I guess I'm a little confused because you laid out numerous things but also said you basically can't play the game because of your devices? Then what is it going to matter when you switch from doing master to doing story quest - isn't the result going to be the same, and you will just get stuck spending more units dying on the paths leading up to the collector? And then dying even more on him, who is designed to make you die over and over, without lag issues?
And how are you grinding so much if you have that bad of a lag on the one device you can play on? Or is it just you do arena on your phone then story/quest on the tablet?
Sorry, it's just a bit confusing. I have had apple products and since I got the Iphone 8 plus I've had mostly a breeze of a time (besides some overheating issues during all of that). But if I was this obsessed with a game and liked it that much, and it worked the best on a certain kind of device, and that was holding me back from the best content in the game, it seems like a decision would need to be made at some point or you're just going to transfer one problem onto another. Your lag issues in master are going to be the same lag issues and crazy bugs when you're doing act 5, and honestly the paths leading up to the collector on his chapter alone are usually harder than the hardest level of master every month. It's not easy. If you can't do a whole path now with bane on every node, you are gonna be completely unable to do it to become uncollected, or you're gonna be spending an insane amount of units. There seems to be a root cause that everything you listed is stemming from, and until you address that and get it working as it's intended to work, your progress will probably be hindered. And even then, let's say you do get past it and become uncollected. You'll have access to the better daily crystals, you can get the uncollected deals and featured crystals, but if you're barely doing master every month right now (with the relatively easy difficulty level they have been since the UC version was added alongside it) you're not gonna be able to make it through any of the monthly uncollected event quests either. Or again, without spending an insane amount of units and items.
That doesn't sound like a fun time to me, and I'm sure it's not something you're wanting either, but until something is reckoned with in the situation, you seem to be stuck.
So, there's lag throughout, but the Arenas are manageable. The harder the content, the more it lags. Master, Challenges, etc. Which I will deal with willingly because I want the Rewards. The lag is there in Act 5, but the Rewards from Uncollected are worth pushing through. Wasn't really a focus on the lag issues. Just an explanation that it is a huge factor. I keep trying to save Units for Uncollected and end up burning through them on EQ.
I guess that's what I'm still confused for you about...lol
You didn't want to focus on the lag issues...but they are what's been keeping you from saving up units for an uncollected run and the parts of act 5 leading up to it, because you're spending them on master every month, which is way way easier to do than anything in Act 5.2 including the paths up to the collector and his fight. "I keep trying to save units for Uncollected and end up burning through them on EQ" - so you switch to burning even more units trying to get uncollected so you can access the monthly uncollected event quest, which is the largest rewards you're referring to when you are uncollected you can get per month, but you still back to your original problem - you have so many existing issues that aren't improving, so you're just going to be switching back again to blowing through even more units to try and do THAT difficulty instead, which is WAY harder than anything on Master level. Honestly, I'm not trying to be hyperbolic - the difficulty increase between the last chapter of Master and even the first few parts of every monthly event quest is very large. If you're not getting through master right now without that much unit spending, you're not gonna be sustaining it for uncollected and probably won't be able to finish it at all, instead of actually making it through master every month. You are in a pickle it seems.
I guess I'm a little confused because you laid out numerous things but also said you basically can't play the game because of your devices? Then what is it going to matter when you switch from doing master to doing story quest - isn't the result going to be the same, and you will just get stuck spending more units dying on the paths leading up to the collector? And then dying even more on him, who is designed to make you die over and over, without lag issues?
And how are you grinding so much if you have that bad of a lag on the one device you can play on? Or is it just you do arena on your phone then story/quest on the tablet?
Sorry, it's just a bit confusing. I have had apple products and since I got the Iphone 8 plus I've had mostly a breeze of a time (besides some overheating issues during all of that). But if I was this obsessed with a game and liked it that much, and it worked the best on a certain kind of device, and that was holding me back from the best content in the game, it seems like a decision would need to be made at some point or you're just going to transfer one problem onto another. Your lag issues in master are going to be the same lag issues and crazy bugs when you're doing act 5, and honestly the paths leading up to the collector on his chapter alone are usually harder than the hardest level of master every month. It's not easy. If you can't do a whole path now with bane on every node, you are gonna be completely unable to do it to become uncollected, or you're gonna be spending an insane amount of units. There seems to be a root cause that everything you listed is stemming from, and until you address that and get it working as it's intended to work, your progress will probably be hindered. And even then, let's say you do get past it and become uncollected. You'll have access to the better daily crystals, you can get the uncollected deals and featured crystals, but if you're barely doing master every month right now (with the relatively easy difficulty level they have been since the UC version was added alongside it) you're not gonna be able to make it through any of the monthly uncollected event quests either. Or again, without spending an insane amount of units and items.
That doesn't sound like a fun time to me, and I'm sure it's not something you're wanting either, but until something is reckoned with in the situation, you seem to be stuck.
So, there's lag throughout, but the Arenas are manageable. The harder the content, the more it lags. Master, Challenges, etc. Which I will deal with willingly because I want the Rewards. The lag is there in Act 5, but the Rewards from Uncollected are worth pushing through. Wasn't really a focus on the lag issues. Just an explanation that it is a huge factor. I keep trying to save Units for Uncollected and end up burning through them on EQ.
