MPQ Developer Q&A November 2022 (ANSWERS)

S0kun

Phewwwwww.... well that was a doozy of a Q&A to go over! We want to again thank the community across the various interwebs for submitting your questions and especially for your cooperation in helping us reformat our workflow. In the coming months, we'll continue to refine this process and if there are any suggestions you'd like to make, please feel free to send me a DM.

Until next month, please sit back and enjoy the read as our team answers your questions for this month!

@Florin [Forums]
Question 1: In events where a sub can be either 24 or 48 hours, are you intentionally only choosing the 24 hour versions?

Answer: To date we've kept to default time values generated, but it's open-ended going forward.

shiraryumaster13 [Reddit]
Question 1: Can we have a list of characters who will be receiving a rebalance?

Answer: We have a list plotted out for 2023, but some recent information may result in us changing some of that. I'll talk with the publishing team as to how they'd like to go about making characters planned for rebalance known.

Question 2: Since the Dark Avengers have long since been a relevant part of this game, is there plans to do more with them or will you make more of a concerted effort to phase them out?

Answer: We love the Dark Avengers and there are no plans to phase them out, though there are also no immediate plans to do more with them at the moment.

skittledaddy [Discord]
Question 1: So many new players ruin their PVP experience by leveling their characters too high too early. Would you ever consider a mechanism for them to reduce a character's level? Perhaps a buyback program, even if not all resources are recovered?

Answer: This is something we are addressing by overhauling what happens in matchmaking under the hood. More information on this to come later!

ancient-one-19 [Reddit]
Question 1: Any plans on having permanent iso or something to increase the ratios anytime?

Answer: If you mean the idea of a permanent Iso base as in: You have worked up to a "500 Iso base", so anything that costs Iso costs 500 less, no particular plans. It's an interesting way to make the end game economy more liveable, but there are a lot of smaller Iso purchases that it would make free pretty quickly, meaning changes to the overall economy. It's more likely that we'll make economic boosts to the Iso streams elsewhere instead.

Question 2: Have you guys considered making street level teams as a single character, like the enforcers that fought dazzler in the 80s?

Answer: This hasn't come up since we took over development, and not something factored in for the 2023 lineup at the moment, but definitely interesting and worth considering!

Deam12 [Reddit]
Question 1: Would it be possible to implement a replay button after finishing a mission, same team and all?

Answer: This is a cool feature that I'll discuss with the team!

Question 2: How about toggle-able autoplay feature for AI matching

Answer: Also a cool feature, and something that we are actively talking about.

@Bad [Forums]
Question 1: Why the circle is broken?

Answer: Broken Circle gets its name and was founded on the principle that things shouldn't always be done the same way they've always been done because that's how they were done.

Question 2: Boss events offering 2 covers for the new 5* character is great. Did you consider running boss events offering classic character covers?

Answer: Definitely something we have considered, and the door isn't closed on that conversation. At the moment it's a nice way to celebrate our new characters, but we're not set on that. Our main goal in introducing these richer rewards was simple: we all felt the game owed more to its players.

Mercere99 [Reddit]
Question 1: Lots of interface improvements would be nice (more sort options, more saved teams, better chat, post-match data). Have you considered including these in VIP? Many of us would pay for that even w/o it giving more power.

Answer: These are the sorts of QoL improvements that we absolutely don't want to put behind a pay wall. They are all improvements that are coming, and you'll all enjoy them freely as part of a typical patch.

Question 2: The rate of new characters keeps increasing and it can be stressful to keep up. Are there any plans to retire characters or otherwise let players focus more?

Answer: Aside from the bonus She-Hulk character earlier this year and the 2 new 3* s (Arcade and Emma Frost), we've worked to keep things rather steady. She-Hulk represented a studio pivot to celebrate something cool happening in Marvel. Arcade and Emma are part of our initiative to improve aspects of the game that haven't been visited in a while (and with them, significant changes to the game to support their introduction). We don't plan on speeding things up further than this for characters, and we also don't have plans to retire characters presently.

@Chipster22 [Forums]
Question 1: The awards available through vaults during the anniversary were phenomenal. So much so that I find myself unwilling to use HP on more recent offerings. Previously I had only occasionally hoarded resources. Should I be spending my HP now?

Answer: Anniversary is a very special time of year and we wanted to celebrate in a big way! Clearly the sorts of rewards and offers made available during that period aren't sustainable, and therefore reserved for Anniversary (and to a different degree, the Holiday season). Spending HP now is a good move, but do keep your eyes peeled for what we have in store from now through December.

Question 2: How's the MMR update coming along?

Answer: Very good! Early models are showing great progress, and once we have some other things off of our plate (Facebook, cough) we have plans to ramp up testing. It's still a ways off from going live (we of course need to be extra careful about rolling this out) but it's actively making progress and we're excited about it!

VespulaMan [Reddit]
Question 1: Is it possible to Make death and power banners also be able to be turned off? Half the time of a grind is the game telling me I just killed someone.

Answer: Agreed. We're looking at QoL improvements surrounding banners and timings in general.

Question 2: Can boosts purchases be 30 or intervals? buying five at a time is annoying. those that need them don't mind the cost

Answer: This is also part of a QoL improvement that we're looking at.

@Aweberman [Forums]
Question 1: For several years, wave nodes gave out event tokens (typically to a vault). A few years back, this was changed to heroic tokens. Could these be changed back? They were the main reason Enemy of the State was my favorite event, back in the day.

