Update Preview: Sentry & The Hood

David [Hi-Fi] Moore

Greetings all,

We wanted to give you a heads-up on changes to Sentry and The Hood that will be going into effect shortly before Thanksgiving (late November).

While Sentry and The Hood are mighty heroes, under certain circumstances, ability exploits could arise. We wanted to address these exploits and make the game more fun for everyone.

We hope that you will be pleased with the new updates for Sentry and The Hood. For anyone dissatisfied with the updates, please be aware that we will be increasing sell prices for both characters, for a limited time, after the updates are implemented.

As always, anything listed below is subject to change before release.

Here's word from IceIX:

The Hood
We're balancing this ability so that it retains its high cost, high return capability. Instead of returning AP per tile destroyed (which could be great or horrible depending on how the board was laid out), it now deals an increasing amount of base damage. In return for this increased damage capability, The Hood also had to lose the Level 5 reward of not ending his turn on usage.

Old

Twin Pistols - Yellow 18
Parker Robbins fires his twin Lorcin .380’s, destroying two selected 3x3 blocks of tiles, earning AP and dealing damage. Ends the turn.

Level 2: Costs 1 AP less. Level 3: Costs 1 AP less. Level 4: Costs 1 AP less. Level 5: Doesn't end the turn.

New

Twin Pistols - Yellow 15
Parker Robbins fires his twin Lorcin .380’s, destroying two selected 3x3 blocks of tiles, dealing 11 damage per tile. Does not generate AP. Ends the turn.

Level 2: Deals 21 damage per tile destroyed. Level 3: Deals 32 damage per tile destroyed. Level 4: Deals 54 damage per tile destroyed. Level 5: Deals 100 damage per tile destroyed. Max Level: Deals 317 damage per tile destroyed.

Sentry
Sentry may have the power of a million exploding suns, but he was shining a bit too brightly for the rest of the Marvel Puzzle Quest universe to cast their own shadows. Each of his abilities were looked at in turn, as well as in combination with one another and the various methods of gaining AP to come up with a more appropriate power set for this slightly confused champion of not-so-justice.

Old:

Supernova - 11 Red AP
The Sentry projects an epic energy blast. Damages the enemy team for 438 before shattering up to 4 random Red tiles. Each tile damages the enemy team for 82 and allies for 82 but does not generate AP. This ability ends the turn.
Level Upgrades

Level 2: Damage to allies reduced to 66 per red tile destroyed. Level 3: Destroys up to 7 Red tiles. Level 4: Damages the enemy team for 564. Level 5: Destroys up to 9 tiles, with damage to allies reduced to 43 per tile. Max Level: 1791 + 261 enemies/137 allies

New

Supernova - 11 Red AP
The Sentry projects an epic energy blast. Damages the enemy team for 329 before shattering up to 4 random Red tiles. Each tile damages the enemy team for 82 and allies for 82 but does not generate AP. This ability ends the turn.
Level Upgrades

Level 2: Sentry hits the enemy team for 355 damage. Damage to his own team is reduced to 66 damage per tile. Level 3: Sentry hits the enemy team for 378 damage, and destroys 5 Red tiles. Level 4: Sentry hits the enemy team for 428 damage, and destroys 7 Red tiles. Level 5: Sentry hits the enemy team for 494 damage, and destroys 9 Red tiles. Damage to his own team is reduced to 43 damage per tile destroyed. Max Level: Max Level: 1565 + 261 enemies/137 allies

Old:

World Rupture - 7 Green AP
Sentry flies into the heart of the battlefield, sending waves of kinetic energy rippling outward. Creates Countdown tiles that do 55 damage to enemies and 27 to allies.
Level Upgrades

Level 2: Reduces ally damage to 23 Level 3: Impact extends further towards the corners Level 4: Reduces ally damage to 20. Level 5: Impact extends further. Max Level: 174 enemies/ 64 allies (16 2-turn Countdown tiles)

New

World Rupture - 12 Green AP
Sentry flies into the heart of the battlefield, sending waves of kinetic energy rippling outward. Creates Countdown tiles that do 44 damage to enemies and 27 to allies. (Dev note: Still an X pattern, removed the text for brevity.)
Level Upgrades

Level 2: Impact extends further towards the corners. Level 3: Countdown tiles do 50 damage to the enemy. Reduces ally damage to 23. Level 4: Impact extends further towards the corners. Countdown tiles do 52 damage to the enemy. Reduces ally damage to 20. Level 5: Impact extends further towards the corners. Countdown tiles do 58 damage to the enemy. Max Level: 182 enemies / 64 allies (16 3-turn Countdown tiles) *World Rupture creates 16 countdown tiles at max level (hasn't changed) but the duration has gone from 2 turns to 3 turns (for all levels).

Old:

Sacrifice - 8 Yellow AP
The Sentry sacrifices himself for the good of the team. He takes 548 damage, but converts a random basic Yellow tile into a Strike tile with a strength of 137.
Level Upgrades

Level 2: Creates a strike tile with a strength of 151 Level 3: Sentry takes 466 damage. Level 4: Creates Strike tile with a strength of 173. Level 5: Sentry takes 411 damage, for a 212 strike tile. Max Level: Takes 1304 for 674 strike tile.

New

Sacrifice - 8 Yellow AP
The Sentry sacrifices himself for the good of the team. He takes 646 damage, but converts a random basic Yellow tile into a Strike tile with a strength of 104.
Level Upgrades

Level 2: Creates a strike tile with a strength of 114. Level 3: Sentry takes 543 damage. Level 4: Creates a strike tile with a strength of 139. Level 5: Creates a strike tile with a strength of 180. Max Level: Takes 1724 for 571 strike tile.