Soul Gem Season Updates *Updated (12/13/17)

UNC_Samurai

broll said:

Brigby said:

*Even more updates!

• The top 10 players (up from 5) in S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level 9 will receive a 4-Star cover
• Ranks 2 - 5 will receive an additional 4-Star cover
• Iso-8 Rewards have also been increased in S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Level 9

@Brigby
 Why still so stingy?  SCL9 in PvE give 4* at T50, but PvP only T10?  

PvE T50 = Top 5%
PvP T10 = Top 2%.  

PvP should give 4* out at T25 to balance out with PvE SCL9....

I'm so beyond frustrated with how PvP continues to stagnate and/or get worse.

There's no change in what T25 on down receive, except a pittance of extra ISO.  You would think by SCL 9, everyone in T100 would be getting 3* covers (really, this should be the case in SCL8, like the pre-SCL days. 

These reward increases affect nobody except the top 10 people; this is bad, and the devs should feel bad.

UNC_Samurai

Wow, and Shield Sim rewards grant nothing but an extra 500 ISO.  No changes to Season placement rewards except a handful of ISO.  What incentive is there to move to a higher SCL, other than lower players being herded upwards because of SCL maximums?

And can someone tell me what possible justification there is for handing out a standard token as an alliance prize for T100 at SCL9?

This is comically absurd.

broll

I’m seriously considering just skipping this whole PVP season. It’s a joke. 

Nick441234

The rewards are certainly very weak. How you are still getting a 2* cover for finishing 51st in a level 9 event is insane. 

Noobulator

Nick441234 said:

The rewards are certainly very weak. How you are still getting a 2* cover for finishing 51st in a level 9 event is insane. 

^THIS

The devs have done some great things over the last few months, but the Gambit issues and CL9 reward structure are bringing them back to reality.

Rick_OShay

So it just recently hit me. The rewards are not too much of an increase from CL8 to CL9, BUT:
This change could mean that all these new brackets available means that we could see around 20%-40% less 'crouding' in the brackets you are used to. 
This is Much different in PvP as opposed to PvE. If I now have potentially 3-4 less big rosters to compete with in my chosen bracket this could mean that placing higher, and earning higher rewards, will happen more often. 
I might even TRY harder now, and bounce from CL8 to CL9 depending on how things look from the first couple of events. Lots of people I see in CL8 are moving up to CL9 already. 
I already get T10 up to T5, could this mean my friends and I can now work toward T5 and better? Hope so, even if the rewards haven't been increased as much as they could have been.

broll

Rick OShay said:

This is Much different in PvP as opposed to PvE. If I now have potentially 3-4 less big rosters to compete with in my chosen bracket this could mean that placing higher, and earning higher rewards, will happen more often. 

If the rewards aren't good enough for people to choose SCL9 it really doesn't mean that at all.  All it means is more randomness in what people choose to pick between practically the same options.  People who typically make T10 or think they can regularly might move up, but there's no real incentive for anyone else to.  As someone who rarely hits over T25 I have no incentive to move up and will probably stay in 8 or even drop down to 7.  We'll see how it plays out.  

Ptahhotep

I notice the max rank for a clearance level is one less than the min rank for the clearance level three above it for the first five levels. Levels six and nine have a slight overlap. If this is correct is there any particular reason for breaking the pattern?

PuceMoose

Does anyone know how long the increased sale prices for 3* and 5* Gambit are going to be in effect? I am only three levels away from the Rogue cover for my 3* Gambit, so I'm considering opening a bunch of elites and standards until I get three Gambit covers (he is of course my bonus 3*), then selling at the increased rates.

madoctor

@Brigby I know a lot of people were a bit upset that they couldn't take a break from PvE and play a lower SCL if the proposed minimums to SCL was introduced for story events.

As a result for now the minimums are now applicable only for Versus events. However I have a solution if you wish to forward it.

The minimums should be applicable for Story events too. If the players want to play in an SCL from which they are locked out of the minimums, they can play it, but they are locked out of placement rewards. The only rewards they can earn are the node rewards and progression (maybe lock out progression too). That way if the players want, they can tank a PvE to take a break while not affecting the placement leaderboard.

What do you guys think?

Rick_OShay

broll said:

Rick OShay said:

This is Much different in PvP as opposed to PvE. If I now have potentially 3-4 less big rosters to compete with in my chosen bracket this could mean that placing higher, and earning higher rewards, will happen more often. 

If the rewards aren't good enough for people to choose SCL9 it really doesn't mean that at all.  All it means is more randomness in what people choose to pick between practically the same options.  People who typically make T10 or think they can regularly might move up, but there's no real incentive for anyone else to.  As someone who rarely hits over T25 I have no incentive to move up and will probably stay in 8 or even drop down to 7.  We'll see how it plays out.  

With the first PvP event finished, I can report that Lots of T10 regulars from CL8 went up to CL9. I might even say that it was 60%-70% of them moved up. It's hard to know for sure, but I was able to review about 5 brackets, and the competition in CL9 was real. 
I was able to get 4th place in CL8 with a score that usually doesn't guarantee a T5 finish in CL7. Could have pushed higher but didn't need to - to assure the T5 placement.

Admittedly this was the 1st go at CL9, so we can expect some players to drop back down a level in the Angel PvP (maybe? So far brackets don't look much different than in Squirrel Girl).
Some other things need to be factored in like the overall Season brackets flipping, people joining in spurts due to timing, and the specific offered rewards etc. 

So although I still contend that the reward increases between CL 8 & 9 are minimal, so far the rewards for a decent number of T10 to T25 players may be getting better on a per-individual basis (Not as much as they should!, but..).
I don't remember the last time I earned two 4* covers from PvP placement.

But all this spreading out mostly benefits a few players in each bracket per time slice. so:

How was CL7 PvP for any of you this time? Better due to less competition within the bracket, or same? Worse?

How was CL8 PvP? 

BoyWonder1914

^ Curious to hear this as well. I'm a t25 player in CL8 Slice 5, and decided to give 9 a try for this event. No one in the t10 of my bracket had less than 1300 points, and no one in the t40 had less than 900. I can't see what the threshold was for t25, but I imagine it was 1100+ since #20 had 1210.

I'm used to getting t25 in 5.8 with just over 900 points, so this will definitely be a shift if I decide to move permanently. Perhaps there was the fact that it's a release PVP, or the fact that it's the first event with the new CL so everyone went crazy, but I def can't hang with the t25 crowd in PVP anymore if it's going to require a 4-digit score every time. The 2 heroics from being a t50 alliance were sexy though, so that might keep me there. I'll give it a few more events to normalize.                                                                                                                                                                                      

JuanAV2141

@Brigby

I think 5* Gambit needs a complete rework. I have a 0/0/1 Gambit and I can't use him at all.