I’ve denied the signs too long... I’m a 5* player

ThaRoadWarrior

As I'm here staring down the barrel of a nearly complete Gho5t Rider, I'm wondering how long it will be before I have a second fully covered 5*to join you in this bold new bracket of play?

My experiment to cover Kingpin by pulling as I go has not been trending towards a successful coverage (I only have 1 cover on him so far, though I've pulled 3 cables and a Kitty). 

Daredevil217

ThaRoadWarrior said:

As I'm here staring down the barrel of a nearly complete Gho5t Rider, I'm wondering how long it will be before I have a second fully covered 5*to join you in this bold new bracket of play?

My experiment to cover Kingpin by pulling as I go has not been trending towards a successful coverage (I only have 1 cover on him so far, though I've pulled 3 cables and a Kitty). 

You pulling from the Masked store for Robbie or staying the course with your excitement and spending all CP on Latests?

ThaRoadWarrior

oh snap, i didn't even realize that was a thing...i'm torn now. Its only open <4 days, so at best I'll get 2-3 draws in there...probably worth it. My goblin is 2/1/2 and my BSSM is 3/1/0. I'd take covers for whoever, but only the Robbie cover will really help me.

Daredevil217

Took me 27 pulls to get a Robbie for my 4/4/4. Got three Spideys (now 4/2/2) and a Goblin (future champ level) along the way along with 3 Grocket bonuses (now L310). 

After applying 4* levels I’m at exactly 150 Latests pulls left for the three after Fisk. 

TPF Alexis

Straycat said:

Daredevil217 said:

5) I found the 4* tier much more varied in terms of matchups. I rarely saw Grockdusa outside of sim. It was always various boosted 4s. Here after like 400 points it’s all Gritty and Thorkoye. 

Yea I think you missed out on having a single 5* champ. I had Daredevil as my first champ, and the enemies were varied between all non meta 5*s. Plus he tanked everything and true healed, so it was great.

I now have 11 5* champs, and I enjoy messing around with non meta teams. Letting Loki revive a few times, controlling ap with Archangel and Cap, etc. Just saying don't be afraid to champ your other 5*s when you get the iso. You might find the 5* tier is deeper and more fun than you gave it credit.

Yeah, I'm loving the variety I see with just Kitty champed. I don't think I've seen a BSSM, but pretty sure I've seen every other 5* at least once.

Bubba3210

Nick441234 said:

I loved the 4* tier. I tried to stay in there as long as possible but there just came a point where I had very little work left to do with the tier (only new 4*s required ISO). Also, I knew clear times with Thanos in PVE were going to become drastically shorter. After playing over 3 and a half years on this game, I had reached the point where much quicker PVE clear times were important to me wanting to keep playing this game. I didn't want to be spending an hour doing 4 clears each day anymore! 

I dont regret the move now. I actually quite enjoy 5* land now. PVP gets a bit repetitive but that was never where I played most anyway so its not such a big deal. 

I’m headed this direction myself but without any fully covered 5*. I can’t devote hours to this game anymore.  My highest 4* is level 295 but I have 60+ champed. The remaining ones are at 209 or I’m waiting on covers.

I boosted Kitty to 370, paired her with rocket and the essential. My first four clears took 30 minutes total instead of 60. I’ve seen the difference and my 5* are my focus. Flaptain can wait a few more years to champ. 

Pongie

Daredevil217 said:
I just don’t think I can hop in 2 hours before an event ends, hit 900 and shield out. I mean maybe. But I haven’t tried it yet. 

What slice do you play? in s1, there are players who join and climb to top 5 within the last 90mins. Usually score is around 1500. Hitting 900 should be achievable within an hour. I normally straight climb to 900 in 60mins just under 24 or 8 hours, very rarely do I do it under 3 (due to pve timing).    

BigSoftieFF

Pongie said:

Daredevil217 said:
I just don’t think I can hop in 2 hours before an event ends, hit 900 and shield out. I mean maybe. But I haven’t tried it yet. 

What slice do you play? in s1, there are players who join and climb to top 5 within the last 90mins. Usually score is around 1500. Hitting 900 should be achievable within an hour. I normally straight climb to 900 in 60mins just under 24 or 8 hours, very rarely do I do it under 3 (due to pve timing).    

There aren’t many rosters that can climb that high in S1 without help much less score T5. 900? Sure no doubt.

And 1500 T5 will maybe work in off season or a very late bracket. 

Daredevil217

Pongie said:

Daredevil217 said:
I just don’t think I can hop in 2 hours before an event ends, hit 900 and shield out. I mean maybe. But I haven’t tried it yet. 

What slice do you play? in s1, there are players who join and climb to top 5 within the last 90mins. Usually score is around 1500. Hitting 900 should be achievable within an hour. I normally straight climb to 900 in 60mins just under 24 or 8 hours, very rarely do I do it under 3 (due to pve timing).    

