Patch R58 Discussion - Live 7/29

LakeStone

Hi Everyone –

You may have just heard from San Diego Comic-Con our new upcoming update. Here are some details about what you will see in the R58 Update (Please note Deadpool events do not go live till August 1st and more details on it to come soon). R58 is scheduled to go live on 7/29.

Gameplay
New Feature: Team-Ups
- Team-Ups are single use abilities that can be brought into battle that allow users to use abilities from characters that aren't directly on their teams
- Most abilities are available to drop as Team-Ups for usage
- Team-Up abilities have a chance to drop when defeating non-minion characters
- New Team-Up tile art has been implemented
- Team-Up tiles replace Environment tiles on all boards that use Environment tiles
- Enemies can select and use Team-Ups

UI
- “Dark Reign” has been removed from the title screen
- There is now a visual distinction between Alliance and Personal rewards
- Limited recommended update notifications when a new version is available
- (Android Only) - Fixed an issue preventing some in-game graphics from displaying properly on some Android devices such as the Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Model SM-T211

Characters
Ares (Dark Avengers) – Sunder
- Fixed Sunder Countdown tile not disappearing when used by an enemy team if Ares defeats himself by using the ability

Black Panther (Man Without Fear) – Battleplan
- Altered to use the new Team-Up Feature instead of Environment tiles
Old
Battleplan - Yellow 9 AP
Converts one random basic Yellow tile into a strength 9 Strike tile for each 15 environment AP the team has, consuming the AP in the process. (min 1 tile)
Level Upgrades
Level 2: Increase strike tile strength to 13.
Level 3: Increase strike tile strength to 16.
Level 4: Increase strike tile strength to 20.
Level 5: Increase strike tile strength to 23.
Max Level: Strength 153 strike tiles

New
Battleplan - Yellow 9 AP
T'Challa uses his expert strategic mind to give his allies a tactical advantage. Converts 3 basic Yellow tiles to strength 22 Strike tiles. If the team has 12 or more Team-Up AP, converts 3 basic Yellow tiles to strength 33 Strike tiles instead.
Level Upgrades
Level 2: Increases minimum Strike tile strength to 28. (39 with Team-Up AP)
Level 3: Increases minimum Strike tile strength to 30. (44 with Team-Up AP)
Level 4: Increases minimum Strike tile strength to 39. (55 with Team-Up AP)
Level 5: Increases minimum Strike tile strength to 55. (83 with Team-Up AP)
Max Level: Strength 175 Strike tiles, 250 with Team-Up AP

Daredevil (Classic) - Radar Sense
- Now converts a random Basic tile to a Trap tile instead of an Environment tile

Storm (Modern) - Mistress of the Elements
- Altered to use the new Team-Up Feature instead of Environment tiles
Old
Mistress of the Elements - Red 9 AP
Fierce winds swirl, sending heavy weights aloft and turning them against the enemy. Deals 3 damage for each Environment tile, then shatters them.
Level Upgrades
Level 2: Costs 1 AP less.
Level 3: Costs 1 AP less.
Level 4: Costs 1 AP less.
Level 5: Costs 1 AP less.
Max Level: 34 damage for each Environmental tile

New
Mistress of the Elements - Yellow 9 AP
Clouds darken the battlefield and lightning streaks across the sky as Storm's awesome power inspires her teammates and assaults her foes. Destroys up to 5 Team-Up tiles, generating Team-Up AP and dealing 4 damage per tile.
Level Upgrades
Level 2: Deals 4 damage for each tile shattered
Level 3: Deals 5 damage for each tile shattered
Level 4: Deals 5 damage for each tile shattered
Level 5: Destroys 6 Team-Up tiles
Max Level: 61 damage for each Team-Up tile

Storm (Gold) - Mistress of the Elements
- Altered to use the new Team-Up Feature instead of Environment tiles

Old
Mistress of the Elements - Red 9 AP
Fierce winds swirl, sending heavy weights aloft and turning them against the enemy. Deals 27 damage for each Environment tile, then shatters them.
Level Upgrades
Level 2: Deals 32 Damage for each tile shattered
Level 3: Deals 38 Damage for each tile shattered
Level 4: Deals 59 Damage for each tile shattered
Level 5: Deals 70 Damage for each tile shattered
Max: 226 damage for each tile

New
Mistress of the Elements - Yellow 9 AP
Clouds darken the battlefield and lightning streaks across the sky as Storm's awesome power inspires her teammates and assaults her foes. Destroys up to 5 Team-Up tiles, generating Team-Up AP and dealing 38 damage per tile.
Level Upgrades
Level 2: Deals 46 damage for each tile shattered
Level 3: Deals 53 damage for each tile shattered
Level 4: Deals 68 damage for each tile shattered
Level 5: Destroys 7 Team-Up tiles
Max Level: 220 damage for each Team-Up tile

Please note changes are not yet final.

- Thank you

Unknown

Team-ups sound interesting, but I have to confess it's not particularly clear how they work. Could we get a more detailed description?

I have a feeling some people are going to hit the ceiling over the Storm changes.

scottee

Wow, completely removed Enviro tiles. Modern Storm changes colors to yellow. Daredevil gets a slight buff. Deadpool incoming.

