**** Star-Lord (Legendary Outlaw) ****

mjh

I'm a bit confused, all his abilities put a CD on the board. Do they deal the damage when they go off or when the CD tile is placed on the board?

NorthernPolarity

Phantron wrote:

NorthernPolarity wrote:

4 ability damage basically double from 4 to 5, so we're looking at a 7k damage red, 5k + 1.4k team damage for purple, etc.

Build wise (because now we actually know whats going on instead of blindly guessing), it seems like 5 red is a no brainer: 7k damage (even on a 2 turn cd) is pretty insane and its only 8 ap to boot. I'm guessing the builds we'll see are either 4/4/5 or 5/3/5:

3->4 yellow is good since it bumps it up to 2 ap reduction. 4->5 yellow adds purple, which is fine but non essential.
3->4 purple reduces the CD (pretty big), and 4->5 purple doubles the damage from 4k to 5k + 1.5k to the other guys.

The red goes up to a 3 turn CD when upgraded since its got a detrimental effect to the enemy while it's up. However, if the damage isn't dealt until the CD expires, I'd argue that's a pretty significant loss there.

I'm pretty sure it deals the dmg when the CD tile expires: 7k damage for 8 AP would be completely broken. The character seems good in a world without X-Force / LadyThor, but since we don't live in that world, he going to be collecting dust on the outskirts of my roster.

HawkeyeSucks wrote:

I'm a bit confused, all his abilities put a CD on the board. Do they deal the damage when they go off or when the CD tile is placed on the board?

They deal damage when the CD tile goes off: all CD tile abilities are worded this way I believe.

mjh

NorthernPolarity wrote:

HawkeyeSucks wrote:

I'm a bit confused, all his abilities put a CD on the board. Do they deal the damage when they go off or when the CD tile is placed on the board?

They deal damage when the CD tile goes off: all CD tile abilities are worded this way I believe.

That's good because as you said, ~7k dmg for 8 (possibly 6) is completely broken. That 1 shots most 3 's.

Seeing as how that is not the case, guys with CD counter abilities demand could go up (LCap, XF for pure board annihilation, Falcon, OBW?). Also stuns will still be the best counter to CD casters, especially 4-turn (4hor)

OzarkBoatswain

4/4/5 if you don't have a great purple skill. 3/5/5 or 4/5/4 with Elektra. or Devil Dino

I think red should be change to always be 3-turn. Otherwise there will be some instances where 2 covers is better than 3 covers.

john1620b

NorthernPolarity wrote:

4 ability damage basically double from 4 to 5, so we're looking at a 7k damage red, 5k + 1.4k team damage for purple, etc.

Build wise (because now we actually know whats going on instead of blindly guessing), it seems like 5 red is a no brainer: 7k damage (even on a 2 turn cd) is pretty insane and its only 8 ap to boot. I'm guessing the builds we'll see are either 4/4/5 or 5/3/5:

3->4 yellow is good since it bumps it up to 2 ap reduction. 4->5 yellow adds purple, which is fine but non essential.
3->4 purple reduces the CD (pretty big), and 4->5 purple doubles the damage from 4k to 5k + 1.5k to the other guys.

I think you're right, 4/4/5 seems the best build to me at this point.

Unknown

Rosraf Ro Denn wrote:

I wonder if having a clear best character who lingers at the top for a few months, then gets nerfed (repeat, repeat) would be a sustainable business model that would keep top-end players interested......... Star Lord and Elektra are interesting 4-star additions. They clearly are not meant to be world beaters but are pretty clearly deadlier than your above-average 3-star characters. I think that's how it should be. As more 4-stars get added (and they are coming), they can't all be better than the last 4-star. Allowing players to target more specific character development will lead to a more interesting, diverse mix for the game overall as more and more characters are added. I think the current system (which lead to dozens of 3-4 cover characters and none that are fully developed (for all new players going forward)) is a bigger overall threat to the game's longevity than overall character balance. But then again, the game only has a certain shelflife anyway, so make money, make money, dollar dollar bill.

Although I agree with most of what you're saying, making every 4* guaranteed to be 100%, totally more powerful than the others would hurt the game, especially in this scenario. As with all things in MPQ, the rich/P2P would grab it first, and many a player would be angered by the character's nerf or the fact that they never got a level 270 13 cover Kamala Khan before she was nerfed. Also, older 4* would likely become disposable, something D3 DOES NOT want. It makes sense from a business perspective, but otherwise its bad.

The only exception I could see to this is the Devil Dino/Cameo entry - make a cameo/boss appearance of a character to show off the character at 5 covers, but don't let us get it for a while. But if they can't even balance the regular character, I don't see this happening.

Really, the best thing they could do is make everyone powerful, but not overly OP - make them niche-powerful. Like a character that absolutely owns when you stack blue mana or a character that mass-switches countdown tiles...something like that.

