Do the devs play with test accounts in pvp?

Tntmma

If this account, that so many people reported so many times, is indeed legit, it's even worse.

This game used to be pay-to-catch-up, but not pay-to-win. You could spend money to accelerate the growth of your LT hoard, but you still had to chose wisely when to pull, to get the right trio of meta 5s. In principle, any judicious player would be able to hoard and pull a new meta at 550, and compete against others who ran a similar team. Some could afford to 550 other (or all) 5s, but this wouldn't give them a significant competitive advantage. At the top, it used to be a fight based on grit, skill, and collaboration with others. You could pay to catch up with the meta, and then fight it out with balanced firepower.

This is not the case anymore. This account has access to their own meta. This meta can only be reached by paying A LOT, or cheating. They are still not competitive in neither PVP or PVE, since luckily, they still can't buy skill or friends, but it's very demoralizing for old time players who used to duke it out with similar rosters. I dropped out from buy clubs and virtually stopped spending, like several others have - pay-to-win games are not fun. It feels futile to even try competing on roster development, which is the foundation of this game. If this is the vision the new dev team has for the end game, I am not interested.

entrailbucket

The game's always been pay to win to some extent. New or lower tier players look at us and see completely unachievable rosters that must be fake. I know I've been reported as a cheater a bunch.

That said, I've also known the biggest whales in the history of the game. I've known personally, and played with, players spending tens of thousands of dollars. I know what those rosters look like, and how massive spending translates to a roster. I know how those players tend to act, both in game and out.

This is something I've never seen. The amount of money required to do this goes significantly beyond the biggest spenders we've ever had.

BriMan2222

Maybe this is the secret to how MPQ has been able to survive 10 years. One single crazy billionaire spending millions on the game every month.

DAZ0273

@Tntmma said:
If this account, that so many people reported so many times, is indeed legit, it's even worse.

This game used to be pay-to-catch-up, but not pay-to-win. You could spend money to accelerate the growth of your LT hoard, but you still had to chose wisely when to pull, to get the right trio of meta 5s. In principle, any judicious player would be able to hoard and pull a new meta at 550, and compete against others who ran a similar team. Some could afford to 550 other (or all) 5s, but this wouldn't give them a significant competitive advantage. At the top, it used to be a fight based on grit, skill, and collaboration with others. You could pay to catch up with the meta, and then fight it out with balanced firepower.

This is not the case anymore. This account has access to their own meta. This meta can only be reached by paying A LOT, or cheating. They are still not competitive in neither PVP or PVE, since luckily, they still can't buy skill or friends, but it's very demoralizing for old time players who used to duke it out with similar rosters. I dropped out from buy clubs and virtually stopped spending, like several others have - pay-to-win games are not fun. It feels futile to even try competing on roster development, which is the foundation of this game. If this is the vision the new dev team has for the end game, I am not interested.

"****fight**** based on grit, skill and collaboration with others"

These words are all in a sentence together but surely do not belong there?!?!?!

Bowgentle

@DAZ0273 said:

@Tntmma said:
If this account, that so many people reported so many times, is indeed legit, it's even worse.

This game used to be pay-to-catch-up, but not pay-to-win. You could spend money to accelerate the growth of your LT hoard, but you still had to chose wisely when to pull, to get the right trio of meta 5s. In principle, any judicious player would be able to hoard and pull a new meta at 550, and compete against others who ran a similar team. Some could afford to 550 other (or all) 5s, but this wouldn't give them a significant competitive advantage. At the top, it used to be a fight based on grit, skill, and collaboration with others. You could pay to catch up with the meta, and then fight it out with balanced firepower.

This is not the case anymore. This account has access to their own meta. This meta can only be reached by paying A LOT, or cheating. They are still not competitive in neither PVP or PVE, since luckily, they still can't buy skill or friends, but it's very demoralizing for old time players who used to duke it out with similar rosters. I dropped out from buy clubs and virtually stopped spending, like several others have - pay-to-win games are not fun. It feels futile to even try competing on roster development, which is the foundation of this game. If this is the vision the new dev team has for the end game, I am not interested.

"****fight**** based on grit, skill and collaboration with others"

These words are all in a sentence together but surely do not belong there?!?!?!

Skill is for PVE where you can't collaborate.
Grit is staying out longer against hitters in PVP.
Not 100% of people collaborate in PVP.

DAZ0273

@Bowgentle said:

@DAZ0273 said:

@Tntmma said:
If this account, that so many people reported so many times, is indeed legit, it's even worse.

This game used to be pay-to-catch-up, but not pay-to-win. You could spend money to accelerate the growth of your LT hoard, but you still had to chose wisely when to pull, to get the right trio of meta 5s. In principle, any judicious player would be able to hoard and pull a new meta at 550, and compete against others who ran a similar team. Some could afford to 550 other (or all) 5s, but this wouldn't give them a significant competitive advantage. At the top, it used to be a fight based on grit, skill, and collaboration with others. You could pay to catch up with the meta, and then fight it out with balanced firepower.

