Revised Event: Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D.

IceIX

Nick Fury requested a new training program for S.H.I.E.L.D. After some tinkering with the Stark-Tech training simulator, we are excited to show you what the new program looks like for new recruits to MPQ! Starting with the inimitable Hellcat, S.H.I.E.L.D. Training is coming back in a new format, but will be familiar to anyone used to the old style of the event. Without any further ado, It’s Pats… Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D.!

With Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D., missions unlock daily like an Advent or Daily Unlock event, not all at once. Over the course of five days, you’ll get to experience increasingly difficult challenges for the character, paired with increasing rewards! As in the previous S.H.I.E.L.D.Training, beating the earlier missions in the columns is required to continue down that column. The 1v1 and Row 1 missions are automatically unlocked on the first day.

Day 0/1 - 1V1 Battles and Row 1 unlock

The rarity of each column is listed at the top. To the left, the day that the mission unlocks is listed. For those interested, here’s what each row entails.

1v1 Battles

• A 1v1 mission using the new character on your team. This mission loans you the character at Max level to really get a handle on their high level play.

• A 1v1 battle *against* the new character to get a feel for them and develop strategies to take them down when the inevitable battle with them on the other side occurs.

Row 1

• Each mission loans the new character for play.

• Each mission loans the other required characters in case you don’t have access to them.

• Loaned characters are of a high level compared to the opponents.

• Each column is more difficult as you move to the right. So the left column is the easiest, while the right is designed to challenge players in SCL 9 and 10. Players aren’t locked to S.H.I.E.L.D. Clearance Levels here, so even players that regularly play in lower SCLs may be able to squeak out wins a column or two to the right.

• As with previous S.H.I.E.L.D. Training, columns are independent, so you can get through any or all of the columns separately. You don’t have to complete the easier ones to get to the harder one in that row.

Day 2 - Row 2 Unlocks

• Each mission loans the new character for play

• Each mission requires the previous other characters, but does NOT loan them.

• Loaned characters are of a lower level than in Row 2.

• Missions require the previous mission in that column to be completed.

Day 3 - Row 3 Unlocks

• Each mission loans the new character for play

• Each mission requires the previous other characters, but does NOT loan them.

• Loaned characters are of a lower level than in Row 3.

• Missions require the previous mission in that column to be completed.

Day 4 - Playground Mission Unlock

• Loans the new character at Max level for play.

• Loans the other required characters.

• This is a wave node designed to be difficult and show off various aspects of the character’s powers.

• Mission requires the previous missions to be completed.

• May be replayed after completion (for no additional rewards)

Rewards will be given out through individual mission rewards as well as from overall progression in the event. Completing each mission will grant you Iso-8, Heroic Tokens, Release Vault tokens, and Command Points. The final mission will reward a Latest Legends token for those that manage to beat it. Progression-wise, players will get Iso-8, Release Vault tokens, and even Shards for the new character being featured.

We hope that the new Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D. event will be more accessible to more players and that players of all roster strengths can get meaningful progress out of it. Once you’ve had a chance to run through the all-new Welcome To S.H.I.E.L.D., we’d appreciate your feedback, no matter what the strength of your roster may be!

Vhailorx

I really like the playground and 1v1 nodes of the new setup. Should be a much better showcase of the character. Very good additions.

More dubious about the fact that you don't specify how many shards are available, nor is it clear on first read what is actually necessary to get the shards.

I see little reason why this couldn't be done for 5* releases either, has that been considered?

Overall, not a disaster, but hard to say more than that without a clearer picture of the actual rewards and essential structures.

MackDan1

Thank you for the thought and effort put into this. 

UNC_Samurai

Ice, I enthusiastically love what you all have put into this new event. However, I would like a little more clarification on this: 

IceIX said:

Day 2 - Row 2 Unlocks

• Each mission requires the previous other characters, but does NOT loan them.

Day 3 - Row 3 Unlocks

• Each mission requires the previous other characters, but does NOT loan them.

In the previous incarnation, this event generated significant amounts of ire for the way players were forced to use new characters before they'd had a chance to obtain covers for them. Can you speak to any revisions to character selection and cover requirement for the new incarnation?

IceIX

Vhailorx said:

More dubious about the fact that you don't specify how many shards are available, nor is it clear on first read what is actually necessary to get the shards.

