2023: The MPQ year of wackiness

DAZ0273

I was playing MPQ (shock!) most specifically the 3* node of DDQ and found myself looking at a pre-selected cat in my team (I had been playing her PvP) - this resulted in my choosing a team consisting of said cat, a shark and dinosaur. As Jeff ate some Bullseye shields and Spider Rex ate Scarlet Witch (Goose was dead, I had forgotten to heal her and so she had started with 75 health) I thought to myself: Self is this fun or is this ridiculous? Self didn't respond.

All of this has been possible thanks to 2023. I can also play as a space dog and a guy with a bell for his head. One of my 5* has kittens.

We used to get one jokey character per year but it does feel like they have gone to town in 2023 and it makes me wonder whether 2024 will be a "serious year". Or maybe they are just warming up with the crazy stuff?

Would you like to see more joke characters or is it time to get all grr grr serious? And yes I know what matters is how good they are but we all like certain types of characters and as 2023 has also shown you can have too much of one thing.

Scofie

I don't mind the fun characters, but yeah, when you put it as you have, I certainly wouldn't mind more X Men...

bigjojo04

I don’t mind them adding in characters like that, it certainly broadens the scope of the type of characters in the game. However, when I think of all the characters from the comics and even from the MCU that should be in the game, that makes me a little sad that they choose to add in characters like Jeff and Goose instead of Red Skull and Iron Monger/Obadiah Stane and such.

Bad

I'd rather like by miles of distance that they released character iterations than the MPQ zoo.
I don't understand why they have to be only in different tiers. I've already played many games with a limited pool of characters and they save this releasing an iteration with another clothes, another weapon.
Marvel has the unique resource of the multiverse so they could do it perfectly if they wanted to, earth 666, what if? etc...
And to leave animals for candy crush, match master, pet rescue saga and the likes.

ThisisClemFandango

This is all well and good but, if the next 5 star was baby rocket the cuteness would be so off the scale everyone would have to roster him.
This is non negotiable and if you disagree with me I will fight you.
At the end of the day it doesn't matter who the graphic is if the powers were superb we'd all roster them. Would we get annoyed that our team had a litter of kittens in it if we became the destroyer of worlds?
However I have developed an aversion to spider people now, I think that has been milked completely.

DAZ0273

I will admit that I think Goose has tipped the scales for me as a 5/3 release. I would have been fine with her as a 4* but cat w/kittens and cat w/o kittens is a pretty flimsy premise.

And this is Marvel Puzzle Quest so to me at least the characters do matter.

mani82

They missed out on Rambeau three and five star I feel this cat could have been the next four star

Bad

Spider people in the end are just spiderman iterations and even if they are completely different people, they are the same character placing webs tiles in a way or in another.
In 5* tier there are 2 iterations, cap and Hulk. Actually cap isn't the meta character but I think hulk works pretty well and nobody having them won't stop using them because they are the same character.
So why not instead of releasing half baked joke animals, to release a good character? Another gambit, another wolverine, a magneto but this time powerful, vision as a 5*, etc...

bluewolf

I’d say you should be prepared for more animal characters.

Obviously they are looking for novel characters as we keep peeling the onion.

There’s really always going to be people unhappy with what they do….

Yes there are a lot of B and C and D list people in the Marvel Universe who wear costumes and aren’t in the game, but a lot of them repeat powers from other people wearing costumes so in a way, animal characters offer more design variation.

DAZ0273

I don't mind animal characters but as with the example of Goose was there really the need for two versions? Goose is unique enough to not want variations anyway. This brings me back to why they couldn't have done a 5 Monica/3 Goose release with the link being The Marvels (I haven't seen the movie to be able to say how much or if Goose is even in it). Let's have the fun characters but not multiple versions for the sake of it. And with Ascension if you really want a higher tier Goose you can have her with a bit of persistence.

DrClever

I agree that the balance has not been quite right this year, but otoh I've quite enjoyed some of the unhinged rants about it, so in terms of my all round fun it's just about breaking even.

They're making commercial decisions - both in terms of what sells in a mobile game and what's required by the licence - so I don't suppose there's a great deal we should expect in the way of change.

