Shield Training Appreciation

AXP_isme
AXP_isme Posts: 809 Critical Contributor
edited March 2018 in MPQ General Discussion
just to say that I really appreciate the way that shield training now uses older 4*s as the required characters.

I used to intensely dislike the way that the mechanic gated the covers of the new character for large parts of the player base by requiring you have a level 209 version of one of the most recently released characters. I’ll steer clear of talking about how hard it might be for newer players to get a lot of X-23 covers but for me this way of doing shield training is a great improvement. 
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Comments

  • tiomono
    tiomono Posts: 1,651 Chairperson of the Boards
    I will 2nd this appreciation. I had to dump some iso onto my red hulk to get him to 209. I was basically just waiting on my 14th cover for hulk before spending on him, but this was a good reason to raise him up a bit more.
  • supergarv
    supergarv Posts: 408 Mover and Shaker
    Yes, I wanna chime in. Best shield training yet — that required team actually even has some synergy to be fun to play with. Thumbs up!
  • dadows
    dadows Posts: 59 Match Maker
    i don't have red hulk or x-23 champed, but appreciate the more fair chance this time.
  • broll
    broll Posts: 4,732 Chairperson of the Boards
    I also want to say thank you for listening to criticism.  Adding the vault for people who don't have them is a nice touch also.  Thanks!
  • jtsings
    jtsings Posts: 278 Mover and Shaker
    edited March 2018
    AXP_isme said:

    I’ll steer clear of talking about how hard it might be for newer players to get a lot of X-23 covers but for me this way of doing shield training is a great improvement. 
      Believe it or not I'm just a few weeks short of my first anniversary with MPQ, and since vaulting ended I've actually, thanks to RNG, 3* champ rewards and alliance boss events, have 11 covers for X-23 and 9 for Red Hulk.  In fact I'm pretty sure I've gotten more X-23 and Red Hulk covers through classics pulls than I have for Vulture (I've gotten most of his covers from the alliance boss battle and bonus heroes).  I too very much appreciate this run of shield training, because I should be able to finish almost every node in it.  So thanks for the early anniversary present D3! :smiley: 

    Edit:  As of tonight make that 10 covers for Rhulk.  He's at everyones favorite 5/0/5 but that will work for shield training lol.
  • smkspy
    smkspy Posts: 2,024 Chairperson of the Boards
    Yeah, thanks for this a second time. I really hope this trend continues for ST.
  • Pants1000
    Pants1000 Posts: 484 Mover and Shaker
    Agreed!
  • broll
    broll Posts: 4,732 Chairperson of the Boards
    jtsings said:
    AXP_isme said:

    I’ll steer clear of talking about how hard it might be for newer players to get a lot of X-23 covers but for me this way of doing shield training is a great improvement. 
      Believe it or not I'm just a few weeks short of my first anniversary with MPQ, and since vaulting ended I've actually, thanks to RNG, 3* champ rewards and alliance boss events, have 11 covers for X-23 and 9 for Red Hulk.  In fact I'm pretty sure I've gotten more X-23 and Red Hulk covers through classics pulls than I have for Vulture (I've gotten most of his covers from the alliance boss battle and bonus heroes).  I too very much appreciate this run of shield training, because I should be able to finish almost every node in it.  So thanks for the early anniversary present D3! :smiley:
    Congrats on win and anniversary!
  • Polly_P1
    Polly_P1 Posts: 99 Match Maker
    I am happy they are also! Was actually able to clear the top part for Shuri! Unfortantly my ability to draw Red hulk has been horrible I think I am at 1/1/16.  Every time I draw one it is purple. I only have a red and green because they where placement rewards. So I am limited on this one.
  • GrimSkald
    GrimSkald Posts: 2,488 Chairperson of the Boards

    I'm going to point out that it's only one cover.  One cover (either way,) isn't going to make a huge difference to your game in the long run.

    That being said, it's still a very, very good thing and I'm glad they did it.  It makes it a lot easier for players who are not opening tons of LTs to get that one cover, and the psychological impact of well outweighs its practical impact.

  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,894 Chairperson of the Boards
    I, too, think they did a great selection this time, choosing a 4* from 2015 (Red hulk), 2016 (X-23), and 2017 (Vulture). A nice spread, but none so recent that casual or newer players have little/no chance of having them.

    Even tho my alt account has none of them :D  Poor alt account.
    As I pointed out in my thread tracking the SHIELD Training Essentials (HERE), they haven't been picking the "worst" characters.  It just seems like that because they've essentially been picking the oldest and working their way forward.  Due to power creep, the more SHIELD trainings we have, the better characters are going to be featured (mostly... we still have some clunkers left- Brock being the biggest culprit). 

    So while X-23 and Rulk are expected (could have been Bobby as well), Vulture is absolutely new.  I'm hoping it is the start of a trend making the newer essential character be the one set to leave tokens and not the one that was just released.  Which if this is true, expect Mockingbird next and prepare accordingly!
  • Daredevil217
    Daredevil217 Posts: 3,894 Chairperson of the Boards
    GrimSkald said:

    I'm going to point out that it's only one cover.  One cover (either way,) isn't going to make a huge difference to your game in the long run.

    That being said, it's still a very, very good thing and I'm glad they did it.  It makes it a lot easier for players who are not opening tons of LTs to get that one cover, and the psychological impact of well outweighs its practical impact.

    I agree with all of this, though I'm sure they were banking on that "psychological impact" to push people into cracking hoards and spending to compete in SHIELD training and chasing that "one cover". 

    I know for me it worked sometimes.  While I would never spend, I would dip into the hoard if I were close enough to 10 covers for the Latest or would spend iso I otherwise wouldn't on older 4s, knowing that ultimately the one cover wouldn't make or break me.

    I think they realized that the good will of this move outweighs the psychological dilemma they tried to drum up under the old system which I as a consumer greatly appreciate.
  • Anon
    Anon Posts: 1,455 Chairperson of the Boards
    +1 to this. This is the first Shield training where I had all 3 characters champed off the bat. Hoping this trend for the older characters continues!
  • Dogface
    Dogface Posts: 967 Critical Contributor
    Rhulk and X-23 nowhere near covered, so the Valkyrie cover is out of reach. 2 rows is the best i could manage.
  • veny
    veny Posts: 834 Critical Contributor
    Yeah, upgrading expensive 4*s is finally rewarding us... thanks.
  • purplemur
    purplemur Posts: 454 Mover and Shaker
    Great Improvement! 
  • KGB
    KGB Posts: 2,902 Chairperson of the Boards
    This shield training event has felt like 'my roster has arrived' moment because I have Rulk and Vulture champed and 11 covers for X23 so I leveled her to 209 to finish the training and get my Valkrie cover. 

    First time I've finished more than 1 row in Shield training.

    KGB
  • mpqr7
    mpqr7 Posts: 2,642 Chairperson of the Boards
    I love it!!! Thank you for doing this for us!!
  • maguirenumber6
    maguirenumber6 Posts: 457 Mover and Shaker
    My second event where I was able to get the new character cover. I have all three required characters champed, so I ran through SHIELD Training on my lunch break. Great improvements to this event :-)