Answer: Cetainly something we can look into! Agreed that it makes things a bit more interesting when events are more 'bespoke'.

@samael64 [Forums]
Question 1: Polaris generates additional strike/attack/protect tiles when matched or destroyed; if the tile is fortified, it only generates tiles if matched, if fortified tiles are destroyed no tiles are generated. Is this a bug, defect, or expected behavior?

Answer: I can't exactly speak for the intended design, since it is not our design. I can request that engineering take a look to see if there are any signs that it is not performing as perhaps intended.

Question 2: Possible that you can't say, thought I'd ask any way, will two star champion rewards be included in the feeder updates?

Answer: I think you've already gotten an answer around Thanksgiving to this one!

@Turbomoose [Forums]
Question 1: In the last q and a it was mentioned that you aim to bring all remaining 5* feeders in by year end. Is this still the case?

Answer: This is certainly the aim. It probably falls under the category of "ambitious goal", but at the very least we do plan on rolling our most if not all of our feeder updates by then. Anything that doesn't make it in 2022 will follow shortly in January.

Question 2: With the 5* tier becoming bigger every month are there plans to introduce another tier or any way to solve the dilution problems

Answer: Discussions surrounding this are ongoing. As said earlier it isn't something we consider to be a matter of critical importance at the moment, though we do recognize that something will need to be done.

@Punisher5784 [Forums]
Question 1: You recently rebalanced 4* Wolverine to his similar powers. Any chance you might consider rebalancing other characters that were nerfed (e.g., 5* Wolverine, 5* Gambit)?

Answer: Short answer: Yes.

Long answer: Yes, absolutely.

Question 2: I had to retire from the game 2 years ago for personal reasons. I'd love to return but it would be alot of catch-up. Would you consider a “Welcome Back” bundle for purchase that includes a cover of characters I don't have?

Answer: This is something we talk about alot. Thanks for asking for this! Truthfully the codebase doesn't exactly allow for this at the moment, but we are looking at the effort needed to have greater control over determining who falls into the criteria that would merit a “Welcome Back”. We're on it, but in the meantime keep your eyes peeled for the rest of the year; lots of things coming that just might get you caught up!

@Atomzed [Forums]
Question 1: The 5* Riri is a big change in terms of design! She has powers that costs 3-4 ap. Not since 3* Raganork have we seen such low ap powers. I know it’s balanced thru other mechanics, but I like to know what has changed within the design philosophy.

Answer: I'm not sure anything has changed in our design philosophy, but I can say for certain that the design philosophy surrounding characters in general has changed since we took over as developers earlier this year. I think we have the benefit of looking at everything with fresh eyes and an eagerness to try things. I think players can expect us to continue to experiment, push the envelope, and put new or underdeveloped concepts back on the table.

Question 2: There has been an increase in the variety of Heroes for Hire offers. Would BC consider a tweak to the current VIP, to make it more enticing?

Answer: Absolutely. It's in early planning at the moment, but revamping VIP is a thing.

@BlackBoltRocks [Forums]
Question 1: We have almost 80 5*. Would it be possible to increase the amount of Classic and Latest Legends tokens and 5* shards from progression and placement rewards?

Answer: In the grand scheme of things this is related to the dilution problem. The changes you proposed are absolutely on the table and we'll be putting a more concerted effort behind dilution related matters after we get some of our 2023 planned changes launched.

Question 2: For alliances, can it be made possible for a commander to remove another commander?

Answer: Greater alliance controls are sorely needed in general. Alliances are one of the biggest features we're looking to improve, but for the moment we're probably looking at 2024 before alliance related features are touched.

@golden_gopher [Forums]
Question 1: About your new genius category; Mr Fantastic & Dr Doom aren't geniuses?

Answer: Doctor Doom had his Affiliatons updated a couple months back and Mister Fantastic received his mid-November. Should be visible in-game!

Manonthemoon80 [Reddit]
Question 1: I see that you have updated team affiliations from some characters. Are we going to see characters like Eddie Brock venom or black cat get it updated affiliation because they have also have been heroes or mysterio who has been sinister six?

Answer: Affiliations are tough for a few reasons, and this is probably the biggest one. With characters swapping sides as fluidly as they sometimes do, we find ourselves going back and forth. We try not to account for the character's entire history, but rather the incarnation that the individual character is representing. As for affiliation updates, we roll these out along with rebalances and character releases in accordance to an affiliations master plan.

Question 2: I see you have three members of the fantastic four that is four star but you still missing Johnny. Is there any plans to have a four star Johnny Storm?

Answer: I can't speak for the distant future, but there are no plans for a 4* Johnny Storm in 2023.

@Daredevil217 [Forums]
Question 1: What are the developer’s thoughts on Chasm regarding game balance? People are now choosing to play much lower level iHulk/Chasm teams over great characters with god boosts. It feels much less fun/diverse/balanced, and I’m curious about your thoughts

Answer: We are following the meta and the popularity of this team. Balance-wise, there are teams that can counter this combination well. As is to be expected, these matchups have a way of increasing the overall duration of play (also something we consider okay, but are monitoring). As for diversity, it's a similar situation there; we want broad selection of characters by our players. We're introducing some characters that stand a chance at shaking things up in our continued approach of avoiding nerfs whilst leaning into leveraging the puzzle elements of the game to grow and evolve it.

