Marvel Puzzle Quest

[dunkem]

For PVP, guess that might explain why the points change too.. they must either win or lose while I'm fighting them. They start off at 30 and somehow I end up with 40 or 20 sometimes depending if they won or lost presumably.

I envy people who have the luxury to shield up. 50 Hero points is vital for me but I guess people don't mind the wash if they place in the top. Seems after about 500 points in PVP, matches start turning out to be worth measly amounts like 15 or 20... so I'd need to beat five guys (and not get revenged on) to get to another 100. Maybe I need to skip into more negative ISO territory to find the bigger fish since I usually skip until -10 or so and just take a reasonable 25 or 30 opponent.

Scarlet is a little five pink stealth machine. Wish I could get one of her, but not on my priority list right now. Same with Captain Marvel.... while I'm getting her covers from 2*, she's only worth it if she's built up to be the "shield" that you mentioned. Lower levels, she's just occupying space for me with her half decent red and black. I'll probably develop her later

Playing PVE, the key for me is to get through unscathed so I don't tap out of health packs too fast. I can always beat them, just taking minimal damage is what I need because I don't feel like I have the character quantity and diversity to use to make it through all nodes in "the grind".

Surprisingly, 3* Iron man is sometimes my "go to" because once you hit those three yellow countdowns, you can pretty much smoke one enemy character out (unless he's that jackass Juggernaut.... )

[ntndeacon]

I am having an odd bit of trouble. I have tried to find S.Q.U.I.D. in the alliances. Unfortunately every time I try to search for an alliance my game freezes. It starts when I click on the text bar. It separates and moves up a centimeter. I can type in the name but then it freezes.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by dunkem

For PVP, guess that might explain why the points change too.. they must either win or lose while I'm fighting them. They start off at 30 and somehow I end up with 40 or 20 sometimes depending if they won or lost presumably.

Could be that. The totals you see also aren't real-time, which is to say, if they've been sitting in your queue for a while before you got to them, they may have won or lost in the interim.

I envy people who have the luxury to shield up. 50 Hero points is vital for me but I guess people don't mind the wash if they place in the top. Seems after about 500 points in PVP, matches start turning out to be worth measly amounts like 15 or 20... so I'd need to beat five guys (and not get revenged on) to get to another 100. Maybe I need to skip into more negative ISO territory to find the bigger fish since I usually skip until -10 or so and just take a reasonable 25 or 30 opponent.

Depends on stuff like your ranking. Remember, the point totals are a reflection of how many points you have relative to your opponent. If EVERYBODY is worth less than 38, you might want to look at where you're ranked. It may be highly enough that there aren't any good targets.

Also, remember that if you attack anybody who's worth fewer than 38 points, you'll be worth more than 38 to them. They may or may not use the revenge opportunity, but it will be there. Choose those targets judiciously. If you just need those 20 points to reach the next progression, then the temporary bounce may be worth it. If you're trying to climb for placement, maybe find a meatier target.

As to shielding, I know when I play PVP (which is way less often than it used to be), what I'd do is join in the last few hours, try to fight my way to about 650 points or so, and then shield through the end of the event with the cheapest shield if I stood to earn a decent placement reward. The HP I earned in the march to 650 as well as the placement rewards typically made that HP-neutral. Some of the changes to matchmaking have made that harder for me to do now, though. I don't always get "seed" teams to give me that boost along my way. When you start up and everything you see is champion 3's and 4's, joining at the end and grinding for 2-3 hours loses its appeal.

Scarlet is a little five pink stealth machine. Wish I could get one of her, but not on my priority list right now. Same with Captain Marvel.... while I'm getting her covers from 2*, she's only worth it if she's built up to be the "shield" that you mentioned. Lower levels, she's just occupying space for me with her half decent red and black. I'll probably develop her later

"worth it" depends on your goals. If you're looking for someone to be part of your A-team with regularity, no, Captain Marvel is probably not that character. If you're looking for someone who can help you accelerate your 3* transition in the Big Enchilada, she can be quite useful. If you read through this thread you will see BE teams that other members of T.R.O.U.T. have had success with, so she's not critical, but she probably IS the best third character you're going to find if you run the Stormneto combo.

Witch is a phenomenal support character. There are probably 3 or 4 teams that she just really makes 'go.' But she won't carry a team by herself, so building her later isn't the worst idea.

Playing PVE, the key for me is to get through unscathed so I don't tap out of health packs too fast. I can always beat them, just taking minimal damage is what I need because I don't feel like I have the character quantity and diversity to use to make it through all nodes in "the grind".

Yeah, until your roster is both strong and diverse, it's tough to play PVE for placement and PVP for, well, much of anything. There's a lot of pick and choose there unless you either buy health packs or build up a stash of them from tacos (my SQUID roster has, uh, 370 health packs. oops).

Surprisingly, 3* Iron man is sometimes my "go to" because once you hit those three yellow countdowns, you can pretty much smoke one enemy character out (unless he's that jackass Juggernaut.... )

He's a much better character than he used to be, for sure. I used to sell every cover of his I got, and now I'm in a position of trying to roster him, but every time I have the HP for a slot, somebody else comes along who I want more (hi, War Machine).

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

I am having an odd bit of trouble. I have tried to find S.Q.U.I.D. in the alliances. Unfortunately every time I try to search for an alliance my game freezes. It starts when I click on the text bar. It separates and moves up a centimeter. I can type in the name but then it freezes.

