Struggling to score well - advice?

Unknown

At around 700 or 800 points, I start hitting a wall in matchmaking. I have a predominately 2* roster; my only somewhat leveled 3*s are a Doom and an IM40, neither of which are more than 12 levels past my 2*s. But once I start getting up there in points, I basically never see anything that isn't maxed-out 3*s. Is this MMR kicking in? What should I do?

Unknown

That's around when they kick in for everybody. The only way to get past that point if you've got a 2* roster is probably to shield hop - MMR becomes irrelevant above a certain (constantly fluctuating) point, and lately it seems to be ~800.

Unknown

Ben Grimm wrote:

That's around when they kick in for everybody. The only way to get past that point if you've got a 2* roster is probably to shield hop - MMR becomes irrelevant above a certain (constantly fluctuating) point, and lately it seems to be ~800.

I'd shield hop, but I end up blowing like 1000 ISO trying to find a match I stand a chance in. I see the same names all the time. "Oh, there's Twysta again. Oh, there's SuperDudewhatshisname. Oh, there's that Sentry/Daken team", that shouldn't seem right but I guess it is. But all right, fair enough.

Unknown

That may be your natural cap for a little while, then. Complicating it is that you rarely see anyone between maxed 2*s and maxed 3*s, so there's a very sudden jump in levels, rather than the more level progression you might expect. Once you can start reliably beating maxed 3* teams, you'll be able to jump up higher a lot more easily.

NorthernPolarity

In the recent brackets ive been in, 791 was enough for 5th place, and 727 for 10th. If you cant place highly with those scores, then youre probably joining pvp at the wrong time, like on the first day its released. Try joining at a later time instead (if you have then you might have just gotten unlucky)

squirrel1120

I'm curious as to what effect joining a pvp later on has that veteran players consider valuable? I saw something said similar in another thread but forgot to ask.

Currently stuck well in 2* land, no where near 3* viability. I join as soon as I see a new event, knowing at least the first few battles will be seed teams before I break 100 pts and start the cycle of endless 'peer or higher' battles. Anytime I've ever joined late that cycle seemed to start immediately. Also, I don't shield since expanding the roster is still a prime concern, so I definitely bleed pvp points to where retaliation matches above 25 points become all I usually have time/ health packs for.

I struggle to place top 25 (exactly 24 in the last 3 events), and while I shouldn't complain much about that specifically, I certainly wouldn't be opposed to a better way.

Unknown

I am at a similar spot squirrel. My best advice is to find an alliance that can usually make top 100. That will help with getting HP and 3* covers so that you can use HP for a 3 or 8 hour shield. With a 2* roster you will be attacked without mercy and practically have to shield or be beaten back down to 500 points.

I don't believe that joining a PVP event late has any positive benefits.

I would try to make your charge up to your usual score around 8.5 hours left and then use boosts to fight against the maxed 3* teams to get a bit higher than usual. Then throw on an 8 hour shield. You can try to do the same 3-3.5 hours before the event ends but it is usually harder to fight off all the attackers at that time. A buddy of mine suggested waiting until 3 hours left when more people have shielded and then making your final charge so that you are attacked a bit less than at 3.5 hours left.

Unknown

The benefit that I've found to joining "late" (with approximately 24 hours to go), is that there are plenty of high value targets to hit so you can climb quicker. Unless you join with very little time remaining, I don't find that the thresholds for Top X are really any different than if you joined earlier. Quicker climb = less time needed to play as well as less of a bump to your MMR. Also, if you're hitting people worth 30+ points, they aren't likely to strike back because you'd probably just hit them back again for good points. There are benefits to joining early as well, but I'll leave those to the people who prefer to join early.

