The cost of cover space

Unknown

I would favor at the very least that whenever you buy a card with HP you get that space added for free, but make it exclusive to that card. This way if you paid for HP you don't need to waste more just to add the card and if you choose to sell or use the card for training the space is lost. Makes the most sense to me.

Unknown

Very cool. Thank you for your responses, IceIX. Reading my posts back, I apologize if I came on a little strong. To clarify, I am here because I want to make MPQ (what I think would be) better. I am not here to be a problem or "bad mouth" the game. I do really love the Puzzle Quest series. I probably logged more hours in the original Puzzle Quest on Xbox 360 than probably 90% of all the major "AAA games" I bought for it. I am a huge fan of just about everything else being done in MPQ.

Unknown

AshRealms wrote:

I would favor at the very least that whenever you buy a card with HP you get that space added for free, but make it exclusive to that card. This way if you paid for HP you don't need to waste more just to add the card and if you choose to sell or use the card for training the space is lost. Makes the most sense to me.

I think this is a great idea (free cover space with HP cover character purchase) but I don't want that at the expense of reduced HP cover space costs. I've only used HP to gamble for covers 2x before I realized I needed all my ingame HP for cover slots and haven't looked back (part of why I really like the Tokens as it fulfills my desire to gamble without me using my precious HP). I've purchased ISO 3x at this point (and will make another purchase next week most likely) but just don't foresee myself purchasing HP and would be rather upset if I had to purchase some just for cover spaces. I have no problem continuing to support MPQ but I'd rather support it in ways that are fun and meaningful to me, not in ways that feel like they exist simply to be a money sink.

Maybe MPQ can add "+X free cover spaces" to some of the ISO bundles so that when I plunk down $10 or $20 or $50, I get 2 or 5 or 10 more spaces for "free" while still encouraging purchases? That'd be something I could get behind.

Unknown

IceIX wrote:

We want to see how the new economy shakes out with this relatively large change first.

I think I’m going to have to throw my hat into the “not likely to spend USD until the price for cover slots goes down” category.

As it stands now, by the 6th slot, you’re paying just as much for the proverbial mylar bag as you are for the Common cover...and by the 21st cover, said bag actually costs more than a Heroic cover.

Call me crazy, but something is wrong with that picture...

Unknown

Well it's easy to simply pay back users who bought cover space all or a portion the coins they spent to buy it. Simple math

I think it eventually has to change. Or people simply won't be able to afford them anymore.

Unknown

Hello, IceIX.

Your original response was more or less, "it could change in the future." I know it's only been about two weeks since I voiced my concerns, but I feel like I really need to know how the cover slots system is being viewed right now by D3. Can you give an official explanation on why the cover slot system is the way it is? Why are you using an increasing cost per slot system?

New information has been discovered in a different thread, so I have some new questions as well.
- Is the 40 cover slot maximum the permanent maximum?
- Will the game ever have more than 40 characters?
Essentially, I'm trying to confirm that MPQ does agree and/or understand that (a majority of?) players will want a "full roster" of available characters and that MPQ intends to allow that to happen. If the answer is "no", then part of my issue will be resolved, just not in the way I would have hoped.

I would really appreciate it if you could "explain like I'm 5" why it is fair that the cover slots cost more as you unlock more. I simply don't understand how and why it is okay. To clarify, I'm not saying that in a rude way. I truly don't understand and I need it explained. If I can understand the reasoning a little more, maybe I will change my mind. If you are unable/unwilling to give me this information due to some sort of company policy or something, I understand. If that's the case, could you simply let me know that D3 views the current system as fair and that there are no plans to implement any changes? That way I can stop hoping/waiting for a change and I can "move on". Meaning, I can figure out how I want to play MPQ with these limitations to my particular play-style preferences.

The more I play, the more stressful this is getting to deal with. It shouldn't make me so unhappy that I have two different versions of Magneto as of this minute, but it does.

Why does it make me unhappy and stressed out?
- 20/21 slots are filled with unique characters, and I need that slot open for upgrading non-maxed characters, because I can't upgrade from cache
- Both Magnetos are currently in the cache, and I only have 125 Hero Points. I need 200 Hero Points per slot now
- I've already collected 95% of the Hero Points from the prologue (1 or 2 left, MAYBE)
- Not sure if it is will be possible for me to get the 75 Hero Points I need in the 6 days I have left to do so
- Even if I do, I will be worse off for a bit, because I will have no extra slot open to upgrade, if I get a card I need to use

The game is beginning to seem a lot like a grind. Since I started playing a month ago, there has never been a point where I haven't NEEDED to unlock the next slot. I have always had a card in my cache that was going to expire, that I had to race the clock to keep. It's getting tiring. As I believe I mentioned before, I was 100% prepared to drop money to relieve some of that stress, until I discovered that the cost increased over time.

