Mawt Investgates - On The Trail Of The New PvE Event

Mawtful

Or "The Mystery Of The Curse Of Deadly Death"

Also, I'm going to be doing approximately zero actual investigation but lots and lots of speculation and suggestions, but that wasn't nearly as catchy of a title.

Ok, so we got a new PvE Event, Webbed Wonder, and - more or less - that's actually kinda nice. I mean, there really hasn't been a good new event since Deadpool vs MPQ. Grocket's Big Day Out or Welcome To Earth or Whatever it's called wasn't too bad until they gave Doom a purple power and stuck him with 2x purple feeder goons. Anyway, new content, yay. The first sub is HAMMER goons and Dark Avengers (hey, I remember those guys!), which I guess fits with the New York setting, but come on now - could we at least paint the goons yellow and call them AIM agents?

Anyway, I am getting way off track. Where was I? New content? Right.
To date (as far as I can remember), the only event which hasn't been re-run is the standalone Chulk vs. Hell event. Even the Ant-Man event got a re-run, so I think it's probably only a matter of time. So now let's think about Webbed Wonder.

Despite any misgivings about Dark Avengers or grinding Wave nodes for full rewards, it does seem that they've gone and put some effort into this event. They even got in Zdarsky to help write, and the mission fluff is pretty much the best thing since the Deadpool stuff. It would certainly seem like a pretty big waste to only run this event once. Now hold on tight because I'm going to make some leaps of logic and I don't want to lose any of you along the way.

We know the event will award a Howard cover by playing. I need to make an assumption here and I'll guess that there's a 1/1 node in the final sub that operates similarly to the Hulk/Sentry nodes in the Hulk/Prodigal Sun events respectively.
We know Howard covers will only be obtainable during "Duck Season". All that means is he's not being added to the generic Tokens after the launch window is finished.

Let's read between the lines a little; Webbed Wonder awards a Howard cover and Howard covers are only obtainable during "Duck Season". With no reason to shelve a perfectly serviceable event after running it once, what's the likelihood of "Duck Season" appearing again throughout the year? The developers, through Hi-Fi as their mouthpiece, seem to have very specifically avoided any discussion about re-running the event or the ongoing availability of Howard. This investigator thinks that there may in fact be a significant chance of multiple "Duck Seasons" being run throughout the year. It's essentially the perfect model to fill any "quiet" periods (and it's a great soft sell to encourage additional spending from time to time). Basically, Duck Season + Howard can be run any time the developers want to try and drum up some attention/participation. After Civil War there's probably going to be a bit of activity around the middle of the year (mid year sales, etc.) but it'll go quiet again around August before the next Anniversary + Halloween + the long road to the end of the year (Thank You Day, Santa's Birthday, etc). Maybe we'll see another Duck Season then?

PuceMoose

I enjoyed it and agree that the writing was the most fun since the Deadpool event. Even the mission descriptions had more attention paid to them, which was a nice touch. Do any of the essential nodes in this sub have new dialog? I just played through the main ones to get the new story, and haven't bothered with the essentials yet.

Malcrof

on a huge plus note, even though they are calling it a bug, i like that wave nodes have 7/7 rewards, not just 1 and done on rewards.. this way grinding them seems less pointless.

Mawtful

Update:

I'm slightly disappointed that Kingpin wasn't putting on a run of "Turn Off the Dark" on Broadway in the 2nd sub.

halirin

I hope you're right. Howard is a fun character.

The Bob The

It's tangential, but I feel a lot safer in this thread. I'm digging the writing a whole lot, to the point where on the initial clear, I'm not hitting the skip button. YES there are Dark Avengers and Maggia, but what they do with the story is SO much better than where they've been rehashed elsewhere like Amadeus' Inferno (Demons! That look like that guys you usually fight!). So the goons are reheated - I still think it's funny.

Also, let me piggyback on your speculation here. Sub 1 was Dark Avengers and HAMMER in the park. Sub 2 was Maggia and crime lords on Broadway. If we follow release progression, there's decent reason to expect ISO-8 mutants in sub 3, but the picture next to the node is a warehouse, which to me says ninjas, BUT the silhouette is pretty likely Doc Ock, which means we might be getting symbiotes. So in the span of writing this, I went from optimistic to apprehensive about sub 3. You're welcome!

