Marvel Puzzle Quest

[General Mike]

What do you mean, in the game? I play on my phone, so the app is almost always open. Once in awhile when I open it, it will restart, reload stuff, whatever it does.

Anyway, most of my problem with the windows is bad timing at work, then the ones I can do while I'm at home, I'll just forget or something.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by General Mike

What do you mean, in the game? I play on my phone, so the app is almost always open. Once in awhile when I open it, it will restart, reload stuff, whatever it does.

Anyway, most of my problem with the windows is bad timing at work, then the ones I can do while I'm at home, I'll just forget or something.

I play primarily on Steam rather than mobile so I really don't know how the game handles it when the phone goes dormant. But "in the game" in the context I meant it = "the app is open and the machine is active." If MPQ is open for me on Steam and the laptop isn't in standby (which is the only risk to me, as my desktop is never in standby if I'm using it).

And yeah, you're going to have a rough time getting seeds during the work day. It only takes about 10 minutes or so to hit a Lightning Round for seeds in the evening, so you might be able to hit the Tues/Wed evening Lightning Rounds each week without too much disruption to family stuff.

But even if you can't regularly hit the evening LRs, what you CAN do is prejoin regular PVP events in one of the evening slices, play ten minutes or so to get THOSE seed fights, then rinse/lather/repeat for the next event. You won't get as many seeds, but those are at least some winnable fights which could drop 2* covers.

And assuming your PVP matchmaking isn't so wonky that you can't win the fights that display against non-seed rosters, you can always ignore results and just farm for ISO/covers from the SHIELD Simulator.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

And assuming your PVP matchmaking isn't so wonky that you can't win the fights that display against non-seed rosters, you can always ignore results and just farm for ISO/covers from the SHIELD Simulator.

Yeah, I'm getting really wonky ones right now. Well maybe they aren't that bad. A level 90 Quake and a level 94 Spider-Woman doesn't seem so bad. A level 218 Iron Man, and a 250 Black Panther does tho. 176 Steve Rogers and a 250 Bullseye seem ridiculous too.

[Toddzilla]

what is a seed battle? (please don't say Burpee)

[SirFozzie]

it's the ones against NPCs like "WannaBSkrull" with low level rosters to actively get people playing in the seed.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

what is a seed battle? (please don't say Burpee)

Low level NPC rosters, easily beatable to "seed" the bracket with points. That's why how many you get depends on when you join. If you join right away when there are no points in your bracket, you can get up to 245 points from ten seed fights, which is a nice push towards the token at 300.

If you join when the bracket is unfilled, but after it's already got going, you might only get three seed fights (worth 101 points) because the bracket has been mostly "seeded" already.

[Toddzilla]

ah.....seeds

[General Mike]

Got the Colossus token from the story event. I don't think I'll reach the next reward though.

[SackAttack]

The essentials really do make or break your ability to get all the progression rewards. If you have them all, you can reach max progression by clearing each node four times. If you're missing one, depending on which it is you can make max progression with either five clears of each node or six of each (the latter being if you're missing the 4* essential).

If you're missing two, you pretty much take what you get and keep building for future events. Sooner or later you'll have virtually all of the 2* and 3* rostered and it gets easier to get the progression rewards.

Also, once you reach SHIELD Rank 32, you should be able to play in Clearance Level 7 events, and those peg the 4* cover reward to about 55-60% of max progression. Easily obtainable whether or not you have all the essentials.

That'll make it easier to hit the 4* essentials in events over time as well.

[General Mike]

I think I played this one at 5 instead of 6 also, which tempers the daily rewards. One day I pushed for top 50 to get the Heroic token, but the rest of the days I only got standard tokens. At 6 those standards become Elite tokens, I think.

[SackAttack]

Yeah that sounds right.

The way I handle the Clearance Levels is, I play at the highest I'm eligible for when I'm chasing progression, but at one rank lower if there's a new character release in play (so Deadpool vs MPQ I'll be at SCL7 for 4* Captain Marvel where I'm playing the ISO-8 Brotherhood at SCL8).

[Toddzilla]

OK, looks like the Dark Avengers: Heroic PvE starts today. I'd really like to get the 4* Carol Danvers cover and it's 26000 points away.

I don't have 10 hours to put into this, so how is this even possible?

[General Mike]

what do you mean Todd?

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

OK, looks like the Dark Avengers: Heroic PvE starts today. I'd really like to get the 4* Carol Danvers cover and it's 26000 points away.

I don't have 10 hours to put into this, so how is this even possible?

The way the point totals are pegged for progression, clearing all of the one-time nodes and clearing each of the repeatable nodes 4 times in a given sub will get you to max progression. The 4* progression cover is typically pegged at just over half of that.

If you don't "have ten hours," to use your words, you aren't playing for placement; at that point you don't need to worry about having a block of time. Just play as you can throughout the day each day. Maybe clear the trivials 3 times instead of 2 to make up for the fact that you won't have the 4* essential (Captain Marvel!) in the first sub-event or two.

