Player's Perception - A Rant

[Vaseodin]

I'm quickly reaching my point of no return from this game. I love the game and have spent a lot of money on it. There have been so many mistakes made since launch -- and the game, I fear, is very near it's own point of no return.

A quick look at the forum and anyone will notice a disturbing trend: 1 game-related post for every 100 regarding player frustrations in one way or another. It's sad. I wanted this forum to be a cool place to go to find neat things game-related and learn from fellow players. It is now a site to report bugs and such (this post included).

A list of bad moves on the part of the devs:

* They removed 3* evo shard drops completely in a "hotfix" 3 days before update. Those not frustrated by bugs now had a new frustration.

* They released an update, only to find it was full of new bugs, so they delayed the release. Meanwhile, they didn't add back the 3* evo shard drops. They could've very easily with another "hotfix" until the update was ready. Player frustration reaches a new level.

* They nerf several characters that didn't need to be nerfed and talismans that people had spent time and money working on. Player frustration increases even more.

* They will not answer tickets filed weeks ago. Players now feel ignored.

* The trooper badge store has bugs and it is the ONLY way to get skill shards. Instead of fixing it, they slap players in the face with an alternative fix: pay $50 and you can get 3 skill shards!

* They drop the sands of time maximum to 80. They say that was what they intended from day 1, but the timing couldn't have been worse. Players are already frustrated with bugs, and now have to deal with nerf after nerf unecessarily.

* The missions all drop a lot less than they used to. Not just 3* evo shards. For example, I filled my sands of time 4 times yesterday between leveling up and purchasing with ironite and between Underworld madness and battlefield madness I got a total of 4 green 3*evo runes. This is pathetic. If I played normally, this means that even after 4 days I wouldn't be able to 5* 1 green talisman. The grind has slowed to snail pace.

I don't see a reason to play until the update. I can't get materials I need from grinding, I don't need trooper points because the store is broken anyway, and the grind is just tedious with no reward.

If the update doesn't come soon, I fear I will join the many who have left for greener pastures. It is unfortunate, because with good content constantly introduced I could see myself spending at minimum $100 per month on this game without hesitation. Heck, I have spent over $1k on Marvel Future Fight because of devs constantly rewarding players when they had bugs and they released great content month after month. I Left that game for this one. Maybe I made a mistake. Please turn things around. I want to continue to be a LOTB player and support you guys. Right now I can't possibly justify even playing for free.

[Vertax616]

Lamia or Matt please read this. This is a really comprehensive summary of what players have gone through. This game's player base doesn't have enough patience anymore. You can't expect players to pay a broken game. I really hope to see this game growing but with blatant mistakes such as selling only "3" skill shards, some ironite and very little gold with a price of a triple A game that can be played for hours instead of fixing the bugs that makes the game unplayable, this game won't last long.

[BillLion]

Yes. This game is too good to let die. Please study Marvel Avenger's Alliance 2 for a lesson of what NOT to do. They haven't announced it, but this game is dying a premature death after only launching globally in March.

Playdom gave away too much in the beginning, and then they WAAAAY overcorrected by nuking the economy. Players actually wanted them to make $ so they could continue, but their deals were extremely unreasonable to the point only the biggest whales would bite. They way under-communicated and ignored frustrations from their player-base. A lot of people dumped a GREAT game, and now it appears the developers are ready to abandon it. A real shame.

Now, you guys are far from having a dead game on your hand, and from repeating the above mistakes to the same degree. BUT, please hear the concerns being raised, respond and keep this game going for a long time! I'll restate what I said on another post:

1. Stabilize -get the game running smoothly ASAP
2. Apologize -throw the players a little something for all the time & trouble -gold, rare souls, etc.
3. Communicate -keep giving regular reports on what's happening, what we can except and (when possible) when we can expect it

Sincerely,

A paying, mostly satisfied, but a little concerned customer.

[hanZ]

+ gold-devastating bugs like the talisman reset ... I guess they earn good extra money by ignoring this "bug"

[jpmusic]

Vaseodin has some good points. Not everything has been bad, the game is fun (I think everyone here will agree), but it seems that players are getting more and more fed up with the bugs. I haven't had a terrible experience (other than having my old account locked) but it could be a lot better. Something that everyone is complaining about is the drop rate when completing a mission. We are getting a lot less (without mentioning the issue with the 3* evo shards) than we used to and that makes grinding a lot less interesting and more tedious than it should be.

