MPQ Interview At Marvel.com: Elektra Revealed!

simonsez

DayvBang wrote:

With people leaking the prerelease power names, I wouldn't be surprised if they start using bogus temporary names or even adding powers for characters they have no intention of releasing.

They'd really spend time doing that? I mean, it's just a match-3 game, not the battle plans for D-Day.

Dayv

turul wrote:

There really seems no/very little point of the two abilities using trap tiles, unless some very good happens on enemy match...

Don't think of them as literal traps, but as special tiles hidden from the opponent. It's an interesting mechanic that suits her character style. Much like Colossus' or Mystique's countdowns, it uses an existing tile category in a new way, but adds perhaps a bit of confusion. Less so than with countdowns, though, since there are no specifically trap-affecting powers comparable to Anti-Gravity Device to have weird effects with.

Dayv

simonsez wrote:

DayvBang wrote:

With people leaking the prerelease power names, I wouldn't be surprised if they start using bogus temporary names or even adding powers for characters they have no intention of releasing.

They'd really spend time doing that? I mean, it's just a match-3 game, not the battle plans for D-Day.

I have no idea if they would do that, but in their shoes, I would. It's as easy as adding a few small, bogus files to the package and it might get them some fun surprises back in their character reveals.

Alternatively, they could just stop giving them human-readable file names.

turul

DayvBang wrote:

turul wrote:

Wonder if black is Avoid - so teammate getting the damage, or complete damage evasion.

Pre-release leaked ability name was Sai Fury, wonder if it was a different ability?

With people leaking the prerelease power names, I wouldn't be surprised if they start using bogus temporary names or even adding powers for characters they have no intention of releasing.

We'll se if they add a bogus Ultron

GrumpySmurf1002

Phantron wrote:

Unless the black creates a ridiculous number of trap tiles (like, 25) it's just not that create great the AI tends to be a cascade machine. For 1 more black you have Surgical Strike which can get rid of most problems at the source. Okay so comparing to X Force might not be totally fair (but she's a 4*), but for 2 more black you get Rage of the Panther which will solve most of the problems anyone not having incredible PvE scaling issues might face at the source level. I think it'd make more sense if it just negated the next 2 AP consuming moves instead.

Based on the description, neither XForce nor Surgical would be overly effective directly against her. They might clear out the tiles (XForce more likely to), but they'll inflict 0 damage to her in the process, which means having to recharge those abilities, and praying you got all the traps in the process.

If Purple is her strongest color (and it certainly could be, that's the top listed), she becomes a royal pain for XForce, because he's doing no damage with his big moves, and leeching a generally useless color in purple. He'd still be able to assassinate her teammates easily, but actually killing Elektra is going to require some effort if she has those tiles out.

Jury is out until the actual specs are listed, but there's potential for her to be a really nasty support piece.

Edit: Meh, just read it again, any match clearing out the traps limits it, so yes, it requires a bunch of tiles to be effective. Not sure 25 is the number, but I think at least 8

xKOBALTx

Another 4* character, huh? Hopefully there is a dang good answer to the whole ISO situation coming up as well. I don't think I'm the only one who doesn't believe the current ISO levels are good enough to sustain what seems to be a new 3 -> 4* transition.

Relevant topices:
http://www.d3pforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19954 Colognoisseur's Character Add/ISO Topic
http://www.d3pforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19406 Several questions in the December Developer Q&A

NorthernPolarity

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Phantron wrote:

Unless the black creates a ridiculous number of trap tiles (like, 25) it's just not that create great the AI tends to be a cascade machine. For 1 more black you have Surgical Strike which can get rid of most problems at the source. Okay so comparing to X Force might not be totally fair (but she's a 4*), but for 2 more black you get Rage of the Panther which will solve most of the problems anyone not having incredible PvE scaling issues might face at the source level. I think it'd make more sense if it just negated the next 2 AP consuming moves instead.

Based on the description, neither XForce nor Surgical would be overly effective directly against her. They might clear out the tiles (XForce more likely to), but they'll inflict 0 damage to her in the process, which means having to recharge those abilities, and praying you got all the traps in the process.

If Purple is her strongest color (and it certainly could be, that's the top listed), she becomes a royal pain for XForce, because he's doing no damage with his big moves, and leeching a generally useless color in purple. He'd still be able to assassinate her teammates easily, but actually killing Elektra is going to require some effort if she has those tiles out.

Jury is out until the actual specs are listed, but there's potential for her to be a really nasty support piece.

Edit: Meh, just read it again, any match clearing out the traps limits it, so yes, it requires a bunch of tiles to be effective. Not sure 25 is the number, but I think at least 8

The problem is that the ability costs 10 black AP. Electra has 9k hp. Versus an X-Force / LadyThor based composition, shes going to get wrecked long before this happens. Also, the chances of her getting 10 red and 10 black on defense is incredibly low: remember that since purple does nothing vs non strike-tile people, her only source of damage is red. The strategy then becomes to just kill off her two teammates, and kill her over time. Both her abilities cost 4 match-3s to play, so shes gonna be slow enough that it's incredibly unlikely that she does anything. Note that black is even WORSE than expected: the trap tile triggering will give the enemy a chance at a cascade, like X-Force's recovery tile.

