MPQ Developer Q&A June 2023 (ANSWERS)

MPQBlaine · July 2023

@Liminal_lad [Official Forums]
Question: Are there any plans for the next Community event (like GoG or Ms. Marvel)? If so are there plans to make it easier the community to be aware of the event and the overall progress?

Answer: We definitely plan on utilizing community events around our big beats moving forward! Keep your eyes posted here on the forums and turn on notifications across our social accounts so you don't miss a single announcement!
@Punisher5784 [Official Forums]
Question: How do you decide what character is rebalanced? There are characters no one asked to rebalance (Kate, 4* Wasp), characters that needed it but still broken (5* Mags, Wasp), characters who are now very difficult to play against in PvE (5* KP, Doc Ock)

Answer: Most of the decisions surrounding who is next in terms of rebalance is usage. We have rather accurate metrics on what characters are used, how often, and with what sorts of teams. Sometimes we deviate from this list if there is some other prevailing opportunity happening in Marvel. Lastly, on rare occasion, we'll cherry pick if we feel that a character needs love but doesn't fit into the aforementioned lists.
@DAZ0273 [Official Forums]
Question: We haven't seen the Simulator PvE run in quite a while - is it gone forever or going through a revamp of some kind?

Answer: No great reason for this. I went to the scheduling team and asked that they make sure it is included in the ongoing rotation. Thanks for pointing it out!
@bigjojo04 [Official Forums]
Question: With affiliations becoming more involved, any chance that in PvP matchups when looking for a match, to have all of the affiliations of the opposing team listed in that blank space under ‘defeat another players team’?

Answer: This is part of an overhaul we're working on. As many players know, we are going to be systematically unlocking PVP-enabled status for existing supports (the plan here is that supports will start to see rebalances on a similar cadence as characters do, and part of the rebalance is to factor in PVP viability and balance). The introduction of supports into the PVP mode means more visibility of your opponents is needed. As a player, you should be able to know what support(s) your opponent might have equipped, and it would also be advantageous for you to know what affiliations they have at a glance (already important info, made moreso with supports). Honestly the game's UI is immensely challenging to work with...but we're working with it and look forward to these new / QOL features that are around the corner (though that corner may be some distance away).
@skittledaddy [Discord]
Question: Who are the Bottom 5 characters (in terms of player usage) in the 3*, 4*, and 5* tiers?

Answer: This should be taken with a grain of salt, since newer characters don't have quite as many covers in circulation which impacts usage. Also, time is a factor, so when running this query I simply took a slice of the last 30 days. Lastly, I truncated characters that released too recently and because of that simply aren't out in the wild all that much.That said:

3*: Hood, Sentry, Bullseye, Hit Monkey, Vision
4*: Reptil, M'Baku, Puck, Cosmo, Gertrude Yorkes
5*: Big Wheel, Arcade, Sersi, Ultron, Gargantos

@Carnifex [Official Forums]
Question: What are BCS thoughts on character limitation, as in, not being able to use 3* Rocket&Groot with their 4* counterpart? Has there been any discussions on keeping/removing this feature? Thank you

Answer: We've talked about (and are still talking about) removing this restriction (or at the very least doing a trial of removing this restriction in certain events and modes). The Multiverse being what it is, there's a clear narrative path to support this, and frankly implementing the change would be very quick. We don't want to be too hasty, though.
@rodster28 [Official Forums]
Question: Could you make it possible to have a friend list outside my alliance so we can compare our characters? I have a newbie friend in another alliance and it would be helpful if I could easily see his characters in-game to give him advice on next steps.

Answer: Will take this into account as we look at overhauling social features (which isn't a big part of this year's roadmap, but is a big part of next year).
@Bad [Official Forums]
Question: Not just new released bugged characters, old meta characters are bugged ( colossus kingping PX on offense don't have any damage reduction), also send away with chasm and Ihulk still continues being a gamble. When the fix?

