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

KGB

mexus said:

Tony Foot said:

mexus said:

So, one event without the required 5* done.
I played in CL7 and can honestly say that top 50 is impossible even on optimal play.

Let it settle down, as I say I'm not optimal and 6 cleared not 7 and don't have SL and I'm firmly in T20 in CL1.8. Next event will change again because people will move down from 9. Give it time, you could have just had an unlucky slice.

Then definitely an unlucky slice!
Usually top 20-50 is not a problem for me in CL7 but now I'm more like 80-100.

I'm normally T20 and often T10 (every 2,3&4 rostered with 8 4* champs). Without Starlord I'm sitting in the mid 60's and that's clearing all the other nodes 7 times (and I started day 1 late just after a flip so I was in the first 200 in the bracket just like I normally do).

Without the 5* it will be impossible to finish T50 in CL7 unless you get a very lucky sniper bracket.

The 5* has no business being in CL7 and removing it will be an incentive to play CL8/9 for players who want the rewards especially if those rewards make sense (say 500,CP,Event Token/CP/1000/1000) in CL8 so you can earn and extra 2500 ISO, 2 CP and an Event Token per day over CL7.

KGB

SkadenFrudee

DarthDeVo said:

It will sting a bit when we get to the first event I don't have the required 5*. I've got a little over half of them at least rostered, so it's only a matter of time. It's been a long time since I haven't been able to play a required node, and I pushed pretty hard to fill out my roster for that very reason. I'd be lying if I said that doesn't feel like a bit of a step back in my progress, which is somewhat demoralizing. 

I know how you feel. I just sold 5tarlord, BSSM and 5* Hulk a couple of weeks ago, in order to roster the last three 4*s I was missing. I did that so I'd never be locked out of a required node or Behemoth Burrito again. Then required 5* nodes drop, starting with Pete. 

shardwick

So I manage around a top 5-10 finish in CL7 in every event. I play optimally. I came into this, without a 5* SL, thinking that I won't get top 10 but hey maybe my play will still get me a top 20 finish in the event. Haha. Wrong. Finished in 58th on sub one and 59th on sub 2. This has got to be one of the dumbest decisions that has ever gotten the green light.

The new 5* essential node when I don't have it in four day events costs me 1-2 4*s, 450hp, 2k iso, three 3*s and a heroic.

What. A. Joke. Do you know what my favorite event is right now? Nope, not Strange Sights. It's Webbed Wonder. Why? Short event, plenty of goons, 5* boss fight and it rewards a 4*. WHY would you not want to emulate that across all events? Outside of the length of the event anyway because I'm not opposed to seven day events. You don't even need to reward a 4* either. Howard for Webbed Wonder. Hulk for The Hulk. Sentry for Prodigal Son. Deadpool or Devil Dino for Deadpool vs MPQ. Dr. Strange for Strange Sights, etc.

Boss fights? Kaecilius (Strange Sights), Doc Ock (Webbed Wonder), 5* Venom (Venom Bomb), Bruce Banner (The Hulk). Winning the boss fight on the last sub of an event rewards iso and/or an event token. No points. One time wave node would give the cover and points. This is such an easy slam dunk and needs to be implemented immediately. And if you're going to do an essential 5* node then just put it up on CL9 to encourage more people to move UP. 

TheHungryPet

mexus said:

So, one event without the required 5* done.
I played in CL7 and can honestly say that top 50 is impossible even on optimal play.

What's best:
Going down to CL6 to secure a good placement?
Going up to CL8/9 for the progression rewards?

Since top 50 seem rough without the required 5* my eventual play in CL9 would be a bit more laid back, maybe aiming for top 100 on a play style that doesn't force me into a 1 hour sitting. I'd take  node here and another node there.
In CL6 I'd compete for placement which would require scheduled play.

What sounds like the better alternative?

Same situation here. I guess the answer depends on your roster situationl. I'm still missing 20+ 4* characters, so HP are the key resource for me at this point. I'll hoard CP in the meantime and the difference among CLs is negligible for me. 

Missing out those 100HP for not placing T50 in each sub due to missing the required 5* is just frustrating. I decided to go SL7 since I love 4Carol but looking back I regret it. Don't have Peter Parker for the next event so will drop down to CL6 and frustrate other players since I have no business in that CL normally.

If you already have all characters rostered, I would assume HP are less relevant for you and the guaranteed 4* cover in progression rewards is more valuable to boost your roster.

Rick_OShay

I just noticed that CL8 still only has 884 players in my bracket. I joined on day one, soon after the 1st flip.
That seems to prove that everyone left CL8 as the ghost town, many must have went up a CL, and very many went down to CL7. I can't remember an event where we still had less than 1000 players with about 1 day left to go.

jgomes32

After final sub clear i'm sitting at #4 in my 3.9 bracket. I'm in 4* land (44 champ) and while i have all 5*, they are at 255 or 270 (PHX and SS, early mistake). The 5* nodes are doable and looks like i'm finishing t10, maybe even t5 but i'm going back to SCL8 for Unstable Iso...

