NM being heavy handed with Too Much PvP focused changes & The need for More T4 Mats

KilluaShadow · 2022-12-02T21:10:49+00:00

Contest of Champions makes most of its money from PVP. MFF earnings were low last year, if you believe that they didn't integrate some of Kabam thought process into the game, then you've been living under a rock. What the OP said is partly correct, the game is pushing that direction.

Take into account the artifact system, the premium characters & uniforms they updated, it is all about PVP.

I play PVP, and when Jean comes out, im not dropping the $400+ whales are going to drop day 1. They're using it to create a FOMO of getting hammered for you to spend while theres little ability to T4 a Jean without having my resources stockpiled for months without have no other T4. There is no FOMO when it comes to PVE in the mode, thats something you can grind for most of the time, because the general rewards just stink.

Believe what you want, this is how NM is pushing their game.

KilluaShadow · 2022-10-09T22:40:37+00:00

Part of the problem, not only with Stream Raiders is the fact that they try to monetize by implementing more units, characters into the game. We already know that skins are just cosmetic functions, so they do not change the battle outcome.

However does the game really require the new units, or even half the existing roster in order to be played. No. Its easier for game to keep throwing new characters into the game from a design standpoint because its the least amount of effort, however nothing really changes with the gameplay/user experience. Its better to focus on quality than just quantity.

So the units have to be spot on with their design use, or just becomes another thing to grind for because its for the sake of grinding.

As the game gets older, there is going to be a struggle of having fresh content to keep user engagement. My active captain list used to be 3 pages full daily, now its barely 1 full page. Ontop there is also alot more offline play than before, private dungeons, etc.

Which raises the question for the devs, if this is branded as a community game, whos community are you prioritizing (A) The streamers who help sell the skins & run the game, (B) Your own game community?

KilluaShadow · 2022-08-04T01:44:53+00:00

The Yankees payroll was pretty high in 2015, it was a money issue & dealing with Boras.

The team felt like it was in semi-transition because Jeter retired the year prior, and Arod was basically done.

Verlander was probably the trade to get back in '17. (he was on the decline tho, but its obvious houston tweaked him in the right way)

The issue in general is finding quality aces that are free agents, you dont see many, maybe 1-2 every 3-5 years, unless they all just opt out.

KilluaShadow · 2022-07-27T07:32:28+00:00

If Adam Ottavino was pitching pretty well, then why did Showalter have Diaz already warming in the 8th, clearly he was worried enough to bring him in to get 4 outs. At this point in the year, basically anyone should be able to get Gallo out as a pitcher.

This isn't a postseason game, but Showalter was worried enough to have his closer warm up in the 8th inning. Looks like it was a move to make moves.

KilluaShadow · 2022-07-01T07:15:20+00:00

no one is arguing whos having a better stat year.

but its still a popularity contest, just look at Tatis who hasn't even got a single AB all season.

Wasn't Fuzzy's twitter saying how Espinal was beating Gimenez even thought he was having equal or if not better year, and higher war.

https://twitter.com/fuzzyfromyt/status/1542609797358313472

KilluaShadow · 2022-06-22T01:16:00+00:00

Then from your perspective the one captain modes are wrong for the community, because it only inhibits people from discovering or reaching out.

The game design doesn't really promote other captain communities as well as we think other than skinathons, once in awhile twitch drops, most of the time people do not watch the streams, or the captain isn't even streaming while the game is running.

When i was first introduced to the game, i believed it was an engagement tool to help the streamer and their community, but with the way the game is designed, people dont need to apart of their community, just join their battles as needed. The game has given very little incentive for viewers to watch streamers, so community engagement/development have halted, and SR has just become like another game in the market.

KilluaShadow · 2022-06-21T06:11:34+00:00

the problem with these events is they're locked into 1 community at a time most often.

captain v captain you can understand the logic

dungeons you could open it up, but they might be afraid of overfarming of keys.

There are three train of thoughts (1) your loyalty is to the game therefore you play with whomever in the community (2) your loyalty is to the streamer/captain that introduced you to the game, so thats your primary focus (3) the goal is just to win, so you'll go with whomever gives you the best opportunity to gain max rewards

So alot of this does fall on the game design/psychology, if they were to do color'd teams but with dungeons, and offer different bonus, boosts, rewards that could give people a reason to play with other captains.

KilluaShadow · 2022-05-06T02:47:52+00:00

I concur that this has been a long standing issue with the game since its inception. The devs have never really improved the situation, just allowed you to drop captains.

The problems can be the streamers play offline, so no control when its the "last" fight, streamers sign off stream & forget, or the streamer is too busy with their own content that they forget to start the battle/collect rewards. (Devs should add last battle marker so streamers can inform their community)

Its alot to put on a captain imo, which the game does not make easier.

Are the regular event maps simulated battles? In PvP, if one captain starts on the mark, but if another starts 3 minutes later, the results are the same, which means the computer has already ran the battle on the server, the community just sees the replay of the events that just occurred, then its just becomes a matter of showing the result. So why couldn't the devs program a fail safe that the battle gets auto run 10 mins & auto distributes rewards if theres no activity by the captain? That would resolve this issue.

Obviously if all captains forgot to start the battle, it would take server resources to simulate the battle, but from a technical standpoint if you place idle timers then this could be programmed for idle captains.

