Kabam: Hi top tier AQ player, who would you like to use "with great success?" Ghost Rider or Cyclops?
Top tier AQ player: Cyclops!
Kabam: Hi low tier AQ player, who would you like to use "with great success?" Ghost Rider or Cyclops?
Low tier AQ player: Cyclops!
1. They aren't being truthful with their data or reasoning. Instead of creating a reason, why say anything at all? Just say, "We decided as a group to use these 18."
2. Nobody is using those trash 18 champs because they WANT to. They are using them because they have them ranked up and they don't have better options.
Wouldn't the most effective be the most popular, and wouldn't popularity follow down the list of champs from most effective to least effictive?
Not necessarily. For example, and I'm making a somewhat contrived example to simplify discussion, suppose Iceman was *only* used on evade champs, and when he was used he was extremely good at killing them. Then whenever he was used he would be seen as extremely effective in Kabam's numbers. But suppose also that his damage was relatively low so outside of evade champs he was rarely used, passed over for champs like Gwenpool and Stark Spiderman. In that case, he could be simultaneously very effective and not very popular to use.
Rarely is anything so cut and dried, but how often a champion is used depends greatly on how broadly useful that champion is across a wide range of content. Effectiveness is more closely dependent on how well players can play that champion when they choose to play them, which might be very often or not very often.
This is an extreme oversimplification and in reality there are more variables involved, but if we graph "popularity" (in terms of usage, not demand) and "effectiveness" on a graph, the graph has four corners. Way off to the upper right is "highly popular" and "highly effective." This is also known as nerf-landia. Scarlet Witch has a permanent monument to her in this quadrant which we can't see because it is so far up and to the right its currently in orbit. Way off in the bottom left is "highly unpopular" and "highly ineffective." The players call this "dumpster fire" and the devs look there to find champions to buff. Luke Cage and Red Hulk apparently share a two-bedroom studio there. In the upper left is "highly effective" and "highly unpopular." These are niche champions really good at something and not so good at everything else. MMO dev companies never deliberately try to make these, but they tend to like them when they appear. And in the lower right are the "highly ineffective" and "highly popular" champions. Players think this corner doesn't exist and treats their inhabitants like Bigfoot. Devs know they exist, and they are a thorn in their side. They know knowledgeable players will want to change them to push them upward on the graph. But they also know a huge number customers will get pissed off if they do.
I don’t know why everyone is getting so hung up on the empirical data statement. It’s just spin that has been (badly) worded to justify another unpopular decision.
It’s no different to when perfect block teams were removed, the top champs were nerfed, 2* alliance wars were disabled and defender kills were removed. On each and every one of those occasions Kabam came out with a half-arsed justification that the playerbase saw right through.
Most people I know as well as the youtubers all seem to be in agreement that the changes were made because it was becoming too easy to get the featured champ therefore you effectively build your own roster and that they also want to push people more towards the 300 unit featured grandmaster crystals.
I’d have a lot more respect if they simply came out and said that rather than trying to sell us a line about cyclops and ant man being high performing champs.
I agree with the second half of your post but not the first half... I actually think they explained willpower nerf, champ nerf and perfect block nerf better than this change. I mean, champ nerf was executed badly but at least they gave a clear explanation most of us could understand (we can't design content when these champs keep breezing through it).
Everytime there's a change like this i think they should explain two things honestly:
1. Explain why they do it. Not everything needs to be spun as "this is better for you". Sometimes a change is just better for the game overall.
2. Show how it is part of a bigger plan. For instance, when perfect block was nerfed there was the promise that the team would go back and relook content. Even ROL got changed so it was easier to get through without perfect block.
In fact, I remember part of the big plan for 6 star champs was to make 5 stars more available, and they are. They certainly didn't mention that making only crummy 5 stars more available was part of the plan though.
Wouldn't the most effective be the most popular, and wouldn't popularity follow down the list of champs from most effective to least effictive?
Not necessarily. For example, and I'm making a somewhat contrived example to simplify discussion, suppose Iceman was *only* used on evade champs, and when he was used he was extremely good at killing them. Then whenever he was used he would be seen as extremely effective in Kabam's numbers. But suppose also that his damage was relatively low so outside of evade champs he was rarely used, passed over for champs like Gwenpool and Stark Spiderman. In that case, he could be simultaneously very effective and not very popular to use.
