**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.
Summoner Sit-Down: Dr. Zola
SpideyFunko
Posts: 21,804 ★★★★★
I’m back! Meant to post on Christmas Day, but well... I got distracted. Would like to think @DrZola for answering all of these questions.
Favorite champion?
For sheer playability, the answer today would be Claire Voyant.
Why? Maybe because she feels like an upgraded version of pre-12.0 Doc. She even has a dash of Doc’s elegant visual stylings. Seriously, CV’s versatility across nearly all phases of the game makes her special. She’s like three or more champions in one. That means I get to decide what I need from her, not pRNG.
And she is an old-line Marvel (actually Timely Comics I think) character who has been around awhile.
Worst class?
Unpopular opinion, but Skill and Science need help. Each has a few great champs at the top (Fury, Aegon, Stealth, Cap, Void, Torch, Quake), but it falls off quickly.
In Science, Rhulk and Wasp are solid, and the FF were a great game addition, but I don’t think they live up to their potential apart from Torch. There are decent niche champs like Ghulk, but then there is also Rhino, Ant-Man, Sentry, Fixit, Miles, YJ, OG Hulk, Cap and Spidey—these are the type of champs that lead to phone abuse.
Skill also has quite a few old champs mouldering at the bottom of the heap...the Panthers, Karnak, Kingpin, MK, AV, CB. Skill needs a lot more Falcon-esque reworks.
AW or AQ?
For the better part of the past two years, I’ve been in what one could call a “post-retirement” alliance—no real requirements, long-time friends (some real world), lots of opportunity to focus on whatever. So consider that when you read my response.
I enjoy AQ because AQ is like leg day. Or eating vegetables. It’s grindy and no one really loves it, but it’s good for you.
We do super light lifting on AW. When AW first came out, I was always assigned the bottom right path with a lot of thorns and slashed tires.
That initial experience with AW might have scarred me permanently. Now I enjoy using AW to bring oddball teams in to test how synergies interplay with AW nodes. Or I might let my dog run my AW attack.
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
I will answer by referencing a young lady faced with a similar inquiry: “I think you might do something better with the time than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.”
Britney or Miley?
Honestly, nobody’s perfect, but I’d be fine if someone took a wrecking ball to both of them. Celebrity can be toxic, and both girls live rock star, circus lives. I’m not sure anyone answering this question can truly “get it right.”
If you forced me to choose, I suppose I would just have to do my thang and tell you I’d be more comfortable telling Britney: “I’m a slave 4 u.”
Please don’t hold it against me—I know I’m being evasive with my responses, so maybe I should start all over? Oops! I did it again.
McDonalds or Burger King?
Is there a third option of “Go Hungry”?
Red or Blue?
Context, please. Is this like Xavier School Cyke or ‘90’s Cyke? Or is it one of those “red pill, blue pill” things? Better yet, is this an American political party question? I will defer and say a nice dark graphite hue is more my style.
Best Actor/Actress?
Vince Vaughan (Old School).
How’s your day going?
Swimmingly. Spent the first half on a long car drive with my oldest son, had a phone chat with my parents and I’m about to enjoy dinner with family. Homemade pizza. Weekends are time to cheat with carbs.
Last time you changed your pfp?
I let the game pick it—too much effort to keep up with the trendy pics for me.
How much content have you completed?
100% all variants except #1, which is complete but may go unexplored unless I’m really bored. Working on Act 6 explore. Will take Symbiote Supreme to R5 before year end to complete the dream team and gear up for Abyss easy path—if I can save units that tend to get wasted stacking my 3* roster via Cav crystals.
What’s your roster look like?
What got you into MCOC?
December of 2014 I noticed the game in the App Store. It was Marvel—‘nuff said. It’s been steady since then with a few multi-month breaks. I have some family and real life friends who play so that keeps me in it.
What changes do you want to see to MCOC?
1. Mastery toggles: You’ve bought the mastery, you should be able to shift it without expenditure. Being able to have 2-3 mastery presets would be great.
2. Champ restoration: Some of the classic, OG champs—namely, Black Widow and Dr. Strange—should be restored to their pre-12.0 selves. Those two were kneecapped hardest and it should surprise no one that I consider what was done to Doc to be one of the worst moves the game team has ever made.
3. Documentation: @DNA3000 beat me to the punch on this one and he’s 100% right.
4. Stability: I realize it’s a “free” phone game, but I still experience quite a few wacky in game issues like frame drop, screen freeze, lags...a smoother playing experience would be delightful.
5. Reorganize Item Inventory: I’ve got pots up here, revives down there, AGs over here, sig stones there, old stuff sitting around, boosts in the middle of everything. I’m sure there’s a rational way to organize the stuff on screen. Happy to offer suggestions.
