Current 2*->3* and 3*->4* Transitioners: How are things now?

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

Hey current 2*>3* and 3*>4* transitioners!

How is your current experience with the game? How long does it take to get a first usable 3*? Does the pace of 3* acquisition pick up afterwards? How big of a factor is ddq? What about 4s? How long does it take to build a single 4? What about building a deeper 4* bench? Does the presence of 5s really affect the 4 transition? Do you just end up skipping 4*s completely?

I know that for me (an early 4*>5* transitioner with 5 champed 4s and no usable 5s), it’s easy to pontificate about the 3* and 4* transition. But it’s probably not fair for me to do so, since my own 3* transition was pre-ddq, and I got my first 3 4*s maxed pre-LT. So getting information from real players would be helpful.

For reference, I will briefly summarize my own experience:

It took me about 120 days to max my first 3* (Lazy Cap), another 30 days to max my second (Patch) and then my pace really picked up. I had 20ish 3s fully covered when ddq was introduced, and have been maxed on all 3s since summer 2015. I did buy HP a couple of times in the first couple of months so that I never had to sell a 3* cover, but I didn’t direct buy any 3* covers. I also hoarded tokens when I didn’t have enough HP for a new roster slot.

It took me about 9 months to max a 4* (and I spent a little cash buying the last 2 covers; the only time I have ever purchased covers directly). My second maxed 4* (IMHB) came much faster thanks to a few lucky token token pulls during the Ultron event and the PVP scoring change that made 1k much easier in the spring/summer of 2015. It took be about 7 weeks to get IMHB from his release to 5/4/2, and I finished him sometime in July 2015 with PVP covers (no direct cover buys for him). With a max IMHB (and now 4* thor + im40) I am generally able to get 1k in PVP if I have the time and interest. and with LTs and 4* ddq, my 4* build rate has settled in a little below 1 new cover-maxed 4* per month (though I have several in the 10-12 range now, so my rate may temporarily spike up shortly).

Does this match the current experience? Were the old days better? Worse? (Vets feel free to weigh in too!)

2

I found going 2* to 3* pretty easy. There was a PvP sweet spot that made getting covers pretty effortless, and Daily Deadpool has been amazing for improving my roster.

I had a bit of a mad dash to getting all 3s, and now I’m working on Championing all 3s.

With the buy back boost coming into effect, I’m currently working on setting up farming all 2*s.

My 4s are pretty much garbage though. I’m feeling that the Champion 3s have added an intervening layer, while also allowing me to be competitive. So swings and roundabouts.

3

On day 951. XFW is my only champed 4*, although I just got my 13th cover for XFDP and IMHB. 26/40 3*'s champed.

I am an OML yellow cover from being able to use him (5 covers and no yellow!).

For whatever reason, I never have the hot characters du jour, having not had mag, Spidey, sentry, Thorverine, IMHB, JG, etc. Whenever they ruled the roost, and that has been super-fruatrating.

I would like to see a better way to ensure cover progression.

4

I think it is an intentional game design feature that the top dog will always change fast enough that the only way to be king of the mountain is to whale or get extremely lucky. So it’s no coincidence that you have always been just behind the curve. In almost 2 years I have only had about a month when I could field the current top team (IMHB/IF at the time) and that was only because I got very lucky with and pulled 2 IMHB reds during the second Ultron event. That all ended when JG was released later in the Summer, and I have been well behind the meta-curve ever since.

5

I have 9 championed 3s, in a month, I will have about 4 or 5 more. Now, these will be CHAMPIONED, not MAXED. Eventually, if I keep at it, I will slowly raise my 3s and champion all of them (I will get all 3*s eventually when I save up 300 sweet and savory tacos).

At this point, I have three 4s at 1/1/1 and a couple at 2/0/0, otherwise 1 cover on a few of them. And the only way I can think of building my 4 army is by…getting covers from my 3* champions? The unopened LTs I have (12)? RNG being nice when I open event tokens? I really don’t know.

I have a decent amount of ISO, but I don’t know if I’ll consistently have enough to always raise my 3*s to be able to champion them before I lose some of their extra covers.

