It's Hard to Get Excited Over New 4*s

Leugenesmiff

It's hard for me to get excited for new 4* covers (or even 3*s to an extent.) I try to appreciate the value of delayed gratification, but I'm on day 310 and have 9 X-Force, 5 (all yellow) Invisible Woman, and 0 Nick Fury covers. So possibly by MPQ's 3rd anniversary I'll have enough of the newly announced 4 s' covers for one of them to be playable (depending on ISO as well, of course.) Granted, I am a free to play player. I suppose I could pay the $400 or so it'd cost to get 10 covers and max out one of these guys, but I'm eyeing a new PS4 and have decided that for me the PS4 would provide more entertainment bang for my buck than a maxed Devil Dinosaur (Although it was close, DD does roar.)

Don't get me wrong. I love MPQ and am thankful to have such a fun, surprisingly deep, game to play for free. I just wish I could play with new characters much sooner than I am currently able. And I'd gladly pay to do so for some of my favorite characters, if only they'd make doing so a somewhat financially feasible and sensible option.

Unknown

It also has the unfortunate side effect that when you're someone like me, transitioning into the upper echelons of the 3* range, the alliances you want to be in expect high scores. And it's gone from teams of 3 solid 3*s around 800 to teams involving top tier 3*s and **** maxed-out Xforce and Fury. Which is so fair it makes me want to kill myself. And all the benefits go to those who can consistently score 1300 or win their brackets already. Lovely.

Unknown

Leugenesmiff wrote:

It's hard for me to get excited for new 4* covers (or even 3*s to an extent.) I try to appreciate the value of delayed gratification, but I'm on day 310 and have 9 X-Force, 5 (all yellow) Invisible Woman, and 0 Nick Fury covers. So possibly by MPQ's 3rd anniversary I'll have enough of the newly announced 4 s' covers for one of them to be playable (depending on ISO as well, of course.)

Don't get me wrong. I love MPQ and am thankful to have such a fun, surprisingly deep, game to play for free. I just wish I could play with new characters much sooner than I am currently able. And I'd gladly pay to do so for some of my favorite characters, if only they'd make doing so a somewhat financially feasible and sensible option.

I eventually dropped out of my raiding guild in WoW and eventually got jealous of people experiencing end-game content and getting epic loot that I couldn't get. It's the same thing here. However, F2P matters less than being willing to put in the time and playing extremely lean and smartly (with tourney timings and use of HP).

Words like "sensible" and "feasible" are context-sensitive: if you're going to be a casual player, then you're not going to get to the end-game content. Sounds like every other game out there. There are any number of people who put enough time into this game that the money they spend on it is the best value / time spent ratio available. For them, it's extremely sensible and feasible.

Though admittedly, I'm now in BPC's boat and I see at least one 230+ Wolvie in 3/4 of my possible fights.

Unknown

As long as Sentry is still #1 in PvP and Daken + Falcon is still #2 in PvE (there's usually some other duo that beats them varies depending on the event/enemy/scaling/buffs/nerfs) the cost to be competitive in either is no more than the cost of getting 2 3*s to max level.

Now if they actually put things that'd give an advantage for a deep roster there could be a problem, but this hasn't happened since the game started and it seems pretty safe to bet on this not happening for a while. The broken characters dominated their era for quite a long time in this game, long enough that based on historical evidence it's quite safe to go with the current broken 3* in whatever sphere of the game you're interested.

Unknown

Budget Player Cadet wrote:

It also has the unfortunate side effect that when you're someone like me, transitioning into the upper echelons of the 3* range, the alliances you want to be in expect high scores. And it's gone from teams of 3 solid 3*s around 800 to teams involving top tier 3*s and tinykitty maxed-out Xforce and Fury. Which is so fair it makes me want to kill myself. And all the benefits go to those who can consistently score 1300 or win their brackets already. Lovely.

I can agree with this. I recently made a fairly serious attempt to grab some of those 4* prizes, and I found that it's basically out of my reach. The only people capable of winning X-Force and Fury are the ones already using them. I've got some X-Force, a few IW, and one Fury. It's been quite a while since I've seen a new one. And now that X-Force is worth using, I'd like to pick up a few more. But I can't, because you need it to get it.

Basically, it's the problem of the disappearing middle class. Between 2* players and whales, there should be a contender class, transitioning from 3* to 4*. But that transitioning just isn't happening, because there's always an X-Man or this one guy with 93 character slots and every character twice, who has to perform for the whale team, so he's taking first place. And then the 1300 progression reward requires you to run a gauntlet of maxed out 4*s while shield-hopping. I've never made it that high.

So, yeah, as he said, all the benefits go to those guys as trophies, and there's nothing left for us. I won't say it isn't fair, because what's fair? Point is, it isn't fun.

scottee

Vertigozooropa wrote:

Budget Player Cadet wrote:

It also has the unfortunate side effect that when you're someone like me, transitioning into the upper echelons of the 3* range, the alliances you want to be in expect high scores. And it's gone from teams of 3 solid 3*s around 800 to teams involving top tier 3*s and tinykitty maxed-out Xforce and Fury. Which is so fair it makes me want to kill myself. And all the benefits go to those who can consistently score 1300 or win their brackets already. Lovely.

