A f2p journey to 1300 points and lessons learned
RemoDestroyer
Posts: 277 Mover and Shaker
A f2p journey to 1300 points and lessons learned.
Disclaimer: this isn't about whether or not the developers and publishers deserve monetary compensation or from who. This also isn't about the merits or value of free to play players to the game.
This is the tale of my journey to 1300 points in Unholy Outlaw in a land of shield cool downs and time slices. I am a member of F2P Veterans alliance and a MPQ player nearly since the Android launch. For better or worse I have yet to spend any real world money or Google credit on this game.
So I open the event tab and see that a Power Surge cover is the 1300 point progression reward and decide I want it. Typically this hasn't been a big deal. I've done it enough times before for other covers. Since time slices have been implemented I'm pretty sure the last slice is the one I want and now that the shields have 8 hour cool downs I would also have to start relatively early. Sure enough I found The Crewsaders and some other familiar names and think I'm off to a good start.
Usually the goal is to get pretty close to 1000 points before using the first shield. I got to 836 before hitting a wall of 270s worth less than 15 points a match. I shielded for 3 hours in 2nd place with 42 hours remaining. At this point I think I might not play when the shield expires and just reshield while the heavy hitters do the hard work and accumulate points increase the value of my matches.
As that shield comes close to expiring I break and stay out too long. While I win my 2 attacks and see the post match score progress bar get to 893 I return to the main screen to find out the defense lost 2 and I net 15 points during that hop. Now I shield for 8 hours in 5th place with 851 points and 39 hours remaining.
At this point my confidence in getting to 1300 points is low due to waiting out the cool downs. I start thinking I may be better off cutting my hp losses here at 225 and settling for whatever I can get without shields.
About eight hours later I start playing again and win 3 27+point matches but the defense got hit twice by the same person for - 59. I netted +51. I don't know why but I shielded for another 3 hours. 300hp spent now. I really need to just cut my losses now before my spending gets out of control. And I pulled Hawkeye from the 900 point progression token.
Three hours later I get greedy and play 3 nice matches netting only +27 points from the hop. During that time a player named Heavydudy2 managed to successfully attack me 4 times to gain 134 points. 30 of those were after the next shield was put up so I only lost 104. I'm in 5th with 929 points. I'm 44 points ahead of 6th now and purple Doom is looking unlikely. Less than 400 points away from 1300 but not sure if I can or should attempt it. Almost 28 hours remain and I'm out 450 hp in this experiment now.
Eight hours later I hopped again. I win 3 matches and the defense loses 3 for - 67 against whatever I gained. The defense did win 1 for +31 though. Of the 4 attacks 3 were from the same person. I don't understand how every time I hop one player gets me 3 or 4 times. At least this time I only lost a net of 7 points. So I shield again for 3 hours in 5th place with 1010 points. 20 hours remain.
For some reason I'm queueing up a lot of matches worth only 3 points now against opponents with solid rosters. I don't think I've ever queued up 3 point matches before unless I didn't clear a seed team.
At this point I realize I don't have to always wait for my 8 hour shield to expire before another 3 hour would be available. I missed a few potential hops. I can't believe I'm still chasing 1300 points.
I break my 3 hour shield early for a couple of matches and I have a hard time believing I just got 88 points without getting attacked.attacked. What luck. Now I'm in 4th with 1098 points and a little over 17 hours remain.
Now the timing for my 3 and 8 hour shields to be available again isn't working for me so with almost 13 hours remaining I break my 8 hour shield about 4 hours early with the intention of now using a 24 hour shield momentarily. I make it to 1174 points and 5th place with 12.5 hours to go. 126 points left to reach my goal. Shield cost is up to 975 hp now. With at least another 225hp to add later.
