Roster trimming advice?

Pogo

EDIT: I initially didn't provide context about my roster's strengths, only its weaknesses, so I've added a Gamependium roster (http://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/Pogo/) which already accounts for some of the changes considered in this original post)


I have a variety of 3+ star covers in my pending rewards that I'm pretty loath to sell, but there's no way I'm gonna collect enough HP to add them all without cutting somebody to make room.

I'm a free player, and I recently came back after about a year off. In the past week or two I've been expanding pretty aggressively (came back with about 24 roster slots, now up to 36) thanks to some good event placement and a lucky 1000HP taco. Even with all the purchased slots, I still needed to boot a couple 2-stars to make room for some 3s and 4s. I understand that a lv94 2-star is functionally more valuable than a lv70 4-star, but the 2s that I bumped were mostly underdeveloped & unused.

I don't play much PVP. Mostly just the starter nodes to collect the Standard Token & then I scram when the levels start to ramp up.

My current playstyle leans pretty heavily on 2Storm + 2Magneto, and the only characters I have who are beyond 94 are X-Force Wolverine & The Hood (Which is okay, because they both have the Black damage that Storm & Magneto lack).

Currently waiting to be collected, in order of soonest expiration:

Luke Cage (6 days)
Quicksilver (9)
Kamala (12)
Quicksilver (12)
Doc Ock (12)
Deadpool (12)
4- Sam Falconamerica (12)
Colossus (13)
Colossus (13)
Colossus (13)
Kamala (13)
3- Sam Falcon (14)
Psylocke (14)

It seems like it makes the most sense to keep the characters with multiple covers ready to go. Also, Colossus has plenty of time on the clock, but he has required nodes in the current PVE event and he's the next DDQ.

The chopping block lists everybody AFTER page 1 of my roster, though there are some I don't want to dump. The list is in order of fewest stars:

5 / 5 Hawkeye (Maxed)
I only use him for DDQ, and I'd sooner have a 3-star than an extra 2500 Iso per day. Plus he's easy to re-recruit.

1 / 3 / 2 Johnny Storm
1 / 2 / 4 Thor
1 / 3 / 1 Ares
I never use these guys unless they're event-boosted or required. I actually sold them all once before, but I regained all these covers in the past 2 weeks & recruited them due to required character nodes. I also have lv78 3Torch.

2 / 1 / 3 OBW
3 / 5 / 5 Moonstone
I plan on keeping OBW (I don't know how I got this far without her), so I could justify dropping Moonstone even though I have max covers for her & invested a lot of Iso into her.


1 / 1 Thor Modern
I actually got rid of all my 2Thor once before, since the powers are all the same. These are slow coming, but I really feel like I should keep him.

1 / 1 / 1 Steve Rogers SS
Same as with Thor. Dumped the diet version.

1 Ragnarok
Only 1 cover, and it damages allies. I don't see myself using him, but I hear that with more covers he pairs well with 2Storm.

1 / 1 Gamora
I hear she's only worth using if she's the tank & you focus on her Strike tile power.

2 Loki
I only have his Black for now, but after getting wrecked by Mischief, I want that power for my own.

2 / 2 Bullseye Classic
His green seems useful but too costly, and his passive seems like it'd only be useful in Wave battles.

1 / 1 Squirrel Girl
I haven't used her enough to get a good feel for her potential, but she seems like a good support?

1 / 1 Iron Fist
I'd prefer to keep him; his powers aren't expensive and his utility is obvious.

1 / 2 Mohawk Storm
1-Star Storm was my main back when environment tiles were still a thing, so I get how she works.

2 Classic Spiderman
I don't use him much since all he can do right now is heal, but I see the potential

3 Rocket & Groot
Same.

3 Daredevil
I would be happy to have either of his other powers. Right now he's got 1 narrow-use power that costs a lot.

1 Thing
1 Mr Fantastic
1 Jean Grey
1 Hulkbuster
These guys are all pretty useless with 1 cover. Either niche usage or low variables. Thing's passive isn't too bad at base level, but only worth it provided the other 2 members cover all the color/power bases.

All my unlisted characters are in too deep of an investment for me to justify getting rid of them.

