Beginner - questions

Alsmir

Hey. I'm still very fresh player (about two weeks) and I need some answers:

1. Scaling. How does it work? I've done some reading on the forums but there are still situations when I have no idea what's happening.

What happened:
I had maxed 1* IM, Storm and 3 cover 2* Cpt. Marvel. I used them, together with some other weak characters (glorious 1 cover 2* Wolverine) in ISO Lab event. Managed to get top 20 finish and got 2 covers for War Machine.

Suddenly 70+ character in my rooster, but all was fine. In Civil War I managed to get 3rd cover for War Machine, but my overall progress stoped after round 2 (boss fights were too difficult). Instead I played a bunch of PvP and managed to get 3x top 5 finishes.

Everything was fine, but:

* lightning rounds - enemies with riddiculous characters
* Thieves event - I was hoping for top 100 finish. Nope. I might be able to pull top 400, but that's it. Missions are very difficult, and all the top players have rosters with champed 3* characters, well-developed 4* and few 5*. Meanwhile I'm still sitting with ~78 War Machine, 2* Black Widow (lvl 62 but I can level her to 70+) and few others (including 1 power 4-stars).
* Last 2 or 3 PvP events. Almost no progression. Top players have champed 5* on their team. How is it possible that I'm in the same group as them?

In last few days my progression almost died because I can't get anywhere in PvP or PvE events.

2. I got to the point where I desperately need ISO to move on. I need about 50-70k to level up my 2* characters. I am progressing through prologue missions, but it takes time (and healthpacks) while rewards are small. Is there anything I can do to speed up ISO farming?

3. Should I even keep my 4* characters? War Machine has 3 powers so he seems fine, but I also have Deadpool, Punisher, Professor X, Spider-Gwen. They have 1 cover each and I don't use them so much.

4. I have few 2* characters that I can level up, but are they worth it?
- Black Widow (leveling her right now)
- Thor
- Wolverine
- Steve Rodgers
- Storm
- Human Torch

I can level those guys to at least lvl 50+.

Quebbster

Alsmir wrote:

Hey. I'm still very fresh player (about two weeks) and I need some answers:

1. Scaling. How does it work? I've done some reading on the forums but there are still situations when I have no idea what's happening.

What happened:
I had maxed 1* IM, Storm and 3 cover 2* Cpt. Marvel. I used them, together with some other weak characters (glorious 1 cover 2* Wolverine) in ISO Lab event. Managed to get top 20 finish and got 2 covers for War Machine.

Suddenly 70+ character in my rooster, but all was fine. In Civil War I managed to get 3rd cover for War Machine, but my overall progress stoped after round 2 (boss fights were too difficult). Instead I played a bunch of PvP and managed to get 3x top 5 finishes.

Everything was fine, but:

* lightning rounds - enemies with riddiculous characters
* Thieves event - I was hoping for top 100 finish. Nope. I might be able to pull top 400, but that's it. Missions are very difficult, and all the top players have rosters with champed 3* characters, well-developed 4* and few 5*. Meanwhile I'm still sitting with ~78 War Machine, 2* Black Widow (lvl 62 but I can level her to 70+) and few others (including 1 power 4-stars).
* Last 2 or 3 PvP events. Almost no progression. Top players have champed 5* on their team. How is it possible that I'm in the same group as them?

In last few days my progression almost died because I can't get anywhere in PvP or PvE events.

It sounds like you graduated from the beginner brackets and got thrown in the Shark tank that's the veteran brackets. As I understand it this is performance based, so you may be placed in easier brackets eventually.
Lightning rounds are special because everyone is placed in the same bracket, regardless of roster.

Alsmir wrote:

2. I got to the point where I desperately need ISO to move on. I need about 50-70k to level up my 2* characters. I am progressing through prologue missions, but it takes time (and healthpacks) while rewards are small. Is there anything I can do to speed up ISO farming?

Play the DDQ, and mine PvE and Lightning rounds for ISO. Lightning rounds are particularly good if you can get the seed teams in the beginning (featured hero at base level + two one-star characters at fairly low level).

Alsmir wrote:

3. Should I even keep my 4* characters? War Machine has 3 powers so he seems fine, but I also have Deadpool, Punisher, Professor X, Spider-Gwen. They have 1 cover each and I don't use them so much.

If you can afford the roster spots there's no harm in keeping them. They'll unlock essential PvE nodes now and again. Don't level them until you have a good threestar roster though.

