Point inflation in PVPs and season

Unknown

Aight!

Ya'll can take this post as a conspiracy theory/hot air or not. Just some observations (without calculations) of mine as to the trend of PVP scores needed to be competitive in the top 100 region of PVP and season.

The Thunderkittens have always been top 100 every PVP and season since I've joined them (way back in season 6) with the minimums of 600 per PVP.
Slowly the points required to maintain top 100 increased to 650, 700 and finally we're at 800 per pvp and 10,000 season score to be safely in top 100 for season (we're currently rank 68 for season with a combined score of 227,230).

My point is this: Top 100 pvp for the alliance cover should be more available to players who are transitioning from the 2* to 3* region. But from what I've observed this is probably not very feasible if the whole alliance of 20 scores 650 per person per PVP. Any score above this region is frankly asking too much of these poor transitioners unless they're to break out shields to climb (Thor forbid..).

I might be wrong, maybe I'm not giving them enough credit. Things may have changed since my own transitioning period, what with the huge addition of 4*s, the death of Sentry, 10 health packs, and 3 hour shields with no cooldown period. Perhaps players with transitioning rosters don't very often see max 4* after the 600 point mark in PVP like I do currently. (Can someone comment on their experience as a 3* transitioner currently playing PVP?)

Anyway I hope something can be done if this be the case. Perhaps extend the current top 100 alliance PVP rewards to top 150 instead of top 100 for that extra cover.
Can't speak for other alliances but The Thunderkittens have been actively searching for transitioning players to assist in this endeavor also, since most of us already have our 3*s fully covered and we can do some good to help the less fortunate.

I'm not turning this into a recruitment post (shoo, mods) but putting this topic out there. Would appreciate any observations or feedback with regards to this issue. Let's give our transitioners something to cheer about, eh?

OneLastGambit

I am a transitioner and I also manage to hit the 650 mark fairly reliably (did hit 912 this season but as I don't shield I didn't finish on that) and I can say that around the 650-700 mark I see lots of 4* teams (I've even taken down a couple).

My roster is very much still in development with most of my 3* having 5 or more covers and averaging about level 80, it makes PVP very challenging once you get past the aforementioned mark. I would like to have accepted the kind offer I recently had of joining a PVP alliance but I cannot (with my roster) reliably say that I will hit 800 (which is what was asked) without wasting all my HP on shields (which I will need for roster slots) a few more covers for a couple of key characters and that wall of 4* characters at 700 points will start being something I can regularly beat but at the moment it is a rarity to break past that and stay there, even with shields.

morph3us

If we put aside the ultra high scoring at the very top end of PvP, I think most of the point inflation has come from the adjustment in PvP points per match from a maximum of 50 to 75, plus the lack of release in 3*s has resulted in a bigger pool of maxed boosted 3*s who are able to push higher. As you say, the PvP point minimum way back when was roughly 500-600 per event, with 700-800 being required for top level PvP alliances. That's shifted to 700-800 for most PvP alliances, and now 1K or higher for top level PvP alliances (plus Shield sim on top of that).

You're right, though, the equilibrium point for transitioners hasn't shifted up in the same way that it has shifted up for boosted maxed 3*s, which does create an issue. T150 for the alliance cover would help alleviate that problem. The other way, I guess, would be for the transitioners to play 2 or so quick matches just under the 3 hour mark, and pop a 75HP shield to try and crack 700+. The problem with that is that the net HP cost is going to vary depending on the slice and bracket.

Unknown

OneLastGambit wrote:

I am a transitioner and I also manage to hit the 650 mark fairly reliably (did hit 912 this season but as I don't shield I didn't finish on that) and I can say that around the 650-700 mark I see lots of 4* teams (I've even taken down a couple).

My roster is very much still in development with most of my 3* having 5 or more covers and averaging about level 80, it makes PVP very challenging once you get past the aforementioned mark. I would like to have accepted the kind offer I recently had of joining a PVP alliance but I cannot (with my roster) reliably say that I will hit 800 (which is what was asked) without wasting all my HP on shields (which I will need for roster slots) a few more covers for a couple of key characters and that wall of 4* characters at 700 points will start being something I can regularly beat but at the moment it is a rarity to break past that and stay there, even with shields.

