Ben Grimm wrote: I wish at this point that they'd just accept scaling in general as a failed experiment and go back to where things were: a variety of nodes that go from 10 to 395, spread out approximately evenly over each event, that people can grind to the best of their ability, but where points are such that someone hitting 7 of them consistently will beat someone hitting all of them irregularly. I remember a year ago seeing the top nodes and thinking "I'm not there yet, but I will be;" now I see them and think "don't level up my 4*s or they'll get worse."
Dragon_Nexus wrote: That suggests to me no-one wants to touch that sub event.
_RiO_ wrote: Phantron wrote: JVReal wrote: Phantron wrote: Was I playing a different game when doing the 3 essentials in Hard was enough to easily keep pace for top 10? The scaling on Simulator Basic has always been pretty nuts, but that also means you don't have to do as much because no one else is doing a full clear either, often because they don't have a choice. Maybe they shouldn't randomly vary the scaling so much but I think Simulator is quite good because it is precisely hard enough so that nobody can beat everything so you only have to be a bit better than everyone else instead of having to outgrind everyone else. It works out great that way for rank, but it sucks for such a high cost progression reward. I may stay in the top 150, but I don't know if all 150 will make it to 110K to get Yellow Patch. I got about 5000 points after one clear of everything. The last event the points model went 1/1.5/2X so let's use this model. The highest progression is 110K. If there are no rubberband whatsoever, then you'd have to clear (110K)/(5K * 1+1.5+2) = 6 cycles per sub. Now that's actually pretty hard for the average guy, but should be quite easy for the strongest players, so this means you will have rubberband (because top players can exceed this threshold). Historically the normal bracket tends to quickly double in value due to the significant rubberband compared to hard which makes them equal, so going back... 6 clears of normal + 6 clears of hard at base point = 18 clears of normal at base points. But since normal is likely to double in points, this means you only need 9 total clears of normal or hard in one sub (60 hours). This is not a trivial amount since even normal gets pretty hard, but is certainly within range. It doesn't give you much room to slack, though. I'm sorry? I thought we were playing a game? This sounds more like making hour estimates and scheduling work hours. Seriously; listen to what you're suggesting. Can you honestly and with a straight face accept that this be the level of commitment necessary for the one and only decent progression reward in the set? I could live with this if we had another 3* cover further down the chain and the final Patch yellow was an extra, but as it stands for basically anyone that is not top-dog (and thus is not even capable of being in the race for Cage covers), that final cover represents the only reason to play this event to begin with.
Phantron wrote: JVReal wrote: Phantron wrote: Was I playing a different game when doing the 3 essentials in Hard was enough to easily keep pace for top 10? The scaling on Simulator Basic has always been pretty nuts, but that also means you don't have to do as much because no one else is doing a full clear either, often because they don't have a choice. Maybe they shouldn't randomly vary the scaling so much but I think Simulator is quite good because it is precisely hard enough so that nobody can beat everything so you only have to be a bit better than everyone else instead of having to outgrind everyone else. It works out great that way for rank, but it sucks for such a high cost progression reward. I may stay in the top 150, but I don't know if all 150 will make it to 110K to get Yellow Patch. I got about 5000 points after one clear of everything. The last event the points model went 1/1.5/2X so let's use this model. The highest progression is 110K. If there are no rubberband whatsoever, then you'd have to clear (110K)/(5K * 1+1.5+2) = 6 cycles per sub. Now that's actually pretty hard for the average guy, but should be quite easy for the strongest players, so this means you will have rubberband (because top players can exceed this threshold). Historically the normal bracket tends to quickly double in value due to the significant rubberband compared to hard which makes them equal, so going back... 6 clears of normal + 6 clears of hard at base point = 18 clears of normal at base points. But since normal is likely to double in points, this means you only need 9 total clears of normal or hard in one sub (60 hours). This is not a trivial amount since even normal gets pretty hard, but is certainly within range. It doesn't give you much room to slack, though.
JVReal wrote: Phantron wrote: Was I playing a different game when doing the 3 essentials in Hard was enough to easily keep pace for top 10? The scaling on Simulator Basic has always been pretty nuts, but that also means you don't have to do as much because no one else is doing a full clear either, often because they don't have a choice. Maybe they shouldn't randomly vary the scaling so much but I think Simulator is quite good because it is precisely hard enough so that nobody can beat everything so you only have to be a bit better than everyone else instead of having to outgrind everyone else. It works out great that way for rank, but it sucks for such a high cost progression reward. I may stay in the top 150, but I don't know if all 150 will make it to 110K to get Yellow Patch.