If I had to drop 8 characters right now to make room for all my unclaimed rewards, I would go:
1Hawkeye, 2Thor, 2Torch, Ares, Moonstone, 3Bullseye, Ragnarok, and Gamora.

Of course, this is assuming that all my unclaimed characters need to be added. I know 3Falcon is good support, for example, but I'm not sure he'd be worth dumping Gamora/Ragnarok.

New roster slots now cost me 500HP, so I might be able to get 1 more before these rewards expire, but I probably won't earn enough for 2 slots by then.

Also, my Resupply rewards are at day 228, not that it'll matter in the short-term.

I'm trying to stay conscious of who has a DDQ coming up, but I don't like using that as the primary reason to keep somebody if I don't think I'll use them much (especially characters who damage selves/allies).

I kinda have an idea of which way to lean, but perspectives are welcome.

EDIT: After the initial draft & post, I did a bunch of Standard recruits to try to build up my OBW, and ended up increasing both the list of unclaimed rewards and covers for existing characters.

Unknown

I would like to offer my 2 cents on this topic

Let me start off with your 1* choice.
You should try to keep 1 1* for the daily DDQ and your option should be either an IM35 or Juggs. Simply because when a 2* hawkeye is used, you cant do that node for the day.

Moving on to 2*
I believe that you are at the moment in a 2*->3* transition. Having a core 2* team is important and for me, I have Thor, Ares, CStorm, Wolvie, Daken, MNMags, OBW.
Thor and Ares is really useful and are regularly boosted from time to time. Ares for one is a superb single target hero with low cost abilities.

Moonstone and JS can be chucked if you need space. Always do aim to save 1 space for rotating of essentials in PVE events

3*

Out of the list of heroes that you have in queue, I will keep Cage, Deadpool, Kamala, and the 4*(lower priority first)
I would chuck Ragnarok, Spiderman and even SG to make space. Currently these three are not at a strong position and are mostly used for support. You would be pretty good to refer to this link viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30187 by Dauthi on the list of 3* tier.

It is good to also look out for the upcoming DDQ to make sure you are not chucking away a 3* before his daily is coming. An extra taco can go a long way

Conclusion
As you are currently suffering from a slot shortage, do try to hold off opening anymore tokens. They dont expire which I assume you will have known. Do try to join an alliance to get a quicker shot at getting HP.

Pogo

Thank you for the tips!

Unconcerned wrote:

As you are currently suffering from a slot shortage, do try to hold off opening anymore tokens. They dont expire which I assume you will have known.

OJSP wrote:

Stop opening anymore tokens for now.

I assume this includes Tacos. The vault didn't exist yet when I played previously, so I've just learned that I shouldn't be burning Tacos the day I earn them (though I'm glad I was, since I got that 1000HP). I didn't understand the vault reset schedule at the time. I'll be sure to save those up until that probability is more favorable to me.

Unconcerned wrote:

Let me start off with your 1* choice.
You should try to keep 1 1* for the daily DDQ and your option should be either an IM35 or Juggs. Simply because when a 2* hawkeye is used, you cant do that node for the day.

I've been hearing this a lot recently, so I had started saving up Juggernauts from my Standard pulls, and I went back and replayed the Prologue missions that still had covers for him. I've switched him in (with 7 covers), and funnily enough Hawkeye is today's 1-star opponent.

Unconcerned wrote:

I would chuck Ragnarok, Spiderman and even SG to make space. Currently these three are not at a strong position and are mostly used for support. You would be pretty good to refer to this link viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30187 by Dauthi on the list of 3* tier.

Great link, confirmed some of my suspicions and regrets (I sold my unclaimed Patch back in the days when they gave you HP for 3-stars), and made sense of some previously misunderstood powers. Seems like it hasn't been updated for Quicksilver yet, though. I've been searching for info on him and there seems to be a consensus that he sucks? I assume this is based on his high AP base costs & the fact that his locked tiles are randomly chosen. I started digging through his character page but there's such a mixture of pre-release speculation and apparently there was a nerf at some point, so I'm not sure what's obsolete. I assume his powers are affected by other characters' locked tiles (I also checked the Wikia but it doesn't explicitly state one way or the other). My Invisible Woman currently has Force Bubbles at 2 covers, so she can do 3 locks per 7 blue AP. If I understand this right, IW, Quicksilver, and 2Magneto's Polarity Shift could be a decent combination once Quicksilver has enough levels to make his detonation deal non-trivial damage.

