Coping with defeat

(Tl;dr down below)

Hello. I have decided to start this thread after taking a long time to think this through, but I am clueless, so I turn to you for help.

I have been a fairly active player since May 2015 with few short breaks (2 months the longest). I have had my ups and downs, tried a higher alliance (Gold 2 at the time, which was around Season 1-3), then retired and stayed in a low-end alliance where I can chill.

I have been focusing on solo content, bcs I don't enjoy AW/AQ. I explored Act 1-5, went through Act 6 without much trouble (1700 units for GM quest, with 200 for Angela mini due to my missing counter) and I also had a blast in Act 7. Eventually I managed to reach Thronebreaker and rn I am sitting on 5 r3 champs, 2 generic 2-3 gems (still deciding whom to give them) and a 6* roster of my dreams, because my luck has been just unimaginably good. I have also completed all Variants from 4 up.

However, now I am defeated. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get any further. I'm stuck. I tried exploring Variant 6, I tried exploring 7.1 but I failed repeatedly at both. The sole reason for that is lack of skill on my side. I got the champs for the content, even at high enough ranks. I just can't control them good enough and I don't get much better at the game.

If I were to list my skills, I'd say: parry (pretty good, rarely fail at it), dex (okay level, can dex quite a few SPs), reparry (still improving the timing tho) and dash intercept. I know about stuff like light intercepting, but I haven't been able to learn it despite my efforts.

I think the issue is, that even tho I understand the endgame nodes and can find/bring the right counter, I don't manage to execute the necessary strategy, because I make mistakes and you know how deadly they are. A prime example of that is EoP Bishop who cost me 20 revives just because of my sheer stupidity and mistakes like dying from his SP. Same story for Act 7.

Another (and hopefully last) issue I see is, that I don't have enough patience to practise the lanes. 7.1 costs a lot of energy and if the problematic fight is 4th on the path, retrying 4-5x means 12 hours worth of energy. Fine, that's on me. It is my decision to rather use a revive or two rather than practise one fight for a day. And sure, there is no shame in reviving. But since I am f2p, every single revive leaves a noticeable dent in my unit stash. If there is one thing I dislike about the system, it's the cost of revives. But it is what it is and works good for years. It's like...my opinion, man. Don't change what works fine.

And that all brings me to the very point of this: how do I cope with the fact that I am not good enough to progress further? I'd love to, I still try despite numerous defeats, but I end up beaten, tired and depressed, because I see the mistake is in myself only. I see that I just don't have it in me to get better. Which leaves me two options: stay low and get meaningless rewards from easy content, or aim for higher rewards, but with a fair certainity of failing. So how do you get to peace with the fact that you reached your personal limits? Both ig and irl, I am very curious. Any advice you can give is highly appreciated. I love the game and Marvel comics, so I wanna play it, so just please don't tell me to quit. I tried that but I always boomerang back.

Tl;dr: I got stuck, I lack skill. I am very sad. Fail to improve my skills. How do I accept that I suck?

Comments

Searmenis

You will get more r3 high sig champs in due time, and you will see an improvement in harder content. I m not that skilled either, but I have patience, and patience is the key to enjoy this game. Trust me.

Plus, how's your masteries? Maybe there's a problem there also.

GOTG

5 rank 3 are not strong rosters even though it's more than enough in the hand of Swedeah caliber players.

With 30 rank 3 you can make mistakes less hurtful so keep playing and rank up some more good champs which you already have.

PGK88

Take a break from content that you feel is difficult. Do EQs and arenas for a while and then come back to content after couple of months.

Shivacrux

Farm revives from 3.2.6 and save free crystals/farm rol for potions,and take one quest a week
Enjoy what you doing,don't get discouraged by kills

Gogeta91199

For improving skills Practice in ROL.
For clearing Content watch YouTube videos, some channels like mcocnoob really breakdown the paths very clearly so you can bring the right champ for the path, other channels like beroman, karatemike, swedeah,kt1 to name a few also give best champs for completion of various quests , some cheese options, etc
For difficult path i always watch these vids to analyse what i can do from my side, i do end up using revives myself but the clearance is better if you have knowledge of what you’re going up against.
In the end it comes down to your dedication in improving. If feeling burnout there is no problem in stepping aside from the game and coming back with a fresh mindset!

Mattstafari

You sound kind of similar to me in your position and game play.

I've been playing since April 2016 and I'm ftp, thronebreaker with an ok roster and ok skills but nothing amazing. I am pretty casual and that's fine for me.

My alliance is just a shell with a few of us and 2 of us do map 3 for 2000 glory, no aw.
Playing the cav eq and side quest each month leaves me with more time to do other things - wife, kids, diy.

I'm on 7.4.6 and have done 1 run and got wrecked by superior Kang, having another shot at him now. Got 5 r3 champs and materials for another 7 but I'm very laid back and in no rush to rank them.

I like having the game for a little distraction in my free time and not really needing to push to get anything. I like the Battlegrounds mode I think that offers a new strategy element to the game where you can test your skill and champ knowledge against another player.