Ouch. Mobile or Steam? The unfortunate bit is that I can't reach out and send an invite to a player, so not much I can do on this end.

[ntndeacon]

Mobile

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

Mobile

Back up your save data to Facebook if you have a Facebook account, reinstall the game, and then restore your save data. Maybe that'll fix the issue.

[ntndeacon]

No luck. It looks like I won't be able to join one of our alliances

[Swaggs]

Scarlett Witch + Grey Suit BW is a pretty devastating combo. They are on my A team with Nick Fury right now.

Honestly though, I have been using 3-star Spidey with Blade and Falcon for BE. Blade gets attack tiles for having reds on the screen. Spider passively gets shields and Blade earns punch tiles for pink. Falcon passively buffs three specials with every yellow match and Spidey can heal with yellow. Add in Spidey's webs and Falcon passively eliminating countdowns with blue and Blade's black (takes off about 2000 and then adds the vampire tile) and they are pretty untouchable in wave matches.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

Scarlett Witch + Grey Suit BW is a pretty devastating combo. They are on my A team with Nick Fury right now.

Try that pair with Professor X if you can get a few covers invested in him. :-D You'll want the ladies leveled above him, but as devastating as GSBW+SW is, it goes to 11 with the Professor.

[dunkem]

I have no trouble with BE. It's a bit challenging with the Sentry bunch, but other than that, I can usually get through it fine as long as I have one of the covers to participate. Captain Marvel to me is like Iron Man to you I think... there's always somebody else taking the roster spot. Heck, last civil war, I sold off my Hulkbusters because I had no room and didn't see myself using him a whole lot. Two covers of Ant Man is waiting for a roster spot right now.

Screw PVP... matchmaking sucks... I'm like 150's.. my opponents are like 300 with the latest boosted 5 stars... and only worth 30 or so? You get penalized for doing well. Matching up by points is horrible... If I overachieve I get stuck with higher level guys. I find 38+ point guys and I still get smacked back when the "grind" you mentioned hits. When I try to grind, I still hit the wall at 400 or so getting outrostered both level and starwise.

The only reason I'll play PVP now is just to reach the season goal of a Heroic ten pack. Average 400 or so and about 1000 in Shield simulator and I'll reach it. Our of those ten, I usually suck and pull only one 3*.

Health packs...I survive only on the ten they give me. I can't afford to sit on tacos or I'll never progress. When I do use em... no whammy.. no whammy... STOP! ISO.... Health pack.. Dakens (which I don't roster). haha.. I'd suck at Press Your Luck.

[ntndeacon]

I won't my first BE yesterday, to get another Blade cover. I went with from left to right...storm/captain marvel/magneto. Storm and Magneto aren't in the 70S yet. So I had issues today. But I'm pleased I could beat it even once!

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

I won't my first BE yesterday, to get another Blade cover. I went with from left to right...storm/captain marvel/magneto. Storm and Magneto aren't in the 70S yet. So I had issues today. But I'm pleased I could beat it even once!

Congrats!

Recommendation: flip Storm and Magneto in that alignment. From left to right, go Magneto/Captain Marvel/Storm.

Obviously you *can* beat the BE doing it the way you did, because, well, you done it.

But with that 2* team, Storm is the key - her stuns are what's going to help you keep board movers from unleashing all the AP that gets built up by the feeder goons along the way. The left-hand spot will, all else being equal, carry tiles over the right-hand spot. Magneto and Storm both use blue tiles, for example, so you'd rather have Magneto "carry" those tiles; that way, if you make a blue match, Storm isn't sitting out front for the AI to hit with an ability.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by dunkem

I have no trouble with BE. It's a bit challenging with the Sentry bunch, but other than that, I can usually get through it fine as long as I have one of the covers to participate. Captain Marvel to me is like Iron Man to you I think... there's always somebody else taking the roster spot. Heck, last civil war, I sold off my Hulkbusters because I had no room and didn't see myself using him a whole lot. Two covers of Ant Man is waiting for a roster spot right now.

Hulkbuster is suuuuuuuuper useful as you accumulate more covers for him. I remember using the loaner Hulkbuster a few times when he was first released; obviously he was boosted so he isn't normally as strong as he was in that event, but there's a real good reason that you saw Hulkbuster errwhere in the PVP meta before the 5* came out. Even now, he's still prominent.

Screw PVP... matchmaking sucks... I'm like 150's.. my opponents are like 300 with the latest boosted 5 stars... and only worth 30 or so? You get penalized for doing well. Matching up by points is horrible... If I overachieve I get stuck with higher level guys. I find 38+ point guys and I still get smacked back when the "grind" you mentioned hits. When I try to grind, I still hit the wall at 400 or so getting outrostered both level and starwise.

MMR has been a moving target for them yeah. The point values aren't real-time necessarily, so just because they show as being worth 30 points doesn't mean they actually *are*. If they've been sitting there for a while and they've got 5* in there, there's a decent chance they're worth more.

As far as "the wall" goes, that's kinda wiggled around some too. Before the most recent matchmaking tweak, my roster was able to hit 650'ish with regularity with some champion 3*, no real usable 4*, and no 5* (at the time).

