D3 - Please stop launching so many heroes

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  • Straycat
    Straycat Posts: 963 Critical Contributor
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    That said my personal gripe isn't that they release too many characters per se, it's that all the energy invested in new characters seems to take away from their capacity to design new and interesting stories and play mechanics.  I've only been at this for a year and I can't even count how many times I've had to fight the Dark Avengers in the same old stories.  If they want to keep releasing characters at the rate they are that's fine...but it shouldn't come a the cost of keeping the game fresh and fun. 
    If the devs design structure is a zero sum game, I would prefer characters over events.
    Having new enemies doesn't really do anything for me. To me, new characters change the game way more than new opponents. New gameplay mechanics might be cool, but I don't know if it would fit in the current pve structure. The Apocalypse boss battle in particular was really fun, but 5 clears of that for each node would make the game worse.
    The only issue I have with the release schedule is the grind for top 100. A new character every 2 weeks can be too much for 3* transitioners, but you'll eventually reach a point where you can outpace it.
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 9,629 Chairperson of the Boards
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    It's too late for us, we all have Stockholm Syndrome by now, there is no escape! Now what is the next character clue again?!?!
  • Philly484
    Philly484 Posts: 173 Tile Toppler
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    If your a vet player you shouldn't be having issues in finishing a character. It has also already been said they release new characters in the same format for over three years, so yeah they are not going to stop doing something that completely works for them.

    I have all 4's done except Kraven, and even when the next couple characters launch that is all I have to work on is who is current. I would like to personally more pve Story content, since their is so much at their disposal, and the fact their are story lines they started and never finished, or hinted at new content and have not presented any.  
  • Pollozz
    Pollozz Posts: 82 Match Maker
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    I agree with the OP. I really like and love this game but I wouldn't recommend it to my friends or new players, is k for vet players but for new ones is really overwhelming and also for casual players. They really need to slow down and focus on another aspects of the game or in the future will be just vet players, and they are slowly going away also.
  • gmtosca
    gmtosca Posts: 278 Mover and Shaker
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    I wish they give us a bit more time and space in between character launches.
  • crackninja
    crackninja Posts: 444 Mover and Shaker
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    I'm happy with the current release schedule, what worries me is if they slow/stop with the 4*'s and do more frequent 5*'s instead.  Right now it's possible to get the covers and iso to champ everyone "on time".  Move to new 5's every 2-4 weeks and that will no longer be the case.
  • Rockwell75
    Rockwell75 Posts: 268 Mover and Shaker
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    Daiches said:
    .  I've only been at this for a year and I can't even count how many times I've had to fight the Dark Avengers in the same old stories.  If they want to keep releasing characters at the rate they are that's fine...but it shouldn't come a the cost of keeping the game fresh and fun. 
    Posting this literally as we are getting a new event :/

    I hadn't seen the new event at the time of posting this...however it's the first new PVE event in the year I've been playing, which is my point.
  • Borstock
    Borstock Posts: 2,547 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Please release more at every * level would be my request. Weird. 
  • Alsmir
    Alsmir Posts: 508 Critical Contributor
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    Current release schedule means that anyone who wants to keep up wit it is required to play 1-2hrs/ daily. That's a riddiculous amount of time for a match-3 game. If you're a Steam user that has, so called, "life" you can forget about it.
    45 clears/sub for PvE? With DDQ and PvP on top of that? Sounds great, but hey, if there is enough no-life spenders, the flow of cash won't stop and nothing will change.
  • broll
    broll Posts: 4,732 Chairperson of the Boards
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    The release schedule used to be rough but either through the increases to ISO or my roster progression (likely both) it seems fine now.  However, I hate the SHIELD Training events and their emphasis on champing or near champing characters as soon as they come out with a passion.  This game is a marathon, no a sprint and trying to encourage people to play it that fast is going to lead to either burnout or getting so ahead of the curve the game becomes boring.  Neither are good for the long-term health of the game.
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,166 Chairperson of the Boards
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    I think we've all figured out how to indoctrinate new players optimally, but new players are not really incentivized to play that way in a vacuum lacking that advice. I'm on day 730-something, and only within the last I don't know, year maybe, did I really start paying attention to how to get ahead (farming, playing pve to progression at least with t50 finishes for hp, getting to 575 pvp for the cp). I'm at 132 slots, every 4* on roster, still trying to add back all the 3*s I flipped to make room for 4s,5s, and the 2* farm, missing two classic 5*s, and only just now starting to get 3*s up in the "good" rewards, which seems to be the tipping point for staying ahead on resource acquisition. So any time a release hits, I'm like "Please just be a single character and not a 3/5..."
  • snlf25
    snlf25 Posts: 947 Critical Contributor
    edited February 2018
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    Daiches said:
    .  I've only been at this for a year and I can't even count how many times I've had to fight the Dark Avengers in the same old stories.  If they want to keep releasing characters at the rate they are that's fine...but it shouldn't come a the cost of keeping the game fresh and fun. 
    Posting this literally as we are getting a new event :/
      A new event that we don't really know anything about. We might be up against nothing but Dark Avengers for all we know. Endless waves of bullseye, moonstone and ares and daken and more bullseye. Nobody wants that. It's a big problem how stale PVE is and how rarely we get anything to be excited about. One or two new events a year isn't enough. It should be 4 or 5 at least. And new and more innovative villains are needed too.

