MPQ Developer Q&A November 2024 (ANSWERS)

135

Comments

  • Zalasta
    Zalasta Posts: 293 Mover and Shaker

    @DAZ0273 said:

    @MgoBlue51 said:

    @St_Bernadus said:

    @ThisisClemFandango said:

    @tupacboy said:
    Does anyone know if there is a ETA on the new engine?

    Between now and when the game closes down

    I see, an optimist!

    I'm expecting them to say "sorry, we realized our new engine was never going to work. We decided to scrap the entire project. To make it up to you, we are increasing the release rate."

    In their own words, never say never!

    That would explain why they let us have all those roster slots in vaults! They are tricky ones, these Devs!

    Which they effectively took away when we got all of those ascended characters in those lovely vaults earlier this year. Not really complaining, but I am out of open roster slots.

  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,342 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Zalasta said:

    @DAZ0273 said:

    @MgoBlue51 said:

    @St_Bernadus said:

    @ThisisClemFandango said:

    @tupacboy said:
    Does anyone know if there is a ETA on the new engine?

    Between now and when the game closes down

    I see, an optimist!

    I'm expecting them to say "sorry, we realized our new engine was never going to work. We decided to scrap the entire project. To make it up to you, we are increasing the release rate."

    In their own words, never say never!

    That would explain why they let us have all those roster slots in vaults! They are tricky ones, these Devs!

    Which they effectively took away when we got all of those ascended characters in those lovely vaults earlier this year. Not really complaining, but I am out of open roster slots.

    Yeah, I am pretty much out too.

  • LavaManLee
    LavaManLee Posts: 1,460 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 14 December 2024, 13:28

    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,992 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 14 December 2024, 13:55

    I’m torn between spend it all now before the tax and when I’m bored leave.

    Or

    550 Agatha/Mephisto, put lots of levels on Namor and hoard for the next meta.

    Or

    550 the current trio and swap for a few classics I like or may have missed out on like Goose. And then hoard until the next meta. That’s probably the smartest play. I just have to figure out what classics I don’t have that are worth chasing. Apoc/BRB/Electro/Crystal/X-23? That’d be my short list (and again I like goose) but none of them seem must have anymore than what I use currently. But I’m open to suggestions. I do think the current trio and a character like goose or electro is better than the next trio without a high level AOE counter even if Namor is marginally better than Nova.

    @DAZ0273 said:

    @Zalasta said:

    @DAZ0273 said:

    @MgoBlue51 said:

    @St_Bernadus said:

    @ThisisClemFandango said:

    @tupacboy said:
    Does anyone know if there is a ETA on the new engine?

    Between now and when the game closes down

    I see, an optimist!

    I'm expecting them to say "sorry, we realized our new engine was never going to work. We decided to scrap the entire project. To make it up to you, we are increasing the release rate."

    In their own words, never say never!

    That would explain why they let us have all those roster slots in vaults! They are tricky ones, these Devs!

    Which they effectively took away when we got all of those ascended characters in those lovely vaults earlier this year. Not really complaining, but I am out of open roster slots.

    Yeah, I am pretty much out too.

    I was curious about this and counted. I’m still at 102 empty slots! That’s crazy.

    @LavaManLee said:
    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

    I’m not a software developer, but I cannot imagine that this system was easier to implement than allowing us to buy more than 5 boosts at a time.

  • Scofie
    Scofie GLOBAL_MODERATORS Posts: 1,397 Chairperson of the Boards

    @LavaManLee said:
    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

    I think it's more that the old stuff can't be easily changed, whereas a whole new thing is a bit easier.

    S0kun responded to a post on Reddit yesterday to say that there is a blog post about the roadmap currently going through approvals but they hope to have it out before the holidays.

  • Codex
    Codex Posts: 321 Mover and Shaker

    @Scofie said:

    @LavaManLee said:
    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

    I think it's more that the old stuff can't be easily changed, whereas a whole new thing is a bit easier.

    S0kun responded to a post on Reddit yesterday to say that there is a blog post about the roadmap currently going through approvals but they hope to have it out before the holidays.

    It is funny how some are still drinking the kool-aid.

    The roadmap blog is just another soon(tm), to make us feel better.