Rarely is anything so cut and dried, but how often a champion is used depends greatly on how broadly useful that champion is across a wide range of content. Effectiveness is more closely dependent on how well players can play that champion when they choose to play them, which might be very often or not very often.
This is an extreme oversimplification and in reality there are more variables involved, but if we graph "popularity" (in terms of usage, not demand) and "effectiveness" on a graph, the graph has four corners. Way off to the upper right is "highly popular" and "highly effective." This is also known as nerf-landia. Scarlet Witch has a permanent monument to her in this quadrant which we can't see because it is so far up and to the right its currently in orbit. Way off in the bottom left is "highly unpopular" and "highly ineffective." The players call this "dumpster fire" and the devs look there to find champions to buff. Luke Cage and Red Hulk apparently share a two-bedroom studio there. In the upper left is "highly effective" and "highly unpopular." These are niche champions really good at something and not so good at everything else. MMO dev companies never deliberately try to make these, but they tend to like them when they appear. And in the lower right are the "highly ineffective" and "highly popular" champions. Players think this corner doesn't exist and treats their inhabitants like Bigfoot. Devs know they exist, and they are a thorn in their side. They know knowledgeable players will want to change them to push them upward on the graph. But they also know a huge number customers will get pissed off if they do.
There is no point discussing popular vs effective because it really doesn't matter. As I have said a few times, the only think that matters is the factors they used when looking and the data and we have no idea what those factors were. For all we know they could have compiled months or years of data and scrutinized over it for months or they could have thrown darts and whatever champs they hit became the 18.
Lots of players have asked questions about how Kabam likely datamined the game, and I can say from experience how most if not all MMO companies in general and all monetized F2P games do this as a matter of course. For people interested in knowing the broad strokes of this that it is 99% likely Kabam did, I can put that into some perspective. If you are only interested in an official statement from Kabam with the precise details of their datamining methodology I can't help you, and neither can anyone else on Earth, because no game company allows their employees to disclose that information. Short of breaking into Kabam's offices and conducting illegal corporate espionage, I'm afraid you will be unable to get what you want.
For all you know, they could have thrown darts. However, for all I know, to a reasonably high degree of confidence I know that they did not, at least not in the way you mean. I know they datamined the game. I know they datamined the metrics everyone datamines, and that includes metrics appropriate to monitoring variables the devs must know to operate their game properly. Metrics relevant to monetization, engagement, participation, progress, and resource management. What I know is simply different than what you know.
I have a point to discussing these things, because I'm familiar with them. If you don't think I'm a credible source, then there's no point in you discussing it with me. That would not invalidate my point in addressing the topic when it comes up.
Wouldn't the most effective be the most popular, and wouldn't popularity follow down the list of champs from most effective to least effictive?
Not necessarily. For example, and I'm making a somewhat contrived example to simplify discussion, suppose Iceman was *only* used on evade champs, and when he was used he was extremely good at killing them. Then whenever he was used he would be seen as extremely effective in Kabam's numbers. But suppose also that his damage was relatively low so outside of evade champs he was rarely used, passed over for champs like Gwenpool and Stark Spiderman. In that case, he could be simultaneously very effective and not very popular to use.
Rarely is anything so cut and dried, but how often a champion is used depends greatly on how broadly useful that champion is across a wide range of content. Effectiveness is more closely dependent on how well players can play that champion when they choose to play them, which might be very often or not very often.
This is an extreme oversimplification and in reality there are more variables involved, but if we graph "popularity" (in terms of usage, not demand) and "effectiveness" on a graph, the graph has four corners. Way off to the upper right is "highly popular" and "highly effective." This is also known as nerf-landia. Scarlet Witch has a permanent monument to her in this quadrant which we can't see because it is so far up and to the right its currently in orbit. Way off in the bottom left is "highly unpopular" and "highly ineffective." The players call this "dumpster fire" and the devs look there to find champions to buff. Luke Cage and Red Hulk apparently share a two-bedroom studio there. In the upper left is "highly effective" and "highly unpopular." These are niche champions really good at something and not so good at everything else. MMO dev companies never deliberately try to make these, but they tend to like them when they appear. And in the lower right are the "highly ineffective" and "highly popular" champions. Players think this corner doesn't exist and treats their inhabitants like Bigfoot. Devs know they exist, and they are a thorn in their side. They know knowledgeable players will want to change them to push them upward on the graph. But they also know a huge number customers will get pissed off if they do.
