Shielding preventing play

Unknown

So, currently sitting at 28 in the PvP with Cage, and trying to find a match worth a play. Except all I'm getting are the same six players over and over again. And I'm unlikely to beat any of them so what to do? The scrolling is expensive on iso, but no one else is turning up, so to prevent loss, I have to shield and hope to play in a few hours when some other players may be available.

This is kinda silly, and not sure how I can ever get to 1000 points in a PvE when its like this. No idea what the solition is, but this doesn't seem all that helpful.

Vhailorx

Scores have been lower in sticks and stones. Compared to fist bump, top scores in my slice 4 bracket were about 500 points lower with 24 left in the event (i.e. the same time in the both events, scores were lower).

That made climbing much less pleasant than it has been recently.

Overall though, the dearth of viable targets late in PvP is quite annoying.

sinnerjfl

Psylocke rewards... Baglady at 1000... Don't expect high scores.

acescracked

You want a more fun PvP experience? Start posting about removing time slices from PvP. More targets and you'll get hit less. The game used to be like that and it was way more fun.

PvPs can have a single rotating end time so one single group doesn't have the advantage. Yes, when the rewards are good it will be slightly better for one group but it will all come out even eventually.

Multiple end times for pve need to stay since final grinds are so important. But, with shields and player pools PvP time slices can bite my shiny metal azz.

brisashi

acescracked wrote:

You want a more fun PvP experience? Start posting about removing time slices from PvP. More targets and you'll get hit less. The game used to be like that and it was way more fun.

PvPs can have a single rotating end time so one single group doesn't have the advantage. Yes, when the rewards are good it will be slightly better for one group but it will all come out even eventually.

Multiple end times for pve need to stay since final grinds are so important. But, with shields and player pools PvP time slices can bite my shiny metal azz.

No thanks. This is the way it used to be and it was terrible. I shouldn't have to build my schedule around the game.

acescracked

brisashi wrote:

acescracked wrote:

You want a more fun PvP experience? Start posting about removing time slices from PvP. More targets and you'll get hit less. The game used to be like that and it was way more fun.

PvPs can have a single rotating end time so one single group doesn't have the advantage. Yes, when the rewards are good it will be slightly better for one group but it will all come out even eventually.

Multiple end times for pve need to stay since final grinds are so important. But, with shields and player pools PvP time slices can bite my shiny metal azz.

No thanks. This is the way it used to be and it was terrible. I shouldn't have to build my schedule around the game.

You playing at the end of every PvP now? If you are in contention for decent reward levels you should be shielded near the end. I shouldn't have to keep skipping to find a target.

Unknown

Different PVP slices render different top 10 alliances in them, and they usually stick to the slice you see them at.

So my advice is, find a slice with really high-scoring alliances, top 5 if you want to be safe (shan't mention names) and go to town on them.

If the same 6 keep appearing, take a 15 min break and try scrolling through them again. Also if you're stuck at around 800, IMO its better not to shield, let the hits come in and retal those buggers for massive points at a later time.

That's how I got from 800 to 600, then 600 straight up to 1150 during one PvP last season. It really isn't impossible with the 10 health packs provided now.

jredd

Deadpooool wrote:

Different PVP slices render different top 10 alliances in them, and they usually stick to the slice you see them at.

So my advice is, find a slice with really high-scoring alliances, top 5 if you want to be safe (shan't mention names) and go to town on them.

If the same 6 keep appearing, take a 15 min break and try scrolling through them again. Also if you're stuck at around 800, IMO its better not to shield, let the hits come in and retal those buggers for massive points at a later time.

That's how I got from 800 to 600, then 600 straight up to 1150 during one PvP last season. It really isn't impossible with the 10 health packs provided now.

i keep hearing about these '10 health packs'. where do you get 10 health packs?

Unknown

jredd wrote:

Deadpooool wrote:

Different PVP slices render different top 10 alliances in them, and they usually stick to the slice you see them at.

So my advice is, find a slice with really high-scoring alliances, top 5 if you want to be safe (shan't mention names) and go to town on them.

If the same 6 keep appearing, take a 15 min break and try scrolling through them again. Also if you're stuck at around 800, IMO its better not to shield, let the hits come in and retal those buggers for massive points at a later time.

That's how I got from 800 to 600, then 600 straight up to 1150 during one PvP last season. It really isn't impossible with the 10 health packs provided now.

i keep hearing about these '10 health packs'. where do you get 10 health packs?

Erm... They increased the maximum number of packs from 5 to 10 since last season. So you get them by waiting 35 min for each health pack to "re-spawn". Up to a maximum of 10.

jredd

i have 19 right now. guess you don't get your freebies until you go below 10 then...

brisashi

acescracked wrote:

brisashi wrote:

acescracked wrote:

You want a more fun PvP experience? Start posting about removing time slices from PvP. More targets and you'll get hit less. The game used to be like that and it was way more fun.

PvPs can have a single rotating end time so one single group doesn't have the advantage. Yes, when the rewards are good it will be slightly better for one group but it will all come out even eventually.

Multiple end times for pve need to stay since final grinds are so important. But, with shields and player pools PvP time slices can bite my shiny metal azz.

No thanks. This is the way it used to be and it was terrible. I shouldn't have to build my schedule around the game.

You playing at the end of every PvP now? If you are in contention for decent reward levels you should be shielded near the end. I shouldn't have to keep skipping to find a target.

I always find targets within a few skips and can easily hit the 1000 mark every event. The only way I can imagine you not finding an opponent is if you insist on only attacking easy targets. Removing time slices however would make progression significantly more difficult for those of us that work full time.

