Years since last played, 3* to 4* progression help?

SaltyK

Hi everyone, i played MPQ some time back.
To give you an idea how long ago that was, 3* Spiderman was one of the best healers and X-force Wolverine was just released.
Recently came back to the game, 3* Spiderman was nerfed as expected and there are so many 5* characters now!

I have been playing for the past couple weeks.
Figured i should seek some advice for 3* to 4* progression.
This is my current roster: https://mpq.gamependium.com/rosters/SaltyK/
Didn't include 2* and 1* but i have almost of them, foolishly sold my 2* Bagman and 1* Yelena as i needed ISO and slots but it shouldn't be a big issue right?
My main team is IM40, 3* Strange and 3* Spiderman for the harder PVE missions.

How should i proceed from here?
My current plan is to play SCL 7, saving CP to roll "Classic" to build up 4* base while hoarding "Latest" tokens.
How long this will take if i don't play PVP and can't rank?
Currently have 5 "Latest" and 70 CP.

BH are Kamala Khan, America Chavaz, Okoye.
Since my Valkyrie is at a miserable 1 cover, should i BH Jessica Jones instead?
Understand that Classic 5* are even harder to get but i'm planning for long term goals.
Who will be better in a mixed team? Okoye or Jessica Jones?

I don't mind spending some money on VIP and occasionally those packages with 6-7x value either.

Thanks in advance!

TPF Alexis

You're actually pretty solid for a 3* transitioner. It's good to plan for the 4* transition, but you're still quite a ways away. Not forever away, but not there yet. I think it was something like 6-9 months for me to get from roughly where you are to transitioning to 4* land, playing SCL7 PvE for full Progression and PvP to 575. Don't worry about having sold off Bag-man and Yelena. Actually, feel free to sell off all but one of your 1*. Spidey, Iron Man, Juggs, or even Storm can usually solo the 1* node in DDQ, and there's nothing else you'll actually need them for.

You should keep all the 2* rostered, tho. Their champ rewards are your best source of HP for roster slots, which are going to be your main limiting factor for quite some time to come, and also a good supply of covers for several 3*, some of them top tier. Once one of the 2* gets max champed, sell 'em off and re-roster and start the whole cycle over again. Just keep farming them like that.

Next step is to get all the 3* rostered. Yes, even the bad ones like Sentry. They all give good rewards when champed, and you need them to unlock Required nodes in PvE.

After that, you move on to champing all the 3* and rostering all the 4*. Only spend ISO on your 3* and your 2* farm at this point. Once you've got most or all of the 3* champed, and several 4* fully covered, you can make the jump to 4* land.

SCL7 is probably the sweet spot for you in PvE, yeah. It helps a lot for getting everyone rostered, since it gives both 3* and 4* covers through Progression.

Don't ignore PvP, tho. You can't place, but with the Progression system they've got now, you can still get some pretty solid rewards. Jump in right at the start, and beat the Seed Teams you'll see with the lowest level characters you can. I can generally get about 8 wins like that. Then wait a while, and go back and hit all the Retals. Then maybe a couple more fights and you're at 16 wins, which gives you 10 CP.

Resources:

- ISO: At this point, only spend it on leveling characters who you're ready to champ.

- HP: Only for Roster Slots. Once you've got everyone rostered, this loosens up a bit, and you'll have plenty to spend on Vaults and such, but for now, it's only for Roster Slots.

- CP/Legendary Tokens: Best to just save them at this point. Certainly don't open them if you can't afford a slot to roster anyone you don't have yet who might pop out. It is sometimes worth spending 20-40 CP to finish off a top tier character, but with Saved Covers, it's less of an issue, and less likely worth it.

Characters to focus on: You've already got two of the big three in 3* land champed, in IM40 and Strange. Thanos is the third of them, and I think I'd switch your bonus hero to him. Kamala Khan is good, but Thanos makes Lightning Rounds worthwhile, and makes the easy nodes in PvE trivial. He'll shave substantial time off your clears. Other top tier 3* include Kamala Khan, yes, Patch, Iron Fist and Luke Cage, Rocket & Groot (their healing is so good), Scarlet Witch, Captain America (yes, it's sort of a dupe of his weak 2* version, but the numbers are much better. He's good at 3*), Thor, Daken, Deadpool (use him every day to accumulate Deadpool Points), Blade, and a couple more who aren't coming to mind right now.

