Open Letter to D3

The rockett · October 2015

Dear D3,
Disappointment. That is the only word I can use for the roll out of this Anniversary event. Let me explain

• Galactus Event: It is a disappointment that all the MPQ players were excited about this event even though you did not roll out that many details. When the Ultron event was rolled out, there was a Video and a lot of information. It was posted by D3, that the Galactus event was going to be the same type of event with the same workings. Well, as we all know now, that is not true. As much as we think Galactus is over powered, the most disappointing thing is the timer. This does not work like the Ultron event. There is no reset if your Alliance (and this is what this is supposed to be, a TEAM building event) clears a round. You still are locked out. Is this a bug? Is this intentional? Next point

• D3/Dev/People with Red names/Customer service: Whenever there is a problem with this game, you always tell us to go to the forums for the most up-to-date information. But when your own team abandoned the forums, this is a disappointment. The last post by somebody in red (I don’t want to be accused of “calling anybody out”) was at 10:22am PST/2:22pm EST. It is now 6:30am EST and STILL nothing. How can this be? Why are you hiding behind YOUR inferior product? When are you going to say anything at all? We, the MPQ players, are waiting………

• Anniversary Events/Rewards: While so far they look good on paper/screen/reward section, the application of these is disappointing and underwhelming. Black Vortex, for the Victory Bonus, this is not doubled like it was last year. Why? Black Vortex as well is not rewarding the ISO and covers it should. So not only is the Galactus event not working correctly, this event is not as well. Also the drop rates. Wow. So in the Heroic packs for 1 token it is .3% for a 4*, .6% of a 3* and 5.5% for a 2*. In the Anniversary it is .1% for 4*, .5% for 3* and 5.7% for 2*!!! So the tokens that nobody needs jump up .2%!! As well, if you buy a 10/40 pack, the 4* and 3* do not change and the 2* only go down .2%. While it is great with the ISO/HP rewards, the Devil Dino one is extremely high for somebody you will not release fully. Now if it is your intentions to release him fully after this event, fine. I get it, but that does not explain the drop in 3* and especially 4* rate.

• Server Issues: While I will not go fully down this rabbit hole, I will explain 1 thing. Our alliance team mates tried to move real life events around for the Galactus event. Work, meetings, day care for kids, flights and myself a contract negotiation so we would be free at the start of this event. We are a worldwide Alliance as well, so we deal with a lot of different time zones. This, again, is very disappointing of ANOTHER crash. If this was the first, ok. The MPQ players understand. But this is the 3rd crash on a major event. I am not including any others in here of not being able to play on certain devises.

• Solution: So in my real life/career supposed to find out solutions for problems. In the case here, there are only 2 at this point.
****EDIT: It has been brought to my attention that this makes it sound like I want people fired. I do not. I don’t think that should happen. My overall point is that is large event like this fails every time out of the gate and there is 0 communicate from the devs, then D3 will have to make a decision on what they need to do. This is like this for any and every company that would roll something out with all but complete failure. To me, communication is the key to everything. I hope this makes sense now.****
1. Change of management at D3 including the dev’s/people with red names. We, the MPQ players, are losing a lot of faith in you and your product. While most of us love the Marvel Universe, this cannot and SHOULD not go on. We are spending a lot of money on this product to have the same issues time and time and time and time and time and time and time again. Other business would be out of business or a huge shake up would happen.
2. Marvel gets involved and threatens to pull the contract from D3. If that would happen, please see #1.

• Closing: Again, while we love this game and want to continue to play it, there needs to be some accountability on this. How can you roll out an event without letting the player know what is going on, how the event will work, the dirty details of the event and then when it goes so wrong, you hide from us? How is that building your customer base and your revenue. You will probably give us some compensation for these issues, but whatever you give us will not be enough. It is not about compensation, we just want the product we play/pay for to work the way you tell us it is going to. Every product will have issues, no doubt, but don’t run. Get out in front of it and don’t let it happen again. There was a comment that there was going to be no cake for this anniversary. Well, there is cake, it is just on your face right now.

Thank you
The Rockett
Commander of Playforfun 1

puppychow · October 2015

Very nicely put letter. But unfortunately, since New York Comic Con 2015 is rolling right now, I highly doubt a red name is going to read your post. I haven't seen any red names visiting this forum since NYCC2015 started on Thursday.

