Here’s my guide for Act 3.2.2 “The Captain” in Marvel Contest of Champions.
General Thoughts:
This is a super simple two lane quest, with no new defenders present so it should make for an easy 100% Exploration.
While there isn’t much to this quest, I did reach an important milestone when I hit Level 31 and was able to unlock the Willpower Mastery. It’s expensive but worth it. Finally, free healing!
If you have questions about the basic attack moves and combos in Marvel Contest of Champions, please check out my MCOC 101: Combos guide.
Best Champs: Any
Restrictions: Need 1 Skill & 1 Cosmic
Global Node: None
Boss: Black Panther
Boss Notes: Easy Boss, nothing to worry about.
Lane 1 – Left
Gate: None
Defenders: Black Bolt, Hawkeye, Gamora, Punisher, Thor, Winter Soldier
Nodes: None
Team: 5-Star Hulk, 5-Star Captain America Infinity War, 4-Star Black Widow Deadly Origin, 4-Star Emma Frost, 4-Star King Groot
Let’s look at the Marvel Contest of Champions Unit Packs offered to Cavalier players to see if they offer good value for your hard earned cash..
The Cavalier Unit Packs truly fascinated me this Cyber Weekend, and I’ve spent the last 24 hours picking them apart in my head. For the past several big sales, I’ve been really impressed with the offer construction in the unit store. From a marketing perspective, they have been nothing short of revenue generating works of art.
Each deal had an audience and those who wanted to spend had an option. I never felt like every offer was for me, but I always felt like there was at least one targeted to my progression needs, so I had the opportunity to spend.
MCOC was rewarded with over $2.7m in sales last Black Friday, making it number one in the App Store. Q3 of 2020 was the best sales quarter in the history of the game, almost 6 years in. Clearly, despite whatever issues some may have with the monetization structure of the game, they know how to make money.
Then we come the Cavalier Deals for Cyber Weekend 2020, which, other than the Star-Lord’s Loot Bag, seem to lack the thoughtful deal construction we’re used to seeing. The items in the deals often don’t work well together and seem random.
It appears the strategy going in was to make every deal appeal to every type of Cavalier player (something for everyone), but in trying to appeal to everyone, they actually appealed to no one. That’s an overstatement of course, but that’s how it feels. This is compounded by Mature Cavaliers seemingly being excluded from the “Biggest Deals of the Year” as there was a total lack of Tier 5 Class Catalyst Selectors or even a meaningful amount of random Tier 5 CC.
Kabam would argue that everything in the deal is a bonus (thus technically making them free) but that not how players look at it. Players want to spend money in a very precise way, and what Kabam views as a throw-in can be viewed by players as a negative or a waste. It’s the same issue some people have with the Cavalier Crystals in the Act 6 rewards, but with actual money involved this time.
Ok, that’s enough overview, so let’s get into the deals. For each deal I’ll talk about the Pros and Cons of the deal construction, and how much added value there is with the bonus items. The “Extra Unit Value” is my value for the items added to the Unit Pack, and you can download my Unit Deal Value Spreadsheet to create your own deal values.
Peter Parker’s Wallet – $5
Extra Unit Value: 306 Units (61.2 per $1)
Notes: For $5 you’re getting a little more than 20% of a Tier 5 Basic and 1 Tier 4 Class Catalyst of your choice. Because most Cavalier players are overflowing with T4CC, it’s really just a convenience item and feels out of place with any T5B.
Star-Lord’s Loot Bag – $10
Extra Unit Value: 980 Units (98 per $1)
Notes: Of all the Cavalier deals, this one makes the most sense to me because the two items work well together and there is a clear target – players in champion acquisition mode. Even if you’ve mostly moved on to 6-Stars, you might be targeting 1 specific 5-Star from a Dual Class or Featured Crystal, and at worst you’ll likely walk away with another 275 6-Star Shards from a dupe and a bunch of ISO. Even advanced Cavaliers can find value here because of the upcoming monster 6-Star Featured Crystal.
Tony Stark’s Briefcase – $30
Extra Unit Value: 2,790 (93 per $1)
Notes: This offer is so strange to me. There is some valuable stuff there, but it doesn’t really work together. If you really desire the 6-Star shards you’re better off buying 3 of the Star-Lord’s Lootbags and walking away the extra 3K 6-Star Shards. If you’ve close to Thronebreaker, you probably have enough 5-Star Sig Stones from past offers and the new events, and 5-Star Prestige doesn’t move the needle for you. Depending where you’re at, 1 or 2 of the items in this offer really feel like throw-ins that you’re overpaying for.