But it's definitely doable with a minimal time investment. If even that is too much of a timesink for you, there's always the $$ option - buy a 40-pack from the Dark Avengers Heroic vault for around $60, and if you don't pull the Captain Marvel cover with that, buy another.

(I don't actually recommend you do that.)

TL;DR - reaching the 4* progression in a given event requires much less effort than the 15 CP at max progression, and is doable if you're at all motivated to get it.

[ntndeacon]

My goal is usually the HPs available. Saying that I am just about to the point that the 4* is becoming an option. I think I lack 5 or so 3*. One of which is gonna be a daily drop within the not too distant future. Sentry, Psylocke ( the one in the drop),Squirrel Girl, Sam Wilson, Quicksilver, Loki.

[dunkem]

It'll probably take ten hours to get all the progression rewards.... Placement for one round is probably at least 2 or 3 hours for the first 4 out of 6 in each node and another hour or two for the final 2 out of 6 at the end (due to difficulty). So at about 4 hours per round and probably 3 rounds, yeah... massive time sink even if you spread it out and ditch placement.

I'm starting to fall off this wagon with 3 to 4 hours minimum a day. At least this latest Deadpool gave us two days to clear each of the 2 rounds... which definitely helps and is to me, a "minimal" time investment at an hour or 2 a day. I hope they continue to spread it over two days in the future.

For Todd (and myself actually..), I think the best way is to clear the big point rounds early in a time block.... so 4 out of 6 as early as you can and leave the lesser point rounds as you have time. Clear those big rounds late and you should at least maximize your points even if you don't clear all the nodes. You should clear enough big nodes to have enough for Carol. Hopefully, I'll scoop one Danvers from placement today... so I won't need to clear everything without her essential node to get all the placement rewards.

One other challenge I believe with Dark Avengers is that limited roster... affects your play style as well as substituting when guys get hurt.

This latest Iron Man bug (8 recharge) kinda sucks... hopefully they fix it soon. Then again, I think he needs the adjustment....

Even with 4*'s becoming more "available" as rewards, I still haven't managed to get any fully covered. To me, the best way is burn those command points earned from PVE's on legendaries or "special" legendaries. Other than that, it's still a slow haul and they're not good enough to be usable in any of my gamestyles at 2 covers per color (unless it's someone like Peggy).

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by dunkem

It'll probably take ten hours to get all the progression rewards.... Placement for one round is probably at least 2 or 3 hours for the first 4 out of 6 in each node and another hour or two for the final 2 out of 6 at the end (due to difficulty). So at about 4 hours per round and probably 3 rounds, yeah... massive time sink even if you spread it out and ditch placement.

Kinda depends on roster construction. x4 clears tends to take me 90 minutes or so each day, but I also have a strong enough roster that by the time I hit the 4th clear, I'm facing level 300 characters. Someone with a less-developed roster wouldn't have some of the characters I do, but wouldn't face the same scaling, either. But if you ditch placement and spread 90 minutes out over the course of the day, that's not terrible.

Placement, on the other hand, is a massive slog. It requires "optimal" play, which means clearing all nodes x4 as quickly as you can to start the timer regenerating so you have something close to full points when you start your grind at the end of the sub, and you have to stay on that treadmill. 'bout the only time I ever play for placement is a new release, like the current event, and even that's not really critical anymore because the new release character will be in the progression rewards in the subsequent event. If I miss the new release, I won't hit max progression in the next event, but I'll still get the character.

I'm starting to fall off this wagon with 3 to 4 hours minimum a day. At least this latest Deadpool gave us two days to clear each of the 2 rounds... which definitely helps and is to me, a "minimal" time investment at an hour or 2 a day. I hope they continue to spread it over two days in the future.

Well, the thing is, they do. But.

But.

Every event has a baked-in time. Some, like the Heroic that started today, are 3 days (if memory serves). Some, like Deadpool vs MPQ, are 4-day events. Others, like Prodigal Sun, are 7-day events. That doesn't change. If Enemy of the State or Prodigal Sun runs, you're in for a 7 day event. If it's Deadpool vs. MPQ, it's a 4-day event.

Some 4-day events are split 2/2 the way DvMPQ is, but others go 1/2/1, so you have to be careful with that. That said? the x4 rule still applies to 4-day events. If you get 4 clears per node, you'll get max progression. So you can go 2/2/2/2 and get there. But for a 3 or 7 day event, you gotta go 4/4/4 or 4/4/4/4/4/4/4 over the course of the event. Or, if you're missing an essential, grind the other stuff to make up for it.

I play the 10pm slices and hit the nodes x4 before sleep. That way, I don't have to worry about it until the next sub unless I'm playing for placement.

