Diary of an insomniac UK player

I don't recall starting many topics on here, I'm more of a contributor than instigator, but the last few hours of my life have prompted me to share the MPQ experience of someone in an EU timezone. A little background, if you will:

I am TheLadder, 33 year old male. I live in a small town called Redditch, which is 15 miles south of Birmingham, the so-called 'second city' in England. I've lived In Redditch for over 25 years, it is the place I call home. I was born in Wrexham, a town in north Wales, so I'm not English; I'm a Welshman. I work in Birmingham, a desk job for a regulatory body. In my spare time, what little I have thanks to this bleeding game, I play English 8-ball pool in my town and am secretary and webmaster for the league. On a good day I can clear a table in one visit, and have done so in the past against a 2-time world champion during an exhibition (Chris Melling, pool aficionados may have seen him play in the 9-ball Mosconi Cup - he was formerly an English pool and snooker player). I enjoy watching most sports, primarily motor sport, and am a long term fan of WWF/E (for my sins).

I played the original Puzzle Quest games to death, on Xbox360. In PQ, I've battered Lord Bane and Lord Antharg to a pulp numerous times and seen off Gorgon on PQ2 a couple times. The original was great, a mix of gem matching and rpg elements; having been a Bejeweled nut over the years, this change in pace was something which really captured my imagination. I am avid fan of the Elder Scrolls and Final Fantasy series', so to be able to build up characters, cast spells, recruit a party etc... yes, that is something I enjoy. PQ2, not so much, the fights were pretty dull and repetitive, the rpg elements not as immersive and the whole pace of the game much slower.

I may not have discovered this game for much longer than I did - I started playing about two weeks from launch date - if my brother had not tipped me off. "You seen the new Puzzle Quest game?" he says. Oooh... excitement. Then I discover it is Marvel. Man, this is like some sort of a dream combination. I'm no comic book fan, but have followed the Marvel franchise through video games and the movie series over the years. I have hazy memories of wowing my friends in the arcade with my skills on X-Men Children of the Atom. Yeah, Magneto was cheaper on that game, than he is in this.

So, I download on my iPhone, and instantly I'm hooked. Nearly 5 months later, here I am, with a plethora of maxed characters and something of a reputation round these parts. Which brings me to today...

Preface:

The battle ground is set. My army competes on two fronts; PvE, a battle against Osborn, Doom, the Dark Avengers, and those Brotherhood mutant freaks - it's Iso-8 Brotherhood. PvP, sees Psylocke of the X-Men with accomplices of her choosing - in Fresh Cut. The prizes... Black Panthers and X-Force Wolvies. In PvE I went into the final hours in the top two with ~116,000 on the board, having competed with two other would be foes throughout the week. PvP is a different kettle of fish, I'm struggling to hold on to a top 5 placing with a shielded tally of 693 in the scoring charts. Both events finish at 0500 UK time, the standard for much of my time playing this game. This is not my first late night jaunt, and probably won't be my last. I pick up the story after midnight, some work on my website demanding my attention throughout the rest of Sunday evening...

1215 - Ok. So I start work at 0800 in the morning, this is quite late for me. My alarm is set to go off at 0615 every weekday morning, so I contemplate whether I actually want to get up in the middle of the night to seal the deal in the two events I am competing in. 'You must be mad', I hear you say. Quite.

My challenge on the PvE front has been built off getting up at 0400 the past three nights, to farm the 1,000 iso missions and generally maximise my scoring from refreshes. The first thing that catches my attention - the challenge from one of my rivals has dried up, as he hasn't pushed all day. I have a 10,000 point cushion, so I'm looking good for top 2 already. Second thing - the 1,000 iso mission is unlocked in Saudi Arabia, thank you very much indeed. I sit second with ~117,000, 2,000 shy of the leader.

1230 - With PvE nicely under control, it's time to address a more pressing issue - the activity in my PvP bracket. I joined up Saturday morning, my time, and usually get nice brackets as a result. This one does not appear to hold any 'big' names, but in the days of 1* and 2* teams finding sweet spots, no team is safe. My MMR has risen as well, with no tanking for a while - I'm going to have to do this one the hard way. I line up three nodes of 15-20 opponents and work my way up to 751 in short order. You know the routine, boost boost boost, bang bang bang. That leaves me in 5th spot, with a little breathing space, but it's unlikely to hold for the remainder of the event. Decision time... I either shield for 8 hours, feel comfortable about my prospects in PvE and realistically expect to get at least two Black Panther covers. Or... shield for 3 hours and subject my body to all kinds of sleep deprevation, in pursuit of glory.

