Newbie questions - events like The Hunt, 3rd powers & more

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
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Apologies if there are stickies or tons of threads like this everywhere, but I couldn’t find any with searches.
I hadn’t heard of this game until I saw it on the front page of Steam, and now I’m smitten! icon_mrgreen.gif

Thought I had a handle on it, but since The Hunt ended and I’ve been reading these boards, I’m more confused than ever - hope someone can spare some time for answers…

Gameplay Questions

Q1. What are events like the Hunt referred to, and are they running continuously or did I just have fortunate timing?
Been visiting here throughout the day in hopes of the next being announced, but for all I know it could be weeks off (or longer!).

Q2. This Facebook linking-lark sounds pretty lucrative, but of course I have been playing plenty on the Steam version and believe I would lose all progress if made a mobile account and asked mods to link them together?
Is the long-term plan for PC accounts to be able to link direct to Facebook, or have some other social/free-stuff-grabbing social system?

Q3. I was extra-confused to read here earlier (unless I misunderstood) that Grey Suit Black Widow didn’t always have a 3rd power (the black one) - is it normal to have powers added, and if so is there hope that the various 2-power characters already in game will gain powers & level-cap in the future?

Tactical Questions
N.B. Long - feel free to ignore if could just answer the above 3, please.

Q1. What’s the best/most-efficient way (discounting Facebook for above reason) to gain ISO?
My ambition far exceeds my ISO at this point, and it seems slow going to actually earn the stuff.

Q2. I managed to use The Hunt to level up Marvel Now Thor to level 85 (how original! icon_rolleyes.gif
), but I’m not sure where on Earth to focus my attention now?
Currently Thor carries me through 99% of my matches, and I’d like to mix things up (and get some points in other tile colours) but most options I have available seems really bad to me at this point relative to Thor.
Can you please advise me/tell me who I’m underestimating out of my collection, because my ISO is precious and I don’t want to waste it…

All the 1-star characters with maximum covers (I opted for 535 Iron Man and 553 Storm) - is it wise to bother with any of these?
Most them seem to have extremely expensive abilities and (reading up here) both low max. health & low max. tile strength.
Currently Storm on 24 because I love Lightning Strike and the option of Mistress of the Elements, but wary of investing further because whenever I face her at level 50 in matches she’s an easy KO to Mjolnir’s Might.

I think I have all the 2-star characters (binged on character slots early - gotta catch 'em all!), but aside from Thor the ones I have many covers for are Modern Hawkeye (333), Astonishing Wolverine (333), Moonstone (153), Daken (35) and Captain America (143).
Wolverine I’m writing off for being way too similar to Thor (I do only have 1 high-level character at this point), Daken seems pretty weak (though I do like that he generates new red tiles), and Captain America seems absolutely awful on paper.
Sadly I squandered my prologue Classic Storm covers before buying all those slots (now have just 1 cover icon_cry.gif
), and both Marvel Now Magneto and Original Black Widow look interesting but were my last acquisitions so only have 3 and 2 covers respectively.
What are the best options for what I’ve got, and is there any prospect of events that will bring plentiful covers for the trio I’m short on right now?
(I don’t know if some ‘uncommon’ characters are just more common cough Hawkeye cough, or every event rains a chosen few characters on players.)

Doctor Doom 42 - love he has the inverse colours to Thor, but I levelled him to 51 (mainly because I’m a fan of him from comics) and he seems very weak and unreliable in his abilities (12 cost, need X plain red squares in & have to hope they stick around).
Ranorak 24 (the Doom 10 pack was kind - have had to lock my credit card away though!) - I think he’s awesome and love the cheap powers, but when I have only level 85 Thor in my roster is Ragnorak a foolish choice?
Grey Suit Black Widow 322 - if I could be sure of getting covers for that vital 5 green I would dive in, but without that I don’t know if she’s good complement to Thor… I’m a bit confused to be honest if she’s fully rare or not, because I seemed to get tons of her covers early on and she was shoulder-to-shoulder with 2-star heroes in The Hunt?
Model 40 Iron Man 301 - to be honest he looks bad and it seems fine to just ignore him till last in tournament matches, so coupled with his Thor colour overlap it’s best to skip him?
Loki, Classic Magneto and The Hood just 1 cover each so no options there - happy to just to be off the mark with them!

