Difficulty Levels Based on S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Levels - Update (8/4/17) *Updated

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  • Starfury
    Starfury Posts: 719 Critical Contributor
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    aesthetocyst said:
    adamdivine said: ... i have 5 champed 5* (one of which is Thanos), ouroboros has 4 champed 5* (and a high level non champed thanos) and we are both getting beaten by a solid 4* roster with no 5*'s. Same thing happened in the last tests as well. Definitely still possible for 4* rosters to compete.
    Exactly. When they tested this scaling, I made an attempt on Discord at calming frayed 4* nerves. No need to get all in a bunch. Placements aren't just automatically given to 5* players in this regime. Players still have to show up, play on the clock, and play hard...and do it every sub. 

    Some players already doing so will place higher with this scaling. 4*s players and 5* players. CL7 and 8 rewards are practically identical.  

    In terms of numbers, there are far more 4* players than 5* players. 5* players didn't fill every top 10 in cl 7 and 8 in the test and they won't this time either. It's more likely that more of the players willing to play the game of clocks will be from the 4* ranks than the 5* ranks.

    True, the extent of the influence on 4* players depends entirely on the amount of 5* players in the game.

    Of course that also means that once we reach the point where 1% of SCL8 teams are dedicated 5* players, 4* rosters are essentially locked out of the best placement rewards.
    The question then is, if 4* rosters are losing engagement in competetive PvE. (I.e. is the added effort necessary for a top 20 finish really worth the difference in rewards between T20 and T200)
  • Milk Jugz
    Milk Jugz Posts: 1,122 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Well, just recently finished my initial clear on sub1 for unstable. I caught a bracket flip this morning on S4CL8, joined at 24. Finished my clear in 16th. Everyone ahead of me has a 5* roster, the next closest 4* roster to the me is in 20th place. Don't take this as a complaint, I expected it and am very happy I was the fastest 4* roster to finish. I think, with optimal play (I hope) the rest of the event, I've set myself up nicely for a possible t10 finish!!! Need that Bucky purple!!! Clear took me just less than 40 minutes, which was a nice change from the hour to hour and fifteen it used to take.
  • talleman
    talleman Posts: 444 Mover and Shaker
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    Hmm this change seams to be a bad one for me. Im currently at rank 60+ And the SCL rank says that rank 8 is for 47+ if i recall correctly. The problem is that the enemies are way to hard especially at the 5-6 run on the hard nodes and the essesional ones. So i need to drop to rank 7 to make a full clear. And the rewards at rank 7 is worse than the rank 8 was before they change.
  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,349 Chairperson of the Boards
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    The game exists to sell you the feeling that you are making progress.  Actual progress is almost secondary to the feeling of progress.  The other sales aspect is leaving you room to grow/strive for something.  Why are the majority of SCL's clumped so low?  So new players feel like they are moving quickly along.  Look at me!  I moved from 3 to 5 in a month (or whatever it takes).  Then you begin to stall.  (Maybe that's at SCL7.) And you wonder how to keep feeling like you are making progress.  Then you look at the store button up in the corner.  Maybe a few bucks would help, you think.

    Every change that makes you feel like you are making more progress (say, a 4* in progression) is an attempt to 1.  Make you feel more progress and 2. Get you to try to accelerate your progress in some way ($).  It is nice when they give more rewards, but they hope you spend some money as a result.  AND THEY SHOULD!!!!  It's a business.  It's not a charity.  This isn't a complaint!  It's the design of the game, and many games like it.  (Not just digital games; physical card games like Magic/Pokemon use a similar design to make money.)

    Making the game easier for 5* rosters is important, because for a looooong time, it has seemed foolish, to many players, to level your 5's.  The most engaged players have seen post after post from 5* players complaining about super-scaled Muscle and the like.  The 5* players begged to play PVE events without their 5* roster (Heroic events).  This was a severe deficiency in design - no other way to look at it.  No one - no one - NO ONE - should think that the "best", rarest characters in the game are not worth leveling up.  Especially not the most knowledgeable, engaged players (aka forum frequenters.)