Awesome stuff.

EDIT: Both Modern and Gold Storm change colors from Red to Yellow.

TheVulture

Interesting... (and yay that I just decided to use all my resources on Black Panther this week! )

What do Team-Up tiles do when you don't use consumables though? Are they simply wasted matches?
(Not that hot dogs & Latverian attack tiles weren't, just asking.)

Nemek

I'm pretty excited about BP yellow being very viable. Three 250 strength strike tiles? Ouch.

Unclear as to whether it consumes the team-up AP, too...

Nighthawk81

They have this big forum (comic-con) to announce some big new features and this is all we get? I was hoping we would get more. Lot of excitement built up for nothing really.

Nighthawk81

Nemek wrote:

I'm pretty excited about BP yellow being very viable. Three 250 strength strike tiles? Ouch.

Unclear as to whether it consumes the team-up AP, too...

I was kind of unsure about a portion of this. Is it 3 strike tiles and an additional 3 if team-up AP is waiting or three total?

scottee

Excited to see Storm as the only Green-Yellow-Black character.

Interesting that characters like Storm and BP were strong characters at utilizing the environment, but now they're going to be strong at teamwork.

Unknown

I was just hoping for some damages added for BP' Yellow ability but this is way better.

scottee

Jdberia wrote:

Nemek wrote:

I'm pretty excited about BP yellow being very viable. Three 250 strength strike tiles? Ouch.

Unclear as to whether it consumes the team-up AP, too...

I was kind of unsure about a portion of this. Is it 3 strike tiles and an additional 3 if team-up AP is waiting or three total?

It's 3 strike tiles no matter what, with additional damage if you have 12 team-up AP.

Spoit

scottee wrote:

Excited to see Storm as the only Green-Yellow-Black character.

Interesting that characters like Storm and BP were strong characters at utilizing the environment, but now they're going to be strong at teamwork.

Not so much now that those powers both use yellow. Though that does make storm by herself more viable

Even ignoring the whole AP thing that I'm sure will get a lot of anger, that's a pretty big nerf to mistress of the element's damage too. Odds are fairly good that there'd be more than 6-7 enviro tiles to collect, and then they nerfed the per-tile damage as well.

Since it seems like teamup AP will probably be 1-per tile, what happens with high enviro value characters, like punisher's 4 vs the normal 3?

(Also, DD totally needed that nerf, without the AI seeking enviro tiles, his only reliable trap will never go off)

babinro

Black Panther's Yellow is amazing if this change goes live. I could easily see myself using him in place of Punisher going forward. Stronger strike tiles for only 1 more AP and free's up the much desired green colour for another character. Not to mention that BP's black is the best in the game. I suspect if any skill sees a nerf in terms of damage numbers before going live it'll be these strike tile values.

I dislike the DD change simply because that was his most reliable and useful skill on offense. The AI matches enviro tiles and this made him a useful niche character. Spawning the AP steal on a random tile is better for defensive play but it's just a truly random tile. I'd argue the change will make this already weak character, even weaker. Perhaps actual play experience with the skill will change my mind though.

I love that both Storm powers are shifting to yellow and will cost the same AP. This finally makes Mohawk storm unquestionably better than modern storm. The shift to yellow makes her easier to pair up with other heroes without overlap. It's a bit unusual that it'll only destroy 5 tiles now but then again we have no idea how this team up thing is going to play out. This could potentially bring Mohawk Storm into top tier play.

Not much to say regarding the team-up tile thing until we know more. It could open up a lot of interesting new strategies which would be cool. I fear that people might just link it to a single OP skill and that's all we'll ever see. If everyone just uses it to cast Rage of the Panther for crazy team damage then it'll quickly become more frustrating than fun. I'll reserve judgement until I know more. It's exciting to have a new feature announced though

Nighthawk81

I am interested to see how this team-up tile will work. I wonder if we will know what team-up ability will be on a given node like the environments are now.

mohio

Just touching on part of this - Team-Ups sounds interesting, but more details are really needed. Do you pick a team-up ability at the beginning of the match and the amount of AP needed to use it changes on what ability you picked? Does the team-up ability get picked randomly for you? Would it be decided at the beginning or when you go to use it? Cause that could lead to a lot of "feel-bad" moments when you go to use it and out comes Shulk's Reprieve. I suppose the 3 nodes could be 3 different team-ups, but I don't see how that fundamentally changes things since people will still gravitate toward the same ones over and over and ignore the weak ones.

Second, I'm not really a fan of this particular "fix" for environments. I know certain environments were far too abusable or completely useless, but scrapping environments altogether seems like a copout. Maybe in the end it will be more fun this way, but I was hoping for more balance in the environment abilities, not making them all the same.

Black Panther seems like he got quite an upgrade. He now has 2 high quality abilities, is that enough to bump him into the top tier? Does it even matter when Sentry/Daken just destroys everything?

Nemek

Spoit wrote:

scottee wrote:

Excited to see Storm as the only Green-Yellow-Black character.

Interesting that characters like Storm and BP were strong characters at utilizing the environment, but now they're going to be strong at teamwork.

