Dark Avengers: Heroic - Sept. 25 - Oct 1

Unknown

Pwuz_ wrote:

Despite pulling out #5, #2, & #1 in the subs, I was barely able to hold on to a top 10 position for the main. This was the 1st time in I can't remember how long that I did this well in PvE though, especially a Heroic.

I know what you mean. Monday and Tuesday I was bouncing between 1st-3rd. Accidentally missed a 2hr wake up alarm and ended up skipping a cycle. Ended up 20k behind.

I basically said screw it I have enough lead to ride out a top 10 and took it easy. Until I dropped to 7th. Climbed back to 3rd but couldn't quite catch up.

Biggest mistake I made may have been leveling Psylocke when I got the progression cover. Caused her to tank and over oBW which lowered my damage by a decent bit

Unknown

I joined this PvE late, approximately 36h before the end. I got into a bracket with only 300 people at that moment and I began grinding first the main bracket nodes and then continued to last sub-bracket. Because I had Psylocke I could handle the essential nodes and eventually got #14 in sub-bracket. 12h in I did the last main nodes the very moment they became available and then grinded them until most showed full refresh point to be 8-10hrs (not the Rags one, that was brutal. I did it only once). I went to sleep as #11 in main bracket and woke up 30mins before the end. I was only dropped to #51. Doc Ock was already pretty much guaranteed, but I did few easy nodes worth 2000pts anyway and rose to #37 with 81k points in total and that's where I ended. If i had woken up an hour or two before the end I just might have had a shot at top20 but I'm happy with one cover and only one day's worth of grinding. Scaling stayed decent the whole time. Well okay, that infamous Rags node was almost lvl200 for me but the last main bracket goon nodes were lvl90-130 and that was manageable even with very limited roster.

I feel truly sorry for everyone who wasted their past 6 days grinding this PvE. Something is very wrong with the whole concept if I can get to #37 with relatively little effort while others grind like there's no tomorrow almost for a whole week and end up getting the same reward. I just loathe these competitive 6 day long grindfests of "PvE" and Heroics are definitely the worst of the bunch.

SunCrusher

Ariakos wrote:

I joined this PvE late, approximately 36h before the end. I got into a bracket with only 300 people at that moment and I began grinding first the main bracket nodes and then continued to last sub-bracket. Because I had Psylocke I could handle the essential nodes and eventually got #14 in sub-bracket. 12h in I did the last main nodes the very moment they became available and then grinded them until most showed full refresh point to be 8-10hrs (not the Rags one, that was brutal. I did it only once). I went to sleep as #11 in main bracket and woke up 30mins before the end. I was only dropped to #51. Doc Ock was already pretty much guaranteed, but I did few easy nodes worth 2000pts anyway and rose to #37 with 81k points in total and that's where I ended. If i had woken up an hour or two before the end I just might have had a shot at top20 but I'm happy with one cover and only one day's worth of grinding. Scaling stayed decent the whole time. Well okay, that infamous Rags node was almost lvl200 for me but the last main bracket goon nodes were lvl90-130 and that was manageable even with very limited roster.

I feel truly sorry for everyone who wasted their past 6 days grinding this PvE. Something is very wrong with the whole concept if I can get to #37 with relatively little effort while others grind like there's no tomorrow almost for a whole week and end up getting the same reward. I just loathe these competitive 6 day long grindfests of "PvE" and Heroics are definitely the worst of the bunch.

I'm guessing you didn't need the Final Progression Reward at all, then.

I did and the only way to have gotten that would have been at least -some- amount of grinding since I started out the event without having Psylocke at all and I anticipated trouble with the non-Essential Hard nodes.

If she weren't always so prominent as an Essential for PvEs, I would have given a later start a shot, but since I needed her AND didn't already own one of her covers at the beginning of the event (earned one through PvP in second sub), I didn't fancy trying my luck at the last minute to both place well AND try to get the FPR.

Participated in the entire event, did a few rounds every sub, got my sleep, placed well in all subs, came out with Doctor Octopus, some HP, and my FPR, a Modern Hawkeye with fully built Speed Shot and mostly built everything else and another 3* Torch Fireball cover, thanks to the Tokens, and with time to spare.

