Marvel Puzzle Quest

[BiblioRook]

While I wouldn't say it's my favorite mobile puzzle game Marvel Puzzle Quest easily would be the one I end up playing the most and I was wondering if anyone else also played. As it happens right now MPQ is doing a big anniversary event.

Anyways, things to talk about if interested, such as:

What is your favorite team combination?
What characters do you wish/hope will be added in the future?
What do you think of the newest character; Gwenpool? (Mechanically I mean. Not that I wouldn't be open to talking about her as a character generally, but that's more of a Media discussion probably).


Currently my favorite team (and by that I mean basically the only team I ever use anymore) is Iron Man 40, She-Hulk, and Kamala Khan. Not only is it made up mostly by some of my favorite characters but it's just also super efficient I think, Get that first Recharge off and then just Slam and Bash the enemy away, more often then not the fight is over before Iron Man even has a chance to wake up.
That being said I'm still very much in the 3* range of things, my collection of 4*s is getting up there but no where near where I probably could make an efficient team of them.

[huttj509]

I generally go with IM40, Punisher, and the 3 star Storm. Though really squishy, her blue skill for aoe and stun for 11 blue is great with recharge filling it up (each recharge tile gives 4 blue).

I just get annoyed with the monitization punching me in the face. When each new character slot costing bout 800 points for me, I've junked, for example, Mystique, only to see her shortly thereafter pop up as the required character for an event.

Well, that and poking my head into pvp and being sent up against teams full of level 255 characters when my max level is 180-some.

[BiblioRook]

Do you mean 2* Storm? I wish the 3* had the 2*'s Wind Storm ability, oh man.

The cost of stuff like hero slots is pretty annoying, I won't argue that, and doubly so considering that new characters still get put up at a pretty solid pace of one every other week or so... but that being said I don't feel it as badly as it appears on the surface. Maybe it's a result of when and to what extent I play but even somewhat casually I still seem to get HP in at a regular enough pace to add more hero slots maybe not regularly but often enough. I mean I only just added a new slot before the last PVE and already I'm halfway to getting another one (provided I don't get tempted to buy and tokens).

On 'required characters' I'm fortunate, I'm at a point were I have all but one 3* on my roster (and over 2/3s of them Championed!). 2*s and 4*s are trickier as 4*s can be hard to get reliably and 2*s hard hard to justify taking up roster space. I still have maybe about half the 2*s roistered though but they don't get much use outside Deadpool's Daily. (My 2* team tends to be Thor, Magneto, and Hawkeye. Speed Shot alone makes for some lazy battles as you just set it up and wait for it to resolve.)

Also 5*s may look intimidating in PvP but personally I find them a welcome as I usually would much rather fight a single-cover 5* then a max covered 3* (to say nothing on 4*s, yeash). I'm only in the level 180-190 range too and never find them much of a threat outside having some nasty match-damage.

[huttj509]

Do you mean 2* Storm? I wish the 3* had the 2*'s Wind Storm ability, oh man.

The cost of stuff like hero slots is pretty annoying, I won't argue that, and doubly so considering that new characters still get put up at a pretty solid pace of one every other week or so... but that being said I don't feel it as badly as it appears on the surface. Maybe it's a result of when and to what extent I play but even somewhat casually I still seem to get HP in at a regular enough pace to add more hero slots maybe not regularly but often enough. I mean I only just added a new slot before the last PVE and already I'm halfway to getting another one (provided I don't get tempted to buy and tokens).

On 'required characters' I'm fortunate, I'm at a point were I have all but one 3* on my roster (and over 2/3s of them Championed!). 2*s and 4*s are trickier as 4*s can be hard to get reliably and 2*s hard hard to justify taking up roster space. I still have maybe about half the 2*s roistered though but they don't get much use outside Deadpool's Daily. (My 2* team tends to be Thor, Magneto, and Hawkeye. Speed Shot alone makes for some lazy battles as you just set it up and wait for it to resolve.)