I’m excited to continue to slowly raise my 3*s, but then I don’t know if I’ll enjoy the game as much because it will feel like my progression will slow down immensely, almost completely. We will see.

(My favorite day will be when I get 300 of each taco token, because then I will get 8000 HP to open 8 slots and then I can open thousands of stockpiled tokens. Continually championing 2*s, maxing them, selling them, etc. I’m excited! It should happen in October? Thank goodness I’m patient. icon_lol.gif
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6

I started the transition sometime this past December when I was finally able to use Thor/Storm/OWB to regularly win the Big Enchilada to acquire 3* covers daily. I probably had my first usable 3* in February, so say 60 days.

But at that point I deliberately soft capped my roster at L100. I now have 20 3* characters at L100, 15 of those are max covered (could be leveled to 166) and the other 5 are close. A few more 3s are progressing toward L100 (if you look at the last rankings for 3s I have 24 of the top 25 and I am ignoring the bottom 12 entirely).

I soft capped because once I had my first 2-3 3s at L100 where I had 4-5 2s champed it really increased my 3* cover acquisition rate because I suddenly had more viable teams in PvE (ie could place T100). The more 3s I get to L100 the more viable teams I have to use. Also PvE for me has progressively gotten EASIER because I have max covers on most of 3s.

The trade off is I only have 10 4s rostered all between 1-4 covers. So 4 progression is a no-go for me other than lucking out in a heroic token. But even at 1-4 covers they are viable for me when boosted (in last EOS run my 1/1/1 boosted Quake meant that Kishu’s never did more than 1 damage because they only scaled to 170ish on the hardest nodes).

In PvP I either join really late (last 30 minutes) and snipe a 3* cover I need or I get 400-500 points in the last 2 hrs so I get a heroic token or two and some HP. In simulator I can push to the 1500-1700 rewards before being knocked down. My goal is to get 4000 season points for the heroic 10 pack.

In the meantime I have saved 1.2 million ISO (so I could champ 10-12 of my 3*), 500 CP, 200+ Taco tokens, 150+ heroic/event/vault tokens and a handful of LT’s (lucky taco draws).

The decision I’m waiting on is when to level my 3* horde and open my tokens stash/CP stash (is 10-12 enough 3* to matter or should I take 20 at once). My plan is to entirely skip the 4* stage and go right to 5* (4* stage seems like a really bad investment ISO/time wise when 6 months from now there will be 10-12 5*s). I’m hoping that scaling in PvE and matchmaking in PvP gets sorted out by D3 sometime over the summer / early fall so that it makes my decision easier.

KGB

7

I’m on day 638, and making a slow but steady-ish transition to the 4* world. My only maxed 4* is HB, though I have Nick Fury and Elektra at max covers (waiting for better 4s to max-level). I have all 3 stars at max covers, with something like 22 champed. It does feel a little like I may end up skipping past normal 4 star land since I have 6 covers for OML (2/2/2) and 6 covers for Phoenix (0/3/3). A few more covers and it’ll be a tough argument to make for choosing a max 4 over one of those 5 stars.

I can usually hit 1000 in PVP if I put in the effort, especially if I have the essential maxed. I’ve sort of given up on PVE since it takes way too much effort.

8

I’m at 86 days of play, and transitioning from 2* to 3* right now. I still find situations where my 2* characters are better suited, but that’s less and less often, and I’m about to champion my first 3* character. So it sounds like I’ve moved through the game a little faster than people used to. I’ve spent a little money on the game, but that’s all been for more roster slots, not for pulling cards.

Deadpool’s Daily has definitely helped with advancing, mostly from getting more covers for 3* characters. The Iso-8 is definitely also useful. Taco pulls are helpful, but feel less game changing. I don’t think I’ve ever got a cover that way. I’ve got a lot of health packs though.

I seem to have split from conventional wisdom by spending almost all the cp on upgrading 3* characters. It really has helped me get the right characters advanced so that I can net enough points in events to earn more cp. I’ve tried pulling from the legendary pack a couple times, but mostly it’s felt like a waste to me. I don’t have enough roster slots to start with, and the chances of pulling another cover for a character I already have are pretty small at this point. I could save the cp, but that doesn’t seem as fun to me.

