Combined Arms - Jan 5 - 7

Unknown

I usually do Slice 1 for this time of week and it's probably middling - I think, since it's the only viable time for most people in the Americas with work/school at a normal time, it may be slightly overrepresented.

Unknown

Hey guys,

Something odd happens from time to time and I want to ask if anyone else has this experience.

I'm trying to break into the 600 mark and I'm on 577 and have the chance to win 23 points (577 + 23 = 600 right?), but on completing this fight successfully I end up with 599 points.

How is simple addition calculated here?

Bowgentle

JusticeB wrote:

Hey guys,

Something odd happens from time to time and I want to ask if anyone else has this experience.

I'm trying to break into the 600 mark and I'm on 577 and have the chance to win 23 points (577 + 23 = 600 right?), but on completing this fight successfully I end up with 599 points.

How is simple addition calculated here?

Points are calculated on the points your intended target has when you queue him up.
If he loses points or you gain points, it shows more points than you actually will get.

squirrel1120

Jugs, tinydaken and patch are a nice climb team. I wish my bp had more than 2 black covers. Someday. May try the combo with juggs n obw anyway. Every other 3* that's decently leveled has a red i'd rather not go off over headbutt.

I picked up venom so I can attempt the devour of a full juggs or hulk, but that's best done in bop I think.

Moon Roach

Alack and alas my 5/5 Juggernaut is level 1 for Balance of Power.

Anyone running Yelena, Bagman and Beast, just to see if they can?

Unknown

Moon Roach wrote:

Anyone running Yelena, Bagman and Beast, just to see if they can?

Just to see if they can lose in less than 10 turns?

Moon Roach

Although a level 101 5/5/ Juggernaut isn't much worse than a level 140 5/5 Juggernaut, I still can't bring myself to use him.

So instead my 1/2/3 are Black Widow (2/5), Thor and Daken.

Seems to work quite well.

JamieMadrox

I'm mostly Juggs OBW Thor. Sitting pretty in first and just about to cross 900 points in time slice 1. I have exactly 100 on second.

Unknown

I've been running Patch/Baby Daken/Venom for the climb, and replacing Patch with Thor for my defensive team. So far, defensive wins are outnumbering losses, which is nice. Primarily aiming for top 25; anything beyond is gravy.

scottee

I'm in slice 5, but are people seeing far less shields because of the change?

Though I know we won't see the full effect of the shield timer until the next Season starts. Or if Luke Cage is the next PVP prize.

Unknown

scottee wrote:

I'm in slice 5, but are people seeing far less shields because of the change?

Though I know we won't see the full effect of the shield timer until the next Season starts. Or if Luke Cage is the next PVP prize.

There's a negative feedback cycle of using less shields leads to even less shields and the current scores are incredibly low but I'm sure people will just say that's because they're currently not playing despite having one of the better 3* offered for the reward.

Moon Roach

I didn't even start playing properly until The Simulator finished, and I guess a few people are doing the same.

Unknown

Phantron wrote:

scottee wrote:

I'm in slice 5, but are people seeing far less shields because of the change?

Though I know we won't see the full effect of the shield timer until the next Season starts. Or if Luke Cage is the next PVP prize.

There's a negative feedback cycle of using less shields leads to even less shields and the current scores are incredibly low but I'm sure people will just say that's because they're currently not playing despite having one of the better 3* offered for the reward.

I'm guessing that the off-cycle event is contributing, the Simulator is consuming a lot of time, and there's probably just a lot of uncertainty due to the shielding change. We may see craziness at the three-hour mark; it may be like this until the end. Slice 1 (which I'm in) also usually isn't super-crazy or anything, though I wonder where people generally are on this one.

Bowgentle

I haven't even picked an end time for this, I might even sit this out completely, since my Blade is fully covered. Seasons will be back in 68 hours anyway, so might as well enjoy the very very _very_ short break.

If the next PVE is for Cage rewards, I'll... I don't even know. Sob quietly, probably.

NorthernPolarity

vudu3 wrote:

Is slice 1 (ends 10:00 PM Eastern on Tuesday) typically an easy one for placement rewards for the mid-week event? I usually join slice 4 (ends noon eastern on Wednesday) but I'm trying to put in the least amount of effort required to get top 25.

Just think of slice difficulty as a function of how many US players can play the game at any given time. The ones that end 1AM EST tend to be the hardest ones: east coast players can play then, and its prime time for west coasters at 10. 4AM EST is dead (half of the US is asleep), afternoons are normally dead (half the US is at work), and mornings 9 EST or before are dead for sure (half the US is still asleep).

Unknown

Ben Grimm wrote:

Phantron wrote:

scottee wrote:

I'm in slice 5, but are people seeing far less shields because of the change?

Though I know we won't see the full effect of the shield timer until the next Season starts. Or if Luke Cage is the next PVP prize.

There's a negative feedback cycle of using less shields leads to even less shields and the current scores are incredibly low but I'm sure people will just say that's because they're currently not playing despite having one of the better 3* offered for the reward.

I'm guessing that the off-cycle event is contributing, the Simulator is consuming a lot of time, and there's probably just a lot of uncertainty due to the shielding change. We may see craziness at the three-hour mark; it may be like this until the end. Slice 1 (which I'm in) also usually isn't super-crazy or anything, though I wonder where people generally are on this one.

But everyone said they're not playing the Simulator!

I'm sure the hard bracket's ability to suck up all your health pack has an impact but unless you're fighting for top 10 you don't have to be hitting the hard bracket at a pace that'd eat up all your available health packs. Combined Arms tend to have lower score but that never stopped people from shield hopping just because they can in the past. Of course now you can't just shield hop if you feel like it and since there aren't other people with similarly high scores to hit that gives people even less incentive to try to get past 900 which is about the limit you can do in an environment without shields. Note that while you can easily get past 900 without shields once enough other people are past that, someone else has to get past that first for you to piggyback on their success and looking at the alliance top scores, it's pretty clear nobody is interested in being the guy that 'takes one for the team', so to speak, and why should you when your bracket's top score is likely 900 and you can just stay shielded the whole time and deny your opponents a chance to catch up?

Unknown

So I thought something was funny when I started playing this event, and finally realized it: I've never seen Jugg's tile icon because I've never used him before this, lol.

Also, I hope folks don't scramble for points for this event - I'm #10 at 392 pts. Kind of awesome.

PuceMoose

Yep knock on wood the points seems back to sane levels for this event - instead of 1200+ for top 10, my bracket is showing 680+ for top 10. I picked the first time slice. I'm currently 15th with 657 points. I've used 266 Patch / 194 Ares / 111 Juggernaut almost exclusively, though I did swap OBW for Ares when he took a hammerin' and Lazy Daken for Patch when he suffered through three enemy abilities and a team up power in the same turn due to an epic enemy cascade.

Ryz-aus

Hit 800 points and I don't really need the covers for a high placement so I think I will just stop and see where I end up.

Seeing ace of blades in the top few alliances is disorienting - where are all the spenders in this one?

Unknown

Ryz-aus wrote:

Hit 800 points and I don't really need the covers for a high placement so I think I will just stop and see where I end up.

Seeing ace of blades in the top few alliances is disorienting - where are all the spenders in this one?

The spenders already have a fully covered Blade, aren't interested in yellow IW and will save HPs for the next season.