Story/PvE node clears

JSP869

I just did the math and just made myself aware of what is required to play the game as a competitive Story player.
Playing Story competitively often means doing your final clears of Sub 1 immediately followed by your initial clears of Sub 2, and so on.
With most events/subs having 1 loaner node, 3 'easy' nodes, 3 'hard' nodes, and 4 Essential nodes (CL10 only has 3 Essential nodes but also the Murder/Challenge node, so same thing), that means you're typically playing 41 matches for initial clears, and 33+ matches for final clears.
(33+ for final clears because competitive players who finish early will often grind the first few nodes again).
That's 74+ matches played in a row, as fast as you can, every single day, just to be a competitive player.
And that's JUST Story.
This doesn't factor in the time you need to spend as a Versus/PvP player.
Where even if you're using Line to coordinate Shield Hops with others to hit 1200+ points in as few as 30 or so matches, you're still spending a lot of time on Line not playing the game in order to more efficiently play the game.
Now I realize we don't have to be competitive players, but if you're here reading this, you probably are.
Don't misunderstand me.
I love collecting the characters, then finishing them, then adding Champion levels to make my favorite characters even stronger.
But this game is horribly grindy, and while it could be better (I proposed one suggestion here) the Devs are not doing anything to make it better and reduce the grind.
If anything, the removal of certain rewards with the introduction of CL10 just made the grind even worse.
I don't want to quit playing playing the game. I'm a commander of a T100 Alliance filled with good people that I've become virtual friends with on Facebook, and I love chatting with the other players in the Line rooms, too.
But in the past year we've lost several of our top players. They did not leave us for another Alliance, they quit the game, and I can see the end coming for me, too.
I don't know when I'll have finally had enough, but I can see it coming, and I'll be both happy and sad when it does. Happy, because I'll get that time "back" and no longer be compelled to go "Well, it's 10:30. Time to ignore everyone and go play this game for an hour...or more."
I'd be very surprised if the Devs can't see the end coming, too.
Unless of course they're not tracking the number of players playing each CL, the number of inactive, high level accounts and whether or not that number is growing, etc. But I expect they are, or at least they are tracking the spending, and I expect that's decreased because of the number of veterans leaving the game. Yes, veterans do spend money. 
And I expect this why we're now being flooded with offers. The game is hemorrhaging players, the company is hemorrhaging money, and the Devs are trying to bandage it but they're going the wrong way about it because they don't know how to fix it. I honestly don't know how to fix it, either.
But then I don't have to know how to fix it because it's not my game, as Venom has repeatedly told us:

Fixing the grind may help. Maybe. Or maybe it is over?
Maybe it's time for the fat lady to come out and sing one last Ave Maria.
It has been fun.

krakenoon

Always great to see the numbers on the gate in the pit of despair.

DyingLegend

Need an auto-play mode for the weaker nodes.

Waddles_Pines

DyingLegend said:

Need an auto-play mode for the weaker nodes.

I would also be in favor of auto-play with harder nodes so we can see how stupid the ai is against ai

PiMacleod

Waddles_Pines said:

DyingLegend said:

Need an auto-play mode for the weaker nodes.

I would also be in favor of auto-play with harder nodes so we can see how stupid the ai is against ai

TBH... I'd welcome this, and I enjoy my puzzle games.  Mainly because I'd review my supports, set them up differently on team GrittyNaut, and let them fly.

Just imagine... it auto-plays, and if you could ALSO set a "queue" of nodes for it to play.  Set up your queue of nodes, hit the "play" button next to said queue, and your team goes in just blindly swinging as the comp does.

I'd be for this.  If only so that I'd be a better employee while doing my grind. 

krakenoon

If you want to see how stupid the AI is vs AI, just play Carbage or use Grocket’s green... fair warning, it’s always more stupid than you expect.

Dogface

Yeah, I hate Grocket's green with it's self damage on match. Guess who matches it?

krakenoon

Every time I throw it, that scene from GotG2 plays out in my head.

UNC_Samurai

The grind is only part of it.  It’s the accelerated release of characters, the reduction of other rewards in exchange for shards, and the train wreck that becomes the 5* meta.  If you have any 5*s champed, and you ever fall out of the meta, it is damn near impossible to keep up.  And if you start falling behind, it impacts your CP pipeline, which pulls you further behind.