S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level: Event Rewards Preview *Updated

Pylgrim

Now that much of the unwarranted outrage has calmed down, we can move onto more important questions, maybe. Such as "How is alliance bracketing going to be calculated"? and "Has it been given consideration to the fact that the top clearance level, which includes all the veterans, i.e. the more mechanic knowledgeable players, will see a high volume of very close scores?"

With the quality of players lumped together in SCL 7, I'd be surprised if by the end of the event there's more than 5k points between top 1 and top 50. Given that from top 51 down you don't even get a single 3*, this could lead to tons of "feel bad" moments, as SCL 7 will be populated by players for whom a 3* is already a mere consolation prize.

fmftint

Pylgrim wrote:

Now that much of the unwarranted outrage has calmed down, we can move onto more important questions, maybe. Such as "How is alliance bracketing going to be calculated"? and "Has it been given consideration to the fact that the top clearance level, which includes all the veterans, i.e. the more mechanic knowledgeable players, will see a high volume of very close scores?"

With the quality of players lumped together in SCL 7, I'd be surprised if by the end of the event there's more than 5k points between top 1 and top 50. Given that from top 51 down you don't even get a single 3*, this could lead to tons of "feel bad" moments, as SCL 7 will be populated by players for whom a 3* is already a mere consolation prize.

The casual response, "don't worry, you get those covers as progression NEXT event"

zodiac339

So, this does benefit a lot of players. Even fully clearing progression, the brackets I'm in have made that amount of play barely top 100, or even somewhere in top 200. So, one rare cover, and then another in the next story progression, and no chance of a Legendary. That's turning into no rares as placement, but two as progress and one Legendary. So 20% (in Clearance 7) benefit. And it won't take full progress to get the Legendary. Who was going just to the Rare cover before? 30%? 40%? That's a massive number of players who didn't even get a single Rare as placement, who will now be able to progress to two covers and a legendary.
On the other hand, were those people not getting that far because they were lacking covers? Maybe. New players may find it harder to progress now. Especially with these Elite Tokens, which aren't replacing Standard in SCL5, but are instead things you have to fight to get to. D3 seems to be breaking their own intention there.
Players with poor rosters typically can't get into the top 100 Alliances. They certainly can't get top 50. What the heck is the point of having IM35 as an Alliance reward for players in SCL1? They'll never see it.
There's bad and good with this setup. Long term players will be getting the good. I'm not sure there are going to be as many newer players sticking with the game, because those lower Clearances are really giving them the bad. They need to be able to develop their rares, and that takes a long time. Yes, the early focus is good 2-stars, but they still need a good way to get through progress, and eliminating even the smallest chance of rare covers means no access to the good points in the featured Rare mission, just the (now lower) points from the 2-star one. Well, I suppose D3 will figure it all out when they see how their player base grows or shrinks. Hmm... "Not enough new players are using the featured vaults to get their covers. How can we change that?" Sorry, it really will be beneficial to me, but then there's my cynical side.
Also, It would be nice if the two Rare covers in Progression were different colors. But I see what they did. Only 2 available Placement covers, and the third was moved to Progress. It would help general diversity if the duplicate color was in placement instead.

EDIT: Ah, I was used to seeing the individual covers before, but now I see what they did. Top 50 automatically gets 2 covers for Luke Cage, and top 20 gets 3. Top ten gets the slap in the face of 500 extra ISO rather than 3 Rares and 1 Legendary. Top 5 and Top 1 are just getting all the good here, winning at least 2 covers at top 5, and all 3 at first, plus one in Progress next time. Lucky, lucky .5% of the people. Still, it's a net benefit to the larger base of players at SCL7. Hopefully SCL6 will be sort of happy too. But they really need two different colors. They probably still need to finish covering the Rares, and two of the same color is not going to do that.

Banacek555

I think those complaining need to remember there are Levels 8, 9 and 10 due to come soon.

If Level 7 already has 1 4* reward in progression it bodes well for rewards coming in the higher levels.

Three full 4* covers in progression is distinct possibility!

Nick441234

The way I see it is that everyone looking to break into 3* land will choose SL6, while everyone else will choose SL7.

SL7 is going to be brutal.

