This is why I hate PVP (or How the hell do you PVP)?

I made the mistake of playing PVP last night. I saw the final cover for Mordo that I needed, and after 8 wins was comfortably on my way to getting said cover. I hit 700 pts rather easily and interpolated a smooth climb to 900. But then I hit 820...I was completely surrounded by champed Rogue and Chavez at every node, and although I could beat them with my Gramocket (or Grockmora if you will) it wasn't a sure thing or easy battle. Finally I hit 855 at like 13wins or so...two more wins to hit 900 points even if I was getting less than 30pts for lvl400 Rogue/Chavez/Doom. I could smell victory...but apparently that **** goddess of PVP could sense my confidence and decided to put me in my place and crush my hopes and dreams. Ended up losing a PVP battle (-28pts) and, oh wait, someone sniped my ****, pushing me back down to ~805pts. I got back up and dusted myself off, won another battle, and another. One more win to make 900...oh wait, sniped again, back down. I ended up making 21 wins, but never hit that 900 mark, and finally conceded defeat.
****, man. This game sucks! I **** quit! Ok....so I don't really quit, and will continue playing every single day for another four years (damn you mpq!).
But this highlights why I hate PVP, because this almost always happens. I can't get above water and make that threshold due to difficulty or being sniped. I like the fact they put in the wins threshold, but 40 wins is a lot, and even that can be pretty hard to get once you get high enough. It's like you have to climb, get knocked down, climb back up, etc. till you hit the threshold.
How the hell do you play PVP? Is it really worth it?
PS> I ended up playing again this morning and made the 900, but that doesn't change my rant!
****, man. This game sucks! I **** quit! Ok....so I don't really quit, and will continue playing every single day for another four years (damn you mpq!).
But this highlights why I hate PVP, because this almost always happens. I can't get above water and make that threshold due to difficulty or being sniped. I like the fact they put in the wins threshold, but 40 wins is a lot, and even that can be pretty hard to get once you get high enough. It's like you have to climb, get knocked down, climb back up, etc. till you hit the threshold.
How the hell do you play PVP? Is it really worth it?
PS> I ended up playing again this morning and made the 900, but that doesn't change my rant!
2
Comments
1- Use a Shield. You were right there several times. A simple 3 hour would have given you what you needed. I used to hate spending HP on shields until I realized that I would spend, what is it? 3400 for a last cover in HFH. By that logic 75 HP seemed like a steal for this scenario. I wouldn’t spend that 3400 now that we have saved covers but back then I would.
2- Go wins-based. 40 isn’t that much if you join early and hit 10 seed teams. If you do it with a fast on offense but easy to beat on defense team you will get some nice easy retals to stomp. By the time you do that you’re halfway to your cover with over 2 days remaining.
My goto for just about anything is Grockmora. What are some good high offense/low defense teams?
Overall, I just think it is very frustrating to go backwards. I think this makes sense for placement, as you are competing against other teams so you should expect ups and downs. For progression, this just sucks. It would be one thing to be 1 win away, and you just cant win to make it. But to be 1 win away, win, and then have less points than before the match is **** crazy. I remember they revamped PVP the first time, and they solved this issue, but for some reason they switched it back. The Progression wins is better then the original PVP, but I still feel this system is lacking. It really is too bad, because there is some strategy in match ups and difficulty in PVP that you don't get in PVE.
Right before champing 5s I had a fully covered 5* Daredevil that I softcapped to 320-330. I would pair him with loaner and 1* Widow. Usually would end up queuing top tier 3* teams but DD could wreck them and stay healed thanks to his yellow passive. I think if you play around you can find a combo that works.
2) Use Whales! to help you win the battles faster than they can defeat you. I was one battle away (fewer than 30 points needed) from hitting 900. but I kept getting hit and my points dropped to ~805 to 820. I was losing ~ 25- 30 points per defeat on average. I queued those high 40 or 50 points battles and three whales later, I hit 900 points because I was ~20-30 points ahead per defensive loss.
3) If you are going for progression wins, split up the number of battles. If I start early, I split up my play into multiples of 8 over 3 days.
A simple shield above 800 is not the be all answer as well. It comes down on who you queue up. What many new to pvp don’t realise, is the displayed point value is cached and frozen in place. When you decide to hop, those targets are likely to not be the amount you earn at the end of the battle. The majority of the time, this is a lot lower (experience pvp players know to queue targets that will climb much higher and hence be worth more/remain to be of significant value to win against). This is another hurdle new players must realise before they can reliably shield hop and come out ahead.
Come back after you have the health, and find winnable high-value matches. Generally this will take me to 800 or so. Here is where you find yourself, and here is the trick to break through that glass ceiling- you need to find matches you can win FAST. Not necessarily the best value matches, but matches you can run through. The longer your fights are taking, the more exposed you are to retaliation it appears. So take those 30-35pt fights if you can win them with a quickness. Instead of G4mora, use 5* Lord for the match damage. If you're using G4mora, stun that Rogue so she stops jumping in front and reducing damage. Use AP boosts. Go into those fights with a bunch of blue in the bank so you can stun on turn 2. Once i get that 900pt reward, i just walk away, and let my points fall wherever they end up. I'm usually t100 that way. I'll pop a shield if I want to hang on to points and get my season 10 pack early, but after that i just do whatever for progression.
For instance, I hit 900 in Fatal Attraction last night, and I'm currently at 600 pts nearly 24 unshielded hours later.
I've found that the new "800pt ceiling" for me is 1100 - i've only hit 1200pts twice, i can push to 1100, 1130, but then i just get busted back down to 930 when I run out of health.