I guess that's what I'm still confused for you about...lol
You didn't want to focus on the lag issues...but they are what's been keeping you from saving up units for an uncollected run and the parts of act 5 leading up to it, because you're spending them on master every month, which is way way easier to do than anything in Act 5.2 including the paths up to the collector and his fight. "I keep trying to save units for Uncollected and end up burning through them on EQ" - so you switch to burning even more units trying to get uncollected so you can access the monthly uncollected event quest, which is the largest rewards you're referring to when you are uncollected you can get per month, but you still back to your original problem - you have so many existing issues that aren't improving, so you're just going to be switching back again to blowing through even more units to try and do THAT difficulty instead, which is WAY harder than anything on Master level. Honestly, I'm not trying to be hyperbolic - the difficulty increase between the last chapter of Master and even the first few parts of every monthly event quest is very large. If you're not getting through master right now without that much unit spending, you're not gonna be sustaining it for uncollected and probably won't be able to finish it at all, instead of actually making it through master every month. You are in a pickle it seems.
What I'm saying is I've been intending to save for Uncollected, but I've chosen to focus on EQ, and end up spending them. Had I chosen to let EQ fall to the side until I finish Uncollected, it would have been done. My main point is not the lag. It's my choices, and how easy it is to fall into a cycle of doing the same thing over and over.
@GroundedWisdom I don't know if a different device is a viable option for you but I have always played on iphones and I almost never get lag. I am currently using a 7+. The plus has a larger screen. Maybe it would be big enough for you?
I'm not a fan of Apple in general. A bit stubborn, but I don't agree with their policies and practices so I don't buy Apple. I just bought an $800 phone so I'm not buying another. Works much better. Only I'm not used to the smaller screen. Lol.
well if you want a phone that is great for MCOC u will need to suck it up and get an iphone. The 8 Plus is amazing. Large Screen, no lag, smooth, responsive.....
my gameplay improved dramatically after upgrading from samsung....
I never liked apple for alot of same reasons.....
but at the end of the day when the product suits your needs sometimes u gotta do wat u gotta do.
it is the only apple device i have......
there are some great reports from some new phones like samsung s9 but yeah.....
Iphone may be the only way to help you....
plus it will halve you arena griding time.
load times are much faster... about half the time spent to do a round....
so either more time to grind more arena for more rewards....
or
some time to do other stuff....
and you 1000 units a week will be able to be put to better us then potions....
@GroundedWisdom I don't know if a different device is a viable option for you but I have always played on iphones and I almost never get lag. I am currently using a 7+. The plus has a larger screen. Maybe it would be big enough for you?
I'm not a fan of Apple in general. A bit stubborn, but I don't agree with their policies and practices so I don't buy Apple. I just bought an $800 phone so I'm not buying another. Works much better. Only I'm not used to the smaller screen. Lol.
well if you want a phone that is great for MCOC u will need to suck it up and get an iphone. The 8 Plus is amazing. Large Screen, no lag, smooth, responsive.....
my gameplay improved dramatically after upgrading from samsung....
I never liked apple for alot of same reasons.....
but at the end of the day when the product suits your needs sometimes u gotta do wat u gotta do.
it is the only apple device i have......
there are some great reports from some new phones like samsung s9 but yeah.....
Iphone may be the only way to help you....
plus it will halve you arena griding time.
load times are much faster... about half the time spent to do a round....
so either more time to grind more arena for more rewards....
or
some time to do other stuff....
and you 1000 units a week will be able to be put to better us then potions....
I don't see me buying Apple, much less another phone for a year or two at least. It's the Resources that made me stop and think. The amount I've gone through in the last while, should have done it by now. Lol. Exploration can be done at a slower pace, but Uncollected is a much larger milestone, and the Rewards are ongoing.
What's the point playing for three years if you're not going to play the main story mode? What, exactly, are you "grinding" arena for?
To be candid, I'm way behind on fully exploring Act 5 for similar reasons. I do the things that won't be around later first, which means I do the monthly quest, I do the special events, and I specifically reserve time to grind the 5* featured (for shards) and maybe pick up some milestones in the other arenas. I made a deliberate push to get uncollected way back when, but then I've slacked off simply because I had other things to do and I knew that as time progressed my roster would continue to get stronger which would make the eventual push easier.
Here and there I've had extra time and slowly completed 5.1 and 5.2 paths for full completion, and I really only have 5.2.6 to go, but I've really started pushing a couple paths at a time to initial completion of Act 5 because I'm slowly accumulating energy refills from the new alliance events. With those, I can save a bunch up and then do one big push without tying up my champs in the content. I just recently finished 5.3 and started 5.4. But I'm in no rush, because I'm specifically trying to do it without spending any resources I'm not overflowing in.
I'm not exactly in the same situation as GW is in, but I'm not entirely unsympathetic to at least some of it. But I will say that setting that all aside, I strongly recommend pushing for uncollected first, if it is reasonably possible for the player to do without spending too much. There's plenty of time to take it easy once you reach uncollected status, but the real problem is not having the uncollected difficulty available to do is a huge opportunity cost. Solo players not in alliances at all and not doing war or AQ can still farm uncollected for things like 5* shards and T5B fragments, which is an enormous opportunity for most players.