Do keep in mind that past a certain point level you will have to shield if you're fielding a 2* team, I don't think there's much of a way around that unless you happen to get extremely lucky.

rixmith

If you want to fight some seed teams but don't want to be in a bracket with the highly competitive players, when the event starts immediately open it so that your first three matches are filled with seed teams. But don't fight them. Instead, wait until you want to start the event and you'll get the first three easy battles but you might end up in a bracket where a lower score is more competitive.

squirrel1120

At best I can farm 100 HP in the average PVP tournament. Spending 75 of it on a shield seems like it would keep my roster pretty stagnant... I've never been 3 hours out from the end of a tournament with enough event points where I would feel like throwing that shield up would benefit my placement either. I rather feel like I have to skip shielding completely and just play as much as possible to continue growing my roster. Paying is just not an option for my family budget.

I will try joining in the last 24 of the kracka-lame tournament and see if it helps. I can see what you mean about having more high point teams to pick from, so its worth a try. I know there will be a lot less iso flow with this method... but I'm really getting burnt on shuffling through retaliation matches, deleting the ones that I have no chance of beating and the ones that would just drain more points when they attack back yet again.

I tried 'tanking' a little on simulator matches after I read about it, realizing I would not gain anymore ranking there without completely ignoring another PVP or two (... which would be counter-productive as the next few event rewards are not worth the strive). However, that is about the least amount of fun a person can have in the game. Ugh. At least I got to see Hulk's red power animation for once? Underwhelmed of course... Maybe if I made a mini-game out of it where I tried to take down at least one character or something before I was annihilated.

Unknown

I know that feeling squirrel. I never shielded in a PVP until fairly recently when I joined an alliance focused on PVP. My best suggestion really is to find a decent alliance. Even if the alliance doesn't get top 100 and get you the 3* cover just being in a top 250 alliance will get you 50 extra HP every PVP plus anything they might get from PVE. This will let you have HP to slowly build up roster slots and put up a shield during PVPs you are especially excited about the reward for.

If you want to work up to the 25 HP reward at 600 points each PVP I recommend doing it 11+ hours before the PVP finishes. You will face fewer retaliations and regular attacks at that time so can work your way up to 600 points spread out over a while so you can wait for your medkits to refresh or characters to heal naturally.

If you want to finish over 600 points though I'm not sure how without shielding. You can try using any boosts you have and doing each retaliation you are capable of near the end but you will be hammered by pretty frequent attacks.

Unknown

Okay, from this event I learned two very important lessons for 2* players.

Lesson 1: Do not break 800 until you are absolutely sure you're ready to shield, and not exit the shield until the end of the event. Otherwise, you go over that threshold, start running into teams you just can't beat with nothing reasonable to swing at, and attacks start pouring in far more than usual. Reaching 800 even 10-15 minutes before where you want to shield is a very easy way to knock a hundred points off your score. Yowza.
Lesson 2: Start late. Starting over a day after the bracket starts makes it so much easier to top 10. Seriously.

squirrel1120

Appreciate the advice.

I can't really do the alliance switch. I joined with a friend I grew up with when I started playing, who specifically bought a spot in his alliance for me. I don't know what it cost... I guess it doesn't matter. I couldn't jump ship on him just for shinier rewards. Every once in a while a bit of hp comes through unexpectedly, that'll have to be good enough.

Every thing else I can give a shot toward.

squirrel1120

Only 29th tonight. If it weren't rag reward... I just might have shielded when I hit 745 for 12th. Sadly his second cover just wasn't worthy.

squirrel1120

So... I followed the advice given about the late start. That is certainly a much more stress free way to play. I think I lost points from attacks 4 times, which is a tiny fraction of the usual. Two were retaliations that they'd saved like all day to hit me back... But still far less painful overall. I got up to the 19th place at about 625 rating when the last two attacks came in. I played a few more matches to recoup, then noticed it was 2:50 until even end, as I said 'tinykitty it', and threw up a shield for the first time. Several defensive losses at +0, then several defensive wins during that time scooted me up to 17th. I broke shield at 1m left and threw in some boosts for a quick win, which only allowed me to keep 17th.