1245 - Set my alarm for 0300. I trust that confirms which direction I headed. Kind of sleep for the next couple hours...

0300 - Huh... Why is my alarm going off at 0300... Oh, yeah. MPQ. Again. Why do I play this game? Ughhh...

0305 - State of play. PvE, no movement. Good. PvP, I am on the ropes, struggling to make the top 5, and up ahead a couple of guys have pushed into the low to mid 800s. I have a 5/5/2 X-Force Wolvie, this awards a yellow cover, right? Damn my competitive streak, top 5 is not going to cut it.

Break shields, charge! I'm running a 51 Psylocke, alongside 141 Classic Spidey and Patch. This team doesn't appear to scare people, I've been hit on defence several times under shield, but on offence it is beastly. With boosts, I'm chewing through teams left right and centre. A couple wins, is it time to shield as I move into 3rd spot with nearly 800 on the board? Of course not, I walk into a 33 point offer, I'll have a piece of that. Adrenaline flows, this really is a buzz, wandering through a horde of preying zombies, knowing at each turn that the match I am fighting could be fruitless if somebody hits me for 30-40 points. But I continue on, 4th fight... 5th fight. Ok, this is getting silly, I shield at 864 and lead the bracket by about 30 pts now. No hits, phew, how did I manage that? My heart rate is raised, that was a rush.

0315 - So... is it time to hit the hay? I mean, I have those 3 Black Panther covers wrapped up, I'm pretty sure. My shield is good for the rest of the event. But what about PvE, hey look, the 1,000 iso mission is unlocked in New York City. Would be rude not to. It's good for about 1000 points too, is that the 8,000 progression reward I can see over the horizon at 125,000? Yeah, so I beat down Hood and co a few times to hit the requisite milestone. That's a nice bonus, and top two is absolutely a lock with about a 15,000 lead over third spot. My PvE team of choice, Classic Spidey/Patch/Marvel Now Magneto, in case you are wondering.

0345 - Lets check back in on PvP... uh oh, 2nd placed is unshielded and on the move. His roster... a few 2* 85s, no Psylocke. Try to find him in matchmaking - no good. Frustration, I've kind of got my heart set on that yellow X-Force cover now, despite his current state of uselessness. Sure enough, PvP man creeps past my tally with 876 to my 864. He shields... this is going to require yet more insomniac antics to get over the line first.

Now, I'm no tactical genius. You're not going to get the surgical precision that you see from guys like walkyourpath or Nemek. No, I'm more of a blood and thunder kind of guy. More brawn than brains here. On this game, at least. But even the most boneheaded warrior learns a few tricks on the battlefield over time and I know I can leapfrog this guy with a tactical jump. It's set your alarm time again, lets go for 0445. Sleep. Well, try to.

0400 - I can't sleep. I'm curious, is he pushing on? Have I finally won a match on defence? PvE is safe, isn't it?

1) No, he's not pushing on. Silly.
2) Yes, I've been hit! Ugh... +0, they beat me up.
3) Of course PvE is safe, although I'm down to second spot, as one of my long time rivals through the week pushes past 125,000 too. His top character is MN Magneto at Lv66. Got to love the PvE scaling mechanics. Still, I'm 15,000 points clear of 3rd, hard to complain.

Anyway, shut your eyes, you need some sleep.

0445 - Alarm! God, what am I doing? Ok... wake up will you. Has PvP man moved? No. Phew. I've got this. Line up 3 nodes of decent points, two 17s and a 24. These guys are running meaty squads, it may not be easy. All at a price too, countless -10s to get those. I'm going to fly at 9 minutes to go, allowing 3 minutes per fight. It's going to be case of boost... blast... bam. (I hope)

0451 - He's still shielded. Here goes nothing! Fight 1, lasts all of 90 seconds, get a great board and Patch does the rest. Fight 2, yes, another good board! Another 90 seconds and I'm flying past 900 and surely into 1st. I can maybe shield here, a hit at this stage would surely dent my prospects. But no, the adrenaline pumps and sleep weery I know only one option... Fight!

The third battle is more frustrating though, no blue, no green, argh, enemy Psylocke gets off a psi-kitana... black fist of doom, it's so slow! I've blown it, have I? Finally, enough green, Berserker Rage and if there's collateral damage, so be it. No, I am fine on that front, victory is mine.