My advice is one you're uncollected, take all the time you want to push for full explore of Act 5. But try hard to reach uncollected itself. In fact, once you've spent a few months on uncollected difficulty in monthly quests, 5.3 and 5.4 probably won't seem as daunting either: the practice itself can make the rest of Act 5 much cheaper to run. Once I got off my behind and actually started running paths in 5.3, I discovered they were not nearly as hard as I built them up to be in my head, just because of all my time running full completes in uncollected monthly. In retrospect, I probably waited several months longer than necessary thinking I needed more practice.
If you're that close, personally, after you're finished with this EQ, I'd just focus on story. You only have 2 paths to run (5.2.5 and 5.26, correct?). The Collector will cost you some resources to get past, but it really won't be that bad, and it is more than worth it just for swapping out the regular daily crystal with the uncollected one. After than, you'll probably still have ample time to run through heroic and master and will recoup a lot of the resources from them.
The Uncollected Daily crystals are pretty sweet. I've pulled several god tier 4* from them. I pulled a Void just the other day in fact! 😊
I took the opposite perspective: story mode first, EQ after. So, I become uncollected and explored 100% 5.1. and 5.4. (moving backwards, I like to explore hardest content first). My goal is to 100% act 5 because the rewards are awesome and all my units are destined to that purpose. So, I usually make a run on EQ to finish it (not 100% complete) trying to use minimal revives/potions/units and usually 100% chapter 1 and, maybe, chapter 2. Depends on the difficulty.
About your situation. 5.2.4 is, in my opinion, the hardest chapter, harder than bane. I would recommend you go for Uncollected, you are almost there. With those units you get each week it would be doable (even with the lag and such you report). In my opinion, part 3 of the EQ Master difficulty is HARDER than Uncollected part 1 and maybe part 2. And the Master bosses are almost the same than Uncolllected, except these have more health and, perhaps, one or two more buffs. Better to spend those units on EQ Uncollected than Master...
I got stuck at 5.2.4 and eventually got it with LC (yup LC) and proceeded to decimate 5.2.5 with only dying at KG and maybe once a mistake on BPCW. 5.2.5 is super easy. Just learn to fight bane with MK. If you can down him with an average champ with minimal health missing, come back with a team of your best and steamroll it.
5.2.6 is much of the same, except for the collector....if you have someone who gets indestructible like LC or Hela (or a hulk with synergy, and if you have Heimdall, even better) and just throw revives at him. His AI is sped up past anything I had ever faced before. There’s too much stuff to keep track of. If you get 7-10% health in one run, you’ve done well. Just revive and keep going.
I think there's something to be said for focusing on the Arena so long as well. Most Fights take very little time, so I haven't grown patience for longer Fights. I think it might be helpful to spend some time in ROL, developing patience.
Arena fighters tend to not care about damage they take, and don't face anywhere near the difficulties you find in quests or aq or aw with superfun nodes. Not to generalize, but I find that high level players with 20k+ pvp fights won but no rare/ uncollected titles are generally trash at war attack, as they tend to be compilers rather than skilled at beating the game's difficult content. If physically you can't play the game well enough to defeat some of the harder content, it is what it is, and throwing units to become uncollected just to not take advantage of beating the monthly uncollected events (which gives me a 5 star every month essentially between all the other monthly events and such) because you'll still be physically unable to beat the content doesn't make much sense.
It also may explain why you get the reaction you get when you weigh in on game issues you clearly don't have first hand experience with.
I got big meaty paws myself, so I use the index fingers, holding the galaxy s8 like I'm taking a picture while playing. I'm not the best fighter, but I'm a few runs away from elders bane with no units spent, so it can be done.
I suggest focusing on uncollected for 2 days. That's literally how long it took me with a 5-50 4* trinity (Spark unduped). No 5* R4 yet, and I am certainly not the best player. I ultimately spent 800 units, (including screwups lol) which I had earned in arena. Do it on an AQ/AW free day. If you must, skip arena for a day or two (Sunday/Monday maybe?). The gold from the 4-hour uncollected crystal alone will compensate for the gold you'll miss out on (maybe longer term for you than me, because I do 1st 3 milestones only).
3. Ongoing Issues
This sucks, and I agree. I'd wait for a fix. I even stopped playing uncollected and master EQ because lags kill me. I just 100% CH1+2 for some shards and call it a day. Not gonna spend units on a crappy running game, but that's my opinion.
5. Priorities
Again, if you skip master for 1 month, you will have access to Uncollected after that. Which is more difficult, but yields much, much better rewards.
7. Resources
See 3 & 5
9. Patience
Do RoL again? Although I'd say Master difficulty 3.2 is already close to 5.2.6
All your points lead to one conclusion:
Don't do EQ next month, save your Arena units for the Collector and on an AQ/AW free day, go for it. Bring boosts for the boss.
If you lose a champ after 2 fights, exit and try again. Energy refills are cheaper tgan revives. Besides, once you can get through the path more or less unscathed, you will know you are ready for the collector.