On a related note, it is exceptionally poor design that you do not inform the players that the cover slot costs go up as you get more. Nowhere does it tell you this. I think that is actually a bigger problem than anything else. To explain...

Hypothetical: I am a two-week old player that has 8 cover slots or so. I spent all my free/prologue/etc. HP on leveling and/or pulling cards. I have realized the error of my ways and decide I need to unlock more cover slots. I check the screen and realize I need 100 Hero Points to unlock a new cover slot. "Sweet, I just got paid," I say to myself. "100 Hero Points is only $1.00. That means I can drop $20 to get 20 cover slots! What a great way to spend my money!," I think. I am not going to be very happy when I find out after giving you my money that $20 will only give me 10 or so slots. My money was worth half of what I thought it was, and there was nothing I could have done to know that beforehand. To a "normal person" like me, that seems to skirt the line of "false advertising."

Unknown

We should all just have unlimited cover space and be refunded all of the HP we spent expanding

Unknown

agreed the cost of space should not increase for sure. even though i'm also of the opinion that cover space should not cost HP, i probably would be persuaded to pay 50 or 100hp per cover slots. 200hp is starting to get pretty ridiculous especially as more and more characters are released.

Unknown

But if you take a look this way it's not that bad: There is always a 100 HP progression reward in every tournament and it's also every time quite reachable for f2p people (I'm one myself and always got the reward, 1 time also the 500 HP as bonus). There are usually 2 tournaments a week so it's 200 HP every week (without factoring in the occasional 50 HP daily reward). On the other hand they don't release one character a week, I think at the pace at the moment it's more like 1,5 weeks for a new hero. So if this pace continues you will have no problem until you reach the 35 cover slot where you have to pay 350 HP the first time. But if it comes this way I think you will have found enough oppurtunities to get some extra HP until then. So I don't see a real problem in the long run, only at the start it can be a bit problematic

IceIX

bingoclamshell wrote:

IceIX, is speaking with you a confirmation that "the powers that be" have seen my concern? ...or are you the "powers that be?" I'm a little unclear on that. I know this is the "suggestions and feedback" section, but I am wondering if I should also use the form inside the app to voice my concern? I don't want to repeat the same complaint if you have already "sent it in" or whatever. Because, if there is one thing from my concern that I actually view to be "unfair" to the player (for lack of a better term) and not just a "player preference", it the sliding scale. And I think it should be looked into ASAP, before the masses all have 50+ cover spaces.

Sending in a ticket is another way to make yourself known. Both avenues are effective. Every single post in this forum and its subforums are read by CS and the devs, so everyone is aware of where people are putting their energy in regards to likes and dislikes of any given system, especially since we can actually discuss things in this area. Tickets through the feedback form is also helpful since there are *many* users that will never step foot in these forums and we can gauge the height of the tide fairly easily based off volume on any issue there. So both methods are useful.

Unknown

iirc, it gets to 500 HP by the time you reach 40 slots. I can't verify since I don't have the option to purchase more slots.

Spoit

bingoclamshell wrote:

Why does it make me unhappy and stressed out?
- 20/21 slots are filled with unique characters, and I need that slot open for upgrading non-maxed characters, because I can't upgrade from cache
- Both Magnetos are currently in the cache, and I only have 125 Hero Points. I need 200 Hero Points per slot now

Wait, it only costs you 200 Hero points for the 22nd slot? I'm at 16 and it wants 250 for slot 17! I'd be more than willing to toss actual money for slots, but when $5 probably wouldn't even get me 2? No way in hell

Unknown

The cost of cover space increased again today? I was most displeased to grind the 200 HP to increase to 21 slots, only to find that sometime during that grind the cost had increased by 50%.
Spending HP on cover pulls is pointless if I have no place to put them; devaluing Hero Points makes me less inclined to buy them, not the other way around.

Unknown

I've just checked and yes the cost has gone up for me too.

Thirstyguts wrote:

Spending HP on cover pulls is pointless if I have no place to put them; devaluing Hero Points makes me less inclined to buy them, not the other way around.

Same here, the cost of a cover space for me is now £1.50 worth of HP, lol nope.

