Upcoming Test: Powered-Up Characters in Versus

Options
Unknown
Unknown ADMINISTRATORS
edited April 2015 in MPQ General Discussion
Hey All,

Miles from Demiurge here to announce a Versus experiment that we’re going to be trying soon.

In an effort to mix up our Versus events and encourage more team variety,we’re going to be trying out a couple of changes to our Powered-Up character structure.

For a long time, the prevailing strategy in Versus events has been “Bring the same two characters I always bring and whoever I’m forced to team up with.” We’re hoping to breathe a little more excitement and variety into Versus.


First off, we’re increasing the buff for 3-star featured characters. This should make them a more powerful and useful part of your team. Previously we multiplied this character’s level by 1.5, but the new system will make them scale up to a level range of 70 to 290. (In the case of a 4-star featured character, they’ll scale up to a range of 100 to 350, less than before, in order to make sure the other characters on your team are still relevant.)

Second, we’re adding in a group of Powered-Up characters that will be buffed over multiple events. The intent is that this group of Powered-Up characters will rotate each week, but for this test we’re only going to try one week’s worth of events.

This group of Powered-Up characters will include:
2 x 4-Star characters who will scale up to a level range of 75 to 330
5 x 3-Star characters who will scale up to a level range of 45 to 280
2 x 2-Star characters who will scale up to a level range of 20 to 170
2 x 1-Star characters who will scale up to a level range of 5 to 100

You’ll notice that these buffs basically bump these characters up one rarity tier (bringing a maxed 2-Star to roughly the level of a maxed 3-Star, etc.).

We’ll be starting this test with the Human Torch Versus event that’s scheduled to start this Sunday (3/22/15), and continuing it through the next two Versus events.
«13456718

Comments

  • I'm willing to try anything like this to try and get some more pvp diversity.

    #buffsnotnerfs
  • slidecage
    slidecage Posts: 3,080 Chairperson of the Boards
    Options
    TILL off season. I was about to hit my first 4000 pt season but if this is what i think is going to happen (stupid auto correct)
    i will not get that many points in the last week of season just killing off my 4000 pt season.

    We will see but they should of held this test off for MID SEASON just like other the other test
  • I'm guessing this will feel like an LR and an alternative testing ground to see who always gets used even when they aren't buffed so dev's know who to hit with an axe next icon_e_wink.gif
  • You could could post this in the Demiurge_Miles announcement thread above. This way you can participate in that conversation.
  • That's great and all, but levels mean more to lower star.png characters. If Balance of Power taught us anything, its that a 270 Juggernaut is better than basically everyone. a 170 2* is going to be more powerful than a 166 3*. If that's the intent, that's great. If it's not, then... equal level does not mean equal power.
  • This system is actually quite similar MTG-like solution I've been suggesting for a while where you have a set of core characters and only those can be used. Looking at the level of the characters involved in the boost, whoever happens to be in this boost might as well be the only usable characters for that week if the game is remotely balanced. And if the game isn't balanced? Well, no amount of fancy rotation is going to make you want to use Invisible Woman over X Force, so we're not losing anything here. For example right now nothing on the 4* end is going to make you want to use someone over X Force but it's not like people don't already know X Force is way overpowered. On the 3* front I'd definitely think about using a level 280 3* as long as they're not Beast or Dr. Octopus. That level is also high enough that even the super powerful 3* support (Loki/The Hood) might get taken out just because of the vast level difference. That is, while something like X Force + a level 280 guy + Loki or The Hood is obviously a very powerful team, you might be better off with just X Force + 2 level 280 guys and straight up overpower your opponent. At that level range, assuming the 2X280s are any good, you've so much raw firepower that it's just going to be awfully tricky to keep either The Hood or Loki alive against a team with an average level of 276.
  • jojeda654
    jojeda654 Posts: 1,162 Chairperson of the Boards
    Options
    I don't think they get enough participation during the off season for them to gather the data they are looking for. The only time my alliance makes top 100 is the week between seasons.


    I'm tired of people complaining about changes without trying them out.
  • simonsez
    simonsez Posts: 4,663 Chairperson of the Boards
    Options
    Can you please stop releasing 4*s if you're so hell-bent on discouraging us from using them??
  • Lerysh wrote:
    That's great and all, but levels mean more to lower star.png characters. If Balance of Power taught us anything, its that a 270 Juggernaut is better than basically everyone. a 170 2* is going to be more powerful than a 166 3*. If that's the intent, that's great. If it's not, then... equal level does not mean equal power.

