**Mastery Loadouts**
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
7.2 Review. My Favourite Piece of Content to Date
Rockypantherx
Posts: 3,900 ★★★★★
Ok, so, I’m bored. And off uni. The arenas from hell haven’t started again yet. I’ve finished the T4B arena. I have a day I can spend doing whatever I want. I don’t even really have to touch MCOC.
But here we are. Due to my crippling addiction (half-joking (I think)), it seems that even when I’m not playing the game, I still want to do something that involves it. So, I present to you, my 7.2 review.
I finished 7.2 100% within 27 hours of its eventual release (and I would have done it in 24 hours too if it weren’t for that meddling debating meeting), and thoroughly enjoyed, well...all of it. No seriously, I think I enjoyed every single fight in this piece of content. Which is downright incredible. I’m willing to say that it’s my favourite piece of content to date.
Now, I’m not saying it’s the best piece of content to date (even if it is) because that’ll just ignite a war between the scrubs and masochists. Again.
So, let’s go through the content quest by quest, and break down what I liked about it, and maybe I’ll remember some things I didn’t like about it along the way. It was all such a blur.
7.2.1:
There’s a couple of node combinations in this quest I quite like, one I think is bugged, and a couple that are among the weaker combinations of 7.2.
Firstly, Counter Tactics/Release Valve/Foresight/Unblockable, is a great node combination. And there are quite a few tricky encounters on the path, which makes things a bit more interesting. Release Valve reduces the impact of counter tactics, but it also rewards you for playing more skillfully by utilizing foresight here. The unblockable forces you to dex, while release valve is a sort of reward for not getting whacked in the face. It’s not a terribly difficult node combination, but the interaction between everything warms my heart.
The Bullet Time/Ebb and Flow:Knockdown/Bleed Vulnerability path seemed kind of bugged to me. Ebb and Flow weren’t always triggering, and neither was Bullet time. It would consume the evade charges, but not stun the opponent. So that was fun. This combination was certainly trickier to deal with, especially since there are quite a few native evaders on the path. I did lose a couple of champs during the course of this path, but it was mainly down to things not triggering when they should have.
Ebb and Flow: Heavy/Clapback/Flail/Rise Above was a bit of a scuffy path in my opinion. Not sure why, the node combination looks pretty good in theory. But I don’t remember enjoying this path that much. Maybe I just didn’t bring the right counters. Hyperion looks like he would eat this path alive. Probably Ghost too, and that is not the only place she shines in this quest.
Really liked the bosses in this quest, especially Magneto. Moth to the Flame, Spite and Unblockable specials made the fight relatively challenging, and Mags shuts down a good chunk of characters natively. Bring a decent counter and you’ll have a good time as long as you play well. However, I took MODOK with my R3 Killmonger 4/6 times, a fight which I will be uploading to my YouTube channel in the coming days (Shameless plug for mediocre content). Mole Man was fine, R3 Apoc shredded straight through him like butter. Nice skill and RPG benefits to be found in this fight, but very possible with anyone
7.2.2:
Whoever created the Discombobulate/Particle Protector/Micro-Reflect/The Weakest Link path, I hate you. But my god this is a good path. This is how you make a skill+RPG path in this game. It forces you to rethink your gameplay, deal with some annoying defenders, plan your team to the path, and still rewards you for playing well. It was a challenging path, but I loved it.
I felt it was worth noting the Ebb and Flow: Intercept/Foresight/Combo Party/Aggressive path, for one reason. Whoever designed this really wanted you to not use Ghost. Ghost struggles with pretty much every fight bar Ghost Rider on this path. Which is fine, but it made me chuckle looking at the selection of defenders. And honestly, I wouldn’t have added foresight to this path, feels like a bit too much reward. If you’re in 7.2, intercepting shouldn’t be that much trouble, especially with an aggressive AI.
The Tigra boss is a pretty easy fight as long as you bait the SP1, nothing tricky there, especially for Archangel or Torch. Whiteneto is bait SP1, win the game. A trickier special to evade to be sure, but nothing too strenuous. The Guardian boss ate quite a bit of my stash. I didn’t really think of a good counter to be honest, should have brought my Kali or Killmonger. But alas, I thought his auto-block triggered while he had an Armour Buff and not just force fields so...welp.
