Should Champion feature help balance the tiers of play?

babinro

My major concern with the new feature is that it boosts all tiers of play by up to 100 levels INCLUDING 5*'s.

Meaning the net change between the tiers is pretty much zero in the long run. 5*'s are still completely dominant. In fact, 5* tier just got a significant buff because 1 level to a 5* means WAY more to their match damage, health and skill damage than a level to any other tier of play. This is especially true when you realize that most 4*'s only deal about 150 added skill damage going from level 220-270.

Shouldn't one of the goals of Championing be to put the tiers of play on a more balanced playing field?

Give 5* tier 10 levels of championing for fun.

Give 4* tier 100 levels of championing. Improving match damage, skill damage and health substantially along the way to help close the gap in power.

Give 3* tier 200 levels of championing. Once again improving match damage, skill damage and health substantially along the way (particularly in the last 100 covers).

Keep 2* tier at 50 levels so people don't refuse to transition.

I really want to love this new feature but the idea to make all tiers of play more powerful just feels wrong at the core. It's a missed opportunity to bring life to the entire roster rather than just making the strongest characters even more dominant.

Please note that the numbers I used above are intended to be an example. Whether you feel 3*'s should actually need 200 champion covers isn't as important as the idea to help create a closer balance between the tiers.

Unknown

I don't think it'll balance the tiers of play, but it'll help blur the tiers of play.

Like, you'll see more rosters at 120, 150, 220ish along all levels because progress won't be AS stagnant as the star tier's level caps, but there will still be clearly stronger characters out there.

Stax the Foyer

babinro wrote:

My major concern with the new feature is that it boosts all tiers of play by up to 100 levels INCLUDING 5*'s.

Meaning the net change between the tiers is pretty much zero in the long run.

It does, but it doesn't boost them at an equal rate. In all but the longest run, this does a little bit to boost lower tiers relative to higher tiers, because the rate of 5* covers is much less than the rate of 4* covers, same thing for all the lower tiers.

However, the ISO cost to max before championing kicks in is going to be the real differentiator, and I think you'll see some odd splits there. People in the middle of the 3* transition are going to be left behind, as well as people in the middle of the 4* transition, because there's an expiration date on covers.

If you only have a couple of maxed characters at a given tier, you're going to be burning a lot of covers for ISO before you get the championing rolling at that tier. Meanwhile, people who have largely completed that tier will be pulling away from you somewhat. They won't be getting more ISO than you, necessarily, but they will be getting other currencies, like HP, CP, and covers, which advances their progression in the next tier.

I can't say for sure that this is how this is going to play out, but I think that you'll see a lot of discouragement for people who are just poking their toes into the next tier, because selling covers for ISO is going to feel like you're wasting them.

One thing that this will do, for sure, is really highlight the absurd price/value discrepancy for ISO. Making that the bottleneck in this system (both in maxing, and championing), is a design decision that makes no sense to me.

slidecage

lower the ISO cost in leveling people and maybe it will..

i mostly skipped the 2 star and went to 3 stars maybe that is why i dont think it will help me much

2 star i have

WOLF around 20k
ARES around 10K
Dakken around 30k
everyone else 30 to 40K


3 stars
around 90k each

Way too high to make it worth it UNLESS had major effects.. that is why it would been NICE if you could rank them up even if they was not at 166.... I got almost all 3 stars max at 13 covers Dont have the ISO to anywhere near put them where i want

i got like 350,000 what would get me like 5 tops

El Satanno

I'd rather see the various tiers balanced within themselves rather than across the tiers. At the 3* level for sure, but more importantly at the 4* level you need to have zero **** characters. Some will be better than others of course, but pulling a 4* cover you don't already have 5 of should never be an "F* you!" moment.

To answer OP directly, I'm going to have to say no.

stochasticism

Isn't the OPs suggestion going to happen simply due to the drop rates from tokens for all except the super whales? People will farm 2*s from PvP and standards/heroics and max them at 144 fast. 3*s won't get as big a boost but the covers for them come more quickly. 4* and 5* are still pretty rare, say around 6 a week from normal high end play for 4*s and something much less than that for 5*s. Probability dictates that the lower tier characters will see the biggest bump up in the short term.

whoami24601

It's too early to vote anything but undecided. This will certainly blur the * lines, but how much so will probably depend.

atomzed

I was very surprised to see that 5* can be championed too. That is really insane, as a person who has a championed 5* will be way, way above the competition.