    But their levels aren't equal. The 3* goes to 280 while the 2* only goes to 170.
  • Unknown
    edited March 2015
    Options
    Upside: Promotes variety (although certain heroes will remain useless even if you buff them to 280 but that is a separate issue) which is something players have asked for (although mostly players who have a lot of heroes they don't get to use, ie lots of forumites)

    Downside: At the moment, if you happen to lack a usable featured hero then you are somewhat disadvantaged for one event but you get a different hero 1 event later and your non-featured guys are on an even playing field with everyone else's.
    With the proposals, if you don't have usable versions of the list of buffed heroes then you are at a disadvantage for a whole week AND your non-featured heroes are being disadvantaged AS WELL AS your lack of a usable featured hero.

    The downside bit seems like it would be the biggest issue for ppl who are attempting to transition to a tier... so if you are moving into 2* territory you might only have 2-3 levelled and covered guys, so if none are on the list (of 2) you've got a week of frustration. If you're transitioning to 3*s (a much longer proposition) then it's very tough to have a large number of usable 3*s, much more likely you are struggling to get just 2 usable ones up and running. If those 2 aren't on the list then along with lacking a featured (which you are used to) you see your other guys suddenly relatively a lot weaker than the next guy (since 3* scaling makes 166-280 a big deal vs unboosted 3*s) and you're stuck like that for a whole week.....

    It would be good for a roster like mine... I have everyone covered and any 3* who would be remotely menacing scaled to 280 levelled as well... I just feel this might hit players who are already in one of the less relaxing and fun phases of the game. Those guys often don't have enough heroes to attempt anything like roster diversity (and might not be as likely to come to the forum to feed back on how they feel about it).

    To be clear... I think it is a FANTASTIC aim and I think the "2 heroes that matter" thing has been a big issue worth targetting for some time. Just thinking about this particular plan.

    EDIT: Oh and you need to fix 4* characters' almost non-existant level based scaling if you're going to boost so many 3*s to be so close to them. I suspect the better 3*s getting boosted to 280 will dump all over most 4*s who are fully boosted if the manner in which both tiers scale is unchanged.
  • mouser
    mouser Posts: 529 Critical Contributor
    edited March 2015
    Options
    Interesting, like the basic concept, looking forward to how it plays out.
  • Question: Will Devil Dino be in the 4* rotation? Didn't you guys say he would never be required to play?
  • Phantron wrote:
    Lerysh wrote:
    That's great and all, but levels mean more to lower star.png characters. If Balance of Power taught us anything, its that a 270 Juggernaut is better than basically everyone. a 170 2* is going to be more powerful than a 166 3*. If that's the intent, that's great. If it's not, then... equal level does not mean equal power.

    But their levels aren't equal. The 3* goes to 280 while the 2* only goes to 170.

    Boosted to 100 ~= 94 (1* to 2* level)
    Boosted to 170 ~= 166 (2* to 3* level)
    Boosted to 280 ~= 270 (3* to 4* level)
  • bonfire01 wrote:
    Upside: Promotes variety (although certain heroes will remain useless even if you buff them to 280 but that is a separate issue) which is something players have asked for (although mostly players who have a lot of heroes they don't get to use, ie lots of forumites)

    Downside: At the moment, if you happen to lack a usable featured hero then you are somewhat disadvantaged for one event but you get a different hero 1 event later and your non-featured guys are on an even playing field with everyone else's.
    With the proposals, if you don't have usable versions of the list of buffed heroes then you are at a disadvantage for a whole week AND your non-featured heroes are being disadvantaged AS WELL AS your lack of a usable featured hero.

    The downside bit seems like it would be the biggest issue for ppl who are attempting to transition to a tier... so if you are moving into 2* territory you might only have 2-3 levelled and covered guys, so if none are on the list (of 2) you've got a week of frustration. If you're transitioning to 3*s (a much longer proposition) then it's very tough to have a large number of usable 3*s, much more likely you are struggling to get just 2 usable ones up and running. If those 2 aren't on the list then along with lacking a featured (which you are used to) you see your other guys suddenly relatively a lot weaker than the next guy (since 3* scaling makes 166-280 a big deal vs unboosted 3*s) and you're stuck like that for a whole week.....

    It would be good for a roster like mine... I have everyone covered and any 3* who would be remotely menacing scaled to 280 levelled as well... I just feel this might hit players who are already in one of the less relaxing and fun phases of the game. Those guys often don't have enough heroes to attempt anything like roster diversity (and might not be as likely to come to the forum to feed back on how they feel about it).

    To be clear... I think it is a FANTASTIC aim and I think the "2 heroes that matter" thing has been a big issue worth targetting for some time. Just thinking about this particular plan.

    EDIT: Oh and you need to fix 4* characters' almost non-existant level based scaling if you're going to boost so many 3*s to be so close to them. I suspect the better 3*s getting boosted to 280 will dump all over most 4*s who are fully boosted if the manner in which both tiers scale is unchanged.

    Outside of X Force, no 4* is going to be able to compete with a good 3* boosted to 280 just because 3*s get about 70% more damage for the 70% more levels while 4* gets practically nothing even if they get 70% more levels (and they do not).

