Let's try this again

GrumpySmurf1002

I got a new phone over the weekend, one finally capable of running MPQ. So I started a mobile account to sidekick my Steam account, because why not. I'm 3 days in to life as a F2P newbie, so thought I'd share some fun from the bottom:

- Took exactly 2 days to have my first lineup decision. Bought two slots with the HP immediately provided, leaving me with 75HP, and the next slot costs 100hp. That left me with IM35, mStorm, mBW, Juggernaut, Capt. Marvel (2*) and Bullseye. Sold Hawkeye to make room for Marvel. Sold Yelena immediately. That seems, mean. I kind of get the Devs saying it's not designed to collect 'em all, but having to choose between characters 2 days in, where you wouldn't necessarily know Bullseye/Yelena are worth selling off, is an awful mechanic.

- Bottom end PvP is hilarious. My first time through, I never joined a PvP until I was firmly entrenched in 2* land, so this is a new experience for me. I won 1 match with loaner Grocket + lvl 3 storm + level 3 IM35 against a 60-1-1 seed team. That's it. From there, I was attacked I don't know how many times an hour. A lot. Every time I logged back in it was full screen plus the "and more!" message. Based on retaliations I can see, it's mostly by loaner-one cover 3*-one cover 3*. I pulled off a couple defensive wins somehow (go Grocket!), so all the -1s were offset by +22s. I finished 226th with a score of 57. I thought that a nice indicator of how many players are actually competitive on a daily basis.

-If you're curious, my 57 pts is good for 1579th in Season X. Leader has just over 1500. Yes, top 32%, won one match so far offensively.

- PvE scaling for the Hunt is obviously light, but no cakewalk. Level 15 Daken is a PitA for a new roster, you have to nuke him, match damage doesn't make much of a dent. However Im35 at level 3 only does 125 damage, so it takes like 5 tries. Nonetheless, I'm sitting comfortably in 404th place (1000 player bracket, leader with 46k). I have done 4 nodes, 823 pts. Top 41%! Again, perspective on what the average player actually is in this game.

-Speaking of my PvE leader, he has a 5/5/3 XForce at level 70, 38 characters total, which is interesting. The top 10 has some really light rosters, but I see a 2*, a transition player and a 3* player also in the mix. So it's not like you get to compete just with other first week players early.

- It's definitely weird building a roster now compared to when I first did it. That extra knowledge of how the game works makes me so reluctant to dump Iso into the 1*s, but I know I need to boost them in order to get enough HP to move up. I'm also hoarding Heroics for that purpose. I won't open any until I have enough HP for the spot for them.

If anyone's got stuff they want me to watch for as this goes on, let me know. This is really just a pet project, I devote enough time to the game to not make the 2nd account serious, but I was genuinely curious what the first couple weeks look like now, especially having done nothing but prologue my first time through.

john1620b

Thanks for posting this. The game has changed quite a bit since I started when it was first released, so I'm always curious to know what it's like now.

GrumpySmurf1002

Updating:

-So there's lot of talk of scaling being better for low level rosters. My now day 8 roster (best characters lvl 20 3/3/3 IM35, lvl 16 1/4 mBW, 1/1/0 2* Thor) has two deadly nodes in Anderson. Ares/Bullseye/Empiricist is level 34, Yelena/Ares/Venom level 30. Been that way since I opened them up after clearing the goons. I'll take a whack at them since it doesn't matter, but that seems an accurate assessment of their difficulty. Anyway, just clearing all goon nodes, and casually at that, I'm in 325th place with a wonderful 1861 score. In the running for a wolvie I can't fit on the roster, unless I can creep above 300th.

-Still have roster decisions to make all over the place, with only 6 slots and no obvious HP source. I don't remember being frustrated when I joined originally, but I also was blissfully ignorant then, and selling Hood or Steve Rogers was no big deal. I give special kudos to those who get through the first week without saying "well this is stupid" after about the 5th time they pick up a 2* character and have nowhere to put them. I would typically just sell Juggernaut, but I expect to have a 270 version to tear s**t up in Balance of Power soon.

-PvP attacks/hour was funny. Lightning rounds were as hysterical as <insert your favorite comedian here>. From the first seed team I beat, the "you were attacked" popups hit almost as fast as I could x them out. I bet this is why they limited seed teams, pyromantic might've begun to feel actual sadness from the continual onslaught.

thanos8587

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Updating:

-So there's lot of talk of scaling being better for low level rosters. My now day 8 roster (best characters lvl 20 3/3/3 IM35, lvl 16 1/4 mBW, 1/1/0 2* Thor) has two deadly nodes in Anderson. Ares/Bullseye/Empiricist is level 34, Yelena/Ares/Venom level 30. Been that way since I opened them up after clearing the goons. I'll take a whack at them since it doesn't matter, but that seems an accurate assessment of their difficulty. Anyway, just clearing all goon nodes, and casually at that, I'm in 325th place with a wonderful 1861 score. In the running for a wolvie I can't fit on the roster, unless I can creep above 300th.