I put her at like mid 3* status. Her red and black have the potential to be okay, but with X-Force, LadyThor, etc existing, she seems completely unplayable in PvP. She's probably fine in PvE as a B-Teamer, but none of her abilities inspire any confidence.

Unknown

xKOBALTx wrote:

Another 4* character, huh? Hopefully there is a dang good answer to the whole ISO situation coming up as well. I don't think I'm the only one who doesn't believe the current ISO levels are good enough to sustain what seems to be a new 3 -> 4* transition.

Relevant topices:
http://www.d3pforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19954 Colognoisseur's Character Add/ISO Topic
http://www.d3pforums.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=19406 Several questions in the December Developer Q&A

I was just about to say the same thing. Not all of us want to drop $300+ on iso and HP just to level one character. And getting 20 and 70 iso per match isn't going to cut it.

Demiurge_Will

gobstopper wrote:

Correct me if I'm wrong, but she hasn't even had her own comic since 2009 lol

The currently-running series, wrapping up in February, is gorgeous.

SnowcaTT

Fury/Dino "feel" 4*...even Thor a bit. But IW, Elektra, and Wolverine - these are sort of "regular" heroes. I don't know why it isn't Thanos/IM Hulk-Buster/Quicksilver/Scarlett Witch as the "super" characters.

Also - that's pretty fast back-to-back-to-back 4*'s, is that the way the game is going? Seems like it, the 4* transition becoming just as common as 3* anymore, lots of teams I see having the three-plus 270's I'll never achieve. If you are going for a 4* "ultimate plan", how about upping 3* drop rates?

Demiurge_Will

DayvBang wrote:

turul wrote:

Wonder if black is Avoid - so teammate getting the damage, or complete damage evasion.

Pre-release leaked ability name was Sai Fury, wonder if it was a different ability?

With people leaking the prerelease power names, I wouldn't be surprised if they start using bogus temporary names or even adding powers for characters they have no intention of releasing.

Sometimes the name of a power changes between the time when we first set up the data for it and when we finalize the character. Sometimes that's because the power has been through such a big redesign that the old name doesn't make sense anymore (that was the case here), sometimes it's because we thought of a cooler name, and sometimes when all the art and FX comes together a new name makes more sense.

turul

Demiurge_Will wrote:

DayvBang wrote:

turul wrote:

Wonder if black is Avoid - so teammate getting the damage, or complete damage evasion.

Pre-release leaked ability name was Sai Fury, wonder if it was a different ability?

With people leaking the prerelease power names, I wouldn't be surprised if they start using bogus temporary names or even adding powers for characters they have no intention of releasing.

Sometimes the name of a power changes between the time when we first set up the data for it and when we finalize the character. Sometimes that's because the power has been through such a big redesign that the old name doesn't make sense anymore (that was the case here), sometimes it's because we thought of a cooler name, and sometimes when all the art and FX comes together a new name makes more sense.

Thanks. So its teammate damaging avoid or no damage is taken by anyone. Also, does she need to be in front?

Nonce Equitaur 2

Demiurge_Will wrote:

Sometimes the name of a power changes between the time when we first set up the data for it and when we finalize the character. Sometimes that's because the power has been through such a big redesign that the old name doesn't make sense anymore (that was the case here), sometimes it's because we thought of a cooler name, and sometimes when all the art and FX comes together a new name makes more sense.

When you get Gambit into the system, you should probably give him powers like I Like Waffles, Bacon Magic, and Eggs Over Easy. And when he's finally ready, that's when you'd give his powers their true names.

Dartmaster01

Until you Fix......

Time slots, Iso shortage, Points in pvp, now shields in pvp, and pretty much eveything else on that large list thats only getting larger. You really need to quit with new charaters.
Not only do I not care about new characters but continually adding things to the game (when people are begging you to stop and fix your game) is such an insult.
So quit being money grubbin **** and fix some ****!(Tried to type something else, it won't let me )

GrumpySmurf1002

NorthernPolarity wrote:

The problem is that the ability costs 10 black AP. Electra has 9k hp. Versus an X-Force / LadyThor based composition, shes going to get wrecked long before this happens. Also, the chances of her getting 10 red and 10 black on defense is incredibly low: remember that since purple does nothing vs non strike-tile people, her only source of damage is red. The strategy then becomes to just kill off her two teammates, and kill her over time. Both her abilities cost 4 match-3s to play, so shes gonna be slow enough that it's incredibly unlikely that she does anything. Note that black is even WORSE than expected: the trap tile triggering will give the enemy a chance at a cascade, like X-Force's recovery tile.

I put her at like mid 3* status. Her red and black have the potential to be okay, but with X-Force, LadyThor, etc existing, she seems completely unplayable in PvP. She's probably fine in PvE as a B-Teamer, but none of her abilities inspire any confidence.

My only counter is that there's conflicting things here. If you leave her to last, then she'll have plenty of time to gather the red/black, especially with some beef tanking for her like 4Thor. The red not being spammable does stink a little bit.

