After 1 Year and $1200 this is what I got

Daredevil217

Bad, If you’re referring to me, I’m not F2P, lol. And I’m also not criticizing. I agree with EB that F2P players should absolutely thank the spenders of this game for “keeping the lights on” but like many other posters have pointed out here, I don’t see people criticizing bbiggler for spending, but rather pointing out that it absolutely contributes to the rate of success. As does the hours logged. The degree to which- that’s what people are debating. Or were until the whole thing got derailed by an off-topic comment. While those types F2P posters do exist, I don’t see any in this thread and have no idea what it has to do with conversation.

Bad

@Daredevil217 said:

. While those types F2P posters do exist, I don’t see any in this thread and have no idea what it has to do with conversation.
>

Then see it another time because some of them are admitting it.
OP already said how much % he thinks money speed up things.
The fact that they are here opining against spending money reveals their pov.
Ask it to the guy and his wife.

Daredevil217

@Bad said:

@Daredevil217 said:

. While those types F2P posters do exist, I don’t see any in this thread and have no idea what it has to do with conversation.
>

Then see it another time because some of them are admitting it.
OP already said how much % he thinks money speed up things.
The fact that they are here opining against spending money reveals their pov.
Ask it to the guy and his wife.

I don’t think people are arguing against spending money. That’s silly. The are opining against what % of impact money actually has on progress. Which I think is fair. Many believe it has a greater impact than the OP believes it does, but that’s not the same thing as saying “spending money is bad!” (Again, I’m a spender myself).

KGB

@Daredevil217 said:

@Bad said:

@Daredevil217 said:

. While those types F2P posters do exist, I don’t see any in this thread and have no idea what it has to do with conversation.
>

Then see it another time because some of them are admitting it.
OP already said how much % he thinks money speed up things.
The fact that they are here opining against spending money reveals their pov.
Ask it to the guy and his wife.

I don’t think people are arguing against spending money. That’s silly. The are opining against what % of impact money actually has on progress. Which I think is fair. Many believe it has a greater impact than the OP believes it does, but that’s not the same thing as saying “spending money is bad!” (Again, I’m a spender myself).

A rough back of envelope calculation based on what he wrote:

• $900 on roster slots.
• $20-25 a week or roughly one Logans Loonies (19.95)

900/19.95=45 purchases. Each one yields 2900 HP so 130827 HP. At 1000 cost per slot that's ~130 roster slots purchased (out of his 317 total).

Of course he may have gotten deals (extra HP on his purchase) and early roster slots cost less than 1000 but 130 is a reasonable ball park figure for what he purchased outright vs earned.

We don't know what the other 300 was spent on (VIP?) but regular purchases also give you TONS of bonus resources from PvE because you purchased something that month (as a VIP member I figure I earn at least 1000-2000 extra HP a month from the bonus rewards). So figure another 12-24 roster slots from those bonus resources and your up to ~150ish or roughly half his roster total.

Again, back of envelope math but seems likely to be close to reality.

All the other things like the 49 million ISO, the countless covers for all his characters etc were earn via those 5-6 hrs a day playing. He literally played the equivalent of 5 years for the average player in 1 years time. I don't work that hard at my day job!

KGB

bbigler

I thought I would check in on this thread and I’m surprised it has so much activity. Let me address a few things:

1) Time Spent - yes this was huge and it affected my normal life. I have a good job, a big family, a big house and tons of responsibilities that go with that. Here’s a rough breakdown of the daily commitment:

PVP - 45 min
PVE - 1 hr 20 min
DDQ - 15 min
Opening tokens, applying covers, roster planning, etc => 40 min
Alliance Chat - 20 min
Forum Posts - 40 min

Plus, weekly time of:
17 Lightning Rounds - 7 hrs
Shield Sim - 20 min

My phone told me my usage time went from 1 hr per day to 7 when I started playing again. I’m the type of person that wants to do his very best at whatever he commits to.

2) Money Spent - I was smart and bought HP deals or the SCL Starter Packs or any other good deal, including Lightning deals. It was a judgment call of “will this amount of money make a significant difference?” Spending $15 for 750K ISO to champ 2 more 4-stars was worth it to me. Spending $25 to get 3 x 5-Star covers of the character I really wanted was worth it. These kinds of purchases were rare and not the norm - they totaled about $300 over an entire year. Out of my 339 x 5-Star covers I collected, only 7 were directly purchased. Because I spent so much time playing, these purchases only gave me a little boost, not a big one. For people that play half as much as me, it would be a big boost.

3) My Progression - there’s a cyclical improvement between getting better fighters and building your reward farms. I like to measure my production by how many pulls I get from LTs and CP combined. For the first 6 months I was getting about 15 - 20 pulls per week. Then for the next 4 months it was about 20 - 25 pulls, then my last 2 months were 25 - 35 pulls. My rate at champing 5-stars also accelerated in a similar way where half of them were champed in just the last 3 months.

The acceleration in rewards is what new players should understand. Get up to speed as fast as you can, then you can coast at that high speed with less effort. I knew this, which is why I spent this amount of time and money when restarting the game.

