Well looks like I have a minute, lets see if the fingers fly and the points come across.
Tiggers Tournaments: Thoughts, Tips, Tricks, Techniques, Testimonials,
AND TIMING!!!! (Thanks Koju!)
Tournaments, what can you say? Great way to see the abilities of your teams and get covers. Also a great way to get frustrated with the game. As you watch yourself climb up and down the ranks; you try and figure out what the hell you're doing wrong or what exactly you're doing right. Being in the CAGengers and hearing all our witty banter here ( & tons of my horrible pics & memes) we've come across the Broly way to tournament. So thats where I want to go, is distinguishing regular play from Brolying and the benefits and disadvantages to both.
Regular play first:
First off regular play is more stable. You have a good idea where you're at and where you're going to be. Unless you give a super big push or tons of effort; you're more than likely going to be in a top 100 placement. Not bad, that will give you a decent set of rewards.
Event timimg: sure even when not Brolying timing is important. Enter when the event first starts you're going to be competing with people who play all day every day. So you need to find which time suits you the best. For best luck and decent brackets I find under 24 hours to be the best time to come into a tournament and expect a top 50-100 placement. 12-16 hours is usually good for a normal player.
Season/progression rewards: Because with regular play, you are playing regularly, you'll get the progression and season rewards. This also coincides with timing. Personally I enter my tournaments at 16 hours & get to 600 points when I play. This will net me a top 100 and x progression rewards. Also this is stable enough to get a heroic season 10 pack in about 6 tournaments as I also play the simulator when Im not ready to enter a tournament. This helps get my daily rewards, keeps my season progression points up, and helps me time my tournament entries. Also points can be just as great n the simulator, some upwards of 40+ points.
Last minute tournament playing (Aka Brolying)
The biggest thing about this is its not the most stable way to play and the reason for that is timing. You have to know the exact time to enter when trying last minute. The rewards can be very awesome, but if done incorrectly can leave you in virtually last place with bottom tier rewards. Having said that...
It can be the most frustration free was to tournament. Play >10 minutes of a tournament and end up being #1 in your bracket with all rewards. Whats better than that? While everyone shields and has been playing 2 days straight you waltz in and take the cake.
In trade off you wont have any progression points or rewards. Some people dont care about the 10 packs or rewards so this may not be a big thing.
Because its a big issue I'll say it once again: TIMIMG. This not only encompasses entry in the tournament but the tournament itself. Since entry requires you to be as close to the end of a tournament there's always a chance that you'll forget and miss the tournament and not get any kid of rewards. Nothing worse than thinking the time ends ay y when it ends at x, you log in to compete and get pop ups for alliance rewards.
Lets say you do remember when the tournament ends . When do you enter? The sweet spot is less than 10 minutes making sure you have opponents queued up you can easily dispatch, meaning the seed teams. When a tournament starts you need to click the nodes and make sure you have the seed teams locked in. Not saying you need the seed teams, it just makes it easier. The way Broly has done it it seems he needs about 100-200 points to lock in a good position using his technique. ON average a seed team gives 25 points, you want to beat all 3, with points diminishing per battle its probably under 75, but we'll lowball it at 100 to be safe.
Timing however is not an exact science and can definitely hurt you more than help you. until you get a groove you will have to play with what works for you. Personal example, I played 1 tournament for 15 minutes: was top 50. Played another for with 15 minutes left: top 250. Tried another tournament with 5 minutes left: top 400. Having said that by figuring out your timing you'll missout on throse precious covers and progression rewards.
If it sounds like Im dissuading from using last minute play Im not. Its a great way to get some much needed covers easily. I just want to point out there are some flaws. Also I look at it from another perspective: you work hard or not in a tournament for covers. Open up a token and poof, gold cover with no effort. The game will give you covers, its up to you at the pace you're going to get them. Makes it hard to work so much for a 4* when Im getting invisible woman covers from standard tokens you know?
