Warning this a pretty long read, so feel free to skip. The TLDR is the thread title, lol*
Yes, me. Mr. “4* tier is the best tier” (the name needs work) is a 5* player. I guess it all started with (5*) Daredevil. My namesake. The character I have a small statue of on my desk at home, a wallet of in my back pocket, and mini-shrine to at work. I never cared about obtaining 5s before him. I had amassed a sizable hoard, not to transition, but because I didn’t want to waste 4 covers (way before saved covers were a “thing”). Once I decided to break said hoard to max-cover Murdock, the itch to collect had begun. BUT, by letting them collect dust and not putting iso in them, I could remain in the 4* world where gameplay is varied and fun!
The second thing that happened is 5* Thor. Mine still sits at level 255, fully covered, in the ideal 5/5/3 build (thanks, cover swaps!). Mr. Odinson at half health is just too good not to run as one of my 2-3 options each match. He’s a soft target on defense, sure, but every week I would pair him with the best R/G/Y users he could boost and go to work. Nova? Agent Venom? Iceman? The list goes on! But I mean, Thor was just a battery. It was the 4s doing the heavy lifting! So I could still remain a 4 player and hang with the roadwarriors and randomheros of the world! I’m just like you! Right!?
Then… I completed (re: champed everyone in) the 4* tier. And another couple 4s came out, and I did it again. And after champing all the 4s, and dupe champing all the 3s, a funny thing happened… the iso just grew. This was definitely something new for me as a guy who came up in an era where scrounging for iso was the only “feature” that would allow you to save covers. So I FINALLY poured just a tad into my fives. And the iso grew again. So I poured a tad more. Most are now at 330, allowing me to stay in 4* MMR and cling to that 4* identity like I have MPQ Stockholm Syndrome.
Also of small note is that 5* Thanos has replaced my 3* for beating on trivial nodes. I only have 3 in black, so my 3* is slightly better, but I’m too lazy to scroll through the roster to find him (plus I figure the 5 is a slightly bigger scarecrow). Also, I finally found a use for Daredevil over a year after covering him. I can’t hit 1200, so if I want to grind to 75 wins instead, I’ll use 5* Matt and his ex-lover 1* Natasha to beat on seeds and retals all the way to 75 wins. I usually queue high level 3* teams that can easily team up on and defeat Matt, and I rarely use health packs when retaliating because of his sustainability.
The next major event in my mental transition to 5* play was one Katherine Pryde. And this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Last week’s boosted list read like a 4* all-star team. You’ve got Vulture, Peggy, Dusa, Jean, and Dom (plus X-Force Wolvie on injured reserve)! Any of the starters on this all-star team could be built around to speed clear PVE… but none were faster than underleveled Gritty (to be fair, with boosted Medusa, 2/3 of my team were 4*s, but still).
So, as it stands all of my teams have some combo of Kitty, Thor, Daredevil or Thanos on them. All 5*. All underleveled. But why? Several reasons. But, with each drop of iso I invest, those reasons become foggier. Harder to see amidst the mist. Variety, the spice of life, was my main reason. As a 4* player, my fastest options were to switch between several boosted 4* options that changed each week, giving great variety in both PVE and PVP. That was the main purpose for remaining in the 4* tier. But now, regardless of boost lists my underpowered 5s are my fastest option!
Wanting to avoid harder climbs and stay in easier MMR… that was the second big reason. Apparently (according to people on Line), there’s a bit of a bounty on my head, from people whom are not the biggest fan of mine. So the idea of being visible to the hyenas is a scary proposition, sure. But I’ve been doing the 75 win retal option on and off for awhile anyway (which champing DD could admittedly screw up). And it’s possible my last three hour climbs might be faster with champed 5s (really not sure about this).
Other, smaller reasons include things like not wanting to have to keep up with 5* releases and my 4* becoming relics of the past but both those things are happening anyway. So… if I’m already mostly using fives as the backbone of all my teams anyway… might as well power them up. So… I’ve decided to transition to the 5* tier! For realsies.
My original plan was to save enough iso to champ all my fives who are close to 13 covers at once, investing slowly over time. Then I realized that if I’m to really commit, I might as well just champ the heavy hitters since they are all I’ll be playing anyway. And then if I champ the others as the iso slowly trickles in I’ll be more likely to play around with them as I get them because for a short while they’ll be new to me.
And so, I have champed Thanos (457), Daredevil (452), Okoye (452), and Jessica Jones (456), while also bringing Kitty and Thor to 440 (So Daredevil and Okoye respectively will tank for them). I liked having over 2 million iso in the bank. So it sucks to see my account dang-near at zero (6K actually). But, this is the price of fame… or at least faster PVE clears. I’m also aware of the immense privilege I have being able to transition with literally the best 5 characters in the game all at once (best 6 if you think Daredevil deserves that monicker… which is certainly debatable). I’ll have to scrounge up more iso to keep my 4* champ mills humming (oh god… is that all they are to me now?) but hopefully it’ll all be worth it in the end! To those that made it to the end of my decent into madness, I appreciate it, and appreciate this community. Even those whom I’ve butted heads with over the years. You all make this place great.
P.S. Despite what I just wrote, for the hungry jackals who will undoubtably ask what slice I play in for PVP; since I either hop in at the very beginning (75 wins off retals) or very end (900 points in the last 3 hours) it really depends. If I happen to be on when a slice is about to begin or end I usually hop in. So it isn’t consistent. That may change with 5* play but as of now I’m a nomad.
