So what now?

Unknown

So. Nerfs, buffs, bunch of stuff. But at the end of the day we are still playing a game and the game is changed!

I could be wrong about this but it seems to me the devs have a pretty specific plan in mind for changing how the game plays. I doubt they are done with all their changes so maybe this post is a bit early but I feel like it would be more fun to talk about what's next than complain about what's happened/happening(to be clear I am not really happy about the nerfs either i spent like 300$ building my 4thor when she came out , RIP beautiful goddess).

So lets talk about whats next. It seems to me that the devs are trying to slow the game down, by buffing health and not damage, and in doing so I do actually think they are going to change a whole lot about how we play. There is the obvious, like hopping takes longer, but there are also some less obvious changes to the game, like protect tiles might actually be worth it now... Before you had the choice of defenses or offense but offense clearly overpowered because more often than not in the same time frame you could just end the match before defensive powers mattered. Now with games taking longer that might not be as true. Without the ability to insta nuke characters down, lingering effects like protect tiles, strike tiles, attack tiles, or anything else that sticks around for a while are going to be seeing a passive buff(maybe).

This could mean the way the game is played is going to change a whole lot. Different characters are going to come out on top and new strategies might appear. I wanna know what people are thinking of!

Here are some of my thoughts:

One hop team I really want to try after all the changes are in place is IW at 5/3/5 and Prof X at 4/5/4(not sure if IW's invis could trigger prof x's purple passive?). collect 9 yellow and pop off a quick 400 or so in protect tiles, and then get the attack and protect tile from prof x. Then trigger prof'xs purple and watch those tiles grow 900+ a turn. you will quickly become almost invulnerable and the attack tiles should grow big enough to finish the game while IW builds up bubbles and preps her green for a take down. probably not actually good but it looks kinda fun to me and man would that team be obnoxious to fight on defense, so much invis!

Also with the health buffs suddenly mostorm is looking a lot better, paired with prof x with 5 purple those attack tiles will grow huge... that could ramp up to an end game pretty quickly.

but then again maybe I am wrong and straight nukers will remain the go to for pvp. Either way things are being shaken up a lot.

What are your crazy builds? Anything you are hoping will be worth playing once the changes come in?

orionpeace

Unless they increase protect tiles or make them scale on Health, they will be less relevant, not more.

After the Health increase the protect tiles will protect an even lower percentage of the overall health of your team. I don't see where that is an improvement.

Yes, will will continue to be a nuisance, but in most cases they will continue to be just that. Except in PvE where you face overly scaled opponents with goon feeders.

Unknown

Electra IW could be a nightmare on defense too. Full rainbow, invis, shadowstep, protect tiles, trap tile and most importantly ~time~ for electra to get strikes going. Could be a blast on offense too locking tiles to protect traps, etc. With x-force coming off his pedestal they will be hard to take down before getting off any powers, and even harder to take down once they do.

SnowcaTT

I think people -get- in the game by a specific game "style" of play. Rotating that style might be good to get newbies in, and data says the newbies pay the most.

I think people -stay- in the game by having the specific game "style" of play they like remain. Rotating that style has to be getting the vets out.

simonsez

mageofshadow wrote:

So lets talk about whats next.

The cycle repeats. Many people now regard PX and KP as the strongest 4*s. People will chase their covers, max them out, they'll become ubiquitous in PvP... and then they'll get nerfed. There will be mass outrage, people will demand refunds and/or quit, and others will wonder what the next top formation will be. Ad infinitum.

tanis3303

I for one am excited to try out Invisible Woman after her buff. I have her at 4/4/5, which is pretty much where I want her to be, though if I come across one more Blue cover, I'll make her 3/5/5. IW/Elektra does seem like a helluva strategy, that might be something cool to mess around with.

Another team I'd like to try is Professor X with Iron Fist and Cyclops. Cheap, tile changing powers to trigger Prof's yellow AND blue powers at the same time? Sign me up. What worries me about this and any other strategy we come up with tho is that how long will it be viable before its considered "oppressive" and nerfed down to size?

*Edit - Seriously, Simon...how do you and I always seem to have similar thoughts and post at the exact same time??

Unknown

simonsez wrote:

mageofshadow wrote:

So lets talk about whats next.

The cycle repeats. Many people now regard PX and KP as the strongest 4*s. People will chase their covers, max them out, they'll become ubiquitous in PvP... and then they'll get nerfed. There will be mass outrage, people will demand refunds and/or quit, and others will wonder what the next top formation will be. Ad infinitum.

So the game will remain fluid, always provide a goal to strive for, and never get too stagnant? Awesome sign me up for that.

orionpeace

Cryptobrancus wrote:

simonsez wrote:

mageofshadow wrote:

So lets talk about whats next.

The cycle repeats. Many people now regard PX and KP as the strongest 4*s. People will chase their covers, max them out, they'll become ubiquitous in PvP... and then they'll get nerfed. There will be mass outrage, people will demand refunds and/or quit, and others will wonder what the next top formation will be. Ad infinitum.

So the game will remain fluid, always provide a goal to strive for, and never get too stagnant? Awesome sign me up for that.

Hey Crypto!

I think you and I have a VERY different view of awesome. We'll just have to agree to disagree on the direction of this game and whether there really is anything worth striving for (i.e. progression) when 4* are so expensive and only a slight upgrade over 3*.

But I do admire your ability to stay positive, come what may.

TheOncomingStorm

I was (am) still hoping they'll push back the X-Force re-balance back a week for some of the reasons that the OP provided. The game has gone through some major changes. Originally, X-Force may have needed a bigger re-balance; then, he will need after these new changes. For example, X-Force green may have seemed overpowered damage wise, but after the significant and numerous health buffs, suddenly it does not seem overpowered, and the new versions seems like it will be significantly underpowered in the new landscape.

