Something nice to say about MPQ

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

This game can sometimes be frustrating. And we have had very little communication from Devs in quite a while. However, the game itself is still amazingly fun to play and thought I would just point it out. I have been playing this game for over six years. There is no other mobile game that holds that honor. There is one really important thing that makes this game so playable over these years:

It’s not complicated.

I mean that in the best possible way. Playing other games, there are so many different levels of upgrades and special things and tiles and miscellaneous. It becomes very hard to keep track of what you need to improve which character.

MPQ is very straightforward. I don’t always love their characters, and still have no idea why supports went to die, but overall the game is simplistic in its approach. And that (IMHO) is a really, really good thing.

2

Agreed. It is fun to play and is one of the only ways you can find out who would win in a fight with ridiculous scenarios (“Who would win between Apocalypse and Daredevil from the Netflix show?”). I’ve also been playing the game for YEARS now, which is rare not just among mobile games, but any video game period.

That’s why the frustration is real rather than typical gamer entitlement. The lack of communication from the developers continues to be an issue, especially in the face of 5* Captain Marvel’s rework without any notice. If there was radio silence from the developers AND the game sucked, who cares? But since the game IS fun, that’s where the issues are coming from.

3

The thing is… it IS straightforward to us. We’ve been here for a long time. And it makes sense to us because of our time invested.

We’ve had numerous newbies go through our 19th and 20th slot in our alliance, with a big lack of knowledge on how to roster people properly. And honestly, its hard to blame them – there’s no direction, and if you’re not a little ‘OCD’ about collecting characters, you’ll lose out. One such player had only SEVEN characters in their roster after a couple MONTHS of play. And they played at least a single match a day. They opened a few LTs as well! How do I know? Because all 7 characters were single cover 4* OR 5* characters. They thought that keeping the strongest was the most viable strategy, and why would I wanna roster the weak ones??

And there’s nothing to tell you otherwise. Nothing to tell you that farming is the way. Nothing to tell you about progression rewards, placement rewards, time slices for PvP, how important slots are, and more.

Its not the easiest game to learn, to be quite frank. I’ve had to repeat strategies to many newer players… and only some adapt them, and the rest just eventually get bored and quit, or they continue to play, but complain on how they can’t roster everyone because slots/HP/resources are scarce.

----------------but I digress… the topic IS about saying something nice about MPQ, right?

It’s definitely a game with a lot of value. I’ve never seen so many characters in a single game… and its still growing! This also includes baddies… so many more of them too.

Free to play is actually a viable strategy. No one NEEDS to spend money, although having an initial stash of HP for slots wouldn’t be a bad thing. After all, we all agree that having one 1*, all 2s, and all 3s established in a slot would make things a lot easier. But hey – it’s not necessary – you’ll get them eventually.

You can play this on the go, in little stints. There’s no “live play” option, so there’s no need to sit down and “focus” for a match, like Clash Royale or Clash of Clans. Live play isn’t a bad thing, necessarily, though. I think there’s plenty of us in here who would like a separate PvP mode, just for live matches. Yes, yes, we all know and have heard what it might mean for the data load of the game and what-not… but hey, at the end of the day, we still have plenty of nice things here within PvP as it is.

I, for one, wouldn’t be able to keep up in many other games. I play a PvE match for progression, then I do some work… then I do another match… then I do some work. PvE matches are quick enough where they dont really detract from my workload (after all, my laptop has to load info too!).

Through writing this little bit, I’m starting to wonder if I would be playing this game if I didn’t have that OCD-tick to “collect them all”. I don’t do that for every game I play, but I do it for those games where I feel like its possible without too much effort. And that’s MPQ. It gives me a feeling where its actually possible, as long as you know how to use your resources.

