What's a cupcake?

WildCardCorsair

Pretty new to the forums here, but I've been playing MPQ since launch. I've seen the word cupcake thrown around a lot... but I have no idea what it is. Google search doesn't do anything either so here I am, asking you all, making it pretty clear I'm an idiot, so please go easy on me XD.

Tee

I vaguely remember seeing Cupcakes as a reward for getting a high placement in the (Lightning Round?) back when I first started playing.

No idea what they do though. Google failed me and the wiki doesn't have a thing about them.

WildCardCorsair

I guess that makes sense, I'm mostly PVE, and when I do dabble in PVP it's never lightning rounds.

Jarvind

It's when you get up to a very high score in PVP, then intentionally leave out a very easy team (like 1-2 star characters) for a few minutes. Then you shield and people hit you for tons of quick, easy points.

revskip

A cupcake was a team left out by a person in PVP with a high end roster who had a big PVP score that consisted of very easy to beat opponents, usually unleveled 2*s. The person would win a match with the weak team, then go back and win with their A team and shield allowing anyone who queued that team to get an easy win for 75 (or close to) points. The cupcakes were often coordinated on the Line app so that lesser rosters could climb and hit the higher progression rewards a bit easier.

The ability to do that however was taken away during the last changes to PVP.

firethorne

Cupcakes were a practice where a player (usually referred to as a baker) would win a PvP match with an intentionally low leveled team so that would become the defensive team others could target. This was done so that others could make quick wins against the cupcake team and, because points earned have nothing to do with match difficult, attain more points to reach progression rewards. The baker could let others target the weak team, but the attackers would usually wait a bit before attacking, so the baker could shield and not lose a significant amount.

A recent patch changed this, as the game will choose a new defensive team if it detects use of one being used significantly different than the one you had before.

WildCardCorsair

Ohhhhhh. Thanks tons fellas. So they axed the old bait and switch eh?

WildCardCorsair

Now you're making me hungry XD

Tee

Wait... then what do I remember?

Oh... Anniversary tokens?

dan54321

Bait and switch makes it sound like it was a tactic to trick people; but there was no trick, usually. Usually people who baked just wanted to help out weaker players by giving them an easy opponent worth a lot of points.

Punisher5784

Cupcakes were served during PVP events to make the event more exciting to obtain rewards. Nothing felt better than being feed a delicious cupcake to increase your progression

Vhailorx

WildCardCorsair wrote:

Ohhhhhh. Thanks tons fellas. So they axed the old bait and switch eh?

before you toss out terms like "bait and switch," here is a fair warning:

There have been about a billion posts on these boards recently about the merits and drawbacks of cupcakes. Suffice to say that a significant portion of the players on the forum feel that cupcakes were (1) bad for the game, and (2) cheating. And another group of players (at least as large as the first group) take the complete opposite position. It's been more than a little heated.

Things have sort of died down now, but I'm sure an errant post could stoke the embers. So if you want to risk it, feel free to declare your position and face the flame wars!