    I just hope they have increased their profit margins enough this year so that they can sell it next year. To me this year is nothing but a cash grab. Hopefully our new overlords are kinder. Wishful thinking on my part

  • Scofie
    Scofie GLOBAL_MODERATORS Posts: 1,397 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Codex said:

    @Scofie said:

    @LavaManLee said:
    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

    I think it's more that the old stuff can't be easily changed, whereas a whole new thing is a bit easier.

    S0kun responded to a post on Reddit yesterday to say that there is a blog post about the roadmap currently going through approvals but they hope to have it out before the holidays.

    It is funny how some are still drinking the kool-aid.

    The roadmap blog is just another soon(tm), to make us feel better.

    I just hope they have increased their profit margins enough this year so that they can sell it next year. To me this year is nothing but a cash grab. Hopefully our new overlords are kinder. Wishful thinking on my part

    No kool-aid for me thanks. I just have experience of teams dealing with Legacy systems and bolt-on services. Of course, I may be completely wrong. It has been known...

    I'll reserve judgment on the blog until I see the substance of it.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,968 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Codex said:

    @Scofie said:

    @LavaManLee said:
    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

    I think it's more that the old stuff can't be easily changed, whereas a whole new thing is a bit easier.

    S0kun responded to a post on Reddit yesterday to say that there is a blog post about the roadmap currently going through approvals but they hope to have it out before the holidays.

    It is funny how some are still drinking the kool-aid.

    The roadmap blog is just another soon(tm), to make us feel better.

    I just hope they have increased their profit margins enough this year so that they can sell it next year. To me this year is nothing but a cash grab. Hopefully our new overlords are kinder. Wishful thinking on my part

    If you really think this, why stick around? Even if you're not spending money, you're continuing to give time and attention to the game and its developers.

  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,848 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 14 December 2024, 15:50

    @Daredevil217
    “I’m not a software developer, but I cannot imagine that this system was easier to implement than allowing us to buy more than 5 boosts at a time.”

    I am guessing the tech to do swaps existed in game for the devs (and CS) so they could rapidly build characters for testing and what they are doing now is turning it on for players, but layering in the HP cost. CS certainly seemed to be able to rapidly do swap requests at times - for hundreds of covers or 113 or whatever. So probably this was a fairly easy thing to implement.

    I dunno about boosts and purchases. Maybe it’s an excuse not to spend time on it or maybe the spaghetti code is actually that tricky for adjusting the number of boosts you get at one time.

  • Codex
    Codex Posts: 321 Mover and Shaker

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Codex said:

    @Scofie said:

    @LavaManLee said:
    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

    I think it's more that the old stuff can't be easily changed, whereas a whole new thing is a bit easier.

    S0kun responded to a post on Reddit yesterday to say that there is a blog post about the roadmap currently going through approvals but they hope to have it out before the holidays.

    It is funny how some are still drinking the kool-aid.

    The roadmap blog is just another soon(tm), to make us feel better.

    I just hope they have increased their profit margins enough this year so that they can sell it next year. To me this year is nothing but a cash grab. Hopefully our new overlords are kinder. Wishful thinking on my part

    If you really think this, why stick around? Even if you're not spending money, you're continuing to give time and attention to the game and its developers.

    Just because I disagree with the developers, it does not mean I want to quit. I will adapt and improvise. I will probably be here until the developers decide to shut it down or I lose the ability to play the game.

    For me this is a simple match-3 game, I like the marvel comics aspects that I grew up on, I like the collecting nature, I like the pve competition aspect, I like creating personal goal within the game for me to compete against.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,968 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Daredevil217 I sure do appreciate you unblocking me just to tell me how wrong I am!

    For someone who was so completely uninterested in competition of any kind, you seem have done a total 180 on it -- now it's absolutely critical that they have some way to let players go from day 1 to top tier competitive.

    I think your example illustrates perfectly why this had to go away, though. You were able to get the best, what, 7, 8, characters in the game, fully maxed out, without spending a dime? That cannot happen in a game built around selling competitive advantage. Why would anyone spend anything, ever, when that route was available to them?

    Players will still be able to move up. They'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way -- by spending an ungodly amount of money. And they will!

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,968 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Codex said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Codex said:

    @Scofie said:

    @LavaManLee said:
    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

    I think it's more that the old stuff can't be easily changed, whereas a whole new thing is a bit easier.

    S0kun responded to a post on Reddit yesterday to say that there is a blog post about the roadmap currently going through approvals but they hope to have it out before the holidays.

    It is funny how some are still drinking the kool-aid.

