How to get PvP progression rewards reasonably?

Tryke

Firstly, just a casual player here. I don't spend tons of hp on shield hops, I just play some PvP if I like progression rewards. I have never been a Line-coordinated player or cupcake baker.

Having said that, I find that I top out many points lower than I used to simply because there aren't any targets worth more than 20-30 points, even at mid score levels. I used to be able to play up to 800-900, sometimes 1k, without needing any shields. This was because there were targets to hit and get me up there. Nowadays, I am sitting at top 25 with about 550 points and it just becomes unproductive to go much higher.

Is there a good time slice and shield level that has a decent population? Mainly looking for progression rewards.

WelcomeDeath

Tryke, your points dry up at 550 or so because of the participation award given out at 575. Why go for 900 when you can just go 575 and say **** it? Posted this since that progression sequence was introduced. Its is an incredibly silly idea to have a 4* award before a 3* award...because then you need 4* to get the 3*. They need to remove it. Replace it with another 3* cover, move the cp to 1k and 1.2k. Then youll make it because you wont have players giving up at 575.

Edit: before anyone blames cakes....you couldnt find cakes til after 900 in the old system anyway, you had to climb there. And you didnt have hundreds getting there off the 12 3* guys doing checks, theyd have gotten slaughtered. Why they changed more than one variable i will never know. It makes for awful testing.

Dragon_Nexus

I wonder which slice you use, TC. Some slices get more points than others. I tend to use slice 3, that's usually a top 25 or close to it placement if I get over 900.

carrion_pigeons

Welcome Death wrote:

Tryke, your points dry up at 550 or so because of the participation award given out at 575. Why go for 900 when you can just go 575 and say tinykitty it? Posted this since that progression sequence was introduced. Its is an incredibly silly idea to have a 4* award before a 3* award...because then you need 4* to get the 3*. They need to remove it. Replace it with another 3* cover, move the cp to 1k and 1.2k. Then youll make it because you wont have generation slowflake giving up at 575.

You're making the implicit assumption that most casual players want to play up to 1k; that they would find it fun gameplay. My own personal experience has not suggested that. When the 25 CP was at 1200, I just never bothered at all. 575 is already an irritatingly long grind as far as I'm concerned, and I only bother for maybe two or three events per season. My point is that I'm sure I'm not the only one. PvP back before they revamped the rewards was unrewarding and impenetrable for anyone not in the know (i.e. on Line). I have little doubt player engagement is up substantially, even if it means the people trying for higher scores are much more dilute than before.

HaywireII

I have a similar roster to you but with more 4* champs. I climb from 500 to 800 on 30 point targets. From there I typically have to use a shield or 2 from 800 to 900 and may or may not be using AP boosts depending on my team and who comes up as a target. I have had an event or two where I got to 900 without a shield but some of that probably comes down to luck.

Depending on work and my schedule I do my final climb anywhere from 23 to 14 hours before the event ends; if you climb too close to the end you get ravaged by the late joiners. When you have 887 points and the other guy has 0 it sucks to take that hit. After 925ish points it becomes a wasteland of 5 and 6 point targets. If I was going to try for 1200 I would have to commit early to multiple hops and queueing up other people while they are hopping to get multiple 60+ point targets in. 15 Command Points doesn't seem worth all that effort to me.

TimGunn

I'd suggest climbing from 500 to 900 late at night. If you can stay up late! I find it to be quieter then (maybe the night before the event ends, around midnight or 1:00 am).

You may not find better targets, but you are less likely to get hit during the climb, allowing you to reach 900 without shield hopping.

Or maybe just try the various slices to see which one is easier for you.

Other than that, it is shield hop or a check room.

MarkersMake

Welcome Death wrote:

Edit: before anyone blames cakes....you couldnt find cakes til after 900 in the old system anyway, you had to climb there. And you didnt have hundreds getting there off the 12 3* guys doing checks, theyd have gotten slaughtered. Why they changed more than one variable i will never know. It makes for awful testing.

OK, this explains a lot about why you think it's just the cp at 575 that is the problem. You don't think they were available to the rabble. That's wrong - because you absolutely *could* find cupcakes before 900; *well* before 900, in fact.

I know, because *I* found them between 550 and 600 - not a lot, and not often, but they were there. And today I'm *still* only a 3* player who's not connected with Line in any meaningful way, so they were definitely available to more of the population than you seem to realize.

revskip

MarkersMake wrote:

Welcome Death wrote:

Edit: before anyone blames cakes....you couldnt find cakes til after 900 in the old system anyway, you had to climb there. And you didnt have hundreds getting there off the 12 3* guys doing checks, theyd have gotten slaughtered. Why they changed more than one variable i will never know. It makes for awful testing.

