Marvel Puzzle Quest Developer Q&A July 2022 Answers (7/26/22)

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  • TrixieTime
    TrixieTime Posts: 16 Just Dropped In
    Thank you for all of this valuable insight. Looking forward to this next phase of the game. 
  • revskip
    revskip Posts: 1,007 Chairperson of the Boards
    Thanks very much for taking the time to answer all these questions.  I love this game and have played probably more than is healthy over the years and my one major gripe was that the development team would go silent for long periods on the forums.  It is nice to see that one major gripe addressed.  
  • VALACK
    VALACK Posts: 16 Just Dropped In
    Great Thanks for sincere answer for all question.
  • illusionist_KA
    illusionist_KA Posts: 137 Tile Toppler
    BriMan2222 said:
    mdreyer93 said:
    Please don't reduce the god boost scaling. IMO God boosts have been the best addition to the game in a while. Character diversity is so much greater now. 
    This.  PVP has been so much more fun with the weekly rotating boosts.  If those are removed or lowered enough that it doesn't make much of a difference all that will happen is we will go back to the monotonous everybody use their strongest meta team pvp, which is mostly just wall to wall Wanda/colossus.  
    No, God boost needs to be removed.  end the super long pvp matches, end the continuous skips, end the MMR madness, end the super chewy PVE style High health.  End the same teams from 0 to 1200. 

    as you've seen from my previous comments.  "There is no THIS".   God boosts have ruined the sanctity of pvp.  All these basic Toyota Prius rosters, screwing up MMR. If you want the god boost to stay, then OPEN UP MMR. I need to see all these basic 450 teams that use boosted characters. I'm stuck in 550 land and can only queue those rosters. Skip, after skip, after skip - same teams over and over again.  While these prius's can hit me from 0 points and i will never see them.   Either remove god boost, or open up MMR. 

    As far as the comments of seeing the same teams. there have been numerous posts on how to beat wanda and colossus teams.  Also, we have gone through many years of same combo teams. it's how the game works. you should be old enough to remember logan and phoenix,  thanos and panther, thor and okoye, thor and gambit, iceman and prof5x, beta and kitty, and so forth.  we go through patterns of this over and over again.  better things do come along and makes the previous teams obsolete or less utilized. 

    Once chasm is fixed and enters Latest, you may see an infux of LadyThor and Chasm, who knows.  maybe the next character is better than the chasm garbage.   
  • KGB
    KGB Posts: 3,222 Chairperson of the Boards
    illusionist_KA said:
    BriMan2222 said:
    mdreyer93 said:
    Please don't reduce the god boost scaling. IMO God boosts have been the best addition to the game in a while. Character diversity is so much greater now. 
    This.  PVP has been so much more fun with the weekly rotating boosts.  If those are removed or lowered enough that it doesn't make much of a difference all that will happen is we will go back to the monotonous everybody use their strongest meta team pvp, which is mostly just wall to wall Wanda/colossus.  

    as you've seen from my previous comments.  "There is no THIS".   God boosts have ruined the sanctity of pvp.  All these basic Toyota Prius rosters, screwing up MMR. If you want the god boost to stay, then OPEN UP MMR. I need to see all these basic 450 teams that use boosted characters. I'm stuck in 550 land and can only queue those rosters. Skip, after skip, after skip - same teams over and over again.  While these prius's can hit me from 0 points and i will never see them.   Either remove god boost, or open up MMR. 

    If those Prius's are hitting you then you must be able to see them in your retal nodes even if you can't queue them directly until they break MMR.

    The problem with pushing 450 rosters with boosted characters into your MMR is that you'll spend the rest of your PVP life just clubbing baby seals.

    Boosted characters have always been able to punch up (in late 4* land with a L340ish roster I am regularly hit by non-champed 4*/5* who are boosted by 100 levels). I just hit them back in the retal which is increasingly a good deal now that fewer wins are needed for the 900 and 1000 point awards.

    KGB
  • BriMan2222
    BriMan2222 Posts: 1,273 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2022
    illusionist_KA said:
    BriMan2222 said:
    mdreyer93 said:
    Please don't reduce the god boost scaling. IMO God boosts have been the best addition to the game in a while. Character diversity is so much greater now. 
    This.  PVP has been so much more fun with the weekly rotating boosts.  If those are removed or lowered enough that it doesn't make much of a difference all that will happen is we will go back to the monotonous everybody use their strongest meta team pvp, which is mostly just wall to wall Wanda/colossus.  