DFiPL

nick_chicane wrote:

The way I see it is that everyone looking to break into 3* land will choose SL6, while everyone else will choose SL7.

SL7 is going to be brutal.

I'll be playing SL7 with a smile on my face. I've already been playing for progression and taking whatever I get from placement as a bonus. If I get bumped on placement because it's "brutal," but I'm getting my 25 CP + progression 4*? Gravy. I'm still ahead of where I'd been, which was 25 CP + either 2* or 3* covers depending on how hard the rest of my bracket was playing.

DTStump

I'm super happy about that progression 4* cover. Up to now, my only 4* sources were random pulls from event/heroic packs and LTs here and there (I don't pull LTs very often because every time I pull a new character I stop and open a roster slot for it).

I have been able to get Top10 in PvE when I really want it, but that has only happened in my craziest moments. I never felt really excited about getting a top 10 prize - it has always been more like a relief that I actually got something back after all that grind. Getting 4* covers from PvP events has been basically impossible. And I still haven't won any DDQ Crashes because all my 30 4* characters are undercovered.

Seeing that I have 30 out of 36 regular 4*s (or out of 38 total), I should be able to keep playing most 4* essentials and adding most covers available via progression. This should give me the little push I needed to win some DDQ Crashes. Which would boost my LT production... and then hopefully I have a roster that's strong enough to start pushing for 1000 points in PvP without shielding (alternatively, when I have enough roster slots, I can actually start shield hopping).

Now I'm just crossing my fingers for a 4* cover lower in the PvP progression targets. Say... 650 points. That would be just fantastic.

hodayathink

DTStump wrote:

I'm super happy about that progression 4* cover. Up to now, my only 4* sources were random pulls from event/heroic packs and LTs here and there (I don't pull LTs very often because every time I pull a new character I stop and open a roster slot for it).

I have been able to get Top10 in PvE when I really want it, but that has only happened in my craziest moments. I never felt really excited about getting a top 10 prize - it has always been more like a relief that I actually got something back after all that grind. Getting 4* covers from PvP events has been basically impossible. And I still haven't won any DDQ Crashes because all my 30 4* characters are undercovered.

Seeing that I have 30 out of 36 regular 4*s (or out of 38 total), I should be able to keep playing most 4* essentials and adding most covers available via progression. This should give me the little push I needed to win some DDQ Crashes. Which would boost my LT production... and then hopefully I have a roster that's strong enough to start pushing for 1000 points in PvP without shielding (alternatively, when I have enough roster slots, I can actually start shield hopping).

Now I'm just crossing my fingers for a 4* cover lower in the PvP progression targets. Say... 650 points. That would be just fantastic.

Zero DDQ Crashes? So you're unlucky enough not to have any of the invisibility covers (because those are the fights that you can win with just 1 cover at level 70)?

Nick441234

DFiPL wrote:

nick_chicane wrote:

The way I see it is that everyone looking to break into 3* land will choose SL6, while everyone else will choose SL7.

SL7 is going to be brutal.

I'll be playing SL7 with a smile on my face. I've already been playing for progression and taking whatever I get from placement as a bonus. If I get bumped on placement because it's "brutal," but I'm getting my 25 CP + progression 4*? Gravy. I'm still ahead of where I'd been, which was 25 CP + either 2* or 3* covers depending on how hard the rest of my bracket was playing.

I agree, the progression rewards are extremely good. Like you say though, most people are going to have to just forget about placement now.

DTStump

hodayathink wrote:

Zero DDQ Crashes? So you're unlucky enough not to have any of the invisibility covers (because those are the fights that you can win with just 1 cover at level 70)?

Well, I've only added IW yellow recently (and since yesterday, she is all of a sudden 4/1/1!). I briefly had Howard with only 1 purple cover during his crash but after about 20 tries I couldn't beat Punisher. My Miles is 0/1/0 (no purple cover), so that's a no go. Same for my Professor X (3/0/1): I need a purple cover.

Looking at this next cycle, I should beat the IW one, XFDP might be possible too (currently 1/2/1). I might also have a very small chance with Nick Fury (0/2/2) and Iceman (1/1/2). This is all assuming I don't get any more 4* covers until then, which is fortunately unlikely. So I expect to get a few victories this time around. But as of today, I think only the Invisible Woman one is a mostly "guaranteed" victory.

