The "Mystery"-Men

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

Now, I know what you’re thinking. This is an off-topic thread about a delightful 1999 comedy movie starring Ben Stiller among others.
However, this thread is not for heaping praise on that cult classic.

No, this thread is about our very own Mystery Men and Women who comprise the sketchy alliance structure of the X-Men. Once upon a time we thought the X-Men to be a bunch of HP rich, unskilled players who would shield up after every battle to post their high scores. A few of their members still fit this model. Look for Slobofix in your Shield Simulator, I bet you she’s shielded. Only 27 more days to go! That’s approximately 8000 HP! Hope it’s worth it for the extra 10 pack. But this thread isn’t about the slightly sketchy players like that. This thread is about the clearly sketchy players.

Time for an example.

Mystery Man - Flo98

You’ve read this bolded line and think to yourself, “who the fuck is that?” Well, that is indeed the question. Let me lay some stats out for you:

141 Modaken
133 3/5/5 LT
103 3/5/5 Sentry
69 3/2/5 Magneto
43 3/5/5 OBW
37 3/4/2 Patch
34 1/1 Nick Fury
15 1/0/0 Spider-Man
15 0/0/1 Mororo

Now, you’re saying: Jozier, why did you cherry pick his roster at random to show he hasn’t levelled everybody? That’s not all that weird, you have a few unlevelled guys yourself.

You’re right! I do! The difference? That is the ENTIRETY of Flo98’s roster. Yes, you heard me correctly. That’s the entirety of the roster. Now what’s even more suspicious: the Purple Fury cover. Let’s all remind ourselves that only the top 100 alliances get a Purple Fury. So how does someone whose entire roster before the last week of season 2 was: LT/Mag/OBW/Patch/Spider-Man (if that) get a purple Fury? What alliance is taking a flier on that craptastic roster for a spot in the top 100?

Alright that’s just one sketchy detail. Let’s examine another. That roster has currently accumulated: 1509 points in Unholy Outlaw. Yes you heard that, a roster that doesn’t even have a single Hood cover (did they sleep through the end of season 2? Again, top 100 alliance in Season 2, but somehow did not even place in the last tournament before the end of the season, or any of the other tournaments giving out the Hood?) You might think, maybe they are HP constrained and can’t afford roster slots so they had to jettison characters. Well, that doesn’t explain hanging on to some random ones, nor is it based in reality: Flo98 is single match shield hopping with another sketch-ball - Kakko. So clearly HP is no object.

Kakko

Now, Kakko. Where did he go? He somehow became GIPSY_DANGER. A name change. That’s random. Also quick work for a CS who took two entire seasons to ban Gbr33, a noted cheater (who was recently sandboxed, vindicating reckless in the process). Curious, but whatever. You can look at the roster for yourself in The X-Men 2. Nothing too crazy. Obviously someone with a crap ton of HP to waste and ISO to buy. But here they are, shield hopping one match at a time with Flo98. And as we addressed above, that is sketchy.

Qamberco?

So you think that’s an isolated incident right? Nope. Another name change. From Qamberco to Electro. Again, odd as we’ve already demonstrated. Let’s look at that roster - not that weird. Except, of course, not having a Purple Fury. Guess he just accumulated all those 141s in season 2 and never bothered in season 1 to join a top 100 alliance. Weird again.

THEKID

Who the hell is this guy? Quite the roster. And yet somehow he’s racked up 1190 points, and that’s with a Hood at level 34 and not cover-capped.

This thread is purely baseless speculation based on weird feelings. And that’s the problem. Half of the X-Men stink like fish and give off the heebie jeebies when you look at them. And you know who else gave off those feelings? Gbr33. Jimbojim. Watercat. It’s a pattern that has held true throughout this game.

2

Completely agree it’s definitely gotten a little fishy. How Flo98 got that high with just 9 characters in their roster, without even one cover of hood, surprises me. Red flags are waving.

