PvP Pulse Check Poll

Unknown

We like data. The devs like data, even if they don't always use ours! I've created a short poll to see how others feel about the current state of PvP.

Select all that you agree with. Some statements are positive, some negative.

Unknown

The last two statements didn't really make sense to me but voted on one of them anyway.

Unknown

Good call DrUnpleasant. It should read as (In relation to the prizing structure and required score,) it's worth my effort to place in the top X.

This is a game where minimal skill is involved, but lots of time is required. I was hoping to determine where people see their cutoff in terms of PvP effort. For me, it used to be top 25 and with the new structure, it's below 50 unless there is a great cover reward.

Unknown

I started right when they did the last events with the old structure of 3 2* covers for Top 75, or whatever it was, as the reward and not just a lone 2* cover. Wished I would of started earlier lol.

Given how they also hand out 2* covers in PvP battles, I do not see why they cannot also hand out the same type of reward for Alliances as well. Top 100 Alliances get the 3* cover. Then the next say, maybe make the Top 250 Alliance reward another color for 2* cover reward? If MPQ survived so long with the old structure of rewards, I do not see why they cannot revert back to it a little bit.

Also given Season rewards, it makes each event even more competitive and a bloodbath of attacks. I have mixed feeling about the final Season rewards. I think the type of reward gap for Top 100 and Top 250 and lower for alliances is kind of big. They could of thrown in maybe an extra Token or 2.

However, the Progression rewards are just bad after the 10-pack. 500 ISO for 7500 points? Should of been 5000. 50 HP for 10000? Should of been 500.

Unknown

I dunno about the 2* rewards. I mean, I feel like I'm getting loads of 2* covers just in the course of grinding, but I don't know how it feels to 1-2* transitioners.

Ducky

BelligerentGnu wrote:

I dunno about the 2* rewards. I mean, I feel like I'm getting loads of 2* covers just in the course of grinding, but I don't know how it feels to 1-2* transitioners.

I personally think it would be more beneficial if they changed the 2* cover rewards to a heroic token. That way people have a chance at getting something useful if they already have the cover offered. Plus, with the craziness of brackets lately, it gives those who normally would get a 3* cover previously a slim chance at still getting one.

Unknown

There should be an option for 3 player team PVP is much more fun than having to play with a set 3rd character in the events. I would have voted for that!

Unknown

Since the alliance and season reward is in the lead, can I ask for some clarity?

Does Nick Fury count as an alliance reward or season reward? Technically you can get a good individual season score winning the heroic packs, but not be in a good alliance and thus not win Fury. Conversely, you could have a low season score but be in a good alliance and thus still win Fury.

Unknown

ihearthawthats wrote:

Does Nick Fury count as an alliance reward or season reward? Technically you can get a good individual season score winning the heroic packs, but not be in a good alliance and thus not win Fury. Conversely, you could have a low season score but be in a good alliance and thus still win Fury.

Good question. It's really a combination of both, but if I had to choose, I would say Alliance because you can't get Nick without being in one.

What I was trying to get at when I wrote the statement was a) whether players would like to skip some PvPs and b) whether they felt like they couldn't due to either pressure from their alliance or pressure from the ongoing season.

It's tough to write a complex survey in a maximum of 15 yes/no questions! Maybe we should all pitch in and devise a legitimate one using a survey hosting tool to cover PvP, PvE, player attitudes, player base, etc.

mohio

I've got to say, with the "nudging" of more experienced players (or is it only nudging the inexperienced ones?) together in tougher brackets, along with everyone's sudden urge to score as high as they can for their season scores, it is just not worth the time, effort, or HP required to top 10 anymore. I played for 2-2.5 hours last night, hit some bad cascades, ran out of health packs and shielded at 927 rather than at least 100 points higher where I've been settling these days. I fell from 5th at the time to 20th (not unexpected of course), and to jump back to top 10 would have required one or two more shield hops. I'm tired of this being the new norm, and I am refusing to play along. Not to mention this was a fairly easy bracket, not even requiring 1100+ for top 10 like the previous few I had been in.

Unknown

mohio wrote:

I've got to say, with the "nudging" of more experienced players (or is it only nudging the inexperienced ones?) together in tougher brackets, along with everyone's sudden urge to score as high as they can for their season scores, it is just not worth the time, effort, or HP required to top 10 anymore. I played for 2-2.5 hours last night, hit some bad cascades, ran out of health packs and shielded at 927 rather than at least 100 points higher where I've been settling these days. I fell from 5th at the time to 20th (not unexpected of course), and to jump back to top 10 would have required one or two more shield hops. I'm tired of this being the new norm, and I am refusing to play along. Not to mention this was a fairly easy bracket, not even requiring 1100+ for top 10 like the previous few I had been in.

