Better use of CP?

bpcontra

As a 3* moving into 4* land, my highest covered 4* characters are:

X-Force - 10 covers (lvl 132)
Ant man(lvl 190), IW (who cares)- 9 covers
Prof X, Howard the Duck - 7 covers
Lots of others with less.

Given that there really are only a few truly important 4* for pvp/pve, is it a better use of CP to get random picks from Legendary tokens with the off chance of getting a 5*, or should I save up CP and level specific characters skills.

Essentially the trade off is 6 4* randoms with a shot at a 5* or 1 4* skill I know I need (Hulkbuster for example) for 120 CP.

Taking this beyond my specific example....what are your thoughts on saving vs, spending in general

mpqr7

You'll get the 4* covers you need soon enough. Save the CP for 5* draws or go crazy and save 720 CP for the 5* cover of your choice.

Smudge

I think it depends on where you are roster-wise.

If you are still not really in 4* transition land where you have the hero points to add roster slots at will, hoarding your CP is probably your safest bet.

If you are like me and have most of the 4* characters rostered but with 1-4 covers each on average with very few at 5 covers on a power, opening random CP tokens isn't really going to hurt. It's not the fastest way to advance the top tier characters, but it's (at least for me) fairly even on distribution. I only have a few characters (Nick blue, 4Thor red/blue, IW blue) that are cover maxed on colors, and I'm prepared to champ Thor if I get another of her covers.

If you are further into the transition than me and have several 4* characters cover maxed or nearly so but without the ISO to max/champ them, that is where it gets trickier. I think at that point, it probably makes more sense to hoard up the CP to pump into a needed 4* cover for a top tier character than to spend randomly on a whim and then curse at the game for giving you that 8th IW yellow. By this point, you're probably making CP thresholds easier, so spending 120 on a needed cover isn't as big a kick to the groin.

Natsufan01

What smudge said is spot on for me. I have almost all 4s rostered, but most fairly low covered. If you have few powers at 5, each LT draw is going to be useful (or almost all). Once you start moving into a lot of powers up to 5, it's more of a gamble.

I am for the first time saving up my cp for a specific cover, because I have a top tier 4* (red hulk) at 12 covers, but horribly specced (5/2/5) so levelling him and champing him will let me respec to 3/5/5. If he was built at 2/5/5, I'd probably still be waiting for the last cover rather than buying outright. I have two other 4* max covered, but not as good (antman and xfw), so I am fairly early in the 4* transition. It makes more sense to spend 20cp per LT pull and let the odds play for you, rather than spending 120 cp for another cover for someone who only has 4 or 5, even if they are top tier.

Smudge

Natsufan01 wrote:

I am for the first time saving up my cp for a specific cover, because I have a top tier 4* (red hulk) at 12 covers, but horribly specced (5/2/5) so levelling him and champing him will let me respec to 3/5/5. If he was built at 2/5/5, I'd probably still be waiting for the last cover rather than buying outright.

This is another important consideration in my book. If you tap out on two of a top tier character's colors like that, it makes much more sense to just pony up the 120 CP for that guaranteed cover than to let RNG hopefully give it to you and get 4 covers of the colors you don't need.

A good example is my Luke Cage. He's at 5/3/3, so any two covers will do to complete him at this point. If he were 5/x/5, it becomes less viable to dip into RNG to hope to complete him.

The only exception to this is if you know the cover you need is going to come up soon as a 1k reward in PvP. Hoard your CP and LTs for a couple weeks, get the cover you need, and then make your decision on opening those CP/LTs.

Vhailorx

Smudge wrote:

I think it depends on where you are roster-wise.

If you are still not really in 4* transition land where you have the hero points to add roster slots at will, hoarding your CP is probably your safest bet.

If you are like me and have most of the 4* characters rostered but with 1-4 covers each on average with very few at 5 covers on a power, opening random CP tokens isn't really going to hurt. It's not the fastest way to advance the top tier characters, but it's (at least for me) fairly even on distribution. I only have a few characters (Nick blue, 4Thor red/blue, IW blue) that are cover maxed on colors, and I'm prepared to champ Thor if I get another of her covers.