Alsmir wrote:

4. I have few 2* characters that I can level up, but are they worth it?
- Black Widow (leveling her right now)
- Thor
- Wolverine
- Steve Rodgers
- Storm
- Human Torch

I can level those guys to at least lvl 50+.

Black Widow, Thor and Storm should absolutely be leveled. There's no harm in leveling the other either (well, maybe Steve Rogers...), a wide roster will only help you later in the game.

Calnexin

I concur with Quebbster - most of the difficulty increase is due to a bump up to veteran brackets. As far as I know the requirements for this are unknown, but basically once you start winning, your PvE scaling and PvP opponents enter the standard "veteran" category. You can go back to noob brackets by repeatedly placing low in events.

Scaling (in a vet bracket) looks at your top three characters, including weekly boosts. You're in an unfortunate spot right now because you're early 2*, so even an unleveled 4* will impact your scaling. The latest scaling formula is some combination of character level and number of covers. We don't know exactly what that is, it's just what the devs had told us. But, theoretically, if you're working with 1 2* boosted to lv 50, and 4 4* all sitting at 70, the 4*s are the ones determining your scaling, even though they're completely useless right now. It's even worse if those 4* happen to be boosted, because they inflate your total way beyond what you're actually capable of.

I'm reticent to tell anyone to sell of 4*s. If you plan to play the game for more than a few months, they're going to be your target for progressing your roster. But without a few leveled 3*s, those 4*s may be killing you. As sad as it is, it may be wiser to dump them so you can actually play the game without spending 3 health packs on every node (if you can even finish them). If you decide to go that route, keep WM and dump the single covers. Then your scaling will be based on 1 4* and 2 2*, which should make things more manageable. Don't level up WM, though. Keep him where he's at until the 2* catch up.

Alsmir

Thanks for advice.
I have dumped some of the less usefull covers and now I'm focusing on finishing prologue and farming ISO. My 2* BW is already at level 67 and is usefull enough to fight in most of my battles, I'm also slowly leveling 2* Thor. If I get enough ISO I can get both of them to lvl 78, so scaling shouldn't be much of a problem anymore.

I'll see how now season of PvP goes and in the meantime I finally got enough power to complete second mission of DD.

Alsmir

1. Is there a way to change your name in the game?

2. What are alliances looking for in a player? I've been a member of few random public alliances so far. All I want is a group with active players so I can get better daily ISO rewards.
Today morning, I realised that I was kicked from yet another alliance. No warning, nothing. Yes, my roster is poor, but I log every day and try to do my best in PvE and PvP.

What should I do? Look for an alliance on the forums?

Quebbster

Alsmir wrote:

1. Is there a way to change your name in the game?

I honestly don't know. You could probably open a Customer Service ticket and ask to have your in-game name changed. I have no idea if they'll do it or not though.

Alsmir wrote:

2. What are alliances looking for in a player? I've been a member of few random public alliances so far. All I want is a group with active players so I can get better daily ISO rewards.
Today morning, I realised that I was kicked from yet another alliance. No warning, nothing. Yes, my roster is poor, but I log every day and try to do my best in PvE and PvP.

What should I do? Look for an alliance on the forums?

Are you using the Alliance chat? Obviously this depends a bit from Alliance to Alliance, but asking if they have any minimum performance requirements would at least let you prepare to find Another Alliance.
Asking around in the Alliance subforum can't hurt you though.

Quebbster

OJSP wrote:

Quebbster wrote:

Alsmir wrote:

1. Is there a way to change your name in the game?

I honestly don't know. You could probably open a Customer Service ticket and ask to have your in-game name changed. I have no idea if they'll do it or not though.

They'd do it. I got mine changed in less than 24 hours.

Well, there you go then.

Alsmir

OJSP wrote:

Quebbster wrote:

Alsmir wrote:

1. Is there a way to change your name in the game?

I honestly don't know. You could probably open a Customer Service ticket and ask to have your in-game name changed. I have no idea if they'll do it or not though.

They'd do it. I got mine changed in less than 24 hours.

Thanks a lot, I was afraid that I will be stuck with name that I came up at my peak of creativity - "More random"

Zyrook

My advice for alliances is to check the alliance sub-forum. Look for casual play groups, since they tend to be lax on requirements. I don't mean that as a put down, I'm in one such group.