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The Hunt was a PVE event that ended on Sunday. icon_e_sad.gif
I’m sure it’ll be back in the future though.

I think they said they may not be doing it anymore with PC? Not sure. It’s very handy to have the mobile version linked to FB if you have multiple mobile devices. I have an iPad and an iPhone and they’re both linked to my FB account, so I can resume progress from either whenever I want.

It was Original Black Widow, and her 3rd power, black, apparently wasn’t ready for prime time when the card was launched. So they just added it later. Other characters (Classic Magneto, Classic Spidey) have also had 3rd powers added post launch. It doesn’t happen every single day, but there is a precedent. Stuff gets changed all the time in game, including nerfs, so it’s a good idea not to get too comfortable.

The PVE prologue has a lot of good ISO missions. Beyond that, competing in a couple of rounds of the tourneys to get the lowest-level progression rewards is a good way to nab a couple hundred guaranteed ISO.

2-star Wolvie (Astonishing) and 2-star Classic Storm are the usual recommended team. They’re very good together. But if you have a lot of covers for a strong 3-star character, it might not be bad to work on that.

If you’re at a point where you have a decent 2-star team, then no. It’s probably safe to leave the 1-stars behind.

Thor, C. Storm, and Wolvie are all available as free drops in prologue missions and that’s probably not an accident. They’re a very good, solid team. I would also keep an eye out for tournament rewards in the various events you might want to keep an eye out for.

Daken’s passive abilities are incredibly annoying but he’s not a bad character at all.

Cap only seems useful for PVE missions against enemies with countdown tiles.

I personally consider Moonstone and both Hawkeyes to be hopeless, but that’s just my opinion.

He’s good at very high levels. Depends on how far you want to go with him. Also, tomorrow/Wed, lightning round tourneys will begin (90 minute rounds where villains are buffed). Your Doom will be much stronger in those events.

He’s one of the best characters in the game right now. He’s not a foolish choice. Also, since he only has 2 abilities, you can’t build him wrong - 5/5 is his max. May take you a while to get there though and Thor will serve you well until then.

She’s pretty good with Thor and much better with Ragnarok, since Ragnarok’s red generates free green to power her sniper rifle. For the record, prior to getting Ragnarok, my main team was Thor, Grey Widow, and Spidey. I’ve now subbed in Ragnarok for Thor and I’m not unhappy with the results.

He’s not a worldbeater at the moment. You could probably safely pass on him for now.

Classic Magneto currently has the most damaging ability in the game but his covers are very hard to come by. The Hood is situationally good but not really a top-tier character. Loki is widely considered to be garbage.

Welcome to the game!

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Thanks for the answers & the welcome, someguy - good stuff to know. icon_cool.gif

Hmm; could I look past the mighty Thor to the distant day of Ragnorak and Black Widow? That would be a spectacular green shot set-up combo…
If only I hadn’t invested all my ISO to-date in Thor it would be an easy choice - but then I wouldn’t have had any prizes anyway, without him to steam-roll everything I meet!

If Doom gets better at higher levels, as an added bonus of levelling him instead of swearing at my screen when calamity strikes (while no-one’s in earshot) I could shout “YOU DARE!?” instead. icon_e_geek.gif

Re: Powers being added
I shall try not to get to hung-up on the state of characters then - I should have lots of practice of that from MMOs (the devs giveth and the devs taketh away).
Do ‘pro’ players take it so far as to hold back 2 covers with the current versions of characters - in case a 3rd power is added and it’s a better choice for putting 5 covers in?
Presumably there’s no ‘do-over’ reimbursement if Doctor Doom gained a Doomray Of DOOM 3rd power and I already put 4th & 5th covers in the very-iffy Technopathic Strike to raise my level-cap, locking me out of ever maxing the new power?

