Q&A with Demiurge_Will Answers from Demiurge_Will begin on p.2

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  • Punisher5784
    Punisher5784 Posts: 3,836 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited March 2018

    To start with - this isn't a question, but we stopped doing regular videos because they're a fair amount of work, were reaching a relatively small fraction of our players, and didn't really seem to be making people that much happier. There's a reasonably good chance we'll do them again at some point, but probably only when we have something big to announce. Getting roasted is part of the job - we'd still get insults and worse if we never showed our faces.

    First, thank you so much for stopping by to answer some questions. I must say though, that although this is a small group of players, we're also your most dedicated players. The lack of communication is one of the many reasons many players left the forums and now use Line or Reddit for MPQ. The game now links changes to the forums so it would get more exposure to the videos, plus you can also post them on Facebook and such. I really miss watching them on my lunch break to learn about the next great feature. Ultimately I would love to see this forum return to being a great place again. The forum is one reason I continue to play, and I'm sure I'm not the only one, so maybe take that into consideration.
  • Darknes21
    Darknes21 Posts: 321 Mover and Shaker
    edited March 2018
    Glad to see Communication From the devs again! 
  • fight4thedream
    fight4thedream GLOBAL_MODERATORS Posts: 1,907 Chairperson of the Boards
    ***Mod Mode: ON***

    Certain posts were removed for being off-topic and a warning issued to the poster who derailed the thread. Please keep the questions and comments on topic please. Thank you!

    ***Mod Mode: OFF***
  • fight4thedream
    fight4thedream GLOBAL_MODERATORS Posts: 1,907 Chairperson of the Boards
    On a more personal note, I am happy to see the increased dev activity on the forum again. :smile:

    @Demiurge_Will : Thank you for shining a light on the 1* Spider-man change. While I am not in favor of the change, it's good to know the reasoning behind it. Admittedly, the simplifying of his skill set has made him easier to use and I would argue the best 1* character. Hopefully the change improves the new user experience.
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 9,569 Chairperson of the Boards
    Quebbster said:

    I would like to tack on to the time slice discussion...

    Back when time slices for PvE were introduced, I Believe the nodes refreshed every 2½ hours, so the optimal way to play was to hit the nodes once throughout the day and then do an end grind to get whatever Points were left. Some time ago it switched to 24 hour refreshes, where the optimal way to play is to hit all the nodes 4 times early and then do the end grind as late as possible - thus, instead of playing now and then throughout the day you now have to dedicate a large chunk of time around the switch of the subs. Yet the end times haven't changed to reflect this change. Have you considered changing the end times to better reflect the different way to play?

    (for the record the third time slice worked pretty well for me Before the change, but it is too late for me to hit the initial nodes under the new system. If it was shifted an hour or two earlier it would work a lot better for me).


    Oh, and since I am posting already I may as well bring up an old favorite too... leveling costs.

    Currently, a two-star costs around 65 000 ISO to get to max level (94). A Three-star costs around 120 000 ISO, or twice the cost of a two-star. A four-star costs around 360 000 ISO, Three times the cost of a Three-star. A five-star costs around 550 000 ISO, 1,5 times the cost of a fourstar. The increase from Three- to fourstar is slightly Jarring, and considering how many fourstars there are in the game now it is a huge hurdle to overcome for players building their roster.

    Back in the day I know you lowered the cost to level two- and Three-star characters to make the game more accessible for new players. Would it be possible to do the same thing for fourstar characters now? If the total cost to level was brought down to around 270 000 ISO it would line up a lot nicer with the other tiers - it would be around twice the cost of a Three-star and half the cost of a fivestar.

    I would definitely like to second this post. It is also worth considering that since the introduction of SHIELD training there is an added incentive to have 4* characters at level 209 but the iso cost of getting them there, especially when they have not been a priority for a player before is brutal. Some relief on this would encourage more players who can reach the level 209 but just don't have the iso to do so over and above other goals to play further in these events.
  • Quebbster
    Quebbster Posts: 8,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    Bowgentle said:
    Most big things have been adressed already, so I'll take a non-controversial subject:

    Lightning Rounds.

    Why no changes in three years?

    Were the metrics for the tested 4* LRs so bad that they are not rolled out?
    Could you at least add some more 3* characters to it?