Which basically is a series of short fights. So no worries there. Spark was my main guy. Build 10 poise charges, hit him as much as I can, get killed by special (whichever), revive and repeat. A duped Spark on a 40% revive will help (mine was unduped) because he will auto evade the specials much more often (for me it was once in 15 fights smh)
On a tangent, Bane is something that was originally something very hard for me to overcome, and then one day an almost literal lightbulb popped on in my head and I realized that I was approaching Bane all wrong. Instead of trying to get absolutely perfect rhythm flipping Bane, I started taking the approach that Bane is my friend: if I let it, Bane will kill the other guy while I stand around doing almost nothing. All I have to do is not attack so much. If you just jab as infrequently as possible to keep distance and not feed power to the other guy, Bane will tick a lot of damage on him, and because you aren't attacking in any kind of rhythm it is much easier to watch the clock and go in when you need to in order to flip it again. The difference between fighting Bane and using Bane as a weapon is a night and day difference in how difficult Bane nodes are. It doesn't necessarily make them easy, but it can make them vastly easier.
Bane can be incredibly annoying and lethal when facing champions that are straight up hard to hit or maneuver around reliably, like say Nightcrawler, because then Bane can turn on you. But if you can hit the target reliably, Bane can be a very useful weapon.
Do RoL again? Although I'd say Master difficulty 3.2 is already close to 5.2.6
what???
how can you say that????
i can almost auto battle master....
i can beat master mode with no items used paying only half attention if that.....
with my 4* 5/50 roster......
when i first did master with no items used i was barely comfortable doing 5.1.1
5.2.6 is a dang sight harder than master eq.....
it is more like UC 3.2.......
easy to do a path even 4* can with maybe a death or 2.....
but boss is a PITA
Just focusing on arena, and arena alone, will actually hurt your progression unless you are very deliberate in how you play. Once on the infinite streak, arena can be played mindlessly and each fight is over in 30 seconds. If that's all you're focusing on, once you go into an actual fight you're going to struggle. You need to use arena as a training ground to practice how to fight real opponents (intercepting, baiting specials, dodging specials, ect).
The arena is basically just a driving range. If all you do it mindlessly hit your driver as hard as you can you aren't going to do very well when you get out on the course.
Not exactly in your shoes, but I was stalled for a while in Act 5.
It's true that the game offers us plenty to do on a monthly basis. Last month, between the Event Quest, the Gwenpool Goes to the Movies sidequest and arenas, it was pretty heavy, but in the end, it came down to getting organized and making some choices.
In terms of organization, I made myself a calendar with targets to hit:
Day 1: EQ Heroic 40% + Gwenpool Epic Week 1
Day 2: EQ Heroic 60% + Gwenpool Master Week 1
Day 3: EQ Heroic 75% + Gwenpool Heroic Week 1
Day 4: EQ Heroic 90% + Gwenpool Normal Week 1
Day 5: EQ Heroic 100% + Gwenpool Beginner Week 1
I didn't respect this 100%, but I did manage to get Heroic, Master and Uncollected out of the way in the first 2 weeks.
I also decided to pass on the Normal and Beginner levels of the Event Quest and on the Beginner level of the Gwenpool event, which saved me a lot of energy.
That left me time to look at Story mode.
I have to say I didn't run much arena at all last month. I already had the champs offered as basic 4*s.
Now, even if you're not 100% read to face those final two quests, I will tell you this. Go to 5.2.5 and get familiar with Bane. I remember when I tackled that one for the first time, it took me many tries to get past the first fight with decent health. I'd fight Moon Knight, restart the quest, fight him again, restart the quest... until I got comfortable with Bane. This is a node that will come back in 5.2.6. You want to get used to it, you want to learn how to get it to do the work for you.
And if you're worried about using up your units on crystals and stuff, I suggest you already start purchasing revives for the Collector fight. You'll be using them anyway, and with the revives bought, you won't need to deal with temptation.
Just focusing on arena, and arena alone, will actually hurt your progression unless you are very deliberate in how you play. Once on the infinite streak, arena can be played mindlessly and each fight is over in 30 seconds. If that's all you're focusing on, once you go into an actual fight you're going to struggle. You need to use arena as a training ground to practice how to fight real opponents (intercepting, baiting specials, dodging specials, ect).
The way I address this potential problem is that while I still treat a lot of fights as idle play, there are certain fights and certain match ups where I specifically practice certain tactics. For example, every time I fight NIghtcrawler I'm practicing switching (which I am still horrible at) or practicing fighting while dealing with evade. And if I find myself facing a particularly new champ, I take that fight a lot more seriously.
And the way I start infinite streak is a little different. The short version is that when I'm in an arena like, say, the 5* featured, I start with my lowest 4* champs and work upward, all the way up to fight 15. Fights 9 through 15 get harder and harder, and while I do not draw true death matches I'm fighting targets as much as 3 times my rating. Other arenas have analogous options. I even occasionally lose and break the streak and have to start again if the matchups are especially unlucky up to 15. But it prevents me from getting complacent.
I play on a Samsung Galaxy Note 3 and have never had lag issues, this is why I have kept the phone. Other than the overheating issues for 19.0 which cost me a battery. In all honesty, if Master is costing you that many units and revives now with your device, Uncollected would be basically unachievable for you without breaking the bank. It would be worth looking into a used note to play on. You can find an older Galaxy Note on Ebay fairly cheap and it has a very large screen, jmo. Fixing your device issues is priority #1.