Five hours later I break the one day shield. My decision to play 2 matches is a bad idea. I win them both but the defense gives up 47. Somehow I again net +27 (I don't know why that number keeps showing up) to stand at 1201 points and 5th place with just under 8 hours to go in the event. This will be my last 3 hour shield. And even with the loss I am thankful I shield when I do because almost right away I get a notification the shield defended against six attacks that won a total of 229 points.
Now I have a dilemma. Only 2 shields will be available inside the last 8 hours of the event. And after seeing the previous attacks in a short amount of time I'm unwilling to play more than one match during a hop.
With 5.5 hours to go in the event I again break shield and I'm one and done. 1245 points and 5th place. No defensive losses. Now all I have left is one 24 hour shield. All I need is 55 points.
My other dilemma is do I try to do both matches to get where I want to be and shield or do I play 1 match shield then play the last match later and not be able to shield again? Do I want the Thor cover or the season points? 5th is looking unlikely either way. I have 41, 36 and 30 point matches lined up.
With a little over 2 hours left in the event I go in for one match and come out with 1289 points sitting in 5th place.
Now do I wait until right before the end to get the last eleven points or grab them earlier when the game is likely to be less busy. I thought unshielding close to the end when the event is likely busiest I would get attacked while in the 1st match and not hit the progression. I usually want to avoid playing inside that time frame. If I play earlier and my first match goes south I might lose 15 points at most and have a 2nd chance at another 30 points lined up.
With a little less than 2 hours remaining in the event I go for the Thor cover and make it to 1327 points. It holds long enough to get the progression.
I just bought a blue Thor cover for 1500 hp. At the expense of event and season scores. 1500 hp spent. Four 3 and 8 hour shields and two 24 hour shields.
If I had another shield it turns out my score would have held for 5th by 57 points. But it wasn't meant to be. Instead with minutes I get slammed and my score plummets to 670 points. I half-hearted play again inside the last 20 minutes and make it back to finish with 811 points and 26th place.
If you're still reading this.. Wow. I'm sorry but I can't give the time back.
Now a few observations.
Is the new 4* Thorverine almost as quick as Sentry bombing without the self damage? Seems to me like all the Sentry nerf did was screw 3* players. 4horverine is so quick I can get attacked several times by the same player in the time it takes me to to 2 quick matches against previously lined up opponents.
This combo is so powerful all iso and hp I accumulate will go towards those two. Any new 3* may as well be a 1*. Any new 4* I won't be able to get the covers as quick. These are the only players that matter. At least for pvp.
There are way too few players available in the attack queue. You can only skip a handful before the opponents recycle. Backing out of the game, closing and reopening doesn't seem to improve things.
Shield cool downs seem to increase the time needed to manage shield hops. The cost has dramatically increased as well. As mentioned I spent 1500 hp. In the good old days I would have started later and using the same number of unlimited 3 hour shields would have only cost me 700 hp.
Disclaimer: this isn't about whether or not the developers and publishers deserve monetary compensation or from who. This also isn't about the merits or value of free to play players to the game.
This is the tale of my journey to 1300 points in Unholy Outlaw in a land of shield cool downs and time slices. I am a member of F2P Veterans alliance and a MPQ player nearly since the Android launch. For better or worse I have yet to spend any real world money or Google credit on this game.
So I open the event tab and see that a Power Surge cover is the 1300 point progression reward and decide I want it. Typically this hasn't been a big deal. I've done it enough times before for other covers. Since time slices have been implemented I'm pretty sure the last slice is the one I want and now that the shields have 8 hour cool downs I would also have to start relatively early. Sure enough I found The Crewsaders and some other familiar names and think I'm off to a good start.
Usually the goal is to get pretty close to 1000 points before using the first shield. I got to 836 before hitting a wall of 270s worth less than 15 points a match. I shielded for 3 hours in 2nd place with 42 hours remaining. At this point I think I might not play when the shield expires and just reshield while the heavy hitters do the hard work and accumulate points increase the value of my matches.
