How long does MPQ have left?

Zalasta · 9 March 2025, 21:39

The game is so stagnant, I’ve also been thinking about quitting for some time now. Part of what keeps me here is escalation of commitment and hope for the long overdue new engine. I’m keeping up with all of their LL right now, but if I drop out, I know that I’ll never dome back. Hoping that they turn things around soon.

astrp312 · 10 March 2025, 22:02

Looking at the data that was posted, I'm not seeing a huge drop in revenue except for the last two months. Is THAT what people are trying to explain? If so, could it just be that the data for those two months is incomplete because they're the two most recent months? If we're just trying to explain the last two months, I'm not sure the explanations offered make sense. Did people suddenly get tired of ascension after a year in January or of the meta after multiple years?

As a semi-newbie (see below), it seems to me that the people on the forums (or at least those who post) are skewed toward experienced, high-level players and that I didn't think the offered explanations made much sense for newbie or casual players (I doubt whether many such players care about ascension or the meta or even know what either one of them is). Then I noticed that the number of downloads doesn't seem to have declined, just the revenues, so maybe attracting new players isn't the issue.

I was also going to suggest that maybe the seeming flagging interest in MCU was a factor, but other fairly recent Marvel games like Snap and Rivals seem to do OK.

My story (skip if not interested): I played MPQ for about 2.5 years back about 7-8 years ago (roughly late 2016-early 2019). I then sold my entire roster (you read that right) and quit playing. I started playing again around late December 2024 (mainly because playing the board/card game Marvel Champions spurred my interest in all things Marvel). I also picked back up on Marvel Strike Force and Marvel Future Flight. I quickly lost interest in both of those games and dropped them again, but I am still loving MPQ and have no plans to stop anytime soon.

None of the aforementioned issues bother me (though maybe they will when I get to higher levels). Then again, I never cared about finishing first in PVP, like many other seem to (otherwise, I find it hard to explain the ratio between the level at vitriol directed at certain changes and the changes themselves).

As I mentioned, I did quit the game once before and even sold my entire roster, but I think the reason I did was because I was spending too much time on the game (I sold my roster so that I wouldn't be tempted to pick it back up). True, I had over 9 million ISO and I don't remember how much HP (which I completely wasted on things besides roster slots because I'd forgotten how the game works and foolishly thought I had enough slots).

But I also have a Steam account that was on day 2 (sadly, not day 1, so I never did get to play that Muir Woods scenario) and I played on that account for a while - mainly so I could go back through the campaign. The main things that bothered me on that account were that the campaign was boring (might've been different if I were a true newbie) and the roster slots issue (though I didn't grind on that account).

slidecage · 11 March 2025, 20:42

Still waiting for the day we can merger accounts. Waiting at doctor office I had to make a whole new account on phone since I play on steam

TheXMan · 11 March 2025, 21:30

@slidecage said:
Still waiting for the day we can merger accounts. Waiting at doctor office I had to make a whole new account on phone since I play on steam

I mentioned this before... customer support can do this. Have you put in a ticket and asked? See question 19 - https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/90918/mpq-developer-q-a-august-2024-answers/p1

Zarqa · 11 March 2025, 21:49

@slidecage WTH?! So many (so many!) people have told you how to merge accounts, me included. It’s starting to get more than a little annoying to be honest.

However, I will give it one last go. Please see this post and the link with it: https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/comment/1047597#Comment_1047597

AdeptusRevolt · 11 March 2025, 22:54

@slidecage said:
Still waiting for the day we can merger accounts. Waiting at doctor office I had to make a whole new account on phone since I play on steam

sounds familiar

Codex · 11 March 2025, 23:09

@slidecage said:
Still waiting for the day we can merger accounts. Waiting at doctor office I had to make a whole new account on phone since I play on steam

Someone is working on their comment count for next years forum appreciation stone. Aswell as furthering discourse. Well done sir.

