PVP: Retaliation Cooldown and Penalizing Late Comers

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ Suggestions and Feedback
1

Hello all MPQ Community,

MPQ is an awesome game but I had some thoughts and would like to know if others felt the same. If this is already being discussed, I apologize in advance.

  1. The PVP event rewards those late comers by allowing greater leaps in the PVP heat ladders. I actively participate throughout the event only to be knocked down by those late comers. I know that there is a 20% or so point loss reduction, but it is still not enough. There are too many big jumps down. The players who actively participate throughout the event should not have to experience such losses.

  2. Since it is PVP, it is expected to be attacked. However, there are some points in the contest where there is a flurry of retaliations. A cool down could work to meet PVP expectations, yet keeping it competitive.

Thanks MPQ Community!

2

This is why they want you to buy shields. If you are like me and you gradually move up the ranks (because I have a life outside of the game). They want you to spend $$ buying shields. At the end of they day, they are more concerned with $$ than they are issues.

3

This has been an issue that needs to be worked. Your new pvp match-making is so-so. Allowing much lower pt totals to attack higher seems very unfair. Those at 800 should not be hit by far lower pt total players. It rewards those that start late. Those that start right away should get some kind of bonus or benefit. Maybe a buff on defense for starting the event sooner. Also the more you are attacked your def buff should go up for a duration of time regardless how much you attack. Some advantage for starting sooner than later.

4

Hi MPQ Community,

Thanks for the feedback and it is good to know that I am not alone with these observations. Maybe D3 can comment on the following suggestion?

Instead of having a negative impact on the rating, the penalty could be a percentage of what a victory could earn with subsequent victorious attacks. The percentage can be capped so progress could not slow down to an absolute stop. In addition to a possible retaliation cool down, it addresses a couple of things.

  1. Progression can be made toward the magical 1000 threshold to gain those coveted 4* covers.
  2. The grind still has to be done in order to reach that level.
  3. MPQ’ers that are serious in winning the PvP contest will still have to use shields in order to gain the highest levels since the rating penalty would hinder their rise to the top.

Regards,
Black IC

5

I know what you mean. I really hate it when I’m over 1k and some tinykitty in the 500s hits me.

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6

Epic! That is hilarious!

7

If that screenshot is legit, that’s one of the most epic trolls ever.

8

Well, the PvP adjustment is all the rage (one way or the other…)

Devs,
Please consider these suggestions or comment why these cannot be done. The community is concerned about recently announced PvP adjustments.

9

I got my best single event point total under this new points rewarding system… I guess that should make me happy, but the process was not much fun. the night I slept between the start and finish I lost 233 points, not chump change. the pvp felt more like swimming upstream that ever before. And I lived in fear of late comers with beast rosters who would nail be for sizable losses, and because their rosters were max 3* and 4*s I couldn’t retaliate, nor would I want to for less points than I lost.

I still think the way you balance grinders and late comers is with a “strength of roster” rating. Say you are a 3* transitioner (like yours truly) and your top 8 characters are between 110 and 130 and you are attacked by player whose top 8 are all max 4s and 3s, they get points for the win, but I don’t lose points because I never had a chance…

I can make the progression rewards given time and grinding, and enjoy the game if I didn’t get hit back by late arriving whales who can smash through the 3* guys with little resistance.

If I get beat by a roster similar to mine, I lose points and the winner gains points.

If I happen to get beat by a roster much lower than mine, I should lose extra and they should gain extra.

10

maybe have a pvp match cooldown timer that refreshes similar length of healthpack.png
, maybe have 10 that refill. force players to start early no late joins.

eww… i feel yucky. i made a suggestion that i hate to the core.

11

The easiest way I can think of to promote early play would be to have a set amount of points locked in based on when you start and what you earn, I seem to bottom out around 400 when people are attacking me and I’m not shielded, so apply a bonus to that number based on join time and matches played or points earned. So if you join on day 1 and grind to 1k (for argument sake) then you won’t fall below 600 or so when the inevitable wave of retaliations hit. Day 2 if you grind up to 1k again you get to save 800, and so on. Those familiar with how gold is earned in Dota 2 will get the basic concept (safe gold and whatnot)

Obviously numbers would need to be tweaked as I just threw those out to illustrate the point, but it would give people a reason to join early so they won’t necessarily have to rely on shields as much except for the final push.

12

Hello MPQ Community,

As the Rocket & Groot concluded, I was bombed for 300+ points. I only hope this dramatic decrease in rank will be addressed in some way.

13

Yes this needs fixing. My highest level character is 110 (150 with powerups) and I keep getting pummeled by teams with characters from level 180-250, especially towards the end of event. You need to adjust points dramatically so that they earn very little points when there is such a huge differential in rosters. That way they can’t make up so many points so fast like these people do now. This needs to also filter through so if these people play weak teams so they can set you up for retaliation with their maxed out heroes they still shouldn’t get many points when they retaliate with vastly different characters. In fact I would encourage that retaliations can only be from the team that they had when they were beat the first time if they want to retaliate this would slow the bait and switch tactics several of these people use.

I started the most recent Coversquirrel event right away and got up to top five ranking for the first 24 hours but keep getting attacked by teams I have no chance of beating and I am in freefall. The best I can do is tread water now but I know towards the end of the event we will see the issue of late comers rocketing up the board.