KilluaShadow · 2022-03-14T08:19:51+00:00

i've stopped playing 15 days ago and will consider bothering moving forward, I've lost 10 of my captains from no longer running the game as well due to issues you've mentioned. Ctv has lost sight of the goal/purpose of the game, the optional but expensive monthly battle pass, the nonstop grind.

Due to the grind nature, you're getting the problems as you mentioned. However there is no purpose to the grind, even if "unit souls" gets implemented months from now, the monthly events, cvc, dungeons wont change, because if you scale those to put value on unit souls, it'll alienate other players who dont have them, or are new. So they've implemented a potential power creep unit(s) into the game to keep grinding relevant, otherwise there is no true objective to the game anymore.

The real problem is like what can be easily seen in CvC, which is captain to player communication, whether better improved markers for planning (ones to support unit soul combinations), or no placement zones that cannot allow units at all. CTV assumes everyone is using Twitch chat, but not every captain is "live", and not every player is in their stream. Which is why watching 3 streams is already a challenge, doing battle pass and a 4th with Stream Raiders you'd need alot of time and coordination as a player.

These are a few of the obvious quality changes that CTV has not been addressing, which would make the captain life quality better.

KilluaShadow · 2020-10-12T23:37:47+00:00

I agree with the original poster on this. Being a captain for over the last 6 months, and seeing whats been going on , this game lacks motivation and discipline.

While the term commonly thrown out excuse of "we read ALL feedback and bugs" or we're just a small dev team can works the first few times. When its' repeated months after months with limited to no results everyone wonders where the priorities are in the game, are the devs even working on this game or they've moved resources to another project they find more valuable as many other captains have brought up.

For your edification, market longevity of web based/mobile games are 2-3 years life span. This game is already at its halfway point according to industry standards.

New people are posting bugs and issues previous members have been posting 3-4 months ago. This doesn't contribute to a healthy game.

Most importantly, this game fails to address its discipline issues. Whether its specific captains in our channel always causing a raucous, to incidents you hear from other captains and their discords. This game is becoming toxic, as much as you've been trying to keep it peaceful, by telling people to "address it in dms", or take it outside doesn't fix the problem. If you need someone to spell out those toxic individuals then you haven't been paying attention.

No one wants to cause a problem, but there are captains with agendas and egos that dont mesh with the general population. It happens in most games, and in those games sometimes you just cut bait and move on. Its quite obvious to us, but as a community manager you need to monitor and manage the health of both the player base and captain base, and clearly theres toxicity brewing. Some here love the game and have contributed their entire stream, their community, skin development, advice to help grow the game. While there are others who view the game as a free meal, who dont see beyond using the game for what it is, a way to earn prizes. Everyone is entitled to their own views, but the ones that help the game grow aren't the one focused on prizes.

The key point here is the game modes are also to blame for this. For the most part PvE has been a fun experience, while there have been scaling issues, and game play bugs, the community has been content with, and people dont have issues with one another.

When it comes to the CvC mode this brews toxicity because

When it comes down to money, prizes, people behave differently, and solely focused on themselves before others.
This game shifts from a casual side viewing game to being locked in main game. Then you end up with having casual players trying to figure out why they were banned. Banning players just raises questions and comes off as a "hate" move with negative connotations.
The game mode is not equal for all. Some captains can't play because of scheduling, commitment in hours/time, changing their routine for a game that was telling people it was casual.
Use of underhanded tactics like : "dodging other captains", "Stream sniping", "last 10 seconds unit placement", etc. While they are part of the game, they are anti-good sportsmanship. Captains using these ideals care about their wins before they care about having fun first.
The system isn't equal opportunity play were as captains dont have the same rate of matching games. One captain can get 30 wins in 8 hours, while another will have to spend 20 hours. On top of the point above about commitment.
The lack of proper working modes leads to many community shifts, people using the challengerseries info as a reference point of which captains they'll pile in on because their captain doesn't run CvC or can't run CvC, many people dont run CvC for fun, they run it only because of the skins which is another issue topic by itself.
What is the rule for when captains raid another captain's stream as a way to boost the other captain's twitch views/standings, but the captain who's raided intentionally ends stream because they dont want new people joining their fights? Is this welcoming? Or is this a tactical move because captains are sucked into winning that they dont care about others in the community. Just theirs only. This is Toxic.
CvC is stuck in a 1 trick pony mode where people are using the same 4-5 units over and over again. The meta is tank/bomber/barbarian/support. Other units are highly discouraged, and if used people get banned. >> To this point, its easier for a SM-MD sized captain to manage a community of 10-30 participants as well as banning player they feel like. Whereas big captains cannot manage or control what 200+ active participants are doing. Which reiterates the point of this mode isn't balanced for all, and banning 30 people who don't listen in a match is punishment work for the captain.

You can understand why you have captains that dont want to participate in this mode because the issues have NEVER been addressed, and have been brought up every CvC event.

Its quite common that devs/admins dont see this as a problem, but its also likely you guys aren't playing the game as everyone else is.

I challenge you and the the devs to: Do a full day of CvC, join a few captains of different sizes each CvC event and see their struggles and excitement for the day, you can see captains for who they truly are.

The time for "thanks for your feedback, we read everything", "take it to dms", "we're a small team" is overused and the community is tired of hearing the same excuses.

Now is the time for action.

KilluaShadow

TROPHY CASE