Also 5*s may look intimidating in PvP but personally I find them a welcome as I usually would much rather fight a single-cover 5* then a max covered 3* (to say nothing on 4*s, yeash). I'm only in the level 180-190 range too and never find them much of a threat outside having some nasty match-damage.

Gah, yeah, I meant 2*. My brain said "the second Storm" and skipped that the base one was 1*.

Not level 240 5* guys with only 1 ability, those are easy. Like, level 255 4* and 3*. The recent pair pvp was just NUTS.

I've not been comfortable junking any 2* guys since after I was only lacking Moonstone from having all 3 required characters for one event.

[BiblioRook]

In the last PVE I felt sneaky. The PVE required Bullseye who I didn't have but like I mentioned I managed to open up a new slot just before the event so I just battled up to where they give you a Bullseye cover, rostered him to use in the event, then promptly deleted up again to make way for Gwenpool.

With how that PVE was going I likely wouldn't have managed to rank high enough to get a Gwenpool cover otherwise...

With PvP I usually don't push much beyond 400 points to grab a token unless for some reason I'm trying to rank for once, and even then it's more trying to rank for the season as a whole rather then bothering trying to rank for any individual PvP thingy. I don't remember much of the Best Friends PvP because it looked silly and weird, I just grabbed the token and forgot about it.

[Krazzman]

I play too.

My current teams are: Thor(**), Daken(**) and Wolverine(**) which I all championed first... got a few other champions but my most powerful team (despite being under level 100) are Black Widow(**), Storm(**) and Magneto(**). Strongest team there is. There are instances of the Deadpool mission for the *** hero where I go out without having gotten damage once.

My current goal is to champion more 3 star heroes as I only have gotten Hulk to *** so far... got a Black widow (*****) out of his first level up... which brings me... nothing.

[huttj509]

AHA!

I wasn't the only one noticing shenanigans in Best Friends. Reddit speculation is that it was basing your strength rank off your top 3 characters (as it does normally), but looking for opponents of the same rank based on the levels of their 2 characters. Thus effectively "forgetting" that you could only use 2 characters, not 3, for determining your strength.

[Krazzman]

With the current event (Venombomb) it's a bit wonky for me atm. I got to the part where I got the Magneto(**) cover from the points but I am a bit doubtful that I will be able to reach the Cyclops cover now. Also I got some really "****ty" rewards from the anniversary boxes so far: Vision and Gamora both for which I neither have the Slots nor the HeroCoins...

Need to bring Ares to 94 (all covers already aquired) but the Iso currently flows slowly, Bullseye(**) has 3 covers right now and I got another cover for Hawkeye but again no slot for him... without using cash, is there a way to farm those coins?

[BiblioRook]

It's rough early on with trying to get Iso-8 and HP I remember, later it's gets easier (after you start Championing) but that doesn't really help you I guess. Have you farmed the Prologue for rewards to completion? There is quite a bit of HP in there to be getting. Other then that just grinding away at events I guess. I imagine getting very far in PvP might not be very feasible but the PvE progress rewards are always a casual player;s best friend, just fight and refight the nodes for as long as they give you points. If nothing else fighting also gives you experience to raise your Clearance Level which should give you a nice bucket of Iso-8 when you go up a level.

Actually I was wondering about something. Do the fights maybe seem harder then they should be? Mostly in things like PvP because I'm not sure if PvE fights scale to your level or power. It's possible that having that 5* might be throwing things off because if all you have are a bunch of 2*s below level 100 but the computer is looking at the fact you are also sitting on a level 255 5* it might be factoring that in more then you might be ready for.


Edit: I wasn't sure to add this or not considering as far as general advice goes it seems pretty obvious, but joining an alliance is HUGE. Obviously some are much better then others but at the bare minimum getting in one where all the members actively play can give you as much as 2000 iso-8 a day (and to say nothing about all the passive group rewards for events).

Edit2: Also another probably big-but-obvious resource is Deadpool's Daily Quest. It's even huger when you transition securely into 3*s but even before then minus the 3*-required node and The Big Enchilada it's worth a relatively easy daily token and at least 1500 iso-8. Also that token alone is worth mentioning to have a 4% chance of dropping 250 HP. 4% may not seem like a high chance, but when it happens it's awesome. I owe quite a few of the slots on my roster just due to Deadpool's Daily.

