A note of appreciation for Kabam

I have been playing this game for about a year and a half, and I just started following the forums recently. I notice that a lot of the posts take a fairly derogatory stance towards Kabam's efforts on this game. I wanted to add my perspective to this conversation by taking a minute to express my appreciation for the work that this software development team has put into this game.

First of all, I find this game to be a lot of fun.

I think the fundamental game mechanics have been really nicely balanced: the basics of the game are very accessible for beginners, and the challenge ramps up smoothly through the first 5 acts of the main story. At first, you don't have to care about any difference between the characters, as careful study of each champ's abilities is not necessary to win most fights.

Over time, that changes as the difficulty ramps up. Mastery selection becomes an important element of strategy. Newer champs will hard counter basic play when first encountered, forcing a player to learn about champ interactions. The introduction of challenge nodes has the same effect later on.

Finally, in endgame content, you have to have a keen understanding of all the complex interactions between your roster and a defender. When you puzzle out the right strategy, it feels very satisfying. When you fight through a tough battle, it feels like an accomplishment.

I also really appreciate the care that this team has put into details that have nothing to do with the main gameplay.

For example, the comic panel interludes that were present in early acts were wonderful, little gifts given for a player's effort. I understand that they were too expensive to continue, but the ones we have are lovely. (It would be nice if the other EQ comics that have already been drawn were made available on some archive site, if they are not already.)

Also in this vein, I love the care and attention paid to the characters themselves. I love how Spider Ham genuinely feels like playing a cartoon, complete with looney-toons style victory screen. He spouts one-liners at his opponents when he throws specials. And because of the porker poppers, his fights often end with an opponent simply falling over dead upon attempting to activate a special, which is hilarious (if it's not happening to you).

Another example of this: I recently went up against She-Hulk with Titania, and the two of them start the fight with trash talk! Similarly, the Quicksilver v. Quicksilver special SP3 (and other custom SP3 animations), Juggernaut's "No stun for you!", and other similar flourishes really demonstrate that designers at this company go above and beyond when they want to make a moment in the game feel special. I always smile when I happen across these sorts of easter eggs.

The fact that this game has gone on for 8 years, and is still building a community, probably speak more loudly than anything I can say (or any of the complaints elsewhere on this forum). There are not too many games that have this sort of lifespan, and I for one hope that it continues for 8 more.

I could go on for a lot longer, but I'll just conclude this post by saying: thank you. As an engineer with a keen interest in how games are designed, I think MCOC represents a wonderfully designed game with a lot of thought and attention paid to so many facets of the game. Keep up the good work.

Comments

ahmynuts

We agree with you on what Kabam does right. Most of the posts you're referring to on things that are wrong/derogatory are about completely different things from what you're saying here

jdschw

Yep, absolutely. I am not trying to directly address any of the concerns or complaints people have expressed, and indeed, I agree with some of those complaints.

This is an entirely separate post. I just thought it would be nice to post a message about what I appreciate about the game, because I think it's easy for that positive feedback to get lost in the discussion.

DNA3000

I could go on for a lot longer, but I'll just conclude this post by saying: thank you. As an engineer with a keen interest in how games are designed, I think MCOC represents a wonderfully designed game with a lot of thought and attention paid to so many facets of the game. Keep up the good work.

As someone who has studied game design in one for or another for decades, I hear you. Kabam gets a lot of things wrong, but there are key fundamental things I believe they get right that they rarely get full credit for.

Some of that is basic psychology. Most people are less compelled to take time out of their day to post positives: they tend to be motivated to post questions, problems, or issues. So of course the discussions tend to revolve around what's wrong rather than what's right. That's natural.

We have to remember that people complain about things they love, they complain about things they hate, but they don't complain about things they are indifferent to. The developers have done an excellent job creating something we all care about, even if we don't all agree about why.

And I think the things they do wrong tend to be obvious things, while the things they do well tend to be more subtle things. It is hard to get any credit for designing good monetization when most people just see the stuff they don't like about it. It can be difficult to get credit for design decisions whose actual intent isn't obvious.

The game has been around so long, my nostalgia thread is now itself nostalgic. Few games make it this long, and there's no signs of it going anywhere any time soon. Privately, the devs talk about stuff that might be ten years down the road for the game with a straight face.

We have our bad eggs, just like any other community, and we also have our bad moments, just like any other community, but I think they are the exceptions not the rule. I think most of us appreciate the game, even though it sometimes gives us heartburn, and most of us appreciate the devs, even though we like to give them sh--oot a lot when stuff goes wrong. But at the end of the day, I think this is a great game supported by great people. We don't say that enough, because that's no fun.

jdschw

Yeah, I have seen your posts @DNA3000 , and I always find them to be an interesting read.

ahmynuts

I could go on for a lot longer, but I'll just conclude this post by saying: thank you. As an engineer with a keen interest in how games are designed, I think MCOC represents a wonderfully designed game with a lot of thought and attention paid to so many facets of the game. Keep up the good work.
As someone who has studied game design in one for or another for decades, I hear you. Kabam gets a lot of things wrong, but there are key fundamental things I believe they get right that they rarely get full credit for.

Some of that is basic psychology. Most people are less compelled to take time out of their day to post positives: they tend to be motivated to post questions, problems, or issues. So of course the discussions tend to revolve around what's wrong rather than what's right. That's natural.

We have to remember that people complain about things they love, they complain about things they hate, but they don't complain about things they are indifferent to. The developers have done an excellent job creating something we all care about, even if we don't all agree about why.

And I think the things they do wrong tend to be obvious things, while the things they do well tend to be more subtle things. It is hard to get any credit for designing good monetization when most people just see the stuff they don't like about it. It can be difficult to get credit for design decisions whose actual intent isn't obvious.

The game has been around so long, my nostalgia thread is now itself nostalgic. Few games make it this long, and there's no signs of it going anywhere any time soon. Privately, the devs talk about stuff that might be ten years down the road for the game with a straight face.

We have our bad eggs, just like any other community, and we also have our bad moments, just like any other community, but I think they are the exceptions not the rule. I think most of us appreciate the game, even though it sometimes gives us heartburn, and most of us appreciate the devs, even though we like to give them sh--oot a lot when stuff goes wrong. But at the end of the day, I think this is a great game supported by great people. We don't say that enough, because that's no fun.

Yeah i was trying to get across a point like this, albeit in a much much worse way lol. Like we all play the game because we love it and we know and acknowledge its a great game but then when kabam does something like the "potion update" they'll get all the hate because it is an issue that seems like it has such an obvious answer and there's no way they could get it wrong and piss everyone off, and then they find that one worst way to handle it and everyone's kneejerk reaction is omfg there's no way etc etc.

Java_Junkie

@jdschw THANK YOU! appreciate a little positivity now and then.
(to be fair, thank all y'all for cogent posts...)
aggrivation abounds when you get complacent and entitled (and yes, I am NOT about to say this game hasn't failed me over many years), but the end of the day, I enjoy being able to spend some free time decompressing by punching a few dudes in the face. I still have fun here in Kabam's sandbox.