AXP_isme said: It’s interesting that the implementation is only partial. If this is being done in response to concerns from newer players that the AI cheats (i’m sure we’ve all thought that at one tone or another) then why not implement it in PvP too? This won’t prevent cascades from happening and the biases that come into play when they do. I guess the metrics either suggest that newer players don’t play much pvp or that the number of PvE fights is significantly higher than pvp. Either way if this is going to address the concerns of the people complaining in an effective way it will need to have a significant, and last, effect on the perception of AI cascades. I would worry that for those people who don’t know how this is implemented it will just change the cry from “the AI is cheating” to “the other player’s AI is cheating” which is not an improvement, it’s just different.
ThaRoadWarrior said: I don't think newer players even can play PVP, doesn't it unlock at a certain (admittedly low) SCL now?
Very low. When I have switched devices and started new accounts on the new device (to eventually get my old account transfered there) it has never taken me long tu unlock PvP.
Punisher5784 said: Borstock said: It's amazing how many people found a way to get annoyed by this.Thank you, devs. I hope this encourages new players to stick with it. I thought the same too. Then after thinking about it, this was constantly requested over 3yrs ago. We got the "the AI isn't cheating, it's all RNG" response and we accepted it. In the past year or two, not many players complain about cascades and cheating, at least on the forums, and now the devs want to tackle this. If they addressed the 6th cover issue instead then I bet everyone would be happy, as that's a complaint that never died down since day 1
Borstock said: It's amazing how many people found a way to get annoyed by this.Thank you, devs. I hope this encourages new players to stick with it.
smkspy said: Making rosters harder to build, but matches easier to win. Good strategy for player retention, especially new ones...yeah no, building able to build a usable roster quickly makes people ignore bad luck Cascades. But honestly this is what I expect at this point with their view of so-called "QoL improvements." I'm just on auto-pilot with game at this point.
Borstock said: smkspy said: Making rosters harder to build, but matches easier to win. Good strategy for player retention, especially new ones...yeah no, building able to build a usable roster quickly makes people ignore bad luck Cascades. But honestly this is what I expect at this point with their view of so-called "QoL improvements." I'm just on auto-pilot with game at this point. It's a mobile match-3 game. Do you have any idea how many people play this while they're on the toilet? For a large segment of the playerbase, auto-pilot is all this game is.Honestly, it's strange to me that so many people are micro-managing the developers' time. Oh, somebody spent 45 minutes on this change? That's too much. Should've only spent 40, max. This is a change in the game that literally has zero negative affect on the player. It only benefits the player and hurts the AI. But... but... NO ONE ASKED FOR SUPPORTS!Honestly, folks. It's okay to read the note, say thank you, and continue complaining in the 15,000 other threads about how much supports suck, and colorless covers, and why it's the game's fault you finished 11th instead of 10th.
LakeStone said: Hi Everyone - Passing this message below along from the team. From Marvel Puzzle Quest’s release until now, every tile that’s dropped from the top of the board has been random, with the same drop rates for players and the enemy team. But our brains have this quirk called negativity bias: we remember the worst things that happen to us the most clearly (when the enemy team got a 6-match cascade and downed our whole team) and forget the times when we got just as lucky. Negativity bias probably helped us survive until we invented video games, but it’s making us enjoy Marvel Puzzle Quest less.Most experienced players know that the drop rate is random, but newbies in particular sometimes come away thinking that the AI is cheating and getting extra cascades. It’s our most common complaint from new players. MPQ isn’t alone in this - this was one of the most common complaints in previous games in the Puzzle Quest series, despite the tile drops being totally random in those games as well.We think game developers ought to make games for the pleasure of people and their actual brains, with all their quirky biases, not for some Platonic ideal of fairness. So in order to make the game feel fair to more people, we’re making it a little bit unfair, in your favor, and limiting the cascades that the enemy team gets in Story and Prologue missions. (In order to avoid disrupting the current balance when you’re fighting other players, we’re keeping the behavior of Versus battles unchanged.)This will have a relatively modest effect on the balance of the game. With the previous, random drop system, the enemy team was only cascading into 3 or more matches 0.66% of the times they changed the board. But we’re hopeful this will reduce the number of phones that get thrown across the room and improve people’s first impressions of the game.This will go live starting tomorrow with the daily patch on June 13th. Here are the precise details on how the new behavior works:
Hi Everyone -
Passing this message below along from the team.
From Marvel Puzzle Quest’s release until now, every tile that’s dropped from the top of the board has been random, with the same drop rates for players and the enemy team. But our brains have this quirk called negativity bias: we remember the worst things that happen to us the most clearly (when the enemy team got a 6-match cascade and downed our whole team) and forget the times when we got just as lucky. Negativity bias probably helped us survive until we invented video games, but it’s making us enjoy Marvel Puzzle Quest less.
Most experienced players know that the drop rate is random, but newbies in particular sometimes come away thinking that the AI is cheating and getting extra cascades. It’s our most common complaint from new players. MPQ isn’t alone in this - this was one of the most common complaints in previous games in the Puzzle Quest series, despite the tile drops being totally random in those games as well.
We think game developers ought to make games for the pleasure of people and their actual brains, with all their quirky biases, not for some Platonic ideal of fairness. So in order to make the game feel fair to more people, we’re making it a little bit unfair, in your favor, and limiting the cascades that the enemy team gets in Story and Prologue missions. (In order to avoid disrupting the current balance when you’re fighting other players, we’re keeping the behavior of Versus battles unchanged.)
This will have a relatively modest effect on the balance of the game. With the previous, random drop system, the enemy team was only cascading into 3 or more matches 0.66% of the times they changed the board. But we’re hopeful this will reduce the number of phones that get thrown across the room and improve people’s first impressions of the game.
huktonfonix said: @LakeStone Has testing been done to determine how much additional time (if any) these repeated recalculations add to the enemy's turn?
Edelkin said: It's not the cascades that make me think the game cheats, it's the color manipulation that makes sure certain tiles almost never resolve (Switch:arcane incantation, See the math of it, etc.) There is not way it is totally random when I can go an entire event without certain countdown tiles resolving. I especially like when the board drops a match four in the column to destroy a pesky tile that might actually go off.
turul said: @Brigby @LakeStone please dont do negative steps for players.
mbaren said: Still, my roster is strong enough that I generally don't get affected by randomness to the point of phone-throwing frustration, either. Maybe this is a good thing? Mostly I suspect I won't even notice.
furbear00000 said: I hope this isn’t their solution to the Wakanda event, because I have a feeling it is, and it’s not the solution.
Demiurge_Will said: furbear00000 said: I hope this isn’t their solution to the Wakanda event, because I have a feeling it is, and it’s not the solution. No, I recognize that this change isn't going to address feedback on Fight for Wakanda. (We've taken that event out of rotation and hope to make some tweaks before we re-introduce it.)
HoundofShadow said: Can we make the AI more intelligent? For examples, not matching own special tiles immediately after placing it on the same turn, letting it create a match-5.
Demiurge_Will said: HoundofShadow said: Can we make the AI more intelligent? For examples, not matching own special tiles immediately after placing it on the same turn, letting it create a match-5. Hey, HoundofShadow - that's something we've playtested a few times over the life of MPQ and ultimately decided against. Our lead engineer Justin goes into more detail in this developer diary: https://www.demiurgestudios.com/engineering/a-worthy-opponent/