Roster Slot changes the reality and what to do now

Phaserhawk · March 2015

So after the last 3 Q&A sessions where roster slots have been brought up and the question has been repeatedly dodge we just need to look at the cold hard facts.

THEY ARE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING!!!!

It's clear they have not plans on changing this anytime in the near future, so here are you're 4 options.

1.) Accept it
2.) Quit
3.) Start selling 1* and 2* characters and quit buying slots unless necessary
4.) Keep banging your head against the wall asking for change to the prices

There are no other options. Option 2 and 3 are the only ones that will get their attention, this tells me that roster slots are a large source of revenue for them from the Whales and they have no plans on changing that anytime soon.
I have chosen option 3. I'm at 60 slots and do not plan on increasing them anytime soon, I don't need Yelena, or 1* Hawkeye, Bagman is soon to go for Iron Fist. I will start whittling down my roster until I'm left with bare bones, then I may decide on selling some worthless 3*'s.

Roster slots are a money grab, pure and simple there is no reason to have them except for that purpose.

Here's one thing you can stick somewhere though, when your roster slots start costing more than a cover for a 3* you are going to have some serious issues on your hand and that is quickly coming.

Gowaderacer · March 2015

I went with option 1 then 3. When I started this game over a year ago I started with the "Pokemon" approach (gotta catch 'em all!) but as I progressed in the game and became more of a casual player I started to reevaluate my roster slots. I sold off all but the most "unique" 2* (Ares, OBW, CStorm) and really make a hard judgment call to buy another slot.

I've recently used another slot for a 1* since the Deadpool DQ is a thing (I'm sure that's why the devs made a node a 1* requirement) and I'm seriously evaluating if I want to open a slot for Star-Lord or sell him off. I've also seriously consisdered selling Beast and Doc Ock even though both are currently cover maxed with the "optimum" build because they are currently worthless. Even the devs themselves have stated they don't expect us to max every character and we need to make choices who we have on our roster so that is what I'm doing.

Unknown · March 2015

Phaserhawk wrote:

So after the last 3 Q&A sessions where roster slots have been brought up and the question has been repeatedly dodge we just need to look at the cold hard facts.

THEY ARE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING!!!!

It's clear they have not plans on changing this anytime in the near future, so here are you're 4 options.

1.) Accept it
2.) Quit
3.) Start selling 1* and 2* characters and quit buying slots unless necessary
4.) Keep banging your head against the wall asking for change to the prices

There are no other options. Option 2 and 3 are the only ones that will get their attention, this tells me that roster slots are a large source of revenue for them from the Whales and they have no plans on changing that anytime soon.
I have chosen option 3. I'm at 60 slots and do not plan on increasing them anytime soon, I don't need Yelena, or 1* Hawkeye, Bagman is soon to go for Iron Fist. I will start whittling down my roster until I'm left with bare bones, then I may decide on selling some worthless 3*'s.

Roster slots are a money grab, pure and simple there is no reason to have them except for that purpose.

Here's one thing you can stick somewhere though, when your roster slots start costing more than a cover for a 3* you are going to have some serious issues on your hand and that is quickly coming.

It's crazy to keep up with new characters released every 2 weeks. Playing casually is obviously not welcome. Here are my responses to your 4 points on dealing with rising roster slot costs:

1. ACCEPTANCE: I accepted it months ago, but that doesn't mean I agree with or am pleased with it.

2. QUITTING: I think about all the time. It's difficult to stop now that there's the Daily Deadpool, in which I can win a 3* cover by only spending 15 minutes playing.

3. SELLING 1* & 2* : Prior to the daily deadpool,I already had to sell off my 1*'s to make room for all the new characters. I also sold various 2*s. I now have allocated 2 roster slots to 1*'s (juggy and storm) so that I can complete the 1* node in the Daily Deadpool.

4. HEAD-BANGING: Well, yeah, I'm going to see Slayer (for the 7th or 8th time) in June so I'm excited for that.

I've got a new Luke Cage cover sitting in my Que. with 125 Hero Points and 3 days left before he expires. My roster slot cost is 650 or 700. I know D3 loves hearing about how I'm struggling to decide who to keep and who to get rid of (bye bye Squirrel Girl?)and is hoping I spend money on their game, but THERE IS NO WAY I WILL SPEND ANY MONEY ON THIS GAME AGAIN. I can not justify spending money for a character to sit unused in my roster for the next 5 months. I was tempted to buy Hero Points after they released the Daily Deadpool event, but I can not see the value in purchasing Hero Points just so a character can collect dust.