Good quest overall, a few of the paths are definitely on the easier side, but as with the rest of 7.2, they’re only easy as long as you properly plan. Something I think a lot of people miss when evaluating the difficulty.
7.2.3:
I love this quest to bits. Most paths are inventive, interesting, and engaging. Repulsive/Rust and Ruin/Thorns/Enhanced Abilities? Genius. Although there is a guy in my alliance who got wrecked by this node combo. Somehow. @Etjama will confirm (if he ever gets unmuted). But I really did love this path. I don’t think it’s difficult, but the theorycrafter in me is crying out in joy.
The same goes for the Set in Stone/Vigor/Supercharge/Mystic Ward path. Now, it would be pretty simple to take this path like a normal path and just outdamage vigor. But it was so much more fun to play into Superiority, and continuously light intercept the defender, and subsequently watch them melt. Did I get my ass handed to me multiple times trying a cheeky intercept? Absolutely. Did I mind? No, not really. I was just having fun.
Similar story with Buffet/Heal Reversal/Safeguard/Aspect of War. But this path was actually challenging, at least for me. But it was also fun. Completely different playstyle from normal, a ticking clock, and an Omega Red that really wanted me dead. And he succeeded. Multiple times. It was one of the few paths that made me revive (it was 1:30am, cut me some slack).
However, the Redlining/Unblockable/Specialist-2 path did feel a bit lazy. It’s literally a case of throw your SP2. Always. Sure you need a Havok counter, but there are 16 Tech champs alone with an Armour Up, and quite a few champs in other classes with either power control or an armour up. If the defenders on this path actually had challenging specials to evade, sure, I think the challenge would be better. But I don’t think anyone is actually struggling to evade Superior Iron Man’s SP1 while only using their SP2 (Oh no, I can’t use Doom for this one path, how awful).
The bosses in this quest are..they’re pretty easy. The block damage on hit monkey can get kind of serious but I would hardly call it an issue. Venom the Duck is just unblockable, which would be a problem if he didn’t have one of the easiest SP1’s to dodge in the game (I definitely didn’t get hit by it once. Definitely not. Nope.). Punisher 2099 was a pretty fun boss, I also recorded a pretty fun solo of him with my R3 Emma Frost, which will also be uploaded soon. Block damage could be an issue, but as long as you use your SP1 before he uses his, this is pretty much just a Punisher who had a bit too much Weetabix that morning.
7.2.4:
The fact I used my unduped R1 6* Night Thrasher for the Mix Master/Light ‘em Up/Counterstrike/Incinerate Vulnerability/Shock Vulnerability is a perfect example of why I love 7.2. It just allowed me to use so many quirky options to deal with, and benefit, from nodes. I even brought out my R4 Masacre for a spin here. And I of course brought my Killmonger for backup.
However, I found the rest of the paths in this quest kind of lacking. Head Rush/Tenacity/Stun Vulnerability/Skill Ascendency felt kind of boring. Head Rush as a beneficial node feels pretty underpowered, to the point where I just didn’t use it. Every fight was taken by either Storm X or Apoc, simply for the purify counter. Didn’t hit the spot for me.
Deep Impact/Oscillate-1/Cosmic Ascendency had the potential to be interesting, but again. Deep Impact didn’t feel like it did much, so you pretty much just played the fights like regular oscillate. I will say though, some of the defenders combined with trying to play into superiority were pretty tough. Miles is not fun with Mystic champs, and neither is Unstoppable Colossus or Juggernaut with Cosmics.
As for the bosses, Nova and Ibomb really aren’t too bad. Any mystic will take care of Nova, and any poison immune can deal with Ibomb, although the Meltdown node didn’t seem to be working on my run at him. Seemed to always stay on Ibomb with 30 seconds so…
I used my shiny new R3 Ibomb to take down Man-Thing, and it was beautiful. Not as beautiful as Ibomb of course, but up there nonetheless. One SP2 and he began melting. Funny story, I didn't actually have 6* Ibomb until the day before 7.2 dropped. I’m saving for the next featured 6*, so I figured I just wouldn’t get an Ibomb from this featured, as much as I wanted him to actually use the science T5CC I’d had collecting dust for months. But, I opened 10 of his Cavs, got 1 4* IBomb, 3 5* IBombs, and on the 10th crystal, a 6* Ibomb (RIP July 4th stash, guess that ain’t happening this year. Again.). @Etjama was really happy for me. Got a science 1-2 gem from completion of 7.2, and got him to R3 straight after that.
