My take on WOW, CCP, and Necropolis
My take on WOW, CCP, and Necropolis
(Yes, I know it's a long post. Mods you can merge into a larger thread if you feel appropriate)
TL;DR:
WOW - I agree with the player backlash
CCP Challenges - I do not agree with player backlash
In both cases, I think Kabam could make some tweaks
Full Post
Context
I am Valiant , playing since 2018, with a 7+ million rating (top 250). I have completed all permanent content and Carina's Challenges in the game prior to Necropolis and halfway through it. I consider myself an above average player, with many players much better than me out there, although there are some fights the "best" players struggle with that I can do handily. Maybe it's like that for others too, I am not sure.
For reference: all runs below were fully boosted with 30% Green boosts and various other boosts, and most, if not all, had strikers
Necropolis -
I tried Necropolis at the Vancouver meetup and I was very scared after the first test fight against I think Diablo, but after Brian Grant ranked up and ascended his max sig 6* R5 Ægon, I did the same and the paths have been doable for me - I have completed 3 paths with Ægon, Proxima, Wiccan, Shuri and Heimdall. This is the first time that new content that has been released that I was able to do along with the other players without too much struggle. (For Context, I just finished Abyss of Legends a few months ago). I don't keep an exact count of resources used but I did each Necropolis path in about 100-150 revives or equivalent, or about 6,000 units. I didn't feel like there was any "roadblocks" and I was never really too frustrated - it was very fun - maybe slightly too easy (than Kabam wanted) with Ægon. This was my first time using Ægon consistently and I feel like I am better player for it now.
CCP Challenges
Easy
I did Lagacy's challenges within the first day or 2 with my 5* R5 Max sig, un-ascended Stark Spidey. The paths were easy and I had to use only a handful of revives for the Kang bosses. It was a very fun challenge and didn't cost a lot. I haven't played Starky in a long while and this reminded me why he was one of my favorite champs (not even counting the Blade trinity synergy with Ghost Rider)
Medium
I just completed KarateMike's Classic Avengers and Baron Zemo challenges. These also took me about 150 revives or equivalent, or about 6,000 units on each path and that is with:
Avengers: 7* R2 Sig 40 Iron Man, 7* R1 Sig 20 Hawkeye, 6 * R5 Black Widow, 6* R4 Thor and Ant-Man
Baron Zemo - 6* R5 Max Sig, 5* R5 Max Sig, 4* R5 Max Sig, 3* R4 Max Sig, 2* Rank 3, Sig about 10.
Both challenges were fun for me, and even the scary fight (Sasquatch) was a breeze for Ant-Man. Not quite as easy for me with Baron Zemo, but doable. Even the 5* and 4* Zemo's put in a lot of work! I was surprised! Now I am better prepared to Zemo him in BGs, a dance club, or maybe one of the next Nercro runs.
If you watched KarateMike's stream, you know he did these in MANY less revives than me, but I had fun and had team revives to burn (I buy all the UC, Cav and TB EQ 1,000 unit offers).
I like that his challenges were all team based so that I didn't have to waste the team revives and that is why I did these challenges now even though they are permanent.
Hard
Fintech's challenges seem the hardest and somewhat Team based with 3 slots each. I have a lot of Romance Team Revives and Potions left but there's no way I can do it now, especially with WOW. My single champion resources are depleted after WOW. That is what Kabam said, after all, and they were right. I had a lot of stuff in my inventory I saved for a rainy day, and this was it. I am now ranking up my Mojo's, Tigra's and Jabari's and saving resources to prepare to do this late next month. I don't know how to play Tigra well, and I don't like Jabari, but that's good - if it wasn't for Fintech (all hail the winner of the meetup), then I probably never would learn and who knows maybe I will learn to like!
WOW
Just seeing Unstoppable with a Gamma objective made me think of She Hulk. I ascended my 6* R5 Max Sig She-Hulk. I spent probably 5,000 units to get this guy down just once and maybe 4-5 full energy refills in attempts. I am no MSD soloing with a 2* over here. What is funny is that my very first try I got him down to about 60-70% but he just regens so much that most of the next fights ended with him having more health. I wanted to take a break but because the boosts would expire, I found myself pushing even when I wasn't at my best and couldn't totally focus This fight was frustrating and while it cost me about the same amount of units as the others above, it was not fun, it was frustrating and felt like some of the older fights in this game that made me want to quit the game (Act 6.2 Champion, Act 6 Grandmaster, and Act 7 Gwenmaster). Also the fact that its only limited time, makes it feel even worse that I am not going to be able to fully complete all the objectives.
I also attempted Robots and Sinister Six but they did not go well - although I did better after finally defeating Abs man. I don't think I am going to make these objectives in time.
Conclusion
It took me a lot of inventory items and many romance revives and potions to complete everything so far. I feel like that was intentional, in a good way, whether Kabam planned each path (except Lagacy's challenge) to cost me about the same amount. You see, I could have waited many months or years then completed Necro paths and Carina's Challenges with more stored resources but then the rewards would be less valuable. It look buying literally every Valentine's Day offer to get this done. Now not everyone can spend that much, but also not everyone has the time. I don't have or want to spend the time mastering this game with 2*s. I am also not the biggest whale but I spend a lot - and more and more as I get nearer to the top. I think its a good balance for me. And when Kabam says time isn't a relevant resource in the economy, they mean for them... your time doesn't make them any money. So unless you want to watch a 30 second ad after every arena.... )
I think the rewards are great - I just cant decide between 2 Starkys and 1 of each Spidey (sorry Massacre). And 2* Baron Zemo is great because I didn't have him yet, and is also part of the synergy!
Suggestions
Abyss - Add a 6* Ultron Classic or another new trophy champ to the exploration rewards and send everyone who already explored one. That way it could regain some relevance today.
Necro - a little too easy with Ægon than what Kabam had probably planned, but its fun, and the Road to the Crypt was fun too. I wonder what WOW would have been like if it has the same? Maybe Kabam can share some WOW numbers and do a little something similar to Necro here, in hindsight. I also wonder if anyone spend more units than me.
WOW - I get what Kabam was trying to do but its just way too hard. Maybe stages like the bosses where his regen cant go above a certain amount, or maybe reduce the regen a tad bit. At the rate it is now, I wont be able to complete the other two objectives and that doesn't feel good for me, so I get what the players are saying here too.
CCP Challenges - they are fine in my opinion, but I think Kabam should have probably locked these to only to Valiant players - it would give people another incentive to get to that level and frankly if you are Valiant, you probably have a large roster with a lot of rank ups that you do just so the resources don't expire, and are good enough at the game where you would not complain about them. (I think the more that Kabam can do to tailor content and offers to a progression level helps). Like non Valiant's shouldn't even see it in the game, because even seeing something you can't do, can cause some anxiety and the backlash like what has been going on.