Malcrof · October 2015

They will see it. All it takes is 1 PM.

Unknown · October 2015

The rockett wrote:

Dear D3,
Disappointment.

This pretty much sums up my Galactus / Anniversary experience so far.

In the grand scheme of things what's really different from any other events we've experienced?

-We can get devil dino from tokens? That's cool.
-ISO/HP sale? That happens other times throughout the year as well.
-Double ISO rewards? Cool now I get 40 instead of 20.
-Super crazy boss fight? Just like Ultron battle it seems under tested and way too difficult to enjoy casually.

I guess it's my own fault for having some grandiose visions of all sorts of cool rewards, gifts, and special incentives that were different than the same old stuff we see day in and day out. I'm not asking for everything to be free on some self entitled rant, I have spent plentyyyy of money on this game. Since it's the 2 year anniversary I was anticipating something different, but like I said it's my own fault can't really fault the devs fully for my own ignorance.

As you can see I want to justify my love of this game to the point of applying blind optimism when needed.

SuperRecoome · October 2015

I think those of us who were around last year were expecting something at least on par with last year's anniversary. I suppose in some way that's our own fault for getting hyped, but they really didn't do anything to temper our expectations either. They could have said, don't expect the crazy odds of last year's tokens, or as many opportunities to earn the double ISO as last year.

I was hoping to finally start taking some of my better level 140 3 stars to 166, and possibly get a couple 4 star covers this anniversary but I won't come close unless something changes

djpt05 · October 2015

Definitely a tricky balancing act of trying to roll out a new event to hype NYCC attendees to gain new players but also having enough hands on deck back at the office to trouble shoot and PR the problematic situation to current players.

zeddicus · October 2015

Agreed BUMP to allow d3 to see

Dalbok · October 2015

I wanted to post something just like this letter but honestly didn't think it was worth my time.

In my mind the Galactus Event is the Anniversary Celebration even though there are other things to do, they are the same as what we do throughout the year, but Galactus was the "new thing".

I'm not saying the Galactus Event is bad but definitely not appropriate to celebrate your 2nd Anniversary.

My take on the event is that beating Galactus is intended to be Rare (as I imagine it should be), it is Galactus after all. And that's why they still give points for losing. But the Psychology of this game is that you should be able to win most of the time if you have the right players, etc... Not the case with Galactus. I don't think you can buy a win against him at the higher levels. They should have set those level of expectations and again held this event for another time.

In my mind the Anniversary should feel more inclusive/rewarding. Everyone should be able to participate and gain the 2nd Anniversary prizes in my opinion. And for God sakes, Double ALL ISO. Why limit it to Anniversary event (I.e 140/280 from PvP). Make everyone fell special for your 2nd Anniversary . It's a big deal! I'm not saying you need to hand out Legendary tokens (there is a progression to everything), but it doesn't feel special and worse than that it's frustrating as hell to watch team after team get crushed in 3-4 rounds and then waste another 5-10 minutes on a Trivial Node to try again.

As one of my alliance mates said, "Welcome to my birthday party, now I'm gonna kick your a**"

My two cents...

rollx · October 2015

I am seriously underwhelmed by the event. I was so hyped and excited when it was announced. The build up was suspenseful and intriguing. My alliance and I were all waiting till the anniversary event to drop serious money on it. It's all we talked about all week in our forums. Then when it's time to go, only 2 alliance members could get in. Then servers crash repeatedly. Once we get in (after an hour or two), the reward packs are lackluster. The Galactus event itself was a joke after phase 3. It's not even skill-based, it's luck based. Seriously, what were they thinking? Why are they increasingly making it difficult to get anywhere in this game? I really want to enjoy this game, I really do. But they are making it so hard. I really hope they find this letter and make some changes. Otherwise, I do see myself play it for much longer.

Polares · October 2015

The rockett wrote:

Dear D3,
Disappointment. That is the only word I can use for the roll out of this Anniversary event.

...

That is really the word that sums it up. I Have been waiting for this anniversary and the Galaktus event for two weeks, and to buy anniversary tokens even more and this is what we get. Server problems apart, we get a game that is basically IMPOSSIBLE to win. On round 5 you loose more battles than what you win, and in round 6 you loose all the battles (?!?!?!?!?). And the tokens, did they really think this was a good token for the players?!?!? Not even Dino has the same chance than last year, and with the other 4s the difference makes you cry. Yeah you can win a lot of tokens but I still have to pull something good from any of them.

