Maybe it's the tequila talking....

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

…but there are things to learn from this.

hiccup

And since we’ve now hit a lull in the party, i’m going to speak my mind.

Devs, i love your game. it’s fun. i want to play it for a reallllllllyyyyy looooooooonnnnnggggggg tiiiiiiiiimmimmmmmmmeeeeeee.

hiccup

i think most of your player base shares the same sentiments. sometimes you make mistakes, which of course will lead to complaints. some of us are more forgiving than others, but i think you will agree that people have the right to complain if they are not satisfied with your product. being able to discern which complaints address significant problems with the product will be key to your long term success.

i am one of those who believe you do take complaints and suggestions brought up in this forum into consideration so hopefully this turn of events will be a learning lesson. There has been improvement in communication, thanks in large part to our guy Hi-Fi. However, there continues to be a serious problem with mismanagement of information.

Currently, the pop up screen states that “Devil Dinosaur is in special Anniversary events all week long!” Now unless you want to stretch that to include the Anniversary Season 2400 point reward, it just comes off as being misleading at best and just plain patooey at worst. A player cannot use Devil Dinosaur for the current Combined Arms pVp or the Heroic pVe. To be honest, i was hoping that we would get a Devil Dino pVe where all players get a loaner Dino to run around and eat every character in the game but i admit i have an over-active imagination which tends to fantasize about new content and events.

Anywhoo, i think there are two major issues that need to be addressed in order to improve the overall experience of the game:

1. Better management of expectations
2. New game content (let me be clear here: not just new characters. New game modes, new prizes, etc)

As has been pointed out eloquently and not so eloquently by members of this great forum, the main issue that seems to be plaguing our celebrations has been miscommunication. Many have stated they would have been totally happy and content with just a weekend Anniversary party but because they were led to expect more and got “not more” they feel disappointed. It reminds me of the Youtube video "Man dives into Exploding Volcano (which has finally been edited to “Man Descends into an Exploding Volcano”) where the expectation of the viewer is that the dude is going to dive into the hot magma but instead he just stands there…and that’s it. The view of the volcano is breathtaking and beautiful and the feat of a person standing so close to its raw power is amazing in itself but that is all undercut by the sense of disappointment of that the dude didn’t jump in. <still is a beautiful, amazing video though>

The other big issue is, of course, new game content. i listened to the This Week in Marvel- Podcast about MPQ and it was good to hear the acknowledgement from DW and that other dude whose name i always forget that they are trying to improve the game for both older and new players. Listening to DW talk, you can understand that dude loves making new characters and is very excited about the possibilities for future characters in the game. However, i am a bit concerned that too much focus is being applied to new characters and not new content like game modes, skins, more features for alliances, etc.

Don’t get me wrong, i understand that new characters are the life blood of the game but i believe new game modes and content are the oxygen of the game. Running one of the most hated pVe’s on the back of the most beloved one seems rather silly. Frankly, i agree with the sentiment that Heroics smack of laziness on the devs side since it offers nothing new in terms of game experience for either new players or older players, and i believe they should be phased out of the game.

So amigos/amigas, basically in a nutshell:

*communication has improved but the devs need to be more careful on how information is communicated to better manage expectations
*there needs to be a balance between new characters and new content

  • Heroics should be phased out of the game entirely

hiccup hiccup

With that being said, now it’s time to look at ourselves as a forum community. [you thought he was done, didn’t you?]

Yes, we were hoodwinked a bit but i don’t think it was intentional. The devs are great game makers but not the best communicators. i mean even when they post information on here about character changes it’s usually Nonce or someone else that points out the inaccuracies or vague statements in officially released statements.

But they are making steps to improve the overall experience of the game. The reason for that stems in part from the feedack they receive from us.

Yes, you have the right to complain and to express your dissatisfaction. But i ask you to think carefully on what it is you are complaining about and how you decide to express yourself.

