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

Bad

illusionist_KA said:

SO if you want the boosts to stay, ask the devs if they can open up MMR so the 550 rosters can see the unshielded boosted players in the top of the leaderboard from 0. That will help the veteran players out so much. 

Well, honestly I think you vets have 1 clear problem. And another because of the singular attitude: god boost is beneficial, is more fun, etc...
So as you can see, we don't need to ask devs anything.
The problem is experienced by you vets. I wonder why don't you ask about it on the monthly Q&A, and if you can think a good suggestion I think it would be nicer and more constructive.

HoundofShadow

Someone asked about it before and the dev answered it. They are looking into the scaling, I think.

Bowgentle

Ah, the vet hate argument.
Remember, everyone who is playing now will be a vet eventually, so.... Maybe don't dismiss those problems out of hand so easily?
While I disagree with the "god boosts need to go away" argument - boosted 450s are still 450s as far as MMR is concerned, and don't see the true 550 rosters until the 450 breaks MMR (in s1 at least, I can't speak for s2 and s5), I agree that queue hell is very real.
I don't really have a solution apart from setting the MMR break point lower, and that comes with a whole lot of other problems.

Bad

HoundofShadow said:

Someone asked about it before and the dev answered it. They are looking into the scaling, I think.

I don't remember they asked about it in the terms they are asking now.
If the que list is so short perhaps they should implement 550 bots.

HoundofShadow

So far, it seems like it's a 550 roster problem. Baby champed 5* players seem to be doing ok. I hardly queue 550 rosters and it's easier to queue 550 rosters in S1 compared to supression slice. I'm surprised to hear 550 players there getting queued by 450 players there. I've played there a few times hitting 1200, but I don't remember getting presented with 550 players. In slice 1, it's easier but not that easy to queue 550 or close to 550 roster. I'll probably see them once or twice a week. 

HoundofShadow

@Bad Here's the Q&A about god boosts found in this thread. Only relevant details are included.

Question -  Can we remove the God boosts from pvp, or at least make ot 25 or 50max?  It really is embarrassing when the veteran players who worked tirelessly (spending, whaling, numerous events playing at top leve, hoardingl) to upgrade their roster to 550. Only to have boosted players take away their hard work and time invested in their roster feel useless.  You gave Toyota prius's a supercharger and they think they are God like.  Especially since boosted characters have created the massive slow down in pvp.  Like fighting numerous CN in pvp,, over and over again.

Answer - God boosts aren't so much the problem as it is the exponential scaling that these boosts bring to light. You actually see the same thing at the higher end of 4-Star boosts as well, where a max champed 4-Star boosted character will TROUNCE any non-boosted 270 or below in the game. This is then magnified by the increased match damage that 5-Stars sport which is exponentially increased by the boost. Not announcing anything right now, but fixing that kind of exponential growth is more in line with our current thinking than just bringing down boosted levels which puts a more artificial hard cap on things.

Bad

Yes I remember that.
But to despise god boost is not the same and it's a different issue than the real problem specified in this thread.
However, again I'm a champ em all player and it's not a problem which I should focus my attention to it.

itsuka7

I hear two 550 problems. Lack of hittable prey and god boosts.

The god boost will not change the available pool. If a 450 SC is boosted to 550, yours will be 650. If a 550 is unboosted, your will still be 550 and the other one will be 450. No competition. Boosts only make a difference if your opponents get to work with a 550 that you did not invest in. And of course, that makes that you cannot float without shields anymore, but I doubt the devs are going to want to support removing that last bit. Spending hp in pvp helps fund their salaries.

Specialization has its drawbacks, or maybe the very specific gamble that the chars that were picked for 550 would guarantee the top pvp spot for all eternity without having to shield much did not pay off. That is the risk of a niche strategy, that future game changes make it less advantageous. It is possible to ask that the clock be turned back so those 3 or 6 or 9 550’s can rule the rankings again, but I strongly suspect the devs are not going to listen. The boosts are a huge success, both in pvp and in pve, and have even brought back players to the game because their old 5* champed rosters are viable at times.

As for hittable prey, the mmr system never changed so this was a known risk. If the 550 guys go and sit in the same alliances and the same slices together and do not hit each other, doesn’t that make the problem a lot worse for them as they are locking out almost all viable prey? The game was not created with the idea that friends should not hit each other in pvp, or it would have made alliance mates invisible (other games do). The 550 habitat is small, a broad non hit policy does not seem to agree with it. Rethink the strategy first, maybe unfriend a little. I am not sure you can ask the devs to intervene if you keep insisting that you do not want to hit most of 550 players out there.

