Any speculation on the next 4* champ reward change thing?

Dragon_Nexus

I've got both OML and Phoenix at 13 covers and level 255. Both of which would be candidates for a 4* champ reward update from X-Force Wolverine and Jean Grey respectively.

Since it seems they mostly want to focus on older 4*s giving out classic 5*s, is there any word on whether one of these two would be up next?

I kinda feel like I'd need to commit to one of them specifically and hope for the best in order to not waste a cover. I could always try to get them both to, like...level 400. Then there'd be enough time to farm the rest of the ISO within the fortnight the cover would exist.

Would be nice if the devs gave us a longer heads up than just the day before.

smkspy

Perfect world I'd get coulson (316) for black widow, but it probably be Nick Fury (297).

I will say that potential feeders definitely keep me from pulling classics if I wanted to... Example an OML feeder would give me a perfect 13 build...but even being a perfect feeder my 297 xfw would take at the very least a year to complete OML (1/4/4).

ThaRoadWarrior

XFW, having 2 3* feeders, seems unlikely to be chosen for giving out Old Man Logan to me. I'd bet he ends up coming from Professor X or somebody not as easy to force-feed.

smkspy

Even with 2 feeders, progression on xfw would be slllloooowww.

With 4 feeders, they are more for piece of mind rather than actual progression beause 4 dilution is so strong. You have to be really lucky for that feeder to already be in upper champ levels and that 5 to be highly covered.

Example, my 296 Vulture eventually gave my 13th cover to my already 5/3/4 Spidey (first cover was a waste since that color was already at 5). Now my 273 Kate is a pipe dream for progressing my 1/3/2 Hawkeye.

ThaRoadWarrior

I don't disagree, because even with 2 feeders, mine has been sitting at 1/3/2 for...a LOT of months. I haven't been pointedly working on him. But it would be nice to see a Woverine->Wolv3rine->Wolverine->Wolverine progression tree.

smkspy

ThaRoadWarrior said:

I don't disagree, because even with 2 feeders, mine has been sitting at 1/3/2 for...a LOT of months. I haven't been pointedly working on him. But it would be nice to see a Woverine->Wolv3rine->Wolverine->Wolverine progression tree.

Agreed on natural feeders, but with say oml, why even work on getting xfw to give all those feeder covers when oml is a bottom tier five. Not that BH really helps either, but they're put to much greater use for feeders like Gamora or Fisk. Even then, BHing works better for those 289/299 4s to get an LT.

Merrick

Since we just played for Cho Hulk in both pve & pvp, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was the next feeder...giving us the great and powerful Bruce. 

He’s not the 5* we want, he’s not the 5* we deserve, but he’s the 5* the devs are disappointed we don’t use more often. 

Arix90

I think its possible they dont want 4*s to feed their 5* version and thats why drax fed starlord and not 4* starlord so dont hold out of xfw and jean being feeders you may be disapointed id expect x23 to feed oml

smkspy

Arix90 said:

I think its possible they dont want 4*s to feed their 5* version and thats why drax fed starlord and not 4* starlord so dont hold out of xfw and jean being feeders you may be disapointed id expect x23 to feed oml

I feel like their logic now is to make feeders 4 characters you might not priority champ. Hence sandman and drax. Xfw would be perfect for oml following that pattern.

Brigby

When asked why the team isn't adding 5-Star characters into 4-Star Champion Rewards at a faster pace, this was Demiurge_Will's response:

Our thinking here is that we don't want to pull the rug out from under someone who's been working towards a particular reward by changing who's rewarded before they get there. We've updated the characters that are in champion rewards before, and may do so again, but want to do it rarely for that reason.

In addition, I've seen commentary from other players that mention increasing the rate at which 5-Star characters are being awarded would also have the side-effect of increasing the pressure of Iso-8 acquisition. 

Arix90

@brigby i think that will post is actually anout 3* champ reward updates since 4*s are a legendary token before updatingn

The rockett

Brigby said:

When asked why the team isn't adding 5-Star characters into 4-Star Champion Rewards at a faster pace, this was Demiurge_Will's response:

Our thinking here is that we don't want to pull the rug out from under someone who's been working towards a particular reward by changing who's rewarded before they get there. We've updated the characters that are in champion rewards before, and may do so again, but want to do it rarely for that reason.

In addition, I've seen commentary from other players that mention increasing the rate at which 5-Star characters are being awarded would also have the side-effect of increasing the pressure of Iso-8 acquisition. 

And other players begging for this to speed up because this rate at 1 a month is too slow.  

Brigby

Arix90 said:

brigby i think that will post is actually anout 3* champ reward updates since 4*s are a legendary token before updatingn

You're correct that the question he was directly quoting was referencing why 3-Star characters haven't been updated recently, however my speculation is that he left it more general and open-ended to cover 4-Star champion reward updates as well. 

smkspy

Arix90 said:

@brigby i think that will post is actually anout 3* champ reward updates since 4*s are a legendary token before updatingn

Yup, that was about 3 stars. I don't think many wouldnt worry too much about losing an LT over gaining a five instead.

My next thanos cover will come when Gamora hits 340, which will probably happen 6 months from now, at best.

broll

Brigby said:

Arix90 said:

brigby i think that will post is actually anout 3* champ reward updates since 4*s are a legendary token before updatingn

You're correct that the question he was directly quoting was referencing why 3-Star characters haven't been updated recently, however my speculation is that he left it more general and open-ended to cover 4-Star champion reward updates as well. 

Sorry B. That doesn’t make sense...  You don’t loose anything getting feeders sooner, other than LTs I guess. I think most of us would be OK getting the 5* feeders even if that means missing out on a few LTs. 