    The roadmap blog is just another soon(tm), to make us feel better.

    I just hope they have increased their profit margins enough this year so that they can sell it next year. To me this year is nothing but a cash grab. Hopefully our new overlords are kinder. Wishful thinking on my part

    If you really think this, why stick around? Even if you're not spending money, you're continuing to give time and attention to the game and its developers.

    Just because I disagree with the developers, it does not mean I want to quit. I will adapt and improvise. I will probably be here until the developers decide to shut it down or I lose the ability to play the game.

    For me this is a simple match-3 game, I like the marvel comics aspects that I grew up on, I like the collecting nature, I like the pve competition aspect, I like creating personal goal within the game for me to compete against.

    I mean...I wouldn't characterize what you wrote as a "disagreement." If you think they're evil, acting in bad faith to string foolish players along, and orchestrating a "cash grab" to sell the game to potentially-more-evil new overlords, that goes well beyond disagreeing. By sticking around you're actively supporting an evil company.

  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,992 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 14 December 2024, 18:08

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 I sure do appreciate you unblocking me just to tell me how wrong I am!

    For someone who was so completely uninterested in competition of any kind, you seem have done a total 180 on it -- now it's absolutely critical that they have some way to let players go from day 1 to top tier competitive.

    I think your example illustrates perfectly why this had to go away, though. You were able to get the best, what, 7, 8, characters in the game, fully maxed out, without spending a dime? That cannot happen in a game built around selling competitive advantage. Why would anyone spend anything, ever, when that route was available to them?

    Players will still be able to move up. They'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way -- by spending an ungodly amount of money. And they will!

    Honest question, for you or anyone else. Do you think that this is going to do anything to stop free to play players from hoarding their way to 550s? I just don’t see it being that big of a deterrent. And if you do believe it, then will the complaints about free to play players stop?

    Like I said, it only punishes new players from getting the same advantages I had. They have to pay an exorbitant amount to swap those extra Namors for Chasms, when I was able to do it for free. Oh well. Sucks to be them I guess.

    Edit: I also don’t think building a hoard over almost a decade of play is unreasonable as a path to success. Players (not just you) make it seem like you can just stroll in and get 550s without putting work/time/effort into it. And “will somebody please think of the children!” My first LL hoard break was for Aunt May and I’ve been at this 3763 days. Another guy in the other thread said he’s been hoarding 6 years. Why would somebody spend when they don’t “have to”? Maybe they don’t want to grind for half a decade.

  • Codex
    Codex Posts: 321 Mover and Shaker

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Codex said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Codex said:

    @Scofie said:

    @LavaManLee said:
    We now know all those months of "Sorry, we can't help with any of your QoL asks because the game engine is too broken" is a bunch of malarky. If they could do the Cover Swap for HP addition that is 100% monetization to the game, they could do some of the QoL questions that always got the "The engine is so bad we can't do anything until is fixed" B S.

    I think it's more that the old stuff can't be easily changed, whereas a whole new thing is a bit easier.

    S0kun responded to a post on Reddit yesterday to say that there is a blog post about the roadmap currently going through approvals but they hope to have it out before the holidays.

    It is funny how some are still drinking the kool-aid.

    The roadmap blog is just another soon(tm), to make us feel better.

    I just hope they have increased their profit margins enough this year so that they can sell it next year. To me this year is nothing but a cash grab. Hopefully our new overlords are kinder. Wishful thinking on my part

    If you really think this, why stick around? Even if you're not spending money, you're continuing to give time and attention to the game and its developers.

    Just because I disagree with the developers, it does not mean I want to quit. I will adapt and improvise. I will probably be here until the developers decide to shut it down or I lose the ability to play the game.

    For me this is a simple match-3 game, I like the marvel comics aspects that I grew up on, I like the collecting nature, I like the pve competition aspect, I like creating personal goal within the game for me to compete against.

    I mean...I wouldn't characterize what you wrote as a "disagreement." If you think they're evil, acting in bad faith to string foolish players along, and orchestrating a "cash grab" to sell the game to potentially-more-evil new overlords, that goes well beyond disagreeing. By sticking around you're actively supporting an evil company.

    I do think they are acting in bad faith. I do think they are orchestring a cash grab, it is their company they can do whatever they want. But, does that mean, i cannot call it a cash grab?
    For the reasons I listed in my earlier post, I am staying. If in your mind that means I am actively supporting an evil company, then you are correct i am actively supporting an evil company.