Answer: Chasm's reblance has nearly finished testing rounds and we're hopeful we'll see that rebalance go live in the next 8 weeks or so. As for the other characters mentioned (and not) we are aware and working towards improvements. Some bugs are simple and can be applied with data patches...others require deeper source changes and have to be timed around releases.
@Tony Foot [Official Forums]
Question: Any chance the 10th anniversary month can be back to back boss events with the chance to get some classic 5* covers? I mean I’m not greedy expecting more than 2 latest release covers per month

Answer: Can't say much now, but we're going big for this Anniversary! Can't wait!!!
@dianetics [Official Forums]
Question: Will you revert 4* Beast to his previous form? He is actually worse after his rework.

Answer: We have no plans to revert 4-Star Beast. To be frank, although he had a niche use, that niche use was both outside of the rest of his kit as well as not making much sense for the character itself. That being said, the fact that the niche use existed is something that points towards a reason to implement a similar ability with someone else down the line. It just won't be with Beast.
@DyingLegend [Official Forums]
Question: I'm curious if any new features are coming that were teased last time around. Im hanging on by a thread currently.....

Answer: There are a slew of new things coming to the game over the coming months. A lot of them are small, but there is something enormous coming in a few months that just may rekindle you. Hang in there!
@Mrcl25 [Official Forums]
Question: When we send Chasm away with Kang and kill Ihulk (or whoever is left), the match ends. But if we send iHulk away (or whoever is Chasm partner) and kill Chasm, he revives and the match continues. Is that working as intended?

Answer: Eh, not quite. Revives and other mechanics are internally handled awkwardly. We're still in the process of refactoring how some of these abilities interact so we have greater control of these outcomes. We'll keep players updated as we continue to untangle this knot.
@fight4thedream [Official Forums]
Question: Shouldn't Chasm and iHulk have the "Supernatural" affiliation? Without getting into spoilers, both are depicted with supernatural powers in their respective storylines. The in-game character description for iHulk even mentions it. Please consider it.

Answer: This is a keen observation and one I'll run by the characters team. They're always on the lookout for affiliations updates that are appropriate and sometimes overlooked. That being said, Immortal Hulk's 'supernatural-ness' largely comes from interactions with the Green Door, which is handled via the Gamma Mutate affiliation, so an additional tag may be double dipping.
@Scofie [Official Forums]
Question: With the 10th Anniversary coming up, are you able to share any insight into what sort of things we can expect - including whether the Day 3650 Resupply will contain something epic to look forward to?

Answer: Everything about this Anniversary is planned to be bigger and better than last year, with tons of work having already gone into its arrival. We're so excited about it that we do plan on sharing some official teasers and spoilers soon, and part of the fun will be the countdown to the Anniversary itself. I wish I could share more at this time, but you won't have to wait long!
@_TrashPanda [Official Forums]
Question: With how long Chasm nerf is taking, and now have Moondragon, which makes dealing with Chasm Hulk Moondragon teams a nightmare, has any thought been put into making it so that certain characters can't be played together?

Answer: Apologies it is taking so long, and honestly that's mosttly on me. There have been a couple of occasions now where we were ready to pull the trigger on the rebalance, but I didn't feel it was ready or had seen enough time in QA. While I get what you're getting at, I'd hate to outright discourage team comps that way. I can say that we are looking into waits of incentivizing that players break up certain team makeups without outright banning them, though.
@leviticuschom [Official Forums]
Question: Are there any developments on the 3* characters that were shelved before the release of their 5* counterpart (Riri & Wong). How/when would/will they debut in MPQ?

Answer: None that I am aware of. They aren't presently on the character calendar for this year or next, but never say never!
@Vader614 [Official Forums]
Question: I typically play on iPad, and every time there is an update, I need to uninstall and reinstall the game. This is not an issue on my iPhone. Is this a known bug?