@Mrcl25 [Forums]
Question 1: Is there any progress on the idea of a more flexible pve, where you can start at any time in a 24h frame? This thread has some great ideas: https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/87707/proposal-for-play-when-you-want-pve

Answer: We've been reading over the thread and talking internally about things, and it's definitely on our list of things to tackle, but it won't be near term. Right now the biggest discussion is whether to further codify the speed meta, but make it easier to play any time, or to do "something else" so that it's not all about clearing fast/minumum turns. We're not sure where we land there yet.

@tfaludi [Forums]
Question 1: when and how will SHIELD resupply rewards be updated? getting 100 Iso or a standard token at day 3XXX is not very motivating

Answer: This is part of a larger conversation (that includes revamping VIP). Nothing to report at this time other than a revamp is on the horizion.

@Lionowilson [Forums]
Question 1: With the shear number of potential 5* characters, why is 5* strange in nearly every release store?

Answer: The frequency of occurence of 5* Strange was really a perfect storm of coinsidences. Strange is high ranking in the Fan Favorites poll, had notable connections with our thematic Legendary Stores, and had an event or two right afterwards. I've since put a cease and desist order out on 5* Strange for a bit, lol.

Question 2: Any movement on duplicate supports being worked towards the next higher * level?

Answer: Part of the broader Supports overhaul topic. I think we're getting close to a point where we can announce some of our plans for this. Stay tuned!

@McPosterson [Forums]
Question 1: How are you dealing with the cyber-bullying that happens with MPQ? Player get targeted and hit 10-15 times by the same adversary. And there is a big amount of hate speech and messages sent by private message or group chats. Many threats are made.

Answer: We get tickets about bullying rarely, but they do happen. One thing to keep in mind is that Versus hits generally don't turn out to be actual harassment because it's usually a result of a combination of the MMR system putting two players in a tight band with both players hitting Retaliation Nodes. This sometimes puts them right back in the queue for each other. That's not to say people don't snipe though! Just that a lot of cases are attributed to the above reason and unfortunately leads to a bad experience to the person getting hit.

For bullying like harassment, please point these out to our CS team in areas that we're able to address such as in-game and forums harassment. We unfortunately can't control speech outside of our channels and in the past, we've had instances of people impersonating others so it's impossible for us to police.

@bluspiritseeker [Forums]
Question 1: After updating, why do characters not feed themselves 1st or someone connected to them, instead of no one or someone unrelated? (ex Carnage feeding Carnage instead of Dr. Octopus; Polaris feeding 5* Magneto instead of no one; Ikaris into Sersi, etc)

Answer: Put simply, we (BCS) weren't around when most of the feeder choices for the game were made. We've since made some bold decisions about the future of feeders and are in the process of rolling those changes out (which is a MASSIVE undertaking, but we believe it's what is right for the game and our players).

Question 2: I know you've been working on an overhaul, but are there any updates in making supports more readily collectable and upgradable?

Answer: I think we're getting close to sharing some details about the overhaul. Soon.

@ThaRoadWarrior [Forums]
Question 1: Of old, the Limited characters were always a trophy - just a dead spot on your roster to say you could afford a frivolous spot. Is there any thought to having them give out better champion rewards since they are less available?

Answer: I'll chat about this internally with the crew! No thought has gone into this on our end until now, so thanks for bringing it up!

Question 2: how does the team decide when to give retro rewards or not? given that it takes an SCL10 player 9 months to hit 360 from un-rostered on a 4* (i tested) how sensitve are you to the time investment when you switch them around?

Answer: At present we have an internal set of rules that we have been following. I think we intend to formalize these and make them available to the public. Generally speaking we try to err on the side of retro rewards so that these updates can be viewed as a net positive. That said, we are aware of the cases in which players may be adversely impacted. As a result, we try to be methodical about decisionmaking so we aren't constantly making switches. What players are witnessing now are, what we feel, are lots and lots of feeder changes that have been a long time coming. Once we've wrapped them up, we'll still see them, but the pacing will be slower and deliberate.

@allen_koholic [Forums]
Question 1: When can we expect some new content for PVE, or at the very least, the return of some older ones? I feel like it's the same 6 events over and over. No more Gwen-fic, no more support circuit, no more seasonal quests, no more 7-day events.

Answer: We plan on rolling out many long-shelved events over the course of 2023. Frankly the reason many of the fell out of rotation is they did not grow elegantly with the game and ceased to function for one reason or another. We're in the process of repairing them. After that, we'll be looking to creating new PVE content.

Question 2: More importantly, why does Oscorp Spiderman use the Killmonger lock tile when there's web-lock tile already on Bagman that does the same thing and is in-theme? I need to know.

Answer: Possibly just something that slipped. I've passed this over to the characters / QA teams.

Carnifex [Reddit]
Question 1: As there is now 70+ 5 star characters, the dilution rate means we only see these classic 5s in PVE almost never. Would it be possible for these classic 5s to be rewarded 500 shards through progression, and keep the latest legends at 250 per run?

Answer: This pertains to the overall topic of pack dilution and is something we're keeping an eye on. The solution you propose is indeed something we are considering, but it is too soon to announce any direction on this.

@JHawkInc [Forums]
Question 1: The transition to 7-day Deadpool Daily cycles has been mostly positive. But is there any chance you could take another look at the weeks with two Crash nodes, and consider running two separate characters?

Answer: This was a long topic of discussion when moving Deadpool Dailies to 7 days. A major factor that lead to us utilizing the same character for both Crash nodes on weeks that have two Crash nodes is about boosting the value of that character and offering a more direct goal when preparing for the upcoming Crash. It's a new feature that we're keeping an eye on, and it is very possible that we might switch things up in the future.