Pssst OLG, check your pm :

puppychow

One of my alliance bared made t250 with his 11k score. In the past that would be at the edge of t100. So yeah, pt inflation is rampant.

xequalsy

puppychow wrote:

One of my alliance bared made t250 with his 11k score. In the past that would be at the edge of t100. So yeah, pt inflation is rampant.

That depends a lot on the season bracket you happen to find yourself in, but I definitely agree with you. Not sure how far in the past you were thinking - I've been top250 for the last few seasons with ~10-12k season score. It's only been this season where I had 15k season score (1.3-1.5k each event plus 2k sim) that I've even managed to creep into top100.

Conversely if you skip a few events first, you get a cake bracket if you are lucky, I've managed to finish top2 by skipping half the events.

GrumpySmurf1002

OJSP wrote:

The 100th alliance scored 220109 last season. I'd be interested to find out what the score is this season. I actually think, the score might be lower this season.

Addendum: more scores have been submitted to the Season Ranking thread: 84. Spec Ops 220,606.
So, the requirement for top100 next season could be lower.. maybe..

The thing that stands out so far, the gap between top 50 and top 100 was getting steeper, and now fell off a cliff.

Season 18 - 8.8k gap
Season 19 - 6.3k gap (short season, prorates to 9k)
Season 20 - 12k gap
Season 21 - At least 26k

Not sure what the root cause is there, my guess is a bunch of frustrated 4* transitioners (so 9-11k scorers) dropping out, while the top stays semi-stable.

PeterGibbons316

It would be interesting to see data on how many people are selling their T100 rewards. It's been a while since I actually needed a 3* cover, but I remember being able to finish top 100 with just a couple of maxed 3*s and one 8 or 24-hr shield. So the covers are there to earn for the people that need them.

The additional covers given out at T5/T10 are not an appropriate reward. No one earning those covers needs them, they are primarily there for the CP.

Unknown

Thorzhamer wrote:

That sure is a really long way of saying.... "waaaaaaaaaah, waaaaaaaaaah! "

That sure is a really short way of saying... "I have absolutely nothing to contribute here so imma shoot my mouth off and be unhelpful and boorish. Oh, and waaaah, waaaah."

TxMoose

PeterGibbons316 wrote:

It would be interesting to see data on how many people are selling their T100 rewards.

recent hood and loki rewards were used on my dupes - they're done now except for iso. last main character I used from an event was probably beast. been a loooong time.

simonsez

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Not sure what the root cause is there, my guess is a bunch of frustrated 4* transitioners (so 9-11k scorers) dropping out, while the top stays semi-stable.

I don't think so. From what I see, the top end has blown through the roof too. The two main reason I would offer is an increase in cooperative play, and more people with artificially strong rosters (token cheat) that allow them to climb higher and faster, thus offering all the players below them a steady stream of 75 point targets.

woopie

simonsez wrote:

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Not sure what the root cause is there, my guess is a bunch of frustrated 4* transitioners (so 9-11k scorers) dropping out, while the top stays semi-stable.

I don't think so. From what I see, the top end has blown through the roof too. The two main reason I would offer is an increase in cooperative play, and more people with artificially strong rosters (token cheat) that allow them to climb higher and faster, thus offering all the players below them a steady stream of 75 point targets.

Yup, I stopped caring about my season and individual PvP placements (101st place with 14,993 points) because I'd rather be in a fat slice where I can cruise to 1300 and (generally) place top 50 than a dry slice and get top 10 with a 1K score. First shield at ~1150 and line up 2 75 pointers for the LT.

I haven't pulled anything useful from a Heroic token in ages so as long as i get my alliance LT, I'm a relatively happy camper.

nic13

I'm surprised no one mentioned "cupcakes" yet, but that's really only affecting scores in the higher part of the leader board I guess.

