Feedback on Concurrent PVE Events

ThaRoadWarrior

I would like to open a thread to talk about the concurrent PVE experiment that has been going on since Broken Circle took the reigns, ideally in a reasonable way where we aren't all calling for people to get thrown out of windows or whatever - so please weigh in with your feedback, but please also realize there are human beings on the other side of this game and just tell us where you are at on this concept without the drama.

I'm a 5* player, almost all of them champed, and I only ever play in SCL10 to full node progression (4x of everything on every sub). I also play PVP to full points-based progression. Playing like this, a full progression (4x clears) run through a sub usually takes about an hour to an hour and a half using iHulk/Ghostpool/Okoye, all in the <460 level range which is the fasted team I can field outside of a boost week when somebody meaningful is on deck like Warlock, Apocalypse, or Okoye.

For me, I really don't care for it. The first time we did it alongside a boss event, it was doable but I felt there was a lot of timed content running on top of itself using different timers given the boss event's 8hr refresh. I did it, but it felt like a lot.

This time around, with two full on PVEs running, with different timeslots, I've actually found it a lot to manage and have had subs closing on me unexpectedly because I am operating at times I'm unused to. I would really prefer that we not move forward with this being the status quouo, but that is of course just my own quality of life assessment. I'm aware I could skip one or both, but if this becomes the strategy for offsetting the increased character release pace (simultaneous 3/5s as well as the random surprise I'm fairly confident we haven't seen the last of) then it's going to be a pretty serious feels-bad for people pretty quick I think.

Captain_Trips88

I have no issues with more things to do, but I am a very relaxed progression rewards only PVE player so I don't have any of the time pressure on completing my runs that other players will experience. I also have no issues skipping out a day or two every now and then if life gets in the way.

Redoing the hunt has not been fun, just because it is so boring fighting the same few characters over and over and over and over again. Only playing it again because of the AW shards. 

Will be interesting to see what my views are if two PVEs run simultaneously when its not from an error so not a repeat.

so for me its a good thing, but can see why placement players will be tearing their hair out. 

SandKing

I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum. I've been loving all these extra PvEs. For those of us that don't have every character rostered and/or need 10s of millions of iso, PvEs are the primary source of roster progression.

The extra time requirement doesn't really bother me, as it doesn't take me all that long to clear them anymore anyways. I'm also playing on Steam with a large monitor, so I suspect my experience grinding is a bit different from those using phones.

wymtime

I will just say I will just say please don’t do this again.  I get some people didn’t get their fair share of a new character and maybe the devs give out one extra cover to the community.  Running 2 PVE events at once is not the way to go.  

justsing

Definitely did NOT enjoy having 2 concurrent PVE events. I'm on Day 2177, and I've been consistently playing this long because the level of time and engagement needed for playing this game optimally has been just the right amount until this past week. If concurrent events continue, then I'll have to seriously consider retiring from this game.

ETA: I wouldn't mind so much if the second event weren't timed and necessary for alliance rewards. In that case, I could easily play or not play depending upon my schedule.

Punter1

I hope the double PVE is a one-off due to the unique error that the last Hunt caused.  It would be a big change for them to start doing them regularly.  This week it's doable as a one-off, but if it was regular feature I would need to make a choice as I have no desire to play this much every day.

The concurrent boss & PVE also seemed to be a non-intended test.  It wasn't as big an inconvenience, but i would prefer to avoid it and would take the break over additional rewards.  

Timemachinego

I'm a competitive player with alliance commitments... and I wanted all these rewards. I'm doing it, but I hate it. I do have other things to do and having to clear out 80~ minutes of my day once is all the hassle I'm willing to take on regularly. I decided I'd do it this one time since it seems to be a one-off. I realize one could always do one event seriously and do the other at my own pace but that's extra work for alliance commanders who have to juggle players around and they already do a lot in larger alliance structures.

StanleyBurrell

While I perfectly understand being “iSo poor” and the “want” to catch up when you’re not at the end game for me personally, it’s too much. Many reasons stated above fit me: Competitive player in a competitive alliance and not wanting to devote this much time to the game.

I too have played not just optimally but mega optimally for years and the extra time needed just doesn’t hit home with me. I felt the same way when the boss event ran concurrently as the “breaks” are much needed and much appreciated.
 

Hope it’s a one-off.

That said, new devs still get high praise from me.

ThaRoadWarrior

In the Gorr boss rerun thread, IceIX said the following:

”The latter. It's a result of the bonus character crunch. We'll look at the metrics and anecdotes from players as to whether this'll stay, but likely a one-off.”

and then pretty hot on the heels of that “probably a one off” it happened again. So I’m skeptical.

Sekilicious

I’m like extra rewards but hate the extra timed commitments. It looks like this is a one off, but add my vote for please never do this again. 

SandKing

Considering how much discussions like this keep coming back to "alliance commitments", I wonder if the more elegant solution is to simply increase the size of alliances to 25 or something while leaving it so that only the top 20 within the alliance contribute to the alliance score.

This would let alliances rotate "breaks" to players that want them, while letting the players who do want to hit all the events, do so.

bigjojo04

I know a lot of people have had issues with it due to the time crunch and the inconvenience of it all but as a player with no champed 5 stars and less than 200 heroes on my roster I’ll welcome anything that provides me with more resources in whatever form that might be. I haven’t found it to be any kind of inconvenience as I’ve run the current story at my normal time and the other one at another time that best suits me and it’s worked out fine for me. Obviously that’s not the case with everyone but I’m still building my roster so I’ll take whatever i can get and I’ll find a way to make it best suit me. 

