Boosting MtG:PQ: Player Insights

Janosik

@Opperstamper said:

I have one request: can we focus on the major concerns again? I made this list because the app is losing players over these points. No customers = no business, which I hope to show to Oktagon. More customers is good for revenue, and in turn good for us, dedicated players.

I fear the main problem with this entire endeavour is that Oktagon will read this thread, see the same old gripes we've been talking about for years, like bugs, and matchmaking, and UI improvements, and think that this is all business as usual... after all, they've ignored all these problems up until now, and a fair few of us are still here playing the game, so why not just keep ignoring them?

Opperstamper

@Janosik said:

@Opperstamper said:

I have one request: can we focus on the major concerns again? I made this list because the app is losing players over these points. No customers = no business, which I hope to show to Oktagon. More customers is good for revenue, and in turn good for us, dedicated players.

I fear the main problem with this entire endeavour is that Oktagon will read this thread, see the same old gripes we've been talking about for years, like bugs, and matchmaking, and UI improvements, and think that this is all business as usual... after all, they've ignored all these problems up until now, and a fair few of us are still here playing the game, so why not just keep ignoring them?

I fear that too. Another reason why we all should make a stand. Together, and with high numbers. Otherwise we will fail for sure.
If we manage to do that we might still fail, but then we have given all that we could.

Or are we going down without a fight?

wraszowixuXuxi

The latest Standard set for paper, Wilds of Eldraine, is having prereleases since yesterday and the official one by the end of next week (I think). If WotC is having Puzzle Quest stagger it's releases till when the following set comes out for paper... Then again, considering one of the answers from the July Q&A:

Are there plans to add new content to MTGPQ prior to Wilds of Eldraine?
Answer: The next batch of new content is scheduled to join the game with Wilds of Eldraine.

We might not be getting new stuff until Wilds of Eldraine is ready for PQ or we might be getting new content in game when Eldraine is releasing in general. The way that it is worded is vague enough.

It has been shaky times news-wise for Magic since at least the 30th Anniversary ... "endeavour". In some ways it has affected even here, especially at a time - in the summer between Standard sets - were there usually is a longer time between new content.. For us here in PQ we at least had some years with something fit in as extra content: Versus sets, From the Vault, PMA, Jumpstart. They might not have all filled in during the Summer, but this summer lacking such a thing could be another factor that us players are feeling, where it could lead to some thinking of things as "stale". Of course it's not the only thing, but per my bit on Discord - "I'm not that bugged by bugs" or such - I kinda still remember times when people would consider such quirks as "advanced puzzles" or hidden features, something that as a community we have eventually grown to endure. Maybe not the best way to look at it with how things have been recently, I'm starting to feel I'm ranting again and not hitting some points.

Optimistically, I'm thinking there could be new stuff sooner than we think, which could address a bit of what we are facing. It has been that time of year where we usually do face this, but it has been a bit different this year. I hoping that I'm standing with y'all, even if I'm facing different directions.

Rugrat1979

@Opperstamper said:
Just the 5 Origins PW's. But as I tried to make clear; this is just a suggestion. The issue that triggers this suggestion is that it's apparently very hard to find (and keep) new players. Together with a lot of players throwing in the towel, that way we may not have a game at all pretty soon, or one that exists but is not supported anymore (which would be worse? I honestly don't know). So the goal with this is to make a better "new player experience".

If there are better ideas to solve this, please tell me (and Oktagon).

Без обид, мой английский оставляет желать лучшего, как и переводчик гугл, а твои предложения и правда хороши, "неистово плюсую" , как у нас говорят.
Напишу по русски вот (никакой ксенофобии и тому подобного дерьма), но у нас тут наблюдается нешуточное возмущение об отсутствии русского языка в игре, я не знаю почему его убрали, (в игре есть русскоязычная реклама) ,но если бы его вернули, возможно игроков стало бы больше, отзывы на google play об этом говорят.
Всем мир.