Some one mentioned that the tiers are blurred... I have a similar opinion, that the boundaries between tiers are blurred and the tiers are stretched.

Visually, the current tier is like this (excluding 5* since they are way way ahead of competition)

|---1*---|----2*----|

---

3*

---

|

---

4*

---

|


Will be changed to

|---1*---|

---

2*

---

|

---

3*

---

|

---

4*

---

|

Everything will be stretched. So while the gap between a max championed 3* will be closer to an un-championed
4* and 5*, the gap between a max c-3* and a max c-4* and c-5* will be huge.

Is this what D3 wants? It appears so... In one stroke they have increased the "end game" for each tier.

Is it a better balance for the game? Definitely not because the gulf between a max c-5* and a normal 3* is greater.

Is it better for the game? I am not sure. It will create a very unique meta game. Imagine a max c-Gamora, c-Vision and c-Patch. When they are boosted they can tank a lot of colors and they become very very scary. (I personally can't wait to do that for Vision).

In Short I think the champion system is great EXCEPT the fact that 5* are also getting it. I have no idea how they can be tackled now with my current team... I will just give them a wide berth.

GurlBYE

I'm still so shell shocked at 1 cover per level that I can't really be bothered thinking about most of this.

I can barely get 13 of most 3 stars i'm not in the place or mindset to think about caring about this game long enough to get 100 extra, let alone 200 extra in its current state.

In addition, by nature the levels won't be enough

3 star iron man will be bad unless his match damage goes above like silver surfers, even then every other character will have better powers.

Unknown

GurlBYE wrote:

I'm still so shell shocked at 1 cover per level that I can't really be bothered thinking about most of this.

I can barely get 13 of most 3 stars i'm not in the place or mindset to think about caring about this game long enough to get 100 extra, let alone 200 extra in its current state.

To be honest, I agree, but in a positive way.

It's hard enough to get 13 covers, but getting another 100 will probably not happen anytime soon.....


.....thus I will not be mad about drawing the 30th Patch cover I don't need anytime soon. That Patch cover will be welcome and useful for a very long time.

wymtime

All championing is going to do is seperate the haves and the have nots. Instead of needing 13 covers to max a character you need 13 covers, max level them then XXX number of covers. The ISO need to max level a 4* is tough enough now I need enough ISO to champion my 2-3* to win the "prizes" for championing them.

All the while the people who pour a ton of money into the game and buy 40 packs will soon be running 350 plus characters all the time. How long will a hop take against a 366 3* and 2 350 4*? The gap is going to become the Grand Canyon from the Pay to win player and the player who occasionally drops a couple bucks to the poor soul who is trying to be free to play.

Why make the gap so much wider so fast?

MyNameIsRed

The concern about championed 5*'s seems a little unwarranted, the 5* needs to be maxed out, at which point they'll crush 3 fully covered maxed 4*'s anyway. The people who'd be in the running for this would be hitting first (or close to it) spot anyway. It's a bit like death by handgun vs death by a nuke. The net result is the same.

Crowl

One obvious drawback to this system is the need to have maxed a character, those characters where you are getting **** luck and your 0/5/0 character keeps getting covers for the maxed power is going to seem so much worse than it does now.

They seriously need to get rid of the expiry timer on tokens to avoid this new feature from being another source of annoyance to the player.

SnowcaTT

I think it should for 4* (up to 5*), but 5* shouldn't have it.

I fear it will actually further imbalance them. Why?

How long does it take a typical player to get 13 covers of any 3*? What about 100 covers?
Now how long to you think it will take a mega-whale to do that?

GrumpySmurf1002

My understanding is that the characters are still getting boosted at their current rates 166->240, 270->350.

In proportion, that's 266-> 384, 370 -> 480.

In which case, the gap between 5* and 4* and 3* would be closed, since a 480 HB or JG would be insane, and very likely as strong or stronger than the 5* even at 550. And a 384 Fist would be hell on a 370 4*, let alone the lower covered.