But, if you don’t have an Ibomb (@Etjama), I can see why this boss might pose a challenge.
7.2.5:
I feel quite comfortable saying this is the most forgettable quest of 7.2. The node combos are good, they just don’t stand out. Ibomb ate the That’s Gonna Sting/Debuff Synthesis/Power Focus 2/Defective defence path, as did Apoc, although I really should have remembered the She-Hulk/Mr Fantastic Power Sting synergy. Would have made life much easier
The Swing and a Miss/Missing in Action 3/Faltering Mind/Arc Overload path was pretty interesting. Made Villains play a bit like Ghost, so that was fun. Can’t say it was particularly challenging though
In fact, nothing really was in this quest. Rage/Power Shield/Hurt Locker/Poison Vulnerability is probably the most challenging. I can’t really speak from experience, since I once again Ibombed it, but champs like Claire, King Groot (who will never hit the rage cap) should do pretty well.
I’ve heard the Void boss is pretty difficult. I say ‘heard’ because I honestly remember nothing about the fight. I can remember most fights I do, but nope, drawing a complete blank on this fight, couldn’t even tell you who I used. Have a feeling it might have been Mole Man.
Platinumpool is definitely the easiest boss here, but I actually did struggle with him a bit. Couldn’t tell you why, I think I just don’t know his cards, so he’ll seemingly randomly resist stuff
I actually went for the Dragon Man boss for completion, and for 3 of my remaining runs. Pretty simple fight with Torch, and really any nullifier. This fight is going to be painful if you don’t bring a proper counter, but it’s also doable. As long as he throws his specials. I’m a big fan of this fight actually, it’s difficult but has good RPG counterplay as well
7.2.6:
I love a lot of the paths in this quest, in fact, I reckon it’s maybe the best single quest ever created. Challenging, but fair, and most importantly, fun.
No Retreat/No Surrender/Heavy Assault/Right Back At It- 1/ True Strike is an excellent path, and one that took a minute for me to understand, but once I did, geez did I have fun. It’s pretty difficult, but has satisfying payoffs, and is entirely skill-based. You need a bleed immune for Morningstar, but come on, it’s literally one bleed immune.
Energy Adoption: Fire/Shake It Off/Shifting Immunity/Bleed Vulnerability was pure Ghost for me. I tried using skill champs, but ultimately Shake It Off wasn’t putting in enough work, a problem I also had with it in 7.1.
I found the Under Pressure- 3/Heavy Assault/Encroaching Stun/Foresight/True Strike path quite difficult. Not overly mind you, but it definitely wasn’t Apoc smash like I was expecting. There is a Mephisto and Sabretooth on the path which might present a further challenge. There is plenty of benefit to be found in the nodes, but for most champs, I think you’re going to want to avoid blocking if you can
My god is Angela good for the Buff Synthesis/Special Connoisseur/Icarus/Matador Path. It’s actually stupid. Basically one SP3 and they are in the bin. And my Angela is only R4. Not to mention she doesn’t need to worry about the degen from Icarus if she’s duped, probably even at sig 1. Of course, any path with Icarus that lets you easily stack 500% special damage isn’t exactly going to be difficult. I might be the resident utility>>>>>damage guy, but I do enjoy the big numbers, and that’s what this path is.
The other two paths are pretty fun, but not worth diving into on their own, but know that I did enjoy them
Gwenmaster:
This boss deserves her own section, because I love this fight. No, not because it draws upon two of my favourite champs, but because it is entirely skill-based. The basic premise of the fight is just intercept, forever, don’t stop. The changing phases were a lot of fun, each bringing a unique challenge which required you to switch up what you were doing in between intercepts. The Doom phase was probably my favourite, high power gain always is, although the Invisible Woman phase was pretty enjoyable too. Didn’t enjoy the Aarkus phase at all, felt like I was constantly either getting cornered, or eating Coldsnap damage. Maybe I missed a trick, but I really struggled with that phase.
She killed me, many, many times (although not as much as I usually die in war), but most of the time it felt like it was my mistake, rather than BS in the fight. Aside from the Aarkus phase. I really feel like I missed something there because it kept wrecking me.
