Marvel Puzzle Quest: Character Rebalances - Batch #2 (Nov 13, 2025)

entrailbucket

The other problem you're going to have is that in some CLs, the progression thresholds will be impossible to reach. We see this in s2 vs s1 -- it's pretty simple to hit 1200 in s1, but you get bad placement. In s2 it's much harder to hit 1200 but you're almost always top 5 with that score.

In the new, much smaller matchmaking pools (because we are dividing each time slice into 10 separate pools) this would be exacerbated pretty significantly.

The fix is really simple -- get rid of progression completely and roll those rewards into placement. Make PvP into an actual competition. And since you're only competing against your peers, it should be no issue for anyone!

MegaBee

@entrailbucket said:

The fix is really simple -- get rid of progression completely and roll those rewards into placement. Make PvP into an actual competition. And since you're only competing against your peers, it should be no issue for anyone!

No! God, no!

entrailbucket

@MegaBee said:

@entrailbucket said:

The fix is really simple -- get rid of progression completely and roll those rewards into placement. Make PvP into an actual competition. And since you're only competing against your peers, it should be no issue for anyone!

No! God, no!

I mean, it'd be impossible to hit progression in some combinations of CL/end time. They'd have to do something, or lots of players would miss out on rewards they get now.

Grantosium

How would it be impossible to hit progression?

Most people I hear from are playing for 25 wins, not points. Even soft cap teams punching up over 100 levels can reliably finish a match, turn 1, in 2 minutes using the right team. So 25 wins equates to 50 minutes and the points don't matter. Compared to the ridiculous time demands of PvE that's no time at all.

DAZ0273

@Grantosium said:
How would it be impossible to hit progression?

Most people I hear from are playing for 25 wins, not points. Even soft cap teams punching up over 100 levels can reliably finish a match, turn 1, in 2 minutes using the right team. So 25 wins equates to 50 minutes and the points don't matter. Compared to the ridiculous time demands of PvE that's no time at all.

If there was no progression, there would be no need for wins either, so I think he is saying PvP would return to being completely points based as it was originally. Could be wrong of course.

MegaBee

@DAZ0273 said:

@Grantosium said:
How would it be impossible to hit progression?

Most people I hear from are playing for 25 wins, not points. Even soft cap teams punching up over 100 levels can reliably finish a match, turn 1, in 2 minutes using the right team. So 25 wins equates to 50 minutes and the points don't matter. Compared to the ridiculous time demands of PvE that's no time at all.

If there was no progression, there would be no need for wins either, so I think he is saying PvP would return to being completely points based as it was originally. Could be wrong of course.

Yeah, I don't like that at all.

entrailbucket

@Grantosium said:
How would it be impossible to hit progression?

Most people I hear from are playing for 25 wins, not points. Even soft cap teams punching up over 100 levels can reliably finish a match, turn 1, in 2 minutes using the right team. So 25 wins equates to 50 minutes and the points don't matter. Compared to the ridiculous time demands of PvE that's no time at all.

I don't think this is universal at all. It's significantly faster and easier to play for points progression for lots of players. If they had to play for wins instead I think they'd be very upset.

BriMan2222

@entrailbucket said:

@Grantosium said:
How would it be impossible to hit progression?

Most people I hear from are playing for 25 wins, not points. Even soft cap teams punching up over 100 levels can reliably finish a match, turn 1, in 2 minutes using the right team. So 25 wins equates to 50 minutes and the points don't matter. Compared to the ridiculous time demands of PvE that's no time at all.

I don't think this is universal at all. It's significantly faster and easier to play for points progression for lots of players. If they had to play for wins instead I think they'd be very upset.

Yeah, I can hit 1200 points in like 20 matches usually. Going for wins takes much, much longer.

KGB

@BriMan2222 said:

@entrailbucket said:

@Grantosium said:
How would it be impossible to hit progression?

Most people I hear from are playing for 25 wins, not points. Even soft cap teams punching up over 100 levels can reliably finish a match, turn 1, in 2 minutes using the right team. So 25 wins equates to 50 minutes and the points don't matter. Compared to the ridiculous time demands of PvE that's no time at all.

I don't think this is universal at all. It's significantly faster and easier to play for points progression for lots of players. If they had to play for wins instead I think they'd be very upset.

Yeah, I can hit 1200 points in like 20 matches usually. Going for wins takes much, much longer.

That's a world I am not familiar with. I play in S5 and I am lucky if I see even 1 match worth 60 points never mind multiple matches worth 60 or lord forbid multiple matches worth 60 that I could win!

In the last 3 PvPs (and I am joining more than 1 day before the event ends, sometimes 2 days before) I have ground out 25 wins for 700ish points. Even crazier is that once past 550ish points I have broken MMR (start seeing 550+ teams and get hit by 670 teams). I'll also note that 700 points is getting me a T25 finish now too. Those are things that NEVER happened before (used to need 900-1000 points to finish T25) and says the bleeding of players in PvP is VERY high.

KGB

BriMan2222

@KGB said:

@BriMan2222 said:

@entrailbucket said:

@Grantosium said:
How would it be impossible to hit progression?