The amount of resources from becoming uncollected every month really add up. It's the difference of 2/3+ five stars a month. That alone will progress you Fast. The Collector really isn't that horrible. With the right team he's not a complete money grab. I've dropped him with 3 team revives a few times. But again, your lag issues will kill you more than he will. I commend you for sticking it out with a bad device as long as you have . I would have thrown it across the room by now.
Just focusing on arena, and arena alone, will actually hurt your progression unless you are very deliberate in how you play. Once on the infinite streak, arena can be played mindlessly and each fight is over in 30 seconds. If that's all you're focusing on, once you go into an actual fight you're going to struggle. You need to use arena as a training ground to practice how to fight real opponents (intercepting, baiting specials, dodging specials, ect).
The arena is basically just a driving range. If all you do it mindlessly hit your driver as hard as you can you aren't going to do very well when you get out on the course.
Excellent point. Lots of players button mash their way through arena, that's how bad habits are formed. Arena can be huge for improving your skills and trying out new strategies once you've reached the infinite streak. The AI often gets "Sentinel AQ Syndrome" in early rounds of arena, aka at times they refuse to back up and will walk up to your champion and stand there doing nothing. Once you've reached the infinite streak arena is arguably the best game mode to practice intercepting and other strategies like evading and countering special attacks.
Also, the comments about excessive arena are true. It can actually hurt you when attempting to beat harder content. Arena is basically mindless attack with no real worry about health lost just as long as you end up having more than the other guy at the end. Where EQ and Story require a lot of baiting, evading, interception, and conserving as much health as possible for each fight. I have noticed the arenas I'll grind for certain champs will ruin me for a fight or two in AQ and AW. It's a totally different game.
Well I'm actually surprised people didn't take the opportunity to give you a hard time. The truth is we all have had to pay for Kabams lag or bugs, sometimes it's minor or sometimes it's horrible. The heating issue is still around unfortunately but much better than it was. I still can't play as long as I would like before having to cool my device down.
Back on topic. Sounds like you have a new device, it should run better. I prefer using a tablet also so phones take some getting used to but it's doable. I tend to agree with people saying do the monthly stuff first but if you are that close to uncollected you need to make that push if possible. But if you still can't do EQ master without using tons of units then you'll spend a fortune getting uncollected. I m actually trying master EQ with my second account right now for the first time and that account is only 2-3 months old but no way I'm ready for uncollected with it yet.
I'll also echo what others have said, it's pretty bad when GW is complaining about how bad lag is, hope Kabam takes notice.
Well i dont know much but cause you enjoy arenas then being uncollected gives more units in those arena crystals. This greatly helps in story quests and masteries(which i think you already have by now unlike me).
I've been uncollected only recently but this is just my opinion. I'm pretty much still a noob
Thank you for the feedback everyone. Some useful stuff and good convo. I agree, too much Arena and not enough other content has an effect. I still love the Arena, probably my favorite pastime in the game. However, it's also important to spend time on other areas. Something I'm learning. Of course, it's not as if I haven't touched other stuff. I just haven't made it as much of a focus. Spicy, I have a sufficient Roster. R5 4*s, R3 5*s, working on the R4 5*s now. Fortunately, I've spent some time Ranking and I have a diverse Roster. I guess the only way to get it done is focus on it and save the Resources. It's funny. All the guys I've trained, I always suggest they do as many parts of the game as they can. Then I got stuck in one area myself. After a while, I just got frustrated with the same old struggle.
I'm splitting my reply up for easier reading. I hope my thoughts are helpful.
It sounds like @RagamugginGunner and @DNA3000 have convinced you that your doing what I did for quite some time - to much arena! It's really not challenging or developing you, unless you take @DNA3000's slightly radical solution. It essentially means that vast majority of your time is spent in 'easy' fights.
If you want a halfway approach, and don't want to abandon grinding completely (as it's your prime source of gold, units and 5* shards), you need to alter your mental model a little:
Remind yourself that these fights are all about practice.
If you're sandbagging to infinite streak - which I'm not ashamed to admit that I do - don't ignore your sandbagger: that's your best practice bout!
Focus on using this bout to develop your skills at interception and Dexterity; and fighting much stronger opponents. You can do that without as much of a change in your playing strategy, if you like. Similarly, treat tough bosses in the EQ as training bouts.
I'm on Android too, and essentially lag means that I can't do a standing intercept with a light attack; and I'm pretty sure it affects my ability to use Dexterity. The phone just doesn't register the taps fast enough. That hasn't stopped me becoming Uncollected recently; and I try to limit use potions/revives to a few places - the final boss of Master 3.3; final bosses in Uncollected EQ; and RTTL. A few notable exceptions like Master Heimdall and that darned Danger Room Sentinel not withstanding. You need to be more selective in where you use your resources; both in-game, and your time itself. What's worth your time? Do you need to be more selective about the arenas you grind in? Do you really need that new 3*? Do you really need to meet every milestone?
Now your phone is clearly an issue: have you considered looking at the cost of getting a second-hand iPhone, simply to play on? You can play on pay-as-you-go or on WiFi. Have friends with recently upgraded iPhones? Ask if you can borrow their old one, and play on WiFi; see if it's better enough.
If you're sticking with your current phone, get rid of any apps you don't use; and get a good app to clean up the cache and sit down unnecessary programs. That may help.
Practically, how do you play? I can grind arena playing with the thumb of one hand. If I'm in a harder quest; or if I want to hold my phone more securely I'll use two hands/two thumbs.
