How stupid is it to spend HP on character abilities?

Unknown

There seems to be 2 different discussions going on - spending money - and the appropriate use of HP. I'll answer separately.


Spending money? Ever heard of the dollar rule? when the amount of money spent on something equals a dollar a day, it was a good purchase. That's sort of how I view this. I'm at day 607...almost two years now I've been playing this game....the developers DESERVE my money...they made somethign that has entertained me and done so for so long. It's almost like a 'tip' if you will, or when you really like a rap album, possibly buying a second copy for a friend to get them to hear it and to 'tip' the artist (I remember when Kendrick Lamar's first album hit and I was able to get it for $5 on Amazon, I ended up buying the clean version along with the dirty, then gifted one copy to my bff and 'raffled' off a second copy). So don't be shy about putting money into the game. Whale-ing is a whole nother issue, but if you play every day, don't be shy about dropping $20 every so often. You most likely have video games you spent $60 on and only played for 20-30 hours - you 'arent' a better person because you 'dont' spend money on F2P games.

As for the best use of HP, it depends ENTIRELY three factors.
1. How big is your roster and how many 'free' slots do you have...if a new character pops up that you want, can you make room for him? If not, this should be top priority, keep enough HP to open up at LEAST one slot at all times, unless you have a free slot, like Bag Man...
2. Is it a valuable cover? This is tied to the strength of the character as well. Buying a blue for Groot is a waste of HP. Buying a purple for IF is HP well spent. Especially if it is needed for the march to maxing the character out. That's #2 on the priority list. This is why its hard to buy slots for 4* - its hard to stomach 2500 HP for a SINGLE cover.
3. How often do you shield? Keep enough to use all the shields at least once "just in case".

If you pass all three checks, go for it. A new slot for me I think is 900 HP, add in shielding, and I try to keep at least 1500...so 1500+1200, I'll let myself buy a cover without question.
- Unreall

Turbosmooth

I've spent a lot of money on this game, but it was done perhaps in a poor way. I was buying 42x packs for new characters. Perhaps the only one that was really worth it was PX as I play him everyday. I spent the same amount on Kingpin, but I only play him when he's essential. Latest I did was for XDP because the vault had 4 covers for $100. Now with 4* Sam, there is no vault and I'm listening to the negative reviews.

I did buy packs for Cyclops, Squirrel Girl and Groot. But that wasn't necessary as I do have fully covered doubles except for Squirrel Girl.

I think the smart way to spend money on the game is 1) Roster slots, 2) Shields, 3) 4* cover upgrades. But don't bother with working on a 4* until they are at least 1/1/1 and isn't Starlord.
Earn the 3* covers and initial 4* covers.

Unknown

I resonate most with sc0ville and Buret0.

For me, time = money. Also, any free time should be spent enjoying it.

In the past I bought my 5th blue CMags because I figured it was OP and would open up my ability to get ahead.
Then I bought my last 2 XF covers for the same reason.
Then I bought all 10 4Thor covers after fighting tooth and nail to finally land my 1st Smite (red) cover.
Finally, I bought 8 or 9 PX covers just recently.

If the past pattern is any indication, I have a knack for buying covers that get nerfed, which to me tells me I am (in my own way) in fact correctly picking which purchases will indeed give me an edge. Although I'd hardly call PX OP.

And yet I don't however buy covers to get ahead per se; I find I get enjoyment out of using the unique abilities (that are somewhat OP at the time).

You can spend months trying to battle and earn coveted 4* covers or I can just buy them outright. No shame in that, especially considering how much time you spend on the game. Said another way, you can spend (an arbitrary) 100 hours trying to F2P complete a character, or you can bill those 100 hours (at some hourly rate) and then spend a fraction of that on a Stark Salary and now you're that much ahead of the curve.

TL;DR Like others say, I never buy ISO, only HP, and then it's only for specific characters that I really really want to derive maximum fun.

Unknown

I'm about 21 months into this game and didn't spend any money previously. The past few months have been bad for token pulls. Little chance of 4* pulls from event tokens, and I've all my 3* fully covered (just 2 that needs respec) so pulling a needed 3* cover is extremely rare.

I saw the HP sale off season and found ppl selling iTunes cards at a discount so I went ahead and bought some HP. Got my xforce to 250 and pumped HP into 4pool to pair them together and I'm having fun with them.

I'd not suggest to spend hp on 3*, unless it's the last cover you need and don't wanna wait for DDQ to get it. I'm also resisting putting any ISO into the balance 3* as i've 21 fully covered and 11 at around lvl 100.

I wonder how the current 2 to 3* transitioners will feel as the 4* transition is back to back.