Unknown

OJSP wrote:

Deadpooool wrote:

Thorzhamer wrote:

That sure is a really long way of saying.... "waaaaaaaaaah, waaaaaaaaaah! "

That sure is a really short way of saying... "I have absolutely nothing to contribute here so imma shoot my mouth off and be unhelpful and boorish. Oh, and waaaah, waaaah."

Huh.. it seemed that the post you're quoting is gone.. Perhaps whoever reported/deleted it didn't know that Thunderkittens and CareBearStares had a bit of a history? or the poster used to be a kitten?

I surely didn't know, until I accidentally went to their alliance chat today..

Let's not get off-topic. There's a story behind everything. I'm guessing the post got deleted by the Mods for being troll-bait.

Unknown

nic13 wrote:

I'm surprised no one mentioned "cupcakes" yet, but that's really only affecting scores in the higher part of the leader board I guess.

Yup, we top 100 have little to no interest in the higher echelons of pvp (1300++) since you can only really start seeing cupcakes (those with 1500 and up) around 900 points.

Since nobody in their right mind would put nummy cakes out at 1000, I doubt transitioners aiming for top 100 alliance rewards would get a piece of that action.

Quite a pity, now that I think about it..

Magic

I aim for 1k in PVP (usually slice 3) and I have yet to see a cupcake team. After 900 i don't have time to skip that much so I attach the first target I can beat with enough points. So cupcakes are a unicorn for 4* transitioning team.

simonsez

nic13 wrote:

I'm surprised no one mentioned "cupcakes" yet

simonsez wrote:

an increase in cooperative play

I guess I was too subtle

Pongie

Magic wrote:

I aim for 1k in PVP (usually slice 3) and I have yet to see a cupcake team. After 900 i don't have time to skip that much so I attach the first target I can beat with enough points. So cupcakes are a unicorn for 4* transitioning team.

They only appear for less than a minute. So unless you're in on the baking, the possibilities of seeing one in the wild is almost zero.

Magic

Pongie wrote:

Magic wrote:

I aim for 1k in PVP (usually slice 3) and I have yet to see a cupcake team. After 900 i don't have time to skip that much so I attach the first target I can beat with enough points. So cupcakes are a unicorn for 4* transitioning team.

They only appear for less than a minute. So unless you're in on the baking, the possibilities of seeing one in the wild is almost zero.

Thanks for this response. I thought it's just my bad luck.

woopie

Pongie wrote:

Magic wrote:

I aim for 1k in PVP (usually slice 3) and I have yet to see a cupcake team. After 900 i don't have time to skip that much so I attach the first target I can beat with enough points. So cupcakes are a unicorn for 4* transitioning team.

They only appear for less than a minute. So unless you're in on the baking, the possibilities of seeing one in the wild is almost zero.

Not necessarily, you just need to be refreshing during the hot spots - 8 hours and 3 hours before the end of the PvP. I pulled 3 75 point cc's in the Hood PvP without checking any rooms on line. My worst luck comes when I'm aware of the baking, I always seem to pull their A team and not the cc

drcassino

woopie wrote:

Pongie wrote:

Magic wrote:

I aim for 1k in PVP (usually slice 3) and I have yet to see a cupcake team. After 900 i don't have time to skip that much so I attach the first target I can beat with enough points. So cupcakes are a unicorn for 4* transitioning team.

They only appear for less than a minute. So unless you're in on the baking, the possibilities of seeing one in the wild is almost zero.

Not necessarily, you just need to be refreshing during the hot spots - 8 hours and 3 hours before the end of the PvP. I pulled 3 75 point cc's in the Hood PvP without checking any rooms on line. My worst luck comes when I'm aware of the baking, I always seem to pull their A team and not the cc

If you're not in one of the rooms where baking is announced, remember the names of frequent bakers, watch for them to hop in the last 24 hours (they'll generally be close to the top of the leaderboard), and once you q them, check every minute until you find the cc or they shield. You can do it this way, but it's very ISO-intensive. In general, if you're not in an affiliated chat room, just rise as high as you can, and take the ccs for the gift that they are.