More importantly, have I been hit? No! 923 points, shield! He isn't pushing! Omg, omg. Ok, I'm not that excited, but yeah, vindication for all this craziness.

0500 - I win the PvP bracket, by nearly 50 points in the end. That last fight was lunacy. But yeah, what can you say about a guy who gets up TWICE in the middle of the night to play a gem matching game? Lunatic.

PvE, I finish 2nd. 1st place guy was still pushing at the end, he really wanted that place bad. Good luck to him, it was an honourable battle throughout the week.

Now, seriously, I must get some sleep.

0615 - Alarm... Yeah, I managed a little sleep, but I sense today is going to be a washout. Shattered, is an understatement. I inspect my spoils, yes they are all safely received. Time to get ready for work.

0700 - Get on the train. Shut my eyes. I normally play MPQ, but not today. Doze my way to Birmingham.

0745 - I sit down at my desk, a fun day of yawning and visits to the bathroom for a five/ten minute snooze awaits me.

0945 - Mercifully, still awake, and yes, it took me two hours to write all this. Working hard, as ever.

Thank you MPQ, for all you do to me. The net profit - six Black Panther covers, the yellow X-Force cover I wanted, the red one I didn't, some iso. The net loss - a fair few HP (500 in total), but more importantly... my sanity and my wellbeing.

So there you have it. If you are still reading this, well done... like me, you managed to stay awake when it mattered. And now you know what it is like to play this game from the UK, in the dead of night. And also what a gargantuan task my shrink has on his hands to remedy my insanity.
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Comments

  • Glad to know I am not the only crazy Brit around (Derby here), I set my alarm for 4:30 as I knew I would need that extra push in the PVE to keep me top ten, and after the hours I put in over the week I wanted those 3 covers! Sure enough when I woke up I had gone down from 4th to 10th, so played a few missions and I was up to 9th with a few thousand points cushion, good enough. Checked my PVP bracket and only one guy had made a move and overtook me, putting me in 2nd, top 5 was good enough for me so back to bed at 4:50! icon_rolleyes.gif
  • mecha
    mecha Posts: 9
    Beautiful post, amazing details! Absolutely recommended!

    I, too, am snoozing at my desk, even though I got up at 'just' 0600 (I normally get up at 0800) to bullrush PVE and PVP for one hour (I live in GMT+2 timezone). Used the same comp as you.

    As is felt in your post, the PVP rush of 'unshield - fight fight fight - shield!' is quite exciting. 'Will I get the dreaded YOU WERE ATTACKED! screen after the fight? Will it, perhaps, say I was successful in defence?
    YES?! Awesome! NO?! Ohhhh #@$%!'.

    The PVE is more of a comfort zone of grind - you cannot be attacked and your wipes don't give points to the rivals.

    I was expecting you to mention Galactrix, alongside PQ and PQ2. Don't know about the rest, but me, I quite enjoyed it, despite its flaws.

    Anyways, great post. I think the BP will live up to the expectations and be a worthy compensation for all the efforts.
  • I'm glad to see that the "top notch" players struggle as much as we do down the rankings... But that makes me scared for my sanity.
  • Nick-Fury wrote:
    Glad to know I am not the only crazy Brit around (Derby here), I set my alarm for 4:30 as I knew I would need that extra push in the PVE to keep me top ten, and after the hours I put in over the week I wanted those 3 covers! Sure enough when I woke up I had gone down from 4th to 10th, so played a few missions and I was up to 9th with a few thousand points cushion, good enough. Checked my PVP bracket and only one guy had made a move and overtook me, putting me in 2nd, top 5 was good enough for me so back to bed at 4:50! icon_rolleyes.gif

    I had no idea you were British, good to know. icon_e_smile.gif

    And I wish I had your level of restraint, as strange as that sounds when discussing waking up at 4:30am!

    mecha wrote:
    Beautiful post, amazing details! Absolutely recommended!

    I, too, am snoozing at my desk, even though I got up at 'just' 0600 (I normally get up at 0800) to bullrush PVE and PVP for one hour (I live in GMT+2 timezone). Used the same comp as you.

    As is felt in your post, the PVP rush of 'unshield - fight fight fight - shield!' is quite exciting. 'Will I get the dreaded YOU WERE ATTACKED! screen after the fight? Will it, perhaps, say I was successful in defence?
    YES?! Awesome! NO?! Ohhhh #@$%!'.

    The PVE is more of a comfort zone of grind - you cannot be attacked and your wipes don't give points to the rivals.

