4* cover reward rotation

mohio

I was thinking about this last night, since I was concerned about covering my HB and I see a potential problem with the way they've handled 4* cover reward rotation so far. Prior to the 1300 cover being added there wasn't really an issue since there were 2 4* rewards and 3 different covers, so the rotation ensured that each cover would end up as the 1000 point reward eventually (important for people not interested in spending the time/hp fighting for first place). Now that there's a 3rd 4* reward (which is a great addition btw!) the "usual" rotation of just moving down to the next cover color for the subsequent reward "locks in" that cover for that specific reward. So, for instance we just saw HB blue for first place, followed by HB red at 1k, and finally HB black at 1300. If they continue the way they've been doing things, the next HB cover reward should be the blue cover again for first place, then red at 1k, and black at 1300. Now I personally only need red covers, so I'm kinda stoked about this, but I'm sure there are other characters where I would find this really problematic since I don't really want to try for first, but I easily hit 1k and can be bothered to shield hop to 1300 for a cover I really want, so those are at least obtainable.

Anyway, I bring this up cause it looks like it'll be a problem and I haven't noticed if D3 has already changed things to account for this. Has the 1300 cover even been around long enough to tell if the pattern has changed? They may have not thought of this yet, so bringing it to their attention seems like a good idea.

OnesOwnGrief

Covers are actually random. >.> What happened here was pretty much luck. I need a couple of NF B's for myself though. It may be a while if it hit 1300 progression. Please pray to RNGesus.

GrumpySmurf1002

mohio wrote:

I was thinking about this last night, since I was concerned about covering my HB and I see a potential problem with the way they've handled 4* cover reward rotation so far. Prior to the 1300 cover being added there wasn't really an issue since there were 2 4* rewards and 3 different covers, so the rotation ensured that each cover would end up as the 1000 point reward eventually (important for people not interested in spending the time/hp fighting for first place). Now that there's a 3rd 4* reward (which is a great addition btw!) the "usual" rotation of just moving down to the next cover color for the subsequent reward "locks in" that cover for that specific reward. So, for instance we just saw HB blue for first place, followed by HB red at 1k, and finally HB black at 1300. If they continue the way they've been doing things, the next HB cover reward should be the blue cover again for first place, then red at 1k, and black at 1300. Now I personally only need red covers, so I'm kinda stoked about this, but I'm sure there are other characters where I would find this really problematic since I don't really want to try for first, but I easily hit 1k and can be bothered to shield hop to 1300 for a cover I really want, so those are at least obtainable.

Anyway, I bring this up cause it looks like it'll be a problem and I haven't noticed if D3 has already changed things to account for this. Has the 1300 cover even been around long enough to tell if the pattern has changed? They may have not thought of this yet, so bringing it to their attention seems like a good idea.

We're not through the cycle just yet to prove, but I imagine the 1st prize will essentially be random, but you'll always have 1/1/1 come through the rotation.

mohio

OnesOwnGrief wrote:

Covers are actually random. >.> What happened here was pretty much luck. I need a couple of NF B's for myself though. It may be a while if it hit 1300 progression. Please pray to RNGesus.

This is true for 3* covers, but not for 4* covers. So far it has been a cycle from one color to the next. If you call the covers A,B,C you would 100% see cover B (this is an example, they might start with A or C as well) at first place followed by cover C at the 1000 point reward. Then when that character was due up for rewards again however many events later cover A would be the first place reward followed by cover B at 1000 points, then again however many events later cover C at first and cover A at 1000 points, finishing the full cycle. This goes back a LOOOOOONG time, so I'm surprised you didn't know that.

@grumpy - I would prefer them not do it randomly since as we've seen with 3* rewards you can be stuck with the "hardest" reward being the same several times, or at least one cover never being "easiest" (which is more important for 3* awards with alliance cover, but I digress). Maybe just a simple rotation - 1k/1.3k/1st ---> A/B/C ---> B/C/A ---> C/B/A. Seems like the simplest solution.

OnesOwnGrief

mohio wrote:

OnesOwnGrief wrote:

Covers are actually random. >.> What happened here was pretty much luck. I need a couple of NF B's for myself though. It may be a while if it hit 1300 progression. Please pray to RNGesus.

This is true for 3* covers, but not for 4* covers. So far it has been a cycle from one color to the next. If you call the covers A,B,C you would 100% see cover B (this is an example, they might start with A or C as well) at first place followed by cover C at the 1000 point reward. Then when that character was due up for rewards again however many events later cover A would be the first place reward followed by cover B at 1000 points, then again however many events later cover C at first and cover A at 1000 points, finishing the full cycle. This goes back a LOOOOOONG time, so I'm surprised you didn't know that.

@grumpy - I would prefer them not do it randomly since as we've seen with 3* rewards you can be stuck with the "hardest" reward being the same several times, or at least one cover never being "easiest" (which is more important for 3* awards with alliance cover, but I digress). Maybe just a simple rotation - 1k/1.3k/1st ---> A/B/C ---> B/C/A ---> C/B/A. Seems like the simplest solution.

I'm just going by what I was told by IceIX. I have faith in what he says when stuff like this is mostly RNG.

wade66

The 4 star character rotation isn't random. It's alphabetical. The only exception is when a new 4 star gets released.

OnesOwnGrief

The rotation has been predictable but if we keep getting a new character every 2-4 weeks, it's going to stutter it and break any set pattern that you may think show up in the 1100/1300 rotation. With Ant-Man coming and Thing showing up at 1k Prog, it's most likely going to begin sooner than later. We will also be gaining another 4* next season. We will have to see if Thing shows up as 1300 Prog in the following PvP if things are to stay the course.

johnnyzero

I'm bumping this thread because it's been a few weeks, and more patterns have emerged regarding the rotation.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1_gfisIb8ZYxR1645p45E0LDA2u7GVFKuZSj2cvONWp4/edit?usp=sharing

This is a spreadsheet showing the 4*'s offered from PVP going back to Kingpin's release in April. As mentioned above, the rotation does go alphabetical with the exception of when a new character is released. The spreadsheet is editable by anyone, so if anyone wants to contribute anything to it, feel free. I also included my predictions for the upcoming season events (sorry to anyone hoping for Ant-Man anytime soon...it looks like he missed his turn in the alphabetical rotation!)