For Todd (and myself actually..), I think the best way is to clear the big point rounds early in a time block.... so 4 out of 6 as early as you can and leave the lesser point rounds as you have time. Clear those big rounds late and you should at least maximize your points even if you don't clear all the nodes. You should clear enough big nodes to have enough for Carol. Hopefully, I'll scoop one Danvers from placement today... so I won't need to clear everything without her essential node to get all the placement rewards.

To reiterate, you only need to clear a node more than 4 times to get max progression if you're either missing an essential (such as Kingpin) or are chasing placement (as you and I appear to be doing for Carol). The timer is only relevant in those two scenarios.

One other challenge I believe with Dark Avengers is that limited roster... affects your play style as well as substituting when guys get hurt.

Heroics suck, partly because of the roster restrictions, but partly also because I think scaling for that event takes into account all of your characters even if some of your best ones are locked out.

This latest Iron Man bug (8 recharge) kinda sucks... hopefully they fix it soon. Then again, I think he needs the adjustment....

This is almost literally what 3* Iron Man used to look like. Then they buffed him to what he's been until this bug. If 3* Iron Man ended up getting 'adjusted' to what the bug is doing to him, it would literally be a recission of the buff to go back to his previous nerf (he was top tier when originally released, then nerfed, then buffed again, and now affected by a bug that's actually affecting a shitload of characters).

Even with 4*'s becoming more "available" as rewards, I still haven't managed to get any fully covered. To me, the best way is burn those command points earned from PVE's on legendaries or "special" legendaries. Other than that, it's still a slow haul and they're not good enough to be usable in any of my gamestyles at 2 covers per color (unless it's someone like Peggy).

I'm up to 7 championed 4*! around the middle of 2016, my highest-covered 4* was Nick Fury with 7 covers or so. It's been 4* Blitzkrieg for me since SCLs and Champions (along with CPs) became a thing. 27 of my 3* have hit high enough champion levels to yield a 4* cover, and playing for max progression has gotten me enough CP for quite a few classic and legendary tokens. Other thing that helped me is that last Crash of the Titans cycle, I went 11/25 with my then-rostered 4*. Not quite half of them were able to win their Crash. This time around, I'm 16/19 so far, with another 11 or 12 still to come, potentially, who have either won before or are in position to win. That's not quite as great an accelerant to my 4* roster as DDQ was to my 3* roster, but every cover helps.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by ntndeacon

My goal is usually the HPs available. Saying that I am just about to the point that the 4* is becoming an option. I think I lack 5 or so 3*. One of which is gonna be a daily drop within the not too distant future. Sentry, Psylocke ( the one in the drop),Squirrel Girl, Sam Wilson, Quicksilver, Loki.

Sentry is available from tacos this week. Today was his essential day, so you'll miss that cover if you don't have him already, but you've got a 5/300 chance of pulling him from a taco. Sentry is also going to be a placement reward in the Heroic, I think. Heroics don't seem to get the same play as regular events do because, well...everybody hates them. So, perversely, that might be the time to TRY to place.

We've passed the other four characters in DDQ, so you're reliant on RNG luck to pull them before they come around again, but Sentry you might be able to do something with in the next 3 days.

[General Mike]

Playing this one for progression. I know I'm not gonna get that top 20 finish to get a Sentry cover at my clearance level, so I'm not gonna push it. If I can get top 100 and get the extra elite cover that would be fine. As for the daily rewards, not a big difference between top 300 and 11-50.

As for progression, I think I can get to the 26000 point cover.

[SackAttack]

I was top 10 for the badly-needed Professor X yellow when I finished my clears last night. Between my first day of work and grocery/food prep with the girlfriend tonight, top 10 isn't happening :-D I can still finish top 100 or even top 50, maybe, but I don't know if I *care* enough to do that in a Heroic. We'll see where the cards fall on progression play, yeah.

[dunkem]

For me, even four clears each node is a lot minus an essential. That's where I'll try to satisfy the nodes once to open up the higher point ones, knock those out 4 times early before I go to bed and then wait about an hour or two before the end to knock out the remaining 2 times. The smaller 100/200 point ones... if I clear em great, if not, whatevers... for progression. The two extra big node clears to 6 makes up for all those little guys. Goon or ISO events tend to be a little faster, but the ones with Sentry or juggernaut slow me down due to their damn big self-inflicted damage.... CPU doesn't care because they're back to max on the next clear, but us... health pack, wait it out, or use some other roster.

PVP.... meh... bullcrap.. Can't ever place in those already unless you're willing to sacrifice CP's for it and grind your way up. 4* opponents up the yang when I'm a 3*.... more BS.

Wish there was some way to figure out placement for PVE's without 6 clear and quantity wins. If they'd make is a true "story" mode with one clear with it getting progressively difficult, it might help.... make it so that you aren't mean to clear the entire round.. Kind of like the boss rounds... I don't know who gets all the rewards in those. They should implement a quality win measurement to help assign points to the single clear... maybe amount match rounds, health % loss at the end of the win, attempts to clear (higher level ones, each attempt or loss reduces the value of the win).... I dunno... something so that it's more HOW you win vs. how MUCH you win.

