Understanding the PvP ecosystem in Versus events

Hello.
I have been a semi-pro gamer in the past and played at the top level of multiple MMOs.
I have studied game design, game theory and mechanism design at a basic elementary level.
I am fairly new to MPQ(~300 days total, a couple of weeks # checking), and this is my understanding of the current PvP ecosystem.
All this was not immediately obvious to me in the beginning. I am highlighting this information and my point of view in a post to hopefully propagate the knowledge and increase the level of understanding among the broader player base.
Terminology
Shard - The time slice a player chooses among the 5 options available when joining a Versus event
SCL - Shield Clearance Level
Bracket - Groups of 500 people who compete for rankings with each other. Brackets are created on a first come first serve basis of people joining the event
Seeing - Appearing as a node which one can attack
Seed nodes - These are computer generated very low-level nodes which yield 16-38 points and do not hit you back.
Queueing - Placing a player as a target in one of the 3 nodes one has, but not attacking them, saving it for later.
Facts 1 - Basic pvp mechanics
Assumptions
Inference derived from the facts and assumptions above
Facts 2 - High-level pvp coordination
Facts 3 - Rewards
Opinions
PS: It is quite possible that some of the information here is inaccurate, and I hope the more knowledgeable and experienced folks will help me correct it.
PPS: Not sure if this is the most relevant forum for this post. Request the mods to move it to the relevant forum if there is one more suitable.
I have been a semi-pro gamer in the past and played at the top level of multiple MMOs.
I have studied game design, game theory and mechanism design at a basic elementary level.
I am fairly new to MPQ(~300 days total, a couple of weeks # checking), and this is my understanding of the current PvP ecosystem.
All this was not immediately obvious to me in the beginning. I am highlighting this information and my point of view in a post to hopefully propagate the knowledge and increase the level of understanding among the broader player base.
Terminology
Shard - The time slice a player chooses among the 5 options available when joining a Versus event
SCL - Shield Clearance Level
Bracket - Groups of 500 people who compete for rankings with each other. Brackets are created on a first come first serve basis of people joining the event
Seeing - Appearing as a node which one can attack
Seed nodes - These are computer generated very low-level nodes which yield 16-38 points and do not hit you back.
Queueing - Placing a player as a target in one of the 3 nodes one has, but not attacking them, saving it for later.
Facts 1 - Basic pvp mechanics
- All players joining a Versus event get put into a bracket with 499 other players
- Every player in a shard can potentially see every other player in the same shard regardless of SCL or bracket
- One can only see opponents that are un-shielded
- Factors such as roster strength and your current point score in the event determine your chances of seeing or being seen by a particular player in the same shard as you
- First few dozens of joiners get 6-8 seed nodes. One can usually climb to 194-240 points from these without facing a 'real' opponent.
- Next several dozens of players get 3 seed nodes. One can climb to 101 points from these.
- When player A successfully attacks player B while player B is unshielded, player A gains x points and player B loses x points
- When player A successfully attacks player B while player B is shielded, player A gains x points and player B loses 0 points
- Player A can queue player B while player B is un-shielded but as long as the attack on player B ends after player B puts up a shield, player A gains x points and player B loses 0 points
- The top progression reward is at 1200 points
Assumptions
- First 100 joiners of any bracket get 8 seed nodes
- Next 150 joiners of any bracket get 3 seed nodes
- All the first 250 joiners of any bracket clear all their seed nodes. Resulting in about ~40000 points being added to the bracket from seed nodes. i.e. on average 80 points per player from seed nodes.
Inference derived from the facts and assumptions above
- There are only 2 ways to add points to a shard. Seed nodes and attacks on shielded opponents
- Attacking unshielded opponents only exchanges points between the players of the shard, and the shard as a whole does not gain or lose points.
- If nobody in a shard took attacks while being shielded, it would be impossible for most players in the shard to reach 900-1200 points. Since there are simply not enough points to go around.
- Attacking shielded people is an excellent and effective way to add points to the shard
- More the number of attacks on shielded targets -> more the number of points added to the shard -> more high-value targets -> higher the chances for people to hit 900-1200 points
Facts 2 - High-level pvp coordination
- There exist coordination channels using 3rd party apps like Line, where players of a shard coordinate amongst themselves to attack each other while shielded, thereby adding tons of points to their shard
- They do this by queueing each other in the brief minutes they are un-shielded but holding attacks. They make the attacks after the queued opponents are shielded.
