In addition to the MMR reasoning that was already mentioned - there are several goofy PvP mechanics that all seem to occur from 800-1000 pts most of the time…
The scoring goes to zero sum at 800. When someone hits you for 38 you lose 38, as opposed to lower scores where you lose less points. This creates kind of a natural float point at 800 for lots of players.
MMR starts to open up a bit between 800-1000. 5* players see nothing but other 5* teams until they get close to 800-1000 (sometimes less if earlier, more if later).
Cupcakes becomes visible here as well.
Because of these mechanics and the 4* cover at 1k, people will generally drop their first shield between 800-1k. So as you are climbing close to 800 it starts to get much harder to find valuable targets just because they are all shielded. I try to avoid hitting anyone less than 43, but sometimes you have to hit a couple low value targets to get up over 800 and open up your MMR a bit and/or start finding some cupcakes.
OP: if you have a champion 4* cyclops, then he will be at level 360+ in the current PvP (thor). You should be able to hit 1k without shielding using thor + im40 + cyc, especially if you place slice 4.
Climb up to 500-600 and float while you healthpacks recharge.
Then, rush up to 1k in a single playsession (this is very important. If you dally, or wait in between matches you will get crushed). Don’t be afraid to use iso boosts above 800 for your last few matches (if you use im40, then boosting means +2 y/r, and +1 all).
Do not ever fight an opponent worth less than 45 points or so! You will just lose points on the retal. Spend as much iso skipping as it takes (it might be thousands of iso). Don’t worry, you will still be iso positive).
Once you get 1k, shield of you want to protect your score or go for 1300, or just fall back down with your shiny new 4* cover.
I’m stting shielded at 977 with 13 hours left to go in the event. Cycling through targets and I get great choices like 145 Thor, 76 1* Spiderman and 68 1* Hawkeye for 4 points. If I could slowly grind those nodes in a vacuum I could go over 1K but in reality if I tried to do that I would be getting hit left and right for 60+ points by all of the people who just decided to start playing the event today.
Between shields taking viable targets out of play and late climbers hitting the few unshielded people simultaneously for large point losses it’s no wonder people collaborate on Line and make cupcakes for each other. Versus mode could use a complete redo. If the system rewarded people for starting to play the event when it started and continually throughout the event and didn’t provide the strongest rosters incentive to start late and bulldoze everyone for 75 points a round then it could be a lot more fun.
It’d certainly changed if progression were based on the amount of battles fought instead of current point total.
Placement could be more or less the same, everyone who enters starting out with a flat amount 500 or so, with the constraints as that are now (worth more points the bigger the difference in value)
Actually I have no idea, the competition and progression ideas dont work together.
The thing that I really see as a problem right now is that at this moment I have 10 health packs and the pvp team I am using is at full health but I can’t play right now because of the mechanics of the game. I have to wait until my shields come off cooldown or I will lose my placement and any small hope I currently am holding onto of getting to 1300.
I’m in the same boat, and same bracket, as you, as I saw you multiple times during my climb. Shielded at 1043, with 13 hours to go, full health packs, full health, in a boring meeting. Gauntlet is completely cleared, 9 hours to go on DP vs MPQ refreshes, I’d love to play right now if it wouldn’t lock me out of shielding and I could find targets worth more than 4 points.
Is that you sitting at number 9? That roster terrifies me, as do most of the ones I can see around me. At least you aren’t the guy who doubletapped me when I was trying to hit 1K. However, I can’t really blame him because all of the good targets are shielded.
I just looked at my phone and it let me know that after my last short and fast hop my shield protected me from 3 losses for 210 points. I also got a 14 point defensive win against someone with seven 5*'s over level 450 which doesn’t even make sense to me. Either his game crashed or he got the worst cascades ever.
Adding a “positive” comment - I’m in the 3-4 transition. I’ve basically completed everything below the 4* tier, and I’ve got two champed 4*. I’ve never seen a champed 5* in PvP. The best I’ve seen was at 8 covers.
Matchmaking appears terrible for some, but it’s not universal.