Black Panther’s Treasure – $50
Extra Unit Value: 3,250 (65 per $1)
Notes: This is the most confusing deal yet. It’s truly baffling to me. Nothing in this deal works together.
If you really care about 5-Star shards you should be buying the Star-Lord’s Loot Bag. The 5% T5CC and 6-Star Signature Stones won’t help your account for at least 6 months to a year even if you are a daily grinder.
If you’re a Mature Cavalier you’re not really in the market for the 5-Star Shards and the 5% random T5CC is barely any help because it’s not a selector. Again, the 6-Star Sig Stones are an expensive throw-in, as 6-Star Prestige really only helps you with Rank 3 6-Stars, but if you had one of those you wouldn’t be seeing this deal in the first place. Plus they are random so you’ll only get 3-4 per class anyways.
The Tony Stark’s Briefcase and the Black Panther’s Treasure Chest would have been significantly improved by simply swapping the 5-Star and 6-Star Shards in the deals.
Not Show: 1M Gold
All-Father Odin’s Vault – $100
Extra Unit Value: 11,260 (112.6 per $1)
Notes: Yes, the Odin offers the biggest prizes, as you would expect. For Early to Mid-Cavalier players, there is a ton of value here if you’re willing to drop $100 on a mobile video game.
The complaints come in from the Mature Cavaliers who were totally willing to drop $100 if it moved them closer to Thronebreaker, but 10% of a random Tier 5 Class Catalyst (the most T5CC offered anywhere to Cav players on Cyber Weekend), is just not enticing. Especially hurt were players who passed on the 10% T5CC Selectors being sold the past few months because they expected to see better value on Cyber Weekend.
Yes, a 4-to-5 Generic Rank-Up Gem has a lot of value, but not if you’ve got 25+ 5/65 5-Stars already. This is another case where it should have been the base resources instead of the gem, or it should have been a Rank 1-to-2 6-Star Gem, and then at least the entire Odin would have been 6-Star focused.
That’s my review of the Cavalier Cyber Weekend Deals. Let me know what you thought about the deals in the comments, and thanks for reading!
Let’s look at the Marvel Contest of Champions Cache Bundles offered to Cavalier players to see if they offer good value for your units.
There has been a lot of discussion about a perceived lack of value in the Cache Bundles. This is largely because of the total absence of Tier 5 Class Catalyst Fragments, and there being only 1 Tier 5 Basic in the deals.
For Mature Cavalier players – those with 20+ Rank 5 5-Stars – these deals offer nothing to move your account forward. Yes, the items are useful, but it’s not worth the risk of parting with the bulk of your units a few weeks before the Gifting Event. Even if you’re not a fan of Gifting, there are better options on the table such as investing in expensive Masteries, clearing Abyss of Legends, or simply waiting for a better deal in the future.
However, for a new Cavalier player who still needs to build 5-Star roster depth, there is value to be had here compared with the average unit offer you’ll see in game. This is especially true for Free-To-Play Summoners who are looking to move up the AQ ladder but need to improve their 5-Star Prestige first.
1K Offer
Unit Value: 2,690 (+1,690)
Notes: Good for a player looking to target a Rank 4 5-Star. Very good for early Cavaliers. A luxury item for the rest of the player base who can simply grind these resources.
4K Offer
Unit Value: 7,495 (+3,495)
Notes: This is the best value of the 4 offers, and is targeted to the mid-Cavalier player who needs to Awaken and add Signature Stones to a high value 5-Star champion.
10K Offer
Unit Value: 17,960 (+7,960)
Notes: This offer had the potential to appeal to a wider range of Cavalier players if the 4-to-5 5-Star Rank-Up Gem was instead converted to its base resources, so the Tier 5 Basic and Tier 2 Alpha could be used for 6-Stars if needed. Again, it’s a solid offer for a mid-Cavalier player looking for an early Sig 200 champion, but it’s redundant for mature Cavalier players.
3K Offer
Unit Value: 2,950 (-50)
Notes: This offer I don’t get. The preceding deals are all about building up 5-Star champions, and starting to acquire a little bit of a 6-Star roster. Any player who has gone this far likely isn’t in a position where a 6-Star Awakening Gem, especially a random one, can help them immediately. Even if a player hits on the Awakening Gem, they haven’t obtained any meaningful 6-Star rank-up resources from the earlier bundles.
If this final offer was going to be 6-Star related, it should have been a 6-Star Nexus Crystal.
I hope you and your family are staying safe during these difficult times.
Alliance Wars Seasons We are currently in the Alliance War Season 22. The Season Rewards eligibility cut-off date was Friday, November 27 at 6pm EST. The season will conclude on Tuesday, December 8.