[Krazzman]

It's rough early on with trying to get Iso-8 and HP I remember, later it's gets easier (after you start Championing) but that doesn't really help you I guess. Have you farmed the Prologue for rewards to completion? There is quite a bit of HP in there to be getting. Other then that just grinding away at events I guess. I imagine getting very far in PvP might not be very feasible but the PvE progress rewards are always a casual player;s best friend, just fight and refight the nodes for as long as they give you points. If nothing else fighting also gives you experience to raise your Clearance Level which should give you a nice bucket of Iso-8 when you go up a level.

Actually I was wondering about something. Do the fights maybe seem harder then they should be? Mostly in things like PvP because I'm not sure if PvE fights scale to your level or power. It's possible that having that 5* might be throwing things off because if all you have are a bunch of 2*s below level 100 but the computer is looking at the fact you are also sitting on a level 255 5* it might be factoring that in more then you might be ready for.


Edit: I wasn't sure to add this or not considering as far as general advice goes it seems pretty obvious, but joining an alliance is HUGE. Obviously some are much better then others but at the bare minimum getting in one where all the members actively play can give you as much as 2000 iso-8 a day (and to say nothing about all the passive group rewards for events).

Edit2: Also another probably big-but-obvious resource is Deadpool's Daily Quest. It's even huger when you transition securely into 3*s but even before then minus the 3*-required node and The Big Enchilada it's worth a relatively easy daily token and at least 1500 iso-8. Also that token alone is worth mentioning to have a 4% chance of dropping 250 HP. 4% may not seem like a high chance, but when it happens it's awesome. I owe quite a few of the slots on my roster just due to Deadpool's Daily.

I have some outstanding rewards in the prologue (last 9 rewards in Oscorp, 52 in Dark Avengers), will see if there are some HP I could get.

Also about that 5*, I am hyper insecure. I got her and got an additional event where I would've gotten Hulk(4*) but those missions were all far above my power level, I managed to beat the first 2 but the third starts with heroes stronger than my strongest champion (Hulk 3*).

I am totally grinding the DP-Daily and currently have a clearance level of 28... as well as a semi active alliance... I got 2000 iso once from them. most of the times it's around 1500. With a few times being as low as 1200...
Furthermore I am at day 338 now. Have a few 4*, one championed 3* (the next highest 3* is Deadpool). The most annoying drop from deadpool is 500 iso. And grinding the PvE events... I am doing that since I want that cyclops cover... but I am unsure if I can win it, I am at 22k points and that took me 3 days, don't know if I can get high enough tomorrow...

[BiblioRook]

New Boss Rush PvE with potential Peggy Carter rewards! Shame it's the last three rewards which means I might not be able to get all of them but I should at least be able to get one or two as my alliance is usually crazy focused on these group PvE Boss fights.

I've also been really going at the PvP at the moment trying to work my way towards that Token 10-Pack. It's a long-shot of it happening but if I manage to get all of the Devil Dinosaur covers in the Anniversary vault that would be enough to Champion him with one left over for the first level up reward, I already managed to get 3 of the 9.

[Krazzman]

Boss Rush is... pretty bad. The first round was quite easy and problemfree but as soon as round 2 hit I got into problems. I tried messing it up with a suboptimal team of Ares (now level 75), Human Torch(**) champion and Hulk(***) champion... it was super effective until Iron Man came as a boss. Then it switched to his goons for every tick of Human Torchs green ability.

But at least I now got another Dr Doom cover (got my first 3 from the Venombomb event) and thanks to deadpool dailies I got another level for Hulk(***)

[huttj509]

Fooh, up to the point where my next progression rewards are the 3 peggys in boss rush. I'm liking it.

My general boss-fighting team has been IM40, Punisher (3*), and Original Black Widow.

