Loki Returns - Mischief & Trickery Ensues!

David [Hi-Fi] Moore
David [Hi-Fi] Moore Posts: 2,872 Site Admin
edited December 2014 in MPQ News and Announcements
Greetings, fans of treacherous trickery!

You’ve heard that Loki is returning to Marvel Puzzle Quest and we’re excited to bring you first details on the new and awesome updates for the God of Lies and Mischief. Loki hasn’t been idle during his time out of the spotlight and has impressive new abilities at his disposal. Read on for details!

Loki
Old
    Trickery - 15
blacktile.png
Loki’s Trickery turns the enemy’s tools against them, converting enemy Protect tiles to friendly Strike tiles and enemy Strike tiles to friendly Protect tiles.
    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.

New
    Trickery - 11
blacktile.png
Loki's trickery turns the enemy's tools against them. Transforms 1 enemy Strike tile into a friendly Protect tile and 1 enemy Protect tile into a friendly Strike tile.
    Level Upgrades Level 2: Loki steals 2 Strike and Protect tiles. Level 3: Loki steals 3 Strike and Protect tiles. Level 4: Loki steals 5 Strike and Protect tiles. Level 5: Loki steals all Strike and Protect tiles.


Design thoughts:
This was an older ability that had the "Costs 1 AP less" upgrade path. We wanted to re-introduce Loki with a modernized version of Trickery that still kept all of its former power. Hopefully this ability is more accessible and useful at lower levels, while still being just as awesome as ever at level 5.

Playability Thoughts:
Nothing majorly changed here, although the ability now converts less tiles at Level 1 for less cost and converts all tiles at max level for the same cost. An overall buff, but due to how many tiles are normally placed on the board, it's not a huge one. Definitely a more usable ability at lower levels with the -4 AP built in.
    Illusions - 5 purpletile.png
    No change

    New
      Mischief - PASSIVE greentile.png
      (PASSIVE) Loki is consumed by a cold rage as he moves to undermine his enemies. If the enemy team makes a match-4 of any color, Loki converts 2 basic tiles of that color into 4-turn Countdown tiles which steal 2 AP of a random color.
        Level Upgrades Level 2: Countdown tiles last 3 turns. Level 3: Loki creates 3 Countdown tiles. Level 4: Countdown tiles last 2 turns. Level 5: Loki creates 4 Countdown tiles.


      Design thoughts:
      For Loki's new ability, we wanted to do something a little bit different. We get frustrated when the AI steals our match-4 and we've found, in Loki, a way to get revenge. Combining some disparate mechanics, Loki's new AP steal is both mischievous and sinister. Triggering off an enemy match 4, he can steal up to 8* AP (at level 5) from random colors.

      Playability Thoughts:
      This ability is an interesting addition in that it brings a silver lining to those occasions that you just can't stop the opponent from making that 4-of-a-kind match. When they do that, Loki drops the indirect hurt on them in the form of stealing a bunch of their AP.

      It’s definitely an ability that takes some getting used to using on offense, as there are times when you can figure out if an opponent is weak in a given color and then provide them with a weak match-4 for a boost. This also pushes Loki up in the kill order on defense, as players tend to get far more match-4's in a fight, and leaving him till last, like normal, will mean that there's a lot of AP drain to deal with.

      - We hope you’ve enjoyed this look at Loki’s refresh. Details on awesome updates to Daredevil are coming soon. Stay tuned! -

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