How do the other 2*-3* transitioners feel

Unknown

grunth13 wrote:

Alright, I am on day 154 today. I am firmly in the transition. I have 56 characters with all relevant 2* maxed. I have gsbw and hulk max covered and leveled at 96 but only because I had to buy 3-4 covers each (I didn't have any 3* characters with more than 4 covers at that time)...

As I am playing this gauntlet, I am noticing that I am in that weird area where my 2* are too strong enough to give me the benefit of not scaling but not strong enough so that I am winning only 1-2 out of every 4 matchs on easy and normal nodes (odds are a little bit better if I boost like crazy). I am not sure if I can finish the 2nd sub and there is no way I will be able to finish the 3rd because the scaling is off the chart for me.

From what you wrote above, your scaling should be similar to mine. I have max 2* teams and Patch at 106 (all other 3* at or below 94). I finished 1st sub with little problems. 2nd sub was a more challenging, but still not too bad. Third is even more challenging, but I'm already down to the last six nodes right now. So it's definitely doable with your roster. I've generally followed the below strategy:

1) cStorm and MNMags are your best friends.
2) The above team needs a meat shield. In this case, DD can tank both purple and red for mags and is an essential to boot. For most of my matches in this gauntlet, I've used this combo (my DD is only level 55 outside of the event), and DD dies sometimes in the 2nd sub, and almost all the time in the 3rd, but he gives enough time to build up your purple, red, and blue chains.
3) For every match, you need to decide the best way to deal damage and stuns. Do you concentrate on one or do you spread it around. It's very situational.
4) Judicial use of mags red is essential. It does a ton of damage at his boosted level and collects AP. But you need to make sure it doesn't get matched away by the AI.
5) For nodes where you can't use cStorm, I've been able to sub Ares in the same team. DD helps with stun, mags red deals damage, and build up Ares green and yellow to take down big targets.
6) For nodes where you can't use mags, I've been able to use cStorm with Ares and OBW to good effect.
7) Remember mags purple can take out countdown tiles by matching 4 (yes, I'm looking at you Peter Quill, with your ridiculous 4k and 6k countdown tiles).
8) Lastly, you will require some luck, both in terms of board placement, and cStorm's yellow saving you from a sure defeat.

Try this and see how far you get. Good luck. 2* transition is LONG, especially since I'm more causal than most others and don't have an alliance, but PVE and especially gauntlet should not be a big problem if you don't level one character too much ahead of everyone else.

EDIT: Oh yeah, forgot to mention, I haven't boosted a single time so far. It should be much easier boosted.

Unknown

grunth13 wrote:

All top 100 pvp alliances want 600, I can't break 400 without seeing max 166...don't know what to do.

Climb later. You see the "wall" which is essentially the point where the game stops respecting MMR and lumps everyone together once you reach the top x% of scores (don't know the exact % but it makes no difference really).

The later you climb, the higher that point generally is. In the current Spidey PvP for example, I climbed to 650 points hitting precisely zero teams with 2 maxed 166s. I climbed to maybe 300 early then waited til 36 hours to go before putting any effort into getting more points. There were a few 130-140s, a few with a single 166 and something and one under covered Xforce in there but that was it. I have a pretty monstrous roster and never tank, so it's not anything to do with my personal MMR.

Also, as I approach the MMR breakdown point, I never skip any easy to beat team so long as they are worth 15+ points. Each time you win your score gets closer to the point where the 166+ wall appears BUT your nodes lag behind a bit because you have 3 nodes visible and 5 nodes queued. If you don't skip targets then a win puts you over the boundry BUT, you still have 7 more pre-wall targets ready to beat up on.

Admittedly I do this stuff out of habit as much as anything else. I can just XoR all those 166 teams anyway BUT, if you aren't in that position there are ways of playing that will maximise your score without having to beat up maxed 3*s.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you're going to play like this and try to inflate your score you'll need to be shielding from that point on. Either with a hop or 2 or simply remaining safely shielded. You also can't climb TOO late with a weak team because you'll be a juicy target in active periods. OFC this all costs HP which is your classic catch 22. You need HP to get scores to get you in a top PvP alliance BUT in order to sustain that kind of HP expense you really need to be getting HP from alliance rewards....

In your position I guess I would probably try climbing to end on a single 8h shield and see what kind of score I can get. If it's not good enough because of retals, don't throw up the shield (no point throwing HP at a poor score, just chalk it up to science). Then try climbing to a single 3h shield, you could accept a slightly lower score in that instance because the shield is cheaper.

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE: You want to start your climb from a score that is unlikely to get hit with your team out on defence. There is lag between your score improving and it being seen in people's nodes. You want to take advantage of that and get a burst of points into a shield before anyone notices those points are there to be stolen. The mechanic is basically this... the game gives you 8 nodes (AFAIK) in advance to reduce apparent lag. So you have 3 visible nodes and 5 queued behind them ready for use. Once those nodes are sent to your computer/tablet/phone they do not get updated at all. So the person's score can alter (A LOT) and you'll never know about it.

That means that if you increase your score no-one is going to know about it until they play and/or skip through 6 matches (visible node and 5 behind it). You are looking to take advantage of that fact to grow your score beyond the point where ppl would normally beat you back down as a juicy target and get a shield up before you take those hits.

FINAL IMPORTANT NOTE: PvP is all about 2 heroes on your roster. That pair (being your best heroes) determines who you can beat and who is willing/likely to hit you (and whether you'll get any defensive wins out of those hits). So if you want to do well in PvP you literally only need 2 characters. Make them upper tier and ideally make them work together and you're set. The rapid rise of the XMEN was entirely based around Sentry+1 (and spending cash on HP I guess). You would look at the rosters of all those high placing players and for some of them that was literally ALL THEY HAD. So if you want to do well in PvP pick 2 decent heroes, cover them, level them and start profiting. This WILL hurt you in PvE somewhat but you will progress immensely faster by winning in PvP than you will in PvE.

You have officially transitioned when players with 2x lvl 94 2*s generally skip you. THAT is the first point where your PvP score will basically permanently increase for the same HP expenditure. (You will also happen to be able to beat 3* teams safely but that is less important).