Most people I hear from are playing for 25 wins, not points. Even soft cap teams punching up over 100 levels can reliably finish a match, turn 1, in 2 minutes using the right team. So 25 wins equates to 50 minutes and the points don't matter. Compared to the ridiculous time demands of PvE that's no time at all.

I don't think this is universal at all. It's significantly faster and easier to play for points progression for lots of players. If they had to play for wins instead I think they'd be very upset.

Yeah, I can hit 1200 points in like 20 matches usually. Going for wins takes much, much longer.

That's a world I am not familiar with. I play in S5 and I am lucky if I see even 1 match worth 60 points never mind multiple matches worth 60 or lord forbid multiple matches worth 60 that I could win!

In the last 3 PvPs (and I am joining more than 1 day before the event ends, sometimes 2 days before) I have ground out 25 wins for 700ish points. Even crazier is that once past 550ish points I have broken MMR (start seeing 550+ teams and get hit by 670 teams). I'll also note that 700 points is getting me a T25 finish now too. Those are things that NEVER happened before (used to need 900-1000 points to finish T25) and says the bleeding of players in PvP is VERY high.

KGB

I play in slice 2, which is also a very low scoring slice. I can find 60 - 70 point matches very early in my climb and then climb to about 1000 on 40ish point teams. Then I can shield hop to 1200 off 50 point teams once I que up people that climb over 1200.

If you don't care about placement, you can easily get to 1200 in slice 1 or 4. They run the scores up stupid high there and there is an abundance of high point ques.

entrailbucket

@KGB said:

@BriMan2222 said:

@entrailbucket said:

@Grantosium said:
How would it be impossible to hit progression?

Most people I hear from are playing for 25 wins, not points. Even soft cap teams punching up over 100 levels can reliably finish a match, turn 1, in 2 minutes using the right team. So 25 wins equates to 50 minutes and the points don't matter. Compared to the ridiculous time demands of PvE that's no time at all.

I don't think this is universal at all. It's significantly faster and easier to play for points progression for lots of players. If they had to play for wins instead I think they'd be very upset.

Yeah, I can hit 1200 points in like 20 matches usually. Going for wins takes much, much longer.

That's a world I am not familiar with. I play in S5 and I am lucky if I see even 1 match worth 60 points never mind multiple matches worth 60 or lord forbid multiple matches worth 60 that I could win!

In the last 3 PvPs (and I am joining more than 1 day before the event ends, sometimes 2 days before) I have ground out 25 wins for 700ish points. Even crazier is that once past 550ish points I have broken MMR (start seeing 550+ teams and get hit by 670 teams). I'll also note that 700 points is getting me a T25 finish now too. Those are things that NEVER happened before (used to need 900-1000 points to finish T25) and says the bleeding of players in PvP is VERY high.

KGB

S2 is just as dry as 5 and I get plenty of 60+ point fights. They're hidden from you because matchmaking thinks they're too difficult for your roster.

You won't ever get 60+ point fights "that you could win" because those players don't exist -- low level players can't score that much without losing tons of points.

kuntilanak

Those with rosters that can 1,2 punch opponents will love placement only since they can hit it easily. Others prefer progression, like I do. So however the dev makes changes, it will not please 1 faction... Oh well...

entrailbucket

@kuntilanak said:
Those with rosters that can 1,2 punch opponents will love placement only since they can hit it easily. Others prefer progression, like I do. So however the dev makes changes, it will not please 1 faction... Oh well...

This really, really depends. Placement isn't easy in the slices where scoring is high, but progression is. Getting to 1000 points is WAY easier than 25 wins if you play in one of the cupcake slices.

LavaManLee

I must be in the wrong slices then, when I play. To get progression it is much easier to get 25 wins than 1000 points.

entrailbucket

@LavaManLee said:
I must be in the wrong slices then, when I play. To get progression it is much easier to get 25 wins than 1000 points.

Try the first or fourth end time. The second and fifth times will be the most difficult.

The different end times play very differently, for reasons. They're like leagues for endgame PvP players.

kuntilanak

I always play slice 1 because it just match my timing better. And I always find 25win more doable than 1000 points...

WampaX

@kuntilanak said:
I always play slice 1 because it just match my timing better. And I always find 25win more doable than 1000 points...

Same. But I also play NOT a meta team and am happy to contribute to the point churn if it saves me on health packs.

entrailbucket

@kuntilanak said:
I always play slice 1 because it just match my timing better. And I always find 25win more doable than 1000 points...

Are you choosing fights based on the points they give, or choosing only the easiest fights?

ThisisClemFandango

I have to admit I haven't even bothered with this pvp season (time?)
Every match seems to be against level 627 1 stars. A headache i can do without

entrailbucket

@ThisisClemFandango said:
I have to admit I haven't even bothered with this pvp season (time?)
Every match seems to be against level 627 1 stars. A headache i can do without

That's the result of the several months where the game gave out a million 1* and 2* covers. Everybody loved it then! I guess we all hate it now.

Personally I'm thrilled with these folks. Most of them spent the $20 to get there, so it's great that they're supporting the game and helping to keep it alive. Also a lot of them are willing to hit back and have wars, so they're WAY less boring than the rest of the vets.