Dragon_Nexus

This is a shame. Double Brigby comments and no answer to my actual question =(

bluewolf

We are about a week from the announcement, since the last one was 3/12/18, I believe.  The timeframe has been about 4 weeks apart.

They will not tell anyone early about the upcoming change because they have implemented a policy that you retroactively receive covers.  You can bet good money that whales, with some more lead time, would jump on the chance to BH and pull like crazy for a 4 that would feed a 5, so they would get some free LT's before the 5 covers are given out.  Anyway, as long as you are enjoying the retroactive cover rewards, we have to live with receiving the covers with about 1 day's notice.  I suppose they could stop giving retroactive covers and give us more heads up, but that seems like a worse deal to me.

We all to some degree want to see more frequent feeders, but consider if the OP had both OML and PHX receiving a 14th cover within a shorter timeframe and had to somehow come up with over 1,000,000 iso in short order.  Champing a 5 from 255 is possible if you devote all your iso to it to save a cover.  2....seems very difficult if not impossible, but burning numerous farms could make it happen.

It seems quite clear by now - after 4 feeders on a monthly update schedule - that, as slow as the feeder rollout is, there is no interest in the developers in increasing the pace.

fight4thedream

fight4thedream said:

I prefer that they keep with the one-a-month pace with the occasional double or triple bonanza for a few reasons:

1.) Iso.  While not particularly true in my case, I am sure there are a few players that have a few or more 5* almost cover maxed and not exactly swimming in Iso. Keeping it at the current pace helps prevent overburdening ill-prepared rosters.

2.) News value. It's nice to have something else to look forward to on the forum. In terms of regular news information, currently we have:
   
    *MPQ Sneak Peek (released at the beginning of the month and updated weekly)
    *Marvel.com new character press release (twice a month)
    *RXX Release notes (I actually don't know how frequently these are posted lol)

I think having these Character Reward Updates adds value to the forum as a source of information and speeding up the process where it catches up to all available 5* characters would deny us the desire of wanting to know "Who's next?" and the pleasure that comes from its fulfillment.

3.) Gives the dev team some breathing room. Ideally speaking or at least what I am sure what we all hope for is that all 4* characters will eventually give out 5* rewards. However, it's not clear if that is the ultimate design goal. Taking it slower allows them time to think through how they want to proceed as well as analyze feedback and the current state of the game.

I noticed some people wondering why Elektra wasn't chosen this round but it's totally possible that down the road that she, too, will give DD covers at a future date. Or perhaps not.

I personally think one character a month with the exception of special events like the Anniversary and big movie release *sneeze* Avengers Infinity War *sneeze* (pardon me *blows nose*) where we may get 2 or three is not a bad move.

4.) LTs. If you are in the fortunate position of having a lot of 4* champed, then you actually benefit from a delay in release as you are able to obtain LTs in the pre-updated state. If they quicken the pace, it basically means less rewards, not more.

But these are just my two cents on the issue.

My original argument for why the current system is fine as is. I think the OP's current situation highlights why the current pace is good. Imagine, if you will, that the they decided to speed up the release schedule by doing 2 5* feeders a month and they did both OML and Phoenix back to back.

Unless a player is playing optimally at the highest levels of the game, they are going to struggle to be able to champ both without selling off characters at lower tiers. (and even with optimal play, you will still probably ended up selling some of the farm unless you have an ISO hoard). With the current set up, a fairly active player should be able to champ one 5* without much fuss.

Additionally, considering the current state of PvP for 5* players which so many seem to have a distaste for, an increased release rate will expedite players into this tier of play.

Finally, what's the rush? That 5* you are waiting to get a feeder for will eventually happen if they continue on with the current system. I am curious as to what advantages people think there are to having the process sped up under the current game format. As I noted in my previous argument, people who are arguing for a speeding up of the process are basically arguing for less rewards, not more.

And I would like to remind you that LTs are the keys to getting the Latest (and usually stronger 5*) characters. 

Edit to add: Oops! I almost forgot lol @Dragon_Nexus my advice to you is to not level either of them and hoard ISO. That way you will be in a better position when you need the ISO. But that's just my 2 cents.

Bowgentle

bluewolf said:

We all to some degree want to see more frequent feeders, but consider if the OP had both OML and PHX receiving a 14th cover within a shorter timeframe and had to somehow come up with over 1,000,000 iso in short order.  Champing a 5 from 255 is possible if you devote all your iso to it to save a cover.  2....seems very difficult if not impossible, but burning numerous farms could make it happen.

I don't get this reasoning.
So because someone is bad at prioritising their ISO we all have to wait an eternity for new 5* feeders?

Orion

Bowgentle said:

bluewolf said:

We all to some degree want to see more frequent feeders, but consider if the OP had both OML and PHX receiving a 14th cover within a shorter timeframe and had to somehow come up with over 1,000,000 iso in short order.  Champing a 5 from 255 is possible if you devote all your iso to it to save a cover.  2....seems very difficult if not impossible, but burning numerous farms could make it happen.

I don't get this reasoning.
So because someone is bad at prioritising their ISO we all have to wait an eternity for new 5* feeders?

I agree.  It's ridiculous.

So have a new 5* feeder come out every 2 weeks, but give us the entire list in advance.  That way if there's someone we're waiting to see, we can know exactly when the covers will show up and prioritize our ISO accordingly.  If there's more than 1 in short order, well at least we know ahead of time and can try to hoard or something to accommodate.  But waiting a month or longer for each one means that it will take over a year to get to them all and that's crazy.

ThaRoadWarrior

It's hard for me to relate to the "don't have enough iso" rationale. I mean, from my vantage point in the 4* transition that is The State of Things, bordering on the core mechanic of this game lol. "here's a thing, try and save it or buy in until you can."