MPQ Developer Q&A July 2023 (ANSWERS)

entrailbucket

These numbers are pretty fascinating. I've been saying 5% forever, people were calling me wrong forever (one guy said it was 50%+ and accused me of abusing him or something), and it turns out 5% was too low.

skittledaddy

IceIX said:
then it evens out among the longer term players that are just chugging along, then zooms up again towards the game lifetime vets who have 5-Star champs because it's difficult NOT to have by the time your account is 8 years or so old.

Lol... so I AM just being difficult?!?!
Noice!

KGB

Thanks for taking the time to give a super detailed answer.

I forgot to mention it in the question, but I meant to imply by the question that it was active users (ie players who had played in the last 60 or so days) since there will be countless non-active accounts that stopped playing long ago, long before they got a 5* champ.

What I do take away from this if a player is dedicated enough to stick around for a full year they have a reasonable shot at being in 5* land (13%).

KGB

@entrailbucket - See, you just have to push a little or @ the right person to get your questions (one a lot of us wanted) answered

entrailbucket

I think the (honestly pretty impressive) takeaway here is the size of the overall playerbase. If you extrapolate the numbers out, it means there are just an awful lot of players.

This game is really successful, still, after 10 years!

IceIX

@KGB said:
Thanks for taking the time to give a super detailed answer.

I forgot to mention it in the question, but I meant to imply by the question that it was active users (ie players who had played in the last 60 or so days) since there will be countless non-active accounts that stopped playing long ago, long before they got a 5* champ.

What I do take away from this if a player is dedicated enough to stick around for a full year they have a reasonable shot at being in 5* land (13%).

KGB

@entrailbucket - See, you just have to push a little or @ the right person to get your questions (one a lot of us wanted) answered

For purposes of this check, I took only users that were at least 7 days old, so dropped all the players that pick up the game and don't even really get through the Tutorial or Prologue. If we drop that to literally any user, the number of 5-Star champed accounts is miniscule. But the number of players we get that install the game, launch it, and then just... don't even get into the first match is really high (as it is with any mobile game really. I don't understand why you'd download and launch a game and not play it, but it's a thing!). That skews things pretty heavily.

IceIX

@entrailbucket said:
I think the (honestly pretty impressive) takeaway here is the size of the overall playerbase. If you extrapolate the numbers out, it means there are just an awful lot of players.

This game is really successful, still, after 10 years!

Yeah, we see a lot here and on Reddit that "There are only 30/50/70K players, look at the event numbers!" which is totally not true, but is also really difficult to combat. There are a TON of players that only play DDQ, but play it religiously. Or that only play one PVE event a week, or only play PVP, etc. We've got a lot of casual players that just kind of disappear into the noise and make it seem like the total number of players is low, when if you look at unique users, it's much higher.

entrailbucket

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:
I think the (honestly pretty impressive) takeaway here is the size of the overall playerbase. If you extrapolate the numbers out, it means there are just an awful lot of players.

This game is really successful, still, after 10 years!

Yeah, we see a lot here and on Reddit that "There are only 30/50/70K players, look at the event numbers!" which is totally not true, but is also really difficult to combat. There are a TON of players that only play DDQ, but play it religiously. Or that only play one PVE event a week, or only play PVP, etc. We've got a lot of casual players that just kind of disappear into the noise and make it seem like the total number of players is low, when if you look at unique users, it's much higher.

...and that answers another really fun question that I love asking -- what is a "casual" player?

Many forumites define "casual" as, like, top 100 placement in CL10 every event. If you go by percentages, that is a pretty hardcore player. Either that, or you're defining, like, 99% of players as "casual," with a huge range of playstyles represented in that group.

DAZ0273

@entrailbucket said:

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:
I think the (honestly pretty impressive) takeaway here is the size of the overall playerbase. If you extrapolate the numbers out, it means there are just an awful lot of players.

This game is really successful, still, after 10 years!

Yeah, we see a lot here and on Reddit that "There are only 30/50/70K players, look at the event numbers!" which is totally not true, but is also really difficult to combat. There are a TON of players that only play DDQ, but play it religiously. Or that only play one PVE event a week, or only play PVP, etc. We've got a lot of casual players that just kind of disappear into the noise and make it seem like the total number of players is low, when if you look at unique users, it's much higher.