PvP is so-so for me for getting anything. I’ve got enough power to sometimes make it 800 points, which is a great help, but all too often I’m losing points faster than I gain them once I break 700. Largely to people with 5* characters it seems. I spend the hero points I get in the PvP event sometimes to shield, and make sure I at least get a 3* cover. That’s been helpful, even if it means getting fewer roster slots.

9

Day 870.

I have all but one 3* max covered (IM40 is at 2/2/3) with 28 of them championed. My highest is GSBW who just hit 183. That’s right. I have finally hit “progression” into 4* land. And that’s 6 months after she was championed, as she and Agent Rogers were my first.

I have exactly one 4* max covered, Baglady, with XFW, Got, and Electra at 12. XFW, IT, and Fury (who’s at 11) are all around level 200. 4Thor is the next closest to use able at 162 and the rest are junk. I scrapped all of my single cover 4* (besides Nova) because they were all available via 3* champion, and I needed roster spots for my 2* farming.

I sold off my 0/0/1 GG because I never use him, I needed space/iso, and because I have zero interest in the 5* tier. I saved my other three (SS, OML, JGP) because they have multiple covers. They’ll stay that way because I am in full on LT/CP hoard mode.

I am burnt on PVE. I do not PVP past 300 per event because my goal is to save what few nerves I have. Ive only ever been able to hit 1k once (4Clops) and it was the worst thing. Fighting against an endless deluge of OML and losing 200 points in the span of one match. Now, I aim for the heroic 10 pack, because it’s the only thing I can get.

I refuse to spend money on this game. So my journey will be slow. I know I will never be able to get my roster updated enough because there’s too little to really get me from 3* → 4*. I dare say I will never be able to champion a 4* unless iso flow is dramatically increased or leveling costs are slashed again.

Though a daily DDQ4 wouldn’t hurt too.

10

I am in a similar boat to Clyve. The difference is my # of days is slightly less and I struggle to get to 1000 without 3+ shield hops. Plenty of champed 3*, but only 1 champed 4* (IMHB) with another on the way (XFW). The funny thing is I am going the other way and playing more PvE than PvP.

Since 100 is a challenge and requires HP I’ll instead do 3.5 clears on a PvE, get the 25 CP and use the HP to buy event tokens and build champs. I’m going to switch to PvP at some point soon, but right now I can’t field a consistent enough elite team and am content to collect CP.

The CP either goes to buying a LT, or if I get a spare cover on a close to max character I’ll use the CP to get the last cover and champ them.

That is the situation right now. I have a 5/4/3 XFW with a greenflag.png
in my queue. So I’m getting the 120 CP to buy the last one and then I’ll champ him and get a LT out of it.

I think there is a solid argument that my use of CP is silly and I should be buying more LTs instead, but since there are ~120 possible covers for each LT the odds of me ever getting one that I need for my close-to-max character is 1/60. So I’ll trade the 4 LTs (only buying current for GG and IM) to get the cover, then get one LT back on the champ.

So the 4* transition is a slow grind, made more so because I decided to focus on closer to max 4* and getting them to level. Likely next on the list are Elektra and Ant Man. Meanwhile my JG sits at 5/0/0. That last case along is reason for me to not trust RNG from the LTs.

11

I had just maxed my first six star.png
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when Championing came to town, and the intorduction of DDQ was a huge boon for me. Since then I have 31 star.png
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champions, Psylocke my most recent and Squirrel Girl my next. (Also, thanks to two separate sale Hero Point bundles earlier in my career, I have all the 2* championed, all the 1* at max.) My intention is to champion the last nine 3-stars I have before devoting my energies into the 3*-4* transition. My first target for Iso is likely going to be Classic Cyke (already 4/3/2, can go up to 188.)

The problem for me, however, is how to go beyond what I’m capable of. After a few months I should have the 3-stars fully championed, but then I’m not sure how I’m going to make meaningful progress into the next tier. Sure, I also have Fury and Susan ready to go up to 188 as well, but they both fumble in PvP defense and between them and Scott the Blue/Yellow conflict is huge. I have no meaningful 4-stars beyond them.