OK, this explains a lot about why you think it's just the cp at 575 that is the problem. You don't think they were available to the rabble. That's wrong - because you absolutely *could* find cupcakes before 900; *well* before 900, in fact.

I know, because *I* found them between 550 and 600 - not a lot, and not often, but they were there. And today I'm *still* only a 3* player who's not connected with Line in any meaningful way, so they were definitely available to more of the population than you seem to realize.

Truth. I was also in the 3* transition when cakes were eliminated and I would see them as low as 500 or so with increasing odds up to the 800-900 mark. The only times I ever hit 900 before champing Peggy and then the subsequent 4*s I have now was when I could get lucky enough to queue a couple of cakes at around the 750 mark and then hop off of them. I never played the Line game to coordinate, either got lucky and found cakes or didn't and wouldn't bother with shields since I couldn't get close enough to 800 to make it worth the HP to shield 4+ times.

Scores are also depressed in general because of the point dilation that occurred when they removed the tasty treats. Matches could be found all the way up the line worth 60+ even at the 800 mark. Now they are rarely available past 45 or 50 points which means extra hops. And since 3* rosters are essentially locked out of the higher progression prizes they all seem to stop at 575 which further depresses the points available.

acescracked

carrion pigeons wrote:

Welcome Death wrote:

Tryke, your points dry up at 550 or so because of the participation award given out at 575. Why go for 900 when you can just go 575 and say tinykitty it? Posted this since that progression sequence was introduced. Its is an incredibly silly idea to have a 4* award before a 3* award...because then you need 4* to get the 3*. They need to remove it. Replace it with another 3* cover, move the cp to 1k and 1.2k. Then youll make it because you wont have generation slowflake giving up at 575.

You're making the implicit assumption that most casual players want to play up to 1k; that they would find it fun gameplay. My own personal experience has not suggested that. When the 25 CP was at 1200, I just never bothered at all. 575 is already an irritatingly long grind as far as I'm concerned, and I only bother for maybe two or three events per season. My point is that I'm sure I'm not the only one. PvP back before they revamped the rewards was unrewarding and impenetrable for anyone not in the know (i.e. on Line). I have little doubt player engagement is up substantially, even if it means the people trying for higher scores are much more dilute than before.

I would agree that there are many that have your PvP experience. However...

I know you'll find this hard to believe.. I know of many players that hit 900+ of all roster types that use zero line coordination.

It's unfortunate that you are in the former, but please do not assume everyone's gameplay experience is the same as yours. BTW, I find PvE to be the irritatingly long grind, not PvP.

Tryke

Hearing a lot of what's being said. Have shield clearance levels been thinning out the population of each bracket? I don't understand how it works exactly.

I can go up to 8, so choice isn't a problem. My main issue is that there are so few people trying to get points. I could try slogging my way to 900 progression reward, but <20 points for a "hard" matchup is just depressing.

More to the point:

1. What SCL is best?
2. Which time slice is best?

alphabeta

Tryke wrote:

Hearing a lot of what's being said. Have shield clearance levels been thinning out the population of each bracket? I don't understand how it works exactly.

I can go up to 8, so choice isn't a problem. My main issue is that there are so few people trying to get points. I could try slogging my way to 900 progression reward, but <20 points for a "hard" matchup is just depressing.

More to the point:

1. What SCL is best?
2. Which time slice is best?

Shield clearance levels have nothing to do with MMR and therefore the targets on offer to you - they affect placement because player distribution changed but nothing to do with your ability to hit Progression.

So SCL - irrelevant
Slice - 1,3,4 or 5 if goal is just 575

Tony_Foot

Welcome Death wrote:

Edit: before anyone blames cakes....you couldnt find cakes til after 900 in the old system anyway, you had to climb there. And you didnt have hundreds getting there off the 12 3* guys doing checks, theyd have gotten slaughtered. Why they changed more than one variable i will never know. It makes for awful testing.

