Current 2*->3* and 3*->4* Transitioners: How are things now?

like1tiger

Day 297 here and still enjoying the game
so far i have
13 5* covers not leveled all at 255 3/0/1 IM 3/0/1 SS 1/2/1 Phoenix 0/1/2 Cap 1/0/1 OML 0/0/1 Black spider
I have all the 4 stars but my highest cover is Red Hulk at 2/5/2 lvl 131
I now have 19 Champed 3 *s max of beast at 183 with another 17 at max covers but not lvled
I also have 3 Champed 2*s i have recently sold 4 of my champs to get the iso to champ characters.

I found the 2-3* transition very easy and enjoyable these days im short on ISO like everyone else. I normally always finish top 50 in pve and i hit 6-700 in pvp i find it very hard to hit 8k and i have hit 1k 3 times in pvp.

Every hero point i have gotten has gone to roster slots. I have brought 3 lots of the Logans loonies in the near 300 days and i have 91 roster slots. I seem to earn enough hp each time to roster the new 4* each new release.

I think im doing quite well roster wise and i have most of the good 3 stars champed i have a coupe more i want to finish like Switch and Cyke but waiting for a couple of covers. I have been lucky with 5* but still no Yellow OML so they are all pretty much useless.
I Will continue levelling 3*s until i can fully cover a 4* im still 5 covers away on my highest so it will take some time.

JackTenrec

Day 600+

I'm in the middle of the 3* - 4* transition and don't see any light at the end of the tunnel. There was a period in the middle of the 2* - 3* transition where I had finally gotten a lot of characters rostered and thanks to DDQ or some slack PvE or PvP brackets I was able to accumulate covers. Once I had a few key characters maxed (KK, Cyclops, and IF were my go-to team, although I eventually swapped KK for SW) it made life a lot easier -- fewer HP necessary, generally better placement, certainly more progression rewards.

I don't see an equivalent corner to turn here. I have a few non-championed 3* (Black Panther, Vision and Beast are the only ones who come to mind, I also need covers for IM40 and could roster Sentry and/or Ragnarok), but no maxed 4* (most are single covers) and a handful of 5*. Since I don't generally get T10 placement, the only way I have to get covers is by championing (and, short of selling and rebuilding characters, that will no longer be an option in the medium future) or by scrounging CP a couple of weeks at a time. The only silver lining is that given the glacial pace of accumulating 4* covers, I might actually be able to manage to accumulate the ISO to level them as I go.

DTStump

Day ~300 - strictly f2p - regular PvE top 50 / top 100 + full progression - PvP ceiling = 800pts.

I'm working on my 3* -> 4* transition and honestly it doesn't feel as impossible as advertised so far. I tend to grow my tier width entirely, then focus on depth (meaning I try to roster as many characters as I can in a tier, then work on making them useful). At the moment, I'm working on the depth of my 3* tier (i.e. championing characters) and on the width of the 4* tier (more roster slots).

In the last two months, I've opened up 8 new roster slots, championed 9 new 3*s, added 12 new 4*s, resulting in averages roughly around 1 slot/week, 1 new 3* champion/week, 1.5 new 4*/week. Those averages are ok in my book considering that I haven't spent money on this game at all.

I'm also currently looking at a stash of 5 LTs + 742 CP (/20 = 37), or around 42 LTs. When I consider that my 4* tier is wide enough, I'll start opening those and hopefully start reaching 1000pts in PvP and winning a few 4* DDQs. I might be able to get there before the end of my first year.

madsalad

Day 762 but should be somewhere in the 800s (there was a 3 month span in the middle where I did not play very regularly at all).

I've given up on thinking that this is anything but their intention. It is a marathon, not a sprint. The iso rate is set accurately for the 3* rate to make it feel like you are making headway, and was set that way before really introducing the 4*s and 5*s. Once past the 3*s rate, you really have to pick and choose who you want to work on next, etc... and save, save, save.

I'm actually currently working on building all of my 2*s back up to max champs, after having sold them all to champ 2 4*s (I have two 5*s in high 300 lvls, 7 4* champs, and 25 3* champs, with the rest max leveld but not champed).

Once you just accept that this is the iso rate they want, and you need to be strategic about who you focus on over the 3*s level, you get to be somewhat happier.

