R184 Release Notes *Updated (8/8/19)

Brigby

Update: Please note that due to the engine changes, Steam players will have to do a full re-download of the game. In addition, Steam players may be unable to launch the game until they download R184, since the launch configuration has also been changed in the new build.
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Hi Everyone,

Check out the R184 Release Notes:

R184!

•  "As Vast As Stars"

What's Changed:
Patience is indeed a virtue, but let's be honest; having to wait can still be a pain sometimes. Whether it's scrolling through long menus or waiting for Mindless Ones to finish creating Special Tiles, sometimes you just want to get back to the action as fast as you can. That's one big reason why the team has been hard at work on a brand new engine for the game! Yes, that's right. A brand new game engine is coming to MPQ in R184!

Check out all the details below:

• Smoother animations and scrolling
• On-demand texture and sound downloading
• Please Note: All assets will need to be re-downloaded first
• Higher resolution textures on mobile
• Max required storage space on mobile will increase to 1.4 GB
• Please Note: "Required storage space" is the headroom necessary to apply a game update only for players that have downloaded every single asset in the game.
• Max install size on mobile will increase to 780 MB
• Please Note: Typical install size is generally much smaller than max. Only players who have downloaded every single asset in the game will hit the max install size.
• Sharper rendering on all platforms
• Optimized start-up
• PC client is now a 64-bit executable
• Please Note: This means that 32 bit operating systems on PC will unfortunately be no longer supported.
  
• Android now supports Immersive mode
  
• Android and iOS now support Sensor Portrait mode.

While we know players typically expect build updates to come out bi-weekly on Mondays, we want to make sure that we iron out any wrinkles in this new engine as early as possible, hence the extended time before R184 is available.

Thank you all for your patience, and we can't wait for you all to see it in action!

BigSoftieFF

Exciting!! Thanks for the info.

JHawkInc

With a clue like that and an update this massive, it can only mean one thing...

Big Bertha.

Great Lakes Avengers incoming.

justsing

This is exciting! I’m looking forward to seeing what new features and QoL improvements the new engine will bring!

jamesh

So I know "Immersive mode" just means hiding the back/home/app switch buttons at the bottom, but what is "Sensor Portrait mode"?  A quick Google didn't enlighten me.

Waddles_Pines

@Brigby was an option put it to download all assets at once?  Much rather download everything at once on home WiFi versus bit by bit in between every match (especially over mobile).

HoundofShadow

Probably Firestar as the next 5.

The part about scrolling through long menu is the most interest bit but I don't think it refers to selecting characters for fights. 

zodiac339

As Vast as Stars. Hmm, stars. Like actors? Wonder Man?

Steel_Colt

As Vast As Stars. Celestials? 
Ego, Knowhere, Eson the Searcher? 

IYeaheahI

Sounds very disappointing to me..

why aren't these resources spent on the items that keep coming up on threads on the forum like fixing dilution, fixing the stale gameplay, making supports accessible/matter, the zillion requested qol changes, etc...

A while ago we even had a survey that asked our opinion about exactly those urgent problems with the game!

nobody has asked for higher res textures, sharper rendering or a portrait sensor mode.

I don't get you people. This is the only game I play where the community's feedback is so strong, so uniform and so ignored.

Lilith

Please oh please can this be Singularity?

ursopro

IYeaheahI said:

Sounds very disappointing to me..

why aren't these resources spent on the items that keep coming up on threads on the forum like fixing dilution, fixing the stale gameplay, making supports accessible/matter, the zillion requested qol changes, etc...

A while ago we even had a survey that asked our opinion about exactly those urgent problems with the game!

nobody has asked for higher res textures, sharper rendering or a portrait sensor mode.

I don't get you people. This is the only game I play where the community's feedback is so strong, so uniform and so ignored.

This may be the solution to all that.

For all we know, their current engine probably has limitations that doesn't make some of those changes viable/possible (judging by all the unfixed problems  in the Bugs subforum), maybe with the new engine they have more freedom to implement some of those ideas.

Now, if after a few months after this update nothing changes then feel free to roast them., I join you.

