Did I mess up my roster?

Nastey

I just started playing and without reading or doing any research I just starting picking up and leveling random characters thinking this was like any other game. I didn't reailize there was so much more to this game (MMR and what not). I'm still not entirely sure on how that works, but it seems I may have messed up somewhere. The game became super hard all of the sudden(very difficult teams all high level and small rewards). Normally I'm all for a challenge, however I feel like I'm using sub par teams, have sub par levels, and I'm Iso deficient and order to catch up in levels. 

This is my roster:

https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/Nastey/

I was using 2* teams, but Luke Cage/Iron Fist/Scarlett Witch is just so successful that I started leveling them. 

As you can see I have approx 5 characters championed in the 2* range and 1 Championed Luke Cage. Just waiting on Iso to Champion Iron Fist.

I don't know if this is the best tactic or what,  but If anyone could take a look to help, I would very much appreciate it. Even a link saying "L2R noob" would help. I've tried to research different aspects, but eveything I see looks pretty ot of date. 

1) Am I leveling up properly?
   1a) If not, what should I do?
2) Did I mess something up while leveling? 
   2a) If so, how do I fix it?
3) During PvP/PvE events how do you choose the appropriate category so your fighting the right level people with optimal rewards? 

Thanks in advance guys!

TPF Alexis

The game is frustratingly opaque on these matters. Don't worry about any RTFM stuff.

1) Not really, but you're not too badly off.

- The best way to progress through the game without over-extending yourself is to get all the 2* (except for Bag-man) champed before worrying about anything higher. Then repeat with the 3* and 4* tier.

- Roster slots are going to be your limiting factor for a long time to come. Don't spend Hero Points on anything else. Ideally, don't open tokens if there's a chance that you might get someone you can't spare a roster slot for. In practical terms, this would completely stall out your progression, so just don't spend CP or any Legendary Tokens you might happen to get.

- You really only need a single 1*. Spidey, Iron Man, Juggs, or even Storm can usually handle the 1* node in DDQ solo. You can sell the rest to make room for more important characters.

- Your most reliable source of HP is Champion Rewards. This is why you want to get all the 2* champed, so they're all giving you more HP as they level further. Once you've got any given one maxed, if you're not regularly using that 2*, sell them off and start another copy. This is what people are talking about when you hear them mentioning farming. Just keep cycling them for the Champ Rewards. They'll also give covers for a number of 3*, some of whom are top tier.

- Cage/Fist/SWitch is an excellent team. Once you get a couple more covers for SWitch, they really will be able to carry you, but in the mean time, don't level anyone up past your highest level 2* until you've got several 3* ready to champ.

2) Nothing that won't get sorted out by time and natural progression through the game.

3) In PvE, the level of your Enemies and the quality of your Rewards are both determined by the SCL you choose when you enter the event. Try a couple of different SCLs and find the one that you can reasonably beat. They unlock substantially faster than your ability to beat them will. Don't worry about trying to keep up with the highest SCL you have available.

In PvP on the other hand, the SCL you choose only determines the quality of your rewards, so you always want to choose the highest one available. The level of your opponents is determined roughly by the average of the levels of your three highest level characters, which is why you don't want to level a few characters out way past the rest of your Roster. This will sort itself out over time so long as you don't level up Cage any more until you're ready to fully jump to 3* land.

Speaking of which, 3* take a lot more ISO than 2*. You will go through a couple of phases when it seems like you'll never run out of ISO, but they will eventually end, and you will need more and more and more. Don't spend it without a plan.

Nastey

Dude... you are the man!!! Thank you so much for the help! That was an EXTREMELY well thought out response, and I appreciate it. I'll keep working on those 2*s.

DAZ0273

You are set up OK having looked at your roster quickly. You've been smart with your 4* levelling.