4

I love this topic, it’s a great game in every way , it’s completely free, and it’s an evolving challenge constantly to keep it from getting boring . We really needed a positive only lead topic . The devs do a great job overall , the game isn’t perfect subjectively , but nothing in life ever is . It emulates real life . I don’t complain to the devs because my opinions are unqualified, I don’t build app games so I know nothing about what’s best for their paradigm.
Now , all we need is someone to post an opposite topic for the other 99% called “ Why I hate this game and constantly complain, think the devs are idiots, and spend tons of money on it but still keep playing for years “. That way I’d see a posting I never have to read .

5

The game is not completely free. If no one ever paid a dime, the game would either need to be chock full of ads or it would have shut down long ago. You may be one of the people who doesn’t support it financially, but that doesn’t mean it’s free. It means someone else is paying your freight.

I do like this game. A lot. I spend a lot of time (and not an insignificant amount of money) on it. That’s my personal choice. However, just because I like the game doesn’t mean I should not be able to speak up when something isn’t to my liking. But having a criticism is NOT the same as saying the game is crap.

The devs are trying to make a profit, and that’s fair. But we are all customers, whether someone else is paying your tab or you are, and that absolutely gives us the right to speak up when we don’t like how we’re being treated. If you are coasting on the purchases of others, I suggest you be thankful and supportive when those people have something to say, or one day your gravy train will be gone and your free ride with it.

in the meantime, there are lots of business texts that speak about how partnering with your customers is a sure fire way to improve profitability. That’s really what 99% of the criticisms are about-lack of real (or at least perceived) partnership.

6

MPQ is more entertaining and enjoyable because of the evolving game play and the added features through the time I have been playing it. Just like any other game it is kind of hard to get going in some ways but at least it is fun. If they ever nerf Apocalypse I will form a union of revolt.

7

Huh, I wonder if a newbie to the game would agree with that assessment. After 6+ years playing this game regularly, I really can’t pretend that I have any idea how it appears to new players.

8

It’s the best match-3, I like making combos with all my characters. Also it’s fun to play with the characters I grew up with and loved.

9

Yeah, I’ve tried helping low level players in the past but a lot either don’t want the advice or don’t use the advice. So now I really only help if someone needs advice on who they should champ or what team they should try on a boss event. Something nice about MPQ… I like the community and boss events.

10

I know I’m not the only one who sees the irony in this, right?

Vitriol directed at your fellow players, is still vitriol.

To the OP, this is bar none my favorite game, period. Despite complaints that I’ve had over the years, I’m more invested in this game than I am any other. It’s easy to be positive about MPQ. It’s also easy to be critical of things I dislike because I AM so passionate about it.

On the topic of whether the game is simple. I’d say gameplay more or less is. Roster management definitely is not. There are also a lot of unspoken rules on how to succeed in both PVP and PVE that are not intuitive.

11

I pretend to have any idea… first, because I tried to get a few gaming friends to play, and saw what was happening that was different from my starting experience, and second, because I started an alt on a different platform recently.

In the vein of this thread, I love this game, I spend a lot of time on it, and occasionally money too. The combination of match three and the powers of the characters make for a good gaming challenge, and both the gamer and the collector in me is thrilled with the champ ‘m all challenge. The social aspect is fun, playing and chatting with my alliance mates is great as well, even if the ingame chat is inadequate for cmd (but hurray for Line).

But I want to answer to the poster above, as my attempts to get friends to play as well have failed, and that to me is worrying. Because some of them did spend money, and they still failed to get into a groove of play that made it fun for them.

Why did they fail? Long analysis to follow…

What is different for new players now that was not so hard in earlier days? The biggest problem is the hp situation. It was always a challenge for every player to get trough the hp starved phase, but nowadays, players are far more than hp hungry at that level, they starve and die from of lack of hp. And with 100+ 4*, all of them needed for a decent ranking on pve, even in scl1, the starvation feels neverending.

When rewards were rearranged in the shard introduction, hp rewards were lowered across the board. And this is what is killing new players mostly, except for a very hardy few that play for hours, and have a decent alliance to support them, or those prepared to spend hunderds of bucks from the start.