As for the links, I really enjoyed them. My least favourite was definitely ISO Fantastic, the constantly changing size totally threw me off, and the unblockable got pretty tricky in the IMIW phase. And by far my favourite was Juiced, the one that gives you 300% attack every 10 seconds. Was pretty nice seeing 70k medium crits on my R3 Emma.
Overall, Gwenmaster is one of the best bosses in MCOC. Challenging if you don’t play well, or understand what’s going on, which is entirely possible considering her laundry list of abilities. But the fight is rewarding, fun, and requires you to pay attention. I still think I prefer the Grandmaster, he felt a bit more challenging, and also rewarding overall than Gwenmaster, but she’s definitely top 2 for me. Well done to the designer!
Final Thoughts:
If you made it this far, first off thank you, but I’ll leave you with some closing thoughts on 7.2.
First, I’m still not a massive fan of choice nodes. I do feel like they detract a bit from the strategy of team building. But I know that’s just me.
Secondly, difficulty. 7.2 was definitely a step up in terms of difficulty, but it was more like one of those really weird staircases where the riser on each step is way too small and the tread is way too big. Does that make sense? Probably not. I think a lot of 7.2, and actually, 7.1’s difficulty is almost hidden. It’s not found in fights themselves really, it’s found in the reading of nodes and the construction of your team. Figuring out which champs you should use, which counters you need, and what champs will derive the most benefit from the nodes. It’s very much the RPG aspect the devs like to talk of, and I really love it.
But, the fact remains that the fights themselves tend to not be very challenging once you’ve done that work. There were a few paths in 7.2 that I think got it right, such as the Buffet/Aspect of War, or Particle Protector/Discombobulate. They’re perfect, and it’s that kind of design I want to see more of going forwards. I don’t want to see anymore Specialist/Redlining/Unblockable, that’s too easy for story content this late. In Act 5 maybe, although it had more challenging paths to be honest.
Superiority was a great mechanic, and really expanded the RPG element immensely, as well as utilizing the tag system nicely. I hope there is more of this going forward, and especially with the champ buff cadence, we see more tags being utilized beyond size, hero and villain.
The chests, while they looked cool and signified the relative difficulty of the path, were pretty pointless. It just reduced the ability for casual players to target specific path rewards, while they were just on paths in 7.1. Just feels like an unnecessary hassle for players.
Choosing what boss you want to face was a brilliant move, and I could definitely feel the improved creativeness as a result. Pro-designer, and pro-player move all around. Although I’ve got to admit, it was quite nice to just see one boss in the 6th quest. I like the 3 bosses thing, but it does diminish the...epicness? Of bosses. They feel more like path fights rather than bosses. But overall, a net positive.
Attack values were perfect here. High enough you could feel them, low enough you didn’t hate them. Although the health points, especially on some bosses like Dragon Man, felt...almost tediously long. Path fights were on point though.
As for the rewards, I actually think they’re fine. I was expecting them to be exactly the same as 7.1 considering how good they were for that piece of content, and they continue to be extremely good relative to the content. Would not have complained at more 6* shards and T2A though, that felt slightly stingy.
As for my rewards, well, I’m saving the 6* shards for the next featured. I chose science T5CC for the Mr Negative I am definitely (not) going to get. Got 2 skill, and a mystic. Pretty much useless. However, my 6* Nexus was pretty damn good.
My options were:
Mephisto Dupe
Longshot Dupe
Magneto
I, of course, went Magneto. I have 40% Mutant T5CC, but exactly 0 Mutant T4CC so…that’s going to be a while. Very happy with that though.
My MVP’s for 7.2 were as follows:
R3 Emma Frost
R3 Ghost
R2 Mole Man
R3 Apoc
5* 5/65 Claire Voyant
R3 Ibomb
(Surprisingly) 5* 5/65 Silver Surfer
5* 5/65 Archangel
5* 5/65 Human Torch
5* 5/65 Hyperion
I’ve also heard people complain about the amount of reading involved in 7.2.
Just be glad DNA or I didn’t write the nodes.
Besides, reading is good for your mind.
And with that, I think I’ll conclude. Overall, I loved 7.2. At no point did it feel like a grind to get it done, even after doing it in such large chunks like I did. I looked forward to most paths and bosses, and the mental planning I would have to do. Here’s to 7.3, and what looks to be Kang’s return.