    I am still not convinced, but am more convinced now, that it would be worthwhile to begin leveling 5's.  Assuming I actually fully cover one.  I have almost all the 4's champed, and am now preparing to champ the dregs of the tier (Venom).  My best 5 is a 2/5/5 Hawkeye, then 4/3/3 Natasha and 2/3/5 Thanos.  I worry about PVP, but that's a different topic.

    And this is a major goal of this change - making more 4* players convinced that the 5* game is worth pursuing.  And keeping 5* players more engaged, and possibly spending some dough, as they probably spent some along the way already.  (I said probably, FTPers.)

    Complaining about placement difficulty is fine, but don't expect that the devs will suddenly reverse their decision.
  • Sm0keyJ0e
    Sm0keyJ0e Posts: 730 Critical Contributor
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    bluewolf said:
    My best 5 is a 2/5/5 Hawkeye...

    Level him up! That guy is a beast in PVE. Pair him with Wasp/Coulson and you can beat any team. ANY team. Trust me.

    Fast? No.

    Fun as hell? Oh yeah.
  • Starfury
    Starfury Posts: 719 Critical Contributor
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    aesthetocyst said:
    Starfury said: ... once we reach the point where 1% of SCL8 teams are dedicated 5* players, 4* rosters are essentially locked out of the best placement rewards.


    Why no mention of SCL 7?

    Because that's a downgrade in rewards and I was talking about motivation and engagement for 4* players.

    (And of course there's no guarantee that SCL7 won't be just as filled with 5* rosters preferring X-10 minute clears to X minute clears)
  • beyonderbub
    beyonderbub Posts: 661 Critical Contributor
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    Just my experience with last night's subevent. I joined SCL 8. I have 4 champed 5*s around level 450 (baby 5*s). I used OML (lvl 450) / 5*Strange (lvl 453) / 3*Thanos (lvl 266 max champ) for all non-essential nodes. With the amount of goons in this one, it only made sense to bring Strange in and I don't have a functional 5* Thanos. It took me 1hr 40min to do my 4x clear and came in 52nd place for the time being. Hoping to make up some ground with my 3x per node final grind tonight starting about 2 hrs from subevent end. If someone has a faster suggestion, I'll be glad to try it out if I have the characters.
  • NewMcG
    NewMcG Posts: 368 Mover and Shaker
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    beyonderbub said:
    Just my experience with last night's subevent. I joined SCL 8. I have 4 champed 5*s around level 450 (baby 5*s). I used OML (lvl 450) / 5*Strange (lvl 453) / 3*Thanos (lvl 266 max champ) for all non-essential nodes. With the amount of goons in this one, it only made sense to bring Strange in and I don't have a functional 5* Thanos. It took me 1hr 40min to do my 4x clear and came in 52nd place for the time being. Hoping to make up some ground with my 3x per node final grind tonight starting about 2 hrs from subevent end. If someone has a faster suggestion, I'll be glad to try it out if I have the characters.
    I ask this in no way meaning offense, but how did it possibly take that long? I used a low 450s Phoenix, and a couple boosted 4s and finished in almost an hour less than that in SCL 8.
  • NewMcG
    NewMcG Posts: 368 Mover and Shaker
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    OJSP said:
    New McG said:
    beyonderbub said:
    Just my experience with last night's subevent. I joined SCL 8. I have 4 champed 5*s around level 450 (baby 5*s). I used OML (lvl 450) / 5*Strange (lvl 453) / 3*Thanos (lvl 266 max champ) for all non-essential nodes. With the amount of goons in this one, it only made sense to bring Strange in and I don't have a functional 5* Thanos. It took me 1hr 40min to do my 4x clear and came in 52nd place for the time being. Hoping to make up some ground with my 3x per node final grind tonight starting about 2 hrs from subevent end. If someone has a faster suggestion, I'll be glad to try it out if I have the characters.
    I ask this in no way meaning offense, but how did it possibly take that long? I used a low 450s Phoenix, and a couple boosted 4s and finished in almost an hour less than that in SCL 8.
    My first guess is part of the problem would be the amount of animations that team need to go through. OML heals every turn, Strange's Flames would trigger a lot but might not be enough to kill anyone, Thanos' Court Death triggers a lot and OML heals even more. It's also not a fast team, so the enemies would have time to use their powers.