    I was expecting you to mention Galactrix, alongside PQ and PQ2. Don't know about the rest, but me, I quite enjoyed it, despite its flaws.

    Anyways, great post. I think the BP will live up to the expectations and be a worthy compensation for all the efforts.

    Thanks. Hope you got what you wanted out of these events.

    My brother has played Galactrix, he said it was pretty ****. I'll cede to his judgement on that one, as he plays more games than me (as hard as that is to believe). Indeed, he's pretty good at PQ, but doesn't play MPQ - I'm pretty glad, can do without the extra competition!
  • Eddiemon
    Eddiemon Posts: 1,470 Chairperson of the Boards
    The events finish at 4am or 4pm Aus time, so it is either the 2am alarm, the lock it in and hope for the best at midnight or the 'sneak into the mens room on the unoccupied floor at 3pm' for some last minute rubberbanding.

    Yeah come to think of it there is no good way to visualise rubberbanding in the mens room.

    But now it's in your brain....
  • Twysta
    Twysta Posts: 1,597 Chairperson of the Boards
    Yeah I'm in the UK too my sleep pattern is totally messed up right now, curse you MPQ :/
    I went for a nap at like 20:00 and set an alarm for midnight.
  • For me events end at 09:00, and in the last events I missed almost all the rewards because of that, as I was stopping playing when there was still about 7 hours until end, and when I was starting they were already ended. Mostly disappointed that I was in top 75 in Fresh Cut.
  • kensterr
    kensterr Posts: 1,277 Chairperson of the Boards
    I'm in Malaysia and the events usually end either 1am or 1pm Malaysian time (GMT+8).

    Usually I end the night between 1st and 5th, if lazy, within top 10. When I wake up at 7am I'm down to between 50-100 and have to push again. Definitely not good for my sanity as I too sometimes wake up 4am to check on my placement. icon_e_sad.gif
    Though my timezone isn't too bad I find myself always in brackets where someone does maximum grinding when I am asleep and I don't have enough time to catch up, or the proper roster to catch up fast.
  • Great post, really enjoyed reading it and I feel the same (GMT+1 here).

    Though I promised myself not to wake up in the middle in the night for the game anymore. With the last event this resulted in a top 50 finish though... I'm amazed that I even got that far though, expected worse.

    I've woken up during the Psylocke PVE event and at the start of the BP event, but now I feel pretty fatigued about the game in general.
  • The Ladder wrote:
    0305 - State of play. PvE, no movement. Good. PvP, I am on the ropes, struggling to make the top 5, and up ahead a couple of guys have pushed into the low to mid 800s. I have a 5/5/2 X-Force Wolvie, this awards a yellow cover, right? Damn my competitive streak, top 5 is not going to cut it.

    Doesnt it feel good to have all 4* characters max covered? Completed mine today as well. With the removal of HP from covers, its time to take things easy!
  • Fangel wrote:
    The Ladder wrote:
    0305 - State of play. PvE, no movement. Good. PvP, I am on the ropes, struggling to make the top 5, and up ahead a couple of guys have pushed into the low to mid 800s. I have a 5/5/2 X-Force Wolvie, this awards a yellow cover, right? Damn my competitive streak, top 5 is not going to cut it.

    Doesnt it feel good to have all 4* characters max covered? Completed mine today as well. With the removal of HP from covers, its time to take things easy!

    It's a strange one. I mean, I'm glad I've got them max covered, but I'm hardly excited about the characters in general. That I have IW levelled to 100 and XFW to 80... umm, I'm really not sure I can explain why I ever pumped so much iso into these a while back. If they ever do become beasts, then I suppose I have a start on building them up.
  • Yeah, both of them are sitting pretty at level 30 in my roster. At this point in time, they are nothing more than trophy characters.
  • Great post and I can put myself sqaurely in the same category as a Londoner and last night (this morning) I went/fell asleep at 02:00 am after doing a push (and getting beat down) from top 10 to 23rd. Damn it all the blazes, I now have 589 points (had 650 ish) and top 5 spot requires 700 plus so it's impossible to get all three panther covers in PvP tonight but I've got to get top 15, I just have to get the black and yellow covers at least for all my 3/8 hour shileding. icon_evil.gif

    Woke up around 3 am with a jump and thought, where's my phone? I didn't put it in the docking cradle to charge it (Xperia Z) and I'm wondering if MpQ has sapped the battery as it always does. Phone is under the duvet with me and on 60% so I go for top 15 and manage to end up back in the zone to get those two covers but boy am I tired. icon_neutral.gif

    I didn't have a hope in hell of getting any covers in the PvE as I didn't have Psylocke until very late and so my chance of completing many of the rounds was not possible so points tally was way down.

