MPQ Sneak Peek: March 2020 (Updated 3/17/20)

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  • tiomono
    tiomono Posts: 1,654 Chairperson of the Boards
    DarthDeVo said:
    tiomono said:
    DarthDeVo said:
    broll said:
    I suspect 4/5/4/5 is the new norm and I'm not overly surprised or concerned.  The changes brought forth from SCL 10 means that players who regularly play SCL 10 get half a cover for latest characters every time they are featured, making it easier to finish them before they leave.  I figured there would be something changed to counter-act that and this appears to be the change.  Compensating for the easier ability to champ latest 5s by decreasing the time they are in latest.

    This is a trade off I'm personally OK with as IMO the benefits added from he SCL 10 and shards changes far out weight the negative of the release frequency change.  I understand this is a much larger negative for those that can't (or choose not to) play SCL 10 PvE regularly.  However, how much does it really change for them?  The goal to get into 5* land doesn't change, it's still gonna be hoard until you can get all/most  of the 5*s in latest while most of them are good.  The only difference is that the longer it takes the more characters will fall into classics.  However, once you get up to SCL 10 you'll be able to get shards for those characters easier.  Will these classic characters be features often enough to balance out this change, probably not, but I don't think the situation is nearly as dire as people feel it is.

    This also acts as far too little, far too late, attempt to slow 4* over-saturation, but I don't see much benefit form this this late in the game.

    TPF Alexis said:
    I'm not at the point of quitting yet, but all of the changes for quite some time now have felt like net negatives. I don't know how much more it's going to be before the straw that breaks this camel's back, but it seems to be on the way.
    I'd be curious to hear you elaborate more on why you feel all of the recent changes have been negative.  I'm 120% in the opposite camp.  I quit in early 2018 due to burn-out and frustration with the stagnation of the game.  The shards change was interesting enough to bring me back and I've found it to be a huge positive.  The introduction of SCL 10 was a huge positive for me and long overdue IMO.  I understand the shift in rewards to take away more HP isn't great, but the trade off is the ability to roster/complete characters more quickly (with the caveat that is if you can keep up with roster slots), which at the end of the day is what the game is all about.  My roster is growing much faster than before with much more granular control.

    So I'd be curious to hear why you think these changes are so negative?  IMO I'm wondering if your views are tainted by burn out as mine were in the tail end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, when I felt every change was terrible.  This game isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.  While taking a break will set you back, it can also help make the game new and exciting again when you do come back.  Obviously I'm not telling you what you should do, but just sharing my experience for your consideration.
    If they go to 4/5/4/5 with two weeks between each release, I'm probably done, even with shards in placement/progression. If it's three weeks in between releases, then maybe I could foresee sticking around. But even with shards, there's no way I can see keeping up with such an accelerated release schedule. 

    For context, I've been able to champ every 5* before leaving Latest since Daredevil, with the exception of Wasp. I had tried switching to pulling LTs and hoarding CP while she was in Latest, and I wasn't with an alliance that was consistently getting T10 at that point, so my LT generation wasn't enough to cover her, though she's since been champed.

    I've been pulling LTs as I go while hoarding CP to use on new release or special stores for awhile now, probably a year at least. Most of my champs leave Latest at Level 460 or less. I'm at the point where I only have six Classic 5*s left to champ. But I've been playing this game at, frankly, unhealthy levels for the past 2-3.5 years or so in order to do this.

    Shards have been a very nice addition, and my 4*s have been seeing a nice increase in coverage since CL10 rolled around, but its definitely taking its toll. I used to carve out about an hour for CL9 PvE grind and clear. CL10 is typically double that. CL9 PvP placement was almost guaranteed T5 each event, with the occasional T10. CL10 has so many players crammed in so few brackets that I'm usually fighting tooth and nail just for T10.

    So an increased release schedule of 4/5/4/5 sounds like an impossible task to me for how I currently play, especially when it appears they're altering the PvE order of 5*s as well. It used to be rather reliably L/L/L/C/C. But since CL10 launched exactly a month ago today, we've had L/L/L/C/C/C/L/L/C/C/L (?)(PX, BRB, Carnage, Widow, 5trange, Phoenix, Sinister required/Havok rewards, BRB, IW Cap, Doom, and Carnage is at least the rewards for next event, so I'm assuming he's required).

    It's still too early to know what the pattern will be for PvE, but it seems we're getting at least as many Classic events as we are Latest right now. So now we're potentially losing roughly 6 weeks for each character to be in Latest, AND they're possibly being featured less while they're in Latest, so there are fewer opportunities to get shards for them in the shortened window they're in Latest. 