DAZ0273

To be honest 5* are not gonna be an  issue for quite some time so I would go for fun. The prescribed wisdom would be Okoye - Healing meatshield who boosts friendly powers but my honest answer would be that Jessica Jones is much more fun to play, especially her blue. 

Dormammu

Whatever you do, don't get ahead of yourself. While PvE difficulty isn't a problem, as you can choose your own difficulty via SCL, if/when you want to get into PvP things aren't so simple.

MMR is still a thing so no matter what SCL you choose in PvP (always choose the highest available to you, SCL in PvP only affects placement/prizes) your opponents will be determined by your roster. So if you're still in 3-star land and you start pumping ISO into under-covered 5-stars that you stumble into, you'll start seeing opponents that are beyond your ability to defeat. MMR basically calculates your highest leveled characters and matches you against similar rosters in PvP.

You can safely roster those 5-stars you come across as MMR shouldn't factor them in as long as you don't invest any ISO into them.

Otherwise, @TPF Alexis spelled it out for you very nicely, above. Ideally you want to take the tiers in order. Get all the 2-stars and 3-stars champed, then worry about moving to the 4-star tier. The 4-star tier is really the sweet-spot in this game and where you'll spend the longest time. There are a boat-load of 4-star characters and they take a boat-load of ISO to champ.

5-stars are the end game and for serious enthusiasts. From where you are right now it'd take a year and a half to two years of dedicated daily play to reach that level, because skipping the 4-star tier isn't really an option.

SaltyK

Thanks everyone for your input. will work on champing all 3* for now.

bundles87

I came back to the game after a long break and I was right about where you are now. Be super super patient, saved covers will make your life easy. I agree with you bein 6-9 months away from 4 star, I was a little faster but I had vaulting to help. Just focus on champing all the threes now, read the forum frequently to know the meta at the next level and then when you’re ready to jump up you’ll be good.

Feisty

Wow I am at 13 maxed 4*s and this is really helpful to me as well. 

I haven't really been playing PVP cause I didn't realize that they still have those easy nodes still. Everytime I get on they are regular players with pretty strong rosters. Guess I just have to start as soon as the event begins.

Thanks for the advice. I also appreciate it.

SaltyK

Hi all, just want to provide an update.
It has been an exciting period, i have grown my roster quite a bit but i'm generally missing ISO.

4*
Grocket at 3/5/5 - not champed yet, missing iso
Medusa at 5/3/4 - need 1 more cover to champ, missing iso
Carnage at 5/3/5 - not champed yet, missing iso
Gamora at 1/1/0 - way off, she will probably be my next 4* hero to work on
Vulture at 1/1/0 - way off, will work on him after Gamora
Other heroes - zero priority until i finish all the ones above.

3*
All rostered
Currently getting IM40 and Strange to 266 as they are my main team for everything.
Several heroes at 13 covers but not champed due to iso shortage.

2*
My piggy bank, selling them off once they reach 144.

5*
Kitty at 0/0/1 - I have been pulling latest, would like to cover her as much as possible before she leaves latest.

Doing PVP to 40 wins as much as possible so i can get the 4* cover
That's my gameplan for now.

Wishing everyone a good year ahead!

TPF Alexis

SaltyK said:

...but i'm generally missing ISO.

Welcome to the hard facts of MPQ. There are two potential spots, when you're mostly working on 2* who have been champed, and then again when mostly working on 3* who have been champed, when ISO can seem like it will never end. For the rest of the game, up until you hit the near-mythical point in 5* land known as Post-ISO, you will always need more ISO

DAZ0273

The good news is that Iso-crunches can now be better managed thanks to saved covers.

Whilst I don't necessarily regret champing some 4* such as Quake or X-23, they probably would have had lower priority if I hadn't been under a time pressure to get the iso in 13 days or lose the covers.