Full Roster Availability (No AW/AQ): 100% Champion Availability starting at 2pm EST on Tuesday, December 1 through Thursday, December 3 at 2pm EST.
Sunday, November 29: Sunday Arenas begin at 1pm EST.
Monday, November 30: Round 2 of the 4-Star Basic Howard The Duck and Immortal Abomination Featured Arenas at 1pm EST. Summoner Sigil Owners, your Solo Event, Gold Quest, and items on a 7-day timer and Legendary Crystal in the Black-ISO Market reset at 1pm EST. The Alpha Arena begins at 6pm EST. UMCOC Podcast, Live on Discord at 8pm EST.
Tuesday, December 1: Cyber Weekend Deals end at 1pm EST. 100% Roster Availability begins around 2pm EST, following the conclusion of AW attack.
Wednesday, December 2: 100% Roster Availability all day! November events end and December events begin at 1pm EST. Incursions Milestones reset at 2pm EST.
Thursday, December 3: Round 1 of the 4-Star Tigra and To Be Announced Featured Champion Arenas begin at 1pm EST. Alliance Quest Season 8 begins at 3pm EST. The Tier 4 Basic Arena begins at 6pm EST.
Editor’s Note: Big thanks to Kam from the Podcast of Champions for taking the time to put together his thoughts on the Cyber Weekend Deals and what can be done to fix the issues with Progression Titles in Marvel Contest of Champions. Kam is a thought leader in the community, and I’m honored he asked Frontline to host his editorial. You can follow Kam on Twitter @KamMCOC.– Dano357
After studying, analyzing, and contemplating today’s Cyber Weekend deals (both from my standpoint as a Thronebreaker player, and also putting myself in the shoes of Cavalier players of different levels), here are some of my thoughts.
There exists a group within each progression level, to whom the deals today have been satisfactory, or even more than satisfactory.
To a new Cavalier player, who’s recently beaten 6.1 or even to a low-mid level Cav player the deals today were exceptional. These players are not on the fast track to becoming Thronebreaker. They are still very much working on their 5* rosters and most don’t even have a useable awakened 6* to consider ranking up/awakening/putting sig stones into.
Same can be said about a larger group of Thronebreaker players, but even in that category exists a segment of players who might as well be playing a completely different game, sporting 10+ R3 6*s.
But even within the two groups above, the benefit to paying players that fit the criteria was disproportionately higher than those who’d saved units for the 15k unit offers. This disparity was very clear with the extreme lack of 6* signature stones in the Thronebreaker offers. These sig stones historically being one of the most paywalled resources that’ve been keeping many F2P players from coming close to competing in higher tiers of the prestige race, or even ranking 6* champs that need said stones to function.
And that leaves us with mid-high level Cavalier players.
Players who are almost done with 5*s. Those who have completed and perhaps explored a big chunk of act 6. Those who may have completed the Abyss, or are completely unable to do so because of the still hyper-specific champion requirements for that content.
This massive group of players were put in the worst position of all players with this round of deals. This is the group of players who either due to bad T5cc crystal RNG or bad 6* crystal RNG have been unable to progress to the next progression level. And they were holding out an educated hope based on the July 4th 2020 offers that these deals would help push them towards Thronebreaker.
But that clearly didn’t happen.
These players ended up being offered marginally better cash deals, and significantly worse unit based offers. With their choice to pick between a more 5* or a more 6* focused unit bundle completely taken away from them. If I were speculating, I’d say, some of the unit based offers previously offered to Cav players on July 4th 2020 were in fact meant for Thronebreaker players who at the time didn’t have a progression title.
Many of these players have recently passed up on purchasing T5cc selector cash offers in hopes that Cyber Weekend would actually bring about more valuable goodies along with T5cc selectors. And to have what they once had snatched from them most definitely felt awful.
To mend the current situation, I believe (and I have already brought this up to Kabam via the CCP chats) that the Cavalier offers need to be adjusted as soon as possible. Basically adding a 10% T5cc selector to their Odins, a 5% selector to their Black Panther’s, and a total of 30% selectors to their 15k unit offers. And to send out these items to those who’ve already purchased the deals.
But this issue runs much deeper than that. The progression system in MCOC is broken. Progression titles inevitably cover a group of summoners too large for deals and rewards to actually be satisfactory to a majority. When Thronebreaker was first introduced, Cavalier was way past the point of oversaturation. At the time you had new Cavalier folks who just completed 6.1 using R3 and R4 5s and also folks with dozens of R3 6s, all under the same title.
