MPQ Interview At Marvel.com: Blade Arrives For Halloween!

David [Hi-Fi] Moore

A haunted hero is coming soon to Marvel Puzzle Quest! Yep, it's everyone's favorite vampire hunter, Blade - slicing into the game just in time for Halloween hijinks.

MPQ Producer, Joe Fletcher chats with Marvel.com, outlining Blade's fighting style and special abilities. Thirst-quenching screenshots included.

You can find it here: http://marvel.com/news/video_games/2352 ... uest_blade

Quote:
"Marvel.com: When can we expect Blade to drop?

Joe Fletcher: Blade will be available as the reward from the upcoming run of The Hunt, starting on October 24. He’ll then also be available as a reward in Captain Marvel’s upcoming Versus rounds, scheduled to begin on October 31. And finally he will be featured in his very own Versus Tournament on November 3."

Unknown

Haha beat you to it

scottee

He sounds really strong. A different type of passive strike tiles, and a new AP steal ability that's continuous. Without seeing the numbers yet, I'm already guessing 5/3/5 to max those two abilities out. Extra umph in attack tiles isn't as important if you can buff them with strike tiles.

I like him.

CrookedKnight

Ooooh, that sounds like a really nice support/indirect damage set. And an alternative to Hood in the AP stealing game is most welcome.

(Also, active purple and passive green! Way to buck some trends!)

Unknown

His abilities all sound like 'what can possibly go wrong?', though they certainly sound interesting.

Unknown

So multiple ap stealing timers will still only steal the strongest color? So he will be great at stealing one color for an entire match but rarely steal multiple colors?

CrookedKnight

That depends on how it improves with covers. At the very least it's a constant siphon on a color the AI will prioritize, which is way better than the Psylocke/Fury method of stealing a lot of AP all at once where you have to hope they don't use a big spender right before the countdown resolves or you get nothing.

scottee

Cryptobrancus wrote:

So multiple ap stealing timers will still only steal the strongest color? So he will be great at stealing one color for an entire match but rarely steal multiple colors?

If "strongest color" means the one with the most AP, then it will whittle one color down and then switch to another that is the new highest. If this is how it works, it could be pretty monster.

If "strongest color" means color that has the highest match damage, it might end up being a slightly upgraded Bewilder.

Unknown

Strongest color always means 'strongest match' thus far in the game. Bewilder steals the color with the most AP and makes no mention of strength.

The AI doesn't prioritize its strongest color over any other color it has an ability on and only two characters (Falcon/Daken) has a strongest match on a color they cannot spend, though the strongest color will change as characters get downed so you could get up to 3 different colors as the match goes on.

Unknown

scottee wrote:

Cryptobrancus wrote:

So multiple ap stealing timers will still only steal the strongest color? So he will be great at stealing one color for an entire match but rarely steal multiple colors?

If "strongest color" means the one with the most AP, then it will whittle one color down and then switch to another that is the new highest. If this is how it works, it could be pretty monster.

If "strongest color" means color that has the highest match damage, it might end up being a slightly upgraded Bewilder.

Bewilder is based on "largest color pool" not strongest match damage.

If how he words it in the interview is the same as how the ability is actually worded, I imagine it will be like Surgical Strike where it is determined by best match damage on the team. If that's the case, the target would change if you downed the strongest opponent.

orionpeace

He sounds very interesting. And an active Purple is certainly desirable.

However, I'm not overly pleased with back to back PvE Events introducing new characters.

And you need to place in the current one to even have a shot at getting decent placement in the next. Because you know Capt. Marvel will be required in Essential nodes.

GrimSkald

I'd be a lot more excited about this if they didn't introduce us to four characters in the last two weeks. Mind you, only one is a 3* but still, I was hoping for another two week break before having to add another Roster slot.

He looks interesting, to be sure, but it will be months before I get a usable one, so whatever.

FierceKiwi

scottee wrote:

He sounds really strong. A different type of passive strike tiles, and a new AP steal ability that's continuous. Without seeing the numbers yet, I'm already guessing 5/3/5 to max those two abilities out. Extra umph in attack tiles isn't as important if you can buff them with strike tiles.