Agreed. Making top 10 is a frustrating and infuriating process. I tried in two consecutive recent PvP events to hit the 1100 mark and in both cases after 2 hours of grinding I ended up with less points than when I started. If that's an intentional design choice then it's a poor one.

I also think the 2 star rewards below the 50th mark are worthless at this point as 2 star covers are so extremely easy to come by. I'd rather see Heroic tokens below the 50th mark so then you at least have a chance at getting something worth a damn. This is also an opportunity where bracketing should result in varied rewards. People like myself who are on day 212 have every 2 star character maxed. So if you're going to lump us with nothing but 141 teams at least give us rewards that reflect the increase in difficulty.

TheVulture

My votes:

"The structure of PvP lacks variety" - Obviously only so much you can do with match 3, but fair to say one PvP match is pretty much the same as the next + one event is (generally) the same as the next + the 'loot' from matches also won't hold any surprise (there aren't jackpots just varying rates of ISO efficiency).

"PvP teams lack variety" - I do hope there'll be more variety post-Spider-Man, but really characters are not terribly balanced so it's only availability that stops everyone running the same top tier characters.

"Funbalancing has resulted in more diverse PvP teams" - See above re: Spider-Man, also Ragnorak (and Black Panther perhaps?). Of course funbalancing does tend to banish 50% of those it impacts from competitive play, but at least they aren't being replaced 1:1.

"The new 2 star reward is a great addition to PvP" - I don't need these any more myself (just rebuilding Moonstone following an accidental selling), but a wonderful flow of covers for those who are building their 2* up/chasing their ideal builds.

My noticable not-votes:

"It's worth my effort to place in the top 10" + "It's worth my effort to place in the top 50" - I am in the UK and work 9 - 5 (plus travel times), so really it's not worth ever getting my hopes up for actually placing in PvP. It's just a big ISO farm, with a gold token at 300 and some HP higher up if happen upon a quiet time when won't be retaliated.

HairyDave

SUPERTOM wrote:

I also think the 2 star rewards below the 50th mark are worthless at this point as 2 star covers are so extremely easy to come by. I'd rather see Heroic tokens below the 50th mark so then you at least have a chance at getting something worth a damn.

Heroic tokens would be nice but I think the guaranteed character is still a better option. Definitely getting Bullseye as a reward is bad enough but when there's the chance of something cool and you end up with Bagman....

Unknown

DuckyV wrote:

BelligerentGnu wrote:

I dunno about the 2* rewards. I mean, I feel like I'm getting loads of 2* covers just in the course of grinding, but I don't know how it feels to 1-2* transitioners.

I personally think it would be more beneficial if they changed the 2* cover rewards to a heroic token. That way people have a chance at getting something useful if they already have the cover offered. Plus, with the craziness of brackets lately, it gives those who normally would get a 3* cover previously a slim chance at still getting one.

The current random 1*/2* cover reward is a huge benefit to 1*->2* transition people, so long as they are willing to buy HP for roster spots or already know enough about the game to ditch all but a handful of the best 2* characters.

Changing the 2* reward to a Heroic token would be problematic for a couple of reasons. The flowthrough on covers is pretty high, so you'd be talking about a fairly hefty number of Heroic tokens being handed out. Across those tokens, some percentage would end up being a 3* or 4* cover. Right now, the entire point of the collection aspect of the game is building your 3* roster. Having a decent 2* roster is nice, but outside of Heroic PvE events, 2*s are for getting 3*s. Changing 2* cover rewards to Heroic tokens would toss a substantial number of 3* covers into the population, and the game model partially premises 3* value on their rarity. Very likely, you'd see 3* covers disappearing elsewhere to compensate; this would almost certainly come from placement/progression rewards; and the system would have moved somewhat away from "I must do well in this event to get more 3*s" towards "if I play a lot of PvP, I might randomly get more 3*s." Randomness has its place; I'm not sure that shifting the balance here would be a net benefit.

Also, people with relatively new 1* rosters can win a few PvP battles, especially against the easier seed teams. Knowing that there's an endless well of random 2* covers is nice, because it means you can sell off most of them for ISO until you get more roster space, at which point you can diversify your 2* roster. Add a few 3* covers--which will remain fairly rare, so it's a bad move to sell them--and the pressure to buy *many* new roster slots becomes huge, and at that point, 1* guy hasn't pulled all the HP from the Story section, and can't place well enough to win HP in the events yet.

