Why are you making the game less fun?

Kaazz
Kaazz Posts: 230 Tile Toppler
in MPQ General Discussion
I have used the same two star team in the original ddq “third times a charm” node since forever.  I always win easily. I had suspicions that gameplay was getting more difficult, with favorable board and cascades for the enemy team, for quite a while now. But when I barely survive this node two days in a row, I know things have changed. And I’m not the only one noticing this. Others in my alliance have also been complaining about how the gameplay has gotten less fun recently. As someone who has played this game since almost the very beginning of the app, you’re pushing me to the brink of quitting, because this just isn’t fun anymore. 
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Comments

  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    What 2* teams are you using? I don't have problem with those 2* nodes.
  • Wonko33
    Wonko33 Posts: 985 Critical Contributor
    I’ve been playing for pretty much the same amount of time as you. What I did so that it’s more fun is I don’t play the meaningless nodes anymore. After 8 years do you really need to play any node but the LT one in Deadpool daily? (Full disclosure I sometimes play the HP one now)
  • BlackBoltRocks
    BlackBoltRocks Posts: 1,193 Chairperson of the Boards
    I think the OP is talking about how the AI seems to be getting more cascades recently. It may be cognitive bias, but I've been noticing that too myself. Likewise I notice I've been getting more cascades myself as well. Again, it could just be cognitive bias (like how the opening board always seems to have a match-5 when you're facing 4* Jean Grey), but I suspect it's more than that.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    I started a thread about AI getting more cascades a few months back and majority of the posters said they didn't feel any difference. I even asked the dev whether they did something to the RNG and nothing was changed. What I suspect is that while playing with the codes, they might have accidentally triggered something else that caused this increase in cascades unknowningly.
  • dianetics
    dianetics Posts: 1,656 Chairperson of the Boards
    I also wonder what 2* team you are using.
    Generally I do not run the same 2* team over and over. I just pump and dump my 2*s so I run probably 4-5 different 2* teams.
    I'd say try out a new team and see if they work any better for you.
    If you feel squishy try out something like Thor-Captain Marvel-Daken/Wolverine
  • itsuka7
    itsuka7 Posts: 110 Tile Toppler
    I also feel like the cascading has been set to 11 again recently. Destroying a vertical row and then seeing it refill with one color only can be rng, but it it happens several times in a match?

    It is really detrimental to enjoyment. A 3 match game should at least feature some benefit for board control play in the games (skill vs dumb luck or unluck only).

    if it is deliberate - please turn it OFF, devs. We like to feel like we matter, not the AI playing itself.
  • DeNappa
    DeNappa Posts: 1,398 Chairperson of the Boards
    Fairly certain it's just one of those RNG streaks. I also notice sometimes periods of time in which every other the move the AI makes, they seem to cascade into a bunch of match-4s or -5s. But then sometimes that luck goes to the player for a bit. Or matches are just plain and boring for a while. If you've played for a long time, you'll notice that. It's easy to fall into the cognitive 'availbility heuristic' trap and blame it on some evil code.
  • Sekilicious
    Sekilicious Posts: 1,766 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited October 2022
    I only really notice cascades when playing against Polaris and sometimes SC. I had a truly tinykitty one the other day where my Chasm died then revived and the opponents boosted and stunned character cascaded out my entire team. But the glitches where entire rows are filled with a single column have been around for a few years now.
  • CHRISJN
    CHRISJN Posts: 118 Tile Toppler
    Devs may have tweak the cascades in their favor, so we players need to think more which tile to match. Anyway for the 2* nodes, I always use Storm/Magneto/Capt Marvel. No 2nd option. Always wins with this rainbow setup characters. 
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,471 Chairperson of the Boards
    One of the qa threads I recall mentioning they wanted to look at the AI getting better, but I don’t think I’ve noticed a meaningful change.
  • BriMan2222
    BriMan2222 Posts: 1,329 Chairperson of the Boards
    I have not noticed the ai getting more cascades or being any more difficult in any mode of play.
  • Punter1
    Punter1 Posts: 729 Critical Contributor
    I asked in the August Q&A about them adding a Boss or similar that ran with the smarter AI as a challenge. 