Bugeyed

Instead of calling the update release “as vast as stars”, you could have named it “an opportunity missed”

AlexR

IYeaheahI said:

Sounds very disappointing to me..

why aren't these resources spent on the items that keep coming up on threads on the forum like fixing dilution, fixing the stale gameplay, making supports accessible/matter, the zillion requested qol changes, etc...

A while ago we even had a survey that asked our opinion about exactly those urgent problems with the game!

nobody has asked for higher res textures, sharper rendering or a portrait sensor mode.

I don't get you people. This is the only game I play where the community's feedback is so strong, so uniform and so ignored.

Sometimes, upgrading the engine is necessary. Especially considering how old the game is by now. If you want to get on their case, do it for the long stretches of time were they actually ignore qol change updates. Don't do it for an engine update, because they wouldn't have spent the ressources on this much effort if they didn't think it's necessary in some way or were required to do it for some reason or another. No one changes their entire engine without good reason, even if we won't necessarily see why.

Chameleon

Waddles_Pines said:

@Brigby was an option put it to download all assets at once?  Much rather download everything at once on home WiFi versus bit by bit in between every match (especially over mobile).

This is critical @Brigby!!  It's awfully frustrating when characters you aren't using are loading with each match.  This game is a race to the finish and by making us all load 100s (I don't know the exact number anymore) of characters slowly over time you are definitely not making us happier.  Please, please make a way to download all assets at once, even if it will take some time to do it on our ends!!

Chenpion

Chameleon said:

Waddles_Pines said:

@Brigby was an option put it to download all assets at once?  Much rather download everything at once on home WiFi versus bit by bit in between every match (especially over mobile).

This is critical @Brigby!!  It's awfully frustrating when characters you aren't using are loading with each match.  This game is a race to the finish and by making us all load 100s (I don't know the exact number anymore) of characters slowly over time you are definitely not making us happier.  Please, please make a way to download all assets at once, even if it will take some time to do it on our ends!!

What she said.

Momo988

Chenpion said:

Chameleon said:

Waddles_Pines said:

@Brigby was an option put it to download all assets at once?  Much rather download everything at once on home WiFi versus bit by bit in between every match (especially over mobile).

This is critical @Brigby!!  It's awfully frustrating when characters you aren't using are loading with each match.  This game is a race to the finish and by making us all load 100s (I don't know the exact number anymore) of characters slowly over time you are definitely not making us happier.  Please, please make a way to download all assets at once, even if it will take some time to do it on our ends!!

What she said.

Thirded

Hilk

Yes - as someone who has all the characters... if it’s not to late, please load them all at once....
if it is to late, let people know what they need to do to get them loaded... 

MrEd95

Lilith said:

Please oh please can this be Singularity?

I would love it if this was singularity! They do seem to be on a bit of an x-men fix at the moment though, so I'm trying to think of somebody who fits the bill of vastness and star related, and the closest i can think of is either firestar or northstar. Neither of those are high profile enough to be a 5* if that is what we are due next though.

unless they are bored of x-men for the time being

y4747

if this will make the game faster, i love it. if this will make it easier to implement QOL changes the community has been yearning for for years, then i will love it so much more.

bluewolf

This change tells me that the game is still on solid footing financially.  There is a not-insignificant cost to taking this step with no (as far as we can tell) direct revenue raising component, barring some future plans to bring in new features like paying to play new events or something that the current engine wouldn't support.

However, the interface being slow and clunky especially impacts new players and attempts to convert them to spenders, as they have no investment and are much more sensitive to performance comparisons between a 6 year old game and the many, many, many other options they have to spend their time on.

IMO this is good in terms of "The game isn't going to be shut down any time soon" but tells us little to nothing of their plans on features that mostly impact vets/people who have been playing for a year-ish plus and are wondering about their ability to access high end play, or what they can look forward to to keep them engaged, etc.

But!  I like that a QOL change is happening (assuming it all runs more smoothly and I can waste less time waiting for, say, the DDQ information pane to appear so I can close it).  Thank you!

RE:  Character loading, the game is purposely limiting downloads to the characters you use to avoid a massive data dump which would hang you up for a while.  There are a LOT of players that wouldn't care at all about having everyone's animations and in-match art on their phone as they only have a fraction of the characters rostered anyway.