I'll definitely hold off on tokens until I open up some more slots, though. I'd prefer to keep my Rewards list clear rather than have to plan around juggling, and I'll already theoretically have more new covers than I can handle if I work hard at PVE events.

My new Psylocke & Falcon are pretty low priority for me at the moment, especially since their DDQs already passed recently. According to the Resupply list, I should be getting an Iron-Man 40 this week, which I've also already sold before and probably will again, but I guess I'll keep him briefly to get his upcoming DDQ.

Not really sure how to power up my OBW though. I keep seeing 2-star covers as possible rewards in PVP nodes, but I just get Iso every single time no matter what.

Unknown

Pogo wrote:

Thank you for the tips!

Unconcerned wrote:

As you are currently suffering from a slot shortage, do try to hold off opening anymore tokens. They dont expire which I assume you will have known.

OJSP wrote:

Stop opening anymore tokens for now.

I assume this includes Tacos. The vault didn't exist yet when I played previously, so I've just learned that I shouldn't be burning Tacos the day I earn them (though I'm glad I was, since I got that 1000HP). I didn't understand the vault reset schedule at the time. I'll be sure to save those up until that probability is more favorable to me.

Unconcerned wrote:

Let me start off with your 1* choice.
You should try to keep 1 1* for the daily DDQ and your option should be either an IM35 or Juggs. Simply because when a 2* hawkeye is used, you cant do that node for the day.

I've been hearing this a lot recently, so I had started saving up Juggernauts from my Standard pulls, and I went back and replayed the Prologue missions that still had covers for him. I've switched him in (with 7 covers), and funnily enough Hawkeye is today's 1-star opponent.

Unconcerned wrote:

I would chuck Ragnarok, Spiderman and even SG to make space. Currently these three are not at a strong position and are mostly used for support. You would be pretty good to refer to this link viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30187 by Dauthi on the list of 3* tier.

Great link, confirmed some of my suspicions and regrets (I sold my unclaimed Patch back in the days when they gave you HP for 3-stars), and made sense of some previously misunderstood powers. Seems like it hasn't been updated for Quicksilver yet, though. I've been searching for info on him and there seems to be a consensus that he sucks? I assume this is based on his high AP base costs & the fact that his locked tiles are randomly chosen. I started digging through his character page but there's such a mixture of pre-release speculation and apparently there was a nerf at some point, so I'm not sure what's obsolete. I assume his powers are affected by other characters' locked tiles (I also checked the Wikia but it doesn't explicitly state one way or the other). My Invisible Woman currently has Force Bubbles at 2 covers, so she can do 3 locks per 7 blue AP. If I understand this right, IW, Quicksilver, and 2Magneto's Polarity Shift could be a decent combination once Quicksilver has enough levels to make his detonation deal non-trivial damage.

I'll definitely hold off on tokens until I open up some more slots, though. I'd prefer to keep my Rewards list clear rather than have to plan around juggling, and I'll already theoretically have more new covers than I can handle if I work hard at PVE events.

My new Psylocke & Falcon are pretty low priority for me at the moment, especially since their DDQs already passed recently. According to the Resupply list, I should be getting an Iron-Man 40 this week, which I've also already sold before and probably will again, but I guess I'll keep him briefly to get his upcoming DDQ.

Not really sure how to power up my OBW though. I keep seeing 2-star covers as possible rewards in PVP nodes, but I just get Iso every single time no matter what.

Regarding the tacos, I was previously like you. But someone calculated that it would be better to stockpile them and hit them all at once to get the covers that you really need rather than a random 2*

I will mention about quicksilver, though i may be a bit wrong. I will say that he is viable with a team like mags and cstorm. But rmb 1 3 match is 1 locked tile, so when you do polarity shift, try not to aim for the match 5 since that translate to only 1 match and 1 locked tile. Quicksilver isnt that bad, but needs a buff to dmg and needs a lot of covers to make it work.
Stuff at the top of the 3* list generally will start to do their magic with lesser covers than the lower ones.