I hear.. well, I still win with X lineup... yeah, well, if you won with one man standing, you sucked and you'll end up waiting to clear again (unless you got deep money pockets and health packs up your butt). We win with near max health, we should be rewarded with more points for kicking the opponent's ass.

*sigh* Carol forced me to dump my 3* Thanos covers... I dunno, I'm just not feeling him at 3* even at 3 covers.

[SirFozzie]

Carol 4* yellow + 2* Champion Magneto (Red or Blue at 5 covers) = Holy Grail of OP.

"Hi, for 8 red and 5 yellow I can do 4K-ish instant damage, or for 6 blue and 5 yellow I can do 3K damage and reset the board with no match protection"

(Magneto's red usually gets through anyway, at 5 it fires in one turn.)

edit: That's partially because both are boosted this week, and Magneto's 5 red kills 27 tiles (itself and everything 2 squares away), AND gives you AP for the destroyed tiles)

[General Mike]

Really struggling with this PVE. Just having so few guys available is killing me. I still think I can get to the 26K progession 3* Torch cover, but can't see getting past there if that.

[SackAttack]

I'm not loving this event, for sure. at least the event after MR&G will covermax my Invisible Woman.

[ntndeacon]

I got 2 covers for Human torch...Unfortunately i have 5 covers of that color.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by SackAttack

I'm not loving this event, for sure. at least the event after MR&G will covermax my Invisible Woman.

Yeah. Not worried about hitting my goal now though. Pulling myself through with my 4 cover 3* Thanos.

At least they added elite tokens to the bonus rewards you can get at the end of missions. I feel like I'm making more progress on my 3* guys. None are really great, but some are usable at least.

[Toddzilla]

QQ - is it advantageous to hoard your tokens and cash them in all at once?

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

QQ - is it advantageous to hoard your tokens and cash them in all at once?

I think it depends on if you are looking for a specific character or not. Like you can hoard your tacos until the vault has specific characters.

Follow up, should I sell my 5* Dr Strange to roster the 3* version? I also have a 4* Luke Cage, and should have enough HP to add my 60th roster spot.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by Toddzilla

QQ - is it advantageous to hoard your tokens and cash them in all at once?

Can be. Depends on various factors. Some people hoard tacos and use them when the Taco Vault either has a 4* cover they need, or when they're in desperate need of health packs. Some people sit on their Heroic tokens until a 4* they want gets added to the pool, and then open their tokens all at once to try to whale that character up in a hurry. Some people hoard Latest Legendary tokens from the Crash of the Titans and champion rewards, along with their CP, because supposedly the math is such that if you have enough tokens/CP for around 300 pulls, you can be reasonably sure of max-covering a 5*.

I don't have the patience for any of those things, but one reason I'd hoard Legendary tokens or CP would be HP resources - if I were to pull Wasp or Phoenix, do I have the coins to roster either? Right now, no. So I'd wait to open either type of Legendary until I have 1000 coins in the bank.

Another reason might be champion status. My Invisible Woman is going to be cover-maxed soon, since the last cover I need for her is a progression reward in the event after Meet Rocket & Groot; do I have the ISO on hand to champion her? After my recent binge that resulted in Deadpool, Captain Falcon, and Ghost Rider all becoming champions, the answer is "nope." So I might sit on those tokens to prevent a situation where an IW cover might drop when I don't have the ISO to champion her, and can't be sure that I'd get the ISO in time.

Just depends on what your goals are in a particular situation.

Note that any event tokens you hoard, you will want to wait until the next time that event rolls around to open them, because while they're dormant, each token pulls from its own randomly generated vault. It isn't like "normal" vaults where every 2* you pull improves your odds of the good stuff on the next pull. Whether you hoard in the short term only or in the long term, be sure you only open tokens when their vault is active.

Originally Posted by General Mike

I think it depends on if you are looking for a specific character or not. Like you can hoard your tacos until the vault has specific characters.

Follow up, should I sell my 5* Dr Strange to roster the 3* version? I also have a 4* Luke Cage, and should have enough HP to add my 60th roster spot.

You're going to be able to cover 3* Strange well before you'd ever have 5* Strange covered, so there's that. There are character tradeoffs - 5* Strange has greater match damage. Also, if and when you get his purple, comes with some board control. His yellow's passive deals less damage than the 3* equivalent at comparable covers (my 3* yellow passive at 3 covers does almost 800 while the 5* at 3 covers in the same power does almost 600), and lacks the team healing that the 3* passive offers, but the tradeoff there is an active side of the ability that does fairly nice single-target damage. One other consideration is that stepping down to the 3* Strange will lower your scaling and MMR.

