MPQ Sneak Peek: January 2018 Edition *Updated (1/24/18)

bluewolf said:

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DarthDeVo said:

broll said:

Brigby said:

S.H.I.E.L.D. Training - ??? (1/11/18) *New Update*
Required Characters: ???, America Chavez, The Thing, Ant-Man

Oh joy, still charging through with these I see.  At least I have both Thing and Ant-Man this time, last two they've managed to pick at least one of the few vintage I didn't have champed.  Ugh I hate these events such wasted potential.

 I'll need to toss some ISO at Ant-Man to get him to 209.

I think I'm up to 42 4* champs now, and I swear they're looking at my roster and picking at least one 4* I don't have either champed or leveled up. I'm not sure they've run one yet where I've had both 4*s champed or at least at 209.

They have tended to pick the less powerful/desirable 4’s.  It seems like they are trying to create pressure to level them. Or, they want players who have everyone champed to feel good about themselves by being able to complete more nodes.

I think this is probably likely.  They are probably using their metrics on least used, least covered, least leveled, and/or least champed to pick the side characters.  They want to make those ISO needs hurt more than they already do.  

Thing Crash should be next based on HFH store. Probably my least favorite Crash. Thing is so bad against Torch.

leveled up my antman from base level   that better not be a typo

I thought it was standard now that the newest 4* is part of the # training

bluewolf said:

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BoyWonder1914 said:

Seeing SHIELD Training with America required after I just blew my hoard trying to get ArchAngel for Strange Sights makes me want to blow a gasket. My fault for not saying screw Strange Sights I suppose, but this is still infuriating. 

This is the pattern though. The next 4* (???) coming Thursday will be required to be at 209 for the following Shield Training. It has been this way every time (I think the first Shield Training just required 3 Vintage 4’s, but all since require the newest 4). It is their system. It would not be this way if it didn’t work. Whales whale and devs are happy and the minnows play for free.

Your anger is understandable but this is what they do. This is the plan.  The best approach is to consider Shield Training a bonus for whales to feel good about the money they spend.

Odds are though, that we'll have two 4*s released during this upcoming season. That happened with MEHulk and Nico, and Nico was the one featured in SHIELD Training for America and was the 2000 point progression reward in the Simulator. 

So if we do get two 4*s this season, it will likely be the newest 4* featured next time SHIELD Training is run.

Unless they release a 5* after this coming 4*, and it seems really early for another 5* release. 

Yeah I think my frustration is moreso rooted in how much I like America. She's been really fun, so I'm definitely chasing her to get her covered. My alliance would have completely understood if I needed to sit out for an event due to bad luck with pulls or just wanting to take it easy for a few days, so I kinda screwed myself. My increased pleasure of playing the game with a new character I really like was not worth of the tradeoff of being able to place higher in an event where I don't need the 4-star reward anyway. 

broll said:

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DarthDeVo said:

bluewolf said:

The pattern tends to be 4/4/5.  America, ??? 4, so should be 5 next.

I think there was only one week between Archangel and America though, and in those instances, I think they've tended to go with three 4*s in between. But of course, that's always subject to change.

There was 10 days between their releases: 12/14 & 12/24.  1/11 will be 18 days.  I think they did America 4 days early because they wanted the new release on Christmas because they hate us spending time with families.  I'd expect the it to be America, New 4, New 5 as per usual.

You're right. I was on my lunch break and going off memory, then decided to look back at the Marvel.com articles while simultaneously looking at a calendar. Time flies, and if I'm not looking at a calendar, the release dates really start to blur together. We've technically had a bit of a gap from when she was released, but it does not feel like it was that long ago.

bluewolf said:

The pattern tends to be 4/4/5.  America, ??? 4, so should be 5 next.

I thought it was meant to be 4/4 4/5 4/4 4/5. A new 5* every other season. But it got a little messed up by movie releases..

broll said:

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DarthDeVo said:

bluewolf said:

The pattern tends to be 4/4/5.  America, ??? 4, so should be 5 next.

I think there was only one week between Archangel and America though, and in those instances, I think they've tended to go with three 4*s in between. But of course, that's always subject to change.

There was 10 days between their releases: 12/14 & 12/24.  1/11 will be 18 days.  I think they did America 4 days early because they wanted the new release on Christmas because they hate us spending time with families.  I'd expect the it to be America, New 4, New 5 as per usual.

They broke the pattern back with Thor, and I have a hunch they'll fix it like they did with Spidey. They did Doc Ock, Sandman, Spidey, which was 5/4/5, but made up for it with Vulture, Mockingbird, Yondu right after, 4/4/4.

Daredevil, Lockjaw, Rogue, 5/4/4, Gambit, Nightcrawler, Thor, 5/4/5, Thor was early to be alongside his movie's release.

Then we have Hulk, Nico, Angel, 4/4/5. I originally thought they'd do the 4/4/4 here and release Angel at Christmas (like Thanos last year), but apparently not.

If they kept going on the new pattern, America, Kraven, and then an Unknown would fit 4/4/5 again, just like you're saying, with Kraven out on the 11th, that Unknown 5* would be coming around the 25th.

But if they "fix" it back to the original schedule and do a third 4* instead, to make up for Thor coming "early", it would delay a 5* release until Feb 8th (assuming the normal two weeks between releases). Then, they could be running a 5* store alongside Black Panther's theatrical release.

Now, I have no idea who would make a good 5* to capitalize on the Black Panther movie for cross promotion, but they've moved enough 5*s to fit movie releases that I don't really see them passing this one up. (of course, the cynical counterpoint to that is that they do a new 5 like what you're saying, around the 25th, do a 4* a week early on Feb 1st, which they've been known to do from time to time, then do another 5* two weeks later, even closer to the movie release)