OzarkBoatswain

I just thought of a silly PVE team: Star-Lord */5/* + Venom 5/4. 7 yellow, 12 purple and 12 black kills a character (assuming you don't get unlucky and have the green webs get matched). Another 12 black kills another character. Add in 3* Spider-man if you want to split the purple into purple and blue, and also to bring back the stunloop.

Arondite

CrookedKnight wrote:

[anchor=starlord3]Star-Lord (Legendary Outlaw)[/anchor]
4 Star Rarity (Legendary) (Obviously)
At Max Level: HP: 10960 at level 270 (2960 at level 70)

Sleight of Hand 10
Peter pulls the old switcheroo and swaps one of his enemy's possessions with a little surprise. He turns a selected non-Countdown tile into a 3-turn Countdown tile which deals 785 damage to the enemy.

Level 5: Countdown tile deals 2504 damage, plus 731 damage to the enemy team.

Max Level: 4973/1451 damage.

Everyone With Me 7
Star-Lord quickly pulls together a plan - or at least most of one. Places a 3-turn Countdown tile. While at least one such tile is on the board, all friendly Red and Yellow ability costs are reduced by 1. (Dev note: This is placed on a random Yellow tile)

Level 5: Places a 5 turn Countdown tile. Friendly Red, Blue, Green, Purple, and Yellow ability costs are reduced by 2.

Oldest Trick in the Book 8
Star-Lord points past his enemy and shouts "Hey! Is that Beta Ray Bill?" before swinging in with a sucker punch. He creates a 2-turn Countdown tile which deals 612 damage. While at least one such tile is on the board, all enemy Red and Green ability costs are increased by 1. (Dev note: This is placed on a random Red tile)

Level 5: Deals 3525 to the target enemy. Enemy Red, Yellow, Green, Black and Blue ability costs are increased by 2.

Max Level: 6998 damage.

Jesus christ.

I could've gotten 1-10 in my bracket for sure if I'd gone ham this event, but I thought to myself that any 4 Star would be too much investment for a transitioner such as myself and that I'd rather build up some reliable 3 stars first. I didn't realize he'd be a support and a nuker. I'd have happily invested in someone who could've carried my team like this.

Unknown

NorthernPolarity wrote:

I'm pretty sure it deals the dmg when the CD tile expires: 7k damage for 8 AP would be completely broken. The character seems good in a world without X-Force / LadyThor, but since we don't live in that world, he going to be collecting dust on the outskirts of my roster.

I was going to say that'd put him almost balanced with Thor and X Force if it dealt the damage instantly and then I realized how dumb this sounds. Having the CD go up would probably be considered a bad thing though, as I'd think most people would prefer to do the 7K in 2 turns and just lose a turn off the detrimental effect. I think this ability should be reworked like how I proposed for Captain America way back, do half of the damage instantly and the other half via CD. Well, given its low cost here, maybe 2.5K up front and 4.5K from the CD would be a more reasonable mix.

Unknown

Arondite wrote:

I could've gotten 1-10 in my bracket for sure if I'd gone ham this event, but I thought to myself that any 4 Star would be too much investment for a transitioner such as myself and that I'd rather build up some reliable 3 stars first. I didn't realize he'd be a support and a nuker. I'd have happily invested in someone who could've carried my team like this.

These are damage for 270 lvl, so yo need over 400k iso - even if you have that amount, after leveling him all your future pve's would be much harder (you could forget about beating Gauntlet).
But fear not - since you are transitioner, the only reliable way to win his covers is to be to constantly top 2 pve when he is top prize

Unknown

raziel777 wrote:

Arondite wrote:

I could've gotten 1-10 in my bracket for sure if I'd gone ham this event, but I thought to myself that any 4 Star would be too much investment for a transitioner such as myself and that I'd rather build up some reliable 3 stars first. I didn't realize he'd be a support and a nuker. I'd have happily invested in someone who could've carried my team like this.

These are damage for 270 lvl, so yo need over 400k iso - even if you have that amount, after leveling him all your future pve's would be much harder (you could forget about beating Gauntlet).
But fear not - since you are transitioner, the only reliable way to win his covers is to be to constantly top 2 pve when he is top prize

I've found tokens to be the most reliable way to get 4* as a transition player

Arondite

raziel777 wrote:

Arondite wrote:

I could've gotten 1-10 in my bracket for sure if I'd gone ham this event, but I thought to myself that any 4 Star would be too much investment for a transitioner such as myself and that I'd rather build up some reliable 3 stars first. I didn't realize he'd be a support and a nuker. I'd have happily invested in someone who could've carried my team like this.

These are damage for 270 lvl, so yo need over 400k iso - even if you have that amount, after leveling him all your future pve's would be much harder (you could forget about beating Gauntlet).
But fear not - since you are transitioner, the only reliable way to win his covers is to be to constantly top 2 pve when he is top prize

Yeah, uhh, I wasn't making a guess. If id bothered grabbing all his covers, I could've had him cover-maxed and at least level 200 in a weeks time, which would help my pvp a ton.
For Pve, I probably just wouldn't use him so it wouldn't negatively affect me at all.