    I *might* be able to keep up if I switch to only pulling everything from Latest, but then I'm basically kissing goodbye all opportunities for advancing any of my Classic characters in a meaningful way. 

    You may be happy with that, and that's fine, but from my perspective, it feels like I'm being squeezed out, like they're gradually increasing the speed on a treadmill until my legs give out completely and I get spun out into the wall behind me.

    At least it might make for a nice viral video. 
    What's your highest leveled classic? For me I prefer to pull classics and just kind of let the latest fall where they may. That way my classics will eventually reach higher levels instead of everyone just stagnating at barely above champ status. Plus I get 20% more pulls doing this, which is significant.

    But that's what works for me. I know everybody has differing preferences.
    It's not that I've never pulled from Classics, it's just that I've found way more success focusing my fire on particular characters when they show up in new release or special release stores, especially as Classics get evermore diluted.

    Sure, I'm saving 5 CP per pull, but probably a solid 80 percent (or more) of any cover I'd pull from Classics would go toward an already champed character when my goal is to cover/finish the unchamped ones. That's not a wise investment in my opinion, but that's just me. 
    Yeah I get it. For me the neverending treadmill of release is less daunting when I dont pay attention to it. And every other champ level on a 5* character is another pull. The value of champ rewards and 20% more pulls outweighs the new shines for me. And higher levels will make scl 10 progressively easier. So its progress "up" in my view and not just progress "sideways" by having more characters champed but all sitting at 260 or less. 

    I know I'm in the minority with this view. But it makes sense for me. It keeps the pressure for getting the new shiny irrelevant for me. I'm one of those odd people that do not mind dillution.
  • TPF Alexis
    TPF Alexis Posts: 3,826 Chairperson of the Boards
    broll said:

    TPF Alexis said:
    I'm not at the point of quitting yet, but all of the changes for quite some time now have felt like net negatives. I don't know how much more it's going to be before the straw that breaks this camel's back, but it seems to be on the way.
    I'd be curious to hear you elaborate more on why you feel all of the recent changes have been negative.  I'm 120% in the opposite camp.  I quit in early 2018 due to burn-out and frustration with the stagnation of the game.  The shards change was interesting enough to bring me back and I've found it to be a huge positive.  The introduction of SCL 10 was a huge positive for me and long overdue IMO.  I understand the shift in rewards to take away more HP isn't great, but the trade off is the ability to roster/complete characters more quickly (with the caveat that is if you can keep up with roster slots), which at the end of the day is what the game is all about.  My roster is growing much faster than before with much more granular control.

    So I'd be curious to hear why you think these changes are so negative?  IMO I'm wondering if your views are tainted by burn out as mine were in the tail end of 2017 and the beginning of 2018, when I felt every change was terrible.  This game isn't a sprint, it's a marathon.  While taking a break will set you back, it can also help make the game new and exciting again when you do come back.  Obviously I'm not telling you what you should do, but just sharing my experience for your consideration.

    That's entirely possible. The more I think about it, the more I come to the conclusion that the "net negatives" are really in the effort-to-reward ratio. Yes, I'm getting better stuff, but I'm also having to play something like twice as much, and more of that play time feels pointlessly grindy, just chipping through six-figure health pools, with no real risk or thought needed, but it takes ages.
    Also, for me at least, the line between "challenging" and "frustrating" is very fine indeed. Without a usable Hawkeye, some of the 5Es and Challenge Nodes are really falling on the "frustrating" side, which leaves little in an event that's not either boring or frustrating.
  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,817 Chairperson of the Boards
    It's kind of funny, or something, how many comments are on this thread which are fairly unrelated to the actual events vs just the general state of the game, releases etc.

    In any case, I hope we get an update soon as the last events listed start in 2 days.  And the boost list doesn't extend past tomorrow.

    I'm sure they are waiting to post info about the new character, hopefully after that.
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,275 Chairperson of the Boards
    When there is no news to talk about, I guess you make your own news.
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,454 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2020
    These lines won't read between themselves, y'all. Somebody has to interpret the oracle...
  • Godzillafan67
    Godzillafan67 Posts: 596 Critical Contributor
    “You knew the news of gnus was new!”
    “No, I knew of no new gnu news.”


  • wymtime
    wymtime Posts: 3,759 Chairperson of the Boards
    bluewolf said:
    It's kind of funny, or something, how many comments are on this thread which are fairly unrelated to the actual events vs just the general state of the game, releases etc.

    In any case, I hope we get an update soon as the last events listed start in 2 days.  And the boost list doesn't extend past tomorrow.

