Thank You MPQ! Finally F2P!

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

I recently crossed Day 300 with this game. During that time, I’ve bought a couple of the $4.99 HPS, and I think twice I got the $19.99 HP when it was on sale for $13.99. So, all told, I’ve spent maybe $50 on this game in a year. That’s pretty reasonable in my book. I expect free things to be cheap and crappy, and I don’t like to play crappy games. When I was a kid, there were a couple bad tinykittys who could drop a quarter into Galaga and play for two hours, but they were rare. I was happy to drop in four tokens for for full quarters of NBA Jam. So inserting coins to keep playing isn’t a big deal to me. As long as it is worth it.

Now, in the year I’ve spent playing MPQ, I’ve only bought a cover one time. It was the 5th black cover for X-Force. And man, what a cover it was. With that cover I could finally crack all those LThor, Daken, Sentry teams in PVP, and those beastly level 275 Ares in PVE. Thanks to that cover, I got a whole bunch of other really great covers. Blade, Cyclops, Luke Cage, my very own shiny LazyThor, all max covered and just waiting for the ISO. And now, I never have to spend another dime on this game.

After all, I get enough coins to keep up with the roster slots I need. Even with the relentless pace of this last month, I’ve scrimped on shield hops, grinded out some nice PVE finishes, and haven’t had to dip into my pocket book. Oh, I thought about it. That last sale was really tempting. 11K HP for fifty bucks? Not too bad. But what did I need it for. Sure, I had been hoping to slowly gather 4* Thor covers, but she had been obliterated. I didn’t want to sink ISO into my XForce (now L225), because it seemed like he was next in line for the axe. So I just kept my money in my pocket.

And boy am I glad I did. There’s no reason to ever buy a 4* cover. Any character accidentally designed to be noticeably above average will get annihilated. So clearly, only an idiot (or a collector with money to burn) would pay twice as much more something that wasn’t twice as good. And now I don’t even have to buy shields any more in PVP. Since there’s no point in chasing 4* covers, I have no reason to push for 1K points in PVP. With longer matches thanks to health boosts to nearly everyone, there will be no way to fit more than one fight between shields, which makes it pointless. I can just push to 600, hang there, grab my T100 cover, and fill the rest in w/ DDQ!

So, kudos, to the development team for these great changes. We finally have an enjoyable, balanced game that we can play ABSOLUTELY FREE. All the people who used to spend money will either stop spending money or leave in frustration, making it even easier to win those 3* covers we need to stay ahead of the 4* characters. Really excited about the next few months. Keep up the great work!

Now, since I don’t have to start playing this next PVP until tomorrow, I’m going to start Daredevil on Netflix!

2

How many quarters did hey have to drop before they could play for 2 hours? It doesn’t just happen, it requires a cash outlay and a lot of time.

3

I agree. I support MPQ monthly and I have never spent less on video games. I bought an X-Force cover and I’m still happy.

Part of the problem with the 4* tier being uber-powerful was that it invited players to rationalize that certain 4* characters were worth $1000 or more in cover pack purchases. If your “no regrets” budget for this game is $1000/month, thats fine. But people were seriously thinking that a one-time purchase of X-Force + GoT meant that they would never need to pay in like that again. That wasn’t the deal, and yet the price tag for a 4* character made it seem like that was the deal. That’s not the kind of “progression” that’s good for the game’s finances, so you know that wasn’t the intent.

It sucks that some players were led to believe that X-Force + GoT were the “end game.” But it is a “forever game;” there is no end game.

My advice is to find your “no regrets” budget like the OP. If you enjoy what you can get with that, then play on.

4

Totally agree. I put $30 into this game in a early $20 for roster slots, and two roster slot bumps farther on.

I’d managed to get a good X-F over time, and considered buying GT to have the “great endgame”. But when they nerfed GT (just before the HP sale, thanks for that D3!) it was apparent they would nerf XF soon, no reason to buy any 4*'s. Or 3*'s really, since you have lots of those already. So no reason to spend any money!

This is certainly the best bargain of time per money game I’ve probably ever played. The downside of that is all the frustration it’s given me over time. I have a whole stack of unopened games sitting on my PC that I’ll be getting to now that PVE has become an overly frustrating grind I’m giving up on. I paid money for these games, let’s say it’s five games that I bought at $20 each there.

Money I would have put to this game if I didn’t know the money would become worthless (nerfs), or didn’t buy much ($200 or so to buy 4* covers? How much to buy the iso to level it?!?). There just doesn’t seem to be any value here after those first few roster slots.

5

I agree with the OP. The 50 bucks I spent to get a usable XForce were the last dimes I put into this game. If I invest money into something, I want to be sure it actually keeps it value. I feel like I flushed that money down the toilet!

And my daily play time will also be DRASTICALLY reduced. I don’t care about ten minute long matches, so that it takes WAY longer to reach the same rewards as before. Time is a limited resource too.

6

I agree with everything in the above 3 posts. especially:

Is it just me?? :- that wants quick, snappy matches with Booms! Flashes! Kapows! Whizzflaps! KerKlangs! and… SNikts!? To me that’s sounds enjoyable.

7

I would prefer slow tactical games, I’ve always liked PQ and there’s an enjoyment in pulling off a win after a long battle were you spent most of it getting slapped about. Unfortunately, the structure of PVP doesn’t allow this luxury, spend too long out and half the table will have lined you up.

8

I hope you never thought of investing in a car or a house.

9

Barring natural disasters, acts of god, fire or flood, your house doesn’t radically change without little warning. Things break down over time, and thing need to be replaced, but I keep seeing this metaphor and it’s just so inaccurate.

Although saving money towards a mortgage is probably a better use of money than freemium gaming.

10

The sheer amount of maintenance and redecorating costs might have skewed my view of that particular endeavour.

To be fair, it’s not half as bad an investment as a car, which in almost every case is an investment that always loses value.

11

I 100% agree about the car. Halves in value the second you drive it off the lot…