I can agree with this. I recently made a fairly serious attempt to grab some of those 4* prizes, and I found that it's basically out of my reach. The only people capable of winning X-Force and Fury are the ones already using them. I've got some X-Force, a few IW, and one Fury. It's been quite a while since I've seen a new one. And now that X-Force is worth using, I'd like to pick up a few more. But I can't, because you need it to get it.

Basically, it's the problem of the disappearing middle class. Between 2* players and whales, there should be a contender class, transitioning from 3* to 4*. But that transitioning just isn't happening, because there's always an X-Man or this one guy with 93 character slots and every character twice, who has to perform for the whale team, so he's taking first place. And then the 1300 progression reward requires you to run a gauntlet of maxed out 4*s while shield-hopping. I've never made it that high.

So, yeah, as he said, all the benefits go to those guys as trophies, and there's nothing left for us. I won't say it isn't fair, because what's fair? Point is, it isn't fun.

You don't need 4* characters to get that high. Having the right couple of 3*'s is enough. I only use my 200+ X-Force for fun at earlier stages, because I don't have 5 black yet. But for serious climbing, Thor is much more effective, and shield hopping requires Sentry/Hood.

I don't think the problem is the disappearing middle class. I think it's that as more and more of the player base gets a couple of 166's, there's essentially no where left to go, so you have all these maxed out 3*'s duking it out at the top. This makes it harder and harder to earn top 10 or top 25.

Seriously, I'd take max Thor/Hood/Sentry/Daken over max Fury/XForce any day.

Unknown

X Force can be slowed down by having a red character as your highest level character, like Thor or Sentry. Black (Daken or Punisher) usually works when attacking X Force but is often a terrible matchup defensively (they'll use Surgical Strike to kill the black strongest color and get 2 Surgical Strikes in a row).

Unknown

scottee wrote:

You don't need 4* characters to get that high. Having the right couple of 3*'s is enough. I only use my 200+ X-Force for fun at earlier stages, because I don't have 5 black yet. But for serious climbing, Thor is much more effective, and shield hopping requires Sentry/Hood.

I don't think the problem is the disappearing middle class. I think it's that as more and more of the player base gets a couple of 166's, there's essentially no where left to go, so you have all these maxed out 3*'s duking it out at the top. This makes it harder and harder to earn top 10 or top 25.

Seriously, I'd take max Thor/Hood/Sentry/Daken over max Fury/XForce any day.

But X Force synergizes better with The Hood than just about anyone else due to Surgical Strike's ability to eliminate one color completely which generally leads to Dormammu's Aid triggering on the 5 remaining colors.

Thor and Sentry are both strong against X Force because their strongest color is red, so the matchup is pretty even there assuming everything else is equal. Sure, the X Force player can sub in HT/Captain America, but then things get pretty interesting when you're deviating from the typical tried and true teams.

Nick Fury, on the other hand, is probably not as strong as Thor because his moves just take forever to use and the only strong threat is the blue.

Spoit

Realistically, you're at the mercy of the featured char for what your highest tile damage color is

scottee

Phantron wrote:

scottee wrote:

You don't need 4* characters to get that high. Having the right couple of 3*'s is enough. I only use my 200+ X-Force for fun at earlier stages, because I don't have 5 black yet. But for serious climbing, Thor is much more effective, and shield hopping requires Sentry/Hood.

I don't think the problem is the disappearing middle class. I think it's that as more and more of the player base gets a couple of 166's, there's essentially no where left to go, so you have all these maxed out 3*'s duking it out at the top. This makes it harder and harder to earn top 10 or top 25.

Seriously, I'd take max Thor/Hood/Sentry/Daken over max Fury/XForce any day.

But X Force synergizes better with The Hood than just about anyone else due to Surgical Strike's ability to eliminate one color completely which generally leads to Dormammu's Aid triggering on the 5 remaining colors.

Thor and Sentry are both strong against X Force because their strongest color is red, so the matchup is pretty even there assuming everything else is equal. Sure, the X Force player can sub in HT/Captain America, but then things get pretty interesting when you're deviating from the typical tried and true teams.

Nick Fury, on the other hand, is probably not as strong as Thor because his moves just take forever to use and the only strong threat is the blue.

XForce is certainly powerful, I'm just saying he's not insanely more powerful than the top 3*'s. My point was that you don't need leveled 4* characters to compete at the top.

Unknown

scottee wrote:

Phantron wrote:

scottee wrote:

You don't need 4* characters to get that high. Having the right couple of 3*'s is enough. I only use my 200+ X-Force for fun at earlier stages, because I don't have 5 black yet. But for serious climbing, Thor is much more effective, and shield hopping requires Sentry/Hood.

I don't think the problem is the disappearing middle class. I think it's that as more and more of the player base gets a couple of 166's, there's essentially no where left to go, so you have all these maxed out 3*'s duking it out at the top. This makes it harder and harder to earn top 10 or top 25.