Certainly not spectacular, but as I said, much less stressful. Only real negative being the iso haul was well less than a third of normal. A very useful strategy for picking up toons I actually care about building.

I look forward to the point in my MPQ career where that could become the norm.

Now to try to do well in the hunt so I can pick up at least 1 lazycap... Getting tough with all the nodes turrning yellow n red on me...

Unknown

My thoughts are to enter early and slowly climb. I tend to play 4 times a day and each time I play the required character PvE nodes and then 1-4 rounds of PvP.

- Only attack for 30+ points
- Soft cap the Featured, the 50% bonus discourages retaliations.
- If you don't climb too fast relative to the leaders, usually minimal retaliations until 500 points.
- Don't shield, it's a waste as a transitional player.

I was 33rd in Falcon and 49th in Rags, so hope it helps.

JamieMadrox

When my roster was of a similar level I hit my wall at the same point even with regular tanking. It takes a viable team of 3* characters to break through any higher.

squirrel1120

Agreed on shielding. I basically just did it to try it once, plus I was out of characters and health packs 2:50 before event end where I broke 600... which meant 150+ points being bled off in the next hour or more before I had another viable team to field. Going forward, I'll likely only ever shield if there is a character involved that I'd specifically like to build.

I'll be putting all my HP toward roster again going forward, but it sure was nice to get to use that shield and not sweat 12 people attacking me for once. heh.

mohio

Another thing that shielding does is let you focus on PvE when a sub-event is about to end, and you can often recoup the HP spent on the shields in the first place. It seems like 2 of 3, if not all 3, of the PvPs finish at the same time as a PvE sub-event, where you can often get 50-100 hp in rewards if you place highly enough. So, if spending that hp locks in an additional cover and guaranteed hp from pvp AND lets you compete for top spots in the PvE, then it really might be worth doing. Especially if you're starved for covers, you really should consider using one 3-hour shield to secure top 25. If you can get top 25 without the shield, or fall out of top 25 even using the shield, then it's probably not worth it.

FWIW, once I got to a fairly comfortable amount of roster spots (~28) I would routinely use a 3-hour shield to maintain my position at the end of events, and still earn enough HP (through placement rewards and PvE) to buy more slots whenever needed every 2 weeks for a new character (and the 2 or 3 I didn't have yet). This "comfortable" amount of slots might be higher now due to there being more 3* characters you feel like you have to hold on to, so it might be a little slower going I suppose, but just wanted to offer an example of how minimal shielding can be a big boon to the 2*->3* transitioning player.

Unknown

squirrel1120 wrote:

So... I followed the advice given about the late start. That is certainly a much more stress free way to play. I think I lost points from attacks 4 times, which is a tiny fraction of the usual. Two were retaliations that they'd saved like all day to hit me back... But still far less painful overall. I got up to the 19th place at about 625 rating when the last two attacks came in. I played a few more matches to recoup, then noticed it was 2:50 until even end, as I said 'tinykitty it', and threw up a shield for the first time. Several defensive losses at +0, then several defensive wins during that time scooted me up to 17th. I broke shield at 1m left and threw in some boosts for a quick win, which only allowed me to keep 17th.

Congrats!

squirrel1120

I'm at 28 or 29 slots, I forget, but still missing 4/x in the 3*s and all the 4*s. One of those slots is open for the upcoming lazycap I should be able to earn at the end of the hunt. I think it'll be between top 50 and top 100. Its getting tough to do anything with all the nodes turning red, so I have a feeling I won't be able to hold onto a top 50 spot till event end.

I totally get what you are saying Mohio, and I can see that happening occasionally to try to secure 3* characters I give a tinykitty about.

Edit: Still sitting on 2 season 10-packs, and now about a dozen h-tokens. With my luck I will draw toons I still need but don't have room for, so I continue to stare at that super shiney '2' in the 10 packs and just whine about how I want to open them.