I suspect that today’s attempt at curbing the progression for large groups of mid-high Cavalier players may’ve been to prevent the Thronebreaker title from becoming oversaturated just yet. And that, inherently, is a good thing. We don’t want another Progression title introduced just yet, but this one with a requirement for 10 6* R3s. Or do we?
Progression seems to be a lesson-never-learned issue with MCOC. Ever since their inception, titles were there to separate players of different progression levels and by doing so, help better cater to their needs and wants. But with a massive game like MCOC, where new players are starting every day and veterans have been playing for almost 6 years, 7 progression titles is nowhere near enough.
Progression needs to stop being reactionary. We need to stop adding new titles when the previous highest title has hit an absolute oversaturation level. And my solution to this: break up the titles.
Going to use the current state of Cavalier as an example: Cavalier I: New Cavalier players: gained when beating 6.1 Cavalier II: beat 6.1 and have 8 R5 5s or 5 R2 6s Cavalier III: beat 6.1 and have 20 R5 5s or 13 R2 6s
I’m sure there’s going to be kinks to work out there, like how mix and matching ranks and rarities would function. But you get the idea. The first group there doesn’t need T5cc. They probably can’t use T5cc for months or even a year. While the last group is basically only after T5cc. And these separations would be necessary to implement for all levels of progression. Even in Thronebreaker now there is a massive gap between the top players’ wants and needs and the wants and needs of those who recently became Thronebreaker.
Having to make extra deal tiers, additional login calendars, additions to the Black ISO store, and all the other progression dependent aspects of the game with this new system would obviously put a lot more work-load on Kabam. But for once, this could turn the Progression system from being complacent and reactive, to actually proactive and satisfactory to a much larger group of players.
It’s Marvel Contest of Champions 6th Anniversary, so you know it’s going to be a crazy month indeed. We’ll see the release of one of Marvel’s wackiest characters, Spider-Ham, along with the release of both Book 2 Act 1 Chapter 1 and Variant 6, a number of holiday-themed calendars, and the return of Gifting!
December’s Event Quest, “Framed by Fame” stars Peter Porker, The Spectacular Spider-Ham. Note that this will be a 5-week Event Quest month, with December events ending on Wednesday, January 6.
SIDE QUEST
Mojo is back and he wants Spider-Ham to be the next big ratings driver for the Mojoverse. Team-up with Gwen Stacy to play through two chapters (six quests total) in Spider-Ham: Back on the Air! Special “Epoch Shards” will be available via the Side Quest, and they can be used to buy year specific Featured Hero, Grandmaster, and Cavalier Crystals.
Back on the Air will have a 1 energy per tile requirement, with a total of 204 energy needed to 100% the event. This is just a simple quest (no daily logins/keys/maps/rewards spreadsheet needed), all you need to do is 100% it by January 6th. There will be 4 difficulty levels: Legendary, Epic, Master, and Heroic. You can play all difficulties, assuming you meet the requirement to unlock them.
December Side Quest Rewards
CHAMPION BUFF – DAREDEVIL (HELL’S KITCHEN)
The buff to the Daredevil formerly known as Netflix will go live with the 29.1 update. The new Daredevil (Hell’s Kitchen) has brand new animations and a fully retooled kit. Read his Champion Spotlight here.
BACK ISSUES 6 – CONTAMINATION
The Event Quest that brought us Luke Cage, Daredevil Netflix and (almost) Jessica Jones is back with a Variant edition! This Variant will buff champions who have the #Villian tag, granting them various abilities including Fury, Armor Break, and Unstoppable. You’ll still be able to bring Heroes and Mercenaries, but their abilities will be restricted. The release date and rewards for Variant 6 have not been announced yet.
BOOK 2 ACT 1 CHAPTER 1 – BRAVE NEW BATTLEREALM
Carina is now in charge, but The Grandmaster’s ISO-Sphere has gone missing. Carina needs to find it, and it’s up to you as The Summoner to help her in her quest. Be prepared to face dangers both new and familiar in Book 2 Act 1 Chapter 1, which releases on Wednesday, December 9 at 1pm EST.
6TH YEAR ANNIVERSARY
As expected, there will be a special Holiday Calendar later in the month to celebrate Marvel Contest of Champions turning 6! The Calendar will start on December 10 at 1pm EST and your gifts (including a profile pick and title) will be tied to your progression level.
The Anniversary Boost will also go live at that time and run through December 17 at 1pm EST, granting you a +20% bonus on Gold and Battlechips! Make sure to save your gold and arena crystals until the boost goes live.
If that wasn’t enough, there will be a 14-Day Holiday Calendar beginning on December 21 and running through January 4!
