Get a Free 3-6 Star Baron Zemo this Week!

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Proven and Below: 3-Star
Conqueror/Uncollected: 4-Star
Cavalier/Thronebreaker: 5-Star
Paragon/Valiant: 6-Star

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Due to issue with the "Not Another Anime Reference" Solo Event, we will be disabling the event for the time being. We will return the event at a future date when the issues have been resolved. We apologize for the inconvenience.
**BANQUET EVENT PSA**
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State of the Game - an open letter

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Comments

  • Morpheus_123Morpheus_123 Posts: 792 ★★★
    At the end of the day I would love the game to improve. By that I mean a vast mixture of all the suggestions people make on the forums to be listened to, acknowledged, and lastly seen implemented into the game. It is my experience and opinion that none of that is happening, which renders this platform simply a place to vent.

    It is month after month of deterioration in terms of game play, rewards vs difficulty content, and a general feeling of less enjoyment due to the lack of end user forethought.

    I’m not here to preach, or give a list of ways to improve the game. I strongly suggest that is done by the people who Kabam employ. The forum is littered with unhappy customers, and most of the time any criticism is simply removed for being unconstructive, which is ridiculous.

    I’m simply only still here and playing the game out of time I have invested, but without the glaringly obvious improvements that are needed, that reason will soon run out.

    Certain people post many comments going into great intricate details on the game, it’s development, suggestions, and making it seem as though a wealth of knowledge is needed to have a valid opinion. I don’t see why that is the case. Anyone and everyone who plays the game has the right to an opinion, end game user, or someone who has posted their first comment. The fact that a few prop up the revenue stream of this game is probably what keeps it a float, so keeping those happy is what Kabam’s prime objective clearly is.
  • Scopeotoe987Scopeotoe987 Posts: 1,537 ★★★★★
    Player of 6 years here, good write up op!
  • AverageDesiAverageDesi Posts: 5,030 ★★★★★
    OGAvenger said:

    Idyslim said:

    Well written letter…

    Would be ideal if Kabam put out roadmaps more frequently so we players aren’t in the dark so often. Many players were very excited with the wish crystal at the beginning of 2021. Unfortunately we are nearing the end of the year with no idea when/if they are still coming. Targeted 6* champion acquisition is something that’s still very difficult in MCOC.

    The roadmaps should really be a once a quarter thing. Even if it’s just to update us on the progress of the previous road map.
    Another one to update the progress to update of the progress of the progress...
  • DemonzfyreDemonzfyre Posts: 20,097 ★★★★★
    unoobmepro said:

    Demonzfyre said:

    Hoitado said:

    Demonzfyre said:

    Hazzalec1 said:

    Very eloquently written. Points were very clear and just straight facts.

    Not really sure how anyone can disagree.

    It's not all facts. Actually most of it is feelings. There's no way to prove 100's of people are leaving daily. That's assumption.
    Demonzfyre said:


    So you agree that all other months, Cav MEQ's should have lesser rewards because they have been overwhelmingly easy? We finally get a difficult fight in Cav MEQ and rewards need to be increased?





    Well Said OP
    So tell me how I'm wrong? Cav MEQs have not lived up to what they're supposed to have been. It's some of the most boring content in the game next to AQ. They put a terrax fight in the 2.1 and all the sudden they difficulty is exponentially increased and we deserve increased rewards? So that obviously means the rewards were to high before that terrax fight right? Make it make sense for me.
    No, it means that befor that we were getting rewarded fine. Now the difficulty went up and the rewards didn't
    The difficulty didn't go up. The whole Cav difficulty is a joke. The Terrax fight isn't even hard. I've solo'd the fight with Dr Doom all 5 times.

    Now, if they raised all health pools to 500k and increased attack values by 500% and removed the class global buffs then sure, increase the rewards.
  • ImranImran Posts: 587 ★★★
    I don't have the patient to read all, but if it’s for the good of the game. I'm agree.
  • MojoHaterMojoHater Posts: 244 ★★
    ConcernedPlayer999 said:

    An open letter to Kabam,

    The last few months has seen this game riddled with input errors and countless other bugs that players are experiencing at various levels. Some have barely been able to play since early in the summer months, others are not experiencing them at all. Despite these issues, much of the player base has proven their loyalty and stuck with the game regardless.