However: Anatomy is an issue. Whilst they've got a good range of movement, thumbs aren't as fast as your other fingers, especially going backwards. Thumbs will slow down your ability to use Dexterity effectively.
For that reason, I do any trickier fights with my phone resting on a surface, using two index fingers. That alone can make a big difference, if you haven't tried it.
Lastly, no-one has talked much about champions other than Hulk. You're clearly very knowledgeable about the game in lots of ways, so I'm not going to make suggestions here, other than: Hulk was my MVP, too (with Rags synergy). Just be sure to do your research ahead on 3.2.5 and 3.2.6 and choose champs carefully. Remember that boosts and energy can work out a lot cheaper than revives.
I'm not going to go on, but good luck. Let us know what's worked when you get there!
Comments
I guess that's what I'm still confused for you about...lol
You didn't want to focus on the lag issues...but they are what's been keeping you from saving up units for an uncollected run and the parts of act 5 leading up to it, because you're spending them on master every month, which is way way easier to do than anything in Act 5.2 including the paths up to the collector and his fight. "I keep trying to save units for Uncollected and end up burning through them on EQ" - so you switch to burning even more units trying to get uncollected so you can access the monthly uncollected event quest, which is the largest rewards you're referring to when you are uncollected you can get per month, but you still back to your original problem - you have so many existing issues that aren't improving, so you're just going to be switching back again to blowing through even more units to try and do THAT difficulty instead, which is WAY harder than anything on Master level. Honestly, I'm not trying to be hyperbolic - the difficulty increase between the last chapter of Master and even the first few parts of every monthly event quest is very large. If you're not getting through master right now without that much unit spending, you're not gonna be sustaining it for uncollected and probably won't be able to finish it at all, instead of actually making it through master every month. You are in a pickle it seems.
What I'm saying is I've been intending to save for Uncollected, but I've chosen to focus on EQ, and end up spending them. Had I chosen to let EQ fall to the side until I finish Uncollected, it would have been done. My main point is not the lag. It's my choices, and how easy it is to fall into a cycle of doing the same thing over and over.
well if you want a phone that is great for MCOC u will need to suck it up and get an iphone. The 8 Plus is amazing. Large Screen, no lag, smooth, responsive.....
my gameplay improved dramatically after upgrading from samsung....
I never liked apple for alot of same reasons.....
but at the end of the day when the product suits your needs sometimes u gotta do wat u gotta do.
it is the only apple device i have......
there are some great reports from some new phones like samsung s9 but yeah.....
Iphone may be the only way to help you....
plus it will halve you arena griding time.
load times are much faster... about half the time spent to do a round....
so either more time to grind more arena for more rewards....
or
some time to do other stuff....
and you 1000 units a week will be able to be put to better us then potions....
I don't see me buying Apple, much less another phone for a year or two at least. It's the Resources that made me stop and think. The amount I've gone through in the last while, should have done it by now. Lol. Exploration can be done at a slower pace, but Uncollected is a much larger milestone, and the Rewards are ongoing.
To be candid, I'm way behind on fully exploring Act 5 for similar reasons. I do the things that won't be around later first, which means I do the monthly quest, I do the special events, and I specifically reserve time to grind the 5* featured (for shards) and maybe pick up some milestones in the other arenas. I made a deliberate push to get uncollected way back when, but then I've slacked off simply because I had other things to do and I knew that as time progressed my roster would continue to get stronger which would make the eventual push easier.
Here and there I've had extra time and slowly completed 5.1 and 5.2 paths for full completion, and I really only have 5.2.6 to go, but I've really started pushing a couple paths at a time to initial completion of Act 5 because I'm slowly accumulating energy refills from the new alliance events. With those, I can save a bunch up and then do one big push without tying up my champs in the content. I just recently finished 5.3 and started 5.4. But I'm in no rush, because I'm specifically trying to do it without spending any resources I'm not overflowing in.
I'm not exactly in the same situation as GW is in, but I'm not entirely unsympathetic to at least some of it. But I will say that setting that all aside, I strongly recommend pushing for uncollected first, if it is reasonably possible for the player to do without spending too much. There's plenty of time to take it easy once you reach uncollected status, but the real problem is not having the uncollected difficulty available to do is a huge opportunity cost. Solo players not in alliances at all and not doing war or AQ can still farm uncollected for things like 5* shards and T5B fragments, which is an enormous opportunity for most players.
My advice is one you're uncollected, take all the time you want to push for full explore of Act 5. But try hard to reach uncollected itself. In fact, once you've spent a few months on uncollected difficulty in monthly quests, 5.3 and 5.4 probably won't seem as daunting either: the practice itself can make the rest of Act 5 much cheaper to run. Once I got off my behind and actually started running paths in 5.3, I discovered they were not nearly as hard as I built them up to be in my head, just because of all my time running full completes in uncollected monthly. In retrospect, I probably waited several months longer than necessary thinking I needed more practice.
Did you spin or pop lol
About your situation. 5.2.4 is, in my opinion, the hardest chapter, harder than bane. I would recommend you go for Uncollected, you are almost there. With those units you get each week it would be doable (even with the lag and such you report). In my opinion, part 3 of the EQ Master difficulty is HARDER than Uncollected part 1 and maybe part 2. And the Master bosses are almost the same than Uncolllected, except these have more health and, perhaps, one or two more buffs. Better to spend those units on EQ Uncollected than Master...
