The OP World - OmarFPG and the SO 14

http://i.imgur.com/PmxAIoA.png http://i.imgur.com/WgWMWQe.png

Yes, I'm going to start playing with the Special Operations names and my name, since it's OP -no, really Omar Paz, hence the OP initials (or Omar F. Paz G. hence OmarFPG if you were wondering about that anyways).

So, welcome to The ~~Dark~~ OP World blog.

First things first, the usual in my posts: the Patch Note.

Now, Playdom strikes again, PvP ended yesterday, SO starts today. Where's the time to rest, Playdom? Let us get away from you for a while. Lol. (Yes, I'm aware I don't have to play right now, I can do it any time later, there's a whole month for this). I really wanted to sleep and forget about M:AA today, but fine. I'll do a quick run till I hit the first research, that can't take me long.

This time I'll try to make some changes in the blogging part, moving from a journal kind of post, to a tips kind of post, specifically the task progression part. Since I like to get things done quickly, I can help others with their doubts when they do them later, and instead of detailing my every move through the list, I',m considering on changing it for a "What you need to know" kind of thing; not describing my whole process, but just what you may be interested in reading, or the things you'd like to know.

And remember, this is a work in progress, and I'll update it as I'm advancing through the SO, until I'm done with it.

Without further introductions, let's begin.

Heroes and Weapons Review[]

TODO section, please wait for it. :)

Not crazy about it. Getting 3 stacks of Might of Mjolnir can take too long, even with the Quick Action on L6, luckly Might of Mjolnir can't be removed anymore (which in return will make Modern suit even more PvP viable).

Oh and... Scrapper? I'd like he'd have a new moveset that resembles more of a Scrapper, but oh well, at least going Scrapper can definitelly help building up the 3 stacks of Might of Mjolnir since you go L6 (QA) then L2 on an Inf, then you have your 3 stacks ready to go, it can also help if you pair him with any hero who can grant follow ups, but I still believe any Thor with 2x Enraged + 2x Might of Mjolnir can do way more damage than 3x Might of Mjolnir and nothing else.

Its other passive looks like it was specifically made to work with the EISO, and would work great paired with Valk, maybe Storm or Sparkplugger.

Lastly, I like the sprite.

Dark Defiance Set[]

Drop Weapons[]

Research Weapons[]

What you need to now[]

Check for Isos[]

Go into Mission 1 and get your initial 440, check the Free Links Page every once in a while (specially mondays).

Also, would you want to know How To Get U-ISO 8 Without Really Trying? @TheRavenHeart explains this for us right here.

Efficient Paths[]

Our Darkest Day: Medium -> Medium -> Low -> High -> High -> Medium -> 3 Bird (70 Energy, 80 Isos)
Guiding Light: Medium -> High -> Low -> High -> High -> 3 Bird (60 Energy, 70 Isos)
- Epic run: All Threats + All Deploys + 3 Bird + Epic (90 Energy, 160 Isos)
A Fool's Redemption: 3x High, 2x Medium, 1 Mini Boss, 2 Bird (70 Energy, 90 Isos)
- Deploys run: 3x High, 2x Medium, 2x Deploys, 3 Bird (60 Energy, 90 Isos)

Deploys for Epic[]

Epic boss is located in Mission 2, In order to unlock the Epic Boss for certain Tasks, the following Heroes are required to be recruited:


200	15	200

Total Command Points required: 415

This could be an actual freebie if you pick She-Hulk when you started, and you got to do Spec Ops 1 and 5 and got the heroes for free, plus, some may get Mockingbird for free; if you have an iPhone and a few bucks to spare for an app, you may want to check this out.

But all right, worst case scenario you don't have any, so 415 cps. That does seem like a lot of Command Points, but if you come to think, Spec Op last what? 28 days?

415/28 = 14,82142857142857, so that'd be almost 15 cp per day, not that bad isn't it?

Know the Task List[]

This should be the first thing you nee to know, actually. There's a full article in the Wikia dedicated to the entire task list. Show some appreciation and go take a look, plus, it'll do you well to know the list to plan your way.

Here are some pointers that I'll be updating through my way from the SO:

Task 2[]

Just upon entering the Mission 1 I could notice Valk is a Team-Up in a Medium Threat, which made me think she'd be needed for certain tasks; going through the mission I saw she's a Team-Up for a Mini Boss as well.

http://i.imgur.com/dmflunx.png http://i.imgur.com/ZlnDBve.png

A quick look at the task list and you can see Valkyrie and Sif are needed right away for Task 2, if you don't have her, or the 200 cps, or 75 gold to get her, you may want to save those battles for Valk.

