Access Granted: S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level 9 *Updated (9/20/17)

DarthDeVo

 Well, I genuinely did not think they would extend 4* covers to T50, so that's a pleasant surprise. So are the additions of LTs in placement. Progression rewards are a little more on the meh side, but its never a bad thing to get more. 

I'm a bit ambivalent on the 5* required node. It feels like a natural progression of the gameplay, and extra resources are nice. But as others have already pointed out, that will likely have the effect of making it harder to place in SCL 8 and especially 7, as it's less likely that players who belong in those levels will have a full stable of 5*s. And, it's more time on the grind. And currently the only way to get these required characters is purely at the mercy of RNG, and most of us on these forums are aware of the dim prospects of drawing 5*s, particularly from Classics. 

That leads me to my next point though. I'm really holding out hope that they're at least going to buff the odds of drawing a 5*, and that the "accidental" increase we had in odds last month for those few brief hours is what they actually intend to change things to at some point. 

Bloody_Marvel

Maybe they should've left the 5* node for SCL 9 only. That way the existing SCLs wouldn't be affected (though it would also rob the SCL 7 & 8 players from the extra resources).

spatenfloot

Brigby said:

The rockett said:

Can there be a fix for the tappers Brigby ?  This will now cause even more of this in sl9

I will be sure to include this in my weekly report to the development team.

vinsensual said:

So the 5* fight will have points that aren't calculated for max progression, but will still be a factor in placements? 

Yes. You don't need to complete 5-Star Essential nodes in order to reach Max Progression, however players can still benefit from completion points, because they affect Placement.

Adding this 5 star node to CL 7 is a really bad idea. Now those champed 5 star players can stomp on lower level players even worse instead of playing CL 9.

Daiches

I welcome scl9 finally coming to MPQ, and with great rewards too.

I do not welcome that you didn't fix PVE first. And that those LTs will only increase the issue of all day grinders. Especially since overgrinding also helps the alliances get another LT for t10.

Late bracketsniping is going to be fun too. An LT for 1h of work if you're lucky? That's almost worth losing out the progression rewards for even more people.

Pants1000

Looks like fun!

One question about CP in progression.  It says 40 total, but the chart shows 8 and 30.  Did I miss the last 2 somewhere?

madok

Brigby said:

Punisher5784 said:

Sooo basically 5* players can stay in SC7 and make it even easier for them to place above the 3 and 4* players. And why was this decided? I don't understand why we earn points for placement but not progression. Why not just remove points from the node? It would be just extra rewards to make it worth the wasted 1000 HP to slot a 1 cover 5*. Especially when it's still too rare to pull a 5*. 

(Disclaimer: I'm not a designer, nor a developer, so please consider my following comments as just a fellow player)

Well then let's say that the 5-Star essential node doesn't award any points at all, so it affects neither progression nor placement. The only thing it awards is node completion resources, like CP or Iso-8.

What would be the benefit of taking the time to complete the 5-Star nodes, as opposed to any other node?

@Brigby, if that node doesn't give points but still gives those rewards, people would still green checkmark it for the rewards and the potential xp. It would be a nice reward for those folks with five stars but not punish the folks that haven't gotten lucky enough to pull a 5 star character. Plus we aren't on a clock to complete that node.

Every other essential node required character is available at some level of the previous event's rewards. That chain of rewards makes sense. Adding in a required character that isn't part of the chain is strange.

dlegendary0ne

Not a fan of the required 5* node.  It penalizes players who haven't been "lucky" enough, or buy enough to pull covers for the required node.  When you consider how hard it is to get 5* covers at all, much more - how hard it is to get covers for a specific character, this kind of change is unfair.  

As a solution, I say make it easier to get the required 5* - maybe offer the character at a higher pull rate like at launch, during the event where it's required.  

Another solution is to make the node not worth points for placement but just a worthwhile bonus like Iso, CP, Hp, or even a LT

This change should not be a permanent one at all. Honestly, I'm kind of surprised there was no test run of this system in the past.  This seems like a big enough change to warrant one.

Warbringa

From my understanding the 5* essential doesn't influence points at all for progression or placement so it isn't really a detriment to players who don't have them, just a bonus to those who do.  You can grind a higher level node for the small node rewards if you choose to do so or not.  

While it is nice to see SCL 9 come out, the small increase in rewards for the jump in difficulty will probably not encourage too many players to move to it.  Those who do benefit will be the players willing to put in the extra time for the higher scaling and get top 50 placement for the 4* cover.  If you can't get top 50, no reason to even consider SCL 9 it seems.  

While my roster could handle it....I don't see the value to spending significantly more time grinding harder nodes for slightly better placement/progression rewards....if I can place top 50.  Now if there was a guaranteed additional 4* in progression (instead of placement), I would consider it but I think I will stay in SCL and spend less time grinding. I will probably try out SCL 9 at some point, but it sure won't be Venom Bomb!  

Bowgentle

Warbringa said:

From my understanding the 5* essential doesn't influence points at all for progression or placement so it isn't really a detriment to players who don't have them, just a bonus to those who do.  You can grind a higher level node for the small node rewards if you choose to do so or not.

It 100% affects placement, since it's points you need to get.

@mexus How's that brilliant idea of yours to sell all 5s as you draw them looking now?