    I also did say I hope our new overlords are kinder.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,968 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 I sure do appreciate you unblocking me just to tell me how wrong I am!

    For someone who was so completely uninterested in competition of any kind, you seem have done a total 180 on it -- now it's absolutely critical that they have some way to let players go from day 1 to top tier competitive.

    I think your example illustrates perfectly why this had to go away, though. You were able to get the best, what, 7, 8, characters in the game, fully maxed out, without spending a dime? That cannot happen in a game built around selling competitive advantage. Why would anyone spend anything, ever, when that route was available to them?

    Players will still be able to move up. They'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way -- by spending an ungodly amount of money. And they will!

    Honest question, for you or anyone else. Do you think that this is going to do anything to stop free to play players from hoarding their way to 550s? I just don’t see it being that big of a deterrent. And if you do believe it, then will the complaints about free to play players stop?

    Like I said, it only punishes new players from getting the same advantages I had. They have to pay an exorbitant amount to swap those extra Namors for Chasms, when I was able to do it for free. Oh well. Sucks to be them I guess.

    I do. It makes it more difficult/expensive and creates a higher chance of cover "waste" (a fate worse than death!).

    And really, I don't have complaints about free to play players. The game is free to play! Feel free to play it freely!

    But if you think you should be able to compete at the very top end, in the top .01% of all players, without spending, why? Why, in a game that exists only to make money, that sells competitive advantages for money, should players who spend nothing feel entitled to win everything? Because they're smarter than players who pay?

    If I run a restaurant, and I offer customers a free meal if they know a secret password, am I required to keep that deal in effect forever, even if the password is now on the internet and all my customers are getting free meals? Why would anyone ever pay for their food?

    That's what I don't get. This game is not a meritocracy and it's never pretended to be -- it's a business. You saw that the very first day you logged in, when there was a store selling covers or iso or HP for money. It's not "fair." You can't outsmart it, because you don't make the rules. Players are not in control, and if you think you've found some cool way to get a free lunch, you should expect them to take it away.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,968 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 I sure do appreciate you unblocking me just to tell me how wrong I am!

    For someone who was so completely uninterested in competition of any kind, you seem have done a total 180 on it -- now it's absolutely critical that they have some way to let players go from day 1 to top tier competitive.

    I think your example illustrates perfectly why this had to go away, though. You were able to get the best, what, 7, 8, characters in the game, fully maxed out, without spending a dime? That cannot happen in a game built around selling competitive advantage. Why would anyone spend anything, ever, when that route was available to them?

    Players will still be able to move up. They'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way -- by spending an ungodly amount of money. And they will!

    Edit: I also don’t think building a hoard over almost a decade of play is unreasonable as a path to success. Players (not just you) make it seem like you can just stroll in and get 550s without putting work/time/effort into it. And “will somebody please think of the children!” My first LL hoard break was for Aunt May and I’ve been at this 3763 days. Another guy in the other thread said he’s been hoarding 6 years. Why would somebody spend when they don’t “have to”? Maybe they don’t want to grind for half a decade.

    Where on earth did you get that idea? There's no law that says the developers need to reward a decade of "service" with competitive wins. If they choose to, great, but it's going to cost them money, and it's their prerogative to revoke that deal at any time. You're playing their game, by their rules.

    Anyway if someone's been free to play for 10 years, they got 10 years of fun for a grand total of $0. That's a pretty fantastic deal! Is there anywhere else that's available? How is that not enough?

  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,992 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 14 December 2024, 19:16

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 I sure do appreciate you unblocking me just to tell me how wrong I am!

    For someone who was so completely uninterested in competition of any kind, you seem have done a total 180 on it -- now it's absolutely critical that they have some way to let players go from day 1 to top tier competitive.

    I think your example illustrates perfectly why this had to go away, though. You were able to get the best, what, 7, 8, characters in the game, fully maxed out, without spending a dime? That cannot happen in a game built around selling competitive advantage. Why would anyone spend anything, ever, when that route was available to them?

    Players will still be able to move up. They'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way -- by spending an ungodly amount of money. And they will!

    Honest question, for you or anyone else. Do you think that this is going to do anything to stop free to play players from hoarding their way to 550s? I just don’t see it being that big of a deterrent. And if you do believe it, then will the complaints about free to play players stop?