I've made progress since and have more champion 3*, some 4* beginning to be usable, and a handful of 5*. But my ceiling these days is back to around 3-400 like it used to be. Some of that might be that I just don't have the patience for PVP because I refuse to spend money on shields, and I'm reasonably sure with my roster that's the only way I'm reaching 1000 or 1300. So I largely just go for the 300 point token and maybe the hero points at 400 and then move on.

I can't afford to sit on tacos or I'll never progress. When I do use em... no whammy.. no whammy... STOP! ISO.... Health pack.. Dakens (which I don't roster). haha.. I'd suck at Press Your Luck.

You have no control over that FYI. The pictures are just a pretty distraction. The reward you get will be the same whether you click immediately or 5 minutes after the spin starts.

[Toddzilla]

i joined a random aliance the other day after getting kicked out of my last random alliance and I've gotten over 50 CPs from other people buying stuff. Not going to complain.

[SirFozzie]

SackAttack and I are talking about dealing with the Hulk in the latest event.

Apparently, Hulk gets measured in Kilo-Fuck Yous, and if you don't have constant stuns, you are going to be in a metric ton of fuck you pain.

"Oh, you brought Human Torch, because of all the green tiles Hulk anger spawns? Well, here's a bit of Anger that moves away one of your timers. And hey, look, a thunderous clap that has about a 900% chance of removing any other timers you may have. HAHAHAHA I'm The Motherfucking Hulk fuck you and your fucking punies."

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

i joined a random aliance the other day after getting kicked out of my last random alliance and I've gotten over 50 CPs from other people buying stuff. Not going to complain.

Always nice when it works out that way.

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

SackAttack and I are talking about dealing with the Hulk in the latest event.

Apparently, Hulk gets measured in Kilo-Fuck Yous, and if you don't have constant stuns, you are going to be in a metric ton of fuck you pain.

"Oh, you brought Human Torch, because of all the green tiles Hulk anger spawns? Well, here's a bit of Anger that moves away one of your timers. And hey, look, a thunderous clap that has about a 900% chance of removing any other timers you may have. HAHAHAHA I'm The Motherfucking Hulk fuck you and your fucking punies."

The best part, ladies and gentlemen, is that I've been telling Fozzie for like TWO DAYS that the way you deal with Hulk is stuns.

And he brought the Human Torch, a green-fueled glass cannon, to a fight against a high-damage green user instead of listening to me and bringing along some stuns.

And using the stuns BEFORE you start smacking Hulk around with your damage powers.

This is the SirFozzie equivalent of pissing on the electric fence.

[SirFozzie]

the only stuns I have is Storm (who's even more glass cannony and has to deal with fucking Ragnarok), and Captain America (who.. guess what, needs 12 blue to start the chain, same type as Storm. and I have to bring Wolvie 4* (it's an essential)

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by SirFozzie

the only stuns I have is Storm (who's even more glass cannony and has to deal with fucking Ragnarok), and Captain America (who.. guess what, needs 12 blue to start the chain, same type as Storm. and I have to bring Wolvie 4* (it's an essential)

Sure. But XFW is a yellow/black/green user, so if you bring Human Torch, you're getting coverage in exactly ONE additional color and then you figure out your third member.

If you went, say, Cap/XFW/Storm, you're still lacking pink, but Cap can take the hits when you match off blue tiles for Storm to use on stuns. You use red from Cap for repeating damage, green from Storm to generate AP in a hurry and blue from Storm to keep Hulk stunned, and you can get it done with a lot less ouch.

[ntndeacon]

Do you ever catch up on iso? If I had 200000 I'd use it completely up with what I need right now. I'm currently working one 2* at a time up to champion level. Only Moonstone has the right number of covers to champion. So I'm plugging away at her.

[SirFozzie]

I have 300K iso. You'll hit a spot in between championing 2* and building up 3*

[Umbrella]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

Do you ever catch up on iso? If I had 200000 I'd use it completely up with what I need right now. I'm currently working one 2* at a time up to champion level. Only Moonstone has the right number of covers to champion. So I'm plugging away at her.

I'm in an incredible ISO pinch as well. I'm at the stage where I am starting to champion 3*, and leveling them the last 20 levels or so gets crazy expensive. Plus, the BE is providing 3* covers like crazy (I know, good problem to have), so it feels like I can never catch up.

[Swaggs]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Always nice when it works out that way.



The best part, ladies and gentlemen, is that I've been telling Fozzie for like TWO DAYS that the way you deal with Hulk is stuns.

And he brought the Human Torch, a green-fueled glass cannon, to a fight against a high-damage green user instead of listening to me and bringing along some stuns.

And using the stuns BEFORE you start smacking Hulk around with your damage powers.

This is the SirFozzie equivalent of pissing on the electric fence.

"Leeeeeeeeeeeroy Fozkins!"

[SirFozzie]

Originally Posted by Swaggs

"Leeeeeeeeeeeroy Fozkins!"

Hah! Now you know why I tend to play Tanks in MMO's.

*CHARGE!*

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

Do you ever catch up on iso? If I had 200000 I'd use it completely up with what I need right now. I'm currently working one 2* at a time up to champion level. Only Moonstone has the right number of covers to champion. So I'm plugging away at her.

Never completely, because there's always new characters coming and such. But you can make progress. I think my ISO deficit right now is around 2 million; it used to be about 2.25. So I'm slowly whittling it down, but as my 4* gain covers, their ISO costs go way up. What I'm doing right now is champ'ing 3* and that's where my reductions are coming from.

