TaT - Is the two-star Captain America essential an oops?

Unknown

I get the comments about lower level teams. I have never enjoyed not having a 3* or 4* character and missing out on the "big money" nodes. However...

The larger issue is the fact that if this pattern holds, we're all looking at needing 3X the roster slots to stay competitive, and that is not a good trend, considering how precious roster slots and HP are.

Requiring "character x" as an essential, regardless of * level offers everyone an opportunity (moreso considering scaling) to play, but locking in 4 specific tiers of * levels? Oh boy.

DBC

Dauthi

dkffiv wrote:

Buret0 wrote:

I love it.

It gives the 2-3 * transitioners an uncommon advantage over the four star kids. Yes, there is a **** Hulkbuster, *** Storm, and ** Cap as the boosted required characters for this event.

No one ever says, "are you kidding me, a **** required character! How are the ** players supposed to play those events?"

I'm a big fan of them mostly requiring *** characters, with the occasional **** character thrown in. I'm a bigger fan of balancing the **** requirement with an easier to meet ** requirement.

My node is 216/217/217 and I'm forced to take along an almost worthless 2*. If the levels were scaled down to compensate it might be okay but 2* Cap's 1063 damage shield is not cutting it when the enemy has 13k life.

This of course is assuming that those who got rid of him long ago waste a ton of ISO to level this terrible 2* to 94, otherwise he will be complete dead weight.

stowaway

Buret0 wrote:

I love it.

It gives the 2-3 * transitioners an uncommon advantage over the four star kids. Yes, there is a **** Hulkbuster, *** Storm, and ** Cap as the boosted required characters for this event.

No one ever says, "are you kidding me, a **** required character! How are the ** players supposed to play those events?"

I'm a big fan of them mostly requiring *** characters, with the occasional **** character thrown in. I'm a bigger fan of balancing the **** requirement with an easier to meet ** requirement.

It doesn't even really help the 2-3* transitioners. 2* Cap is a progression reward at the 11k mark. And I'll probably pull one from some token or PvP node before then. So it gives a leg up for what? The first, lowest point value sub event? Then poof, no advantage.

Who it really benefits (aside from the hardcore collectors) is people who are willing and able to throw rosters slots at lousy characters and then trash them as soon as the event is over. That's the opposite of being a leg up for newer players.

Buret0

Dauthi wrote:

Buret0 wrote:

I love it.

It gives the 2-3 * transitioners an uncommon advantage over the four star kids. Yes, there is a **** Hulkbuster, *** Storm, and ** Cap as the boosted required characters for this event.

They already have an advantage in the form of ridiculous scaling. Look at the top PVEers with their maxed covered 3* and 4* characters at lvl 94.

No one ever says, "are you kidding me, a **** required character! How are the ** players supposed to play those events?"

Veterans need new covers, while 2/3* transitionals need any cover. How is it fair that they have even more of an advantage now to take the one thing that veterans need?

You won't be loving it when your roster grows and it costs you insane amounts of HP to keep them for absolutely no reason other than the inane reason D3 has just created. 2* cap does everything 3* does but much much worse. This is either a mistake, or a money grab, plain and simple.

You are right. I certainly see that one of the most frequent top alliance finishers seems to have commanders with a bunch of level 94 characters. I only wish they had told us that mattered before I took Blade to level 115.

I've got 59/59 slots filled right now, including a HB, Storm Mohawk, and 2* Cap. I even have a level 50 IM and a Juggernaut (because when they are boosted, they are solid options and because of DDQ). They already ask us to hold on to a couple of those low star characters for the DDQ... no issue with them sometimes making them the boosted RC for an event.

I mean, when is the next time they will introduce a new **? So far they seem to hold off on doing that because the vets don't want them, but I'm not sure that is a good enough reason to not expand the options for the new players.

fmftint

Given recent (lack of) communication, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the devs can't bother to take 10 seconds to type
Sorry our mistake
Or
Yup intentional change

MarvelMan

fmftint wrote:

Given recent (lack of) communication, I guess I shouldn't be surprised that the devs can't bother to take 10 seconds to type
Sorry our mistake
Or
Yup intentional change

Their time has been spent borking the forums.

Buret0

dkffiv wrote:

My node is 216/217/217 and I'm forced to take along an almost worthless 2*. If the levels were scaled down to compensate it might be okay but 2* Cap's 1063 damage shield is not cutting it when the enemy has 13k life.