    I don't see this going to be any worse than the current domination by Thor/X Force for the transition guys. If they do nerf X Force that could be a problem but it'll probably take a while, and if the strongest teams are 3X3* of the week, it's certainly a lot easier to make up that difference versus trying to make up the difference against the dominant 4*s. Yes your won't be able to max every 3* out but then most people can't, not even veterans, so it's a matter of choice. Maybe one week we have Dr. Octopus + Beast + IM40 and the 5 guys who have those 3 maxed dominates that week. So what?
  • Phantron wrote:
    Lerysh wrote:
    That's great and all, but levels mean more to lower star.png characters. If Balance of Power taught us anything, its that a 270 Juggernaut is better than basically everyone. a 170 2* is going to be more powerful than a 166 3*. If that's the intent, that's great. If it's not, then... equal level does not mean equal power.

    But their levels aren't equal. The 3* goes to 280 while the 2* only goes to 170.

    Not all 3 stars are going to 280, just 5 each week. And if those 5 are say Beast, Doc Ock, Rags, Squirrel Girl, and IM40, then the comparison of the overleveled 2star at 170 to the standard 3star at 166 is even more valid.

    Lerysh's point is very simple. Characters in this game do not scale past their max level very well. They tend to get massively overpowered. Trying to contradict that fact with a non-related piece of information is a fool's errand.
  • Lerysh wrote:
    Phantron wrote:
    Lerysh wrote:
    That's great and all, but levels mean more to lower star.png characters. If Balance of Power taught us anything, its that a 270 Juggernaut is better than basically everyone. a 170 2* is going to be more powerful than a 166 3*. If that's the intent, that's great. If it's not, then... equal level does not mean equal power.

    But their levels aren't equal. The 3* goes to 280 while the 2* only goes to 170.

    Boosted to 100 ~= 94 (1* to 2* level)
    Boosted to 170 ~= 166 (2* to 3* level)
    Boosted to 280 ~= 270 (3* to 4* level)

    That'd be Combined Arms, and while Juggernaut is formidable at level 100, he sure wasn't the strongest guy on my team in Combined Arms. Now Balance of Power, yeah he's godlike there, but we're not talking about that level of scaling.
  • This seems like a quick band aid fix to a "broken" game.
  • papa07 wrote:
    Phantron wrote:
    Lerysh wrote:
    That's great and all, but levels mean more to lower star.png characters. If Balance of Power taught us anything, its that a 270 Juggernaut is better than basically everyone. a 170 2* is going to be more powerful than a 166 3*. If that's the intent, that's great. If it's not, then... equal level does not mean equal power.

    But their levels aren't equal. The 3* goes to 280 while the 2* only goes to 170.

    Not all 3 stars are going to 280, just 5 each week. And if those 5 are say Beast, Doc Ock, Rags, Squirrel Girl, and IM40, then the comparison of the overleveled 2star at 170 to the standard 3star at 166 is even more valid.

    Lerysh's point is very simple. Characters in this game do not scale past their max level very well. They tend to get massively overpowered. Trying to contradict that fact with a non-related piece of information is a fool's errand.

    And the 2*s boosted could be Moonstone and Bagman. And even if they're OBW and Ares for that week, so what? It's only one week, and even if the list is picked by random it's got to be very unlikely to pick the best 2*s while simultaneously not picking any of the decent 3*s.
  • turul
    turul Posts: 1,622 Chairperson of the Boards
    Options
    Hope buffed-picks will be something interesting, without heightened ratio for low-mid tier 3* characters.
  • Phantron wrote:
    papa07 wrote:
    Phantron wrote:
    Lerysh wrote:
    That's great and all, but levels mean more to lower star.png characters. If Balance of Power taught us anything, its that a 270 Juggernaut is better than basically everyone. a 170 2* is going to be more powerful than a 166 3*. If that's the intent, that's great. If it's not, then... equal level does not mean equal power.

    But their levels aren't equal. The 3* goes to 280 while the 2* only goes to 170.

    Not all 3 stars are going to 280, just 5 each week. And if those 5 are say Beast, Doc Ock, Rags, Squirrel Girl, and IM40, then the comparison of the overleveled 2star at 170 to the standard 3star at 166 is even more valid.

    Lerysh's point is very simple. Characters in this game do not scale past their max level very well. They tend to get massively overpowered. Trying to contradict that fact with a non-related piece of information is a fool's errand.

    And the 2*s boosted could be Moonstone and Bagman. And even if they're OBW and Ares for that week, so what? It's only one week, and even if the list is picked by random it's got to be very unlikely to pick the best 2*s while simultaneously not picking any of the decent 3*s.

    The point is to question if they are actually trying for equivalent power level (and then failing) or they just want similar level numbers. If it's just the numbers thing, then fine, whatever. I just wanted to point out that a level 170 2* is probably better than a level 166 3*.