I'm Back.........and I'm Starting Over

bbigler

Daredevil217 said:

Just so you know, once you hit a certain shield rank, you will have to play in SCl 6, 7, or 8 and will be locked out of all lower levels in PVE. So just be aware that farming 1*s may propel you into a bracket you’re not ready for. If that doesn’t bother you, then keep it up!

Oh....really? I didn't know that. Is that a new game rule?  I understand the reason for the rule, but at what rank would I be locked out?  Because right now, I'm playing SCL 4, even though I qualify for SCL 5.

bluewolf

Daredevil217 said:

Just so you know, once you hit a certain shield rank, you will have to play in SCl 6, 7, or 8 and will be locked out of all lower levels in PVE. So just be aware that farming 1*s may propel you into a bracket you’re not ready for. If that doesn’t bother you, then keep it up!

That’s only for pvp, you can play any pve scl
you want.

bbigler

bluewolf said:

Daredevil217 said:

Just so you know, once you hit a certain shield rank, you will have to play in SCl 6, 7, or 8 and will be locked out of all lower levels in PVE. So just be aware that farming 1*s may propel you into a bracket you’re not ready for. If that doesn’t bother you, then keep it up!

That’s only for pvp, you can play any pve scl
you want.

At what rank does it lock you out?

Daredevil217

bluewolf said:

Daredevil217 said:

Just so you know, once you hit a certain shield rank, you will have to play in SCl 6, 7, or 8 and will be locked out of all lower levels in PVE. So just be aware that farming 1*s may propel you into a bracket you’re not ready for. If that doesn’t bother you, then keep it up!

That’s only for pvp, you can play any pve scl
you want.

Oh shoot. I got it backwards lol. I totally thought this whole time it was PVE but never cared because I always play 9 in PVP and 8 in PVE. It doesn’t matter then I guess because you will be matched up against the same opponents regardless and just get better rewards. You should always play in the highest CL you qualify for in PVP IMO. 

bbigler

Progress Check-In After 2 weeks (+1 day):

Progress this past week:
Rank : +8
Roster Slots : +19
Command Points : +83!
Heroic Token Hoard : +33
Legendary Token Hoard : +0
New Champs : 2*Wolverine

Current State of things:
Rank : 29
Roster Slots : 54
Command Points : 100
Heroic Token Hoard : 48
Legendary Token Hoard : 1
2*Champs = 1............................but I have 7 other fully covered 2*s at levels 71+
3*Champs = 0............................but I have 29 / 48 rostered
4*Champs = 0
Playing PVE SCL : 5
Playing PVP SCL : 5

Main Fighting Team :
3*Cage (13 covers) - level 127
3*Fist (12 covers) - level 121
3*Switch (11 covers) - level 121

Goal for this week:
Champ 2*Storm & Level Up 3*Cage for champing next week
I've been spending my ISO to setup a 2* Champing Assembly line, which should pay off in my 4th week

Playing Experience:
I've hit my goal of champing my first 2* within 2 weeks, which is a good feeling, but man!, ISO is such as problem!  The game would be a lot more fun if they gave out more ISO!  That is the sole factor in limiting my progress.  Why don't the developers give out more ISO?  My current ISO needs among all characters is around 438,000, and I've only been playing for 2 weeks!  That's why I've been hoarding Heroic Tokens.  That's also why I've been farming XP from 1*covers in order to rank up and get the ISO.  My roster slots cost 700 HP now, but that's manageable. 

PVP play is going surprisingly well.  I'm able to climb up to 600 - 700 points per event with my seemingly weak team of Fist + Cage, both at levels 110 - 120.  They paired very well with Cloak & Dagger.  I finished in the top 5 or 10 in PVP this week.  I will say that I avoided matches with 1 cover 5*s because of their high hit points and match damage.  I imagine that within a month those matches won't be a problem anymore. 

PVE play is the same as before ...... a grind.  I try to mix it up with 1 of 3 main fighting teams, but it's still a grind to get ISO and other resources.  I haven't got max progression rewards mainly because I'm missing the required 4* character.  I have 2 x 4* characters at the moment.  I did enjoy and discover a new team that I've never used before: All 2*s - Storm, Magneto, Marvel.  It's rainbow coverage and they all shake up the board for cascades.  It's really quite fun to play.  Plus, I didn't realize Marvel's Team Up Tile Spam power can overwrite enemy CD tiles.

