Devpool's Taco Token Community Challenge
Comments
-
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.
I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
1 -
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
6 -
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
All players need something to chase. We're advertising, basically.
Creating placement for bosses gives players a reason to try for placement in boss events. It creates a shiny new leaderboard that they could be on, rewards they could earn, if they just spent a bit more, or hoarded more, or whatever, to get that last character they need. It shows them who all those players are, and what their rosters look like -- and you, too, could have a roster like this!, if only you spent some cash.
0 -
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
Over the past...6-8 months I have been screenshotting various PVPs, PVEs, boss events etc after they ended. I did not do them all...it's more of a hobby/side interest. But let me list some of the alliance counts I have recorded.
PVP seasons (ended):
12/2/23 - 10,706
3/4/24 - 10,253
4/2/24 - 10,251
4/29/24 - 10,181
5/28/24 - 10,140
6/24/24 - 10,099Bosses:
3/4/24 Heroic - 8,397 Main - 7,998
4/24/24 Heroic - 7,912 Main - 8,888
6/24/24 Heroic - 7,893 Main - 8,899PVPs.... highest alliance count was one on 5/8/24 with 7,435. Lowest I recorded was 4/14/24 with 6,704
3 recents: 7/22 - 7,056
7/24 - 7,332
8/7/24 - 7,254PVEs - some highlights
Feb '24 - biggest count was 2/27 with 9,086
April '24 - biggest count was 4/23 with 9,101
May '24 - 5/21 - 9,313
July we had 9,751 play the first run of DPW v MPQ, the first "new" PVE since they introduced Operation Spider Silk several years ago.
8/1/24 - 8,762
8/6/24 - 9,379
(If I were to guess I would say that DP v MPQ pulls in more of the casual players who can make more progress with less effort vs the same number of days with 4x24s)Bracket counts are basically always the same in SCL 10, almost always the same number of flips. Suggesting at that level the number of players is basically static at best.
Alliances do not represent 20 players, not by a long shot, and certainly not 20 actives (look around and you find plenty with a few actives and many who left the game long ago but are still in the alliance). But as a proxy of player count it seems that generally speaking....well, it wavers a bit but I see nothing to say the trend line isn't a plateau. Growth doesn't seem to be consistent by any stretch, the engagement level waxes and wanes a lot. I think there are a lot of players who play DDQ consistently and then dip into events when they have some interest in rewards or something new, etc (new character PVPS seem to draw more people) then skip other things. But nothing in my attempt at a record suggests a growing group of players.
Hence, my statement that the game's player count isn't going up at this point seems well-founded. Which is what you would expect in an (almost) 11 year old roster-building game where just having played for a long enough time locks in a basically permanent advantage over people who might join today, at least on a consistent basis (certainly a newer person can more easily compete in certain events when you have the right boost list or happen to have the essentials covered/champed). Where there are 345 characters to collect. Where you as a player who is new are competing with players who have been here for 11 years, once you get into SCL10, who will steamroll you without trying. Did you miss Aunt May Golden Oldie in Latests? the free R5 Chimi? etc? too bad.
Other people could tell you how things have fallen but I also have a screenshot from a season that ended around 1/14/19 and there were 15,110 alliances that took part in it. The normal PVP that had ended had 10,145 that played in it. A PVE (Simulator) ended 1/10/19 had 14,940 alliances in it.
Sinister 600, run on 12/17/18, had 16,483 alliances playing. A Reality Season ended around 12/17/18 had 15,337 alliances in it.
To say we have not seen a significant contraction in player count over the years is simply not true.
5 -
Tracking this sort of thing is weird -- I knew a guy who used to do that because he was praying for the game to die (so he'd be proved right about all the "opportunities" he felt were being missed).
I imagine player counts ebb and flow to some extent though. I very much doubt that the game started with some huge number of active players and has steadily decreased to this point.
I'd also remind you that correlation is not causation. I'd be willing to bet this game hit its peak player count during the height of the MCU. Can you think of any reason (cough...Eternals...cough...The Marvels) that the general populace might have less interest in a Marvel game today?
No, I'm sure the problem is that players are angry about BCS's challenges , or a lack of ISO, or the fact that character X isn't able to oneshot every fight in the game.
0 -
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
All players need something to chase. We're advertising, basically.
Creating placement for bosses gives players a reason to try for placement in boss events. It creates a shiny new leaderboard that they could be on, rewards they could earn, if they just spent a bit more, or hoarded more, or whatever, to get that last character they need. It shows them who all those players are, and what their rosters look like -- and you, too, could have a roster like this!, if only you spent some cash.
So the 5* players do matter.
2 -
To me, it's all about communication. BCS came on like gang busters two years ago when they took over MPQ. Communication was everywhere. Now? They are just as bad at communication as the previous caretakers. Maybe worse.
I love this game. Really do. It is a great time waster while waiting for things (airplanes, meetings to start, etc). But I am a bit tired of being taking for granted and being told "ohhhh the new shiny engine will change everything" as a way to not make Quality of Life Changes that could really help the game.
