{Update} Upcoming Gameboard Fixes (3/19/21)

sinnerjfl

SuperRecoome said:

I think the screen dimming is related to the speed patch and therefore needs to stay on some level. I'm not a fan of it either but it's better than it was at least. 

If the dimming is related to the speed hack thing, that is a really BAD solution because it incoveniences so many legitimate players, and not just on a "I don't like it" level, it makes it really unplayable for some. Im not gonna give myself deliberate eye strain anymore.

Really wish they'd confirm this because I will stop wasting my time wishing for a fix then.

SaltnPeppa

sinnerjfl said:

SuperRecoome said:

I think the screen dimming is related to the speed patch and therefore needs to stay on some level. I'm not a fan of it either but it's better than it was at least. 

If the dimming is related to the speed hack thing, that a really BAD solution because it incoveniences so many legitimate players, and not just on a "I don't like it" level, it makes it really unplayable for some. Im not gonna give myself deliberate eye strain anymore.

Really wish they'd confirm this because I will stop wasting my time wishing for a fix then.

They should ban those players, not just sandbox them so they cannot access anything.

Crowl

If the dimming is related to that hack then they need to get a better solution that doesn't ruin things for legit players. 

entrailbucket

I have no problem with the dimming but the new bright colors cause headaches and are difficult to distinguish, as several other players have stated. 

If the new colors fix the problem for you, great, but in fixing it for you they've created a problem for many others.

HoundofShadow

Quote from top player in Reddit:

The dimming is part of forcing the animations (banners, tile blips, boardshake, matches) to play out, even when employing the Steam version of the speed hack, which was centered around skipping those, as was found out by those reporting the hackers. Or rather exploiters as there was no external program required. Just Steam version of the game.

It seems like steam players are giving us trouble. Just remove the game entirely from Steam? 

SaltnPeppa

HoundofShadow said:

Quote from top player in Reddit:

The dimming is part of forcing the animations (banners, tile blips, boardshake, matches) to play out, even when employing the Steam version of the speed hack, which was centered around skipping those, as was found out by those reporting the hackers. Or rather exploiters as there was no external program required. Just Steam version of the game.

It seems like steam players are giving us trouble. Just remove the game entirely from Steam? 

It's actually from Bluestacks

ElReyFelix

Thank you for updating the gameboard and implementing the changes. I appreciate the effort! I'm especially grateful that the AP bar is now much more obvious when a power is activated. I also like how the blue tiles are much brighter and I also like the new pink tile color. I also like how the screen dimming is now nowhere near as dark as it was before. I still would appreciate some sort of wave indicator for multiple wave nodes but I'm otherwise happy with the current gameboard. Thanks!

HoundofShadow

I'm not sure if your post will get removed, but it means it involved not just Steam players, but "PC players". In that case, the dimming is not going to go away unless they find a better solution to that exploit. 

Players stand in solidarity against exploits and cheatings; and they have sacrificed themselves for "more equality".  

I wonder how colourblind players are reacting to these updates. I remember there are three types of colourblindness. So, I assume that these won't solve the issues for all three types.

turbomoose

Much improved but the darkening of the board needs to go. It’s less obvious but it’s still visible as a flash from dark to light 

as mentioned by others , is there any way of toggling it off??

froggerjohn

If a dimming cycle is part of the fix to the speed hack, just dim something that is much less visible than the whole board. Or dim a layer that is set to a very low alpha value, or anything of the sort that makes it less obtrusive, and annoying.

Yes, the fix is an improvement, but "less annoying" is another way to say, "still a problem".

Cannibalqueen

Well, the original board already had a enemy turn cycle.  It was blue on your turn and then the background changed to black for the enemy.  

It was an example of good game UI, because the difference was noted pretty subconsciously.  And didn’t effect the rest of the gameplay.  The fact that a lot of people, and not saying you, but I have seen some people acting like the UI update is the first time enemy turns were addressed, that shows how well this was originally handled,  a lot of people didn’t even notice it going on. It was that good.

I don’t understand why the exploit fix needed to be wedded to this UI change.  

Also with the dimming there is another anti-Quick play element.  And that is how cluttered and difficult to parse both versions of the new board have been.  Every single tile seems to be screaming for attention.  

You got the character icons cranked up to 100, when those should be underlying and subconscious signifiers, just like the enemy turns used to be.

now, everything is a jumble of too much information and more difficult to differentiate enemy specials at a glance.  Especially when they are placed on black tiles.  Really bizarre choices being made and while this new 2nd edition is an improvement from yesterday, for me at least, it doesn’t address some of the major problems.  I didn’t get an actual headache from completing today’s PVE, but it was still tiring to my eyes and unpleasant in general.

at least now, I can take a week to dive in and see if maybe board readability becomes more adaptable for me. And this is all coming from someone who is not competitive about placement.  I play with animations on.  I used to enjoy the gameplay and the characters models enough to want to see them play out.  

