Nefarious Foes Indeed!

fight4thedream

Greetings and Salutations fellow MPQ players!

f4d reporting from the front of the Nefarious Foes battle lines. And boy oh boy, what a crazy pVp we've got going on here today! With all the great villains getting a nice buff, i have seen a greater variety of battles at the top. True, the king and queen of 4* land Thoreverine still reigns supreme but they are as not as scary when you've got Mega Mags and Uber Daken to back you up in the fight. i even noticed one dude sporting the Heroes for Hire Combo of Luke Cage and Iron Fist.

i joined the third slice in hopes of getting a relatively reasonable fight for the top spot but let me tell ya it's been anything but! (i'm guessing i wasn't the only one thinking that haha)
In fact, it seems that some back door politicking between alliances has influenced this race, something i failed to take into account before committing myself to the effort of gaining another piece of the 4hor puzzle.

Don't get me wrong, i'm not here to complain but rather to warn others in a similar position so they can avoid or at least be aware of the risks involved when shooting for #1.
For as the saying goes "All is fair in love and war" and by Odin's beard i have witnessed a spectacular feat that could not be accomplished by the efforts of a lone warrior.

But where to begin? i suppose i should introduce myself and my alliance situation briefly for those unfamiliar with the tale:
i am fight4thdream, i come from a land neither here nor there but take great pleasure in putting my puzzle powers to the test when i feel i have a reasonable chance at victory. In all honesty, most of my greatest battles have resulted in defeat but i look upon them fondly as a lesson learned as i continue to grow as a puzzle warrior. i fight for a secret alliance whose name i shall not say but i will tell you it is not among one of the Great 100. Heck, we only occasionally scratch Top 250. How i ended up leader of such an alliance is another story for another day but suffice to say there are none in my organization that can break 900 much more 1000 so i cannot rely on my brothers and sisters in arms to aid me when it comes to pVp. And perhaps i prefer it this way as i am bit of a lone wolf and enjoy flying free from the commands of another.

However, there is a price for such freedom.

Your enemies will have more resources, more opportunities to coordinate better hops and a greater ability to counter attack you. It behooves who to try to play respectfully meaning limiting your snipes for do-or-die situations only. In general, if you are in the same bracket as your opponent and you see him/her unshielded it is better to wait for them to shield than immediately take the shot. First you will get more points if they are successful in their battle, second you don't want to end up being on the hit list of zealots. This method will certainly help you get into Top 5 and keep you on the favorable side of your rivals.

Unfortunately, there can be only one number one and in that situation you will have to be more aggressive with your bracket rivals. Usually you can tell how serious a fellow player is about shooting for the top by how early they shield (and whether they have the roster strength for such a push, occasionally i find some n00bs shielding super early and i still cannot fathom why?) but of course there is always the late comer who has his own schemes, too. Once you have discerned your rivals for the top, it is best to not start sniping them too soon. You both want a relatively smooth ride and not have to worry about incurring each others' spite.

Be that as it may, there will come a point where someone begins to make a clear break and that someone is probably not you since you have no alliance mates to coordinate with, just your eyes and instincts. It's at this juncture where you can either walk away and be appeased with Top 5 or you declare your intention clearly and take the shot. Today, i took that shot with 12 hours to go.

And yes, for about 5 minutes, i was king of Nefarious Foes mountain. But my enemy who i shall call C-money is no pushover, being the member of one of the legendary Top 10 and owner of a fully maxed Thorverine, and much to my chagrin he or she quickly took back first and was able to build a 50 point lead over me. But this is of course is just par for the course.

The real surprise came about 4 hours later, when Z-dawg (named changed to protect identity of my foe, but if there is an actual Z-dawg in the game i am not talking about you), another one of my bracket foes managed to do a 200+ point leap from i believe 4th place to first and is now sitting with a nice big fat 150 pt cushion ahead of me. Unfortunately for me, due to the nature of my work i couldn't rely on being able to check the battle field in the middle of the day, and i ended up using up all of my shields so i could do nothing but witness the fastest 200+ point leap of all time.

And what of C-money, you ask? He was unshielded during Z-dawg's miracle hop and dropped down to 5th losing approximately 150 points, and although Z-dawg and C-money belong to different alliances i cannot help but suspect that this was an organized effort. Having peeked at their respective alliances, there was an interesting shift in points movements between the two. Admittedly this is all speculation and is not meant to detract from the amazing feat accomplished by my nefarious foes.

To be honest, i never imagined it could be possible to gain so many points at such a high level play, as i still am searching for opponents who have enough points to make continuing my struggle worth the effort but i suppose with this being the off season and the current rewards not being anything of interest for high end players (4hor being the exception) there is room for generosity and goodwill among those at the top. Notably, the top three scorers of Z-dawg's alliance are all players that need the 4hor cover.

Although i haven't officially given up my fight for the top just yet (that largely depends on what kind of points fortune offers me) i know for certain that my climb will not be nearly as audacious and amazing as Z-dawg's. Well played, my nefarious foe, well played.

Now i must return to my search! i will report back once this grand ordeal is over! Till then may Odin bring victory to my allies and reign disaster upon my foes.うわたぁ～！( ￣口￣)ノ★))゜□。)あべしっ



Tl; DR: There are some things one man cannot do alone.

Unknown

People trade wins even in games where the matchmaking is blind (because you can still obviously figure out you just fought soandso if both of you are talking to each other), so it's hardly surprising you'd do that in a game where you get to pick your opponents too.

I see a lot more variety of teams but that's because Thor and X Force are basically nerfed 33% for not being a villian and that seems about right for how hard you'd have to nerf them before they're no longer undisputedly top tier. Saw some The Hood/Loki/Thor or X Force team that made me go 'do I really want to fight that team?', even though such a team seems like it ought to be inferior to either Loki or The Hood + X Force + Thor. Then again, I didn't want to fight either of those two teams either. I'm kind of curious what would happen to this event if 4*s aren't allowed. Sure, you'd probably pick 3 3* villians, but which 3? Loki/The Hood seems no brainer as the top picks, but if you lean on them too much, Daken also looms and he's exceptional at countering either. I'd certainly think Daken + Loki would easily beat Loki + The Hood, though Loki + The Hood would appear to have a better matchup against anyone else, so it could be an interesting mind game.

Mathrim

Hmm, I'm not following what problem You have here? Good teams and teammates are there to help each other. Good coordinated alliances are working together.

You had really good score there. But if it would be o regular season pvp, You wouldn't make top5. In this bracket were too many people from the top alliances.


And to Phantrom - I'm playing this game over 450 days. I have never seen trading of wins, thats ****.

MarvelMan

Mathrim wrote:

And to Phantrom - I'm playing this game over 450 days. I have never seen trading of wins, thats tinykitty.

Really? We are friendly enough in my alliance to trade wins amongst ourselves if someone is trying to reach 1k and others have already hit it.

mohio

I guess my alliance mates were thinking the same thing, so I went ahead and joined them in their quest for 4hor. Pretty sure they were in this same bracket as you (I was in a different one) and they reported the same things, insane jump, other guys losing same amounts. Anyway can't really do much but tip our hats cause frankly we were just going to do the same, only there were like 3 of us and likely more coordination on the other side. Oh well.

simonsez

Mathrim wrote:

And to Phantrom - I'm playing this game over 450 days. I have never seen trading of wins, thats tinykitty.

Trading of wins is going on in here? I'm shocked!!

You remind me of this guy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMIyDf3gBoY

Lidolas

Excellent narrative. You could have fleshed out the supporting characters. I didn't really connect with them.

I know the devs, in their infinite wisdom, have tried to reduce out of game chat, but it certainly hasn't worked.

KrazyKeylime

i was just doing this event for the 300 reward token and end up top 25!!! i was dang, imagine if i tried. must of found one of the fabled easy brackets.

Pylgrim

What I've never understood about these coordinated-hops and win-trades is how do you manage to find the person that is going to let you hit them in-game! When I spend hundreds of iso just trying to see someone different from the same three rotating maxed teams of 4*s, I cannot imagine the likelihood of finding a specific someone.

Unknown

Pylgrim wrote:

What I've never understood about these coordinated-hops and win-trades is how do you manage to find the person that is going to let you hit them in-game! When I spend hundreds of iso just trying to see someone different from the same three rotating maxed teams of 4*s, I cannot imagine the likelihood of finding a specific someone.

Apparently line app has rooms with tons of people that help each other. I haven't joined, I just go solo, not because I'm against it, just seems like too much effort for me...the coordination...but I think it's great that so many players help each other out. I may try one day, I'm sure it makes the game easier, they must think I'm an tinykitty, since I just play randomly and they must think I am intentionally trying to snipe when I truly have no intention at all, I just skip to a good point matchup and then select fight.

fight4thedream

Phantron wrote:

People trade wins even in games where the matchmaking is blind (because you can still obviously figure out you just fought soandso if both of you are talking to each other), so it's hardly surprising you'd do that in a game where you get to pick your opponents too.

I see a lot more variety of teams but that's because Thor and X Force are basically nerfed 33% for not being a villian and that seems about right for how hard you'd have to nerf them before they're no longer undisputedly top tier. Saw some The Hood/Loki/Thor or X Force team that made me go 'do I really want to fight that team?', even though such a team seems like it ought to be inferior to either Loki or The Hood + X Force + Thor. Then again, I didn't want to fight either of those two teams either. I'm kind of curious what would happen to this event if 4*s aren't allowed. Sure, you'd probably pick 3 3* villians, but which 3? Loki/The Hood seems no brainer as the top picks, but if you lean on them too much, Daken also looms and he's exceptional at countering either. I'd certainly think Daken + Loki would easily beat Loki + The Hood, though Loki + The Hood would appear to have a better matchup against anyone else, so it could be an interesting mind game.

A no 4* pVp would definitely be interesting although i imagine Hulk/Patch or Loki/Patch would be the dominant team for shield hopping (although who knows with the new Heroes for Hire duo working together). And yes, neither Hood nor Loki were too much trouble when entering a match fully boosted with Daken + X-Force.

Mathrim wrote:

Hmm, I'm not following what problem You have here? Good teams and teammates are there to help each other. Good coordinated alliances are working together.

You had really good score there. But if it would be o regular season pvp, You wouldn't make top5. In this bracket were too many people from the top alliances.


And to Phantrom - I'm playing this game over 450 days. I have never seen trading of wins, thats tinykitty.

here is no problem. I just like documenting my greatest defeats for my own entertainment and growth. Let's go over some of my greatest hits:

Reward *******Event Type *******Opponent *******Reason for loss
X-Force Black______PvP______ BubbleBoy______ Roster Strength
R & G Yellow_____PvE_________Hail Mary_________Hubris
4hor Red___ PvP (off season)____zabzab_______ Alliance cooperation (possibility of inter-alliance cooperation)

Of course i have many other losses but these are the most notable ones.

It matters little to me if win-trading is going on or not; i'm actually glad that someone who needed the cover got it. i'm fully aware of the benefits of being a part of a good alliance and perhaps someday i too shall reap the benefits of being in one. mainly i was surprised by the miracle hop and the apparent cooperation of two different alliances (although admittedly some alliances have "alliances" and secret op cells so i shouldn't be so surprised).

As for your final point, empty words. This was an off season event with 4hor being the only reward of interest for high tier players. Thus the ease with which your alliance was able to pull of such a maneuver. i have duked it out with the best of them plenty of times before and have gotten Top 5 at a reasonable rate. It seems that only T1 will be highly unlikely barring bracket luck and prizes offered.

mohio wrote:

I guess my alliance mates were thinking the same thing, so I went ahead and joined them in their quest for 4hor. Pretty sure they were in this same bracket as you (I was in a different one) and they reported the same things, insane jump, other guys losing same amounts. Anyway can't really do much but tip our hats cause frankly we were just going to do the same, only there were like 3 of us and likely more coordination on the other side. Oh well.

Yes, your alliance-mate Sapphire managed to hit me while i was doing my final jump (no hard feelings) and to pull into third but by then The Punishers had already completed their master plan. It really was an amazing jump.

Lidolas wrote:

Excellent narrative. You could have fleshed out the supporting characters. I didn't really connect with them.

I know the devs, in their infinite wisdom, have tried to reduce out of game chat, but it certainly hasn't worked.

Perhaps we will learn more about C-money and Z-dawg in the next chapter

KrazyKeylime wrote:

i was just doing this event for the 300 reward token and end up top 25!!! i was dang, imagine if i tried. must of found one of the fabled easy brackets.

Life is funny like that, no?

Pylgrim wrote:

What I've never understood about these coordinated-hops and win-trades is how do you manage to find the person that is going to let you hit them in-game! When I spend hundreds of iso just trying to see someone different from the same three rotating maxed teams of 4*s, I cannot imagine the likelihood of finding a specific someone.

Yup, i must have burnt through hundreds if not more ISO looking for targets. Apparently there are underground LINE channels where different alliances negotiate deals and coordinate hops and attacks. All of this is of course ran by the MPQ Illuminati. i've said too much already and i need to get going so just remember...follow the money...