Seriously, I'd take max Thor/Hood/Sentry/Daken over max Fury/XForce any day.

But X Force synergizes better with The Hood than just about anyone else due to Surgical Strike's ability to eliminate one color completely which generally leads to Dormammu's Aid triggering on the 5 remaining colors.

Thor and Sentry are both strong against X Force because their strongest color is red, so the matchup is pretty even there assuming everything else is equal. Sure, the X Force player can sub in HT/Captain America, but then things get pretty interesting when you're deviating from the typical tried and true teams.

Nick Fury, on the other hand, is probably not as strong as Thor because his moves just take forever to use and the only strong threat is the blue.

XForce is certainly powerful, I'm just saying he's not insanely more powerful than the top 3*'s. My point was that you don't need leveled 4* characters to compete at the top.

This is correct. All you need is Sentry

NorthernPolarity

Phantron wrote:

scottee wrote:

You don't need 4* characters to get that high. Having the right couple of 3*'s is enough. I only use my 200+ X-Force for fun at earlier stages, because I don't have 5 black yet. But for serious climbing, Thor is much more effective, and shield hopping requires Sentry/Hood.

I don't think the problem is the disappearing middle class. I think it's that as more and more of the player base gets a couple of 166's, there's essentially no where left to go, so you have all these maxed out 3*'s duking it out at the top. This makes it harder and harder to earn top 10 or top 25.

Seriously, I'd take max Thor/Hood/Sentry/Daken over max Fury/XForce any day.

But X Force synergizes better with The Hood than just about anyone else due to Surgical Strike's ability to eliminate one color completely which generally leads to Dormammu's Aid triggering on the 5 remaining colors.

Thor and Sentry are both strong against X Force because their strongest color is red, so the matchup is pretty even there assuming everything else is equal. Sure, the X Force player can sub in HT/Captain America, but then things get pretty interesting when you're deviating from the typical tried and true teams.

Nick Fury, on the other hand, is probably not as strong as Thor because his moves just take forever to use and the only strong threat is the blue.

Cmags red would like a word with you phantron in terms of what skill best synergizes with dormammus aid.

As for the ongoing discussion, i dont get why people cite fury when they complain about not being sble to compete with 4* rosters. Fury / xforce is just straight up worse than xforce / cmags or xforce / hood. Fury actually paints a huge target over the team in pvp: all of his abilities casting 10 just means that you just boost burst him down before he can cast any of them. The only characters you need to be competitive are sentry / hood, as you can see from the multitudes of xmen who literally just have those two characters maxed from spending money on them.

wymtime

With 4* characters achieving them is and should be hard. Yes not everyone can win the PVP, but strong 3* rosters willing to shield hop can grind and hop to 1300 points (yes with Sentry) to score 4* covers. In PVE if you are willing to grind you can win the 4* cover. It is less difficult play and very time consuming. I was in fighting for 1st place up until yesterday and I finally relented becuase as much as I want more X-Force I was too tiered from the grind. I will still end top 10 with over 170k points. Getting 4* characters is a simple choice do you spend the HP and ISO to boost and shield hop to 1300 in PVP, do you grind the heck out of PVE to be #1-2 or are you satisfied with a 3* roster and building them up. I currently choose to keep building my 3* team. I have the Sentry, LDaken, Hood team to hop as far as I want but I feel if I am constantly going for super high scores I will burn out. I am able to score between 800-1000 points fairly easy with spending under 150 HP. 4* can be had in PVP you do need the right characters, but it does come down to the time and effort you are willing to make in the PVP push.
As far as this post goes I do with Dino Devil would be a 3* mainly becuase I think he is really cool and I don't want to start grinding to 1300 to ean him. Again my choice not to grind in PVP to 1300.
For every player choose your path that fits your playstyle and personality. If you choose to gring to 1300 you will get 4* a lot faster than me. I am planning on continue to hit top 25 to top 10 in PVP earn HP and collect a lot of covers, collect as many progression's as possible and not burn myself out on the game.
I wish everyone good luck and great placement.

FaerieMyst

My point was that you don't need leveled 4* characters to compete at the top.

This is correct. All you need is Sentry

Although my husband raves on a daily basis about the wonders of X-Force, I have stubbornly stuck to my plan of getting most of my 3 fully leveled before I put serious ISO into the 4 characters. So I compete at the top with a 3 roster that does not regularly include Sentry. I will confess to finding the WR team up very nice after Patch's green.

I'm excited about a new 4 because it gives me something to achieve. X-Force and IW are fully covered. I only need a few more Fury covers. Only occasionally do I need the 3* covers offered in PVP now. I mainly score high to 1)enjoy the ego rush and 2)get the ISO to level up my characters. A new 4 means that I'll have reason more often to shoot for #1 or 1300. I won't always get it. I never play as well when I'm distracted or tired. On those occasions I try to be realistic.

MPQ is a game that supports many styles of play and degrees of intensity. It's understandable that excitement over any new character or feature will vary widely.