There is no point discussing popular vs effective because it really doesn't matter. As I have said a few times, the only think that matters is the factors they used when looking and the data and we have no idea what those factors were. For all we know they could have compiled months or years of data and scrutinized over it for months or they could have thrown darts and whatever champs they hit became the 18.
Lots of players have asked questions about how Kabam likely datamined the game, and I can say from experience how most if not all MMO companies in general and all monetized F2P games do this as a matter of course. For people interested in knowing the broad strokes of this that it is 99% likely Kabam did, I can put that into some perspective. If you are only interested in an official statement from Kabam with the precise details of their datamining methodology I can't help you, and neither can anyone else on Earth, because no game company allows their employees to disclose that information. Short of breaking into Kabam's offices and conducting illegal corporate espionage, I'm afraid you will be unable to get what you want.
For all you know, they could have thrown darts. However, for all I know, to a reasonably high degree of confidence I know that they did not, at least not in the way you mean. I know they datamined the game. I know they datamined the metrics everyone datamines, and that includes metrics appropriate to monitoring variables the devs must know to operate their game properly. Metrics relevant to monetization, engagement, participation, progress, and resource management. What I know is simply different than what you know.
I have a point to discussing these things, because I'm familiar with them. If you don't think I'm a credible source, then there's no point in you discussing it with me. That would not invalidate my point in addressing the topic when it comes up.
So you work for kabam? Because that is the only way you know for sure what they do. Otherwise you just posting what you think.
Yes, that's exactly what I said. I work for Kabam and that's how I know precisely what they do. That's a reasonable paraphrase of the post you quoted, if you squint real hard and hit your forehead with a hammer repeatedly.
DNA, you're a very credible and smart guy, but your explanations although probably very accurate, don't do anything to explain how Kabam can get away with calling the champs in the crystals "amongst the most effective". Cause they're not and it's not even close.
I don’t know why everyone is getting so hung up on the empirical data statement. It’s just spin that has been (badly) worded to justify another unpopular decision.
It’s no different to when perfect block teams were removed, the top champs were nerfed, 2* alliance wars were disabled and defender kills were removed. On each and every one of those occasions Kabam came out with a half-arsed justification that the playerbase saw right through.
Most people I know as well as the youtubers all seem to be in agreement that the changes were made because it was becoming too easy to get the featured champ therefore you effectively build your own roster and that they also want to push people more towards the 300 unit featured grandmaster crystals.
I’d have a lot more respect if they simply came out and said that rather than trying to sell us a line about cyclops and ant man being high performing champs.
I will say that while I loved my block team it was ridiculous and the game is better without the leadership synergy so I've gotta give Kabam credit on that one. Agree with you on the nerf and the highly effective cyclops lol
DNA, you're a very credible and smart guy, but your explanations although probably very accurate, don't do anything to explain how Kabam can get away with calling the champs in the crystals "amongst the most effective". Cause they're not and it's not even close.
I can't explain how Kabam could justifiably say that, although I can say that @Kabam Miike only said that about a subset list of champions, not all of them.
I also can say that even if a Kabam dev came on the forums and directly stated that all of the curated champions would be among the most effective, I would then ask them how that was mathematically possible when that contradicts their statements about the numbers and restrictions of the curated list. Specifically, that the list must have an absolute minimum of 36 champions (because they cannot repeat) and as a practical matter at least 45 champions (because otherwise the two crystal's basic champions would be forced to alternate) and as there are only about 82 basic champions to pick from in the first place, at least 4 of the curated champions would have to be literally below average (only 41 can be above average).
The top 25% of all basic crystal champions is about 20 of them. It is literally impossible to make the new featured crystal work with 20, because after you use the first eighteen there's no way to make the crystal in May without repeats. The literal mathematical limit - which is still ridiculous because it forces the crystals to alternate, which contradicts what @Kabam Miike implied about the crystals - requires the top 44% of all basic champions. The top 44% can't all be great, or even good as many players judge good.
*Some* of the champions in the curated list could be among the more effective champs. Some literally cannot be because that's otherwise impossible.
I've also tried, and apparently ineffectively, to explain that "effective" doesn't likely mean "best." When a game developer says effective in the context of data mining, It means, when played by a player, that it generates more rewards than average at a lower cost than average (in the case of MCOC, that would mean dying less and using potions less generally), or something comparable.