    Was it worth it in the end to get 2 Panther covers and 1 Psylocke cover from all these recent events? I will say yes, but I would wish that some of the long events finished at other times of the day as well. icon_razz.gif
  • Oh, and no sooner does the Pvp tournament finish than the Panther PvP one starts up and what do I see, someone already has BP at level 77 icon_eek.gif

    How? Where? When? icon_evil.gificon_evil.gificon_eek.gificon_evil.gificon_evil.gif
  • Awesome write up, thanks for the read man. I can't help but wonder after reading this (and being through a similar night a few times, though I'm a low tier player begging for any rares compared to you), are we, the people who play this, all insane ? This can't be the right way to play a game... yet we all do it and, gasp, enjoy it too.
  • One thing you failed to mention, have you spent much real money on this game?

    @ Nick-Fury
    I remember you being top of my Heroic Oscorp bracket icon_razz.gif

    I also enjoyed reading this post. I finally understand what it takes to finish 1st in PvP.

    I'm EU as well (Sweden) and I was up watching the Academy awards anyway so I grinded the PvE to get the 125000 reward and left it at that. That left me in 20th of my PvE bracket (20K off the top position) which would get me two BP covers.

    I don't have characters leveled to 100+ so aiming for top spots in PvE is not something I do. I grinded 8 hours before the end of the event until I peaked at #1 and 540 points and decided to shield and see how far it got me. First thing in the morning I checked to see my result: Top 15 which was what I had expected.

    I'm glad the scaling adjusts the way it does. My roster doesn't compare well to that of top players, but if I put in the time then I still get rewarded which is why I'm still playing this game.
  • Im from Uk aswell, but there is no way im getting up at 4am. Kudos to those that do and you deserve a good placing for doing it. Personally, i will play the hope and pray game when pulling standard tokens hehe.
  • BTW many ppl mention brackets, but aren't the events the same for all players? Is there some division?
  • Unknown
    edited March 2014
    Milkrain wrote:
    One thing you failed to mention, have you spent much real money on this game?

    Yes, I've spent plenty of money on this game. Mostly early on, but I still drop the odd fiver here or there to buy HP. I forget the names of the players, but I was bullied something rotten by high level Ragnaroks in my early experiments with the game. I had a few quid in the bank, so I thought, you know what I'm going to have myself my own Ragnarok. Not only did I get the covers I needed for Rags, I built my Classic Spidey and surrounded them by other 3* characters. That formed the basis of where my roster is today; money spent and lots of hard work winning tournaments and the covers/iso/hp that go along with them.
  • It's weird how you always seem to meet the same people over and over again in this game. For me it's TheLadder. Received a sound beating in some PvP event several weeks back, every time I clawed my way back up to the top 5 I would get laddered down. Somehow that name has been haunting me ever since, showing up when least expected.

    Anyway, joined on Saturday, played a bit, nothing really scary in the top 10. Looked again on Sunday, great, TheLadder sitting around 500 points in the top spot. Maybe he's just in for Black Panther? Ugh, his X-Force is missing a yellow, snowball and hell. Not much activity though, let's keep an eye on his progress.

    1am in the morning, five hours left to go, he's shielded close to 750. Now, any somewhat sane player would have the decency to stay at that spot and call it an event. But this is the guy who reshields between beating you up, right? With the uncanny knack of ferreting out anybody getting close to his position? Well, I'm going to get up for final hour of the PvE event, might as well creep up a little more and get up an hour earlier, just in case opportunity calls. Hello bed.

    4am in the morning, two hours left to go. Goodbye bed, been nice almost knowing you. Oh dear, TheLadder moved up another 150 points. Not fair, unlike me that guy doesn't seem to need any sleep at all. Should probably report a vampire. Okay, try for a top 5 or ensure a PvE top finish? Rest of top 10 seem to be shielded, and knowing my luck TheLadder is still lurking, queueing me up as soon as I run into cannon fodder range. PvE has unlocked the 1000 ISO nodes, and with two other players gnawing at my heels, this promises a far better gain/pain ratio. Oh well, top 15 for PvP it is. And a good choice too, seeing how TheLadder scored yet another 50 points while I wasn't looking.

    Grats on first place, well deserved. Hope you don't plan to build a second X-Force. icon_e_wink.gif