Unknown

2* Cover Rewards: I think they're good. If you don't need them you can sell them for ISO and if you need them they are more worth than 250 iso

Being in the top 50/ top 10: Depends. If i already have one cover for the 3*, i'll go for top 50/ top 10, if i don't, i won't (my roster is full and the next slots are expansive)

Ending times: that's the main thing that annoys me. Most PvP end at 6 in the morning.

Unknown

A lot of good points but I was thinking that the 2* covers should remain for the beginners/mid level players. But since the long time players who are getting lumped in this new bracket system with nothing but 141 teams, the rewards should be adjusted accordingly. I think of it like an RPG. When you start out, your first few monsters might be worth a dozen xp, which is enough to level your character. But when you're 40-50 hours in enemies are worth thousands of xp because that is what is needed to level up.

Sadly, on day 213, I'm still slaying Omega Weapons and getting rewarded as if they were warthogs.

Unknown

SUPERTOM wrote:

Sadly, on day 213, I'm still slaying Omega Weapons and getting rewarded as if they were warthogs.

This is the core problem in the game. They strive to make sure that everyone plays the "same game" or at least faces proportional difficulty, but they make no effort to scale rewards. So playing for a long time doesn't really change the rewards you have available, it just changes how hard you have to work for them. They have a pernicious interest in fair play.

Unknown

I think the most telling statistic here is that only 15 players enjoy PvP far more than they used to, as opposed to 146 who enjoy it far less. Granted the gameplay is repetitive in nature but wouldn't the split be a lot closer in most games than almost 10:1? I would venture that most of the responses come from veteran players with advanced teams. I've never played an MMO, so I'd like to ask the audience: have you seen this kind of discouragement from other games - where you level up to the top, with the best loot, and yet you're essentially frustrated and back to square one?


Note to the devs: playing this game had three peaks for me: 1) starting out, learning the mechanics, working through the prologue 2) transitioning to my first usable 3* character (Patch), and 3) when I had a team of 3 141's and could finally sit back, take it easy, and reap the rewards.

Numbers 1 and 2 must inevitably end, but #3 didn't. I was perfectly happy kicking **** and collecting rewards, but with this death bracket of **** rewards I am almost out the door.

Your fan base is SO unique, D3. We all care way too much about this little F2P match 3 game. You may have squeezed every last dollar out of us for this game, but what about the next? There is a fine line between pushing us away forever and having us line up for your next release.

TL:DR Don't throw grandpa out the door just because he's not as spry as he used to be. He still has wisdom to impart and he will always support you (unless you decide to throw him out the door).

Unknown

I'm sorry to say that with all the recent pvp changes:
-PVP Seasons making every event hyper competitive.
-MMR based brackets,
-Ineffectiveness of tanking to lower your MMR
-Inability to have a character that can nullify the opponents "I win the game and there's nothing you can do to stop me" threat (see Spider Man "fun balancing")

The state of PVP is no longer fun. As such, the game is no longer fun. Once you reach MMR hell there is no way to get out of it. You can't earn 3* rewards to level your heroes to be on equal footing. Sure you could join an alliance but all the top 100 alliances will want you to earn way more points than your able to consistently.

The big problem is the MMR based bracket system. You have to work your rear end off to get 600-700 points. You're forced to play constantly. Matches are more stressful than work. And what do you get for your troubles? Some garbage 2* placement reward that you haven't needed in months. "Great, more ISO to shovel into those heroes I can't level anymore because I don't have enough covers. Too bad I have to spend all my HP on roster slots for those new heroes they keep throwing out every other week."

I'm giving it a week. If I can't find a way to earn points without stressing myself out I'm quitting the game.

Unknown

I liked PvP until my MMR caught up with me. At the very top, the window is very wide, and it still doesn't account for the boosted character. So, With a 141/85/x team, I end up not meeting anyone without 2 141s plus whatever is boosted this week. and most people actually have those characters well leveled. Facing people with rosters of 6-10 maxed 3*s when I only have one is not exactly fair, but that's what I seem to go up against every single time: Losing battles is pretty normal, and wins are only a given when they go with weak 3*s.

Since I started seeing those teams, I've not been able to go past 400 points, while before top 10s were attainable. Needless to say, not getting a good supply of useful covers has made tPvP rather unfun, as I don't think I am fighting for anything.

After 4 tournaments of never landing a 3*, one would have expected that my MMR would have dropped enough to face easier fights, but it hasn't made a difference.

Unknown

lets be honest. the 10 pack rewards for the seasons are garbage. as long as you do well enough every pvp to keep your alliance in the running for the fury cover, you are fine. play every pvp to the level of the reward that you desire...and thats that.

i have found thats it really liberating to stop caring about every so much. i think a lot of the top alliances are coming to this realization.

play the way you want and dont worry. the rest will sort it self out. have fun...this is a game.

good luck
marc