Depends on what you're looking for. If it were a different 5* who lacked a comparable variant at 3*, I might just grit my teeth and keep the 5*. But given that your only champions are 2* and you don't have any really grown up 3* yet, the fact that Strange DOES have a 3* variant available, and one you have a reasonable shot to build, would probably sway me towards making that switch. All your 5* Strange is doing for you right now is a stun with modest damage, and in the meantime you're facing more difficult scaling in Story and MMR in PvP than you need to be.

You can get that same stun from the 3* variant with the added bonus that you're more or less guaranteed another cover for him a minimum of every 42 days.

[General Mike]

Thanks Sack. I sold off 5* Strange. It would really help if I did better in the Big Enchilada.

Almost close to getting to that extra vault token on the progression ladder. Need about 1200 points in the next 3 hours. Can get it, but gonna be difficult battles

Edit: Also, I'm in the 70s for my bracket, so that'll give me 3 more elite tokens. I don't think I can get into that top 50 though.

Edit #2: Getting 5* Strange off the squad is really helping me in the simulator. At least I am getting some matches that don't seem so overwhelming.

[SackAttack]

A single-cover 5* gets treated similarly to a maxed 4* - or used to be, they may have changed that - so removing that from the equation should start giving you matches which are at least winnable. Not necessarily EASY, but you should be seeing 2* champions or maybe decently leveled 3* instead of 4* and 5* Waves of Death.

Now, going forward I would do as I've previously advised and hold off on opening additional Legendary tokens, either earned or bought with CP, until you have a handful of 3* champions. You'll still get a scaling and MMR boost from having the 5* on the roster at that point, but it will be a more modest one - most of the "damage" done to your scaling will have been done by having those 3* champions, but you'll be better equipped to deal with it then, too.

Feel free to continue to roster any 4* you earn from events or Heroic tokens in the meantime. Those can't hurt you. But focus on building your 3* bench before you dip your toes back into the Legendary waters, and you'll find that your play experience should be improved.

[General Mike]

I think I have almost all the 3*s rostered, I have a Kamala that I can't add until I get more HP or cycle out one of my 4*, but I have 36 of the 3*s. Not sure who I'm missing though.

Edit: It would be easier if I was having more success with the Big Enchilada.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by General Mike

I think I have almost all the 3*s rostered, I have a Kamala that I can't add until I get more HP or cycle out one of my 4*, but I have 36 of the 3*s. Not sure who I'm missing though.

Edit: It would be easier if I was having more success with the Big Enchilada.

According to my spreadsheet, you're missing:

Beast
Iron Fist
Kamala Khan
Psylocke
She-Hulk
Squirrel Girl

What team are you using with the Big Enchilada? The more randomized nature of TBE's waves does make it a little more difficult than it used to be, but I see you have a champion Captain Marvel, champion Magneto, and champion Storm among the 2*.

Those three should be capable of winning TBE most days. What you want to do is end each wave with an ability use so that if the next wave starts with a board-mover, you don't get screwed. Use Magneto's purple to feed Storm's blue so she can keep board movers stunned. Use her blue on Teisetsu before you kill them, if possible, to keep them from spawning Attack tiles (fists).

There are other 2* teams that can do it, also, and until Monday, both Magneto and Widow are bugged in that their rank 5 powers on certain abilities have rank 1 costs. So if you have Magneto's blue at 5, he can blow up the whole board for 6 blue AP if you can protect his countdown tile. If you have Widow's purple at rank 5, you can steal 4 AP of every color for just 5 purple AP. You might be able to abuse one or the other of those characters in the Big Enchilada for a few days more.

[Lonnie]

My strategy on BE is:

1. Don't let Storm get hit. She is low HP, but you need to depend on her blue stun and massive green when you max it out.

2. Focus on getting purples and blues and cascade into greens to build up the green for Storm. You can match greens when there is no threat to Storm.

3. Magneto uses purples to create more blues.

4. I use Thor so his yellow can create even more greens.

5. 30 greens and it's easy going from there Storm clears the board and all other colors get filled up. From there it's purple/blue/green in a cycle until they are all dead. Most of the time I don't have to match anything in the last round, just chain abilities together.

Once I figured that strat out I think I have only not gotten it one time. That time I healed them up and headed back in.

[General Mike]

I don't know, I've tried it with Mags, Marvel and Storm and I just feel like I hit a wall. I've had some success with Wolverine, Daken and Bullseye. The other day I thought I was gonna get it done with that second group, and then Luke Cage punched Wolverine in the face twice when I had plenty of red items to wipe him out.

I think overall, I just get bad luck.

[Toddzilla]

Originally Posted by Lonnie

My strategy on BE is:

1. Don't let Storm get hit. She is low HP, but you need to depend on her blue stun and massive green when you max it out.