...and that answers another really fun question that I love asking -- what is a "casual" player?

Many forumites define "casual" as, like, top 100 placement in CL10 every event. If you go by percentages, that is a pretty hardcore player. Either that, or you're defining, like, 99% of players as "casual," with a huge range of playstyles represented in that group.

"I only play to 25 wins in my casual PvP!"

IceIX

@entrailbucket said:

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:
I think the (honestly pretty impressive) takeaway here is the size of the overall playerbase. If you extrapolate the numbers out, it means there are just an awful lot of players.

This game is really successful, still, after 10 years!

Yeah, we see a lot here and on Reddit that "There are only 30/50/70K players, look at the event numbers!" which is totally not true, but is also really difficult to combat. There are a TON of players that only play DDQ, but play it religiously. Or that only play one PVE event a week, or only play PVP, etc. We've got a lot of casual players that just kind of disappear into the noise and make it seem like the total number of players is low, when if you look at unique users, it's much higher.

...and that answers another really fun question that I love asking -- what is a "casual" player?

Many forumites define "casual" as, like, top 100 placement in CL10 every event. If you go by percentages, that is a pretty hardcore player. Either that, or you're defining, like, 99% of players as "casual," with a huge range of playstyles represented in that group.

Our loose definition of casual is "plays less than 50% of the content available at any given time". Which is loose because you can be a super hard core PVPer but hate running down node timers in PVE. Or do every single PVE and don't touch that icky asynchronous combat stuff. So it's a starting point, but gets us at least part of the way there.

entrailbucket

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:
I think the (honestly pretty impressive) takeaway here is the size of the overall playerbase. If you extrapolate the numbers out, it means there are just an awful lot of players.

This game is really successful, still, after 10 years!

Yeah, we see a lot here and on Reddit that "There are only 30/50/70K players, look at the event numbers!" which is totally not true, but is also really difficult to combat. There are a TON of players that only play DDQ, but play it religiously. Or that only play one PVE event a week, or only play PVP, etc. We've got a lot of casual players that just kind of disappear into the noise and make it seem like the total number of players is low, when if you look at unique users, it's much higher.

...and that answers another really fun question that I love asking -- what is a "casual" player?

Many forumites define "casual" as, like, top 100 placement in CL10 every event. If you go by percentages, that is a pretty hardcore player. Either that, or you're defining, like, 99% of players as "casual," with a huge range of playstyles represented in that group.

Our loose definition of casual is "plays less than 50% of the content available at any given time". Which is loose because you can be a super hard core PVPer but hate running down node timers in PVE. Or do every single PVE and don't touch that icky asynchronous combat stuff. So it's a starting point, but gets us at least part of the way there.

This describes roughly 0% of the people on the forum, Line, etc who claim to have "gone casual" because they're now "only" playing to 1200 every PvP and full progression in every PvE.

We had a whole thread about this! It was hilarious!

Bowgentle

@entrailbucket said:

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:
I think the (honestly pretty impressive) takeaway here is the size of the overall playerbase. If you extrapolate the numbers out, it means there are just an awful lot of players.

This game is really successful, still, after 10 years!

Yeah, we see a lot here and on Reddit that "There are only 30/50/70K players, look at the event numbers!" which is totally not true, but is also really difficult to combat. There are a TON of players that only play DDQ, but play it religiously. Or that only play one PVE event a week, or only play PVP, etc. We've got a lot of casual players that just kind of disappear into the noise and make it seem like the total number of players is low, when if you look at unique users, it's much higher.

...and that answers another really fun question that I love asking -- what is a "casual" player?

Many forumites define "casual" as, like, top 100 placement in CL10 every event. If you go by percentages, that is a pretty hardcore player. Either that, or you're defining, like, 99% of players as "casual," with a huge range of playstyles represented in that group.