    As far as the comments of seeing the same teams. there have been numerous posts on how to beat wanda and colossus teams.  Also, we have gone through many years of same combo teams. it's how the game works. you should be old enough to remember logan and phoenix,  thanos and panther, thor and okoye, thor and gambit, iceman and prof5x, beta and kitty, and so forth.  we go through patterns of this over and over again.  better things do come along and makes the previous teams obsolete or less utilized. 

      
    You misunderstood my point, I don't have any problem beating scarlet steel, the key word in my post was "monotonous". As you said, we went through patterns of this over and over. And the pattern was use the meta and only the meta over and over and over and over and over.

     When I made the jump from 4 star to 5 star the thing I missed most was the weekly boost list changing and coming up with fun team combos out of the boosted characters. After I champed my 5 stars I was using all panthos all the time, as was the style at the time. Sure the meta would change every few months and things would feel new for a minute. But then it would feel like the same old same old soon enough.

     With the boosts the meta changes week to week and by the time it starts to feel stale a new boost list comes along
  • Bad
    Bad Posts: 3,146 Chairperson of the Boards
    Any gacha game which features competitive pvp incentives weekly characters, be it boosted or making them required, or giving bonus points for to use them.
    It's the normal practice.
    What it isn't so normal is the fact that some players believe they have the right or the faculty to change what devs implemented, or to reverse a gacha game into pure f2p.
  • JRYUART
    JRYUART Posts: 95 Match Maker
    edited August 2022
    The thing that most players don’t realize about being in the 550 tier is that there is a point during your climb, for every single pvp event, where you are stuck with the choice of 5-6 of the same qs only.  If you and your alliance mates play the same slice , cycling invariably goes 
    ally
    ally
    ally
    ally 
    non-ally
    repeat

    I’ve seen many posts in the past about “etiquette” where you shouldn’t hit a target multiple times in a row. This is one of the reasons people get multiple hits in a row.  I shouldn’t have to resort to hitting my teammate for points just to climb high enough to get new qs but most times, we have no choice but to either hammer the one non-ally q, or hit our teammates. This clog/qhell occurs from beginning of event til end.  

    If the godboost is here to stay, then I agree with @illusionist_KA , please fix the MMR so that we can see more qs. 
  • BriMan2222
    BriMan2222 Posts: 1,273 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2022
    JRYUART said:
    The thing that most players don’t realize about being in the 550 tier is that there is a point during your climb, for every single pvp event, where you are stuck with the choice of 5-6 of the same qs only.  If you and your alliance mates play the same slice , cycling invariably goes 
    ally
    ally
    ally
    ally 
    non-ally
    repeat

    I’ve seen many posts in the past about “etiquette” where you shouldn’t hit a target multiple times in a row. This is one of the reasons people get multiple hits in a row.  I shouldn’t have to resort to hitting my teammate for points just to climb high enough to get new qs but most times, we have no choice but to either hammer the one non-ally q, or hit our teammates. This clog/qhell occurs from beginning of event til end.  

    If the godboost is here to stay, then I agree with @illusionist_KA , please fix the MMR so that we can see more qs. 
    The average of my 3 highest characters would put me in lvl 515 MMR.  I'm not sure if that 35 lvl difference makes a huge difference in MMR match making, but I experience this problem every event as well, and I play in slice 2 where the pickings are very slim.  I also have several people in my alliance family with three or more 550's who play slice 2 with me and they have a similar experience with MMR as I do, so maybe it's the slice that your playing that is the issue as they do not have a problem with getting stuck in que jail until they get pretty high in points.

    When I get to that point the options are ask my ally mates if any of them mind a hit or 2 or hit that one guy that isn't an ally a few times.  Usually the part where I can only que the same 4 or 5 people happens to me once I get to about 800ish points and once I get up to about 900 ish I break MMR and can start queing up much weaker rosters worth decent points and it seems to be about the same for my ally mates with multiple 550's. 

    The few times I have dabbled in slice 1 or 4 there has been no problem with this though as there are so many players worth so many points I can just climb from 0 to 1200 in one go and a few of my 550 ally mates who used to play slice 2 have migrated to slice 1 or 4 for a much easier time getting matches and scoring points. 