2. Focus on getting purples and blues and cascade into greens to build up the green for Storm. You can match greens when there is no threat to Storm.

3. Magneto uses purples to create more blues.

4. I use Thor so his yellow can create even more greens.

5. 30 greens and it's easy going from there Storm clears the board and all other colors get filled up. From there it's purple/blue/green in a cycle until they are all dead. Most of the time I don't have to match anything in the last round, just chain abilities together.

Once I figured that strat out I think I have only not gotten it one time. That time I healed them up and headed back in.

I do the exact same thing, but I use Hawkeye instead of Thor - Magneto's blue feeds his pink perfectly, plus his red is better than Magneto

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by Lonnie

My strategy on BE is:

1. Don't let Storm get hit. She is low HP, but you need to depend on her blue stun and massive green when you max it out.

2. Focus on getting purples and blues and cascade into greens to build up the green for Storm. You can match greens when there is no threat to Storm.

3. Magneto uses purples to create more blues.

4. I use Thor so his yellow can create even more greens.

5. 30 greens and it's easy going from there Storm clears the board and all other colors get filled up. From there it's purple/blue/green in a cycle until they are all dead. Most of the time I don't have to match anything in the last round, just chain abilities together.

Once I figured that strat out I think I have only not gotten it one time. That time I healed them up and headed back in.

This worked good. Had enough blue by wave 4 that Storm could stun 2 of their people and then pick the bones with Magneto's red skull. Thor died early, but he did his job.

[SirFozzie]

I usually go with 2* BW, 2* Magneto and a high damage bringer).. basically you use BW for healing, countdown tile delaying and stealing opponents mana (via her purple skill at 5, it takes four of everything), Mags creates blues to feed BW and is a pretty good damage dealer (and can clear wide swaths of the board).. you might coniser 2* or 3* Captain America, when his blue or red are at 5*, they can overwrite enemy tiles, and they are AP efficient if you can keep the countdown tiles from being matched away.

[General Mike]

I guess sometimes you're the dog and sometimes you're the tree. This morning I ran the Big Enchilada with 2* Thor, 2* Storm and 2* Magneto and I barely got out of wave one with Ragnarok in it. Tonight, same team, I barely got hit and just steam rolled right through it.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by General Mike

I guess sometimes you're the dog and sometimes you're the tree. This morning I ran the Big Enchilada with 2* Thor, 2* Storm and 2* Magneto and I barely got out of wave one with Ragnarok in it. Tonight, same team, I barely got hit and just steam rolled right through it.

Yeah, it's board-dependent sometimes. When I was in 2*-land, I could usually clear the Big Enchilada with my Magneto/Marvel/Storm team, but there were days (I "lovingly" referred to them as 'Ninja Bullshit days') when multiple attempts were sometimes necessary. But I never had a day when I could not, under any circumstances, clear the Enchilada with that team.

Things are a little different now because the Enchilada is "random." By which I mean, they used to go x3 goon/x3 board mover/x3 goon/x3 board mover. Now, you might have an Enchilada without a single board mover, with one in every wave, or waves with goons and board movers in the same wave. So it's a little tougher than it used to be. Still doable, though, and still dependent on the amount of boardfuckery present in a given run.

[CU Tiger]

I just started playing this, somehow I missed it the first go round.

I've only been playing a couple days, but have hit an early roadblock of sorts. I currently have 10 recruit tokens and a cover, but no open roster spots.

The completionist in me resists selling anything, but is it just inevitable or will I eventually be able to rapidly expanding my roster spots? Currently it's 200 for the next spot and I only have 175

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I just started playing this, somehow I missed it the first go round.

I've only been playing a couple days, but have hit an early roadblock of sorts. I currently have 10 recruit tokens and a cover, but no open roster spots.

The completionist in me resists selling anything, but is it just inevitable or will I eventually be able to rapidly expanding my roster spots? Currently it's 200 for the next spot and I only have 175

It's a grind, especially early on. Do the prologue, as much as you can and you can get some hero points and some covers there which will help you along. Eventually as you get more and more 2*s you can cut back on the 1*s to where you only have between 1 or 3 to use for Deadpool's Daily Quest. You'll also get hero points from time to time from the daily bonus.

If you read through this entire thread, you can get a lot of info out of it.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I just started playing this, somehow I missed it the first go round.

I've only been playing a couple days, but have hit an early roadblock of sorts. I currently have 10 recruit tokens and a cover, but no open roster spots.

The completionist in me resists selling anything, but is it just inevitable or will I eventually be able to rapidly expanding my roster spots? Currently it's 200 for the next spot and I only have 175

I wrote a FAQ a few months ago:

Marvel Puzzle Quest: Thread 2 - Front Office Football Central

that'll have some starter info for you. Roster slots get progressively more expensive, up to the cap of 1000 HP (which is where mine are at). OTOH, as you move up through SHIELD Clearance Levels, you'll find yourself earning HP at a decent clip. More so if you're also a regular PVP'er (I'm not).

