New Pve Format - Your thoughts?

babinro

I figure it might be helpful to open up discussion about people's personal experiences with the new official format. Some of this stuff is a little early to discuss given we're only one sub into R&G but I'm hoping this thread sticks around for a while.

To ensure this feedback has relevance for other people I'd recommend people share experiences with some hint towards their roster or scaling.

Examples:
https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/babinro/
or
4* transitioner with 3x championed 4*s
or
Top 5 leveled characters are ______
or
4* transitioner softcapped at level 166

Questions to Focus the Feedback

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?
If so, are you placing better or worse and by how much?

2) Understanding that the scaling cap increases has made PvE more difficult for all of us.
Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?

3) The new format brings it's share of positive and negative changes. Setting aside the discussion of whether or not it accomplished the perceived goals or if you feel PvE should be non-competitive.
Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?
Examples:
Going from tanking events to clearing each one for node rewards.
Going from pushing for top 10 to relaxed clears to get key node rewards.
Giving up on PvE for everything but new character releases.

Arphaxad

In general I like what D3 has been doing with MPQ. I'm a fan and I spend money on this game. I normally do not want to jump on the complain wagon, but this new PvE system has some major flaws that could kill this game.

The issue I want to address is that the difficulty of the new system is not fun. I don't want to always win and I don't mind a good challenge, but this is ridiculous. I'm seeing red level boards after 3 or 4 clears, leaving me no real chance of getting any additional points. I've gone from a top50 placement to top200.

In my opinion the placement ranking system should be scrapped and the rewards placed into progression. Even an alliance progression reward system should replace alliance placement. But that comes secondary to game play.

If the difficulty continues to be this high, the fun of the game will be killed, and I don't play games that feel like work. I want to have fun when I play a game. Challenging games are fun, but nearly impossible to beat... I'll go play Pokemon Go.

babinro

Roster: https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/babinro/
5* tier player with OML, PHX, Surfer championed and most 4*'s championed.

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?
Too early to say for sure. Previously I'd do full green checkmark clears every sub (often times disregarding optimal clear times) and finish subs/main in top 20 to top 30 range.

The first sub in R&G I could only manage 6 clears on all nodes except the Muscle/Juggs/Muscle node where I was only able to clear 4 times. Despite this poor performance on my part I still finished the sub in top 30.

2) Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?
Muscle goons continue to be completely devastating for a 5* roster. I attempted that Muscle/Juggs/Muscle node at least 8 times and only managed 4 wins. I attempted various teams and the times I won often came from a favorable board. The issue with Muscle lies entirely with their yellow strikes which are low cost and add ~7400 match damage to the enemy team. Combine this with 1 instance of Juggs green and I lost my OML from full health in a just a single turn more than once. It felt unfair.

The large health pools means that traditional 4* counters are unreliable and time consuming. Remember...you can counter those CD's or strikes once or twice but they fire off much quicker than your counter. Replacing someone like Phoenix for Elektra, Iceman, Antman or Jean Grey even with SW as a feeder means your team is extremely vulnerable to match damage and AoE. Considering the overall team had a health pool of around 180,000 health you give up a TON by not selecting two 5*'s.

The rest of the sub felt mostly fine. That Muscle/Hood/Hawkeye node was certainly challenging and caused me to fail/retreat as well but since there was only 1 muscle the match didn't come across as completely unfair/luck dependent.

3) Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?
I like elements of both a lot. It's too early to say with certainty but I'm leaning towards preferring the old format simply because my roster could grow BEYOND the enemy level cap and that gave a wonderful sense of progression for my 2 years of MPQ effort.

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?
No. I played the old format to get all green checks without caring so much about hyper competitive top 10 rewards and I intend to do the same in the new format. Obviously the new difficulty means I won't always get that full green clear but my goals in PvE remain the same.

Calnexin

The new PvE format is overall a positive for me.

I'm in 3-4* transition. My roster isn't up to date, but it's kind of close.

I'm devoutly casual at this point. I've given up chasing placement. If I happen to earn something usefull it's a bracket fluke. I play ~ 1-3 hr/day, split between DDQ, PvE, and PvP.

