It's easy to be positive about MPQ

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

Back in June, I wasn’t all that positive. The developers were silent for months at a time, and pretty much abandoned the forum to me when 400+ spam messages per day were rolling in.

Today – lots of communication, and no spam. Monthly Q&A sessions.
The Hood + 4Thor exploit, which would have trivialized the game, was fixed early.
Sentry, who trivialized the game, got a fix which still left him playable.
Magneto, who was super fun but unbalanced, got a pretty good update.
Daredevil has been made very playable. I just used him to beat a level 395 4Thor.
Fun new characters: Gamora, Rocket&Groot, 4Thor, Mystique, Blade, Devil Dinosaur
Colossus added, and the devs were sensitive to player concerns about his original icon.
Some decent 2* heros were added – Ms. Marvel and Johnny Storm.
Beast and Doctor Octopus added … and they may be improved.
Game mistakes have all been addressed by devs quickly.
Loki finally got a buff, and he’s now fun and playable.
Opponent use of Team-ups has been much improved.
Wolverine X and Hawkeye got great updates.
Shield hopping will be addressed.
New moderators were added.
New events of various sorts.
Icons added to the forum.

There are many good characters with distinctive abilities, which allows for a lot of different sorts of strategic play. With the recent buffs, the devs are giving the players a lot of the things they’ve been asking for. As such, it’s easy to be positive about the game right now.

2

Agreed. But now you need to update your BIRD FOSSILS acronym!

3

The shield thing might end up being “bad,” but disregarding that, I think the last “bad” change they made was… MMR-based Sharding? Although some of them weren’t ideal or the way I would have done them, and some of them have created other associated problems, I think every change/buff/nerf since sharding (yes, including true healing) was an improvement overall

4

Fight UI is still as shitty as it was in December 2013

Still can’t see all AP totals without scrolling

5

On the overall post I agree, but the first point kinda gets me.

Today – lots of communication, and no spam. Monthly Q&A sessions.

No spam is a definite hooray.

Communication is no doubt improved, but there’s still a ways to go. The Q&A sessions are nice, but would be greatly improved by doing them real-time interactively in a thread, rather than collecting questions and getting what sometimes amounts to form-answers later. The information otherwise could as easily come via pop-up in game, there’s nothing being added after the initial blurbs.

I’m optimistic it can still improve further, but it’s the one spot where the needle hasn’t moved a ton, IMO.

Edit: To add something positive, I know people fought it (like everything else), but opening the alliance slots was a way overdue move.

6

I was going to post something similar. The character rotation buffs, new PvE modes, and the emergence of a varied and fun 4* tier could make this year the golden age of MPQ.

Edit: Oh, and did you get your compensation for the Season ending time mishap? That’s a big and unexpected change for the better.

7

Thank you! Perspective. The forum and game are so much better. They continue to really produce. The problems that they have had, they happend what can you say.

The only negative thing I have to say is introducting time slices in the middle of a season, not their best idea.

8

Agree with pretty much everything in the OP. I love this game way more than I should. So I’d like to take a second to thank the devs for making such an awesome game and constantly working to improve it. icon_e_biggrin.gif

If I could change 1 thing though, I would add some kind of offline, solo player mode. Still love the game though.

9

1 solution bring other 10 problems…

so doesnt it can call " solution" I only like Marvel but not this game

10

I dont feel fun of character rotation. It is a worst idea i even know. I have 4 BP 5 Lthor 1 CMag 4 BWG 3 IM40 5 Psylocke and sorry they ALL rotated out

i only get 2 Gamora 2 Groot 3 Mystique 1 Loki and 0 DD

so i need to REBUILD the 3* team from the very beginning AGAIN?

11

What was the issue with the original icon for Colossus?

12

The original icon was the Soviet hammer & sickle icon. As you might imagine, it is considered an icon of tyrrany and genocide by many.

13

rewards structure problem doesn’t solve
PVP dominated problem doesn’t solve
Character balance problem doesn’t solve
2* to 3* is painful doesnt get addressed
tons of unanswered game base question

so anything more worst? any good?