I guess I'm also hoping that they didn't literally make a less useful Settlement by limiting it to only opponents that generate strike tiles, but that's probably misguided optimism.

Of course the key point is:

She’s really kind of a self-contained one-woman army that works through longer term destruction than anything else.

Long-term destruction and PvP don't mix.

Unknown

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Phantron wrote:

Unless the black creates a ridiculous number of trap tiles (like, 25) it's just not that create great the AI tends to be a cascade machine. For 1 more black you have Surgical Strike which can get rid of most problems at the source. Okay so comparing to X Force might not be totally fair (but she's a 4*), but for 2 more black you get Rage of the Panther which will solve most of the problems anyone not having incredible PvE scaling issues might face at the source level. I think it'd make more sense if it just negated the next 2 AP consuming moves instead.

Based on the description, neither XForce nor Surgical would be overly effective directly against her. They might clear out the tiles (XForce more likely to), but they'll inflict 0 damage to her in the process, which means having to recharge those abilities, and praying you got all the traps in the process.

If Purple is her strongest color (and it certainly could be, that's the top listed), she becomes a royal pain for XForce, because he's doing no damage with his big moves, and leeching a generally useless color in purple. He'd still be able to assassinate her teammates easily, but actually killing Elektra is going to require some effort if she has those tiles out.

Jury is out until the actual specs are listed, but there's potential for her to be a really nasty support piece.

Edit: Meh, just read it again, any match clearing out the traps limits it, so yes, it requires a bunch of tiles to be effective. Not sure 25 is the number, but I think at least 8

I'm not talking about her in a matchup issue. I'm talking about a tradeoff. The black the most you could get out of it would be say they got an X Force (the move) ready and you happen to have 10 black so you use it and take no damage, and that sounds pretty good. Problem is for 1 more black, if you had X Force instead, Surgical Strike will usually get rid of the source of the problem as it has a very high probability of killing whoever is causing the problem. Even without X Force, Rage of the Panther will solve most problems at 2 more black, again by getting rid of the source of the problem. The black needs to reliably block 2 AP consuming moves because if it only blocks one then you're better off with an offensive black move instead. I don't think even with 8 traps it will reliably block 2 moves since the AI is a cascade machine and they also use their AP as soon as possible, making it impossible to plan for these things. Unless your plan is to hand them a miracle cascade so that they can use all their moves on the same turn, this just isn't going to work. And handing the AI a miracle cascade is probably not a good idea either.

Polarity pointed out that since this occurs on the enemy's turn they get the benefit of any potential cascade, so basically each turn the enemy gets cascades as if it can destroy at least 4 tiles every turn (match 3 + trap), and that's a nontrivial advantage in cascades too.

Unknown

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

She’s really kind of a self-contained one-woman army that works through longer term destruction than anything else.

Long-term destruction and PvP don't mix.

That makes me wonder if they view her as the first PVE-focused 4* to try and get people who aren't leveling their 4*s due to PVE to start leveling them.

turul

Based on pictures on marvel site, black seems to do damage on enemy match. Level 270 Elektra, cover 3: 3 traps - 417 damage. However ability text can be only red partially.
more info on Elektra's character discussion:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19382

GrumpySmurf1002

Ben Grimm wrote:

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

She’s really kind of a self-contained one-woman army that works through longer term destruction than anything else.

Long-term destruction and PvP don't mix.

That makes me wonder if they view her as the first PVE-focused 4* to try and get people who aren't leveling their 4*s due to PVE to start leveling them.

Flipping Muscle's Threaten tiles to stronger own tiles does sound fun. I'm not sure she'll need to be leveled to pull that off though.

NorthernPolarity

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

NorthernPolarity wrote:

The problem is that the ability costs 10 black AP. Electra has 9k hp. Versus an X-Force / LadyThor based composition, shes going to get wrecked long before this happens. Also, the chances of her getting 10 red and 10 black on defense is incredibly low: remember that since purple does nothing vs non strike-tile people, her only source of damage is red. The strategy then becomes to just kill off her two teammates, and kill her over time. Both her abilities cost 4 match-3s to play, so shes gonna be slow enough that it's incredibly unlikely that she does anything. Note that black is even WORSE than expected: the trap tile triggering will give the enemy a chance at a cascade, like X-Force's recovery tile.

I put her at like mid 3* status. Her red and black have the potential to be okay, but with X-Force, LadyThor, etc existing, she seems completely unplayable in PvP. She's probably fine in PvE as a B-Teamer, but none of her abilities inspire any confidence.

My only counter is that there's conflicting things here. If you leave her to last, then she'll have plenty of time to gather the red/black, especially with some beef tanking for her like 4Thor. The red not being spammable does stink a little bit.

I guess I'm also hoping that they didn't literally make a less useful Settlement by limiting it to only opponents that generate strike tiles, but that's probably misguided optimism.

Of course the key point is:

She’s really kind of a self-contained one-woman army that works through longer term destruction than anything else.

Long-term destruction and PvP don't mix.

One-woman army in a game involving 3 on 3s don't mix.