    This loyalty, it would seem, is a completely one way street.

    The vast majority of players understand that the input and timing issues that we are experience has been caused by a build up of technical debt and the sole solution is for Kabam to create their own game engine from scratch. To do this correctly takes a lot of time and is projected to be complete sometime in early 2022 (details to come). We understand that this technical debt was built by Kabam trying to make the game a better playing experience and because of the increasingly complex coding required to run a game with so many game modes, playable characters, events, nodes, and other necessary gaming components.

    Those issues set aside, Kabam has completely failed to uphold their end of the bargain when it comes to addressing recurring issues facing players in the Battle Realm that could show the players some good faith and keep things lively, entertaining, and uphold the “Commitment” Kabam made in the original Dev Diary.

    COMMUNICATION

    For lack of a better word, Kabam’s communication with the progress of game development is pathetic. Maybe twice a year they release a Dev Diary outlining what they “might” be providing the player base, just hoping that these “improvements” and “commitments” will entice players to hang around just that few months more (improvements is in quotes as, depending who you ask, the improvements are often a 50/50 toss up as to the impact of the change).

    These Dev Diaries have done a good job in detailing some Quality of Life changes and other concrete items have been implemented since, but the major themes and messaging is either ignored, forgotten, or completely and purposely thrown out the window nearly as soon as they are released. Some examples:

    “The Commitment” to Content, Community, and Creativity. Is there a player in existence that things this commitment has been upheld? The last few months have definitively proven it has not. How many fights have had to end in a light attack to fulfill an objective in the last 3 months? Forums, alliance chats, and YouTube videos are often debating whether the creative genius at Kabam has died.

    “Keep Alliance Wars Dynamic” and nearly every other goal listed in an Alliance War Dev Diary. Some absolute top tier alliances and players will experience this but for the most part Alliance War has become a chore that too high a percentage of the player base does not truly enjoy. Constantly adding more Attack/Defensive Tactics just is not cutting it. Refer back to “the Commitment”. How has this been acted upon?

    “Reduce Player Mental Load” – to quote the dev diary: “Asking players to draft complex battle plans to accomplish a single path in Story Content is a big ask, which is why we’re reducing the size and complexity of all our maps. We’re focusing more on designing less complex Buffs, as well as layering fewer overlapping Buffs on encounters.” Kabam did a fantastic job maintaining the less than 70 energy and 6 lanes per map practice that was started in 7.1 but anyone who has ventured into 7.3 realizes their commitment to less complex, easier to plan routes has been completely done away with. This issue applies to Alliance Wars as well.

    Even when Kabam took the risk of addressing player concerns and having an Ask Me Anything session, the responses seemed structured, to the point of being scripted. Major questions were ignored, the “party line” answers were on repeat, and not much of worth came out of this event. Prof Hoff had a much more informative, entertaining, and real experience with the Kabam Broccoli interview as this designer was leaving the company.

    To summarize, Kabam has a lot of work to be done in this area. The constant “let them eat cake” responses to true player concerns and criticisms, the patronizing and passive aggressive responses from Forum Mods, and the lack of follow through on their own commitments to better communication needs to end.

    RESOURCE GATEWAYS

    Marvel Contest of Champions has relied on resource gateways to bar progression since its inception. It is a good mechanic and keeps players working towards the next level when it is not handed to them. Over the last year or so, these gateways have become incredibly unbalanced and need immediate reworking to restore some semblance of control for players wanting to progress, control their champion growth, and general enjoyment of the game.

    ISO and Gold – these two resources have become the focal pinch point for a variety of players and there has been zero recognition/change from Kabam to address the issue. The demands for these resources have increased dramatically with the introduction of Rank 5 5 star champs and the ability for many players to regularly take 6 stars to Rank 3. Demand has increased, yet Kabam has done literal nothing to address the supply. This equation needs to be addressed immediately.

    T4B/T4CC – somehow midgame gateways have respawned as a major hindrance for end game players. How is it that advancing in the game actually inhibits your ability to get what is now a common place resource? This does not make any sense and needs to be addressed immediately.