JRYUART

HoundofShadow said:

Wouldn't your suggestion make things worse for 550 players? I've been playing for 4.5 years and my SR is only 209. Slice 2 and Slice 5 runs out of worthy opponents much more quickly than slice 1. The players that benefit from  these changes are new 550 players and below. 550 players like you who have played for years will have even worse selections.

Worse how, I’m curious?  Most of the players I know play for the sport with placement being secondary and few if any are concerned about a high season score.  Are you possibly thinking that would be more difficult points-wise?  If so, that is not really a high concern to us.  

JRYUART

itsuka7 said:

As for hittable prey, the mmr system never changed so this was a known risk. If the 550 guys go and sit in the same alliances and the same slices together and do not hit each other, doesn’t that make the problem a lot worse for them as they are locking out almost all viable prey? The game was not created with the idea that friends should not hit each other in pvp, or it would have made alliance mates invisible (other games do). The 550 habitat is small, a broad non hit policy does not seem to agree with it. Rethink the strategy first, maybe unfriend a little. I am not sure you can ask the devs to intervene if you keep insisting that you do not want to hit most of 550 players out there.

This is what we have been trying to convey.  When you are in clog, you see the same names in qhell awhile until you break MMR.  This could be day 1 , half hour after starting the event. It would be silly to shield that early at a score of 640, right smack in the middle of the clog if you and your alliance mates who are spread out across various brackets , but that’s all you can q so your only recourse is to hit your teammate.  Or it could be last day when plenty of points have been injected into the shard.  Same problem.  This is the rub - at the same time one is in clog, you can clearly see *other* players with equivalent rosters un# in your bracket .  But their qs don’t come up.  Why? This is what we are wanting to get to the bottom of. 

We could easily show evidence via screenshots of what we are talking about but since we can’t show usernames on the forum, that’s not an (easy) option.  

There’s nothing we’ve said that hasn’t already been said, no use in going on.  Like some others who have confirmed this weird mmr stuff, maybe it will just take more people to get there eventually and only then will this be understood. @Bowgentle was correct -  everyone will be a vet eventually.  We’ll talk then.  

HoundofShadow

I think they do it to make it harder for players to abuse the systems. If they could see each other in the bracket, they would be trading blows repeatedly while shield hopping. There are already precedents of players abusing the systems in the past. That's why the dev make changes.

And what's your definition of vets? Majority of players in this forum have multiple fully covered 5*, unlike reddit where majority of players are 4* and below players. I think that would qualify them to be vets.

DAZ0273

Why not just make PvP not have an Alliance element and save that for PvE and Alliance events where collusion makes sense? Problem solved.

Bad

JRYUART said:

There’s nothing we’ve said that hasn’t already been said, no use in going on.  Like some others who have confirmed this weird mmr stuff, maybe it will just take more people to get there eventually and only then will this be understood. @Bowgentle was correct -  everyone will be a vet eventually.  We’ll talk then.  

If you say so...
It mustn't be so big problem when you don't insist more.
If I had a problem with the game I would insist more but to the people who actually can make a better experience for me, the devs.
But if you vets agree there is a problem and also agree we'll talk later, then everything it's all right.

jsmjsmjsm00

itsuka7 said:

If the 550 guys go and sit in the same alliances and the same slices together and do not hit each other, doesn’t that make the problem a lot worse for them as they are locking out almost all viable prey? The game was not created with the idea that friends should not hit each other in pvp, or it would have made alliance mates invisible (other games do). The 550 habitat is small, a broad non hit policy does not seem to agree with it. Rethink the strategy first, maybe unfriend a little. I am not sure you can ask the devs to intervene if you keep insisting that you do not want to hit most of 550 players out there.

Hey someone who gets it! PvP means you have to hit other players.

It's really baffling the number of people chiming in to complain about their 550 PvP experience when they also have self-imposed restrictions to exacerbate the issue.

Changing the MMR of boosted characters would honestly defeat the purpose of boosted characters. It is absurd that people are defending this idea. 

KGB

illusionist_KA said:

what we are trying to say. for example. you get to 300 points...see 550 , 550 , 550, 550 ,550 and repeat.  regardless who those opponents are. But if you look up the leaderboard, all you see are supercharged prius rosters sitting at 870 to 1k unshielded. 

