Thoughts after Restarting: 7 Months

bbigler

So I was really looking forward to champing Crystal and playing SCL 10 for the first time, which I did, but it wasn’t as great as I thought it would be.  I also want to show some new teams I’ve discovered with my few 5* champs.  And lastly, I’m contemplating when to quit the game again.  But first, here’s my roster after 7 months: 

Rank 121, Slots 213
3*s: All champed between 195 and 259
     - Dr Strange has surged ahead of everyone
4*s: 19 Champs going up to level 292

       - 8 more that are “champable”
5*s: 4 Champs! 27 rostered, missing 42
       Lvl 456 Crystal
       Lvl 453 Shang
       Lvl 451 Sersi
       Lvl 450 Gamora
       Lvl 360 Ultron 5/4/2 shards 150
       Lvl 257 Elektra 2/3/4 shards 1
       Lvl 257 Moony 4/2/2 shards 360 
       Lvl 257 Abby 1/3/3 shards 375
       Lvl 256 Shuma 0/2/1 shards 225
Supports:
       Lvl 5 = 1 (Chewie)
       Lvl 4 = 3 (Batons, Henchmen, Shuri Lab)
       Lvl 3 = 12
       Lvl 2 = 12
       Lvl 1 = 12

The Disappointment…..

I champed Crystal about 2 weeks ago and immediately used her with Shang in PVP.  Instead of doing my first shield around 1050 points, it was around 1200 points, so I thought this was a breakthrough.  But for the subsequent PVPs I was back down to shielding around 1050 again.  It was very frustrating, especially since it’s harder to win with Crystal (instead of Valkyrie) helping Shang. Now, I did get attacked less with Crystal but it was also harder to win battles (even with boosts).  So I’m back to climbing with Valkyrie and champing Crystal seemed like a waste.  But then I realized that what I really needed in PVP was boosted champed 5*s and not a small set of good 5*s.  So champing Crystal is just a step towards having more frequent boosted options.  So my advice to all is to champ them all, not just the top 10.  

I’ve been playing SCL 10 in PVE for a week now.  As expected, the battles are harder but there’s fewer clears to do.  The end result is that my grind time has gone up about 10 minutes (that’s disappointing).  And my rank has gone down from top 5 to top 50 (likewise in PVP).  I haven’t analyzed the rewards but I’ve heard it’s worth it.  I’m currently tracking my production rates in SCL 10 for comparison to SCL 9.  The challenge node in SCL 10 is certainly formidable with level 650 enemies, but Shang can handle it with the right team.  I wouldn’t attempt it with 4*s alone.  

The Excitement…..
When I champed Sersi I started experimenting with winfinite teams and found a good one with Quake & Kamala.  Sersi restricts Red and creates purple strikes.  Then you simply go back and forth between Sersi green to fortify & buff those strikes while adding purple.  Then Kamala uses purple to add green.  That alone is winfinite, but Quake can further reduce colors.  I tried this team on the SCL 10 Hard Wave node and it did very well.  Sersi is also a good counter to IHulk in PVP.  

When I champed Gamora and tried pairing her with Valkyrie & Melinda to produce 7 Red every turn (Gamora’s awesome AOE costs 9).  I discovered that that team was faster than Shang in SCL 9!   It could fire off 2 x 11K AOEs on the 2nd turn.  That clears nodes very fast.  As long as the enemies are below level 450, it was faster than my Shang teams.  That was very exciting to discover.  Shang handled the harder nodes, but Gamora swept through everyone else.  Now in SCL 10 Shang is doing most of the work again.  

The Gamora team lead me to a new Shang team where purple is the strongest color due to attaching BW Batons to Shang.  Combined with Quantum Realm and AP boosts, I can start placing criticals on the first turn.  It then builds from there with big hits.  After testing and timing different teams in SCL 10 I discovered that this one was the fastest I’ve got.  

The End?…….
 I’m in the long haul now, champing 4*s and collecting 5*s.  The LTs are flowing in now from champ rewards so I’m confident that I can champ all new 5*s that come out, plus I’m steadily getting covers for Classic 5*s too. But it’s still a long time until I have all 4*s champed and rostered all 5*s.  After adjusting my expectations in SCL 10, the only interesting thing from the game is trying out new teams either due to the weekly boosts or new champs.  I imagine I’ll want to quit sometime this summer, but to have some satisfaction I should make a goal to hit.  I just don’t know what to aim for.  Champing more 5*s?  Hitting a certain placement in events?  Achieving some level of production?  The only thing that would keep me going is discovering new teams, but I ultimately want to quit because I can’t keep up this pace forever.  