What makes content in MCOC fun?
Marvel. I’ve read Marvel comics since I could read. If this were, say, a game with dragons or robots I doubt I’d still bother playing it.
But it is also the juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity in Kabam’s game design. As a side-scrolling brawler, there are only a handful of individual moves you can make.
On the other hand, there’s also a large amount of variability imbedded into each champ and node interaction—hence, complexity.
I remember getting the game “Othello” when I was kid and the saying on the box stuck with me: “a minute to learn, a lifetime to master.” MCoC is like that in a way—basic moves are simple, but the strategy and interactions require a bit of study.
Add in the game’s statistics, data and champ nuances and it’s tough not to get immersed in a geeky data dive into nerd land.
If you could go through any Act again for the first time, which one would you go through and why?
Act 2. It was so long ago. I would love to have a bifurcated run through the Kang boss fight: one version of me as I was then, and another alongside as I am now. I remember getting vaporized by his second special and wondering what the #%^& just happened. I’d like to be able laugh at my shock and ineptitude.
What do you hope to accomplish in the following year?
In game: Suck it up and do what it takes to R3 one of my 6*’s, force myself to save enough units to make a first Abyss pass.
Real life: Finish a few side projects, consistently knock out 20 rep pull-up sets, master the art of knife-throwing. Hike, paddle-board, garden, grill. Anything outside.
And the obvious: Be a good husband, father, son, friend. And dog owner.
Write a couple paragraphs explaining the utility and usability of the character you know the best
I don’t see a lot of people sing the praises of Luke Cage. He’s great.
He was my first 6* dupe and my first R2 6*. I was disappointed at first because like most players I wanted someone considered top-tier.
When I spent time learning Cage, I realized what a diamond in the rough he was. He’s super tanky. Bleed immune is useful—caltrops is easy, biohazard easy if you don’t trigger poison, and he’s Double Edge friendly.
Indestructible is a free mulligan. You can tank a Sp3 that doesn’t have residual effects like stun (nice counter for Hypo, e.g.). It also gives you leeway if you mistime other specials (like I often do when I forget White Mags swapped specials).
Cage is also an under the radar power management champ: the reliable stun on his Sp1 with multiple Exhaustion debuffs means it’s easy to push opponents to their Sp2 if that’s easier to evade and punish (examples: Mysterio, White Mags, Falcon). With a MM combo at the stun, you can add a normal 5-hit and push the power meter (cf. Limber nodes obviously) if it’s to your advantage.
He thrives on debuffs, which do all kinds of great things like reduce Crits, Power Gain—but many players forget his attack jumps with the number of debuffs (I don’t have Resonate on right now, but it’s a decent pick up if you run champs like Cage or Void a lot). If you used him in this months Cavalier EQ science quest, you probably know what I mean. I believe my 6* gains +1135 attack per debuff. That’s not too bad...
One additional note—Cage pairs nicely with the Despair mastery. More debuff power!
What’s your most controversial MCOC opinion?
Progression titles were a mistake.
Why is that opinion that way?
Mostly due to inconsistent implementation. Uncollected for a single pass through Collector, Cavalier for one run through Champion, nothing for Elder’s Bane. And now Thronebreaker, which kind of got dumped in between Act 6/7.
Name a champion you want to see in game, and explain why.
Kraven.
He’s one of the all-time classics. An original Sinister Six member, he has tremendous potential as a champion.
I imagine him being able to poison and bleed opponents, shrug debuffs and reduce ability accuracy with his hunting skills and training. He may even be able to cause misses when opponents are under certain debuffs. Lots of projectiles and tricks...simply a great set of comic book skills that would translate well into MCoC and enhance the Skill class.
You can put one thing in MCOC. What is it?
1* awakening gems
Name one champion that you feel is underrated by the community.
Rogue—all but forgotten in the crowd of great mutants, she does a few important things very well and has a great set of...synergies.
Any socials you’d like to plug?
I’ve got a buddy who goes by The Real Campo. He’s got a channel but I can’t recall what it is. Probably Campo something.
And the perennial question...
I sign my IGN to every post because it symbolizes ownership and intentionality to me. I try to craft accurate, grammatical, well-worded and deliberate posts. Signing my IGN is my way of showing I mean what I post.
I’ve done it since the old forums way back in 2015-ish. I got questions then; I still get them now.
At this point it’s almost automatic. In fact, I’ve nearly signed real world emails “Dr. Zola.”
Once again, thanks for reading!
Dr. Zola
SpideyFunko
Favorite champion?
For sheer playability, the answer today would be Claire Voyant.