But here we are. Due to my crippling addiction (half-joking (I think)), it seems that even when I’m not playing the game, I still want to do something that involves it. So, I present to you, my 7.2 review.
I finished 7.2 100% within 27 hours of its eventual release (and I would have done it in 24 hours too if it weren’t for that meddling debating meeting), and thoroughly enjoyed, well...all of it. No seriously, I think I enjoyed every single fight in this piece of content. Which is downright incredible. I’m willing to say that it’s my favourite piece of content to date.
Now, I’m not saying it’s the best piece of content to date (even if it is) because that’ll just ignite a war between the scrubs and masochists. Again.
So, let’s go through the content quest by quest, and break down what I liked about it, and maybe I’ll remember some things I didn’t like about it along the way. It was all such a blur.
7.2.1:
There’s a couple of node combinations in this quest I quite like, one I think is bugged, and a couple that are among the weaker combinations of 7.2.
Firstly, Counter Tactics/Release Valve/Foresight/Unblockable, is a great node combination. And there are quite a few tricky encounters on the path, which makes things a bit more interesting. Release Valve reduces the impact of counter tactics, but it also rewards you for playing more skillfully by utilizing foresight here. The unblockable forces you to dex, while release valve is a sort of reward for not getting whacked in the face. It’s not a terribly difficult node combination, but the interaction between everything warms my heart.
The Bullet Time/Ebb and Flow:Knockdown/Bleed Vulnerability path seemed kind of bugged to me. Ebb and Flow weren’t always triggering, and neither was Bullet time. It would consume the evade charges, but not stun the opponent. So that was fun. This combination was certainly trickier to deal with, especially since there are quite a few native evaders on the path. I did lose a couple of champs during the course of this path, but it was mainly down to things not triggering when they should have.
Ebb and Flow: Heavy/Clapback/Flail/Rise Above was a bit of a scuffy path in my opinion. Not sure why, the node combination looks pretty good in theory. But I don’t remember enjoying this path that much. Maybe I just didn’t bring the right counters. Hyperion looks like he would eat this path alive. Probably Ghost too, and that is not the only place she shines in this quest.
Really liked the bosses in this quest, especially Magneto. Moth to the Flame, Spite and Unblockable specials made the fight relatively challenging, and Mags shuts down a good chunk of characters natively. Bring a decent counter and you’ll have a good time as long as you play well. However, I took MODOK with my R3 Killmonger 4/6 times, a fight which I will be uploading to my YouTube channel in the coming days (Shameless plug for mediocre content). Mole Man was fine, R3 Apoc shredded straight through him like butter. Nice skill and RPG benefits to be found in this fight, but very possible with anyone
7.2.2:
Whoever created the Discombobulate/Particle Protector/Micro-Reflect/The Weakest Link path, I hate you. But my god this is a good path. This is how you make a skill+RPG path in this game. It forces you to rethink your gameplay, deal with some annoying defenders, plan your team to the path, and still rewards you for playing well. It was a challenging path, but I loved it.
I felt it was worth noting the Ebb and Flow: Intercept/Foresight/Combo Party/Aggressive path, for one reason. Whoever designed this really wanted you to not use Ghost. Ghost struggles with pretty much every fight bar Ghost Rider on this path. Which is fine, but it made me chuckle looking at the selection of defenders. And honestly, I wouldn’t have added foresight to this path, feels like a bit too much reward. If you’re in 7.2, intercepting shouldn’t be that much trouble, especially with an aggressive AI.
The Tigra boss is a pretty easy fight as long as you bait the SP1, nothing tricky there, especially for Archangel or Torch. Whiteneto is bait SP1, win the game. A trickier special to evade to be sure, but nothing too strenuous. The Guardian boss ate quite a bit of my stash. I didn’t really think of a good counter to be honest, should have brought my Kali or Killmonger. But alas, I thought his auto-block triggered while he had an Armour Buff and not just force fields so...welp.
Good quest overall, a few of the paths are definitely on the easier side, but as with the rest of 7.2, they’re only easy as long as you properly plan. Something I think a lot of people miss when evaluating the difficulty.