It was extremely rare that I had to go to 800 to start queuing cakes. 715ish was enough for me to start riding the train. I do sit in the same problem area as the OP and had to ride 25 point matches to 900 being unable to eat a grill. That has worked a couple of times but it lines me up for retals and I have aborted more runs to 900 than I have made. The whole pvp for 3 to 4* players is completely *****ed up. Gotta have boosted to get covers and miss out on ones you might need because you don't have any boosted. Yet I can play pve do a clear and then the essentials 4 times and walk away with a 4* cover. Workload and cost between the two formats is nothing like even, I used to only play pvp, now I have to play pve as well for faster progress and more iso/hp/cp due to intercepts.

vinsensual

Putting CP at the midway point is one of the best moves they made for 3-4 transitioners. Before that change, PVP was an afterthought. Reaching 10k a season was unreasonable for a 3* team and the CP award was a month long effort, whereas they could earn double that in a week by grinding pve.

MarkersMake

revskip wrote:

And since 3* rosters are essentially locked out of the higher progression prizes they all seem to stop at 575 which further depresses the points available.

I just wanted to follow up on this, because it's both true and not true.

I am, as I said above, solidly in 3* land (I have 25 or so 3* champs, and zero 4*s that are even usable). So I think my experience is probably representative of the average 3* player.

I often stop at or near 575 (650 or a bit more if I have the featured character champed). It's a fantastic place to have cp, since I can consistently reach it and it will eventually let me jump into the 3*-4* transition with a decent cp stockpile, once I get past the current HP crunch (iso is currently at almost 1 million).

But I don't stop at 575ish because I'm lazy, or because I don't want to work harder to get the higher rewards. I stop there because I get absolutely crushed as soon as I go past 650 (sometimes I have just enough time to reach 725 before the avalanche of hits becomes overwhelming). And at that point I'm mostly NOT getting hit by 3* players - it's almost exclusively teams with either one or two champed 4*s (none of which are retals).

So if the 4* players (or 3*-4* transitioners with a couple of 4* champs) are hitting me, then it doesn't really matter where the 3* players are stopping. I couldn't hit them fast enough to gain any ground anyway, once the avalanche of hits starts rolling in.

So, yeah, the 3* players aren't going much past 575, but we're not so much stopping as we are being stopped.

EDIT - Before anyone asks, this is all following PvP "best practices"; not climbing in the last 3 hours or anything like that.

Tryke

Just as an example:

Months ago:
2 hours left in the event, making my climb. 40+ point targets up to 800 points for the 3* cover, sitting just within top 100.

Today:
2 hours left in the event, making my climb. 40+ point targets up to 484, and I'm...#14?

I'm just confused as to what is causing the shift. I'm not really doing anything different than what I used to. And this example is not just a one-off either.

Tony_Foot

MarkersMake wrote:

revskip wrote:

And since 3* rosters are essentially locked out of the higher progression prizes they all seem to stop at 575 which further depresses the points available.

I just wanted to follow up on this, because it's both true and not true.

I am, as I said above, solidly in 3* land (I have 25 or so 3* champs, and zero 4*s that are even usable). So I think my experience is probably representative of the average 3* player.

I often stop at or near 575 (650 or a bit more if I have the featured character champed). It's a fantastic place to have cp, since I can consistently reach it and it will eventually let me jump into the 3*-4* transition with a decent cp stockpile, once I get past the current HP crunch (iso is currently at almost 1 million).

But I don't stop at 575ish because I'm lazy, or because I don't want to work harder to get the higher rewards. I stop there because I get absolutely crushed as soon as I go past 650 (sometimes I have just enough time to reach 725 before the avalanche of hits becomes overwhelming). And at that point I'm mostly NOT getting hit by 3* players - it's almost exclusively teams with either one or two champed 4*s (none of which are retals).

So if the 4* players (or 3*-4* transitioners with a couple of 4* champs) are hitting me, then it doesn't really matter where the 3* players are stopping. I couldn't hit them fast enough to gain any ground anyway, once the avalanche of hits starts rolling in.

So, yeah, the 3* players aren't going much past 575, but we're not so much stopping as we are being stopped.

EDIT - Before anyone asks, this is all following PvP "best practices"; not climbing in the last 3 hours or anything like that.

Yeah this is exactly how the game is for me. All 3* champed and six 4*. In a non boosted week like this one I climb to 625 and it's nothing but 2x4* champed for varying points or matches for next to nothing if I can find one. The only way I can get higher is a last hour run and it's a lottery between 600-800 points finish. Shield hopping doesn't help. If I leave a shield with a non boosted 4* regardless of time period it's like setting up a bat signal. Every single time there are great covers that would really help me progress like 4Pun blue or coming up Quake yellow, I have no chance.

I think I might have made better progress if that 4* was lowered to 800. That would be more useful to me than the diluted lottery. My last 25 pulls had 9 useless covers.