spare earned HP that I could buy a 10 pack, maybe even two. But even if I had 1 million HP banked, I likely wouldn't pull anything extra in this Thick as Thieves store, because again, all they're really gonna care about is the data. And if the data shows a bunch of people opened 10 and 40 packs, then it will be considered a successful test.

    What makes it worse is it seems like Professor X is pretty great and I would love to have a cover for him. It's killing me a little not to pull, but I just can't get on board with this setup. 
  • Yepyep
    Yepyep Posts: 954 Critical Contributor
    JHawkInc said:
    Brigby said:
    Hi Everyone,

    With the release of Professor X, many of you are aware that we are trying some new things out; details can be seen in his Character Release article and the above Sneak Peek update. While we’ve already seen some positive feedback regarding the additional option to earn him with Hero Points, we’re also aware of players expressing their concerns about Professor X being featured in the upcoming Unstable Iso-8 event.

    We understand that this scheduling is different than what players may be used to, but rest assured that this is merely something new that we’re trying out this time, and is not necessarily reflective of the schedule moving forward. While we won’t be making any changes to the current schedule, we always welcome and encourage players to provide any feedback they may have, and we’ll be sure to take a look and review them!

    Thank you for your patience and understanding!
    You aren't getting patience or understanding because it hasn't been earned.

    This is a line we've drawn. Make the characters reasonably available before they are required for in-game events. We argue it every handful of Shield Training events, every time a newer 4-star is required super close to their release. We've had to argue it a couple of times when 5-star characters have been Essential a day before entering Latest packs. It was a concern we've been expressing since Shield Training started, and since 5-star characters started receiving their own Essential nodes (conveniently, both in September of 2017)

    This is a line the playerbase has stuck to for almost two years, literally the entire time it has existed as an issue. We've tried to be patient for that long, and the Devs keep pressing the issue and testing boundaries every couple of months to try and get away with crossing that line. We say no, and don't get a response, or maybe get lucky and are told "oops, that wasn't supposed to happen, it won't happen again." Then a few months later it does anyway. The longer it goes on, the more it sounds like a crummy abusive relationship, to the point that the Devs' behavior would be comical if it weren't so frustrating.

    Fact of the matter is "trying out this time" is a lie, because it's a boundary you've been trying to cross for two years now, despite getting the same response every single time. If you weren't planning to make changes to the current schedule, there'd be no reason to try anything out in the first place. If you really welcomed feedback, you might show it by listening at some point over the past two years. No one in their right mind is going to "rest assured" when you keep feeding us lies.

    To be honest, I like the idea of an HP store. I wouldn't mind it if it were done in place of the CP release store (the one we'll see with tokens for the Apocalypse boss event). As long as the normal process of new characters entering Latest Legends stays the same, I see it as a way to make HP more valuable, especially to higher end players, and that's not a bad thing. And to be 100% above board with this, the problem with requiring Professor X immediately is that it takes something from regular players who don't happen to strike it lucky with the HP store. We don't mind occasionally having bad luck with the CP stores, because we get a release weekend, then two weeks to save up CP for the character to enter Latest tokens, and then possibly another event or three before the character is Essential. Careful planning can make that time period not an issue, and if it doesn't work out, players don't feel cheated, they simply feel unlucky. You can keep rolling the dice to overcome bad luck. But if you're being cheated, rolling the dice just means you keep getting cheated.

    Having an HP only store with abysmal odds and immediately requiring the new 5-star character feels like the entire system was rigged against us in the first place, and it means we'll be losing out on rewards and points that many people expect from each event, because they know the exchange rate of their time/effort required to earn them, and not because of failure or bad luck on the part of the player, but because the Devs changed the rules to deny us something as a way to pressure people into buying their way out of it. It's manipulative and dishonest and we don't like it. You let us get 80% of the way there and give us an option to buy the remaining 20%, people will bite to cross the gap. But when you change the system so we can only get 5% of the way there on our own and then offer to sell the remaining 95%, you get a big middle finger. We want a fair shot at things, and are happier to spend when it lets us turn a fair shot into a good shot. But when you set things up that we have to spend a lot just to get a poor chance at success, it just makes people quit the game.