7.2.3:
I love this quest to bits. Most paths are inventive, interesting, and engaging. Repulsive/Rust and Ruin/Thorns/Enhanced Abilities? Genius. Although there is a guy in my alliance who got wrecked by this node combo. Somehow. @Etjama will confirm (if he ever gets unmuted). But I really did love this path. I don’t think it’s difficult, but the theorycrafter in me is crying out in joy.
The same goes for the Set in Stone/Vigor/Supercharge/Mystic Ward path. Now, it would be pretty simple to take this path like a normal path and just outdamage vigor. But it was so much more fun to play into Superiority, and continuously light intercept the defender, and subsequently watch them melt. Did I get my ass handed to me multiple times trying a cheeky intercept? Absolutely. Did I mind? No, not really. I was just having fun.
Similar story with Buffet/Heal Reversal/Safeguard/Aspect of War. But this path was actually challenging, at least for me. But it was also fun. Completely different playstyle from normal, a ticking clock, and an Omega Red that really wanted me dead. And he succeeded. Multiple times. It was one of the few paths that made me revive (it was 1:30am, cut me some slack).
However, the Redlining/Unblockable/Specialist-2 path did feel a bit lazy. It’s literally a case of throw your SP2. Always. Sure you need a Havok counter, but there are 16 Tech champs alone with an Armour Up, and quite a few champs in other classes with either power control or an armour up. If the defenders on this path actually had challenging specials to evade, sure, I think the challenge would be better. But I don’t think anyone is actually struggling to evade Superior Iron Man’s SP1 while only using their SP2 (Oh no, I can’t use Doom for this one path, how awful).
The bosses in this quest are..they’re pretty easy. The block damage on hit monkey can get kind of serious but I would hardly call it an issue. Venom the Duck is just unblockable, which would be a problem if he didn’t have one of the easiest SP1’s to dodge in the game (I definitely didn’t get hit by it once. Definitely not. Nope.). Punisher 2099 was a pretty fun boss, I also recorded a pretty fun solo of him with my R3 Emma Frost, which will also be uploaded soon. Block damage could be an issue, but as long as you use your SP1 before he uses his, this is pretty much just a Punisher who had a bit too much Weetabix that morning.
7.2.4:
The fact I used my unduped R1 6* Night Thrasher for the Mix Master/Light ‘em Up/Counterstrike/Incinerate Vulnerability/Shock Vulnerability is a perfect example of why I love 7.2. It just allowed me to use so many quirky options to deal with, and benefit, from nodes. I even brought out my R4 Masacre for a spin here. And I of course brought my Killmonger for backup.
However, I found the rest of the paths in this quest kind of lacking. Head Rush/Tenacity/Stun Vulnerability/Skill Ascendency felt kind of boring. Head Rush as a beneficial node feels pretty underpowered, to the point where I just didn’t use it. Every fight was taken by either Storm X or Apoc, simply for the purify counter. Didn’t hit the spot for me.
Deep Impact/Oscillate-1/Cosmic Ascendency had the potential to be interesting, but again. Deep Impact didn’t feel like it did much, so you pretty much just played the fights like regular oscillate. I will say though, some of the defenders combined with trying to play into superiority were pretty tough. Miles is not fun with Mystic champs, and neither is Unstoppable Colossus or Juggernaut with Cosmics.
As for the bosses, Nova and Ibomb really aren’t too bad. Any mystic will take care of Nova, and any poison immune can deal with Ibomb, although the Meltdown node didn’t seem to be working on my run at him. Seemed to always stay on Ibomb with 30 seconds so…
I used my shiny new R3 Ibomb to take down Man-Thing, and it was beautiful. Not as beautiful as Ibomb of course, but up there nonetheless. One SP2 and he began melting. Funny story, I didn't actually have 6* Ibomb until the day before 7.2 dropped. I’m saving for the next featured 6*, so I figured I just wouldn’t get an Ibomb from this featured, as much as I wanted him to actually use the science T5CC I’d had collecting dust for months. But, I opened 10 of his Cavs, got 1 4* IBomb, 3 5* IBombs, and on the 10th crystal, a 6* Ibomb (RIP July 4th stash, guess that ain’t happening this year. Again.). @Etjama was really happy for me. Got a science 1-2 gem from completion of 7.2, and got him to R3 straight after that.
But, if you don’t have an Ibomb (@Etjama), I can see why this boss might pose a challenge.