I'm a transitioning 2-3* player and I'm okay with the haul I got this time around. For once, keeping up with the event without doing insane crazy grinding (though my bracket leaders sure did!) paid off.

My gripe was just how long it all took. Not necessarily that I played a few rounds every sub but the fact that this event was simply spread out for multiple days.

Nefesh

For me Gauntlet is the best PvE format. Actually it the only true PvE format ever appeared in this game.
May be some hardcore guys who can spend whole day grinding and waking up 3 times per night on alarm to grind again will disagree. But even in format like this event (not the worst - with subs and low rubberbanding) seems no guarantee that you win something good.
I didn't put an extreme effort into this event, a played 2-4 times per day whey I could and finished 27... meaning I got the same reward as I would not have played past two days at all (in my case). That's quite a sick system...
This event wasn't fun at all.

Ryz-aus

Missed the last 6 hrs or so at work, but only dropped to 8th so the rubberband wasn't too bad. Top 3 finishers were all in top 5 most of the event so it looks like the finish didn't screw my bracket up too badly.

Also got a fury from one of the tokens on the last sub, which makes me feel much better about the late drop.

Unknown

Pwuz_ wrote:

Despite pulling out #5, #2, & #1 in the subs, I was barely able to hold on to a top 10 position for the main. This was the 1st time in I can't remember how long that I did this well in PvE though, especially a Heroic.

I really hope next time D3 picks the buffed characters, they try to let us have a full rainbow. I'm not even sure that if I had any featured characters I could have built a full rainbow team.

It really is frustrating to see a board load full of a color you have absolutely no use for.

The sub is 200 while the main is 1000 players. They change the sub/main event numbers at fairly random interval as sometimes it'd be 1000/1000 in each and the next event would be 200/1000 which can be quite surprising if you didn't notice it.

Trisul

Pwuz_ wrote:

I really hope next time D3 picks the buffed characters, they try to let us have a full rainbow. I'm not even sure that if I had any featured characters I could have built a full rainbow team.

It really is frustrating to see a board load full of a color you have absolutely no use for.

OBW and 2* Thor cover all colors except black, so you could have added Torch or Psylocke to that team to have full rainbow.

I leveled my Psylocke to 72 which kept her match values right under the boosted 2*, so Thor/OBW tanked everything.

over_clocked

Poor modern Storm, the AP cost increase ruined her, I only used her once to charge TUAP for a makeshift World Rupture + Psychic Knife combo or something. It worked but I would have won with less health lost with my usual A-team of HT, oBW and IM 40 with 1 yellow cover.

franckynight

i dont know if i will ever grind like that again.. finshed 5th in main and first in all subs i joined.. im40 has made wonders for me and i managed to blitz even the rags node rather easily without health packs (thx boost bug ).. but still..6,5 days of pure grindfest going against 290+ ares/jugg/venom/rags with limited roster with meh synergy and having to compete against the most insane grinders i ve seen in a while (1st and 2nd was 2* rosters ppl that finished with 15k pts cushion..wow) was not my definition of fun.. i hoped doc ock would change the meta but he seems just ok for pve and useless in pvp..oh well..

HairyDave

locked wrote:

Poor modern Storm, the AP cost increase ruined her, I only used her once to charge TUAP for a makeshift World Rupture + Psychic Knife combo or something. It worked but I would have won with less health lost with my usual A-team of HT, oBW and IM 40 with 1 yellow cover.

I only really used her as a way of possibly accelerating Hawkeye - and even then, only on goon nodes or low-level single villain nodes.

In her previous incarnation she could happily take on enemies double her level or better as long as someone was tanking at least green for her. Though I guess that is kind of broken

Bowgentle

franckynight wrote:

i dont know if i will ever grind like that again.. finshed 5th in main and first in all subs i joined.. im40 has made wonders for me and i managed to blitz even the rags node rather easily without health packs (thx boost bug ).. but still..6,5 days of pure grindfest going against 290+ ares/jugg/venom/rags with limited roster with meh synergy and having to compete against the most insane grinders i ve seen in a while (1st and 2nd was 2* rosters ppl that finished with 15k pts cushion..wow) was not my definition of fun.. i hoped doc ock would change the meta but he seems just ok for pve and useless in pvp..oh well..