Answer: I wasn't aware this was an issue iPad users were facing and will ask QA to look into it. Thanks!
@tupacboy [Official Forums]
Question: Been touched on in the past that there will be progression rewards update / supports update / buying more boosts at once ... any eta on this?

Answer: Honestly, much of this has been delayed by some recent and immediate needs to update and maintain the MPQ engine. Part of keeping the game running means staying in compliance with the ever-changing demands of the platforms and various services, which recently needed a ton of attention. The same team that handles new features also is responsible for this sort of upkeep. Next on their list is pvp-enabled supports and support progression (which, once that is done the events team can proceed with more of our plans to improve progression rewards). As for boosts, that's certainly on the board to get done but we have that as a lower priority.
@Bri-Man2222 [Official Forums]
Question: Why do are you nerfing characters like dark beast and nick fury who were perfectly fine, yet you allow the over powered disaster that is chasm wreak endless havok?

Answer: Numbers-wise Dark Beast and Nick Fury had some of the lowest usage numbers in the game, and both saw upticks in usage following rebalance. We do, however, recognize that some players utilize them in niche circumstances and thusly rebalances like the ones they received may be considered "nerfs" despite the overall improvements in their general usability. As for characters like Chasm, it has been communicated that his rebalance is in the works.
@Zhreveya [Official Forums]
Question: What is on your production roadmap for the game?

Answer: This is a tough question to answer, and I'll need to be concise. At the moment we are focused on continuing the supports revamp, economy / progression updates, and our 10th Anniversary celebration. Next year we're looking ahead to vastly improving social features (intentionally hand-wavy here).
@CASSIDYFROST [Official Forums]
Question: Some of the characters released in the neighboring game, Marvel Snap, were also released in MPQ almost simultaneously (H. Evolutionary, Jeff, Gwen,...), this will be something recurring as if it was agreed with Marvel even or was just coincidence?

Answer: This was just opportune timing. High Evolutionary and Gwen were both around big Marvel cinematic events. Jeffrey being timed around April Fool's just made sense to us, and it seems it made sense to them as well
@The_dogma [Official Forums]
Question: Can we have more detailed search options?

Answer: Yep, we're on it!
@BlixTheFrog [Official Forums]
Question: Do you play with the idea of preventing vendettas? Like preventing players from hitting the same player five times in as many minutes? This sometimes makes the game feel a bit unfriendly and agressive...

Answer: Not something we had considered but seems to make sense and something we can factor into as an improvement to matchmaking. Thanks!
IceIX Note: To be clear, the current matchmaking system is SUPER complex under the hood due to lots and lots and lots of tinkering by Demiurge over the years. As a result, putting in a simple ""Hit an enemy, no longer available on the list"" filter seems like it'd be easy, but could easily have catastrophic effects downstream on how players are matched. Without wholesale changes/revisions to the system, it's not an easy change.
Figzilla [Reddit]
Question: Really appreciate the touchup on Magik 5*. Is a similar touchup being considered for 5* Jeffrey before exiting LL?

Answer: Not at the moment. His usage numbers are a tad low, so it is possible, but not before he leaves LL.
@StrangeWitch [Official Forums]
Question: The Hellfire Gala costumes are one of the best costumes that are added to the game, what is the possibility of you adding a good amount of these costumes over time? Not only the mutants but also the other characters that were in the past HFG...

Answer: We love HFG too! HFG has a special place in my heart; it was during that time last year that BCS took over the role of developer, and a HFG gift was our first real thank you to our players. We haven't forgotten; stay tuned for some sick costumes coming up real soon!
@CarnageWing [Official Forums]
Question: Will you be adding the Black Order as playable characters rather than just support (like Wong and Hulkling)?

Answer: Possible, though no Black Order entries are on the upcoming character schedule. It also should be noted that Wong, Hulkling, and other potential characters that are presently supports are going to be renamed and have their art redone (because at present it's a bit confusing).
@phillsam [Official Forums]
Question: Where are our Guardians of the Galaxy teamsuitssss??? (Quill, Mantis, Drax, Cosmo, Nebula and maybe Adam too?)

