I hear others folks talking about their stories of how MMR/scaling is, but often it is over a larger period of time as they slowly cover/level characters and have multiple 5*'s going. It is often a moving target as MMR/scaling changes as well. Here is my story of taking the first 5* straight from level 300 to level 400 in the last couple of weeks. I tested it in PVP in several slices, Sim, LR’s, and ran PVE nodes every day. I only ran one of the new PVE “tests”, so I can’t really compare it to anything.
Notes: I had one buffed, champed, high-health 4* to run alongside each week (Cyc? IM?/Rhulk/Thing). This helps hit 1K in PVP without a 5* for sure, but it was getting tougher. I am not running line (which makes higher climbs much, MUCH easier), so I’m out there unprotected. I was using a 3/5/3 Phoenix here, my draws came in batches lately: 1/0/1 two seasons ago in about 10 draws, 1/0/1 last season in about 10 draws, then 2/1/0 in five draws yesterday to end my testing data with a 5/5/3.
300 (First week of season) - unusable. 4*'s are at 270 and quite willing to hit it, as well as boosted 3*'s. 5*'s are constantly hitting me, and I see 350+ OML’s every other skip - this is why I even bothered leveling, what could possibly change when I went up?
325 (Second week of season) - your boosted/champed 4*'s are 350, and those teams hit the low 5*'s constantly (assuming uncovered/easy). Not high enough match damage to ward of many. Perhaps a few less 4* unboosted teams hit me, and hits from the 3*'s pretty much stop. Seems like 270 unboosted is just about as good for O and for a deterrent. uncovered 5*'s at 350(ish) are hitting it.
350 (End of 2nd/3rd week of season)- I essentially stop seeing 3* only teams. I can see them around my rankings in PVP’s - I can watch them unshield above my points in PVP and run their entire shield-hop without me ever seeing them. [And I find this quite unfair - if they are in my brackets, and getting the points, why can’t I find/hit them?]. Now the 5* is equal to another boosted 4*, and the 4* hits essentially stop unless they have two boosted ones. 5* hits also slow since you are equal to many of the uncovered 5*'s that have level-maxed. In sim my float point increases to about 1800.
375 (End of 3rd/4th week of season) - At this point you are well above boosted 4*'s, and I realize I’ll never use Jean again and will have to run the 5* even with characters that color overlap. Why, hello there newbie! Around this level, obviously you pop into a higher MMR visiblity. Suddenly attacks from 5*'s seemed to dramatically increase. The level maxed 405/430’s see you as the low-man on the totem pole. The two 5* teams are happy to see you again! I’m still seeing the occasionally boosted 3*/unboosted 4*: but they are the rare, rare animal out there. The best I can hope to find regularly are two unboosted 4*'s, also rare after 800. I now see why when I ran Jeanbuster a few seasons back it was a target - this is what I’m hoping to find. I see a 350+ at least two in three matches now, rather than one in two I saw them in originally.
400 (Fourth week of season/Today)- I meant to run this report all the way up to 425, but then I drew three Phoenix (to 3/5/5) in five LT’s yesterday, which may have screwed up my baseline. Then again, I probably always give folks more credit than deserved for looking at rosters rather than just hitting them. I was going to wait for another set of LR’s to release this data, may as well throw it out there now. Still taking the occasional hit in PVP/Sim from (mostly) two 5* teams.
Future: Obviously not only is it a 5* game, but it’s a two 5* game. With only one, that (stunnable) dangerous character can get into a stun-lock. It is not equivilant 5*/buffed 4* that I’m seeing hit me often - it’s 5*/5* (both 375+, much more often 405+). Folks warned me about shifting MMR into that range before having a 2nd 5* (not even close) - I’m not concerned about -my- MMR at 400, but I’m concerned that I have obviously popped into the highest tier ability to view/hit.
PVP: from 300 to 400 it didn’t matter - I tended to be in T50 if anywhere above 450 before the last day, and anytime I was above T50 (at almost any point level) I was fresh meat when floating out there. However, it didn’t feel as hot in between shield hops as I leveled past 375; less out there at any given time that are willing to hit you. My float point in the last 8 hours also went much higher (from maybe 600 to maybe 725+)
PVE: essentially scaled the entire time, almost a level for a level 1:1. By the end of my leveling, the first non-trival nodes that would have been ~200 a couple weeks ago are now ~300 (despite having only one character above 295. That’s some crazy scaling, surprised they don’t average your top characters, should scale 1:3 not 1:1!). Suddenly I see why everyone hates Ares/Juggy at level 300, basically a level I never saw them at before: winfinite becomes a 50/50 proposition and I wonder if I’ll need to PVE with -one- character forever. God forbid the times when Jean is essential.
LR’s: Like Sim, this is where the 5* makes more of a difference. Since nothing is boosted, you suddenly rule the 4*-only roost when you start getting higher. Just like 4* only, using any level 5* will get me T25/50 when I run the event late. At 350 the 4* hits stopped but the 5’s still wouldn’t use that “skip” button often. At 375 it seems like I can run the seeds early and not take many (sometimes no) hits while sitting at that 210 point level.
-Just my experience in Season XXVII, I kept looking for stories like this so I thought I’d share mine.