Punisher builds up the damage boosting tiles over the course of the gauntlet, making OBW's matches do massive damage. Her blue has been invaluable healing and tile delaying, while her purple has been great for gaining mana and reducing what the boss can do. Then punisher finishes the foe with his red when they're at 40%-ish, with IM40 feeding them both mana.

If I manage to get even one of the peggy carter cards in the next day, I'll be happy with my performance, as barely-championed punisher is my best character so I'm not rolling with maxed 4* or anything (but still not really beginner-level, I'd consider myself mid-tier, being able to top 10 the newbie bracket PVE but winding up top 100 or maybe top 50 when my bracket gets bumped up, depending on if I have the required 3*).

[BiblioRook]

Despite what I expected, my alliance ended up making practically no progress in Boss Rush. Pity, I really really wanted a few more Peggy covers... Fortunately there looks to be at least one obtainable through progression in the next PvE that doesn't seem that hard to get.

I'm still currently hitting PvP pretty hard at the moment, I actually have a shot to rank in the top 50 for the season, which means another token 10-pack (which gives me another shot at getting those last few Devil Dinosaur covers). In the meantime I'm also hoping to grab the PvP Gwenpool cover but I'm not having an easy time of it. I'm fine getting up to about 800 points but by then I start getting attacked pretty regularly and can't get much higher...

[huttj509]

Despite what I expected, my alliance ended up making practically no progress in Boss Rush. Pity, I really really wanted a few more Peggy covers... Fortunately there looks to be at least one obtainable through progression in the next PvE that doesn't seem that hard to get.

I'm still currently hitting PvP pretty hard at the moment, I actually have a shot to rank in the top 50 for the season, which means another token 10-pack (which gives me another shot at getting those last few Devil Dinosaur covers). In the meantime I'm also hoping to grab the PvP Gwenpool cover but I'm not having an easy time of it. I'm fine getting up to about 800 points but by then I start getting attacked pretty regularly and can't get much higher...

Um...Boss Rush is a solo thing. You're competing against your alliance for placement, but the only think that progresses you through the damage meter is your own fighting.

[BiblioRook]

Oh, huh, Okay then, I guess I just wasn't really paying attention to it so I just kind of assumed. Not that I didn't put forth my share of effort (because again I assumed it was an alliance thing and didn't want to not pull my share) but I wasn't really willing to resort to health packs on it because I needed those elsewhere.

[huttj509]

Well, I might be able to get a peggy carter if I did my math right. My current boss gauntlet has Wolverine first, then Phoenix Jean Grey. I don't know the third because Phoenix hicks my hiney every time. Other bosses I can play some kinda defensive (whether taking the colors they need, for example my strat for Goblin involved keeping him from black mana), but Phoenix creates 5 red tiles, then if there's 9 or more destroys 9 tiles and gains the AP for it (and damage), and with 20 red mana she one shots my current defender, and if she gets a 5-match she stunns people and does large aoe damage.

Basically I need to come out of wolverine with a lot of damage tiles and get really lucky in some cascades. Best I did was getting her to half.

Fortunately I don't find Wolverine to be bad as a starter in the gauntlet. He gets worse as his health gets lower, but that just means I have time to build up my own stuff before burning him down, and my OBW's blue can keep my health topped off, as well as her purple to keep him from getting enough green or red for his abilities, since his mana gain is just from normal matching.

So I'm about 50,000 points from Peggy, on each boss run I'm getting 10,000-15,000 (at my rank the 3 bosses is 30,000 points, and we do get partial credit for damage done), and the side missions are giving 5000-7000. Bout 4 more boss runs should do it, and I can probably get that after the next reset in a few hours (too bad I don't have winter soldier, every side mission set has had 1 requiring him).

[Krazzman]

Managed to get to Round 3 in Boss Rush and placed 8 in my alliance... then due to visiting the Boardgame convention in Essen with my wife I had no time to further push it...

But seriously spoken I couldn't even beat the Round 2 Boss Rush reliably... Round 3 just wrecked me. But what should I expect with only one championed 3*.

The current event just seems bad... at least I could get another Storm Cover...