Question 2: Daily quests. Long-term Milestones. In the past we've also occasionally had "Event" quests, for short-term stuff. Anniversary would have been the perfect chance for them. Any chance we'll see more in the future?

Answer: These are definitely future goals of ours. Our present goal is to expand the PVE Events rotation by bringing by events that fell out of rotation. That's just the tip of the iceberg, with new events and activities you mention surfacing.

@Seph1roth5 [Forums]
Question 1: Any UI changes planned for the future? I'd love if the XP notices weren't in the same spot as the back arrow. And maybe a progression indicator on nodes so you can see if you're at 1/4 or 2/4 before clicking on it.

Answer: We have many UI / UX changes planned for the upcoming year. Nothing in the works for XP notices, but an overhaul of event selection is on the horizion that significantly improves legibility.

Question 2: Any changes for the shop/prices planned? VIP is a good deal, but some of the bundles just seem all over the place. I'd probably spend (more) $$ if there was more than a handful of CP and LL, and negligible iso

Answer: Since taking over development we've actually revisited offers entirely. Values were not consistent from one to the next, but now we follow a somewhat rigid set of guidelines that boost consistency, adds value, and errs on giving players more for anything that isn't entirely clear. We'll continue to make improvements and expand upon the offerings to make sure there is something there for everyone.

@Glockoma [Forums]
Question 1: What state of health is the game in versus when you first took over as the new developers? Metrics, daily players, new players, growth/decay?

Answer: Broadly speaking, everything appears to be on the incline. More players, more engagement; MPQ is on the rise!

Question 2: Recruiting into alliances has never been more demanding and difficult. It seems the player pool is very shallow. Is there a marketing strategy in place to get the word out about the new direction the game is heading in and to try and revitalize it?

Answer: We have some marketing campaigns planned for 2023. We are also in early stage planning of overhauling the game's social systems. We're hopeful that with both we'll see dramatic improvements to social play in MPQ.

@Grizwald [Forums]
Question 1: Is it possible to get A to Z sorting on the rewards inbox page?

Answer: Certainly possible and making note of this.

Question 2: Are there any plans to make it easier to collect Classic 5* s?

Answer: When we address pack dilution we'll solidify a solution for this. In short, yes.

@DyingLegend [Forums]
Question 1: Are new boosts something being considered ? For instance, maybe a boost that increases a character health or level for a game.

Answer: At the moment we have not discussed altering boosts in any significant way.

Question 2: Will there ever be a difficulty higher than SCL10?

Answer: We don't plan to introduce anything higher, no. We have been talking about rebalancing the SCLs though (if said rebalance occured, SCL10 would still be highest).

@CASSIDYFROST [Forums]
Question 1: I wanted to know what's going on with the characters from the most recent MCU productions (Werewolf By Night and Wakanda Forever), why we still don't have any characters from those two films, are you taking a break with Marvel Studios or something?

Answer: We establish character lists (which requires lots of approvals and decisionmaking) well in advance (for example, we have 2023 just about locked in). Often times when we do, we don't have a firm idea of what is coming to the MCU. Hang in there though. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised with what we have in store for you!

Question 2: What about the mutants we don't have in the game yet (like Banshee for example)? Are there any plans to add them in the future? (besides copies of what we have like Emma recently, not complaining about her, I just LOVE her)

Answer: Sadly I can confirm that as of this moment Banshee is not on the list for 2023, but this character has come up and will come up when we look to slotting in who is up next!

beatupford [Reddit]
Question 1: With the 4* scaling of Doop abilities, is there any way to make 2* and 3* more relevant? Since SCL PVE are locked in what's the harm in powereup characters being powered up AND having their powers scaled to the highest star on the team for the match?

Answer: We've got some ideas around that, especially seeing Doop's success, but don't have anything to share here yet.

Question 2: Defensive ability scaling based on damage sucks when a player is powered up and renders them basically useless. Anyway to address the scaling of powered up abilities like Thing yellow, Valkyrie black, RHulk red, 3&4 Deadpool black.

Answer: Agreed, it's something we want to look into, but requires a bit of thinking on the engineering side of things. Ability scaling, and thus health scaling is sort of 'baked in' to how abilities function, so we'd have to work on some new tech to work better with this.

Valdoraptor [Reddit]
Question 1: Is it possible to add little UI change in a form of visible max points value next to current points value when one clicks specific node? Some nodes have odd value number. Seeing current vs max would be helpful in calculating node completion.

Answer: Good idea - making note of this.

Question 2: Sometimes tiles "freeze" right after last enemy is downed, but sometimes last match creates pointless cascades that prolong length of clearing node. Is it possible to set it like instant tile freeze mechanic when enemy hp is depleted?

Answer: This will require some internal exploration as to what happens behind the scenes. Will investigate and pending what is there will certainly consider this.

SoCalBrodozer [Discord]
Question 1: Why does your team get damaged when your chasm is revived and stuns the opposing team? I've never understood why you're getting punished for stunning the enemy team

Answer: A lot of Chasm's design centers around push and pull. Taking Chasm into a fight is opting in for some rather diabolical power but potentially at significant cost to you and your team.

@Tony_Foot [Forums]
Question 1: Is it possible to have a spend x 50 pulls in the LT vault for CP when you have run out of LT's?

