Holidays & MPQ - A Love Story

Punisher5784

I decided to share my Holiday experience with MPQ. I am sure most of you will be able to relate to the stresses of playing MPQ during the Holidays.

Before I begin, I know most of you are thinking “Hey Pun, didn’t you retire?” I took a short (very short) break as I haven’t figured out what to do with all this extra time yet, especially my lunch break at work lol. As of now I am only playing 4* PVE releases to help my alliance. Plus Eddie Brock’s version of Venom is my all-time favorite villain growing up and his Lethal Protector comic was my first #1 comic. This new Venom brings very fond memories of my childhood. It also helps that his best cover is for T100, normally it’s the opposite.

Well here we go!

Day 1: Thursday, December 24 – Christmas Eve

12:00-12:45PM: Start of the event (slice 2). Took my lunch at work. No problem. Cleared the nodes easily.

My wife and myself had planned to go to her family’s house for Christmas Eve at 6:00PM and we would leave 8:00PM the latest. Perfect!

8:15-8:30PM: Still at the family’s house and dessert was not served yet. Oh no! Time to use the bathroom break. Of course there is only one bathroom in the house and people are banging on the door. At this point I wanted to yell out “I’m grinding!” but I did the essentials quick and left the bathroom.

9:00-9:15PM: Still here! Dessert is finally served. I went back into the bathroom to finish the remaining nodes. Now her family thinks I’m sick since I’m in the bathroom again and they start questioning if the food made them sick too. All of a sudden everyone started throwing up everywhere.. okay I’m kidding! But I did play off that I was not feeling well.. Puzzle-itis!

10:30PM: Finally home! Play DDQ because I was not able to earlier and went bed. Day 1 not so bad.

Day 2: Friday, December 25 – Christmas

6:00-7:30AM: Woke up to start my grind. Now normally my wife is sleeping but I guess because it’s Christmas, she’s awake and says “You want to open presents now”. I kindly told her “No, just going to the bathroom”. I was able to do a full clear in the bathroom but she wanted to open gifts! Damnit! Haha. I did get some new super hero hoodies and socks for the gym! I got her Harley Quinn slippers and other awesome gifts.

7:30-8:30AM: She asks “Baby, can you make us breakfast”… I just wanted to wakeup and grind! Haha. “Sure no problem, I told her”. Have you ever timed your French toast flips after beating a node? Well luckily I did not burn the French toast! Somehow I did another clear! She loved the breakfast too.. French toast, eggs, and bacon. Yes I can cook and grind. 

9:00AM-10:00AM: She goes in the shower. Perfect! I grinded another clear then she tells me to go into the shower. I am very guilty of letting the shower run while I grind sitting on the toilet haha.

At this point I have about 13k pts. While you need about 16k per sub to reach the LT, this was good enough for me right now. We planned to spend Christmas at my family’s house at 12:30. No big deal, my parents will drive (they live next door) and I will clear the 2nd sub nodes in the car. Nope, as my wife says “Baby, can we take a separate car? I want to see Christmas lights afterwards”.

12:00PM-1:00PM: Fortunately, my wife takes forever to get ready! I managed to clear all the nodes! We left at 12:30pm and arrived at 1:00PM.

6:00-10:00PM: We exchanged gifts, ate dinner and dessert.. great it’s only 6PM. The wife asks me if I want to leave “Yes! Let’s go see lights!” while in the back of my mind I am telling myself “Yes! I’ll be home on time to grind!” This actually worked out perfectly as we got home at 8:00pm. Did my clear and DDQ then went to sleep.

Day 3: Saturday, December 26 – The Day After

7:00-7:15AM: I woke up early and again my wife is somehow awake (this rarely happens!). “Oh baby you’re awake early!” she says. “Just going to the bathroom” I reply. “Well how about you come back here and spread some Christmas joy”.. my jaw drops and I jump back into bed!

7:15-9:00AM: After the quick love making, she fell asleep and I was able to play! (Sad but true). I grinded as she rested her head on my bare chest (50 Shades of MPQ).
As part of her Christmas gift, I booked reservations to a restaurant called Sugar in NYC. She always wanted to go there. If I would have known there was a new 4* event during Christmas week I would not have booked this so I could grind (just kidding.. yes I am kidding!)

10:00-12:00PM: So I had the train arrival set up perfectly.. or so I thought! I looked up the times during my grind and I entered the wrong train station! I thought we would arrive in NYC at 12:45 (enough to clear the new nodes) but no instead our train was scheduled to arrive at exactly 12PM… NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!! At this point I finished the second sub with 17k. Not bad overall, ranked 30 (I’m only aiming for T100).

12:00-12:15PM: We get off the train and I tell her I need to use the bathroom. Of course all the stalls were used so I’m a creeper in the corner playing MPQ. I quickly do the essentials and return to my wife, “What took so long?!” she says. “That line was so long!” I was not sure how I was going to do all the other nodes while walking in the city.