I've sold more 4* covers than I care to admit or think about (about 10 in the last 24 hours) for dudes who I either have no intention on championing soon (IW) or just don't have the iso to do so (GR, KP, Fury). (I have 5 4*s maxed covered who aren't champed IW, Fury, GR, KP, SL). I have 4 4*s at 12 covers (Bobby, Mr. F, XFDP and Elektra) and the rest are anywhere between 11 covers and 1 (Moon Knight).

shusheshe

Day 325. I'm firmly in 3* land now and can probably be considered in early 4* transition. I softcapped myself at level 140/125 for a long time due to 1. ISO costs and 2. scaling until I got my first 5* cover from the Civil War event. (Before that I was hoarding my LT and CP.) A solid conversation with another player who had been where I was convinced me the scaling wasn't going to be completely awful if I max out a few 3*s and roster the 5*.

So I took the leap. Even then it took me a while before I started opening my LTs and CP (by the time I started opening them I had around 45 LTs and 800CP).

The three star transition was relatively fast and painless with DDQ, PVE awards able to get you the 3 star covers pretty easily. I couldn't hit 800 in PVP regularly until I after I started maxing and championing my best 3 stars and have only recently been able to reach 1000 regularly using Line battle chats. I definitely don't think I'll be able to get into 4* land with the same speed and ease I made it to 3* land, especially not since I stopped playing PVE due to burnout (not that it matters, I've never made it to high enough in rank to get the 4* awards). ISO is still a problem, but slightly better now that the rate of return in ISO you get for selling a champ/maxed 2* is far better than before. I sold a few max champed 2* to champion my 3* and I haven't regretted it.

optimus2861

AaronTheLuigi wrote:

Basically, my earning 4-star covers has come from the rare Legendary token (I get ~2 a month from Lv. 167 champions, and 2 classics a month from command points), Heroic tokens (very rarely), or the daily resupply. Given the right real-life schedule and a non-atrocious story event I could press for max PvE progressions, but that's not always feasible for me. That leaves me with PvP progressions.

In my near 620 days of play I've hit 1000 points exactly once (Winter Soldier's one-off PvP). I don't think I'll ever repeat it. A couple of times I'm somehow able to push to 800, but then, even in slice 4 with a day to go, it's just a barren wasteland of 10-point teams of my exact level (think 290 featured, at least one boosted 3-star, and either another boosted or an unboosted 3-star.) Oh, but the 5-star or Champed Jeanbuster guys who start playing at that time from 0 points can steal 45+ from me and there's not a damn thing I can do about it.

The champion nerf was not only cruel in effectively pushing back the sweetspot damage of buffed 3-stars by 100 covers, the seven week delay in announcing that following Champions was salt on the wound. My only saving grace is Iron Man 40 is now an amazing battery, but that's not enough to fight through a slog of maxed 4-stars or level 395 five-stars who can destroys me with mere thoughts.

Maybe I'm just atrocious at this game, and I suck, I should get good, stop being pessimistic, use smart shields, etc, and I know this is a long haul progression-type game, but at this rate I don't even see how I'm going to acquire my first 270 four-star. Ever.

^^^ This.

I'm not quite at 600 days. I have 33 of 40 3* champed. I got my first 4* champ reward from GSBW just a couple of days ago. I have no 4* fully covered; my best is 4hor at 5/2/4. I've hit 800 exactly twice in PVP (interestingly, both times, Hollowpoint Kiss). 1000? Never. I get beaten to bits like a cheap pinata whenever I poke above about 700. I have to push fast & hard to reach the 800 then either shield out or resign myself to the beatdown. Story CP progressions are often simply beyond reach; I do well to get 3 clears of any particular sub in given my work & life requirements. Frequently I can't even hit that (I managed less than 3 clears all through O:H just this week for instance).

I did manage to win my first two Clashes ever recently (4hor, Ant-Man) but have little hope of continuing through the cycle. Most of the rest of my 4* roster is in too shabby a shape to compete. I've got a slim chance with Star-Lord I suppose (3/2/2), if I level him up. So that avenue remains a mostly dead end.

So be it I suppose. I'll get all 40 3* champed eventually. I see no viable path at present for meaningful advancement after that, so maybe then it will be time to start winding down.

Vhailorx

For those players struggling to get 800-1k in PvP with 3* or early 4* rosters, when are you playing? And what slice so you join?

Optimus, do you have IM40? If so, you are 1 4*thor blue away from a very strong PvP team (one that I use to hit 1k at will).