    Second guess would be distractions or playing on a slower device?
    I could definitely see those adding a chunk of time. But barring a 45 minute nap, I don't see how it could quite add up to an extra hour.
  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
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    OJSP said:
    New McG said:
    beyonderbub said:
    Just my experience with last night's subevent. I joined SCL 8. I have 4 champed 5*s around level 450 (baby 5*s). I used OML (lvl 450) / 5*Strange (lvl 453) / 3*Thanos (lvl 266 max champ) for all non-essential nodes. With the amount of goons in this one, it only made sense to bring Strange in and I don't have a functional 5* Thanos. It took me 1hr 40min to do my 4x clear and came in 52nd place for the time being. Hoping to make up some ground with my 3x per node final grind tonight starting about 2 hrs from subevent end. If someone has a faster suggestion, I'll be glad to try it out if I have the characters.
    I ask this in no way meaning offense, but how did it possibly take that long? I used a low 450s Phoenix, and a couple boosted 4s and finished in almost an hour less than that in SCL 8.
    My first guess is part of the problem would be the amount of animations that team need to go through. OML heals every turn, Strange's Flames would trigger a lot but might not be enough to kill anyone, Thanos' Court Death triggers a lot and OML heals even more. It's also not a fast team, so the enemies would have time to use their powers.

    Second guess would be distractions or playing on a slower device?
    I think playing on a calculator would take less than 1:40.
    That's an insane time considering a champed Strange almost one-shots every goon until they're well above 300.

    Run Strange OML Medusa, shred those goons.
  • Merrick
    Merrick Posts: 198 Tile Toppler
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    In my CL8 bracket, 2 of the top 5 players and 5 of the top 10 players are 4* rosters. 

    Obviously the event isn't over. But if these 4* players can and are beating 5* players, then I don't see why all the 4* players are complaining.
  • Beer40
    Beer40 Posts: 826 Critical Contributor
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    Merrick said:
    In my CL8 bracket, 2 of the top 5 players and 5 of the top 10 players are 4* rosters. 

    Obviously the event isn't over. But if these 4* players can and are beating 5* players, then I don't see why all the 4* players are complaining.
    Not all of us are complaining. I'm very happy with the change. SCL8 has about the same scaling as it did before for me and I can finish in the top 100 any time I choose (with my non-optimal play style). Now I can go down to SCL7 for a little easier scaling and I don't have to devote as much time to the daily grind. 

    Sure, I'd like better rewards for progression in SCL7 but if I have to trade away those for quicker clear times then great!
  • Milk Jugz
    Milk Jugz Posts: 1,122 Chairperson of the Boards
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    aesthetocyst said:
    Bowgentle said:...I think playing on a calculator would take less than 1:40.
    LOL .... nice one!

    But, in truth, device matters. My previous phone would overheat anytime MPQ was running, and dump the app anytime anything else was brought to the fore ... phone call? restart MPQ, even if you ignored the call. Don't even think about firing up LINE or replying to a text.

    Seriously, the phone was almost too hot to hold. Not quite glowing, but close.

    Under those conditions, grind times would suffer.

    Newer phone, no problem.

    I don't see how anyone plays this mess seriously on a mobile device anyway. Vive la Steam!


