3* to 4* Transition - When?

Clanseigh

How far along should I be in the 3* progression before I make the leap into 4* transition? I've never hit 1000 in PVP and I know that's largely because of inexperience--usually I just push as far as I can and call it good. I've never practiced the timing to make it and I know a lot of people that aren't as far along in the 3* transition do it all the time.

There's also a weird psychological barrier that I have that sees IF/HB/featured and doesn't even give it a shot because I don't have a lot.

I've got 16 maxed (14 optimally covered--Cage is at 544 and Doom is at 445) 3* and the rest (save for Bullseye) are all within one cover of optimal and at level 120.

When should a guy start feeling like he's not making the best use of his time in building up 3*?

In case it helps, here's my roster:

http://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/Clanseigh/

BlackSheep101

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. Lots of maxed 3*s and no usable 4*s yet. I don't have a lot to say about how to transition since I'm still struggling to get it right. I will say this, though: Next time you see a team of IF/HB/featured in pvp that's worth 50+ points, take a shot at it. Bring boosts and your best team ups, and play like it's the match that will get you a legendary token or top 10 placement. Think about what you need to do to avoid losing to HB's fist, and what is the fastest way to down the other team.

If you lose, you'll drop like 4 points. Win or lose, you'll gain valuable experience and confidence. Eventually you won't see fistbuster and winfinite matches as autoskips.

TxMoose

i'll second black sheep. before they added OML, my roster was way behind yours. still is behind yours in depth at the high 3* levels, but I've been hitting 1K regularly for months now. it should be very doable with as many maxed 3*s as you have. you should be able to do it with just a 3hr shield or maybe a 3 and an 8. you do have to get past the mental block of taking on 4* teams. I will say that jean and iceman are my least favorite to play against, along with thing/xpool combos. fistbuster can be beaten (especially if there's a good black user boosted to go with fist like Cyclops or cage), but does take some smart play and a cascade will screw things up - it is not 'automatic'. so you have to be able to accept some losses sometimes.

I would say try to find one early in an event where it won't kill you to lose some health packs and take it on - experiment. there are times I target hb first but there are times (like when witch is there) where I take out fist first. you need to play against it enough times where you can develop strategies that you're comfortable with that work for you. if you have a solid featured character and another with some synergy that fills out most colors, hood always helps against 4*s - what will really hurt you is their abilities. if you can avoid their big abilities (hb red/black, jean purple/green, ice green/2nd blue, etc.), they are very beatable. be careful of accelerators like fist and witch - understand what it will lead to and target the right one first.

its a process getting over that mental block - I was there once too. was a time I wouldn't take on 166s. then I wouldn't take on 4*s. then I wouldn't take on maxed 4*s. then I realized as long as their covered and in the 200s, the 4*s hit about the same - the levels only give more health in the 4* range (for the most part). now I'm careful who I hit, but will try nearly anything for enough points if it isn't a critical time for health packs. offseason is a great time to play around and try and find things that work too. mags is great boosted. xforce is a great partner for him and yours is fully covered. grocket and patch can also be usable with the right partners (several patch/lokis out there I've seen).

edit: now that I scroll to the bottom of your roster, doesn't look like hp is an issue considering how many dupes you have - using 2-3 shields should get you 1K easily and that will add three 4* covers a week. over the period of a couple months, you'll get some of your 4*s to a reasonable state for the ddq node and eventually general use. your px is actually not far away from being usable. paired with witch, gsbw or kk, he can work pretty well (note: pay close attention to his levels - you generally don't want his blue tanking for your 3* partner).

Clanseigh

Thanks for the help, guys! I'm getting from you guy what I was already kind of thinking: I just need to go for it. Worst case scenario, I lose. It's better to lose and learn than to not even play and have nothing to show for it. I need to be as proactive as I try to get my employees to be: We can talk all day about why a plan won't work, but we get nowhere without trying.

Side note: TxMoose, it's funny you mentioned CMags and XFW--they were my go-tos when I was first getting into the 3* transition. I had those two and 3hor "done" first with pretty decent token draws and a few purchased covers. They were my original A team and were the backbone of my 3* transition.

_Vitto

I agree with the "go for it".

I've been hitting 1k in last 5 pvps. Once you get the hang of it, it's really all about planning and working on your strategies.
And my roster is far behind yours. I have only a bunch 4* covers and my 3*s are mostly covered at lv140.

Try different approaches/teams, think about which enemies can retaliate vs you or not, try to use shields wisely. Once you realise how to do so, you're done. Good luck!

DireMcCann

I found all of the information presented here incredibly useful, thanks.

I have a related question. At what roster size should I be worrying about this. I currently conserve my gold for roster spots and so the idea of using gold to purchase shields doesn't work for me. I have found that if I put myself into the 400 range till the last 3-4 hours and then burn out all of my roster/heath I net 750 and a top 10 placement (more cumulative gold this way). I have a roster of 38 with 1/1*, 5/2*, 24/3* 3/4* and 1/5* . I have 4* Thor, Elektra, Kingpin, and Deadpool as well as 3* Squirrel Girl on Deck in my rewards. I do regularly run into the situation of having to decide who to drop as I can only achieve enough gold to add a new roster spot about once a week. Any advise on how to proceed at my level is appreciated. (Been playing the game for a little less than a year and have not spent any real world money. I have considered dropping $20 dollars into the game for gold to increase my roster size but will wait for the next special event deal to do this.)

http://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/DireMcCan/

_Vitto

DireMcCann wrote:

I found all of the information presented here incredibly useful, thanks.

I have a related question. At what roster size should I be worrying about this. I currently conserve my gold for roster spots and so the idea of using gold to purchase shields doesn't work for me. I have found that if I put myself into the 400 range till the last 3-4 hours and then burn out all of my roster/heath I net 750 and a top 10 placement (more cumulative gold this way). I have a roster of 38 with 1/1*, 5/2*, 24/3* 3/4* and 1/5* . I have 4* Thor, Elektra, Kingpin, and Deadpool as well as 3* Squirrel Girl on Deck in my rewards. I do regularly run into the situation of having to decide who to drop as I can only achieve enough gold to add a new roster spot about once a week. Any advise on how to proceed at my level is appreciated. (Been playing the game for a little less than a year and have not spent any real world money. I have considered dropping $20 dollars into the game for gold to increase my roster size but will wait for the next special event deal to do this.)

http://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/DireMcCan/

You didn't mention your chars' level (and that link returns an error). It does not really depend on your roster size, rather it's related to the coverage and level of your 3*s.

BlackSheep101

It also depends on how you want to play the game. I stopped worrying about saving every HP for roster spots when I had all the 3*s rostered. At that point, I knew I had the 3* essential character for every event and could rotate in the essential 2* if they're not on my KeepForever list. If you don't care whether you ever add some of the bottom tier characters to your roster, then you can stop worrying whenever you feel "done" with that part of the game.

DireMcCann

Previously link works. I fixed it. Thank you so much for your responses.