ZeroKarma

It's funny to see this thread after I decided to buy a Stark Salary. I want to reiterate what many people have stated. I play this game A LOT. Much more than my wife would like. But when I think of the cost of entertainment, $100 every few months is really not bad when you're a daily player.

I bought covers for JG because she's a fun character, she's a strong part of the current meta and she will help me win more 4*s. When Gambit gets released I will probably do the same.

If you have the means and this is your hobby, then go for it. I respect the FTP guys and what they've done. That's their thing, and spending a bit here and there is mine.

BTW - As other posters have mentioned the game isn't actually free. Without a paying player base it ceases to exist. If everyone acted as the OP we would be playing some other freemium game or maybe checkers. Content costs money, requires time and effort, and you need to ask yourself how much work you would do if you weren't paid a penny, charitable volunteering aside.

Vhailorx

20three wrote:

Just wondering. First off, I will never, ever spend actual money on this game. Maybe one day I will buy a mini pack of ISO as a small thanks for the developers, but right now, I just don't see it happening. Aside from that, here's my situation. I currently have 3 free and open roster spots that I use in order to "harvest" 3 star characters like Vision, Gamora, and Mystique who I have no interest in using in order to use them to get the extra 2000 iso and token during DDQ when it's there time to shine. I also currently have 825 HP points. Roster slots currently cost 650 for me. I really want another Wolverine Patch or Classic Magneto to run the Loki team I'm using (they currently have 10/11 covers). So is there actually some reasonableness to purchasing covers or should I just save for the roster slots I may need in the future?

To look at just a couple of aspects of OP's question: "Are there any 3* covers worth buying right now" is a fairly interesting question with no right answer.

There are clearly 4*s that are worth having at or near max covers if you want to compete in the current meta (I would probably put IMHB, JG, Thing, and maybe XFdeadpool at the top of the list). But the cost is quite expensive and it's hard to get covers so you would probably have to buy many covers, which would be really really expensive. It's a personal choice and I won't comment on the pros/cons

3*s are a different story. They are easier to get, so you are more likely to just need 2-4 covers for any particular character; a much more manageable expense, even for f2p players. The problem is that 3*s are becoming increasingly obsolete. So it's sort of like weighing the merits of buying a cheap ps3 now. There are definitely some great games that you will enjoy playing, but the ceiling a very limited because the system has already been replaced and anything new that you might be interested in will be a ps4 title.

If 3*s are worth buying at all, then you have to start by looking at Iron Fist. He is the king of the 3* land, offering unparalleled speed, free damage, AP acceleration for a premium color, and boardshake. If he's not worth buying, then no one is.

In the current meta, I think IF is still worth the price of admission. he has two very strong PVP pairings with 4* characters (IMHB and Xforce) that are especially effective when either 4* is boosted. He's a great counter to PVE nodes with goons feeding a super-leveled villain because he can make things happen so quickly. And there are also several great 3* black powers that he can fuel too for those who don't have a 4* roster yet (cage, cyclops, bp).

So I would say it's still worth buying IF up if you already have 6-8 covers for him and can afford the HP cost. he is useful in every game mode, and has a great deal of versatility too.

After him, there are only a few 3*s that come close. If I were to make a list of the 3* covers that I would consider buying, it would probably be something like this:

IF: any color, any cover is probably justifiable
Cyclops: or , cover 5
Cage: any color, cover 5
Switch: , covers 4 or 5
Khan: or , cover 5
GSBW: cover 5 (for use with prof. X) cover 5 also worth it for use with prof x.
Hood: cover 5
Loki: cover 4 or 5
Deadpool: cover 1 (worth spending a lot of HP to get as a placement or prog, given the utility of superwhales)
Patch: cover 5 for true regen
Lazy Cap: or cover 5

Don't really know if there are any other 3* covers that are really essential, and even these will only get you so far in the current meta. Did I miss any?

Edited to add in the color flags, and to add gsbw purple to the list.

Vhailorx

aesthetocyst wrote:

Vhailorx wrote:

GSBW: green cover 5 (for use with prof. X)

Great post...but don't you mean there? Or perhaps and ?

I put green down because her green 5th cover significantly changes the power, making it is a useful complement to all the green ap you will necessarily get when using her purple to fuel prof. x. But yeah, should probably have added purple as well. will edit.

Unknown

The key words in this discussion is not "spent money for the game" but "spent money for enjoying my time"
I play MPQ from the first time. And this game is (month after month) a already seen. If i play call of duty 5 or 6 or 7 i buy them cause i know that(more or less) is a copy and paste of the old games (with a little bit new contents) with same name. But not all player like this way. I can spend money cause there is a software house that work on it(and this is right) but after 2 year this game is really boring, even same contest same story mod and situation. Someone know Marvel Future Fight? It's an Android's Game in 3d based on multiple mission where is possible to use 3 hero/villain Marvel. So ,each 3 weeks there are new types of tournement pvp or pve,new hero,new armours, new inventory item,new possibility for play with or without real money....not like MPQ i think

Unknown

This thread makes me wish there was a sale already. I need two purple IF covers to max him. I have the HP to do so but it would wipe out any future character slots for a while.