Sif is also a Team-Up in a Low Threat and a Mini Boss. You want the Mini Boss to three bird, so try to skip that one. Since she's just 23 cp worth, if you can spare them it wouldn't hurt. (always keep in mind: new heroes = more PvP bonus)

You can do her task anywhere outside Spec Ops if you have her, or you can rely on this two missions outside Spec Ops as well, where she's a Team-Up:

S1C5M1

S1C7M4

http://avengersalliance.wikia.com/wiki/Sif/Missions

http://img62.imageshack.us/img62/1482/tv0t.png http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/2166/hbjr.png

Task 3[]

Now you need Thor, same as Sif and Valk, he's a Team-Up in a High Threat and a Mini Boss, or 90 cps.

And same as Sif, actually even better, you have plenty of missions outside SO to do his Task:

S1C1M5
S1C5M5
S1C10M4
S1C12M1
S1C8M6 (ignored, because it's the Premium and you need him to unlock it, lol)

http://avengersalliance.wikia.com/wiki/Thor/Missions

http://img20.imageshack.us/img20/6039/mvmp.png http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/1924/z9nm.png

(oh and of course, in the Boss Fight, screenie of that on task 10)

Task 7[]

Heads up: It's been reported that you can do this task anywhere, just using the masks, that does sound bugged to me and most likely this will be fixed soon, but it wouldn't hurt to try it before it gets patched.

Hint is pretty clear, you'll need to wait for them to do the illusion. So you wait for them to do their illusion (the change class thing), and use a Mask on your hero or agent to attack the illusion elves.

They're found in Mission 1 and 3 which is currently locked, and in Group Boss fights (but you can't use items there), so Mission 1 it is.

http://img853.imageshack.us/img853/6223/ozo0.png -> http://i.imgur.com/lzUEZdA.png http://i.imgur.com/SlayNHm.png

You can try going AoE or Counters, the only thing that you have to know is that you have to make sure the Elf goes back to generalist, or it won't count.
- Didn't get to make sure if by just killing them with the mask buff while illsioned would count (by logic, when you kill them in the class different than generalist the illusion is still up, so I'd say they don't get to go back to gen, so I wouldn't bet for this).
Seems like the illusion isn't 100% chance to be broken on attacks, so really, make sure to attack him again with a masked hero or agent until he goes back to Gen.
You'll want to avoid heroes who can counter, to avoid killing the elves without breaking the illusion first. Or just make sure you use a mask on said hero.

P.S: Don't worry about running M1 again, you'll need at least 3 - 4 runs if you want to do all the tasks, since you need to 3 star for Task 24, and 4 stars for Lockboxes task 7, plus you need to defeat 35 elves for LB task 1, (they're found in Mission 1 and 3 and Group Boss fights). You'll be spending lots of time here.

Task 9/Side Task 2[]

All right, I just found out that side Task 1 (35 elves) can be done with the Group Boss, so you may want to do that before this task, since Side Task 2 is killing 25 Jotuns, and this one is killing 10 of them, that'd spare you 10 Jotuns.

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/493/yzaj.png

Sadly I found out about this too late (I should've paid more attention to the group boss fights lol), but hey! Now you know.

Task 10[]

For the first time in a long time, you can reach the Boss without doing two runs, since the tasks don't require 100% to do the Mini Bosses up front. If you do everything right, you could pull 2 stars in 1 run easily.

http://img35.imageshack.us/img35/5070/q67x.png

Plus, the fight is easy, and though there are 3 Mini Boss fights (two of them with 2 boss in them) and 1 Boss fight, when I 3-bird it, I only faced Destroyer with 2 Mini Bosses, Kurse (who fled from the fight) and Piledriver (alone).

http://i.imgur.com/3P8jofJ.png

P.S.: If you need any tips, pointers or strategies in this or any of the fights, hit the comments and I'd gladly help, and I'm sure others would do as well. I'm positive we'll be able to figure out something for anyone who asks.

Task 13[]

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/4453/exzr.png

This is a tricky one, basically you have to use Heimdall's moves 7 times (well Vigilance is a QA), and I want to do it in a single run. Here's the scenario: Heimdall is a Team-Up in Both mini bosses already available:

http://i.imgur.com/UUWCOYg.png http://i.imgur.com/EDpDHzr.png

I can see one of them has three Jotuns, which would help in Side Task 2 count. And I want to do this effectively, saving me some Isos (you can do it in the two runs if you preffer to), maybe that battle will have low score because inefficient, lots of rounds, but the 2 bird score instead 1x, would make up for that, and since I'm doing an Epic run right now it'd be easy to pull 2 stars in one run even without 3-birding, for Task 18 (2 star everything).

