Gameplay Q: Should heroes allow bombs to explode?

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

With the various countdown tiles and other threats in the game, the standard tactic is to … win. Take out the opponents.

However, with MMR (Match Maker Ranking) and the subsequent MMR Hell I’m seeing, like the 359 point Daken, I’m wondering if I’m playing the game wrong.

  1. When I have a battle against goons wrapped up, but a Sniper counter is a few rounds from going off, should I try to make sure one of my heroes dies by it before finishing the battle?
  2. When I get really lucky with an initial cascade, should I abandon the match immediately?
  3. Should I always let my heroes get gruesomely hurt, even when facing the most trivial of opponents?
  4. When a bomb is about to go off, killing scores of civilians, should my heroes just let the bomb explode, with their faces pressed up to it so they can get some of the damage, rather than switching it off?

I barely managed to beat the level 327 Daken. Patch and Mags were long dead, and Cap shield-juggled to take down Daken over a tense 15 minutes. Is using Stun a sin now, just like Healing is a sin? Because as soon as I finished the match, all the levels jumped up again, and I have a level 359 Daken as thanks.

  1. Should heroes use their powers anymore? Should they even attempt to play the game strategically with optimal tile matches each turn?
  2. Should my heros send in a whole roster in to die every few games just to satisfy the gods of blood and death?

I wouldn’t mind at all if there some sort of bonus for fighting level 359 Daken, but other people are fighting level 50 Daken and getting more points for him. It seems gruesomely arbitrary and unfair. Worse, my heroes don’t feel like heroes any more, since actions that seem heroic receive vile punishments for no reward.

EDIT: Also, the villains don’t feel like villains. There is a “I’ll be punished if I win too easily” vibe that I’m getting now, which really takes away from the fun of playing villains. It feels like I’ve collected a high-level roster of idiots.

2

I you didn’t, then your heroes wouldn’t be constantly dying and coming back to life, and what kind of super hero comic book video game would THAT be?

3

Heroes are at the core people who sacrifice themselves for others. Therefore no the heroes should not allow the bomb to explode wiping out civilians (or low leveled heroes) in exchange for the opportunity to not face a more powerful foe next time.

Kidding aside it really does stink to continually be facing villains that only get more irritating as you develop your heroes. Not sure on the balance it may have been too easy with some of the broken characters, but when the game feels more like a chore than exciting it would be nice to be able to push a few civilians into harms way in order to lower the difficulty again.

4

Wouldnt wrapping ones self around the bomb before it exploded count as sacrificing themselves while limiting civilian casualties? Seems that is the most heroic thing they can do (at least according to the devs).

I think the problem is less with the difficulty (scaling/mmr/bracketing) and more that the rewards do not increase as well. Honestly, cant think of another game where the rewards stay the same while you get better and fight harder mobs.

5

You shouldn’t let bombs blow up civilians because that won’t lower your PvE scaling. That’s what ‘taking one for the team’ is for.

6

If the civilians are busy trying to capture the battle on their smartphones then the bomb is just doing Darwin’s work.

7

If you answered yes to all those questions, your Daken was lvl <200 at the end of Oscorp.

8

I definitely agree with OP. Starting to wonder if I should restart game and not keep any character above a 1 star. Some of the people in my alliance had just as many points at the end with very weak rosters.