Or maybe it's just Galactus. Hell, even though they already did it with Cho, I'd be down with a Galactus/Howard throwdown. Or maybe this is where they introduce Boss Mephisto! Sure! Why not!

The Bob The

Puce Moose wrote:

I enjoyed it and agree that the writing was the most fun since the Deadpool event. Even the mission descriptions had more attention paid to them, which was a nice touch. Do any of the essential nodes in this sub have new dialog? I just played through the main ones to get the new story, and haven't bothered with the essentials yet.

I think the 3* essential in sub 2 does. One of 'em, anyway.

Tatercat

The Bob The wrote:

Also, let me piggyback on your speculation here. Sub 1 was Dark Avengers and HAMMER in the park. Sub 2 was Maggia and crime lords on Broadway. If we follow release progression, there's decent reason to expect ISO-8 mutants in sub 3, but the picture next to the node is a warehouse, which to me says ninjas, BUT the silhouette is pretty likely Doc Ock, which means we might be getting symbiotes. So in the span of writing this, I went from optimistic to apprehensive about sub 3. You're welcome!

I'm not sure if it did show it yesterday, but the picture of the warehouse where sub 3 will be does say Octopus INC in the white banner. Hard to notice at first, it's where the light from the lamp hits the picture.

Plus Ock has a history of making moves on Aunt May. As well as a history of making symbiote nodes utterly miserable.

UPDATE: Tho to be fair, when I first finished the last node in Sub 2, when a figure in a trenchcoat gets into a car with May, I immediately thought of Fury (despite knowing for years about that infamous Ock/May wedding.)

The Bob The

Tatercat wrote:

The Bob The wrote:

Also, let me piggyback on your speculation here. Sub 1 was Dark Avengers and HAMMER in the park. Sub 2 was Maggia and crime lords on Broadway. If we follow release progression, there's decent reason to expect ISO-8 mutants in sub 3, but the picture next to the node is a warehouse, which to me says ninjas, BUT the silhouette is pretty likely Doc Ock, which means we might be getting symbiotes. So in the span of writing this, I went from optimistic to apprehensive about sub 3. You're welcome!

I'm not sure if it did show it yesterday, but the picture of the warehouse where sub 3 will be does say Octopus INC in the white banner. Hard to notice at first, it's where the light from the lamp hits the picture.

Plus Ock has a history of making moves on Aunt May. As well as a history of making symbiote nodes utterly miserable.

UPDATE: Tho to be fair, when I first finished the last node in Sub 2, when a figure in a trenchcoat gets into a car with May, I immediately thought of Fury (despite knowing for years about that infamous Ock/May wedding.)

Ohhhh you're right. It's totally Doc Ock dating Aunt May. Really hope that doesn't mean symbiotes, but it probably does. Maybe we get Octobot goons?




We don't get Octobot goons, do we.

MPQ_Daywalker

I just want to quickly chime in on this, seemingly the only thread on the forum where people are actually enjoying Webbed Wonder. I've really been enjoying the dialogue and even the node titles. (My 12-year-old son, as well as my inner 12-year-old self, found the Walk in the Park node title "Kick Butts, Eat Nuts" pretty amusing.) As someone who's just glad to have new text to read and who isn't trying to play this competitively, it's very fun. It'd be nice to get the 25 HP but I don't feel like I have to get it, so it's fun to just play it casually and enjoy the humor.

RE: the Doc Ock speculation... I think it fits in well, since they made him the 3* placement prize as well.

Tatercat

The Bob The wrote:

Ohhhh you're right. It's totally Doc Ock dating Aunt May. Really hope that doesn't mean symbiotes, but it probably does. Maybe we get Octobot goons?




We don't get Octobot goons, do we.

If only. Or some Smythe-approved Spider Slayers.

jojeda654

My favorite bit so far has been Howard pointing out Bullseye's costume change, mirroring Deadpool and Hawkeye in DP vs MPQ.