I can't reach reasonable placement in PvE anymore. I can farm CP to make progression on 4* and 5* covers. With a set reward point I can earn those CP without grinding the node all 7 times. If I've got the time, I may even be able to get the 25 CP reward. I'm not sure yet - I feel like I'm on par but I'm probably wrong.

T100 is no longer a consideration. I won't ever get those rewards again. The slow drip of covers from lucky tacos and biweekly CP earnings will hold me over until I decide to quit.

SnowcaTT

Snowcatt. Day 850. One 450, ten champed 4*'s.

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?
I'm placing better since I wasn't able to "correctly" hit the nodes timing before. Instead of around 250 I'm placing around T100.

2) Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?
The essentials have gotten a bit to difficult - now both hardest nodes and essentials require lots of health packs. I won't be grinding PVE on PVP days.

3)Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?
New format, by a ton. Progression was difficult (impossible?) to hit with a real-life where you couldn't hit full point nodes multiple times a day. Progression (CP) is the only thing that matters in PVE, the 3*'s and 4*'s are nearly pointless and the ISO gained is low.

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?
-Slightly. I ran PVE once a day before, mainly for ISO and CP. I may run the other two essentials and the other two hard nodes (non-CP nodes) a couple more times since now that gets me to progression...it never got me to progression before, so I like the 24 hour timer change. I never played for placement, and still will not (though I suspect I'll be getting T100 much more often now).

mpqr7

Placement is pretty much impossible, so there goes all of those rewards.

firethorne

1) No noticeable change in placement yet, but I don't always fight for placement, and haven't been for this event. There is a noticeable decline in my ability to finish some of the nodes, so if I was shooting for placement, I feel this would be worse.

2) Yes. Specifically, the fourth clear and beyond. This is especially true for what I'm seeing for the back end of 48 hour subs. I'm just scraping by on the 4th clear, with a few wipes. Having tomorrow's starting point for the clears I'll need for progression seems extremely brutal.

3) Old. Mind you, I'm not saying that the old system is good. I'm just saying the new one introduces as many problems as it fixes. Sort of a 'better the devil you know than the devil you don't' situation.

4). Yes. I'll probably play less, and will never focus on placement.

Player info:. I'm a late 3* early 4*. All 3* fully covered, all but 6 championed. Only one 4* fully covered, but not championed. Seven 4* with 10+ covers. Top 5 leveled characters are all 5*s, in the range of 1 to 4 covers each.

ViralCore

Fully transitioned 5* player (many of them champed).

1) My placement is worse. Currently sitting at 11th but usually in the top 10.

2) Way more unforgiving, goons were doing 37k aoe (thanks to strength tiles) and cascades of any size often killed any 5* in a single turn. Some games were over before I even got to fire a 9ap ability. I didn't even get all of the rewards.

3) PvE should remain competitive because it makes it more fun and interesting. It gives you another goal to work towards. I prefer the old system where you weren't penalized so much for having a stronger roster. My current top 10 are 3*-4* transitioners, not one has a fully covered 5*. D3 said themselves that 5*s are supposed to be epic, they do not feel that way in the new environment.

4) The new format will mean I can no longer play competitively. The nodes are out scaled for my roster. It also means yet another imposed iso shortage.

fmftint

No matter how you wrap it up, **** is ****

Competitive pve is garbage

KGB

I am a 3* transition player with a softcapped roster around L100 (30 2/3* characters all with 11+ covers and 12 4*s in the L70-90 range).

1) Placement in Sub 1 was same as normal for me (T100, barely missed T50) for an event I joined on day 1.

2) IMO, the essential nodes scale too high. Even with my softcapped roster the last scale up (4th clear) made it very high for the final 3 clears. This *matters* because for new/transition players doing extra clears helps make up points from not having an essential (usually I'm missing 4* one, this time I had him). Probably should stop scaling upgrade on essentials after 3 clears instead of 4.

3) I much prefer the new format. I'll reach progression (as I did in all the prior tests too). In the old format I really struggled to reach progression because I never play remotely optimally and as mentioned I am usually missing an essential so getting max points from 4 clears really helps reach progression (assuming it stays at 3.5 clears).

