If I knew at the beginning, what I know now -Rookie mistakes

lukewin

Let's hear some of your rookie mistakes, that you made before you knew any better. I went into the game without reading instructions (faqs), before reading any info on the forums, and just played based on what I saw. I'm primarily a mobile player, play it on my tablet, and phone when not in a wi-fi spot. On Day 154 right now. I opened a Steam account a month or so back, don't even play it daily (on Day 12, just got Thor Red cover). I'm not really serious about that account (haven't and probably won't join an alliance), and primarily use it to play on my 52" tv (via HDMI out on laptop) and enter into events to see where the bracket is, so I know when to join on my main account. Got a Yellow Nick Fury from the freebie Anniversary token, and I have a Hulk with a Red and Black cover from Heroic tokens (fortunate that the 2 3* covers I got, were for the same character). This makes going thru the game a lot easier, since they have a ton of health to survive. The mistakes I made below are on my mobile account. Hoping this thread informs, entertains, or other people can look back and know that they weren't the only ones that made these mistakes.

-May have spent HP on some of those first covers, don't really remember, because I didn't understand how often covers would come around, but I did think that having higher levels would be beneficial.

-I did not know that healthpacks regenerated, well into having some fully maxed and leveled 2*s. Don't remember if it was a PVP or a PVE I was trying to get a cover for, and just decided to start burning thru healthpacks. Got below 5, when I saw the counter, and that's when I realized that healthpacks regenerated.

-On the same note, I didn't know you could buy most boosts with ISO. I rarely used boosts, and all of mine were maxed at 30.

-I fully leveled a lot of 1*s and clung onto them for too long. Pretty sure I had maxed Iron Man, Storm, Black Widow, Hawkeye, and Juggernaut. I may have let some 1 cover 3*s go because I felt I had invested too much into my 1*s to let them go.

-Just to get more chances at 3*, I would buy standard tokens for 500 ISO. I had hit a wall, before I joined alliances for covers and HP, so I had a ton of ISO, with no one to level. Got almost to 300k ISO, at one point. There would be times I'd buy 20-50 standard tokens, til I hit a 3*. Wouldn't be surprised if I had spent over 300,000 ISO on standard tokens. I had tried to maintain a reserve of about 200k ISO.

-I joined and stuck with a public alliance, before going to the forum and finding an alliance that would benefit from my grinding. So I was winning 3* covers, but didn't have the HP to buy a new roster slot.

-I let 2 4* covers expire, EXPIRE meaning I didn't even get around to selling them for the ISO. Pretty sure it was an Xforce Green and an Invisible Woman Yellow. I think I got them from the last time the Simulator was a PVE. I was the best man for my friend's wedding, so that week we were busy. I think it was also the week where Colossus was introduced as a prize, so I didn't even get any of his covers from that event. I got one the next event, where he was a progression reward.

-I kept buying the Daily Deal of Anniversary tokens even though I kept getting 2*s. This one is more jokingly, but all of the ones I bought with HP, turned out to be 2*s. 50 HP = 250 ISO. I had decent luck at the end with the lightning round Anniversary tokens, but I had horrible luck in the beginning, with only getting 2*s.

-I would always immediately level my characters when I got a cover, since I had stockpiles of ISO. I say this is a mistake because being a 2* to 3* transitional player, I leveled them too soon. I think my first was bringing Sentry up to 104. As a 2* to 3* player, I am not going to be able to do too well in PVP. I aim for Top 100, just to get the 1 3* cover. By not soft capping my players, I am hurting myself where I can succeed, PVE, by scaling myself into higher level enemies. Since Sentry was leveled to 104, that is now my soft cap for 3* / 4* characters, just to be uniform. (Currently soft capped at 104 - Sentry, Captain America, Falcon, Devil Dinosaur, Nick Fury, hard capped at 104 - Hulk, hard capped at 102 - Black Widow, Magneto, She-Hulk, The Hood). In most PVEs, and most PVPs, I am still using 2*s, because my 3*s aren't covered well enough to do the damage needed to win. Having more health, but not the right powers, just means I'm prolonging a match I'm going to lose.

Unknown

1. During 2 star period: Leveled Moonstone. What a waste of ISO.
2. Sold an X force cover because I didn't have a space for him at the time and he was terrible. Really wish I had that cover back right about now...
3. During transition to 3 star: Leveled 3 *Human Torch. I haven't used him since.
4. Bought a Grey Suit Black Widow cover because I thought her green was incredible.
5. Stayed in a non competitive alliance for 3 seasons, despite putting up over 500 for the first and over 700 for the other two.
6. Sold a Hood Blue cover because I thought he was garbage. Low health, expensive yellow and weak black? Pass...Stupid.
7. Bought a heroic 10 pack. What a terrible waste of money.

CrookedKnight

Sold a BP cover because I didn't have room, when I still had 1* Hawkeye on my roster. At least it was a blue.

Unknown

Spending 50 hp each to buy 1-star Black Widow and 1-star Hawkeye (remember that screen when you first started?)

