Are growing pains typical?

darcdante

Hi!

I've been playing 45 days now, and I've dropped countless hours into this game. My rewards have paid off. I was getting top 100 in most PVE matches and even a couple PVP matches (though once I had to buy about 800 coins worth of shields, that was annoying). I got my first 5 star a couple weeks ago (Silver Surfer). Just today, I dropped 20k ISO-8 to get my OBW from level 78 to 94. She'll likely be my first champion, but I want to save up my ISO a bit after that large expenditure. Anyway, onto my question...

I have a dilemma at the moment. Whereas I was getting top 100 in PVE events, which would net me at least one 3 star cover, in the current event I struggled to even stay in the mid 300s. I was playing match after match, only to see myself go up a few spots in the ranking. Not only that, but the matches seem to be getting more difficult. I used to be able to ride Silver Surfer's large hitpoints for a few matches, but now I have to heal after a single match versus three level 105 baddies.

So I gave up on my dreams of getting a Peggy Carter Captain America. I won't even make the Bullseye. It wasn't even close. I stopped playing, because I didn't see a reason to spend hours trying to get a 2 star Ms. Marvel cover. Whoopdeedoo.

I thought I'd try the PVP event instead. But, whereas there I could weasel my way into the top 100 and generally stay there, now I'm struggling to break 200. I've always found PVP a challenge, but since getting Silver Surfer, I at least don't seem to get attacked as often. I suppose having a level 270 is a deterrent for many.

Is this a normal growing pain that every player experiences? The DDQ is the only thing keeping me going right now. I even managed to beat the Big Enchilada yesterday. But the DDQ only takes a few matches to complete. It's hard to find the motivation for the Story or PVP events when the meaningful rewards are so far out of reach.

I tried to look up how the brackets and slices work, to see if maybe I just got a bad run with the most recent events. I'm worried that Silver Surfer is bumping me into brackets where I'm not competitive since other people around my rank in the PVE mode seem to have loads of champions.

Is this just a run of bad luck, or is it a standard growing pain? If it's the latter, what's the best way to overcome it? Just keep doing the DDQ until I'm more competitive? It seems like that will take weeks.

I'm not trying to complain. I love this game. That's why I want to play more of it. It's just hard to motivate myself to play hours a day to get a 2 star Ms. Marvel cover I'll just sell for 250 ISO.

Thanks!

moogles85

Unfortunately, the game punishes you for progressing and advancing your roster (there are numerous other threads about this too).

Especially getting a 5* SS - it will mess up your scaling in both PvE and PvP since his level is much higher than the rest of your roster.

The Herald

I've been there, and now seem settled back onto a steady groove again O.o

It looks like the difficulty brackets are tiered. When you go up a tier, you're at the bottom again.

I'm probably due this again around about now X_X

stochasticism

You have had the pleasure of doing so well that you got moved up to vet brackets! Basically when you start you are placed with all the noobs. When you start winning you get bumped up a level and all of the sudden your easy wins turn into brutal beatings as people use optimal strategy and superior rosters. It'll even out eventually. If you can't hack it in vet brackets you will drop down to noob.

Also, if your highest character is L94 2* and you add a 5*, especially a weak one like SS you are in for a world of pain and increased scaling. It's likely a combo of the 2 things happening here. You can try to slog it out with SS or sell him for the ISO. It will likely make your life easier but 5* covers are rare.

Finally, since you have a SS cover it appears that you have been opening legendary tokens. Stop. Hoard your CP and LTs. With only max 2*s your roster isn't ready for 5*. Generally the thinking is you want a stable of the top 10 3* champed before you start opening legendaries. At that time your roster is such that the scaling hit is negligible compared to what 5* can give you.

Tarheelmax

Unfortunately, two things probably happened to you at the same time. The nice thing is you can do something about one of them.

1. You played long enough to move from easy new player brackets in pve to vet brackets. You are not playing against people that know the nuances on how to score high. There are places on this forum that can explain it in detail, but Here's the very short version: Try to pick the best start and end time for you. Either join immediately at the beginning or beforehand and do a clear (one hit on each node) or use the forum to let you know when a bracket is "fresh" (once it hits 1000 players, a bracket flips and a new bracket opens, it helps to be one of the first to join). There is a thread in the events section that keeps that info updated. Playing in the sub. Do one clear right away, wait 8 hours, do another one, wait 8 hours, do another one. Wait until about 2-3 hours before the sub ends and play as many matches as you can. Until you know exactly how much time it takes you, play high point nodes first. Try to make sure each node is at least worth less than 100 points by the end of the sub.

2. That level 255 Silver Surfer is screwing up your scaling (in PVE) and your MMR (in PVP). You need to sell him. Once you do, you will see your nodes in both gradually return to a manageable level. I would recommend NOT using CP or legendary tokens until you progress to having some championed 3*s. Once you are there, you can handle the scaling/MMR bump.

darcdante

Wow! Thanks, all!

