When should i enter PvP events

haim9798

Hi all
i am at the start of the 2* to 3* transition and i am playing the PvP events in order to get the covers for my 3* characters.

So far i have entered the PvP events as soon as i could but i have read somewhere in this forum that i should enter the events only in the last day.
Is this the optimal way for someone like me or should i enter the events sooner ?

I keep getting stuck at ~ 650 point and in most events i am between 20-50 so most of the times i get top 50 prizes.

Any advice from the more experienced players how to maximize my cover input ?

HairyDave

I don't know that entry time is really going to make much difference with "Gentle Nudging 2.0" seeming to be in effect at the moment but I would still be hesitant to join immediately unless you want a seed team to beat up or want to do some tanking.

I've found the key to placing reasonably well (i.e. somewhere between 6th and 25th) without spending a ton of HP on shields is to slowly build up to about 500 points and them make a charge with about 12 hours to go. Once you're over 700 I would recommend not being unshielded for any longer than about 10 minutes because you'll be on everyone's radar at that point and 2* teams are pretty easy meat for the sharks. If you still need more points to hit your placement goal, skip through your available targets while you're shielded and try to line up some juicy points in all three nodes so you can get in a quick fight or two right at the death.

Unknown

With a transition team, as well, I find that 600 is the high end threshold anymore.

Whenever you are entering is working, I have been 103rd and 106th in the last two Featured +2 events, thanks to last minute 35 point losses, with 595 and 580.

mohio

One thing I did a few times when I was transitioning was enter in just the last hour or two and grind like mad. You might not get your usual score but all the scores in your bracket will be lower so top 10/25 are easier to reach. Not sure how viable this is with the true healing change and your specific roster (I.e. If you can play for an hour straight with just the 6 health packs you'll have). You do take a hit in how much ISO you make, but if you're really starved for covers you might give it a try.

As for me I usually wait 1-1.5 days to enter and my brackets are usually a little better than my alliance mates who enter earlier. It's not foolproof though and if their gentle nudging got less gentle recently as hairydave points out, it might not even matter that much.

simonsez

mohio wrote:

One thing I did a few times when I was transitioning was enter in just the last hour or two and grind like mad. You might not get your usual score but all the scores in your bracket will be lower so top 10/25 are easier to reach.

This is probably the easiest, most stress-free way to get your individual rewards, but you won't be doing your alliance any favors.

Unknown

HairyDave wrote:

I don't know that entry time is really going to make much difference with "Gentle Nudging 2.0" seeming to be in effect at the moment but I would still be hesitant to join immediately unless you want a seed team to beat up or want to do some tanking..

You can still get 3 seed teams if you just view an event right when it opens. You'll have 3 seeds teams sitting there for you, but if you don't attack right away you won't be entered into a bracket. I usually view events right when they pop up to see the rewards. Then, I wait a day or 2 to attack anyone, and those seed teams are still sitting there for me when I do decide to start.

Unknown

Jkells wrote:

HairyDave wrote:

I don't know that entry time is really going to make much difference with "Gentle Nudging 2.0" seeming to be in effect at the moment but I would still be hesitant to join immediately unless you want a seed team to beat up or want to do some tanking..

You can still get 3 seed teams if you just view an event right when it opens. You'll have 3 seeds teams sitting there for you, but if you don't attack right away you won't be entered into a bracket. I usually view events right when they pop up to see the rewards. Then, I wait a day or 2 to attack anyone, and those seed teams are still sitting there for me when I do decide to start.

I have been testing out different times to join. 18hrs to go seems ok for my ranking. I can generally get top 25 with 400-500 pts and about 1 3hrs shield and 1 8 hour sheild. You take a big hit on ISO and season points though

Unknown

If I'm not going to rank, does it matter whether I wait or not? I've been holding off to avoid the embarrassment of watching my event points eroding as I get attacked, but is there anything for the complete n00blet to gain by waiting?

wymtime

GhostWolfe wrote:

If I'm not going to rank, does it matter whether I wait or not? I've been holding off to avoid the embarrassment of watching my event points eroding as I get attacked, but is there anything for the complete n00blet to gain by waiting?

It will really depend on what rewards you are going for. If you are just going for ISO and 2* covers you can start earlier. You will yo-yo up and then down when you get attacked. You might be able to get some good retaliations as well. If you are looking to place and get a 3* cover you are better off joining with about 1 and 1/2 day left and using a shield hop for placement.. you should be able to get about 100 points higher with a good shield hop and that might be able to get you into the next tier of rewards.

Another way to farm ISO is in lightning rounds if you can start when they open. You hit as many seed teams as you can then call it a round. You can usually get the 100 point progression before you start seeing big rosters and you might get some 2* cover drops for your roster or ISO.

Unknown

Ranked 25th in my first cage match, much to my surprise, delight, and minor confusion.

squirrel1120

haim9798 wrote:

I keep getting stuck at ~ 650 point and in most events i am between 20-50 so most of the times i get top 50 prizes.

