Are people seeing sharding to the extreme or is it just me?

Unknown

Deimos12 wrote:

I would suggest trying to alter your start time then. You probably caught a couple of really tough brackets. I know we've been discussing scores and start times in my alliance and for the last 4 tournaments it seems about 75% of my alliance mates have top 10's starting in the low 900's, and top 5's around the 1100 mark. This is obviously going to vary depending on the rewards (anything with sentry/a new character (Miss Marvel) are gonna be really ugly).

I appreciate the advice, but really it's only been recently that this has been a problem. Seasons 1 & 2, 800 would easily place in Top 10 in most brackets I was a part of. Towards the end of last season, I started to see some minor creep - I'd honestly never been in a bracket with anyone who had scored 1300+ until about three-quarters of the way through last season, but I was still able to place Top 25 most of the way through S3. But now, suddenly, it's been a nightmare. With the exception of Starfall, where I couldn't win to save my life, I've been putting up roughly the same scores I always have but that has dropped me from Top 25 to Top 200.

squirrel1120

Varying my start time doesn't seem to have had any effect on the brackets I'm put into. It used to, but not so much anymore.

atomzed

This was my bracket for starfall.


I thought it was reasonable and not death-ish, especially considering that the rewards are highly sought after.

I was monitoring the scores at the last 8 hr, and it already stabilised at that point. No one in my bracket pushed very hard *cough cough*, so there was no "arms race" where the people keep pushing for higher scores.

I suspect that this is what happened in the death bracket. A few individuals pushing for the rewards and they keep pushing up the scores, which has an escalation effect on others.

This may be something that will continue because more and more ppl are getting into 3* land. And it becomes harder to push into top 10 because a lot of ppl has 2 166 characters. Sorta like inflation.

MarvelMan

Im pretty sure they tasked an intern with manually comparing a list of forumites with the igns and tagged everyone with a flag that pushes us into harder brackets.



The sad part is Im only kind of kidding.

Unknown

Extreme sharding does not sound very hygenic.

Can someone please let me know what sharding means...... sharing within the context of Marvel Puzzle Quest?

Unknown

MikeHock wrote:

Extreme sharding does not sound very hygenic.

Can someone please let me know what sharding means...... sharing within the context of Marvel Puzzle Quest?

Basically the system has been redesigned so that; regardless of join time, you will be added into a Group that is of similar "MMR" (and invisible rank) as you. Meaning, you will compete along side of people the system's algorithm decides you should be pitted against.

The system is not perfect and in perfect practice should put top tier players together into the proverbial Death Brackets, while at the same time lumping together - 1* and 2* rosters into their own respsctive brackets. Thus creating a "level playing field" for all players to be able to compete for top prizes against their peers.

This is the sharding system. It keeps slots open in brackets for people that fall into a certain range... As opposed to first come - first serve. A bracket may not fill up immediately as the system is waiting to find the "right fit" for each bracket. Sometimes, you may feel like you were incorrectly slotted... This is the unfortunate drawback.

Hope that makes some for of sense to you.

Unknown

I started my event the minute it opened. I like to get the free ISO from the super low level characters. The #1 player in my event currently only has 938 points. I finished #5 and #2 in my previous two events and I have never once tried tanking, so I assume my MMR is pretty high. Everyone in my bracket has a stacked roster, I have even seen some level 166 Captain Marvels.

I believe that the higher scores may be related to the game giving out more HP recently. More HP = more shielding, which means more points get collected in an event without taking away any.

Unknown

Being in the 3* transition, seeing these brackets just makes me sad, especially since I used to be able to make Top 25 easily and consistently previously back in Season 2 and 3. Cannot push any further as I am being walled by 3* teams.

wymtime

Here is a post I started becuase I was getting kicked out of the top 25 when I was normally hitting top 10. With the way things are going you need to be able to shield hop to place in the top 25-top 10. This is my first time trying to post a link so if it does not work go to tips and guides and look for how to shiled hop properly?

http://www.d3pforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=13167


I hope this helps get some more covers while still earning HP.

Unknown

this is the same **** sharding that was turned on mid season 1. they turned it off season 2 -3 and now it's back. I just got knocked out of top 5 and I have 1120. This is ****. This score is good enough for first place last season. **** this.

HailMary

This time around, T5 was 1102, T10 was 929. I blame the 1100 prog cover. We'll see what happens in the Patch-for-LT event, where a lot of vets already have a near-maxed/maxed LT.

GrumpySmurf1002

Whatever the difference is, it's a much bigger kick to the teeth than any of the game play changes.

Going from Season 3, where 800-850 basically got me at least 2 covers, once in a while all 3, to where it's now a (mostly unsuccessful) dogfight for survival to stay top 25 hurts a bunch.

Unknown

The lack of gameplay changes hurt a lot too, but season 4 has definitely seen an uptick.

Used to be, anything over 500 was top 100. I finished just outside the top100 with 583 and 579 to start the season, then posted 751 and 756 for mid-30s placement, before finally getting 25th place with 813 today. Much harder than last season, much higher top10 too. Glad everybody is taking it easy with no Fury prizes...

Unknown

I also think, along with sharding, the increased scores fall in line Season pushes and with the rich get richer aspect of how the game is at this point.

Most of it relates to the Season drive and pure ISO need for leveling, and that sucks for people trying to get covers. People who absolutely don't need the cover rewards are playing and winning the events. Not because they want covers, but because they simply want the Season points, the ISO rewards, and the ISO from selling covers. So not only do they get to level their characters beyond everyone who is working up, they are taking away useful covers from people who can actually use them.