Like everyone else, I've been using Thanos (lvl 95) to clear the trivial nodes.  Paired with Fist & Wolverine, it's efficient, but I have to heal Fist afterwards.  My Cage & Fist are nearly fully covered, so the Punching Fiesta combo works very well.  By random luck, I got a 6th Black cover for Cager, so now I'm on a clock to champ him before it expires.  That's Ok though, because once champed, I can bump up his protect tile strength. 

Supports?  Are they helping me?  Maybe a little bit, but I would get the same results without them.  I put the shield support on Fist and the Avengers Tower on Cage.  It helps a little, but just a little.  I leveled up the Shield to level 22, but it only adds an extra 297 HP to Fist.  If it added more like 2970 HP to Fist, that would be worthwhile.  Back in 2014 when my main fighting team was 3*Thor, 3*Spidey + Hood, I wanted to somehow further protect the Hood or increase his HP; now I can, but it's weak.  I guess supports are another very long term progression aspect of the game.

crackninja

Supports?  Are they helping me?  Maybe a little bit, but I would get the same results without them.  I put the shield support on Fist and the Avengers Tower on Cage.  It helps a little, but just a little.  I leveled up the Shield to level 22, but it only adds an extra 297 HP to Fist.  If it added more like 2970 HP to Fist, that would be worthwhile.  Back in 2014 when my main fighting team was 3*Thor, 3*Spidey + Hood, I wanted to somehow further protect the Hood or increase his HP; now I can, but it's weak.  I guess supports are another very long term progression aspect of the game.

This is so telling... if a completely new roster isn't gaining anything from supports, then who is?  If you aren't able to get enough riso to see an impact from leveled supports before you start champing 3*'s then that will be pretty solid proof that they have no real value at all outside of the infinity stones. 

tiomono

Be careful with 2* Marvels yellow, she will also overwrite your own countdowns and other special tiles.

bbigler

Well, after 3 weeks of playing from the beginning, I thought you guys would like to know how far I've gotten.  In summary, I'm progressing very quickly, much faster than I expected, but I will admit that I've spent a lot of money in the past 3 weeks ($163 total) because I needed roster slots and their SCL [X] packs were a very good value.  I expect this spending to go down now, but I currently need HP for roster slots.  I want to point out that I champed my first 3* after 22 days of playing!  And the next 3* champs are already in the pipeline.  Another great accomplishment in this time frame is champing 8 x 2*s.

Gains this past week:
Rank: +7
Slots: +15
CP: +97
LT: +4
HT: +45
New Champs: 7 x 2*Champs! + 3*Cage!

Current state of things, with notes:
Rank: 36 --- I qualify for SCL 7 but I'm playing SCL 5
Slots: 69 --- but I still need more, I have 40 x 3*s rostered
Hoarded LL Pulls: 13 = 197 CP + 5 LT
Heroic Tokens (HT): 93 --- once all my 2*s are champed, I'm cracking them open!
2*Champs = 8 --- the 2* Farm is nearing completion!
3*Champs: 1 --- I got Luke Cage champed, which is 3 weeks ahead of my original goal!
4*s: 8 rostered, 15 total covers

Shield Simulator Team:
3*Cage - level 167
3*Fist - level 121
3*SW - level 121

Goals this week:
Champ 3*Iron Fist + finish champing 2*s (maybe)

The Playing Experience:
Cage & Fist have been my main fighters, but I will admit that I'm getting tired of them.  I like winning battles, but variety is good.  After champing Cage, Fist and SW are next, so that team will continue on for a while.  The Apocalypse event was fun for me since I've never played it before.  That may be the only time where 2*Magneto has really shined - his board clearing / shaking powers were great. 

My biggest concern was getting and allocating ISO so that I don't waste covers.  The champing order and daily ISO allotment was well planned out.  Now that most of my 2*s are champed, that ISO need is greatly reduced, but now my 3*s are hungry.  After another week, all ISO will go into 3*s.  My daily ISO take varies (of course) but it ranges from 25K to 40K.  This is, again, far more than I expected after starting over. 