Why? Maybe because she feels like an upgraded version of pre-12.0 Doc. She even has a dash of Doc’s elegant visual stylings. Seriously, CV’s versatility across nearly all phases of the game makes her special. She’s like three or more champions in one. That means I get to decide what I need from her, not pRNG.
And she is an old-line Marvel (actually Timely Comics I think) character who has been around awhile.
Worst class?
Unpopular opinion, but Skill and Science need help. Each has a few great champs at the top (Fury, Aegon, Stealth, Cap, Void, Torch, Quake), but it falls off quickly.
In Science, Rhulk and Wasp are solid, and the FF were a great game addition, but I don’t think they live up to their potential apart from Torch. There are decent niche champs like Ghulk, but then there is also Rhino, Ant-Man, Sentry, Fixit, Miles, YJ, OG Hulk, Cap and Spidey—these are the type of champs that lead to phone abuse.
Skill also has quite a few old champs mouldering at the bottom of the heap...the Panthers, Karnak, Kingpin, MK, AV, CB. Skill needs a lot more Falcon-esque reworks.
AW or AQ?
For the better part of the past two years, I’ve been in what one could call a “post-retirement” alliance—no real requirements, long-time friends (some real world), lots of opportunity to focus on whatever. So consider that when you read my response.
I enjoy AQ because AQ is like leg day. Or eating vegetables. It’s grindy and no one really loves it, but it’s good for you.
We do super light lifting on AW. When AW first came out, I was always assigned the bottom right path with a lot of thorns and slashed tires.
That initial experience with AW might have scarred me permanently. Now I enjoy using AW to bring oddball teams in to test how synergies interplay with AW nodes. Or I might let my dog run my AW attack.
Why is a raven like a writing desk?
I will answer by referencing a young lady faced with a similar inquiry: “I think you might do something better with the time than wasting it in asking riddles that have no answers.”
Britney or Miley?
Honestly, nobody’s perfect, but I’d be fine if someone took a wrecking ball to both of them. Celebrity can be toxic, and both girls live rock star, circus lives. I’m not sure anyone answering this question can truly “get it right.”
If you forced me to choose, I suppose I would just have to do my thang and tell you I’d be more comfortable telling Britney: “I’m a slave 4 u.”
Please don’t hold it against me—I know I’m being evasive with my responses, so maybe I should start all over? Oops! I did it again.
McDonalds or Burger King?
Is there a third option of “Go Hungry”?
Red or Blue?
Context, please. Is this like Xavier School Cyke or ‘90’s Cyke? Or is it one of those “red pill, blue pill” things? Better yet, is this an American political party question? I will defer and say a nice dark graphite hue is more my style.
Best Actor/Actress?
Vince Vaughan (Old School).
How’s your day going?
Swimmingly. Spent the first half on a long car drive with my oldest son, had a phone chat with my parents and I’m about to enjoy dinner with family. Homemade pizza. Weekends are time to cheat with carbs.
Last time you changed your pfp?
I let the game pick it—too much effort to keep up with the trendy pics for me.
How much content have you completed?
100% all variants except #1, which is complete but may go unexplored unless I’m really bored. Working on Act 6 explore. Will take Symbiote Supreme to R5 before year end to complete the dream team and gear up for Abyss easy path—if I can save units that tend to get wasted stacking my 3* roster via Cav crystals.
What’s your roster look like?
What got you into MCOC?
December of 2014 I noticed the game in the App Store. It was Marvel—‘nuff said. It’s been steady since then with a few multi-month breaks. I have some family and real life friends who play so that keeps me in it.
What changes do you want to see to MCOC?
1. Mastery toggles: You’ve bought the mastery, you should be able to shift it without expenditure. Being able to have 2-3 mastery presets would be great.
2. Champ restoration: Some of the classic, OG champs—namely, Black Widow and Dr. Strange—should be restored to their pre-12.0 selves. Those two were kneecapped hardest and it should surprise no one that I consider what was done to Doc to be one of the worst moves the game team has ever made.
3. Documentation: @DNA3000 beat me to the punch on this one and he’s 100% right.
4. Stability: I realize it’s a “free” phone game, but I still experience quite a few wacky in game issues like frame drop, screen freeze, lags...a smoother playing experience would be delightful.
5. Reorganize Item Inventory: I’ve got pots up here, revives down there, AGs over here, sig stones there, old stuff sitting around, boosts in the middle of everything. I’m sure there’s a rational way to organize the stuff on screen. Happy to offer suggestions.
What makes content in MCOC fun?
Marvel. I’ve read Marvel comics since I could read. If this were, say, a game with dragons or robots I doubt I’d still bother playing it.
