S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Levels : What Are They Truly For?

TLCstormz

There are some interesting posts on Facebook, right now. About what the actual point and benefit to Clearance Levels are.

Apparently, people think that the lower the CL, the lower the difficulty.

Is that true?

Orion

No, the clearance levels are only about rewards.

The difficulty and your MMR remain the same. The rewards for placement and for progression are the only thing different. So higher CLs may require higher scores to be top 100 or top 10 in PvE, but the fights won't be any easier if you drop down in CLs.

For God's sake, stop reading posts on Facebook. Your IQ will drop at least a point for every comment you read.

TetsujinOni

The notion that SCL has any effect on difficulty does not seem to be true in any way.

Scaling is your roster, not your signed up CL.

MMR is your roster, not your signed up CL.

SCL determines the contents of your progression/placement prize tables for the event, and the leaderboard you are competing with for those placement prizes.

A very carefuly crafted softcapped SCL8 roster might have an advantage in speed of Story event clears over the PvP pressured SCL8 roster which has dual 5* champs.

broll

No. They do 2 things:
1. Set your reward level.
2. Bracket you with people in the same SCL + time slice.

What they don't do:
- Affect MMR.
- Affect scaling or PvE node difficulty.
- Affect rewards within the nodes or amount of xp gained.

mpqr7

To me personally, SCL is the answer to the concerns people had that as their levels went up, scaling went up, but prizes did not.

So now, levels go up, scaling goes regardless, however prizes improve if you choose a higher SCL. You'll automatically get better progression prizes. Whether you get better placement prizes varies, depending on whether you do well in a top SCL or find yourself placing higher in a worse SCL.

In my own experience, I tend to get top 100 or worse in most events, so I just choose the top SCL and don't worry about what placement prize I get. Also my alliance generally does quite well in events, so it's worth while for me to be in the highest SCL.

SirLanik

While choosing a lower shield clearance level will likely have you competing for rewards with players with weaker rosters than a higher SCL, since those players will be facing weaker nodes than you, it's a dubious belief that it would be easier.

SCL appears to be designed almost exclusively to provide relevant scaling rewards with the intent of helping you progress your roster.

I think it's pretty nice- I remember getting some 3 or 4 stars back when I was trying to transition from 1 to 2, and all they really did was just sit and take a roster slot. Getting rewards that are less likely to be frustrating/wasteful is good.

Jarvind

TLCstormz wrote:

There are some interesting posts on Facebook, right now.

I gave up on the Facebook page for this game after I saw a guy post a video called "How to get a fully covered OML in just one hour" which was 15 minutes of him dancing around the answer, which in turn was "spend a ton of money and buy lots of tokens."

fmftint

SCL were supposed to give you access to rewards appropriate to your level of advancement/roster level. But like everything else Demiurge's idea of appropriate is miles away from the players idea

stowaway

SirLanik wrote:

I think it's pretty nice- I remember getting some 3 or 4 stars back when I was trying to transition from 1 to 2, and all they really did was just sit and take a roster slot. Getting rewards that are less likely to be frustrating/wasteful is good.

Except that's not really how it works in practice. Even at the lowest Clearance Levels, players earn Command Points. If you're a new player, you don't know that you should be saving those for, oh, about six months or more. And then, at the lowest Clearance Levels, players are earning far fewer Hero Points, so when they do get a new character, its' harder to get the resources to roster it without spending money.

I have a day 46 alt account that I sometimes play in quiet moments at work. Even playing barely anything beyond DDQ, and NOT spending the few Command Points I get from PvE, that account has 8 4*, all with a single cover each, and 10 3* dying on the vine. Just based on fooling around with that account, I'd guess that the new player experience is more frustrating than ever.

Calnexin

The only advantage to dropping below your max available SCL is the potential to place above your competitors.

For PvE - since your personal scaling remains the same, you might actually be worse off dropping a level or two, because your competitors with worse rosters have easier enemies to plow through.

For PvP - dropping a level or two means you're competing against weaker rosters. I don't know how it impacts available points, but I assume they're pretty much the same. I believe going lower can benefit your placement - similar points for easier enemies. I don't think there's much difference between 7 and 8 right now, though. A lot of people drop to 7 for 4* placement reward and supposedly easier competition.

Smudge

Calnexin wrote:

For PvE - since your personal scaling remains the same, you might actually be worse off dropping a level or two, because your competitors with worse rosters have easier enemies to plow through.

See, I disagree with this, and I'm not trying to specifically pick on you because SirLanik said it, too.

While I acknowledge that players in the SHIELD Level 32-51 range do not have a comparable roster to someone 70+ and will face easier scaling, for the most part, that crowd is by far less competitive and informed than the average player who would drop down, and my results in SCL7 events kind of prove my point. With very sub-optimal clearing, I T20 PvE consistently now, even just doing 4x clears on nodes with no green checks. Green checks virtually assure T10. I joined the Juggernaut Heroic on day 2, cleared 4x both days (I think I green checked a couple trivial nodes in the final day but don't remember now), and I finished T20.

The rosters I'm competing against have a generally easier time, but the T10 are dominated by the usual faces - aXe guys, MPQU2 members, and other top alliance families that have 20+ 290+ 4* champs and high level 5*s that clearly could compete in SCL9.

SCL8 by comparison was more competitive in a big way, with my usual strategy finishing me T200 in my EotS bracket... so I don't think the "weaker rosters have an easier time of it" is a valid argument. It may be easier for them when I don't have a solid boosted 4*, but my knowledge of how the game works is going to overpower their slightly easier clearing methods when they aren't aware of how to be competitive.