4) I'll play exactly the same since the new format is perfect for my gaming sessions. Farming the CP point is now a known quantity so that helps a lot too.

KGB

P.S.

Muscle goons continue to be completely devastating for a 5* roster. I attempted that Muscle/Juggs/Muscle node at least 8 times and only managed 4 wins. I attempted various teams and the times I won often came from a favorable board. The issue with Muscle lies entirely with their yellow strikes which are low cost and add ~7400 match damage to the enemy team. Combine this with 1 instance of Juggs green and I lost my OML from full health in a just a single turn more than once. It felt unfair.

They are devastating for a 3* softcapped roster too. After 2 clears they are already L150 with +500 strike tiles. Against characters with only 7-9K health (that's with boost) it only takes 2-3 matches (or one cascade or 2 Tommy Gun) to down a character. It only gets worse on 3rd/4th clear. This isn't a scaling problem so much as it's a problem of Muscle/Tile Mover combo. IMO Muscles are way worse than Kishu's because those tiles remain even after the Muscle is killed.

Jam_Adams

roster in my sig (I need to update, it's been a week or two)
late 3* to early 4* transitioner

1) Yes this new format has greatly affected me. I said the same in all tests. I am more partial to the old system where I can time clears optimally. I end up sitting down and playing in shorter sessions which worked great for me. I never pushed for high placement, but enjoyed placing top 100. In the tests and this new format, I've never finished top 200.

2) I do not like the scaling cap. there are plenty of reasons not to have done this. a red mentioned long ago that the system can't see above the board, but it will always play perfectly with what is there. also, feeders. the challenging nodes were previously challenging enough for me. now scaling is way out of whack, and above what I consider challenging+enjoyable.

3) old format. for reasons previously stated.

4) at this point, I will no longer push for placement. PVE is where I've spent 95%+ of my time in this game, but the effort-to-reward ratio is just too high at the moment. I think I will do my best to do 4 clears to optimize the rewards, since after the fourth clear the effort increases while the rewards decrease. I will just take whatever placement that gives me.

which sucks, because I've never "figured out" true PVP. I have resorted to joining near the end of PVP events to optimize rewards there, usually clearing seeds and maybe 3-4 additional battles to place well. I also try to do as many LRs as I possibly can. this is the state of the game for me right now - i have always been very far away from high end play, but now I feel like i'm continually falling farther away.

simonsez

1 usable 5*, many champed 4*s.

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?
If so, are you placing better or worse and by how much?

Yes. I'm always t5, often t2, and right now I'm hovering around 20th. I expect it will drop further because I'm not going to grind the end of the 48hr sub for no rewards.

2) Understanding that the scaling cap increases has made PvE more difficult for all of us.
Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?

Of course. I didn't even bother with the Hood/Muscles node. I can't even tell you the last time I blew off a node completely. In the past, going for placement made nodes like this a necessary evil, but if you're just going for progression, there's no reason to subject oneself to that kind of aggravation for 70 ISO.

3) The new format brings it's share of positive and negative changes. Setting aside the discussion of whether or not it accomplished the perceived goals or if you feel PvE should be non-competitive.
Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?

Old format. Playing for placement is far more time-consuming under the new format.

4)Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?

Yes. I'm no longer playing for placement. I don't want to have to play that many hours in a row.

Meander

5* Transitioner, top Characters are 370 Phoenix, 335 OML, Championed 4*s (approx 8-10)

Questions to Focus the Feedback

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?
If so, are you placing better or worse and by how much?

Doesn't seem so. I have been going 7/7 as normal and expect a t 50 finish

2) Understanding that the scaling cap increases has made PvE more difficult for all of us.
Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?
Tough to gauge, as the boosted list for this event is very forgiving. I've been running Cyke/XFDP/IM40 or Daisy/XFDP/IM40 and crushing most nodes.