Unknown

It also seems like winning HP is harder now as well. There is the addition of the 500 HP at 1200 points in the Thor tournament, but they took out the smaller low level amounts. They are nonexistant in the lightning rounds unless you get first or second place. That's a pretty tall order. Maybe they are prepping for more PvE where you can grind more HP or even cover spots. If so, we'll need to see how it plays out, but the initial reaction is .

Nemek

It would be pretty odd of them to take one of the larger complaints on this board and then go and make it worse. I suspect (well, hope) that we'll be seeing some of the previously talked about cover slot tokens in exchange. Hopefully with the next PvE event.

Unknown

i bought a cover slot and noticed 100 hp more out of my stock of hp.

then came to post about it being a bug then realized its an actualy price change hahaha

Unknown

Blue Shoes wrote:

Maybe they are prepping for more PvE where you can grind more HP or even cover spots. If so, we'll need to see how it plays out, but the initial reaction is .

Word up.

I've been getting garbage pulls lately, so I'm good to let them rot in my cache for a week - plenty of time for any number of things to change before I really have to care. I'll just stockpile my tokens and HP in the meantime.

Unknown

I had just gotten enough to buy my next slot, but waited since I didn't think it was a big deal to do it the next day (as I wanted my slots to be full so that my new token covers would appear in the cache and then I could choose which to pull in).

Now I cannot afford the next slot. Also, I just hope I had bought enough of the higher cost ones to make up for all the lower cost ones that I bought at a higher cost to make up for it.

But, I am growing uncertain about everything now.

I like to have one of each character (not leveling them all though), and that is going to be quite expensive now.

I'm in the lower 20s right now, so that makes it 300 ($3) per slot. (used to be 200 - so went up by 50%).

I was wondering how exactly how it has changed. What was the cost of the lower levels for instance?

I know that the old way it went up 50 HP per every 5 levels.

I haven't spent much (real) money on the game yet, but the money I spent I spent on cover slots. I'm not sure I can get myself to spend that much per slot. I don't even want to think about what the upper 30s cost.

I was finally looking forward to maybe trying to buy a cover or two.

I'm just really disappointed that everything is going to cost so much more, even more so because I am unsure if I'll allow myself to buy HP anymore.

Unknown

IceIX. I posted again on this thread on November 11th with new questions, requesting a response. You responded later that day, but you responded to my post from October 30th. One you had already responded to. I don't know what is going on with that. An honest mistake, I'm hoping. Either way, I'm pretty upset about that, but more on that later...

So, as I mentioned... the cost of cover space increased today. Obviously, this makes me quite unhappy.

Current (updated) situation:
22/22 cover slots filled, all with unique characters
I currently have 75 Hero Points
Magneto Classic in cache (...now at 4 days until expiration)
Next Slot Cost: 300 Hero Points! (OUCH! ...was 200)

There is only one way at this point I will be able to recruit that Magneto, not to mention unlock ANOTHER slot to allow the ability to upgrade (A whole separate issue you really need to fix, especially now with the increase). I am going to have to give you money. As I have stated several times at this point, I am 100% fine with that idea in theory.

I'm going to pull over the most important information that you gave in the "Patch Notes - 11/13 Discussion" thread (http://www.d3pforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=651)

IceIX wrote:

...and push those that are playing for a bit to do one of two things (or both). One is to play in all the various events we've got running and have planned... ...The other route of course, is to monetize which is definitely a plus for us as a business...

I want to keep playing and I want to give you money, I really do. With the price increase to cover slots, obviously the way I am viewing them must be incorrect. I am willing to accept that if I can just get some details as to how and why the system is the way it is. I don't want to repeat myself, my previous posts accurately describe how the system is currently viewed by players such as myself.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that I have played in all the various events, getting all of the Hero Points rewards that I believe obtainable by someone of my level. As I mentioned, I have 100% of the time been in need of HP with a card sitting in my cache to expire. I was already struggling severely. The "typical player" experience you describe is not an accurate account of my experience (a "typical player", I would think?). I don't understand how the increase to cover slot space would make it any better.

IceIX, getting back to my note at the begginging of the post, my goal here is not to target you, but you are essentially the "face of customer service" for your company, and I am very dissatisfied with your customer service. I don't frequent the board as much as others, but I have noticed that you run it pretty much single-handedly. Even with that in mind, I am disappointed that you did not respond to the correct post. If you had explained the "price increases" on cover slots in a way I could have understood 2 days ago, I would have bought the cover slots two days ago. Now, even if I do understand and agree to whatever explanation you may give me, I now still have to suffer a price increase because of your poor forum support.