Now players eyeing up the 4* tier have more freedom to pick strategically rather than race blindly from one 13 day period to the next, which can only improve your game experience.

SaltyK

Can anyone help me understand PVP MMR?

Here's my current team for Doom's PVP this week:

286 Kitty, 4/2/1, can go up to 360 Max but i'm short ISO as always.
271 R&G, 3/5/5, boosted to 367
3* Doom, boosted to 316

I'm currently facing teams with at least 3 x lv 380s which i have some difficulty beating.

If i intentionally lower my score by throwing matches, will i get easier opponents?
I'm going for win-based progression.

TPF Alexis

SaltyK said:

Can anyone help me understand PVP MMR?

Short answer: No. Nobody really understands the MMR on here

That said, the general impression is that it's largely based on the average of the top three or five characters in your Roster, after boosts. Within that pool, it tries to find Players with a score reasonably close to your own. It seems to me to tend to give you higher level targets more often than lower, but I've never really tracked it, so there are any number of cognitive biases that could be coming into play there. So dumping points will help at least a bit, but not hugely, since the main basis is roster strength, and who else is in your slice and not shielded.

DAZ0273

So much depends on when you play, which time slice you play and who else is playing at those times. Even if you are not seeking out high points targets you still accumulate points for wins and so your MMR is going to widen the further you go into the event, so that you start to see more competetive teams. You might get lucky but at some point a roster strength like yours will probably hit a wall.

The most basic way of attempting to manipulate MMR is by getting in fast at the beginning with seed teams as this allows you to win with sub-optimal teams and then leave out a defensive team that is completely designed to farm retals off from weaker players. Of course this method relies upon you either getting lucky with whatever slice you join and getting seeds or PvP being convenient with opening timeslices where you can take advantage.

I may be wrong but I believe the estimeed TPF Alexis above is quite the proponent of this tactic!

Dormammu

DAZ0273 said:

The most basic way of attempting to manipulate MMR is by getting in fast at the beginning with seed teams as this allows you to win with sub-optimal teams and then leave out a defensive team that is completely designed to farm retals off from weaker players.

This works to a point. I typically play PvP to the 10CP (16 wins) and this method will get you there reasonably often. The seeds are worth 6-8 wins right at the beginning. Then you have to wait for the attacks to come and see what's there. Sometimes you get some weaker teams hitting you, but not always.

Quebbster

Dormammu said:

DAZ0273 said:

The most basic way of attempting to manipulate MMR is by getting in fast at the beginning with seed teams as this allows you to win with sub-optimal teams and then leave out a defensive team that is completely designed to farm retals off from weaker players.

This works to a point. I typically play PvP to the 10CP (16 wins) and this method will get you there reasonably often. The seeds are worth 6-8 wins right at the beginning. Then you have to wait for the attacks to come and see what's there. Sometimes you get some weaker teams hitting you, but not always.

Skipping a retal doesn't cost you ISO at least, so I can see the appeal of that method.

TPF Alexis

DAZ0273 said:

I may be wrong but I believe the estimeed TPF Alexis above is quite the proponent of this tactic!

I am indeed. I'm actually just waiting a bit right now for Retals to come in on Daken's PvP, since I jumped in and took out 9 seed teams with the Loaner plus 1* Spidey and Storm. The couple of hits that came in before I finished the last seed were 2* teams. I generally get a fair number of those, and can usually make it to 16 wins without needing to use anything better than 2* myself. A couple of times, I've made it to 16 wins just on Loaner/Spidey/Storm.

Moving on from there, I often make it to somewhere between 20-24 wins without using anything better than 3*, but that gets more and more variable the higher I go.

Anyone who hits me with a reasonable level team, I hit back with the minimum I think I can beat them with. If you can get someone to trade Retals with you, that can often make 3-5 easy wins right there. Anyone who hits my 1* team with a single cover 5*, I leave for later, and then pound with champed 4*. I don't think most of those people really pay attention to stuff like that, but maybe one or two of them will get the point and start running something more amenable to trading Retals.

I enjoy this method, not just because it's relatively easy, but also because it lets me use a much larger chunk of my roster than I would otherwise be able to, which helps keep things interesting.