An Introduction to the "Meta" for Mid-Gamers
Introduction
It's scary. It's terrible. It's coming with every release of a new 6-star GFE. You can't hide from it, because everybody is a part of it. It's... the META.
*Cue dramatic music*
At the point you are in this game, you have probably heard many of your fellow players talk about "meta" leaders and how the "meta" will shift in the future. And you're probably wondering, "What the heck is the 'meta'? Does it have an impact on me? And should I be worried about it?" Well, for starters, the word "meta" is short for "metagame," which in essence is the game of playing a game - figuring out the best strategies, anticipating your opponents' actions, etc. In the context of Puzzle and Dragons, the meta mainly focuses on two aspects of the game, which I'll briefly go over in this post.
Leaders and Subs
The first part of the PAD meta relates to its monsters i.e. the cards that you get as drops from certain dungeons or from the egg machines. One of the core mechanics of PAD is the team building mechanism, whereby players choose a card as a leader and fill in the sub slots with at most four other cards. How the leader's Leader Skill is activated determines playstyle in a dungeon. Some of these playstyles include, but are not limited to: combo, rows, tank, heart cross, color cross, rainbow/semi-rainbow, and 5o1e (five orbs one enhanced).
Now, at any given moment in PAD's lifetime, there will be certain cards that are extremely desirable as leaders because of how well they can handle the hardest content that the game has to offer. For instance, when Awoken pantheon cards were first introduced back in 2015, they immediately shot up to the top of the metagame because of their powerful leader skills relative to older cards. This is what constitutes the "meta" in terms of leaders, and there are multiple resources for seeing which cards are the "best" at any given point.
For example, here is a link to a website that takes leader ranking data from multiple Japanese PAD websites and combines them into an overall tier list. While this data is most relevant to the JP version of PAD, it is still helpful to those playing on the NA servers to see how the meta shifts and be able to apply that knowledge to the NA metagame. As the data shows, combo leaders, leaders with a built-in shield upon activation, and 7x6 board leaders are the current chart-toppers, but this could change at any moment based on GungHo's decisions.
In terms of subs (and inherits), a card is in the "meta" if it not only assists a meta leader, but also can deal with certain challenging game mechanics. This requires looking at their Active Skills and Awoken Skills. In general, whatever can counter the current most difficult mechanics - Active Skills, Awoken Skills, inherits, etc. - is considered to be in the meta.
Dungeons and Game Mechanics
The second part of the meta focuses on the dungeons and game mechanics. While a leader might look extremely powerful at first glance, when placed in the context of the hardest dungeons and challenges of the game, their power rapidly diminishes. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, some mechanics are so prevalent and so difficult to deal with for the average player that teams usually have some sort of counter to them. Some examples of these mechanics are damage absorb, damage void, resolve, timed darkened orbs, and "casino orbs" that rotate orbs' attributes every few seconds. Eventually, you'll encounter one or more of these, and you'll most likely be finding ways to deal with them. If you are, then congratulations! You're participating in the metagame without even knowing it.
In addition, players also build teams based on what spawns are present in a dungeon. Based on which mechanics each spawn comes with, they build their teams to deal with those in as efficient of a manner as possible. How do they know what will spawn in a dungeon ahead of time? There are many websites and apps that provide information on what each dungeon has and the game mechanics associated with each one. PADX is a great database for everything PAD, including lists of dungeons in the NA version of the game. For mobile, check out PADGuide (iTunes/App Store and Google Play), which basically functions the same as PADX but more mobile-friendly.
Powercreep - what is it?
A useful term you should know about is "powercreep," which refers to the phasing out of older cards for newer ones that have greater leader or sub potential. While older mons might still have the capacity to clear content, these newer and, more often than not, better mons are straight-up more efficient or safer to use. The best example of this in PAD is the release of Myr and the subsequent heart-cross meta, which proved to be so game-changing that GungHo had to release harder dungeons to counter that, which in turn led to even more powerful cards, and so on. Recently, powercreep has somewhat stabilized, at least in NA, but keep in mind that what is considered meta today might not be in the next week or two. It is all up to GungHo's whim.
Metagame Resources
How do you keep up with the meta? The best way is to be constantly following news and updates on the game. At the very least, be sure to regularly check Puzzle and Dragons's official FaceBook page, which is where most of the news concerning in-game events is located. If you want to expand your knowledge base, also keep an eye out on PADX (they also post JP news), Reddit, and the PAD Forums.
Conclusion
While the meta is a scary thing to behold at first, you can learn its secrets with enough research and patience. Even if you can't be or don't want to be a part of the meta, it is still vitally important that you learn about it as you'll be forced to deal with it at some point in your PAD career. However, remember that PAD is a game and should be played with the intent of having fun. If the mere thought of tier lists or "optimal teams" makes you physically sick, then by all means play the game your own way. But to those prepared for the task, I wish you all the best of luck in your pursuit of the meta.
Happy PADing!