    Like I said, it only punishes new players from getting the same advantages I had. They have to pay an exorbitant amount to swap those extra Namors for Chasms, when I was able to do it for free. Oh well. Sucks to be them I guess.

    I do. It makes it more difficult/expensive and creates a higher chance of cover "waste" (a fate worse than death!).

    And really, I don't have complaints about free to play players. The game is free to play! Feel free to play it freely!

    But if you think you should be able to compete at the very top end, in the top .01% of all players, without spending, why? Why, in a game that exists only to make money, that sells competitive advantages for money, should players who spend nothing feel entitled to win everything? Because they're smarter than players who pay?

    If I run a restaurant, and I offer customers a free meal if they know a secret password, am I required to keep that deal in effect forever, even if the password is now on the internet and all my customers are getting free meals? Why would anyone ever pay for their food?

    That's what I don't get. This game is not a meritocracy and it's never pretended to be -- it's a business. You saw that the very first day you logged in, when there was a store selling covers or iso or HP for money. It's not "fair." You can't outsmart it, because you don't make the rules. Players are not in control, and if you think you've found some cool way to get a free lunch, you should expect them to take it away.

    I disagree with both these points (shocker). You can still hoard your way to metas and avoid cover waste if you use the favorites properly. Opening at that volume it should be pretty easy to give the first character set to leave a massive cover advantage so there is zero waste. I guess we’ll see who is right here in time, but I don’t think this will make it any more/less difficult to 550 whoever I want. Like I said, it just taxes going backwards. But I already benefited and got all the competitive folks, as you pointed out.

    Another point of disagreement, is I do think it is ok for somebody to play for over five years and grind their way to the end game. I don’t think it should be pay to win only. You do. There were no free meals. People did dishes in that restaurant for 5 to 10 years in order to get that free meal. Sure they didn’t pay for a thing, but, they sure did dedicate a lot of time to be able to eat a meal a big spender could walk in and afford day 1. I have zero problems with that as a system.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,968 Chairperson of the Boards

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 I sure do appreciate you unblocking me just to tell me how wrong I am!

    For someone who was so completely uninterested in competition of any kind, you seem have done a total 180 on it -- now it's absolutely critical that they have some way to let players go from day 1 to top tier competitive.

    I think your example illustrates perfectly why this had to go away, though. You were able to get the best, what, 7, 8, characters in the game, fully maxed out, without spending a dime? That cannot happen in a game built around selling competitive advantage. Why would anyone spend anything, ever, when that route was available to them?

    Players will still be able to move up. They'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way -- by spending an ungodly amount of money. And they will!

    Honest question, for you or anyone else. Do you think that this is going to do anything to stop free to play players from hoarding their way to 550s? I just don’t see it being that big of a deterrent. And if you do believe it, then will the complaints about free to play players stop?

    Like I said, it only punishes new players from getting the same advantages I had. They have to pay an exorbitant amount to swap those extra Namors for Chasms, when I was able to do it for free. Oh well. Sucks to be them I guess.

    I do. It makes it more difficult/expensive and creates a higher chance of cover "waste" (a fate worse than death!).

    And really, I don't have complaints about free to play players. The game is free to play! Feel free to play it freely!

    But if you think you should be able to compete at the very top end, in the top .01% of all players, without spending, why? Why, in a game that exists only to make money, that sells competitive advantages for money, should players who spend nothing feel entitled to win everything? Because they're smarter than players who pay?

    If I run a restaurant, and I offer customers a free meal if they know a secret password, am I required to keep that deal in effect forever, even if the password is now on the internet and all my customers are getting free meals? Why would anyone ever pay for their food?

    That's what I don't get. This game is not a meritocracy and it's never pretended to be -- it's a business. You saw that the very first day you logged in, when there was a store selling covers or iso or HP for money. It's not "fair." You can't outsmart it, because you don't make the rules. Players are not in control, and if you think you've found some cool way to get a free lunch, you should expect them to take it away.

    I disagree with both these points (shocker). You can still hoard your way to metas and avoid cover waste if you use the favorites properly. Opening at that volume it should be pretty easy to give the first character set to leave a massive cover advantage so there is zero waste. I guess we’ll see who is right here in time, but I don’t think this will make it any more/less difficult to 550 whoever I want. Like I said, it just taxes going backwards. But I already benefited and got all the competitive folks, as you pointed out.