astrp312 · 12 March 2025, 02:57

I was going to mention that one other thing that may or may not indicate flagging interest in the game is the # of players I've been seeing in my PVE shards. I always sign up well in advance of the start time and I've yet to come close to having 1,000 players in my shard. For the current Deadpool vs. MPQ , my shard has a measly 218 players. True, I'm in the 10 PM Central time slot, which is a factor. Last event, I was in the 7 PM shard and had like 564 players, but it still wasn't close to full. I may be misremembering, but I seem to recall that back when I used to play (ca 7 years ago), my shards almost always had 1,000 players when I signed up early. I realize that you can get put in a "leftovers" shard even if you sign up early, but the fact that every PVE I've played in has had way less than 1,000 players makes me think that it's because that's all the players who signed up for that shard. How long has it been like this (as I said, I only picked the game back up in December)? Am I wrong that shards used to be full? Am I wrong about the max size being 1,000 players? Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum already.

will7612 · 12 March 2025, 03:09

@astrp312 said:
I was going to mention that one other thing that may or may not indicate flagging interest in the game is the # of players I've been seeing in my PVE shards. I always sign up well in advance of the start time and I've yet to come close to having 1,000 players in my shard. For the current Deadpool vs. MPQ , my shard has a measly 218 players. True, I'm in the 10 PM Central time slot, which is a factor. Last event, I was in the 7 PM shard and had like 564 players, but it still wasn't close to full. I may be misremembering, but I seem to recall that back when I used to play (ca 7 years ago), my shards almost always had 1,000 players when I signed up early. I realize that you can get put in a "leftovers" shard even if you sign up early, but the fact that every PVE I've played in has had way less than 1,000 players makes me think that it's because that's all the players who signed up for that shard. How long has it been like this (as I said, I only picked the game back up in December)? Am I wrong that shards used to be full? Am I wrong about the max size being 1,000 players? Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum already.

I would also add, I have been joining PVE late, like 800+, and having a quick ride, end up around 300
Which leads me to think many players just sign up and don't come back

meteor0905 · 12 March 2025, 03:49

Note : I'm not heavy spender relativly

if you keep tracking you will know the maths (at lease for yourself)
And I will NOT buy VIP anymore

I know that my game fundinflg go downward from ~350-400 USD to "why I need to spend" if it's no more fun

SuperCarrot · 12 March 2025, 04:34

Does anyone know if some of the peak months listed had particularly good vaults?

Scofie · 12 March 2025, 08:13

@astrp312 said:
I was going to mention that one other thing that may or may not indicate flagging interest in the game is the # of players I've been seeing in my PVE shards. I always sign up well in advance of the start time and I've yet to come close to having 1,000 players in my shard. For the current Deadpool vs. MPQ , my shard has a measly 218 players. True, I'm in the 10 PM Central time slot, which is a factor. Last event, I was in the 7 PM shard and had like 564 players, but it still wasn't close to full. I may be misremembering, but I seem to recall that back when I used to play (ca 7 years ago), my shards almost always had 1,000 players when I signed up early. I realize that you can get put in a "leftovers" shard even if you sign up early, but the fact that every PVE I've played in has had way less than 1,000 players makes me think that it's because that's all the players who signed up for that shard. How long has it been like this (as I said, I only picked the game back up in December)? Am I wrong that shards used to be full? Am I wrong about the max size being 1,000 players? Sorry if this has been discussed ad nauseum already.

Hi and welcome back! Were there SCLs the last time you were playing (SHIELD Clearance Levels)? The numbers in those fluctuate pretty wildly. SCL10 in slice 3 flips twice normally, so between 2000 - 3000 players. Slice 4 flips at least once, maybe twice but I pay less attention to that one. I can't remember the exact split of players, but I think SCL10 has between 30-40% of players in it (though I could be making that up).

astrp312 · 12 March 2025, 13:37

@Scofie said:

Hi and welcome back! Were there SCLs the last time you were playing (SHIELD Clearance Levels)? The numbers in those fluctuate pretty wildly. SCL10 in slice 3 flips twice normally, so between 2000 - 3000 players. Slice 4 flips at least once, maybe twice but I pay less attention to that one. I can't remember the exact split of players, but I think SCL10 has between 30-40% of players in it (though I could be making that up).