A few tips (apologies if this is repeat info for some. If you already do these things and still struggle, feel free to PM me do, more advice. Not that I am some expert, just a blowhard who likes to spew unwanted advice!):

1) If you want a high score, then join slice 4. This is very important. Slice 4 has by far the most players and the highest scores (first place in most brackets is up in the 4k range or even higher). That means more points available for everyone, and also more targets to share the risk of being hit.

2) play in bursts, especially above your equilibrium point. Many posters say something like "I get beat down the moment info above X score." that's your equilibrium point. The further your get past that point, the more attractive target you will be relative to other available nodes. Sobyoubget more hits. But remember that the way the system works is that there is a lag between your current score and whatever score other players will see when you show up on their nodes (because the game reports your last score pinged to the server, not your current score). All of this means that while you are climbing, your score will look lower (i.e., less tempting) to other players. So playing 3 matches in quick succession is MUCH better than playing 5 matches spread out over 3 hours.

3) DON'T play at peak times (unless you need to protect a certain score). Peak times are 11, 8, and3 hours before a slice ends, as well as the last few minutes. Lots of people play at those times, so the risk of getting attacked i,emuch higher.

4) DO queue targets during peak times. Because more people play at these times, there are more available targets, so you might have an easier time finding high-value targets. (Note this can be a bit risky as point values aren't reported real time. So a node that was worth 50+ points an hour ago may not be as good now).

bigwhoop

I am on Day 606. I guess I consider myself in the late stages of 3*->4* transition.

In the middle of March, I managed champion all my 3*s, and started to work on championing my 4*. At that time, I had max covered 4thor, fury, IW, and Mr. F. Plus, I had few 4* that's 1-2 covers away(IMHB, Jean, and XFDP). The first 4* I championed was 4thor right at the time that she was boosted, and that was pretty awesome. Now, I have championed 4thor, HB, jean, cyk, iceman, and antman. Currently working on X-23 because those extra covers for getting max score on EotS. My current plan is to max RHulk, XFDP, and XFW before starting to level my 5*s.

Championing all 41 3*s(dup cage) was definitely a huge source of my 4* covers. I managed to hit 1k in PvP from time-to-time when top 3* were boosted, and now it has become much easier when one of my championed 4* is boosted. I even managed to hit 1K without shields recently. But, I am still primarily a PVE player. When they switched to award 4* covers to t10, that became a huge source of my 4* covers. I remember in one of the 3-day heroic event that awarded Jean covers, I managed to finish t1, and got 3 Jean covers quickly. That change has definitely helped me to cover those top 4* much faster.

broll

I'm at day 105.

2*s:
I've championed 6 2*s and only plan to champion more as it's convenient (aka have lots of ISO left over, so probably never/rarely) Of the 6 none are max champion level yet, but a few are down to single digits left. I will likely sell and re-champion the first one I max out, but not positive on that yet.

3*s:
I have 5 3*s championed, but none of them are terrible top tier (Colossus, Iron Man, Doc Oc, Beast, Gamora). Their levels range from 171-166. My main goal right now is to try and focus on getting the covers to get some top tiers (Iron Fist [5], Luke Cage [8], Kamala Khan [9], etc). Getting the covers is the main thing keeping me from advancing right now, not ISO. Currently I could champion Falcon as I have 13 covers, but it seems like saving ISO for higher teir'd characters is probably better. I'm only planing on championing Falcon if I end up with enough ISO to champion 2 3* before I get the covers for a top tier. I have at least 1 cover for every single 3* so I can get a new cover from DDQ every day, but that's a slow trickle as in any other method of getting.

4*s:
I have at least 1 cover for almost 4*s (29 out of 34). No 4*s are champion again more because of cover restrictions vs ISO restrictions. My highest covers is Ant-Man with 8 2|1|5. After that highest is 1 with 5 covers and 4 with 4 covers, etc. I did just this week throw a lot of ISO at leveling Ant-Man in order to be able to beat Jean Grey in the DDQ Titan match (my first win) so he's sitting at 160 right now. Other than few are above their base level. It's gonna be a while before I'm able to start champion any 4*s unless I get really lucky on covers. The extra LTs from VIP may help this.

5*s:
I have covers for 3 of 7 (OMW, Phoenix, & SS). I have 4 covers for SS and 1 cover for both the others. In my early days of playing before I knew what I was doing I leveled SS up to 270, but other than that the others are at 255.

broll

Vhailorx wrote:

A few tips (apologies if this is repeat info for some. If you already do these things and still struggle, feel free to PM me do, more advice. Not that I am some expert, just a blowhard who likes to spew unwanted advice!):

1) If you want a high score, then join slice 4. This is very important.