Looking to grind some arena? Take your 1 & 2-Star champs into the Crystal Shard Anniversary Week Arena (December 10-17) to earn 4-Star, 5-Star and 6-Star Shards. Up to 5,000 6-Star Shards will be available to Summoners who have achieved the Uncollected Title.
The Halls of Healing, Fortune, and Glory also return this Holiday season, and will rotate every 24-hours during the Anniversary Week.
Finally, a Christmas Gift has been confirmed! Let’s see what Kabam Santa decides to leave under the tree.
GIFTING EVENT – ALLIANCE & SOLO
Was there ever really a doubt? Gifting is indeed back, but with some big changes for 2020.
You must be a member of an alliance for 14 days before you can contribute points or claim rewards from the events. Users must contribute a minimum number of points per milestone to receive rewards. There are no brackets, and Ranked Rewards payouts will be delayed by 1 week. This delay applies to both Solo and Alliance Rewards.
The Gifting Event will run from December 21 at 1pm EST through January 4 at 1pm EST.
BUGS & IMPROVEMENTS
Archangel: Updated Info Page to better specify that each Bleed Debuff reduces the chance that an opponent’s Purify abilities will trigger instead of referring to it as Tenacity.
Black Panther (Civil War): Fixed visual effect on Special 3.
Hulk (Immortal): Fixed issue where the camera would clip through the stage during his Special Updated Special 1 and Special 2 Info Page to align the structure with other Champions. Fixed issue where the purple outline visual effects would not appear.
King Groot: Updated Special 2 to ensure the Poison Cloud hits are counted as a projectile.
Magneto: Updated the Info Page to indicate that this Signature Ability prevents Magneto from losing a certain amount of health from a single damage source (excluding Special 3 Attacks).
Mole Man: Updated Info Page to clarify he gains a Monster Mass if a Debuff fails to apply to Mole Man due to his immunity.
Nick Fury: Fixed issue where he was scaled too small on the upgrade screen.
Omega Red: Fixed issue where Special 3 Power Gain was inconsistent.
Platinumpool: Fixed issue where the Special 3 audio was not sped up during speedy Auto Fight.
Quake: Updated Shield Agents Synergy Info Page specifying the correct ability accuracy potency.
Red Hulk: Updated Info Page to specify he removes Poison and Incinerate Debuffs.
Red Skull: Fixed issue where Info Page was showing certain Synergies twice.
Thanos: Updated Special 1 to specify Projectile attack which fixed an issue where Tigra’s Heavy Charge did not allow these attacks to miss.
Vulture: Fixed issue where the last wind hit of the Special 2 was counting as physical contact instead of a physical projectile.
Fixed an issue where Armor and Resistances were not affecting damage calculations correctly while Armor was Negative.
Fixed issue where the game would stall after pressing the fight button.
Fixed issue where pausing the game when blocking would cause the player to stay in the block animation and preventing them from attacking.
Feat of Indestructible Buff – Updated description to specify which bar of power required to obtain the Indestructible Buff.
FINAL THOUGHTS
We’re only getting one new champion this month, but I’m looking forward to Spider-Ham and seeing how the Daredevil buff plays out. That being said, December in Marvel Contest of Champions is always about big content releases, gifting, and special calendars. With both Book 2 Act 1 Chapter 1 and Variant 6 releasing over the course of the month, there will be no lack of content for even the most endgame Summoners. Personally I’m going to try for an initial clear of Book 2 in the first week, then go for 100% exploration of Variant 6 as soon as it’s available.
Here’s your Marvel Contest of Champions news brief for Friday, November 27, 2020.
Schedule Notes: Cyber Weekend Deals go live at 1pm EST. Incursions Milestones reset at 2pm EST. The Alliance War Season 22 rewards cutoff deadline is at 6pm EST. You must be in an alliance at this time, finish the season with that alliance, and play 5 wars with that alliance to be eligible for Season Rewards.
If you plan on clearing some difficult content in Marvel Contest of Champions this December, you’ll need to know when all your champs will be available. Here is the full schedule of 100% Roster Availability (no AQ/AW) for the month. All times are EST, 2pm is based off of the approximate end of AW attack.
Tuesday, December 1 at 2pm EST – Thursday, December 3 at 2pm EST
Tuesday, December 8 at 3pm EST – Thursday, December 10 at 2pm EST
Wednesday, December 16 at 3pm EST – Thursday, December 17 at 2pm EST
Friday, December 18 at 2pm EST – Saturday, December 19 at 2pm EST
Friday, December 25 at 2pm EST – Saturday, December 26 at 2pm EST
Frontline: MCOC 