3) The new format brings it's share of positive and negative changes. Setting aside the discussion of whether or not it accomplished the perceived goals or if you feel PvE should be non-competitive.
Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?
New format. I really enjoy the ability to clear out my 7/7 whenever I feel like instead of having to clear in the night, the morning, during the day, and grind. I can grind all at once, or do them spread out through the day. It was really great on the 48 hour sub, as I cleared out and didnt touch it for the remaining time. The impact this will have on new releases remains to be seen, however.

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?
Yes, in that I wont be as focused on a schedule.


Bonus section: Any suggestions?
I would like to see the recharge timer removed like the Eots test, and then the rewards transferred to progression. Lets rip this band-aid off for good and get to the system everyone wants.

dsds

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?
I am placing a bit better but too early to tell. This is because I join later to avoid the crazy grinders. Also the fact that it is a lot of goons nodes, make people play more and grind more

2) Understanding that the scaling cap increases has made PvE more difficult for all of us.
The difficulty is higher and I think it would be problem in other pves but not this one. Because this pve is a lot of goons, it isn't as difficult as I expect. Basically if goons have a lot of yellow tiles out, I retreat and take the damage and try again. As long as I don't retreat with one of the timers on 1, I lose some health but not a massive amount.

3) The new format brings it's share of positive and negative changes. Setting aside the discussion of whether or not it accomplished the perceived goals or if you feel PvE should be non-competitive.
I prefer this one. I do the same amount of clears, but not on a schedule which helps a lot. Too early to tell though. My rank in the first sub is always luck dependent because I join late.

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?
Examples:
not really

revskip

IGN ElSkipo, Day 188, three 5*s none of which are leveled, sixteen champed 3*s, no fully covered 4*s.

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?

Looks like it will slightly elevate my placing, I usually shot for top 50 or top 100 in new releases. In the first run of the test I ended up just outside top 10 and so far I am ending around top 15-20 each sub.

2) Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?

The essentials with board movers seem much tougher now. I usually would shoot for about 5 clears in the old system but on the 4* essential nodes I have stopped at 4 since I already had the CP and don't have a particularly useable XPool. Everything else seems easier until the 4th clear when it is about the same as before.

3)Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?

The new format by a wide margin. I prefer to play all the nodes at once so I can play after my wife has gone to sleep and not be spacing my clears out when I might have other responsibilities. Never worrying that I might be missing out on placement because I couldn't play at a certain time is super nice. Plus if I want to play in the afternoons now I can use all my healthpacks for a PVP run where before they would be split between PVE and PVP limiting how fast I could climb.

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?

Not really other than how I slot my playtime. I usually try to place in 4 consecutive events then take an event off to keep from burning out. Seems like this will work pretty well with that system and the slightly extra placement rewards should help out with some extra ISO while also helping my alliance place slightly higher.

GrumpySmurf1002

4.5* player. 375 OML + 13 champed 4*. Surfer (2/5/4), PHX (5/2/0) and IM46 (3/0/3) next in line, none leveled.

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?

I joined with about 9 hours left in the first sub. Did the green check marks as I had time, finished ~3 hours early and got top 10. But I also did that with DA Heroic. So jury's out.

2) Understanding that the scaling cap increases has made PvE more difficult for all of us.
Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?

Concur that the muscle/muscle/jugg was brutal (mine was about 377-388 at the end, way higher than what I typically see). Got through it with a 113 Peggy slowing things down for OML/Ant-man. But it was ugly, and there were several wipes on better teams.

3) The new format brings it's share of positive and negative changes. Setting aside the discussion of whether or not it accomplished the perceived goals or if you feel PvE should be non-competitive.
Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?

Meh. Lipstick on the placement pig. This is probably marginally better but the repetitiveness of PvE is so boring.

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?

Nope. I sure as heck am not playing optimal for new releases, but that's only marginally different than in the old system.

rastafari7

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?
If so, are you placing better or worse and by how much?
Old system always easy top 50 and with the same effort never got in top 200 in those test events.

2) Understanding that the scaling cap increases has made PvE more difficult for all of us.
Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?
Can't wait to see and feeder go up 20/30 levels after each win

3) The new format brings it's share of positive and negative changes. Setting aside the discussion of whether or not it accomplished the perceived goals or if you feel PvE should be non-competitive.
Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?
Old format all the way, but best would be no more placement!!