M C K · October 2015

The rockett wrote:

Dear D3....

• Solution: So in my real life/career supposed to find out solutions for problems. In the case here, there are only 2 at this point.
1. Change of management at D3 including the dev’s/people with red names. We, the MPQ players, are losing a lot of faith in you and your product. While most of us love the Marvel Universe, this cannot and SHOULD not go on. We are spending a lot of money on this product to have the same issues time and time and time and time and time and time and time again. Other business would be out of business or a huge shake up would happen.
2. Marvel gets involved and threatens to pull the contract from D3. If that would happen, please see #1.

Disclaimer - Look...I really don't want to be this guy. I don't. I hate being this guy. I really really hate it.

And I do sympathize! Truthfully! I'm frustrated by the event and the anniversary too. The difficulty is unrealistically high, and maybe that's actually the point. The communication is lacking compared to last anniversary, and that's unfortunate. The server issues are annoying and, aside from being a hindrance, we have no guarantee that the company will "make whole" in a wholly satisfying way.

However...your list of solutions is missing a critical entry, and it actually should be the very first solution.

Uninstall the game and stop playing it

Listen...I used to buy Skittles. I enjoyed them quite a bit! My favorite was the green Skittle...a delectable lime flavor. I was a green Skittle fiend...combined with cherry or lemon it was awesome. Unfortunately for me, last year they changed the flavor of the green Skittle from the delicious lime to a horrendous green apple. It was devastating to me (well, as devastating as bad candy can be).

I didn't call for the heads of the company executives. I didn't petition Wrigley or Mars to surrender the licensing/patent/whatever they have for the Skittles brand, or demand they sell off Skittles production to another candy maker. These weren't even close to my first options.

I stopped buying Skittles.

Realistically, the company won't fold because I stopped buying Skittles. I'm sure they'll be fine. I did write the company on social media to let them know, and to be honest I do miss the lime Skittle. But I've learned to cope...now I buy Reese's Pieces.

Point being, if you're looking outside yourself for a solution, you will likely be disappointed.

The rockett wrote:

The Rockett
Commander of Playforfun 1

As a matter of coincidence bordering on irony, your alliance name is an alternative solution as well. Call it "Option 1b".

wiz_biz · October 2015

M C K wrote:

The rockett wrote:

The Rockett
Commander of Playforfun 1

As a matter of coincidence bordering on irony, your alliance name is an alternative solution as well. Call it "Option 1b".

some valid points but on this one i beg to differ - most of the pff-ers truly enjoy the insanely competitive aspects of this game. fun does not necessarily equate to casual; while we already do play for fun, we don't eff around.

Warbringa · October 2015

djpt05 wrote:

Definitely a tricky balancing act of trying to roll out a new event to hype NYCC attendees to gain new players but also having enough hands on deck back at the office to trouble shoot and PR the problematic situation to current players.

That is the definition of business planning. You make sure you can do both adequately or you only do one and make sure it is done right.

Warbringa · October 2015

M C K wrote:

The rockett wrote:

Dear D3....

• Solution: So in my real life/career supposed to find out solutions for problems. In the case here, there are only 2 at this point.
1. Change of management at D3 including the dev’s/people with red names. We, the MPQ players, are losing a lot of faith in you and your product. While most of us love the Marvel Universe, this cannot and SHOULD not go on. We are spending a lot of money on this product to have the same issues time and time and time and time and time and time and time again. Other business would be out of business or a huge shake up would happen.
2. Marvel gets involved and threatens to pull the contract from D3. If that would happen, please see #1.

Disclaimer - Look...I really don't want to be this guy. I don't. I hate being this guy. I really really hate it.

And I do sympathize! Truthfully! I'm frustrated by the event and the anniversary too. The difficulty is unrealistically high, and maybe that's actually the point. The communication is lacking compared to last anniversary, and that's unfortunate. The server issues are annoying and, aside from being a hindrance, we have no guarantee that the company will "make whole" in a wholly satisfying way.

However...your list of solutions is missing a critical entry, and it actually should be the very first solution.
Uninstall the game and stop playing it

Listen...I used to buy Skittles. I enjoyed them quite a bit! My favorite was the green Skittle...a delectable lime flavor. I was a green Skittle fiend...combined with cherry or lemon it was awesome. Unfortunately for me, last year they changed the flavor of the green Skittle from the delicious lime to a horrendous green apple. It was devastating to me (well, as devastating as bad candy can be).