Our loose definition of casual is "plays less than 50% of the content available at any given time". Which is loose because you can be a super hard core PVPer but hate running down node timers in PVE. Or do every single PVE and don't touch that icky asynchronous combat stuff. So it's a starting point, but gets us at least part of the way there.

This describes roughly 0% of the people on the forum, Line, etc who claim to have "gone casual" because they're now "only" playing to 1200 every PvP and full progression in every PvE.

We had a whole thread about this! It was hilarious!

But it's also a lot less casual than your "plays 3 matches Every other day on the toilet" definition of casual.

StanleyBurrell

Always been curious about size of player base. I think many of us look at our immediate surroundings and think it can’t be that many. Glad to hear it’s still doing well.

KGB

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:

@IceIX said:

@entrailbucket said:
I think the (honestly pretty impressive) takeaway here is the size of the overall playerbase. If you extrapolate the numbers out, it means there are just an awful lot of players.

This game is really successful, still, after 10 years!

Yeah, we see a lot here and on Reddit that "There are only 30/50/70K players, look at the event numbers!" which is totally not true, but is also really difficult to combat. There are a TON of players that only play DDQ, but play it religiously. Or that only play one PVE event a week, or only play PVP, etc. We've got a lot of casual players that just kind of disappear into the noise and make it seem like the total number of players is low, when if you look at unique users, it's much higher.

...and that answers another really fun question that I love asking -- what is a "casual" player?

Many forumites define "casual" as, like, top 100 placement in CL10 every event. If you go by percentages, that is a pretty hardcore player. Either that, or you're defining, like, 99% of players as "casual," with a huge range of playstyles represented in that group.

Our loose definition of casual is "plays less than 50% of the content available at any given time". Which is loose because you can be a super hard core PVPer but hate running down node timers in PVE. Or do every single PVE and don't touch that icky asynchronous combat stuff. So it's a starting point, but gets us at least part of the way there.

So if I miss on a PvP event because real life gets in the way of me playing I'm suddenly considered casual. Good to know so I can tell my family I'm only a causal player when they ask about all the time I spend playing

I'd also wonder if just playing 1 battle in PvP and 1 in PvE (ie not playing through all nodes at least once) gets you considered hard code vs casual.

KGB

bbigler

@skittledaddy I would like to answer your question about how long it takes a new player to champ a 2*, 3*, 4* and 5*. Based on my records of a new roster in October 2021, playing every event and buying VIP & the SCL starter packs plus some other special deals:

2* Champ - 3 days
3* Champ - 10 days
4* Champ - 7 weeks
5* Champ #1 - 3 months
5* Champ #2 - 5 months
5* Champ #3 - 6 months
5* Champ #4 - 6.5 months
5* Champ #5 - 7 months

If you don’t spend money, then I imagine it would take twice as long.

KGB

@bbigler said:
@skittledaddy I would like to answer your question about how long it takes a new player to champ a 2*, 3*, 4* and 5*. Based on my records of a new roster in October 2021, playing every event and buying VIP & the SCL starter packs plus some other special deals:

2* Champ - 3 days
3* Champ - 10 days
4* Champ - 7 weeks
5* Champ #1 - 3 months
5* Champ #2 - 5 months
5* Champ #3 - 6 months
5* Champ #4 - 6.5 months
5* Champ #5 - 7 months

If you don’t spend money, then I imagine it would take twice as long.

I remember this thread well. The 2* champ in 3 days (13 covers + ISO) seems the most impressive thing of all given you'd be restricted in what you can play by lack of characters and SCL levels. Must have been playing like 6 hrs a day. LOL

I also recall your 5* draw rate was quite lucky (which amazed me because mines never been close to 15% over the lifetime of years of playing). I think it was close 18%. Someone else who got as unlucky as you got lucky with only a 12% draw rate would have taken a lot longer even if they duplicated everything else you did.

The fact that 13% get at least 1 character there in a year is pretty impressive and says that at least 13% of 1 year players are serious spenders.