2*, once you start champ'ing them eventually you can recycle them. If you sell a level 144 2* you get enough ISO to level a 2* from 15 to 94, so you can use that ISO to keep the 2* train going. That helps.

[ntndeacon]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

Never completely, because there's always new characters coming and such. But you can make progress. I think my ISO deficit right now is around 2 million; it used to be about 2.25. So I'm slowly whittling it down, but as my 4* gain covers, their ISO costs go way up. What I'm doing right now is champ'ing 3* and that's where my reductions are coming from.

2*, once you start champ'ing them eventually you can recycle them. If you sell a level 144 2* you get enough ISO to level a 2* from 15 to 94, so you can use that ISO to keep the 2* train going. That helps.

After I champ up a 2* to 144. I should sell it back? I'm confused. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

After I champ up a 2* to 144. I should sell it back? I'm confused. Doesn't that defeat the purpose?

"Should" is up to you. But here's the thing with 2* champions: of the three tiers of champion, they're the easiest to "recycle." 2* covers occasionally drop as match rewards in the various PVP modes. There are two 2* cover rewards in PVE progressions. PVE/PVP event tokens and heroic tokens all yield at minimum a 2* cover, with a moderate chance of 3* and a small chance of 4* cover drops.

Once you hit level 94 with a 2* and champion them, every cover you feed them after that yields rewards. The ISO you earn from the 50 champion levels of a 2* is basically the opportunity cost (what you would have gotten from selling the covers) plus the champion fee, so 50 champion levels on a 2* are ISO-neutral. Buuuut you also get 5 Heroic tokens, 5 command points, 250 hero points, and three 3* covers from those 50 champion levels.

And then, once you hit level 144, you can sell the champion back for about 65k ISO and 125 hero points. So you're getting 5 heroic tokens, 5 command points and 375 hero points for each "cycle" of a 2* champion, and the ISO you earn is not quite neutral. The champion rewards give you enough ISO to pay for the champion fee and the opportunity cost of covers you otherwise would have sold, and the 65k ISO sellback is just shy of what it would cost to re-level a 2* from 15 to 94, at which point you can go and earn 3* covers, command points, hero points, and Heroic tokens from the champion all over again.

If your 3* character needs those covers to complete its build, great. if the 3* character is championed, that's a direct feeder from the 2* to the 3* to get the 3* to the point where it starts dropping additional legendary tokens and 4* covers from ITS champion reward list.

3* and 4* aren't really worth recycling unless you're rolling so heavily in covers for that character that you can re-max them and start the feeder train again, but 2*? Absolutely you want to recycle them.

What you DON'T want to do, especially if you're in a position where your 2* champions are still your heaviest hitters, is recycle them all at once. But you are better off recycling them in general, yes, because of the extra hero points you get for doing so, and because if you have a 13-cover 2* sitting in the pool, you can instantly just about max them so they can start earning champion rewards again.

That's where I'm at. My 2* Widow is at 142, so as soon as she hits 144, I intend to sell her so that I can re-max Thor or Human Torch, both of whom are feeders for 3* champions.

do keep an eye on who the upcoming essentials are in PVE before you recycle any 2*, though - the 4*, 3* and 2* rewards for a given event will be essential in the next one. Don't sell a max-champ 2* if they're essential in the next event (or the one after that, if you're able to see the reward list for an event which hasn't yet begun) unless you're going to have a cover you can re-recruit so you can hit that node.

But yeah, TL;DR: you absolutely want to recycle your 2* champions. You just want to be judicious about how you do it, and you want to be careful not to do it until they hit 144, because there's a significant ISO difference between 142 and 144, say. If I sold Widow now, at 142, I'd get 17.3k ISO, but if I wait two more levels, it's 65k'ish. Only a 25 hero point difference, so if I was desperate for 100 hero points to roster a cover that'd otherwise expire, I wouldn't lose much on that front, but selling the 2* champion before 144 ends up costing you ISO in the long run for rebuilds.

[ntndeacon]

Ok. That's great info. I'm still a ways away from that point of course. I am assuming that the best use of the command points are attempts to get 4* or 5* or is there a better use for those things?

[dunkem]

Hulk's not really a problem in PVE this time. Using daredevil, Iron Man, and Quicksilver, once I hit my yellow recharge, he's dead with the two cheapish Daredevil stuns constantly working and hitting him with cheap greens from quick. Wait a bit, use Iron Man's red (or Daredevils Ambush) and Hulk is nothing after a while. If the yellow doesn't hit though, I just play red/green keep away until the blue stun is up.

Interesting approach, Sack, to sell off the two star and rechampion them as feeders for the 3 star. Slowly building a 3 star champion core so good it's a good idea. Only thing is that those 2* guys are still an occasional choice in various PVE/PVP's so knocking em back down will weaken their use if they're powered up for the particular competition.

Since I play almost every PVE and PVP, ISO isn't too much of a problem since 3* champions candidates are rare with my awful luck. I'm sitting on a ton of command points right now since I get 25 after each PVE completion. I'm constantly wondering if I should use them to champion some guys or to spend them on Legendary tokens.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

Ok. That's great info. I'm still a ways away from that point of course. I am assuming that the best use of the command points are attempts to get 4* or 5* or is there a better use for those things?

