Open letter to Perblue

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#1

Dear Perblue,

The course you’ve been taking with the game has a few roadbumps that are making things harder and harder for players to stay involved. I love the new heroes, but they always come in over powered and pretty much required if you want to compete in meta. Please balance new heroes better, and bring back the refreshes to make older heroes more useful again. In a game with 60+ heroes where generally speaking you don’t get to pick what heroes you get, they should all be useful and usable in most modes at least. I understand and like the idea of making characters better at certain modes than others, but every hero should still be useful at some point for something. You compare any old character with any new one at the same level, and the differences in stats are overwhelming.

Stamina is also a real issue. In a game that’s designed to need more and more stamina as your heroes get stronger, you’re certainly making it hard for people. The bonus stamina wasn’t a bad plan, but since it was implemented the amount of stamina items you can get has been cut in half, and I can honestly say I haven’t been terribly interested in buying any of the deals lately, verses how many good deals we got not even six months ago.

On the topic of money, the game currently is paced in such a way with releases, level increases, and the like, that if you’re spending less than $100 a month minimum. You don’t get anywhere near enough resources to even pretend to keep up spending less than that without spending a lot of time trying to complete the optional deals for diamonds. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if you needed to spend closer to $200~300 a month to keep up right now.

There are already several other topics talking about how bad the interface for friend missions is, and have been for months, so I’m not even going to bother going over all that again.

In the end all the players want is a fun game that doesn’t feel to much like a chore, and sadly the game very much feels like a chore now. I’m not the only person to think so, as my whole guild feels the same. If you continue down the path you’re going right now, in less than a year there will probably be a mass exodus of players leaving cause it’s just getting to be too much. If the game wasn’t as good as it is, it probably would have happened already.

If you agree with what I’ve said give it a like or comment. I don’t want this game to die.

47 Likes
#2

I’m really curious what’s going in Perblue’s mind as well lately. They say they have a ‘‘big plan’’ and they’re sticking to it no matter what. But honestly, is this the state they wanted the game to be in right now? Was this also part of their plan? For so many dedicated people to leave game in disappointment, for the remaining players to constantly question and criticize every move and decision they make? To completely ignore the very few dedicated people still left who have genuine interest to improve the game? I just want to know Perblue, is this how you want the game to be? Is this how you want this game to be remembered by?

10 Likes
#3

Each and every day, I feel like this game is dying. Faster than everyone’s anticipation. I don’t know about their so-called “big plan”, but at this point, can that really save the game? Isn’t that a little too late???

All the old servers get merged, that’s not a good sign. Players are leaving, and not just the F2P, but the P2P and even whales as well. Our guild, in top 10 of 12, just lost 3 top players, one of them is 2nd of server. If they can’t even keep up (or don’t want to), how could others???

The friendship campaigns are way too hard, some even to the point of impossible (Look at the Mickey - Goofy and Joy - Olaf campaigns and you’ll see). The resources we earn is so puny, compared to what we have to spend. The contests for the past few weeks is horrible, and look at the ranking board, not many participate either

They know people are leaving, but I can’t help but feel like they don’t care. People come to forum, yelling for helps and what do we all receive? Total silence, especially when it comes to game broken economy and friend campaign…

12 Likes
#4

I think people need to be realistic.

The business model for this type of mobile game - and every other game like it is not sustainable long term. It never has been.

The key flaws:

  • Disparity. After a certain length of time new players can never hope to catch up with old, active players. Not without spending a huge ton of money, time or both. This discourages new players from joining as it feels pointless trying to compete on an uneven playing field. The players at the game’s ceiling are desperate for more levels, characters, game modes, sectors etc as they have done everything there is to do. Those at the middle and bottom cannot hope to keep pace with level caps etc. and that angers the player-base and disillusions them. Perblue are stuck between two stools trying to cater for both elements.

  • Burn out. Those who don’t pay to win are faced with an ever increasing grind of every facet of the game to be even mildly competitive at the upper reaches of anything. That is just tiring and let’s be honest - It’s a time stealer at the end of the day. We have lives to live and this game demands more and more when you aren’t spending to circumvent the grind.

