Hello and welcome back to Burning Questions, your weekly romp through Marvel Snap's hottest topics! This week, we're talking about Series 4, a bad dragon (Editor: there is no such thing!), and Vincenzo Riccardi! Let's dive right in!
1) What's going on with Series 4 cards?
A key part of the new economy was Second Dinner, ramping up the number of cards they put out. Some months had multiple new Series 4 cards drop on the first day of the season, available for 3000 Tokens in Snap Packs. Last month, we got just one at that time, Majestic Wingbeat, but next month, there isn't a Series 4 card dripping at season reset.
Additionally, the High Voltage: Overdrive shop offered one Collector’s and one Seasonal Series 4 Snap pack to players who weren't Series 4 complete. Now, Sanctum Showdown has a Seasonal Series 4 Snap Pack about a third of the way through the rewards track and a Collector’s Series 4 Pack available for Charms in the shop.
It seems that in response to player frustrations about the high volume of cards and the difficulty of getting closer to collection complete, Second Dinner is reducing the amount of overall cards, de-emphasising Series 4, and giving players a bunch of extra ways to catch up on Series 4. This is an excellent step in the right direction and will make the game cheaper and getting the collection you want even easier, by allowing you to focus on the Series 5 cards you genuinely wish to.
Speaking of Series 4 and 5, check out my new YouTube show, Series 6!
2) Is Shou-Lao dead?
Shou-Lao took a nerf in the latest OTA, but he was only dropped from 5/8 to 5/6, while his +3 buff was left intact. In the immediate wake of the OTA, I saw sentiment in both directions. Some were upset that their favorite deck had been hit too hard, taking into account the other nerfs. Others felt like the meta-tyrant Season Pass card was dealt with too gently.
It's still very early, but filtering Snap.Fan tracker data to just the last 24 hours shows Shou-Lao still maintaining a 14.4% play rate with a 59.85 drawn win rate. While the win rate is still solid, the play rate is already a significant drop from its heights around 23-26%.
I argue that this is the ideal outcome from this OTA. The Season Pass card is still powerful, but not the oppressive force on the meta it was. Again, it's still early, and some people will still hop off the deck as they lose a few more games than they had been, while still others will come back to the deck as they realize it's still powerful. Setting Shou-Lao to +2 would have been the lazy choice and would have made the card both less fun and a lot worse. It will be interesting to see if the dragon roars back or if other decks (ramp? move?) fill the void.
3) What is the best Vincenzo Riccardi variant?
One of Snap's newest commissioned artists has quickly become one of my favorites. He was interviewed in the recent developer video, and it was cool to get some insight into his process. I mean, look how sick these variants are!
Now, let's hop over to the official Marvel Snap Discord, where there was quite a bit of chatter about my article about the Infinite climb from last week!
4) Question:
Follow up about the Infinite climb
Although I agree that human interaction should be the primary design goal, it appears that the current infinite ladder was initially designed for the 'pity' cube injecting bots, particularly after rank 80.
Since these bots are not injecting as many cubes as in previous iterations, do you think a redesign of the climb is necessary? This could not only align with your goal of increased human interaction but also provide players with some ranked protection or reduce the overall grind. As a top 1000 Infinite player who has consistently reached infinite for 32+ seasons, I find the current grind, with the recent changes, quite exhausting. I believe we should find a balanced solution that addresses these concerns and aligns with your teams goals and also the players intent.
I suggest raising players to rank 83-85 instead of 75. In the 70s, we encounter plenty of 'pity' cube injecting bots, but the real challenge starts at rank 80 where nearly every game is vs. a real human. Why not elevate the infinite players to this rank floor? It seems like an effective interim solution while you work on refining the climb.
Answer:
You're overestimating the impact of bots' donating cubes post rank 80. The primary players benefiting from outlier amounts of additional cubes when our bot played exploitably were very high MMR players (like yourself), because they couldn't be matchmade well and were also adept at exploiting the bot. That group is probably about 1-2% of players, which relative to the number that make Infinite is a chunk, but still definitely a minority.
We also already improved the climb by raising the season reset floors from where they were in "the good old days" prior to our bot switch, in preparation for it. I think much higher risks substantially devaluing the achievement of Infinite, which for many players is a major goal.
*However,* while I may not agree bots have much to do with why we should pursue a ranked rework, you'll be happy to know we're considering one. I expect the outcome will address your concerns and make the game a better experience in some of the ways you hope.
We want to take a more systemic "second swing" at how laddering works in a post-LTGM world, so that these things can exist in symbiosis rather than directly antagonize one another. As I've stated a few times in the past, it doesn't feel great that many players feel they have to either abandon their ranked aspirations or grind really hard to achieve them some seasons. So we're actively evaluating how to improve that dynamic, in ways likely to reduce the pressure on cube acquisition to achieve Infinite.
-Glenn
ScoSco's Note:
It doesn't look like every suggestion I made in the article is under consideration, but my favorite one is! Getting some progress or integrating games played in LTGMs would go a long way to making the game feel more fun!
5) Question:
Alright y’all, what are some of your favorite pieces of obscure Marvel trivia that you’ve learned while working on the game?
Answer:
- Aunt May as a Herald of Galactus was named "Golden Oldie"
- Cosmic Ghost Rider tried to kill Thanos but wound up adopting baby Thanos instead
- The Phoenix was "midwife" for Thor's birth circa 1,000,000 BC
- Moira is playing a lifelong version of Edge of Tomorrow
- Moon Knight originated as a Werewolf by Night villain
- Harry Styles plays Thanos's brother in the MCU
-Glenn
ScoSco's Note:
What are the odds we're getting Golden Oldie and Starfox cards soon?! A season based on alternative versions of characters, like Aunt May as Golden Oldie or Spider Ma'am, would be really fun. We're definitely due for a second Eternals season. The fact that we don't have Ikaris and Druig is criminal! And let's get a Kingo card and a Kumail Nanjiani variant!
That's it for this week! As always, thanks for reading! Come back next week and find out who the special guest is! And be sure to check out my new YouTube channel!