I don’t have a regular slice that I play. I either join very early and go for wins or very late and go for points. I just usually join whenever I notice one is about to open or close.

Quebbster

Late climb to 900 should definitely be doable with a fivestar roster, plenty of people trying to hit 1200 late. 1200 may be possible in the more Active slices too. I suggest you start paying attention to which ones work for you and which ones do not, there is quite a big difference.

Daredevil217

Update after 11 days...

- PVE is far, far faster (as expected) and I now have more options.  As a 4* player 9 was too hard to clear fast and place and 7 was often too crowded for placement (a lot of people migrate there), so I would usually go 8 only and pick between two slices, often missing the first sub if I didn't catch a flip.  Now I have the option to play 9 and can net T20 without skipping the first sub if I have the 5* champed.  Really nice to have more options and to not miss out on those sub 1 rewards.  Making Thanos a priority in the last store he was in and waiting to have him before transitioning were definitely great moves.  I absolutely love him.

- PVP is interesting.  So far I've joined at the beginning of several different slices and hit seeds, but it seems like whenever I do more matches I'm always in front where points dry up.  I have not tried joining later in the event, but plan to next event.  So far I have 75-won every event. Then usually do another push and shield around 800-1000 points. It's not too bad because matches go fast and I use little to no packs.

- Speaking of... I've heard of "the 5* slog" and how matches take so much longer.  With the meta characters that is definitely not the case.  Thor boosting AP, Okoye boosting power damage, Kitty boosting specials, etc. I find the matches are way way quicker than when I was running boosted 4s, and as I said above, I can keep pushing with Thorkoye with little pack use.

- Variety is pretty low.  I've fallen into the trap of Thanosing PVE and Thorkoying PVP (with occasional Gritty if the matchup favors it).  Daredevil gets a lot of use with both Thanos and Kitty, while Jessica and Cable have ridden the pine.  I plan to make it a point to play them when I hit season sim.  I'm particularly happy that my favorite character is good, but he really needs to tank,  Which means Thor and Kitty will likely remain unchamped at level 440.  While it may make me more of a target, the healthpack savings and just being able to run more viable teams is worth it.  Right now everything is still new so the lack of variety doesn't bother me.  In fact, someone mentioned in another thread having "too much choice" at the 4* tier which I can definitely see.  Nice having a really strong core group of characters.

- Resource distribution is weird now too.  4* are meaningless to me.  If it isn't a Hulk cover to help finish Loki or a Grocket cover to make a more formidable Gritty, I don't really care.  Which is sad when thinking about all the time and effort I put into that tier.  They are legit reward mills as I never use any of them.  Having tasted the power of a champed 5* essential, instead of allocating iso to new 4* first, I want to get a new 5 as high as I can.  I plan to bring my 12 cover Fisk to his max just for that sweet boost.  I also realize the importance of keeping up with new releases.  It kind of sucks that you work hard for a 5 and they become obsolete due to lazy power creep (just up health and match damage). I guess it sucks worse when they are released sucky (Hello Fisk, Wasp).  Oh well.  Hoping I'll be able to net enough resources to keep up now as a F2P player.

ThaRoadWarrior

I'm really envious of y'all that transitioned with upper deck 5*s. I really like how Gho5t Rider plays, and his art is really strong, but he isn't fast and isn't a counter to Gritty teams alone. 

He does let me get through SCL9 pve progression in a realistic amount of time regardless of whether or not he's boosted, but he hasn't made PVP a slam dunk. I usually just try and push to 900, which I could do without using shields generally whenever I wanted as a 4* player, and now my float point is down around 400 in the 3* pvp if I don't shield. Simulator gives me more options since nobody is boosted and I am not required to bring a 3* - i'm floating around about the same points as I used to in there.

4*s losing all value is something that kind of happened the second i had a 5* to grow up - I have maybe 6 that I think work well with my 1 5*, and any new covers that aren't Chavez covers to help get my JJ over are like "ugh, next..."

drzzl

Congrats!

I was also planning on living in the 4* world forever.

I've had a max covered Thano5 for a while with 2 saved covers but wasn't about to just have the one 5* champ.

All that changed when I was lucky enough to get Kitty to 5/5/2 (with 2 saved covers) and loved how well she worked with my 4's. Since I was basically using her for every event anyway I figured 'why not' and champed her last week and then Thano5 earlier this week.

The time I've saved in pve is totally worth it, even though I went from 75 wins in pvp to no longer feel like pushing past 40wins/900pts.

I was really worried about an apocalyptic nerfing that would make all that iso/cp/lt/etc. go down the drain, but all the time it saves me from now until then will be worth it.

Daredevil217

@ThaRoadWarrior
I actually looked up what GRRR does because of you (also since I do have him max-covered), and he doesn’t seem that great. Black looks like his best power. So I imagine he pairs well with some of the 4* black batteries like Dom and Clagger. 

