Should Spirit of Vengeance node of "Heart of Darkness" be revamped for lower SCL rosters

jtsings

  When I was in three star land I absolutely hated this subevent; namely because of The Rider Awakens node.  And even in 4* land with an all champed Grockmoradusa I still hate it.  I felt like I had really good 4* counters in the 4*, 3* and 2* essential nodes and it still took me almost an hour to clear all the nodes.  Here's what I do know:

   a)  Many people on the forums say they go one or more SCL down specifically because of the Rider Awakens mode for The Hunt.

   b)  I rarely see everyone finish all the clears in this subevent because the Rider Awakens requires lots of luck and time with even a decent 3*/4* roster.  (I am in a 1st flip slice of SCL 6, but 2 1/2 hours after the event started, only 3 of us have completed all the nodes for full points).

   c) The Rider Awakens is the node that gives you the most points. So if I were playing it to just get progression, there's no way I would be able to hit full progression because The Rider Awakens is just really too hard hit 3 times, IMO even at lower SCLs.

   I'm not sure what the answer would be but to accommodate these low level rosters, but I guess if it's not an issue, it's not worth opening a discussion about suggestions to help.  Am I just overconcerned here or are there any lower SCL/rosters somehow finding a way to hit full progression even with a 2* or 3* roster; despite the way harder than average subevent?  

ThaRoadWarrior

I don't recall struggling on any particular node in The Hunt in SCL 8; who do you fight on that one again?

jtsings

Sorry, meant Heart of Darkness.  Edited title to reflect it.

crackninja

I remember it being a challenge, but nothing im40 and other 3*'s couldn't complete on scl7

ZeiramMR

I've only heard of people playing down because of the Inhuman 5* Essential, not The Rider Awakens Survival node (which can be a tough one).

justsing

For me personally, I found that batteries and aoes were the keys to beating this node. In 2* land, I think I used Thor + CStorm + MNMags. In 3* land, IM40 + KK + 3* Cap work great though it may be worth swapping Cap out for CMags since CMags is boosted this time. Switch + Fist + someone else might also work.

Borstock

The 5* node is tough. I can see ducking that one. But not the Rider Awakens node. 

turbomoose

I’ve always found it tough, I’ve just entered 5* land and can only beat those 2 nodes with thanos and gambit, gambit being the only champed character

Persephone

What bothers me this time around is that Unholy Alliance was a 48 hr sub but Spirits of Vegenance is only 24 hr.  Why the tinykitty is the easiest chapter 48hr and the hardest chapter is 24 hr? 
I think if the devs switched those two sub times than it would be a lot better for those who are struggling, giving them time to heal and regain health packs. 
The only reason I was able to clear everything, granted longer than usual,  is because of champed 3Strange, CMags, and SWitch.  

HoundofShadow

Does it really make any difference? You still have to clear the nodes thrice if you are going for placement. 

The difficult node I can remember is the node with Prof X, Cyclops and one more character. He will get at least one cascade into a match 5 75% of each fight, wiping out many of my teams. 

jtsings

   So either this isn't a big issue, lower SCL/roster people are not chiming in or people in my slice have just reached full progression for the whole event and stopped; because as of 9 hours after start, out of a group of 543 players only 6 have reached optimum clear points (one may not have reached full points but is just doing more than 4 clears).  I never see this on any other subevent; there's at least a full page of optimum clear points after a few hours after a subevent starts.

Persephone said:

What bothers me this time around is that Unholy Alliance was a 48 hr sub but Spirits of Vegenance is only 24 hr.  Why the tinykitty is the easiest chapter 48hr and the hardest chapter is 24 hr? 
I think if the devs switched those two sub times than it would be a lot better for those who are struggling, giving them time to heal and regain health packs. 
The only reason I was able to clear everything, granted longer than usual,  is because of champed 3Strange, CMags, and SWitch.  

  Good point.  I actually thought about placing the 48 hour node on this last part might help too but again if this isn't a problem then I guess no solution is needed?  And true CMags and SWitch (and Iron Fist as well) being boosted I'm sure make this node a bit easier.  It's just baffling to me how many people have I guess given up on this subevent.

HoundofShadow said:

The difficult node I can remember is the node with Prof X, Cyclops and one more character. He will get at least one cascade into a match 5 75% of each fight, wiping out many of my teams. 