4

It could happen, yes, but I have never heard of someone on this forum who held back covers for 2 ability chars only because he might get a third ability. Not a good idea in my opinion, just use them and have fun with them. Re-Speccing a character is one of the most demanded things in this forum and the devs are looking into it but it might be a while until something changes about that (and maybe never)

5

You can only typically hold covers for a week before they expire.

Currently there is no respec option if a power changes or is added, but we know that the Dev team is considering long-term options.

Don’t feel bad about putting some levels on Thor. He will still be useful on occasions long afte pr you no longer use him regularly, like when boosted, or when your primary damage dealer is prohibited during a mission.

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Re-speccing would be tremendous, but in the mean-time I’ll try not get paranoid about covers then… 'cos of course every pack I open this week will be a 3-star supervillain. icon_e_wink.gif

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AFAIK Black Widow was conceived as a 3-cover hero from the beginning. It just wasn’t ready due to technical issues. I wouldn’t hold my breath for older characters. Except for maybe Rags. I wouldn’t be surprised if they gave him a 3rd ability.

Thor is the best 2-star, so if possible, start transitioning to 3-stars. But Wolvie is a good 2-star to level up.

8

Thanks everyone - much appreciate the continuing input.

Transition to 3-stars is certainly the overall advice I’m picking up - certainly makes my decisions easier, and addresses my fear about wasting ISO (won’t be outgrowing them any time soon).

Extremely newbie follow-up question: there’s no way to unlock a characters powers (go from - to 1) without finding a cover, is there?
Ragnorak + Black Widow combo look so compelling, but the handy compendium shows that Black Widow and Doom have the same tile strengths (which I wouldn’t have guessed from her green-red-purple powers) while The Hood completes the colour set perfectly and steals yet more Sniper Rifle AP…
There’s no short-cut to getting his other powers with shiny gold - only luck of the draw, or winning him in a lightning round?
(Not at all confident in achieving the latter, though I did get a Doom that way and I’m on holiday this week to play at antisocial hours.)

9

Nope, you need at least one cover of that color to add that ability to your character. The only ways to get new cover colors I know of are tourney rewards, tokens/packs, and some daily rewards.

10

Green Rags is an upcomming daily reward (can’t recall the exact day, 60?). His red is his whole point, but hey it’s free.

11

Cap does have some good points with his red and blue powers. Bear in mind that if you pick a good tile (ie - the bottom right and bottom left tiles, providing there’s nothing else close), you can almost guarantee that the countdown tile will go off, so they effectively become extremely cheap powers (red costs 1, blue costs 2) just not ones you can spam. Blue can pretty effectively shut down one of your oppoenent’s characters, and combined with wolverine you can keep using wolvie’s green with high red, while simultaneously using a boosted shield attack.

And you can also destroy problematic tiles and snag crits if you feel it’s worth it over the refund. If his yellow wasn’t so ridiculously expensive, he’d be a great character.

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I imagine I may rue the day I underestimate the Cap’un if I have rely on a countdown power, then. icon_e_smile.gif

Oh well - I shall pin my hopes on getting him in the daily 100G discount pack, or between now and however long it takes me to level Ragnorak and Black Widow as high as I can (don’t think 13k ISO will get them into the stratosphere).

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Cap is good, but his biggest downfall is that he’s completely replaceable by Spidey. And they’ve been giving out Spidey like candy lately.

As good as Rags is, I wouldn’t say he completely replaces Thor. Rags+Thor is a decent enough team. Spidey+Cap is near pointless.

Only reason to use Cap is if you don’t have Spidey or he has 200% buff.

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Thor
Rag
Spidey
Magneto***
Storm classic
Black widow GS

As far as I’m concerned it’s hard to go wrong with this bunch.