Short term, you want to build 1*. As you start getting a useful stable of 2*, you can scale back on the 1* to make room for other characters (and because by then you'll really only need one maxed 1* to be able to complete the 1* DDQ fight).

If you want to be a completionist - to keep every character in the game - that's, long-term, going to require spending money. Hell, I've dropped more than I care to admit over the last 2+ years (though not NEARLY as much as some) and I'm still 2-3 characters shy of having everybody rostered. Part of that? There's always a new character coming and I have to decide between characters who've been around a while who I want (Wasp, say) or new characters coming out (the upcoming Ironheart).

[CU Tiger]

Thanks for that link!
I'm still learnign a bit. For example I had got up to 13 recruit tokens unopened (because no open slots and I feared Id lose one if I opened and couldn't roster. Finally said F It...and learned that 10 of my 13 were upgrades to characters I already had. That was nice.

I now have the ability to recruit 3 3* as soon as I get open roster spots.
I doubt I'll ever spend money on the game, because well Ive never spent a dime on any phone game. Just some mental block with it. And Im not even a Marval fan. Never seen any of the movies, never was a big comic book guy. Vaguely familiar with the characters and its basically candy crush with some strategy for me at this point.

[Umbrella]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Thanks for that link!
I'm still learnign a bit. For example I had got up to 13 recruit tokens unopened (because no open slots and I feared Id lose one if I opened and couldn't roster. Finally said F It...and learned that 10 of my 13 were upgrades to characters I already had. That was nice.

I usually just open them. Occasionally I lose one, but most of the time they are helpful.

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

I now have the ability to recruit 3 3* as soon as I get open roster spots.
I doubt I'll ever spend money on the game, because well Ive never spent a dime on any phone game. Just some mental block with it. And Im not even a Marval fan. Never seen any of the movies, never was a big comic book guy. Vaguely familiar with the characters and its basically candy crush with some strategy for me at this point.

I would focus more on getting my 2* up to speed than trying to roster 3*. If you have 3-4 2* at about level 50 or higher, then that's the point I would start considering building my 3* roster.

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by Umbrella

I usually just open them. Occasionally I lose one, but most of the time they are helpful.



I would focus more on getting my 2* up to speed than trying to roster 3*. If you have 3-4 2* at about level 50 or higher, then that's the point I would start considering building my 3* roster.

Same. Standard, elite, heroic and taco tokens get opened immediately. Vault tokens too.

I agree about worrying primarily about your 2* roster. The game kind of naturally transitions you from that 2* roster to the 3* roster. As my Shield clearance level has gone up, I've picked up ground on getting, not just more 3*s roster, but also getting them to higher levels. Knowing what is coming on the SHIELD resupply calendar can help as well, since you'll know who you are close to getting another cover for.

hxxps://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3642&hilit=resupply

[Julio Riddols]

Just getting to the point where I understand most of the stuff being said in this thread, haha..

So command points.. Do they become more common and easy to acquire as you progress? I think I have just under 20 CP now, but I also note that a lot of my 3 and 4 stars need command points to train their powers. Figure it will take forever to get them really going later in the game if command points don't become more common. Am I misinterpreting that requirement?

Trying desperately to open up roster spots though, and I know I probably ought to cut off most or all of my 4 star characters for now and worry about them later.. I think I will hold on to them until I find myself about to lose a character that I really want to add to the group.

I've read about them costing me when it comes to PVP.. Do you draw stronger opponents if you have more 4 stars early in the game?

[General Mike]

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Just getting to the point where I understand most of the stuff being said in this thread, haha..

So command points.. Do they become more common and easy to acquire as you progress? I think I have just under 20 CP now, but I also note that a lot of my 3 and 4 stars need command points to train their powers. Figure it will take forever to get them really going later in the game if command points don't become more common. Am I misinterpreting that requirement?

Trying desperately to open up roster spots though, and I know I probably ought to cut off most or all of my 4 star characters for now and worry about them later.. I think I will hold on to them until I find myself about to lose a character that I really want to add to the group.

I've read about them costing me when it comes to PVP.. Do you draw stronger opponents if you have more 4 stars early in the game?

They become more common. I'm not sure how many I had when I started playing again in October, but I'm at 261 now. Gotten quite a few from alliance sharing, plus event progression. You don't have to use them exclusively to level up your 3 and 4*s, they are just another way to buy covers you may need.

As for 4*s messing up your scaling, they might a little, but a 1 cover 4* is gonna have a lot less effect then a champion 2*. A 5* is gonna have a much bigger effect on it though.

[SackAttack]

Originally Posted by CU Tiger

Thanks for that link!
I'm still learnign a bit. For example I had got up to 13 recruit tokens unopened (because no open slots and I feared Id lose one if I opened and couldn't roster. Finally said F It...and learned that 10 of my 13 were upgrades to characters I already had. That was nice.