I'm pretty sure they had SCLs for PVE last time I played. I remember "hopping" (or whatever they call it when you join late hoping to get a small slice) being a thing - though maybe it was just for PVP. I don't remember what SCL I used to play in, but my highest character was a level 305 4-star, so it probably wasn't SCL 10. As I mentioned, I sold my entire roster back then and had to start over from scratch (except for the ISO and HP). I've been playing in SCL 7 or 8 this time around (I accidentally signed up for 10 for my second PVE - it didn't go well). Maybe that explains the low #s. Maybe nobody plays in 7 or 8. If so, it could be either a) a lot more players play in SCL 10 and not the lower levels, b) a lot of players play in lower or higher levels, but relatively few play in the middle levels, or c) something else. If it's a), it indicates that the game is mostly being played by veteran players, which doesn't seem to bode well for the game's future. If it's b), the situation looks much better. I just tried joining Deadpool vs MPQ on my beginner account at SCL 1 and there were 550-ish players. Not sure if it had flipped, but if so, that would be a very good sign. I'll try pre-signing up for the next one at SCL 1 on that account and see what happens.

Frankly, when I decided to get back into the game, I was kind of shocked it was still around (an 11-year old match-three game???). It's always been MY favorite Marvel mobile game, but even back in the day, I got the impression that it was kind of the red-headed stepchild of Marvel mobile games. The "cool" kids were playing Strike Force, Contest of Champions, etc. (today maybe it would be Snap or, on Steam, Rivals). It was even kind of mocked on Conan for being a Bejeweled ripoff.

Warbringa · 13 March 2025, 01:58

As a long time player vet with a handful of 550s, I would love to spend money but most of their offers just don't make sense for me to buy. Why would I drop $10 or $40 on an offer that doesn't really help my roster at any perceptible level? I imagine a lot of newer rosters are left with the same question. I do think supports in PvP have hurt the game in some respect and worse, supports are the only resource they rarely offer you the chance to buy. I mean turn 0 combos are the largest example of this. I do buy VIP now once it dropped to 4.99 just to support the game but even VIP doesn't really do much for my roster. Rarely I may buy a costume or HP deal too just to support the game. Monetarily, they need to offer way better deals for newer players to start new revenue sources. Maybe the new engine will allow selective offers that offer lots more benefits to new rosters based (for example Offer A for $X if you have less than 100 days of play etc. or by Shield Rank or some roster level metric) If a new player wants to spend $100 one time buy to start, why not give them 1000000 iso, 50000 HP, a few full covered 3* and 4* and 100 Classic Tokens? I mean $100 is more than what many gamers spend on AAA games with DLC. Offer a deal slightly less than 50% of those resources for $50. Then offer additional weekly buys for $25 that feed them those resources at higher levels. I am not worried about F2P players. By definition they add little monetary value to the game other than bodies. If you pay $100 or $50 at at time you should jump far ahead of F2P quickly. This comes from a player that has gone long stretches without spending money in the game in the past. They could also offer veteran rosters different deals that their rosters may feel is more worthwhile to spend money on. As a long-time veteran, I don't really care if new players can ascend a lot faster, especially if they choose to spend money. There are only a small number of players who do care and it those who place high in placement and there aren't many of those. I imagine most of them don't even spend much money, why would they? They are already rich and get richer with every event they place high. The longevity and health of the game will be better off by opening up the tap and making purchase worthwhile for nearly everyone. If the top 2% are peeved and want to leave, I think their revenue would be more than offset by the spending you would see from more casual players if they did it correctly. There will then be a new top 2% who take their place. As someone with a business background, I think they have greatly mismanaged the monetary aspect of the game. As a gamer, I believe that they have mismanaged the games balance as well. Hopefully the new engine allows them to address both of these issues and perhaps even add completely new game modes even to add new life to it (for example allowing more alliance interaction and cooperative events?)

NMANOZ1 · 13 March 2025, 09:19

I do think this new engine is all or nothing for them. It is hard when a game has been out for over 10 years to attract new players. Not many free to play games last that long unless it is backed by a large company or makes insane amounts of money (such as Fortnite and Candy Crush).

I think most people are like me and if they look for a new free to play game, they most likely will look at the most popular games or recently released. The biggest barrier is being able to make enough progress in the game without having to play many years. This game unfortunately has been very unfriendly to new players in this regard, it has never changed.