    Ewwwww...... Steam?? I actually have a second account I started on steam for more casual play. Yeah, I gave that up pretty quickly. I'll take my mobile device, thank you.....
  • broll
    broll Posts: 4,732 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Milk Jugz said:
    aesthetocyst said:
    Bowgentle said:...I think playing on a calculator would take less than 1:40.
    LOL .... nice one!

    But, in truth, device matters. My previous phone would overheat anytime MPQ was running, and dump the app anytime anything else was brought to the fore ... phone call? restart MPQ, even if you ignored the call. Don't even think about firing up LINE or replying to a text.

    Seriously, the phone was almost too hot to hold. Not quite glowing, but close.

    Under those conditions, grind times would suffer.

    Newer phone, no problem.

    I don't see how anyone plays this mess seriously on a mobile device anyway. Vive la Steam!


    Ewwwww...... Steam?? I actually have a second account I started on steam for more casual play. Yeah, I gave that up pretty quickly. I'll take my mobile device, thank you.....
    Steam's interface is superior but I don't know how you can keep up with this game's crazy time requirements without it being on mobile.  I have a side steam account I play casually on from time to time.  Just started playing it a lot more recently after not touching it for 6 months.
  • beyonderbub
    beyonderbub Posts: 661 Critical Contributor
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    Lol. 1:40 is slow; but device is not the problem: iPhone 6. I think you guys were right about the animations slowing me down a bit. Also champed 5strange's passive yellow only doing about 6k dmg which is nothing for scl 8 goons. It is a slow team or I'm playing it slow. Will switch in medusa boosted to see if any quicker. I think I was also burnt out from finishing previous pve in 6th place. 
  • Milk Jugz
    Milk Jugz Posts: 1,122 Chairperson of the Boards
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    broll said:
    Milk Jugz said:
    aesthetocyst said:
    Bowgentle said:...I think playing on a calculator would take less than 1:40.
    LOL .... nice one!

    But, in truth, device matters. My previous phone would overheat anytime MPQ was running, and dump the app anytime anything else was brought to the fore ... phone call? restart MPQ, even if you ignored the call. Don't even think about firing up LINE or replying to a text.

    Seriously, the phone was almost too hot to hold. Not quite glowing, but close.

    Under those conditions, grind times would suffer.

    Newer phone, no problem.

    I don't see how anyone plays this mess seriously on a mobile device anyway. Vive la Steam!


    Ewwwww...... Steam?? I actually have a second account I started on steam for more casual play. Yeah, I gave that up pretty quickly. I'll take my mobile device, thank you.....
    Steam's interface is superior but I don't know how you can keep up with this game's crazy time requirements without it being on mobile.  I have a side steam account I play casually on from time to time.  Just started playing it a lot more recently after not touching it for 6 months.
    Yeah, that's my problem with steam. I need to be on mobile to keep up with my grinds and such. My wife drives most places so I can be grinding when we go out
  • Milk Jugz
    Milk Jugz Posts: 1,122 Chairperson of the Boards
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    beyonderbub said:
    Lol. 1:40 is slow; but device is not the problem: iPhone 6. I think you guys were right about the animations slowing me down a bit. Also champed 5strange's passive yellow only doing about 6k dmg which is nothing for scl 8 goons. It is a slow team or I'm playing it slow. Will switch in medusa boosted to see if any quicker. I think I was also burnt out from finishing previous pve in 6th place. 
    Medusa is pretty slow in her own right too. No direct damage power, animations whenever anyone matches a special tile and animation when her CD gets destroyed. Saying that I did ride her, SL4, and 4Cyke to 16th after my first initial clear in unstable, though I joined the bracket at 24.
  • beyonderbub
    beyonderbub Posts: 661 Critical Contributor
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    Yup. I got a figure which team can chew thru lvl 330 24k health quickest w/o draining health packs. I joined slice 5 scl 8 at 252. I was doing well with medusa/4grocket/4slord last event; just not finding the magic yet with this one

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