Now TOO easy to get 2*'s

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yogi_
yogi_ Posts: 1,236 Chairperson of the Boards
edited June 2014 in MPQ General Discussion
Continuing on my roll of thoughts about things.

Devs, cut back an avenue of 2* cover availability. They are now almost too easy to get from here, there and everywhere and only makes the long crawl to get enough covers for 3* characters even more apparent.

And work out what to do about the 1*s availability. They fall like rain and really it's a waste of time for any outside of the early first time player. Heck, put more in the prolouge if you need but you need to cut them back somewhere too.

Thankyou.

Edit: Just to clarify a few people's concerns, I am only suggesting a slight reduction in the physical droppings of lower level covers. The availability of SO many 2*s covers now, has really made the jump from 1* - 2* cover levels almost too easy, compared to the 2* - 3* cover levels, which is significantly more challenging.

As is suggested below, why are you going to bother much with the 1*s, if you can get 2*s so quickly. Building up a set of level characters should be a satisfying achievment and accomplishment. Almost like the game is now 2 stages - a sort of 1*/2* gather as you get into the game, then the long haul to 3*'s; rather than the 4 stages that theoretically the cover levels exist for.

It's just about finding the balance, which I now think is slightly off. Not terribly, but just could do with a tweak to somewhere between how it used to be and now.

I'm slowly working on an idea or two for a reclassification of covers, so if I come up with anything useful, I'll let you know.

Comments

  • HairyDave
    HairyDave Posts: 1,574
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    How about no.

    I may not need the covers but the extra ISO from selling them all is certainly welcome.
  • yogi_
    yogi_ Posts: 1,236 Chairperson of the Boards
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    So, just replace with ISO.

    I am only talking about a slight reduction in the physical droppings of lower level covers not a reduction in the overall gain of everything else.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    The iso is irrelevent because it's designed to average out to be around 105 so if you don't get the covers you'd either get 140 iso more often or they could replace it with a 250 iso.

    I think the 2*s are too easy to get but since the game seems to be all about collecting 3*s, I guess they want everyone to at least start off with maxed 2*s given time. I'd think it'll make more sense to add 2*s to the story mode nodes as opposed to just beating up seed team repeatedly to get all the covers you need. It's certainly a lot more challenging to beat most of the later story mode nodes compared to seed teams or even early opponents in PvP. I remember Yelena + 2 Muscles was absolutely brutal, because it's pretty much any Threaten = game over and you don't have the right skills to destroy the CD tiles at all at that point.
  • over_clocked
    over_clocked Posts: 3,961
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    Phantron wrote:
    The iso is irrelevent because it's designed to average out to be around 105 so if you don't get the covers you'd either get 140 iso more often or they could replace it with a 250 iso.
    Btw 250 ISO does drop in Versus, too. Quite rarely but still.
    Phantron wrote:
    I remember Yelena + 2 Muscles was absolutely brutal, because it's pretty much any Threaten = game over and you don't have the right skills to destroy the CD tiles at all at that point.
    Oh? Chawkeye wants a word with you.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    The problem isn't the frequency of 2* drops. The problem is the quantity if 2* Characters.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Thing is, it's pretty difficult to get started on getting 3 stars before you get 2 stars. At least with a couple maxed 2 stars you can place decently in PVP.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    yogi_ wrote:
    Continuing on my roll of thoughts about things.

    Devs, cut back an avenue of 2* cover availability. They are now almost too easy to get from here, there and everywhere and only makes the long crawl to get enough covers for 3* characters even more apparent.

    And work out what to do about the 1*s availability. They fall like rain and really it's a waste of time for any outside of the early first time player. Heck, put more in the prolouge if you need but you need to cut them back somewhere too.

    Thankyou.

    But.... why?

    You're not giving any reasons as to WHY they need to cut back on giving 2* covers out.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    I'm pretty sure plenty of new players are grateful they can build characters this way.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    Jkells wrote:
    yogi_ wrote:
    Continuing on my roll of thoughts about things.

    Devs, cut back an avenue of 2* cover availability. They are now almost too easy to get from here, there and everywhere and only makes the long crawl to get enough covers for 3* characters even more apparent.

    And work out what to do about the 1*s availability. They fall like rain and really it's a waste of time for any outside of the early first time player. Heck, put more in the prolouge if you need but you need to cut them back somewhere too.

    Thankyou.

    But.... why?

    You're not giving any reasons as to WHY they need to cut back on giving 2* covers out.


    Its a pretty easy logical jump - the "Why" is because the 1*->2* transition is too fast. It is become so fast that there is little reason to even have a full 1* stage, you can just start jumping into building 2* characters before you even have a single maxed 1*. Let people work a bit more to earn the covers (not too much, just a bit), give real value to characters an make the rewards worth something. Its the opposite problem they have right now with the 2*->3* transition.