The currency has always been an issue. Crazy to think Stark Salary and Mother Lode amount is the same after so many year and in my case, the most expensive it ever has been ($148.67 AU). The fact that they do sales of up to 900% on top of this shows how dated the values are.

There is still no targeted quick sales for each player to encourage impulse spending like Candy Crush does, it took years to even have daily sales. There is so much potential revenue being wasted by having a simple sale which is the same for everyone even though everyone's roster requirements and level are different. Hopefully the new engine allows for a personalised experince for each player.

Zalasta · 13 March 2025, 11:51

I agree about the new engine, and it had better bring positive changes from day one. It will fail if they’re like now we have the engine we need and you’ll start seeing changes and new events in 6-12 months.

PiMacleod · 13 March 2025, 13:59

hi. been a minute since I've been around. I see things haven't really changed TOO much... isn't there always some talk of MPQ coming to an end sometime soon? TM.

I think its interesting, regarding the supports giving all of these free APs, invis tiles, and other fun stuff -- and then there's first turn stuns, big boosters, and all of the other giants within everyones rosters. Yep. Big time stuff. Turn 1 wins.

...but isn't that part of Sidewinder's charm? The big boost... and yet... he can send each ally (and himself) away once per fight, extending the fight? And now HobbyGobby, with his decoy, saves him from a hit... That's two in a row, right there, characters coming in with safety net precautions.

I see more of that in the future. More safety nets. More barriers to get past before winning -- more things to "stun" first, or "away", or whatever. Characters with passives that say "enemy damage is reduced by x%", just blanketing and ruining this stuff, forcing more stunners or whatnot.

And that's not even to talk about the new engine. This new engine -- it might change a LOT of stuff. Maybe I'm naive, but if we're talking about a 11+ year old game, I would not be surprised in the least if the entire RULES of the game got changed. New status effects, number rebalances everywhere, who knows?! Yeah, they say its just an engine, but the whole point of the engine was to be able to make changes to stuff that they said was already too difficult to change -- make it accessible to the devs. Well... who's to say that BIG SWEEPING changes aren't in store? ESPECIALLY if the game is failing, and they're looking to make some sort of change so that the game isnt 'stagnant' with Chasm/Mbaku/May/leapfrog/goldenoldie/emma/krakoa/inserteverymetathinghere....

I mean - if the chips are TRULY down... why not make sweeping changes, if you're already losing profits? I highly doubt the engine is just a fresh coat of paint with a new chat system... this is more about the ability to change the rules/numbers, and who knows what that means for the game we know today. I'm here to just log the Shield Login rewards as it goes forward... ;P

BriMan2222 · 13 March 2025, 20:27

They couldn't even bother to get a picture of the correct spider man in their sales ad. Clearly a sign that the game is about to die.

PiMacleod · 13 March 2025, 20:44

@BriMan2222 said:

They couldn't even bother to get a picture of the correct spider man in their sales ad. Clearly a sign that the game is about to die.

Okay... that's pretty funny, all considered....

bluewolf · 14 March 2025, 20:46

@SuperCarrot said:
Does anyone know if some of the peak months listed had particularly good vaults?

October seems to have always been a peak month, as it has good vaults and I think people have a mindset to spend around then (usually good offers too).

Over the past year and change the two big months after October 2023 were December 2023, when we had December Deals and March 2024 when we had the Madness of March vault which I believe ran for most of the month. (Sadly, it's not been seen yet this year).

They had some decent vaults which were run for shorter times in June 2024 but nothing much seems to have happened. We did have a December Deals vault in Dec 2024 which might be why spending seems to have gone up a bit then compared to the months before and after.

IMO the good vaults have had diminishing returns because the biggest spenders have maxed out the meta 5s and are swimming in roster slots and ascension, as it has become more pervasive among more players, results in it being fairly easy to accumulate HP and save it for when a vault comes along.

Hence (?) we have the pay-for-swaps scheme now in place to attempt to give players a reason to buy HP again after (theoretically) using gobs of it for swapping to your favored characters.

How long does MPQ have left?

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