In terms of which champions are *strongest* I would bet money that Cyclops is not in the top 25%. However, I would not bet money that Cyclops when played by the players that play him regularly isn't in the top 25% of champions that generate the most rewards or generates the most kills relative to the other 80+ champions in the 5* basic crystal. You're not betting on how strong Cyclops is anymore, you're betting on how other players play the game. I wouldn't risk my money betting on how other players, from top to bottom, play the game.
And to be frank, I can also say that @Kabam Miike isn't always right. Sometimes he misstates things (I've corrected his wording multiple times), sometimes he says things provable inaccurate (I've pointed out a couple here as well), and sometimes he is simply mistaken. As a community coordinator its his job to communicate clearly and accurately, but he is just one person and isn't necessarily the final word from Kabam about game design decisions.
Its the only word we have, so we have every right to demand clarity, but history sets the expectation we won't always get it. If I was him, I would not have described any champion in the crystal as "among the most effective." I would have said "among the more effective" or even "above average in effectiveness." My words don't demand justification. "Most" sets you up to justify that judgment, something you know you can't do without proprietary data you can't release.
I'll ask this again. "Among the most effective" compared to what???
Billy is the tallest in his family.
Bob is the best basketball player in his class.
Jenny is the smartest amongst her friends.
This doesn't tell us anything. Billy could be 5 feet tall. Bob could be in a school for the disabled. Jenny's friends can all be stupid.
Cyclops is "among the most effective" is a meaningless statement. He is the most effective compared to whom?
I don't like these deceptive reasons.
Exactly! Couldn't agree more. With no reference point, these statements are meaningless, even obsolete.
It's kind of like the big shift from percentage values to flat numerical values during the v12.0 fiasco. Previously champion X had 12.4% armor and that made perfect sense. Now they have 932... 932 what? Bananas? Cucumbers? The point is a raw number or statement like this with no point of reference has no meaning, no context and therefore leaves more questions than answers.
Reasonable high degree, so not 100%? I think that's what I said. That we don't know for sure.
When I say I have a reasonably high degree of certainty, what I mean is that the degree of certainty I have is high enough to reasonably operate as if the belief was true for all intents and purposes unless and until new evidence contradicts it. That doesn't mean I'm just guessing. That's comparable to the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard jury members are instructed to operate under. You're never 100% certain about anything. So we don't know anything "for sure." But I can be sure enough to render a guilty verdict and walk away confident I made the correct decision about the fate of another human being's life.
Relative to that, I am somewhat more certain that Kabam datamines metrics the way everyone else I'm aware of does than the beyond reasonable doubt standard. Still not 100%, and yes, we still don't know for sure. And never will. The same way we are unlikely to be 100% sure of anything. 100% certainty is a useless standard to apply to anything in the real world.
That's a question no one can answer, and frankly, it's useless to keep repeating. Either you trust what they are saying, or you don't. Personally, I go on the information provided, and it saves me a great deal of energy asking questions I will never get an answer to.
The reality is it doesn't matter what they comment on as the most effective. Naturally, they're going to have a positive spin on Champs. It's their job. They're not just going to come out and say X Champ sucks, or Y Champ is ****. Besides that, what was stated wasn't even inaccurate to conceive. The small number that use Cyclops use him very effectively.
I think we're getting defocused on "most effective", and missing the point entirely. They're trying to omit the ones that perform the poorest. Which means anything else could be included.
That's a question no one can answer, and frankly, it's useless to keep repeating. Either you trust what they are saying, or you don't. Personally, I go on the information provided, and it saves me a great deal of energy asking questions I will never get an answer to.
The reality is it doesn't matter what they comment on as the most effective. Naturally, they're going to have a positive spin on Champs. It's their job. They're not just going to come out and say X Champ sucks, or Y Champ is ****. Besides that, what was stated wasn't even inaccurate to conceive. The small number that use Cyclops use him very effectively.
I think we're getting defocused on "most effective", and missing the point entirely. They're trying to omit the ones that perform the poorest. Which means anything else could be included.
That's a question no one can answer, and frankly, it's useless to keep repeating. Either you trust what they are saying, or you don't. Personally, I go on the information provided, and it saves me a great deal of energy asking questions I will never get an answer to.
The reality is it doesn't matter what they comment on as the most effective. Naturally, they're going to have a positive spin on Champs. It's their job. They're not just going to come out and say X Champ sucks, or Y Champ is ****. Besides that, what was stated wasn't even inaccurate to conceive. The small number that use Cyclops use him very effectively.
