Late to the party (again)

ballingbees

Personally for me, the game always leaves me the feeling as if I've just missed the train.

Let's revisit one classic broken character, Classic Magneto with his infiniblue technique. Yes it was as broken as any broken moves go. Those who had him would undoubtedly have benefitted much from his reign. Either by being able to go past otherwise impossible PVE nodes to post high scores, or getting past otherwise daunting PVP battles. Either way, it would have helped in getting the bulk of the prizes, covers etc. Broken characters like this leads to much (ab)use and not surprisingly a main feature of too many a team sheet. Naturally, and rightfully so, he had to be balanced. Before him, there were Ragnorok with his infinigreen, and also Spiderman with his infinistun. Soon after it was Sentry and his bombing.

By joining late, I have had no access to these characters before they were fixed, so was never on the benefitting end of the gravy train. Now I've just managed to cover max Sentry, right after his nerf, so have decided against levelling him at all now, since it's pointless with the shield fix also on the horizon, it seems I've just missed the train yet again. Right now the next highspeed train seems to be pointing straight at 4*s, the X-force/4Thor/Fury combo. Those who have had the headstart in bombing their way to countless 1300pt rewards should already have this team ready, and the vast majority who do not, well.. it's just too bad, that's how the game goes. Have broken character = win.

Not sure how the guys around my team age are doing (at day228, never in 100alliance), this chasing the train thing is really tiring, and the vaulting just doesn't help. I'm pretty sure the 56% who started after Sept must be having it even worse. It's a fact that if you started the game early, it would have been much easier street by now, with the early days smaller token pool and access to the "broken" mechanics above. It sounds like I'm being jealous, well erm, somewhat, maybe. What I do have, is a bit of patience, and a very accommodating wife, and for that I am thankful.

So what do you think is the ticket to the next high speed train? It seems dead-on X-force right now, and since so many people use him, who knows it may be time to balance him yet again. Maybe Beast might have his X-force moment?

squirrel1120

Short of just buying them, there really isn't anything someone with a developing roster can really do to get him except pray for token drops... not the best method... or outright buy them. For me the latter will never happen, so I feel kind of resigned to always just being behind. I know exactly what you mean tho. I get halfway into building the best thing and it gets hit with a nerf hammer. Except c.mags. as one of the last 3*'s I needed then I got his first card after the nerf

Unknown

I've been looking at the teams I run into and outside of the obviously maxed out guys there aren't that many 5/5/3 X Forces. Yes there are a lot of X Forces out there but missing a green or black takes him down from his godlike status to merely pretty good. If it's 4/4/3 he's not even necessarily stronger than the average 3*.

Vhailorx

Yup, I think this is a very common sensation for the not-quite hardcore in any game with ongoing reward structure (like mmos). Unless you pay money, or spend quite literally ALL of your tie grinding, you will never be close to maxing out the rewards in any game. Someone else, however, will always be willing to do one or both of those things. And they will find and use all the end-game exploits, forcing the devs to add/change content (to say nothing of the fact that the devs need to keep the endgame evolving to keep veterans interested).

So basically I agree with your basic premise: it easy as a middle-class (not casual, but not whale) player in this game to feel like the finish line keeps moving just as you are starting to make real progress. And I don't expect anything about that to change any time soon.

wymtime

You migt be frustrated but you will eventually catch up. If you keep playing and can hit top 25 in PVP and are in a top 100 alliance you will earn the right hp and covers needed to compete.

Think of it like field of dreams. "If you keep playing, they will come."

Eddiemon

Why does the train matter?

I didn't have a Broken Loki (Broki)
I didn't have Rag when he was broken.
I did have a spiderman when he ruled PvE. Most time consuming character ever.
I didn't have a broken Magneto.
I didn't have a broken Sentry.
My X force only has 4 green covers.

And I could still finish high in any event. Combinations like Patch and Black Panther can still win most fights. Or Punisher/Spiderman. Even Storm/Magneto does fairly well out there.

Sure having a broken or the current best character helps, but there isn't a big void between that and being able to compete. Mind you I never invested the AP in shield hopping, so I've always been happy to settle for 800-900 scroes and move on.

Unknown

wymtime wrote:

You migt be frustrated but you will eventually catch up. If you keep playing and can hit top 25 in PVP and are in a top 100 alliance you will earn the right hp and covers needed to compete.

Think of it like field of dreams. "If you keep playing, they will come."

Compete for what? This wont get you 4* characters. At this point, the only way to get 4* covers is to already have those covers or pay $20 a piece for one. It doesnt make any sense at all.

wymtime

rooter wrote:

wymtime wrote:

You migt be frustrated but you will eventually catch up. If you keep playing and can hit top 25 in PVP and are in a top 100 alliance you will earn the right hp and covers needed to compete.

Think of it like field of dreams. "If you keep playing, they will come."

Compete for what? This wont get you 4* characters. At this point, the only way to get 4* covers is to already have those covers or pay $20 a piece for one. It doesnt make any sense at all.

So you down vote me for giving someone encouragement? I am F2P and have earned all the covers I have gotten. I ended up to buy 3 Xforce covers with HP I saved in order to be able to place higher in PVP and won the rest getting to 1300 points. This game is a match 3 game with an RPG element and I take pride in the fact that I have a full 3* roster and 2 cover maxed 4*. The fact of the matter is you can progress in this game if you keep playing and pushing yourself to score higher. You don't need a 4* character to shield hop. Does it help to have a maxed XForce, of course it does, but if you keep playing you will progress. You don't need Xforce to get top 25. You don't need 4Thor to get to top 25. Getting a lot of solid 3* characters will let you compete for top 10-25 in PVP with limited shielding. You might need to purchase some covers.

D3 stated they are bringing more 4* and are looking to make the transition easier than the 2-3*. I am skeptical but am willing to see how it goes. I would only dow vote someone who is being offensive so I won't down vote you for disagreeing with me and the fact that you think you need to pay to progress. In fact I feel bad for you if you truly feel that way.
Instead of down voting you I will agree to respect your opinion no matter how wrong you are!

Eddiemon

rooter wrote:

Compete for what? This wont get you 4* characters. At this point, the only way to get 4* covers is to already have those covers or pay $20 a piece for one. It doesnt make any sense at all.

I've picked up a grand total of 1 X Force from winning an event. I've picked up the rest from either daily rewards or tokens. There is no 'only way' unless you are impatient in which case yes, you must drop money to assuage your impatience.

But F2P players can get 4*s through normal grind if they so choose.

loroku

wymtime wrote:

You migt be frustrated but you will eventually catch up. If you keep playing and can hit top 25 in PVP and are in a top 100 alliance you will earn the right hp and covers needed to compete.

Think of it like field of dreams. "If you keep playing, they will come."

This is just not true.

Every two weeks the goalpost gets moved further away. It is impossible to catch up without spending money or getting insanely lucky. Maybe one day in this past this was true but now it is not.

squirrel1120

The rather annoying part of the situation is that I would have a nearly covered xforce if it wasn't for the fact that he sucked so badly before, and all the forum posters almost unanimously encouraged me to just sell his covers when i was coming up through the 2* phase. If I recall what I sold correctly, I'd only be 1 cover short of cover max. Then they turned Xfarce into a true Xforce, and there is just no way to get those covers back anytime soon. Haven't seen one for him in months.

At least with the newer players coming up through, those 3 xforce covers will actually mean something now, although I concede its only one small benefit in a sea of larger struggles. I know if I could give back the 3k iso for them right now, I certainly would.