Good luck
5.2.6 is much of the same, except for the collector....if you have someone who gets indestructible like LC or Hela (or a hulk with synergy, and if you have Heimdall, even better) and just throw revives at him. His AI is sped up past anything I had ever faced before. There’s too much stuff to keep track of. If you get 7-10% health in one run, you’ve done well. Just revive and keep going.
Arena fighters tend to not care about damage they take, and don't face anywhere near the difficulties you find in quests or aq or aw with superfun nodes. Not to generalize, but I find that high level players with 20k+ pvp fights won but no rare/ uncollected titles are generally trash at war attack, as they tend to be compilers rather than skilled at beating the game's difficult content. If physically you can't play the game well enough to defeat some of the harder content, it is what it is, and throwing units to become uncollected just to not take advantage of beating the monthly uncollected events (which gives me a 5 star every month essentially between all the other monthly events and such) because you'll still be physically unable to beat the content doesn't make much sense.
It also may explain why you get the reaction you get when you weigh in on game issues you clearly don't have first hand experience with.
I got big meaty paws myself, so I use the index fingers, holding the galaxy s8 like I'm taking a picture while playing. I'm not the best fighter, but I'm a few runs away from elders bane with no units spent, so it can be done.
I suggest focusing on uncollected for 2 days. That's literally how long it took me with a 5-50 4* trinity (Spark unduped). No 5* R4 yet, and I am certainly not the best player. I ultimately spent 800 units, (including screwups lol) which I had earned in arena. Do it on an AQ/AW free day. If you must, skip arena for a day or two (Sunday/Monday maybe?). The gold from the 4-hour uncollected crystal alone will compensate for the gold you'll miss out on (maybe longer term for you than me, because I do 1st 3 milestones only).
3. Ongoing Issues
This sucks, and I agree. I'd wait for a fix. I even stopped playing uncollected and master EQ because lags kill me. I just 100% CH1+2 for some shards and call it a day. Not gonna spend units on a crappy running game, but that's my opinion.
5. Priorities
Again, if you skip master for 1 month, you will have access to Uncollected after that. Which is more difficult, but yields much, much better rewards.
7. Resources
See 3 & 5
9. Patience
Do RoL again? Although I'd say Master difficulty 3.2 is already close to 5.2.6
All your points lead to one conclusion:
Don't do EQ next month, save your Arena units for the Collector and on an AQ/AW free day, go for it. Bring boosts for the boss.
If you lose a champ after 2 fights, exit and try again. Energy refills are cheaper tgan revives. Besides, once you can get through the path more or less unscathed, you will know you are ready for the collector.
Which basically is a series of short fights. So no worries there. Spark was my main guy. Build 10 poise charges, hit him as much as I can, get killed by special (whichever), revive and repeat. A duped Spark on a 40% revive will help (mine was unduped) because he will auto evade the specials much more often (for me it was once in 15 fights smh)
So, grinding arena isn't done during Free Time? Do you grind at work or something? Lol
On a tangent, Bane is something that was originally something very hard for me to overcome, and then one day an almost literal lightbulb popped on in my head and I realized that I was approaching Bane all wrong. Instead of trying to get absolutely perfect rhythm flipping Bane, I started taking the approach that Bane is my friend: if I let it, Bane will kill the other guy while I stand around doing almost nothing. All I have to do is not attack so much. If you just jab as infrequently as possible to keep distance and not feed power to the other guy, Bane will tick a lot of damage on him, and because you aren't attacking in any kind of rhythm it is much easier to watch the clock and go in when you need to in order to flip it again. The difference between fighting Bane and using Bane as a weapon is a night and day difference in how difficult Bane nodes are. It doesn't necessarily make them easy, but it can make them vastly easier.
Bane can be incredibly annoying and lethal when facing champions that are straight up hard to hit or maneuver around reliably, like say Nightcrawler, because then Bane can turn on you. But if you can hit the target reliably, Bane can be a very useful weapon.
what???
how can you say that????
i can almost auto battle master....
i can beat master mode with no items used paying only half attention if that.....
with my 4* 5/50 roster......
when i first did master with no items used i was barely comfortable doing 5.1.1
5.2.6 is a dang sight harder than master eq.....
it is more like UC 3.2.......
easy to do a path even 4* can with maybe a death or 2.....
but boss is a PITA
The arena is basically just a driving range. If all you do it mindlessly hit your driver as hard as you can you aren't going to do very well when you get out on the course.
Not exactly in your shoes, but I was stalled for a while in Act 5.
It's true that the game offers us plenty to do on a monthly basis. Last month, between the Event Quest, the Gwenpool Goes to the Movies sidequest and arenas, it was pretty heavy, but in the end, it came down to getting organized and making some choices.
In terms of organization, I made myself a calendar with targets to hit:
Day 1: EQ Heroic 40% + Gwenpool Epic Week 1
Day 2: EQ Heroic 60% + Gwenpool Master Week 1
Day 3: EQ Heroic 75% + Gwenpool Heroic Week 1
Day 4: EQ Heroic 90% + Gwenpool Normal Week 1
Day 5: EQ Heroic 100% + Gwenpool Beginner Week 1
I didn't respect this 100%, but I did manage to get Heroic, Master and Uncollected out of the way in the first 2 weeks.