Metroplex78

Please lower the yellow crystal price of the exclusive PMA card decks, paying 250 for just one card is excessive and puts these cards behind a paywall only whales with deep pockets can afford, FtP and average players can't afford to sink this much money for these cards, please make them reasonably priced, 150 yellows would be fair, still high but manageable. Thanks.

Metroplex78

Please get rid of the dragon boss in the You've found an entrance event, it's enough to make me stop playing the game due to how infuriatingly unfair this boss is.

Tremayne

@Metroplex78 said:
Please get rid of the dragon boss in the You've found an entrance event, it's enough to make me stop playing the game due to how infuriatingly unfair this boss is.

It is a challenge - initially, but just load your deck with removal, preferably removal that generate a token creature to slow down Greg casting the creatures from his deck. Throw in a little life gain and you should be good to go. So a black PW plus either blue/red or both and the challenge is simpler.

Mainloop25

@Metroplex78 said:
Please get rid of the dragon boss in the You've found an entrance event, it's enough to make me stop playing the game due to how infuriatingly unfair this boss is.

God forbid this game has a bit of a challenge. By the way, I have a video on my YouTube on how to beat this boss with a deck that has no mythics.

Selvr

I think Opperstamper summarised the main complaints really well, so I'd like to return to those as a framework (though I don't have a comment on all of them).

1: Unhealthy meta: "I win" buttons have a dominant presence in standard format.
2: Bugs take too long before being addressed, sometimes more than 1 year or never at all.
Presumably bugs are prioritised (e.g. Marisi's bug is game-breaking but not that common because it's a masterpiece, MechaRem was higher priority because it was everywhere, etc). It might help just to make those decisions public- say, in the monthly updates.
3: The game seems stale.
A. 5% of the available PW's are used 95% of the time.
B. 5% of the available cards are used 95% of the time.
There are two sides to this: one is that players who always seem to be matched against the same opponents (Dakkon and PMA Ajani, mainly). I admit I don't know how matchmaking works, but that seems like a possible avenue to tackle the problem. There's no reason that the oponents served up against players should have to represent the entry base- perhaps the game could weight the probibility of an opponent deck being chosen if it's unusual. I know playing against the occaisional Huatli or Mordenkainen would make things more interesting for me. For that matter, why not seed the pool with a few stock decks?
The other side is players feeling like they "have to" use Dakkon or some other S-tier walker, and can't take the risk of playing Huatli or Mordenkainen. I don't know how to tackle that one- I have been deliberately casting my net wider and I feel like I also get fewer of the same-old-same-old decks these days. Is that a real consequence of the matchmaking? If so, that should be advertised.
As an aside, I think an event should never have chosen PW locked- it punishes people for experimenting and reduces the number of decks going in to the database.
C. Delayed standard is a bad decision for MtG:PQ. _
I agree, and I also want to note that in Magic Arena, their digital-only format (Alchemy) is NOT going over to the longer rotation that Standard will use. There is a precedent for a digital interpretation to keep things on a shorter cycle.
_4: There is a lack of new content.
A. There are no new events
I would love to see a return of old events like The Dragon War or Race to Orazca. Ideally they'd probably be tweaked (maybe block-restricted like Sieze the Day, or made PvE) but I don't see any reason they couldn't run as-is a few times to see how they work.
I have been very glad to see You've Found an Entrance and Skoti Bloodline pop up- I don't know if they were always planned or if that's a conscious decision, but it cheered me.
B. Acquiring new cards is hard.
5: There is a lack of communication.

FCLedZep

Thank you Opperstamper for all the effort you put in this game we all love! I totally agree with you!