    *removed inappropriate language - Ducky
  • BatteryHorse
    BatteryHorse Posts: 124 Tile Toppler
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    Personally, I don't really have an issue with the pace of character releases.  I know it stings when you don't have a required character if you're a Story/PvE player, and that drives you to try to collect, cover and eventually champ every character.  Changes to the game over the past year or so have resulted in a lot more ISO and CP available to players, so if you play a lot you can roster and cover and even champ these characters in a somewhat reasonable amount of time.

    My only complaint is that characters come so steadily that unless the newest character is game-changing-ly great at release then they just get added to your roster and ignored.  The last four releases are, I think, are MEHulk, Chavez, Kraven and Nico.  On my roster they all have between 7 and 10 covers, I haven't used them very much, and I'm in no real hurry to champ them. 

    That's the downside of resisting power creep.  If the new character isn't top 10 or uniquely useful, they just go into the middle of the pack and I forget about them.  
  • crackninja
    crackninja Posts: 444 Mover and Shaker
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    I'm really happy with the new content across characters and events.  Over the last 18 months they've truly changed how the game is played,  and I feel that has kept the game fresh for me.
    On the downside,  they've also retired the heroic events and gauntlet, the first of which means I get to meet my pals rocket and groot in groundhog day fashion even with new events being added.  Gauntlet has its own thread, but could be tweaked ideally into a seasonal side pve that would be very well received, but at least brought back with meaningful rewards.  They also tried to retire 3/4 of the 4* tier with vaulting.
    My interpretation is they want to keep the game fresh and engaging.  After all, that would be a good way to keep people playing and the money rolling in.  At times they don't know how to do that while actually considering what the players would want,  and this makes for some unpopular decisions.
  • animaniactoo
    animaniactoo Posts: 486 Mover and Shaker
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    snlf25 said:
    Daiches said:
    .  I've only been at this for a year and I can't even count how many times I've had to fight the Dark Avengers in the same old stories.  If they want to keep releasing characters at the rate they are that's fine...but it shouldn't come a the cost of keeping the game fresh and fun. 
    Posting this literally as we are getting a new event :/
      A new event that we don't really know anything about. We might be up against nothing but Dark Avengers for all we know. Endless waves of bullseye, moonstone and ares and daken and more bullseye. Nobody wants that. It's a big problem how stale PVE is and how rarely we get anything to be excited about. One or two new events a year isn't enough. It should be 4 or 5 at least. And new and more innovative villains are needed too.

    *removed inappropriate language - Ducky
    • Sinister six
    • XMen vs. Apocalypse
    • Shield Training
    • System Reboot
    • Honor Among Thieves
    • Obviously Wakanda Event

    Six new PvE event modes this year, plus a minor content tweak to MR&G to swap in Rocket & Groot (Awesome Mix Volume 2) as the character art.

    So that's seven innovative new villains, one regular rotation event, a new release event that gives you a try-it node for the new character and gives hard-chargers access to the tenth cover if you have the tenth cover of the previous release.... 

    Your complaint seems ... of limited perspective, perhaps.
    2 of those are Alliance events which are sporadic to say the best in encountering them. Maybe 1 event every 2 to 3 months? And it will be different from the last one you saw?

    2 of those are minor events with a total of 20 nodes max each and relatively either minor rewards or ability to achieve the greater award.

    For day to day day-in-and-day-out PVE play, there are about 12 active ones that you will see repeated every 2 months. Meaning over the course of 2 months, you will play the exact same ones you played over the last 2 months. At least 5 of those mean fighting the same enemies over and over and over again (Dark Avengers).

    That gets old pretty fast. It's stale by a mile in my book. I appreciate the new development that has happened, but I would prefer to see a new regular PVE event 1x every 3 months until they have enough of a rotation to make it through at least 4 months before having to repeat an event. I agree with the OP in that I would VASTLY prefer that to seeing yet another new character.

    fwiw, I am currently sidelined and can't play - but the release of Kraven did not excite me and make me want to play again. It was "Meh. Sucks. But whatever." Not being able to play the new event now? If ever? That's much more disappointing to me. Last week when it looked like I would be able to play again soon, I checked out the Sneak Peek thread. And went "Meh. Not those again."

    It is possible that this has become not the game for me, but I'm pretty unexcited by new characters at this point. I don't want more characters to do the same things with. I want more things to do with my characters. This is not to say that I never want a new character again. Only to say that I don't need or want them at the pace we get them, and I do want (my preference) more new story events for day-in and day-out PVE play. I would also love to see some other types of PVE stuff like the gauntlet or a Danger Room where you can go in and try out different combos of characters and fool around with either no penalty or nominal rewards available for completing different training missions without time limitations on completing them.
  • Dotproduct
    Dotproduct Posts: 217 Tile Toppler
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    It may be just me but I see every new event as being a variation on match 3. I really don't want to go down the candy crush route and have a billion different tile types just to introduce new 'play' hence I'm more interested in characters even if it takes a while to get them up to competitiveness. 


  • Projectus2501
    Projectus2501 Posts: 218 Tile Toppler
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    One good example is the new black panther. I now that kraven is bad but even if he wasn't, he is so recent we probably wouldn't have played with it. And 2 weeks later, yet another 4*.
    This is terrible for new players
  • Nick441234
    Nick441234 Posts: 1,496 Chairperson of the Boards
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    To be fair, new players shouldn't even be worrying about 4*s. They'll be working on 2*s and 3*s.