Score Ceilings

mpqr7

I'm at a point where I can beat most 4* teams in pvp. Yay! But after a certain point sometimes around 1000-1200, all of the matches are only 20-30 points. Boo. After I do 1-2 matches, I get attacked for 60-70 points, as I have one of the highest unshielded scores, so I'm a big target. Double boo.

What really frustrates me though is that the top scorers of my bracket are at 2000+ points. How are they so high, and I'm stuck with these low-scoring matches? I feel that I should have access to higher scoring matches, even if it's against shielded players. Otherwise I'm forced to just sit out there with a low score, waiting for people to unshield, getting sniped and then forced to double tap the person who unshields because the well is too dry, and they're the only 60-point battle available to me.

I get that d3 wants you to shield every hour on the hour so that you can patiently load your opponents and make a nice 200 point hop each time, but more than two shields makes the event HP negative (I generally win 100 HP progression + 50 HP individual placement + 100 HP alliance placement - 150 8hr shield - 75 3hr shield = a paltry 25 HP per pvp). So that means each week, I win 75 HP through highly stressful waiting until the last few hours to do a few shields and getting lots of snipes. Plus some extra HP from login rewards, pve and such.

And somehow then need to spend 1000 HP each two weeks or less on new characters. It's getting hard to keep up. Eventually, I'll probably just stop bringing in new characters, since they generally aren't useful for the next year anyway. (But then I'll probably win a ton of covers of the one character I don't have rostered, because of course).

Sure, I could shield lots of times and score 1500-2000 and beyond, but then it would be hundreds of HP to spend per event, leading me to constantly buy more HP to keep up. Other than having a higher season score and winning a few more heroic tokens, HP and CP, I don't see the point.

tanis3303

Best advice I can offer is this: Get a Line account, make some digital friends and coordinate with the fine folks that are putting up those 2,000+ scores. I made it to 1300 in Daken's PvP with minimal shielding vs easy teams the big dogs were kind enough to leave out for everyone to shield hop off of. I know D3 says that out of game communication isn't something they want happening, but I'm afraid that's not the reality of the situation. If you want to score big, you pretty much have to get on board.

GrumpySmurf1002

mpqr7 wrote:

What really frustrates me though is that the top scorers of my bracket are at 2000+ points. How are they so high, and I'm stuck with these low-scoring matches?

Asked

mpqr7 wrote:

Sure, I could shield lots of times and score 1500-2000 and beyond, but then it would be hundreds of HP to spend per event, leading me to constantly buy more HP to keep up.

Answered.

PeterGibbons316

mpqr7 wrote:

I get that d3 wants you to shield every hour on the hour so that you can patiently load your opponents and make a nice 200 point hop each time, but more than two shields makes the event HP negative

Sounds like you know exactly how these guys are hitting 2k, you just don't want to do it yourself.

The high point matches are there, it just takes time to find them. And since you are so high yourself you get hit in that time. So you need to shield while you find the matches and then once you get 3 good ones lined up you can break your shield, hit your targets, and then shield again. This event I hit 1300 with 2 shields, and then dropped a 24h to hold my spot. I climbed to just under 1k and shielded. Not unreasonable. Found a couple 75 pt targets, and a 50 pt target and hopped for 200 points. Found a couple 70 point targets and a 60 pt target and hopped again. Currently sitting at 1383 and shielded for the rest of the event. I could have just allowed myself to free-fall from here and be HP positive for this event, but I want the season points and points for my alliance.

I admit that this is a rarity, those 75 pt targets are usually not as easy to come by, but it does happen. The easiest way to find them is continually check the leaderboards and watch for guys to come unshielded. Queue them up and save them for later. Once you get 3 high point targets, wait until they are shielded, and then hop.

woopie

You also need to know when to jump because there are certain times (i.e. 8 & 3 hours before the end) where activity will be high and targets will be plentiful. I got to 1500+ on Daken PvP with 2 shields and a last minute hop. Whatever you do, stop dropping your shield to fight 20 point targets. Try to queue up people while your shield still has a lot of time so you're not scrambling for something at the end

wymtime

I think the interesting question would be should there be a score ceiling for PVP on what counts towards your season score? I am not saying they should but would players still aim for 2000-3000 points if only 1500 points count toward the season?

tanis3303

Idk, I could be wrong but I could swear I remember them saying that they were working on ways to limit the benefit of out-of-game communication/coordination...anyone else with better memory and/or better forum-searching skills remember that?

GrumpySmurf1002

tanis3303 wrote:

Idk, I could be wrong but I could swear I remember them saying that they were working on ways to limit the benefit of out-of-game communication/coordination...anyone else with better memory and/or better forum-searching skills remember that?

It was mentioned casually in the announcement for shield cooldowns. (link here: viewtopic.php?f=13&t=20201&p=263717) Which is worth the read, it's hilarious in hindsight.

My favorite is point 2 here:

Some of the thinking behind this change:
• "Shield hopping" is still possible but very limited. High-scoring is fun, but Shield hopping generally requires a large amount of out-of-game communication that not all players have access to. We asked ourselves this question: "Would you Shield hop if you didn't need to in order to reach a high score? If not, that's a sign that a change is probably needed."

• This change helps level the playing field. Players that don't have the Hero Points to spend on Shields, either through being in a top 100 Alliance or purchasing currency, will not need to worry about someone simply outspending them by using hundreds of Hero Points to Shield hop for a win.

Mod Edit: Fixed link to remove search highlights