As a person, i would be more apt to listen and take seriously someone with a calm, reasonable argument than someone yelling and cursing at me. Also understand that different people from different walks of life are playing the game so issues that you find significant (e.g. luck with token pulls, event end times, shield hopping) may not seem so significant to someone else so it is in your best interest to provide a compelling argument for your case.

Ideally, if you can offer a suggestion that can remedy what ails you, that would be the icing on the cake. Of course, i know it’s not your job to think of solutions but the forum as it was originally conceived was a place where ideas were to be exchanged so don’t be afraid to do so. And of course, don’t be insulted if the devs don’t take up your master plan either.

But remember you, me, the devs. We are in this together. The devs aren’t perfect, and as a customer you have a right to complain about bad service. But let’s try to keep it civil and polite. The devs are not the quickest responders, that’s something we have known for a long time now, but they do listen to what is being said and try to improve things.

So with that being said, there is still plenty of time to party! The lovely Thor LRs are right around the corner and since no one has her on their roster yet to do some major p0wnage it should be interesting and fun!

Oh boy, i think i’ve sobered up a bit! Time to go spike the punch! d(@^∇ﾟ)/ヘヘ♪

tldr: the devs make mistakes, nothing new. there is room to improve. if you’re going to complain, try to bring your A-game. And don’t forget to try the punch!

2

This message was deleted due to the lack of alcohol influence.

3

I was strangely amused by the hiccups, and “just plain patooey” is a phrase I’d love to hear spouted by tough-as-nails commanders in some gritty war movie: “What’s the situation, sir?” “Just plain patooey, Private. Just plain patooey.”

4

Excellent post. Unfortunately, it will only let me +1 once.

5

Great part except from the last one. The devs, unlike us, are paid for this. So they should in most cases respond and be the ones to drive the conversations. It is their job and expected from them. While in our cases, it is just up to us to decide if we want to participate.

Don’t get me wrong though. I understand they are not robots and they have lives and minds of their own. But they have to be more active than the average member. That is what they are here for. And only the fact that there are so many topics that are not getting any answers, is the main source of frustration in these forums.

If they could at least address half of the concerns in here or at least acknowledge most of them, people would not feel like they are ignored.

6

They’re developers, not “Human Resources” or “Customer Management” or anything else of the sort. They’re not paid to talk to us at all. It’s in their best interest to take what we say with a grain of salt, obviously, but they don’t even really have to host this board at all - let alone pander to our conversations.

7

Ah, so they accept my cash and positive comments, but, when something is criticizing their work they vanish? I don’t think so. And I say this because whenever there is a “Thank you” or “I appreciate the work” topic, there is a red reply saying thank you back. If they respond to positive feedback, they should respond twice on negative. And since this forum does exist, it is their (whoever they have assigned) responsibility to manage it.

PS: And just to make sure I am not just being negative all the time, I have made positive comments about them in the past. I remember one was about the Gauntlet and the other was before I started being competitive in this game. Because that is when the “fun” kicks in. I wish I was still in that 1-2* transition being happy about 2* drops… But, once Pandora’s box is open there is no going back is there?

8

Please, take no offense in me dissecting your post, but I want to make individual remarks for different parts of your statement.

They “accept your cash” for goods and services rendered. This is a free-to-play game. You pay for things you want to pay for. Nothing more and nothing less. This forum is not pay-to-access, so you didn’t pay for that privilege either. This place’s existence, just like the game’s, is free. Come and go as you please. Whether you’ve poured money into the game as not bearing on anything at all - matter of fact, the communities where the people that have spent money matter are usually the shit ones, because they tend to get preferential treatment. Don’t throw what is practically donations onto the table like it makes anything special, because it doesn’t.

Like all those “I enjoyed the Anniversary” threads no developers have posted in? Why don’t you take a good long look at the actual replies people like Will and IceIX make, because you’ll find they are not so much what you’re concluding in this statement. I would also point out that not all red names are developers (HiFi comes to mind, I don’t think LakeStone is either), so there is that too.