Answer: I know right? Sadly none of these are in progress, but in an alternate slice of the multiverse I'm sure they were created for MPQ and were glorious!
@GHOSTCARD [Official Forums]
Question: What is the possibility that whenever you launch a new costume, you post the image with the whole design like it was with Kate B. on Instagram? Also some thoughts on why you chose the costume and character XD...

Answer: We love this idea and want to do more of this. We've talked about it and there seems to be general concensus that we should do this more. The reason we have been selective thus far (like with the Kate B. costume) is that was a direct collaboration with the original artist behind that styling of Kate. We want to do more of those styling collabs, and want to be more vocal about the cool art that goes into this game!
@Selvokaz [Official Forums]
Question: Can we the the characters from Marvel's Livewires added to the game. Android representation is down.

Answer: We'll look into it! Never say never!
Backgroundad6535 [Reddit]
Question: Can you add ascending/descending order for inbox? Thanks

Answer: Yes please!

St_Bernadus · July 2023

Next time we see Simulator, expect letters @DAZ0273

entrailbucket · July 2023

They answered a bunch of the same question multiple times, but they're still avoiding my "how many players have a 5*?" question.

The fact that the Chasm nerf is still at least 2 months out is completely unacceptable.

This confirms supports will not only be in PvP, but will be equipped by defensive teams in PvP...which...that's certainly a choice. They say they'll be reworking a bunch of them, I wonder if that means nerfs/removal of free AP.

revskip · July 2023

I'm sure Chasm at 550 is a very different animal than at my MMR (470) but I see less and less of him now that there are a variety of counters available. The revive Bros have been completely off the radar over the last 2 boost lists and for 4 out of the last 5 boost lists. Granted some big dogs have been a part of those boost weeks (Okoye, Apoc, mThor, basically all the other massively OP characters) but even in Sim Chasm teams don't have the same teeth they used to. Kang in particular nerfed them but there are now a handful of weird and fun teams that neuter them pretty effectively at my MMR. I literally hunt them with a handful of fun troll teams in Sim to get to 2k quickly because they tend to cluster at a higher point level there. I think at this point they are more scarecrow than actual menace.

I'd love to hear if that is the case at the very top MMR. Maybe what I am seeing is just very different.

entrailbucket · July 2023

I saw tons of 550 Okoye/Chasm this week, and quite a few Chasm/Hulk.

Next week's list is Abigail, Odin, Sersi, and Daredevil -- let's see if Chasm mysteriously makes a comeback (he will).

revskip · July 2023

@entrailbucket said:
I saw tons of 550 Okoye/Chasm this week, and quite a few Chasm/Hulk.

Next week's list is Abigail, Odin, Sersi, and Daredevil -- let's see if Chasm mysteriously makes a comeback (he will).

Seems like what we are seeing is really different. Makes sense, I've fought a few max Chasms and they were unpleasant. All I am seeing is Magik/Okoye, Magik/Emma and a handful of Magik/Electro. I'd assume that since very few people have Magik at 550 she isn't as predominant at the top level of play. She totally shuts down Chasm at my level with the purple power, and Electro/Magik is really solid against the Chasm/iHulk teams since Electro negates all the AOE.

entrailbucket · July 2023

I found that Chasm totally shut down Magik. His stun prevents her from placing her repeaters, and his AP drain makes it very difficult to cast any of her powers.

Her extra match damage thing would be useful, except that my Okoye tanks over her, so it never goes off.

revskip · July 2023

@entrailbucket said:
I found that Chasm totally shut down Magik. His stun prevents her from placing her repeaters, and his AP drain makes it very difficult to cast any of her powers.

Her extra match damage thing would be useful, except that my Okoye tanks over her, so it never goes off.