Chirus

Loved following your journey these past few months. I think what remains might be chasing after classic metas or attempting challenge runs using certain team setups, whether it's an all spidey team or an all Wakandan team. Or you could set up a new account and see if you can speedrun your progress using various progression strategies. Beyond that, the only goals to aim for are collections-based. It's an endless hamster wheel, admittedly. But you shouldn't feel pressured to stay on it when you've had your fill. This feels like a universal problem with F2P games. It's hard to tell when you've had enough because they always have a carrot dangling around the corner. Either way, it was a pleasure to follow along with your progression and point others to it as well.

HoundofShadow

I have never thought about Quake because Storm could destroy all tiles of a chosen colour. Since you have Sersi in there, it makes sense because there won't be overlap.

Personally, I find getting T5 in scl 9> T10 in scl 10. While you can get 5x more 5* shards and more 4* covers, I still find scl 9 is better for my current hoarding style because you get 1 LT per event, which works out to ~ 8 LTs or 200 cps equivalent a month.

As for end goals, typically, you

1) become a completionist
2) be someone who enjoy creating or playing with different teams
3) simply log in to play a few rounds to kill time

Or a big challenge: create a new non-boosted 450 5* team (not including SC ot Colossus) to hit T10 in pves. I think this should be challenging enough. 

bbigler

Thanks @Chirus! I appreciate that.  I think the best reward is knowing that I’ve inspired others.  I don’t think I could have progressed any faster than I did, meaning I don’t think there’s a better way.  Getting a set of 5* champs and playing SCL 10 was my unofficial goal.  This is an endless hamster wheel and someone will always be ahead of you no matter how many people you pass.  

As for 5* champs, I sacrificed pulls for Abby & Wheel and gave them to Crystal.  I don’t think I’ll finish Elektra before she leaves, but Moony and Shuma can be champed.  I guess I would like to get more playtime when my 5* champs are boosted.  So the more I have, the more often that will happen.  

KGB

 The only thing that would keep me going is discovering new teams, but I ultimately want to quit because I can’t keep up this pace forever.  

I too have loved following your progress. I'm constantly amazed at how fast you have been able to progress.

I am curious about the statement above. How many hours a day are you playing to achieve this (obviously you are playing to the PvE schedule to get T10 or better so I know your revolving your life around that as a minimum). Also, have you spent any more money in the fast few months or was all your spending in the early months for roster slots and now you are self sufficient?

KGB

bbigler

@HoundofShadow You are like me in some ways, finding enjoyment in the engineering of the game (creating & testing new teams).  You’re generally positive about new characters and try to figure out the best way to use them. My aforementioned Gamora team is competitive, but only in SCL 9.  I can still use it in SCL 10 for the first few clears though.  But anyone playing SCL 9 that has a champed 5*Gamora should try it out!  It’s surprisingly fast.  

@dianetics I have hoped to bring the perspective of new players to the view of old players.  It’s always good to consider other people’s circumstances and not just your own. I also hoped to show new players that they can progress quickly if they want to.  Plus, I wanted to break the myth that hoarding is the best way to play.  

What I really want to do is have a boosted 5* Champ for the week and use a team to exploit their powers.  For example, Crystal will be featured in a few more PVEs and when she’s boosted her 6 Green AOE will hit for around 17K.  So it would be fun to exploit that with a team that feeds her Green.  Or I could have a team that floods the board with red tiles to exploit her passive dmg, which should be around 10K per red match.  

This is something I can look forward to: 
Boosted Gamora hits with a 26K AOE
Boosted Sersi creates 4300 strikes & buffs for 3000

Boosted Elektra hits 20K for each trap tile
Boosted Moony Green hits for 36K while reducing & hitting for 11K
     Then his black hits for 82K and heals 61K
Boosted Shuma passively hitting for 10K with his Blue hitting for 10K per AP!
It would also be great to climb in PvP with a boosted 5* and not get attacked every 2 seconds

I’ve already experienced playing with a boosted Shang that can do 500K critical hits (that’s crazy btw)

ThaRoadWarrior

It’s interesting how often the boost list has next to no synergy internally, and any unboosted synergy you find isn’t a reliable defense team. I expect when the day comes you get to experience that, it will be the day you pull the plug unfortunately. I’m curious myself how I’ll feel once i finish champing the last 7 classic 5s I have remaining. It’s such a part of my day at this point I think I’d probably just keep going on autopilot, but “champ em all” has been my primary target all this time and it does feel like the end is in sight for that particular goal for me.