PowerOfAPoint/HowToMath
395461366
It's scary. It's terrible. It's coming with every release of a new 6-star GFE. You can't hide from it, because everybody is a part of it. It's... the META.
*Cue dramatic music*
At the point you are in this game, you have probably heard many of your fellow players talk about "meta" leaders and how the "meta" will shift in the future. And you're probably wondering, "What the heck is the 'meta'? Does it have an impact on me? And should I be worried about it?" Well, for starters, the word "meta" is short for "metagame," which in essence is the game of playing a game - figuring out the best strategies, anticipating your opponents' actions, etc. In the context of Puzzle and Dragons, the meta mainly focuses on two aspects of the game, which I'll briefly go over in this post.
Leaders and Subs
The first part of the PAD meta relates to its monsters i.e. the cards that you get as drops from certain dungeons or from the egg machines. One of the core mechanics of PAD is the team building mechanism, whereby players choose a card as a leader and fill in the sub slots with at most four other cards. How the leader's Leader Skill is activated determines playstyle in a dungeon. Some of these playstyles include, but are not limited to: combo, rows, tank, heart cross, color cross, rainbow/semi-rainbow, and 5o1e (five orbs one enhanced).
Now, at any given moment in PAD's lifetime, there will be certain cards that are extremely desirable as leaders because of how well they can handle the hardest content that the game has to offer. For instance, when Awoken pantheon cards were first introduced back in 2015, they immediately shot up to the top of the metagame because of their powerful leader skills relative to older cards. This is what constitutes the "meta" in terms of leaders, and there are multiple resources for seeing which cards are the "best" at any given point.
For example, here is a link to a website that takes leader ranking data from multiple Japanese PAD websites and combines them into an overall tier list. While this data is most relevant to the JP version of PAD, it is still helpful to those playing on the NA servers to see how the meta shifts and be able to apply that knowledge to the NA metagame. As the data shows, combo leaders, leaders with a built-in shield upon activation, and 7x6 board leaders are the current chart-toppers, but this could change at any moment based on GungHo's decisions.
In terms of subs (and inherits), a card is in the "meta" if it not only assists a meta leader, but also can deal with certain challenging game mechanics. This requires looking at their Active Skills and Awoken Skills. In general, whatever can counter the current most difficult mechanics - Active Skills, Awoken Skills, inherits, etc. - is considered to be in the meta.
Dungeons and Game Mechanics
The second part of the meta focuses on the dungeons and game mechanics. While a leader might look extremely powerful at first glance, when placed in the context of the hardest dungeons and challenges of the game, their power rapidly diminishes. As mentioned in the previous paragraph, some mechanics are so prevalent and so difficult to deal with for the average player that teams usually have some sort of counter to them. Some examples of these mechanics are damage absorb, damage void, resolve, timed darkened orbs, and "casino orbs" that rotate orbs' attributes every few seconds. Eventually, you'll encounter one or more of these, and you'll most likely be finding ways to deal with them. If you are, then congratulations! You're participating in the metagame without even knowing it.
In addition, players also build teams based on what spawns are present in a dungeon. Based on which mechanics each spawn comes with, they build their teams to deal with those in as efficient of a manner as possible. How do they know what will spawn in a dungeon ahead of time? There are many websites and apps that provide information on what each dungeon has and the game mechanics associated with each one. PADX is a great database for everything PAD, including lists of dungeons in the NA version of the game. For mobile, check out PADGuide (iTunes/App Store and Google Play), which basically functions the same as PADX but more mobile-friendly.
Powercreep - what is it?
A useful term you should know about is "powercreep," which refers to the phasing out of older cards for newer ones that have greater leader or sub potential. While older mons might still have the capacity to clear content, these newer and, more often than not, better mons are straight-up more efficient or safer to use. The best example of this in PAD is the release of Myr and the subsequent heart-cross meta, which proved to be so game-changing that GungHo had to release harder dungeons to counter that, which in turn led to even more powerful cards, and so on. Recently, powercreep has somewhat stabilized, at least in NA, but keep in mind that what is considered meta today might not be in the next week or two. It is all up to GungHo's whim.
Metagame Resources
How do you keep up with the meta? The best way is to be constantly following news and updates on the game. At the very least, be sure to regularly check Puzzle and Dragons's official FaceBook page, which is where most of the news concerning in-game events is located. If you want to expand your knowledge base, also keep an eye out on PADX (they also post JP news), Reddit, and the PAD Forums.
Conclusion
While the meta is a scary thing to behold at first, you can learn its secrets with enough research and patience. Even if you can't be or don't want to be a part of the meta, it is still vitally important that you learn about it as you'll be forced to deal with it at some point in your PAD career. However, remember that PAD is a game and should be played with the intent of having fun. If the mere thought of tier lists or "optimal teams" makes you physically sick, then by all means play the game your own way. But to those prepared for the task, I wish you all the best of luck in your pursuit of the meta.
Happy PADing!
PowerOfAPoint/HowToMath
395461366
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