[BiblioRook]

I've been seeing a lot of complaints about Boss Rush. Well, more then usual anyways. Personally while I also found it kind of difficult I'm not sure I would have much to complain about with it, but then again I didn't go after it quite so hard and maybe I would have more to say against it if I put more effort into it. Off-hand I would say that it really wasn't good for a casual level of play (I mostly poked around at it in between going at PvP), but honestly I wouldn't have expected it to be. I think I still managed to get to Round 5 though. I'm honestly not sure just how differently I would have gone at it if I knew it was a solo thing rather then a group thing. Oddly enough I actually might have tried less if I knew that because I mostly make sure to participate in the Boss events as to not let my alliance down.

On the topic of PvP though, sadly didn't make it into the top 50 for the 10-pack but getting the 5 tokens for top 100 is still nothing to look down at.
...got all 2*s out of them.
Just to give an idea how hard I was trying to go at the Anniversary tokens, out of the 100 potential tokens I ended up opening 49 of them. Probably about 30 of them were 2*s. Disappointing. At least I got all of those tokens through the game, I can't imagine what it would be like to actually pay real money on tokens only to end up with 2*s.

[BiblioRook]

Some news on new characters. Looks like in preparation for Halloween the next new character will be a 4* Blade (http://marvel.com/news/video_games/26874/piecing_together_marvel_puzzle_quest_blade). Personally I would rather they went with a new character that's not in the game yet as there feels like plenty of Halloween-ish options in the world of Marvel. But eh, whatever.

Also as the Doctor Strange movie approaches it seems that not only is a Doctor Strange 5* incoming but also an additional 3* one. This is interesting because ever since releasing the last 3* (Vision) they have been pretty adamant about how they were never going to make any new 3*s regardless of player demand (which is mixed). I for one am very much in the camp of wanting not just more 3*s but 2*s and 1*s too, just for variety if nothing else.

[BiblioRook]

Some info on the upcoming Doctor Strange stuff
http://variety.com/2016/digital/news/doctor-strange-marvel-games-1201900009/


Launching Nov. 3, Doctor Strange and Kaecilius will join the game. A new event, “Strange Sight,” challenges players as Doctor Strange to teleport to three unique locations and battle different enemies; the order in which the player teleports to the three locations will affect the story and encourage players to try multiple paths.

My question is, is Kaecilius then the rumored new 3*? Seems odd that they would do that to such a major character from the movie, particularly if they are making Strange as big as a 5*.

Edit: http://cdn.bleedingcool.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/image7.jpg

[mollylayne]

Thanks for the wonderful Information..

[BiblioRook]

Okay, so far the new 3* Doctor Strange is pretty great (for me anyways), just for his Yellow alone. Passively does damage to your foe and heals the party every time the enemy fires off an ability. Sadly his other two abilities aren't as good. Actually no, his Blue is still pretty nice (stuns and steals ap) but his Purple is pretty 'eh' (removes enemy special tiles).

By the looks of it the 5* Doctor Strange is nearly identical to the 3* version, just more powerful, biggest difference I can see is that his Yellow is no longer just a passive but can be fired off as an attack too for just straight damage (but loses the heal part of it)

[BiblioRook]

...Oh man! The next character being put in the game is going to be Agent Venom (http://marvel.com/news/video_games/26994/piecing_together_marvel_puzzle_quest_agent_venom). Agent Venom is a character I always really liked and for a while one I asked for on every character-suggestion survey, but I gave up on getting him in the game after the first 4* Venom was made as (until now) they never made duplicate characters for the same power level.

On that note, I wonder what this means for the game now that they broke the seal on duplicate characters for the same power level? Will it mean a bunch of new 4* Spider-Mans and Iron Mans? (Although technically there isn't a Peter Parker Spider-Man 4* yet and I don't know if Riri as Ironheart would count as an Iron Man duplicate.)

[BiblioRook]

Next 4*, less surprisingly, will be Medusa (https://news.marvel.com/games/55615/piecing-together-marvel-puzzle-quest-medusa/)