Same here, Francky.
Finished 4th, but had to grind way way way more than I wanted to.
"Only" had to sacrifice an hour of sleep this morning due to favourable end times, but grinding those Juggs/Ares/Daken nodes at work every 2:25 was no fun.

Somewhat proud to have gotten t10 in PVE and t5 in the Psyduck PVP without buying healthpacks lol.
Still, not my definition of fun.

djpt05

Hands down the PvE I've spend the most time on. Got ~142K points, finished 53rd (read: same as 150) because I missed the last 4 hrs because I have a job while 1st place was ~210K .... just crazy

GrumpySmurf1002

CrookedKnight wrote:

On the one hand, good Lord was that a grind.

On the other hand, to quote Fawful, I have Fury! That makes up for a lot of tedium.

Well done. I actually thought I had you (and everyone else).

I hit it at 12:00 (double), 4:48, 7:12, 9:36, and then 10:20. I cleared everything down to 1 except the hardest Venom node, which I had like 2 left. I just ran out of points and spousal patience at the end.

loroku

Ariakos wrote:

I feel truly sorry for everyone who wasted their past 6 days grinding this PvE. Something is very wrong with the whole concept if I can get to #37 with relatively little effort while others grind like there's no tomorrow almost for a whole week and end up getting the same reward.

Completely agreed. Especially when all progression rewards between 10k and 120k were junk. You could either start early and have a shot at 120k or start late, still get all the best progression rewards except the impossible one, but still end up ranked very well. I worked my butt off for 6 days and ended with a worse rank than you. Never again.

I ended up about 5k short of 120k. It was painful, but I just couldn't pull another 5k out at the last minute. If I'd have known I would have gotten >30k from the last 12 hrs, I probably would have tried harder on some of the subs!

In the end I feel like the general feel of the event was fine. It was certainly challenging. My biggest complaints are: the sub rewards were absolutely worthless; unless you've been playing for months you don't know how events are going to go so you don't know whether or not it's worth going all out (and even then, they change things up, apparently); and the fact that your randomly assigned bracket is 100x more important than any effort you put into an event.

areacode212

I missed about a day somewhere in the middle of the event but otherwise was grinding my **** off (or so i thought) most of the time, and ended up top 200, around 102000 points (18k short of getting the Psylocke cover). Am I just being placed in insanely competitive brackets? Do I need to grind even more??

Unknown

I played this PVE 6/6 days except for the last 12hours and my sleep hours. I literally played while I was getting ready for work. Every 2.5 hours at work I was again playing. I did everything I could to stay at least T20. I was T10-T20 throughout the whole event and I knew I would get screwed those last 8 hours of the event because of the morning end time.

So, I grind my butt off up to ~150k points. I see myself sitting #8 or #9. I could not grind another refresh because I had to sleep in order to be fresh for work in the morning. Hoping for a miracle to stay in that T20, I wake up to find myself at #32.

All my effort playing the game like they DEMAND me to and what do I get? I was among the best scorers of this event and got kicked in the butt those last 8hrs. I finished T5 in all subs and #1 in the last sub and that did not count for nothing. Except from the personal satisfaction (If I can call it that) of being a top scorer, I was rewarded with literally ****.

1 cover from ranks and 1 from alliance. Both are green color and Otto is completely useless. But since he is going to be Essential in next PVE and I have to keep him. So, there goes the HP for the new slot. Not only I payed for a new slot (Which is OK because I can use it for more chars), I have to keep a useless character in that slot because YOU say so?

What if I don't want him? Well it is not up to me now is it? Next PVE you will show me I have no other choice but to keep him if I want to compete again. So instead of using some characters that i've played hard to level, I have to use this useless one that will be a -1 in any fight because of having no covers for him.

I seriously do not know what you people expect from us to do in order for you to clearly understand that we are SICK and TIRED of **** like this. I really want you to kindly tell me in which way and what means should I use to communicate that to you.

