KinDM said: On crowdfunding: I don't think this is realistically feasible, for a couple reasons. One, D3 would need to run it directly, and I don't think the base is keen enough to make it happen. Two, you'd lose everyone whose fav players aren't being made. I wouldn't say it could never work, but with all the internal mechanisms, it's more likely to work like: If ten thousand players sign up for VIP, we'll release XXXXXXX. If twenty thousand, we'll also release YYYYYYY. I've seen games do it. Maybe it would work. But that just means we add more releases and roster slots we have to buy.
The last thing to consider is that some characters probably just won't happen for other reasons. I doubt we will see Red Skull just because there's some negative press from "Play really hard and you can win your own Nazi!". Other characters may have similar stigma, and with so many characters and variants to select from, it'd be the easy voice to skip any potentially controversial choices. Wow, that was a novel. Fun!
heybub said: Thanks for the great post. I agree, marketing and Marvel's agenda do seem to have a huge influence on which characters are released. I'd say 60-70% follow this. That would still leave a good amount of characters that could address the wants of the players. This also doesn't clear up the variants. I don't think the marketing is clamoring for 6 Hawkeye's....so what exactly is pushing that? KinDM said: On crowdfunding: I don't think this is realistically feasible, for a couple reasons. One, D3 would need to run it directly, and I don't think the base is keen enough to make it happen. Two, you'd lose everyone whose fav players aren't being made. I wouldn't say it could never work, but with all the internal mechanisms, it's more likely to work like: If ten thousand players sign up for VIP, we'll release XXXXXXX. If twenty thousand, we'll also release YYYYYYY. I've seen games do it. Maybe it would work. But that just means we add more releases and roster slots we have to buy. I think this is also a good idea, as long as XXXXX and YYYYY are characters people want. Again, let the players make a list, and choose the most popular. As far as people spending money on specific characters, I mean, people pump money into this game as is. If they don't like the character, then they wouldn't, but it might also balance out with free/thrifty players who would spend a little to see a really cool character released.
Kinda related: Marvel Heroes Omega - the Marvel MMO - apparently just lost their rights to use Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer.
Hold onto your FF4 before they are gone!