    "Question - I think I am correct in saying that the AI was "dumbed" down early in the game to the current version now.

    Any thoughts on reviving the smarter AI - for a Puzzle Gauntlet or Boss type event perhaps?

    Could make for a different challenge if the AI saw all match 5s, tried to create cascades and more strategically used powers. (Punter1)

    Answer - AI improvement is indeed something we talk about from time to time and there are plans to update / upgrade it. We've got our hands full for 2022, but this might be something we take a pass at in 2023."

    I haven't noticed any change in cascades.  I do notice that playing with 2*s is less fun than with 5*s.  Punching for a few measly points is just the not the same as thousands.  I used to not play the DPD first few nodes for that reason.  I am playing them just now for the extra double ISO but will probably stop again after anniversary.

  • KGB
    KGB Posts: 3,287 Chairperson of the Boards
    Remember a couple years back they tweaked the RNG algorithm in PvE to give the AI fewer cascades while leaving the players cascade amounts untouched.

    It's possible this was turned off accidentally or on purpose.

    KGB
  • LHammer
    LHammer Posts: 109 Tile Toppler
    edited October 2022
    You know, I understand "random" and "cognitive bias" and all the other ways that you can misidentify a correlation/causation relationship but I've gotta say I'm with Kaazz on this one.  In the past two months, I've ragequit this game more times than I did in the previous nine years combined, every time frothing at the mouth about the AI turning on it's passive EMC power (Every Move Cascades!).  I'm burning more health packs that I shouldn't have to use, struggling more to reach point targets and generally hating events that I used to have no problem with.  It's not because I've moved up a tier, I'm facing the same level of enemies as I was in the summer, they're just pummeling me with "I know I have zero black and need eleven black to fire that character killer power but lookie here, one move later and I have fifteen black!  Buh-bye!"

    Players never rely on a lucky board to win whereas AI wins come almost exclusively from lucky boards.  When the AI win rate (or even just "maim key character" rate) increases dramatically, something has to be up.  
  • dokiy
    dokiy Posts: 239 Tile Toppler
    KGB said:
    Remember a couple years back they tweaked the RNG algorithm in PvE to give the AI fewer cascades while leaving the players cascade amounts untouched.

    It's possible this was turned off accidentally or on purpose.

    KGB
    This was the answer I was looking for. As a long time player (8 years coming up!) I've noticed the AI getting more cascades than "normal" once this algorithm was changed. It does seem like AI is getting more cascades, but not back to the levels before the change was made. Of course, could be nothing, but it also could be something was tweaked on purpose or accident. 

  • MegaBee
    MegaBee Posts: 1,049 Chairperson of the Boards
    TBH I haven't noticed any increased frequency of cascades.
  • Punter1
    Punter1 Posts: 729 Critical Contributor
    I have never had an issue with the 2* DPD.  I very rarely will lose 1 character but that's about as close to a loss as I have seen.  Even with the odd crazy cascade.

    Thinks that currently make this game less fun are Chasm (both playing with and against is a grind) and new characters with long complicated descriptions that don't really do anything.  

    Things that currently make this game more fun are new events, generous 5* cover rewards in events and retro feeders, anniversary extra goodies, Dev Q&A and more.  
  • bigjojo04
    bigjojo04 Posts: 419 Mover and Shaker
    I still don’t quite understand how the game has gotten less fun from the original post. It’s less fun because you’re getting tossed in a DDQ? I’ve used multiple different teams numerous different times and use that same team for both of the 2* nodes there and I don’t think I’ve ever been downed once, and I don’t even use max champed 2’s anymore as I sell them once I have another new cover for them once they’re there. I’d chalk that up to just bad luck more than anything rather than the game ‘not being fun’ but to each their own I guess. 
  • Bad
    Bad Posts: 3,146 Chairperson of the Boards
    I haven't seen anything weird that I hadn' see before. 
    And playing pve with the former devs many times I took a lot of cascades and extra moves.
    Many times I thought "I'm so lucky because on forum they say cascades are limited, if not I'd had 4 critical balls more added here :D "

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