@drzzl
You are pretty much set. You have the new meta for PVP and the only meta for PVE. Not a bad duo to transition with. Interested how you are doing in the Grocket PVP with Baby Groot sidelined though. 

So a couple of updates!

1) Without missing the first sub I’ve been able to get:

2nd in Honor Amongst Theives (CL8)
15th in Strange Sights (CL9). I messed up a lot here. 
9th in DP vs. MPQ (CL9)
4th in Support Circuit (CL9) by 4 points. That one hurt. 
4th (so far, subject to change) in Venom Bomb (New Release CL8)

2) I joined Most Wanted (Groot PVP) with between 7-8 hours to go in slice 1 (rather than at the start like every other PVP since transitioning) and climbed to 1200 in one push! First time I’ve EVER hit 1200!!  This was by far my biggest win since transitioning. 

3) Was able to hit 2K in one push in season sim (though that wasn’t hard as a 4* player). Finally used Jessica and Cable. Meh. Dropped to 1500 after a coupe days. Makes sense since I was #1 when I hit 2000. Tried to leave Gritty/Bishop on defense but don’t know if that’s what people see since two 4* and a level 440 5* are quite a bit lower than three champed 5*. 

4) @BlackBoltRocks recruited me to his alliance. Weird actually getting alliance covers which I’m absolutely not used to, having played most my career in a casual alliance. 

I imagine (hoping) the increased rewards from alliance and not skipping first subs will help me get enough resources as a F2P player to stay on top of the 5* release schedule. Anyway, it’s been a fun journey so far. Looking forward to getting new characters! I could save to champ Angel, Ghost Rider, or Goblin but unless one is featured soon I’ll likely just pump iso into 4* for their events and try to save up to champ Doom, Captain Marvel and *Insert Avengers tie-in here*. I’d love to have the iso ready to go when I bust that hoard. 

Vengeance

Nice read.  Welcome to the big leagues.

ThaRoadWarrior

On the topic of GR:RR - he is better than you think, but not too teir. His green at 5 puts out 3 1-turn repeaters that can each do 7k damage by nibbling red/green/black, and it accrues the AP. His red is a weak stun, but at 3 it does decent damage to whoever you hit whenever they make a match, and then as you mention his black is 20k if you care to chase the big damage enemy around. 

He plays well with board shakers, and with characters that put his colors on the board like Domino, TA Hulk, Main event, characters like that.

Daredevil217

I remember when he first dropped I thought that green was going to be OP. Problem is it costs 9 AP. Thor collects red/green as well and does it passively. By the time one of GR’s repeaters goes off (I’m assuming they’re one-turn? Description doesn’t say), Thor has collected 20 AP.  Then you can use that AP for big AOE damage instead of collecting more AP. 

I know it’s unfair to compare him to the best character in the game, and I admit he’s probably a good option for those who don’t have Odinson. But for me he suffers from unfortunate color overlap. If Ghostie had like Yellow/Purple/Blue I think he’d see more use. His black is good like I said, but hard to compete with Jessica. Or even Goblin who I think would be the best option to champ next if I weren’t saving for a (hopefully) sunny day. 

Green Goblin has a better black. 8656 damage (level 330) for 8 AP (then can’t use it again until a 2 turn countdown expires) vs. 7796 damage level 330) for 10 AP (but only if you target a certain character). Goblin also has Purple countdowns that do... something? He really needs a description update. But my only other active purple champs are Daredevil’s stun and Thanos’ “only I can eff with the board” power. Plus he has a huge niche fortifying repeaters. Reading him he seems underrated. How come people don’t play him more?

ThaRoadWarrior

Hell ride repeaters are 2-turn below 5 covers, then they are 1 at 5. But yeah, his big issue is that he is not fast - he is a reliable nibbler. He'd probably slay in that fictional meta the devs keep pushing on us where matches aren't over super quick.

Waddles_Pines

4) @BlackBoltRocks recruited me to his alliance. Weird actually getting alliance covers which I’m absolutely not used to, having played most my career in a casual alliance. 

Suuuure, when DD was strictly street level, no interest from a cosmic power player like Black Bolt... But, now that DD is powered up, he comes a knocking. 

https://www.cbr.com/daredevil-war-of-the-realms-heimdall-powers/

But, really this post has been enlightening @Daredevil217.  Keep us updated when you can.  

ThaRoadWarrior

I just fought a 452 Goblin in the Namor  pvp, and got some numbers:

Goblin:
b:572
p:579
y:445
b:72
r:61
g:67
tu:288
crit:4.2x

Ghost Rider:
b:570
p:78
y:93
b:85
r:652
G:733
tu:369
crit:4x

Goblin glider did 22k damage for 2ap less and had a 2 turn countdown that might mean you lose the power for the rest of the match. Damnation does 20k to the highest damage dealer for 10ap with no countdown. I handily stomped that team out with GR/Coulson hardly taking any damage.