12:15-2:00PM: So the plan was we would stop at a bunch of bakeries (she is a pastry chef). Well bakeries do not have bathrooms! Luckily she wanted to get lunch, perfect. We found a place, we sit down and I tell her I’m going to use the bathroom. “Again?!” she replies. “Well I drank a lot of water and ate a lot last night” I replied. I knew this bathroom excuse would not hold up any longer. I did the easy nodes, 3 remaining.

2:00-4:00PM: After lunch we arrive at a very busy bakery with the line out the door! Apparently this bakery invented the Cronut (Donut/Croissant hybrid). Assuming I would not want to wait on-line, she asks “Do you want to wait on this long line?” I reply “Baby, of course I’ll wait on-line for you!” as I thought to myself “Perfect, I’ll clear these last 3 nodes”. The line was barely moving as passing people say “Is this the line to Star Wars?!” I thought the same haha. Completed the last 3 nodes.. even that wonderful Carnage/Venom/Goon node that made me almost throw my phone but no big deal I was able to finish them!

5:00-11:00PM: Dinner went well. Very good restaurant and no stress of completing nodes!! Got on the train at 8:30PM and she went to sleep! I cleared the nodes I could and did some Holiday PVP. Got home at 10:00PM, finished the last 3 nodes and DDQ then went to sleep. Stressful but accomplished!

Day 4: Sunday, December 27 – Last Day!

7:00-7:30AM: I woke up to do my normal grind and AGAIN she wakes up! “Bathroom again baby?” I did not want to use the same repeated excuse, even though I did need to go! “No, actually I was going to walk the dog” I replied. With such delight she says “Aw babes, let me get on my shoes, I’ll go with you”. Ugh lol.

7:30-7:45AM: We have a nice little stroll around some blocks and when we get home she says “Baby, thank you for yesterday, I never got to thank you properly”. I think I can get use to this type of morning haha. After some quick love making she’s fast asleep again… this might have to be my new technique to play lol. I start my wonderful grind.

7:45-9:00AM: She wakes up around 9AM and asks me “What are we doing today?” At this point I have about 13k pts, I’m in good shape to reach the LT but I did not want to grind the dreaded last node that I knew would be difficult (as always!). I had already made that mistake with the Ghostrider PVE thinking 20k wouldn’t be bad except it was horribly frustrating. I said “How about we watch Jessica Jones all day today!” She is trying to get into comics (movies at least) and I had her watch the full season of Daredevil with me during the lovely 7-day Miles PVE. She surprisingly replied “Yes I would love a bum day” Ah perfect!

9:00-11:30AM: We watch Jessica Jones while I slowly grind. I had already seen the season but I did want to show I was at least watching this with her! I reach about 20k pts in the 3rd sub (50k total). I am in good shape, 15k won’t be too bad, hopefully.

11:30-3:00PM: I am all ready for the start of the last node when I hear “Babe, can we get lunch?” It’s as if she knows what slice I picked! Haha. I told her, “Let’s stay in! I’ll make us a nice grilled cheese and soup!”. “MMMM, sounds good” she replies. Sounds good to me too since it won’t take me too long to cook! (Also notice how I’m stuck doing all the cooking? Lol). I cook, we eat, I clear nodes (could be my slogan!). First clear done, of course this last sub is extremely annoying (as expected) but manageable.

3:00-10:00PM: We actually laid on the couch watching Jessica Jones all day (what a life!). We ate leftovers for dinner. I did my second clear with no problems this time! I decided to grind tonight as I have work in the morning, reached 65k for the LT, life is good. Opened Yellow 4hor (my 3rd this week).. now she’s a miserable 0/5/2.. very annoyed as I went to bed.

Overall, obtaining the LT while ranking T100 for Venom during the Holidays was manageable but very frustrating, stressful and not fun. While my experience with MPQ may not have sounded all that bad on paper, it did require some time management skills and scheduling my Holidays around the game. Was it worth it? Probably not, but fortunately my wife did not notice my MPQ stress like she has in the past. Keep in mind that my PVP playing was kept to a minimum so I can only imagine what some of you experience while playing both PVE and PVP competitively.

My wife actually did not complain once, even though I was hiding my gameplay most of the time. It almost feels like I am cheating on her when I play MPQ. Here I am leaving her bedside to sneak off to play MPQ, hiding my phone when I am with her to play MPQ, I make up lies about me playing MPQ.. I even feel guilty! I already knew I was addicted to MPQ but now I feel like a dirty cheater! haha. How long will this continue? I don’t know but I am skipping Simulator and probably the PVE after that.

Anyways, hope you enjoyed Punisher’s Holiday Stories. I am sure some of you went through similar incidents. Please feel free to comment about your Holiday weekend experience with MPQ. It’s always fun to exchange stories.

