I got 67 Gold.
Coulson, or the 5th Gear Slot?
Personally, I don't think any of these sets is worth the gold, even at a discounted price.
You have to use 4 slots - or at least 3 - for these sets to be useful. Plus... you almost always want "latest-greatest". Playdom has a nasty habit of nerfing sets, gear, costumes, heroes, etc. as they get older. It's a great way to both a) keep you playing, and b) keep you spending!
Also, attaining the Spec Op gear is relatively easy.I already have 3 pieces of the Maggia Set, and I've only been playing every other day since SO31 came out.
And let's not forget the Daily Missions!! Many of them drop some sweet, sweet gear!!
That also factored into my thinking: Awesome, go-to gear eventually hits the wayside, even the old standards. So even though Coulson used to be one of the heavy-hitters, now it's really a huge gold grab for Playdom.
Heck, I'm even thinking of taking the Cube out of rotation! But Action #3 and Reality-Hacking keep it slotted.
@PKB
Exactly my point. Ada is easier for you (congrats, btw), but most players shouldn't feel bad placing lower, especially if you don't have all the tools necessary. Regardless, the 5-a-day plus last-few-days-home-stretch is probably the best strategy for anyone, no matter where you're at.
@Kimjo42
Exactly. I didn't play long enough to get to the really tough teams, but every so often I started to get near my personal "ceiling" - where the defending AFK teams got harder. I beat a lot of Pesky/Kuurth/Lord/QS/SF teams quite handily with my unaltered team from 3 months ago. The only ones who put up a fight had higher D bonuses, regardless of heroes. I don't even remember which heroes they used, I just remember they weren't top-tier.
Conclusion? Beef up your D team's Item Bonus to win AFK.
ZeroEdgeir: Agreed.
I don't think Ada is worth the time and effort, unless you're at a level in the game where you can get up there fairly easily with a decent AFK percentage. Otherwise, it takes a helluva lot of volume. ;)
I finished Diamond. I probably could've landed in Vib if I had started my push earlier, but that's okay. After 2-3 solid hours playing PVP, I was already pretty bored. My brain was already on autopilot when I finally had to refresh about 10 minutes before the deadline.
I didn't make a spreadsheet detailing every fight this PVP. Once again... too much effort. I just kinda "winged it". After several PVP seasons of experience, I didn't feel I needed to be quite that thorough this time around. The basics still hold true:
1. Volume is key. And there's no need to go nuts throughtout the tournament. Do your daily 5 to get XP, coinage, and the bonus/lockboxes/whatever. The benefits to playing after the first five are remarkably few.
2. Ramp up volume about 2-3 days before the end. Like everyone else, for obvious reasons. No need to get into this, since it's been well-covered on here time and again.
3. Last few hours bog down the servers. Make sure you get to a level you're comfortable at BEFORE then!
4. AFK counts. Sorta. You can minimalize AFK's importance with volume, for sure. But even getting a 20% win ratio on AFK makes a huge difference.
5. As PKB and everyone else always states: Bonuses, bonuses, bonuses.
The bonuses are a huge key to winning. The Item Bonus seems to factor in much more than the Hero Bonus these days. I'm guessing PD wanted to give newer players a fighting chance (as well as encourage more real-world spending on 2 gold trinkets to fill up your armory.) Item Bonus is the biggest part of winning now! Choosing gear, uniforms, heroes... none of this really seems to matter nearly as much as the Item Bonus. All of my Offensive losses were to players who had a very high defensive bonus! All!!
Hero Bonus is still a factor, albeit a seemingly much smaller one. Still, it's worth taking the time to level heroes for many reasons, not just PVP. I recommend leveling evenly, starting with the lowest level heroes. It's the most logical, cost-effective way to do so.
Yeah, I was thinking "slot" anyway. It's just that the Coulson is a limited time purchase, and it seems like nearly everyone here uses it on PVP.
I went ahead and bought the 5th Slot last night, and at the same time got a few new cool trinkets from the Daily. Yesterday's daily kept dropping badass gear. I didn't even know a couple of these existed! I got Magnetic Field Dynamo and Mirror Match, which are basically just Free Action versions of Magnetic Field Generator and Digital Decoy, before I got tired of running the Daily. Pretty sweet!!