I think we're getting defocused on "most effective", and missing the point entirely. They're trying to omit the ones that perform the poorest. Which means anything else could be included.
By omitting the ones that perform the poorest isnt that saying they suck? If we would ever get some information more people might go with it but so far we've had very little information.
It's a good possibility that Cage and Rulk were omitted because they're testing buffs. What I suspect is they are looking at working on at least some of the Champs that are found on that list. I don't suspect they will give a list of the Champs they're leaving out.
For that matter, there's nowhere for us to go. They've explained what they're trying to do. We can speculate about the process, but they're relying on their own findings ultimately.
Reasonable high degree, so not 100%? I think that's what I said. That we don't know for sure.
When I say I have a reasonably high degree of certainty, what I mean is that the degree of certainty I have is high enough to reasonably operate as if the belief was true for all intents and purposes unless and until new evidence contradicts it. That doesn't mean I'm just guessing. That's comparable to the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard jury members are instructed to operate under. You're never 100% certain about anything. So we don't know anything "for sure." But I can be sure enough to render a guilty verdict and walk away confident I made the correct decision about the fate of another human being's life.
Relative to that, I am somewhat more certain that Kabam datamines metrics the way everyone else I'm aware of does than the beyond reasonable doubt standard. Still not 100%, and yes, we still don't know for sure. And never will. The same way we are unlikely to be 100% sure of anything. 100% certainty is a useless standard to apply to anything in the real world.
I'm 100% sure about a lot of things in my life but that's beside the point. I'm not trying to say you don't know what your talking about because clearly you do. All I'm saying is that there is a chance that they do things differently than everyone else your aware of, key word be aware, or that they didn't use any kind of data at all and picked the champs randomly. Because all we have to go on is what they have told us. I'm not saying that they feed us a line and I'm not saying they didn't. I'm just saying we don't know and your right we never will. So if you or anyone wants to continue discussing how they collected and used the data I've got no issue with it but I also have no issue with anyone having discussions about did they even use any data to pick the champs. They are both possibilities, whether it's a large possibility or a small one, that should be able to be discussed by anyone.
What I am certain about is how MMOs datamine in general. I am not 100% certain that Kabam used empirical data to choose the champions in the new featured crystal. I am assuming @Kabam Miike told the truth when he said they did. If they did, then I am reasonably certain about the kind of data they would use. But I am not trying to make the case that I am absolutely sure the crystal contains champions of any certain kind. I'm saying that if we take @Kabam Miike at his word then there are logical conclusions that can be drawn.
When you say there's a chance Kabam does things differently, I think what that chance might be is contextually important. It is possible that the MCOC servers were written in COBOL. An uninformed player might think that is a legitimate possibility. But it isn't. Anyone who thinks otherwise is signaling a serious deficiency in their understanding. How Kabam datamines the game is constrained by a lot of practical realities of running a game like this that most people are unware of. Not all possibilities are real possibilities. But whether or not the curated basic champions in the crystal are any particular thing or not, the only information we have on that are comments made by Kabam. Those comments are not as constrained. They could be misstatements, they could be lies, they could be errors, they could be misconstrued, or they could be the truth. In no way am I saying I am personally sure which of those is the case. I am giving Kabam the benefit of the doubt their statements are the truth, because I have very little evidence to the contrary at the moment. That's all I can say in that area.
That's a question no one can answer, and frankly, it's useless to keep repeating. Either you trust what they are saying, or you don't. Personally, I go on the information provided, and it saves me a great deal of energy asking questions I will never get an answer to.
The reality is it doesn't matter what they comment on as the most effective. Naturally, they're going to have a positive spin on Champs. It's their job. They're not just going to come out and say X Champ sucks, or Y Champ is ****. Besides that, what was stated wasn't even inaccurate to conceive. The small number that use Cyclops use him very effectively.
I think we're getting defocused on "most effective", and missing the point entirely. They're trying to omit the ones that perform the poorest. Which means anything else could be included.
By omitting the ones that perform the poorest isnt that saying they suck?
Kabam would probably never put it that way, but basically yes. Further up the thread I suggested the theory that the Red Hulk and Luke Cage beta is not coincidentally happening now. My conjecture is that the same work that went into deciding who was at the bottom of the performance metrics and a candidate for being included in the current balancing pass they seem to be doing were also the champions that were excluded from the new featured crystal's "curated eighteen" list. If that's what they did, that would be a reasonable reason for Kabam to say they were attempting to reduce the "disappointment" players might experience with the champions in the crystal.