Basically, my earning 4-star covers has come from the rare Legendary token (I get ~2 a month from Lv. 167 champions, and 2 classics a month from command points), Heroic tokens (very rarely), or the daily resupply. Given the right real-life schedule and a non-atrocious story event I could press for max PvE progressions, but that’s not always feasible for me. That leaves me with PvP progressions.

In my near 620 days of play I’ve hit 1000 points exactly once (Winter Soldier’s one-off PvP). I don’t think I’ll ever repeat it. A couple of times I’m somehow able to push to 800, but then, even in slice 4 with a day to go, it’s just a barren wasteland of 10-point teams of my exact level (think 290 featured, at least one boosted 3-star, and either another boosted or an unboosted 3-star.) Oh, but the 5-star or Champed Jeanbuster guys who start playing at that time from 0 points can steal 45+ from me and there’s not a damn thing I can do about it.

The champion nerf was not only cruel in effectively pushing back the sweetspot damage of buffed 3-stars by 100 covers, the seven week delay in announcing that following Champions was salt on the wound. My only saving grace is Iron Man 40 is now an amazing battery, but that’s not enough to fight through a slog of maxed 4-stars or level 395 five-stars who can destroys me with mere thoughts.

Maybe I’m just atrocious at this game, and I suck, I should get good, stop being pessimistic, use smart shields, etc, and I know this is a long haul progression-type game, but at this rate I don’t even see how I’m going to acquire my first 270 four-star. Ever.

12

I’m currently day 206, 7 champed 3s, 11 more fully covered or at 12 covers, almost ready to be champed, and the only 3s I don’t have are Sentry and She-Hulk, because I don’t want them (I’ll probably eventually roster them, but whatevs), 19 4*s, all but 3 with multiple covers. Ddq is obviously a huge help, but as everyone already knows, the iso struggle is real…

From everything I’ve read on the forum, my experience has been far easier than the vets, so kudos to you all. Also, I feel like a shout out is always called for for all the help us “noobs” have received from some of you, whether it be in the form of a guide or a direct response to a post. Without Dauthi and NorthernPolarity, my transition would have been far more difficult (I definitely thought OBW and Classic Storm were terrible when I first started playing. Who knows where I would be without those two…).

13

day 860

in the dreaded iso starved 3* to 4* transition phase. I have all 2* and 3* championed. finally got my first 4* champ (imhb) after the 1st civil war run. got my 2nd 4* champed (xfw) about a week ago. I’m hoarding lt’s and cp’s now because I have ~10 4* with 10 to 13 covers but am so iso starved to level them up. the iso struggle is real.

14

Day 740ish have all 3* optimal covered and 30 of them champed with the others all at 127. Have 1 maxed 4 star (jean grey) with 3 others at 10-12 covers but severely under levelled or levelled enough to beat their crash. Have all 4 stars except moon knight.

My problem is that I’ve been in the transition for 300ish days. Or since the wolverine nerf. RNG seems to dislike me and I can’t pull a four star from anything except an LT.

Can’t hit 1000 in PvP since my Jean was levelled because I’m the baby in the big boy bracket and getting pounded by lvl 400 5 stars when I get above 500 points.

Can’t forsee myself grinding like a MFer to get three covers in a PVE.

Can’t foresee this transition ever ending. For a sense of progress I’ve been levelling my leftover 2/3 stars because having a non optimal xpool levelled to 170 isn’t going to deter anyone.

15

I’m around day 650, with all 3*'s max covered and most champed. I only have 1 4* champed (IMHB), although I have them all rostered. I have 11 covers for Iceman, so I’m hoping to champ it soon. I also have 5-7 covers on OML, SS, and Phoenix.

I generally use OML, IMHB, and whatever 3*'s are boosted.

I almost always get the 25 CP in PVE, which is where I spend most of my time. I can get 1k in PVP, but I don’t use Line and I hate spending HP on shields, so it’s not as fun as PVE for me. I only bother with PVP a couple times per season. I’ve never hit 1.3k.