That's not to say I blame them for it, they are a product of their environment. However there needs to be a way to get ISO to the haves and get covers to the have-nots without mixing the two.

atomzed

Askani wrote:

I also think, along with sharding, the increased scores fall in line Season pushes and with the rich get richer aspect of how the game is at this point.

Most of it relates to the Season drive and pure ISO need for leveling, and that sucks for people trying to get covers. People who absolutely don't need the cover rewards are playing and winning the events. Not because they want covers, but because they simply want the Season points, the ISO rewards, and the ISO from selling covers. So not only do they get to level their characters beyond everyone who is working up, they are taking away useful covers from people who can actually use them.

That's not to say I blame them for it, they are a product of their environment. However there needs to be a way to get ISO to the haves and get covers to the have-nots without mixing the two.

Exactly. I don't need the patch covers. But I needed the points for season and I also wanted the iso from top 10. So I went "low gear" and only use 2x 3hr shields. I got 923 pts and top 10. My profit is 150 hp and 3000 iso. At the expense of selling usable covers.

Unknown

I don't understand how I have 0 characters over level 100 yet I have to battle characters of level 150+ once I hit 650 points. Is that typical?

Unknown

atomzed wrote:

Askani wrote:

I also think, along with sharding, the increased scores fall in line Season pushes and with the rich get richer aspect of how the game is at this point.

Most of it relates to the Season drive and pure ISO need for leveling, and that sucks for people trying to get covers. People who absolutely don't need the cover rewards are playing and winning the events. Not because they want covers, but because they simply want the Season points, the ISO rewards, and the ISO from selling covers. So not only do they get to level their characters beyond everyone who is working up, they are taking away useful covers from people who can actually use them.

That's not to say I blame them for it, they are a product of their environment. However there needs to be a way to get ISO to the haves and get covers to the have-nots without mixing the two.

Exactly. I don't need the patch covers. But I needed the points for season and I also wanted the iso from top 10. So I went "low gear" and only use 2x 3hr shields. I got 923 pts and top 10. My profit is 150 hp and 3000 iso. At the expense of selling usable covers.

Keep in mind that in terms of ISO gain for those that don't need the covers:

Top 5 Placement = 5000 Placement ISO + 1500 Cover Sales ISO = 6500 ISO
Top 1 Placement = 5000 Placement ISO + 2500 Cover Sales ISO = 7500 ISO

Further, top scoring players are often members of the top scoring alliances, which can net up to 5500 additional alliance ISO, for a grand total of 13,000 ISO from every 2.5 day Versus event.

Absolutely no one will say "no" to 13,000 free ISO from every Versus event on top of ISO earned from progression and cover sales obtained inside the event to enable that top placement and resulting ISO rewards.

wymtime

LittleJoey25 wrote:

I don't understand how I have 0 characters over level 100 yet I have to battle characters of level 150+ once I hit 650 points. Is that typical?

In short yes,
Once you hit 600-700 you are out pacing your MMR and you will be given the opportunity and pleasure of competing against bigger teams. There won't be a lot of 2* teams around the same level so it opens up. Otherwise you would be hitting 2* teams for like 10 points and then would get retaliated for 40 points. You have also gotten to a high score early so I would recomend trying to get into the 650-700 range with under 6 hrs left doing a 3hr shield, then wait. You can then line up 3 solid 25-30 point targets for a shield hop and potentially get 4 matches in and shield before you are attacked. If you can get to 800 it will be worth the shield hop.

Unknown

Lyrian wrote:

Keep in mind that in terms of ISO gain for those that don't need the covers:

Top 5 Placement = 5000 Placement ISO + 1500 Cover Sales ISO = 6500 ISO
Top 1 Placement = 5000 Placement ISO + 2500 Cover Sales ISO = 7500 ISO

Further, top scoring players are often members of the top scoring alliances, which can net up to 5500 additional alliance ISO, for a grand total of 13,000 ISO from every 2.5 day Versus event.

Absolutely no one will say "no" to 13,000 free ISO from every Versus event on top of ISO earned from progression and cover sales obtained inside the event to enable that top placement and resulting ISO rewards.

That's exactly the explanation for bloodbaths lately. ISO is so expensive that we fight hard to grind some as hard as we can...

Unknown

arktos1971 wrote:

Lyrian wrote:

Keep in mind that in terms of ISO gain for those that don't need the covers:

Top 5 Placement = 5000 Placement ISO + 1500 Cover Sales ISO = 6500 ISO
Top 1 Placement = 5000 Placement ISO + 2500 Cover Sales ISO = 7500 ISO

Further, top scoring players are often members of the top scoring alliances, which can net up to 5500 additional alliance ISO, for a grand total of 13,000 ISO from every 2.5 day Versus event.

Absolutely no one will say "no" to 13,000 free ISO from every Versus event on top of ISO earned from progression and cover sales obtained inside the event to enable that top placement and resulting ISO rewards.

That's exactly the explanation for bloodbaths lately. ISO is so expensive that we fight hard to grind some as hard as we can...

Any chance they could add a button that lets people pass on the prize covers? Anyone who does that gets 1000 extra Iso per cover earned and all the covers slide down 1 spot.

So a top 5 placement would earn 5000 + 3000 if covers were passed on and it pushes 3 covers to top 6, 2 covers to top 26 and 1 cover to top101.