Experiment 3: New Release 4* to Ascended 5* timeline

ThaRoadWarrior

4* Shaw looks like he is going to make a good 5*, and I'm also pretty curious how long it will take to go from a brand new release to ascendable now with shards in place. He doesn't seem to have a 3* feeder either, so this will be just pure shards and RNG. Not sure what all info is going to be useful to track here, but I don't really intend to change my style of play for it. So I usually join PVE SCL10 late but not so late that I miss the first sub, do all 4x clears of every node all at once which is sub-optimal but generally good for t200, then I play PVP to at least 500 for the 10cp, sometimes further depending on time, but not as often to 1200 as I once did. I pull latest as I get them and CP from classics once I hit 20, and I don't sit on any tokens other than the 40 item taco vault ones that I spend down to getting the 4* and support token where I then stop as soon as I have 40 of them.

StillMonsoon3

I'm interested in this as well as my play style is pretty close to aligning with yours. Slightly different with LL tokens as I have a small hoard (approx 120 right now), but I otherwise pull as I go.

Is your plan to Max/Max or Max/Min for ascension? Where is your Shaw starting at?

ThaRoadWarrior

I max-min+1 my 4* characters. So I get that first champ level LT and then put them over. I max-max everything below that because they are just reward factories so far.

My Shaw at the moment is 3/4/4 with 285 shards. I was working on Domino, but for the purpose of this experiment I’m going to go ahead and start right now with Shaw as my 4* fav.

entrailbucket

This should be interesting.

You're basically doing the same thing I do, except I started doing it way earlier and I spend more and play more.

I meant to post something on the other experiment thread, but ascension has been pretty wild over here. I changed my 4* strategy from "bonus all the feeders" to "bonus anyone who's not ascended (plus Coulson)," and now I've got every single 4* ascended except Angela (who's 370 and not eligible yet) and Shaw. Coulson is at 518 today.

I've also been 550ing Latests before they rotate out, without spending a single CP on latest. X-23 is 530someting.

Converting a ton of lower tier covers into 1/4 of a 5* has dramatically increased 4* and 5* rewards, to the point where the growth has just become ridiculous. Ascension is crazy because it rolls up -- the more you ascend, the more you can ascend. I'm at 51 550s now.

Grizwald

@entrailbucket said:
Converting a ton of lower tier covers into 1/4 of a 5* has dramatically increased 4* and 5* rewards, to the point where the growth has just become ridiculous. Ascension is crazy because it rolls up -- the more you ascend, the more you can ascend. I'm at 51 550s now.

What do you do when you pull a cover for the 550's? Start a dupe?

entrailbucket

@Grizwald said:

@entrailbucket said:
Converting a ton of lower tier covers into 1/4 of a 5* has dramatically increased 4* and 5* rewards, to the point where the growth has just become ridiculous. Ascension is crazy because it rolls up -- the more you ascend, the more you can ascend. I'm at 51 550s now.

What do you do when you pull a cover for the 550's? Start a dupe?

Yep. I'm assuming that eventually they'll let us ascend 5*. If they don't...oh well, it's just another turbo reward factory.

ThaRoadWarrior

I don't quite think I've hit the "roll up" point, at least not with converted 4 to 5s, but my 1->3s are definitely spitting out LTs and CP here and there, so I believe it is coming at some point. It may be worth noting for posterity I'm Day 2983, F2P since day 1 of play.

Basic Roster Shape:
5* All rostered, all champed except Hunter (19 saved), Mancha (5 saved), Phyla-Vell (2/2/2, current fave), and Aunt May (1/1/1, still new). Best 3 natural 5s are Profe$$or X at 482, Shang at 480, and Okoye at 479.

4 to 5s:
46, best 3 are Chavez at 469, Frost at 460, and Carol/Rogue both at 459

4s: All on roster and champed except Moon Girl with 14 saved covers and 2,665 shards, Angela with 5 saved and 2,645 shards, and Shaw mentioned in a previous post at 3/4/4, 19 of them are at 370 but not ascended, all have various dupes either waiting on iso or partially built.

3 to 4s: just 4 here, best is arcade at 308

3s: all on roster, historically i would flip these rather than dupe them, so i was a little behind compared to other long timers when ascension went live. 18 of these are at 266, i do have some dupes started here, some further than others.

2-3: 11, best is hawkeye at 259

1-3: 6, best is iron man at 232

2: 14, most with just a cover or 3 since new covers go on the ascended ones. I have 2x nightcrawler because of the challenge on his release, one is 116 the other is a 1/3/5 partial build. I have two bag-mans, a max and a second at 101.

1-2: spider-man (95), venom (144, 103), and yelena (144)

1: hawkeye 0/0/1, juggs 0/0/1, and then 3x Yelenas, one 3/5/5, one 3/3/5, and a 0/0/2

I'm probably going to champ Moon Girl to free up those resources next once i get the iso, though it isn't all that much further to champ Hunter whose 19 champ levels would probably be good at bringing the bank back up relatively quickly so I may do that instead. I currently have 9 free roster slots, total slots is 402

I've definitely noticed that using iso to ascend low characters has become much more of a priority than using it to keep new releases champed for whatever reason. Pretty much flipped the old "champ from the top down" advice.

entrailbucket

You have 46 4->5s???? I wonder what that looks like compared to folks who follow a more traditional roster strategy. That number seems high to me, based on comments around here.