I'd definitely love to champion a three star, but it takes awhile to get those covers lol. And, while SS isn't as solid as a championed three star, he hits hard and has a lot of health, so he does provide benefits to my team. It's nice to use him to match blues so I can gather the AP without Storm or OBW getting hit. He's doing more damage per match and also soaking the damage that neither Storm nor OBW could handle.

Anyway, this is one of those times where you get an answer you don't want lol. I'll try to decide if it's worth selling off SS or if I should just try to tough it out. I'll see how the next event or two goes. If it stays like this, then I might have to sell him just so I can keep progressing. Hopefully, my **** performances will automatically knock me back to the noob bracket though lol.

I wish there were a way to archive or store a character, so you couldn't use them, but could retrieve them later.

I'll also try doing the sub clears every eight hours, like you said.

I really appreciate the feedback.

stochasticism

darcdante wrote:

Wow! Thanks, all!

I'd definitely love to champion a three star, but it takes awhile to get those covers lol. And, while SS isn't as solid as a championed three star, he hits hard and has a lot of health, so he does provide benefits to my team. It's nice to use him to match blues so I can gather the AP without Storm or OBW getting hit. He's doing more damage per match and also soaking the damage that neither Storm nor OBW could handle.

Anyway, this is one of those times where you get an answer you don't want lol. I'll try to decide if it's worth selling off SS or if I should just try to tough it out. I'll see how the next event or two goes. If it stays like this, then I might have to sell him just so I can keep progressing. Hopefully, my **** performances will automatically knock me back to the noob bracket though lol.

I wish there were a way to archive or store a character, so you couldn't use them, but could retrieve them later.

I'll also try doing the sub clears every eight hours, like you said.

I really appreciate the feedback.

I think that's the exact right approach to take. Only sell a 5* if it makes your progress in the game come to a standstill, it's worth holding onto it if you can at all. It usually takes 3 or 4 bad performances in a row to get knocked back down to noob brackets so see if you can stick it out with surfer a bit longer while you get knocked back down. As you say he does tank well, especially for storm and obw.. It also depends on what color cover you have. Honestly the best case for you is blue since that makes him immune to stun and gives him the ability to heal which is very desirable for any tank. Black is OK since it generates AP. If it's red I would be much more inclined to sell as one red cover makes SS a walking target.

darcdante

I have the black cover. His black hole ability is neat. Sometimes I use it, but it depends on if I have anyone else with a better black ability on my roster. Typically I place the black hole next to one of those hard-to-reach protect tiles at the bottom of the screen and cross my fingers it gets destroyed lol.

Shemhazi

I'm kind of the same boat. On my Kindle account, I jumped the gun and opened a pair of Legendary Tokens way sooner than I should have, and both of them pulled 5*s (Green Goblin purple and Iron Man 46 blue), but my next highest characters are the 2* team I'm working, who are sitting right around level 70. Its gotten hard to accomplish much in story or versus modes, but I haven't been able to bring myself to sell either one of the big boys yet.

stochasticism

Shemhazi wrote:

I'm kind of the same boat. On my Kindle account, I jumped the gun and opened a pair of Legendary Tokens way sooner than I should have, and both of them pulled 5*s (Green Goblin purple and Iron Man 46 blue), but my next highest characters are the 2* team I'm working, who are sitting right around level 70. Its gotten hard to accomplish much in story or versus modes, but I haven't been able to bring myself to sell either one of the big boys yet.

You're situation is slightly different. GG and IM46 are top tier 5* and you have debatably the best covers for both of them. There's a lot more incentive for you to hold on to your 5* covers than the OP.

LXSandman

I would also add that at your level you probably shouldn't be spending HP for anything other then roster spots.

You need to get up a solid number of slots before jumping into PVP with shields is worth the HP.

Selling SS is a tough choice, but he is probably messing you up more then you realize. You could just get a 2* wolvie to tank some for you and have the ability to heal up. The problem is that OBW actually needs to tank her colours to be effective, so you need to take that into account.

udonomefoo

Just FYI in case you missed it - the current event is double-iso. So you should still play it at least the easy nodes instead of quitting on it. You'll need all the iso you can get.

Tarheelmax

darcdante wrote:

Wow! Thanks, all!

I'd definitely love to champion a three star, but it takes awhile to get those covers lol. And, while SS isn't as solid as a championed three star, he hits hard and has a lot of health, so he does provide benefits to my team. It's nice to use him to match blues so I can gather the AP without Storm or OBW getting hit. He's doing more damage per match and also soaking the damage that neither Storm nor OBW could handle.

Anyway, this is one of those times where you get an answer you don't want lol. I'll try to decide if it's worth selling off SS or if I should just try to tough it out. I'll see how the next event or two goes. If it stays like this, then I might have to sell him just so I can keep progressing. Hopefully, my **** performances will automatically knock me back to the noob bracket though lol.

I wish there were a way to archive or store a character, so you couldn't use them, but could retrieve them later.

I'll also try doing the sub clears every eight hours, like you said.