    COMPLETELY BUGGED NEW CONTENT

    This is the most self explanatory and most recent issue experienced by the players. How is it even possible that nearly every single level of the new Variant is absurdly bugged in one way or another? How is it even possible for bosses, with mechanics that have been in the game for years now, are functioning in the completely wrong way? How is it even possible that the final boss cannot even be beaten by the specified champions the entire event is centered around?

    Again, for lack of better words, it is absolutely, utterly, and completely pathetic.

    Minor bugs here and there are expected, understood, and played around for the most part. To be experiencing game breaking mechanics in nearly every single piece of content released over the last year is wearing down the players and getting to be too much. Even the pinnacle summer event, Summer of Pain, was given to the public with such obvious issues that a single play through by an experienced player would have caught the issue.

    Champions are regularly being released and take months to develop. Deep Dives and Spotlights available in advance. Yet when they are playable, it is only a day or two before some mechanic is “not working as intended” or the most basic of game mechanics have not even being accounted for? Kitty Pride and Ikarus being the most recent examples that come to mind right away. The Guillotine “rework” won’t be mentioned.

    How are the project managers of this company not completely embarrassed by the quality of their work and ensuring a better job is done?

    It should not be up to the players to find the problems created by the design team.

    MISCELLANIOUS ISSUES

    In absolutely no part of the game should the value of a 6* be weighted the same, let alone less, than a 5* in regular parts of the game. ISO payouts, event point values, max dupe returns, etc.

    Rewards in the vast majority of the game need to be retuned to player progression. Cav EQ, 4 hour events, 3 Day Alliance, Summoner Advancement, etc.

    Rewards need to be equivalent to difficulty. This months Cav EQ Terrax mini boss and Side Quest are prime examples of this issue.
    Content has become incredibly stale, repetitive, overcomplicated, and creatively dead.

    Some sort of targeting mechanic needs to be implemented. The “Wish List” crystal Kabam spoke about years ago now would have been a step up here. Even dual crystals returns are a rare return for the champions players are wanting to acquire and do not do anything for acquiring a relevant 6* champion.

    To conclude this open letter, Kabam needs to realize how quickly its player base is dwindling and struggling to find reasons to continue playing. Players that have been here since the beginning, with 5+ years of investment, are wondering why they should bother to continue on this road? It has been years and years of Kabam committing to be better then abjectly doing nothing to listen to the major concerns, doubling down on their misguided decrees about the game, and doing the most minimal patch work to “fix things” each month.

    The most disheartening part of all this is that these issues listed barely cover player concerns and the fixes are beyond blatantly obvious.

    Listen to your players, Kabam. We want you to do well. Many of us want to give you our money. All of us want to keep playing this game… just not the way it is and not down the road you’re taking it.

    Sincerely,

    An extremely concerned, 5 year + player.

    Get those agrees and open a bank
  • DemonzfyreDemonzfyre Posts: 20,097 ★★★★★
    Kerneas said:

    Demonzfyre said:

    unoobmepro said:

    Demonzfyre said:

    Hoitado said:

    Demonzfyre said:

    Hazzalec1 said:

    Very eloquently written. Points were very clear and just straight facts.

    Not really sure how anyone can disagree.

    It's not all facts. Actually most of it is feelings. There's no way to prove 100's of people are leaving daily. That's assumption.
    Demonzfyre said:


    So you agree that all other months, Cav MEQ's should have lesser rewards because they have been overwhelmingly easy? We finally get a difficult fight in Cav MEQ and rewards need to be increased?





    Well Said OP
    So tell me how I'm wrong? Cav MEQs have not lived up to what they're supposed to have been. It's some of the most boring content in the game next to AQ. They put a terrax fight in the 2.1 and all the sudden they difficulty is exponentially increased and we deserve increased rewards? So that obviously means the rewards were to high before that terrax fight right? Make it make sense for me.
    No, it means that befor that we were getting rewarded fine. Now the difficulty went up and the rewards didn't
    The difficulty didn't go up. The whole Cav difficulty is a joke. The Terrax fight isn't even hard. I've solo'd the fight with Dr Doom all 5 times.

    Now, if they raised all health pools to 500k and increased attack values by 500% and removed the class global buffs then sure, increase the rewards.
    Do you believe in these "quantum states" of rewards? Where the rewards can exist on certain tresholds and nothing between? I do not directly oppose you, afterall I haven't gone through Cav EQ this month yet, I just wonder what you think. Could you operate with some floating value of say ±5% depending on difficulty of the given month? Or do you really insist we need to double the hp values in order to move the rewards even the slightest?
    There's no way that could work. Difficulty is subjective. Most anyone who finds the Terrax fight hard in this months MEQ likely doesn't have a developed roster.