Anyways, this "challenge" was a great example of failed communication.
3 -
Based on the past 24 hours we moved up about 2.2 million points. So it’s possible we just get over the line on tier 4, especially if they extend the deadline/cutoff slightly (not knowing the planned cutoff time, maybe that’s unnecessary).
0 -
I see that one of the rewards is a yellow cover for Domino who has no yellow powers. Typo I guess?
*edit - green here in the thread, it says yellow on the tracker page when you click through the link.
0 -
@ThaRoadWarrior said:
I see that one of the rewards is a yellow cover for Domino who has no yellow powers. Typo I guess?*edit - green here in the thread, it says yellow on the tracker page when you click through the link.
Unless...she is going to be the first 4 colour character (not counting the ones who do the swappy thing)?!?!?!?
I also forgot this thing was still going on which is sort of sad as I posted in this very thread just earlier. So sorry if I didn't wear any costumes or whatever.
0 -
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
All players need something to chase. We're advertising, basically.
Creating placement for bosses gives players a reason to try for placement in boss events. It creates a shiny new leaderboard that they could be on, rewards they could earn, if they just spent a bit more, or hoarded more, or whatever, to get that last character they need. It shows them who all those players are, and what their rosters look like -- and you, too, could have a roster like this!, if only you spent some cash.
So the 5* players do matter.
If all the forum/reddit/discord/whatever players disappeared instantly, the top of the leaderboards would still be full of players whose rosters massively outranked any new player, and those folks would still have tons of players to chase.
0 -
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
All players need something to chase. We're advertising, basically.
Creating placement for bosses gives players a reason to try for placement in boss events. It creates a shiny new leaderboard that they could be on, rewards they could earn, if they just spent a bit more, or hoarded more, or whatever, to get that last character they need. It shows them who all those players are, and what their rosters look like -- and you, too, could have a roster like this!, if only you spent some cash.
So the 5* players do matter.
If all the forum/reddit/discord/whatever players disappeared instantly, the top of the leaderboards would still be full of players whose rosters massively outranked any new player, and those folks would still have tons of players to chase.
I dunno what this means? Anyway, what I do know is that this one was a bit weird.
2 -
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
All players need something to chase. We're advertising, basically.
Creating placement for bosses gives players a reason to try for placement in boss events. It creates a shiny new leaderboard that they could be on, rewards they could earn, if they just spent a bit more, or hoarded more, or whatever, to get that last character they need. It shows them who all those players are, and what their rosters look like -- and you, too, could have a roster like this!, if only you spent some cash.
So the 5* players do matter.
If all the forum/reddit/discord/whatever players disappeared instantly, the top of the leaderboards would still be full of players whose rosters massively outranked any new player, and those folks would still have tons of players to chase.
I dunno what this means? Anyway, what I do know is that this one was a bit weird.
They need players with some sort of tenure, and players with non-beginner rosters. Those players will always be at the top of the leaderboard, and will provide goals for new players to chase.
The mistake is assuming that they need US -- either individually or collectively. If we all left at once, other players would take our spots and provide the same amount of value.
0 -
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
All players need something to chase. We're advertising, basically.
Creating placement for bosses gives players a reason to try for placement in boss events. It creates a shiny new leaderboard that they could be on, rewards they could earn, if they just spent a bit more, or hoarded more, or whatever, to get that last character they need. It shows them who all those players are, and what their rosters look like -- and you, too, could have a roster like this!, if only you spent some cash.
So the 5* players do matter.
If all the forum/reddit/discord/whatever players disappeared instantly, the top of the leaderboards would still be full of players whose rosters massively outranked any new player, and those folks would still have tons of players to chase.
I dunno what this means? Anyway, what I do know is that this one was a bit weird.
They need players with some sort of tenure, and players with non-beginner rosters. Those players will always be at the top of the leaderboard, and will provide goals for new players to chase.
The mistake is assuming that they need US -- either individually or collectively. If we all left at once, other players would take our spots and provide the same amount of value.
They would miss me.
Not saying I'm better than either or both of you put together.
They would miss me.5 -
We are, of course, all replaceable....although I'm not sure how much the remaining whales spend (as a flat dollar amount nor as a % of overall spending, although it seems like I have heard it's a smaller % than in prior years), nor whether if they all left en masse any or enough whales would move in/pick up spending to cover what might be as an estimate 30-50% of overall spending.
A lot of current spending is imo "maintenance" spending out of habit; no one who has meta 550s really needs to keep spending any money, many have giant pools of resources they can't really spend without doing something like building triplicate or quadruplicate 550s of certain characters in an attempt to use it up. And with ascension and high level 4s and 5s the amount of return is very high. The spending is as much a habit for many big spenders as playing a PVE for a 4 you will basically never use outside requirements, certainly not in any timeframe measured in less than months or years, and hence will have zero effective impact on your game.
