For the good of the game: A perspective

Hi, folks!

First, before I get started, I know how this stuff goes. Credentials are required before you offer an opinion that someone might take seriously, so here goes: I am ESF in the game, leader of the E-712 alliance. 325K-plus, been here since Week 1 of the game in Dec. 2014.

I have seen everything that has happened in this game, good and bad. Think the longest break I have taken was maybe...three weeks. Think the last time I posted on the boards -- I have previously -- was around the 12.0 release.

Today, I just wanted to take a second to offer my opinion, some perspective, about this game from the point of view of developing players -- not endgame players, or beginners. Mid-tier development -- Levels 45-55, closing out Act 3 and 4, making their first runs at RoL.

I am doing so because I have read a lot of the criticisms of this weekend's offerings on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, and for those who are endgamers who are critical of what was offered, I ask one favor:

Take a deep breath and try to remember how complicated this game was to advance when there were no four-stars. When there were no duped abilities or masteries. Then remember how much easier it was, at least for a little while, when duping and four-stars and masteries and synergies came -- Perfect Block teams. Willpower. Wolverine and Deadpool's regen. OP Doctor Strange and Scarlet Witch.

Now. Think about how hard this game can feel if you don't have a duped Star-Lord. If you haven't pulled something like a double-immune, regeneration-capable Ultron to help you with AWs because there are literally 100-plus characters in the crystals.

And very few big-time alliances will take you without high PIs and/or having a fully developed roster.

I pulled my first four-star the first day they were available.

It was Star-Lord.

My second was Wolverine. My third was the Hulk.

There might have been, maybe...23-25 characters in the crystals then, maximum. Absolute maximum, when I pulled that Hulk.

These offers this weekend...again, folks, try to remember how freaking difficult clearing some content is when you don't have a full set of masteries. When you are grinding against guys with 200K-plus PI and you are 80-150K.

You are putting in the work. But it's still not the easiest.

These offers this weekend truly helped a lot of mid-tier players. Not everyone is Uncollected, yet. They are trying to get there, with crystal spins from 100 characters that are as likely to give you a She-Hulk or Ant-Man as it is an Iceman or Hyperion.

These guys needed the basics, the class cats and the Awakening Gems. They are no threat to endgamers for positions or prizes -- it's gonna be a while, still, before many of these players navigate RTTL and LOL.

I don't always agree with everything that has happened in this game. But for one day, at least, try to think about other players in this game who are trying to advance.

Yes, they have access to better characters than we did when we started -- I would've killed somebody for a Hyperion or duped Archangel, a Gwenpool, back in the day.

But man, it is a lot harder to get those characters. Harder still to dupe the ones who have to have it.

Just relax for one weekend. Being Uncollected means great things are coming for those who are, and there will be five-star offers and materials soon enough.

Again: This isn't a criticism of anyone, or Kabam. Just asking for those who are really most upset to just think about your fellow players who are trying to advance.

Comments

MH2804

Amazing. First post I’ve read on the forum that gave me goosebumps. WELL DONE!

Volcanic45

So why not have a uncollected offer with a generic gem?
Maybe because with a random they know they can **** you they know what there doing

ESF

Volcanic45 wrote: »

So why not have a uncollected offer with a generic gem?
Maybe because with a random they know they can **** you they know what there doing

Hey. I don't pretend to know why they didn't, but let's be honest: At some point in the near future, a generic 5-star gem is getting dropped. It's coming. It's going to happen.

I am like everyone else: I am sitting on one Skill and one Mutant AG, without the right characters to use those on. I would've liked, and bought, a generic one today.

But it doesn't help the game for the gap between the mid-tier and elite tier to get even bigger.

Because let's be honest: The gap is huge. Huge. I have never seen anything like the gap between elite and middle like there is in this game.

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ESF

@Ronnieb54: Hey. I definitely am not trying to insult you, minimize your experience. You are clearly frustrated. I am not saying you can't be, because your situation is real.

I am only saying that the offers over this weekend really did help a lot of people. Again, I am not saying that you have to care about that, because we all play the game for different reasons, and no one wants to be stuck. So I hear you.

ESF

@CoquiFongo: I was a little surprised no T1 alphas were there, as well. Again, I can't say I wouldn't have liked to have seen a generic, but I do know that some people got use out of the random.