Phaserhawk · March 2015

Yeah, until they start seeing a decline on HP with the veterans who refuse to pony up is the only time they plan on doing anything.

Here's the other way they could fix the Roster Slot issue without fixing it directly. Quit making characters mandatory. Stop the 1* tournaments or the need to have 2*'s, and change PvE essential nodes as well as PvP featured character, how about featured characters? My suggestion would be color comps. This week is yellow/red/blue 3*, so as long as the character you are using is a yellow/red/blue 3* So C.Mags, IM40, Captain America then you are good to go. This is also nice because you could rotate if you had multiple.

Kavel · March 2015

Dang. 61 slots is a ton, and at least 10 more than I'm running, and I think my roster is pretty healthy.

I wouldn't blame the devs if you've just decided you want to keep every 1-star and 2-star that's been released. If you decide to swim in steel-toe boots don't blame the ocean when you drown.

Unknown · March 2015

My response was basically two-fold: I stopped shielding in PVP except when I needed covers (and not always then), and I started absolutely hoarding HP (after buying a slot for Iron Fist, now at 18-19k). My HP is still going up, overall, and until it isn't, I'm going to keep on with this. But the roster slot price issue is a big chunk of the reason I've still never bought a cover.

brisashi · March 2015

It might not be a popular opinion but I don't think they should make any changes to the system.

They have to make some money from the player base to keep this game up and going, and without roster costs this game can easily be played without spending any money. I would rather spend a few dollars a month and have the game thrive than for them to make it easy for everyone to be a strictly free player and for the game to stop being supported with updates or close down entirely.

Unknown · March 2015

MikeHock wrote:

3. SELLING 1* & 2* : Prior to the daily deadpool,I already had to sell off my 1*'s to make room for all the new characters. I also sold various 2*s. I now have allocated 2 roster slots to 1*'s (juggy and storm) so that I can complete the 1* node in the Daily Deadpool.

Pro tip to free a roster spot: Juggs alone is more than enough to beat that node.

Wonko33 · March 2015

For DP daily 1* you can use only one slot, On my phone account I use IM 35 maxed out, all he do is win..win win

On my main account I have 3 1* slots with good TU I keep for teammates, and I might cut those out to make roster space

For all we know it's one of their best money maker, we don't ask Pepsi to stop charging for their soda, right?

DrStrange-616 · March 2015

Wonko33 wrote:

For all we know it's one of their best money maker, we don't ask Pepsi to stop charging for their soda, right?

no, but Pepsi doesn't cost more the more you roster slot is not a roster a roster slot is not a roster slot if the price keeps going up the more you buy.

I certainly don't think they should be free, I understand the need to make money, but putting a cap on them would be really helpful and feel less out of control.

SnowcaTT · March 2015

Option 5: keep coming in here to warn off newbies until they fix this. Here you go newbies:

http://marvelpuzzlequest.wikia.com/wiki/Hero_Points

Currently 63 roster spots, with another every two weeks. To open all those roster spots, you'll need 26200 HP, a Stark Salary (20,000) HP is $100 dollars. That's essentially the price to START this game, or you'll be throwing out characters left and right. If that was the math when I had started, I would have never started. You're welcome!

I've started to take option #3, as a hoarder I had one of every character, but beyond 60 slots the HP gets to be 800: it was ridiculous at 550, it's just bizarre now. I can't do it anymore, so I've sold off Yelena, Hawkeye, Widow goes today....

So they've broke my habit, horray! But bad for them, as the psychology thread (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=24634) says, they should WANT you to hoard characters. Instead of making me want to pay 500 HP (if out of HP this is $5 bucks twice a month mind you!), they've made me want to sell the 1*'s and 2*'s. Not a good move....

orbitalint · March 2015

brisashi wrote:

It might not be a popular opinion but I don't think they should make any changes to the system.

They have to make some money from the player base to keep this game up and going, and without roster costs this game can easily be played without spending any money. I would rather spend a few dollars a month and have the game thrive than for them to make it easy for everyone to be a strictly free player and for the game to stop being supported with updates or close down entirely.

I'm happy to support the devs and have done so during the anniversary event and very early in my development for said roster slots. However, I'd rather support them for content instead of a debilitating tax on that content. I've used HP for a total of 3 covers since I started playing because of how big of an issue roster spots are in this game.

I'd probably fork over my hp more freely for said covers if I didn't have to hoard HP for 2 weeks just to be allowed the "privilege" to roster the new character. I did it during the anniversary event because for the first time in a long time, they prioritized content and I wanted to tell them with my money that I appreciated it. Yeah, I know I'm just one person and it's their business model to play with but I feel like many would be more open to spending on this game if we weren't forced to do something (roster slots) but rather had a choice on where to spend HP (covers).