Thanks for the advice, I'm definitely in that boat myself. I understood most of your suggestions execpt joining slice 4. I have no idea what that means...

Vhailorx

Broll:

When you first join a PvP event, you have to pick an end time. There are five end times. There are generally called 'slices.' players generally number them 1-5 from top to bottom. So slice 4 is the 4th option down from the top (slice 4 events generally end at 12am or 12pm us east coast time).

revskip

Day 163, have spent a bit of money with the vast majority going towards roster slots and the occasional 100HP deal for vaults with 4*s I want. When Howard was released I also bought enough to buy a 40 pack because I really like the character and wanted him to be useable. I've been in a top 100 PVE alliance since I was early in my 2* transition.

Firmly in the 3*-4* range with 14 champed 3*s and nine more maxed covered. I recently sold all but four of my 2* champs (I had 12 champed) when they raised the sell prices using most of the ISO to champ several 3*s and rechamped a couple of the 2*s to start farming them. I have no 4*s with max covers but do have a few decently covered (7-9 covers).

I got some good advice from tips and guides forum very early (maybe 10 or 11 days played) and hoarded all of my CP and legendary tokens until they added Cap and IM46 to latest and then opened everything so along with my Civil War covers I now have three 5*s all at minimum level with GG having 2 covers, IM46 having 4 covers and Cap at 5 covers including one of each color. Hoarding again now while I wait to catch up on ISO to cap the remaining 2* and 3*s that I have max covered. Feel like I am advancing to the point where ISO is the limiting factor in my development, I can get 4* covers at a pretty good clip, even got my first top 5 finish in the last PVE event. Still haven't made a jump to take PVP past 650 or so but I make to the heroic 10 pack.

Calnexin

I'm kind of in the 3* -> 4* transition.

Going to 3*, DDQ was critical. Using a 2* team to beat the Enchilada was the primary way I built 3* characters, up until I had a viable 3* team to beat it with. That was before the randomization, though - OBW/Thor/MNMag was enough to slog through it with the predictable waves. Other than DDQ, I was mostly PvE - I could reliably hit T100 for a 3* cover or better. PvP, the heroic 10-pack at 4k helped a bit, but nothing major.

Currently, I'm stalled. I've been gradually getting 4* covers. I have all but the latest two, but most severely undercovered. I do have IW at 13, but no desire to spend Iso on her because I can't see using her in anything other than her DDQ mission. The others I'm slowly bringing up to ~ 200 as they become cover-relevant. The recent changes have tanked my ability to earn anything in PvP or PvE, though - I'm DDQ only in terms of cover advancement. I can get some RNG love from the seasonal 10-pack heroic, but getting a 3* cover is no longer relevant. Some of my champs are getting close to their first 4* reward, but I've only got 4 3* left to champ, so my primary source for legendary tokens is dry. I don't have the time to invest to make any meaningful progress in PvE beyond farming CP, so I'm mostly hoarding Iso from DDQ to boost who I can for the 4* missions and hoping for lucky pulls from taco tokens.

Natsufan01

The timing of improvements to transition seems to be on point for me. I joined right around the start of dpd. So the transition to 3* went quickly. I don't really know how many days to get one. Then the move to 4* was much slower but lo and behold, LTs and Clash of the Titans really sped that up. It still takes a while, but I have 4 max covered 4*, but a lot that are close. I last counted 20 4* that are 8 covers or more, and 10 of those have 11 covers or more. To me, the 4* transition is at a good pace. I make progress nearly every day(gaining another's usable 4* cover almost every day) but it is still slow enough that it feels like an accomplishment when max covering one. Now the 5* transition is really slow going, but I make progress with that too. I have at least 1 cover for all 7 of the 5*, with a total of 18 covers spread through those 7.

Kishida

Day 84: In the midst of the 2*->3* phase, though I'm trying to take it slow. I have 8 2* chars in varying champ levels, between 113 & 125. 18 3* chars, most with 4-7 covers, though none are usable outside of boosted PvE. 4 4* chars that are mostly taking up roster space. Currently sitting on approx 400k of iso-8.