Manage the forums. Make sure no one is calling each other names. Make sure no one is exploiting others. Blah blah blah. No one is obligated to converse with anyone at all. They’re not even obligated to make sure this forum thrives. It’s an add-on.

9

OK, I read and understand all your points. So let’s agree to disagree in this case. You have your opinions and I have mines.

However, when you say this:

Then this means that they should not have run the polls for deciding the anniversary events through here. I know they where on the fb page and I know they had them posted in here, but since both of these are addons, they shouldn’t really decide such stuff through them. Just my opinion following what you said.

10

The issue with managing and balancing things with a PvP competitive game (even if you’re like me and primarily PvE, it is still PvP in the end save for Gauntlet) like MPQ is complex on a variety of levels and I appreciate the efforts that have gone into addressing issues and such and I certainly don’t think the devs were intentionally wanting to shaft anyone and I don’t think that anyone really sincerely thinks this is the case, either.

Unfortunately, though, given the nature of how Tokens work (probability and RNG) and how most Events in general have worked in the past (Boosted and Essential characters), it is inevitable that some players are going to find themselves in a position where they don’t fall into the more normal boundaries of the bell curve and thusly get the shaft and short end of the stick.

We have all been in the position of ‘failing’ before but ‘failure’ - failing to fall within the more normal boundaries - during an Event that is supposed to be celebratory in nature is not quite the same as ‘failure’ in most normal circumstances.

For the Anniversary event in particular, ‘failure’ to get lucky with either Ranking placement (I totally failed that myself) or Tokens (I’m someone who actually did pull a single Dino eventually but I have also managed to pull 10 Venoms all in a row from Recruit Tokens - how’s that for luck?) results in the unfortunate missing out of a limited release VERY FUN character - the Devil Dino a bunch of us had hoped to eventually see someday - and it STINGS.

And, if you spent HP pulling tokens and still never pulled a limited Dino? It stings even more and stings even worse if all your pulls are 2*s when the Dino’s drop rate is relatively high all things considering.

I agree with Okin; though I know Dino is a 4*, it really REALLY sucks to leave the fate of a limited -Anniversary- drop to be at the mercy of probability that can allow for some people to pull 3-5 Dinos within a dozen and allow for people to have zero within the same pull range.

The idea of a guaranteed drop for at least the first cover would have been a way to help mitigate that and a gesture of consideration in regards to acknowledging the unfair craziness that probability is well known for.

Part of the whole point of the Dino - at least in my personal opinion - is its commemorative sentiment and value and NOT just its stats as a shiny new 4*. Party like a Dinosaur, right?! I mean, the Dino ate the cake that we couldn’t eat, right? Heck, even if the Dino was unusable, I still would have liked to have one anyways to mark the occasion - that yes, I was here to celebrate the Anniversary.

That said, a Heroic on top of this issue with getting Dino covers (nowhere to be seen for some and everywhere for others with people also pulling covers at a more modest pace) and more events without Anniversary tokens in sight just kind of rubs salt into already open wounds.

I’m GLAD people ARE enjoying the event; despite this post, I am, too, even though some of the going ons have made me gawk…

But I really do feel for the people where the fickle mistress known as probability on a limited commemorative character worked against their favor and continues to do so… and even moreso if they have paid into the system.

Ironically, all my best pulls were from the ‘free’ tokens - Progression, Subs, Earned HP from Rewards etc. Buying tokens netted me multiple same-color pulls of 2* Captain America and nobody else which I would personally consider as ‘bad’ given the variety there is to pull from. (Why is it ALWAYS 2* Captain America Red or 2* OBW Blue?)

11

Might i offer you some punch? It really hits the spot! icon_e_wink.gif



*apparently our dinosaur goes beyond the bounds of the marvel universe lol

Paintsville: Thanks for the love! i’ve been following your posts about the matter and think you present some of the better arguments in regards to the mishandling of expectations.