I was running mostly Magik/Emma. The match damage got stuff done really quick. My Okoye is "only" 454 so she didn't really have a huge healthpool advantage. I'd concentrate on purple and red and matches were pretty quick.

With a much bigger healthpool at 550 I'm sure it is a very different situation.

The Magik/Okoye teams with a big Okoye were much more dangerous at my MMR. That was a surefire 2-3 healthpacks every time. Chasm depended on how the board was laid out a lot more, usually 1 healthpack per fight for Magik since she was tanking almost everything.

Bowgentle · July 2023

@entrailbucket said:
They answered a bunch of the same question multiple times, but they're still avoiding my "how many players have a 5*?" question.

The fact that the Chasm nerf is still at least 2 months out is completely unacceptable.

This confirms supports will not only be in PvP, but will be equipped by defensive teams in PvP...which...that's certainly a choice. They say they'll be reworking a bunch of them, I wonder if that means nerfs/removal of free AP.

I suspect a quick backtrack on supports in PVP.
But nice how they'll nerf them for PVE, too.
Way to kill both game nodes at once.
I expect forum rage.

ThisisClemFandango · July 2023

Huh, so it seems that beast and fury actually ARE better now despite what we think.
Incredible.

Bowgentle · July 2023

No no.
They were just doing out of character stuff before 🤣

tonypq · July 2023

@entrailbucket said:
They answered a bunch of the same question multiple times, but they're still avoiding my "how many players have a 5*?" question.

The fact that the Chasm nerf is still at least 2 months out is completely unacceptable.

This confirms supports will not only be in PvP, but will be equipped by defensive teams in PvP...which...that's certainly a choice. They say they'll be reworking a bunch of them, I wonder if that means nerfs/removal of free AP.

Second month in a row they ignored my question also and I was one if the first each month to post on the threads, disappointing.

DAZ0273 · July 2023

@St_Bernadus said:
Next time we see Simulator, expect letters @DAZ0273

"Oops we forgot about that" was not the answer I was expecting but good to hear we will be getting it back!

DAZ0273 · July 2023

@entrailbucket said:
They answered a bunch of the same question multiple times, but they're still avoiding my "how many players have a 5*?" question.

The fact that the Chasm nerf is still at least 2 months out is completely unacceptable.

This confirms supports will not only be in PvP, but will be equipped by defensive teams in PvP...which...that's certainly a choice. They say they'll be reworking a bunch of them, I wonder if that means nerfs/removal of free AP.

I think you might just have to accept that they find that question too commercially sensitive to give details on and try another question.

If Chasm nerf turns out not to work then yeah...gonna be an interesting time after this long wait. He hasn't been much a problem this week but come end of the week with that superstar boost headliner of Abigail Brand...although it will probably just be Shang & Jane as much at my MMR.

Punisher5784 · July 2023

@ThisisClemFandango said:
Huh, so it seems that beast and fury actually ARE better now despite what we think.
Incredible.

I was joking in my Meeting post when I wrote that the Developers said Beast and Fury are better, yet here they are totaling defending that decision

I can try to understand Beast, but Fury made absolutely no sense

rainkingucd · July 2023

@DAZ0273 said:

@entrailbucket said:
They answered a bunch of the same question multiple times, but they're still avoiding my "how many players have a 5*?" question.

The fact that the Chasm nerf is still at least 2 months out is completely unacceptable.

This confirms supports will not only be in PvP, but will be equipped by defensive teams in PvP...which...that's certainly a choice. They say they'll be reworking a bunch of them, I wonder if that means nerfs/removal of free AP.

I think you might just have to accept that they find that question too commercially sensitive to give details on and try another question.

If Chasm nerf turns out not to work then yeah...gonna be an interesting time after this long wait. He hasn't been much a problem this week but come end of the week with that superstar boost headliner of Abigail Brand...although it will probably just be Shang & Jane as much at my MMR.