Just got to be patient with the OBW covers. They will come eventually. Just continue hitting lightning rounds for recruit tokens etc.

TxMoose

Unconcerned wrote:

Regarding the tacos, I was previously like you. But someone calculated that it would be better to stockpile them and hit them all at once to get the covers that you really need rather than a random 2*

it appears that he's missing his 2* core and trying to jump to 3*s really quickly. I think the 2* covers will help him more than 3*s would now anyway. the core group of ares, obw, 2thor, 2mnmags, 2cstorm, 2daken, 2axwolvie were all very useful far into my 3* transition, and I still use mnmags a ton, although I've sold off daken and axw when I got 3daken and patch covered. i also still use 2* thormneto for big enchilada every day. getting that group covered and to 94 should be a priority over trying to keep guys like rags or squirrel or spidey. torch is good, but low on health but would give a black that is generally lacking in 2*s. moonstone is optional but right now she's the strongest character I think. my suggestions to the op:

switch 1* hawk to jugs or im35 - you said you were working on that, so that will give you another strong character relatively quickly

your 2*s, I'd keep what you have and add mags and storm asap. eventually I'd sell moon, but not before I have other damage dealers to replace her. torch is optional but fills a need and is started, so I'd keep for now - can make that decision later

for 3*s - you're early enough where I'd certainly keep the top tier characters. from what's in the post, not sure if you've seen the forum polls or character rankings:
https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=29852 - kinda old from may, but generally reliable, although there will be some shuffling when this comes out again
https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=30187
https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=34501 - recent collaboration of a handful of top tier players in the game

also, if you haven't gone through polarity's guide, do so. it may be old and slightly outdated but tons of great info throughout: https://d3go.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3939

get an understanding of who's great and who's optional and it will help a ton. in your waiting list, cage, kamala, deadpool, and 4falcap are musts. drop candidates are rags, spidey, squirrel, and gamora or bullseye.

if you're truly F2P, consider not opening any tokens until you have hp to roster someone you don't have yet. the random nature of tokens means that until you have most characters in the game, you have a decent chance of pulling something that will need to be either rostered or discarded. and delaying those pulls until you have hp for another slot can really help not have to make the tough decisions that the game already inherently puts on you.

good luck.

TxMoose

ah, hard to give useful advice with out seeing the whole picture. missed that. its easier to just put your roster into gamependium or similar. somehow I also missed that he had an established roster and was returning to the game after a long time off. I really need to pay attn. more. not paying attn. will cost me t20 in the pve and a x23 cover - I ground sub 2 on day 1. still managed t50 for sub 2, but now I'm off subject.

disregard much of my post - sell candidates still apply and rankings still apply.

Pogo

Yeah, in retrospect it would've made more sense for me to wait to post until I had a handle on Gamependium. I've just set my updated roster up there, so it'll display my stronger/more heavily used characters.

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

Most of my high-level characters have Black, so it's usually possible for me to round out 2-Storm 2-Magneto.
My OBW and Juggernaut have improved, and my Colossus and Spider-Man have also gone up a bit due to ranking rewards in a few recent events (I was also hoping to make good use of Spider-Man in the Webslinger PVP, but I'll have to hit top 25 to get a color of Magneto cover that I actually still need). I'm avoiding spending much Iso on Spider-Man in case I need to chop him after the event.

OJSP wrote:

TxMoose wrote:

it appears that he's missing his 2* core and trying to jump to 3*s really quickly.

I was under the impression that his 2* roster was thin initially.. but after re-reading the post, in fact, he has Storm and Magneto already, which he said to lean pretty heavily on.

My 2-star roster is VERY thin. Back when I made most of my major roster changes, I didn't understand why you'd keep a 2-star if presented with a 3-star. Biggest examples being Thor & Steve. Actually, I even sold a maxed-out 2-star Wolverine because my X-force was high enough that I never used the 2-star. I've already tossed 2Johnny & Ares, and I wouldn't have as many 2Thor covers as I do except that he was required in a recent PVE arc. I can see keeping him for now since I have 10 covers, and almost certainly dumping the 2-Steve that I'm using in the current PVE.