1.) Champing 2* Storm, Widow and Thor should be a priority- not only is that a great selection for doing Deadpool Daily it also offers a nice array of powers - Stun, Tile generation, AP steal, AOE, Burst heal. Taking them to 144 will also mean you can take IM40 to 140 so he has more health. After those are done I would concentrate on Magneto next - his purple power is invaluable in 2* land and when you get more Hawkeye covers you can set up Match 5's for Speed Shot fun.

2.) Fist & Cage are of course a great pairing - you can't underestimate how much that free shield & attack tile can help out. That said, with your present roster Fist generating black means that Cage is really his only good partner for the timebeing - don't be afraid to experiment with some IM40 teams - getting your Super Steve rolling with his blue stun which can also overwrite tiles can be great against goons.

3.) As you have Deadpool reasonably well covered, try and use him every day to rack up points to use with his Whales, Whales, Whales power - always handy to have on hand.

4.) You don't need all those 1* but I can understand that it can be hard to make the jump mentally to being able to get shot of fully covered characters. As Alexis says above, either Juggernaut or Spidey (or Storm) are all you need. At any rate you should definitely dump Venom (useless since his nerf), Yelena (you need several months to get the AP for her powers), Hawkeye (no point if you have Spidey). Widow has one of the best stuns in the game but you will eventually want her roster slot also.

Waddles_Pines

Two more random musings about PVE/PVP

PVE
- To echo TPF Alexis, your SCL in the beginning will rise faster than your roster.  Feel free to try the highest one and then go easier if the going gets tough.
- If you're going for progression, all you need is 5 clears of each node at any time.  
- The points go up as each day passes.  So, if you missed a clear on Day 1, you can still make it up on the following days by doing an extra clear.
- If you're going for placement, 4 clears as fast as you can at the beginning (2 for waves), and then another 3 at the tail end of the day.
- Besides different SCL, there are different time slices.  Some are more competitive than others.  If you life schedule allows you to play different time slices, you might notice a difference.  This also applies to PVP.
- Also, if you check your placement, you can click on the rosters of the people in the lead and see how your roster squares away with theirs.  Sometimes it's worth playing a higher SCL for progression prizes rather than lower for better placement rewards.  Before an event you can look through the preview for the prize chart and see what makes the most sense to you.


PVP
- Every roster has a different float point and I think the "all hell breaks lose" point is different for each roster.
- Float point, that's the point where your roster is kinda at equilibrium.  In PVP you get attacked and can lose point/gain points.  The float point is where everything is calm.  You don't really seem to get hit anymore.  So, as your roster gets stronger, this should go up.  This is how you can try and measure your progress.
- "All hell breaks lose" point is where after a certain point threshold, all of the sudden everyone sees you (not just similarly strengthed roster).  You know you've reached this point where all of the sudden you see you're down a hundred or more points in a blink of an eye.  You'll look at the retaliation nodes (the red ones after you got attacked and lost) and see 4 or 5* rosters laughing at you.  It happens to almost all of us.  Don't be discouraged...
- With the 3 strongest character average rule, just note that that includes boosted levels in the equation.  So, if the weekly boost list only had Cage for you, then your avg level is boosted for that PVP, so you might see harder opponents.
- Also, there's a smoothing out period.  Since you're new-ish, there will be times when you greatly level or modify your roster.  Sometimes, in the beginning the game will take a few events for it to slot you in the right tier.  The mysterious MMR gets confused easily
- Don't be discouraged if you can't reach all the prizes or place highly.  
- On the other hand, from what I've read, the game makes it easier for new players to place higher.  So, don't be surprised when you start getting more advanced if your placement keeps sliding.  It's mostly you going against harder opponents with a little bit of luck.
- Luck in placement: there's 500 players per event.  Once the 500 is reached a new "room" for the event starts from scratch.  Sometimes you'll start an event in an almost full "room" and it'll be hard to climb too high.  Other times you'll enter an almost "empty" room that just opened and you might place higher.  

As always, there are plenty of players on this forum who are glad to offer advice.  Just ask away.  Have fun

DAZ0273

One thing worth noting about PvP since the change to the hybrid system is deciding what sort of player you want to be - there are now effectively 3 types of PvP player.