    You couldn't have a varying degree for rewards because we'll have the same arguments as we do now except people would complain because the difficulty didn't have the higher end rewards because it was hard for them.

    Doubling the HP on defenders really doesn't add to the difficulty but technically removing the global buffs for attackers would. But, it's just a slog fest more than anything.
  • DemonzfyreDemonzfyre Posts: 20,097 ★★★★★
    MojoHater said:

    Demonzfyre said:

    Hazzalec1 said:

    Very eloquently written. Points were very clear and just straight facts.

    Not really sure how anyone can disagree.

    It's not all facts. Actually most of it is feelings. There's no way to prove 100's of people are leaving daily. That's assumption.
    I "assume" you "feel" the weight of how much people disagree with you?
    No. Most of those are pettiness.
  • AverageDesiAverageDesi Posts: 5,030 ★★★★★
    Demonzfyre said:

    unoobmepro said:

    Demonzfyre said:

    Hoitado said:

    Demonzfyre said:

    Hazzalec1 said:

    Very eloquently written. Points were very clear and just straight facts.

    Not really sure how anyone can disagree.

    It's not all facts. Actually most of it is feelings. There's no way to prove 100's of people are leaving daily. That's assumption.
    Demonzfyre said:


    So you agree that all other months, Cav MEQ's should have lesser rewards because they have been overwhelmingly easy? We finally get a difficult fight in Cav MEQ and rewards need to be increased?





    Well Said OP
    So tell me how I'm wrong? Cav MEQs have not lived up to what they're supposed to have been. It's some of the most boring content in the game next to AQ. They put a terrax fight in the 2.1 and all the sudden they difficulty is exponentially increased and we deserve increased rewards? So that obviously means the rewards were to high before that terrax fight right? Make it make sense for me.
    No, it means that befor that we were getting rewarded fine. Now the difficulty went up and the rewards didn't
    The difficulty didn't go up. The whole Cav difficulty is a joke. The Terrax fight isn't even hard. I've solo'd the fight with Dr Doom all 5 times.

    Now, if they raised all health pools to 500k and increased attack values by 500% and removed the class global buffs then sure, increase the rewards.
    Agree . Some months are just harder than others. Difficulty fluctuates. No reason to change rewards for that.
  • GroundedWisdomGroundedWisdom Posts: 35,504 ★★★★★
    Nalak8 said:

    Skiddy212 said:

    It bothers me that this post has so many agrees, so many views, has been featured by content creators on YouTube, an has been talked about yet there is no response.

    This is a forum for players to communicate with the devs about the game an changes we want, and what we don’t like etc. yet, as time goes on, this is becoming a place that we come to to just talk amongst each other.

    All we have are updates on bugs (that never get fixed or create more bugs) an the forum postings for nexts months event with Uber insane difficulty for mediocre rewards.

    A post with this about of reaction on such important topics within the game that is making or breaking the player base should be receiving a comment or something.

    Mods are basically communication conduits to the devs. Devs can’t do their jobs if they read all these varying opinions on the forum. Mods also can’t make changes themselves even if they want to. I’m sure they have an internal policy to not comment unless they know something for certain. Look at the responses to Thrillson’s comment about V8.

    Basically this is all hopeless. We’re all talking in an echo chamber. Lol
    The Forum is first and foremost a place for people to discuss the game. We're fortunate in that we have the ability to communicate indirectly, and sometimes directly, to the game team. Some Moderators have other responsibilities, while others simply manage the Forum and communicate issues.
    The Forum is here for all to discuss, not just to speak directly to Kabam. While they don't always comment when there's nothing concrete to add, that doesn't mean these conversations fall on deaf ears. Internal conversations take place, and things are heard. However, as I pointed out, it's not always reasonable for these compound grievances to be resolved all at once. Communication is important, no dispute. That doesn't mean things are always resolved easier because feelings are expressed. Especially when they're already aware and working on things.
    To summarize, things are noticed. The Forum is live. They see things going on. When there is a response to add, they will add one.
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