When I started my main (850 days or so ago) I already felt (as we all did) that I needed way more hp, and I could still could make a lot more hp in pvp and pve rewards in those days. T10 in scl6 for pvp was 100-150 hp reward at that time (I remember, because buying a 3 hr shield to protect ranking was viable). Now it is 40-50 hp, less even than the cheapest shield. So, a new player now does not earn nearly enough hp to get a sense of progression. Yes, I know, nobody at that stage ever did, and we all struggled with it, but believe me, it is much much worse now. Oh, and factor in also that the t10 positions of even the lowest pve scls are taken by 4* and 5* players that do not belong there, but for some reason enjoy taking the rewards that they do not need ( in pve, choosing scl is entirely free, so a 5* player can play scl1 and some do. Why? I have no idea. But they do). I used to be t5 in pve scl4 often with my main account. With my alt, that was was no longer possible unless I had the 4*. But… gathering the 100+ 4* you need takes very long. And even if you manage to get t10 in scl1-4, you do not get more than 10-20 hp or so). I got my alt account into 4* transition by buying a Stark at a sale, plus agressively merc it for every pve and pvp to scrape an extra 20-40 hp from alliance rewards. But most new players cannot do that.

And this is even a problem for modest spenders. Example, one of my friends bought a starter pack. Paying 10 bucks when starting out should be a fair deposit, right? It did not help her at all, because all the hp included in the deal was needed to roster the few 3* that came with it. And those 3* while they helped play, took roster spots she still needed for 2*. So, I told her she also needed the 2*, that she needed to not open tokens without roster spots hp, etc. But she made so little hp, it took her days, if not more than a week to even roster a single char that way (granted, she was not fully progressing pve, but she still played a fair amount) - in a game where hunderds of chars need a spot. She felt spending 10 bucks should not mean she needed to spend another 10 after just a week. After a few weeks she gave up, as she just did not see enough progression of her roster. “I suck at this game, because I do not get anywhere. I must be playing it wrong…” she said and left.

12

Something very positive feedback is missing until now, unless you look at other topics. :clap: The game interface has significantly improved, the 6 favorite teams that can be saved are enough. I have saved 3 teams to play PVE and PVP and 3 teams complete DPD. Selecting chars from 225 list is not needed anymore. Thx MPQ :+1:

13

A trend I’m reading here for “newbies” is that there’s so many roster slots to buy, and so many covers and whatnot thrown at you early on… that the requirement for HP becomes evident REALLY fast.

Back in the early days, you made some HP from the prologue, and you still can today!

But back in the early days, that little bit of HP you made just went to the couple of characters you had waiting. You didn’t need much, just a bit.

Maybe that’s the problem – the prologue needs an overhaul. I would venture that the prologue should be updated with new rewards that address the current day newbie problems.

Of course, I have NO IDEA how they’d prevent us long-time vets from capitalizing on it – after all, if they gated us out, there’d probably be backlash (which is silly). Maybe make the prologue PvEs have a Shield Rank gate, where the bigger your Shield Rank is, the lower the prologue rewards are…? This could reinforce having newer players complete the prologue as soon as possible, to get the best possible rewards, while not closing them out of the storyline (if they care to read/play it).

This would, of course IMO, need a nice highlighted mandatory tutorial text that pops up when entering the game. One of those things that dims most of the screen, and a highlighted box pops up and points at the Prologue story tab, and describes how the rewards are greater when played with earlier Shield ranking. In other words, spell it out, so players aren’t so mad if they miss it just due to ignorance.

I think this could help alleviate the problems new players have, because the game can provide greater rewards to new players, which could even be updated every year, or half-year, to try to keep new players in mind… all the while, us established players shouldn’t be bothered by it, because we already have farms going, or are deep in 4* territory, etc, to really care about going back to the prologue. Yes, yes… “we never got those same rewards”… but we’ve been playing for longer, meaning we got more time and rewards from the game, so I would hope that no one would complain TOO much for ‘missing out’.