Depends on how many you have (have you been hoarding them?) and what your roster construction looks like.

Of the 31 4* characters and 4 5* characters I have, only two powers are cover-maxed, so that's, what, 103 possible usable covers I could get from any given classic or latest legendary token. So that's what I spend them on. I COULD hoard 'til I have 120 and build a particular 4* such as Hulkbuster, but there's an opportunity cost there. One focused cover for Hulkbuster would cost me the same as six classic tokens, which could be six usable covers for Green Goblin or my 4* contingent (one of which might even be Hulkbuster). There may come a day when my coverage is such that I'm better off doing that, but for right now I'm not bothering with spending command points on individual characters and just using them instead for Legendary tokens.

But those are the two uses - buy covers for 3* and 4* (and 5* but lol) characters directly, assuming you have at least 1 of that cover already, or buy tokens.

Originally Posted by dunkem

Hulk's not really a problem in PVE this time. Using daredevil, Iron Man, and Quicksilver, once I hit my yellow recharge, he's dead with the two cheapish Daredevil stuns constantly working and hitting him with cheap greens from quick. Wait a bit, use Iron Man's red (or Daredevils Ambush) and Hulk is nothing after a while. If the yellow doesn't hit though, I just play red/green keep away until the blue stun is up.

Stuns make him so much easier yeah.

Interesting approach, Sack, to sell off the two star and rechampion them as feeders for the 3 star. Slowly building a 3 star champion core so good it's a good idea. Only thing is that those 2* guys are still an occasional choice in various PVE/PVP's so knocking em back down will weaken their use if they're powered up for the particular competition.

Yes and no. I mean, for one thing, I DID say to keep an eye on who the upcoming 2* essentials are :-) For example, Widow (2) is essential in the event after Hulk. So even though she's at 143/144, even if I pulled a cover of hers tonight with my placement token no way in hell would I sell her yet.

I mean yeah sometimes they get boosted, but the devs post to the forums (and Reddit I think) with info about who's boosted the next two weeks. The other thing? Captain Marvel, essential in this event, I have at 13 covers but haven't put any ISO back into her yet, so she's a 13-cover, level 15 character. The boost puts her at level 91, which is usable.

But that's ALSO why I say 'be judicious about who and when.' Don't sell off six champions all at once. That's dumb and also a bad idea. But do recycle them, for the command points, heroic tokens, and hero points if nothing else. Those heroic tokens will give you covers for (mostly) other 2*, with the occasional 3/4, the command points will prep you for your transition to 4* land (or help with it if you're there already) and hero points are always useful for roster slots.

Since I play almost every PVE and PVP, ISO isn't too much of a problem since 3* champions candidates are rare with my awful luck. I'm sitting on a ton of command points right now since I get 25 after each PVE completion. I'm constantly wondering if I should use them to champion some guys or to spend them on Legendary tokens.

Up to you. I would not spend command points on covers because you'll get those from tacos and the Big Enchilada in DDQ. All you need to cover your 3* is patience, and using them to cover 4* is, as I said, an opportunity cost. But up to you.

Spending them on Legendary tokens? Yeah, maybe. Something to think about: your 4* bench is solid for where you're at, but there are enough 4* you don't have that you've got a better than even chance of pulling characters you don't have rostered yet. Do you have the hero points to roster a new character, or the willingness to buy hero points if you pull a new character? If the answer to either of those is yes, then what I would say is "open tokens until you get a character you don't have yet and stop." And maybe focus on the latest tokens since you already have two of the 5* available in the latest tokens. That way if you pull a 5*, it's most likely one you can use and not one you'd have to decide whether to roster or not.

[ntndeacon]

Yes, I've been hoarding them...I have 30 cp at the moment. 1 4*(Professor X) with only the one cover. 12 3*, 3 championed 2*(and working on the forth)... And 9 other 2* -including the one I'm working on championing...And of course a maxed 1* for the daily thing

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

Yes, I've been hoarding them...I have 30 cp at the moment. 1 4*(Professor X) with only the one cover. 12 3*, 3 championed 2*(and working on the forth)... And 9 other 2* -including the one I'm working on championing...And of course a maxed 1* for the daily thing

Yeah, I would wait to use command points until you have a deeper bench. A 5* pull isn't the end of the world, but it would screw up your scaling with a 3* bench that shallow, and while 4* covers are absolutely usable for you where you're at right now, you've got to be willing/able to roster any 4* you pull (which is like an 82.5% probability per legendary token regardless of whether it's classic or latest, soooo...)

[dunkem]

I spend Hero points on roster spots almost immediately. At 700 hero points, it's getting tough. Yeah, that's one reason why I'm hoarding the command points. I popped a few open and I got 5* Cap and 5* Bruce Banner... both of which I hesitated to roster... but I said, what the hell, I may not get em again.. and ate up roster spots

I'll occasionally use a cover just out of IMpatience .. like Iron man so I could utilize him sooner than later. I'm tempted to boost Doom since hecan be such a pain in the ass, but I've been waiting...

4* cover spending, I can't swallow the cost/benefit of 120 of em for one cover... that's like 6 PVE's... no way. So if anything, I'd do what kinda what you mentioned and just buy legendary tokens and hope I nail the right ones and not a whole bunch of new ones to throw away or forcefully roster.