If you are further into the transition than me and have several 4* characters cover maxed or nearly so but without the ISO to max/champ them, that is where it gets trickier. I think at that point, it probably makes more sense to hoard up the CP to pump into a needed 4* cover for a top tier character than to spend randomly on a whim and then curse at the game for giving you that 8th IW yellow. By this point, you're probably making CP thresholds easier, so spending 120 on a needed cover isn't as big a kick to the groin.

As someone in this third category, I agree with smudge. I have 3 4* champs, 4 more 4*s with 13 covers, and 3 or 4 more with 9-12. and I have a few more that have 5 covers in some colors, but still aren't cover maxed (a 5/3/2 Prof X, and a 5/1/2 Star-Lord). I am at the point where about 1/4 legendary token give me a cover that I cannot use in any way. And another 1/3 or even more give me covers that are useful only in the long term (e.g. a 4th Nova cover). A lack of iso is my most pressing need. LTs would be much more useful to me if I could champ all of my cover maxed 4*s, but I am several million iso short for that. It has taken me weeks just to get about 1/2 the way to champing my next 4* (4* thor), and I will probably have to sell my daily reward elektra covers (starting in 6 days) because I can justify spending 300k iso on her even if I could get enough iso before the covers expire.

Overall, LTs for me now feel like Heroic tokens did around this time last year. They are among the best ways to advance my roster, but I can't expect value from any given LT draw. more than half of them are treading water or useless. But if I just waited for the 4* covers I need to come up at the 1k slot (the only fixed 4* cover reward that I can actually get on a regular basis), I would be getting 1 or two useful covers a month, which feels like a pretty glacial pace. If the 25CP reward from PVE stayed reasonably attainable, I would consider saving up CP to buy the covers I need for some key 4*s (e.g. my 4* jean grey is at 3/2/4 so a couple of key covers would go a long way). But if the new PVE system stays in place, then I think the time/difficulty required to grind out the CPs is more than I am willing to commit. So it would be back to LTs for me. Overall, I am not terribly pleased with any progression path available to me (either paid or f2p).

for someone in TC's position, however, I would say that buying classic LTs is probably the best way to spend CPs right now. It's a chance at OML, which is always good. It's also going to help building up a deep 4* roster. just make sure you have enough HP to buy roster slots if you pull a new 4*. Once you get some key 4*s up to 10+ covers through RNG roster building, then you can consider saving up CP to buy those last few (though remember to check the 1k PVP cover rotation too. it would suck to drop 120 CP on a cover that will be the 1k reward in a week or two).

PeterGibbons316

CP is basically the only way to really transition into the 5* game, and it's SUCH a long process that honestly every drop of CP you earn should really be spent on trying to acquire 5* covers.

I can really only think of two very specific exceptions and that is IF and IM40. If you have them at 5/2/5 and that last purple/yellow cover is no where in sight, it actually makes sense to drop the 20 CP to grab that last cover to champ and respec. Only because that last cover is really going to accelerate your progress at a noticeable rate, and make up for the CP that you spent. IMO it never makes sense to spend CP on any other 3* or 4* character.

Natsufan01

Spending CP on 3s are usually useless, I agree PeterGibbons. However, maxing a top tier 4 can possibly make the difference between reaching 1.3k or not. If it does, than spending CP in those instances would net you CP in the long run. It's always a gamble, and everything should be considered when making the choice.

Pants1000

I'm surprised how often people suggest hoarding CP. For the vast majority of players, they should be spent on classic legends.

For players in the early or middle stages of the 4 star transition, each 4 star cover helps in DDQ, and for players later in the transition it's the way to get 5 stars.

I think the only exception is if you have a 5/5/2 key card you really want to finish, and even then the specific covers are so expensive I don't think I'd ever do it.

Vhailorx

Pants1000 wrote:

I'm surprised how often people suggest hoarding CP. For the vast majority of players, they should be spent on classic legends.

For players in the early or middle stages of the 4 star transition, each 4 star cover helps in DDQ, and for players later in the transition it's the way to get 5 stars.

I think the only exception is if you have a 5/5/2 key card you really want to finish, and even then the specific covers are so expensive I don't think I'd ever do it.

The only time to consider buying a 4* cover is when the marginal value of 1 specific cover outweighs the value of 6 rng 4* covers (and a modest chance at 1 5* cover).