7.2.5:
I feel quite comfortable saying this is the most forgettable quest of 7.2. The node combos are good, they just don’t stand out. Ibomb ate the That’s Gonna Sting/Debuff Synthesis/Power Focus 2/Defective defence path, as did Apoc, although I really should have remembered the She-Hulk/Mr Fantastic Power Sting synergy. Would have made life much easier
The Swing and a Miss/Missing in Action 3/Faltering Mind/Arc Overload path was pretty interesting. Made Villains play a bit like Ghost, so that was fun. Can’t say it was particularly challenging though
In fact, nothing really was in this quest. Rage/Power Shield/Hurt Locker/Poison Vulnerability is probably the most challenging. I can’t really speak from experience, since I once again Ibombed it, but champs like Claire, King Groot (who will never hit the rage cap) should do pretty well.
I’ve heard the Void boss is pretty difficult. I say ‘heard’ because I honestly remember nothing about the fight. I can remember most fights I do, but nope, drawing a complete blank on this fight, couldn’t even tell you who I used. Have a feeling it might have been Mole Man.
Platinumpool is definitely the easiest boss here, but I actually did struggle with him a bit. Couldn’t tell you why, I think I just don’t know his cards, so he’ll seemingly randomly resist stuff
I actually went for the Dragon Man boss for completion, and for 3 of my remaining runs. Pretty simple fight with Torch, and really any nullifier. This fight is going to be painful if you don’t bring a proper counter, but it’s also doable. As long as he throws his specials. I’m a big fan of this fight actually, it’s difficult but has good RPG counterplay as well
7.2.6:
I love a lot of the paths in this quest, in fact, I reckon it’s maybe the best single quest ever created. Challenging, but fair, and most importantly, fun.
No Retreat/No Surrender/Heavy Assault/Right Back At It- 1/ True Strike is an excellent path, and one that took a minute for me to understand, but once I did, geez did I have fun. It’s pretty difficult, but has satisfying payoffs, and is entirely skill-based. You need a bleed immune for Morningstar, but come on, it’s literally one bleed immune.
Energy Adoption: Fire/Shake It Off/Shifting Immunity/Bleed Vulnerability was pure Ghost for me. I tried using skill champs, but ultimately Shake It Off wasn’t putting in enough work, a problem I also had with it in 7.1.
I found the Under Pressure- 3/Heavy Assault/Encroaching Stun/Foresight/True Strike path quite difficult. Not overly mind you, but it definitely wasn’t Apoc smash like I was expecting. There is a Mephisto and Sabretooth on the path which might present a further challenge. There is plenty of benefit to be found in the nodes, but for most champs, I think you’re going to want to avoid blocking if you can
My god is Angela good for the Buff Synthesis/Special Connoisseur/Icarus/Matador Path. It’s actually stupid. Basically one SP3 and they are in the bin. And my Angela is only R4. Not to mention she doesn’t need to worry about the degen from Icarus if she’s duped, probably even at sig 1. Of course, any path with Icarus that lets you easily stack 500% special damage isn’t exactly going to be difficult. I might be the resident utility>>>>>damage guy, but I do enjoy the big numbers, and that’s what this path is.
The other two paths are pretty fun, but not worth diving into on their own, but know that I did enjoy them
Gwenmaster:
This boss deserves her own section, because I love this fight. No, not because it draws upon two of my favourite champs, but because it is entirely skill-based. The basic premise of the fight is just intercept, forever, don’t stop. The changing phases were a lot of fun, each bringing a unique challenge which required you to switch up what you were doing in between intercepts. The Doom phase was probably my favourite, high power gain always is, although the Invisible Woman phase was pretty enjoyable too. Didn’t enjoy the Aarkus phase at all, felt like I was constantly either getting cornered, or eating Coldsnap damage. Maybe I missed a trick, but I really struggled with that phase.
She killed me, many, many times (although not as much as I usually die in war), but most of the time it felt like it was my mistake, rather than BS in the fight. Aside from the Aarkus phase. I really feel like I missed something there because it kept wrecking me.
As for the links, I really enjoyed them. My least favourite was definitely ISO Fantastic, the constantly changing size totally threw me off, and the unblockable got pretty tricky in the IMIW phase. And by far my favourite was Juiced, the one that gives you 300% attack every 10 seconds. Was pretty nice seeing 70k medium crits on my R3 Emma.