-Still have roster decisions to make all over the place, with only 6 slots and no obvious HP source. I don't remember being frustrated when I joined originally, but I also was blissfully ignorant then, and selling Hood or Steve Rogers was no big deal. I give special kudos to those who get through the first week without saying "well this is stupid" after about the 5th time they pick up a 2* character and have nowhere to put them. I would typically just sell Juggernaut, but I expect to have a 270 version to tear s**t up in Balance of Power soon.

-PvP attacks/hour was funny. Lightning rounds were as hysterical as <insert your favorite comedian here>. From the first seed team I beat, the "you were attacked" popups hit almost as fast as I could x them out. I bet this is why they limited seed teams, pyromantic might've begun to feel actual sadness from the continual onslaught.

this is good stuff and i applaud your courage in seeing how it is from the beginning (not me btw). curious as to how far youve plowed through story mode in obtaining resources and how much that has helped in roster building. gl.

Unknown

I'd think these deadly nodes will be very easy if your 2*s are instead the buffed characters since they'd start out at level 55 even at base level, and I don't think the event buffs affect your scaling at all so if you were able to exchange your Thor for Hawkeye, it'd indeed be quite easy. Of course you probably don't have the covers/slots to do that, but I do agree it seems likely the super weak roster you see are people who purposely built them that way, including that 5/5/3 X Force at level 70 you mentioned.

Carnage_78

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Still have roster decisions to make all over the place, with only 6 slots and no obvious HP source.

I remember that when I started the game back in August (which is half relevant I guess since I am not an old time veteran nor a newbie) that my one source of HP to open roster slots at the very beginning was the story mode. I grinded that side of the game for every reward I could as fast as I could...and you can also get some good usable from it...

EDIT: I think I read recently that they changed some of the story mode rewards as well...for example, it said that the first Juggernaut node was not Spider-Man anymore but Captain Marvel now...which is much more useful to a beginner roster...

spatenfloot

The problem is that you jumped straight into the competitive events. The intent is that new players go through the dark reign story first. Doing that gives you many 1 and 2 star covers, recruit tokens and enough HP to expand your roster several times. I think that if you do that first, you would have an easier time once you moved into the timed events.

GrumpySmurf1002

spatenfloot wrote:

The problem is that you jumped straight into the competitive events. The intent is that new players go through the dark reign story first. Doing that gives you many 1 and 2 star covers, recruit tokens and enough HP to expand your roster several times. I think that if you do that first, you would have an easier time once you moved into the timed events.

This was a bit on purpose. With my main, almost Dino-eligible account, I didn't even know there was such thing as PvP until probably a month in. I did nothing but play prologue, and when PvE's hit, I didn't know they were competitive events, I figured they were just harder versions. I vaguely remember Rogers as an essential, who I didn't have. Then I got him later on (one cover) but then he wasn't essential, so I dropped him for I think Loki, who was then dropped, etc...

Anyhow, this time through, I wanted to know what it's like to play PvP and PvE with literally a brand new roster. There's a lot of assumptions made, mostly because it takes some time for new players to find the forums too.

GrumpySmurf1002

thanos8587 wrote:

this is good stuff and i applaud your courage in seeing how it is from the beginning (not me btw). curious as to how far youve plowed through story mode in obtaining resources and how much that has helped in roster building. gl.

Courage, boredom. Potato, Tomato.

As far as prologue, literally one clear per node, so:
HAMMER: 11/11 missons, 11/26 rewards
Juggernaut: 13/15 missions, 13/52 rewards
Venom: 7/14, 7/56.

Next goal is to dig through them and find the ones with HP rewards, and grind those. I do have 25HP coming on day 11, so that's roster slot #7, which I'm holding a green cStorm in reserve to add there.

spatenfloot

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

spatenfloot wrote:

The problem is that you jumped straight into the competitive events. The intent is that new players go through the dark reign story first. Doing that gives you many 1 and 2 star covers, recruit tokens and enough HP to expand your roster several times. I think that if you do that first, you would have an easier time once you moved into the timed events.

This was a bit on purpose. With my main, almost Dino-eligible account, I didn't even know there was such thing as PvP until probably a month in. I did nothing but play prologue, and when PvE's hit, I didn't know they were competitive events, I figured they were just harder versions. I vaguely remember Rogers as an essential, who I didn't have. Then I got him later on (one cover) but then he wasn't essential, so I dropped him for I think Loki, who was then dropped, etc...

Anyhow, this time through, I wanted to know what it's like to play PvP and PvE with literally a brand new roster. There's a lot of assumptions made, mostly because it takes some time for new players to find the forums too.

It is fine if you want to do that, but you are handicapping yourself by not using the starter resources.

GrumpySmurf1002

spatenfloot wrote:

It is fine if you want to do that, but you are handicapping yourself by not using the starter resources.