    Good one. At the very least change up the heroic Lightning rounds so there are no strong color duplicates (Steve Rogers and Iron Man are both Red/Blue/Yellow, Gamora and Punisher are both Red/Green/Black. Only Daredevil has unique strong colors...)
  • aesthetocyst
    aesthetocyst Posts: 538 Critical Contributor
    Anyone ask about Gambit yet? As in, is the plan to adjust him (for real this time), or keep cranking up the power creep even more?


  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,237 Chairperson of the Boards
    Anyone ask about Gambit yet? As in, is the plan to adjust him (for real this time), or keep cranking up the power creep even more?


    Brigby addressed it in the comments for the Power Gem season updates thread. It’s on the agenda at some point to adjust him.
  • pheregas
    pheregas Posts: 1,721 Chairperson of the Boards
    @Brigby
    @Demiurge_Will

    I heard about this thread and came out of forum retirement to ask my questions.  (Also, thank you all so much for the communication.  It's been wonderful hearing from you again Will and taking the time to answer our questions!)

    Here it goes:

    Are there any active plans to keep the engagement up for veteran players?  Everyone knows a game has to recruit new players to a game to remain sustainable, but veteran engagement is also key.  I've seen evidence in the new CL-packs that are great for rewards that trigger excellent reward cascades for veterans (or at least just me.)  They were so good in value that I've purchased them all, and that's been after over a year of no spending.  

    New releases aren't really all that interesting anymore as 4*s are just reward farms once you are into the 5* tier for the most part.  The SHIELD Training requirements of 12 new release covers for full completion are somewhat silly.  Steps seem to be being taken to swap in older 4s in order to make the mini-event actually achievable for at least the top nodes.  Will this become a regularly occurring thing?  Are other steps being taken to make it so that more people can actually complete the event?  (FWIW, if I can't finish the bottom new-release line, I'm okay with that, but it's not being able to complete the top section that gets me when I have every single 4* champed except the newest 2 or 3 at any given new release, especially when one of those new releases have never been in tokens.)

    Other evidence seems to be the inclusion of 5* covers in some 4* rewards.  I have all 5*s either max covered or champed except Hulk, Hawkeye, Black Suit Spidey, Green Goblin, and Steve Rogers (and Ghost Rider, but he doesn't count yet.)  I've been able to keep up with max covering and champing all 5s before they leave Latest.  However, while this means I can champ them all, it also means none of them are getting much above 455 before they are relegated to Classic status.  Hoarding appears to be a way around this, but at the expense of skipping a 5* cycle.  Is this intended?  Is there a way being discussed to aid leveling 5*s beyond BH's or 4* progression rewards?

    Speaking of BHs...  Bonus Heroes is another bit of evidence towards helping out those Classic 5s, but I've only ever gotten three 5* BHs ever (and I've pulled hundreds of latest tokens since the inception of BH).  Without customer service willing to exchange these classic covers, setting my classic non-champ 5s as BHs is a very risky maneuver to me and not a chance I'm willing to take with cover distributions like 1/2/5 and 5/0/2.  Are colorless covers on the horizon?  This will definitely change my leveling strategy if so.

    Thank you all again for coming back and answering some questions.  I hope I wasn't overly verbose, but I do get carried away sometimes.

    Cheers! And thanks for listening!
  • broll
    broll Posts: 4,732 Chairperson of the Boards
    Can everyone please stick to one question per comment? That way by seeing which ones are liked it allows Will to prioritize which ones he can answer in the time he has to spend here.

    Walls of text with multiple questions don't allow for that.
    pheregas would have posted 3 or 4 back to back threads with separate questions that would have broken forum rules and he might have got warned / posts merged anyway...  I would think when Will returns he'll read all the questions not just the liked ones and whether he answers will be more around their business practices on if they want the information released then number of likes.
  • Colognoisseur
    Colognoisseur Posts: 804 Critical Contributor
    broll said:
    Can everyone please stick to one question per comment? That way by seeing which ones are liked it allows Will to prioritize which ones he can answer in the time he has to spend here.

    Walls of text with multiple questions don't allow for that.
    pheregas would have posted 3 or 4 back to back threads with separate questions that would have broken forum rules and he might have got warned / posts merged anyway...  I would think when Will returns he'll read all the questions not just the liked ones and whether he answers will be more around their business practices on if they want the information released then number of likes.
    That only happens when the mods don't understand the reason behind those posts. There is a reason and I believe our mods are smart enough to know that.

    As an example I posted three in a row to start the thread I didn't receive a warning nor were they merged.
  • IceHockey333
    IceHockey333 Posts: 45 Just Dropped In
    Why do people feel the need to derail a thread when we finally get serious communication?
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