SHAME on me

ForgedSteel

Great write up. I've been hoarding my health packs and boosts. Now I can start using it freely. As for the boosts, how much do they cost? Are they all the same rate? Also how long does it take to regen health packs?

Orangecrush

The worst thing I did was buying tons of the 100 HP tokens when transitioning to 3 star. What a bargain, I thought.

Houtro

I spend the first two months thinking that when the downed countdown ended I would lose the cover... I so lost much much time!
And still spread a lot of

eaise

I have just gotten out of the rookie stage. And made several mistakes while in it. I sold lots of 2* covers because i got a 3* cover. It is higher levek so it has to be better is what i thought. I also didn't use the forums early on so i did not know which chatacters were good and which were bad. I sold one or two Patch covers. Which is terrible. Shortly after the devs pulled him out of the rotation though so i wouldn't have gotten far with him

homeinvasion

single heroic tokens cost less than a per token 42 pack... huh

lukewin

ForgedSteel wrote:

Great write up. I've been hoarding my health packs and boosts. Now I can start using it freely. As for the boosts, how much do they cost? Are they all the same rate? Also how long does it take to regen health packs?

Healthpacks regenerate every 36 minutes, I think, for a maximum of 5. If you get a daily resupply of +3, and yours is below 5, it will add 3 to the total, so instead of a max of 8, you will have however many you currently had, +3. The boosts cost 200 ISO for 5 for the 2 color ones (red/yellow, blue/pink, green/black, team up) and 150 ISO for 5 of the damage percentage ones (10% damage), if I'm not mistaken. There are boosts that cost HP, not ISO. Those would be the all colors, so the boosts that adds +1 of all colors and +20% match damage of all colors. I am pretty sure that those are generally used as progression rewards in PVP and/or PVE, so they do come around, but not as cheaply. You can hoard those for the times you really need them.

Unknown

lukewin wrote:

ForgedSteel wrote:

Great write up. I've been hoarding my health packs and boosts. Now I can start using it freely. As for the boosts, how much do they cost? Are they all the same rate? Also how long does it take to regen health packs?

Healthpacks regenerate every 36 minutes, I think, for a maximum of 5. If you get a daily resupply of +3, and yours is below 5, it will add 3 to the total, so instead of a max of 8, you will have however many you currently had, +3. The boosts cost 200 ISO for 5 for the 2 color ones (red/yellow, blue/pink, green/black, team up) and 150 ISO for 5 of the damage percentage ones (10% damage), if I'm not mistaken. There are boosts that cost HP, not ISO. Those would be the all colors, so the boosts that adds +1 of all colors and +20% match damage of all colors. I am pretty sure that those are generally used as progression rewards in PVP and/or PVE, so they do come around, but not as cheaply. You can hoard those for the times you really need them.

The pair 10% match damage boosts cost 100 ISO for 5

lukewin

Currently down to 16067 ISO, so even if I did want to level my guys, it's not happening.

-If you plan on playing long-term, you may want to cover max some of the 2*s for their usefulness, but not level them if you plan on ditching them in the long-term, to save your ISO for players you plan on keeping. This might be hard to do, resisting to level guys you have cover maxed, to max out the damage dealt.

I have 10 cover maxed, fully leveled 2*s, but if I didn't finally, and I mean FINALLY, have enough roster slots (currently 42), then I would ditch a few of them in a heartbeat now. I have Ares, Black Widow, Captain America, Daken, Hawkeye, Human Torch, Magneto, Storm, Thor and Wolverine. Captain Marvel is currently 1/5/1, maxed at level 49.

Ares, Human Torch, Thor and Wolverine are great as complimentary damage dealers, but I don't need all 4 of them. Human Torch would probably be the first to go because unless someone is taking damage for him, he usually bites it before his powers become useful.

Magneto and Storm are my go to team, to quickly breeze thru matches in PVE and PVP. They suck on defense in PVP. They are must haves on my roster.

Captain America would likely be the first to go, but my Steve Rogers isn't covered well enough to fully replace 2* Cap. 2* Cap is often featured in PVEs, so he does serve a purpose, and can overwrite countdown tiles.

Hawkeye is more of a luxury character, and I could live without him. When he had his old pink powers, he was one of my most used, as he could survive the rounds and deal damage, while my rotation of tanks were losing a lot of damage. His speed shot power now, helps to take down the higher level enemies or ends rounds quicker for the lower level guys. I sold Hawkeye for ISO and HP after they revised him, mainly because I knew I could get him back in the future (would not sell a 3* for ISO and HP, their covers don't come as often), but wouldn't get the chance to get HP that easily. I did lose out on all the ISO I had pumped into him, and would have to do it again, but ISO comes around a lot more often than HP does.

Black Widow is a must have as well. She compliments my tanky characters and prolongs their stay in matches, allowing them to deal major damage.

Daken was the last 2* I got, because I never had roster slots for him. I tried to build him multiple times, but had no problem letting him go (since he wasn't ever fully leveled or cover maxed) for a 3*. After his buff, he is one of my best 2*s. He serves the same function as Black Widow, although he can deal some damage himself, if the conditions are right. He also can regain his health back a lot quicker by prologue healing.