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?
Play less for a couple of weeks, get bored and move on to other games.

tanis3303

I have 20+ 4* champs, a well covered but unleveled Surfer, and a 4/4/4 lvl 360 Phoenix and 5/3/2 lvl 360 OML (I won't level them any further, probably ever, because I enjoy the gameplay at the 4* level)

Just finished "Clearing" sub 2 (4 taps on each node), and I have to admit...I like it. A few notes tho: I have an insane roster for this event. XPool, Thing, Cyclops, Venom, M40 - All champed. The difficulty is higher than I'm used to, but with this selection of heavy hitters, all fed free AP from M40, I breezed thru my clears. With this level of scaling and a less impressive selection of characters to tackle it, I think this would be immensely frustrating, and I'm not sure I would bother clearing it out for the rewards that are given. 4 clears of ever increasing difficulty for 1 CP is often not going to be worth it. And what about Heroics? Are they going to share this off the charts scaling??

I gave up on competitive PvE months ago. I just play for the CP progression, and sometimes not even that these days, so this is perfect for me. I had a slow afternoon at work, so I just blazed thru sub 2 4 times in one sitting, simply because I was bored and had time. All that said, I feel a great swell of pity for anyone trying for top 10. Trying to pull placement prizes from this system is going to be a tinykittying NIGHTMARE, and will probably come down to which 10 players are willing to grind 1 point battles. Good luck with that y'all...

mrPuzzleQuester

If progression stays this low for all events then I'm all for this new format. I only hit each node 4 times in the first and second sub and should get the max progression with ease - then only playing for the cp nodes after that.

As someone with only 3* champs and no useable 4* the scaling seems to be in a sweet spot where it's about equal or 30+ lvls higher at max which is doable.

This event has a lot of goon only nodes so that also makes it easier to not have to deal with board movers but IF they keep max progression on the low end I can see myself spending time on PVE more often to get the 25 cp.

slidecage

my ess nodes top at 180 in the old pve its 230 in the new pve

Polares

Transitioning 5 player. Champed OML, plus 12 champed 4s

1)Has this new format impacted your placement in the subs or overall event?
Yes, I am usually top50 (top20 in new releases). Right now sitting in 70 position for the event, and I was just top100 in the first sub (with 7 completions for the easy nodes, 6 for all the rest), and top200 for the second sub

2) Do you feel there are instances where the difficulty feels too unforgiving? Unfair?
The first sub was definitely harder than in the old format, but I still managed to not lose any fight. Muscle nodes were the main problem. The second sub is much easier.

Some events are going to be a nightmare in this system. And I might probably kill completely my PvE experience when I champ my PH in a week. It makes NO SENSE AT ALL that 5 players are the ones having the toughest time.

THANK YOU DEVS FOR SCREWING PROGRESSION IN THE GAME COMPLETELY!

THANK YOU DEVS FOR SCREWING SCALING EVEN MORE THAN BEFORE!

3) Do you prefer the new format or the old format? Why?

Old format by a wide margin. First, it was much easier for 4, 4 to 5 and 5 players. Now 4 to 5 and 5 players are the ones with the hardest time. Then It was much better to play 30 min a couple of times during the day, and then for 1:30 before the end (a little bit more for new releases). I don't like having to play for 3h in just one go (just for PvE, we still need to play DDQ, PvP, etc.).

And of course THE GREAT LIE, "I can't win all progression in the old format playing in one go" and "in the old format I can't play whenever I want and win all progression rewards". This is the worst. The format was changed because people assumed that the timers were screwing them, something it has been demonstrated over and over again that it was wrong. It was just a perception, and a wrong one. So thanks devs for fixing something it was not broken!

4) Do you think the new format will change how you play PvE?
Not the way I play it (I will still try to get the green ticks in all the nodes), but definitely my placement in general. I doubt I am ever going to get top20 again, my goal is just getting the 25 CPs and node CPs, and top100 for new releases. I am losing A LOT of HP and iso in placement in this new format. Thanxs Devs!