  • Player loss. The key to any massively multiplayer game is not how many whales there are - it’s how many rank and file casuals and time spenders there are. They provide the numbers, which drives activity, social interaction and interest. That’s what keeps a game alive and interesting, when they start to leave, chat rooms go dead, comps don’t have decent participation, guilds slowly die off. Ultimately the whales are left with practically no one else to interact with and they leave too.

  • Consolidation. All the big fish band together. They band together in such a way that it is impossible to even contemplate competing with them if your own guild is below a certain power. Big guilds win all the best guild comp prizes - thereby increasing their advantage. Big players in the big guilds win all the player comps - again increasing their power levels beyond everyone else. The game is built to make the big bigger and that results in greater disparity in the player-base.

  • Profit. The game is a front end of a revenue stream. In this environment , if it isn’t turning a profit it is dead in the water. The game is at a stage where new heroes have to be worth investing in, no one is going to want to spend their resources building a hero that in one way or another is an inferior version of an existing toon. Which brings me to the final nail in the long term coffin…

  • Power-creep. For the reasons above, new toons need to be worth building otherwise no one will buy new promos or use them. At the start and middle of a game, power creep is less evident as choice is far more limited. Towards the end of a game it is ridiculous. We are seeing that now with Jafar, Ducky, Randall, Hook etc. This breeds a narrow corridor for victory at the top end of the game. In my server something like 17 out of the top 20 arena teams have a team that goes like this: Miss Piggy, Timon and Pumbaa, Animal, Joy and Megara. It is flat out impossible to beat presently. Until Randall and Hook become mainstream. Then we’ll see a counter meta become the meta and Perblue will release another game changer to counter that in turn. What we are seeing is one new character coming out that effectively invalidates whole teams that players have diligently worked to build up over long periods of time. And it is irritating to see your hard work made obsolete so quickly.

I repeat: none of this should be a surprise and Perblue have done a reasonable job of actually keeping the game playable as long as they have.

What I would expect to happen is that the game will close when revenue drops to a level where expenditure to keep it running outstrips it. I would then expect a Perblue to take their learnings of what went right and what went wrong and refine the game model to produce a new and better game to bring to the market to replace this one.

Bottom line, enjoy the game now as it is near the end of its natural lifecycle.

23 Likes
#5

Just so you know, I will never ever play another Perblue game, seeing how terribly they treat their customers.

@Mr_Ptr, what you say is so correct that I can’t even find words to oppose. Thank you :slight_smile:

7 Likes
#6

What puzzles me a little about this is that it should be true, but isn’t necessarily.
In Dragon Soul (their first attempt), despite only spending a small amount (ie. in the region of a console game purchase), I could stay around half the total power of the top players & sometimes a little higher. By the end of the game, I was actually almost caught up even.

Now in DH, their 3rd attempt - with similar amount of spend, I’m barely 1/4 of the power of the top players. Heck, the #1 rank has double the power of the rank 100 player, which is ridiculous.

Yes, many things have improved from DS to suit the players - new game modes, features, mechanics etc - but the grind & p2w gap is so much bigger that I can’t help but feel that their version of ‘what went right & wrong’ is a little different from ours :stuck_out_tongue:

9 Likes
#7

Well i stopped taking this game serious. Just playing it for fun but avoid arena and colliseum. I cant keep up and dont have the money for this game

#8

isn’t that intended?

#9

Apologies - what I mean by refining the game model is that they enhance the front end (the graphical game) to increase the revenue stream in its most profitable stages - the start and middle. Players progressing too quickly in a game effectively shortens it’s lifespan and puts pressure on the developer to expand it. That’s not useful to them. They want a ton of players, all spending varying amounts of cash and progressing slowly.

I could’ve added a ton more to my original post in terms of highlighting specifics that detract from the game’s viability in the end stages of its lifecycle - but I think that was enough lol

#10

I agree, slow progression is great, but only if it’s consistent. Rapid progression in this game can be bought relatively ‘cheaply’, while standard progression is so slow that we see this enormous divide. To give an example, rank 1 in the latest contest rewarded 1.7M mod power - as a little-to-no spender, that’s more than I’ve ever earned in my entire time playing the game since mods became a thing - and I play invasion actively every week.

In my opinion slow progression needs to be slow across the board, so that it doesn’t feel slow. People who pay can just progress less slowly :sweat_smile:

5 Likes
#11

Exactly. The rewards only increase the power gap between players.