Breakdown of 3*s / 4*s, how many covers I have for each (level/possible level)

11 - Sentry (104/140)
10 - Captain America (104/127)
9 - Falcon (104/114)
8 - Hulk (104), Black Widow (102), She-Hulk (102)
7 - Magneto (102), The Hood (102), Captain Marvel (91), Spider-Man (89)
6- Human Torch (81), Wolverine Patch (81), Black Panther (78), Iron Man (78)
5 - Devil Dinosaur (104/131), Nick Fury (104/111), Daken (76), Punisher (76), Thor (68), Doctor Octopus (66)
4 - Psylocke (66), Blade (55)
3 - Invisible Woman (90), Wolverine X-Force (90), Dr. Doom (32), Beast (53), Ragnarok (53), Storm (53), Deadpool (45)
1 - Colossus (40), Daredevil (40)

Unknown

Discovered the forums quite early, since I was trying to play the first (I think) Thick as Thieves and I didn't understand if it was normal with my 5-characters roster to get l100+ enemies.

In the meantime though I did the following mistakes:

- spend HP on the starting Hawkeye and mBW
- spend 100 more HP for a Heroic daily deal - bargain! And I even got the amazing Bag-Man! Awesome! I'm invincible!
- open every token I could, making some good 2* go to waste
- actually think that IM35's blue was the BEST POWER EVAH!!!
- spent two days without understanding the regeneration mechanics of health packs (but looking at other comments in this thread looks like I've had it better than others)

IlDuderino

Put iso into Bagman

Chrono_Tata

lukewin wrote:

-I did not know that healthpacks regenerated, well into having some fully maxed and leveled 2*s. Don't remember if it was a PVP or a PVE I was trying to get a cover for, and just decided to start burning thru healthpacks. Got below 5, when I saw the counter, and that's when I realized that healthpacks regenerated.

So this. I actually never found out until my sister who used to play at the time told me.

I actually had a pretty developed 2-star roster by the time I found that out. Those were the good old days before True Healing.

Unknown

I can honestly say it was only Season 4 start by the time I learned of health pack regeneration. How it took me that long and I still got somewhat respectable placings is beyond me

Unknown

Maxed Yelena.
Spent money to buy covers for Rag. (because one week later he's been nerfed).

GrumpySmurf1002

When I first started, I had no idea PvE was a competition, nor that PvP was even a thing. I was mostly playing prologue, clearing stuff until I ran out of health, then would put the game down for the day. In some ways, that was a better time.

I thought the PvE was just a limited time prologue, so i'd play it the same way, clear the node once and move on. I saw the 'essentials,' and didn't have a Rogers, so I ignored it. Then I finally got one from tokens, and another PvE popped up. But he wasn't essential any more, so I dumped him. Also dumped Hood, Loki, Rags, and I don't remember now who else under similar logic.

That was roughly the first 60-70 days for me. Then I found the forums, read Polarity's guide and a few other key posts, and realized I'd screwed up the way I built. Instantly sold my maxed Yelena and Venom, and my semi-levelled Bag Man.

I do also remember playing the Shield Sim (before Seasons started) and thinking that was the 'training' mode for the game.

Unknown

Worst thing I ever did was sell a half covered Sentry because i thought he was a stupid teamkilling character.

Unknown

my lessons

-never buy 10x/42x packs
-never buy health packs (unless your 1-2 battles away from achieving something)
-only boost in the last 12+ hrs to avoid increase mmr during pve
-never max 166 or 270 levels to stay within a lower scaling bracket
-always join late or later...for PvE or PvP to reduce competitiveness
-build a 2nd character who you use 90% of the time, I regret selling 3 extra Ldaken covers
-only pull silver recruit if you come away empty handed with event or heroic tokens 3-4 in a row
-your first 3* team should be a solid defensive deterrent, built the ones you often skip in PvP

babinro

1) I would not have bought that $99.00 Nick Fury steam bundle that comes with a bunch of ISO and HP. Purchasing ISO is a waste.

2) I would have learned the benefits of farming seed teams in LR's right from the start

3) I'd have leveled up Juggernaught rather than Modern Black Widow

4) I'd have leveled up Ares rather than Marvel NOW Magneto

5) I wouldn't have spent HP on most of my *** cover's with exception to my initial purchases on Thor to get me to top tier (at the time). Buying 2x anger covers, buying 3x ldaken covers, and buying the occasional one cover to finish off other characters was not worth it long term since you'll just have another PvP with them inside 3 months. That 10,000 ish HP would have been much better spent on roster slots

6) I'd have made joining a top 100 alliance an absolute priority

7) I wouldn't have spent ISO leveling all my *** characters as I found covers for them during the ** to *** transition. Having Daredevil as my best *** covered character with ~105 levels didn't help me at all. In the long run, it would have been better to save that ISO for character I new were useful. At the time I had no idea that ISO was the games TRUE bottleneck.