The 5* nodes are insanely tough for me. Had to buy health packs for sub 3 grind and final sub took 1h and 40min. 

bluewolf

Rick OShay said:

I just noticed that CL8 still only has 884 players in my bracket. I joined on day one, soon after the 1st flip.
That seems to prove that everyone left CL8 as the ghost town, many must have went up a CL, and very many went down to CL7. I can't remember an event where we still had less than 1000 players with about 1 day left to go.

The current bracket spreadsheet among all slices shows 13 flips total for scl 8 and 9 (each scl) and 15 for scl 7.  So pretty even distribution.  I would speculate that there may be fewer people playing without the 5 rostered.  Also, the difficulty may be scaring them off.  There also may be fewer late joiners due to extra cp from the 5, and not wanting to miss those by waiting out the flips.

shardwick

Rick OShay said:

I just noticed that CL8 still only has 884 players in my bracket. I joined on day one, soon after the 1st flip.
That seems to prove that everyone left CL8 as the ghost town, many must have went up a CL, and very many went down to CL7. I can't remember an event where we still had less than 1000 players with about 1 day left to go.

I knew it would happen when I saw that they had tons of info on 9 but virtually nothing for 8. I thought "Ok well they will at least up the placement rewards for 8 and give out a 4* for top 20 because it just makes sense. Give people a reason to go up to 8 or at least stay there." A whole lot of nada. I'm sure they'll just shrug it off too, instead of fix things, then go back to focusing on Anniversary or post Anniversary content.

Tiger_Wong

Look, if you're gonna pump the difficulty/enemy levels up..... you can't just let the goons feed the villains so they can fire their powers off every 2 turns. 

Phumade

I think they kept the 5* node in scl 7, because they wanted to force 4* rosters to build their 5* bench.  If you aren't willing to roster the 5*, you have no shot at placement in scl7.

WEBGAS

IF they want the scl9 be appealing for those with higher roster, they must scale-down difficulty , especially on the essential 5* node a bit. Otherwise nobody will chose scl9 again. Who wants to spent 1 hour more of gameplay and a lot of kits for the same poor rewards? ..... Good intentions but BAD designing on devs part. Hope they will fix soon

Bowgentle

Tony Foot said:

I want them to give carnage his teeth back now. That final node is so easy with the newer characters, the devs should give him his red back and it would still be easy enough. I leave him until last with medusa carol and wasp and always finish with no hint of needing a pack. That node needs to be scary again!

Go CL9 if you want scary.
Boobstone at 515 has 117K health.
11K on purple.
3500 plus 1600 per red tile.

Nick441234

Tiger Wong said:

Look, if you're gonna pump the difficulty/enemy levels up..... you can't just let the goons feed the villains so they can fire their powers off every 2 turns. 

Absolutely agree with that! Moonstone fires off Photon Blast every few turns in that 5* node. its ridiculous! 

Akari

I played CL9 with a champ Star Lord, and I'm not enjoying it at all. I'm still on par to place well, but I can't handle that the time spent is more than double CL8. An LT isn't worth that to me, I'll be moving down to CL8 next event most likely.

Bowgentle

Akari said:

I played CL9 with a champ Star Lord, and I'm not enjoying it at all. I'm still on par to place well, but I can't handle that the time spent is more than double CL8. An LT isn't worth that to me, I'll be moving down to CL8 next event most likely.

Same here.

I'll make T5 but that wasn't an enjoyable experience.

I'll take my T5 in 8 with WAY less effort, minus the theoretical LT and few CP less.

Jezequel

Personally, I'm extremely angry about the changes to CL7 and CL8. Adding a 5* required node to these levels completely changes who can and can't be competitive at those levels. Adding required 5*s to CL9 is totally fine, because it's a new challenge level, but requiring them for CL7 and 8 is unreasonable.

To me it feels like a massive slap in the face. 'Oh hey, you know the usual rewards you've been getting and working towards? Well screw you, you don't even get to be competitive any more'. 

There was also no announcement that this was going happen and secondly that this isn't even being labelled as a test.

To be clear, I have no problem with it being really hard; I played CL9 for Venom Bomb because I had the required character and wanted to see what the difference was. I will likely place well enough to get better rewards than I would have done usually at CL8. The problem is that 5* are now required for CL7 and CL8 which automatically disqualifies certain players from even being competitive.

This would be fine if there was a reliable way to get 5* characters (like there is from building and levelling 3* characters to get 4*s for instance), but there isn't. The game as it is rewards the hoarding of tokens in order to get 5* characters, but now this system means you can't compete well without using up your hoard. 

Dotproduct

Jezequel said:

The game as it is rewards the hoarding of tokens in order to get 5* characters, but now this system means you can't compete well without using up your hoard. 

If that's true then I'd say that the change is working as (the developers)intended then. I dropped about 50 ranks with the new change and I greened all nodes except for the 5* essential in SCL7. I also think it should only be in SCL9, SCL8 at a stretch. 

Hyoga

Character 5* required except SL8 ,SL9 = Killer of players

bluewolf

So far, it looks like SCL9 is becoming the ghost town. Uios8:  Slice 1 has flipped 3 times for 8, once for 9.  I'm in the third flip, t10 is full of 450+ 5's.

This thing is going to be shaking out for a while.

LucasCage707

This 5* node has me glad that i hoarded my deadpool Insta kill points.  Thats too many points for a 1 cover 5*