Phantron wrote: Was I playing a different game when doing the 3 essentials in Hard was enough to easily keep pace for top 10? The scaling on Simulator Basic has always been pretty nuts, but that also means you don't have to do as much because no one else is doing a full clear either, often because they don't have a choice. Maybe they shouldn't randomly vary the scaling so much but I think Simulator is quite good because it is precisely hard enough so that nobody can beat everything so you only have to be a bit better than everyone else instead of having to outgrind everyone else.
raisinbman wrote: Dragon_Nexus wrote: That suggests to me no-one wants to touch that sub event. 2 things: -In my experience no one ever really touches "hard" subevents(or at least they don't successfully complete them for points), I guess if someone else would like to speak on consistently winning/being top 5 in one of these it might be different... -I normally just rubberband the last hour and qualify for a token, I'd assume others do the same. That or they just can't do the damn thing so its easy placement.
Scoregasms wrote: Question for the veterans, Hard Mode difficulty has ramped up significantly and I am only 6 hours in?!? Scaling seems to be increasing pretty quickly on it's own, is it worth to use ISO boosts in hard or will that just make the next pass even more absurd? Have not used them yet except for that damn Gorgon/Elektra/DD node (which just seems wrong with the last PVE, lol).
squirrel1120 wrote: Anyone beat hard sim 7? Have a team they liked? I keep looking at it going, nope...
Phantron wrote: Scoregasms wrote: Question for the veterans, Hard Mode difficulty has ramped up significantly and I am only 6 hours in?!? Scaling seems to be increasing pretty quickly on it's own, is it worth to use ISO boosts in hard or will that just make the next pass even more absurd? Have not used them yet except for that damn Gorgon/Elektra/DD node (which just seems wrong with the last PVE, lol). Simulator hard nodes tend to go up very fast so it's important to get whatever points you can get while they're still manageable. Whether you should use boosts or not depends on what you're aiming for. Most of these nodes are borderline iso 8 boost needed but if you're not going to be able to compete for say top 10 then there's no point to move up from #17 to #12, for example.
Scoregasms wrote: Phantron wrote: Scoregasms wrote: Question for the veterans, Hard Mode difficulty has ramped up significantly and I am only 6 hours in?!? Scaling seems to be increasing pretty quickly on it's own, is it worth to use ISO boosts in hard or will that just make the next pass even more absurd? Have not used them yet except for that damn Gorgon/Elektra/DD node (which just seems wrong with the last PVE, lol). Simulator hard nodes tend to go up very fast so it's important to get whatever points you can get while they're still manageable. Whether you should use boosts or not depends on what you're aiming for. Most of these nodes are borderline iso 8 boost needed but if you're not going to be able to compete for say top 10 then there's no point to move up from #17 to #12, for example. Thanks Phantron/john1620b! I am going for top 10 only (not 1st or 2nd). I'm relatively new, so this is my first run of this Simulator PVE. I did snag 1st in my Bracket in both recent PVEs (Prodigal Sun and Enemy of the State), so I'm willing to put in the work, but this just seems bat tinykitty crazy. The first 12-24 hours in the other PVE's were more intense as everyone was able to hit the refreshes, but this one feels different for sure. I'm currently in 1st with 10th having 8K below my score (basically half). The disparity at this point just seems magnified? Just trying to get a better understanding of how this PVE works and if folks really are only doing specific nodes only and skipping the rest. More importantly, trying to figure out what my effort should be to finish in the top 10 at the end of this marathon event. If folks are already tapping out now, this event only gets more difficult right? lol...
Phantron wrote: If you have a significant lead sometimes it's a good idea to go for the kill by getting a huge lead so that no one will even think about trying to sneak in some extra clears at the end. While all else being equal you should be able to hold your lead unless someone behind you is just way stronger and can grind like crazy toward the end when the node hits the 300+ range, usually someone who could do that have no reason to purposely put themselves in a disadvantageous position even with their roster. In the last Enemy of the State both I and the #1 had a 40K lead so the #3 guy never made a move in the final cycle. Now that's obviously way overkill but had that lead been say, 5K, you'd definitely expect the #3 player to make a move when some of the nodes are worth close to 4K, and although I'm pretty sure I can fend off any late charges, it's still best if your opponent don't make the late charge at all.