And when my level 94s were thrown into battle with an upper round Ultron that was able to one shot over half of my roster, I just buckled down and won anyway. And while 2* cap's shield throws were terrible (no stun and next to no damage per AP with the chance of Ultron destroying the shield before it could return), at least he was able to overwrite the bomb tiles and create match fives.

I guess I'm saying that when D3 (life) gives you 2* Cap (lemons), you can either make lemonade or ask to speak to life's manager.

Unknown

If you require someone to use a character that character should be considered at least playable. A 2* is not a playable character except possibly OBW (and even she is very hard to use due to having only 3K HP against guys that are scaled to be able to rip through 10K+ HPs). Note that a character can suck, like say, Quicksilver, but Quicksilver is playable because if you leveled him up he doesn't have an unusually low amount of HP where you can't even count on him to take some damage as bait. All 2*, of course, have an unusually low amount of HP compared to any 3* or 4* you'd normally be expected to use and is generally nothing but deadweight even at level 94.

Unknown

Obviously another move by D3 to cater to the noobs and transitioners

Buret0

Phantron wrote:

If you require someone to use a character that character should be considered at least playable. A 2* is not a playable character except possibly OBW (and even she is very hard to use due to having only 3K HP against guys that are scaled to be able to rip through 10K+ HPs). Note that a character can suck, like say, Quicksilver, but Quicksilver is playable because if you leveled him up he doesn't have an unusually low amount of HP where you can't even count on him to take some damage as bait. All 2*, of course, have an unusually low amount of HP compared to any 3* or 4* you'd normally be expected to use and is generally nothing but deadweight even at level 94.

Yeah, but they are also boosting Cap as a required character. I selected the last slice, so I don't know what my 94 cap is going to actually be, but I'm guessing that a required character boost is going to be pretty significant... it usually is at least.

Edit:

Example, my level 63 She-Hulk is boosted to level 153 in the Enemy of the State event.

Kiamodo

This is pretty awful. Can't blame this terrible idea on Marvel like the huge influx of characters. This is all you devs.

Stax the Foyer

Phantron wrote:

If you require someone to use a character that character should be considered at least playable. A 2* is not a playable character except possibly OBW (and even she is very hard to use due to having only 3K HP against guys that are scaled to be able to rip through 10K+ HPs). Note that a character can suck, like say, Quicksilver, but Quicksilver is playable because if you leveled him up he doesn't have an unusually low amount of HP where you can't even count on him to take some damage as bait. All 2*, of course, have an unusually low amount of HP compared to any 3* or 4* you'd normally be expected to use and is generally nothing but deadweight even at level 94.

And if they absolutely have to make a 2* a required character, make it a goon node. At least they'd stand a fighting chance without having to worry about match damage.

TheOncomingStorm

I don't mind having a roster slot for a character that has no use or value aside to unlock essential nodes. However, they have accidentally made the changes in the wrong order.

If they want us to waste (there's probably a better word) roster slots; then, the issue of roster slot prices should be addressed first.

In addition, doing something like this out of the blue after so many players have bought slots or sold characters like this one to make room for all the new characters the past two months is probably not the most prudent course of action.

I really wish they would consult with some knowledgeable players, not to form their policies or get approval, but just get a little more feedback so changes like this and the ai ap bar go a little smoother. They seem to be on a roll of really great ideas lately, so ideas are not the problem. The execution just seems be a tad off here and there.

Unknown

This is very disappointing, I threw so many 2 star caps from the ultron event I would have fully covered at least 3. Now I have to buy a new slot and pray I get a cover

Unknown

Buret0 wrote:

I love it.

It gives the 2-3 * transitioners an uncommon advantage over the four star kids. Yes, there is a **** Hulkbuster, *** Storm, and ** Cap as the boosted required characters for this event.

No one ever says, "are you kidding me, a **** required character! How are the ** players supposed to play those events?"

I'm a big fan of them mostly requiring *** characters, with the occasional **** character thrown in. I'm a bigger fan of balancing the **** requirement with an easier to meet ** requirement.

If you check the event threads for any time a 4* has been required (I know at least Fury and Prof-X have been) you'll see plenty of people whinging about it. About how it's not fair that they can't get into the top 150 now because they're missing a character that was top 50 in the last PVE (which when think about the math, should sound ridiculous to you as well).