4) The Argument - how much difference did spending make? This is purely a guess since I didn’t track every resource I got from spending and even if I did, it’s hard to calculate those downstream benefits which last indefinitely. But I could see a general “speed up” when I did buy something, so I base my estimate of 15% faster on those observations. To truly know the difference you would have to start 2 accounts at the same time, play them the same way but only spend money on one of them. And no one is going to do that experiment.

Perhaps the real take away from this thread is that a new player can quickly enter 5-Star play with a good base roster within a year if they dedicate 4 hrs a day along with $100 total a month. I’m sure that’s an extreme minority of players, but I guess I just wanted to show what’s possible. Can we leave it as that? This is what’s possible within a year.

bbigler

Just in case someone wants proof, here’s a couple screenshots:

ThaRoadWarrior

I just checked my useage as an Elder F2P Roster (forever f2p, not a retired spender), and my phone says last week my daily MPQ average was 2hr 33min/day, with a peak on monday and friday above 3, and a dip on wednesday below 2. With Okoye boosted this week, my daily average is 1hr 16 minutes. Frankly, these numbers are lower than what it "feels" like I spend, I too would have told you I was probably up around the 5hrs/day mark from gut feel. I don't engage with lightning rounds, my alliance chat is a ghost town, and my roster "plan" is just whoever in latest is unchamped as my favorite, or else whoever is nearest a level. $1200 on a single game is outside my personal limit of acceptable spending by at least an order of magnitude, but if OP (or anyone) is fine with it and it's in-budget, more power to you. I'm on day 2850, so if you're a new player who doesn't want to spend like that, then stay in school and don't do drugs and one day you too can have a roster like me i suppose lol.

Punter1

As an elderer F2P roster (day 3575), my phone said I spent ~2hrs daily on MPQ.

The roster progress speed, regardless of the $ spend, is somewhat good to see. It took me 3.5 years to get a champ 5*, compared to the levels seen here in 1 year it's night and day.

Despite my own enjoyment and amount of play, I've always rated this game low for others, especially in the "would you recommend" surveys. I rarely would recommend to a new player as while the match-3 game is easy, the roster management & growth is now a Herculean task. BBigler at least comes in eyes-wide open and ready to tackle that task with a good amount of experience that likely helped almost as much as the $ invested.

I'm not sure this write up convinces me that MPQ is worthwhile recommending to a new player, but the progress speed now on offer continues to improve and make it slightly more manageable.

ThaRoadWarrior

The 0 roster to a champed Shang-Chi at Week 14 is kinda wild, speaking of speed.

bbigler

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
The 0 roster to a champed Shang-Chi at Week 14 is kinda wild, speaking of speed.

It was crazy; there are great milestone rewards for getting 5-Star covers which reward 5-star shards. Combine that with bonus shards (plus he was in Latest) and I got about 1 cover per week.

HowDoIUnlockBatman

Well I spent $1201 and that is why I am better than you.

Seriously though, this post gives off major 'you need a high IQ to understand Rick and Morty vibes'. I'm hoping it's a troll because using words like wisdom and smart to describe your path to championing gwenom and ultron is hilarious.

Tell me, exactly when in the last 12 months was shang chi in latest? Why are the majority of your 5*s from 2+ years ago?

https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/67016/character-release-dates

Where's Kang? Where's HEvo?

I mean your roster is hot garbage but even so, what exactly are you doing that PVE takes you so long? Do you use abilities at all or do you kill everyone with match damage? Did you spend all your money on health packs? You spend 40 minutes a day planning your roster and this is what you come up with?

I mean even if you were telling the truth, for the love of God. If you're a new player, ignore everything this guy says. The game is totally different to what it was a year ago (when i started)

The increased bonus shards change mid year totally changed the game and then champions 2.0 changed it again in a big way. When i started, the optimum route was to get to scl10 as fast as possible but now the rewards from the lower scls are actually useful so I'd totally focus on farming, ascending and selling 1s and 2s, keeping my roster small and building up resources for 3* land. Then repeat the process, taking the decent ascendable characters with me and whatever 3s are useful or feeders. Theres no need to roster everyone anymore because what you might miss by not having a required character, you will get back in spades when you unhoard all the rewards from championing/ascending.

Anyway, it's too late for that now. I'm deep into a full roster and starting from scratch is not appealing. After the anniversary, im barely mustering up the motivation to log in each day. I'll see what the changes to supports and the rest of the ascendable characters is like but beyond that who knows

So I've definitely spent more than this guy during the last year. No idea how much, if you're keeping track then you probably shouldn't be spending in the first place. I used to spend all my money on drugs. Now i don't. I don't need to justify myself to you or that guys wife. Do whatever you want.

The thing people always repeat is how whales (I'm not a whale btw) fund the game for all the free players. Well if that were the case then why do they feel the need to have such predatory offers? The whales are going to spend no matter what right? I haven't seen the accounts so i don't know but vip + a couple of lightning deals a week soon adds up to a tidy sum over the course of a year. Then when you bring in absolute garbage like a vault that contains a token that gives you a chance to get another token that gives you a 1:7 chance to get a 5*... Who exactly are they aiming that at? Problem gamblers? Children?

