Two months in: My Impressions

AaronTheLuigi

Hello. I'm a new (completely free) player who joined near the start of October 2014, and as I near my 60th day with MPQ, there are some things I've noticed from both the game and from viewing the forums.
I was introduced to this game by Seasick Pirate during the anniversary event, when basic Iso-8 rewards went from 20 to 40 (Please bring that back!), and the prologue gave me hopes for this game. I love the concept behind putting combat elements in a match-three game featuring Marvel Heroes. I worked my way through most of the prologue missions in two months, having just beat Ragnarok after getting +6 and double damage boosts, keeping him in a Widow's Sting lock. Won't be trying that again for a while.
I'm in an alliance consisting of a spectrum of players, from starting out to building *** characters. We manage around 3200 place finished in most of the events, so some Iso and Tokens for all of us, which holds us all over. I've also dabbled in some PvP and PvE, most recently finishing top 150 in the Rocket & Groot PvE. I've begun to build ** characters (and a few ***) with the following roster:
55 **Thor, 4/3/1
50 * Iron Man, 5/5/3
50 * Storm, 5/5/3
50 *** Doctor Doom, 2/0
40 * Black Widow, 5/5
40 * Hawkeye, 5/5 (What? I like his controlled tile elimination.)
40 *** Captain Marvel, 1/1/0
40 *** Rocket & Groot, 0/1/1
31 ** Wolverine, 4/3/1
25 ** Captain Marvel, 1/2/2
23 ** Daken, 1/0/2
23 ** Magneto, 3/1/0
18 ** Ares, 1/1/1
15 ** Black Widow, 1/0/1
15 ** Human Torch, 1/1/0
15 ** Storm, 1/2/0
Several of my ** can get some Iso right now, but I'm saving up for Wolverine to jump to Thor's level when I feel he's ready. Near the end of the prologue, I had two main teams: Iron Man/Storm/Hawkeye, and Thor/Widow/Doom, but soon I might get more diverse with the teams I use.
Right now things feel like they're slowing down for me. Only a few of the most difficult prologue missions are ones I'll be replaying for 500 Iso/Recruit Tokens, but between the Rerun of Rocket & Groot with no real rewards for me and finding myself against a wall of Lv. 94's in the shield simulator there isn't much else I can do. It's even becoming harder for me to work on Lightning Rounds, because almost all the seed teams I get have three covers for the featured character I don't have, as well as the PvP events where I struggle to break 200 points.
While I like the game, I wish there was more story content, or a tweaked matchmaking where I can fight opponents who aren't maxed ** Storm/Widow/Wolverine teams.
I've seen people's issues with Roster Slot costs, and I have to agree with their gripes. I get there is a profit for D3 to make, but my only guaranteed source of HP is the other 50 to collect from Ragnarok, or the sporadic Daily Rewards giving me 25/50. I just edged out Ragnarok in a hurry to get up to 600 for three slots, but now I'm finding 500 HP for two is my next goal.
I also understand concerns over goon-feeding nodes in PvE. Few things are less fun than seeing Mystique's Infiltration/Shapeshift go off every other turn when she's got the Iso-8 Brotherhood at her side. However, no goon gives me more frustration than Maggia Muscles. I consistently lose to Lv.27 Muscles even with maxed Iron Man/Storm/Hawkeye because the board has a consistent drought of yellow tiles and the strike tiles they create at Lv.30 are far superior to a maxed Lazy Daken's.
Overall, I like this game but wish there was a little more progress to make at the free player's level. Definitely far from the worst match 3 game/F2P game I've played, but I also see frustrations that try to bring me closer to adding money to my Steam Wallet.

scottee

Playing PVP matches (under the Versus tab) gives you a chance to win 2* covers automatically. Playing those will allow you to build your 2* roster very quickly. You don't have to win great rewards in the events, just win matches. Lightning rounds, events. At least get the early basic recruit tokens and progression rewards.

You're right to build up Thor and Wolverine. Also work on 2* Black Widow. Then check back in on the forums when you get stuck at that point, because that's where a LOT of people are stuck.

Unknown

The character section was a vital source when I was around that level.

I will say many many people want more solo things to do in this game. Whether it's an extended prologue (or just rename to something else) Sometimes going at your own pace is a lot more fun/relaxing. The gauntlet brings this pace but not the rewards.

The beauty of the original puzzle quest games is that they were always pick up and play when you have time, - not mold your life around the games arbitrary schedule and ending times.