    I agree with the OP, but I dont think it needs a major overhaul, just a slight tuning down.
  • Unknown
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    kermitk50 wrote:
    Jkells wrote:
    yogi_ wrote:
    Continuing on my roll of thoughts about things.

    Devs, cut back an avenue of 2* cover availability. They are now almost too easy to get from here, there and everywhere and only makes the long crawl to get enough covers for 3* characters even more apparent.

    And work out what to do about the 1*s availability. They fall like rain and really it's a waste of time for any outside of the early first time player. Heck, put more in the prolouge if you need but you need to cut them back somewhere too.

    Thankyou.

    But.... why?

    You're not giving any reasons as to WHY they need to cut back on giving 2* covers out.


    Its a pretty easy logical jump - the "Why" is because the 1*->2* transition is too fast. It is become so fast that there is little reason to even have a full 1* stage, you can just start jumping into building 2* characters before you even have a single maxed 1*. Let people work a bit more to earn the covers (not too much, just a bit), give real value to characters an make the rewards worth something. Its the opposite problem they have right now with the 2*->3* transition.


    I agree with the OP, but I dont think it needs a major overhaul, just a slight tuning down.

    I disagree with this. It really isn't too easy to get 2* covers. I've been rebuilding one of mine since before they started offering covers as pvp match rewards and am still 1 cover short. Also note, new players won't be able to win as many matches and rewards seem to bump in percentage slightly the higher your rank. Also, without additional covers, prologue is an incredibly frustrating grind. Most of the time (at least back when I played it) you'd only get ISO20 and would have to play 10-20 matches to get a single reward, wiping every time or every other time. True you could prologue heal, but that took forever, and they've eliminated that now.

    So overall, I think the PvP match covers are a solid step for helping out new players and making them feel like they get something out of playing instead of a revive screen that tells them to come back every few hours if they want to play a couple more matches. It also makes up for the fact that they slimmed down the individual tourney rewards from 3x 2*'s in that tier to 1x, which is fine really, given that they can be won from match rewards now.

    It's easy to see all those 2* covers we win and say "man, they give out way too many 2*'s now", but the thing you aren't factoring on is that it still will take people a long time to fully cover any of them. They still get tons of dupes. They still get covers for characters they don't want, have space for, or already have maxed.

    This kind of feel like the equivalent of someone with a full lineup of 3*s saying they give out 3* covers too easily (now that they have a full lineup). Players having meaningful earnable rewards is not the same thing as having rewards that are too easy to achieve. While I totally understand wanting to maintain your lead (and gimping newer/intermediate players to accomplish this), I don't think that creates an enjoyable experience for players overall. I tend to think this game is (or has been) vastly over-competitive, and unnecessarily so - and I don't mean alliances here, I mean structurally the way that you're forced to compete if you want to earn meaningful rewards. I think the PvP match covers are a solid step towards making the game casually playable without relentlessly grinding. You do still have to work if you want to earn 3* covers, and I don't see them changing that anytime soon.

    Regarding the long crawl to 3*'s - yes it's there, and yes it was there before. The only difference is that I suspect newer players probably feel that they actually enjoy the game instead of only being stuck with poorly covered and mostly unplayable 1/2* rosters for ages, only to be even worse once they hit 3* land. If they're able to achieve usable 1*/2* rosters through normal play, I suspect newer/ intermediate players enjoy the game a lot more with rosters that are actually usable, and that 3* territory feels more like end-game content to keep you playing, as it was originally intended.
  • Unknown
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    I actually agree that the 1*->2* transition is maybe a tiny bit faster than optimal, but the major reason it looks insanely speedy compared to the 2*->3* transition is because the second takes *way* longer now than it used to, and far, far longer than is optimal. Players *are* stuck in 2* land longer than they should be, but the problem is that it's getting harder and harder to put together a single 3* character that has enough covers to be viable next to maxed-out 2*s.

    The problem is not that it's too easy to get 2*s. The problem is that it's too hard to get enough 3* covers concentrated into a few characters.
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    They want to give out 1* and 2* as fast as possible because people are more likely to spend in the game at 2 to 3* transition.
  • emaker27
    emaker27 Posts: 285 Mover and Shaker
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    kermitk50 wrote:
    I agree with the OP, but I dont think it needs a major overhaul, just a slight tuning down.

    No please... A 'slight' change for this game is like them taking a battle axe to shave your face. "Oh, you think Spidey and Rags are overpowered? Here you go... now they suck"
  • Unknown
    Unknown
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    emaker27 wrote:
    kermitk50 wrote:
    I agree with the OP, but I dont think it needs a major overhaul, just a slight tuning down.

    No please... A 'slight' change for this game is like them taking a battle axe to shave your face. "Oh, you think Spidey and Rags are overpowered? Here you go... now they suck"


    LOL, on that point I will agree with you wholeheartedly

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