But it's basically irrelevant to consider since there's no way that the top players all quit en masse as long as the game is running. Maybe some trickle out and a few move up but the time requirement once you have meta 5s is very small for PVE (just requires a bit of scheduling) and PVP battles also go quickly generally speaking. So the time to play is rather easily fit into one's schedule as long as one considers it important or valuable or just has developed the deeply ingrained habits/addiction.
0 -
We are, of course, all replaceable
I feel like you haven't read my post thoroughly
3 -
I was in fact replaced by Chatbot GPT in late 2023 and all of my content is now randomly generated which might not come as a huge shock.
3 -
@ThisisClemFandango said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
All players need something to chase. We're advertising, basically.
Creating placement for bosses gives players a reason to try for placement in boss events. It creates a shiny new leaderboard that they could be on, rewards they could earn, if they just spent a bit more, or hoarded more, or whatever, to get that last character they need. It shows them who all those players are, and what their rosters look like -- and you, too, could have a roster like this!, if only you spent some cash.
So the 5* players do matter.
If all the forum/reddit/discord/whatever players disappeared instantly, the top of the leaderboards would still be full of players whose rosters massively outranked any new player, and those folks would still have tons of players to chase.
I dunno what this means? Anyway, what I do know is that this one was a bit weird.
They need players with some sort of tenure, and players with non-beginner rosters. Those players will always be at the top of the leaderboard, and will provide goals for new players to chase.
The mistake is assuming that they need US -- either individually or collectively. If we all left at once, other players would take our spots and provide the same amount of value.
They would miss me.
Not saying I'm better than either or both of you put together.
They would miss me.I take you have some sort of plan to ensure you would be remembered?
1 -
@rainkingucd said:
@ThisisClemFandango said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
@DAZ0273 said:
@entrailbucket said:
I disagree that the player base isn't growing -- I don't think we know or can know that, and it's likely that it still is. I don't know that the high level player base that we talk to is growing, but I think we're the least significant group of players.I also disagree that there's any point in trying to engage and prop up morale among the disaffected folks who continue to play the game out of habit, despite not enjoying it. I don't think that's actually possible at this point (these players have been disaffected and uninterested in the game for 10 years now, and are still here complaining), and I think the game would be better off (both financially and as a community) without them.
You keep saying these players are the least important group but then I have to ask who are continued 5* releases for? Who is Ascension for? Who is placement in Boss Battles for? None of these things are for players at the 3* tier particularly so why do they form major parts of the Devs strategy? These 5* players must have a certain amount of utility for the Devs to always be trying to keep their engagement.
All players need something to chase. We're advertising, basically.
Creating placement for bosses gives players a reason to try for placement in boss events. It creates a shiny new leaderboard that they could be on, rewards they could earn, if they just spent a bit more, or hoarded more, or whatever, to get that last character they need. It shows them who all those players are, and what their rosters look like -- and you, too, could have a roster like this!, if only you spent some cash.
So the 5* players do matter.
If all the forum/reddit/discord/whatever players disappeared instantly, the top of the leaderboards would still be full of players whose rosters massively outranked any new player, and those folks would still have tons of players to chase.
I dunno what this means? Anyway, what I do know is that this one was a bit weird.
They need players with some sort of tenure, and players with non-beginner rosters. Those players will always be at the top of the leaderboard, and will provide goals for new players to chase.
The mistake is assuming that they need US -- either individually or collectively. If we all left at once, other players would take our spots and provide the same amount of value.
They would miss me.
Not saying I'm better than either or both of you put together.
They would miss me.I take you have some sort of plan to ensure you would be remembered?
Who could forget this?
3 -
You know the massive tiamut statue that no one seems to have noticed for at least 6 films? Now I'm not saying something like that, I'll let my fans decide.
0
Categories
- All Categories
- 44.7K Marvel Puzzle Quest
- 1.5K MPQ News and Announcements
- 20.2K MPQ General Discussion
- 3K MPQ Tips and Guides
- 2K MPQ Character Discussion
- 171 MPQ Supports Discussion
- 2.5K MPQ Events, Tournaments, and Missions
- 2.8K MPQ Alliances
- 6.3K MPQ Suggestions and Feedback
- 6.2K MPQ Bugs and Technical Issues
- 13.5K Magic: The Gathering - Puzzle Quest
- 502 MtGPQ News & Announcements
- 5.4K MtGPQ General Discussion
- 99 MtGPQ Tips & Guides
- 420 MtGPQ Deck Strategy & Planeswalker Discussion
- 296 MtGPQ Events
- 60 MtGPQ Coalitions
- 1.2K MtGPQ Suggestions & Feedback
- 5.6K MtGPQ Bugs & Technical Issues
- 548 Other 505 Go Inc. Games
- 21 Puzzle Quest: The Legend Returns
- 5 Adventure Gnome
- 6 Word Designer: Country Home
- 381 Other Games
- 142 General Discussion
- 239 Off Topic
- 7 505 Go Inc. Forum Rules
- 7 Forum Rules and Site Announcements