  • jsmjsmjsm00
    jsmjsmjsm00 Posts: 268 Mover and Shaker
    If you are so concerned with having allies in your PvP join a different time slice than them. 

    This really sounds like you are inflating your own minor inconvenience to try and remove a game play feature that is incredibly beneficial to many many more people. 
  • acescracked
    acescracked Posts: 1,197 Chairperson of the Boards
    KGB said:
    illusionist_KA said:
    BriMan2222 said:
    mdreyer93 said:
    Please don't reduce the god boost scaling. IMO God boosts have been the best addition to the game in a while. Character diversity is so much greater now. 
    This.  PVP has been so much more fun with the weekly rotating boosts.  If those are removed or lowered enough that it doesn't make much of a difference all that will happen is we will go back to the monotonous everybody use their strongest meta team pvp, which is mostly just wall to wall Wanda/colossus.  

    as you've seen from my previous comments.  "There is no THIS".   God boosts have ruined the sanctity of pvp.  All these basic Toyota Prius rosters, screwing up MMR. If you want the god boost to stay, then OPEN UP MMR. I need to see all these basic 450 teams that use boosted characters. I'm stuck in 550 land and can only queue those rosters. Skip, after skip, after skip - same teams over and over again.  While these prius's can hit me from 0 points and i will never see them.   Either remove god boost, or open up MMR. 

    If those Prius's are hitting you then you must be able to see them in your retal nodes even if you can't queue them directly until they break MMR.
    ...

    KGB
    Eh, get hit for 75 points and retaliate for 4 points? I don't think that is sound math.

    btw, I like 5* boosts.
  • supergarv
    supergarv Posts: 408 Mover and Shaker
    I absolutely love the effort you put into getting this Q&A out. Thanks so much for it.

    You know we're passionate community, with all the good and bad it brings. Happy to have a developer along the ride who seems to "get" that and wants to do right by it through active communication.

    Looking forward to the future of our game and already feeling very positive changes. Especially the alliance boss rewards make keeping up with 5 stars so much easier.

    👍
  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,955 Chairperson of the Boards
    JRYUART said:
    The thing that most players don’t realize about being in the 550 tier is that there is a point during your climb, for every single pvp event, where you are stuck with the choice of 5-6 of the same qs only.  If you and your alliance mates play the same slice , cycling invariably goes 
    ally
    ally
    ally
    ally 
    non-ally
    repeat

    I’ve seen many posts in the past about “etiquette” where you shouldn’t hit a target multiple times in a row. This is one of the reasons people get multiple hits in a row.  I shouldn’t have to resort to hitting my teammate for points just to climb high enough to get new qs but most times, we have no choice but to either hammer the one non-ally q, or hit our teammates. This clog/qhell occurs from beginning of event til end.  

    If the godboost is here to stay, then I agree with @illusionist_KA , please fix the MMR so that we can see more qs. 
    Is this because of god boosts or because there are so few people playing in that rarified air that you bump into the same folks, lest you break MMR?  I don’t think anyone is disputing the issues you or KA are discussing, but they are issues that were there prior to god boosts. And it’s important not to conflate them. Especially if it would mean removing a feature that is literally saving this game for many players.  
  • JRYUART
    JRYUART Posts: 95 Match Maker
    edited August 2022
    jsmjsmjsm00 said:
    If you are so concerned with having allies in your PvP join a different time slice than them. 

    This really sounds like you are inflating your own minor inconvenience to try and remove a game play feature that is incredibly beneficial to many many more people. 
     Daredevil217 said:

    Is this because of god boosts or because there are so few people playing in that rarified air that you bump into the same folks, lest you break MMR?  I don’t think anyone is disputing the issues you or KA are discussing, but they are issues that were there prior to god boosts. And it’s important not to conflate them. Especially if it would mean removing a feature that is literally saving this game for many players.  

    Players play the slice that best correspond with their IRL time.  What slice do you play @jsm@jsmjsmjsm00 and maybe I'll come see how it is there.

     This MMR issue has preceded when they introduced the god boost feature, with god boosting seemingly exacerbating the problem.  I don't see how this is a minor inconvenience when it happens with every single pvp and will only get worse as the playerbase gradually elevates their roster to higher tiers as well.  There are more than enough players in the "rariefied air" tier floating in the slice, but out of ALL of them, why do we only get offered the same 5-6?  That's the one thing that first time unhoarders might not be aware of - we basically only see other 550's for long stretches of the game (hitting A teams is fine with me).  The issue is the way they parse out equivalent rosters offered as Q's so that we only see a small subset of the possible opponents for long stretches of point gain that is the issue.  I'm not asking for easier q's.  It'd just be nice for the q's to open all the way up.