So if you can make use of just about any 4* cover, then in the,long run buying the classic LTs seems like the way to go. But once any given given LT has a decent chance of being 1k iso, then it might be worth direct buying a key 4* cover if it will really improve your PvP performance.as an example, assume you have several weak or mediocre 4*s covered, but no iso to level them. Assume also that your top tier is a fully covered 4*cyclops, and a 5/2/5 rulk. In that sort of specific circumstance, it might make sense to buy a gree, cover for rulk. That would let you champ and respec him to the proper 3/5/5. Then your a-team becomes. The very solid team of cyclops/rulk and you can probably start hitting 1.3k in every event without too much hassle (even when your --team isn't boosted).

But that's a very specific fact pattern, and for most people, classic LTs are still the best use of cp. They are also the only way to get the most important character in the game (oml), which makes them a hard proposition to beat.

Petergibbons is right that im40 and if are probably the only 3* to even consider direct buy, but even then its hard to justify,when their covers will come up in ddq before too long.

Note: I crafted my hypothetical before reading natsufan's post, but it is +,perfect real world example of the very rare fact pattern that might justify buying a 4* cover. Good luck on that next rulk 1k PvP cover natsu!

slidecage

figure i just blew 240 CP on 12 tokens..

1 token i can use and 11 was junk.... would it been better just to use those 240 to buy 2 covers i needed... really dont know..

i doubt i would ever buy covers at 120 Each unless its my 5th color

mikepro

I was in a position like many not that long ago. I was hitting max 1300+ each pvp and getting 10k a season. So I was getting a lot of cp the past few seasons. But as I was still early into the 4* transition I spent the 20 cp and pulled covers. Yes some were **** shoots like my 6 cho covers I pulled. But others were good ones like my 4* cyke. He was at 3-1-3 for a while and lone and behold I went on a streak for his covers and pulled out 2-1-2 making him covered at 12 and only missing his 3rd yellow. Did I spend the 20 cp in hopes of pulling his 3rd yellow? Of course I did incase I got it and in case I got any extras then I'd champ him. But once I seen he was the 1k at the start of the season I was really happy cause thay was my 3rd yellow for him. And now he's champed. Plus I was in a similar situation with my rhulk. My 4* covers seem to be always coming in and being x-3-x so I had rhulk at 5--3-5. Yup I dropped the iso to go from lvl 160 to champ so I could respec him and I love it. Some 4* I don't want like that but it's rng. Take the good with the bad. I pulled 3 red cyke covers before I could champ him and I used the extra iso to help lvl up my main 4* I had.

Skymedium

Use them to complete heroes lacking only 1-2 covers?

Quebbster

Natsufan01 wrote:

What smudge said is spot on for me. I have almost all 4s rostered, but most fairly low covered. If you have few powers at 5, each LT draw is going to be useful (or almost all). Once you start moving into a lot of powers up to 5, it's more of a gamble.

I am for the first time saving up my cp for a specific cover, because I have a top tier 4* (red hulk) at 12 covers, but horribly specced (5/2/5) so levelling him and champing him will let me respec to 3/5/5. If he was built at 2/5/5, I'd probably still be waiting for the last cover rather than buying outright. I have two other 4* max covered, but not as good (antman and xfw), so I am fairly early in the 4* transition. It makes more sense to spend 20cp per LT pull and let the odds play for you, rather than spending 120 cp for another cover for someone who only has 4 or 5, even if they are top tier.

You are in luck - the green cover you need should be the next 1000 Point progression in PvP, probably in the first event next season. Don't use your CP Before you've made a go for it.

PeterGibbons316

Pants1000 wrote:

I'm surprised how often people suggest hoarding CP. For the vast majority of players, they should be spent on classic legends.

For players in the early or middle stages of the 4 star transition, each 4 star cover helps in DDQ, and for players later in the transition it's the way to get 5 stars.

I think the only exception is if you have a 5/5/2 key card you really want to finish, and even then the specific covers are so expensive I don't think I'd ever do it.

There are two common and good reasons to hoard CP......

1.) You don't have any playable character anywhere close to level 255 and pulling a 5* will either ruin your game experience, or amount to 2k ISO.

2.) You have most 4*s full covered but not maxed due to an ISO shortage, and most 4* pulls amount to 1k ISO.

I was in the 2nd camp for a long time, and held CP for probably 3 months while I champed my max covered 4*s.