MPQ Developer Q&A April 2023 (QUESTIONS)

2

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  • ThisisClemFandango
    ThisisClemFandango Posts: 836 Critical Contributor

    @DAZ0273 said:

    @ThisisClemFandango said:
    Is the recent trouble due to bcs trying to change coding that you underestimated the wide range implications it has caused? Would you agree that this is the stickiest situation youve been in, since sticky the stick insect got stuck on a sticky bun?

    They will no doubt have a cunning plan.

    You and I would get on so well

  • Skindo
    Skindo Posts: 11 Just Dropped In

    There are many unintuitive and/or convoluted mechanics that seem like barriers for retaining new players (e.g., don’t level 5*s, don’t use tokens w/o HP, how scoring nodes work, how farms work, bracket flips, PVP matchmaking, etc.). Some are obviously more problematic than others, but do you have any strategies for removing some of these barriers and/or attracting and retaining new players to the game?

  • leviticuschom
    leviticuschom Posts: 65 Match Maker
    edited April 2023

    What's the long term plan for 1* and 2* characters? Will this aspect of MPQ ever get freshened up? Or is their current DDQ role and farm feeding status satisfactory?

  • Wolvie171
    Wolvie171 Posts: 204 Tile Toppler

    With the recent event overlaps and scheduling irregularities, many passionate players have raised concerns without a response.

    What is your communication process for informing players how issues are being addressed?

  • jffdougan
    jffdougan Posts: 733 Critical Contributor

    @the_first_ai said:
    The character/tier spreadsheet is low sample size and untrustworthy. You have all the data. Can you build something where we can look up real data like win %, character builds, popular team comps, etc. similar to what league of legends does with its data. it would allow people to go deeper into the game

    There’s a difference between can they and are they allowed to.

  • atomzed
    atomzed Posts: 1,753 Chairperson of the Boards

    Are there backend reasons why there has been so many bugs recently? Like the pve overlapping in timing, Boss (Apocalypse) points not tabulating correctly, Chasm not healing from web tiles… is it indicative of lack of manpower, or a lack of priority?

  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards

    I hope they never ever "fix" Chasm's healing.
    Have you tried a mirror match lately?
    Come back in 20 minutes, tell me you want him to heal even more lol.

  • Phumade
    Phumade Posts: 2,496 Chairperson of the Boards

    @atomzed said:
    Are there backend reasons why there has been so many bugs recently? Like the pve overlapping in timing, Boss (Apocalypse) points not tabulating correctly, Chasm not healing from web tiles… is it indicative of lack of manpower, or a lack of priority?

    I really wonder about their infrastructure plan. It really is shocking to see these errors on the scheduling slide. These mistakes only surface when fundamental tools or work processes have failed. We aren't in a y2k situation where time/date functionality just fail. If its a development toolchain issue, then what exactly was the HW migration plan when the devs changed ownership. I raise this point specifically, because we can all assume there were going to be cost savings to be reaped by the new developer. I sincerely wonder if they changed IT service providers and we are seeing the results of a lower cost/not well maintained cloud services. If its a breakdown in work processes/coverage, I hope they saved their checklists...

    I hate to say it, but checklists are important tool in making sure workers are following the same development practices. I hate saying people need to work from checklists, but at the end of the day, their needs to be a clear understanding of the process from the project manager/designer, down to the marketing mangers (who are implementing their own comms policy), down to end users (on both event creation side, and the players)

  • KGB
    KGB Posts: 3,222 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited April 2023

    @Phumade said:

    @atomzed said:
    Are there backend reasons why there has been so many bugs recently? Like the pve overlapping in timing, Boss (Apocalypse) points not tabulating correctly, Chasm not healing from web tiles… is it indicative of lack of manpower, or a lack of priority?

    I really wonder about their infrastructure plan. It really is shocking to see these errors on the scheduling slide. These mistakes only surface when fundamental tools or work processes have failed. We aren't in a y2k situation where time/date functionality just fail. If its a development toolchain issue, then what exactly was the HW migration plan when the devs changed ownership. I raise this point specifically, because we can all assume there were going to be cost savings to be reaped by the new developer. I sincerely wonder if they changed IT service providers and we are seeing the results of a lower cost/not well maintained cloud services. If its a breakdown in work processes/coverage, I hope they saved their checklists...