Again: Not minimizing anyone else's experience. It can be really frustrating. I do not dispute that, at all.

lankster39

Just wondering how this all works. I have only been playing for 4 months and I'm a level summoner level 43 and I got my first 4 star champion but my total team score does not even reach the team level recommended to play the levels prior to Thanos. Yet I see people who have summoner levels less then 20 who have 2 or 3 4 star champions and some even have a five star. I have played in the arena and normally receive nothing more than an average 3000 gold for an arena crystal. How are you suppose to go further and compete when you almost never get a 4 star champion. I'll keep plugging along hoping to get by but spending money has not improved my chances for me in any areas other than to get ISO to be able to keep increasing my 3 star champions.

ESF

@lankster39: Here is the best advice I can give -- and you aren't gonna love it -- but here it is: Remain patient.

This game moves in surges. I once went six months -- no joke -- without pulling a four-star from a PHC. Then, in one six-day stretch, I pulled an Iceman from a PHC, then a Blade from a $9.99 offer, a Jane Foster, an Archangel from a four-star, then duped the Iceman from another PHC AND duped the Archangel from a Blade crystal.

It happens like that for a lot of guys. If you stick with it -- which is your call to make -- you will hit a hot streak. You will hit cold streaks. You just gotta stay with it.

Best advice i can give, other than do your best to only spend money on units for specific reasons, not just to spin the crystals.

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DNA3000

CoquiFongo wrote: »

The only thing I think they should have changed was the Odin, make it a pick your class Gem, that and maybe add some T1 alphas to the deals, since everyone from new to top 1% need T1 alphas.

Actually I believe even now there is an entire tier of mid range players for whom T1 alphas are coming out of their nostrils. Especially if you are a map 3 alliance you probably have more than you could possibly use. It was even worse when I was at that level, but even now I'm pretty sure there are lots of players for whom offering a t1 alpha is essentially worthless except for the tiny amount of fragments they'd get from selling them.

lankster39

ESF wrote: »

@lankster39: Here is the best advice I can give -- and you aren't gonna love it -- but here it is: Remain patient.

This game moves in surges. I once went six months -- no joke -- without pulling a four-star from a PHC. Then, in one six-day stretch, I pulled an Iceman from a PHC, then a Blade from a $9.99 offer, a Jane Foster, an Archangel from a four-star, then duped the Iceman from another PHC AND duped the Archangel from a Blade crystal.

It happens like that for a lot of guys. If you stick with it -- which is your call to make -- you will hit a hot streak. You will hit cold streaks. You just gotta stay with it.

Best advice i can give, other than do your best to only spend money on units for specific reasons, not just to spin the crystals.

Your best advice I have tried and usually all I get from buying crystals is a lonely 2 star which at this point in the acts I am in is absolutely useless for me I have never gotten anything out of unit purchases either which is kind of a let down but I have managed to buy some mastery ability formulas which have made my 3 star champions decent. I will continue to fight the good fight but really not expecting anything to change much because I am not in the upper tier which seems to be heavily favored.

CoquiFongo wrote: »

lankster39 wrote: »

Just wondering how this all works. I have only been playing for 4 months and I'm a level summoner level 43 and I got my first 4 star champion but my total team score does not even reach the team level recommended to play the levels prior to Thanos. Yet I see people who have summoner levels less then 20 who have 2 or 3 4 star champions and some even have a five star. I have played in the arena and normally receive nothing more than an average 3000 gold for an arena crystal. How are you suppose to go further and compete when you almost never get a 4 star champion. I'll keep plugging along hoping to get by but spending money has not improved my chances for me in any areas other than to get ISO to be able to keep increasing my 3 star champions.

Well those are a lot of questions and very in depth answers needed. But here are the basic.

-New accounts have an easy arena bracket to grind so 3 and 4 stars get added faster.
-join an alliance that does wars for shards, and AQ for class rank up materials.
-the monthly events give higher rewards and since they are timed should be done first then story.
-buying deals and units for crystals is an option but that is real money so that's on you to decide what to spend.

I would check Reddit for more pointed questions, also ask in alliance and if you are not in one check recruitment pages for an alliance. also look on YouTube; Dork Lessons, Seatin, Brian Grant, Leagcy69 are just a few I can think of.

I have wondered how well alliance payoffs are but have been a skeptic too it because it relies absolutely on other players who are probably riding for good payoffs wanting you to do most of the work at least that how it seems in the game chat.