Correction: Ok I stand corrected. I recently placed 3rd in the Coversquirrel event after using a shield strategy (2 8 hour ones) that helped protect me during the last day. I then had to play a match in the last 5 minutes to jump from 6th to 3rd so I could get the third Blade cover to cover him completely. I had used the 3 hour shields before but never tried the 8 hour shields due to hero point cost. It was worth it cost 300 hero points but I recovered 150 of them through the event and gained three Blade covers. One thing I noticed during the event, I never won a defensive match. I always lost, never had a successful defense in like 15 defenses, only shields saved me. Is this more common now with the new system?

14

If they don’t want to completely get rid of defensive points of which a player has no control of maybe they should at the very least make them flat. Something like -10 defensive loss, +10 defensive win disregarding of what attacker gains/loses.

15

I completely agree. We definitely need a better PvP system. I think incorporating a retaliation cool down AND a system where the amount of points you earn depends on your level compared to your opponents. The stronger the team you’re attacking is compared to you the more points you recieve. If they are much lower than you, you recieve very little. The same with how many points you lose. I think a system like this would make it so much better

Developers, please see these suggestions and take them into SERIOUS consideration. Make them come to life!
16

Connecting to a similar thread.

https://forums.505go.com/discussion/30612

17

Guys, I agree with most of what is being said. The suggestions are great, but they have HUGE repercussions in every aspect of the game. I am not playing Devils Advocate here, but you must see things from another perspective.

For example, recent PvP point changes made everyone boost their overall score, meaning more people are claiming the progression rewards, even if being bombed afterwards. In the previous system, it could only reach 650 pts if I had a strong event champion, my normal score would hover between 500-550 pts. Now I can reach 800 pts with same roster and dream about reaching 1k for the 4-star. Even being nuked down by retaliations, my final placement is somewhat the same of the old system (fighting for top 100).

So, basically, this change made overall scores increase, but not changing much overall placement. The net gain is earning more progression rewards. I am sure this season will have a spike on number of players that earned thr 10-pack from 4k pts reward.

So, lets think how adding retaliation cooldown would affect the game as it is today. Basically, there would be fewer point drops, meaning people would reach even higher placement rewards. Suddendly, reaching 1k pts wouldnt be an accomplishment, just something expected… Progression Rewards aready needs serious revamping, specially after reaching the 4k overall pts. Moving the 4-star reward to 1500 pts, would just feel like they gave you stronger legs to climb a ladder, but doubled its size. Please, dont get me wrong.. I love this idea and already suggested something similar in other posts. This should be implemented, but there is a lot to think about.

Other impact of this chance would be a drop on shield purchases. Right now, as the game is, I can pretty much pay for my 3-hour shield with HP earned through progression. In scale, this should already represent some loss of revenue to the devs. Retalliation cooldowns will represent even more loss.

They doubled the health packs. While this helps a lot in PvE, sustained pushes before shielding, etc.. this also represent another loss of revenue.

There is a movement towards removing the ability to purchase covers. This is also a huge drop in revenue.

Roster slots price now capping at 1k HP. While this doesnt impact 99% of th players, if this rendency progresses, more revenue loss.

First the dev will have to see if the game remains sustainable after the planned changes. Then perhaps add new purchase options, like team-up boosts, to counter balance the loss the suggestions presented here will bring.

We only care about our fun. They care for our fun, but must think on the business aspect of the game as well.

18

Well, the first thing you need to generate revenue are players. All these points you are saying about are correct as theorist would say ‘in vacuum’. If they lose players due to frustrating experience there is nobody to get this revenue from. So pressing hard players to spend money is not always an optimal business desision. Sometimes loosening things can actually bring more money on the table 'cause happier people are more likely to part with their cash.

19

I completely agree with you shurak. People should enjoy the game to both continue playing and to refer it to others. That is precisely the best way to improve revenue: adding new players (while keeping the existent ones)

The point I was trying to make is not that these suggestions shouldnt be heard. I am one of those that support them. I just pointed that these changes have a broader impact then it first meet the eyes. While dropping 250 pts is frustrating, earning 500 feels great. So when you see things in this the perspective you can often hit ppl for 40+, it is not the end of the world that you lose 25 in one attack. The latest changes were made to fix an PVP exploit (back to back retaliation losses to farm points) while making rewards more accessible.

The problem with the current system is that is so much more worthy to attack close to the end because of the huge leaps in pts you get from minimally being behind someone in the score, that playing throughout the event is rarely rewarding.

I thought on a few changes that could help fix this, not sure if it would actually work but here it goes:

-Each PVP event has a 3 day duration. Make that, from event start, every 24 hours rewards are given, based on players current standing position. It could be cumulative (reward those in top 100 position, every day, for example) or exclusive (reward the top 100 point scorers of that particular day). The event final score would be the sum of all 3 days slices. (much like season score is the sum of all individual event scores.. ignore simulator). Muck like what PvE is today (mini events that give rewards and add to event total for other rewards)

-Remove retaliation entirely. Player gets free skips based on number of attacks received.

Other more radical suggestion would be having a more accurate “power level” grade and have events (and rewards) scale with it.

  • Develop a better algorithm to assess power level. It shouldnt be based merely on total number of covers (i have plenty 2-stars with 13 covers that havent been leveled up, and many 4-stars with 1 or 2 covers). Rather, it should be a hybrid between number of covers and total level, and much less about last position clinched). Then, have different rewards for each power level groups (maybe 5 or 7 different groups) Lowest groups fight for 3-star characters, while higher power levels fight for 4-stars, for example.