I think you'll find Chasm no challenge for the Immortal Eternal Sersi and the anti-rainbow partner Daredevil. The pair of them pumping out strikes and not dying.

DAZ0273 · July 2023

@rainkingucd said:

@DAZ0273 said:

@entrailbucket said:
They answered a bunch of the same question multiple times, but they're still avoiding my "how many players have a 5*?" question.

The fact that the Chasm nerf is still at least 2 months out is completely unacceptable.

This confirms supports will not only be in PvP, but will be equipped by defensive teams in PvP...which...that's certainly a choice. They say they'll be reworking a bunch of them, I wonder if that means nerfs/removal of free AP.

I think you might just have to accept that they find that question too commercially sensitive to give details on and try another question.

If Chasm nerf turns out not to work then yeah...gonna be an interesting time after this long wait. He hasn't been much a problem this week but come end of the week with that superstar boost headliner of Abigail Brand...although it will probably just be Shang & Jane as much at my MMR.

I think you'll find Chasm no challenge for the Immortal Eternal Sersi and the anti-rainbow partner Daredevil. The pair of them pumping out strikes and not dying.

Sersi might just be my most under covered 5* (tie with Heimdall maybe). I have way more covers for Gwenom. I have exactly Abigail champed from this bunch...I can feel PvP trembling already...

pepitedechocolat · July 2023

@ThisisClemFandango said:
Huh, so it seems that beast and fury actually ARE better now despite what we think.
Incredible.

That is not devs answer. They are used more just after rework, which is not "being better"...

Interesting to see the list of least used char, which is like 50% bad chars and 50% unpopular or harder to cover chars...

If they rebalance only based on popularity it makes sense. I think it's not right but it makes sense

KGB · July 2023

@Punisher5784 said:

@ThisisClemFandango said:
Huh, so it seems that beast and fury actually ARE better now despite what we think.
Incredible.

I was joking in my Meeting post when I wrote that the Developers said Beast and Fury are better, yet here they are totaling defending that decision

I can try to understand Beast, but Fury made absolutely no sense

Fury make a ton of sense when you realize he is in quite a few PvE nodes. He NEVER used to get off his Yellow and I was always leaving him for last because his powers were expensive. Now he virtually always gets it off once to annoy me with a bunch of damage and a possible critical.

KGB

Punisher5784 · July 2023

@KGB said:

@Punisher5784 said:

@ThisisClemFandango said:
Huh, so it seems that beast and fury actually ARE better now despite what we think.
Incredible.

I was joking in my Meeting post when I wrote that the Developers said Beast and Fury are better, yet here they are totaling defending that decision

I can try to understand Beast, but Fury made absolutely no sense

Fury make a ton of sense when you realize he is in quite a few PvE nodes. He NEVER used to get off his Yellow and I was always leaving him for last because his powers were expensive. Now he virtually always gets it off once to annoy me with a bunch of damage and a possible critical.

KGB

True, and that's why I asked the question in June on why specific characters are selected for rebalance. I'm sure much of it has to do with PvE enemies, even though they won't explicitly say it. 5* Kingpin and even Sentry have been a nightmare for me a couple times.

I'm still surprised 5* Green Goblin and Hawkeye haven't received one yet. They're in enough PvE events, that I'd expect it's coming soon

MgoBlue51 · July 2023

I definitely didn't expect an answer (mostly because I know $$ is the driving factor), but still bummed they didn't even attempt to acknowledge that 5 star characters are still being treated like gold, even though they aren't super rare anymore. There needs to be a more reliable way to acquire the OLD ones. My silver surfer still isn't anywhere near champing, and though his power level is not good enough to compete these days, it hurts to see one of my favorite characters from my childhood be sitting as completely useless. I've been playing for way too a long time (not from launch, but started within the first year) for this. We need a mechanism that makes characters 3+ years old (or some age related line in the sand) easier to acquire.

MPQ Developer Q&A June 2023 (ANSWERS)

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