Standard tokens you can open whenever. Even if you get a 3* and can't roster them, 3* are common enough through various outlets that you'll get them again someday. It's just a question of being a patient free-to-play user versus someone who spends money now and again.

Heroic tokens can have 4* in them, so there is the chance you'll pull a 4* and not have the ability to roster it, but 4* are much more obtainable than they used to be, as well, once you're able to play Story events in SCL7 or 8.

Legendary tokens you probably want to wait until you have a handful of 3* champions to open - and never open more Legendaries at one time than you have the resources to roster new characters, or else you run the risk of wasting those - because while 4* won't mess up your scaling, 5* WILL. And there's a 15% chance of a 5* coming from one of those.

I now have the ability to recruit 3 3* as soon as I get open roster spots.
I doubt I'll ever spend money on the game, because well Ive never spent a dime on any phone game. Just some mental block with it. And Im not even a Marvel fan. Never seen any of the movies, never was a big comic book guy. Vaguely familiar with the characters and its basically candy crush with some strategy for me at this point.

Blasphemy. Puzzle Quest predates Candy Crush. This is Puzzle Quest with Marvel characters! :-D

MPQ is one of only two or three F2P titles I've ever spent money on, and the other two were a 5 spot here and a 5 spot there.

Originally Posted by Umbrella

I would focus more on getting my 2* up to speed than trying to roster 3*. If you have 3-4 2* at about level 50 or higher, then that's the point I would start considering building my 3* roster.

Resource-dependent, I think. If you've only got a few 2* on your roster, you shouldn't be rostering 3* ahead of 2*. A strong 2* bench is how you'll grow your 3* roster, ultimately. But there are only a dozen or so 2* in the game. If you have most or all of those, and you have the coins to add new characters, sure - start rostering 3* even if your 2* aren't championed yet. Just, y'know, focus the ISO on getting your 2* championed since you can raise them up much faster than you can the 3*.

Originally Posted by General Mike

Same. Standard, elite, heroic and taco tokens get opened immediately. Vault tokens too.

I agree about worrying primarily about your 2* roster. The game kind of naturally transitions you from that 2* roster to the 3* roster. As my Shield clearance level has gone up, I've picked up ground on getting, not just more 3*s roster, but also getting them to higher levels. Knowing what is coming on the SHIELD resupply calendar can help as well, since you'll know who you are close to getting another cover for.

hxxps://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3642&hilit=resupply

S.H.I.E.L.D. Resupply | Marvel Puzzle Quest Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia

Some of that might be out of date with respect to the resource drops (HP, ISO, etc) but the covers are accurate.

Originally Posted by Julio Riddols

Just getting to the point where I understand most of the stuff being said in this thread, haha..

So command points.. Do they become more common and easy to acquire as you progress? I think I have just under 20 CP now, but I also note that a lot of my 3 and 4 stars need command points to train their powers. Figure it will take forever to get them really going later in the game if command points don't become more common. Am I misinterpreting that requirement?

Trying desperately to open up roster spots though, and I know I probably ought to cut off most or all of my 4 star characters for now and worry about them later.. I think I will hold on to them until I find myself about to lose a character that I really want to add to the group.

I've read about them costing me when it comes to PVP.. Do you draw stronger opponents if you have more 4 stars early in the game?

You are kinda, yeah. CP *can* be used to train up characters once you have a rank in a given power, but you don't have to use them for that.

Here's the thing: your 3* will drop from Heroic/Elite tokens, occasionally Standard tokens, placement in higher SCLs, and once your 2* roster gets three characters in the 70+ range, from Deadpool's Daily Quest. All that's required to build your 3* is patience. I wouldn't spend CP on 3* powers, though I can see a case for it if you need one power to champion a character.

4*, kind of the same drill. One rank in a 4* power costs 120 CP, for which price you could otherwise buy 4-5 Legendary tokens, which drop primarily 4* covers. You might not get the needed 4* cover from those Legendary tokens, but then again, you might - and then also have another 3-4 4* covers as well. Now, if you had a 12-cover 4* and you pulled an otherwise unusable cover for that character? I could see spending the 120 CP to get them to 13 so you can champion them and avoid 'wasting' that cover. I almost did that with Deadpool before I got lucky and pulled the needed cover from a vault.

But again, in both cases, I would only spend CP on additional covers for 3* or 4* under very specific circumstances. You're early enough in the game that if you roster 4*, just hang onto them and add covers to them as you get them. Don't worry about spending CP on them, because there's an opportunity cost there. By the time you're going to be worried about building up 4* characters, you'll have had other avenues to 4* cover acquisition open up.

[Umbrella]

The last couple of days, I haven't been able to use Mystique's shapeshift power. It says there are not enough tiles. Does anyone know what that is about? Sounds like a bug to me.