SIM is fun again!

LeRoy1979

Post Gamnerf reflection:

The Season Sim is fun once again. I've used all sorts of 5* combos just for kicks. GR (Reyes) and DD with HoboCap is super fun. Used HE and GG, even dusted of IM 40 (I wish he paired better with PP Spidey) and Surfer.

In short, I'm seeing all manner of diversity in teams this season. Some pairings that I would have never considered on my own have turned out to be quite effective. My roster usage has increased dramatically. For all of the complaining about the process on the Gambit nerf and how it rubbed some players the wrong way, I think it would be hard to argue that in terms of pure game-play it was anything other than a positive and needed move.

One character I have yet to encounter in Sim-Gambit. Interesting because I don't actually think he's terrible-he just feels terrible because he's much slower and more inconsistent now. I actually had some massive wipes to Gambit/HE in the last PvP event.

What's the consensus experience of the season thus far in terms of the obvious lack of Gambit?

Dartmaster01

In the Electra event I saw varied teams all the way to 1200+. The most common characters were Okoye, JJ, DD, Thanos, BB, OML, SS, HE and some Thor, but not much surprisingly. All in all, it looked liked everyone was viable and I think that's all anyone was after. I've only played a couple matches in sim but it should be fun. Actually looking forward to pvp this season for the first time in a while.

Sm0keyJ0e

Well my complaint is I can literally queue six people at 1k. Same... six... people... over and over again. Tried yesterday, gave up, tried again today... They probably think I'm targeting them. 

I gave up climbing for now. Will try again in a week.

mega ghost

OJSP said:

Sm0keyJ0e said:

Well my complaint is I can literally queue six people at 1k. Same... six... people... over and over again. Tried yesterday, gave up, tried again today... They probably think I'm targeting them. 

I gave up climbing for now. Will try again in a week.

Use your other 5*s and ask other people to hit while climbing?

The season also just started. I personally haven't even begun playing Simulator yet.

658_2

Yep, having fun with Sim.  I’ve been blasting 5* teams with Okoye/4DP/Scarlet Witch.  I actually had just skipped you @LeRoy1979 before reading this, lol.  I beat a couple teams like yours, but usually takes a heathpack or two.  Okoye is making this game so much fresher for me.  Can run her with any number of goofball combos and still come out on top.

Dormammu

Haven't seen any Gambits yet. The most common duo I'm seeing is JJ/Thor, but they're far from ubiquitous. Quite a few Thanos/Panther as well, so maybe they're back in style. Jessica is the one 5-star I see the most but that's probably because a lot of players are like me roster-wise and just recently entered the 5-star game with Jessica and/or Okoye.

thedarkphoenix

Fighting a JJ/thor without a jj and thor is really almost as bad as fighting a gambit without a gambit... it just takes a bit longer for the roof to cave in.

LeRoy1979

JJ/Thor can be disasterous, but it can also be nothing. I've beaten that team multiple times without taking anything beyond match damage (and with good use of Okoye that's all recovered by the end of the match). It takes a little luck to play "keep-away" with JJ and the trap tiles, but it's doable. I would say it's a far cry from entering a Gambit without Gambit match. You can strategize the former-there is no strategy for automatic ap manipulation.

I really don't understand the concern over JJ, Okoye, or Thor being OP. They are powerful. They are fun to play. They can be beaten by any number of other characters. That's what I'm remembering from Sim this season. At its best this game has a good number of characters who can give you a fighting chance to take down any opposing team. I just beat Thor/JJ with Black Panther and IM. 

chris0001

its funny because all that I'm seeing in sim now is Okoye.....(basically in place of gambit) 

crackninja

There aren't any teams I come across that I simply wont fight unless they are significantly higher levels than mine, which I think is great.

beyonderbub

thedarkphoenix said:

Fighting a JJ/thor without a jj and thor is really almost as bad as fighting a gambit without a gambit... it just takes a bit longer for the roof to cave in.

I'm seconding this. Frustrating when the AI JJ is matching trap tiles as soon as they are produced while mine are tucked away in corners or on the sides and no chance to get at them. Depending on what level your roster is and when you climb in Shield Sim, you may be seeing variety in the first 1000 points or just multiple JJ/5Thor/Okoye teams and using tons of health packs to get to 2000. Some of us have basically exchanged one ubiquitous Gambit for JJ or Okoye. I had a decent Gambit but my JJ/Okoye is nowhere near what he was. I also wipe more consistently vs higher level teams (500s and up) when I didn't have that problem with GamThor...ever. 