This has nothing to do with God boosted 5*. You *always* saw this long before God boosted 5*. I'm in 4* land for PvP and lots of times I see 3* rosters with 3* god boosts with 600+ points when I start my climb and I am not able to queue them because they are in a different MMR than me. In the same manner, I am also not able to queue teams vastly stronger than me (ie your roster) either. I can only queue such teams once they and myself break MMR.

illusionist_KA said:

The problem to add, those who are on top of the leaderboard that we can't queue, that they can hit us from 0 to anything higher at any given time. we can't always retaliate because the points are not worth it.  the god boosts, exacerbated the problem. the basic rosters can get higher and bypass our mmr, all due to their roster not being in our MMR without boosts.  Boosts should be removed, or at least  increased by 25/50 levels only.  they shouldnt be able to punch above players who spent many years building their roster to 550. 

This doesn't make sense.

If they have more points than you when they hit you, then the retal will be worth more than 33 points (and thus worth your time).

If they have fewer points than you, then you must be quite high in points (900+ I'd guess) because in order to queue your roster both they AND you must have broken MMR because you can't queue rosters outside your MMR until both you and they are outside MMR.

illusionist_KA said:

PVP was not meant to be played with LINE or outside communication. you play to hit anyone at anytime.  that means i should see you and your 450 roster at any given moment. no grills , no cheat codes, no buddy buddy system.

SO if you want the boosts to stay, ask the devs if they can open up MMR so the 550 rosters can see the unshielded boosted players in the top of the leaderboard from 0. That will help the veteran players out so much. 

This would end PvP in an instant. 550 rosters would spend their entire time doing nothing but clubbing seals. Why do any battle against anyone else until you at least are at the top of the leaderboard and no longer able to queue seals.

What would happen is that all the non-550 rosters would not play at all until the end of the event. The reason being is they won't want to be clubbed. If they instead wait until the 550's all play and get to the top of the leaderboard then and only then could they start their own climb because they'd be more or less immune.

Note, while you talk about leaderboard, what would you expect a late 550 climber to be able to see with open MMR? Would a 550 player starting at 0 points be able to queue a 450 player who has only 300 points even if they are not on the leaderboard because that 300 points is a lot higher than 0 points.

MMR is designed to match you up with similar roster levels until X number of points. The value of X changes during the event (ie it rises as the points increase). I know this because in 4* land on day 1, I hit MMR and get queued by baby champed 4*s once I reach about 550 points. By day 2, MMR has risen to the high 700's and by day 3 it's in the 900s before I am visible. In other words, the later you climb, the longer it takes to break MMR. That's good for me with a 4* roster but harder on you with a 550 roster.

KGB

StanleyBurrell

Keep the god boost but flatten the MMR is all that’s being suggested. If I have unboosted 550’s and you have toons boosted to 570 I should be able to see you. On those weeks where my 550’s are boosted to 672 I understand not being able to see you. I don’t think it’s that crazy of an ask tbh.

DAZ0273

You can see them once you break MMR. Just like they can see you when they break MMR. Otherwise everybody is fighting at their own base level boost or not.

StanleyBurrell

DAZ0273 said:

You can see them once you break MMR. Just like they can see you when they break MMR. Otherwise everybody is fighting at their own base level boost or not.

In my experience this is inaccurate. I can be hit from below at 500 points by people I couldn’t  Q up when I’m above 1000.

HoundofShadow

MMR takes your top x number of highest organic levelled characters current point, slice joined, timing played and number of players shielding into account. If someone hits you early, it's a combination of these factora. I don't think MMR is a black/white or mirror image situation where if a particular group of 450 players can see 550 players, it doesn't mean that those 550 can find 450 as well, except for red/retaliation nodes.

Daredevil217

StanleyBurrell said:

Keep the god boost but flatten the MMR is all that’s being suggested. If I have unboosted 550’s and you have toons boosted to 570 I should be able to see you. On those weeks where my 550’s are boosted to 672 I understand not being able to see you. I don’t think it’s that crazy of an ask tbh.

It is because it punishes people for champing their characters. Instead of being rewarded for champing a mediocre character and getting to overpower other characters with them for a week, I now instead get hit by a bunch of 550 Steel Witches? Might as well softcap at that point. The boost is supposed to be a bonus/reward, not a punishment that appeases the 550 crowd and gives them easier queues. 

itsuka7 said:

I hear two 550 problems. Lack of hittable prey and god boosts.