14

The game is designed on purpose to create an early bottleneck for HP. The reason for this is a game developer “trick” that tries to make it clear to a new player that spending on the game is both a normal thing and indeed a desirable thing for the player to do. The more that a player spends (not necessarily in amount but regularity), the more likely they are going to repeat this behaviour on a regular basis and maybe even end up spending more.

MPQ has bottlenecks at nearly every level of play - HP/Roster slots, rarity of covers, CP, Iso - all of these things are there to try and control player behaviour. I can’t see them ever updating Prologue with anything because it is there as a design to teach you to expect to expend resources, some of which you might want to purchase to progress if you are impatient.

MPQ is actually far less aggressive in doing this than many, many free to play mobile games though.

15

While I agree, @DAZ0273, my main reason for posting that above is that it was FAR easier to take those resources when we were new players and use them “correctly” than it is now. If I were to start over today, I don’t think I’d make it, because a Heroic could drop me one of MANY MANY 4s. Back in our day, a 4 dropped me just 1 or 2 options (I’m honestly forgetting who the first 4* was… I know it was Wolverine or Invisible Woman, and I can’t remember which). That’s easy to keep up with… by the time they released Nick Fury, my resources were coming in slightly better, because I had time and resources that were comparable to what and how the game was evolving.

Nowadays? Imagine you got lucky enough to pull a Polaris. Then a Karnak. Then a 4* Rocket. And the alliance rewards net you a bonus Chavez. A Medusa. Gamora. …etc… etc… etc… ETCETERA. :slight_smile:

The SAME HP to work with? More 3s and 2s in the game today than what there were 6 years ago? I’m just saying, a little upscaling might prevent more players from dropping out. After all, word-of-mouth is the best advertising. Keep your players around… I know I’ve brought on board more than a few players, and at least ONE of them spends more than I’ll ever do… which is to say, that my word-of-mouth advertising was able to generate funds for the devs.

#savethenoobs #raisetheminimumwage
:wink:

of course, none of this affects me, so why do I care…? although, it’d be nice to have my noob-ish friends keep their interest higher, because most of them point to my past and declare that I had a much better starting point. I cannot argue it against them… but I just agree, and tell them to keep working on it, because it’s just a grind.

16

I regularly feed back in the surveys that the barriers to entry are too high now. Everyone I know who has started playing in the last few years has been put off by the scale of what they need to do to progress.

It’s a real shame because the core mechanics are excellent, probably the best of any mobile game I’ve played, but the last few years seem to have made it harder and harder for new players to make reasonable progress. There are so many early game mistakes you can make, things that seem obvious to folks who hang around the forums, that you quickly get disheartened in any number of ways. Rostering a 5* early on is the classic - seems like an excellent idea, turns out to be a terrible idea that effectively locks you out of one entire game mode.

I really enjoy MPQ. It’s great. I’m sure the Devs and publishers have a plan and have considered how the entry paths for new players should look. I’m just adding my two penneth based on my limited observation. I want MPQ to carry on and keep getting better. I think we all do, really.

17

Just checking to see if anyone has anything nice to say here . ( it’s been a week )
Anyone ? Buehler? Buehler??

18

Even though she is a terrible character, I really dig Karolina’s art style.

19

One of the strongest characters in the game (Okoye) looks like my aunt.

20

Terrible? I wouldn’t be THAT mean… at least she has synergy! 6 blue/yellow, feeds into her green ability. Defense up, turns to strikes with team attack.

I mean… there are PLENTY of terrible ones, I wouldn’t throw her in there. Sure, she’s not Vulture, Rocket, Valkyrie, Polaris (that one is a 5* without the health),… but she’s not Talos or Namor. :tongue: