Thick as Thieves Progression Awards

GrimSkald

A number of people have noted that the progression awards in the "Thick as Thieves" PVE event are an order of magnitude harder to reach than pretty much anything since they discontinued giving out an additional 3* cover in PVE. This was spoken about at length in its own thread, but I thought I would post something here to invite comment from anyone associated with D3.

My own feeling is that this was done in error - the progression awards are slightly higher than the last time Thick as Thieves was run. However, the last time it was run the event had 2.5 hour refreshes, so the total was much more reachable. If this is an error that's fine, but I would like to hear about it. If it is not an error, and Progression awards are going to be just that much harder to reach, then I would like to know why we are not going back to the model of getting two 3* covers in each PVE as progression awards.

orionpeace

And, of course, the answer is DDQ!

Unknown

GrimSkald wrote:

A number of people have noted that the progression awards in the "Thick as Thieves" PVE event are an order of magnitude harder to reach than pretty much anything since they discontinued giving out an additional 3* cover in PVE. This was spoken about at length in its own thread, but I thought I would post something here to invite comment from anyone associated with D3.

My own feeling is that this was done in error - the progression awards are slightly higher than the last time Thick as Thieves was run. However, the last time it was run the event had 2.5 hour refreshes, so the total was much more reachable. If this is an error that's fine, but I would like to hear about it. If it is not an error, and Progression awards are going to be just that much harder to reach, then I would like to know why we are not going back to the model of getting two 3* covers in each PVE as progression awards.

I remember TaT opening up a ton of nodes on the last sub worth crazy points. I don't know if that is enough to make up the difference.

dkffiv

2 hours into the fourth sub and the top 10 in my bracket are all over 78k. There should be another 20k+ left on the table so while its not as easy as most PvE's have been it doesn't seem that bad.

I normally get max progression after the first sub and end with nearly 3x over that amount, this time I'll end with around 1.5x. Not sure how much rubberbanding there is but clearing roughly every rotation and not doing any grind downs doesn't seem that bad for a 3* cover. If you missed out on essentials because you didn't have the cover, hard play should be enough to get you one by the end.

GrimSkald

dkffiv wrote:

2 hours into the fourth sub and the top 10 in my bracket are all over 78k. There should be another 20k+ left on the table so while its not as easy as most PvE's have been it doesn't seem that bad.

I normally get max progression after the first sub and end with nearly 3x over that amount, this time I'll end with around 1.5x. Not sure how much rubberbanding there is but clearing roughly every rotation and not doing any grind downs doesn't seem that bad for a 3* cover. If you missed out on essentials because you didn't have the cover, hard play should be enough to get you one by the end.

Hrm. My slice ends 6pm EDT tomorrow (Slice 2, I think?) I'm presently at about 45k with 35 minutes left in the next-to-last sub. I'm ranked 69 (heh, no lie,) and the top is at 71999.

So I'm definitely a bit concerned for myself - 20k is a lot to get on that last sub, isn't it?

dkffiv

GrimSkald wrote:

dkffiv wrote:

2 hours into the fourth sub and the top 10 in my bracket are all over 78k. There should be another 20k+ left on the table so while its not as easy as most PvE's have been it doesn't seem that bad.

I normally get max progression after the first sub and end with nearly 3x over that amount, this time I'll end with around 1.5x. Not sure how much rubberbanding there is but clearing roughly every rotation and not doing any grind downs doesn't seem that bad for a 3* cover. If you missed out on essentials because you didn't have the cover, hard play should be enough to get you one by the end.

Hrm. My slice ends 6pm EDT tomorrow (Slice 2, I think?) I'm presently at about 45k with 35 minutes left in the next-to-last sub. I'm ranked 69 (heh, no lie,) and the top is at 71999.

So I'm definitely a bit concerned for myself - 20k is a lot to get on that last sub, isn't it?

I think there are about 30k or so points total in the final sub so hitting 20k from it shouldn't be too hard. There are 3 Hood nodes, 2 of which will probably be painful so start grinding those down with 8 or so hours left if you need to.

Various38

dkffiv wrote:

2 hours into the fourth sub and the top 10 in my bracket are all over 78k. There should be another 20k+ left on the table so while its not as easy as most PvE's have been it doesn't seem that bad.

I normally get max progression after the first sub and end with nearly 3x over that amount, this time I'll end with around 1.5x. Not sure how much rubberbanding there is but clearing roughly every rotation and not doing any grind downs doesn't seem that bad for a 3* cover. If you missed out on essentials because you didn't have the cover, hard play should be enough to get you one by the end.

Don't feel bad, I have only about a day worth of play left with no essential and over 40000 points left to get. I have a really bad feeling that I'm not going to make it this time. It's a shame, because I'm only in the top 300 and I won't get getting my first progression cover since I first started playing PVE. Oh, and if anyone was wondering, I have been hitting my times the best I could only missing an hour here or there. Unfortunately, I found myself placing lower and lower in PVP and PVE events and it is a bit frustrating given the time I'm putting in.

Unknown

20K is likely out of reach on the last sub for anyone who is complaining about this kind of stuff. It'd be 3 full clears and you're talking about some of the hardest matchups in the game. If people didn't clear the previous stuff that's easier and put themselves in this position, why would they step up now against a bunch of notes that might not even be beatable for them?

Cymmina

GrimSkald wrote:

dkffiv wrote:

2 hours into the fourth sub and the top 10 in my bracket are all over 78k. There should be another 20k+ left on the table so while its not as easy as most PvE's have been it doesn't seem that bad.

I normally get max progression after the first sub and end with nearly 3x over that amount, this time I'll end with around 1.5x. Not sure how much rubberbanding there is but clearing roughly every rotation and not doing any grind downs doesn't seem that bad for a 3* cover. If you missed out on essentials because you didn't have the cover, hard play should be enough to get you one by the end.

Hrm. My slice ends 6pm EDT tomorrow (Slice 2, I think?) I'm presently at about 45k with 35 minutes left in the next-to-last sub. I'm ranked 69 (heh, no lie,) and the top is at 71999.

So I'm definitely a bit concerned for myself - 20k is a lot to get on that last sub, isn't it?

I was sitting just under 45k when the sub ended myself. It seems doable when you do the math: 20k / 4 = ~5500 points. In another thread, someone posted that there were 6720 points available in the last sub. The last 2 nodes that I have yet to clear are worth 860 and 740 points (waiting on health packs).

That said, I am not very happy about having to grind so hard to get the last progression award, especially after busting my **** to get a top 20 placement last time around.

Monochromize

I'll never be considered a top tier PVE player, i just dont have that kinda patience. THAT SAID, i have grinded this event... a lot, and i'm not close to progression. Kamala is out of range for me.

this is, without a doubt, the worst PVE i've ever taken part in and I probably will never do Thick as Thieves again.

dkffiv

Cymmina wrote:

GrimSkald wrote:

dkffiv wrote:

2 hours into the fourth sub and the top 10 in my bracket are all over 78k. There should be another 20k+ left on the table so while its not as easy as most PvE's have been it doesn't seem that bad.

I normally get max progression after the first sub and end with nearly 3x over that amount, this time I'll end with around 1.5x. Not sure how much rubberbanding there is but clearing roughly every rotation and not doing any grind downs doesn't seem that bad for a 3* cover. If you missed out on essentials because you didn't have the cover, hard play should be enough to get you one by the end.

Hrm. My slice ends 6pm EDT tomorrow (Slice 2, I think?) I'm presently at about 45k with 35 minutes left in the next-to-last sub. I'm ranked 69 (heh, no lie,) and the top is at 71999.

So I'm definitely a bit concerned for myself - 20k is a lot to get on that last sub, isn't it?

I was sitting just under 45k when the sub ended myself. It seems doable when you do the math: 20k / 4 = ~5500 points. In another thread, someone posted that there were 6720 points available in the last sub. The last 2 nodes that I have yet to clear are worth 860 and 740 points (waiting on health packs).

That said, I am not very happy about having to grind so hard to get the last progression award, especially after busting my **** to get a top 20 placement last time around.

6720 included 3 or so 1 time nodes. Its like 5500 or something, I'll know for certain in 40 minutes when my nodes start coming off cooldown.

*waiting for my last node to clear and it looks like 5400 flat.

slidecage

got to love playing this game for what 5 days in the top 50 (top 25) Playing every day just to get to the final Nod and see LEVEL 300+ and not getting able to score any points and watching your rank fall from 16th to 39th in a matter of 4 hours .

Whats the point of playing if your just going to get crushed in the final day

Bwanis

i actually created a user account and found this thread out of sheer frustration with this event. been playing for half a year, have a decent roster - 6 or 7 3-star characters around lvl 127. currently ranked 85 in this event with 18 hours left to go and only have 53,000 points - you need 65,000 to earn kamala. 65,000. i've been playing like mad to get this reward - must have put in 30 hours but i dont have a prayer of reaching the points as the enemies keep gaining levels and im out of health packs and have other stuff to do. like sleep, eat and go to work. There is nothing fun about committing a huge chunk of time to a game, grinding nodes like tony hawk and coming up empty handed in the end. this event is significantly more demanding than any ive come across. If the progression rewards continue to be this time consuming to obtain im going to find another game to play. make this game balanced and fun for everyone D3, not just those who can commit their entire lives to endless/mindless point farming.

Quebbster

I skipped the first sub completely and just managed to hit 65000 points with 12 hours to go in the event. It's doable, but I did a lot of last minute grinding to get all those points.

Unknown

Unfortunately insane scaling kept me just out of reach for the final reward. There were quite a few I could only complete once if at all before ballooning way past my skill level. I think I'm at 59k with 2.5 hours left...what a **** feeling grinding so many hours to come away with a daredevil

Der_Lex

I think that in this event, you need the essential character to hit top prog. Those essential nodes are worth a lot of points.

If you do have her, it should be pretty feasible as long as you hit your refreshes (or play another run ahead of time for those you know you can't hit) and grind a little in the final two hours.

optimus2861

Der_Lex wrote:

I think that in this event, you need the essential character to hit top prog. Those essential nodes are worth a lot of points.

If you do have her, it should be pretty feasible as long as you hit your refreshes (or play another run ahead of time for those you know you can't hit) and grind a little in the final two hours.

I've got Kamala and I'm going to finish 10K+ away from that top progression, despite being T150 as I type this. I admit I do not play this game "hardcore". I don't set an 8-hour alarm so I can clear all nodes at exactly the right times. I don't always clear all the nodes in one run, due to wiping, severe health loss, or just needing to go do something else (my wife & I are expecting so there is lots to do around the house!). Etc.

The progression award should not be a "play at perfect times every day for 7 days" award. It should have sufficient "slack" built into it to allow players to go have a life for part of an event. The ranking awards are unforgiving. The progression awards should not be.

That 65K score really feels like an "Oops, we left it set as though it were a 3-hour refresh" mistake. If this is the new normal for PvE, I have to agree with a previous poster who said he might not bother to play them any more. My roster still isn't up to snuff for PvP, so if I lose PvE, what would I be bothering to do in this game?

Der_Lex

optimus2861 wrote:

Der_Lex wrote:

I think that in this event, you need the essential character to hit top prog. Those essential nodes are worth a lot of points.

If you do have her, it should be pretty feasible as long as you hit your refreshes (or play another run ahead of time for those you know you can't hit) and grind a little in the final two hours.

I've got Kamala and I'm going to finish 10K+ away from that top progression, despite being T150 as I type this. I admit I do not play this game "hardcore". I don't set an 8-hour alarm so I can clear all nodes at exactly the right times. I don't always clear all the nodes in one run, due to wiping, severe health loss, or just needing to go do something else (my wife & I are expecting so there is lots to do around the house!). Etc.

The progression award should not be a "play at perfect times every day for 7 days" award. It should have sufficient "slack" built into it to allow players to go have a life for part of an event. The ranking awards are unforgiving. The progression awards should not be.

That 65K score really feels like an "Oops, we left it set as though it were a 3-hour refresh" mistake. If this is the new normal for PvE, I have to agree with a previous poster who said he might not bother to play them any more. My roster still isn't up to snuff for PvP, so if I lose PvE, what would I be bothering to do in this game?

Congrats on the upcoming addition to the family! As a father of two myself, I know all too well how much work goes into those preparations.

I agree that 65k is very steep for a prog reward, and that it's out of reach for anyone playing this pve (semi)casually. Hopefully something they'll take into consideration for the next pve.

sinnerjfl

Well, to give you an idea, I pretty much did almost every refresh perfectly with grinding at the end of subs. 9 hours left
in my event and I'm at 82k.

The last progression reward was definitively harder to get than usual.

GrimSkald

After two full clears I'm now just shy of 59000, so I need to get 6k out of my final grind. I'm pretty sure that's doable, but man this is a lot harder than usual.

To add to the data - I did get Kamala so have been hitting the essentials pretty hard. I had a slow start (I was travelling last weekend,) but for the Scotland Yard and The Meeting subs I've been able to hit every node. I'm currently 63 - I don't think I will make top 50 without a miracle.

SnowcaTT

They have to have the data about progressions of events. Obviously when using a new character (not as many covers, levels, not as strong) or depending on buffed characters that number would go up or down.

Regular progression should be easily obtainable, so the transitioners can get it. There is a reason people post they often get progression x2 or even x3.

Another 4* transition helper: why not put really high progressions (perhaps like the TaT one...) as a 4*. Make that number 2 or 2.5 x "final" progression.