14

Long time lurker, first time poster here.

I find that I go through the whole range of emotions when playing this game.
I know I devote way too much time to playing it, but I can’t help myself.
That being said, I think the positive points are right on the mark.

I’d say the biggest “meta” in this game is finding the exploits in the system.
Take any game - fighting games or FPS for instance - all the top level players hardly play the game “as designed”.
You start to get “Quickscopes”, jumping in the air like jackrabbits, and OP weapons and so on…
In fighting games you get the same top tier characters over and over, along with the same strategies and same combos.
The situation is no longer dynamic and deep strategy gives way to algorithm. L Daken / Sentry / Hood is a prime example.
Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 is also a good example. It comes down to who gets touched first in upper level play.

It’s my opinion that MPQ constantly changes to offset those exploits. Obvious point, right?

When someone tries to rob your casino do you keep bleeding money or do you shore up security? Because make no mistake, the odds are NOT in our favor for token pulls. Sometimes I doubt whether they are even random (especially when I pull 4 She- Hulk cards right before her tourney starts…hmmmm). I have days where I’ll get multiple 3* cards and then I’ve had droughts for months where I pull nothing. Thankfully my roster is strong and I consistently reach Top 25 with minimal shielding.

Everything the developers do ensures a decent amount of money will funnel their way, and people who complain about whales should stop because whales SHOULD have an advantage. Those of us who pay minimally or not at all must decide whether we want to brave the no man’s land that is the 2*-3* star transition or put the game down. You can still enjoy it, but your expectations are much too high.

Some of these changes come from our requests, but most don’t. We keep finding ways to game the system and they will continue to alter the mechanics, characters and abilities.

I can live with that, because I understand MPQ for what it is. People who flame the board and complain that they don’t get characters and whatnot should relax. I’m day 258 with perhaps $40 total put into the game. I shrewdly cash in 2* 's when I need to, build my 3*'s and then rebuild the 2*'s all over again. I have Steve Rogers and Hulk at 166, while my XForce is fully carded at 203. My Classic Daken is fully carded awaiting Iso and I have 10 more characters at 100 or more…granted I play A LOT.

If you don’t have patience or money just put the game down. Do yourself a favor.
Time will bring your team up to strength if you tough it out. Every character comes back around. It’s just a matter of “when”.

15

I’ll go as far as to say icon_falcon.png
is one of my favorite characters in the game to play. Probably stems from playing a lot of blue control decks in M:tG, but I love that he’s incremental board control and passive damage. I have never regretted maxing him.

16

First, very nice of you to make generic statements without any substance. You really do not deserve any one wasting time on responding to you or your concerns if you cannot spend the time or effort to explain the reasoning behind your criticisms.

Reward Structure was expanded. A step in the right direction.
PVP’s - They tested a new MMR, time slices, and continue to tweak sharding. Steps in the right direction.
They have performed several character balances and seemed intent on performing more. Steps in the right direction.
2* to 3* transition needs work. I agree but they have tweaked PVP and reward structures, so steps in the right direction. In addition, I have made numerous suggestions in this regard.
Tons of unanswered game base questions…um…almost everything about this game has been answered somewhere on this forum. If you do not see an answer, ask the question.

17

Generally i assume readers played over 1 to 2 months and understand how this game work. Why i need explain? The designer get every page in the forum complaining the above. Anyone without pay to shield haven’t tasted PVP final hours bloodbath? ANyone win PVE with good sleeping? will you happy to get 3*beast? Fundermantal failure

You wont need to type so many words : your summary is " everything is step/ under / directing to change ( no body know good or bad but tons of complaint every page )

18

You don’t need your own money to use shields. You can up to 100 HP in progressives just in PVP. That’s not counting individual or alliance placement rewards. That’s not counting PVE progressives, Sub placements, or main Individual/Alliance placements. That’s also not county daily drops of 25-50 HP.

Also, you ASSUME a lot. I’ll let you figure that one out.