I see little reason why this couldn't be done for 5* releases either, has that been considered?

Overall, not a disaster, but hard to say more than that without a clearer picture of the actual rewards and essential structures.

You'll be seeing it via the event in a couple days anyway, so it's not so much an oversight as much as being concise in the original post. The Shards are all available via Progression, with the first ones available after clearing the 1v1s, Row 1 and a couple out of Row 2. Or maybe one whole column and a little of another... you know how Progression Rewards work. The rest of the Shards are given out with further progression, with max progression giving the last of them for a total of 200 Shards.

Couple of points there before you point out that that's not a full cover:

• Shards are colorless compared to the colored Cover that it was before.
• Shards are being gained from Placement and Progression in the other New Release events, so it's easier to gain a cover overall
• Shards are available through lower progression totals, rather than *only* if the player was able to clear the whole event
• You'll be loaned the new character at all tiers, so it's not locked behind people that have spent or gotten lucky to pull them.

We're expecting more people to be gaining Shards and redeeming them for covers overall as a result of this event across SCLs, whereas before it was pretty much the higher end vets that had the roster depth to be able to do it for the one cover available.

I see little reason why this couldn't be done for 5* releases either, has that been considered?

It could be, yes. Rewards would have to be rejiggered of course, but the raw functionality of the event would make sense to be upgraded for 5-Star difficulty.

JHawkInc

I dig it. Looking forward to seeing it in practice, and seeing how it works out for people at different levels of play. It kinda sounds exactly like what it needed. It's still Shield Training in essence, it won't be something that gets burned through in a single day, we get to fight against the new character to see them in action that way, the issue of struggling to have the right characters at the right levels is gone (but there's still a benefit to having them), and we get a repeatable playground node.

Hopefully it works out in practice, because it sure looks like it's hitting the right beats on paper.

bluewolf

Thanks for updating this event.  It looks fun to play and I had long advocated for the loaner node in ST which gave you access to the new 4.  Bringing it back is IMO a win/win for the players and developers so we can see what a fully covered character plays like.

I have no complaints about the reduced shards; anyone who wants to finish a new 4 has plenty of opportunity now.  I hope that some newer/less advanced players can have fun with the nodes and get a few more rewards than under the old ST.

Getting vault tokens is also nice since it helps you narrow in on the actual cover for the new 4 that's in there vs the store tokens which, in my experience, never resulted in pulling the actual new character.

I also appreciate the dev team taking the time to lay out the details.  Looking forward to trying it out in a few days.  

Dogface

This is an instance where shards shine. I'm not a new player, but I often had difficulty getting the 4* from Shield training. I had the required character, but most of the time not at lvl 209 (or 10 covers).

Now almost everyone will get at least some shards, and I'm confident I'll be able to welcome the new character before he/she will be essential.

wymtime

Looks interesting.  I am excited to try it out and give feedback.  I like the fact you loan out some characters and it is not locked out if you don’t have a character at a certain level.

now about that May sneak peak thread??😰

Vhailorx

IceIX:

Thanks for the swift clarification.  I don't particularly mind dropping down to a half-cover for the event, but it does surprise me.  4* shards (and to a lesser extent 5* shards) are basically the only resources that are now more-available after the shards/cl10 changes of the last 6 months.  I feel like 4* cover pressure is basically gone for cl9/10 veterans.  Wolfsbane was one of the last 4*s released under the old system, and I have 7 covers for her.  I have more than 18 covers (or shards equivalents) for each of karolina, Northstar and Karnak. and I barely even play PVP.

So I wonder if this means we should expect a 4" cover reward retune in pve. 

I am still curious to see exactly how the essential requirements have changed (e.g., do we still need to have the required characters to 209+?).  But between re-releasing a non-grindy pve event and adding real sandbox nodes to let us really try out a new character, this seems like a fine thing to add back to the game, even if the rewards top out a little lower.

