Disabled PVP Supports

@DAZ0273 said:
If you want to encourage players of all types to want to do better in PvP (or even play it) you have to improve the rewards. How many battles do you have to get through for a 3* cover? Quite frankly that needs fixing long before we worry about Supports which lower players are not likely to have or at significant ranks. PvP rewards are so outdated it is ridiculous and yet we have Seasons set around them like they are supposed to be the central point of MPQ.

Since ascension hit, I'm doing PvP mainly for the 1* covers!

@bluewolf said:
I totally agree but I suspect asking them to customize scores for different SCL’s is a large ask right now.

It’s funny? Sad? that the 4 tier is so huge that many times a casual/new player doesn’t even want covers for the person in rewards because they can’t roster them.

Maybe an answer is giving you a free roster slot a week if you’re under a certain level or something. Or everyone gets to pick between a slot or 3 Mighties. Or once a week you get an offer for 300 hp for that choice.

Why couldn't they roster them? They pay $5 or whatever and buy roster slots...that's literally this game's business model, and how they've survived for this long. It's why dilution and essentials are a feature and not a bug.

Not everyone is so reluctant to spend any money (thankfully!), and they're not asking for $100 at a time.

@bbigler said:
Well this topic derailed quickly from my little comment. I was merely commenting on the seemingly pointless endeavor of playing the game. But there is a point to playing (I must admit) and it varies from person to person. Here's my list of why I think people play and some are willing to spend money on it too:

1. They like the simple color puzzle of matching and then using powers to win. This is a casual player that just uses the game to pass the time.
2. They like certain characters and enjoy seeing their animations and sounds. They just want a fun team to play and are casual.
3. They like collecting everyone and leveling them up, even if they don't use them. Their enjoyment comes from the constant roster progression, so they may grind away for rewards.
4. They like trying new teams and discovering new combos. Their enjoyment comes from inventing something new and seeing it work. Variety is key here.
5. They like ranking high and beating their personal best scores. They are competitive but also compete against themselves. They want to be a "top dog" and their enjoyment comes from outperforming others, so they sacrifice variety for performance.

What am I? I'm some combination of 3, 4 and 5. I am competitive but I also enjoy variety and discovery; I enjoy building out my roster and will grind for it, but mostly for the rewards to build stronger teams. I also enjoy progressing faster than others, but that takes some hard core playing. This is why I've restarted my roster, twice. My current roster is on day 563 and it's comparatively very strong and keeps getting stronger.

So when I talk about goals in the game, those goals could be event ranking or roster building or character / support leveling or just building and finding new killer teams. That last one is subjective, of course.

These types of discussions always remind me of this (and it's not 1 to 1 -- different games, after all -- but I think it's not that far off!):

https://magic.wizards.com/en/news/making-magic/timmy-johnny-and-spike-2013-12-03

@bbigler said:
I despised the players that simply copied the latest top deck, which required no skill or thinking to create. I had fun making new decks and playing them with my friends. It wasn't necessarily about winning, it was about making something yourself and seeing it work.

In a broad sense you've just described the difference between strategy and tactics.

Strategy = building / creating new decks (creating new strategies)
Tactics = playing the game with the decks (playing out the strategy)

Many players in a lot of games are happy with tactics and don't care that much for the overall strategy part of things.

KGB

I see no change. Lots of Polaris Thor up to 500 and now a wall of Sam and juggs. All that’s changed is the supports.

I found that with these overpowered supports taken out, it has added to the rock, paper, scissors style of teams in pvp. More chance of having a team capable of getting a win (but it may not be best for defence).

@LavaManLee said:
There are a lot more Polaris/MT than I used to see. Essentially, MT now has the "extra turn" with her powers that Sam/Juggs no longer has.

That's interesting, and not quite what I expected to see.

I suppose it makes sense though -- many players are philosophically opposed to using boosted characters, and teams that play the game for you have always been popular.

That team gets significantly worse without Leapfrog though. It remains a pretty fast clock, but Polaris still only has 150k health and now she can't hide.

@GrimSkald said:
Juggs/Sam is the dominant team in the Lightning Rounds, where there are still no supports, so it's not surprising to see them so popular in PVP -- particularly on a week where the boosted 5*s are lackluster. The Thanos Copter only exacerbated an existing problem - if that team gets a cascade it will eat your lunch. Even if it doesn't, it's averaging more damage than other teams for the most part.

We may get a clearer view on a better week. Weirdly enough, the Leapfrog and Fantasticar both mitigated that team, at least for a turn or two - the leapfrog was usually enough to stop the team from destroying you in a single turn.

The MPQ metagame definitely takes awhile to settle. When supports first showed up it was chaos as people figured out what to do.

@entrailbucket said:

@LavaManLee said:
There are a lot more Polaris/MT than I used to see. Essentially, MT now has the "extra turn" with her powers that Sam/Juggs no longer has.

That's interesting, and not quite what I expected to see.

I suppose it makes sense though -- many players are philosophically opposed to using boosted characters, and teams that play the game for you have always been popular.

That team gets significantly worse without Leapfrog though. It remains a pretty fast clock, but Polaris still only has 150k health and now she can't hide.

It actually doesn't get worse. The damage that MT/Polaris can do with cascade after cascade more than mitigates the 150k health. Assuming you are trying to beat them with Sam/Juggs. With a different team, that might be fine. But Sam/Juggs is nowhere near is dominant as it was.