KGB

skittledaddy

@bbigler said:
@skittledaddy I would like to answer your question about how long it takes a new player to champ a 2*, 3*, 4* and 5*. Based on my records of a new roster in October 2021, playing every event and buying VIP & the SCL starter packs plus some other special deals:

2* Champ - 3 days
3* Champ - 10 days
4* Champ - 7 weeks
5* Champ #1 - 3 months
5* Champ #2 - 5 months
5* Champ #3 - 6 months
5* Champ #4 - 6.5 months
5* Champ #5 - 7 months

If you don’t spend money, then I imagine it would take twice as long.

I, too, am very familiar with the reports of your past experiments. They are a great read.
I was inquiring more about the average ignorant player, not an experienced veteran starting over with the benefit of every "efficient" decision applied perfectly. Spending, of course, is a big variable, but F2P players will dilute those averages to some degree.

entrailbucket

@KGB said:

@bbigler said:
@skittledaddy I would like to answer your question about how long it takes a new player to champ a 2*, 3*, 4* and 5*. Based on my records of a new roster in October 2021, playing every event and buying VIP & the SCL starter packs plus some other special deals:

2* Champ - 3 days
3* Champ - 10 days
4* Champ - 7 weeks
5* Champ #1 - 3 months
5* Champ #2 - 5 months
5* Champ #3 - 6 months
5* Champ #4 - 6.5 months
5* Champ #5 - 7 months

If you don’t spend money, then I imagine it would take twice as long.

I remember this thread well. The 2* champ in 3 days (13 covers + ISO) seems the most impressive thing of all given you'd be restricted in what you can play by lack of characters and SCL levels. Must have been playing like 6 hrs a day. LOL

I also recall your 5* draw rate was quite lucky (which amazed me because mines never been close to 15% over the lifetime of years of playing). I think it was close 18%. Someone else who got as unlucky as you got lucky with only a 12% draw rate would have taken a lot longer even if they duplicated everything else you did.

The fact that 13% get at least 1 character there in a year is pretty impressive and says that at least 13% of 1 year players are serious spenders.

KGB

I doubt we'll get this answer in this thread, but the last time I asked...the lower tier players collectively outspend the higher tier players, by a pretty significant amount.

Pantera236

@entrailbucket said:

@KGB said:

@bbigler said:
@skittledaddy I would like to answer your question about how long it takes a new player to champ a 2*, 3*, 4* and 5*. Based on my records of a new roster in October 2021, playing every event and buying VIP & the SCL starter packs plus some other special deals:

2* Champ - 3 days
3* Champ - 10 days
4* Champ - 7 weeks
5* Champ #1 - 3 months
5* Champ #2 - 5 months
5* Champ #3 - 6 months
5* Champ #4 - 6.5 months
5* Champ #5 - 7 months

If you don’t spend money, then I imagine it would take twice as long.

I remember this thread well. The 2* champ in 3 days (13 covers + ISO) seems the most impressive thing of all given you'd be restricted in what you can play by lack of characters and SCL levels. Must have been playing like 6 hrs a day. LOL

I also recall your 5* draw rate was quite lucky (which amazed me because mines never been close to 15% over the lifetime of years of playing). I think it was close 18%. Someone else who got as unlucky as you got lucky with only a 12% draw rate would have taken a lot longer even if they duplicated everything else you did.

The fact that 13% get at least 1 character there in a year is pretty impressive and says that at least 13% of 1 year players are serious spenders.

KGB

I doubt we'll get this answer in this thread, but the last time I asked...the lower tier players collectively outspend the higher tier players, by a pretty significant amount.

Anecdotally in my t10 pvp t50 pve alliance we rarely get CP but when I have to let someone in our super casual alliance with my alt I have to clear dozens of CP.

Bad

I expected us 5* players to be a huge minority, because it's a Marvel game and it's daily downloaded. And with more millions downloads, it attracts even more.
That fact dilutes even more the players with strong rosters.
Why some people downloading the game without playing it? Easy, playstore rewards points for having a day downloaded the game offered.
Finally, it's not needed to spend a lot because now there are awesome helps to new players. Milestones easy to acquire and if the player is interested and ask how to use it, he can get the meta characters fast.
Check it with an alt account.

Timemachinego

Since we're asking questions and getting answers here, why is 4* Venom (Eddie Brock) the only Secret Invasion cover that didn't change back?