I didn't call for the heads of the company executives. I didn't petition Wrigley or Mars to surrender the licensing/patent/whatever they have for the Skittles brand, or demand they sell off Skittles production to another candy maker. These weren't even close to my first options.

I stopped buying Skittles.

Realistically, the company won't fold because I stopped buying Skittles. I'm sure they'll be fine. I did write the company on social media to let them know, and to be honest I do miss the lime Skittle. But I've learned to cope...now I buy Reese's Pieces.

Point being, if you're looking outside yourself for a solution, you will likely be disappointed.

The rockett wrote:

The Rockett
Commander of Playforfun 1

As a matter of coincidence bordering on irony, your alliance name is an alternative solution as well. Call it "Option 1b".

MCK actually it should not be the "first solution" but by definition the last solution. You pointed out the measure of last resort that all of us know we can do at any point. Thank you for the obvious. The issue is that most of us, like the OP, do not want to have to do that so we are letting the developers know our displeasure BEFORE we actually get to that point. Many of us also understand the basic economic principle of marginal choices in that Skittles is replaceable with any other candy just like this video game can be replaced with another video game.

Unknown · October 2015

I want to apologize to the moderators during this time. I've moderated big forums and subreddits before, and I know it's not easy when things outside of your control cause a shockwave. I will break from this thread and mention some good points (for me) about the anniversary:

* Out of 6 anniversary/galactus tokens I've gotten 3 gold covers, which is more than I was expecting. Two of them were pretty terrible (rag/doc ok), but I got a human torch cover I have been wanting.

* I also like the fact that I can use ANY iteration of certain required characters like Wolverine. It always sucks when you don't have the required 2* but have the 3*, and I hope they continue this change, even if it only applies if you have the higher cover.

* The PVP event looks promising for tokens, even if I discount the 10-pack (not sure if that's attainable for me) at 1500.

On the other hand, it looks like the devs are again catering to the top end (though it doesn't look like they're having an easy time either) by essentially locking players without a solid 3* roster out of galactus past a certain point. I am not aware of any 3* transitioners in my alliance that have been able to kill (or really even scratch) Galactus past round 3. Our alliance likely won't make it to round 5 simply due to power levels rather than participation. That kinda sucks.

I'm also disappointed in the token odds. I have put off buying HP since I started, waiting for a nice sale or event that would be worthwhile over the standard daily odds. The fact that the new tokens are WORSE odds than any 'ol Monday is disheartening. I won't be spending a dime as a result.

The communication could definitely be improved here. Anyone who frequents these forums (and probably even those that don't) can see that the overall community is not happy. Gamers, as a culture, complain more than they compliment, but solid communication can offset those complaints, and even change minds. Especially in the silent majority. People usually just want to be validated or acknowledged, even if nothing changes. Missed opportunity here...

Druss · October 2015

It's not that bad!

Personally I'm preferring the anniversary events & rewards to both Kidney Stones and Root Canal Treatment.

Opened 8 Anniversary tokens & managed 6 moonstones & 2 2* Dakens - at least not going to bother wasting my 50HP daily anymore. In fact, very difficult to find a reason to log on at all.

How an event where Hawkeye, Yelena & Bag-man (Yes - I tried it) actually managed to last 5 turns as opposed to XF, Fury & Thoress only 4, is deemed to be well thought out is beyond me. Perhaps the 2 year anniversary took the developers by surprise?

M C K · October 2015

Warbringa wrote:

do not want to have to do that so we are letting the developers know our displeasure BEFORE we actually get to that point

This is the crux. Want.

Send D3 a heads-up that this is not acceptable to you? Sure! In this case it will probably be heard (complaints are always louder than praise), but one complaint didn't bring back my lime Skittle. Leaving is more impactful...how many threads have I read in the last 8 hours with a comment mentioning "the bottom line", or "profits"? Players who stop paying may start again. Players who stop playing have little chance to be reclaimed.

The first option that calls for the heads of D3 is actually fatally flawed anyway:

the rockett wrote:

We are spending a lot of money on this product to have the same issues time and time and time and time and time and time and time again. Other business would be out of business or a huge shake up would happen.