In PVP I'm going against teams stronger than my own, which also makes me a target, but I'm still able to climb well in the events.  I've hoped that a boosted 3*Fist is scaring some people away in SCL 5 (kinda like a 1-blue cover JJ).  I've been consistently finishing in the top 5.  In PVE, only the most addicted get top placement.  I don't want to spend that kind of time and committment to a game.  My real life comes first.  Nevertheless, I'll get all the progression rewards and finish in the top 50.  I would like to play SCL 6, but I don't think my roster is strong enough yet.

My upcoming personal reward for setting up my 2* farm is 3-fold: I'll have boosted-champed 2*s to fight with, I can devote all ISO to 3*s, and I can open my hoard of Heroic Tokens without worrying about wasting covers, plus I'll get a bunch of 2*Champ rewards, along with a bunch of 3* covers. 

What I'm curious to find out is how long it will take to champ all 3*s, but that process will slow down when I start leveling up 4*s.  We'll see. 

bbigler

Just a quick update (for something that isn't controversial), I'm on Day 27 and champed my 2nd 3*, being Iron Fist.  My 2* champing farm is nearing completion, then I open my HT hoard.  Here's my progression timeline:

Day 3: Transitioned to 2* Land
Day 15: Champed 2*Wolverine
Day 22: Champed 3*Cage
Day 27: Champed 3*Fist

Goals:
Day 32: Champ All 2*s
 - then open about 150 Heroic Tokens
 - then try to champ a 3* every 4 days

I'm curious to see how difficult it will be trying to re-build my 4*s given the full LT dilution we now have.  But I can say that re-building my 3*s is pretty easy. 

bbigler

Hey guys, I'm on day 38 now and charging forward with champing my 3*s.  It's surprising how quickly I've been able to rebuild from nothing, but I'm more dedicated than most.  As for my Heroic Token horde, I started opening some to get some direction on who to champ next and quickly got characters up to 13 covers, so I'm back to hording again until I champ them.  I'm also having a hard time rostering the 4*covers I've been winning/getting, but I want to keep that rolling since rebuilding 4*s is the long haul.  Here's some stats:

Day 22 - Champed Iron Fist

Day 27 - Champed Luke Cage

Day 32 - Champed Scarlet Witch

Day 35 - Champed IM40

Day 37 - Champed Thanos

I'm expecting to champ a 3* every 3-4 days now, which means I could finish champing all 3*s in about 5 months, which seems like an eternity given what I've done in 38 days.  I'm hoping to champ a 4* in about 3 - 4 months.

AXP_isme

It’s interesting seeing how a curated roster grows. Especially when it’s being built by someone who knows their way around the game. Progress really is surprisingly fast. 

Given the velocity of roster roster growth which of these would you expect to get first, your first max-champed 3* or to have champed all the 3*s?

bluewolf

Spending helps a lot in this endeavor. The new targeted spending (SCL packs) helps even more. Getting your roster to a 3* champ is quite fast nowadays, if you will spend.  The 4* tier is another matter altogether with Megadilution.

broll

AXP_isme said:

It’s interesting seeing how a curated roster grows. Especially when it’s being built by someone who knows their way around the game. Progress really is surprisingly fast. 

Given the velocity of roster roster growth which of these would you expect to get first, your first max-champed 3* or to have champed all the 3*s?

Until you hit the 4* wall.  ISO cost to champ are 3 times higher plus dilution, oh that dilution!

AXP_isme

This is quite a special case though. I wouldn’t expect this to be indicative of how it plays out for a normal roster. My interest in this question is in the streamlines of RNG. You would expect that it would be much more likely that you get the 18 or so covers necessary to be able to champ every character in the 3* tier champed long before you would get 100 extra covers of one already champed character. In real life I wonder if that holds true. 

I imagine the 4* dilution issue could be the breaking of many a roster - I wouldn’t want to go through it (again) in its current version. You will probably find that building the 4*s from the 3* feeders is a more fruitful, and predictable, way to build a 4* roster from scratch. If you had the time, knowledge and patience it may be better to try and leapfrog the 4* tier entirely by hoarding LTs and CP as you build out a functional set of 3* max-champs. 

tupacboy

bbigler   just curious how much you spent up till now?