As for the 2* issue, yeah, it's all about cost/benefit. Recycle and hope you don't need them or they're good enough in the PVE node or keep em maxed, but lose benefits by selling them off for the straight 250 iso. Dependng on the scaling, I can manage playing 2 strong and one weak character, but take unnecessary damage. Like all things in this game, it's all timing and sacrifice and thus the constant struggle.

Those Heroic tokens are nothing but 2* generators.. wish the PVE/PVP tokens were something in the middle between Heroics and Legendaries with a good percentage chance of 3*.

So far I've built most of my roster by every day PVE play and getting the top 50 3 cover rewards. DDQ, helps with those covers every so often. Daredevil was a recent champion due to last PVE... I swear, his Ambushes are well placed AWAY from a match area so you don't get an immediate use. Still pretty decent though... kind of like 3# cap in that the Red power is being reused and re-placed instead of a one and done.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by dunkem

I spend Hero points on roster spots almost immediately. At 700 hero points, it's getting tough. Yeah, that's one reason why I'm hoarding the command points. I popped a few open and I got 5* Cap and 5* Bruce Banner... both of which I hesitated to roster... but I said, what the hell, I may not get em again.. and ate up roster spots

If it helps, the cap is 1000 Hero Points.

I'll occasionally use a cover just out of IMpatience .. like Iron man so I could utilize him sooner than later. I'm tempted to boost Doom since he can be such a pain in the ass, but I've been waiting...

Seriously, DDQ requires patience, but if you target a few characters you want to cover and save your tacos for when their cycles roll around (just remember that some characters are in Sweet Tacos and some in Savory Tacos) you can boost them that way. But you can cover-max, in theory, any given 3* within just about a year of regular DDQ play even if you don't get a single 3* from any other token. Don't waste your command points on 3* covers.

4* cover spending, I can't swallow the cost/benefit of 120 of em for one cover... that's like 6 PVE's... no way. So if anything, I'd do what kinda what you mentioned and just buy legendary tokens and hope I nail the right ones and not a whole bunch of new ones to throw away or forcefully roster.

Again, the way to handle it (IMO) is to wait to open them until you have enough resources to roster *one* new character. Then open them until you hit that new character.

As for the 2* issue, yeah, it's all about cost/benefit. Recycle and hope you don't need them or they're good enough in the PVE node or keep em maxed, but lose benefits by selling them off for the straight 250 iso. Dependng on the scaling, I can manage playing 2 strong and one weak character, but take unnecessary damage. Like all things in this game, it's all timing and sacrifice and thus the constant struggle.

Depends on how many 2* you have on the roster. To give you an example, I have 84 characters overall, and ten 2*. Five of those 2* are currently champed; the other five are fully covered but are awaiting the ISO. 2* Spidey only drops from PVP, so I basically never roster him. Daken, Bullseye, and Moonstone I don't roster (I prefer the 3* variants of Daken and Bullseye but have championed neither, so having the 2* variants doesn't really do me much good. So I haven't bothered). Moonstone yields Hulk as a champion reward, and he's basically at the bottom of the list for 3* champions for me (because the more levels he gains, the more health he gets, the more damage he has to soak to proc Anger).

With that many 2*, I can rotate 'em 5 in and 5 out. As I mentioned, after next event, when OBW is no longer essential, I'll sell her off, use the ISO to champion Marvel (2), and feed her the 5 covers I have sitting in the queue. Then I'll rebuild her and start over (as I've done with Hawkeye, Storm, Magneto, and Cap so far).

Those Heroic tokens are nothing but 2* generators.. wish the PVE/PVP tokens were something in the middle between Heroics and Legendaries with a good percentage chance of 3*.

FWIW, Heroic tokens have a 24.4% chance of being a 3* or a 4*. Event tokens have a 32.5% chance of being a 3* or a 4*, but since event tokens pull from a vault and Heroic tokens pull from errthang, you can actually run into a scenario where you have a better chance to pull a 3* you need from a Heroic than from an event token.

So far I've built most of my roster by every day PVE play and getting the top 50 3 cover rewards. DDQ, helps with those covers every so often. Daredevil was a recent champion due to last PVE... I swear, his Ambushes are well placed AWAY from a match area so you don't get an immediate use. Still pretty decent though... kind of like 3# cap in that the Red power is being reused and re-placed instead of a one and done.

The more you roster 3*, the more you'll be able to get two tacos a day. The more you get two tacos a day, the more often you're going to pull 3* covers and hero points so you can roster more characters. And then the Big Enchilada will be a daily 3* cover for you, also. Play the long game. If you're still in the 2*->3* transition, don't get seduced by 4* covers *unless* they're characters who get 2-3 covers from the daily drop. That means Nick Fury, Elektra, Invisible Woman, Star-Lord, and X-Force Wolverine; Star-Lord gets 2 covers, the others get 3 covers. If you pull one of those, and you think the character is a fit for you long-term, you're throwing away free progress if you toss one of their tokens.

But if you get, say, a She-Hawkeye cover? if the choice is between her and a 3* you don't have yet, you're better off with the 3*.

Play the long game. And if you have Patch (3* Wolvie), pair him with Daredevil. Let Patch take red and don't worry about ambush; stun with blue and use pink to delete the enemy strike tiles that Patch creates with red/green.

[Umbrella]

Do you know if Kamala Khan is a special drop? In all this time, hers is the only 3* cover I have never seen.