Anyway, tldr : op is full of it. I spent more money than him using my smart wisdom and these are my milestones. Im not showing my roster because it could identify me and i dont want to have to interact with any of you people. Basicalky 4 of my 5* are over 500. 6 of my 4* are maxed. Currently working on ascending all the 3*.

Scofie

@HowDoIUnlockBatman

What an odd post. Just because your experience was different doesn't make the OP wrong. Especially because you've spent more but you can't quantify how much more. If I bought everything, every day for a year I'd have a better new roster than you. Also you've been paying for an extra 20 days, which, whilst not hugely significant, may also account for the differences.

Also interesting that you don't want to interact with "[us] people". I can take it from that that you didn't want to engage in a conversation, and your only intent was to pointlessly brag and insult others. Being respectful is not difficult - please bear that in mind for future posts.

And while I've got the floor, if you do quit, don't go back to the drugs. Not sure they'll help your sense of perspective.

HowDoIUnlockBatman

No, what makes OP wrong is that his experience didn't take place within the last year, whereas mine did. Do you think he favourited the five stars he has champed or do you think it may be slightly more possible he pulled those covers when they were in latest legends, consecutively over a period of six months from sep21 onwards?

He literally says Shang chi was in latest the post above mine. Do you even read peoples posts or are you just waiting to jump on new members to flex your mod powers that nobody cares about?

You've pretty much just proved the point why i don't want to interact with you people in the game. I said nothing about the forum did i? I just don't want to have to shield 24/7 to prevent the constant attacks from whichever of the discord/line clique I've offended today.

Bowgentle

Yeah OP conveniently skipped the Chasm reign of terror where Shang wasn't giving him many PVP wins.

DAZ0273

If Shang Chi was in Latest legends when he was champed then this can't be a 1 year period surely? Shang was released in August 2021meaning he would have rotated out of Latest before the end of 2021? Not looking to have a dig at anybody but the timeframe is confusing.

Bowgentle

@DAZ0273 said:
If Shang Chi was in Latest legends when he was champed then this can't be a 1 year period surely? Shang was released in August 2021meaning he would have rotated out of Latest before the end of 2021? Not looking to have a dig at anybody but the timeframe is confusing.

OP played from October 21 to May 22, then again from July 23 to now.
Skipping Chasm.

Scofie

@HowDoIUnlockBatman said:
No, what makes OP wrong is that his experience didn't take place within the last year, whereas mine did. Do you think he favourited the five stars he has champed or do you think it may be slightly more possible he pulled those covers when they were in latest legends, consecutively over a period of six months from sep21 onwards?

He literally says Shang chi was in latest the post above mine. Do you even read peoples posts or are you just waiting to jump on new members to flex your mod powers that nobody cares about?

You've pretty much just proved the point why i don't want to interact with you people in the game. I said nothing about the forum did i? I just don't want to have to shield 24/7 to prevent the constant attacks from whichever of the discord/line clique I've offended today.

I think he meant Fan Favourites store, rather than LL, but yes, I believe his progress was over the last year. And I think he did favourite them. I think the previous knowledge of the game helped too, so not directly comparable to a new player experience.

I actually read your post twice. My mod powers involved the "reply" button, which you clearly have access to also. I didn't edit your post, or delete it. I called out your lack of respect to other posters, which now you are displaying to me.

I mean, if you generally are thinking people will attack you in game because of your attitude on various channels, perhaps you might want to reflect on how you come across on them.

Scofie

@Bowgentle said:

@DAZ0273 said:
If Shang Chi was in Latest legends when he was champed then this can't be a 1 year period surely? Shang was released in August 2021meaning he would have rotated out of Latest before the end of 2021? Not looking to have a dig at anybody but the timeframe is confusing.

OP played from October 21 to May 22, then again from July 23 to now.
Skipping Chasm.

Oh, that was not clear from the OP. Assumed it was FF store, not LL.

Bowgentle

@Scofie said:

@Bowgentle said:

@DAZ0273 said:
If Shang Chi was in Latest legends when he was champed then this can't be a 1 year period surely? Shang was released in August 2021meaning he would have rotated out of Latest before the end of 2021? Not looking to have a dig at anybody but the timeframe is confusing.

OP played from October 21 to May 22, then again from July 23 to now.
Skipping Chasm.

Oh, that was not clear from the OP. Assumed it was FF store, not LL.

He says so in the OP.

bluewolf

Since we’re talking about timing: having the foresight to begin playing at the right time is important if you’re looking for max/min time spent etc.

The anniversary is obviously a windfall for players who are willing to spend / hoard if your goal is building meta characters.

I was not around in 2022 where it was even better than this year, apparently, but it seems to me the devs are at this point going all in on making the meta acquirable during anniversary. So if you had a goal of seeing how far you could get in a year, having October be at or near the end o that year would be extremely helpful in terms of being able to best take advantage of the various bundles/vaults that are apparently a fixture of anniversary and allow a lot of rapid progress in the most important characters.

I realize the OP didn’t do this, but if one is thinking about what you could do in a year it’s very important in the current era.