Oh, and when you're asking around have your average numbers handy. A lot of groups want to know the points you can pull in for things like PVP events.

And yeah, public alliances have a habit of looking down on new players. Back when I rolled with them the prevailing thought was fresh roster players are freeloaders who can't contribute to the group.

BlackSheep101

Here is a request for a casual alliance with no minimum requirements other than playing regularly:
viewtopic.php?p=529986#p529986

Raven5154

Not sure where to post this but I need help with my roster. Before I type out a list of characters thought I'd see if this is the right area to be looking for roster help.

Quebbster

Raven5154 wrote:

Not sure where to post this but I need help with my roster. Before I type out a list of characters thought I'd see if this is the right area to be looking for roster help.

You are in the right place.

willyswim

Raven5154 wrote:

Not sure where to post this but I need help with my roster. Before I type out a list of characters thought I'd see if this is the right area to be looking for roster help.

Also, don't type out your list of characters, Make a mpq.gamependium.com account and post that. It'll make things easier for you and everyone else.

willyswim

Alsmir wrote:

Thanks for advice.
I have dumped some of the less usefull covers and now I'm focusing on finishing prologue and farming ISO. My 2* BW is already at level 67 and is usefull enough to fight in most of my battles, I'm also slowly leveling 2* Thor. If I get enough ISO I can get both of them to lvl 78, so scaling shouldn't be much of a problem anymore.

I'll see how now season of PvP goes and in the meantime I finally got enough power to complete second mission of DD.

Another piece of advice would be to stop opening tokens other than the basic ones. You need to advance your 2 's and get them good and leveled. Tokens don't expire either so you can keep them until you are ready to open them. Once you get a solid 2 team, then start opening the heroic ones. Your life will change in this game the moment you can do all of the DDQ.

Alsmir

One more:

I kept IM35 for DDQ, but I've read somewhere that the only 1* I should have is Juggernaut. I collected all the covers for Juggernaut, but he's sitting on lvl 1. Should I keep IM and sell Juggernaut covers or should I level up Jugg and get rid of IM?

Quebbster

Alsmir wrote:

One more:

I kept IM35 for DDQ, but I've read somewhere that the only 1* I should have is Juggernaut. I collected all the covers for Juggernaut, but he's sitting on lvl 1. Should I keep IM and sell Juggernaut covers or should I level up Jugg and get rid of IM?

Iron Man is not quite as good as Juggernaut, but as long as he gets the job done there's no need to get rid of him. Juggernaut is a favorite because he used to be quite powerful in Balance of Power, but that has since been adjusted so he's not quite a "must have" anymore. Save your ISO for higher level characters.

Zyrook

I'd say don't bother with leveling Juggs at this point. Who you keep for the DDQ isn't all that important, since the 1* missions pretty much anyone can handle. Hell I use Venom and rarely have issues. The only ones you don't want to use for that are Black Widow, Spider Man, or Storm, since they all have 2* variants and thus won't be usable every day. The big reason why people say keep Juggs is the aforementioned Balance of Power event and he makes for a decent team-up to send to alliance mates.

If you really want to use him I'd pull him up to level 25 or so. That should be more than enough to make the DDQ a cakewalk. Then if you like his performance see your Iron Man 35 for space and a little ISO. I still say you're better focusing on your 2*s right now though.

Quebbster

Zyrook wrote:

The only ones you don't want to use for that are Black Widow, Spider Man, or Storm, since they all have 2* variants and thus won't be usable every day.

This guideline was useful for the first year of DDQ, but after the updated DDQ was launched in February one-star characters have also showed up in the onestar node, so anyone can be locked out of it. That said, in four months I can't recall Juggernaut or Iron Man ever showing up...

American42

I have been playing for several months but have just fumbled through on my own without knowing about these game sites or chat rooms. I just opened an account today and then uploaded my roster. Based on some of these boards I may have been doing this all wrong but it was all I knew to do. Would someone be willing to look at my roster and tell me if I'm on the right track of if I should be selling a ton of stuff? Also who should I pair with who, never new that was a big part of this game. When I got covers I tried to max out the upgrades to make them stronger then picked my strongest guys to compete with. Any help would be awesome, I also have no idea what a lot of your lingo is referring to. IE: pvp (floating the list vs shielding) scaling, iso, hp, pve, so any help or advice would be welcomed! I think this link will able you to see my current roster

https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/Grimm_Reaper/

Zyrook

Quebbster wrote:

This guideline was useful for the first year of DDQ, but after the updated DDQ was launched in February one-star characters have also showed up in the onestar node, so anyone can be locked out of it. That said, in four months I can't recall Juggernaut or Iron Man ever showing up...