This is not the case anymore. This account has access to their own meta. This meta can only be reached by paying A LOT, or cheating. They are still not competitive in neither PVP or PVE, since luckily, they still can't buy skill or friends, but it's very demoralizing for old time players who used to duke it out with similar rosters. I dropped out from buy clubs and virtually stopped spending, like several others have - pay-to-win games are not fun. It feels futile to even try competing on roster development, which is the foundation of this game. If this is the vision the new dev team has for the end game, I am not interested.

"****fight**** based on grit, skill and collaboration with others"

These words are all in a sentence together but surely do not belong there?!?!?!

Skill is for PVE where you can't collaborate.
Grit is staying out longer against hitters in PVP.
Not 100% of people collaborate in PVP.

Three different sentences! You can't call it a "fight" when one party is advertising that they are going to take a dive if you are quick enough!

Bowgentle

@DAZ0273 said:

@Bowgentle said:

@DAZ0273 said:

@Tntmma said:
If this account, that so many people reported so many times, is indeed legit, it's even worse.

This game used to be pay-to-catch-up, but not pay-to-win. You could spend money to accelerate the growth of your LT hoard, but you still had to chose wisely when to pull, to get the right trio of meta 5s. In principle, any judicious player would be able to hoard and pull a new meta at 550, and compete against others who ran a similar team. Some could afford to 550 other (or all) 5s, but this wouldn't give them a significant competitive advantage. At the top, it used to be a fight based on grit, skill, and collaboration with others. You could pay to catch up with the meta, and then fight it out with balanced firepower.

This is not the case anymore. This account has access to their own meta. This meta can only be reached by paying A LOT, or cheating. They are still not competitive in neither PVP or PVE, since luckily, they still can't buy skill or friends, but it's very demoralizing for old time players who used to duke it out with similar rosters. I dropped out from buy clubs and virtually stopped spending, like several others have - pay-to-win games are not fun. It feels futile to even try competing on roster development, which is the foundation of this game. If this is the vision the new dev team has for the end game, I am not interested.

"****fight**** based on grit, skill and collaboration with others"

These words are all in a sentence together but surely do not belong there?!?!?!

Skill is for PVE where you can't collaborate.
Grit is staying out longer against hitters in PVP.
Not 100% of people collaborate in PVP.

Three different sentences! You can't call it a "fight" when one party is advertising that they are going to take a dive if you are quick enough!

Yes you can.
You're fighting against people hitting you while you're out eating grills.
The fight isn't in what you do in a match.

DAZ0273

@Bowgentle said:

@DAZ0273 said:

@Bowgentle said:

@DAZ0273 said:

@Tntmma said:
If this account, that so many people reported so many times, is indeed legit, it's even worse.

This game used to be pay-to-catch-up, but not pay-to-win. You could spend money to accelerate the growth of your LT hoard, but you still had to chose wisely when to pull, to get the right trio of meta 5s. In principle, any judicious player would be able to hoard and pull a new meta at 550, and compete against others who ran a similar team. Some could afford to 550 other (or all) 5s, but this wouldn't give them a significant competitive advantage. At the top, it used to be a fight based on grit, skill, and collaboration with others. You could pay to catch up with the meta, and then fight it out with balanced firepower.

This is not the case anymore. This account has access to their own meta. This meta can only be reached by paying A LOT, or cheating. They are still not competitive in neither PVP or PVE, since luckily, they still can't buy skill or friends, but it's very demoralizing for old time players who used to duke it out with similar rosters. I dropped out from buy clubs and virtually stopped spending, like several others have - pay-to-win games are not fun. It feels futile to even try competing on roster development, which is the foundation of this game. If this is the vision the new dev team has for the end game, I am not interested.

"****fight**** based on grit, skill and collaboration with others"

These words are all in a sentence together but surely do not belong there?!?!?!

Skill is for PVE where you can't collaborate.
Grit is staying out longer against hitters in PVP.
Not 100% of people collaborate in PVP.

Three different sentences! You can't call it a "fight" when one party is advertising that they are going to take a dive if you are quick enough!

Yes you can.
You're fighting against people hitting you while you're out eating grills.
The fight isn't in what you do in a match.

That isn't really a fight, it is a race/scramble for cover again but I'm not gonna argue semantics. We can chalk this down to being an MPQ linguistic peculiarity!

Bowgentle

Maybe you need to try this for yourself one of these days, it can be fun, especially for smaller rosters.

entrailbucket

Skill is when we have similar rosters and I can beat your team 2 or 3 times before you beat me once (or you do the same to me!).

DAZ0273

@Bowgentle said:
Maybe you need to try this for yourself one of these days, it can be fun, especially for smaller rosters.

Maybe. Never was interested in the Line game but know knows?

Pantera236

@DAZ0273 said:

@Bowgentle said:
Maybe you need to try this for yourself one of these days, it can be fun, especially for smaller rosters.

