When do you think the meta will shift?

bigspring78

Notice the question is not "when do you think the next update will happen" or "when will the next cap level increase occur" -- but when will the meta actually shift. So it's more of a "when do you think everyone will drop what they're doing and try to get new toons in order to survive".

Certainly cap level raises and ensuing developer updates can be mechanisms that shift the meta, or encourage or discourage a certain meta, but imo the actual event that triggered the current one was when QGJ was released in shipments. Everyone went out and got him, and roughly 40 days later, 15 of the top 20 on my shard run a QGJ team.

I know this is very hard to predict, and I know we have very little information. But wondering what some of the good minds on this forum are using as a frame of reference, especially those who have played these types of games before. To some extent, some more than others, I think we're all trying to plan accordingly (as foolish as that may be).

So when do you think the meta will shift? And if you're so inclined: how?

Sikho

July or after

I'd say never. We haven't got any clue indicating the devs don't want to enforce the speed/damage meta. To me, it's a big indication on how they want this game to be played.

Hell, even a short post from someone at EA/CG saying "hey, we don't think the game is currently enjoyable, and we're working on it!" would give me faith in this game. But hey, I don't think it will happen.

LaLiam

In the next 3 weeks

When the cap comes out it'll move from top speed to top output and decent HP toons. When toons cant be one shot anymore.

Baggodi

It'll shift with the update or cap change. Or when the next really good character becomes easier to farm. Whenever there is a shift to the game's infrastructure there will be a meta change to adapt.

FashionFett

Updates (even minor ones) come often and can change the meta a bit. The recent buff to RG gave him a bit of life in Arena. Perhaps a re-work of Detonators will make heroes who use detonators the new meta. But I think the meta depends on updates on existing heroes.

phroxenphyre

In the next 3 weeks

There are three types of meta shifts:

1. Whale Meta Shift: Occurs when new content is released and the whales immediately acquire the latest and greatest. Generally results in free players crying for nerfs or something special just for them to counter the new toy.
2. Dolphin Meta Shift: Occurs as light-spending players begin to acquire the latest and greatest toons, which now start to become ubiquitous. Whales start tweaking their teams in order to maintain their edge while F2P players start to really feel the crunch.
3. F2P Meta Shift: Occurs as free players begin to acquire the awesome toons the whales and dolphins have been using for ages. Powerful tactics that were once reserved for the paying elite are now possessed by the common player. Whales and dolphins begin moving onto the next elite strategy, if they haven't already.

Right now, based on what I'm seeing on my server, I'd say we're in the middle of the Dolphin Meta Shift where slow-farm or 3rd-priority toons are getting to 6* and 7*. Maxed out Dookus, Dakas, QGJs, Poggles and GSs are much more common now than they were a couple weeks ago. Most Arena and GW teams are starting to diversify to include these toons and having a team capable of countering them is crucial.

Over the next week, I imagine Yoda will also start to become more common as more people start unlocking him or promoting him to 6*/7*.

Within the next few weeks, Grievous might also start making appearances. Between GW and Arena, a determined dolphin can easily get 300 shards per day, which is enough that they should be unlocking GG fairly soon. I doubt he'll have a dramatic impact on whales and dolphins since he wouldn't be maxed but F2P players might have trouble with him.

ioniancat21

July or after

The meta should have never become as it has and that fault lies in EA/CG's balancing of character's skills. The way this game should have worked is that most players would be pretty equally matched by themselves but have some advantage when paired with others of equal synergy, so a well matched Droid team would be pretty equal to a similarly well-matched Jedi team and so forth.

If it was setup like that, the typical match between two 7* teams with Level 8 Gear and similarly leveled abilities would be nail-biting matches practically ending in draws with one player standing in the rubble victorious with barely any life left, like a real battle should end. Only skill in matching the right players vs. players would win the day and knowing each players moves well would win the day, so advanced synergy and fight talk would be the most important topic in Guild discussion.....

Wildcats1203

In the next 3 weeks

EA wants to shift the meta every update. It keeps things interesting for whales, and it forces dolphins to pay to keep up. If they leave the meta the same for months at a time, f2p players will be able to have a meta team and will have no incentive to spend, while whales will become bored with winning using the same characters.

Factory

When the QGJ and GS nerf come

USAmazing

Not everyone stopped everything to be part of the so called cool QGJ club.

I started farming Dooku instead of QGJ... I'm sure glad I got my Dook... he tears Jedi new ones all day! And my arena team doesn't look lame like all the teams with QGJ lead.

ARC

Buffs and nerfs are pretty frequent I wouldn't be surprised if it was 3 weeks or less.

Fooj

It's already shifting on my shard. More than half of the top 20 had qgj lead, but now it's down to ~25%. Rise of qgj/yoda meant rise of dooku counter and now people are shifting to comps less vulnerable to him.

Arora50

USAmazing wrote: »

Not everyone stopped everything to be part of the so called cool QGJ club.

I started farming Dooku instead of QGJ... I'm sure glad I got my Dook... he tears Jedi new ones all day! And my arena team doesn't look lame like all the teams with QGJ lead.

Dooku is nice against qgj, but it will be sad when he gets left behind in the speed/damage/hp department in the next level cap increase

xJazzx

It will change once Jawa Engineer is released.

Droids will go before Yoda.

Chewy_Johnson68

xJazzx wrote: »

It will change once Jawa Engineer is released.

Droids will go before Yoda.

If he exists then he will be anti-droid meta as well! Possible coin flip coming our way?

Mo_liza

With the increased to 80.

Fantazy

This poll is badly done: the change in meta will be triggered by another change. And no one knows when nor what those changes will be. Better poll options would've been:

- level cap raised
- new unit(s) release
- current unit(s) reworked
- specific skill reworked (e.g. detonators as someone mentioned above)
- any combination of the above

nobody has a "secret unit" waiting to field it out, we would've seen those from the paying players and I've barely glimpsed a 7* Ayla on my server before she was replaced by current meta unit (again).

xJazzx

Chewy_Johnson68 wrote: »

xJazzx wrote: »

It will change once Jawa Engineer is released.

Droids will go before Yoda.

If he exists then he will be anti-droid meta as well! Possible coin flip coming our way?

Yes I believe so. It becomes RNG with two options in jawa/Droids and whales with Grievous gets a prettier winning team.