Answer: Certainly possible, but we'll need to think over the economic rammifications of a move like that. Presently there are no plans for anything like this.

Question 2: Which Character that's not already in the game would be the perfect Christmas present for you to have included?

Answer: Probably Omega Red? Colors are rather Christmasy, and it's a character fans have been asking for! NOTE: Omega Red is not coming home for Christmas.

@Hector83 [Forums]
Question 1: Some of the old characters like 2* Daken 3* Beast display color match power in wrong order in the character card. For example 3* Deadpool on 201lvl its: Red: 64 Purple: 82 Black: 73 And its should be sorted from strongest to weakest ...

Answer: Good catch! We have some systems overhauls in planning stages and I'll see if we can't squeeze in tech that sorts this out better.

Question 2: We have a problem with PvP, because when i reach 750pts I start seeing the same players, no matter how many times I skip, I see always same 3, or 5 people.

Answer: Sometimes when a match pool gets really small, this is how it goes. Our updated match maker may help a bit, but when there aren't many players to pull from in a small pool other decisions have to be made. We'll keep it in our thoughts as we continue to improve multiplayer.

@Ptahhotep [Forums]
Question 1: Will there be any changes at the one and two star character level. For example adding a third power to characters that have only two, adding champ levels to one star characters, updating rewards or releasing new characters.

Answer: Yes and Yes.

Question 2: Have you any plans to make the campaign area replayable by adding new tabs or allowing the refreshing of the existing ones so that they can be replayed with stronger opponents and better rewards.

Answer: Not at this time, though the request has surfaced a few times in the past several months. For now we can call this a "maybe"

@Notwen [Forums]
Question 1: In the October, the roles of 505, Broken Circle, and Infinite Interactive were described as “publisher”, “developer”, and “the team behind Puzzle Quest”. That answer didn't mean much to me, can you elaborate on your answer; what things does each do?

Answer: As developer, Broken Circle is responsible for creating and deploying all of the content that you see in MPQ.
As publisher, 505 is responsible for marketing, outreach, support, and ultimate ownership of MPQ.
Puzzle Quest is a brand owned by Infinite Interactive. Other than that, they have no direct involvement.

Question 2: In addition, what role does Marvel have in the game?

Answer: As the IP owner of Marvel, we consult with them on anything and everything related to their characters and universe so there is very little that goes on in game that they have not reviewed and provided feedback on.

@Nero [Forums]
Question 1: Are you planning a 5* Magik to complete the phoenix five family?

Answer: Yes.

@Hammer3001 [Forums]
Question 1: Are you going to put Devil Dinosaur & Spider-Ham as prizes in PVEs?

Answer: For now, they will continue their current cadence as limited characters.

Question 2: Are you going to add more Supports like a Mjolnir or Cerebrospinal?

Answer: More supports are on the way. We'll be announcing them along with our finalized plans for Supports soon(tm)

@karas88 [Forums]
Question 1: Any hope to see the "retired" PvE events (enemy of the state to name just one) come back to life?

Answer: Yes, and sooner than you probably think!

@Codex [Forums]
Question 1: Can you add command points as a reward in Shield Simulator?

Answer: The functionality is certainly there. We're constantly assessing the economy and if this becomes the right move, we'll make it.

@_TrashPanda [Forums]
Question 1: Will mpq ever implement locking people into ally every PvE event, similar to Boss events? What's the point of having ally's when people can move their scores around at anytime? It doesn't promote teamwork/ negates point of being on an ally team.

Answer: It's a ways off, but an Alliance overhaul is one of our next big milestones (following Supports) that we think will add lots of great reasons to be in an alliance and lots of great ways to interact with other players.

Question 2: Add a SIM/ gauntlet that uses all seal / various-lvl npc teams that a person could farm for low rewards? It could have separate 1/ 2/ 3/ 4/ 5* nodes that have randomly gen'd npc teams. Allows people to: test out teams, farm & fun.

Answer: This is something we're taking interest in. Early discussions, but we also think that an environment like the one you describe would be beneficial for players.

@Scofie [Forums]
Question 1: Can you give us an approximate date for Shardmas 3?

Answer: Sadly no; we're working on them as we can. We are on track to either have them completed by the end of the year or at the very start of the new year though!

Question 2: As a "day 3300" player, I've seen so many changes over the years. What's the biggest change you'd like to make over the next few years that isn't yet on your roadmap?

Answer: Oof, the "isn't yet on your roadmap" qualifier is tough! I think it's probably reworking Alliances and social features. There's so much that can be done to really bring players closer together in MPQ. Not that this is the most pressing thing at the moment, but it is the first that comes to mind as something we're barely cracking the surface on.

@Skibum [Forums]
Question 1: For PVP, could you display the alliance name of the opponent along side/instead of the player name? Would be helpful to avoid attacking alliance/truce mates without having to click on the name.

Answer: Yep! Cool idea and something I imagine we'll do when we overhaul Alliances in the future!

@Blackstone [Forums]
Question 1: Is it possible to increase alliance cooperation? For example: I have an excess of covers while my wife has an excess of iso-8. Being able to share resources would be a boon to each, with no increase in rewards from the game.

Answer: Trading / sharing resources is a tough thing to do in games that have an economy. For this very reason, games that are normally all about trading (thing collectible card games) avoid this like the plague. We'll think of better ways for alliances to work together, but directly sharing resources is probably out of the question.