This is the plan: Maximize Heimdall's turns, and this is the strategy I came up with:

Uncanny Cyclops (can give you an extra turn after you attack)

Magnetic Field Generator
Shepherd's Staff
Lots of consumables (Chrono Accelerator, Quantum Elixir, Holographic Hand-Link, you name it)

First round: Agent goes MFG, Heimdall goes Vigilance to take advantage of the QA + Gjallarhorn since is the longest cooldown, you want it to coolup quickly enough then Cyclops with Evasive Maneuvers + Chrono Accelerator on Heimdall ("Two Turns RIGHT NOW"), so Uru Blade twice, then Cyclops gave me an extra turn, just perfect... but Heimdall is out of stamina, Quantum Elixir isn't your best play here, since he already has Exhausted, so just use a Shawarma or something.

Heimdall overkills a Jotun with a counter (Cyclops L6, don't use it lol).

Second round: Agent uses Shepherd's Staff and a Protect since I don't want Heimdall diying before completing the task (though I haven't been touched yet lol). Heimdall uses Uru Blade for the third time, and Cyclops gives me an extra turn, since the other two skills are in cooldown, there's nothing to do here, I'll throw another shawarma just in case. And another Shawarma on Cyclops turn.

Protect on agent is working, he's tanking, nobody is diying.

Third round: Agent is holding the line, Heimdall goes Vigilance as a QA anow has his regular turn + the Follow the Leader one but the third skill is still on cooldown (ok Maybe I overreacted with all the extra turns, lol), I'll just waste some consumables for the rest of the round.

So far I'm almost done, just missing 1 Gjallarhorn.

Fourth round: I really hate long fights, but Gjallarhorn made me do it. Finally is coolup, and I kill everyone with Heimdall (giving him another Chrono Accelerator) after using his L9, his L1 is just deadly with all the bonus from L9 boosting the Finest hour.

I still got some nice score:

http://img689.imageshack.us/img689/3117/33xn.png

And yes, the Jotuns did count for Side Task 2.

Task 14[]

You may want to save your Group Bosses kill/collect for this task, since you need to earn 5 Lockboxes, the easiest way is your allies group bosses, if you get to kill the boss, you get a gala with 1, 3 or 5 Lockboxes, when your allies collect the kill they get 10 LBs and you get another one.

http://i.imgur.com/VsfV7qJ.png

http://i.imgur.com/1USgy6V.png

http://i.imgur.com/uj6kpGz.png

For some this may be troublesome if they don't have lots of active allies, for those of you, you could try pairing up Side Task 1 (or any side task, actually) with this, since the rewards is 6 lockboxes, that'd fit more than perfectly.

Task 20[]

Here's what I did for Task 20, since I needed to use Loki as a Team-Up and I wouldn't waste a Mini Boss fight in M3, and I still had to defeat some Jotuns for Side Task 2 (so then I could pair Side Task 4 with Task 22), I went for a second run of Mission 2, an optimal quick run, low on Isos, enough score to get my third star (first run was an epic) for Task 24. This way I'm working efficiently towards so many tasks at the same time.

Clearly, logical way for me is doing M2 again.

Here's the efficient run I came up with: Mid -> High -> Low -> High -> High -> 3 Bird. (60 Energy, 70 Iso)

http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/4876/ww39.png

So now I'm done with Task 20 and side Task 2, I got 3 stars in M2 and can 3 Bird on M3 for easier 3-staring for Task 24, next I'll do 3 wins in Practice PvP for Side Task 3 and fight 3 Kurses for Task 21 (both free of isos), then I can do Task 22 ad Side Task 4 together sparing me 4 battles.

http://i.imgur.com/IzNW8p5.png

Don't you love when everything comes together like this? This is why you should see the task list in advance.

Tasks 22-24 / Side Task 4[]

I must say, I really like what they did in Mission 3, for Task 22.

For those of you who haven't gotten to said task, but are wondering about it: there are some fights that are spawned right in place with the yellow portals:

http://i.imgur.com/sJFSdlp.png

When you get in one of those fights, this is how the battlefield looks like:

http://i.imgur.com/u6dF9T0.png

Do those, and you'll advance throught the task:

http://i.imgur.com/4kdyZil.png

Not every Threat does collide with one of those yellow portals, so of course those who don't will have regular battlefield backgrounds, and won't count towards the tasks. There are a total of 5 of those fights, 2 High on start, 2 Mini Bosses and the Boss, plan your tasks with this in mind, you need 4 for Task 22, 12 for side task 4, they can be done at the same time for better efficiency.