Unknown

Only 8 people in my bracket hit the 120k mark.
Sacrificed the last 3 hours of the event for family time. Was solidly in the top 15 at 12th. Checked this morning, and was shocked to see 26th! Breathed a huge sigh of relief when I realized that it was just for the rooftops ranking.

Rubberbanding in our bracket. Top guy had 54k for last event. I had 35k, but had been consistently top 10-20. Final results top at 149k, 10th at 116k.

It really seems to be timing + roster + previous PVE results. I mostly skipped the gauntlet as I didn't make room for Punisher in my roster (the rewards didn't justify it). I'm personally enjoying being more selective with events. If you play hard every PVP, every PVE, you get lumped in with the hardcore crowd. If you take off time for life, vacation, the game seems to reward you for coming back. Unfortunately, current alliance dynamics don't really allow you to do be selective. I've decided not to play in a serious alliance so didn't get the alliance cover.

Unknown

Half hour till the end I decided that my place in the high 70s was secure for top 150, and impossible to grind to top 50, so moved over to the PVP / LRs.

Now I need 325HP before I can afford a new roster slot for the Doctor. Probably won't get one in time for his PVP though, so need to decide if I want to fire a character to make room or not. Been a long while since I did a full PVP with a loaner....

Unknown

Okin107 wrote:

I played this PVE 6/6 days except for the last 12hours and my sleep hours. I literally played while I was getting ready for work. Every 2.5 hours at work I was again playing. I did everything I could to stay at least T20. I was T10-T20 throughout the whole event and I knew I would get screwed those last 8 hours of the event because of the morning end time.

So, I grind my butt off up to ~150k points. I see myself sitting #8 or #9. I could not grind another refresh because I had to sleep in order to be fresh for work in the morning. Hoping for a miracle to stay in that T20, I wake up to find myself at #32.

All my effort playing the game like they DEMAND me to and what do I get? I was among the best scorers of this event and got kicked in the butt those last 8hrs. I finished T5 in all subs and #1 in the last sub and that did not count for nothing. Except from the personal satisfaction (If I can call it that) of being a top scorer, I was rewarded with literally ****.

1 cover from ranks and 1 from alliance. Both are green color and Otto is completely useless. But since he is going to be Essential in next PVE and I have to keep him. So, there goes the HP for the new slot. Not only I payed for a new slot (Which is OK because I can use it for more chars), I have to keep a useless character in that slot because YOU say so?

What if I don't want him? Well it is not up to me now is it? Next PVE you will show me I have no other choice but to keep him if I want to compete again. So instead of using some characters that i've played hard to level, I have to use this useless one that will be a -1 in any fight because of having no covers for him.

I seriously do not know what you people expect from us to do in order for you to clearly understand that we are SICK and TIRED of **** like this. I really want you to kindly tell me in which way and what means should I use to communicate that to you.

sorry to hear that, I Actually noticed the last 12hr there was hardly any scoring. perhaps everyone wants in the euro time zone, since I had a 12k lead over 10th heading into the final 12hrs and ended up with the same 12k lead just by doing my refresh, finished 2nd. For what ever reason the final 12 hrs in the first 3 sub was more chaotic due to rubberband I have no idea what happen and why the top 10 completely slowed down. Again it is probably because they were all Euro time zone based which worked in my favor as I live in North america.

anyways you can try to go after Doc's cover in PvP as they flip the rewards so you can still get his other colors..

Trisul

daibar wrote:

It really seems to be timing + roster + previous PVE results.

Timing and roster, definitely, with timing being the #1 factor by a LARGE margin. Devs had said that previous PvE results don't affect bracketing or scaling (though individual PvE wins/losses seem to?)

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

I just ran out of points and spousal patience at the end.

My spousal patience wall is more imposing than the 166 one.

kalirion wrote:

Now I need 325HP before I can afford a new roster slot for the Doctor. Probably won't get one in time for his PVP though, so need to decide if I want to fire a character to make room or not. Been a long while since I did a full PVP with a loaner....

If you PvE regularly at all and are limited in roster spots, it's a good idea to dedicate 1 spot to the rotating essential that you can toss after each event. Sucks to throw covers away, but if you're roster-slot-limited you don't really have a choice.