Also, why are people saying Switch instead of SWitch (edit: or SW!). I literally just got that after wondering who Switch was for about a month. Wha ev.

TxMoose

been wanting a sale for over a month... got some hp from a taco to tide me over some, but I really need a sale.

Unknown

A while back I blew about 16 tokens going for health packs. It took 16 (****?), but I made 1500hp while at the same time receiving around 700hp from PVE (I think it was for DOOOOOOM) so I have some to burn but only enough for two covers.

But I want to max SW as well as IF and have at least 580 days played so I'd love to throw twenty bucks at the devs as a thank you. I don't like buying HP when it's not on sale though. Hurry up, Anniversary Sale!

Linkster79

If you have the disposable income to afford to spend and you get a lot of enjoyment from the game then why not?

GrimSkald

TxMoose wrote:

been wanting a sale for over a month... got some hp from a taco to tide me over some, but I really need a sale.

There hasn't been a sale since... what, the early spring? I'm presently at the point where I'm willing to spend another $20 on the game and have been since at least May - I'll spend that $20 when I either run low on HP or there is a sale. At this point I'm wondering if they're ever going to have a general sale again.

TxMoose

GrimSkald wrote:

TxMoose wrote:

been wanting a sale for over a month... got some hp from a taco to tide me over some, but I really need a sale.

There hasn't been a sale since... what, the early spring? I'm presently at the point where I'm willing to spend another $20 on the game and have been since at least May - I'll spend that $20 when I either run low on HP or there is a sale. At this point I'm wondering if they're ever going to have a general sale again.

well - i'll buy a stark but am really wanting to wait for a sale. I've even gone back to playing pve to avoid buying non-sale. have to take a few days off before the **** one starts though - pve sucks. maybe anniversary time. that means I have to make do with what I have for a season - might be tough. we'll see how much I can stick to my 3/8/3 limit on shields/event. the roster slot for the new **** is going to screw me I think. I might have to buy a $20 anyway after that.

20three

What I've learned:

Don't buy 3 star, I'll save up for 4, although I only have 2 that are even remotely viable at this point.

Also, I don't feel bad about not spending money on this game and never will. I'd rather just pay for the game at the start or I would if any one of the characters and items were even slightly reasonably priced, so whatever on that.

Unknown

TxMoose wrote:

GrimSkald wrote:

TxMoose wrote:

been wanting a sale for over a month... got some hp from a taco to tide me over some, but I really need a sale.

There hasn't been a sale since... what, the early spring? I'm presently at the point where I'm willing to spend another $20 on the game and have been since at least May - I'll spend that $20 when I either run low on HP or there is a sale. At this point I'm wondering if they're ever going to have a general sale again.

well - i'll buy a stark but am really wanting to wait for a sale. I've even gone back to playing pve to avoid buying non-sale. have to take a few days off before the **** one starts though - pve sucks. maybe anniversary time. that means I have to make do with what I have for a season - might be tough. we'll see how much I can stick to my 3/8/3 limit on shields/event. the roster slot for the new **** is going to screw me I think. I might have to buy a $20 anyway after that.

I bought a stark during the off season and it gave 25,000hp instead of 20,000. Was that considered a sale?

Unknown

I've been asking for a sale for a couple/few months now. Especially when we started getting the onslaught of 4*, I might have actually been willing to pay for some of those covers (I indirectly did for 4P via cover lotto). It's been WAY too long. I need them to adjust the cost of ISO, and then do a sale.

I do want to touch on 3* verse 4*. 3* are not being phased out. Are 4* becoming more prevalent, yes, but if anything, them releasing a 1* Spiderman instead of 4*, shows that the rumors of them slowing down the release of 4*s has some merit to it. Now I'm not saying go buy up all of Laken's covers today, but if they are a high tiering 3* like Cage or IF, they do NOT have a 4* counter (like Patch is BAD to buy a cover for, Deadpool is bad, and we all expect Hulk to get a 4* eventually), or they are a battery (KK/SW), then its worth looking into. There are very few good/strong 'all 4*' teams, I mean the first four letters of Fistbuster is 'Fist', - for Ironfist, who is a 3*.
- Unreall

Vhailorx

Unreallystic wrote:

I've been asking for a sale for a couple/few months now. Especially when we started getting the onslaught of 4*, I might have actually been willing to pay for some of those covers (I indirectly did for 4P via cover lotto). It's been WAY too long. I need them to adjust the cost of ISO, and then do a sale.