Maybe. Never was interested in the Line game but know knows?

If it wasn't for the community aspect, that is in my opinion better on Line, I probably would've quit playing long ago. And you don't have to be glued to it either. Hell you can even take breaks from time to time and hit everything that moves and then just ask for an invite back in lol.

Borstock

Line is boring to me. It feels like cheating.

If someone wants to spend $10,000+ on this game, I'm fine with them dominating. There aren't so many of those people that you can't top 10 an event. And I don't think it should be a gods given right to be able to hit top 1 just because you 550'd the right meta. I attack vastly superior teams all the time. A lot of times, I win. Sometimes, I lose. And when they all gang up on me because I'm not on Line, I just play to 50 wins. No big deal.

Point is, if that beast roster filled with 3* 550s is kicking my butt legit, I'm jealous, but I'm also fine with it.

entrailbucket

@Borstock said:
If someone wants to spend $10,000+ on this game, I'm fine with them dominating. There aren't so many of those people that you can't top 10 an event. And I don't think it should be a gods given right to be able to hit top 1 just because you 550'd the right meta. I attack vastly superior teams all the time. A lot of times, I win. Sometimes, I lose. And when they all gang up on me because I'm not on Line, I just play to 50 wins. No big deal.

Point is, if that beast roster filled with 3* 550s is kicking my butt legit, I'm jealous, but I'm also fine with it.

100% agree with this, and I should've said it myself. MPQ offers in-game advantages that you can buy, and always has. If someone wants to spend their way to the top of the game, that should be applauded! They're keeping the lights on for the rest of us, and they're not breaking any rules, or playing the game unfairly, or anything else.

The number on this particular roster is higher than what you've estimated, though, and it's not particularly close. I know what you cited sounds insane (and it objectively is!) but I've seen the few rosters in the history of the game that spent in or above that range, and this is in a completely different universe. Is it possible? Yes, of course it is. I think it's suspicious though.

Borstock

I just didn't want to do the math and picked a number out of reach for me. Numbers "universes" higher than that one are that much more welcome to their dominance.

Bowgentle

Spending 20k+ these days is WAY better than spending 10k 7 years ago to max Gambit, though.
With the deluge of daily offers and the biweekly HP sales, you get a lot more now than you did in 2017.

HowDoIUnlockBatman

See, i don't care if they looked at the code and the code said it was legit. I'd want to see the money actually in the account because as stated, this roster totally blows our friend from the big apple out of the water, appears to be built in the last couple months and the biggest red flag is they aren't in an alliance. Maybe they don't like people? Maybe they don't want to be searchable because you cant search for a player but can for an alliance.

Why even build a roster like this and then use it to hit seed teams and early climbers in fn lightning rounds and then shield for over an hour? They aren't showing off, flexing, peackocking or whatever you want to call it. Most people don't even know they exist that's why it's an obvious cheat.

bluewolf

@HowDoIUnlockBatman said:
See, i don't care if they looked at the code and the code said it was legit. I'd want to see the money actually in the account because as stated, this roster totally blows our friend from the big apple out of the water, appears to be built in the last couple months and the biggest red flag is they aren't in an alliance. Maybe they don't like people? Maybe they don't want to be searchable because you cant search for a player but can for an alliance.

Why even build a roster like this and then use it to hit seed teams and early climbers in fn lightning rounds and then shield for over an hour? They aren't showing off, flexing, peackocking or whatever you want to call it. Most people don't even know they exist that's why it's an obvious cheat.

They used to be in an alliance but left a few weeks ago. We watched the roster 550 2NC shortly after release….then they left that alliance and have been floating around since. Remember the devs saying they would be keeping a close eye on rosters around 2NC’s release.

Those who have seen this roster ingame know they have many more 550s than you see here. They have two 550 Ares, for example.

The explanation is something about repeatedly clearing the ascension vaults when they were up. The sheer amount of time to buy the HP, spend it in the vault, watch the animation, apply all the covers….probably like a legit part time job, timewise.

I wish I knew where their 3 Phylla was…really curious.

Sus.

entrailbucket

This was happening well before the ascension vaults showed up.

I agree with the other poster above. All the biggest spenders I've known (and I've known most of them) spent to show off and/or to dominate. They tend to be engaged with the community in some way, or at least interested in that engagement. They want to win, or to snipe like crazy, or something to get value out of what they're putting in.

Sometimes these folks burn out over time and you'll see them kicking around doing a minimal amount of whatever, but they never start out that way!

HowDoIUnlockBatman

I think there has been some confusion. I wasn't and wouldn't suggest the person with the 550 2* nightcrawler was a cheat. Everyone who has ever looked at the season leaderboard knows who he is.

The guy i posted is somebody nobody knows, not someone who has recently left an alliance. You don't get a 550 ikaris, dazzler or any of the other stupid stuff he has by emptying any vault.