It's not the release of another 4* that gets me...

Unknown

...I completely understand that the developers MUST move the game forward, and that the bar must be raised ever higher to keep the attention of an increasing number of people that have well developed and powerful rosters. I get that. I have no problem with that.

I also don't have a problem with the fact that a 4* character is a hideously long Iso-8 sink to level up. Grinding is one of those things that, while not exactly LIKED, is at least acknowledged as necessary in order to give people longer term focus points. This is okay.

I'm sorry, but the issue I'm having is that, honestly, the developers are still treating 4* characters like mythical Holy Grail artifacts that are rare and valuable and should be handed out in very limited numbers. Sure, they've made it very slightly easier to get them, but they still hold the 4* covers almost for ransom in a lot of cases.

Right now:
4* characters are not special. There are many 3* characters that outshine and outlast them.
4* characters are not rare. There are seven 1* characters, fourteen 2* characters, forty 3* characters and.... fourteen 4* characters in the game. That's right, there are as many "legendary" characters in the game as there are 2*. They're not rare, they're just held back.
4* characters are not unique. The same could be said for other tiers as well, but when your 4*'s include a Thor (making 3 in the game) a wolverine (also 3), an Iron-Man (3...) and now a Deadpool incoming (to make 2), they're just...uninspired.

I'm not asking for 4* characters to be thrown at us like candy at a parade. What I'm asking for is that you pick an attitude and stick with it - are 4* characters "legendary", special and rare? If so, stop making so many of them. Are 4* characters the new 3*, a progression that will continue on expanding and opening up? If so, stop treating them like they're made of diamonds.

This post isn't really here to achieve anything. Just rambling my thoughts, you know?
Thanks for bearing with me, lads and lasses.

-Bluey.

GrumpySmurf1002

dearbluey wrote:

I'm not asking for 4* characters to be thrown at us like candy at a parade. What I'm asking for is that you pick an attitude and stick with it - are 4* characters "legendary", special and rare? If so, stop making so many of them. Are 4* characters the new 3*, a progression that will continue on expanding and opening up? If so, stop treating them like they're made of diamonds.

They recently updated the availability by expanding to 1300, an attainable one at 2k in Sim, and increasing the odds by 50% in tokens. Say what you want about any of them, but it did begin to address availability. They also cut the Iso cost by ~15%, which is not a little thing.

We've also seen two different spoilers before they showed up at turul's door with some big guys in suits. I'm not going to include them here for risk of the D3 Mafia, but both seriously implied more availability of 4* characters through future implementations.

The thing with this game has always been that changes come at a glacial pace, but almost always they lay the framework first and then adjust as time allows. There's little reason to believe that won't be the case here.

Yes, there is an onslaught of 4* characters right now, but big picture says there will be a reason for it, and the game should be better for it.

RemoDestroyer

It would be nice to know which direction the character line up is going in. 14 4*s does seem to devalue the tier. And I don't think it helps that arguments even exist on 3*s being more powerful than 4*s. In some cases half of the 40 3*s being better than even a 4* option.

Multiple versions of the same character is a bit boring. With the number of characters Marvel has the same power sets should be applicable to new names and not just a new costume on an old name. I can understand how some are cash cows and others might be "suggested" by Marvel.

Maybe the value of 4*s is being misinterpreted by the players and instead of being a better power class they are merely are rarity or trophy(?) to be included in a roster but in some cases add no real value to the quality of a roster.

Unknown

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

dearbluey wrote:

I'm not asking for 4* characters to be thrown at us like candy at a parade. What I'm asking for is that you pick an attitude and stick with it - are 4* characters "legendary", special and rare? If so, stop making so many of them. Are 4* characters the new 3*, a progression that will continue on expanding and opening up? If so, stop treating them like they're made of diamonds.

They recently updated the availability by expanding to 1300, an attainable one at 2k in Sim, and increasing the odds by 50% in tokens. Say what you want about any of them, but it did begin to address availability. They also cut the Iso cost by ~15%, which is not a little thing.

We've also seen two different spoilers before they showed up at turul's door with some big guys in suits. I'm not going to include them here for risk of the D3 Mafia, but both seriously implied more availability of 4* characters through future implementations.

The thing with this game has always been that changes come at a glacial pace, but almost always they lay the framework first and then adjust as time allows. There's little reason to believe that won't be the case here.

Yes, there is an onslaught of 4* characters right now, but big picture says there will be a reason for it, and the game should be better for it.

I get it - the big picture, the one we don't see as players but the devs with access to far, far more data and metrics than we do - they have a plan, and they're slowly working toward it. The 15% iso decrease is nice (and like I said, I have no problem with the cost to level them) and adding a few more covers is very nice (although a 50% increase in the packs is...miniscule, considering the percentage chance of drawing one, let alone the ones you want because more and more are incoming - but hey, tokens aren't meant to be much more than a gamble so that's okay too I think) I just still think that, overall, they're treating 4* like precious things that are rare and shining and fantastic - which honestly, in my own personal and sometimes not as humble as it could be opinion, is far from reality.

I'm a patient little octopus, I'm just feeling that their treatment of 4*'s is inconsistent at best....currently. We'll see what the future holds.

evil panda

Please don't throw candy at a parade. They kind of hurt

This is playing out as expected. The whole "rare tier, not higher power tier" statement came out as a response to the 4* nerfs but it would inevitably be proven to be false because, as the OP says, more characters will continually need to be introduced for the growth of the game.

SnowcaTT

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

They recently updated the availability by expanding to 1300, an attainable one at 2k in Sim, and increasing the odds by 50% in tokens. Say what you want about any of them, but it did begin to address availability. They also cut the Iso cost by ~15%, which is not a little thing.

We've also seen two different spoilers before they showed up at turul's door with some big guys in suits. I'm not going to include them here for risk of the D3 Mafia, but both seriously implied more availability of 4* characters through future implementations.

I would just like to see the "more availability" -before- seeing the "many, many more 4*". The increased availability made it so I see about 3.3 4*'s a week - three from 1K progressions and that 0.3 from Sim/Season rewards....and maybe once per season I can hit 1300 -or- get one in a token.

Cannot agree with OP more, and I've argued the point before. Very well stated here - 4*'s are not rare, they are just "held back". Indeed!

rawfsu

I would honestly like to see a "break", where the developers could just allow some of us to get our feet back on the ground. All these new characters are bloating the system in my opinion. I know the pace has slowed down, but how long do players get before adding another character that's going to require more covers and ISO? It's great token pulls have been increased, but we must keep in mind, that as characters are increased, odds are actually decreased for specific characters. You may see more 4* covers, but for which character and for which character? How long will it reasonably take to get twelve more covers of different combinations? My Nick Fury is 4/1/1. It's great being 1 cover away from 5 in , BUT, how long before I get the 1 , 3 , and 3 covers I want? What if I want 4 , and 2 ? I think these issues need some heavy consideration as well. It's more than just increasing odds at obtaining and placing characters on your roster. I see this as an issue of possible frustration for players too. Being in 3* land, I'm already seeing DDQ runs I don't need to do, which is fine. Man, is it frustrating though, to see that show up after a token pull, just to see a cover I don't need that will sell for little ISO.

GothicKratos

I agree with OP whole-heartedly, however, I don't think they should be handed out in the same abundance as 3*s either, just that they do need to be more accessible.

Also, that 4*s take entirely too much ISO-8. Unless you're one of the 10% grinding your life away, or the 1% throwing paychecks at MPQ the likelihood of leveling a 4* is ridiculously low.