But it is also the juxtaposition of simplicity and complexity in Kabam’s game design. As a side-scrolling brawler, there are only a handful of individual moves you can make.
On the other hand, there’s also a large amount of variability imbedded into each champ and node interaction—hence, complexity.
I remember getting the game “Othello” when I was kid and the saying on the box stuck with me: “a minute to learn, a lifetime to master.” MCoC is like that in a way—basic moves are simple, but the strategy and interactions require a bit of study.
Add in the game’s statistics, data and champ nuances and it’s tough not to get immersed in a geeky data dive into nerd land.
If you could go through any Act again for the first time, which one would you go through and why?
Act 2. It was so long ago. I would love to have a bifurcated run through the Kang boss fight: one version of me as I was then, and another alongside as I am now. I remember getting vaporized by his second special and wondering what the #%^& just happened. I’d like to be able laugh at my shock and ineptitude.
What do you hope to accomplish in the following year?
In game: Suck it up and do what it takes to R3 one of my 6*’s, force myself to save enough units to make a first Abyss pass.
Real life: Finish a few side projects, consistently knock out 20 rep pull-up sets, master the art of knife-throwing. Hike, paddle-board, garden, grill. Anything outside.
And the obvious: Be a good husband, father, son, friend. And dog owner.
Write a couple paragraphs explaining the utility and usability of the character you know the best
I don’t see a lot of people sing the praises of Luke Cage. He’s great.
He was my first 6* dupe and my first R2 6*. I was disappointed at first because like most players I wanted someone considered top-tier.
When I spent time learning Cage, I realized what a diamond in the rough he was. He’s super tanky. Bleed immune is useful—caltrops is easy, biohazard easy if you don’t trigger poison, and he’s Double Edge friendly.
Indestructible is a free mulligan. You can tank a Sp3 that doesn’t have residual effects like stun (nice counter for Hypo, e.g.). It also gives you leeway if you mistime other specials (like I often do when I forget White Mags swapped specials).
Cage is also an under the radar power management champ: the reliable stun on his Sp1 with multiple Exhaustion debuffs means it’s easy to push opponents to their Sp2 if that’s easier to evade and punish (examples: Mysterio, White Mags, Falcon). With a MM combo at the stun, you can add a normal 5-hit and push the power meter (cf. Limber nodes obviously) if it’s to your advantage.
He thrives on debuffs, which do all kinds of great things like reduce Crits, Power Gain—but many players forget his attack jumps with the number of debuffs (I don’t have Resonate on right now, but it’s a decent pick up if you run champs like Cage or Void a lot). If you used him in this months Cavalier EQ science quest, you probably know what I mean. I believe my 6* gains +1135 attack per debuff. That’s not too bad...
One additional note—Cage pairs nicely with the Despair mastery. More debuff power!
What’s your most controversial MCOC opinion?
Progression titles were a mistake.
Why is that opinion that way?
Mostly due to inconsistent implementation. Uncollected for a single pass through Collector, Cavalier for one run through Champion, nothing for Elder’s Bane. And now Thronebreaker, which kind of got dumped in between Act 6/7.
Name a champion you want to see in game, and explain why.
Kraven.
He’s one of the all-time classics. An original Sinister Six member, he has tremendous potential as a champion.
I imagine him being able to poison and bleed opponents, shrug debuffs and reduce ability accuracy with his hunting skills and training. He may even be able to cause misses when opponents are under certain debuffs. Lots of projectiles and tricks...simply a great set of comic book skills that would translate well into MCoC and enhance the Skill class.
You can put one thing in MCOC. What is it?
1* awakening gems
Name one champion that you feel is underrated by the community.
Rogue—all but forgotten in the crowd of great mutants, she does a few important things very well and has a great set of...synergies.
Any socials you’d like to plug?
I’ve got a buddy who goes by The Real Campo. He’s got a channel but I can’t recall what it is. Probably Campo something.
And the perennial question...
I sign my IGN to every post because it symbolizes ownership and intentionality to me. I try to craft accurate, grammatical, well-worded and deliberate posts. Signing my IGN is my way of showing I mean what I post.
I’ve done it since the old forums way back in 2015-ish. I got questions then; I still get them now.
At this point it’s almost automatic. In fact, I’ve nearly signed real world emails “Dr. Zola.”
Once again, thanks for reading!
SpideyFunko
50
Comments
I noticed you evading my questions on when the next sit-down would drop
also, are you a real doctor? I remember you answering this before
Zola?
Rockypanther.
@Kill_Grey Elsa is R2, as is Doom and KM now. Still waiting to R3 Havok, who is 5% away.
@OneManArmy using the R5 gem from Var6 on her for this Level Up.
Dr. Zola