RemoDestroyer · March 2015

I already sold off most of my 2*s and 1*s. I'll keep enough to play DDQ, BoP and Combined Arms. I used to have slots occupied by characters built just to send for team ups.

I have all the 3* of which 9 are level 40 and only 6 are not cover maxed. Some of them only play when essential for pve nodes or featured in PvP. Unless I start saving hp I'll probably start selling 3*s. In some pvps the donor is good enough and I wouldn't call myself super competitive in pve so being excluded from a few nodes here and there will only save me time.

I sold a 166 Sentry during his sale for the extra iso and hp and haven't regretted it yet so selling others probably won't hurt either.

Unknown · March 2015

Kappei wrote:

MikeHock wrote:

3. SELLING 1* & 2* : Prior to the daily deadpool,I already had to sell off my 1*'s to make room for all the new characters. I also sold various 2*s. I now have allocated 2 roster slots to 1*'s (juggy and storm) so that I can complete the 1* node in the Daily Deadpool.

Pro tip to free a roster spot: Juggs alone is more than enough to beat that node.

Thanks, Kappei. You're probably right. I might just delete my 1* Storm instead of Squirrel Girl. Appreciate your suggestion!

simonsez · March 2015

Phaserhawk wrote:

It's clear they have not plans on changing this anytime in the near future, so here are you're 4 options.

1.) Accept it
2.) Quit
3.) Start selling 1* and 2* characters and quit buying slots unless necessary
4.) Keep banging your head against the wall asking for change to the prices

There's actually a 5th option: play the **** out of events even when you don't need the covers, just to get the HP prizes.

rixmith · March 2015

The game economy for veteran players is quite bizarre. Right now I can pay 800 (maybe 850 for the next one, I'm not sure) for a character that I most likely won't use for at least 6 months. I can pay 2500 for a cover, but there are no covers that will have any impact on my roster (my X-Force is no 5/5/2, having recently been willing to buy 1 black cover, my IW is cover maxed, my Fury will be 3/3/3 after the re-supplies, and all the rest have either 1 or 2 covers). I can pay for shields, but lately I finish top 100 if I don't shield, and top 50 if I do shield, so that is a net-negative (I'm not really interested in crazy shield hopping).

I make enough HP in game to keep up with roster slots, so I'll probably just stay on that train until my HP is dropping instead of going up. But the HP economy is just very unsatisfying. Spending it isn't particularly fun any more, which makes buy more very uninteresting.

Phaserhawk · March 2015

SnowcaTT wrote:

Option 5: keep coming in here to warn off newbies until they fix this. Here you go newbies:

http://marvelpuzzlequest.wikia.com/wiki/Hero_Points

Currently 63 roster spots, with another every two weeks. To open all those roster spots, you'll need 26200 HP, a Stark Salary (20,000) HP is $100 dollars. That's essentially the price to START this game, or you'll be throwing out characters left and right. If that was the math when I had started, I would have never started. You're welcome!

I've started to take option #3, as a hoarder I had one of every character, but beyond 60 slots the HP gets to be 800: it was ridiculous at 550, it's just bizarre now. I can't do it anymore, so I've sold off Yelena, Hawkeye, Widow goes today....

So they've broke my habit, horray! But bad for them, as the psychology thread (viewtopic.php?f=7&t=24634) says, they should WANT you to hoard characters. Instead of making me want to pay 500 HP (if out of HP this is $5 bucks twice a month mind you!), they've made me want to sell the 1*'s and 2*'s. Not a good move....

The thing is, guess what I would do with my $ if I didn't have to hoard for roster slots?

I WOULD BUY FU%&ING COVERS!!!!!!!!!

Their revenue would absolutely not change because people would just spend their money on other aspects, they would use it to get that 13th Thor cover or to shield more, because everyone has a point to where they will stop spending money and I've hit it and others have too. Newbies hit it because they realize how much $ they would have to spend to keep all these cool covers they keep getting.

I love this game, I have supported it with my $ but I absoutely refuse to keep pumping $ into a game that wants me to pay to keep guys that I won't use. They say they want you to choose, but then penalize that choice by making characters required, they are talking out of both sides of their mouth and there blatent avoidance of a question shows that they don't want to fix this issue becuase it makes them $, well I'm done given them money. I'll gladly put it elsewhere if this is what they think of us.

babinro · March 2015

I wish there was a solution that made spending money FUN rather than simply a tax in order to keep up. Roster slots aren't fun. Buying them with the knowledge that they will always further increase in cost relative to the value of your HP is super discouraging.