Some of this work may go all the way back to NYCC, when certain devs expressed the idea to some of the players that attended that they were "aware" of the issues with Carnage and also had their own internal metrics for which champions were better and worse performing in the game. As a very rough rule of thumb, the average MMO development project takes about four months. NYCC was in October of 2017. It is very circumstantial evidence, but the timeline fits.
I currently have a 5-Star Ironman, Antman, Winter Soldier, Guillotine, HulkBuster (gag), Iron Patriot (double gag), Howard the Duck, and Captain Marvel. The only 5-Star I am using for AW is Guillotine who is 3/45 but I can't wait to 4/55 her. Winter Soldier and Captain Marvel both need to be duped before they can become useful in either AW or AQ which is why they are still are at 2/35. The other 5 champions are meh so I seriously doubt that will waste resources to rank them up. @Kabam Miike if you think a 5* Antman is worthy of of AQ or AW then you are sadly mistaken.
I give up. DNA3000 and grounded wisdom you two can talk to each other about whatever you want because no matter what anyone else has to say both if you have to try and prove that you are the most intelligent person in the thread. DNA3000, you may or may not be who knows. You definitely have a better shot at it than GW. Anyway, continue on with doing what you both seem to love to do which is trying to prove everyone else wrong. Enjoy the thread and chatting with each other. I don't like the new crystals but I'll take them over being on this thread and having to listen to both of you. Good luck getting the outcome you want on the crystals.
Then just ignore them like most people here do? lol they spend more time chatting on the forums than actually playing the game. Disregard them.
Comments
Kabam: Hi top tier AQ player, who would you like to use "with great success?" Ghost Rider or Cyclops?
Top tier AQ player: Cyclops!
Kabam: Hi low tier AQ player, who would you like to use "with great success?" Ghost Rider or Cyclops?
Low tier AQ player: Cyclops!
1. They aren't being truthful with their data or reasoning. Instead of creating a reason, why say anything at all? Just say, "We decided as a group to use these 18."
2. Nobody is using those trash 18 champs because they WANT to. They are using them because they have them ranked up and they don't have better options.
Not necessarily. For example, and I'm making a somewhat contrived example to simplify discussion, suppose Iceman was *only* used on evade champs, and when he was used he was extremely good at killing them. Then whenever he was used he would be seen as extremely effective in Kabam's numbers. But suppose also that his damage was relatively low so outside of evade champs he was rarely used, passed over for champs like Gwenpool and Stark Spiderman. In that case, he could be simultaneously very effective and not very popular to use.
Rarely is anything so cut and dried, but how often a champion is used depends greatly on how broadly useful that champion is across a wide range of content. Effectiveness is more closely dependent on how well players can play that champion when they choose to play them, which might be very often or not very often.
This is an extreme oversimplification and in reality there are more variables involved, but if we graph "popularity" (in terms of usage, not demand) and "effectiveness" on a graph, the graph has four corners. Way off to the upper right is "highly popular" and "highly effective." This is also known as nerf-landia. Scarlet Witch has a permanent monument to her in this quadrant which we can't see because it is so far up and to the right its currently in orbit. Way off in the bottom left is "highly unpopular" and "highly ineffective." The players call this "dumpster fire" and the devs look there to find champions to buff. Luke Cage and Red Hulk apparently share a two-bedroom studio there. In the upper left is "highly effective" and "highly unpopular." These are niche champions really good at something and not so good at everything else. MMO dev companies never deliberately try to make these, but they tend to like them when they appear. And in the lower right are the "highly ineffective" and "highly popular" champions. Players think this corner doesn't exist and treats their inhabitants like Bigfoot. Devs know they exist, and they are a thorn in their side. They know knowledgeable players will want to change them to push them upward on the graph. But they also know a huge number customers will get pissed off if they do.
Billy is the tallest in his family.
Bob is the best basketball player in his class.
Jenny is the smartest amongst her friends.
This doesn't tell us anything. Billy could be 5 feet tall. Bob could be in a school for the disabled. Jenny's friends can all be stupid.
Cyclops is "among the most effective" is a meaningless statement. He is the most effective compared to whom?
I don't like these deceptive reasons.
They're certainly among the most effective
I agree with the second half of your post but not the first half... I actually think they explained willpower nerf, champ nerf and perfect block nerf better than this change. I mean, champ nerf was executed badly but at least they gave a clear explanation most of us could understand (we can't design content when these champs keep breezing through it).