While I could rush headlong into 3* land, following the new iso-8/hp returns for selling maxed champs, I'm attempting to sit on cover tokens and iso-8 while continuing to farm 2*s for rewards/covers. Between that & the Big Enchilada (which I only recently got a handle on beating, many thanks to this forum), I'm happy to grow my core of 3*s at my own pace, even if it means selling some covers I can't use. Covers are actually my main complaint, as I'm getting abysmal drops. This week, I played roughly 150 LR matches, and won about 12 2* covers, half of whom were useless to me.

Made to it 5000 rewards in the past two PvP seasons, and can reliably get around 400-500 in single PvP events. (Made it to 800 once, and got up to 797 in today's BP event until I got knocked down a few hundred.) PvE is more of a grind: usually t50/100 if I really pursue it. I might be one of the minority who really prefers the tested untimed format.

Anyway, the game is enjoyable (or compulsive) enough for me to keep playing, though the most recent patch was kind of a disaster.

Partyof5

I'm almost on 1 yer now (355 days). I play pretty much every day, but casually (I have a life outside of this). My roster has about 6 champed 3*. I only have 32 3* rostered, the rest I don't care about.

At this point I'm stuck in a big rut. I have a bunch of 3* covered, but can only level 1 up every couple of weeks due to the amount of ISO needed. 4* are scattered about, with the most covers at 5. Most are sitting at 1-2, and have been that way for months. Basically, I'm getting bored. I don't need the 3* covers anymore, as they will expire before I can champ that character. I can grind for ISO, which is not much fun when the PvE events are the same ones I've been playing for a year. Same enemies. The rewards level I reach are 3* covers, which as I said earlier I don't need, so there goes that incentive. What am I going to do with more 3*s leveled up like Ragnarok and Sentry? I won't use the even when they are champed. It will take me another year to get even a few 4* covered, so where's my incentive? Spend hundreds of dollars? Um, no. It's a mobile game where all my progress disappears whenever they decide to stop the servers.

I have a roster of 50 characters, but I only use about 10 over them unless a requirement comes up. That character is usually limited (I only have a few covers of them) so I use the version provided to me.....again, not fun.

I stopped playing PvP because I want to save my HP for roster spots. It's also not fun seeing the same combinations of OML, Switch, Fist, Cage, and a couple others over and over again.

The goals in this game all revolve around working on that next character and their covers. It's an endless carrot on the stick. There are no other goals to the matches other than win, repeat. It's been said many times over, this game needs more modes to encourage the use of our full rosters and to encourage strategy and "puzzling" instead of just brute force and endless grinding. I think the company is just bleeding this one dry until they can't make money on it any more, at which point they will come out with a brand new puzzle quest type game so that we have to start all over again.

BennettR

Day 237. I've spent a little so far on HP for roster slots, but that's about it. I currently have 4 3*s champed, and another few covered and waiting for ISO. I have 8 or 9 2*, with a couple dupes so I can farm champ rewards without losing one of my toons. I have every 3* character, and 17 4*s, all in various states of coverdom (coveredness, coverocity?). I have pulled a few 5*s but sold them, bc scaling made it almost impossible to keep them rostered.

Thus far, it seems like the speed of the game goes in waves. It felt like it took me 2 minutes to get through the prologue and start PVE and PVP, and all of a sudden, it slowed to a crawl. Getting a good 2* team for DDQ took a little bit, but what really made it drag was getting some 3* covers so I could do Dat Required Character and then the enchilada. Once I started being able to complete DDQ and get the extra 2k iso every day, it really started to speed up. I kept my new 3*s at or just under the level of my 2* champs and everything was ticking along nicely.

Now that I need specific covers for my 3's, it has slowed down again. I've already spent a few CP on final covers, so I could use pending covers for rewards instead of having to sell them. As it is I'm facing a bit of a shortage in ISO, but it doesn't seem to be anything near as bad as what people are describing when they hit the 3-4* transition.

My current MO is to open LTs when I get them, and sell any 5s (probably with the exception of OML if I pull him...). I haven't been hoarding tacos. They are what enabled me to accelerate my progress so far, but it might be time to start saving them.

firethorne

Day 731. I have all 3*’s fully covered. I have the “good” ones champed, and slowly working my way through the others as ISO allows. I only have 10 left to level and promote to champion. I’d say 3* characters are primarily what I use, and have been using for the past year, if not more, and I feel like the progress of the game has gone stagnant. The 3* to 4* transition is painfully slow.