My recommendations:

• The headers on the Filter page are pretty obvious. Can you put them behind the info button so you create extra room for the Sets and you don’t have to scroll through the Sets anymore?
• Can you add Standard Yes and No buttons to the Filter page so you can switch on and off the Standard Sets and the not Standard Legacy Sets?
• The wording and bugs of high profile cards like Void Rend (doesn’t target creature), Pile On (should read target opposing creature), Legions to Ashes (still bugged) should be addressed asap.
• Abolish Mana Runes. They are overflowing and have no function in the game rather than leveling up Planeswalkers and obtaining an extra deck slot. For me leveling up a Planeswalker was probably the most difficult part to understand because I didn’t see the added value. To me there is none. Just bring out Planeswalkers at max level with the extra deck slot.
• Now Masterpieces take the same amount of time to master as a Mythic. I suggest to give Masterpieces the credits they deserve by at least doubling the time to master a Masterpiece.
• Don’t allow duplicates in the same booster or even better the same purchase.
• I don’t like to follow a course of time management to figure out when I receive the next nodes. I suggest to charge all nodes at the start of every event so you can play the nodes whenever it suits you. Some people might be afraid of troll decks but I guess you have to be prepared to beat every deck and still don’t lose objectives. Now I sometimes have to clear nodes in the middle of the night.
• Show much more player statistics. Top 100 last event. Top 100 last 5 iterations of last event. Top 100 last 5 coalition events. Top 100 last 25 coalition events. Top 100 most perfect scores in coalition events of all time. Top 100 most perfect scores in coalition events this year. Etcetera.
• On average I play 25% creatures, 35% spells, and 40% supports in my decks. I guess that’s what most people do. You released 55% creatures, 24% spells, and 20% supports so I like to see more spell and support heavy releases in the future. There are only 3 creature slots and there already is an abundance of creatures and token creatures.
• Fix the Mana Bonuses of the Origins Planeswalkers from an overall Mana Bonus of +5 to +9 just like most other monocolor Planeswalkers and add 30 health points so they are more fun for starting players to play with. For example +5 for their color, +3 for their allied colors, and -1 for their opposing colors.
• Fix the Mana Bonuses of Kiora, Master of Depths, Ajani, Unyielding, Dovin Baan, Sarkhan the Mad, and Samut, the Tested to an overall Mana Bonus of +8 just like most other duocolor Planeswalkers.
• Remove the Legacy banner from the PMA sets.

ArielSira

Just responding to one point; not all cards in the PMA are new exclusives, so that's why it has the legacy banner.

Julie71

@Magic:PQ Support Team would love to hear your thoughts on what @Opperstamper has posted.

Janosik

@Selvr said:
A. There are no new events_
I would love to see a return of old events like The Dragon War or Race to Orazca. Ideally they'd probably be tweaked (maybe block-restricted like Sieze the Day, or made PvE) but I don't see any reason they couldn't run as-is a few times to see how they work.

Oktagon generally destroy their old events by rotating them from Standard into Legacy, making them all the same... unless deckbuilding restrictions on Legacy events are tight, we grind through them as fast as we can with our existing degenerate combo decks; They don't make us feel engaged with the game. Colors of Magic was a welcome change, rotating from one Standard format into another Standard format. It remains one of my favorite events.

Really there's no need to old Standard events to rotate at all; they could remain in the sets which used to be Standard legal. From Oktagon's point of view, this would encourage players to buy cards in older sets, perhaps generating some revenue.

Tremayne

@Janosik - I totally agree, but this only goes for long time players.
If I was just starting out, my library would not be able to play (older) set restricted events, so worse case I would have little to play during the days where those set restricted events ran.
So Oktagon could schedule additional events which allowed new players to play, but to many events have been an issue before.

I really wish that Oktagon could make events where players could “loan” cards and/or PW so players with small libraries could still partake in a set restricted event. That way newer players could try a small subset of cards (from older sets) and possibly get a taste for collecting these sets.

Sadly, this idea probably require to much development time, though Hibernium was able to do this, it seems clear that Oktagon have never been able to determine how this is done, when setting up an event.

Janosik

@Tremayne said:
@Janosik - I totally agree, but this only goes for long time players.
If I was just starting out, my library would not be able to play (older) set restricted events

WOTC have the same problem with paper MTG, of course, which is why Legacy events, and other events featuring old cards, should always be in the minority. Seize the Day, MTGPQ's premier block constructed event, runs infrequently.

Individual set crafting would help! It was announced in March 2023, but then immediately postponed, seemingly indefinitely.
https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/88257/release-notes-6-1-0/p1