I like him.

Depends sounds like Purple will create more tiles at higher levels and getting strike tiles on the board isn't typically difficult so 5/5/3 might work out.

Unknown

How come Blade does not have "Tax Evasion" as one of his abilities?

Missed opportunity...

Unknown

Mahabone wrote:

How come Blade does not have "Tax Evasion" as one of his abilities?

Missed opportunity...

He's a very effective character, but the new goon character IRS Agent can take him out with one move.

Unknown

Mahabone wrote:

How come Blade does not have "Tax Evasion" as one of his abilities?

Missed opportunity...

OH NO YOU DIDN'T

Unknown

Ben Grimm wrote:

Mahabone wrote:

How come Blade does not have "Tax Evasion" as one of his abilities?

Missed opportunity...

He's a very effective character, but the new goon character IRS Agent can take him out with one move.

Blade's number 1 Arch-Nemesis

Unknown

RefinedBean wrote:

Mahabone wrote:

How come Blade does not have "Tax Evasion" as one of his abilities?

Missed opportunity...

OH NO YOU DIDN'T

Too soon?

wymtime

Will he have true healing being a Vampire (heal faster when injured)? I think his health will be what BP is at least. He will definatly be a nice alternative to Daken or a complement to him. With lots of strike tiles out his attack tiles will be extra powerful. He looks like h will fit nicely with lots of people, and a good color combonation

Unknown

wymtime wrote:

Will he have true healing being a Vampire (heal faster when injured)? I think his health will be what BP is at least. He will definatly be a nice alternative to Daken or a complement to him. With lots of strike tiles out his attack tiles will be extra powerful. He looks like h will fit nicely with lots of people, and a good color combonation

Screenshot already shows him at 6800 at 166, the 'standard' class for 3*s even if it seems like every worthwhile character now is at least BP if not Thor class of HP.

Nonce Equitaur 2

I've made a Blade Character page.

[anchor=blade3]Blade (Violent Vivisectionist Vampire)[/anchor] :blade:
3 Star Rarity (Rare) Discussion link. Wiki link.
At Max Level: HP:6800 Tile damage: 12/13/11/70/61/79/4.5

Nightstalker - Black 8
Nightstalker emphasizes Blade’s style of combat in attacking to put someone off balance, then keeping them that way until he wins. This Black ability deals a moderate amount of damage each time it’s used, but then also places a Countdown tile onto the board which steals AP from the enemy team’s strongest color every turn. The ability is relatively cheap at 8 AP and the Countdown tiles also stack, making this one that can do real damage to both an enemy’s health and their ability to mount effective attacks with a couple of these tiles out there. Additional levels ramp up both the damage and AP steal, making the attack one to really watch out for if you’re facing Blade and value your AP.

Level 2: ?? Level 3: ?? Level 4: ?? Level 5: ??

Keep Your Enemies Closer - Purple ??
Blade shows off his ability to continually assault the opponent. The ability creates an Attack tile on the board—with more tiles created as the ability levels—that will deal damage each turn. However, the tiles, when placed, also get a bonus for each friendly Strike tile on the board. So having a bunch of Strike tiles will make these Attack tiles into absolute monsters and something to either protect or destroy at all costs.

Level 2: ??? Level 3: ?? Level 4: ?? Level 5: ??

The Thirst - Green PASSIVE
Blade creates Strike tiles on the board when there are more than a certain number of Red tiles on the board. These Strike tiles are a bit more powerful than an equivalent tile created by Daken’s Passive, but are a little harder to get out there to start.

Level 2: ?? Level 3: ?? Level 4: ?? Level 5: ??

Max Level: ??



Initial thoughts -- he's going to be a lot like Falcon, when that character was initially released. Falcon's inspiration at one point increased Strike Tiles by 75% with each Yellow match. So, after 6 Yellow matches, each Daken strike tile would do 1321 damage. The developers changed Falcon multiple times before and after his initial release. I'll bet $1 that if Blade's stats were completely released now, they'd be changed within a week of release. The strike tiles seem to have a mathematical component.