It's a fun game but it becomes highly redundant with some new options

Unknown

When you're in low(ish) MMR land, joining PvP events very late can sometimes get you a much higher ranking than you'd get otherwise. It's a gamble, but can pay off nicely while you're transitioning.

In terms of developing into a 3* roster, your priorities ought to be true healing types like Patch and 2* or 3* Daken to accompany the featured 3* in PvP events. Self-healing characters make a massive difference to your ability to grind up to ranking spots.

GrumpySmurf1002

Your best with the Lightning rounds is to have the game loaded when they start. That will get you the seed teams you can beat instead of the big boy rosters.

It's definitely too early to be competitive for anything, but as long as you keep clearing battles where you can, between regular drops and tokens, you should be able to build up quickly.

If you haven't already, read through Northern Polarity's guide in the tips forum, this helps immensely: viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3939

_RiO_

DrUnpleasant wrote:

Self-healing characters make a massive difference to your ability to grind up to ranking spots.

That and a competent Spidey: healing from yellow, averting kill skills by using blue stun to redirect AP use to a different AI character and an easy way to quickly raise protect tiles with his purple.

DrNitroman

Thanks for sharing your impressions it's not easy to figure how new players experience the game.
You already have received many useful advices. I totally agree that for the moment your focus should be to level a 2* team

To manage roster slot, If you don't want to sell 3* covers pulled from tokens but you don't have enough hp to open new slot, the best thing to do is to not open token until you have hp for new slots. Covers expired in a week but token can be stored indefinitely.
It's very hard to resist the urge to open tokens but at your level the hp don't flow a lot while there is still many character that you don't own. Odds to pull a new character from a token are significant.

To be fair, it was during my first 3 months that I spent money (probably 30€ cumulated) to avoid selling new cover
(Note that I didn't really have remorse: I played MPQ a lot this year so I was happy to support game development)

AaronTheLuigi

Thanks for the advice you all have given me. Glad to know the boards are supportive for newcomers.
I've been encouraged to use my tokens but I always wait until the roster has room, and stop when I'm at max capacity. Plus, in the later chapters of the Prologue, I've avoided some missions awarding covers I don't need. (I have unbeaten prologue missions to help me build Juggernaut, Venom, Yelena and Bag-Man should the need arise.)
Also, thanks for the advice on my current goals. Looks like I'll focus in on PvP. The healing mechanic, even with regenerating health packs, is a deterrent from me taking a gamble, but I'll try to be more open. Worst case scenario I drop a few points and get a slightly more winnable battle later on. My Daken, even under-powered, is a good complement to my Wolverine, and their accelerated healing makes losses easier to swallow. Also, there's a mission in Oscorp that has a 65 Venom and two 45 Grenadiers I didn't attempt yet, and winning it gives me 1 of each of Daken's covers, so there's a good revisiting point if I can work on my other 2-stars.
At least I have a focus to decide which events are worth me pursuing and which I can leave alone. (I can live without Gamora, so I'm only hopping in the Rocket & Groot Rerun for Iso/Tokens). Again, thank you, and I'll be sure to revisit the boards with the dreaded to transition.
(Before I forget, yes, my Hero Points only go to Roster Slots.)

PuceMoose

_RiO_ wrote:

DrUnpleasant wrote:

Self-healing characters make a massive difference to your ability to grind up to ranking spots.

That and a competent Spidey: healing from yellow, averting kill skills by using blue stun to redirect AP use to a different AI character and an easy way to quickly raise protect tiles with his purple.

Yep I can agree with this - Spiderman's purple is an excellent climbing benefit in the low/mid tier range - heck, in the recent PvP Fresh Cuts I ran Psylocke, Spiderman, Falcon and was only attacked seven times, and I successfully defended against four of those! Granted, we're talking mid tier 500 - 700 points here, so this low-health team is not going to survive a Sentry or X-force bomb, but still - surprisingly effective in the mid tier. Sometimes an irritating team can make your opponent make miscalculations I expect, out of sheer annoyance (TinyKitty, a purple match followed by two yellow-match cascades? Now there's three 300+ protect tiles on the board!? TINYKITTY!! SUB-OPTIMAL RAGE MATCH)

Seasick Pirate

Welcome to the forums, and to the MPQ forums!

Being able to see this game with fresh eyes, I think you might be a source of information for other forum members, as well as possibly the developers.
For instance, we've seen a recent boom of new characters. You started during the game's anniversary week celebrations, so that means you've personally seen the introduction to 7 new characters (right? one 2-star, four 3-star, and two 4-star). As a newcomer, do you find the current cast of characters as a daunting task ahead of you?