As that shield comes close to expiring I break and stay out too long. While I win my 2 attacks and see the post match score progress bar get to 893 I return to the main screen to find out the defense lost 2 and I net 15 points during that hop. Now I shield for 8 hours in 5th place with 851 points and 39 hours remaining.
At this point my confidence in getting to 1300 points is low due to waiting out the cool downs. I start thinking I may be better off cutting my hp losses here at 225 and settling for whatever I can get without shields.
About eight hours later I start playing again and win 3 27+point matches but the defense got hit twice by the same person for - 59. I netted +51. I don't know why but I shielded for another 3 hours. 300hp spent now. I really need to just cut my losses now before my spending gets out of control. And I pulled Hawkeye from the 900 point progression token.
Three hours later I get greedy and play 3 nice matches netting only +27 points from the hop. During that time a player named Heavydudy2 managed to successfully attack me 4 times to gain 134 points. 30 of those were after the next shield was put up so I only lost 104. I'm in 5th with 929 points. I'm 44 points ahead of 6th now and purple Doom is looking unlikely. Less than 400 points away from 1300 but not sure if I can or should attempt it. Almost 28 hours remain and I'm out 450 hp in this experiment now.
Eight hours later I hopped again. I win 3 matches and the defense loses 3 for - 67 against whatever I gained. The defense did win 1 for +31 though. Of the 4 attacks 3 were from the same person. I don't understand how every time I hop one player gets me 3 or 4 times. At least this time I only lost a net of 7 points. So I shield again for 3 hours in 5th place with 1010 points. 20 hours remain.
For some reason I'm queueing up a lot of matches worth only 3 points now against opponents with solid rosters. I don't think I've ever queued up 3 point matches before unless I didn't clear a seed team.
At this point I realize I don't have to always wait for my 8 hour shield to expire before another 3 hour would be available. I missed a few potential hops. I can't believe I'm still chasing 1300 points.
I break my 3 hour shield early for a couple of matches and I have a hard time believing I just got 88 points without getting attacked.attacked. What luck. Now I'm in 4th with 1098 points and a little over 17 hours remain.
Now the timing for my 3 and 8 hour shields to be available again isn't working for me so with almost 13 hours remaining I break my 8 hour shield about 4 hours early with the intention of now using a 24 hour shield momentarily. I make it to 1174 points and 5th place with 12.5 hours to go. 126 points left to reach my goal. Shield cost is up to 975 hp now. With at least another 225hp to add later.
Five hours later I break the one day shield. My decision to play 2 matches is a bad idea. I win them both but the defense gives up 47. Somehow I again net +27 (I don't know why that number keeps showing up) to stand at 1201 points and 5th place with just under 8 hours to go in the event. This will be my last 3 hour shield. And even with the loss I am thankful I shield when I do because almost right away I get a notification the shield defended against six attacks that won a total of 229 points.
Now I have a dilemma. Only 2 shields will be available inside the last 8 hours of the event. And after seeing the previous attacks in a short amount of time I'm unwilling to play more than one match during a hop.
With 5.5 hours to go in the event I again break shield and I'm one and done. 1245 points and 5th place. No defensive losses. Now all I have left is one 24 hour shield. All I need is 55 points.
My other dilemma is do I try to do both matches to get where I want to be and shield or do I play 1 match shield then play the last match later and not be able to shield again? Do I want the Thor cover or the season points? 5th is looking unlikely either way. I have 41, 36 and 30 point matches lined up.
With a little over 2 hours left in the event I go in for one match and come out with 1289 points sitting in 5th place.
Now do I wait until right before the end to get the last eleven points or grab them earlier when the game is likely to be less busy. I thought unshielding close to the end when the event is likely busiest I would get attacked while in the 1st match and not hit the progression. I usually want to avoid playing inside that time frame. If I play earlier and my first match goes south I might lose 15 points at most and have a 2nd chance at another 30 points lined up.
With a little less than 2 hours remaining in the event I go for the Thor cover and make it to 1327 points. It holds long enough to get the progression.