Also, I understand that launching the Time Rift Dungeons is a big move and requires some technical stuff done. What is really bugging some of us that are playing on Android is that we have to wait for iOS users to get the update so everyone gets access to the dungeons at the same time. That's just my opinion...

In the end dear devs, we love the game and you can improve our experience by considering some of the following:

- Improve the mission drops (including 3* evo shards while the dungeons are released)
- Offer compensation to the players for server and bugs.
- Please think about the offers you make. I don't doubt that some people are willing to spend $50 in the game, but please make it worth it.
- As mentioned many times before, constant communication with you is very important. Let us know that you are aware of what we (as players) like or dislike, and that you are interested in making the game better for everyone. When this forum started you could check it once a day and it was okay, but each day the forums get more and more activity and they need more constant attention.

As always: I still love the game and play daily. Little things go a long way for us. Thanks!

[Trystangst]

With you vaseodin on everything but this one:

* They nerf several characters that didn't need to be nerfed and talismans that people had spent time and money working on. Player frustration increases even more.

Nerfing happens. Sooner or later it happens to something you like or spent a lot of effort on. It's part of the balancing act the devs have to play to try and keep things remotely even, especially if PVP is to be a thing. If someone is going to demand a refund anytime something they like gets hit with the nerf bat, they're probably better off NOT playing games with an online component.

[Vaseodin]

I understand nerfing happens. I think maybe I wasn't clear enough on why that was an issue: the timing of the nerfs is what is frustrating players. Before bugs are fixed things get nerfed and it makes players feel like nerfing is more important than bug fixes. Some things they nerfed most definitely needed the Nerf, but why make players unhappy now while there are still so many other issues plaguing the game experience? The two may be completely unrelated but that doesn't take away from the fact that player perception is that nerfing has been more important than bug fixes.

[Jennie-5128]

+1 to everything in this thread.

[HeadlessHammerhead]

I, like you, Vaseodin, have spent well over $300 in this game, between the founder's packs and in-game purchases. I've been very frustrated, but keep playing daily in the hopes things will get better very soon.

Now, however, I am noticing that of my 50 troopers, where a week and a half ago I would get at least 40 of them to use my characters, now only about 25 are getting me trooper points. I don't it's a coincidence, and this begs the question whether this is the result of bugs causing people's game to crash while using my character, or whether 40%+ of my troopers have quit the game. Hopefully it means most of my troopers are taking a break into bugsa are fixed, but I doubt that's the cause. This is getting to a very crucial point in the life of this game...

[Trystangst]

I, like you, Vaseodin, have spent well over $300 in this game, between the founder's packs and in-game purchases. I've been very frustrated, but keep playing daily in the hopes things will get better very soon.

Now, however, I am noticing that of my 50 troopers, where a week and a half ago I would get at least 40 of them to use my characters, now only about 25 are getting me trooper points. I don't it's a coincidence, and this begs the question whether this is the result of bugs causing people's game to crash while using my character, or whether 40%+ of my troopers have quit the game. Hopefully it means most of my troopers are taking a break into bugsa are fixed, but I doubt that's the cause. This is getting to a very crucial point in the life of this game...

Yeah - at one point I had no one in my 50 who didn't play at least once a day. Now I see lots of people with "Days Ago".

[blkthunder]

I hope some mode or dev read this post, some week ago i played everyday and with all my troopers just two or three not because i haven't sands of time, i only have some crash but was every 6 or 8 fights so it was fine, but with last update, i have a ton of luck if i can play one fight without a crash or error, i log only por daily and i see only how four people play my char, before i get around 600 badges every day and today only 75. I hope the things get fixed or at least patched to play "with the buggy pre last update normally"

Vaseodin is one of the most active members in forums, so i think his opinion must be taken for the devs. If someone like him is tired of the state of the game just imagine how are other people...

Grettings to all, and i hope this dont be my last post. Up the irons

[ngoni]

Agree with all of Vaseodin's points. This is turning into another case study in how to kill a game before it gets off the ground.