Sim Mayor

I've seen a couple of teams gamely trying post-nerf Gambit, and I have to say he's still a challenge. That being said, maybe it's the tier I'm playing at, but at 50+ wins in (I'm bored from the 2-day PvE sim) I'm seeing nothing but Grockamoradusas.

LeRoy1979

"I also wipe more consistently vs higher level teams (500s and up) when I didn't have that problem with GamThor...ever."

I don't think that this is a problem. I SHOULD wipe out going up against 500s if I'm taking in a 460 or 470 character. The fact that we didn't was the problem and showed that Gambit's power was disproportionate to his level.

I just scrolled through 10 teams in Sim, the first 10 that came up.

Thor/JJ/Chavez

HE/Coulson/Chavez

Thor/DD/IM 40

Okoye/Bolt/4pool

Gambit/Thor/DD

Cap(old)/JJ/DD

Thor/Okoye/JJ

IM/BSSM/BP

DD/Thor/JJ

Thor/JJ/DD

If I had done that last season I would have come across 10 teams with Gambit, most of those with a Thor kicker. Now we've got Thor (in 6/10), but he's paired with all manner of friends.

Daiches

LeRoy1979 said:

"I also wipe more consistently vs higher level teams (500s and up) when I didn't have that problem with GamThor...ever."

I don't think that this is a problem. I SHOULD wipe out going up against 500s if I'm taking in a 460 or 470 character. The fact that we didn't was the problem and showed that Gambit's power was disproportionate to his level.

I just scrolled through 10 teams in Sim, the first 10 that came up.

Thor/JJ/Chavez

HE/Coulson/Chavez

Thor/DD/IM 40

Okoye/Bolt/4pool

Gambit/Thor/DD

Cap(old)/JJ/DD

Thor/Okoye/JJ

IM/BSSM/BP

DD/Thor/JJ

Thor/JJ/DD

If I had done that last season I would have come across 10 teams with Gambit, most of those with a Thor kicker. Now we've got Thor (in 6/10), but he's paired with all manner of friends.

You could beat 550s before Gambit with 450s-470s.
The problem is not in beating them (albeit consistency is a small issue because cascades are more dangerous). The problem is in Qing them. They are very well protected by MMR in that we can't see them unless higher or very few out, while they can easily see us - unless too many of their MMR join a shard and float.

Sm0keyJ0e

Daiches said:

LeRoy1979 said:

"I also wipe more consistently vs higher level teams (500s and up) when I didn't have that problem with GamThor...ever."

I don't think that this is a problem. I SHOULD wipe out going up against 500s if I'm taking in a 460 or 470 character. The fact that we didn't was the problem and showed that Gambit's power was disproportionate to his level.

I just scrolled through 10 teams in Sim, the first 10 that came up.

Thor/JJ/Chavez

HE/Coulson/Chavez

Thor/DD/IM 40

Okoye/Bolt/4pool

Gambit/Thor/DD

Cap(old)/JJ/DD

Thor/Okoye/JJ

IM/BSSM/BP

DD/Thor/JJ

Thor/JJ/DD

If I had done that last season I would have come across 10 teams with Gambit, most of those with a Thor kicker. Now we've got Thor (in 6/10), but he's paired with all manner of friends.

You could beat 550s before Gambit with 450s-470s.
The problem is not in beating them (albeit consistency is a small issue because cascades are more dangerous). The problem is in Qing them. They are very well protected by MMR in that we can't see them unless higher or very few out, while they can easily see us - unless too many of their MMR join a shard and float.

This has not been my experience. As mentioned above, for a couple days now I can only q the same 500+ rosters over and over. I can't see anything else. In fact, after I skip once or twice (with the same name appearing) the node simply disappears and I have to leave Sim and go back in, upon where I immediately see the same name 1-2 more times before rinsing and repeating.

thedarkphoenix

LeRoy1979 said:

JJ/Thor can be disasterous, but it can also be nothing. I've beaten that team multiple times without taking anything beyond match damage (and with good use of Okoye that's all recovered by the end of the match). It takes a little luck to play "keep-away" with JJ and the trap tiles, but it's doable. I would say it's a far cry from entering a Gambit without Gambit match. You can strategize the former-there is no strategy for automatic ap manipulation.

