High level PvE tweaks

Unknown

So this Simulator I actually saw stuff in the level 250s which I haven't seen for a long time and since R60 is supposed to be around the corner this would be a good time to address some of the problems with them now that you can no longer expect the Magneto bailout.

Enemy past the natural cap should have their match damage increase greatly reduced as a function of level. You can't even form any kind of strategy when a level 200ish enemy is dropping a 1000 damage match 4 on you. Yes in theory you're supposed to take someone who can put protect tiles but that kind of damage is just too fast and unpreventable for too long. Back in the level 395 days you'd be taking 2K from a match 4. That's simply unplayable without some kind of quasi infinite turn cheese.

Goons should use the TU damage equivalent for all their damage, not the max damage for all their colors. They're not supposed to be the master of rainbow match damage. You can deal with an encounter like 3XDeadpool at level 250 because if you keep them off red/purple they don't do anything significant, and if you also keep them off black you take very little match damage. But add a 'all my color are max damage of an equivalent level hero' goon and this suddenly changes. Even when you're denying the right color you'll still end up taking serious match 3 damage. From eyeballing TU damage looks like about 60% of the highest color match, which I think is a reasonable amount for a goon. It'd still be better higher than a hero's weak colors but it's at least not 'we got them to make a match 4 of their weak color except that just did 1500 damage because they got a goon'.

Finally, don't put AP acceleration on direct damage skills. I'm looking at you, Devil Dino. There is just nothing interesting to be gained once you can no longer do super cheap moves against stuff like taking a Fireball every 3 turns or similar ability. If you want to mix goons and heroes, make sure they boost skills that aren't directly damaging. Dr. Doom + blue accelerator is fine, since Technopathic Strike can be defended by clearing out blue/black before it hits. Gravity Warp is fine. Even Anti-Grav is at least manageable. Maybe even accelerated Flame Jet is manageable because it's a CD, but accelerated Fireball is not because it will just flat out overpower you. If you want to do an AP accleration on damaging skill, do it on the normal bracket.

Unknown

Excellent post. I also think goons auto AP generation is a lame mechanic.

Part of the strategy/fun in this game is determining your opponent's strength and weaknesses, then denying them certain colors as you mentioned in your post about the Deadpool x3 node.

As It is now, your only game against goons is getting lucky enough to actually get a board with your colors and then firing off abilities to hopefully down them before they start dropping tons of cool downs on you. Or, bring along a character that can overwrite/destroy them.

It's just not fun.

rbdragon

Not really specific to high level PvE goons, but why can't we have a way to figure out which countdown tile belongs to which goon when there are multiples of the same goon at the same level? Clicking on a countdown tile should highlight somehow which goon it belongs to, or perhaps clicking the goon highlights the tile. It shouldn't always be a guessing game which goon to target and just hope you down the right one before it goes off.

bcas76

Word to the OP! I'm not even doing nodes with mixed goon-character combos when the auto AP feeds a character skill. If I want to commit suicide I'll do it in the Shield sim where it has the benefit of lowering my MMR. Doing it in PvE is just stupid. Thank you for posting.

Unknown

Shout out to the Cadillac of goon feeder nodes, the Juggs/Venom/Analyst battle. Who doesn't love being stunlocked while Juggs goes for the world record in things smashed with his face, starting with you.

These nodes aren't cute or fun. They're just gratuitous, largely unavoidable damage machines.

Unknown

The devs finally lost Plant-Tron. Recalibrate!

Unknown

Support you

I would never fear a lv150 Daredevil but i lost my team a bunch of times facing that DD team up with muscle and analyst

Unknown

I disagree with op i like this pve alot more than others.
i usually just do a few rounds to get some iso on other events. but this one i even win a sub event just because the node isnt dull, easy boring grind like every other pve event.

it is hard but not impossible to take down.

just left this one alone you can have all your regular event most of time

DD-The-Mighty

Phantron wrote:

So this Simulator I actually saw stuff in the level 250s which I haven't seen for a long time and since R60 is supposed to be around the corner this would be a good time to address some of the problems with them now that you can no longer expect the Magneto bailout.

Enemy past the natural cap should have their match damage increase greatly reduced as a function of level. You can't even form any kind of strategy when a level 200ish enemy is dropping a 1000 damage match 4 on you. Yes in theory you're supposed to take someone who can put protect tiles but that kind of damage is just too fast and unpreventable for too long. Back in the level 395 days you'd be taking 2K from a match 4. That's simply unplayable without some kind of quasi infinite turn cheese.

Goons should use the TU damage equivalent for all their damage, not the max damage for all their colors. They're not supposed to be the master of rainbow match damage. You can deal with an encounter like 3XDeadpool at level 250 because if you keep them off red/purple they don't do anything significant, and if you also keep them off black you take very little match damage. But add a 'all my color are max damage of an equivalent level hero' goon and this suddenly changes. Even when you're denying the right color you'll still end up taking serious match 3 damage. From eyeballing TU damage looks like about 60% of the highest color match, which I think is a reasonable amount for a goon. It'd still be better higher than a hero's weak colors but it's at least not 'we got them to make a match 4 of their weak color except that just did 1500 damage because they got a goon'.

Finally, don't put AP acceleration on direct damage skills. I'm looking at you, Devil Dino. There is just nothing interesting to be gained once you can no longer do super cheap moves against stuff like taking a Fireball every 3 turns or similar ability. If you want to mix goons and heroes, make sure they boost skills that aren't directly damaging. Dr. Doom + blue accelerator is fine, since Technopathic Strike can be defended by clearing out blue/black before it hits. Gravity Warp is fine. Even Anti-Grav is at least manageable. Maybe even accelerated Flame Jet is manageable because it's a CD, but accelerated Fireball is not because it will just flat out overpower you. If you want to do an AP accleration on damaging skill, do it on the normal bracket.

What is Artificial Difficulty for 500?