Now the sad part is, that at some point I ran out of battles and field was covered by only Mini Boss and Deploys. (Had I known this and I'd have sent a couple of deploys here and there to avoid this scenario)

P.S.: I took a small detour prior to my first Malekith encounter to farm for this: http://prntscr.com/21i0xm. :)

So I've decided to do it in two runs, first run I'll go 1 Mini Boss and 2 Bird and complete Task 22, then on 2nd run I'll do some deploys so I can 3 Bird, defeat Malekith for Task 23 and luckly get enough score to 3 Star for task 24. Seems it'll work, since I got 300k score, just above 2 stars and I'm 242k score for 3rd Star.

First run score:

http://img855.imageshack.us/img855/3048/sdd0.png

Second run score (remember to multiply that by 2, told you it'd work):

http://i.imgur.com/RxCfSh8.png

So now I'm done, but I won't deliver yet, since I'm doing the Lockbox Mythbusting experiment, ad I still have to farm around 30 boxes.

Then I needed to do a third run doing all Mini Bosses separatedly to complete Side Task 4, or do two runs, so I decided no problem I'll do two runs so maybe more chances on getting weapons. No weapon drops yet, lol. (but got some luck on the lockboxes, finally)

Task 25[]

http://i.imgur.com/r4HBcva.png

I've seen this question asked a few times, so I'll say it: No, you can't face Malekith in Mission 3, you have to do the Epic Run in Mission 2, where you'll need Valkyrie, Mockingbird and She-Hulk for deploys (max 415 cps), and at least 90 Energy and 160 Isos to cover for the resource usage.

http://i.imgur.com/Xp28NXM.png

If you aren't able to get the required Heroes you can opt by skipping the task by 25 gold, but I certainly would like to encourage you to farm for it, think about it this way: get three new heroes, you get to recruit a 4th hero for free (who may cost 200 cps later in the road, and may be required for future spec ops *cof cof* Valk *cof cof* Mockingbird).

Can I do X task outside Spec Ops?[]

Since this is a frequent question I'll list here the freebie tasks and how to do them. If it's not included, then you cannot do it outside or I've missed it and if so, please let me know to include it. :)

Task 2: you can take it anywhere if you have Sif and Valkyrie.
Task 3: same as above, if you have Thor.
Task 5: I guess you could do this one free of resources if you have any friend's group boss out there, but do yours anyways, you want those 10 boxes.
Task 7: it's been reported you can do it anywhere right now, just use the mask and it'll count towards it, most likely to be fixed soon, but worth the shot.
Task 8: Practice PvP. You don't even have to win it.
Task 10: Done by just completing missions. You can two star this by the time of Task 4.
Task 12: Equip the brand new weapon and go anywhere, regular missions, practice PvP, your choice.
Task 14: Defeat some group bosses, the boss gala should give you 1/3/5 lockboxes, plus another 1 from collecting the ones already defeated. You can also pair Side Tasks rewards with this one.
Task 17: Same as Task 12, but with the newest weapon.
Task 18: Same as Task 10, can be completed by just doing the missions. You can advance on this one while the 48hrs research for Task 16.
Task 19: won't cost you isos, will get you isos instead. The day you know you have this one coming, save your allys maps or daily gift for it.
Task 20: IF you were really lucky and got Loki already.
Task 21: Group Bosses = freebie. The day you know this is comming, you may want to save your Group Bosses for this.
Task 24: Again, clearing the missions while doing the task chain should take care of this.
Side Task 1: You can defeat the Group Boss Elves, it'll count.
Side Task 2: Can be paired with Task 9, and it'd spare you 10 Jotuns.
Side Task 3: Hit PVP again, but this time you have to win, thrice.
Side Task 4: Can be paired with Task 22 and it should spare you 4 combats.
Side Task 5: Can be paired with Task 21 (yes, they should've done it the other way, lol) and spare you 3 Group Bosses (in case you have low active allies, this would help), but anyways, they're still free, no matter how much you have to do. The day you know this is comming, you may want to save your Group Bosses for this.
Side Task 6: Equip Task 20's weapon reward.
Side Task 7: 4 mastery star, you may have to work a bit extra for this one.
Gathering Task 1: Collected by doing at least 5% on Group Boss fights, plus another one when collecting the rewards from your friends kills.

Gathering Task[]

Unlocked after the 6th task (first research). You'll need 50 Cold Irons (gotten by doing 5% damage on group boss) and it's used to unlock the 2nd piece of the set.

http://i.imgur.com/JuSED1f.png

P.S.: Farming is retroactive, meaning every Cold Iron you had prior to unlocking this task, will count for it.