Bad

It's clearly said thay it's a solution for the error.
I agree is boring to repeat again the same pvp. I agree it's cheesy to have more rewards. 
I won't rank high on this rerun for a mixture of bad memory and real life.
Still I appreciate the solution and I've played it the best I could.
And now the objective data I've seen (devs will have the exact metrics): it wasn't easy to rank.
People are playing both pves, liking it or not, exactly like they use to daily play it.
Also each time there is a glich a lot of players use to score like crazy for to win more rewards. 
So it seems we will play any extra adding if the rewards are good. 

Waddles_Pines

Not a fan of it.  But, if they change their minds and it's not just a one off, I would suggest re-jiggering the time slices.  They should be totally different than the 5 regular ones.  

ThaRoadWarrior

Those of you who are enjoying it: what SCL are you playing?

Bzhai

I just watched a video about habituation in video games and why too much of a good thing can ruin a player's experience. Basically if you repeat an activity too many times it eventually becomes less rewarding because the increased frequency causes the brain to receive diminished stimuli. So taking a break even from something you enjoy is better in the long run. 

However as a developer you don't want your players to do that because they might drop off completely. So the sensible solution is to provide game modes that are less intensive where people can still continue to engage with your content without having to worry about optimising every second of playtime. This is why fishing games and mini-games are so prevalent especially in grindy genres such as rpgs.

If you're interested about the topic search 'Why The Hell Are There So Many Fishing Games?' by Adam Millard on youtube. 

bigjojo04

ThaRoadWarrior said:

Those of you who are enjoying it: what SCL are you playing?

The first time around i did The Hunt on 9 but the second time i did it on 8, which is what i usually do for the events as it’s less stress and still gives 5 star shards for progression. Once i champ my first 5*(Shang Chi) in a month or 2, then I’ll probably always do it on 9. 

Omegased

I'm a 5star player, playing SCL10. I don't really care much about placement - but play progression to completion every event. I have 51 5stars champed, ranging from 450 - 466. My goal is to champ everyone, rather than get characters to 550.

two PvE events at once is too much playing. Like, obviously I know I don't need to play everything. But since it's there, I'm trying to and I just don't want to play this much. It's really creating a bit of burnout for me, so I would be disappointed if this was the norm.

Humans are dumb (or at least, this human is dumb) because it's there, I wanna play it.

I do like the idea of other PvE running at the same time (introducing, puzzle gauntlet, S.H.I.E.L.D Training etc.) as long as they're not on a restricted daily timeline.

CharlieLima

Omegased said:

I'm a 5star player, playing SCL10. I don't really care much about placement - but play progression to completion every event. I have 51 5stars champed, ranging from 450 - 466. My goal is to champ everyone, rather than get characters to 550.

two PvE events at once is too much playing. Like, obviously I know I don't need to play everything. But since it's there, I'm trying to and I just don't want to play this much. It's really creating a bit of burnout for me, so I would be disappointed if this was the norm.

Humans are dumb (or at least, this human is dumb) because it's there, I wanna play it.

I do like the idea of other PvE running at the same time (introducing, puzzle gauntlet, S.H.I.E.L.D Training etc.) as long as they're not on a restricted daily timeline.

I wouldn’t say “humans are dumb”. Just some exhibit more self-control than others.

Omegased

CharlieLima said:

I wouldn’t say “humans are dumb”. Just some exhibit more self-control than others.

Some humans have some self-dumb.

got it.

HoundofShadow

I ignored the extra "The Hunt"(third run) even though I was affected by the first run. I didn't fully clear the entire first bugged run of the event within 3-4 hours even though I'm aware of the "extra rewards". On the other hand, players who weren't given the opportunities to set aside ~3 hours to fully clear the first rub were unhappy with those who spent 3 hours to clear. They either want the dev to remove all the rewards from those who spent many hours fully clearing the event, or expect the dev to "compensate" them the entire rewards without spending 3-4 hours.

I brought up the above because I think it's down to one's own mindset. Some players feel obligated (of their own accord, or pressured by their alliances) to play the third run  even though it's optional, unless they were booted to scl 1 on the second run. Since it's extra resources and they want to "catch up" even more quickly, they were "forced" to play, even though they made the conscious decision to play.

Assuming one day running two pves becomes a norm so that players are given the opportunity to earn extra rewards,  won't feel pressured to play both events. I've over 40 5* champed now and back when I was 3* or 4* player, I wasn't pressured to "catch up" too. Even I were to be a 3* or 4* player today and running two timed pves is a norm, I won't play both events unless it happens to have characters that I want to use.

It always puzzle me to see full progression players getting worried about timeslices. When I play for full progression, I break up my clears into multiple clears within 24 hours, which means I can choose any timeslice that I want to play in. I can clear all easy and hard nodes and then wait 8 hours later to play some essential nodes, and then a few hours later to play the rest of the nodes. To me, playing for full progression is as good as playing non-timed events, with bonus rewards from minor placements.


Edit: I play scl 9 and sometimes 10. My clear time is typically 18 to 25 minutes for both scls. And I don't have 550 roster.