I also decided to pass on the Normal and Beginner levels of the Event Quest and on the Beginner level of the Gwenpool event, which saved me a lot of energy.
That left me time to look at Story mode.
I have to say I didn't run much arena at all last month. I already had the champs offered as basic 4*s.
Now, even if you're not 100% read to face those final two quests, I will tell you this. Go to 5.2.5 and get familiar with Bane. I remember when I tackled that one for the first time, it took me many tries to get past the first fight with decent health. I'd fight Moon Knight, restart the quest, fight him again, restart the quest... until I got comfortable with Bane. This is a node that will come back in 5.2.6. You want to get used to it, you want to learn how to get it to do the work for you.
And if you're worried about using up your units on crystals and stuff, I suggest you already start purchasing revives for the Collector fight. You'll be using them anyway, and with the revives bought, you won't need to deal with temptation.
Good luck!!!
The way I address this potential problem is that while I still treat a lot of fights as idle play, there are certain fights and certain match ups where I specifically practice certain tactics. For example, every time I fight NIghtcrawler I'm practicing switching (which I am still horrible at) or practicing fighting while dealing with evade. And if I find myself facing a particularly new champ, I take that fight a lot more seriously.
And the way I start infinite streak is a little different. The short version is that when I'm in an arena like, say, the 5* featured, I start with my lowest 4* champs and work upward, all the way up to fight 15. Fights 9 through 15 get harder and harder, and while I do not draw true death matches I'm fighting targets as much as 3 times my rating. Other arenas have analogous options. I even occasionally lose and break the streak and have to start again if the matchups are especially unlucky up to 15. But it prevents me from getting complacent.
The amount of resources from becoming uncollected every month really add up. It's the difference of 2/3+ five stars a month. That alone will progress you Fast. The Collector really isn't that horrible. With the right team he's not a complete money grab. I've dropped him with 3 team revives a few times. But again, your lag issues will kill you more than he will. I commend you for sticking it out with a bad device as long as you have . I would have thrown it across the room by now.
Excellent point. Lots of players button mash their way through arena, that's how bad habits are formed. Arena can be huge for improving your skills and trying out new strategies once you've reached the infinite streak. The AI often gets "Sentinel AQ Syndrome" in early rounds of arena, aka at times they refuse to back up and will walk up to your champion and stand there doing nothing. Once you've reached the infinite streak arena is arguably the best game mode to practice intercepting and other strategies like evading and countering special attacks.
Back on topic. Sounds like you have a new device, it should run better. I prefer using a tablet also so phones take some getting used to but it's doable. I tend to agree with people saying do the monthly stuff first but if you are that close to uncollected you need to make that push if possible. But if you still can't do EQ master without using tons of units then you'll spend a fortune getting uncollected. I m actually trying master EQ with my second account right now for the first time and that account is only 2-3 months old but no way I'm ready for uncollected with it yet.
I'll also echo what others have said, it's pretty bad when GW is complaining about how bad lag is, hope Kabam takes notice.
I've been uncollected only recently but this is just my opinion. I'm pretty much still a noob
It sounds like @RagamugginGunner and @DNA3000 have convinced you that your doing what I did for quite some time - to much arena! It's really not challenging or developing you, unless you take @DNA3000's slightly radical solution. It essentially means that vast majority of your time is spent in 'easy' fights.
If you want a halfway approach, and don't want to abandon grinding completely (as it's your prime source of gold, units and 5* shards), you need to alter your mental model a little:
Remind yourself that these fights are all about practice.
If you're sandbagging to infinite streak - which I'm not ashamed to admit that I do - don't ignore your sandbagger: that's your best practice bout!
Focus on using this bout to develop your skills at interception and Dexterity; and fighting much stronger opponents. You can do that without as much of a change in your playing strategy, if you like. Similarly, treat tough bosses in the EQ as training bouts.
Now your phone is clearly an issue: have you considered looking at the cost of getting a second-hand iPhone, simply to play on? You can play on pay-as-you-go or on WiFi. Have friends with recently upgraded iPhones? Ask if you can borrow their old one, and play on WiFi; see if it's better enough.
If you're sticking with your current phone, get rid of any apps you don't use; and get a good app to clean up the cache and sit down unnecessary programs. That may help.
Practically, how do you play? I can grind arena playing with the thumb of one hand. If I'm in a harder quest; or if I want to hold my phone more securely I'll use two hands/two thumbs.
However: Anatomy is an issue. Whilst they've got a good range of movement, thumbs aren't as fast as your other fingers, especially going backwards. Thumbs will slow down your ability to use Dexterity effectively.
For that reason, I do any trickier fights with my phone resting on a surface, using two index fingers. That alone can make a big difference, if you haven't tried it.
Lastly, no-one has talked much about champions other than Hulk. You're clearly very knowledgeable about the game in lots of ways, so I'm not going to make suggestions here, other than: Hulk was my MVP, too (with Rags synergy). Just be sure to do your research ahead on 3.2.5 and 3.2.6 and choose champs carefully. Remember that boosts and energy can work out a lot cheaper than revives.
I'm not going to go on, but good luck. Let us know what's worked when you get there!