Other businesses would certainly not be out of business! They would be making money and business would be booming! Why does a company go out of business? Because money stops flowing in. That's when the shakeup happens...not because of an ideological difference of opinion between the customers and the executives.

That said, if you can tangibly quantify fun and frustration and weigh them against each other, then the choice would be obvious. Alas, it's subjective for most folks, and it comes down to an individual judgment call whether to continue or turn away.

Pylgrim · October 2015

While I'm extremely disappointed (and take in account I was one of the biggest apologists back during the Ultron debacle), calling for the rolling of heads is absurd. Flawed in all the areas that this anniversary week exposed as they may be, devs have proven time and again that they are passionate and invested in the game. Dismantle the team that has brought this together and yeah, perhaps with a bit of luck you'll get an extremely technically competent team, but all the heart will be gone. I've seen that happening and let me tell you, that kills a game (or any kind of product, really, especially the ones with a creative component) way quicker than any blatant flaw of the original creators would have.

Warbringa · October 2015

M C K wrote:

Warbringa wrote:

do not want to have to do that so we are letting the developers know our displeasure BEFORE we actually get to that point

This is the crux. Want.

Send D3 a heads-up that this is not acceptable to you? Sure! In this case it will probably be heard (complaints are always louder than praise), but one complaint didn't bring back my lime Skittle. Leaving is more impactful...how many threads have I read in the last 8 hours with a comment mentioning "the bottom line", or "profits"? Players who stop paying may start again. Players who stop playing have little chance to be reclaimed.

The first option that calls for the heads of D3 is actually fatally flawed anyway:

the rockett wrote:

We are spending a lot of money on this product to have the same issues time and time and time and time and time and time and time again. Other business would be out of business or a huge shake up would happen.

Other businesses would certainly not be out of business! They would be making money and business would be booming! Why does a company go out of business? Because money stops flowing in. That's when the shakeup happens...not because of an ideological difference of opinion between the customers and the executives.

That said, if you can tangibly quantify fun and frustration and weigh them against each other, then the choice would be obvious. Alas, it's subjective for most folks, and it comes down to an individual judgment call whether to continue or turn away.

I do agree with you MCK, calling for the heads of D3 is not productive nor effective as the OP did. However one complaint plus one complaint plus one complaint...(you get the point) may impact the decision makers. If there are not enough complaints or a monetary impact on their business (due to people leaving or not spending $), nothing may be done. There do seem to be plenty of complaints on the forum and I would encourage anyone who is frustrated to keep complaining because quantity of complaints may get their attention. Complaints are the first sign to a business that they may have monetary issues to follow. As you said, and I agree, everyone is different as to their valuation of fun vs. frustration. Getting back to your Skittles comparison, I for example love red Skittles but never cared for green or yellow ones, so whatever Skittles did to those colors, didn't matter much to me.

cyineedsn · October 2015

Pylgrim wrote:

While I'm extremely disappointed (and take in account I was one of the biggest apologists back during the Ultron debacle), calling for the rolling of heads is absurd. Flawed in all the areas that this anniversary week exposed as they may be, devs have proven time and again that they are passionate and invested in the game. Dismantle the team that has brought this together and yeah, perhaps with a bit of luck you'll get an extremely technically competent team, but all the heart will be gone. I've seen that happening and let me tell you, that kills a game (or any kind of product, really, especially the ones with a creative component) way quicker than any blatant flaw of the original creators would have.

I don't agree with the calling for heads in general either, this isn't some publicly traded company that we bought stock in. That said, it's not as if a changing of management hasn't helped other games, FFXIV comes to mind as game that came out better for a changing of the guard. Considering they are launching other puzzle quest themed games it's seems pretty unlikely they would ever fire their devs and start over, so let's just move on to more constructive uses for our pitchforks. Like controlling our urge to gamble and stop buying stark salaries to buy tokens that have horrible odds! Stop giving them money when they do horrible things!

DrStrange-616 · October 2015

I think a lot of people have reached the point of no return with the current staff/management. It might take Marvel removing the property to earn back that trust. Or some major shakeup. There is just no excuse for what's happened. It's not a coding error or something unforseen. It was planned. It was *designed* to be this way. And the lack of communication shows that. What can they say? We thought you guys were addicted and we could do anything to you? Honestly, I cannot fathom the reasoning in having an anniversary event designed this way. It's just completely illogical. And yet ...

Open Letter to D3

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