Bowgentle

acescracked wrote:

You playing at the end of every PvP now? If you are in contention for decent reward levels you should be shielded near the end. I shouldn't have to keep skipping to find a target.

Define "at the end".
If we go back to 6am CET end times, like it was, then all of us Europeans can forget about finishing with a quick hop in the last 3 hours, and have to use an 8hr shield again in the end.
Couple that with shield cooldowns and we basically have to schedule completely different to Americans, which would hurt scores and/or cost more HP for shielding.

Yes, dillution of the target pool is bad, but so is not being able to do a climb in the last 8 hrs.
I'd say we could reduce the time slices to, say, 3 - but I have NO trust in the devs to find a decent end time for Europe for PVP after what they did to PVE end times after that change that came out of the blue.

acescracked

Bowgentle wrote:

acescracked wrote:

You playing at the end of every PvP now? If you are in contention for decent reward levels you should be shielded near the end. I shouldn't have to keep skipping to find a target.

Define "at the end".
If we go back to 6am CET end times, like it was, then all of us Europeans can forget about finishing with a quick hop in the last 3 hours, and have to use an 8hr shield again in the end.
Couple that with shield cooldowns and we basically have to schedule completely different to Americans, which would hurt scores and/or cost more HP for shielding.

Yes, dillution of the target pool is bad, but so is not being able to do a climb in the last 8 hrs.
I'd say we could reduce the time slices to, say, 3 - but I have NO trust in the devs to find a decent end time for Europe for PVP after what they did to PVE end times after that change that came out of the blue.

Bow, that's why I said have rotating end times each PvP.

It stinks averaging 1295 each PvP limiting myself to easy targets like max HB,carnage,Jean grey, fist and the rest.

Bowgentle

acescracked wrote:

Bow, that's why I said have rotating end times each PvP.

It stinks averaging 1295 each PvP limiting myself to easy targets like max HB,carnage,Jean grey, fist and the rest.

You know full well that they'd rotate between 2am, 4am, 6am, 8am and 10am CET

Just pick S1 each PVP and score as high as you like each time

Malcrof

acescracked wrote:

Bowgentle wrote:

acescracked wrote:

You playing at the end of every PvP now? If you are in contention for decent reward levels you should be shielded near the end. I shouldn't have to keep skipping to find a target.

Define "at the end".
If we go back to 6am CET end times, like it was, then all of us Europeans can forget about finishing with a quick hop in the last 3 hours, and have to use an 8hr shield again in the end.
Couple that with shield cooldowns and we basically have to schedule completely different to Americans, which would hurt scores and/or cost more HP for shielding.

Yes, dillution of the target pool is bad, but so is not being able to do a climb in the last 8 hrs.
I'd say we could reduce the time slices to, say, 3 - but I have NO trust in the devs to find a decent end time for Europe for PVP after what they did to PVE end times after that change that came out of the blue.

Bow, that's why I said have rotating end times each PvP.

It stinks averaging 1295 each PvP limiting myself to easy targets like max HB,carnage,Jean grey, fist and the rest.

Or, keep slices, but remove brackets. This way multiple end times each PVP, but a time slice can now have thousands of players, instead of a **** bracket that never fills and the t2 are both players with less than 200 points (alliancemate got one of those lovely brackets)

Argon Flame

Does anyone know if previously, shielding allowed a player to be queued but just stopped them from losing points?

this would have a lot of upsides:
More targets in queue
Reduce reliance in outside info
Allow players to actually play rather than worry about getting hit 3-4 times when they unshield.

morph3us

Argon Flame wrote:

Does anyone know if previously, shielding allowed a player to be queued but just stopped them from losing points?

this would have a lot of upsides:
More targets in queue
Reduce reliance in outside info
Allow players to actually play rather than worry about getting hit 3-4 times when they unshield.

Wouldn't this make it more likely for you to get hit when you unshield? One of the big advantages of shielding now is that you get cleared off the queues, so if you get hit as soon as you unshield, it's usually just bad luck. If people can line you up when you're shielded, you'd be far more likely to get hit when you break shields, since you'd still be on the queues.

Argon Flame

Depends on how long you shield for and unshield for and where you sit in the comparative standings. Remember with everyone queue-able it wouldnt just be you targetable. It would be everyone around you too.

morph3us

True. It would probably result in a differential number of hits, depending on your roster, though.

If you have a strong boosted 3* roster, or 4* roster, you'd be less likely to get targeted.

If you're hopping with a transition roster, and relying on shielding to clear you off the queue as a tempting target, it's going to be more of an issue. Having said that, that's probably not inappropriate, since a player really isn't ready for the 4* transition unless they have a developed 3* roster first.

puppychow

acescracked wrote:

You want a more fun PvP experience? Start posting about removing time slices from PvP. More targets and you'll get hit less. The game used to be like that and it was way more fun.

I think they split into slices partly for bandwidth management. When it was all one big slice, it was often the servers would crash because everyone was cramming in points at the end of the event and the servers couldn't handle it. Splitting into time slices allowed easier management of the traffic flow, and I've noticed server crashes occurred much less frequently afterwards. If you're not convinced just look back at the first time Ultron event was run. People weren't able to log into the event because of overwhelming demand; and yes it was one big slice.

If you remove slices, D3 has demonstrated that their servers CANNOT handle it.

simonsez

puppychow wrote:

When it was all one big slice, it was often the servers would crash because everyone was cramming in points at the end of the event and the servers couldn't handle it.

I only remember 1 server outage that affected PvP, and it was after we already split into shards. Were these outages when the game first went live?