For many of the old timers here, the game has become "get-the-next-new-character-so-you-can-get-the-next-new-character-so-you-can..." And I've seen a few people in here say if they had started the game now they'd quit before long, once they discovered how "far behind" they were.
How do you perceive the game and what are your ultimate goals for building a roster?

Not trying to be cynical or turn you jaded like so many others here. Just curious how someone in your position feels about MPQ so far.

AaronTheLuigi

Seasick Pirate wrote:

Welcome to the forums, and to the MPQ forums!

Being able to see this game with fresh eyes, I think you might be a source of information for other forum members, as well as possibly the developers.
For instance, we've seen a recent boom of new characters. You started during the game's anniversary week celebrations, so that means you've personally seen the introduction to 7 new characters (right? one 2-star, four 3-star, and two 4-star). As a newcomer, do you find the current cast of characters as a daunting task ahead of you?

It is daunting, because Rocket & Groot is the only new character I've nabbed near their debut, and they still need a lot of work. I did get a Mystique cover at one point from, I think the PvP with her, but had no use/space for her so I had to sell her for Iso. Plus, they're all + characters, meaning they're top-tier rewards I can't consistently nab. Rocket & Groot I only got through progression rewards, Captain Marvel's 2 covers came from a Token and my top 150 placement in R&G, and Doom came from a Token and Daily Reward. Right now I feel like I'm feeding off of the scraps, with the mindset of intentionally getting a good-but-not-great position in events so I can get more reliable 's. I nabbed another Call the Storm for Thor, so I can bring him up to 62, but other than him it's going to be crossing my fingers in the upcoming events. It's weird feeling tortured by Juggernaut, Venom and Yelena of all people in the prologue, only to see they're not viable members to someone with no roster space to spare, and seeing many characters never mentioned in the prologue being next-to-essential for competition in the limited-time events.

Seasick Pirate wrote:

For many of the old timers here, the game has become "get-the-next-new-character-so-you-can-get-the-next-new-character-so-you-can..." And I've seen a few people in here say if they had started the game now they'd quit before long, once they discovered how "far behind" they were.
How do you perceive the game and what are your ultimate goals for building a roster?

Not trying to be cynical or turn you jaded like so many others here. Just curious how someone in your position feels about MPQ so far.

I've seen the frustration of back-to-back character releases (Especially yours). Personally, I wish the characters with 2 covers got their third, and the weaker characters (I hear Bag Man, Moonstone, & Beast are too situational/ineffective) got overhauls to keep them up to speed with the likes of OBW, Classic Storm, Patch, and any version of Thor. It'd be more beneficial than pumping out more characters to clog the Token drops and create further divides in the player base. The ultimate end-game, I imagine, would be to have each character maxed out, but that's shooting for the galaxies beyond the galaxies beyond us. Realistically, I'd like to have 3-4, maybe not maxed, but around Lv. 133 characters, giving me good builds for each color, which would likely take until the middle of next year at the very least. That being said, while building off my existing Doom, Marvel and R&G could be a start, I'm still short a skill, and I suspect Doom/Marvel would only get me so far into land. I know Classic Spider-Man took a nerf in his healing some time ago, but he's got a cheap stun that helps his healing, and the protect tiles could work wonders. Falcon could also fill a utility/protect role with the same colors. No end-game players, I presume, but they'd definitely help the transition. I'm not sure what 3 would be the best to work on.

If I had to come up with an analogy about the meta, if you will, it's like if the middle class of players were phased out. The top 50-150 in each PvE are primed for the same finish with the next event, and so on, but if you miss a beat the climb to catch up from the low-to-high class becomes daunting, especially with Rocket & Groot, Lady Thor, and (presumably) Gamora having excellent abilities putting them on par with the cream of the / crop.

Having a prologue as a beginner kept me engaged even if I found myself out-matched in the PvP/PvE, but with nowhere else to turn right now I have to weather the storms that are high-demand events. I remember Juggernaut: Heroic not being too much of a problem, because no one on my roster was over Lv. 25, and I had just completed the normal Juggernaut Prologue, but hearing the veterans like you say it was a nightmare and begging D3 never to run it again makes me think PvE is more bearable the weaker overall you are. That being said, the above paragraph on new releases is daunting for new players, especially without an expanded prologue to keep you up to speed with at least the majority of you'll encounter outside of the Prologue