    If god boost is in some way affecting it, it would be nice for either that to be addressed, or the MMR.  Eventually, many many players will be firmly ensconced in 5* level play after unhoarding or gradually leveling.  When that happens, those who haven't experienced it will understand what is being discussed.  550 Wanda/672 Knull in last boost period wasn't unbeatable at all, just inordinately sloggy.  *Some* variety would be nice.  




  • atomzed
    atomzed Posts: 1,753 Chairperson of the Boards
    Thanks for the detailed responses! 
    What heartens me is that Broken Circle is aware of the entire MPQ history, and has explained some of the potential ramifications of changes. For example, explaining how changing burst healing to true healing may lead to prologue healing or even pvp healing.  Retrospective rewards (Shardmas) was also mentioned. 
    It showed me that the new developers know what they are doing and it only bodes well for MPQ!  
  • JRYUART
    JRYUART Posts: 95 Match Maker
    Daredevil217 said:
    I want to know how exactly god boosts are exacerbating this issue of queuing the same people over and over?

    As more and more players enter that tier, I imagine it will be less of a problem because that just means more and more targets to hit. 

    I’m sure Wanda/Knull was annoying to face over and over but at least it’s a week and done. Then you get a new meta to face. I prefer the meta shifting weekly over staying stagnant for months. 
    Something tied to the way the MMR ranks your top characters based on power level is affecting the diversity of choices when it comes to available q's, and godboost might affect this in some way.  We don't know for sure until the devs officially reveal how MMR works, everything we have heard is deductions and anecdotal. 

    And you would think that with more players entering the tier that it would diversify.  Since this issue has been around for awhile, we have seen newer players entering the tier but we still have the same issue.  This is the crux of the issue - even with more players available that would be considered the same "tier", the options still don't open up.  

    I am actually more of an advocate of addressing the MMR issues, where if godboost might have some sort of influence, should be addressed.  Keep the godboost if it means we have the chance to see everyone floating in the bracket.    


  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,955 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2022
    JRYUART said:
    Daredevil217 said:
    I want to know how exactly god boosts are exacerbating this issue of queuing the same people over and over?

    As more and more players enter that tier, I imagine it will be less of a problem because that just means more and more targets to hit. 

    I’m sure Wanda/Knull was annoying to face over and over but at least it’s a week and done. Then you get a new meta to face. I prefer the meta shifting weekly over staying stagnant for months. 
    Something tied to the way the MMR ranks your top characters based on power level is affecting the diversity of choices when it comes to available q's, and godboost might affect this in some way.  We don't know for sure until the devs officially reveal how MMR works, everything we have heard is deductions and anecdotal. 

    And you would think that with more players entering the tier that it would diversify.  Since this issue has been around for awhile, we have seen newer players entering the tier but we still have the same issue.  This is the crux of the issue - even with more players available that would be considered the same "tier", the options still don't open up.  

    I am actually more of an advocate of addressing the MMR issues, where if godboost might have some sort of influence, should be addressed.  Keep the godboost if it means we have the chance to see everyone floating in the bracket.    


    Thanks for the clarification. Based on the bolded in your post, I would kindly ask that god boosts be left alone.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    Since MMR takes points, time played, slices joined and shields into account, and the fact that majority of players play for wins and not points, and players not wanting to hit allies  could probably explain lack of opponents. 

    When I was a 3*/4* players, I got hit by 5* players (including 550) after I hit over 900 points. I've see this frequently enough that I believe 3*/4* players scoring 900 and above will allow 5* or even 550 players to see them for most slices. For Slice 1, it's after 1000 points since points over there are jacked up like crazy.

    Also, Slice 2 and Slice 5 are known as suppression slice. It's almost impossible to hit 1200 without shield hopping, unlike in Slice 1. However, it's easier to get T5/T10 in these two slices.

    I think opening up mmr will worsen the experience for lower tier players or players with limited number of 5* because they would be upset with getting hit by 550 players more frequently. Opening up mmr works if and only if majority of 5* players have majority of 5* champed. Unfortunately, that's not the case. Majority of players probably have a handful of 5* champed.

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