I just bought a blue Thor cover for 1500 hp. At the expense of event and season scores. 1500 hp spent. Four 3 and 8 hour shields and two 24 hour shields.
If I had another shield it turns out my score would have held for 5th by 57 points. But it wasn't meant to be. Instead with minutes I get slammed and my score plummets to 670 points. I half-hearted play again inside the last 20 minutes and make it back to finish with 811 points and 26th place.
If you're still reading this.. Wow. I'm sorry but I can't give the time back.
Now a few observations.
Is the new 4* Thorverine almost as quick as Sentry bombing without the self damage? Seems to me like all the Sentry nerf did was screw 3* players. 4horverine is so quick I can get attacked several times by the same player in the time it takes me to to 2 quick matches against previously lined up opponents.
This combo is so powerful all iso and hp I accumulate will go towards those two. Any new 3* may as well be a 1*. Any new 4* I won't be able to get the covers as quick. These are the only players that matter. At least for pvp.
There are way too few players available in the attack queue. You can only skip a handful before the opponents recycle. Backing out of the game, closing and reopening doesn't seem to improve things.
Shield cool downs seem to increase the time needed to manage shield hops. The cost has dramatically increased as well. As mentioned I spent 1500 hp. In the good old days I would have started later and using the same number of unlimited 3 hour shields would have only cost me 700 hp.
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Comments
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RemoDestroyer wrote:Is the new 4* Thorverine almost as quick as Sentry bombing without the self damage? Seems to me like all the Sentry nerf did was screw 3* players. 4horverine is so quick I can get attacked several times by the same player in the time it takes me to to 2 quick matches against previously lined up opponents.
While Sentry was most definitely broken, that is the most accurate and concise summary of the impact of his nerf.
Out of curiosity, what team were you using once you started shielding?0 -
Great sharing! Thanks for talking about your experience
may i know what characters you hop with?
I'm glad you managed to get the Thor blue.
My experience was similar, in that the key determining factor is whether you get hit when you hop. So to do the hop during "off peak hours", you cannot maximise your shield hopping.
In my hopping for top 5 for unholy outlaw, I used 4 3hr shield, 3 8hr shield, and 1 24hr shield. I reached about 970 points and manage to get one purple doom cover, the only cover I need and want.
Shield hopping is getting more difficult, because it seems like a military campaign now with all the timed pushes0 -
I played the entire event with
X-Force 5/5/3 level 235
Hood 5/5/3 level 118 without buff
And
Classic Magneto 3/5/5 level 166
or
Modern Thor 3/5/5 level 166
I always boosted +3 ap to green/black and red/yellow. I had a lot of good team ups my alliance members sent to me. On the rare ccasion I used the +3 to all ap boost.0 -
Glad you were able to make it. I had the same intention, but when there were no opponents in my slice to even push 900 decently with 24 hours to go, I decided to just shoot for a purple Doom. I think 1300 just wasn't possible in my slice.0
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Underlevelled Xforce, a Hood that dies to one Xforce green, and either a CMags that also dies to one green, or a slow 3* Thor.RemoDestroyer wrote:I played the entire event with
X-Force 5/5/3 level 235
Hood 5/5/3 level 118 without buff
And
Classic Magneto 3/5/5 level 166
or
Modern Thor 3/5/5 level 166
I always boosted +3 ap to green/black and red/yellow. I had a lot of good team ups my alliance members sent to me. On the rare ccasion I used the +3 to all ap boost.
No wonder you were getting destroyed by the big guns every hop, I'd hit that team over all the maxed Xforce/Thor/Hood teams out there without hesitation.
