Why we play (Part 2)
Shiva_1
Member Posts: 19 ★
One of the comments I often hear with MCOC is "grind". Many folks have to grind to get resources, grind to get champions, and that theme seems to be pretty heavy with this game. While any game makes you work for things it's seem to me over the past year or so it has gotten more difficult. Recently a champ went for 60 million. For many folks that is just something that they can't do for a casual game. I hear the struggles with AW and then of course the issues with piloting and it goes on and on. While we all have a choice in what we play the key thing to remember is why we play. We play for entertainment, to have fun and be social with others mostly right? I really do like MCOC and when you look at what has been done in terms of balance it can't be easy with so many moving parts but that doesn't mean it should be finished. Relooking at older champs was a great start, options and events for 2 /3 stars can bring some fun for folks that don't have 6 stars. Not everything needs too or should revolve around who has the god tiers or highest champs. I play the game because it's fun, I spend money on the game because it's fun...when it continues to simply be a grind I will leave. Lets hope we can avoid that and bring back some more fun to it. It doesn't have to be about rewards, it's about fun and healthy competition.
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Comments
Progress in this game has gotten objectively easier over the last year. I can't think of anything that is harder to get for veteran players or brand new players. One year ago the 4* featured champion was going for between 5 and 15 million. Today, it goes for ... 4 to 14 million. Less points. One year ago there was no 5* featured arena. Now, arena grinders can get a significant amount of 5* shards from that arena even if they can't reach the 5* featured champion reward. A lot of players can grind out 2000 shards every three days but even a small-time grinder can reach one million points and qualify for at least 200 shards. Something between two and four million points gets you 500 shards every event, which is a thousand shards a week; almost half a 5* basic crystal a month.
Over the last year 5* shards have gotten easier to get. 6* shards have gotten easier to get. T4B has gotten easier to get in several ways: you get more from AQ rewards, you can now get two from the T4B arena event, you can buy more with glory because glory costs went down several times and the amount of glory you get has been boosted several times. T1A is a lot easier to get for similar reasons.
One year ago there was no uncollected difficulty. Now, players can work towards becoming uncollected and do that difficulty level for much better rewards. Although this only helps players that have advanced to that level, the rewards are substantial. You get the equivalent of an entire 6* crystal in four months, and a 6* champion can be immediately ranked to the equivalent of 4/55 without needing catalysts.
Arena milestones are better. Alliance rewards are better. Even alliance quest crystals were recently buffed. We now get energy refills and alliance potions in peak milestone rewards for events where we are basically being rewarded just for playing.
To be candid, anyone who thinks that progress has gotten more difficult over the last twelve months isn't really judging the game objectively.
So what? The featured 5* champion goes ONLY to the top 150 players. It doesn't matter if they score 60 million points to get him or 600 million points to get him or literally 6 points to get him. For every single player in the game it will be impossible to get him, except for the top 150 players in terms of scoring during that event. The points only matter to the top 150. They don't matter to "casual players" because casual players aren't going to ever win a competition in a game with over a million players and only the top one percent of the top one percent will win.
Also. 60 million points is like 300 rounds of three 6* champs in the arena, using recharges. That's less effort than most arena grinders put into getting 4* Nightcrawler when his arena came out two years ago. Scores are going up, but not because people are sleeping less. They are going up because players are progressing, and their ability to score points keeps going up.
Genuinely casual players shouldn't care if they win the top rewards in the hardest arena in the game. If you self-identify as a casual player but are mad that you can't win the 5* featured champion in a competitive arena event, that's honestly not a problem with the game.
This game is honestly fantastic for genuinely casual players. You can play at your own pace. You don't have to spend money. Almost all of the content is playable by a free to play casual player. Once or twice a year Kabam just hands out 5* champions for free these days. If you spend less time and no money, you will progress much slower than players who dedicate more time and more money. But if you are a genuinely casual player, that won't matter to you. You will, at your own pace, conquer easy, medium, and hard difficulty, you'll get past Act 4, you'll beat RoL, you'll eventually start farming units very slowly in the arena, you'll have a bag of stuff land in your account every month just for showing up, and eventually you'll join the ranks of the uncollected. That's all doable even for someone that spends no money and plays a couple hours a week. It may take a couple years, but it took *me* a couple years spending way more time.