In addition, as far as I know, I have not read anything regarding the results of their week long buffed week. If that will be making a return; then, it would argue that it is imperative that MPQ delays the X-Force green re-balance until there is data from the new health buffs and the next buffed character week. I think the change to SS is fine in the old or new environment.

TL;DR: Now is the time to gather more data, not change X-Force Green

Unknown

Cryptobrancus wrote:

So the game will remain fluid, always provide a goal to strive for, and never get too stagnant? Awesome sign me up for that.

But every time with lower budget to work with due to the mass quit and people stop calling friends to play. Until one day, it dies just from the announcement of an update.

MarvelMan

Cryptobrancus wrote:

So the game will remain fluid, always provide a goal to strive for, and never get too stagnant? Awesome sign me up for that.

Having two out of those three aint bad, right? ...........right? no? Darn it.

TheOncomingStorm

TBH, having used Beast for a while, I'm excited to try the new Beast with Prof X and Psyduck. Cheap abilities, full rainbow, and lots of special tiles.

Malcrof

OP's matchup of Prof and IW w/ MoStorm terrifies me....

As a transitioner, i am hoping to use some of my chars i actually have covers for. Gamora/Doom + Kamala + 3Thor. Gamora and Kamala make an awesome team, Gams can fire off that 5ap red and let Kamala heal, as quickly as you can gather red. Thor's green or Kamala's green (currently missing some 3thor covers, so would use Kalama since i am at 4 green with her), strike tiles courtesy of Gamora, No blue ability in there, so maybe swap Gamora out for Doom, blue + black.

But i think Kamala Khan was released with that heal ability BECAUSE this change was coming. Which means they have been prepping this for quite some time. So yes, plans a plenty for the future with all these changes.

spydoorman

Bump for something nerf related that isnt people screaming at each other.

My thoughts arent terribly original but I want to try Lthor, Loki and Kingpin.

Pylgrim

SnowcaTT wrote:

I think people -get- in the game by a specific game "style" of play. Rotating that style might be good to get newbies in, and data says the newbies pay the most.

I think people -stay- in the game by having the specific game "style" of play they like remain. Rotating that style has to be getting the vets out.

On the contrary. In games like this stagnation is the most surefire way of losing your vets. There can be only so many months in a row you'll be happy steamrolling 2* teams with 8 green and/or 11 black earning characters that you'll never use because they are not (and should not be) as powerful as that guy before you grow bored of it. And being bored is much worse from the game's PoV than being outraged. So changes to the status quo will always cause outrage because people LOVE familiarity only up to the point when they get fed up with it. Some will quit, some will demand refunds, some will post thousand whinging, threatening, offensive, supplicating, vitriolic posts. Others will cope in slightly better ways. But in the end, most people will stay if only out of curiosity to see what happens when the dust settles. And more often than not, they will find out that the game is still playable, that finding new ways to win in the new meta is intriguing and rewarding, and that generally speaking, there is still fun to be had.

TL;DR: Stagnation feels good in the present, increasingly bad in the future until it becomes a deal-breaker. Change feels very bad in the present, but keeps the future exciting and overall healthier.

Unknown

simonsez wrote:

mageofshadow wrote:

So lets talk about whats next.

The cycle repeats. Many people now regard PX and KP as the strongest 4*s. People will chase their covers, max them out, they'll become ubiquitous in PvP... and then they'll get nerfed. There will be mass outrage, people will demand refunds and/or quit, and others will wonder what the next top formation will be. Ad infinitum.

Faced some of these in Thor, and while annoying the only match I lost was when the board dropped in a 12 purple crit off of a double 4 clear. Fisk's health (and being buffed to even more) is somewhat of a deterrent since he is so individually stable. He boosts himself for massive damage potential.

I personally think IFisk has a shot at being the new thing. Boost into black with purple, then yellow, then throw green (optional) and go black black black black for like 12,000 damage.

spydoorman

Lerysh wrote:

simonsez wrote:

mageofshadow wrote:

So lets talk about whats next.

The cycle repeats. Many people now regard PX and KP as the strongest 4*s. People will chase their covers, max them out, they'll become ubiquitous in PvP... and then they'll get nerfed. There will be mass outrage, people will demand refunds and/or quit, and others will wonder what the next top formation will be. Ad infinitum.

Faced some of these in Thor, and while annoying the only match I lost was when the board dropped in a 12 purple crit off of a double 4 clear. Fisk's health (and being buffed to even more) is somewhat of a deterrent since he is so individually stable. He boosts himself for massive damage potential.

I personally think IFisk has a shot at being the new thing. Boost into black with purple, then yellow, then throw green (optional) and go black black black black for like 12,000 damage.

I never cosidered an Ifisk combo, that could be brutal.

Trilateralus

mageofshadow wrote:

One hop team I really want to try after all the changes are in place is IW at 4/3/5 and Prof X at 4/5/4(not sure if IW's invis could trigger prof x's purple passive?).

What are your crazy builds? Anything you are hoping will be worth playing once the changes come in?

Why wouldn't you want IW at max covers?

Unknown

Trilateralus wrote:

mageofshadow wrote:

One hop team I really want to try after all the changes are in place is IW at 4/3/5 and Prof X at 4/5/4(not sure if IW's invis could trigger prof x's purple passive?).

What are your crazy builds? Anything you are hoping will be worth playing once the changes come in?

Why wouldn't you want IW at max covers?

lol typo. I will edit that. meant 5/3/5