A big part of it was from not understanding certain characters' potential (I never even started building up Daken because I couldn't grasp how a character with 2 passives would be usable), and another part was the panic of "what if I don't get this 3-star character again and then it turns out I need them?" As the total number of MPQ characters increases, that scarcity just gets more pronounced.

Now it feels like major backpedaling to delete 3-star characters to add 2-stars, but I do understand that it might mean earning more HP (and, by extension, roster slots) in the long-term. There was a time when I would've stressed this much over deleting 2-star characters, and I assume a time will come when I'll be built up enough that selling 3-stars will seem trivial. The game has demonstrated to me that I can regain those 2-stars with little difficulty (aside from the cost of leveling). I don't look forward to the continued increase of roster slot cost, especially with the speed at which new characters are released (and the effect that has on the DDQ schedule and the probability of pulling a particular character from a token).

I think the biggest problem is that I've been so impatient (I know that's something microeconomy games bank on). That's why I went to town on those tokens. Before I started using the forum & the wiki, I was even wasting Iso on extra standard tokens.

At this point, I'm actually considering holding back in the PVE event just enough to rank me for another Black Panther cover instead of having to think about how to work in an X23.

Pogo

Okay, update time.

Since posting the thread, I've had some big changes. As mentioned before, I've built up Juggernaut and OBW

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

I've opened some Standard tokens, nothing major, but I'm still obviously getting loads of covers from mission rewards and progression.

I have started playing more PVP. I don't love it, but there are some good rewards and it keeps me busy when the PVE doesn't have exciting payouts. I have a feeling this is going to be the case more and more.

Kamala (4 days remain)
Deadpool (4)
4- Sam Falconamerica (4)
Kamala (5)
3- Sam Falcon (6)
Psylocke (6)
Sentry (8)
Spider-Man (Train+) (13)
Iron Man 40 (13)
Iron Man 40 (13)
Deadpool (14)
Gamora (Train+) (14)
(edit) There is a STRONG possibility that I will have a 3-star Cyclops soon due to Shield Sim rewards

I'm intent on keeping anything I've listed in bold.

I also have some 2-stars saved up, but since I see how frequently they come, I'm not going to add any more 2-star characters until all my 3+ are cleared out of my pending rewards.

Psylocke and Spider-Man are in my not-too-distant Resupply schedule, as is Patch (who will DEFINITELY be added this time when I get him)

Ragnarok is still on the definite cut list, and tomorrow is his DDQ so he'll be gone soon. I also have enough HP for 1 additional slot, so Kamala and Deadpool are taken care of.

I'm having a harder time justifying dumping Spider-Man and Gamora now that I actually have all 3 colors for them. I've used them a bit more, and now that I could have Gamora's inexpensive Red, she could be worth bringing in. My Punisher and Hulk still vastly outlevel her as far as RGK characters go, but I just don't know. I do see that Spider-Man isn't the best choice to keep, all things being equal, but I could have him leveled to 104 if I keep him,.

I still haven't cut Moonstone either. OBW has passed her up in level (still needs 1 cover to max), and I really only care about Black coverage, which OBW provides, but Control Shift is great against Teisatsu. Not sure if that's a good enough reason to keep her, though. I've also kept & partially developed 2-star Thor, at the forum's recommendation, even though I considered him an easy cut. He's fully covered now, but I haven't leveled him all the way because I haven't needed to use him at all since a few PVEs ago.

I have no love for Sentry or IM40 at the moment, so I guess I only need to make room for 4-star Sam.

So my current dilemma boils down to:
Is one cover of Psylocke or 3-star Falcon worth cutting another character? Neither of them will last until their DDQ.

TLDR:

Must cut one (unless I earn 500 HP in 4 days): covered-but-unmaxed Moonstone, covered-but-unmaxed 2Thor, half-covered Spider-Man, or 1-per-color Gamora

Keep any? Psylocke, 3-Falcon (Must cut more to make room)

(edit) I'm more inclined to keep Cyclops than I am to keep Psylocke or 3-Falcon, but he's got a much longer clock on him so he has a better chance of landing in a freshly-expanded slot

Quebbster

If you use Moonstone, I see no harm in keeping her over a single cover 3*. I think both Spider-man and Psylocke are cuttable - I like both but neither one excels really.