I had never seen Bagman either, not knowing he is PvP only. I rarely play PvP, and I don't like his character, so no big loss. But I would like to get KK sometime.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Umbrella

Do you know if Kamala Khan is a special drop? In all this time, hers is the only 3* cover I have never seen.

She is not a special drop. She is attainable via tacos, also. In five days, actually! The cycle that begins tomorrow has Kamala Khan in it, and her Big Enchilada day is in 5 days, so if you pull a cover of hers at all in the next four, you will then be able to add a second cover in the Big Enchilada.

I had never seen Bagman either, not knowing he is PvP only. I rarely play PvP, and I don't like his character, so no big loss. But I would like to get KK sometime.

The only characters who have been dropped from token packs are Bagman and Yelena Belova (1*). They used to "vault" characters in 3* land, keep them out of rotation for a while, but once they hit 40 3* and could give them all equal odds in Heroic packs and such they stopped doing that.

Bagman was wildly unpopular and I'm not sure why they dropped Yelena, but both of those characters are now attainable only from PVP.

[dunkem]

You must read a lot of message boards, reddits, and wikis, Sack. I wouldn't even know where to find the info you're getting like Kamala coming in five days. You got that from the D3 forums?

Kamala is another character I've been wanting to play with at full cover. Not sure why more people don't play her with her heal. She's the first one I target or it's neverending heal-fest. Wanted to try a color generator lineup of a Cyclops, Kamala, and Doom.

Yeah, I was on the border on that she-hawkeye cover. She might need to go soon. I got Patch in my queue with about 5 covers waiting so I might bring him in to try your strategy with Daredevil. Like i mentioned before, I'm a bit adverse to self-damaging characters since I like to avoid damage so that's why I've been on the fence with Patch... and why I'll never pick up Rags or Sentry.. Great if on defense in PVP, but on offense, meh.... Only self-damager I use is probably Ares just because he gets most of it back with countdown. Daredevil will help negate Patch's downside I guess.

I agree with Hulk being bottom tier 3*. He's been rarely utilized ever since I championed him. His green damage isn't all that great nor as cheap as Juggs and Red ... I've seen better with other characters. Black anger, yeah, harder to trigger now. Only thing he's good for is absorbing damage.

Bagman.. yeah, he should be bagged. Yelena, I never liked because she's way too slow and 1*.

4* I want the most? Iceman. That bastard has toasted me in PVE's so often.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by dunkem

You must read a lot of message boards, reddits, and wikis, Sack. I wouldn't even know where to find the info you're getting like Kamala coming in five days. You got that from the D3 forums?

Yes, that info is on the D3/MPQ forums, but that's a recent development. There was a time they didn't give out that information at ALL, and so I had to create a spreadsheet to keep track of each cycle so I could see not just who was coming, but which power color would be featured. I've used it for long enough that I know generally who's coming in any five-day cycle off the top of my head. :-)

Kamala is another character I've been wanting to play with at full cover. Not sure why more people don't play her with her heal. She's the first one I target or it's neverending heal-fest. Wanted to try a color generator lineup of a Cyclops, Kamala, and Doom.

Yeah, you don't mess around with her heal. She's like OBW on steroids that way; OBW has to use an active power to heal, but it's cheap enough to spam. Khan just procs heal whenever a teammate uses a power.

One way you can use that, too, is to bring along a teammate who has a cheap ability. Fist is a good one, but his two actives overlap her two actives. There are others.

Yeah, I was on the border on that she-hawkeye cover. She might need to go soon. I got Patch in my queue with about 5 covers waiting so I might bring him in to try your strategy with Daredevil. Like i mentioned before, I'm a bit adverse to self-damaging characters since I like to avoid damage so that's why I've been on the fence with Patch...

Yeah, Patch was out of rotation for me for a long time for just that reason. Once I realized Daredevil could eat the tiles that Patch gives the opposition, and I realized that Patch's healing can take all but the most concentrated powerspam and just keep right on ticking, I started using him a lot more.

and why I'll never pick up Rags or Sentry.. Great if on defense in PVP, but on offense, meh.... Only self-damager I use is probably Ares just because he gets most of it back with countdown. Daredevil will help negate Patch's downside I guess.

I'm not a Sentry fan. Rags has a self-heal, but he hurts his teammates, true, but you can mitigate that with Khan. Use Rags' red/blue, let Khan use green for AOE, and she heals the whole team whenever Rags heals himself (bonus!) and then all you really need is a black/yellow user. Say...Luke Cage and his protect tile?

I agree with Hulk being bottom tier 3*. He's been rarely utilized ever since I championed him. His green damage isn't all that great nor as cheap as Juggs and Red ... I've seen better with other characters. Black anger, yeah, harder to trigger now. Only thing he's good for is absorbing damage.

He makes an interesting partner for Patch in his way, too. let Patch feed the enemy strike tiles, make a match to put Hulk out in front, then watch Hulk go bananas.

4* I want the most? Iceman. That bastard has toasted me in PVE's so often.

Quicksilver and Mystique both yield Iceman covers as champion rewards. I mean, you're talking about, like, 17 champion levels before you get your first cover, but...

[Umbrella]

I'll defend Sentry a little bit. When he gets some covers and levels, he can decimate the enemy team. Unfortunately, that takes a long time, and he does too much damage to his own team. But he can be used situationally as a finisher.