(No I did not keep a MPQ journal, this was all off the top of my head ) 

Play long, Play hard but have fun!

Bowgentle

I'm speechless.
Sorry to say, but this DOES sound really bad on paper.

For your own sake, please tell your wife about your habit.
You do have a problem.

Marine8394

If you said you turned down whoopie time to play this game, I would have sent two large men to put you in wrap around sweater, and haul you away in a rubber truck.

Punisher5784

Bowgentle wrote:

I'm speechless.
Sorry to say, but this DOES sound really bad on paper.

For your own sake, please tell your wife about your habit.
You do have a problem.

Yeah you're right. I do not plan to make the same mistake with New Years or any other Holiday. It's not worth it.

Marine8394 wrote:

If you said you turned down whoopie time to play this game, I would have sent two large men to put you in wrap around sweater, and haul you away in a rubber truck.

hahaha. I will never turn down sex for MPQ, never!

The Bob The

Pun, you should start a thread on the married person's guide to MPQ. Not because you seem to be an expert at hiding it - although you do - but because there's probably quite a few of us who could stand to share/hear some ideas.

(not me - I infected my wife with this game, so it is family time. I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!)

Punisher5784

The Bob The wrote:

Pun, you should start a thread on the married person's guide to MPQ. Not because you seem to be an expert at hiding it - although you do - but because there's probably quite a few of us who could stand to share/hear some ideas.

(not me - I infected my wife with this game, so it is family time. I DON'T HAVE A PROBLEM!)

Sounds like a fun thread! haha.

I have noticed that many married players (at least ones I know are married) have spouse's who also play(ed). I don't know if I want to get my wife involved with this game, she is already addicted to Facebook and Instagram. I think it would be best to keep our addictions separate.

Redrobot30

Loved reading this post. I basically CP farmed this one because of the holidays but you owned this one! Diarrhea... The ultimate excuse to buy alone time But my wife does play this game now too, she even got Ghost Rider before I did. Maybe created an MPQ monster... We'll see.

The Bob The

Redrobot30 wrote:

Loved reading this post. I basically CP farmed this one because of the holidays but you owned this one! Diarrhea... The ultimate excuse to buy alone time But my wife does play this game now too, she even got Ghost Rider before I did. Maybe created an MPQ monster... We'll see.

I wound up in a Ghost Rider death bracket and couldn't even crack t100 with hard play; my wife joined in the last hour and got all three covers. She didn't even want the character, and now she taunts me.

fmftint

Fun read, didn't think I'd read the whole thing

Nellobee

I put my partners first, always dropping the game to spend time with them.

Consequently, I am largely unable to progress, as PvE takes specific scheduled times and PvP requires shield hopping.

*shrug* bad game design is bad.

Punisher5784

I am surprised no one has any holiday stories to share.. maybe I'm just the crazy one

Well I saw players in my bracket with over 100k so they definitely skipped the Holidays (if they celebrate Christmas).

life_in_death

Punisher MPQ Journal, new title coming to the bookstore!
Totally worth reading it, since I need to picture the situations in my mind and I don't know you, I imagined big angry Frank Castle (the one from Punisher war journal vol. 2, with the white gloves and the tight t-shirt) cooking breakfast, waiting in line and "being a creeper in the corner playing MPQ", it was fun
However, I imagine the stress you where put through... Enjoy the rest of the holidays with your wife

Punisher5784

life_in_death wrote:

Punisher MPQ Journal, new title coming to the bookstore!
Totally worth reading it, since I need to picture the situations in my mind and I don't know you, I imagined big angry Frank Castle (the one from Punisher war journal vol. 2, with the white gloves and the tight t-shirt) cooking breakfast, waiting in line and "being a creeper in the corner playing MPQ", it was fun
However, I imagine the stress you where put through... Enjoy the rest of the holidays with your wife

hahaha Punisher MPQ War Journal

This is actually my cooking apron:

Tagstar87

Punisher5784 wrote:

I am surprised no one has any holiday stories to share.. maybe I'm just the crazy one

Well I saw players in my bracket with over 100k so they definitely skipped the Holidays (if they celebrate Christmas).

Great read Pun, I really enjoyed it. I played one round of the Venom event Christmas Eve night after my wife had fallen asleep. I remember thinking "this is cool, new characters/powers" then I never touched it again. I believe I did have time (20min?) to complete DDQ on Christmas Day but that was about it.

You're crazy

dswan3rd

This was pretty hilarious - congrats on grinding successfully. My wife doesn't play, but she calls the game "superhero tetris" and doesn't mind at all whenever I play - life is good. Now if only my 4-year old daughter didn't want me to pick "girl teams" and "spider man" all the time...

SnowcaTT

MPQ does not allow for life, period.

Brigby

*If you wish to discuss this topic again, please start a new thread, as information may have changed since 2015. Thank you!