I'd love to offer an alternative solution but the fact is I can't confidently say any of them would lead to equal or great profits. Let alone a better gaming experience.

For example:
- Roster slots are now capped at 100hp each forever.
- You no longer need a characters initial cover to train it with hp
- Remove all alliance cover awards (adding slightly more hp/ISO to compensate)
- 1st- 5th place now only get 2x 3* covers (adding slightly more hp/ISO to compensate)
- 6th - 100th now only get 1x 3* covers (adding slightly more hp/ISO to compensate)
- Employ a similar structure to PvE

This change reduces the in flow of covers in hopes to encourage their purchase while making roster upkeep extremely reasonable. Buying character covers is actually fun after all.

Would this actually improve the game knowing that you've easily tripled the time it takes to finish a character for free? Would it even lead to equal or more sales?

I know I'd have more FUN when spending money but I'd probably enjoy the game less overall because of how slow your progress feels. The average player would probably take 2+years to finish a character if they were free to play.

I'm at a total loss at how to truly resolve this problem in a way that's fair to both parties.

SnowcaTT · March 2015

orbitalint wrote:

I'm happy to support the devs and have done so during the anniversary event and very early in my development for said roster slots. However, I'd rather support them for content instead of a debilitating tax on that content. I've used HP for a total of 3 covers since I started playing because of how big of an issue roster spots are in this game.

I'd probably fork over my hp more freely for said covers if I didn't have to hoard HP for 2 weeks just to be allowed the "privilege" to roster the new character. I did it during the anniversary event because for the first time in a long time, they prioritized content and I wanted to tell them with my money that I appreciated it. Yeah, I know I'm just one person and it's their business model to play with but I feel like many would be more open to spending on this game if we weren't forced to do something (roster slots) but rather had a choice on where to spend HP (covers).

This is exactly my situation. I keep considering dropping money for HP to buy covers - it is the resource I find valuable and worth putting actual money into. What keeps holding me back is the HP cost for slots, which is a resource that I'll continue to need (apparently) and I don't find worth putting money into. Why buy covers when I may not be able to keep the character long-term?

KrazyKeylime · March 2015

you heard it in the feb Q & A roster slots not going down. however they added double daily reward cause those net you like 50 HP every 2 weeks. With no cap on roster slot prices the cost increases faster then the new sources unless you get a insane hot streak with tacos which is not a typical experience, they basically gave us the middle finger and put a band aid on a broken system. i like the suggestion i saw about adding a roster slot reward in the tacos for 2% draw rate

xKOBALTx · March 2015

Just a few things that I'd like to get out there before I explain where I stand:
[*]I am a collector. I have one of every character plus a few TU builds.
[*]I will be purchasing slot #66 for 850HP today for Mr. Fist.
[*]I have spent just shy of $40 on HP during almost exactly 1-year of play. Got my Dino's just before the weekend.
[*]I have never outright purchased a single cover in this game. Not even for Goddess or X-Force.

I personally don't find the roster slot pricing to be an issue . . . right now. I'm fine with them charging HP for roster slots. I'm fine with those charges being an ongoing HP expense. I don't think they need to create a cap as low as 500-600 HP as I've seen suggested many times on the forum. With all that being said, I do see the future issue where I will have a problem with the pricing. Slot 100 and over; where every single slot goes up by 100 HP.

I realize that players like JCT are outliers with roster slot purchases. I also realize that even with a new character coming every other week the mostly-single-character-collector's like myself have time before they hit that magic number, but the rapid cost increase that starts at that point is absolutely tinykitty INSANE. Even for me.

I do think Demi, at the absolute very least, needs to rethink this end game section of roster costs. Maybe they need to institute a higher cap than what has been suggested. Perhaps 1000HP (nice and round) or 1250HP (same as an actual 3* cover). If not that, then maybe restructure how quickly those costs go up, to rein in those later slots. Take their buy a chunk at a time idea to the later stages and reduce the price for them. Something. Anything.

I don't know why they keep dismissing the question completely like they do. They really don't think it's an issue at any level, whatsoever? They have a future plan, but are being cagey as they are wont to do? They honestly don't think the game will survive long enough for the majority of players to have the problem with future costs? I don't know. But I am disappointed by their responses so far like many others, despite having a pretty different opinion of where "too much" begins.

TL;DR I don't think roster costs are an issue now, but they're going to be. Demi should nip it sooner rather than later.

Roster Slot changes the reality and what to do now

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