  Yes this mode is also problematic node because even if the enemy doesn't get a match five, Professor X goes invisible and his tile is put in a spot that's not easy to get to.  And C4yke, even at a low level, can almost one shot kill one of your team members.

skittledaddy

I hate this sub!
Both the 5E, the Rider survival mode and in this case the 4E (mostly because my Valkyrie is grossly under-covered).
Because of this I busted my rear-end on Sub 1 (48hr) and Sub 2, so I could walk away from Sub 3 but still get full progression. I made it with only having to beat Rider survival once, everything else I skipped. Note, I could have cleared it without the Rider node since I have only thus far done the first 4 clears of typical optimal fashion, but I got impatient and did the one clear I needed to just get it over with. 

I hate passing up the 3CP, but I'm happy to keep my sanity instead. 

Fyi, I always play SC7, including this time.
 I only play for progression, placement is whatever it is (usually 100-200).

Heartbreaksoup

In this run of Hearts of Darkness, on SCL-6, I did 7 clears of the regular nodes and 5 of the wave nodes in Chapters 1 and 2.  On Chapter 3, I did one complete clear of all nine (including The Rider Awakens), and a second and third clear of just the six regular nodes, and hit full progression.

The Rider Awakens is certainly tougher than most nodes, and since the Real World has got in the way of today, I haven't felt like doing any additional matching and getting more rewards after hitting progression.  But since you only have to play it once to get full progression rewards, it's really not that bad a burden, is it?

I'll agree that the Prof X / Cyclops / Iceman node is also a bit of a bear.  One thing worth trying if you have a champed 3* Strange is make sure his purple power is set at 4, and that way he can erase Prof X's invisibility tile if he gets the chance to hide.

BigSoftieFF

I’m early in 4* land but used Lockjaw, Carnage, and Medusa (all champed) on this node and smoked it all 5 times (scl7). What annoys me is all the tile moving Loki does cause he has buttloads of AP 😂 

dokiy

3 star team: SW, Cap, and Hood. You steal AP and Stun everyone into submission and chip away with Caps red. Back in the day that was my go-to team for that node 

TPF Alexis

I don't remember what team(s) I used, but I do remember I was able to get at least a couple of clears in even in 3* land, and by the time I had 4* champs, I could always do full clears (well, assuming I gave myself enough time. This is one of the worst subs for underestimating how long it's going to take). Not bothering to go much past Progression this time because I couldn't make any slice work right for optimal play the last couple of days, but my roster could handle it if I had the time.

This one, along with the 4* and 5* essentials, are definitely among the hardest PvE fights in MPQ, tho, so it is kind of frustrating sometimes having them all lumped into one Sub.

kk3thess

Today I cleared this node on SCL 6 with two different teams of 3*. The first one was Captain Marvel, Strange and Thor and the other was Grocket, Gamora and Star Lord. I think the trick is deny blue and green on the first wave and the rest is easy.

Nick441234

I used to hate that node, when I was in 3* land. Nowadays, with boosted Iceman, IM40 & Vulture, its over pretty quickly.

Dormammu

This sub used to give me fits back when scaling was a thing and I was in the 3-star tier. Isn't the Rider node the one with Magneto and Teen Jean on the last wave? (I just did this last night and can't remember if there are two wave nodes...) That sucker can be problematic. I remember using Cap/IM40/Bullseye (all 3-star versions) and funneling as much red and blue as I could to Cap so that when a new wave showed up I could stun whoever represented the biggest threat based on enemy AP levels. I tried to down guys with Bullseye to fill the board with strikes.

 The essential node with Cyclops, Prof X, and Iceman was rough, too. First, you're down a guy because you have to bring whatever **** essential is needed, and then you have to deal with that triple threat. You almost have to take the Professor down first to keep him from going invisible and burying his tile in the corner, but if you do that either Cyclops or Iceman are going to make you pay for it. Possibly both of them.

Last night when I was doing my first 4 clears I used Okoye + Medusa and those nodes were no harder than any others.

LifeofAgony

When this was roster based scaling that wave was a pain, but with set scaling, just find the cl that makes it palatable. If this time you’re in cl8 and struggling, drop to 7.  But, with boosted icy/Buster and boosted fist/switch in the 3* land, I see some good combo available to take it down.

Mattjimf

3* switch, fist, cage.  First two were boosted for event.  Ensure you end each round on an ability and take out Loki and Mystique first (really hate Mystique with too much AP).