    Requiring Professor X with the awful HP store (which again, I like the idea of) as the only way to acquire him is a dirty move. Doing it again when we've spent two years telling you that you can't require characters until we feel we've had a fair chance to acquire them is... stupid. Can't call it anything else, because stupidity is the only thing that explains why you keep trying it after this long.

    But you know what? If you'd created a new mini-event, something like Shield Training or System Reboot, that could only be played with the new Professor X, and you'd done it on top of and separate from the normal event cycle? Now you're offering extra rewards for anyone willing to spend HP to chase Professor X early. No one is missing out on regular event rewards if they don't bite, anyone that gets lucky and acquires him via event tokens to that HP store gets a little something extra if they play the new event, and everyone is given the opportunity to buy their way into the new event and extra goodies by spending in the HP store. Call it the Marvel Debut event, have nodes like the bottom of Shield Training (requires the new character, each subsequent node requires more covers and a higher level for that character), give out special Debut tokens that go to a vault with a couple of really good prizes. Some people get lucky and acquire the new 5, complete a node, hit the jackpot in the Debut vault. Some people pull a more average reward, but are willing to keep chasing the new 5 for more shots at the Debut vault. Make it something you can't empty with HP, and the only way to keep making pulls (which increases the odds of better prizes, because that's how vaults work) is to acquire more covers of the new 5-star. Which requires spending HP. Some people hit it lucky, most don't, there's value in chasing the 5-star early, but no penalty if you don't, and the normal cycle keeps going for people who just want to wait and spend at the CP store later. Do your fancy behind the scenes math, and make the Debut vault nice enough for people to want it, but balance the rewards given out with the amount people are spending on the HP store, and you've got the possibility of a new Skinner Box for the players. Buttons we want to push because the outcome is worthwhile, so we're willing to make it worth YOUR time (buying HP) in order to do so. That's a win/win for everybody.

    Or you could keep doing what you're doing, and trying to change the status quo so that players feel they're suddenly being denied something, which makes them mad.

    There are ways to make this all work, the devs both pressuring players to spend, while also generating the desire to spend, so people are happy to do it. It would be so awesome if you'd try pursuing that route, for once, instead of trying to see how much you can abuse us without making us quit.
    Exceptionally well stated, thank you fo setting it out so clearly, @jhawkinc. Just wanted to highlight a few items that are of special importance in my view.
  • Brigby
    Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
    *(08/16/19) Brigby - Updated Versus events, Story events, Deadpool's Dailies, and Weekly Buffs.
  • jackstar0
    jackstar0 Posts: 1,280 Chairperson of the Boards
    I'm old enough to have forgotten that Support event that would happen once a week.

    Why do I bring it up? We were told it would be back and yet...

    So I fully expect this Prof X situation to be the new status quo, even though it's just something they're trying.
  • Kevmcg
    Kevmcg Posts: 122 Tile Toppler
    Many good long posts above. Mine will be short.  Giving an additional way to get 5* covers is normally good. Scheduling a 5* essential before it is reasonable to obtain is a terrible idea.

    This is also not a good test. Some high-end players are willing to go after the 5Prof X this ONE time with banked HP, but that does not mean we are willing to do it many times, or even the next time.

    Reset the schedule so that players can try their luck with HP AND/OR with CP from both locations prior to the required PVE.
  • Yepyep
    Yepyep Posts: 954 Critical Contributor
    jackstar0 said:
    I'm old enough to have forgotten that Support event that would happen once a week.

    Why do I bring it up? We were told it would be back and yet...

    So I fully expect this Prof X situation to be the new status quo, even though it's just something they're trying.
    “Illusory truth effect.” Grim stuff. Not perfectly apt, here, but the principle pertains. 

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