19

sorry i m not members to 166 team. I only get 2* team max (My best character is Cap marvel with lv 104) . 25hp for 400 points progess reward is ok but 25hp at 600 is rarely touch and 50 hp is UNtouchable! 166 wall appearat 500 points +/-
if I m luck to place in the top 100, get the other 25 and total is 50! HOwever min cost for a 3 hr shield is 75… net loss 25…
Daily 25- 50 ? are you sure hp drop " daily" ? i m not luck and they appear 25 per 5 - 6 day.
Finally if i have enough Hp i perfer to spend them in hero slot than the fucking shield.

I assume too many ? just you havent play enough or you have paid enough . it is just PVP problem and there are PVE and reward structure. Yes i assume too much and paid too less

20

Yes MPQ is moving. In the right direction? Not to my taste. Some aesthetic changes, nothing more than skin deep, the recurrent problems persist.

Atm you need to choose either broad 3 star roster for PVE or Xforce for PVP, you can’t do one without struggling in the other. There is no strategy, team balance, or reason to level anyone that doesn’t start with X and end with Force. (Nonce you spoke of the Hood and Sentry nerf as stopping the game from being trivialized but in the same breath say the Xforce change was good? huh)This one strategy win to me makes a stale and boring end game. I am struggling to play the game anymore after the sentry nerf as the end game possibilities went from 2 down to 1. Don’t get me wrong sentry was OP but I am losing interest, and I know I am not the only one. I will play a little here and there but I don’t believe this game deserves any more of my money because I have no more desire to come top 100 in any PVP, I already have over 20 characters that I have max cover that I will never be able to level up because of limited iso rewards. Having the gauntlet and Balance of power were nice but now that is over it’s back to X-force, versus X-force. With the option to play any other character completely removed.

The iso rewards are way behind the cover rewards. So in many cases there is no reason to go after more covers because you will never play them. Or you already have them maxed cover sitting in the will get you iso one day pile.

I think that 4 star characters was the worst decision for this game. Don’t get me wrong I have max cover for all 4 stars and in most cases working on my second version, but it doesn’t interest me. Why have hundreds of characters if you have one or two viable play styles. Yawn. 4 stars mean that the small percentage of players that pay money can stay on top, especially with the shield changes, which don’t effect the whales, because they can keep shield hopping it just costs them a variable amount per shield now. Meanwhile the free to play peeps are hamstrung on PVP climb. And in my own defense I am a $4,000 whale so far. These money grubbing decisions to keep the whales fed create a wider gap in the community and I for one find it boring.

There is still a silly system in place where for PVE you need to wake up every 3 hours and play for an hour if you want to succeed. And for PVP there is this silly system where the person that is willing to spend most on shields wins. Let’s not kid ourselves that it is anything but what it is, The attacking person has so much advantage that it’s not actually a fair comparison. Let’s see; Boosts (auto win if you pay), get to go first, can see your opponents team and tailor it (you never know there COULD be a time you don’t use X-force), the AI is predictable, know why Loki is so good on attack? Because you can leave a bad 4 match like purple that the team doesn’t use on the board and the AI will ALWAYS match it. Anyway I could keep going on this so lets not pat each other on the back and say what a strategic mastermind you are for beating a team, no you had all the advantage all the time.

So PVE is uninteresting to me, PVP is uninteresting to me. I guess there is always lighting rounds. But I have patch and Daken at 166 so no reason to play them.

Tokens are a ridiculous lottery scam and way too random to used for what they are intended, and although I like new characters being released constantly it means your percentages of getting the cover you want diminish further with each new character and token rotation. Also again back to Xforce there is no reason to get any character in this game that doesn’t have synergy with Xforce.

Anyway I know I am going to get down votes on this but it’s my opinion and since the Thor4 PVE I haven’t really even been able to turn the game on because it just isn’t that interesting to me once you get to the meta. You may think that icons added to the forums, team ups, a few character tweeks, moderators for the forums and insensitive character icons changed are broad sweeping changes that keep you interested but I seriously believe this is the same game as 6 months ago, nothing major except end times has been addressed and more and more I find myself turning the game on and just switching it off to go play something else. MPQ has all the potential in the world, but I don’t believe for one second that D3 has the players in mind when they shear the golden fleece.