Oh ****, you're right. I totally forgot they changed things. Still though, I haven't seen Juggs, Iron Man, or Venom tossed in as 1*s in DDQ. Come to think of it, the only 1*s I've seen are Widow, Storm, and Spiders, who all have 2* variants.

American42 wrote:

I have been playing for several months but have just fumbled through on my own without knowing about these game sites or chat rooms. I just opened an account today and then uploaded my roster. Based on some of these boards I may have been doing this all wrong but it was all I knew to do. Would someone be willing to look at my roster and tell me if I'm on the right track of if I should be selling a ton of stuff? Also who should I pair with who, never new that was a big part of this game. When I got covers I tried to max out the upgrades to make them stronger then picked my strongest guys to compete with. Any help would be awesome, I also have no idea what a lot of your lingo is referring to. IE: pvp (floating the list vs shielding) scaling, iso, hp, pve, so any help or advice would be welcomed! I think this link will able you to see my current roster

https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/Grimm_Reaper/

Typically you should start a new thread for yourself, but since you're here I'll answer your questions anyone.

First off there's no such thing as doing it wrong. As long as you're having fun with it you're doing alright. That said there's always methods to do things faster.

Looking at your roster I'd say you're doing alright. You've got a solid team of champed 2*s and a decent roster of 3*s. At your stage I wouldn't worry about raising the levels of 4*s unless you feel like you can use them to beat a DDQ (Deadpool Daily Quest), specifically the weekly ones where you can win a Legendary Token.

There are a ton of lists in the Character Discussion board ranking characters. Right now your 3*s are scattered enough that you can level them as the covers come in, but pretty soon the cost of leveling is going to outpace your ISO collection. Once that happens you're going to have to pick and choose who you want. Those lists will help, but ultimately it should come down to who you like using.

Pairings are all about putting characters who work well together and trying to get as many active powers on different colors as you can, in that order. Some pairings (Deadpool and Scarlet Witch for example) use the same colors but are powerful enough to negate that problem. At the 2* level it's not that important, with the only big combo being Magneto and Storm. Once you get into 3* and higher and you have a much larger pool of characters to choose from it becomes more important.

There's a lot of jargon to go over, and I'm sure there's a guide somewhere to that. But I'll answer the ones you've listed. PVP are the Verses events. They're typically 2 day events featuring a 3* character you have to use. You face off against teams other players are using and can take points from their score. Shielding is when you spend Hero Points (HP) to keep other players from lowering your score in PVP events. PVE are the Story events, which can be as long as a week and scoring is based on how much you play. ISO are the purple crystals you use to level up characters. And scaling is how the level of characters on your roster affects the difficulty of missions in PVE as well as matchmaking in PVP.

As for selling, that really depends. If you want to do PVE I wouldn't sell any 3* or 4* (except for maybe Devil Dino or Howard, but that's a big Maybe since they're really hard to come by), as you'll need them for required nodes. Your champed 2*s are good, and once they hit max level you can cash them in for a huge ISO boost to fuel 3*s, though I'd wait to do that until you're using more 3s than 2s.

Oh, big tip, check out the Tips and Guides board for PVE guides. D3 are changing up how the system works right now, but there's a bunch of people smarter than me figuring out the best way to earn points in PVE. Until you have a strong roster it's the best way to earn rewards.

Jeeze that was a wall of text. Rambled on a bit more than I intended. Hope this all helps.

Alsmir

Ok, I have one more, but first:

2* Thor has become my first champion I'm pleasently surprised with rewards that extra covers get me. 2* Storm is waiting for one more cover (most likely from upcomming PvP event), OBW is on the way to become champ (currently lacking 25k ISO, but I have 2 spare covers ready).

Yesterday, for the first time I completed all nodes in DDQ. I used a bunch of boosters for the last one, but whatever Finally I have some idea how to do this. My 3* are super weak (Dr. Doom had like 3 covers) so I have to rely on those 2x 2* characters, so here comes my question:

OBW + Thor for those battles seems like the best option that I have, right? Thor drops damage from yellow, red and green powers, OBW deals with countdown tiles, heals and steals enemy mana. Is there any better team?