Try to find those things that you can comfortably enjoy and have the other things - exploration, light intercepts etc - as low pressure I'll keep trying type things.

VegetaNoOuji

Only things I can suggest is farming revives so it doesn't cost so much, use YouTube videos and such. Also any particular champs you're struggling against use the practice feature (if you own them at lower rarities battle them with even lower rarities) As for specific paths you're struggling on just repeat the first fight over and over till you get the node down. While a portion of the game is down to skill, a lot of it is down to muscle memory and practicing the nodes in motion.

Colinwhitworth69

Easy.

It’s a video game, and success in life does not require you to complete Act 6 in MCOC.

Wozzle007

I think you might need to circle Cav difficulty MEQ and build up your 6 roster, focusing on more R3 champs. Save your 4hr crystals until the you want to do hard content so you’ll have a stash of revives and health pots. And farm revives from 3.2.6 and health pots from ROL. Ultimately it’s just a game and it should be fun. Focus on a lower level alliance where you can crush it but still get decent glory / AW rewards for rank ups and new champs but also feel like your contributing. Try and find the fun again and don’t look at YouTubers as the benchmark of where you need to be in the game. You’re exactly where you should be and there is nothing wrong with that.

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Halley

Nah, you're decent!

Your problem is that you're f2p now, so you should accept appropriate contents to play, shouldn't expect too much.

If you want to play well, you need to play many more like youtubers, sleepless 😄

unknown

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xNig

(Tl;dr down below)

Hello. I have decided to start this thread after taking a long time to think this through, but I am clueless, so I turn to you for help.

I have been a fairly active player since May 2015 with few short breaks (2 months the longest). I have had my ups and downs, tried a higher alliance (Gold 2 at the time, which was around Season 1-3), then retired and stayed in a low-end alliance where I can chill.

I have been focusing on solo content, bcs I don't enjoy AW/AQ. I explored Act 1-5, went through Act 6 without much trouble (1700 units for GM quest, with 200 for Angela mini due to my missing counter) and I also had a blast in Act 7. Eventually I managed to reach Thronebreaker and rn I am sitting on 5 r3 champs, 2 generic 2-3 gems (still deciding whom to give them) and a 6* roster of my dreams, because my luck has been just unimaginably good. I have also completed all Variants from 4 up.

However, now I am defeated. No matter what I do, no matter how hard I try, I just can't get any further. I'm stuck. I tried exploring Variant 6, I tried exploring 7.1 but I failed repeatedly at both. The sole reason for that is lack of skill on my side. I got the champs for the content, even at high enough ranks. I just can't control them good enough and I don't get much better at the game.

If I were to list my skills, I'd say: parry (pretty good, rarely fail at it), dex (okay level, can dex quite a few SPs), reparry (still improving the timing tho) and dash intercept. I know about stuff like light intercepting, but I haven't been able to learn it despite my efforts.

I think the issue is, that even tho I understand the endgame nodes and can find/bring the right counter, I don't manage to execute the necessary strategy, because I make mistakes and you know how deadly they are. A prime example of that is EoP Bishop who cost me 20 revives just because of my sheer stupidity and mistakes like dying from his SP. Same story for Act 7.

Another (and hopefully last) issue I see is, that I don't have enough patience to practise the lanes. 7.1 costs a lot of energy and if the problematic fight is 4th on the path, retrying 4-5x means 12 hours worth of energy. Fine, that's on me. It is my decision to rather use a revive or two rather than practise one fight for a day. And sure, there is no shame in reviving. But since I am f2p, every single revive leaves a noticeable dent in my unit stash. If there is one thing I dislike about the system, it's the cost of revives. But it is what it is and works good for years. It's like...my opinion, man. Don't change what works fine.

And that all brings me to the very point of this: how do I cope with the fact that I am not good enough to progress further? I'd love to, I still try despite numerous defeats, but I end up beaten, tired and depressed, because I see the mistake is in myself only. I see that I just don't have it in me to get better. Which leaves me two options: stay low and get meaningless rewards from easy content, or aim for higher rewards, but with a fair certainity of failing. So how do you get to peace with the fact that you reached your personal limits? Both ig and irl, I am very curious. Any advice you can give is highly appreciated. I love the game and Marvel comics, so I wanna play it, so just please don't tell me to quit. I tried that but I always boomerang back.

Tl;dr: I got stuck, I lack skill. I am very sad. Fail to improve my skills. How do I accept that I suck?

You might want to consider recording your fights, or get a mentor (or someone who is willing to spend time to watch your fights and give you constructive feedback).

What I realized is that if you think too much when playing, you actually perform worse than if you were to keep your mind focused and react to what you see. Before a problematic fight, mentally run through what you plan to do, and after you press “fight”, don’t think about it anymore and let your reflexes take over.

End of the day, it’s an action/reaction game that tests your reflexes. For that, the subconscious mind does a lot better.

Kabam Jax

Summoners!

A whole thread full of (mostly) helpful advice! You love to see it!!