Okin and GothicKratos: i’ve said my piece on the matter but appreciate you both debating in a respectful manner the responsibilities of the devs in regards to customer service and communication. the ball is in their court.

Excellent post! yes, probability is quite the fickle mistress indeed. i don’t know what i have done to anger her since i’m hitting a major losing streak both with pVp and tokens, i suppose i’ll have to sacrifice my beloved goat Betsy to win her favor again. Sorry Betsy, but i got special Anniversary tokens on the line! but in all seriousness, i also feel for those that got the short end of the stick so to speak.

12

There’s a pretty big chasm between posting information about a poll on Facebook and reading/responding to every complaint and suggestion to ever be posted on the board.

13

It’s not really that big. If you want people to give you feedback about something that you ask, then you should consider giving them feedback on their question too. And in many cases the feedback you get is not positive. So if you want to get some you have to give some as well. It’s a two way relation. At the end of the day, it comes down to what you expect from that particular mechanic. So, if this forum is not their primary tool for communicating with their community, then there is no need to have forums such as “Bug Reporting” or “Suggestions”.

14

The difference is huge in time alone. I don’t even read the whole forum and I generally spend around an hour or two (a lot of the time three even) a day reading and posting the little bit that I post. Splitting the difference, that’s 10.5 hours a week (though an average for me is highly higher than that). If we’re talking about literal studio staff, and we’ll assume their making minimum wage here, which we all know they aren’t making anywhere near that, that’s roughly $90/week. An entire $360/month. A deafening $4320/year. Almost four and a half grand a year…assuming their getting paid minimum wage.

Forums generally exist as the epitome of a self-contained community. There are very few games that have literal studio staff posting in places like Helpdesk or Suggestion sub-forums. If they appoint anyone, it’s well known and dependable forum members that have shown the know-how and responsibility (and willing to put forth the effort) to do so. Generally speaking, literal staff only post in Announcement subforums, and we should feel pretty darn lucky to get somebody like HiFi, whom doesn’t necessary get around, but does post in non-“official” form from time to time and does his job pretty well as a community manager.

Maybe that’s how it should be in a perfect world, Okin, but we’re not in a perfect world. Now, I do agree, to a varying degree, that they need to increase communication to the player base, but I’m also keeping my expectations grounded enough to know that it’s pretty unlikely a rather small studio is going to be able to put a hand on everything the forum says, especially since our masses tend to be pretty repetitive icon_lol.gif
like for example, even though I didn’t participate in the conversation directly, I enjoyed that art thread IceIX started, with the concept art and such. It was really neat and I’d love to see more stuff like that. This questionnaire that HiFi started is a good start for monthly interactive activities.

15

You are forgetting the fact that there are tools for filtering a forum and making it easier to read and see what’s up. Apart from that. I can read the forums pretty easy by just spending 4-5 hours on it a day. Now, if I am getting paid for it that wouldn’t be bad. Don’t forget that I stop and reply from time to time so it slows down my reading.

Apart from that, I do not think that this forum is just an addon. I think it is one of the top tools to communicate with their community. Seeing how announcements come in here and most of the stuff is communicated through here, I think this is a pretty solid forum and not just an addon. Management might not be easy, but it is mandatory. No matter what means you use, if you want to have a decent forum, you have to manage it for the sake of the company. You don’t want this forum to have all kinds of complains and no actual answer from the officials. It is not a good image for the company in general. If you can’t manage it, you should not create it in the first place.

16

Allow me to approach this a little bit differently;

What kind of forum community isn’t largely self-contained and maintained?

The forum is not for trouble shooting and customer service. That’s why they have a Zendesk/Helpdesk and a Customer Support e-mail.

Those sub-forums exist because there are plenty of cases where the community will know the answer to the question and can answer the question sooner than a developer will be able to, because, strictly speaking, he’s one person and we’re a community of a lot of people.

I would also add that, especially since HiFi has been appointed, that whenever actually official response was needed (i.e. here, here, here, and here), it has been given in a rather respectable amount of time.