Side Tasks[]

Unlocked after the 7th task (the break the illusions one). 7 of them, and used to farm Lockboxes, with a total of 66 lockboxes as a combined reward from all of them.

Side Task 1[]

Good thing is you should be already in M1 with a few elves to kill, you'll need 35 for your first Task.

By finishing the Mission I got 13 Elves, and that's because the mission was already started. Doing this will be easy by running M1 and M3 alone.

Update: I refreshed the game after doing a bunch of Group Boss fights and surprise:

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/4746/kb5e.png

I'll place this tip in Task 9, since that's the one you want to wait to do to pair with Side Task 2.

Group Boss[]

Group Boss now spawns BEFORE the first research instead of AFTER, as it was usual. Meaning it is now Task 5 instead of 7, and 8 hours earlier, this is great, more time to farm the Group Boss.

http://i.imgur.com/NO9OMEh.png

Nothing remarkable on the fights, so far I haven't had any problems with any class and without even trying I'm pulling ~20-30% damage. He doesn't even change class or annoys you, the Elves do change but they go with random class.

I'll list my favorite combo for each class later, for now I'll leave you some of the classes. :)

For Tactician I like to go Psylocke + Elektra, Psylocke goes Mental Coordination, status buff for everyone and possible join attacks. Elektra places Flanked.

For Scrapper I like to go with Ares and Avengers Bruiser Thor, lots of extra turns, enraged quicker, more damage, you get the image.

For Blaster I like Tact Uncanny Cyclops and Tact Grey Suit Black Widow, extra turns, counters, follow ups, secure crits.

Getting new Covers[]

THERE'S NO GUARANTEED TRICK TO WORK. Just open them 10 by 10, numbers don't lie.

Now, with the last patch note, it was revealed that "safeguard" in place mentioned in a Dev Q&A, it goes something like this:

For every new Comic Book Cover, you can't get more Dupplicates than the amount of Unique Comic Book Covers that you already own.

Meaning the following:

Number of Unique Covers you own	Max Dupes you'd get	Explanation
0	0	If you get a dupe with 0 unique covers, please, sue Playdom.
1	1	Since that's the amount of unique covers that you already own.
2	2	Meaning that at most, the 3rd cover that you receive would be a guaranteed new one.
...	...	...
6	6	Doesn't matter how many dupes you had before, you can get the 7th cover by opening 7 batches of 10 LBs or less.
7	7	You're almost done, now you have 7 unique covers. To get your 8th and final cover, you could get a maximum of 7 dupes, and the 8th would be a new one, your last one.

In light of this discovery, we can be sure that the maximum numbers of Covers needed to get a hero is 36, so worst case scenario, you'd need a Maxium of 360 Lock boxes (opening 10 by 10 of course).

There's a "Bonus Bar" to ilustrate this:

http://img132.imageshack.us/img132/7742/56kp.png

Mischievous Lockbox - What do they got?[]

Now we know the safeguards in them, but we also know they come with some previous old LE SO weps. What do the Mischievous Lockboxs have stored for us? @ScarlettOlivia answered that for us, right here.

My completition List[]

Tasks (25/25)

http://i.imgur.com/hyXQqSl.png

Done! :)

Side Tasks (7/7)

http://i.imgur.com/99IPyVP.png

Done as well.

Gathering/Crafting Task

Done. :)

Though I didn't get the task to research it, jus the research available in the lab, I thought there was another task... where's my task? lol

Mythbusting - Lockboxes (120/120)

http://img571.imageshack.us/img571/7274/makv.png

(Finally!)

As I said, I'll be collaborating in the Lockbox Mythbusting experiment, so after a long display of commitment, I hold my breath for opening the Lockboxes until reached 120. I've been in Task 24 for a while just waiting for this. :)

At last, I got 7 new, 5 dupes, and I'm -in a worse case scenario- 70 lockboxes away from my goal. My share of the experiment is done, and it turned out to be a disproval of the hypothesis.

Luckly for me it took just another batch of 10 to get me Loki.

http://img844.imageshack.us/img844/3376/a9ba.png

Total: 130 Lockboxes, 5 dupes.

Covers (8/8)

	Proud Owner: OmarFPG

Set #	10,15,17,18	13	7,19,22	11

Set #	1,3,6,20	4,14	2,12,21	5,8,9,16,23
	Collection Complete!

(Click here if you want to use this awesome template)

Weapons (4/10)

Only the two researchs, Task 20 reward, and Crafting Task. No drops yet.

So as of right now I have everything done, except 5 staring missions and getting weapons. I'll give it a try to 5-staring to waste the remaining Isos, and maybe get some weapons meanwhile.