Question 2: When Baron Zemo finally makes an appearance (please please please, he's the villain we need) can he kindly need made awesome? My favorites (Hawkeye, Moon Kinght, Mockinhbird) never make meta list, and I would love to see that change. Yes, I'm fishing

Answer: If Zemo makes it in (and how couldn't they?) we'll try extra hard to make them awesome!

@ragnarady [Forums]
Question 1: Have you ever thought about adding fully randomized nodes to some event (DDQ for example)? It would be cool to accidentally find the newest characters in some PvE content.

Answer: This is something we've thought about to spice things up. Unfortunately nothing close to a system exists for this at the moment. We absolutely have the desire to build it, as it opens up a ton of possibilities!

Question 2: I've read that you're planning to update the UI, so could you please make some way to track daily quests in battle?

Answer: Making note of this.

@Killah klown [Forums]
Question 1: On the Forums, when we report in the bugs/technical issues, can we start seeing some sort of acknowledgement? Let us know that you're aware of the problem and are working it, or even that it is not a mistake cuz it is working as intended.

Answer: lol, it's actually my New Year's resolution to do better on the forums. I'll do my best!

Question 2: How about an off-season pvp event where you un-nerf everyone? Bring back original gambit, bishop, logan, etc.... It'll be a blast. Theme it as a multiverse thing

Answer: This is a super cool idea! The unfortunate thing about it is how characters are handled. Presently there is no way to differentiate between various versions of a character. Their data and functionality come from one source. To do this would require some significant effort, but there may be some universal benefits from expanding in this direction. I'll give it some thought and potentially factor it into planning as engine revisions are made.

@fight4thedream [Forums]
Question 1: Any chance we can get a "Death meta" to deal with the current “Revive meta”? It's a shame Thanos & Hela aren't seeing much action in PvP. Hela, especially, could use some love. Death herself would also be cool, although I'd prefer her to be a 6*

Answer: 6 Stars are probably not in the near future, and you're right that Lady Death is probably a bit too much of a primordial force to be a 5 Star. Then again, we have multiple variations of the Phoenix Force, so who knows?

Question 2: Do you think other “double” character such as Cloak & Dagger could be introduced? I think you could have a variety of “minor” characters team up to fight together. Of the 3 powers on each character, 1 for each character, then “paired attack” power.

Answer: Definitely considering things like this. Characters like you mention that have been on our idea list include:
Moon Girl / Boy and Devil Dino
The Warriors Three
The Power Pack
Multiple Man, Multiple Man, and Multiple Man
Team Venom ( Riot, Lasher, etc )

@Thisisclemfandango [Forums]
Question 1: How does the character choice work for BCS? Do you have to clear it with Marvel or do you have free reign on whoever you want or do you have to seek clearance before a character hits the game?

Answer: We more or less have free reign to propose ideas, but after that it's a collaboration with many parties. 505 and Marvel weigh in heavily. There is no contention; we all just want what's best for the game and the players. It makes all the sense in the world to align MPQ with the big things happening in Marvel, and typically the only time we decide to cross characters off the list is because there is a choice that is in better alignment.

Question 2: How big is the BCS team and how many employees are assigned to what, artwork, programming etc? Also can team BCS tell me if they had to fight 10 duck sized horses or 1 horse sized duck, which gets the most votes.

Answer: There are about 20 developers that work on MPQ. The largest group consists of artists, as the type and quality of art in MPQ requires significant time and effort. After art, the rest is a rather even split amongst engineering, design, and general team support.

As for your question concerning horses and ducks, without question team BCS would prefer to fight 10 duck sized horses. Given the team dynamics described above, if we split the work evenly every duck sized horse would be outnumbered 2:1. While I have all the confidence that team BCS could handle a horse sized duck, the chances for casualties are significantly higher.

Punzaman

Wow these are all great and insightful answers! Looking forward to the coming supports overhaul and whatever else is "coming soon"

@S0kun - Not all submitted questions were answered; I know mine weren't and it isn't a big deal. But does this mean BCS won't ever answer them? Should I try to submit them again for the next Q&A?

StanleyBurrell

Great communication as always even if I am disappointed with the Chasm answer. I think one of you guys should “borrow” my account and climb with it, it’s miserable and has severely reduced my enjoyment of the game.

Still hard to complain with the most things you guys/gals are doing. Keep it up.

leviticuschom

@S0kun - ditto! looks as if my questions also fell out of queue. Same sentiments as Punzaman. thanks

HoundofShadow

They finally acknowledged Omega Red.

More counters for Chasm are coming up. That means the next 5* release should also be countering Chasm.

I don't know which 2 questions the dev is answering yes to regarding 1* and 2*: adding 3rd power, champ level for 1* and more 1/2 characters.

5* Classic dilution is still not critically important.

Enemy of the State is coming back soon, and many other old events are coming back next year(?) before more new events are created. Please bring back community boss event too. I can't remember the actual name. From their reply about 500 Classic shards in, it seems we might get 250 new/250 old shards in Enemy of the State?

I'm surprised at the question about cyber-bullying: threats, hate speech and messages sent by private message or group chats. And there's impersonation. Who do they even impersonate and for what reasons?

IrisRyu

@HoundofShadow said:

I'm surprised at the question about cyber-bullying: threats, hate speech and messages sent by private message or group chats. And there's impersonation. Who do they even impersonate and for what reasons?

There was a lot of great content and teasers about what lies ahead in this Q&A, but this question really jumped out at me! Is that Chasm-induced rage or has private chat (Line?) always been problematic? I was thinking about finally taking the plunge to alleviate some of the PVP grind, but am questioning that strategy now.