OneLastGambit

As a regular t10 pve player I can say that my days as a top placement player are happily retired. No more grinding like a madman for a 4* cover. I can actually play at my leisure whenever I want and earn all the prizes that I want.

This is a change that many have been requesting for a long time. Seeing 4* progression rewards is an excellent way to make my experience better. Grinding for top placement now seems a little redundant.

But for those who love competing for top placement...hey they way you love to play is still there! Everyone wins. I know right, it's only t5 now....at CL7 you're right. Perhaps the aforementioned higher levels have 4* placement prizes at t10 or ....shock horror t20 or t50?!.

Anyone saying these changes aren't positive in every way clearly hasn't thought ahead and only thinks about right now.


Thanks devs, outstanding changes which I fully support. Play when I want mode now enabled

WEBGAS

OneLastGambit wrote:

As a regular t10 pve player I can say that my days as a top placement player are happily retired. No more grinding like a madman for a 4* cover. I can actually play at my leisure whenever I want and earn all the prizes that I want.

This is a change that many have been requesting for a long time. Seeing 4* progression rewards is an excellent way to make my experience better. Grinding for top placement now seems a little redundant.

But for those who love competing for top placement...hey they way you love to play is still there! Everyone wins. I know right, it's only t5 now....at CL7 you're right. Perhaps the aforementioned higher levels have 4* placement prizes at t10 or ....shock horror t20 or t50?!.

Anyone saying these changes aren't positive in every way clearly hasn't thought ahead and only thinks about right now.


Thanks devs, outstanding changes which I fully support. Play when I want mode now enabled

I completely agree and queue myself to fully support these changes

optimus2861

Super, super thrilled to see a 4* progression cover at CL7. And at a level that shouldn't be too time-consuming to obtain. It's been long overdue. This bodes well for seeing what CL8 and above may offer.

I certainly haven't been full of praise for Demiurge's efforts with this game in the past, but this gets an unreserved thumbs up!

MPQ_Daywalker

oBrokeno wrote:

I have only been playing for 41 days. Just finishing up my 2 stars. Starting to grow my 3 stars to progress in the game. But being at cl 5 I am now limited greatly by these changes. I get progression finished every event since I started playing. Event before gauntlet made top 100 got 2 3 star covers. I don't have a chance to win events but I always get good amount for my time put in. Now I can hope to get less for the same amount of time and work. Making my trip to 3 star land even farther.

How is this designed to help me grow? I am just hitting cl5 so I am on the low end of that bracket. Not likely to be a top placer. Can some one explain to me how this helps me? I am new to the game may be missing something I guess. But seems like tinykitty!

I'm very curious to hear how you end up placing in Deadpool Vs. MPQ. I expect that if you are hitting progression and choose Clearance Level 5, you will end up placing quite high. There can't be that many people who have rosters like you do (and SHIELD Ranks at your level) that are willing to put in that much work. My son is in his 2* to 3* transition and I've never seen a person in one of his beginner brackets ever make progression. As your SHIELD Rank progresses, you'll be able to play in higher Clearance Levels -- getting two 3* covers every event in progression in CL6, then a 4* cover in CL7. Building up XP to get a higher SHIELD Rank will be your best bet for advancement. Keep in mind that you're only at 41 days and this game is a marathon, not a sprint.

Personally, as someone at SHIELD Rank 63 and 755 days, I think these changes are awesome. Forumites have been asking for a move to progression-based rewards for a long time, and this is a huge step in that direction. They even kept high-end placement rewards in for people who like to compete. If you were placing Top 100 or Top 200 before, just look at the additional rewards you're now getting from progression alone. And this is just Clearance Level 7, with 3 more levels "coming soon."

To those worried that competition in CL7 will be intense and very close... I say yes it will be, but so were the veteran brackets before this change. CL7 being open to players at SHIELD Rank 32 and above means you're competing with pretty much the same players as you were before in your slice. A lot of the big prizes (additional 3* cover, a set 4* cover) are moving to progression instead of placement. High end competition (Top 50, Top 5) will still exist, but I think there is less incentive, rewards-wise, to do it.

kewlguirarist

Coltron9018 wrote:

Not sure what happened but I chose the highest scl possible and for some reason now all I can get are level 1 rewards. Anyone else have this issue?