    I'm sure they are waiting to post info about the new character, hopefully after that.
    With Brigby now gone I am sure they are spending more time looking for his replacement than worrying about the forums. I am guessing we will get an update tomorrow with the new character and this will be updated for 2 weeks.  This way the Dev’s can ignore us till the next 5* can come out.
  • sambrookjm
    sambrookjm Posts: 2,163 Chairperson of the Boards
    Godzillafan67 said:
    “You knew the news of gnus was new!”
    “No, I knew of no new gnu news.”


    "No Gnews is Good Gnews" with Gary Gnu.
  • St_Bernadus
    St_Bernadus Posts: 637 Critical Contributor
    The pedant in me wants to point out that the g in gnu is silent, regardless of what certain songs tell you. 
    Luckily I kept that in. Carry on.
  • krakenoon
    krakenoon Posts: 355 Mover and Shaker
    So, just to clarify, we are expecting Carbage to rotate out on the 23rd?

    I know the was a separate post on this, but it seems the rotation of 5* is a large part of this post and I'm a weirdo chasing those covers.
  • pheregas
    pheregas Posts: 1,721 Chairperson of the Boards
    krakenoon said:
    So, just to clarify, we are expecting Carbage to rotate out on the 23rd?

    I know the was a separate post on this, but it seems the rotation of 5* is a large part of this post and I'm a weirdo chasing those covers.
    Despite the fact that the devs have said that they don't like hoarding, the current lack of communication and the seemingly quicker 4/5/4/5 release schedule have forced us to do exactly that...  Hoard....

    Will he rotate?  I don't believe we'll know that until it happens, unfortunately.   As if this game needed anything else to be less enthusiastic about.
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,454 Chairperson of the Boards
    I'm also chasing Carbage, I like him actually. Mine is 4/2/4 with half a cover worth of shards, so I'd hope to get him at least a bit closer to 13 before he falls into the abyss
  • Yepyep
    Yepyep Posts: 954 Critical Contributor
    ThaRoadWarrior said:
    I'm also chasing Carbage, I like him actually. Mine is 4/2/4 with half a cover worth of shards, so I'd hope to get him at least a bit closer to 13 before he falls into the abyss
    Yes, I've learned to dislike him as an opponent. Usually he's a quick skip for me, if nothing else because of his ridiculous health pool... 
  • Yepyep
    Yepyep Posts: 954 Critical Contributor
    DarthDeVo said:
    bluewolf said:
    ThaRoadWarrior said:
    So 5/4/5/4/5 is the new normal?
    Run away and hide?   This is what we get when we get 1/2 a 5 in progression, I guess.

    DAZ0273 said:
    No Boss Events?
    Sad days, if so.......

    I hear that MPQ retirement home calling my name....
    You and me both. Make no mistake, I play this game *WAY* too much, and have been for the last 2-3 years I've been really competitive (first in PvE, then PvP). But I was playing that hard because I was trying to catch up, and I was getting caught up, slowly but surely. And that was enough to keep driving me forward. 

    For all my playing, it's been barely enough to stay current with 5*s while making some headway on getting all my classic 5*s champed. I've been able to do that largely by pulling LTs and saving CP for new or special release stores. Most of my 5*s leave Latest at 460 or less, so it's not like they're getting pumped up to crazy levels or anything, but it was good enough for me. 

    After almost 4 years of playing and nearly 2.5 after starting the 5* transition, I still don't have Hawkeye, Iron Man, Phoenix, Black Widow, FA Cap, or Doc Ock finished. Some are close, the last two really still aren't. 

    If we're really going 4/5/4/5, there's no way that method will keep up. Mayyyyybe if you spent every last resource in Latest you could make it work, but even then RNG would need to be favorable. But then you'll never have any spare CP to use on new/special release stores. So if you don't get a character finished during the  brief window they're in Latest, you'll have to wait for a feeder announcement or to come around again for placement/progression shards, or target them in the meantime to try to finish them off. Any which way you slice it, not exactly great options. 

    Who knows, maybe this is for the best in the end run. I figured I'd be here until they shut the servers off because I'm too stubborn to quit (and maybe a little too addicted), but if they alter the conditions of the game such that it becomes an impossible burden to keep up without forking over a ton of cash, then they're effectively cutting me off and making the decision for me which I was too weak to make myself. 
    I'm going to get there pretty quickly with the nerf in HP they've perpetrated. INCREASING dilution on top of that? Um, no.
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,275 Chairperson of the Boards
    So who we got boosted this week, fellow Community Managers?
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,275 Chairperson of the Boards
    Many thanks @DarthDeVo!
  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,817 Chairperson of the Boards
    DarthDeVo said:
    DAZ0273 said:
    So who we got boosted this week, fellow Community Managers?


    D3, I take cash or Venmo. No personal checks, please. 
    I was all set to send you a check for 10 million iso, too.  Oh well!

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