DAZ0273

I am definitely not going to complain about a game that has enough sense of not taking itself seriously in order for us to get Doctor Bong. And then call his abilities different versions of the word bong. Fantastic stuff.

I guess we do get a bit caught up also in what is and isn't ridiculous. I would wager that Lockheed would be treated as a "serious" character despite being a small purple dragon.

It makes me wonder how people might view a character such as The Impossible Man and whether he is a "proper" Marvel character or a joke one?

Bowgentle

Anything is better than another Symbiote guy.

BriMan2222

It's a travesty that with all these new animal characters we still don't have Hell Cow in the game.

DAZ0273

Yes.

I guess this is also sort of morphing into a general moaning about 5/3 releases.

I want them to release characters that there is a point to having with some relevance to Marvel stories. I would be fine with 3* Aunt May (Fretful Aunt)/5* Aunt May ( Herald of Galactus) for example. Not so keen on 3* Willie Lumpkin (Postman Supreme)/5* Willie Lumpkin (Armour Wars).

I don't hate the What if? versions but let's have some really crazy fun with it if we are going to have to have it but try and keep it tied into a bit of Marvel storylines. So no just tacking on a symbiote or 3* Flerken/5* Flerken + more Flerkens sort of stuff. What if? was always supposed to be based upon a possible alternative based on a classic story so I would be OK with that sort of logic. I have read the Armour (sic) Wars storyline and at no point does Vulture appear or get mentioned.

If we are doing wacky animals then let's not make them the 5/3 unless there is a viable version to justify it. Let's also not be scared to release different characters as the 5/3 who have a thematic link.

bigjojo04

To be fair, both versions of Goose that was just released pull from The Marvels.

Theghouse

Let's not forget that the devs commented that the whole reason for returning to the 5/3 dual release was to give newer players who are not yet at the point of rostering new release 5s the chance to roster and use new characters in their 3★ version.

Asking for different characters released as 5/3 is going against the whole reason they restarted in the first place.

If we're going to ask for anything, given current dilution and the number of covers needed for full ascension, I'd rather ask that they stop the 5/3 dual releases completely. Then they can design characters without worrying about needing 2 versions, and spend more time on the 5★ development.

fight4thedream

I am in total agreement that they need to consider splitting the 3/5 from time to time, preferably with characters that either have a shared history or similar power set.

I also think the dev team needs to consider more carefully the release order of characters. I think the vocal parts of the community have made it pretty clear they would prefer thematically different characters over another run at symbiotes or animal characters. Had they been scheduled further apart, I imagine there would have been less grumbling on that point.

The Marvel universe is vast and filled with all sorts of interesting characters ranging from street-level vigilantes to cosmic beings, so it would be nice to go back to a more mixed-bag approach to character releases. I don't mind an occasional pairing here and there, especially if the characters are teammates, but the second half of this year felt rather messy and bland thematically speaking, despite the release of the most popular requested character.

DAZ0273

@Theghouse said:
Let's not forget that the devs commented that the whole reason for returning to the 5/3 dual release was to give newer players who are not yet at the point of rostering new release 5s the chance to roster and use new characters in their 3★ version.

Asking for different characters released as 5/3 is going against the whole reason they restarted in the first place.

If we're going to ask for anything, given current dilution and the number of covers needed for full ascension, I'd rather ask that they stop the 5/3 dual releases completely. Then they can design characters without worrying about needing 2 versions, and spend more time on the 5★ development.

I can see that is a fair point but then I think it is even more important to have viable different versions myself. I genuinely can't tell you what the 3 versions of Miles or Gwen bring to anything. I guess I don't like the gimmicky nature of this and see no reason why they can't from time to time throw in a thematically related character rather than "Symbiote" - I appreciate they want the 3* release but I don't feel every 5/3 needs to be the exact same character with a convenient tag on - they did it years ago with 5 DD/3 Elektra.

MegaBee

Give me all the ridiculous characters. All of them!

fight4thedream

Having played the Flerken Family event, I will say the tiny kitties have won me over with their adorableness.