Overall, Gwenmaster is one of the best bosses in MCOC. Challenging if you don’t play well, or understand what’s going on, which is entirely possible considering her laundry list of abilities. But the fight is rewarding, fun, and requires you to pay attention. I still think I prefer the Grandmaster, he felt a bit more challenging, and also rewarding overall than Gwenmaster, but she’s definitely top 2 for me. Well done to the designer!
Final Thoughts:
If you made it this far, first off thank you, but I’ll leave you with some closing thoughts on 7.2.
First, I’m still not a massive fan of choice nodes. I do feel like they detract a bit from the strategy of team building. But I know that’s just me.
Secondly, difficulty. 7.2 was definitely a step up in terms of difficulty, but it was more like one of those really weird staircases where the riser on each step is way too small and the tread is way too big. Does that make sense? Probably not. I think a lot of 7.2, and actually, 7.1’s difficulty is almost hidden. It’s not found in fights themselves really, it’s found in the reading of nodes and the construction of your team. Figuring out which champs you should use, which counters you need, and what champs will derive the most benefit from the nodes. It’s very much the RPG aspect the devs like to talk of, and I really love it.
But, the fact remains that the fights themselves tend to not be very challenging once you’ve done that work. There were a few paths in 7.2 that I think got it right, such as the Buffet/Aspect of War, or Particle Protector/Discombobulate. They’re perfect, and it’s that kind of design I want to see more of going forwards. I don’t want to see anymore Specialist/Redlining/Unblockable, that’s too easy for story content this late. In Act 5 maybe, although it had more challenging paths to be honest.
Superiority was a great mechanic, and really expanded the RPG element immensely, as well as utilizing the tag system nicely. I hope there is more of this going forward, and especially with the champ buff cadence, we see more tags being utilized beyond size, hero and villain.
The chests, while they looked cool and signified the relative difficulty of the path, were pretty pointless. It just reduced the ability for casual players to target specific path rewards, while they were just on paths in 7.1. Just feels like an unnecessary hassle for players.
Choosing what boss you want to face was a brilliant move, and I could definitely feel the improved creativeness as a result. Pro-designer, and pro-player move all around. Although I’ve got to admit, it was quite nice to just see one boss in the 6th quest. I like the 3 bosses thing, but it does diminish the...epicness? Of bosses. They feel more like path fights rather than bosses. But overall, a net positive.
Attack values were perfect here. High enough you could feel them, low enough you didn’t hate them. Although the health points, especially on some bosses like Dragon Man, felt...almost tediously long. Path fights were on point though.
As for the rewards, I actually think they’re fine. I was expecting them to be exactly the same as 7.1 considering how good they were for that piece of content, and they continue to be extremely good relative to the content. Would not have complained at more 6* shards and T2A though, that felt slightly stingy.
As for my rewards, well, I’m saving the 6* shards for the next featured. I chose science T5CC for the Mr Negative I am definitely (not) going to get. Got 2 skill, and a mystic. Pretty much useless. However, my 6* Nexus was pretty damn good.
My options were:
Mephisto Dupe
Longshot Dupe
Magneto
I, of course, went Magneto. I have 40% Mutant T5CC, but exactly 0 Mutant T4CC so…that’s going to be a while. Very happy with that though.
My MVP’s for 7.2 were as follows:
R3 Emma Frost
R3 Ghost
R2 Mole Man
R3 Apoc
5* 5/65 Claire Voyant
R3 Ibomb
(Surprisingly) 5* 5/65 Silver Surfer
5* 5/65 Archangel
5* 5/65 Human Torch
5* 5/65 Hyperion
I’ve also heard people complain about the amount of reading involved in 7.2.
Just be glad DNA or I didn’t write the nodes.
Besides, reading is good for your mind.
And with that, I think I’ll conclude. Overall, I loved 7.2. At no point did it feel like a grind to get it done, even after doing it in such large chunks like I did. I looked forward to most paths and bosses, and the mental planning I would have to do. Here’s to 7.3, and what looks to be Kang’s return.
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Comments
Awesome review dude! Overall I agree this was a really good chapter, probably my favorite
I love this analogy lmao
Maybe not.
Excellent review Rocky!