And as you noticed yourself, there are almost no targets to queue, so people tend to find you really, really quickly - although 4 hits from the same guy seems a bit much lol.0 -
"If you're still reading this.. Wow. I'm sorry but I can't give the time back. "
Great read. I was hooked! Glad you hit 1300.0 -
I was looking at giving myself about 24 hours to start my climb and go for the cover or not and I decided not to try (kinda wish I had though). Congrats on getting to 1300 and it was not wasted time to read. Anyhow, I did the play in the last 3 hours thing and at the end of my climbing was preferentially using LT cause surgical strike on yellow (which it always is cause of maxed hood) basically just ends the match. Lightning strike and however many xforces that powers up either finishes everyone or makes the rest trivial.
Now you can take that with a grain of salt cause my 4hor is only 4/3/4 and while very good has not quite shown the unbelievable power to have won 4 matches in 5 minutes.0 -
Your post was well-written enough to not be a waste of time. But you have to admit the reward system is broken if it takes a maxed 4* character, 1500hp, a ton of boosts and effort.....to net you one 4* cover.0
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Bowgentle wrote:Underlevelled Xforce, a Hood that dies to one Xforce green, and either a CMags that also dies to one green, or a slow 3* Thor.
No wonder you were getting destroyed by the big guns every hop, I'd hit that team over all the maxed Xforce/Thor/Hood teams out there without hesitation.
And as you noticed yourself, there are almost no targets to queue, so people tend to find you really, really quickly - although 4 hits from the same guy seems a bit much lol.
Same old "you can't win 4* covers unless you already have 4* maxed heroes".0 -
You have spent 1500HP for 4* cover. That seems as good investment.
BUT you also spent BIG amount of time in game to achieve this and as a secondary effect you ended with 800+ points to overall season score and only top 50 reward within individual PvP. On last time slice. Suddenly the return on investment seems way much lower (if it's positive return for you depends just on you to judge, wouldn't be for me)
Great reading though, I myself am one of the F2P guys. And I would take 1 key message as a take away from this story - disregarding the fact you are P2W or F2P player, the competition and the PvP mechanics are broken. Without shields you won't reach 1300 progression reward, never. Without shields you hardly finish with 800+ scores. Without
then, you can't expect top places. Metaphorically it's like you couldn't win Olympics without steroids and extremely costly equipment. It's the devs who set the rules. 0 -
If you can find could opponents you can shield hop 6 times (3 3hr and 3 8hr) for a total of 27 hrs, this will cost you 675. I'm not saying to do this all the time, but if there is a 4* cover you want, you need to figure out what time you want to go to bed say 11:00pm. If you 8 hr Shield it means you would have to get up by 5 to shield hop a 3hr shield.
Basically 3hr shield, use 8 hr shield (wait 5 hrs) use 3 hr shield, 8hr shield, rinse and repeat. I did this to good effect and had decent opponents, but I have a maxed X-Force so I could do 2 matches easily, it was trying to squeeze that 3rd where it got scary. It ended up costing me 975 HP (I messed up a run and had to pop that 24 hr shield
) Plus add the 300 HP I got in rewards and progression and it cost me 675 HP to get that blue Thor, but it is bad right now and I feel your pain. You cannot casually play and shield like before, you have to set up a strict time table and stick to it, which is the exact opposite of what D3 said they wanted to happen. 0 -
Well written and very informative. There's no way the 3* to 4* transition will be easier than the 2* to 3* was.0
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trat73 wrote:Well written and very informative. There's no way the 3* to 4* transition will be easier than the 2* to 3* was.
With double the HP and triple or quadruple the ISO it could be.0 -
Phaserhawk wrote:If you can find could opponents you can shield hop 6 times (3 3hr and 3 8hr) for a total of 27 hrs, this will cost you 675. I'm not saying to do this all the time, but if there is a 4* cover you want, you need to figure out what time you want to go to bed say 11:00pm. If you 8 hr Shield it means you would have to get up by 5 to shield hop a 3hr shield.