As Papa07 mentioned, 600 is about the cut-off point where you'll no longer see viable matches. Once I cross over that barrier it'll only give me max level 3* teams to fight. It depends of course what bracket you are in on where that will place you. Personally, every change that has been made to the game seems to have dropped me a reward tier. True healing: top 10 -> top 25 (also haven't hit 800 progression since). Death brackets via 'gentle nudging 2.0': top 25 -> top 50. The last few I've only managed top 100, which can partially be attributed to Team-ups. Health pack usage has definitely gone up from it. Also because I mainly focused on the last couple pve events, but that's also because I know I just won't place well in the pvp events... so as long as I can manage that one cover, might as well do as well as possible in the pve's. At best i'm getting 1 cover from pvp events, the only difference in the prize tiers being 25hp and some iso. It takes a lot of effort for that little extra. Meanwhile, focusing on the pve event I'm easiliy making up the difference in the hp/iso, plus gaining 5-6 3* covers to boot. Of course, having some unwanted time off from work has helped with placement there, so individual results may vary, and I seriously doubt I'll be able to maintain that once work picks up... and I have to go to bed because of it. Heh.

There are people that will say, 'better prizes, more competion' and 'the 3* pool has expanded pushing 2* teams down tiers', but I believe neither have been as significant as the changes to the game. Both out front where its easy to see, as well as the little things that go on behind the scenes, there is just too much difference at the switch from season 3 -> season 4 for me to put any stock into the former reasonings.

Anyway, if you can swing top 50 as a transition team haim9798, then you are doing about as well as the game is going to allow for now. The game is hard coded to stop a 2* player in their tracks right about where you are hitting point-wise. The only difference then is what bracket you are put into, and from the experiences here on the forums, that has little to do with when you join anymore... Unfortunately.

Unknown

squirrel1120 wrote:

haim9798 wrote:

I keep getting stuck at ~ 650 point and in most events i am between 20-50 so most of the times i get top 50 prizes.

As Papa07 mentioned, 600 is about the cut-off point where you'll no longer see viable matches. Once I cross over that barrier it'll only give me max level 3* teams to fight. It depends of course what bracket you are in on where that will place you. Personally, every change that has been made to the game seems to have dropped me a reward tier. True healing: top 10 -> top 25 (also haven't hit 800 progression since). Death brackets via 'gentle nudging 2.0': top 25 -> top 50. The last few I've only managed top 100, which can partially be attributed to Team-ups. Health pack usage has definitely gone up from it. Also because I mainly focused on the last couple pve events, but that's also because I know I just won't place well in the pvp events... so as long as I can manage that one cover, might as well do as well as possible in the pve's. At best i'm getting 1 cover from pvp events, the only difference in the prize tiers being 25hp and some iso. It takes a lot of effort for that little extra. Meanwhile, focusing on the pve event I'm easiliy making up the difference in the hp/iso, plus gaining 5-6 3* covers to boot. Of course, having some unwanted time off from work has helped with placement there, so individual results may vary, and I seriously doubt I'll be able to maintain that once work picks up... and I have to go to bed because of it. Heh.

There are people that will say, 'better prizes, more competion' and 'the 3* pool has expanded pushing 2* teams down tiers', but I believe neither have been as significant as the changes to the game. Both out front where its easy to see, as well as the little things that go on behind the scenes, there is just too much difference at the switch from season 3 -> season 4 for me to put any stock into the former reasonings.

Anyway, if you can swing top 50 as a transition team haim9798, then you are doing about as well as the game is going to allow for now. The game is hard coded to stop a 2* player in their tracks right about where you are hitting point-wise. The only difference then is what bracket you are put into, and from the experiences here on the forums, that has little to do with when you join anymore... Unfortunately.

I'm in the same boat as you, Squirrel, both in play and a pending lots of time plugging away due to my current lack of work... And you hit each point right on the head, unfortunately. My reward tiers dropped by one with all the S4 changes and I've been too focused on PVE to do anything much about my placement in PVP for the covers I need or my new alliance.

Can't spend haphazardly on health packs or HP anymore, so my 3* transition is slower now than I expected it to be. Oh well. I'm going all out to secure whatever Deadpool covers I can get, then breathing easier. Good luck to the newbies and other transitioning players here!

Phumade

While its true that late joins won't get you into a bracket with lower level teams. Late joins (4 hours or less) is still a viable strategy because you will inevitably see lower winning point totals. I.e. It is generally impossible to break 1000 points in under 4hours without a massive number of health packs. So it becomes a race as to who gains the most amount of points before they run out of health packs. I like this better than early starts because that's really a test of who can shield hop the most often.

Bottom line,
If you have infinite resources, or need to score max alliance points, then join early. You can boost and shield hop as necessary. (you'll need 1000+ to make top 10)

If you have no extra hp, and don't need to contribute 1000+ points to an alliance, then join late. 800 points will be very close to 5-8th place score)

If you need to makeup a bunch of points, and can't afford to shield hop, then play from 1am to 4am PST. In generally, if you play with most people are asleep, not as many people will see you as a possible target and all the people who you attack won't retaliate for at least a few hours.

600 points is a semi magical threshold. Below 600 you won't see that many retals or attacks, because of the way MPQ selects opponents. Over 700, the entire universe can see you and your pretty much fair game.

If your trying to tank and lower your mmr. Start early, race to 700, let everyone attack you until you start seeing lvl 60-94 opponnents.