Other things that point to a mobile game in its final phases:

Server consolidation = shrinking player-base.

Lack of or slower fix of longer standing quality of life issues = the game will close soon, why bother investing resource in a dead enterprise?

More deals/Final Uber OP characters = a lazy final cash grab before closure.

No new competitions, just recycling the same existing ones through the weeks = no resource applied to game development.

I firmly believe that mobile gaming has pretty much killed off high quality game creation as it is possible to create a lazy product, develop it lazily, support if lazily and still make money. Especially if you have the licence to use wildly popular characters.

I will give Perblue their due - they actually did a lot of things to improve the gaming experience here where other mobile games I’ve played did not. It’s the model that sucks in this case and the issues associated with it are those that any game developer will also encounter.

I might be in a minority here but I much preferred the era where games had a definite start, middle and end. An era where game diversity was high and making money happened as a consequence of making a good game rather than its ability to hook you in, keep you a slave to it and continually require you to pay in to have a chance to be at the top.

11 Likes
#12

No response from PerBlue? What a surprise. #accountability #leadership

Our entire guild collectively decided to quit. Do you know how hard it is to get 50 people to agree on something like that? It speaks massively to the state of dissastisfaction and disenfranchisement players are feeling.

That’s a big problem for PerBlue that they should be working with us to resolve.

Show up, PerBlue. It’s time to talk.

7 Likes
#13

I’ve been playing Disney Heroes for about a year now. I have multiple profiles bc I’ve had multiple cell phones and no one @ Per Blue to help me reattaching my account, even though I opened a ticket. You have never responded to any of my ticket requests. Unlike your whales, I don’t have money to throw at this game, but I enjoy playing it. Not mindlessly however. I appreciate your last heroes you’ve released that have leveled up to purple quickly. So now what? It seems you want to keep the knowledge on how to play this game a secret. Please share. And responding to open tickets would be nice as well. Thanks.

#14

Please save game.

1 Like
#15

I am quiting since its seems like this game seems to come its end soon and if no one will keep it develpoed it will be shutdown

#16

Yeah i dont think this game will be shut down o anytime soon. Most people dont even visit the forums. And people spend alot of money on this game

3 Likes
#17

I appreciate the thoughtful posts in this thread, and I have shared it with the team. We do hear you and we are having extensive discussions about many of these concerns.

If you send in a support ticket through the game or the web portal, we reply to all tickets. It isn’t a big secret how to play the game, as we have a pretty good set of tutorials in the game, as well as an extensive FAQ that you can access in the game or through the web. Plus, this community is very helpful and supportive when other players ask questions about any aspect of the game.

Just also want to assure you, the game isn’t dying. It isn’t being shut down anytime soon, and we plan to continue to grow and innovate the game for many years to come.

14 Likes
#19

I LOVE DISNEY GAME.
plz keep this game for 30 years

2 Likes
#20

What I haven’t seen brought up here is how they’re working against themselves with hoarding. The game greatly rewards hoarding resources. Contests reward whoever spends the most resources with more resources. Players are encouraged to save stamina and gold to get a head start on new heroes when they’re released, because they’re so stupidly OP. Not to mention how everyone likes bragging about how they have hundreds or thousands of stamina pots, or millions of gold all ready for the next update.

Despite this, PerBlue is actively trying to stop everyone from doing it, which only frustrates the playerbase. The gold/xp cost increase and the Invasion rewards nerf were both added because they saw people doing what the game encouraged them to do, and decided they needed to stop that. Instead, it made them look greedy and ignorant, and everyone still hoards.

In my opinion, it would have been much more effective if they nerfed contest rewards and made it easier to gain points instead of butchering Invasion. Instead, we have frustratingly difficult contests and invasion would be worthless without mods.

However, I will give credit where it’s due, PerBlue has done a great job keeping the game updated and Polaris is doing good with the forums. Invasion, while not very rewarding anymore, is still fun. The friendships have plenty of fun references and stories. It’s honestly better than a lot of other games of it’s genre. :+1:

9 Likes
#21

or hoards even more, because it takes so long now to amass the necessary amount for each update :stuck_out_tongue: if that truly was the reasoning behind the gold/xp increase, it was very misguided.

3 Likes
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