Prodigal Sun, Episode 4.5

mouser

So, can anyone confirm it is or isn't a 12 hour refresh on the latest batch of subs yet?

Deivid

Yes, it is a 12 hour refresh, mine just started refreshing and I did them 12 hours ago.

Unknown

Before in pve, you could play smart and get decent results. Now you can only play hard, like 4x time spent for the same result.

More fair for the blind grinders I guess... not much for the sanity of anyone else. Even if 99% of the times I was screwed for european 6am times, I still liked the old way more.
Need to check how it goes for prodigal sun (nice pun btw... too bad it gets lost in translation) then probably move on to some more fun activity.

Unknown

As long as scaling is kept in check with the grinding and/or dying, this format is kinda fairer than simply rewarding people for their ability to set an alarm clock. People who play more should get rewarded more in MOST cases. If your roster is stronger you can grind more efficiently and possibly more when scaling sets in at the end. Both those who play more and with better roster get rewarded accordingly.
Seems like only people who started right at the beginning have a shot at the final reward too.

Still not sure how this scaling/reset/rubberbanding works though. I can barely break into top 50 for each sub but am still top 20 in the main. Points for my subs have not moved for hours too unlike previous PVE.

Unknown

Los Angeles, went to bed at 11:30pm UK time in a roughly competitive position, woke up at 6:30am to find the nodes in this sub worth <100 in most cases and well over 2000 points behind the leaders.

Unknown

So, out of curiosity I did a bit of field testing. I had only done one full clear + a few random higher point nodes yesterday, I didn't grind. I was in the mid 300s in both nodes this morning.

In LA, I ground every node several times, not down to 1, I still have points in all of them, but say on average 3-4 playthroughs. Took me about an hour, with no visible increase in scaling beyond what I had accumulated over night. Ended in #1 and could have built a bit of a lead if I had actually ground them all down to 1 point.

In Wakanda, which is almost scaled out of my reach anyway I did one full clear with no extra grinding. Ended up in #45.

In main I went from #74 to #29.

I think this is a reasonably fair system that allows you to catch up if you're behind (not to #1 or top 10, but not left completely in the dust either) and at the same time rewards committed play.

Question is, how does this increased emphasis on grinding affect scaling and will it all be for naught in the last few hours anyway, like every other event, or will those that cannot play in the last 6-7 hours be able to take something home if they played continuously beforehand.

Unknown

Ohhh man this scaling is killing me!!!
Couldn't even do one clear,because every BP is over lv 250 in Wakanda.
Still 38 rank but aim is top 20 of course.
I'm gonna start LA 27 hours before it ends to do 2 refreshes and I hope the nodes are easier.
Are your nodes in Wakanda similar to mine or easier and how can I lower them?
Retreat should not work or? And what about taking damage in a node,would it lower the levels?
Because supernova would be a great opportunity to kill your own team.

kensterr

Is it true that PVE scaling has a slight decay over time? Unless you grind in every PVE, right?

Unknown

I Hope That is True kennster,im gonna do every Node just One Time and Hope the scaling won't kill me.

Unknown

I haven't tried it in this one, but if you get wiped in a node multiple times the levels should go down eventually. As for scaling over pves, I didn't have time to grind the end of last event, and thus only got alliance daken. And my starting levels were nice and low in this one.

I don't know how much rankings effect scaling or is it just how much you beat the nodes. Avoiding healing is a good way to keep your scaling in check either way.

I liked the way this event looked during the first sub but of course they had to change it. This is turning out to be the grind fest of the year.. Oh well I am still confident those monster grinders' scaling will allow me to creep up. It's hard to tell because it could be the super small point difference in wakanda and LA but I'm already dropping less during breaks

Unknown

I'm not even going to stress about it. I'll get my 40th place or whatever and my top 100 Alliance reward and that's fine.

Eyris6

Hmm, so my earlier theory clearly wasn't quite right, since the timers next to the progress % on the Event Rules page still say 1 day. Maybe they'll start ticking down in unison with the sub end timer once we pass the 1 day mark on that? My guess now would be that the progress bar still unlocks some sort of new nodes, but that we only get min(time left in sub, 1 day) of access to them.

And I agree about the grinding in subs; I'm holding in top 100 in my main easily, and while I might push on the last refresh to pick up some HP from the subs, it's nowhere near crucial.

Unknown

So it's been about 21 hours since I last played in the PVE and my highest point node in Los Angeles is 135, and in Wakanda it's 158 (the essential is 277 but everything else is lower). Is this right? I was kind of expecting them to be worth more after a refresh.

Unknown

lithicbee wrote:

So it's been about 21 hours since I last played in the PVE and my highest point node in Los Angeles is 135, and in Wakanda it's 158 (the essential is 277 but everything else is lower). Is this right? I was kind of expecting them to be worth more after a refresh.

Yes. This event, or at least these subs, has relatively little rubberbanding and will reward those who play a lot more (with scaling *cough*).

Unknown

Carthl wrote:

lithicbee wrote:

So it's been about 21 hours since I last played in the PVE and my highest point node in Los Angeles is 135, and in Wakanda it's 158 (the essential is 277 but everything else is lower). Is this right? I was kind of expecting them to be worth more after a refresh.

Yes. This event, or at least these subs, has relatively little rubberbanding and will reward those who play a lot more (with scaling *cough*).

Thanks. I wish I had known this all day yesterday when I avoided playing so as not to mess up the refresh. Oh well, one more way this game has of saying, "You play me when I want, not when you want."

Unknown

I think I am done for this set of subs. The first couple felt rewarding, but these two subs, just feel like work, with very little variety. Although seeing the "new" foes was run the first time through. I just don't want to run the same five nodes 20+ times to be competitive.

I'll just hope to catch up on less annoying subs later.

Unknown

The changes mid event continue the total required for LA has been reduced to 75M and Wakanda also down 10M to 90M

Unknown

Carthl wrote:

lithicbee wrote:

So it's been about 21 hours since I last played in the PVE and my highest point node in Los Angeles is 135, and in Wakanda it's 158 (the essential is 277 but everything else is lower). Is this right? I was kind of expecting them to be worth more after a refresh.

Yes. This event, or at least these subs, has relatively little rubberbanding and will reward those who play a lot more (with scaling *cough*).

The point totals are as follows

Los Angeles 40,63,111,79,111,135
Wakanda 79,119,158,158,158,277

Still not seen one extra point on any of my nodes yet.

Nemek

Sumilea wrote:

Carthl wrote:

lithicbee wrote:

So it's been about 21 hours since I last played in the PVE and my highest point node in Los Angeles is 135, and in Wakanda it's 158 (the essential is 277 but everything else is lower). Is this right? I was kind of expecting them to be worth more after a refresh.

Yes. This event, or at least these subs, has relatively little rubberbanding and will reward those who play a lot more (with scaling *cough*).

The point totals are as follows

Los Angeles 40,63,111,79,111,135
Wakanda 79,119,158,158,158,277

Still not seen one extra point on any of my nodes yet.

Ah interesting. It actually looks like there is absolutely no rubberbanding in these subs, then. Guess I shouldn't have missed these first two refreshes...

Unknown

I guess everyone was scoring too much too early...

I'm now around 25th in my bracket after grinding on these tinykitty nodes yesterday and this morning. Few people have been putting in a lot of effort so I've been inching my way up the board.


The scaling will end up kicking my **** by the end of this event, but I'm hoping to solidify that Daken cover and a few Sentry covers.