Just figured out the game's core problem from day one

Unknown

So I started playing from day one, and I'm taking a break for Season 2 due to burnout or whatever, but because this game has (tragically) taken up so much of my time over the last X months (7? 8? I lost track) I still find myself thinking about the game. Lately I've been thinking a bit more outside the box, and trying to figure out what it is about the game that feels a bit wrong, from a design perspective.

This is going to sound a bit crazy perhaps, because it's so different to what we're used to, but try to bear with me. I think the problem is with the teams of 3. I remember playing the original Puzzle Quest, where you played a character with various skills, and it felt like a much tighter game. I can't help but think that this game would be a lot more manageable for both players and devs if matches were held on a 1vs1 basis. Perhaps the game was intended to be like this originally but the model just didn't work out financially, so teams were pushed instead.

I was going to elaborate a bit more, but I have to go... Feel free to discuss.

Unknown

There is no problem with the game, only the player. Nothing has changed since season 1 but I found myself enjoying season 2 more because I am taking it easier. Seriously, the game is only getting to you because you are allowing it to.

Unknown

laoahpeh wrote:

There is no problem with the game, only the player. Nothing has changed since season 1 but I found myself enjoying season 2 more because I am taking it easier. Seriously, the game is only getting to you because you are allowing it to.

This.

I think I play as much as I used to in Season 1. But the HUGE difference is I don't care. I don't aim at the top anymore. I don't plan to do well in Season2 (well, I will anyway ).

If the tourney has covers I'm interested in, I'm pushing, but without stress if I don't get what I want. If the tourney has covers I'm not interested in... well, I'm happy with any spot which grant me some HP.

Unknown

It's getting pretty hard to get 3* rewards taking it easier. Back in the first simulator, the rubberbanding was so big, all you needed to do was play close to the deadline to get to a top 50. In the Sentry chapter, Rubberbanding was so weak in comparison the only way to the top was to do 3+ clears, hitting the red nodes at least twice

In PvP, I face enemies stronger than my team every single time, so without major tanking, getting to high scores is extremely time consuming, as it's so easy for my starters to go down.

Taking it easy means every reward I get is absolutely useless.

Unknown

I still think the central problem is the healing system, which sounds like somebody read something in F2P for Dummies and insists it's going to start working for them any day now. The hoops this game goes through to keep its idiotic healing system in order to try and force people to buy health packs is ridiculous. And it doesn't even appear to work; from their own figures, people just don't buy them very often.

Unknown

In the original puzzle quest, you had a lot more than 3 skills per guy though. You had what, 5 skills or something plus a mount skill? And then 4 item slots, some of which could be providing effects in line with the passive skills here. And due to the diminishing returns on the skills and the fact that most spells required more than one color of mana, characters were more versatile, able to get effective matches from more than 3 colors.

There are 3 characters in this game because each one is like 1/3rd of a Puzzle Quest one.

Unknown

Ben Grimm wrote:

I still think the central problem is the healing system, which sounds like somebody read something in F2P for Dummies and insists it's going to start working for them any day now. The hoops this game goes through to keep its idiotic healing system in order to try and force people to buy health packs is ridiculous. And it doesn't even appear to work; from their own figures, people just don't buy them very often.

I've never used health packs. People often mention this problem but I really don't see it. In a pvp event, get my score up high enough I uses spiderman and heal myself at the end of each game... If I'm really in trouble and my heroes are too low, I go back to healmyself in the prologue, which never happens. My heroes also never ever die in a fight, that AI isn't good enough to kill them.

Actually, if you want to know one of the cores' problem, I'd say AI sucking is pretty major.

Unknown

I can't think of anything worse than a 1v1. I have thoughts of Bullseye vs Bullseye and the game lasting 4 hours.

Unknown

TheUnwiseOne wrote:

I can't think of anything worse than a 1v1. I have thoughts of Bullseye vs Bullseye and the game lasting 4 hours.

if they used the 1v1 system that the previous PQ games did then each character would have more skills and likely the option for helpers/pets and possibly some itemization tossed in.

