Ronin, Magik and the last 14 Shield Training Essentials

bluewolf
bluewolf Posts: 5,822 Chairperson of the Boards
in MPQ General Discussion
Making Magik essential for Ronin's Shield Training follows less of her featured PVEs than prior Essentials, as many people have (rightly) complained about.  I was curious, so I took a look at (all the) prior ST Latest/newer Essentials.

Aside:  It's most important since last June 6, when the Latest odds disappeared.  So that's what's below - the last 14 runs of ST.  Opening tokens and playing PVE often gave enough covers under the Latest odds. 

Note that my list included being a PVE essential including during Shield Training, since you could earn a cover (at least) from PVE progression while ST was open.

Here's the list since last June:

6/13/18 - Wiccan requires Rogue, who released in October '17.  No issue.
7/2/18  - Ghost requires Nightcrawler, who released in Nov '17.  No issue.
7/26/18 - Emma requires Spidey (IW), featured 2 times including now.  No one complained much, but Emma was also quickly assessed as a bad character. He was also the first character to enter tokens after Latests left, so many people may have bonused him.
8/23/18 - Nebula requires Shuri, who released in Feb '18.  No issue.
9/6/18 - Dazzler requires all no "Latest" characters.
10/4/18 - Taskmaster requires Emma, featured 3 times including now.
11/1/18 - Domino requires Dazzler, featured 3 times including now.
11/15/18 - Bishop requires Emma, featured 4 times including now.
11/29/18 - Prowler requires Dazzler, featured 4 times including now.
12/24/18 - Spider-Ham requires no "Latest" characters.
1/31/19 - Namor requires Domino, featured 4 times including now.
2/14/19 - Magik requires Bishop, featured 4 times including now.
3/14/19 - Talos requires Namor, featured 3 times including now.
4/18/19 - Thanos requires no "Latest" characters.
5/2/19 - Ronin requires Magik, featured 2 times including now.

So yes, Magik is definitely the least featured Essential since last July, when Emma's required Spidey - Infinity War.

One pretty big change is that the developers decided that the (relatively recent) LLLVV pattern of PVE rewards wasn't working for some reason, so Magik got one less featured PVE than she would have under that system.

Also, of course, each new character dilutes the pool in a small but measurable way.  Since Spidey IW joined tokens, 11 4's were added to the pool making it that much harder to pull Magik (and everyone else).  We are now at a 1.1% chance of getting a specific non-Bonused character when getting a 4 from a token.

I think it's worth noting that before October 2017, there was no such thing as Shield Training and players had no opportunity to play for an extra cover for new characters.  So while the requirements may be hard to meet sometimes, the opportunity didn't exist at all before then and this conversation wouldn't be occurring.

I am hoping that featuring Magik less than anyone else in almost a year was an oversight on the developers' part as they try to figure out how to deal with dilution and the number of in-game characters.  If so, then they may want to look more closely at the next Shield Training and who is Essential when that is planned.
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Comments

  • skittledaddy
    skittledaddy Posts: 999 Critical Contributor
    edited April 2019
    Wonderful recap, bluewolf.

    I have come to the simple grasp that I am not competitive enough to have new chars ready for their ST feature. Whatever, that's fine; and to be expected when I rarely play PvP.
    For that reason, however, I'm still bummed that the only new character that I was lucky enough to have covered to lvl 209 BEFORE they should have been tapped as a ST Essential - Prowler - is the only (non-Limited) char in the last 6 months that they chose to skip.

    I got so many of his covers early in random LT/etc. pulls (without even being a BH, nonetheless), yet I never got a chance to reap the benefit via ST.

    My other two heavy out-of-the-gate chars (though probably not quite high enough at the time for lvl 209) - Ghost and Nebula... were the other two that they skipped...

    If I cared more, I'd be really frustrated. But in the end, I'm just here to have fun.
  • BoyWonder1914
    BoyWonder1914 Posts: 884 Critical Contributor
    bluewolf said:

    Also, of course, each new character dilutes the pool in a small but measurable way.  Since Spidey IW joined tokens, 11 4's were added to the pool making it that much harder to pull Magik (and everyone else).  We are now at a 1.1% chance of getting a specific non-Bonused character when getting a 4 from a token.

    I think it's worth noting that before October 2017, there was no such thing as Shield Training and players had no opportunity to play for an extra cover for new characters.  So while the requirements may be hard to meet sometimes, the opportunity didn't exist at all before then and this conversation wouldn't be occurring.

    I think the issue is that some people (myself included) saw the bolded points as offsetting one another. That is, at least when they first rolled it out and you didn't need a newly released character to be fairly well covered in order to qualify. I saw SHIELD Training as them throwing us a bone since by definition only a small percentage of us make. the T100 in PVE or T5 in PVP for a new release. 4s becoming more diluted in packs only made the LLLVV format of events THAT much more competitive, since you could no longer rely on boosted odds in packs for newer characters. 