(I mean sometimes using BRB, Carnage or Polaris, I would turn them off, if I knew I was doing a big run with any of those characters.)

DeNappa

LakeStone said:

Thank you everyone for your feedback and patience as we worked on the fixes to the Gameboard.  These fixes are now live in the game via an in-game patch (no need to install a new update).  If you don’t see the change during play, you may need to do a hard reset of the game to see the updated board.

We made the following adjustments to the Blue, Purple, and Green Tiles on the Gameboard based on tests and user feedback.

• Blue Tile shifts bluer/cooler
• Purple Tile shifts redder/warmer
• Green Tile shifts yellower/warmer

Two refinements have been made to the enemy turn performance.

• Enemy turn darkens slightly less overall so that players can follow enemy actions more clearly.
• The animation intensity going out from the curve of the tiles and background is softened.

Power ready fill-bars are now easier to identify.

• Animation have been adjusted to subtly increase the brightness and visibility of the ready-state fill-bar visuals.

We hope these improvements improve gameplay for all.  We have seen some feedback in regards to some Tiles may appear a bit less saturated and vibrant compared to the original Tiles and that is something we will continue to look at and review in future updates.

Thank you for playing MARVEL Puzzle Quest!

Even though I was/am in the 'new UI update isn't that bad' camp, my main criticism with it still stands: the overall theme is much darker than before, which makes all the flashing effects stand out way more by larger contrast. This makes it more tiring for the eyes. I'd still like to see that addressed.

Polares

This update is not enough sadly, it still causes eye strain, headaches, etc.

The dimming is still present (THIS MUST GO, not tone it down, REMOVE IT COMPLETELY), and as some have mentioned the contrast now that the overall theme is darker makes things worse, shinny effects, are much more painful because the background is darker.

As I said, this is not enough

BubbaGump

I can barely tell the difference between red and pink tiles. 

And get rid of the screen dimming completely!!!

Jexy

I find it implausible that the exploit fix requires the dimming. That just makes no sense

froggerjohn

After additional review, I have these more-detailed comments.

Pros:
- character icons have been de-emphasized, that's great
- most colors are more distinguishable
- CDs and charged tiles are clearly visible

Cons:
- dimming is still there
- red/pink is harder to distinguish (in sunlight, they're very close)
- enemy specials are drastically worse

It is extremely difficult to pick out enemy specials on most colors now. In fact, it's completely impossible to see them at all in daylight. This really needs a different scheme, such as making them look "outlined", but still in white. It feels like that would make them stand out from both the friendly specials, and the tile images.

Cannibalqueen

Have the character icons been de-emphasized tho?
I feel like they are still taking the majority of tile recognition.  Why was this never an issue in the old board?  Because the character icons were readable but so subtle that you never had to actually look at them.  Because you probably already know who tanks what tiles.
  it’s not very useful information.  

What is useful, on the other hand, is immediately being able to read where enemy attack, strikes and repeats are and where your own repeaters are.  I used to just be able to glance at a board and know that Apocalypse had three repeaters out still.

now I have to stop and scan every row to make sure I am not missing any repeaters or enemy strikes or what have you.   

Nobody needs these character icons turned up so high.  Look at old board screenshots.  They are readable, in an instant because all special tiles stick out like a sore thumb.  That’s how the game should be.  I shouldn’t have to look at every row and column to make sure I am not missing a black strike tile.  It’s ridiculous.   Watching old board videos will remind you in a second, how much more thoughtful and efficient the original design was.  

HoundofShadow

What if new players are the one requesting character icons to be more prominent? New players won't be able to read those icons as fast as us. Not all changes are targeted at only veteran players.

Cannibalqueen

I wondered about the same thing, maybe it’s harder for new players because so many characters and more abilities depend on who tanks,

it might be a very common complaint amongst them.

edit: but to counter, I do remember on the old board even when say Okoye got stunned, you would immediately recognize those subtle background character icons change.  It was information that you immediately knew.  

Even as low priority level in the game board that they were.
I don’t think we need it to be so dialed up.  

What would really be great is personal faders.  Character icons, special tiles, saturation, background and maybe an off for dimming.  Or make enemy turns go back to background color dependent, and offer an on/off for that too.

that’s a lot to ask for, but I mean in a perfect world.

Sekilicious

It should be apparent that this experiment is largely unpopular. I get there may be a need for a new board for coding purposes. It seems there were no complaints about the old color scheme. Hopefully they decide to pivot back to that or, better yet, provide it as one of a number of options.