You're going to hit that "roll up" point, and you're going to hit it sooner than you think.

ThaRoadWarrior

I do, yeah, and 6 more just waiting on iso for their dupes and 3 or 4 after that with dupes that just need a couple more covers. I think my 4* roster was out of proportion to a lot of the traditional strategy players just because of how much I was in Classic, and also spending as I go means that i'm steadily pulling down covers and shards - there are probably people with mega hoards that could get here really fast if they wanted to break.

Grizwald

I have one 4 -> 5, with three more that are close to having dupes ready. I'm doing the max/min for them. Except for Shuri, because I don't really have a need for her as a 5.

ThaRoadWarrior

Apropos of Nothing, but I always build my characters from the bottom color to the top, going to 4/4/4 as a holdover from the old Shield Training days, and how it always somehow seemed harder to get that top color. Anybody else have a definite order for that type of thing?

ThaRoadWarrior

Got the iso to champ Moon Girl, shaw is now 4/4/4 after burning the rewards. So far so good.

JoeHandle

Good luck on your quest, OP! While I know that I could ascend a new 4 in ~90 days after release (Have to wait through a season to be able to favorite them, by that time I have them ~300, once favorited I can add 40lvls/mo to a single favorite, more (a lot more) if opening latests), I also know I won't be doing it anytime soon.

I'm committed to max-max'ing my existing 4s, and it's going well. Elevated 2 of them this week, the payouts are nice, having them jump to 475 is sweet. Going well, but there are dozens to go.

Shaw has a lot of promise, but for now, even if I was to make a max+min "exception" for a promising character, I don't want to focus on one character for a couple months when I have a cavalcade of characters that can be done in a week or a couple weeks each! ... he'll get there ...

JoeHandle

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
Apropos of Nothing, but I always build my characters from the bottom color to the top, going to 4/4/4 as a holdover from the old Shield Training days, and how it always somehow seemed harder to get that top color. Anybody else have a definite order for that type of thing?

I do the same! I add covers to the lowest covered color, and, if there's a tie for least covered, I add to the lowest. So a 3/3/3 becomes a 3/3/4 ... a 2/2/3 a 2/3/3 ... a 1/3/1 a 1/3/2. Same superstition, that the top color is the least likely to drop.

ThaRoadWarrior

I think it is actually because feeders used to drop top middle bottom, so it was the opposite cause: you’d definitely get a top color at first feeder level, so building bottom up was a way to make sure somebody was champable sooner.

Daredevil217

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
I do, yeah, and 6 more just waiting on iso for their dupes and 3 or 4 after that with dupes that just need a couple more covers. I think my 4* roster was out of proportion to a lot of the traditional strategy players just because of how much I was in Classic, and also spending as I go means that i'm steadily pulling down covers and shards - there are probably people with mega hoards that could get here really fast if they wanted to break.

I have only 20 using the traditional method, having hoarded a ton of all token types (so not opening as much as you period), and using my bonus shards strictly on Polaris who is one of my 5s. I would only have 9 4a5s right now if not for the rewards mess up that got me to ascend 11 early for the prizes. I do however have 76 more that I could ascend right now but am instead farming for rewards (so 96 total 4s5s). Not too shabby.

But I’ve played a year longer than you so that makes a big difference too I’m sure.

ThaRoadWarrior

I seem to recall you were hanging on to 3 sets of dupes, right? Was that for all tiers, or just 1,2,3?

ThaRoadWarrior

Oh, Shaw now has 13 covers, but I'm iso poor so he isn't yet champed. I may not champ him right away either just because of the banked rewards on other characters who have been waiting longer.

Daredevil217

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
I seem to recall you were hanging on to 3 sets of dupes, right? Was that for all tiers, or just 1,2,3?

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
I seem to recall you were hanging on to 3 sets of dupes, right? Was that for all tiers, or just 1,2,3?

4* I hang on to everything. They take forever to max champ. Most I have a max and a dupe somewhere between 270 and 369. Hence the 96 number that could be ascended to 5* tier.

3* I had I think 3 max and a 4th churning through for farming. But IM40 is my only 5* and that’s because I favorited him and mass opened stockpiled mighties.

2* I had 2 max and a third cycling through. I think most of them are single 3* status. They range between 228 and 258. Most are in the 240s. So almost maxed at that tier.

1* I just had one of each for collection/catch em all purposes.

slidecage

Where is everyone getting all of these covers lol or it shows how little iplayed in last 3 or 4 years

Only 3 star I got pushed to 5 is storm
I'm lucky if I got some 4s max let alone start to work on a duo

Same with 3s. I got them all max but nowhere do I have a 2nd more more then mid range

dramatist

I have 43 4s ascended to 5s. I have another 21 4*s with a champed dupe that are awaiting ascension that I have not been motivated to ascend yet. Most of those are mid to low tier like Flaptain or Mr. Fantastic or Drax. None of the champed dupe are over 285 (Miles Morales) and I’ll do them when I think about it. I most recently ascended Hulkbuster because it was his crash and I wanted it to be on easy mode.