    It was already fairly tough when I had more time for the game, but now I definitely can't make T10 in CL8 with so much 5-star competition, and placing in PVP was never an option. That really leaves SHIELD Training as the only venue to score a cover outside of the one offered in progression for PVE. It's certainly still possible to cover the character, but it's guaranteed to take MUCH longer. 
  • Tony_Foot
    Tony_Foot Posts: 1,814 Chairperson of the Boards
    Thanks for constantly trying to highlight this latest 4* issue bluewolf but in all honestly I don’t think they give a toss. So I too cannot be bothered about another new release. After all the negatives in the podcast I can’t put anymore money into this diluted game until they do something positive. 
  • Bigblue778
    Bigblue778 Posts: 5 Just Dropped In
    It wont help much but what i have been doing is saving my hp till there is a vault with the needed character in it. i can usually get a 10 pack plus all the 1 packs during the event then you add in all the extras you get for completing the event and I usually end up with over 20 pulls a 1 in 4 chance of getting the extra cover. doesn't work most of the time but when it does its usually that one cover that gets me over the line.
  • NotBAMF
    NotBAMF Posts: 408 Mover and Shaker
    My concern with Magik is less how new she is (but yes, that stinks a great deal) and more in the consistently frustrating way MPQ doles out covers for new characters. My Magik is 1/1/5, like SO MANY new characters before her have been. Nebula and Dazzler, for example, I can distinctly recall have 10 covers for their 3rd ability before I had a 3rd in either of their first two.

    With Magik being 1/1/5, I'm not even interested in pulling tokens (which the devs clearly want us to do, and I accept that), because even if I do get Magik covers, they stand a 33% chance of being worthless for Shield Training. Why does the game always seem set on bombarding us with third color covers on new characters?
  • jamesh
    jamesh Posts: 1,600 Chairperson of the Boards
    Brigby said:
    Hi Everyone. Players having had only 2 opportunities to acquire Magik from event rewards, before she was featured in Ronin's S.H.I.E.L.D. Training event, was in fact an oversight. Apologies for the confusion.
    Are there any plans to do something about it?  Adding an extra H4H offer would be helpful, given that existing SHIELD Training H4H offer omits her.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited May 2019
    It's not enough actually. One fewer run means players got 3-4 fewer covers for top players.

    3 for top 1 placement
    1 for alliance
    1 for progression

    Typically new 4-stars will have 3 runs of pve and 1 run of pvp before their shield trainings are required or before it ends.
  • jamesh
    jamesh Posts: 1,600 Chairperson of the Boards
    Sure, but realistically there is no time to slot in an extra PVE or PVP event in time.  They've done short notice H4H offers in the past, and it would be better than nothing.
  • The rockett
    The rockett Posts: 2,016 Chairperson of the Boards
    jamesh said:
    Brigby said:
    Hi Everyone. Players having had only 2 opportunities to acquire Magik from event rewards, before she was featured in Ronin's S.H.I.E.L.D. Training event, was in fact an oversight. Apologies for the confusion.
    Are there any plans to do something about it?  Adding an extra H4H offer would be helpful, given that existing SHIELD Training H4H offer omits her.
    Simple answer.... NO! 
  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,283 Chairperson of the Boards
    What we need is another one of those 3 themed 5* stores for 15% chance but the other 85% is Ronin only!
  • Ed_Dragonrider
    Ed_Dragonrider Posts: 593 Critical Contributor
    DAZ0273 said:
    What we need is another one of those 3 themed 5* stores for 15% chance but the other 85% is Ronin only!
    Or Ronin and Magik :)

  • DAZ0273
    DAZ0273 Posts: 10,283 Chairperson of the Boards
    Ed_Dragonrider said:
    DAZ0273 said:
    What we need is another one of those 3 themed 5* stores for 15% chance but the other 85% is Ronin only!
    Or Ronin and Magik :)

    I'm happy to split it between the 2! :D
  • LavaManLee
    LavaManLee Posts: 1,435 Chairperson of the Boards
    I'm sorry, but what are the developers (using a generic term) doing all day that this was an "oversight"? 
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,456 Chairperson of the Boards
    working on other things no doubt.
  • pheregas
    pheregas Posts: 1,721 Chairperson of the Boards
    LavaManLee said:
    I'm sorry, but what are the developers (using a generic term) doing all day that this was an "oversight"? 
    Trying to figure out how to squeeze in a double Iso LR round that was also omitted.
  • The rockett
    The rockett Posts: 2,016 Chairperson of the Boards
    LavaManLee said:
    I'm sorry, but what are the developers (using a generic term) doing all day that this was an "oversight"? 
    How to make a sparkly Victory banner 
  • Malcrof
    Malcrof Posts: 5,971 Chairperson of the Boards
    Was there a special event or boss feature that replaced her in the rotation?

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