Unknown

MTGOFerret wrote:

TheUnwiseOne wrote:

I can't think of anything worse than a 1v1. I have thoughts of Bullseye vs Bullseye and the game lasting 4 hours.

if they used the 1v1 system that the previous PQ games did then each character would have more skills and likely the option for helpers/pets and possibly some itemization tossed in.

Pffft, that's asking an awful lot of D3

Unknown

Ben Grimm wrote:

I still think the central problem is the healing system, which sounds like somebody read something in F2P for Dummies and insists it's going to start working for them any day now. The hoops this game goes through to keep its idiotic healing system in order to try and force people to buy health packs is ridiculous. And it doesn't even appear to work; from their own figures, people just don't buy them very often.

Because they are over priced. I would be willing to bet that if they dropped the price of health packs by half, 4x as many people would buy them. Same thing with shields and HP in general.

If they had a cheaper pricing system, more people would spend money. Something like:

Healthpacks
Single - 25 HP or 1000 ISO
5 pack - 100 HP or 4000 ISO

Shields
30 min - 15 HP
1 hr - 25 HP
3 hr - 50 HP
8 hr - 100 HP
24 hr - 200 HP
EVENT- 400 HP (for those who on opening day push to high numbers 1000-1300, it shields them until the event ends or until they break)

Character Covers
1* = 100 HP
2* = 200 HP
3* = 400 HP
4* = 800 HP

Or, if they refuse to lower the in game HP price, then adjust the cost of HP and raise it back to the levels it used to be in PVP and PVE events.

HP Purchases
$1.99 = 400
$4.99 = 1000
$9.99 = 2200
$19.99 = 4600
$39.99 = 10,000

And seriously, leave it at that. If MPQ just can't live another day without the $99.99 feature, it should be A LOT more than the 20,000 that it comes with now. Because by my calculations, on a 3* that would be approx 1.5 character. That is insane for something that you never get to hold in your hand.

BearVenger

I know it makes for good Internet messageboard threads, but I disagree that there's any one thing that stands in the way of MPQ becoming a perfect mobile game. Not:

Health packs/downtime

Subpar AI

3v3 format

Rubberbanding

No Rubberbanding

Rate of new characters

Rate of new 3* characters

Lack of new 1-2* characters

2* character giveaways

HP pricing

Alliance HP pricing

Alliance rewards

Character release rate

Funbalancing

In-match healing

Prologue healing

No "pause button" for mobile gamers who lose signal/battery power

Experienced-player bracketing

No policy for server drops/crashes/wipes

Customer Service support

Devs' communication

There are a lot of factors in this game that make it fun and frustrating. And I'm in with y'all who are simultaneously happy and ragey. I think the suggestions are awesome and keep us talking and interested in the game. Cat willing, the developers will read and consider them. I just think it's silly to put any one in a vaccuum and elevate it as The One Thing that is the magic solution to our game.

Unknown

Surprised by people who managed to miss the point entirely and think I was just complaining, first two replies being especially bad culprits in this regard (Seriously, learn to read guys).

I think there is something at the core of this game that is fundamentally wrong, and the more I try to work it out, the more I keep coming back the 3vs3 nature of matches. It makes strategy too broad, and stops the player from really focusing down on the board, and the true key element of what this game is supposed to be - a match 3 puzzler. Ultimately I think this has a lot to do with why so many people are experiencing burnout. The game has become almost luck-oriented because the character skills are the be all and end all of gameplay and strategy. It's much more about getting your colours than making a smart move, which makes the game feel substantially grindier. Facing 3 opponents is a similar problem, where you end up trying to deny the colour of the skill you fear most, but it's not as important as trying to deny all colours because of all the skills the opponent team has. I remember the prologue missions that were closest to what the game should be were when you were pitting your team against one overly powerful, threatening villain, without goons messing everything up. Each enemy match was damaging, and skills were terrifying. Remember putting your rookie team up against the rampaging juggernaut? It was a fight to survive, but I feel like in a really genuinely better way than the current standard game state. This game would be better, more fun if made simpler. Most characters are used for their one skill you care about, and others disregarded.

Ugh, sorry this is a bit rambling, not well.

