I would like to suggest a more open-ended discussion with the player base regarding the development priorities and vision for the game. I’ve been a committed player for some time, but lately I have some concern about what we should expect for the next 6 months, or the next year.
-
Recent changes to pve scaling (and to a lesser extent pvp matchmaking) do not feel fully thought out. For example, the first 2 pve test runs it was glaringly obvious that high level pve players would face punishing new demands for time investment and difficulty. A lot of tested tweaks help some segments of the playerbase and harm others. The existing systems have their share of problems too, but the proposed solutions do not feel decisively improved on the status quo.
-
“New” content is delivered in the form of alternating 4* and 5* releases. Yes, a tired complaint, but I think it is starting to become obvious to people that the structure of the game is starting to feel imbalanced. The 4* tier is now the most populated in the game. A tier where gaining covers is limited to luck of the draw and obtaining 1 cover of a particular hero every 2.5-3 months (via 1K pvp). We’ve seen 4 5* releases in quick succession, but it has taken fully 8+ months for even a minority of players to start to cover and level the “classic” releases. Some releases feel obligatory rather than well-designed. There are quite a few 4*'s that, even boosted, I would assign zero usefulness to in any context. There are no play formats where variety is favored over sheer efficiency, so a lackluster character will likely sit unused indefinitely. Where are we going for the rest of 2016? 8 new 4s and 2 more 5s?
-
More in-house playtesting should be done before releasing new patches. Quality of life, visual, or gameplay improvements often seem debatable in merit and often accompanied by a host of bugs. To take a recent example, delineating every passive and active character ability has obvious drawbacks in game delay (so much so that this might become a detractor to some characters with many reactive or individualized abilities).
My biggest concern is the seeming absence of new content in gameplay. The character release treadmill has been in full force for 2+ years, but it would reassure me to see something brand new in game formats or other things to do. Thanks for reading.