D3: STOP AND TAKE STOCK

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ Suggestions and Feedback
1

I will be calling on all major alliances and veteran players to join this post.

D3,

I’ll keep this short and avoid manifesto-letter form.

1. you are obviously having severe code/server problems
2. you have scheduled an event (Lazy Daken) using covers that we haven’t been awarded, with a prize everyone wants, that will finish AFTER the season 1 pvp concludes. this demonstrates to your player base greed (obviously we’ll all be shield-locking early) in the midst of incompetence.
3. many of us are unable to compete in Heavy Metal at present, which, if the event is allowed to complete, could completely destroy the validity of the entire Season 1 event – an event some of us have literally put a month of OUR TIME into (and quite possible money)

the above is, simply put, an unacceptable state of affairs.

edit: 16/05/2014 PM (MST). I think the above has been reasonably resolved at this point in time, so we’ll leave it be. The remainder still stands, however.

you need to communicate to the community steps to resolve the situation and ensure the above events proceed in a fair and equitable manner to all players.

as a community, we are willing to forgive an awful lot, including (shortlist):

the Heroic: Osborn fiasco(s)
the ongoing nerfs
the retooling of boosts with no community input
the general loss of ISO and HP from events in multiple forms
unattainable progression rewards
rebracketing veteran players with no community input
failure to improve basic gameplay elements like extant character powers or City/Doom enviro tiles
1/2 set of endtimes that don’t suit N. American or European players

we’ve now reached a line in the sand.

fix the events, give everyone a fair chance, and start communicating with your community.

i can’t speak for everyone, but if you trash Season 1, i’m walking. end of story.

readers: no need to post additional diatribes. short comments and a signature would be appreciated.

QTQuazar
(founder) Ace of Blades

2

A lot of people are seeing attacks while the servers are “down.” I hope that this is just some kind of server lag and the attacks actually happened long ago because if you’re updating the server live and just leaving your players’ connections to the mercy of machine elfs you are insane

3

I have to agree with everything QTQuazar has just pointed out in that list. I too have been a long time player and have already wasted $220 buying HP in this game and right now when I logged into the game to play the Heavy Metal event to get my points in I see there is no events to play and I am not in an alliance anymore either. You Developers sure know how to get long time players to quit the game and make me feel like I’ve been cheated out of my $220 that I’ve already spent on the game to support you guys and this game

4

I’ve got to admit there is a lot of discouraging stuff going on. I haven’t decided what it all means for my personal future with the game.

I often find myself wondering this, though:

Are you guys understaffed? Is this “mid-core” game really more of a hard-core game with so many moving parts that it can’t be adequately serviced by the same team that might work on candy crush or temple run? Do you just not have enough people to maintain the servers, balance and normalize existing characters, create new characters and events while adding the additional functionality of alliances, etc. to the game?

Because that is definitely the impression that I get.

5

Signed.

Emeryt (co-founder of the scAvengers alliance)

(actually, today at work I made a list of things I think devs should address and provide us with explanations. Extending Season 1 will be #16 on this list.)

6

I feel for you guys. I’m happy about my decision to leave the game less than a week ago for all the reasons OP listed. But it looks like things have gotten worse in the last few days with all the technical issues.

To people thinking it’ll get better, remember that they promised better communication and community involvement after the Rags nerfing. Half a year later and that hasn’t improved in my opinion.

7

While I can’t say I would walk, I would’ve appreciated more transparency with all these going ons. I know that several of the players in my alliance, S.T.E.A.L.T.H, were looking forward to that top prize award for the very first time but have yet to see any fruition of said rewards. Many people are expressing discontent with d3 and I get it. But at the same time you have to realize that they are humans as well and they make mistakes. While acknowledging those mistakes would go a long way to instill the trust back in them, I believe that d3 are still learning. Learning that its not just about money but also about integrity and keeping your playerbase happy. Well I’ve ranted long enough. Signed,
Spider-man6234 Founder of S.T.E.A.L.T.H

8

Agreed.

There are many things I can understand from the perspective of general game balance or even revenue generation (after all, ya gotta eat). However, especially after so many veteran-unfriendly changes, several recent developments have crossed into “get it together, people” territory. I’ve gone from never even contemplating taking an extended break to actually musing about it.

Signed

No title needed.

9

Is this a threat to stop playing if not fixed or addressed by a certain time? I’m uncertain what this “line the in sand” represents.

10

Agreed.
Signed, sealed, delivered: I’m yours (if you stop breaking our game).

11

threatening to stop playing has little effect; devs hear it all the time about x or y change. yes, i will walk if Season 1 is messed up, but I’m not calling on others to do so–half the time they’re idle threats.

no, the ‘line in the sand’ is that we’ve crossed a threshold of what the majority of the veteran players (and i only use that term to highlight those of us that have seen the majority of shenanigans here) are willing to tolerate before we consider quitting, not paying, etc.–and to show the devs that this is widespread and not ‘just another issue’.

individual actions are up to individual players, but i will note that if you look at the alliance threads, recent events have led to me not being the only founder now re-evaluating their future with the game.