Between PVE and Deadpool Daily I get a few 4* covers a week, with an occasional surprise from tokens. I’m making progress with 4*, but with OML I kind of feel like I’m skipping over 4’s.

16

Day 184, have 7 3* champed (all recent, level 173 or lower), after soft-capping for a couple of months at 144. The move to make 2* champs sale-able for 65k ISO Kickstarted and funded my 3* champ moment. I have a pair of 4* at level 144 (IMHB and Nova) and all others are too undercovered to make much use of.

But with the move to champ multiple 3*'s, I rostered a 2 cover 5* Phoenix, and since I largely play pve and only dabble in PVP, it hasn’t blown my scaling out of the water like it did when I rostered her and black suit spidey back around day 75. In fact, the scaling thus far, with only one 5* and multiple champed 3*'s, has been reasonable. (This is the first 5* I’ve not sold off instantly in more than 3 months). I have a stable of many mostly covered 3*'s (not a complete collection) and more than a couple handfuls of 4*'s that are largely 2-4 covers each.

Overall, the Deadpool daily challenge and belonging to a daily alliance are helping me as much as anything else while I move solidly into 3*'s.

17

Day 450, (Background Story) I have four 4*'s Championed and many more with enough covers to get them there. Most 3*'s Championed (all the ones I value at least). Old Man Logan 2/1/2 and Jean 5* 2/3/1.

Iso is the problem. I sell stuff all the time I could use but can’t because I’m so far behind on Iso.

D3 made too many 4*'s and in addition the 5*'s, but forgot to scale the Iso past 3* leveling.

Edit, Just thought I’d mention I don’t PvP anymore. That became unplayable long ago and now I just concentrate on getting CP/Iso from “PvE”.

18

Too tired to type out the drama, but the 3* - 4* transition is THE ABSOLUTE PITS!!! lol

:+/

19

Lots of great responses so far, ranging from 80-something says to 800+! Seems like few has successfully smoothed out the 2*>3* transition, which is a very good thing for players. (so why the he’ll won’t Demiurge do something similar for the 4* tier?)

I am also interested to see the wide gap between players with similar day counts. It seems like players in the 400-700 range can be anywhere from just finishing their complete 3* set to full 5* endgame. I wonder if $$ spent or time in top 100 alliances has a higher correlation with more advanced rosters.

20

Day 346, non-competitive. My 3s started to eclipse my 2s just before 5s were introduced. Before LTs, I had pretty much written off the 4 tier as being unobtainable with the amount of money and time I was willing to spend - I say that with zero animosity though.

With the introduction of LTs, the max Story progression was a big, tempting foothold in that wall though. If I couldn’t play every day of an event, CP node rewards give a small something extra to work towards - very slow but not unappreciated. 3* champ rewards were another handhold. (Although that’s been slow enough that it doesn’t play a factor in my championing decisions.)

Unfortunately with LTs & 5*s though, the early reporting that it was detrimental to scaling quickly scared me off to opening them. After opening 1-3, I’ve been hoarding them since then.

The was probably an overreaction, but it prevented me from getting overly excited about LTs. At best it sounded like I might have to use the same ‘lucky’ 5* all the time - and I was just starting to move past relying on a singular 3* that was far above my other characters. I like variety. (1-cover 4s are underwhelming enough that I at least understand the intent in having 5s start at a high level.)

Between scaling adjustments and now having a handful of max 3s, I’m fairly confident my scaling would be okay with a 5, but I’ve still just kept with the goal of rounding out my 3*s. It’s obtainable!

I recently rostered the last 3* though (and all 4* I’ve randomly pulled from lesser tokens), so whenever I have roster space I’ll probably start to open LTs. I’m not overly motivated to open or add to my hoard though.

The rate of 4* releases compared to my rate of getting CP is such that even if I open my hoard it seems like it will be a terribly long time until they compare to my 166+ 3*s. I’m partially biding my time, slow & casual, to see if the devs cook up something to address this. (The possibilities have been mentioned numerous times by others in other threads. I don’t want to derail things by mentioning them here.)

Very generally, I am satisfied with my current MPQ game, or at least I accept it for what it is.