StanleyBurrell

@IrisRyu said:
@HoundofShadow said:

I'm surprised at the question about cyber-bullying: threats, hate speech and messages sent by private message or group chats. And there's impersonation. Who do they even impersonate and for what reasons?

There was a lot of great content and teasers about what lies ahead in this Q&A, but this question really jumped out at me! Is that Chasm-induced rage or has private chat (Line?) always been problematic? I was thinking about finally taking the plunge to alleviate some of the PVP grind, but am questioning that strategy now.

It’s not that bad and the good in the community certainly outweighs the bad. There are a few peaches out there though for sure.

HoundofShadow

One thing I read from some players (unverified) before is that if you join an alliance in Line that has enemies, you'll get targeted by them too. Not all, but some. It's like some sort of alliance wars or deep rivalries, I suppose. Alliance wars look fine to me because it's pvps afterall. But I'm not sure if that poster consider this to be cyberbullying as well. Specifically targeting a player because of other petty reasons is considered cyberbullying. For example, "I hate this guy because he didn't help us. Everyone, let's target him whenever you see him even if he gives you only 3 points." I imagine the worst threats they can come up with are: threatening to hack your device, targetting you for the rest of your MPQ career in pvps, digging out all your social media info. All these are typical cyber-bullying behaviour based on news report. Hopefully, there isn't any death threat because it's too extreme.

Other than that, some players who were in Line mentioned that some of them have big egoes, which is not uncommon. You find them in any games and in real life as well. It probably means being submissive to them if they are influential in Line. Lol.

ThaRoadWarrior

Question 1: Are you going to put Devil Dinosaur & Spider-Ham as prizes in PVEs?

Spider-Ham is a round-8 node reward in Battle at the Basilica. My alliance has never gotten that far, but I'm told he is there. That event doesn't roll around all that often though. I don't think Devil D has a PVE that gives him out, there there is that one node in The Hunt where he is a required character that would make all the sense in the world to have him be Howard the Duck limited though.

Question 1: Of old, the Limited characters were always a trophy - just a dead spot on your roster to say you could afford a frivolous spot. Is there any thought to having them give out better champion rewards since they are less available?

Answer: I'll chat about this internally with the crew! No thought has gone into this on our end until now, so thanks for bringing it up!

I appreciate the consideration. It seemed like at one point they all got rebalanced to be actively terrible - at least the ones like Bag-Man, Yelena, and Devil D who weren't introduced as limited but converted to limited at some point. I actually think Howard and Taskmaster are super playable, their numbers are just terrible. And Bag-Man is the only characater in the game who can extend a friendly countdown tile, his power costs are just ludicrious so it's unusable. The only character who just feels like it was designed at 5pm on a friday was Spider-Ham lol. I guess I wouldn't be too upset if they ended up on the rebalance docket is what I'm hinting at.

Bad

Thanks for your insightfuls answers!
I suspiced your name had a reason to be and it didn't dissapoint me.
Keep up the good work!
Aside from this, as you already may see chasm is becoming a real problem and we need a hard counters. I hope you will fix it asap.

HoundofShadow

I'm not sure how you interpret that Chasm is a real problem from that reply. There are already counters out there countering them "well" and the overall duration of play is okay but they are monitoring. If you are choosy about the availability of counters, you can continue playing mirror match. Riri/Dr Thor is also a counter, but you don't seem to be happy with them.

A hard counter to revive meta is the death meta, like Silver Surfer's Blackhole, but players complain that it's too slow. I'm not sure how cheap players want this OP power to be. A minimum of 8 turns to down one full health opponent seems fine. If it costs 6-7 aps, it will take 4-5 turns to down opponent, including +4 black aps at the start of the game.

Let's compare the minimum number of turns it take for some black powers to down 80k health opponents, without using supports and ap boosts.

1. Ronan needs 4*3=12 turns, provided that it targets him every time and it doesn't get destroyed.

2. Colossus - 8 to 14 turns

3. Electro - 8 to 11 turns

4. Green Goblin - 11 turns

5. God Emperor Doom - 12 turns

6. Moon Knight - 10 turns

Bowgentle

@StanleyBurrell said:

@IrisRyu said:
@HoundofShadow said:

I'm surprised at the question about cyber-bullying: threats, hate speech and messages sent by private message or group chats. And there's impersonation. Who do they even impersonate and for what reasons?

There was a lot of great content and teasers about what lies ahead in this Q&A, but this question really jumped out at me! Is that Chasm-induced rage or has private chat (Line?) always been problematic? I was thinking about finally taking the plunge to alleviate some of the PVP grind, but am questioning that strategy now.

It’s not that bad and the good in the community certainly outweighs the bad. There are a few peaches out there though for sure.

Usually you have to work pretty hard to make special friends, and you can always block them.
PVP hits will happen regardless thanks to MMR being what it is.
Anyone thinking about hopping onto LINE should just do it and see if they like it, a lot of people would have quit years ago if not for that.
Well, a lot of people HAVE quit, then came back, but that's another discussion lol.

IceIX

@Punzaman said:
Wow these are all great and insightful answers! Looking forward to the coming supports overhaul and whatever else is "coming soon"

@S0kun - Not all submitted questions were answered; I know mine weren't and it isn't a big deal. But does this mean BCS won't ever answer them? Should I try to submit them again for the next Q&A?