Unknown

As with all 4*, the levels matter a lot less than covers. In terms of PvP you might even want to keep the 4* somewhat low even if you maxed the covers because then maybe someone won't take your team seriously and not boost which greatly increases your chance of winning compared to anything else you can do, and since Star-Lord isn't beating X Force even at 270 anyway it's not much of a risk against the dominant 4*s. Of course that does leave you more vulnerable to the 3*s.

GrumpySmurf1002

Hypothetical question, how much does his value get boosted if they add another character with a stronger version of Intimidation? Say, like the Demolitionist goon who immediately detonates all countdowns. And how much of a pipedream is such a character, given it would also lead to Sentry's resurrection?

Unknown

GrumpySmurf1002 wrote:

Hypothetical question, how much does his value get boosted if they add another character with a stronger version of Intimidation? Say, like the Demolitionist goon who immediately detonates all countdowns. And how much of a pipedream is such a character, given it would also lead to Sentry's resurrection?

Considering that ability would be ridiculously overpowered, unless it's costed at 15+ AP or there's some special condition on the character, and considering this isn't DOTA 2/MTG, I don't see it happening. I mean, that would eliminate the whole weakness of countdown tiles.

On the other hand, with Sentry out of commission, it would be pretty hard for a Non-NPC(goons) to use this to great effect, most countdown tiles are pretty tame/in low amounts(Squirrel girl/fury/rocketGroot/maybe Loki could benefit greatly). I still wouldn't want them doing this b/c if a future character does have tons of CDs, it'd break the game.

Unknown

It will be interesting to see if Starlord + Spider-Man can make stun-lock a viable strategy (or Starlord + MBW even).

Pylgrim

Ozark Boatswain wrote:

I just thought of a silly PVE team: Star-Lord */5/* + Venom 5/4. 7 yellow, 12 purple and 12 black kills a character (assuming you don't get unlucky and have the green webs get matched). Another 12 black kills another character. Add in 3* Spider-man if you want to split the purple into purple and blue, and also to bring back the stunloop.

Great idea but I don't think you can make Spidey your third or no one will tank black for Venom, meaning that in any fight against a decent enemy, he'll be killed long before you get 12 black. The Hood might work better as he tanks black and speeds up the acquisition of AP, which is pretty mean when your skills cost less. Other options include X-Force (who also tanks green for all those times when the AI deviously only lets you make a green match to expose Venom and kill him) and OBW who tanks black, also speeding up the acquisition of black and purple, though she's very fragile herself.

dider152

There are times when I wonder if D3/Demiurge just put out characters/character abilities that they think will be cool without testing them. A countdown-based character? That's just really lame and it's so obvious that the only way he'll be fun is when he's completely maxed out. Plus, just reading this, I can tell that the optimal function will be 5/3/5. No contest on any other build. That just sucks.

eidehua

Pylgrim wrote:

Ozark Boatswain wrote:

I just thought of a silly PVE team: Star-Lord */5/* + Venom 5/4. 7 yellow, 12 purple and 12 black kills a character (assuming you don't get unlucky and have the green webs get matched). Another 12 black kills another character. Add in 3* Spider-man if you want to split the purple into purple and blue, and also to bring back the stunloop.

Great idea but I don't think you can make Spidey your third or no one will tank black for Venom, meaning that in any fight against a decent enemy, he'll be killed long before you get 12 black. The Hood might work better as he tanks black and speeds up the acquisition of AP, which is pretty mean when your skills cost less. Other options include X-Force (who also tanks green for all those times when the AI deviously only lets you make a green match to expose Venom and kill him) and OBW who tanks black, also speeding up the acquisition of black and purple, though she's very fragile herself.

Level 1 Venom comeback
(Worked back before spidey nerf)

Phaserhawk

Well 5 purple seems mandatory after seeing the stats, you need level 4 just to make it be placeable and then level 5 for AoE damage, yeah you just can't pass that one up.

Red and Yellow are the tough ones. Unless red does the damage instantly, which I don't think it does, it's not a very good skill for a random 3CD tile, the damage is nice, it has to go off, that being said the down side of not going 5 red is worse than the downside of not going 5 yellow.

The plus of going 5 yellow is that you can make his purple cost 2 less, which appears to be his best skill.

Here's my take.

If for some insane reason red does damage instantly. Then 5 red would be mandatory. I just have 1 question on purple. it says 4973/1451. So does the the 4973 include the 1451 AoE or is it going to be 4973 to target plus 1451?

If the 4973 is the damage without the AoE and red does damage instantly then 4/4/5 would be best build. You give up the AoE, but you gain the ability to drop red a full turn sooner with yellow.

If red doesn't do damage instantly, then 5 purple for sure and then it won't matter. Looking forward to playing with Starlord just to see how the skills work. My gut tells me red's damage is not instant, which then makes the "best build" a little easier. My gut tells me thought that 5/3/5 will be the preferred.