There's nothing in the game that points you towards playing, say the Venom prologue, before the giant pop up that says "Win Star Lord!" The 'starter' resources they provide is really just the initial Iso/HP, a few tutorial nodes, and the tokens for 'starter packs' with mBW and Hawkeye (who I've already sold off).

Fighting seed teams in these double Iso events is plenty good as a starter resource. Plus clearing PvE nodes basically gives the same rewards as prologue nodes.

The prologue is there to help cover Im35, mBW, Storm and Juggs, gain some more Iso, and trick you into adding Yelena as a useful character.

What's lacking most early on is HP, which scrolling through first 3 sections only has 100 even available to win. Really just hoping to get lucky with daily pulls, or else I'll be hoarding Heroic tokens for a month waiting to get more HP for slots. I don't really think that's the intention, but then again I remember this the first time around (though later in the game), and it's what got me to cave and put $5 in to get the HP to add someone. Working as intended?

Carnage_78

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

The prologue is there to help cover Im35, mBW, Storm and Juggs, gain some more Iso, and trick you into adding Yelena as a useful character.

There is also some useful covers in the prologue...Wolverine, Daken, Strom, Thor & now also Captain Marvel.

EDIT: Also, the numerous standard tokens are bad for pulls but for a chance to get a they can actually be useful...

GrumpySmurf1002

Carnage_78 wrote:

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

The prologue is there to help cover Im35, mBW, Storm and Juggs, gain some more Iso, and trick you into adding Yelena as a useful character.

There is also some useful covers in the prologue...Wolverine, Daken, Thor & now also Captain Marvel.

By the time you get there though, it's not really 'starter resources' any more. IIRC, those are in the Oscorp and DA. As is, some of the nodes in Venom are 'normal' difficulty, let alone the couple Yelena hard nodes.

Carnage_78

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

By the time you get there though, it's not really 'starter resources' any more. IIRC, those are in the Oscorp and DA. As is, some of the nodes in Venom are 'normal' difficulty, let alone the couple Yelena hard nodes.

True...it takes a little more doing as they are somewhat out of reach until a little later on...that is still how I got my roster bulked up...but I somewhat did like yourself at the start & ignored the versus events. To get to a point I could do better in the prologue to get those covers I actually played PvE a lot...the progression rewards yield some covers & good resources at the lower end...and the nodes themselves help the Iso-8 pile & the tokens again can be useful for an early roster.

sc0ville

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

spatenfloot wrote:

The problem is that you jumped straight into the competitive events. The intent is that new players go through the dark reign story first. Doing that gives you many 1 and 2 star covers, recruit tokens and enough HP to expand your roster several times. I think that if you do that first, you would have an easier time once you moved into the timed events.

This was a bit on purpose. With my main, almost Dino-eligible account, I didn't even know there was such thing as PvP until probably a month in. I did nothing but play prologue, and when PvE's hit, I didn't know they were competitive events, I figured they were just harder versions. I vaguely remember Rogers as an essential, who I didn't have. Then I got him later on (one cover) but then he wasn't essential, so I dropped him for I think Loki, who was then dropped, etc...

Anyhow, this time through, I wanted to know what it's like to play PvP and PvE with literally a brand new roster. There's a lot of assumptions made, mostly because it takes some time for new players to find the forums too.

I remember thinking that Psylock was super important because the first pve I entered she was an essential. I was so excited when I eventually found a Psylock cover and was super confused when the next event came and she was no longer required.

Unknown

Thanks for doing this! I'm very interested to see how things develop.

JVReal

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Anyhow, this time through, I wanted to know what it's like to play PvP and PvE with literally a brand new roster. There's a lot of assumptions made, mostly because it takes some time for new players to find the forums too.

I didn't even know there was a forum until someone in the forum of a different game I play/ed (Transformers Legends) posted a link when telling people about this game to play when they were too frustrated with that one.

Without that, there is no link or blurb I've seen yet in MPQ that directs people to their forum. Even if they put a link in the little popup tools box where you save to facebook, etc. They could put one there and say to visit the forums to get answers to questions, etc.

But nope, nothing.

GrumpySmurf1002

JVReal wrote:

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Anyhow, this time through, I wanted to know what it's like to play PvP and PvE with literally a brand new roster. There's a lot of assumptions made, mostly because it takes some time for new players to find the forums too.

I didn't even know there was a forum until someone in the forum of a different game I play/ed (Transformers Legends) posted a link when telling people about this game to play when they were too frustrated with that one.

Without that, there is no link or blurb I've seen yet in MPQ that directs people to their forum. Even if they put a link in the little popup tools box where you save to facebook, etc. They could put one there and say to visit the forums to get answers to questions, etc.

But nope, nothing.

I found it through the game client, I know that much, but I have no recollection of where I found it. It says I joined on May 27th, and I'm about 20 days from day 365 (never missed a day). So math says it was ~3 months before I found it.