Misconceptions about tournament playing
"Im in x place! Wait what the hell, Im in Y place now? But I was doing so good!"
Ive done this, 1 battle Im in top 5. Awesome me, Im gonna win! 2 days later top 250 and Im getting a 2* reward. What happened? Why did I do so terrible? The easiest answer is you just started a new bracket, so there was little to no competition, once more people got into your bracket you fell behind. Its not that you suck or are terrible and you can still pull yourself out of it.
Essentially you're in a marathon or race. You came straight out the gate top speed full blast and are in front. As more racers come into the race they will pass you. As you slow down more and more racers will pass you. You either get your second wind and pick up the pace, shield, or choose a different time to start the race for better placement. Its just that simple, you're not doing horribly in the tournament, everyone isnt better than you, its just timing and the way you want to play it. Remember biggest thing is timing.
If we all push as a alliance we can get x rewards, we made top y in the PVE we can do it!
PVE alliance rewards are completely different than PVP. In a tournament alliance members rosters and what is able to compete are drastically different. As some people may have a maxed out roster of 3*s someone else may have only a couple 2*s at mid level at best. In a PVE those characters could be powered up and give that player an advantage. PVP only the main character is powered up, and usually most new players are using the 1 cover loaner. Players with lower rosters arent necessarily happy with the lower tier rewards. Everyone wants a shiny 3* cover, even if they dont have the slots or ability to use that character. Its really disheartening for those players to compete in a tournament and possibly win something they cant use. Then if the cover is won, we come to the question should I keep this character I use and leveld up for this 1 cover 3* I may not get covers for a while on. Sure sounds like an easy choice but how easy is it for you to give up a 3*?
The biggest issue with that is are you sure its for the alliance or its what you want? Plain and simple is we all look out for ourselves, and if we truly wanted to always get cover rewards for the alliance we'd end up being like those "other alliances". I want us to be casual, play together, talk and chat. Not have everyone worry if they dont make 1k points per tournament they'll get kicked.
Shielding is a waste of Hero Points
Ha this one used to be big. Is it a waste, well yes and no. If you've played 1 battle and are top 5 with 2 days left, no shielding wont do squat for you. If you're top 5 with 3 hours left, hell yes, shield for 3 hours and walk away until the end. The best times to shield are the last day of a tournament and this will really depend on your placement. Is it necessary? no, but it will help. Because it does help so much thats why people have develped play styles based on shielding: Shield Hopping. Although there's really no telling how often you'll be attacked, its basically up to you when you want to shield. Speaking of attacking thats the nest topic.
Why do they always attack me? I lost 100 points in the past 5 minutes!
Did you shield? lol Seriously shielding does play a small part in that, but its mostly with your placement. How many points do you have and what place are you? Going for a top spot? You and everyone else. Remember we're in a race, if you're gunning for the top, so are other people. If you're in their way, they're going to take you down. Usually you wont see much competition until you hit around 900 points or so. Less than that you shouldnt see many attacks. If you're in a small bracket it will be because of your placement more than points. Long story short the higher you rank, the more attacks you're going to have.
Im facing all 3*s with level 166
Once again: Placement. I wouldnt call it punishment for doing so well, but in a way it is. You're up there, top tier of your bracket, so you're facing top tier opponents in their brackets. Also this may be based on point values, Koju and I have discussed this. Back to the issue of timing: I come in 24 hours left into a tournament averaging 600 points. I rarely see a 3* character. I have mid level points and rank top 100. My opponents are 2* 94s with an occasional 3* in the 100s. If you truly want to avoid these teams, dont gun so hard, come in at a later bracket, and keep your score low. The game goes on progression, the better you do the better your opponents. Just think of it as PVPs way of scaling.
I think thats all I got kiddos, maybe too long, maybe too short, but I can always get more into details as we discuss. Does the class have anything to add? Koju did a great job starting it, and I know everyone loves more tips that can help them with their game.
Happy playing and Excelsior!