The god boost will not change the available pool. If a 450 SC is boosted to 550, yours will be 650. If a 550 is unboosted, your will still be 550 and the other one will be 450. No competition. Boosts only make a difference if your opponents get to work with a 550 that you did not invest in. And of course, that makes that you cannot float without shields anymore, but I doubt the devs are going to want to support removing that last bit. Spending hp in pvp helps fund their salaries.

Specialization has its drawbacks, or maybe the very specific gamble that the chars that were picked for 550 would guarantee the top pvp spot for all eternity without having to shield much did not pay off. That is the risk of a niche strategy, that future game changes make it less advantageous. It is possible to ask that the clock be turned back so those 3 or 6 or 9 550’s can rule the rankings again, but I strongly suspect the devs are not going to listen. The boosts are a huge success, both in pvp and in pve, and have even brought back players to the game because their old 5* champed rosters are viable at times.

As for hittable prey, the mmr system never changed so this was a known risk. If the 550 guys go and sit in the same alliances and the same slices together and do not hit each other, doesn’t that make the problem a lot worse for them as they are locking out almost all viable prey? The game was not created with the idea that friends should not hit each other in pvp, or it would have made alliance mates invisible (other games do). The 550 habitat is small, a broad non hit policy does not seem to agree with it. Rethink the strategy first, maybe unfriend a little. I am not sure you can ask the devs to intervene if you keep insisting that you do not want to hit most of 550 players out there.

I wish I could like this post more than once. This sums it up well. 

illusionist_KA said:

jsmjsmjsm00 said:

Guy I am not missing the point, you are missing the point.

You aren't being victimized by God boosts. You are clearly advocating to just make things easier for you and the "veterans".

As I said before, people are playing their strongest teams. If those are boosted 5s, then you need to beat boosted 5s to climb. If this is a problem, then stop wasting skips on other teams just because you know them. Or do any of the several other things brought up so far to change how you play PvP. 

Saying "oh there are easier teams also climbing so I should be able to hit them every time" is not a valid complaint. You aren't entitled to everything because you think you've played the game long enough. 

WOW. you don't get it. JRYU and I are 550 rosters. We don't need grills, or seal, or even walrus teams. what we are asking is for MMR to be wide open.  come to s5 and see how often we hit 550 and boosted teams. there are no grills in s5. however,

what we are trying to say. for example. you get to 300 points...see 550 , 550 , 550, 550 ,550 and repeat.  regardless who those opponents are. But if you look up the leaderboard, all you see are supercharged prius rosters sitting at 870 to 1k unshielded. 

MMR needs to open up so we can see those up top and not the same people at the bottom. i would like to hit 1k points so i can get progression faster, but we are locked due to our roster and MMR. 

The problem to add, those who are on top of the leaderboard that we can't queue, that they can hit us from 0 to anything higher at any given time. we can't always retaliate because the points are not worth it.  the god boosts, exacerbated the problem. the basic rosters can get higher and bypass our mmr, all due to their roster not being in our MMR without boosts.  Boosts should be removed, or at least  increased by 25/50 levels only.  they shouldnt be able to punch above players who spent many years building their roster to 550. 

I do have 550, and i hit boosted rosters all the time. but the time spent hitting them, is getting worse and slower. I do not want to keep fighting PVE CN over and over again. it's getting stale and old.

PVP was not meant to be played with LINE or outside communication. you play to hit anyone at anytime.  that means i should see you and your 450 roster at any given moment. no grills , no cheat codes, no buddy buddy system.

SO if you want the boosts to stay, ask the devs if they can open up MMR so the 550 rosters can see the unshielded boosted players in the top of the leaderboard from 0. That will help the veteran players out so much. 

1) “The problem.. that they can hit us from 0 to anything higher at any given time” I can’t queue 550 rosters from 0 to anything whenever I want. 

2) “we can't always retaliate because the points are not worth it”. If they open up MMR and allow you to see weaker rosters without having to “break”, the points still won’t be worth it. So you’d be more or less in the same situation. 

In fact, if they open up MMR so everyone can hit everyone, then PVP as we know it would be over. I (and I’m sure others) would switch to wins as I can kill 2/3* rosters in one move. No more shields. Easy progression smacking around those baby rosters. MMR does serve a function. 

3) “they shouldnt be able to punch above players who spent many years building their roster to 550.” And I’d argue the devs shouldn’t take away boosts from players who spent many MANY years champing every single character in the game and building their roster evenly.