1.) The points player - this player is interested in reaching their goal as fast as possible with as few as matches required. You will generally get hit by this player if a.) You have climbed early and are now worth higher than average points or b.) You are worth at least 30 or so points, sometimes less.

2.) The Hybrid player - this player will normally also look at using points to obtain their intended goal but will be perfectly happy to switch to to wins. So this player will also generally prioritise points but will also be happy to hit teams regardless of this.

3.) The Wins-based player - if you are a viable target then they will hit you, regardless of how many points you are worth.

Now this may seem like information that you can't use to your advantage but in fact, if you can at least try and work out which sort of player is attacking you and square that with what sort of player you are, you might have a chance of avoiding further hits and reaching your goals more smoothly. For example - I am mostly a points player - I was playing on Sunday and got hit by a player who had a roster that was weaker than mine but bolstered by one champed 4*. I was reasonably confident that this player was playing for points and because of that, I hit them back. Following that retal, they stopped attacking me because the point where they were in their climb meant that they were going to be worth a juicy amount of points which would impact them getting to where they wanted to go and so it hurt them more than me. That stopped them feeding off me for their climb.

On the other hand - I wouldn't bother too much hitting back somebody who is worth less than 20 points unless I was playing for wins.

Waddles_Pines

Also, in PVP don't shield... all your HP resources are for slots.  If you're F2P, HP is your choking point in the beginning since there are soooooooo many characters.  Also, save all CP/LT, they are of no use to you yet and will only mess up your MMR.

Nastey

Wow... this community is amazing! Thanks again guys. 

Another thing... how do you guys set up your bonus roll character (the heart icon that designates what cover you get for a specific character on bonus rolls) ? 

DAZ0273

Nastey said:

Wow... this community is amazing! Thanks again guys. 

Another thing... how do you guys set up your bonus roll character (the heart icon that designates what cover you get for a specific character on bonus rolls) ? 

When I was in 3* land I had one bonus hero per tier and my 3* bonus hero was specifically whatever character I was trying to cover and champ. In your case I would recommend IM40. However, thereafter, you should definitely concentrate on trying to obtain and champ Dr. Strange ASAP - he is absolutely game changing for PvE and worthy of a slot in place of a 1*.

In terms of 4* I would bonus hero a character you already have so you at least don't have to shell out for a new roster slot.

Nastey

I had no idea you could do that for a character you did not own... mind blown.

DAZ0273

Nastey said:

I had no idea you could do that for a character you did not own... mind blown.

You can bonus hero any 3, 4 or 5 available from tokens/CP apart from Limited characters.

Bowgentle

Waddles_Pines said:

PVP
- Every roster has a different float point and I think the "all hell breaks lose" point is different for each roster.
- Float point, that's the point where your roster is kinda at equilibrium.  In PVP you get attacked and can lose point/gain points.  The float point is where everything is calm.  You don't really seem to get hit anymore.  So, as your roster gets stronger, this should go up.  This is how you can try and measure your progress.

Don't hold your breath for your float point to go up.
No matter your roster, the point where you don't get hit is static around 500.

Go above 550, and you'll find yourself at 480 after a few hours.

This is true no matter what you run, including a 480 Thor/Okoye team.

Waddles_Pines

Bowgentle said:

Waddles_Pines said:

PVP
- Every roster has a different float point and I think the "all hell breaks lose" point is different for each roster.
- Float point, that's the point where your roster is kinda at equilibrium.  In PVP you get attacked and can lose point/gain points.  The float point is where everything is calm.  You don't really seem to get hit anymore.  So, as your roster gets stronger, this should go up.  This is how you can try and measure your progress.

Don't hold your breath for your float point to go up.
No matter your roster, the point where you don't get hit is static around 500.

Go above 550, and you'll find yourself at 480 after a few hours.

This is true no matter what you run, including a 480 Thor/Okoye team.

I think float caps out around 5-600, but with his lower leveled roster, float is probably around 200-300.