Everytime there's a change like this i think they should explain two things honestly:
1. Explain why they do it. Not everything needs to be spun as "this is better for you". Sometimes a change is just better for the game overall.
2. Show how it is part of a bigger plan. For instance, when perfect block was nerfed there was the promise that the team would go back and relook content. Even ROL got changed so it was easier to get through without perfect block.
In fact, I remember part of the big plan for 6 star champs was to make 5 stars more available, and they are. They certainly didn't mention that making only crummy 5 stars more available was part of the plan though.
Lots of players have asked questions about how Kabam likely datamined the game, and I can say from experience how most if not all MMO companies in general and all monetized F2P games do this as a matter of course. For people interested in knowing the broad strokes of this that it is 99% likely Kabam did, I can put that into some perspective. If you are only interested in an official statement from Kabam with the precise details of their datamining methodology I can't help you, and neither can anyone else on Earth, because no game company allows their employees to disclose that information. Short of breaking into Kabam's offices and conducting illegal corporate espionage, I'm afraid you will be unable to get what you want.
For all you know, they could have thrown darts. However, for all I know, to a reasonably high degree of confidence I know that they did not, at least not in the way you mean. I know they datamined the game. I know they datamined the metrics everyone datamines, and that includes metrics appropriate to monitoring variables the devs must know to operate their game properly. Metrics relevant to monetization, engagement, participation, progress, and resource management. What I know is simply different than what you know.
I have a point to discussing these things, because I'm familiar with them. If you don't think I'm a credible source, then there's no point in you discussing it with me. That would not invalidate my point in addressing the topic when it comes up.
Yes, that's exactly what I said. I work for Kabam and that's how I know precisely what they do. That's a reasonable paraphrase of the post you quoted, if you squint real hard and hit your forehead with a hammer repeatedly.
I will say that while I loved my block team it was ridiculous and the game is better without the leadership synergy so I've gotta give Kabam credit on that one. Agree with you on the nerf and the highly effective cyclops lol
I can't explain how Kabam could justifiably say that, although I can say that @Kabam Miike only said that about a subset list of champions, not all of them.
I also can say that even if a Kabam dev came on the forums and directly stated that all of the curated champions would be among the most effective, I would then ask them how that was mathematically possible when that contradicts their statements about the numbers and restrictions of the curated list. Specifically, that the list must have an absolute minimum of 36 champions (because they cannot repeat) and as a practical matter at least 45 champions (because otherwise the two crystal's basic champions would be forced to alternate) and as there are only about 82 basic champions to pick from in the first place, at least 4 of the curated champions would have to be literally below average (only 41 can be above average).
The top 25% of all basic crystal champions is about 20 of them. It is literally impossible to make the new featured crystal work with 20, because after you use the first eighteen there's no way to make the crystal in May without repeats. The literal mathematical limit - which is still ridiculous because it forces the crystals to alternate, which contradicts what @Kabam Miike implied about the crystals - requires the top 44% of all basic champions. The top 44% can't all be great, or even good as many players judge good.
*Some* of the champions in the curated list could be among the more effective champs. Some literally cannot be because that's otherwise impossible.
I've also tried, and apparently ineffectively, to explain that "effective" doesn't likely mean "best." When a game developer says effective in the context of data mining, It means, when played by a player, that it generates more rewards than average at a lower cost than average (in the case of MCOC, that would mean dying less and using potions less generally), or something comparable.
In terms of which champions are *strongest* I would bet money that Cyclops is not in the top 25%. However, I would not bet money that Cyclops when played by the players that play him regularly isn't in the top 25% of champions that generate the most rewards or generates the most kills relative to the other 80+ champions in the 5* basic crystal. You're not betting on how strong Cyclops is anymore, you're betting on how other players play the game. I wouldn't risk my money betting on how other players, from top to bottom, play the game.
And to be frank, I can also say that @Kabam Miike isn't always right. Sometimes he misstates things (I've corrected his wording multiple times), sometimes he says things provable inaccurate (I've pointed out a couple here as well), and sometimes he is simply mistaken. As a community coordinator its his job to communicate clearly and accurately, but he is just one person and isn't necessarily the final word from Kabam about game design decisions.