Basically 3hr shield, use 8 hr shield (wait 5 hrs) use 3 hr shield, 8hr shield, rinse and repeat. I did this to good effect and had decent opponents, but I have a maxed X-Force so I could do 2 matches easily, it was trying to squeeze that 3rd where it got scary. It ended up costing me 975 HP (I messed up a run and had to pop that 24 hr shield ) Plus add the 300 HP I got in rewards and progression and it cost me 675 HP to get that blue Thor, but it is bad right now and I feel your pain. You cannot casually play and shield like before, you have to set up a strict time table and stick to it, which is the exact opposite of what D3 said they wanted to happen.
Factor in attacks during your 2nd match setting you back, lack of opponents, and plain accidents (battery died in the middle of a hop... stupid, I know, but **** happens) and you could be forced to use at least one of those 24h shields. You're describing the ideal situation; I think the reality is a lot closer to 1k HP per 4* cover.0 -
Very good chronicle.
One important take-away from all this is that given how often and quickly you were hit when unshielded, and given that you had exhausted your shield options, you very easily could've spend 1500hp and NOT gotten a 4*. That's the worst by-product of this nonsense. Very little margin for error, and little recourse for bad hops.0 -
PhoenixDream wrote:Phaserhawk wrote:If you can find could opponents you can shield hop 6 times (3 3hr and 3 8hr) for a total of 27 hrs, this will cost you 675. I'm not saying to do this all the time, but if there is a 4* cover you want, you need to figure out what time you want to go to bed say 11:00pm. If you 8 hr Shield it means you would have to get up by 5 to shield hop a 3hr shield.
Basically 3hr shield, use 8 hr shield (wait 5 hrs) use 3 hr shield, 8hr shield, rinse and repeat. I did this to good effect and had decent opponents, but I have a maxed X-Force so I could do 2 matches easily, it was trying to squeeze that 3rd where it got scary. It ended up costing me 975 HP (I messed up a run and had to pop that 24 hr shield ) Plus add the 300 HP I got in rewards and progression and it cost me 675 HP to get that blue Thor, but it is bad right now and I feel your pain. You cannot casually play and shield like before, you have to set up a strict time table and stick to it, which is the exact opposite of what D3 said they wanted to happen.
Factor in attacks during your 2nd match setting you back, lack of opponents, and plain accidents (battery died in the middle of a hop... stupid, I know, but tinykitty happens) and you could be forced to use at least one of those 24h shields. You're describing the ideal situation; I think the reality is a lot closer to 1k HP per 4* cover.
Absolutely, I told you I followed an absolute strict schedule because I wanted that cover, to where the only way to do it is to be bound to the game and every 3hr and 5 hr shift make a push, so it can be done with minimal HP, but you have to give up a ton of time and life to do so. My reasoning is once I get a fully covered 4hor, life will get easier again on the PvP side since you have to have her or you don't do well.0 -
Yet another account of how this game is fundamentally broken.
Do the devs care? Does the man in charge care about longevity?
Answer..............Squirrel Girl. Time and resources....Squirrel Girl.0 -
My reasoning is once I get a fully covered 4hor, life will get easier again on the PvP side since you have to have her or you don't do well.
I completely agree. My fear is that in the time it takes to acquire the covers and iso to have her relevant, will the game have changed in a way that makes it all a waste of time.0 -
The funny thing is that for only an extra 1000 HP compared to what you spent, you could have just bought the cover, with no risk of having the expenditure yielding no reward, and without the extra time and schedule adherence that was required.
But then, if we all just buy the covers, are we actually playing MPQ or just Cash Register Adventures?0 -
Phaserhawk wrote:trat73 wrote:Well written and very informative. There's no way the 3* to 4* transition will be easier than the 2* to 3* was.
With double the HP and triple or quadruple the ISO it could be.
Not true if you can't get covers to begin with...that's the problem now - you can't place high enough or score high enough to obtain 4* covers with the current mechanics in play. I suppose players can wait until they get lucky and pull a 4* of each color for a character from a token draw and then spend obscene amounts of HP to add more covers, but I think you would agree that's completely impractical.0
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