12

Well, these days when people don’t get their way…they sue!!! It’s the new American way!! Let’s sue!!

I’m only kidding as I have no clue what we could even sue for.

13

I’ve been playing since well before daily rewards. i have put some $$$ into the game because it has been a good product in the past. I think about it like this, i have spent more time on this game than if i were playing x-box or another system. games for those systems average ~$50 so the money I’ve spent is fairly comparable. that being said the direction MPQ had gone recently has been very disappointing (and I have been a MPQ defender). There is no compensation to the customer, and yes that is what we are, for the problems going on. i previously had not thought about just quitting this game, but the last week of bad decisions and foul ups have made me reconsider. I truly hope the devs read into these posts and do something to show us that our concerns are being heard and addressed otherwise they will eventually feel the effects of their FAILURE.

signed

14

Exactly what Spider-man said.

Signed & sealed.

fritejay (founder of ScarFighters)

15

Agreed. Signed.

16

I have played this game every day since i first found it. Im closing in on the green x-force daily reward so what is that? 120 days.
During that time this game has gone from a fun f2p game into, i dont even know what to call it anymore.

You are butchering your own game! You have forgotten whats fun in this game. You are almost at the point where i wish marvel would step in and stop you! And my bet is that this game will become even worse in the future…

I really really hope im wrong and you wake up cause i would love to keep playing. But at the current state of this game with mmr/scaling/punished for doing good/hell i wont.

I dont care about buggs and stuff. That crap happens to every game. I care about fun.

17

Well, qt, you really nailed it. I’m currently keep playing almost only due to my loyalty to alliance. If they butcher Season 1 and keep butchering other events (I cannot play IM40’s PvP due to this), then that will be sign to stop playing.

18

Tell you what, d3, you fix this in an appropriate manner and address these concerns, I’ll buy some hero coins. Maybe even a stark salary.

19

Read this post, and I’ve been sitting here a while trying to think of what to say.

“We will not play your game” is basically the threat you’re trying to put here, whether indirectly or directly. But it’s a catch-22: we’re threatening because we WANT to play. If we aren’t playing, then we are doing something we DON’T want to do to send them a message that, uh, what exactly?

Some people quit when Rags was nerfed months ago. Others left when prices for boosts changed. Others left when Thorverine was nerfed. Others will leave when Spidey’s nerf is rolled out. More will leave when this issue is resolved without everyone getting millions of HP as compensation for a busted few days. This is going to happen with any game, any project, any event, and any life. Bad stuff is going to happen, and the only constant is the unknown.

If you want to quit, do it. Is there going to be a few alliances that “strike”? Sure, why not. Has the last week, from Pointsgate to Dakengate to Servergate been frustrating and the lack of communication moreso? Yes. It’s been a cluster. The developers, while poor at communication, are not stupid. They know they’ve made a few terrible mistakes, haven’t pulled off the miraculous silver bullet apology you, me, and everyone else would LIKE, but sometimes you just have to go with the flow.

I love playing Marvel Puzzle Quest. It’s a fun game. It’s a game. It’s just a game. You play it. If you have fun, keep playing it. If the past week has set you off so much that the cost of frustration, hatred, or whatever vitriol is dripping from those DARK REIGN letters is overcoming the fun, then quit. It’s a game. A lot of games don’t have an ending.

I love SimCity. At some point me, and everyone, will stop playing it because there are more fun things to do. Are there bumps on the road? Sure! But you know what’s kind of cool? The fact that we enjoy this game SO MUCH that we are THREATENING the developers with stopping our play because we WANT to play. It’s hilarious in its irony, witty in its brevity, and amazing that a game that’s SO SIMPLE can cause such a reaction.

One day this game will end. Today is not that day. I’ll stop playing when I’m bored of it. I fully expect an apology of some sort, but until then, I’ll go do something else, and, like everyone else, keep refreshing to see when MPQ is back online so that we can continue playing.

Apologies, OP, but not signing. I’ll accept an apology, but whatever I get I’ll be fine with.

20

MMR Hell. Stealth nerfs of various game aspects in mid of events. Walls of 230/400. Eternal silence from begining to end. No anything as compensation of waste time/iso/HP. Permanent ninja penalties for veteran players. Broken events. Broken tokens. Broken characters. YOU. ARE. DO. IT. WRONG.

This is a first game on my old school gamer memory, which bring me a lot and a lot hatred with every patch/fix/update. I don’t like it. And this say evil Russian guy… Bring in your game fun of which you always speak all the time.

Signed.

OTERSEY (first day Steam player and first day Ace of Blades core member).