I really don't understand the concern over JJ, Okoye, or Thor being OP. They are powerful. They are fun to play. They can be beaten by any number of other characters. That's what I'm remembering from Sim this season. At its best this game has a good number of characters who can give you a fighting chance to take down any opposing team. I just beat Thor/JJ with Black Panther and IM. 

Going up again JJ thor is a time bomb basically. Like you said it can either go smoothly or it just blows up. With gambit I knew a set amount of things were going to happen at certain times and you could play around it. 

Against JJ a random match or match of two not only does as much as pre nerfed gambit almost it also gives them free ap

It goes from ok to terrible. And I have absolutely no control over it. Its random, usually JJ makes a match and god forbid (pun intended) its a double match of trap tiles that usually leads to the team gaining 6 green ap and thor following up with his aoe attack.


So yeah the variety of people and teams is cool for now... but shortly its gonna be mostly thor and jj as they are fast and good on defense.

Daiches

Sm0keyJ0e said:

Daiches said:

LeRoy1979 said:

"I also wipe more consistently vs higher level teams (500s and up) when I didn't have that problem with GamThor...ever."

I don't think that this is a problem. I SHOULD wipe out going up against 500s if I'm taking in a 460 or 470 character. The fact that we didn't was the problem and showed that Gambit's power was disproportionate to his level.

I just scrolled through 10 teams in Sim, the first 10 that came up.

Thor/JJ/Chavez

HE/Coulson/Chavez

Thor/DD/IM 40

Okoye/Bolt/4pool

Gambit/Thor/DD

Cap(old)/JJ/DD

Thor/Okoye/JJ

IM/BSSM/BP

DD/Thor/JJ

Thor/JJ/DD

If I had done that last season I would have come across 10 teams with Gambit, most of those with a Thor kicker. Now we've got Thor (in 6/10), but he's paired with all manner of friends.

You could beat 550s before Gambit with 450s-470s.
The problem is not in beating them (albeit consistency is a small issue because cascades are more dangerous). The problem is in Qing them. They are very well protected by MMR in that we can't see them unless higher or very few out, while they can easily see us - unless too many of their MMR join a shard and float.

This has not been my experience. As mentioned above, for a couple days now I can only q the same 500+ rosters over and over. I can't see anything else. In fact, after I skip once or twice (with the same name appearing) the node simply disappears and I have to leave Sim and go back in, upon where I immediately see the same name 1-2 more times before rinsing and repeating.

At certain scores, even I have that. And of course Sim is worse for you than regular PVP (which I was referring to with the shard comment), because you guys aren't split up over different shards to avoid the issue. In Sim you'll always see each other until the point shields begin. 

EDIT: I've been informed you guys sometimes have reverse MMR breakage. That you only see seals and walruses until you break MMR and then can Q the 450-480 rosters..

mega ghost

OJSP said:

mega ghost said:

The season also just started. I personally haven't even begun playing Simulator yet.

I doubt even if you or me climb higher than him that he could find us. I can only imagine what MMR is like for a 550 roster.

Absolutely! That is certainly a large part of the issue, I just wanted to note that when you start climbing early out of the gate you're going to run out of new targets quickly due to the brackets not being populated yet. It also means that you'll become a big, shiny target for everyone else in the subsequent period.

Jarvind

I'm losing a lot more than before. I don't have a usable JJ, Thor, or Okoye, so I'm decidedly behind the curve now.

Not having Gambit wielding utter control over the match after a few turns makes it a lot harder to recover from a bad cascade, too. Also, Thor's protect tiles actually turn out to be really annoying when you can't just be like "lolz, overwrite" every time he throws his yellow out there.

Dormammu

I'm scared to death of Jessica Jones, but only because she's traumatized me on a number of occasions now and cleaned my clock with cascades of Damning Evidence. It's like when someone gets bit by a dog as a kid and is afraid of them forever thereafter.

I sure like using her, though.

optimus2861

Now if only the 4* game could be as varied. SIM is still the Medusa / Rocket / Gamora playground for the most part. Not that they can't be beaten, even easily by some teams, but it's tiresome seeing them over, and over, and over.