I do want to touch on 3* verse 4*. 3* are not being phased out. Are 4* becoming more prevalent, yes, but if anything, them releasing a 1* Spiderman instead of 4*, shows that the rumors of them slowing down the release of 4*s has some merit to it. Now I'm not saying go buy up all of Laken's covers today, but if they are a high tiering 3* like Cage or IF, they do NOT have a 4* counter (like Patch is BAD to buy a cover for, Deadpool is bad, and we all expect Hulk to get a 4* eventually), or they are a battery (KK/SW), then its worth looking into. There are very few good/strong 'all 4*' teams, I mean the first four letters of Fistbuster is 'Fist', - for Ironfist, who is a 3*.
- Unreall

I disagree with most of this.

The 4* release rate isn't slowing down. Its steady at 2 per month plus special tie-in releases. 1* spidey didn't even get a release event. He was added to tokens with little pre-warning. He had no effect on the character release rate.

3*s aren't dead. They are just moving to a transitional phase of the game. Pointing to iron fist and saying he proved that 3*s are still viable is misleading. If is the best 3*, hands down. Its like saying 1*s are = to 2*s because juggs is more useful than 2* bullseye.

Buret0

Vhailorx wrote:

Pointing to iron fist and saying he proved that 3*s are still viable is misleading. If is the best 3*, hands down. Its like saying 1*s are = to 2*s because juggs is more useful than 2* bullseye.

Where do you rank the following 3*s:

Iron Fist
Scarlet Witch
Cyclops
Loki
Hood

KK
Cage
Magneto
Thor
Steve
Black Panther
Deadpool
R&G

What about when they are boosted?

Obviously if you are giving me a boosted Jean Gray, I'm going to design a team around using her. I'll look at the boost list to see who else is available and I'll pair them up with the mandatory 3*. IMO, good team design needs a few really strong moves, a decent passive, and a foolproof battery.

Can use even unboosted:

Fist is great because he has a good passive, a great battery that is cheap to use, and a decent attack. Unboosted, he is very squishy, so he is often the first target to take out.

Switch is the best purple battery in the game, which means that she pairs with some of the most powerful new 4*s, namely JG and 4Pool. She also explodes heads when paired with Chuck.

Cyclops has two powerful attacks and he turns useless team-up tiles into useful red by using useless yellow AP. Boosted, he's a one man wrecking machine and you design your team around getting him the red and black AP he needs to pew pew.

Loki and Hood do something that 4*s aren't doing these days: AP steal. They slow the enemy team down and speed your team up. Super squishy when unboosted and their ability to steal AP from every color is less useful than single AP driven batteries for speed.

Deadpool. If you need Whales. Otherwise, he needs a boost.

Use when weekly boosted:

KK - Battery + Healer + AoE nuke. Unsquishy when boosted. Not quite as efficient a battery as others, but she powers up her own nuke, which is valuable.
Thor - Red/Yellow/Green flows together. Decent health when boosted. Cascades and AoE make him a threat, but he's a bit slow on D.
Magneto - Active yellow and blue? And neither of them suck? Plus good damage and board shake on his red? A real threat when boosted.
Steve - Does a ton of damage when he gets going. Not as useful on D, because the AI doesn't keep him shielded and match away their own CD tiles.
Cage - His black will burn away your AP on D, but when boosted he can keep the match damage away long enough to use his fantastic yellow.
Doom - Great black battery and purple nuke, but not as useful on D.
Deadpool - His red is fast and does a ton of damage when maxed and boosted. His purple is slow, but if you leave him around with a battery, he'll whale up.
R&G - Yellow passive is fantastic when boosted. AI not as good with the I've got a Plan. Can waste your green AP, but it gives you something to do with all that blue passive AP.
Black Panther - Slightly cheaper black nuke. Really a one hit wonder, so I don't hold him in high regard like others do.

Malcrof

@ Buret, i think R&G may need to move to useful when unboosted. Huge HP, self healing, meaty attack tiles, can destroy special tiles. KK can be amazing unboosted, if paired with the proper boosted char. Anyone with fast abilities, and is boosted, like Psylocke or 3* Spidey, or even Devil Dino, who can spam abilities.. can make her a non-stop heal battery, and very good.

Other then those 2, your list is pretty good.

Where would you put 3* BE? I am really loving him now that he is max covered, and even unboosted and lvl 120, i took down a big boy team (XFW, GThor, 290 GSBW) in Hollowpoint Kiss.. with him and Cage (so he always had a tile for his purple).. did the fight for fun, but a screen full of strike tiles made it go wicked fast..