    Another point of disagreement, is I do think it is ok for somebody to play for over five years and grind their way to the end game. I don’t think it should be pay to win only. You do. There were no free meals. People did dishes in that restaurant for 5 to 10 years in order to get that free meal. Sure they didn’t pay for a thing, but, they sure did dedicate a lot of time to be able to eat a meal a big spender could walk in and afford day 1. I have zero problems with that as a system.

    Except they didn't "do dishes." Playing the game for free is not doing work -- it's having fun. In fact, it's getting something for free that others pay for. They spent 5 to 10 years eating free burgers, and now they think they're entitled to filet mignon.

  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,992 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 14 December 2024, 20:52

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:

    @Daredevil217 said:

    @entrailbucket said:
    @Daredevil217 I sure do appreciate you unblocking me just to tell me how wrong I am!

    For someone who was so completely uninterested in competition of any kind, you seem have done a total 180 on it -- now it's absolutely critical that they have some way to let players go from day 1 to top tier competitive.

    I think your example illustrates perfectly why this had to go away, though. You were able to get the best, what, 7, 8, characters in the game, fully maxed out, without spending a dime? That cannot happen in a game built around selling competitive advantage. Why would anyone spend anything, ever, when that route was available to them?

    Players will still be able to move up. They'll just have to do it the old-fashioned way -- by spending an ungodly amount of money. And they will!

    Honest question, for you or anyone else. Do you think that this is going to do anything to stop free to play players from hoarding their way to 550s? I just don’t see it being that big of a deterrent. And if you do believe it, then will the complaints about free to play players stop?

    Like I said, it only punishes new players from getting the same advantages I had. They have to pay an exorbitant amount to swap those extra Namors for Chasms, when I was able to do it for free. Oh well. Sucks to be them I guess.

    I do. It makes it more difficult/expensive and creates a higher chance of cover "waste" (a fate worse than death!).

    And really, I don't have complaints about free to play players. The game is free to play! Feel free to play it freely!

    But if you think you should be able to compete at the very top end, in the top .01% of all players, without spending, why? Why, in a game that exists only to make money, that sells competitive advantages for money, should players who spend nothing feel entitled to win everything? Because they're smarter than players who pay?

    If I run a restaurant, and I offer customers a free meal if they know a secret password, am I required to keep that deal in effect forever, even if the password is now on the internet and all my customers are getting free meals? Why would anyone ever pay for their food?

    That's what I don't get. This game is not a meritocracy and it's never pretended to be -- it's a business. You saw that the very first day you logged in, when there was a store selling covers or iso or HP for money. It's not "fair." You can't outsmart it, because you don't make the rules. Players are not in control, and if you think you've found some cool way to get a free lunch, you should expect them to take it away.

    I disagree with both these points (shocker). You can still hoard your way to metas and avoid cover waste if you use the favorites properly. Opening at that volume it should be pretty easy to give the first character set to leave a massive cover advantage so there is zero waste. I guess we’ll see who is right here in time, but I don’t think this will make it any more/less difficult to 550 whoever I want. Like I said, it just taxes going backwards. But I already benefited and got all the competitive folks, as you pointed out.

    Another point of disagreement, is I do think it is ok for somebody to play for over five years and grind their way to the end game. I don’t think it should be pay to win only. You do. There were no free meals. People did dishes in that restaurant for 5 to 10 years in order to get that free meal. Sure they didn’t pay for a thing, but, they sure did dedicate a lot of time to be able to eat a meal a big spender could walk in and afford day 1. I have zero problems with that as a system.

    Except they didn't "do dishes." Playing the game for free is not doing work -- it's having fun. In fact, it's getting something for free that others pay for. They spent 5 to 10 years eating free burgers, and now they think they're entitled to filet mignon.

    All things equal, I think a person who plays the game for 8 years should have an advantage over someone who plays it for 1. I think someone who plays the game optimally and is smart with resources should have an advantage over someone who doesn’t. And I think someone who spends should have an advantage over someone who doesn’t. These are not mutually exclusive. I believe there are different ways to the same destination. You seem to feel that money should be the only factor or that by spending you should be entitled to be in the 1% and a non-spender shouldn’t have a way there. I could be wrong, and I’m sure you’ll let me know if I am. But I ask what is this “competition” you want so badly? Whoever spends the most wins? It’s weird.

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