EpicBeastmode wrote:

Apparently line app has rooms with tons of people that help each other. I haven't joined, I just go solo, not because I'm against it, just seems like too much effort for me...the coordination...but I think it's great that so many players help each other out. I may try one day, I'm sure it makes the game easier, they must think I'm an tinykitty, since I just play randomly and they must think I am intentionally trying to snipe when I truly have no intention at all, I just skip to a good point matchup and then select fight.

Similarly, i have no problem with others coordinating things on LINE but i have enough trouble keeping up with all the messages from my private life that i feel at the moment it would be too much of a hassle getting myself involved with it (although the Djangos certainly seem like a merry group of rebels).

Oh! and i almost forgot. In the end, zabzab (Z-dawg) prevailed with score of 1232. i took another shot at trying to reach him but as previously mentioned got hit by Sapphire who was doing his/her own climb at the time (which in all honesty probably saved me 450 HP from the last two shields i didn't use and a ton of ISO so thank you).

i guess if there is anything to take away from all of this is this: if you are shooting for #1 and are not in a well coordinated alliance don't get your hopes up. Pay attention to your leader boards and your opponents, and if you are lucky you might get a reasonable bracket. Otherwise, know when to cut your losses and remember there is always another day.

Congratulations zabzab and ThePunishers on a masterful display of teamwork and cooperation. It will certainly be a jump i will never forge.tﾞ☆⌒o(*^ｰﾟ)v

Unknown

What is the point of having alliances if you do not help your alliance mates? Whether it is with TUP's, advice, or coordinating attacks and hops, I would think that would be the primary purpose of having alliances and friends both on the forum and in-game. I am obviously not the one of which you speak, but it seems logical to me if Friend A did not need the 1st place reward, they would help Friend B get the reward if they needed it.

I have suggested in the past that people in the same alliance should not come up in each other's nodes to prevent accident hits (or retreats in this situation). After that change has been made, then you could go to a blind target selection with no alliance or player name. This way there would be no friendly fire.

There is one major detriment to this as anyone that played Sim last week knows. There are certain players (mostly sandboxed or cheaters) that you do not want to play, so it would be nice to see their name so you can skip them. Well, being that costs a lot of ISO after a while, it would be better if once you skipped a player they were removed from your queue for at least an hour.

simonsez

EpicBeastmode wrote:

Apparently line app has rooms with tons of people that help each other. I haven't joined, I just go solo, not because I'm against it, just seems like too much effort for me

It really isn't. For me, it's way more effort trying to find good targets randomly, and potentially more effort if you have to make up the points you'd lose if these people saw you as fair game.

Pylgrim

simonsez wrote:

EpicBeastmode wrote:

Apparently line app has rooms with tons of people that help each other. I haven't joined, I just go solo, not because I'm against it, just seems like too much effort for me

It really isn't.

Could you or anyone else outline the process? Is there a general Line room for this? Etc.

Mathrim

There is no general Line room. Most of alliances and their allies have their own rooms to coordinate. To go there You must be friend from tchem or You must be a part from one of those alliances.

There are bigger rooms and smaller. Bigger contains many alliances and many people 150-200, but I think its too much to good coordination. I preffer smaller.

Unknown

fight4thedream wrote:

Yes, your alliance-mate Sapphire managed to hit me while i was doing my final jump (no hard feelings) and to pull into third but by then The Punishers had already completed their master plan. It really was an amazing jump.

Sorry about that, it was not intentional or anything. You just came up worth 30 odd points just before I was about to shield, so I decided to go for just one more match. It was not until after the match that I realised you were in my bracket currently doing a hop and I felt a bit guilty.

simonsez

Pylgrim wrote:

Could you or anyone else outline the process? Is there a general Line room for this? Etc.

Not just one. That'd be way too big, both logistically and in terms of egos. Ask your commander if your alliance belongs to any of the grouped battle chats.

fight4thedream

sapphire_MPQ wrote:

fight4thedream wrote:

Yes, your alliance-mate Sapphire managed to hit me while i was doing my final jump (no hard feelings) and to pull into third but by then The Punishers had already completed their master plan. It really was an amazing jump.

Sorry about that, it was not intentional or anything. You just came up worth 30 odd points just before I was about to shield, so I decided to go for just one more match. It was not until after the match that I realised you were in my bracket currently doing a hop and I felt a bit guilty.

No need for apologies Sapphire! i know the XstatiX crew to be a decent crew and did not suspect any malice from your hit. Just bad timing lol Or more honestly good timing because if had i completed that jump successfully i would have been emboldened to try to make it to the top with my last two shields which in all probability would have been a futile effort. So thanks for saving me 450HP and ISO!