Not Sokun, but can answer. Some questions were very close to others, and we only answered it once. Others were answered in previous Q&As and we don't have any extra info (some of the UI updates fell under this umbrella). Still others were leading questions that there's no good answer to. And some would just result in us shaking a magic 8-ball since we just don't know right now, which isn't very fair either.

For example, we've been getting a lot of "How are you going to handle 3/4/5 Star dilution?" We don't have a plan yet, but it's on the list of things to tackle. We've said this before, and there are bigger fish to fry right now. So while the question itself is a fine one, it just may not get an answer, since "Dunno, haven't nailed down a plan yet" isn't a satisfactory answer for anyone.

So if you asked a question that didn't get an answer, it's quite possible that it fell under one of those umbrellas. Or maybe we missed it! We're only human. No reason you can't ask again.

IceIX

@HoundofShadow said:
They finally acknowledged Omega Red.

• We'd love to do Omega Red. He's just on the "Not the easiest to get clearance for" list.

More counters for Chasm are coming up. That means the next 5* release should also be countering Chasm.

• No comment.

I don't know which 2 questions the dev is answering yes to regarding 1* and 2*: adding 3rd power, champ level for 1* and more 1/2 characters.

• We have broad penciled designs for the rest of the 3rd powers, but no timeline. Would be nice to do. Champs for 1-Stars are possible, but involve touching a Champion system that's kinda duct taped on, so will take some finessing. More 1/2s are possible, but most likely if we did, they'd be like 3-Star LazyThor/Storm/Cap. We just don't have the engineering/design time to push out full new 1s and 2s when we could put that focus on new characters or incarnations of current ones.

I'm surprised at the question about cyber-bullying: threats, hate speech and messages sent by private message or group chats. And there's impersonation. Who do they even impersonate and for what reasons?

• Ya got me, but suffice it to say that it not only was NOT a one time thing, but it was for sure not the same people doing the impersonation each time. I simply don't understand the line of thinking that possesses someone to do that, but it's something that does actually happen.

Bad

@HoundofShadow said:
I'm not sure how you interpret that Chasm is a real problem from that reply. There are already counters out there countering them "well" and the overall duration of play is okay but they are monitoring. If you are choosy about the availability of counters, you can continue playing mirror match. Riri/Dr Thor is also a counter, but you don't seem to be happy with them.

I'm just informing, not interpreting. The chahulk meta is a real problem because right now is the better team to play.
Sure there are counters, but aren't satisfactory. The best counter is a character preventing AP loss.
Also many players are already using unchamped ihulks. I will explain it clearly:
Friends, if you use an unchamped Ihulk chasm always will tank and the only way to be defeated is an AoE. Just be sure to put purple chasm on 5. And you only need a few covers for Ihulk! Tasty defenses guaranteed.

An infinite battle is a lame way to win, though. Just saying.

DAZ0273

@ThaRoadWarrior said:

Question 1: Are you going to put Devil Dinosaur & Spider-Ham as prizes in PVEs?

Spider-Ham is a round-8 node reward in Battle at the Basilica. My alliance has never gotten that far, but I'm told he is there. That event doesn't roll around all that often though.

Battle at the Basilica is the very next Alliance event! Might be a good time for a round of fresh recruitment?

HoundofShadow

Many understand that. However, mentioning Omega Red is like a glimmer of hope.

As for more 1/2, that wouldn't be a popular idea, and the benefits of spending time on them is likely to be small, and not worth the effort.

@Bad I've played against high level Chasm (48X-500) paired with iHulk so many times that they don't feel like a challenge to me anymore. The only time when they are challenging is when they match-cascade multiple times at the start of the game, or the board is dried of the colour I need. Based on my experience and counter teams used against that particular group of Chasm/iHulk team, it's not true that AoE is the only way. I have video proofs of that in iHulk/Chasm thread. Also, I'm still seeing champed iHulk and Chasm teams.

Here's a second pick-2 team against such team: Wanda + Silver Surfer + 2 all colour boost + 2 black/green and + 2 blue/purple boost. I know you'll probably be unhappy with having to use ap boost, but the original goal of boosts, if I didn't remember wrongly, were meant to help players to deal with challenging matches. You might also counter and say it's impossible to gather 12 black aps even with +4 black aps. If you read Chasm's black power really carefully or read the second blog about Chasm to get some golden tips, it can be done and I've done it multiple times. However, the above works only if you've an opened mind, and you have a decent leveled Silver Surfer with at least 1 power in black to tank enough damage for his black to go off. If his black power cost 7 aps, I can guarantee you Chasm will be downed on your 4th turn, unless the starting board doesn't have black match at all.

fight4thedream

Good stuff! Appreciate the time and effort put into answering all these questions. Seems like we have a lot to look forward next year!

ThisisClemFandango

In all my other scientific tests no one has ever fought the horses as a team, they all got stampeded, and BCS is quite correct the horse sized duck is incredibly bloodthirsty, it's like the last scene of Carrie.

captainheath

I gotta say your openness and transparency have breathed new life into this game. As a nine-year vet I was considering quitting, but am enjoying it more now. Thanks.

ThaRoadWarrior

@ThisisClemFandango said:
In all my other scientific tests no one has ever fought the horses as a team, they all got stampeded, and BCS is quite correct the horse sized duck is incredibly bloodthirsty, it's like the last scene of Carrie.

A horse sized duck would be a nightmare factory in practice. I'm not sure how many un-armed humans you would need to subdue something like that, but I would bet the answer is more than 10.