- As a result, a far greater number of players in the shard are able to get to 1200 points
- This also results in some very high scores (3-4k is not uncommon) of the top players
- There exist, individuals and groups, who try to stop this from happening by suppressing scores
Facts 3 - Rewards
- Versus event progression rewards (SCL 7): 1x Standard Token + 1x Elite Token + 3x Event Tokens + 1x 3* Cover + 1x 4* Cover + 3500 ISO + 100 HP + 25 CP
- 100% of the players can potentially achieve these progression rewards
- Versus event placement rewards (SCL 7 - Top 5): 3x 3* Covers + 1x 4* Cover + 4500 ISO + 100 HP + 1 CP + 1 Heroic Token
- 1% of the players can achieve these top 5 placement rewards
- Versus event placement rewards (SCL 7 - Top 10): 3x 3* Covers + 3500 ISO + 100 HP + 1 CP + 3x Elite Tokens + 1x Heroic Token
- 1% of the players can achieve these rank 5-10 placement rewards
- Versus event placement rewards (SCL 7 - Top 25): 3x 3* Covers + 2500 ISO + 50 HP + 3x Elite Tokens
- 3% of the players can achieve these rank 10-25 placement rewards
Opinions
- If in a shard, no attacks happened on a shielded player, it would be extremely difficult for most of the players in the shard to reach 900 - 1200 points. And very very few eventually would
- From a rewards perspective, it is in the best interest of a low/mid/casual player to not make attacks on high point targets(50+ points) immediately. But give them time to shield up, while holding them in queue. Normally 10 minutes is a solid waiting period
- More the number of people are in # check rooms or other kinds of coordination channels, more the number of people that will get to the 1200 point score in any given shard
- However this does require extra effort, and lazy/casual players could just follow Opinion number 2 above and still contribute to everyone(including themselves) benefitting from more points
- The progression rewards are far better than placement rewards.
- PvP in MPQ is not really PvP. It is in fact designed in a way where the players would get better rewards by colluding/cooperating than they would get by fighting each other in a true pvp spirit
- The score suppressors do it so that they can assert their superior roster strength and get top ranks more easily
- This happens to be detrimental to the majority of the players in a shard as fewer people are able to achieve 900-1200 points
PS: It is quite possible that some of the information here is inaccurate, and I hope the more knowledgeable and experienced folks will help me correct it.
PPS: Not sure if this is the most relevant forum for this post. Request the mods to move it to the relevant forum if there is one more suitable.
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Comments
The same logic applies to defensive losses. If you take a 38 point fight and lose, you lose 38 points, but the person who you lost to gets a defensive win worth only half as many points (again, not clear on the exact math here). This prevents defensive loss boosting which used to be a thing, and also allows for points to be removed from a shard by suppressors retreating to teams in fights worth very few points.
^^^ Is this true? I thought part of it had to do with whether or not you have the game open when the slice begins, or has that just been my observation because if I do have it open when the slice begins, I tend to fall into one of those categories by default?
Anyway. If you are floating (let's say around 300-500) and get hit a lot, there is a reasonable chance that you can come back and hit a lot of those players later after they shielded and retained a high score. Or they didn't shield and are falling down, and you get less points. Coordination can help with knowledge about this part if you want.
Anyone shielding helps with points in the shard, regardless of coordination, as well as retaining their score. If you climb to 900, say, rapidly and shield out, you potentially helped a lot of people who can later retal against you. Many players don't bother, but that's their decision.
I believe the threshold is 1200 points, and on defensive wins, you only get one third of the points you would have won when attacking.
Only read part way through and had to stop.
And yes, there's a lot of misinformation in this thread, both in the OP and in several comments. Someone should clean up the OP and maybe put it in tips and guides or something. Yeah. Someone....
Edit: just saw the thread you meant. Noted.
I'm sure if i went through yours, mine, and everyone else's posts all i will find are pearls of wisdom worthy of being etched in stone somewhere.
As for the 3rd party channels, does anyone use any other than Line? Line seems to be the only one or at the least the main one that most use.
Even if you're not as expert as some of the people who commented, you at least took time to explain in a clear guide and define the terminology.
People love to claim that this kind of information is not available, so I always appreciate folks who make an effort to prove the opposite. It can always be cleaned up later, preferably by the folks that are so eager to point out mistakes and make negative comments about it rather than contribute to EVERYONE understanding the game better.
Edit: just a thought. This thread does not address how exactly point values are assigned to PvP targets. I know there's a thread somewhere that explains it (maybe from whenever they changed to this system with the K value at 75?). If someone could go ahead and link it that would be great.
First number is the score, the next two numbers are the range where your point difference lies.
Example:
You have 950 points.
If you want a 50 point match, you need someone at least 116 points above you (1066).
If for some odd/ocd reason you want exactly 50, then you need someone between 116 and 125 points above you (1066-1075).
https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/34552/calculating-battle-score/p1
credit to @GrumpySmurf1002
NB this is just a bit of snark, not aimed at the OP. I respect their intentions. Though I do question the value of stating credentials before weighing in on a match-3 game ;-)