Also, I was expecting some sort of refence to this:

Tatercat

_Daywalker_ wrote:

I just want to quickly chime in on this, seemingly the only thread on the forum where people are actually enjoying Webbed Wonder. I've really been enjoying the dialogue and even the node titles. (My 12-year-old son, as well as my inner 12-year-old self, found the Walk in the Park node title "Kick Butts, Eat Nuts" pretty amusing.) As someone who's just glad to have new text to read and who isn't trying to play this competitively, it's very fun. It'd be nice to get the 25 HP but I don't feel like I have to get it, so it's fun to just play it casually and enjoy the humor.

RE: the Doc Ock speculation... I think it fits in well, since they made him the 3* placement prize as well.

I am enjoying it too, the story is charmingly goofy. They've been doing a good job with the humor in stories lately. I, unfortunately, am grinding it again because that cover is just what my 3/5/4 needs for cover #13, so I will be glad when its over, but I don't get the hate for it some have. Even the survival node rewards glitch didn't seem that bad to me. There will always be other CP's on the way. I think some of the anger over Old vs New Scaling is carrying over a bit, and some are just burnt out in general (THAT I can understand).

Malcrof

Does anyone have a transcript? I missed the dialogue on the first very non repeatable node to open the event.. was on auto.. having just finished the grind to get howard and missed the opening scene.., and there is no way to go back and read it.

Pylgrim

I don't think they'll re-do Duck Season (except maybe, yearly, for April's Fools). However, Webbed Wonder can perfectly be reused a number of times, like Deadpool VS the World. If there's a node with a Howard reward, it may be feasible to finish him much earlier than currently expected.

Mawtful

Ah boo! The event gives out a purple cover. So now the only way I'll get a blue is if I get a lucky draw from my DDQ Vault. Disappointing.

Tatercat

Mawtful wrote:

Ah boo! The event gives out a purple cover. So now the only way I'll get a blue is if I get a lucky draw from my DDQ Vault. Disappointing.

To be fair, that purple does look like the way we're going to beat his 4DDQ challenge. I got his blue from the Hunt placement, and I've yet to actually even use it as none of the Join Forces or Essential nodes pit him against special tile generating opponents, until today's JF node in the 3rd sub. (Still haven't had a chance to fire it though).

That's still going to be a long fight though. I'm 0/1/3 now for Howard at lvl 111, and his purple still only does 88 per tile (4 of them). If they put him against Hood, I'll be throwing my phone through a wall.

BTW I enjoyed the ending to this. Very IT'S A MAD MAD MAD WORLD feel to it.

Vomit Fountain

Mawtful wrote:

Update:

I'm slightly disappointed that Kingpin wasn't putting on a run of "Turn Off the Dark" on Broadway in the 2nd sub.

I thought the same thing too! Such a missed opportunity.

Mawtful

Oh, definitely agree that his Purple will be key to winning DDQ. I was just really hoping to have a minimum of 1/1/1 so that I could set myself a personal goal to max cover via CP over the rest of the year. A real long term goal that doubles as a reason to keep incrementing my days logged on.

MPQ_Daywalker

Mawtful wrote:

Ah boo! The event gives out a purple cover. So now the only way I'll get a blue is if I get a lucky draw from my DDQ Vault. Disappointing.

If you can hit 1000 points in Howard's PVP this weekend, the progression reward should be his blue. 1st place in the Steve Rogers PVP earns a green Howard, and the pattern is always the next color card for that 1st place character becomes the 1000 progression reward in the next PVP.

Mawtful

_Daywalker_ wrote:

Mawtful wrote:

Ah boo! The event gives out a purple cover. So now the only way I'll get a blue is if I get a lucky draw from my DDQ Vault. Disappointing.

If you can hit 1000 points in Howard's PVP this weekend, the progression reward should be his blue. 1st place in the Steve Rogers PVP earns a green Howard, and the pattern is always the next color card for that 1st place character becomes the 1000 progression reward in the next PVP.

Oh. I forgot completely about Howard's own PvP event. I guess it's going to be all hands on deck this weekend.