Its the only word we have, so we have every right to demand clarity, but history sets the expectation we won't always get it. If I was him, I would not have described any champion in the crystal as "among the most effective." I would have said "among the more effective" or even "above average in effectiveness." My words don't demand justification. "Most" sets you up to justify that judgment, something you know you can't do without proprietary data you can't release.
Exactly! Couldn't agree more. With no reference point, these statements are meaningless, even obsolete.
It's kind of like the big shift from percentage values to flat numerical values during the v12.0 fiasco. Previously champion X had 12.4% armor and that made perfect sense. Now they have 932... 932 what? Bananas? Cucumbers? The point is a raw number or statement like this with no point of reference has no meaning, no context and therefore leaves more questions than answers.
When I say I have a reasonably high degree of certainty, what I mean is that the degree of certainty I have is high enough to reasonably operate as if the belief was true for all intents and purposes unless and until new evidence contradicts it. That doesn't mean I'm just guessing. That's comparable to the "beyond reasonable doubt" standard jury members are instructed to operate under. You're never 100% certain about anything. So we don't know anything "for sure." But I can be sure enough to render a guilty verdict and walk away confident I made the correct decision about the fate of another human being's life.
Relative to that, I am somewhat more certain that Kabam datamines metrics the way everyone else I'm aware of does than the beyond reasonable doubt standard. Still not 100%, and yes, we still don't know for sure. And never will. The same way we are unlikely to be 100% sure of anything. 100% certainty is a useless standard to apply to anything in the real world.
The reality is it doesn't matter what they comment on as the most effective. Naturally, they're going to have a positive spin on Champs. It's their job. They're not just going to come out and say X Champ sucks, or Y Champ is ****. Besides that, what was stated wasn't even inaccurate to conceive. The small number that use Cyclops use him very effectively.
I think we're getting defocused on "most effective", and missing the point entirely. They're trying to omit the ones that perform the poorest. Which means anything else could be included.
Nope.
It's a good possibility that Cage and Rulk were omitted because they're testing buffs. What I suspect is they are looking at working on at least some of the Champs that are found on that list. I don't suspect they will give a list of the Champs they're leaving out.
For that matter, there's nowhere for us to go. They've explained what they're trying to do. We can speculate about the process, but they're relying on their own findings ultimately.
What I am certain about is how MMOs datamine in general. I am not 100% certain that Kabam used empirical data to choose the champions in the new featured crystal. I am assuming @Kabam Miike told the truth when he said they did. If they did, then I am reasonably certain about the kind of data they would use. But I am not trying to make the case that I am absolutely sure the crystal contains champions of any certain kind. I'm saying that if we take @Kabam Miike at his word then there are logical conclusions that can be drawn.
When you say there's a chance Kabam does things differently, I think what that chance might be is contextually important. It is possible that the MCOC servers were written in COBOL. An uninformed player might think that is a legitimate possibility. But it isn't. Anyone who thinks otherwise is signaling a serious deficiency in their understanding. How Kabam datamines the game is constrained by a lot of practical realities of running a game like this that most people are unware of. Not all possibilities are real possibilities. But whether or not the curated basic champions in the crystal are any particular thing or not, the only information we have on that are comments made by Kabam. Those comments are not as constrained. They could be misstatements, they could be lies, they could be errors, they could be misconstrued, or they could be the truth. In no way am I saying I am personally sure which of those is the case. I am giving Kabam the benefit of the doubt their statements are the truth, because I have very little evidence to the contrary at the moment. That's all I can say in that area.
Kabam would probably never put it that way, but basically yes. Further up the thread I suggested the theory that the Red Hulk and Luke Cage beta is not coincidentally happening now. My conjecture is that the same work that went into deciding who was at the bottom of the performance metrics and a candidate for being included in the current balancing pass they seem to be doing were also the champions that were excluded from the new featured crystal's "curated eighteen" list. If that's what they did, that would be a reasonable reason for Kabam to say they were attempting to reduce the "disappointment" players might experience with the champions in the crystal.
Some of this work may go all the way back to NYCC, when certain devs expressed the idea to some of the players that attended that they were "aware" of the issues with Carnage and also had their own internal metrics for which champions were better and worse performing in the game. As a very rough rule of thumb, the average MMO development project takes about four months. NYCC was in October of 2017. It is very circumstantial evidence, but the timeline fits.
Atleast I won’t be confused in future whether to open basic 5* or grandmaster con crystals
Then just ignore them like most people here do? lol they spend more time chatting on the forums than actually playing the game. Disregard them.