Unknown

Ever play puzzles and dragons? In that you have a team of 6 and it is great! I think teams are fine as long as team synergy is simple to understand. You know you will never have a team in football of all quarterbacks, as each role is easy to understand

Problem in this game is that the synergy is out of whack. They try to create natural teams by making a balanced team consist of all color options. But there aren't a lot of teams that mesh in that very well. The supports in this game are often flimsy leaving only a couple of true options that you see all the time. OBW is one of the only supports that works in every match since she doesn't rely on an opposing team ability. Loki is useless if no one is using strike or protect tiles for example

Also, in this game it feels like you need damage, tank, and support as your team of three. But since I can focus target your support without repercussion, that role is diminished. See an OBW or Storm? Focus her down quickly and the team can do nothing to protect her. This goes against any sport or multiplayer game in existence that relies on a team to protect their valuable weak targets. The support should always be behind a front line. So in pvp, whenever you see a support the strategy is always the same, which is why everyone relies on the same tactics. This is made worse by the fact any team I use to win is also the team that the AI uses to defend me, so there are some teams you can't use for that reason alone

Id say change the game so players have a way to protect certain low hp characters. Hell, 1 star characters would be viable if they could be protected! You'd see more team variety and better strategy instead of everyone filling their rosters with tanks

Unknown

Fluffyudders wrote:

Surprised by people who managed to miss the point entirely and think I was just complaining, first two replies being especially bad culprits in this regard (Seriously, learn to read guys).

I think there is something at the core of this game that is fundamentally wrong, and the more I try to work it out, the more I keep coming back the 3vs3 nature of matches. It makes strategy too broad, and stops the player from really focusing down on the board, and the true key element of what this game is supposed to be - a match 3 puzzler. Ultimately I think this has a lot to do with why so many people are experiencing burnout. The game has become almost luck-oriented because the character skills are the be all and end all of gameplay and strategy. It's much more about getting your colours than making a smart move, which makes the game feel substantially grindier. Facing 3 opponents is a similar problem, where you end up trying to deny the colour of the skill you fear most, but it's not as important as trying to deny all colours because of all the skills the opponent team has. I remember the prologue missions that were closest to what the game should be were when you were pitting your team against one overly powerful, threatening villain, without goons messing everything up. Each enemy match was damaging, and skills were terrifying. Remember putting your rookie team up against the rampaging juggernaut? It was a fight to survive, but I feel like in a really genuinely better way than the current standard game state. This game would be better, more fun if made simpler. Most characters are used for their one skill you care about, and others disregarded.

Ugh, sorry this is a bit rambling, not well.

I'm guessing you played the XBox port? The reason that version was about making smart matches and puzzling was because they added 3-turn cooldowns to a lot of the skills - in the original (DS and PSP) version 3 out of 4 characters were worse than old Spider-Man - you'd just make one or two matches and then take a giant turn of stringing abilities forever until the enemy was dead.

In either the original PQ you got even 7 skills I think? Which isn't too far off from 9, so I don't see how having 9 skills from 3 characters is a big difference?

Unknown

The problem with this game is the same that plagues just about any game. Once you reach the end game there's not much to do. The only goal in the end game is to acquire the new release characters as fast as possible by playing the same battles over and over and over again.

The 3 person team dynamic works well. Could it work with one hero with more than 3 skills? Sure, but the end result is roughly the same.

Unknown

I disagree with the premise of your post. Three characters introduces more strategy and variability into the game play. 'Team building' is one of the greatest joys in turn-based games.


The real core problem of the game is that the dev team is too small and slow for the potential of this game. They are unable to push out a lot of content, so they have to devise all these poor (and frustrating) scoring, leveling, competition mechanics in an effort to limit access to that content. Which in turn causes them to be too stingy with rewards (and compensation when players are frustrated).

Almost every poor decision/outcome in this game stems from this problem.

If we had double the amount of heroes and you tripled the rate of earning levels and rewards, you'd see a much happier playerbase. A playerbase that would encourage their friends and family to play .... which isn't really the case now.

Unknown

Above is completely correct. I told my family not to bother, and I love the game. But the time commitment is extreme. It becomes a responsibility. Maybe in a year when the team has come out with more content they will open up progression a bit, but then all the currency people built up would be devalued. If they opened up progression now people could actually complete their rosters and they would stop playing. I think that would be fine. Whatever though, I think the devs do a good job.