Happened to me also. So annoyed. I put in a ticket.

Punter1

DanBenZvi wrote:

Okay, the following is the progression reward structure for all levels so far (1-7 with 8-10 to be announced later):

Level One (No Requirement): Mystery Boost, 100 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 100 Iso-8, cover, 100 Iso-8, Heroic Token, 100 Iso-8, Standard Token, 100 Iso-8, 50 HP, 140 Iso-8, 25 HP, 140 Iso-8, Standard Token, Event Token, 140 Iso-8, 5 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 920 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X3), cover (X1), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 5 CP

Level Two (Ranks 7+): Mystery Boost, 140 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 140 Iso-8, cover, 140 Iso-8, Heroic Token, 140 Iso-8, Standard Token, 140 Iso-8, 50 HP, 200 Iso-8, 25 HP, 200 Iso-8, Standard Token, Event Token, 200 Iso-8, 5 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 1300 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X3), cover (X1), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 5 CP

Level Three (Ranks 10+): Mystery Boost, 250 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 250 Iso-8, cover, 2 CP, Heroic Token, 250 Iso-8, Standard Token, 250 Iso-8, 50 HP, 250 Iso-8, 25 HP, 250 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 250 Iso-8, 10 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 1750 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X2), cover (X2), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 12 CP

Level Four (Ranks 15+): Mystery Boost, 280 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 280 Iso-8, cover, 2 CP, Heroic Token, 400 Iso-8, Standard Token, 5 CP, 50 HP, 400 Iso-8, 25 HP, 4000 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 400 Iso-8, 10 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 2160 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X2), cover (X2), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 17 CP

Level Five (Ranks 20+): Mystery Boost, 400 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 500 Iso-8, cover, 5 CP, Heroic Token, 500 Iso-8, Elite Token, 5 CP, 50 HP, 500 Iso-8, 25 HP, 500 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 500 Iso-8, 15 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 2900 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X1), Elite Token (X1) cover (X1), cover (X1), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 25 CP

Level Six (Ranks 27+): 400 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, 400 Iso-8, Health Pack, Standard Token, 500 Iso-8, cover, 5 CP, Heroic Token, 500 Iso-8, Elite Token, 5 CP, 50 HP, 750 Iso-8, 50 HP, 750 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 1000 Iso-8, 15 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X1), 4300 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X1), Elite Token (X1), cover (X2), Heroic Token (X1), 100 HP, Event Token (X1), 25 CP

Level Seven (Ranks 32+): 400 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, 400 Iso-8, Health Pack, 400 Iso-8, 600 Iso-8, cover, 5 CP, Heroic Token, 600 Iso-8, cover, 5 CP, 50 HP, 750 Iso-8, 50 HP, 1000 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 1000 Iso-8, 15 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X1), 5150 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), cover (X2), cover (X1), Heroic Token (X1), 100 HP, Event Token (X1), 25 CP

Took DanBenZvi's work and made a table to make it a little easier to see. Interesting to see that level 7 has only 5 Cover and Token rewards, all others have 6, but ISO rewards definitely nice.

This is assuming Max Progression. Definitely see them pushing everyone to play their max level, seems to be no reason to sandbag, sure you might get a slightly better placing, but you give up too much ISO etc IMHO.

oBrokeno

Just started deadpool event. Up way early to try it out. All the top scoring rosters right now in cl 5 are way above mine. Why is anyone with a 5* championed in cl5? Looking at top rosters made me kind of sad. I thought maybe if I start early and put in the work I could have a better shot at placing. But now I am competing with huge rosters still and my progression is very little help. My only useful prize to get is cp. Which I need to save for late game rister building. Again I don't get how this will help me make the 3* transition. My best prize is a long term investment and I may get 1 3* cover if I get lucky on tokens.

slidecage

so there are no longer time slices?