3

This game needs better anti-cheat. Anything is better than non-existent

4

If I am flo98, I would rather save my HP to shield hop from 800 to 1500 points , what 20+ times. really this proves one thing to me about the D3 decision to bundling roster slots. It is even pricey for flo98.

5

They’ll probably lock this thread for shaming players like they did the thread I started after season one. Guess who I listed a questionable? gbr33 and watercat. I think experienced players have a pretty good sense of what is kosher and what isn’t. Maybe threads like these could help the Devs look at whether there are hacks or cheating going on, or if other odd tactics are being used to game the system.

6

I agree with all of your points.

We all still know that the best way to construct a new 20/20 alliance is to make a throwaway login, hack it, buy a full alliance, let your alt login in as commmander, then let the cheater login die.

That said, we also know what will happen to this thread https://forums.505go.com/discussion/8925

In conclusion “I’m invisible!”

7

Highlight on “odd tactics.” We all know what is reasonable and what is irrational, but sometimes it isn’t what you think it is.

I played Heroes of Cybertron for a long time. It is seriously P2W. Over there, everyone was demanding that this one player be banned for “obvious” cheating. She was spending so much cash it couldn’t be possible. It turns out that she wasn’t cheating at all, but had stolen credit cards and was actually buying thousands of dollars of in-game resources. They banned her and she just rejoined. Repeatedly. Devs eventually gave up and she dominated the rankings, which are not sub-divided.

We all expect the suspicious accounts to be cheating both us and Demiurge, but if the company is seeing cash flowing from these megawhales, they may be less inclined to do something about it initially. Sandboxing a cheater saves us from having to deal with them. What happens when you sandbox an ill-gotten-mega-spender?

8

Yes you’re right
I shall go ahead and do this

9

I’m breaking a long forum silence to express my shock and respect for a mod willing to pin this topic.

Now go get those cheaters, devs.

10

Completely agree Flash. Bravo Puritas.

11

One has to wonder if there is even an anti-cheat measure in the game.

12

I don’t want this to turn into some sort of shield circle jerk but just wanted to point out that flo98 had a good 1300 points in the last tourney and would have gotten all 3 hood covers. Not to mention the one from 1100 in this tourney. Why the hell wouldn’t he have added it to his roster and used it? We all know he has the hp for slots.

13

My theory is that Flo98 is Kakko himself, likely on a second account. Similar roster structure and a big fan of Daken/Sentry. But hey, it’s only a theory. icon_e_wink.gif

I know 5DV has a history with Jozier, but I think we can agree that he has some pretty good points here.

14

Well I’m pretty sure their leader Naz is not a cheater. I saw him shielded at 700, no cheater would do that , right ?

15

not anymore than someone who wouldn’t buy roster slots while obviously having the HP to do so…

16

I tend to agree that Kakko/Gypsy and Flo may be one and the same on two separate accounts.

17

Lol…I would certainly hope not. Haha.

18

I’ve only been asking for it since November, but a meta-exp system would remove all the mystery out of this. You could easily look at someone’s user level and their roster makeup and quickly determine if they were a cheat or not.

19

Maybe the best post Jozier has ever written. There’s absolutely something fishy going on aside from Xmen shielding for 30 days in the sim or shield-hopping their alts or alliance members for something on the order of 1k hp in a single event.

How the devs compare the players actual spending vs hacks we don’t know but perhaps the shielding mechanic has to be revisited.

Pay to win doesn’t really matter when all the ex men gain is a temporary display of “I spent the most” atop the leaderboard but the speed at which these matters are resolved is somewhat disheartening.

Perhaps the recent activity all in one alliance is a cause for the suspicion?

Anyways hope the devs address these problems among other future game issues

20

How does one cheat in this game? Not looking for a “how-to” guide; I’m just interested in the generals. Do you have to edit code in the Steam version? Is it a separate program that works in tandem with the actual game?

Also, if you’re going to cheat and give yourself a 3/5/5 Lazy Thor, why stop at level 133?