Daredevil217

I know people say that it’s the 4* tier that will turn people off to the game, but two things. 

1) If you’ve already advanced through the 1-2-3* tiers the sunk cost is already there and it’s probably hard to just quit cold turkey. They probably retain more than they lose at that point. 

2) For me, those early days were some of the most fun. Asking for roster advice. Foaming at the mouth for the newest ranking lists. Building my 4* characters at a glacial pace (back before vaulting). That was more of a selling point than a deterrent for me. 

ThaRoadWarrior

I would tend to agree that getting your first cover, or first cover on a color, for a new 4* is way more exciting than getting the 6th-9th covers on a 4* or even a random champ level for one, so in and of itself dilution may not be a deterrent to players.

I know we see the "it's easier to go straight to 5*s than 4*s" thing get thrown around a lot, but I really don't  think you'd be able to acquire enough cp/lts in a reasonable amount of time to do so without having the 4*s on roster to access those kinds of currencies. I guess you could forego Story, where you would get locked out of the good rewards by not being able to do the 4/5* required nodes, by just grinding 75 wins from every Versus event that comes along (assuming at least SCL 5 in pvp). Is anybody living that all-pvp life that can speak to the iso acquisition rate etc vs just doing story vs doing both to progression? 

bbigler

Hi everyone, I've got another update for you: I'm on day 49 now and have been champing 3*s pretty fast, thanks to the double iso events.  I still have a Heroic Token hoard, which I've cracked into when I need covers, but my biggest problem is still roster slots.  I'm up to 87 slots, all 3*s rostered and 25 x 4*s rostered, no 5*s.  I currently have 3 x 4* covers on the vine so I'm not opening HTs even though I need more 3* covers.  I really hate cover waste!  My 3* champing progress may slow down a bit, but I can catch up later.  Here's the latest predictions/history on my tier progression:

2* Tier - 1st champ at 2 weeks, champed all at 4.5 weeks. DONE (farming cycles now)

3* Tier - 1st champ at 3 weeks.  Based on my daily ISO take, it looks like I could champ a 3* every 3 days.  Right now I have 9 x 3* Champs!  Champing all 3*s may take another 4 months, but I think it will be quicker than that.  Ideally, I would like to champ all 3*s before moving on to the 4* tier, but that may be too slow.

4* Tier - This is hard to predict - at first I thought I could champ my 1st 4* in 4.5 months in, but I've been hoarding LT, CP and HT because of roster slots.  I'm still gaining about 10 x 4* covers a week though.  My LT and CP hoard is intended for the transition to the 5* tier, so I'm reserving those, but I plan to open some HTs when I've "caught up" rostering the 4*s I already have on the vine.  I may get to a point where I have to choose to either champ a 4* or try to finish champing the 3*s.  I have to accept that I can't jump into the 4* tier very fast, but I'm building the foundation for it now.  But building this tier is probably the most tricky and least straight forward.

5* Tier - I've been gaining about 7-8 LL pulls per week, I'm now up to 37 pulls.  It may take 8 months more to hoard the approx goal of 330 pulls and champ 3 of the LLs.  This timeframe gives me the time to champ a good amount of 4*s before then, but that tier will still be mostly incomplete.  Then once I enter 5* land with 3 Champs, I think it will get boring, so I plan to quit at that point.  Why boring?  Because getting another 5* champ will take a very long time, so I'll be stuck playing the same 3 characters ad nauseum. 

To answer some previous questions: I've spent about $165 since my restart and I don't think any of my 3*s will reach max champ level before I can champ them all.  That's a very long process.  I am figuring this out as I go along, which is part of the fun.  If you want to know my latest numbers as of day 49, here they are:

Rank 50 (I've been kicked out of PVE SCL 5)
Slots 87
LT 15
CP 558
HT 131

Phumade

Rank 50 (I've been kicked out of PVE SCL 5)
Slots 87
LT 15
CP 558
HT 131


I think on my day 50,  my roster was probably half that size

Bowgentle

Phumade said:

Rank 50 (I've been kicked out of PVE SCL 5)
Slots 87
LT 15
CP 558
HT 131


I think on my day 50,  my roster was probably half that size

 on your day 50 there probably were less than 40 characters total.