I really appreciate the feedback.

Just FYI, here is an over-simplified version of scaling and your MMR (but it shouldn't be too far off, as your opponents are generally calculated off the top 3 in your roster):

94/94/94= 94

255/94/94 = 148

Do you want the game assuming your average character is level 148? Will the game be unplayable if it thinks your average level is 148 when your 255 doesn't provide anything other than some ok match damage and a few extra in health? That's what you have to decide.

Personally, if you had an OML, I would be tempted to say try and work through it. SS isn't worth the scaling pain, in my opinion.

TxMoose

so...I have an 11 cover SS. I keep asking people if he's worth putting iso into. they usually say no. selling a SS now won't kill you later on like having to sell an OML/gobby/im46. key is to stop opening LTs until your roster is ready for them. I usually recommend having ~8 or so champed 3s before opening LTs. your 4s won't be getting to a usable state before then anyway and 5s, other than OML yellow, don't do a great deal for you either other than make things difficult.

dsds

I would really like the store your characters for later use. Maybe pay 25 hero points to store him, and then 25 hero points to take him out.
I wonder if you send a character as team up, does that affect your scaling while the character is unavailable?

Unfortunately I don't think they will ever let you store a character for later use. It's just that many will abuse the feature.

Pants1000

As others mentioned you probably graduated from noob to vet brackets. This event is also a new 4* release and double ISO, so people are playing extra hard. All events won't be like this.

It sounds like you're enjoying using SS, so I'd be hesitant to sell him too. I'd try a few more events before deciding if selling is the right move.

darcdante

Pants1000 wrote:

As others mentioned you probably graduated from noob to vet brackets. This event is also a new 4* release and double ISO, so people are playing extra hard. All events won't be like this.

It sounds like you're enjoying using SS, so I'd be hesitant to sell him too. I'd try a few more events before deciding if selling is the right move.

I used SS for over a week without any issue, so I think my problems are more to do with brackets than my roster. I also lucked out and pulled a Scarlet Witch from a standard token, and I already have two The Hood covers available to recruit. So despite not placing well in this event, I'm still managing to get covers.

Also, like you said, this event is likely attracting more people. I'm still holding onto SS for now. Since I'm just about to start championing my characters, I'll likely see easier play even if I don't drop SS. I think another part of my problem is simply lack of depth. I'm using Hulk/Nova/SS for this event because Hulk and Nova are boosted. Only one of my other characters is boosted over level 100 for this event (Iron Fist). This just means that I have to burn through health packs to keep playing, because I can't rotate characters. This is another dilemma that will be resolved over time as I champion my 2 stars.

I am, however, following the advice of others here and holding off on any more Legendary Packs. I paid for VIP, so I'll get one more in a week or two, but I'm hording my command points. If I'm lucky, I'll pull another SS cover to level him lol. If I pull another 5 star, I don't know what I'll do. I'll be both ecstatic at getting it, and fearful of being way out of my comfort zone in bracketing.

darcdante

Does anyone know if it's best to let yourself die or retreat? I typically retreat if I know I'm going to lose, but I worry the will prevent the system from realizing I'm losing, and my difficulty won't adjust.

stochasticism

darcdante wrote:

Does anyone know if it's best to let yourself die or retreat? I typically retreat if I know I'm going to lose, but I worry the will prevent the system from realizing I'm losing, and my difficulty won't adjust.

Losing a match will only affect the scaling in that sub. In the next sub or next event the scaling will start back at the same point. Because of that you aren't going to get much benefit by intentionally losing. Furthermore, a retreat is not a loss. If that were true you could just keep a bunch of 1 cover one stars in your roster and retreat until your nodes were winnable with minimal effort. What's going to put you back into noob brackets is scoring poorly in events, not scoring badly in subs and not losing nodes. If it's really that much of a slog I would suggest just biting the bullet and selling surfer. In the next event you join after selling him should see immediate benefits.

bonham2

Hey guys, I'm new here. I thought I'd jump on this thread instead of making a whole new one since I'm in the same situation. I've been playing for about 2 months. I was consistently finishing in the top 10 in PvE events and got some nice 4* covers in the process. I quickly realized the 4* covers were practically worthless since I couldn't get a second cover on any of them, so I've sold all of them and now have a roster of mostly 2* and 3*. I did come across a black OML cover that I kept. Of course, now I can't finish in the top 200 for PvE and I'm grossly outmatched in PvP since OML levels me up too high. My top 5 heroes are OML at 270 and then 5 2* champions around lvl 100-105 each. My highest 3* is Daredevil at lvl 102.

I'm assuming that selling OML will make the game easier for me, but I use him constantly. His matches take up nearly 500 HP, and his black power is a beast, especially if he converts. I learn towards selling him and then I stop myself every time. What do you guys think?

It also drives me nuts that I have a bunch of 4* covers that I can't roster.

spatenfloot

Keep OML and tough it out. Things will settle out eventually.
Also, don't sell any more 4 stars.