Magic

Punter1 wrote:

DanBenZvi wrote:

Okay, the following is the progression reward structure for all levels so far (1-7 with 8-10 to be announced later):

Level One (No Requirement): Mystery Boost, 100 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 100 Iso-8, cover, 100 Iso-8, Heroic Token, 100 Iso-8, Standard Token, 100 Iso-8, 50 HP, 140 Iso-8, 25 HP, 140 Iso-8, Standard Token, Event Token, 140 Iso-8, 5 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 920 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X3), cover (X1), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 5 CP

Level Two (Ranks 7+): Mystery Boost, 140 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 140 Iso-8, cover, 140 Iso-8, Heroic Token, 140 Iso-8, Standard Token, 140 Iso-8, 50 HP, 200 Iso-8, 25 HP, 200 Iso-8, Standard Token, Event Token, 200 Iso-8, 5 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 1300 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X3), cover (X1), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 5 CP

Level Three (Ranks 10+): Mystery Boost, 250 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 250 Iso-8, cover, 2 CP, Heroic Token, 250 Iso-8, Standard Token, 250 Iso-8, 50 HP, 250 Iso-8, 25 HP, 250 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 250 Iso-8, 10 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 1750 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X2), cover (X2), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 12 CP

Level Four (Ranks 15+): Mystery Boost, 280 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 280 Iso-8, cover, 2 CP, Heroic Token, 400 Iso-8, Standard Token, 5 CP, 50 HP, 400 Iso-8, 25 HP, 4000 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 400 Iso-8, 10 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 2160 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X2), cover (X2), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 17 CP

Level Five (Ranks 20+): Mystery Boost, 400 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, Health Pack, Standard Token, 500 Iso-8, cover, 5 CP, Heroic Token, 500 Iso-8, Elite Token, 5 CP, 50 HP, 500 Iso-8, 25 HP, 500 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 500 Iso-8, 15 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X2), 2900 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X1), Elite Token (X1) cover (X1), cover (X1), Heroic Token (X1), 75 HP, Event Token (X1), 25 CP

Level Six (Ranks 27+): 400 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, 400 Iso-8, Health Pack, Standard Token, 500 Iso-8, cover, 5 CP, Heroic Token, 500 Iso-8, Elite Token, 5 CP, 50 HP, 750 Iso-8, 50 HP, 750 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 1000 Iso-8, 15 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X1), 4300 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), Standard Token (X1), Elite Token (X1), cover (X2), Heroic Token (X1), 100 HP, Event Token (X1), 25 CP

Level Seven (Ranks 32+): 400 Iso-8, Mystery Boost, 400 Iso-8, Health Pack, 400 Iso-8, 600 Iso-8, cover, 5 CP, Heroic Token, 600 Iso-8, cover, 5 CP, 50 HP, 750 Iso-8, 50 HP, 1000 Iso-8, cover, Event Token, 1000 Iso-8, 15 CP
Summary: Mystery Boost (X1), 5150 Iso-8, Health Pack (X1), cover (X2), cover (X1), Heroic Token (X1), 100 HP, Event Token (X1), 25 CP

Took DanBenZvi's work and made a table to make it a little easier to see. Interesting to see that level 7 has only 5 Cover and Token rewards, all others have 6, but ISO rewards definitely nice.

This is assuming Max Progression. Definitely see them pushing everyone to play their max level, seems to be no reason to sandbag, sure you might get a slightly better placing, but you give up too much ISO etc IMHO.

Interesting table, thanks. It looks like I should try CL6 as I will get the same amout of HP, CP and 3* covers. A bit less ISO (including 1k for the Venom green I have 5 already but he is undercovered in other colors). So with the price of roughly 2k ISO i should have less competition in CL6 compared to CL7. Not sure what to do but I might give it a go.

Punter1

Magic wrote:

Interesting table, thanks. It looks like I should try CL6 as I will get the same amout of HP, CP and 3* covers. A bit less ISO (including 1k for the Venom green I have 5 already but he is undercovered in other colors). So with the price of roughly 2k ISO i should have less competition in CL6 compared to CL7. Not sure what to do but I might give it a go.

You also lose ISO in event and sub-event ending both from Alliance and personal placement.

I think the drop in ISO is more than 2k for sure (not got the numbers to compare yet) but I'd put it closer to 4k I think, just from CL6 to CL7 given regular play and reasonable top 100ish placement.