Glad to know about Quicksilver. He is slowly turning into one of my favorites. His black power can be used for either getting rid of terrible tiles, or creating match-5's. His blue power is pretty awesome to pair up with someone like Storm or OBW. His green isn't great, but once the blue frozen tiles start piling up, it seems like you can spam it repeatedly.

Also, 3* Bullseye is another great one to use with Patch.

[ntndeacon]

I just got my first Legendary token. I doubt I will use it for a while, since I am still getting my 3* and championing my 2*, but still it's cool to have.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

I just got my first Legendary token. I doubt I will use it for a while, since I am still getting my 3* and championing my 2*, but still it's cool to have.

The good news? If you're doing 4 clears/day in PVE, you should be earning 25 CP per event pretty regularly. Even if you only have two essentials in an event, that should still get you there. Having all three just means you end up getting there with plenty of room to spare (last 3-day event, I had all three essentials and had the 25 CP by the end of the 2nd sub).

So if you're diligent about your PVE play while you build out your 3* bench and champion your 2*, you could potentially have a whole mess of legendary tokens to open by the time your roster is ready to handle a potential 5* drop.

Generally speaking by the time you have, oh, two or three 3* champions, a 5* won't drastically mess up your scaling further.

Just realize that if you put all your resources into getting those champions without leveling up the rest of your 3* roster first, the reason the 5* won't drastically mess up your scaling is because the damage will have already been done. Level 'em evenly for a while, and by the time you reach the 114-125 range, you'll probably be in a place where you can safely create a champion and still be able to handle all the nodes in PVE.

In personal news, an unexpected 4* drop from a PVP token (I was only trying to get enough ISO to max Loki before I champion him this weekend and I figured "eh, it'll be a 2*, so that's 250 ISO) got Ghost Rider to 3/2/4, and makes him my fourth 4* at 9+ covers. My first to get there without help from the daily drop!

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

The good news? If you're doing 4 clears/day in PVE, you should be earning 25 CP per event pretty regularly.

What?!

[SirFozzie]

Under the new system if you hit all the nodes 4x a day (I think you need at LEAST the 2* essential, maybe the 2* and 3* essential), you're making enough event points to hit the final reward, 25 CP

[Toddzilla]

sorry to n00b out here, but can you explain that a little more?

[SirFozzie]

Ok, I need to use DDQ for this example, because the next event doesn't start till tomorrow, DDQ is different but I'm just using it for interface: (click for more detail)



each of those dots is a "node", the first three are pretty easy, the later ones are tougher. each node is worth a certain amount of points, which will stay the same the first FOUR times you complete it (the fourth time, it starts a 24 hour timer to return to full value, and knocks the value off a quarter each time you complete it).

Then there are three red ringed nodes, that say "Essential" That means, you have to have that hero on your roster to do it. One essential node always features a 2* character, one a 3*, and the final a 4* character). They function the same way as the other nodes.

The first four times you defeat a battle, the enemies will be more powerful the next time you battle them.

Right now, if you do all the standard nodes, plus I believe the 2* essential node 4 times (the four times you get maximum points) for all the sub-events that make up the event (like the just completed simulator, there was Round 1, 2, and 3.), you would earn enough event points to earn all rewards, of which the last one is 25 Command Points.

(you can always tell what characters will be on the essentials list for the next event, they are the event rewards at the 2*, 3* and 4* level (looking at the next event, Webbed Wonder for this example)

For example, if you finish 1-10 in your group, you get Drax the Destroyer (4*), you know that he will be the 4* essential for the following event.

If you finish 11-200, you get at least one cover for She-Hulk. So, she will be the 3* essential for the following event.

And finally, Wolverine is the 201-400 reward, so you know that he's the 2* essential for the next event after webbed wonder

[SackAttack]

Basically what Foz said. If you play every non-essential node 4x per sub-event, and some quantity of essential nodes 4x per sub, you'll earn all the progression rewards.

I've been able to do it with just the 2* and 3* essentials. For a 3-day event, that means a minimum of 28 CP earned; one per sub, 25 from progression. 4-day, 29. Ow per sub, 25 from progression. 7-day, 32. If you have the 4* essential, add 3-7 on top of that.

You can add more than that if you place highly on the event leaderboards as well, but based solely on node clearance you should be able to earn 25 per event just for playing each node 4x.

[Schmidty]

Sorry I haven't played in a while. My laptop crapped out on me, and that's the the device I play MPQ on. Hopefully, I'll have it fixed soon.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Schmidty

Sorry I haven't played in a while. My laptop crapped out on me, and that's the the device I play MPQ on. Hopefully, I'll have it fixed soon.

Looking forward to having you back in the fold!

[Toddzilla]

Gonna try this out - what event is up?

[SirFozzie]

Webbed Wonder (featuring Howard the Duck)

Featured Heroes:
2* Thor (Marvel Now)
3* Captain Marvel (Modern)
4* Howard The Duck (Howard, a duck)

[Toddzilla]

cool - 25 CP here i come

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

cool - 25 CP here i come

Be aware that point total appears a little high to reach the 25 CP this event, for whatever reason. Like, doable, but you may need to do more than 4 clears per node. Especially if you lack Howard.

This is only the second time Webbed Wonder has run, though, so I wouldn't be shocked if they goofed and forgot to tweak the point total down to reflect the new clear system.