After playing with those two for a while, someone on the in-game chat feed mentioned a strategy using Gamma Booster. I already had Gamma Augmentation (whixh I had rarely used). I stuck that in 5th slot. So far, this is my fave use of 5th slot. Also using: Cube, Mandible, ANTenna, and Carapace. I like MFD and MM a lot, but a First Strike, heavy offense team seems to work best, both in PvE and PvP.
I've been using those 3 Formican set items for months now. Combined with Ant-Man and Heimdall, it's still killer, and will probably keep using this in PVP til a better SO hero/set comes out, or I finally complete a chapter in S2. :)
Okay, so a couple of interesting points here:
1.) Ant-Man + Heimdall + Formican Set is still killer.
I hadn't played in a few months. Just started again this last week. And I'm really surprised that this combo hasn't been nerfed yet. Sure, there are a few other killer offensive teams out there, but those require tons of CP and completing entire chapters to get a "Breaker" hero. This team only required completing a Spec Op, and it's still great. After one round, everyone is a OHKO artist.
2.) Volume matters.
No getting around that. I know that more offensive fights will kill it in PvP, but I've also noticed that...
3.) AFK matters, too.
Okay, so... if you ramp up volume in the end (like all experienced players do), then AFK doesn't matter much. But I've also noticed looking at the leader boards that people at the top still win AFK, and some of them win quite often.
So, I suppose my real question is this:
What's a good AFK/Defensive team?
I've tried quite a few. They usually include one of these: Rescue, Cap, IW, or the same heroes I use on O: Ant-Man, Heimdall.
RIght now, I'm trying Angel + Groot. We'll see how that pans out. Basically, my strategy on D is to have the most indestructible team possible. Forget about Attack; just a team that's impossible to kill and drives the attacking player to madness.
What do all of you use?
Quantum Jumper, hands down. After the nerf. (Facepalm)
Level 15?!?
Well, it's not like we didn't know it was coming lolz. But still... geez. Wow. (Facepalm)
Ugh.... crap.
I'm just not sure I wanna spend 48 CP on yet another alt that winds up being totally useless in PVP. Sigh...
Not this has anything to do with anything, but whole threads have been dedicated to less...
Just noticed something amusing:
MAA released Quake's sprite with longer hair, presumably to better represent her appearance in Agents of Shield. And yet... Chloe Bennet just cut her hair shorter to better represent Quake's appearance in the comic books...
Oh, the irony!!
Yeah, but... she's pretty much the same unless you pair her with another AoU-costumed hero, right? Who would you pair her up with?
Is SW really that good? QS never really impressed me, and this alt? Hmm...
I'm torn. SW as an inf looks pretty good. Overall, though, I'd have to say these are just as much weak sauce as all tha AoU alts. Sigh. But they look sooooo much cooler!!
Is it worth it? Sure seems that way!! I've already faced a couple of FFIW teams with it... yeah, one of the few teams getting me right now.
Best hero? The agent ;)
I already buckled down and took the plunge. IronFrank made a lot of good points! I'm down to 13g, but the Mandible is toooootally worth it!!
Formican Set (w/Mandible) + Ant-Man + Heimdall = PVP Pwnage!!!
@Johnnythegamemaster:
So, so true.
I've finally started weening myself off of the alts. There are a very precious few that are good for PVP. Other than that, many alts are just gimmicks. Let's face it: it's pure economics.
By far and large, the movie tie-in alts are the weakest. But considering the Hero Bonus, as well as the new alts released upon completion of Season 2 chapters, it's really a no-brainer. If your goals are long-term, and you wanna do well in PVP, then forget the alts. Just load up on heroes - first the low CPs (15, 33, 48, 90) and then the 135, 200's, etc.
I've been hosed oh-so-many times by crappy alts. The only ones truly worth getting are Cap's for 12.2 (since they, in turn, get you more CPs).
You should be able to use Firefox (methinks). Chromebook isn't really "just Chrome"; it's built on top of a stripped-down version of Ubuntu.
I bet if you - ahem - "google" it, you can find a workaround. ;)
I already got the other two Formican Set pieces (and two "lesser" pieces - who cares, right?). I have 18 Pym Tech Components, and the research is unlocked for both of them.
If I research the Stinger, it's free. If I want the Mandible, it'll be 18 gold to buy the remaining PTC I need from the store.
The Mandible definitely seems like the better weapon, but.... as PKB and everyone here always says - and it's true - gold is the most precious commodity on MAA. You just can't spend it anywhere!!
I'm thinking just get the Stinger (and probably never use the Formican Set ever) and save the g's....
Whatdyall think?