Not so much now that those powers both use yellow. Though that does make storm by herself more viable

Even ignoring the whole AP thing that I'm sure will get a lot of anger, that's a pretty big nerf to mistress of the element's damage too. Odds are fairly good that there'd be more than 6-7 enviro tiles to collect, and then they nerfed the per-tile damage as well.

Since it seems like teamup AP will probably be 1-per tile, what happens with high enviro value characters, like punisher's 4 vs the normal 3?

(Also, DD totally needed that nerf, without the AI seeking enviro tiles, his only reliable trap will never go off)

I think with Storm it will depend a bit on how good the team-up powers really are. If 6-7 team-up AP is super awesome, then it could be warranted...but it's a couple of days too early to call.

The DD change is way more interesting from a player playing against DD perspective. If Radar Sense ever went down while I played against DD, it was an easy decision not to go after environmental tiles (since they normally weren't worth it, anyway.) Now, every match I make is a potential landmine that will destroy my AP reserves and completely flip the battle.

GrumpySmurf1002

I see the DD change as a buff on defense, indifferent on offense.

It was easy enough to avoid the environment. Knowing that any now match could potentially cost you 2-6AP in all colors is pretty frightening.

Unknown

mohio wrote:

Just touching on part of this - Team-Ups sounds interesting, but more details are really needed. Do you pick a team-up ability at the beginning of the match and the amount of AP needed to use it changes on what ability you picked? Does the team-up ability get picked randomly for you? Would it be decided at the beginning or when you go to use it? Cause that could lead to a lot of "feel-bad" moments when you go to use it and out comes Shulk's Reprieve. I suppose the 3 nodes could be 3 different team-ups, but I don't see how that fundamentally changes things since people will still gravitate toward the same ones over and over and ignore the weak ones.

Second, I'm not really a fan of this particular "fix" for environments. I know certain environments were far too abusable or completely useless, but scrapping environments altogether seems like a copout. Maybe in the end it will be more fun this way, but I was hoping for more balance in the environment abilities, not making them all the same.

Black Panther seems like he got quite an upgrade. He now has 2 high quality abilities, is that enough to bump him into the top tier? Does it even matter when Sentry/Daken just destroys everything?

There are a lot more people with Black Panther covers than Sentry/Daken. So we will see damn good rise in BP usage.

scottee

mohio wrote:

Black Panther seems like he got quite an upgrade. He now has 2 high quality abilities, is that enough to bump him into the top tier? Does it even matter when Sentry/Daken just destroys everything?

For 9 yellow AP, he gets 750 worth of strike tiles, with no downside. (Not sure if it consumes team-up AP, but it doesn't sound like it.) That's essentially the strongest strike tile ability in the game. That's more strike tile damage than Sentry with one more AP but no self-damage.

Nighthawk81

MikeyMan wrote:

mohio wrote:

Just touching on part of this - Team-Ups sounds interesting, but more details are really needed. Do you pick a team-up ability at the beginning of the match and the amount of AP needed to use it changes on what ability you picked? Does the team-up ability get picked randomly for you? Would it be decided at the beginning or when you go to use it? Cause that could lead to a lot of "feel-bad" moments when you go to use it and out comes Shulk's Reprieve. I suppose the 3 nodes could be 3 different team-ups, but I don't see how that fundamentally changes things since people will still gravitate toward the same ones over and over and ignore the weak ones.

Second, I'm not really a fan of this particular "fix" for environments. I know certain environments were far too abusable or completely useless, but scrapping environments altogether seems like a copout. Maybe in the end it will be more fun this way, but I was hoping for more balance in the environment abilities, not making them all the same.

Black Panther seems like he got quite an upgrade. He now has 2 high quality abilities, is that enough to bump him into the top tier? Does it even matter when Sentry/Daken just destroys everything?

There are a lot more people with Black Panther covers than Sentry/Daken. So we will see damn good rise in BP usage.

This. As a transitioning player, I dumped some iso into BP for his event. With this upgrade I may just soft cap him and hope for my two remaining covers to max soon.

Unknown

babinro wrote:

Black Panther's Yellow is amazing if this change goes live. I could easily see myself using him in place of Punisher going forward.

Why not both?

Even without Team-Ups, Casting Judgment, then Battleplan would yield (3 * 122) + (3 * 175) = 891 in Strike tiles. With a "Team-Up", that number increases to 1116 in Strike tiles.

At that point, regardless of whoever is the third on the team, who even flipping cares about other abilities when you are matching for four-digit damage on match-3s, let alone match 4 and 5s and cascades?

Nighthawk81

Lyrian wrote:

babinro wrote:

Black Panther's Yellow is amazing if this change goes live. I could easily see myself using him in place of Punisher going forward.

Why not both?

Even without Team-Ups, Casting Judgment, then Battleplan would yield (3 * 122) + (3 * 175) = 891 in Strike tiles. With a "Team-Up", that number increases to 1116 in Strike tiles.

At that point, regardless of whoever is the third on the team, who even flipping cares about other abilities when you are matching for four-digit damage on match-3s, let alone match 4 and 5s and cascades?

Add in world rupture and holy tinykitty!