Welcome back to another edition of Burning Questions. We've got many interesting news to digest, so let's dive in!
1) What new features are coming to Snap this Summer?
Many players are becoming impatient for new modes and features. Luckily, we won't have to wait much longer. It looks like quite a few things are lined up to come in the next patch or the one after. First, a few new interesting feature names have popped up in recent datamines.
I have no idea what “Bot Invasion” or “Win Back Bundles” might be, but we often see names of new features pop up right before they are added in a following patch, so these could be coming very soon. Is “Bot Invasion” referring to the non-human players you see in pre-infinite ladder play? I doubt it since SD doesn't generally use the community term “bot” for these. Maybe it's an in-game event centered on Ultron in some way. As for “Win Back Bundles,” could this be a slot machine/gachapon-style feature for previously released bundles? That would be controversial, but I know some people want to get their hands on a few variants they regret passing on.
Speaking of gachapon-like mechanics, we've also got images from a new feature called Domino's Draw.
You can read more about the mechanics and drop rates in the recent datamine article linked above, but it appears to be a straight gacha banner system, ala Nexus Events, but it is strictly for cosmetics. Nexus Events received harsh criticism, but that was because new cards were involved. As a cosmetics-only system, I think this could work out quite nicely. If I didn't already have that Miss Minutes emote, I'd be willing to take a couple of cracks at pulling her through this. I would imagine new collectible borders would be included in this at some point as well. Don't expect Domino's Draw anytime soon, though. We've been told it will be debuting in select markets first (not EU and not North America). It has already rolled out in certain Asian markets, so if you're in one of those places, let us know what you think.
Also, leagues are still being tested in select markets (namely Ireland), and I expect them to begin rolling out to other markets in the next month or two. New Senior Community Manager Griffin Bennett confirmed on the official Discord that some changes are being made to Leagues in response to community feedback. Leagues will no longer be “pay to win,” as purchasable Boosts will no longer be a part of the system. Instead, there will be tiers of Leagues, premium and standard, with premium Leagues coming with an entry fee. This is an excellent change as it ensures that the feature is still a revenue source without being explicitly pay-to-win.
There's still no official evidence of character mastery, a new game mode, or Alliances (clans), so those may be farther off. Alliances have been discussed officially by the team, so those could come in one of the next few patches. Information in the files could potentially be related to a new game mode called “High Stakes Tables.” This appears to work similarly to a poker table where everyone starts off with the same starting currency, and as you win matches/cubes, you gain more currency. Each table will also have a shop with rewards to purchase. I think there's a chance this could be a mode where you can Snap more than once since this concept was mentioned as a very early idea for the game before they settled on the current snapping system. I'd love an update on character mastery, and I hope it hasn't been scrapped. I'd be far more inclined to buy a Storm or Captain Marvel bundle if I know they're counting towards the mastery system.
The second indication that something big is in the works is the recent announcement that Snap will be giving an update at IGN Live which takes place June 7-9. The best way they could make a splash would be with a new game mode announcement. Other possibilities include something visually splashy being revealed, like the character mastery system, new background splits, or a revamp to Ultimate variants with special VFX.
It feels like it's been a while since anything major was added to the game, but I expect that to change in a big way this summer.
2) With Cancun entering the game, what other real world locations do we need?
Cancun joins New York, Washington D.C., Central Park, and Hell's Kitchen as locations that exist in real life. I guess you could also technically count Deep Space if you're feeling clever. New York City is prominent in the Marvel Universe, and we have three Big Apple-related locations. What other real places that are important in the Marvel Universe would make good Snap locations?
Anchorage, Alaska
Alaska has been featured prominently in stories centered around Scott Summers and his family. Anchorage is the X-Men’s new home base in the Uncanny X-Men comic book, relaunching in August. Effect idea: Freeze cards here so they can't move.
The Australian Outback
The late 80s Chris Claremont Uncanny X-Men run from around #229-238 is one of my personal favorites. It features an underrated X-Men lineup and amazing character designs. Effect idea: This location can accommodate a fifth card.
Jersey City
The stomping grounds of Kamala Khan would serve as an expansion of the NYC metropolitan area. The effect Crown City already has would be perfect. Maybe it could be like a mini New York. Effect idea: Next turn, both players can move one card here.
Toronto
I hope we eventually get an Alpha Flight season to introduce Vindicator, Puck, Northstar, and brown-furred Walter Langkowski Sasquatch variants. A Toronto locale would be a perfect addition to such a season. Effect idea: If you play a card here this turn, reduce the cost of the next card you draw by 2.
Mars/Arrako
Mars featured prominently in Jonathan Hickman's Avengers run and later in X-Men: Red after being terraformed into Arakko by Storm and Magneto. Effect idea: Move all 1 and 2-cost cards here next turn.
3) What comic creators do you follow on Twitter?
Speaking of the upcoming Uncanny X-Men relaunch coming in August, I recommend following the writer of that series, Gail Simone, on Twitter. She's a meme queen, constantly bamboozling people with hilarious bait posts. Here are four of my favorite Marvel Comics creators to follow on Twitter. These are professional writers and artists with active accounts where you can see cool new art and hear their opinions.
Gail Simone
Mark Brooks
Nicoletta Baldari
Shawn Crystal
Now let's jump over to the official Marvel Snap discord and grab a couple of interesting questions and answers to analyze from over there.
4) Q: Is the meta healthy now? From my perspective it doesn’t seem to be as there is way too much Mobius and Lockdown cannonball decks.
But does the metrics say this is healthy? Do you sample from the top 100 players or across all 80,000+?
What does an unhealthy meta look like if this isn’t one?
A: We check multiple data slices, but the primary one we use for metagame snapshots counts Series 3 complete players and includes only normal PvP games, no H/F locations or anything.
We tend to consider metagames with ~6 (or fewer) winning decks unhealthy. Last week, the following decks from our primary slice all had positive winrates and cube rates within the above criteria:
Apoc Discard
Wong-Namora
Blink Ramp
Sera Surfer
Ultron Patriot
Deadpool
Lockdown
DeathBird
Shuri-Sauron
Thanos
Hela
A pretty cool Werewolf-Stature deck
(Order random, names our internal unimaginative ones)
All of these decks saw thousands of games played, and none of them made up more than ~6% of the metagame.
The winrate differences across this range were interestingly small: the worst deck on this list was only ~3.6% behind the best one.
So while I wouldn't say it's our best meta ever, it's a pretty healthy one from this view. Of course, different metagames can develop around different ranks, cards can have different success from their decks, etc. That's why we look at lots of different slices of data, and talk to the community.
-Glenn
Author's note:
The Meta has been excellent for several weeks, even when Leech was a 4-Cost card.
5) Q: With how important hand position and draw power is, has the idea of a card with a hand redraw effect (like Attilan) been considered? Either as a low-cost pseudo mulligan or a high-cost "sacrifice turn 5 to get the Mjolnir/6-cost"?
A: These effects are mostly powerful ways to homogenize game experiences into feeling very similar, so we don't really plan to make them unless they serve highly-specific decks and introduce variance some other way, similar to how Jane Foster and Mister Negative create a "parlay" effect.
-Glenn
Author's note:
Glenn's argument that these types of effects would homogenize the game is very interesting and likely accurate based on my experience in other card games. As players, it's easy to think about an effect like that and think, “Wow, I would love to take advantage of that!” As game designers, the team has more of a vested interest in the game holistically than we do as players. This is yet another one of those times that I am grateful they are in charge of design and balance instead of us players.
That's it for this week! Come find me on Twitter if you've got a Burning Question, and share your own opinions in the comments below!