I would encourage demi to consider this event for 5* releases, if just for the sandbox functionality.

bluewolf

Vhailorx said:

IceIX:

Thanks for the swift clarification.  I don't particularly mind dropping down to a half-cover for the event, but it does surprise me.  4* shards (and to a lesser extent 5* shards) are basically the only resources that are now more-available after the shards/cl10 changes of the last 6 months.  I feel like 4* cover pressure is basically gone for cl9/10 veterans.  Wolfsbane was one of the last 4*s released under the old system, and I have 7 covers for her.  I have more than 18 covers (or shards equivalents) for each of karolina, Northstar and Karnak. and I barely even play PVP.

<snip>

Going back to Thanos a year ago, Wolfsbane was one of only 3 of them that only got 3 runs in PVE as an essential (along with Juggernaut and Thanos).  (This includes the event after the new release.)  A lot got 4 runs after Thanos until Torch got 5 runs, and every other 4 since Torch has gotten 5 runs through Karnak (so far).  So Wolfsbane not only was released under the old system but she got shorted significantly as far as a featured 4.  I think it was because they added her to tokens 5 weeks after release, and then new 4's entered tokens quickly enough to force her out after just 2 runs as a "Latest".

In any case, the number of events offering covers for Wolfsbane was 2 less than Karolina, Northstar, Karnak, etc.

abenness

This looks good to me, I look forward to trying it out!

Borstock

"adieu

Should be interesting.

Pandarky

I didn't quite understand if it's only going to be five days or every five days You can play it again 

Feliz

I am excited to see D3 are at least trying to fix up shield according to the feedback received. 

A step forward - now can we have a sneak preview update...

HoundofShadow

Finally, the S.H.I.E.L.D. is back. I see a number of ideas implemented familiar. Glad that feedbacks from players for S.H.I.E.L.D. were actualised.

I like the concept behind the 1 v 1. Has the dev considered loaning out champed new 4* in their release PvPs, restricted to only SCL 10? PvPs of newly released 4* are easier to go through, but their purpose in PvPs usually end up being punching bag, unless they have some good/usable effects at 1/1/1. To prevent abuse, disable their ability to fully auto heal before each match so that we can use healthpacks on them.

It seems like the nodes have been transposed, with the last column of nodes in old SHIELD shifting to the bottom row. However, we get wave nodes as well.

Essential character requirements are still there, but there doesn't seem to be any min level requirements. So, it will still pose a challenge to young rosters. One big improvement for younger rosters are a champed new 4* for them to use.

Looking forward to this next Monday.

y4747

i really like this.
the usual for revised content is two steps forward, one step back, and this is no different with the reduction from a full cover to half a cover.

that being said, the forward steps are huge - great work on listening to feedback! love the max loaner for 1v1 (and against! didn't even think of that, great idea), love the playground. even the layout is much clearer.

also, the step back is smaller than usual, but of the same style as we're used to... i truly believe max progression could have given shards for a full cover without even denting the game economy. the whole point is that you have a shot at a cover even if you miss the release event for some reason. 

overall, i'm happy with the new event. and i remain hopeful that one day, we'll get a game revision that doesn't have that little step back...

will post more thoughts when i play it if they significantly change.

DAZ0273

Looks interesting and I look forward to playing!

One thing though that always concerned me with SHIELD Training is when we get villains released! I don't want SHIELD training the bad guys! Maybe those dudes go to the Taskmaster academy instead. 😁

AXP_isme

I’m looking forward to trying the new shield training and am interested to see how it plays. I like some of the new ideas and can see how this is a bit more forgiving for players without the roster depth to get far in the old style shield training. On the other hand I’m not sure I buy that half a colourless cover is better than one random full cover but 4*s seem to be much easier to fully cover these days so I’m not terribly concerned. 

At first glance this looks like an improvement. 

Loosie

This looks like it's going to be fun. And yes @IceIX I can understand only giving out 200 shards and not a full cover. I honeslty don't have any complaints about that, as with SCL 10 and the amount of shards we get with the events these days I find I'm covering the new 4s a lot faster than I used to.

Northstar, Karolina Dean and Karnak I already have champed at level 290+, Maria Hill and Super-Skrull are both at 13 covers with multiple saved covers and shards.

captainheath

Looks good to me.  I like the idea to see how a new character shines once championed.  I'd love to see this even if the rewards weren't increased for 5 stars too.  It takes forever to see how they work.

I'd even suggest have something like this always going for older characters in between releases.  A lot of newer players don't get to see how the classic characters shine.