I have no 4*’s fully covered. Xforce, Xpool, Fury, Baglady, and Starlord have 12, Thor 10, Hulkbuster, Electra, Iceman 9, and downhill from there. I’ve tried to keep up getting all covers, but no Drax, Peggy, Moon Knight, or Kate Bishop. It is sort of demoralizing to do it anymore. With Howard, Quake, Gwen, and Punisher at one cover each, War Machine, Ghost Rider, Winter Soldier, Prof X. at 2, I just see it as yet another character that will never be of any real use, at least not in the period I could see myself still playing. It’s hard to motivate myself to do it anymore.

For 5*, I’ve got Surfer at 1/3/1, OML at 0/1/1, Goblin at 1/0/0, and Phoenix at 0/0/1. I occasionally use Old Man, as his yellow makes him a very good damage sponge, but haven’t found any real use for the rest.

For levels, aside from the 5*’s (all still at 255), my highest 3* champ is Cap at 181. I’m leveling the 4* crowd just under the lead 3* champs, until I have a few of the best ones like HB or Ice ready to max out (and have the ISO to actually do so).

For PvP, I can hit 1000 with a bit of difficulty. A good chunk of HP to shield hop is required. I’ve never hit 1300. I have to be very quick, as I get obliterated above 800 if I’m in the open for too long. The skip and shields button are more important to my success than it is actually playing matches.

My plans for the future are to finish up championing every 3* and probably quit. I could go on to 4* land foreseeably in the next year, but seeing as how I’ve already been passed by, and the 4*s are now getting killed by 5*’s, I don’t see the point. I don’t want a repeat of the long slog my 3*’s have had, getting unloaded on by maxed out 4* nearly constantly.

metallion

Now on Day 970. I just maxed out my last 3* (Rags) today, and currently waiting for his cover to drop so that I can get his LT. The moment I get this I basically lose my final regular source of LTs. 3* champing had for the past 6 months been providing me with a pretty constant source of 4* covers, which while not all were useful, were mostly responsible for building up my current roster of 4*s, including my pride and joy HB which for the longest time had been sitting at 2 covers up till championing occurred.

Meanwhile thanks to all the LTs from championing (and the odd 1K PVP progression), I have 6 4*s fully covered, with only HB maxed. and 17 4*s hovering between 1-7 covers, mostly at the lower end. Currently slowly accumulating the ISO to level up my more well covered chars, just so I can hope they are good enough to clear their 4* DDQ for the LT.

My progress from here on is probably going to be pretty much stagnant now that my peak's over. I'm not that developed enough to hit PVP 1.3K for the CP, or even regularly hit 1K thanks to IF being a huge target board in 4* land. I don't have the time to regularly hit the CP progression reward in PVE for every event. The only "regular" source of LTs I can get is the 4* DDQ, and even that is moot the moment it hits characters which are underleveled/undercovered in my roster, which is pretty numerous. Essentially, my only objective left in playing this game is to accumulate ISO to slowly level whatever 4*s I can while praying more of them drop from heroic or event tokens. Not sure how much longer I can last if this keeps up.

DFiPL

Thought I'd replied to this thread. Guess not.

I'm about a week shy of day 700. My 3* roster is about half championed, and I've hit the point of beginning to recycle 2* champions.

I don't have any cover maxed 4's, but Nick Fury has 10 covers, and I have six 4* with which I've been able to beat the Crash of the Titans. Of those six, four come consecutively after which point there's like 20 or so before I hit another one I can win with. My Thing and Mr. Fantastic are both currently 115/131; I've found that 130-140 is the point at which my 4* who don't have invisibility have a reasonable shot at victory, so it's possible that I may have another Crash winner or two in the next six weeks. They both need another cover before I'll really be comfortable with including them in that group (and to be fair my 2/2/2 Elektra won her most recent go, but I suspect that was flukish and that she shouldn't be grouped with the other five).

Hulkbuster, Kingpin, X-23 and Jean Grey are all one cover away from joining Mr. Fantastic and Thing on the cusp of Crash of the Titans viability. Deadpool probably needs two covers, and one of them needs to be his black, since he's 3/0/1 right now. Give him two covers, one of which is black, and he joins Hulkbuster, Kingpin, X-23 and Teen Jean. None of my other 4* are close.

If I can get one more cover for Elektra so I can feel secure about her ability to beat the Crash and the covers detailed in the last paragraph, then between those dozen 4* and my 3* champion progress, I'll feel like I have a reasonable source for 4* covers that doesn't require me to sacrifice my enjoyment of the game on the PVP altar.