What's META GAME and what are the current impacts?

h4n1s

WIKIPEDIA.ORG wrote:

Metagaming is any strategy, action or method used in a game which transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game. Another definition refers to the game universe outside of the game itself.

In simple terms, it is the use of out-of-game information or resources to affect one's in-game decisions.

When I started to read forums I was already approx 90 days in game, yet total noob playing purely prologue and sometimes PvP without any focus on placement or rewards. I did toss multiple 3* covers as I did not have HP for slots. I did not have HP for slots because I often spent HP on daily deals of Heroic tokens. I did enjoy the game rather casually, not rarely I played only one fight a day in order to secure daily resupply. After joining the forums I totally reshaped my approach as I immediately got dragged into the meta. Turned my focus to increase the amount of roster slots and invested my resources to fully cover and level up OBW, Daken, 2*Wolvie and Thor - those were good moves. But. The metagame at that time also suggested to sell all xforce covers as he was lame, and many players have done so, regretting it after the long awaited buff. That's just an introduction for those who have hard time understanding what 'META GAME' actually stands for with real life examples.

Now current meta is impacting following (my observation):

- 4* game - focus on 4thor, Xforce with priority where applicable, people do not focus on putting resources in every other 4* (incl. Nick, who used to be strongest in meta couple months ago)
- 3* game - focus on Hood and Loki, no focus on Sentry... the current meta around other 3* characters is rather silent - that translates to again wider variation of opponents (again you can see 3* IM or Psylocke in game and lower usage of Patch and Laken than previously - like people forgot how Laken can be powerful!)
- 2* game - continuous focus on MStorm and MNMags combo, often usage of Ares due to his strength on defense (other characters seems to be forgotten, that includes OBW which is not anymore that often opponent)
- 1* game - the meta is still suggesting Juggs to be by far the best (yet Black widow stun lock seems to be forgotten)
- time slices - people still tend to pick the 4th time slice due to higher competition and therefore quicker climb, yet this trend is slowing down due to shield cool downs
- shield hopping - not as dramatic as before due to shield cooldowns, yet new strategies are in place (3hrs-8hrs-3hrs shielding)
- PVE - PVEs with 4* as awards are ultracompetitive, general PVEs with 3* characters are no longer as competitive as long as the featured character is considered as 'lame' by many; heroic events are still considered by majority as "not the right events to spend your time in coz they suck"
- transition game - very much impacted by 4* game meta - we can see more underleveled 4* XForce dominating the stage even in rosters with less than 1 3* fully covered, resources are being prioritized to level 4* characters. 4* Xforce being dominantly used even with not ideal builds (like 1/1/5; 2/2/2 etc.)
- Team Up alliance management - keeping extra slots occupied by TU friendly characters purely for alliance Team up gifting (MBW, OBW etc.)

did I miss something?

*EDIT - added TU gifting

Unknown

It may just be the alliance I am in, but another impact the meta has is TU gifting.

I have a 0/5 modern Black Widow, I'm building a second 0/5 modern Black Widow and I'm building a 0/5/0 Marvel Now Magneto.

I currently have 10 5 blue mbw team ups in my bank. It's all I really use.

That is another way the meta is affecting the game.
Keeping spaces on your roster for low level characters purely to send out to your alliance as team up tiles.

h4n1s

onimus wrote:

It may just be the alliance I am in, but another impact the meta has is TU gifting.

I have a 0/5 modern Black Widow, I'm building a second 0/5 modern Black Widow and I'm building a 0/5/0 Marvel Now Magneto.

I currently have 10 5 blue mbw team ups in my bank. It's all I really use.

That is another way the meta is affecting the game.
Keeping spaces on your roster for low level characters purely to send out to your alliance as team up tiles.

good point - it's the same in our alliance, added to the list

simonsez

I would say massive out-of-game collusion to assist in finding PvP targets and avoid retaliations.

simonsez

re: time slices, people seem more concerned with how fresh a bracket is, rather than the actual time parameters.

mohio

You do a good job detailing the whos and whats of the metagame in your post, but not as much the why. The whole reason those guys stand atop their tier is simply because at the top end of competition the game is all about speed. You might not think it matters to you as a 2* or transitioning player, but if your "natural" point total (I.e. past the point you start seeing way more attacks than you can handle) is x, then you can make a mad dash just before hitting it and shield well beyond that point since others won't see your updated score right away. This will hold true at basically any level. You see xforce everywhere and patch/hulk teams a lot because they win fast. You could win just as easily with cage and hood (negating match damage and stealing ap so no abilities fire off), but it will take you a lot longer, leaving you susceptible to attacks.

One other thing you left out is scaling in pve being manipulated by keeping your fully covered toons under leveled.

Unknown

...transcends a prescribed ruleset, uses external factors to affect the game, or goes beyond the supposed limits or environment set by the game.

Echoing Simon here. Out of game communication fits the definition to a T. It's the number one unintended, undesired (by the devs) and unmitigated factor impacting high level play. The one attempt that was made to address it (cooldowns), only made it worse and by now, it's so entrenched, I can't really see it going away.

Unknown

I don't think you can say stuff like "X Force is overpowered, use X Force" as meta gaming. That's simply an imbalance. It's not like there's a reason for you to not use X Force if you have him. Metagaming would be like picking what slice to enter, thinking what characters might get attacked less often, or figuring out whether that guy worth 20 point is shielded or not, and if not, how likely is he going to retaliate? For example someone running a Patch + Hulk is very likely to retaliate if you're worth more than 25 points because this team is not useful if it is not aggressive (it's certainly not strong on defense), so you should be more cautious about attacking this team compared to even a stronger one assuming you don't plan on shielding for a while.