Bowgentle

Now that I'm awake... 70 levels increase for a pittance of more progression rewards?
Plus the carrot of the LTs from placement?

I think only the most crazy of the 5* rosters will move on to 9, the rest will stay in 8.

I was really enjoying my 30 minute clears in 8, I'm not sure the meager guaranteed improvements are enough to make me go back to 60+ minute clears and using a ton of packs again.

Sandmaker

This doesn't make any sense.

The level range for SCL 7 only goes up to 245. So it's clearly designed for people in the 3*-4* transition range. But now you're sticking a 5* essential in there?

It's already getting really difficult to place with all the 4*-5* in there. With this change, we're going to be down a node pretty much every sub, making it impossible to even place Top 50 for the HP.

Please move it off the SCL 7 and 8. Or make it so the essential is always one of the 3 from Latest Legend. Forcing a 3*-4* player to own a specific 5* to compete at their own level is just ridiculous.  

dlegendary0ne

Bowgentle said:

I was really enjoying my 30 minute clears in 8, I'm not sure the meager guaranteed improvements are enough to make me go back to 60+ minute clears and using a ton of packs again.

I 100% agree with @Bowgentle

I don't want to spend any more time grinding in PVE and I really thought this was part of the reason they made the scaling fixes.  I not to long ago started playing seriously again and the game was becoming fun and not too overwhelming because of the scaling fix.  But adding more time needed to win the game is not appealing to me at all.

supergarv

Thanks for SCl9. This makes it easier for me to finally quit my addiction to this game.

5* essential for even more grind to SCl7/8 is a no-go. Scl9 will take up too much time for my 4* roster (Rank 106!), so I cannot get any placement rewards-- and you chose to ignore reasonable progression rewards.

I was holding out for SCl9 and hope it would create incentive for 4/5* players to create a better reward for time spent. I am very sad on the direction here.

veny

Reward increase is almost non-existing, which cant be said about opponent difficulty.
I will stay in SC7 instead of doing SC9 for like 10% more reward but 100% more time needed...
Maybe i will change my mind after promoting my first 5*, but i guess they will add SCL 10 before this will happen
At least we have 5* node, so not a total failure change list

NMANOZ

We should expect CL 10 to be open during 2019 then. 

Kevin61

Well, SCL9 looks fine but I will not opt in for Venom Bomb.  I'll wait until the next event.

Magic

Nothing to see here in terms of Scl9. I refuse to grind in Scl8 so I will not even come close to 9. Maybe if max progression would be achieved with 3-4 clears I would consider. But with my current play environment I have to basically do 6 clears of each node (can't play optimally). So already in 8 it's too much.

Adding another node is also a piss at players. This should replace one of the hard nodes or 2* essential for scl 7-9. Not being extra (while still not being taken into account as it is more likely players don't have the character). If adding this node was meant to force the hoarders to open the hoards - not going to work.

The game is in a constant step forward-step backward situation. It could have been such an amazing game (it is great anyway - that's why we stick to it) just by setting the bottom line a bit lower for the accountants and releasing more "goodies" for players. 

jamesh

Bloody Marvel said:

Maybe they should've left the 5* node for SCL 9 only. That way the existing SCLs wouldn't be affected (though it would also rob the SCL 7 & 8 players from the extra resources).

It makes as much sense to have a 5* essential node in CL7 as it does to have a 4* node in CL5 and 6.  At that level, you've probably picked up a few 4* covers while building characters in the lower tiers and have an advantage when they happen to be featured.

If you're transitioning to the 4* tier, you're likely to have received a number of 5* covers.  If you hold onto them, you'll sometimes have an advantage and sometimes not.

If you've got most characters rostered, it might have been a while since you played like this (I know it is for me!).  But it is worth remembering that most other players only have a subset of 5* characters rostered, so have the same handicap.

Interestingly, this increases the value of classic legendary tokens.  You might be better off having many 5* characters with few covers rather than only three well covered 5* characters.

mexus said:

Bowgentle said:

@mexus How's that brilliant idea of yours to sell all 5s as you draw them looking now?

Can't say I feel stupid or anything. But now when the 5*'s are part of the game I might try to save them from now on - we'll see.  Seems the 5* required mission doesn't add to the progressions score,

• "This mission is not considered when calculating progression reward tiers"

it just gives  500 ISO and a Event + standard token and some extra CP (which is nice but not quite a carrot to start the 5* game for me.

When 5*s are given as progression / reward or in any other way easier to obtain, I'll definitely start rostering them.

Will see how this turns out!

My reading of that part of the announcement is that if you ignore the 5* essential node and play as you did before, you'll hit the same progression rewards that you're used to.  But if you do play the 5* node, you could presumably achieve those rewards

kidicarus

I for one am looking forward to 9.  Faceroll 8 for me right now is too dependent on when you join a bracket.
In any case, the scaling is still not as bad it was previously for 5* players and I was already clearing optimally then. 

robertbah

5* node is important for both personal and alliance placement. If they did not add 5* node to cl7 or cl8, the pve alliance will have additional requirement on joining cl9. I believe that more complaints will be made. Now, you still are able to choose the time you want to invest or the rewards you want to choose based on your preference. It's a good addition and I expect that cl8 will be opened up more. We will see that effect in couple days.