    I hate to say it, but checklists are important tool in making sure workers are following the same development practices. I hate saying people need to work from checklists, but at the end of the day, their needs to be a clear understanding of the process from the project manager/designer, down to the marketing mangers (who are implementing their own comms policy), down to end users (on both event creation side, and the players)

    My personal guess from prior posts from the Dev's is that the inherited code base was held together by an almost infinite layer of bandages (ie fix on fix on fix) on the original code from 10+ years ago that's spread over tons of platforms (Apple, Steam, Android). I also suspect that a lot of knowledge was locked away inside the prior Dev teams head on which levers you could push and which you could pull without breaking everything.

    More importantly, they've given multiple hints that the new team is re-writing everything from the ground up in order to make it more maintainable going forward for the current Dev team. I suspect many of these bugs and issues are because we are trying out the new code base / back end databases and they are figuring out what all those bandages were holding together.

    So in essence we are testing out the new infrastructure and they are fixing issues we find.

    KGB

  • Phumade
    Phumade Posts: 2,496 Chairperson of the Boards

    @KGB said:

    @Phumade said:

    @atomzed said:
    Are there backend reasons why there has been so many bugs recently? Like the pve

    So in essence we are testing out the new infrastructure and they are fixing issues we find.

    KGB

    What dum dum thought they should rewrite the code base in RUST? Hahaha.

  • Scofie
    Scofie GLOBAL_MODERATORS Posts: 1,345 Chairperson of the Boards

    The Daily Resupply was updated following a short void. It has recently changed from a pattern of a 5* cover every 30 days to every 15 days then back again. Will there be a pattern going forward and if so, what is the strategy for Day 3300+ Resupply?

  • fnedude
    fnedude Posts: 385 Mover and Shaker

    Can we get a FAQ that lets us know exactly what the sequence is when making matches?

    For instance, I'm using Shang-Chi (of course...). I want to drop his crit tile where it will match a 4-5 in a row vertically, and a 2 in a row horizontally, so both trigger with the Crit Tile bonus.

    Which one goes off first? horizontally or vertically? That way i can choose my targets better so i take out both with the damage.

  • Phumade
    Phumade Posts: 2,496 Chairperson of the Boards

    @fnedude said:
    Can we get a FAQ that lets us know exactly what the sequence is when making matches?

    For instance, I'm using Shang-Chi (of course...). I want to drop his crit tile where it will match a 4-5 in a row vertically, and a 2 in a row horizontally, so both trigger with the Crit Tile bonus.

    Which one goes off first? horizontally or vertically? That way i can choose my targets better so i take out both with the damage.

    Good question and something we should discuss. I think the order of operation is left to right top to bottom. IMHO I believe it determines which tiles are in a match finishes its pass. Applies the removal, calculate damages, then populates the falling columns and recycles that loop.

    Definitely agree this needs to be fully worked out

  • SheRa007
    SheRa007 Posts: 8 Just Dropped In

    There isn't an obvious/ transparent schedule set for the order that classics & latest 5* will be featured in PvE/ PvP. Can you release a standard schedule so we know exactly what to expect (i.e. Order set by Original Release Date/ Alphabetical, etc.)

    For Example:
    Set order = 3 Classics, then 2 Latest. Latest is moved to "Classic" tag once out of latest vault. 5* Classics Order will always follows Alphabetical 5* Order. When latest 5* are moved to "classics", they will be inserted into schedule depending on name. (i.e. Abby, Adam, Apoc, etc.)

  • Bzhai
    Bzhai Posts: 501 Critical Contributor

    Can new 5* releases get accompanying Welcome to SHIELD events too? It's a decent place for us to test out the character at full covers and helps us decide if we want to bust our hoard.

  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,241 Chairperson of the Boards

    @SheRa007 said:
    There isn't an obvious/ transparent schedule set for the order that classics & latest 5* will be featured in PvE/ PvP. Can you release a standard schedule so we know exactly what to expect (i.e. Order set by Original Release Date/ Alphabetical, etc.)

    For Example:
    Set order = 3 Classics, then 2 Latest. Latest is moved to "Classic" tag once out of latest vault. 5* Classics Order will always follows Alphabetical 5* Order. When latest 5* are moved to "classics", they will be inserted into schedule depending on name. (i.e. Abby, Adam, Apoc, etc.)

    Very dangerous word you want using there...

  • Grizwald
    Grizwald Posts: 127 Tile Toppler

    When developing a new character, do you start with the character, 4* Slapstick for example, and develop powers for them or does someone develop a powerset and then you find a character to fit it?

  • MrDupaTM
    MrDupaTM Posts: 67 Match Maker

    Chasm: Why no nerf yet? Devs asleep?

This discussion has been closed.

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