SnowcaTT

They are for making many wonder when they'll open more.

I, like many vets, started out with 65 levels - enough to STILL be beyond the top needed level to enter. What is the point of the extra levels if you never open them? What is the point of the levels we're getting if we can't use them?

I saw a bracket where folks didn't want the Elecktra or the Drax...so many vets jumped into SCL6. The T10 in that bracket was 1500+, I think the top 4 was 3Kish (gratz on removing CC's to lower scores, or whatever the reason was).

What of the poor person who -finally- gets to SCL6, and enters to see....that?!?

Make the SCL rewards -WORTH- jumping to the top brackets. Vets shouldn't be trying to out-compete each other for the tiny scraps in the lower brackets.

Calnexin

Smudge wrote:

for the most part, that crowd is by far less competitive and informed than the average player

On the face of it, I don't believe this is true. There are many players who aren't in 1000+ player days with 3* rosters. The ones in my alliance play every day and put up decent points in events. They're no less devoted, they just started later.

Smudge wrote:

my results in SCL7 events kind of prove my point. .

This I cannot argue with. Data is King. I haven't experienced the same thing. I generally do 4 clears in SCL7, which results in T200 placement. If I green-check, T100, sometimes. I just join when I'm ready to play, so it's a mixed bag between immediate start vs 5 hr past last slice, but I haven't noticed any particular advantage moving to 7.

Both of our experiences are anecdotal. And I'm probably wrong, or at least unlucky.

fmftint

What confuses me, why allow the choice of SCL? it doesn't make sense to add SCL then let you pick lower

TetsujinOni

fmftint wrote:

What confuses me, why allow the choice of SCL? it doesn't make sense to add SCL then let you pick lower

If the 4* progression cover would be a sold dupe as I work up from 8 champ 4*s, but my 3* farm could take extra 3* covers for champ levels, I'd consider hopping down from SCL8.

Kjempen

fmftint wrote:

What confuses me, why allow the choice of SCL? it doesn't make sense to add SCL then let you pick lower

How about if one occasionally needs a specific 3* cover more than a 4* cover (f ex). I remember this being the situation in a PVP where Dr Strange was rewarded.

drag0n41

Calnexin wrote:

Smudge wrote:

for the most part, that crowd is by far less competitive and informed than the average player

On the face of it, I don't believe this is true. There are many players who aren't in 1000+ player days with 3* rosters. The ones in my alliance play every day and put up decent points in events. They're no less devoted, they just started later.

Smudge wrote:

my results in SCL7 events kind of prove my point. .

This I cannot argue with. Data is King. I haven't experienced the same thing. I generally do 4 clears in SCL7, which results in T200 placement. If I green-check, T100, sometimes. I just join when I'm ready to play, so it's a mixed bag between immediate start vs 5 hr past last slice, but I haven't noticed any particular advantage moving to 7.

Both of our experiences are anecdotal. And I'm probably wrong, or at least unlucky.

I will have to agree with Smudge, as I have been playing mostly SCL7, as I can usually T25 each PvP and T50 each PvE. I tried SCL8 for the Juggs Heroic and the IM40 PvP, I found that with the same effort I was finishing about 2 reward levels lower for placement. T100 in PvP and T200 in PvE. After testing early this season, I have found that staying in SCL7 will grant me more rewards.

BatteryHorse

I will have to agree with Smudge, as I have been playing mostly SCL7, as I can usually T25 each PvP and T50 each PvE. I tried SCL8 for the Juggs Heroic and the IM40 PvP, I found that with the same effort I was finishing about 2 reward levels lower for placement. T100 in PvP and T200 in PvE. After testing early this season, I have found that staying in SCL7 will grant me more rewards.

I agree with this as well, I'm shield rank 71, but I play exclusively in CL7. I usually wait until after the first flip (or sometimes even until after the second flip, if I'm busy) and jump in then. The path to top 10 is much easier, top 20 nearly guaranteed if you're doing full clears. I've stayed away from CL8 because my impression of it is that it's filled with vets and hard-cores, very competitive players looking to maximize their rewards.

Dragon_Nexus

Jarvind wrote:

TLCstormz wrote:

There are some interesting posts on Facebook, right now.

I gave up on the Facebook page for this game after I saw a guy post a video called "How to get a fully covered OML in just one hour" which was 15 minutes of him dancing around the answer, which in turn was "spend a ton of money and buy lots of tokens."

Which really is the only answer...

I don't look at the facebook comments either. So rare to find someone saying anything nice. It's always grouching about how this game is "the worst "pay to win" **** I've ever played" (meaning they've played very few free to play games)
Or they're grouching about why a particular character is a 5* or a 4* or complaining about this and that...

Ugh, I try to distance myself from self defeating negative bile these days. It's so tedious to sift through.

smkspy

SCL has been a total joke imo. The devs have very little understanding how to both properly reward according to rank and create a system that appropriately places you with similar competition. I can have a 2-3 star roster and be SCL 8 just because of the way that the leveling up system is designed.

Not a complaint, it's a dependable source of 30,000 iso every two weeks now, but that's all that is.

scottee

I remember once upon a time when I knew OBW was the strongest 2* but she was the last one for me to cover. I tanked at the end of a PVE, hoping people would pass me in ranking so I could get those sweet sweet 3 OBW covers.

Wait, what was this thread about again?