Keep it up.

captaincush

one piece of advice on the cost of revives: a full energy refill is cheaper than any revive

Squirrelguy

I’ll put out a thread on it soon, but L1 revives cost about 13-14 units apiece if you farm the right places. I’m FTP and ~2 months from being Paragon. It’s doable, but definitely not easy.

Also, definitely just keep practicing against harder AI and watching YouTube videos.

J0eySn0w

Don't let a game cause a problem for you emotionally and mentally which can affect you physically. I can't tell exactly the extent of the effect on you so if you have to take a break and come back, do it. However, if you're able to get pass this obstacle I can tell it'll make you happy. There's been some good suggestion, to list some:
- find someone you know is very good with the game and willing to coach you. A good alliance also offer helpful tips but sometimes it can be vary opinions which can be difficult when making decision especially with rank-up choices.
- start recording your fights and review them afterwards to learn from mistakes and build on your strength
- watch YT videos on fights and contents you want to clear. If you are able to make time, watch some live streams. The commentaries at times provided some general helpful information.
- Practice a lot. ROL is good place for that.
- Lastly, and also very important. What phone do you play MCOC on? Your entire experience on the game can be influenced by the device you use. Mine has when I moved from android to IOS. But even with android, it can change from one to another.
It'll get better to be optimistic, but even if it doesn't, take care of yourself that's more important. Life in general can at times suck and the last thing you wanna do is add further stress that can be avoided.

Lpoo

This is tough, and how I feel at the moment too. I hate using receives so I don’t want to do abyss.
My suggestion is to find a cool new champ that you know nothing about and rank up/learn them to death. Not only does this bump up your skills, but also brings in some fresh fun. Recently I brought up masacre because he was my first r5 4* and I was absolutely using him incorrectly 🤷‍♂️ Now that I have learned him, I bring him everywhere and I feel like I’m reliving some of my first MCOC moments all over again

DNA3000

Another (and hopefully last) issue I see is, that I don't have enough patience to practise the lanes. 7.1 costs a lot of energy and if the problematic fight is 4th on the path, retrying 4-5x means 12 hours worth of energy. Fine, that's on me. It is my decision to rather use a revive or two rather than practise one fight for a day. And sure, there is no shame in reviving. But since I am f2p, every single revive leaves a noticeable dent in my unit stash. If there is one thing I dislike about the system, it's the cost of revives. But it is what it is and works good for years. It's like...my opinion, man. Don't change what works fine.

Honestly, I think this is your primary issue right here. Unless you farm revives aggressively, revives don't just fall from the sky. But energy does. Practice just costs energy, and the game keeps giving you free energy. By electing to spend revives to plow forward rather than energy to restart and practice, I believe you are not only doing things the hard way, you are also eliminating the primary opportunity to improve your skills for the future.

Skills are not just about twitch skills. They are about being able to keep situational awareness in the fight. To remember when to do this, and when to do that. Half of my fight mistakes are not "failed to dex properly" they are more like "forgot to dex at all" because I lost track of what I was doing. I should dex the SP1 but block the SP2, how many bars of power does the defender have right now?

Not only does this take practice to learn, but for most mortals, this also takes time. A lot of people believe if they can think it, they either can do it or will never be able to do it. But the brain requires training no different from arms, legs, and lungs. You don't watch a video on marathons and then run a marathon. You have to build up leg strength and endurance, oxygen capacity, learn proper running technique and pacing, and nothing replaces actually running increasingly longer distances.

I find the brain works the same way. When I'm practicing for something like an EoP fight, I don't just hammer it over and over again until I beat it. I try it for a while, see how far I can get, and then set it aside. I go do something else, or nothing else. I let the practice run settle in. Then I come back to it, sometimes hours later, sometimes a day later. And I try again. I find that trying one hour at a time, with breaks in between, generates far better results than setting an entire day aside and trying to burn through it in a huge burst of effort. I'm just not giving myself enough time to absorb the practice.

If it works for you, don't change it. But you're saying it isn't working for you. Continuing to do it because it used to work for you, and now it doesn't, but you still want to do it that way, is counterproductive. Personally, I think this is the thing that's holding you back. If you want to improve, I would change this habit. On the other hand, if you are looking for a way to improve without changing anything you do, I don't see how that's possible. If it was, it would already have happenned.

The game hasn't beaten you. It has beaten this strategy. You have to decide if you want to find a strategy that can beat the game, or if you want to choose a strategy and then go down with it if it doesn't succeed. That's ultimately a player choice.

Kerneas

Thank you all, every last one of you for your advice. It means a lot to me and I am very happy this community can be so supportive (the extent of it surprised me honestly).

I will definitely be following this advice and hopefully improve a bit soon enough

unknown

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xNig

Thank you all, every last one of you for your advice. It means a lot to me and I am very happy this community can be so supportive (the extent of it surprised me honestly).

I will definitely be following this advice and hopefully improve a bit soon enough

Drop me a pm with your Line ID bro. Idm if you send me some videos of your playing and will give some feedback on them.