DNA3000

lankster39 wrote: »

Just wondering how this all works. I have only been playing for 4 months and I'm a level summoner level 43 and I got my first 4 star champion but my total team score does not even reach the team level recommended to play the levels prior to Thanos. Yet I see people who have summoner levels less then 20 who have 2 or 3 4 star champions and some even have a five star. I have played in the arena and normally receive nothing more than an average 3000 gold for an arena crystal. How are you suppose to go further and compete when you almost never get a 4 star champion. I'll keep plugging along hoping to get by but spending money has not improved my chances for me in any areas other than to get ISO to be able to keep increasing my 3 star champions.

It depends greatly on how much time you have to play. But the short answer is: the fastest way to progress in the mid game is in the arena. Start in the 3* featured arena. There are milestone rewards about every 80k points. Those rewards include units, battlechips, gold, and PHC fragments. You want to build up your 3* roster so you can earn more points in this arena, and get more milestones. Also, it is easy to get to the ranked rewards: anything higher than 80k qualifies you for at least the bottom rank rewards of 100 3* fragments (and an arena boost crystal).

You can do this twice a week three days at a stretch. Where you are now, these rewards will add up assuming you can put in a reasonable amount of time. When your 3* roster gets big enough and you can rank them up high enough, and especially when you can consistently max out the milestones (at 640k) you can start trying to earn points in the 4* basic arena. At this point it is about climbing the ladder from 3* featured to 4* basic to earning the 3* featured champ (it usually takes somewhere around 1-1.5 million points) to earning the "bad" 4* basics for about 2-3 million points, and upward. You do what you can and earn as much as you can, and build up strength to move up and take on the next thing.

Eventually you'll be earning several 2* champs and a 3* champ a week, then many 2* champs and a couple 3* champs a week, then one 4* a month, then one 4* every two weeks. I still get most of my 5* fragments from the arena, either directly or from duping 4* champs. There's always another rung up the ladder to climb.

DNA3000

CoquiFongo wrote: »

-the monthly events give higher rewards and since they are timed should be done first then story.

Also very good advice. The monthly events actually have very good cumulative rewards, and they come and go. The story quests sit there forever. The priority should be to get as far as you can in the monthly without spending too much money, and then when you can't go any farther (or finish it) use the energy from the rest of the month to do story quests.

GroundedWisdom

DNA3000 wrote: »

CoquiFongo wrote: »

-the monthly events give higher rewards and since they are timed should be done first then story.

Also very good advice. The monthly events actually have very good cumulative rewards, and they come and go. The story quests sit there forever. The priority should be to get as far as you can in the monthly without spending too much money, and then when you can't go any farther (or finish it) use the energy from the rest of the month to do story quests.

This is pretty sound advice. Progression is cumulative. It's always best to do as much as possible, as far as we can. Storymode is permanent, so we can always chip away at it. The Monthly has Rewards that are time-based, but over time, each month helps people grow towards the following months. Grinding the Arena is important as well. Not only for Rewards, but for practice.

Dr_ARCHer

The problem for me as an advanced player (I ranked 32 in the Global Total Base Hero Rating at this point in time) is that I am required to buy the lower value offers before I can buy the higher value offers. Why must I buy the Cyber Monday Cache and the Advanced Cyber Monday Cache to be able to buy the Advanced Cyber Monday Cache?

ESF

@Dr_ARCHer: First of all: Man, congratulations on ranking that high. Wow. Because I know what kind of grinding that takes.

But yeah. As I said, I don't agree with everything Kabam does. Your complaint is valid, extremely so -- while I do want the game's meta to not completely forget about mid-tier players, I can/do admit that endgamers aren't always getting the right kinds of offers, especially consistently.

StrayPool

DNA3000 wrote: »

CoquiFongo wrote: »

The only thing I think they should have changed was the Odin, make it a pick your class Gem, that and maybe add some T1 alphas to the deals, since everyone from new to top 1% need T1 alphas.

Actually I believe even now there is an entire tier of mid range players for whom T1 alphas are coming out of their nostrils. Especially if you are a map 3 alliance you probably have more than you could possibly use. It was even worse when I was at that level, but even now I'm pretty sure there are lots of players for whom offering a t1 alpha is essentially worthless except for the tiny amount of fragments they'd get from selling them.

Speaking as a mid-tier player, you are very right to believe that. Whereas many players mention facing expiring T4CCs, we have an immense surplus of T1 alphas on hand. I've even raised - totaling it up - almost 8K Tier 2 alpha fragments over my time stuck with maps 3 and 4 in AQ. The tonal shift might annoy superior players, but I would suggest dropping down to map 3 for a week and see how many alphas spring up. Might be worth the gear shift to anyone needing more blues.

ViciousJ

Ok just take a deep breath and forget about the offers suck big time for players like us .. really stupid post ..