Personally I don't care all that much. 2* are easy enough to get a single cover for (and you can then just sell it off to use that slot for the new character), and unless you're flat out grinding every node to dust shooting for 1st place, you'll still be able to finish in the top 150 even without having your "Essential" characters optimized.

On top of that, he's currently the 200 point progression in Beast's Real McCoy pvp. Easy pickup there.

puppychow

dearbluey wrote:

As per subject line - one of the essentials in Thick as Thieves is Captain America. The two star version rather than the three (***Steve is locked out). I don't mind, really, as I have both, but I'm curious as to whether this was intentional or an oops moment.

It is intentional. If you look at the event rules, you'll see the characters required and 2* cap is one of them. So even though I personally haven't started my Tat yet (waiting for a fresh batch ), I already knew some people would have issues due to requirement of this character. If you want to compete in pve events and reach the top of your bracket, you really have no choice but to carry every character on your roster. Heck even Yelena is buffed, no?

puppychow

Phantron wrote:

Nobody who plays competitively in PvE is going to be shut out of a top X finish just because some 2* is now required. Once the initial shock wears off, assuming this becomes a persistent thing that just means you got to keep spots for Bullseye or whoever instead of using that HP for whatever else you normally would do. It seems to be a rather pointless move unless the point is to extract more out of roster slots, and while I am quite supportive of the game finding more ways to get value out of money, asking people to have 50 or 75 roster slots with quite a few devoted to absolutely unplayable characters doesn't strike me as the most risk-free way of extracting more money.

As a player with 81 slots (paying 1,050 hp to keep my HB covers), I agree that the presence of 2* cap as required character is a ploy to get players to buy more slots. D3 could have easily made Rogers the required character instead.

TheOncomingStorm

puppychow wrote:

Phantron wrote:

Nobody who plays competitively in PvE is going to be shut out of a top X finish just because some 2* is now required. Once the initial shock wears off, assuming this becomes a persistent thing that just means you got to keep spots for Bullseye or whoever instead of using that HP for whatever else you normally would do. It seems to be a rather pointless move unless the point is to extract more out of roster slots, and while I am quite supportive of the game finding more ways to get value out of money, asking people to have 50 or 75 roster slots with quite a few devoted to absolutely unplayable characters doesn't strike me as the most risk-free way of extracting more money.

As a player with 81 slots (paying 1,050 hp to keep my HB covers), I agree that the presence of 2* cap as required character is a ploy to get players to buy more slots. D3 could have easily made Rogers the required character instead.

Or like in Ultron, allow either version of the character to be used for that node. But, meh, it's different.

Besides, there have been plenty of 3*and 4* essential characters that were mainly there as window dressing in the past. Pre buff beast comes to mind.

mouser

stowaway wrote:

Buret0 wrote:

I love it.

It gives the 2-3 * transitioners an uncommon advantage over the four star kids. Yes, there is a **** Hulkbuster, *** Storm, and ** Cap as the boosted required characters for this event.

No one ever says, "are you kidding me, a **** required character! How are the ** players supposed to play those events?"

I'm a big fan of them mostly requiring *** characters, with the occasional **** character thrown in. I'm a bigger fan of balancing the **** requirement with an easier to meet ** requirement.

It doesn't even really help the 2-3* transitioners. 2* Cap is a progression reward at the 11k mark. And I'll probably pull one from some token or PvP node before then. So it gives a leg up for what? The first, lowest point value sub event? Then poof, no advantage.

Who it really benefits (aside from the hardcore collectors) is people who are willing and able to throw rosters slots at lousy characters and then trash them as soon as the event is over. That's the opposite of being a leg up for newer players.

Your logic is contradictory here. Roster slots don't evaporate when you trash the character using them. Worst case for players that need to buy an extra roster slot for 2* Cap is that they get rid of him after the event and later re-use that empty roster slot on another new upcoming character they would have bought it for anyway.

puppychow

mouser wrote:

Your logic is contradictory here. Roster slots don't evaporate when you trash the character using them. Worst case for players that need to buy an extra roster slot for 2* Cap is that they get rid of him after the event and later re-use that empty roster slot on another new upcoming character they would have bought it for anyway.

Some players want to stick to the f2p philosophy, and only spend hp earned from events. Since D3 has been cheap in doling out hp rewards, such players have a hard time coming up with the hp to buy more slots.