I hope that the proportion isn't that strong, but even smaller boosts (say 325/425 for the two tiers) should make the playing field a little more level.

Arondite

200 extra levels onto a 3 star seems intense. Most 366 3-Stars would outpace the average 370 4-Star.

GrumpySmurf1002

Arondite wrote:

200 extra levels onto a 3 star seems intense. Most 366 3-Stars would outpace the average 370 4-Star.

I agree, but since boosting will still be there, I don't think it would be less than about 325 for a 3*. So those top tier guys are going to be quite scary when they come through.

Heck, permanent 266 Fist/Cage everywhere by itself will be enough to change some things.

firethorne

GurlBYE wrote:

I'm still so shell shocked at 1 cover per level that I can't really be bothered thinking about most of this.

I can barely get 13 of most 3 stars i'm not in the place or mindset to think about caring about this game long enough to get 100 extra, let alone 200 extra in its current state.

Yeah, that seems to be my first thought as well. 5*s being championed is far from the biggest problem. People already struggling to keep up and make the 3* to 4* transition now have 100 extra covers to win so their 3*s remain competitive with other 3*s? It just doesn't make any goram sense.

Unknown

firethorne wrote:

GurlBYE wrote:

I'm still so shell shocked at 1 cover per level that I can't really be bothered thinking about most of this.

I can barely get 13 of most 3 stars i'm not in the place or mindset to think about caring about this game long enough to get 100 extra, let alone 200 extra in its current state.

Yeah, that seems to be my first thought as well. 5*s being championed is far from the biggest problem. People already struggling to keep up and make the 3* to 4* transition now have 100 extra covers to win so their 3*s remain competitive with other 3*s? It just doesn't make any goram sense.

You kinda were already behind the 4* folks at that time.

And your 166s will still be pretty darn good anyways, as they'd be at max covers obviously.

This makes the transistion more fluid and gradual by giving you more buffer room between the tiers, so that it's not as huge of a jump. You have 2*s, then the 2.5*s in Championed 2*s, then 3*, then 3.5*s with Championed 3*s, ect.

It's more "You can keep making progress without having a full team of 4*s ready" then "You need 100 3*s to keep up"

firethorne

colwag wrote:

firethorne wrote:

GurlBYE wrote:

I'm still so shell shocked at 1 cover per level that I can't really be bothered thinking about most of this.

I can barely get 13 of most 3 stars i'm not in the place or mindset to think about caring about this game long enough to get 100 extra, let alone 200 extra in its current state.

Yeah, that seems to be my first thought as well. 5*s being championed is far from the biggest problem. People already struggling to keep up and make the 3* to 4* transition now have 100 extra covers to win so their 3*s remain competitive with other 3*s? It just doesn't make any goram sense.

You kinda were already behind the 4* folks at that time.

And your 166s will still be pretty darn good anyways, as they'd be at max covers obviously.

This makes the transistion more fluid and gradual by giving you more buffer room between the tiers, so that it's not as huge of a jump. You have 2*s, then the 2.5*s in Championed 2*s, then 3*, then 3.5*s with Championed 3*s, ect.

It's more "You can keep making progress without having a full team of 4*s ready" then "You need 100 3*s to keep up"

Were there not maxed 5*s in the wild within a month of their release, I might believe you. But, the pattern for this game in recent times has been that devs add a "long term" goal which is acquired in a short time by a few, giving them clear advantages over people already struggling. I don't see the devs coming along and making 100% covered characters now closer to 5% covered a good thing for people already well behind in the arms race.

Unknown

firethorne wrote:

colwag wrote:

firethorne wrote:

GurlBYE wrote:

I'm still so shell shocked at 1 cover per level that I can't really be bothered thinking about most of this.

I can barely get 13 of most 3 stars i'm not in the place or mindset to think about caring about this game long enough to get 100 extra, let alone 200 extra in its current state.

Yeah, that seems to be my first thought as well. 5*s being championed is far from the biggest problem. People already struggling to keep up and make the 3* to 4* transition now have 100 extra covers to win so their 3*s remain competitive with other 3*s? It just doesn't make any goram sense.

You kinda were already behind the 4* folks at that time.

And your 166s will still be pretty darn good anyways, as they'd be at max covers obviously.

This makes the transistion more fluid and gradual by giving you more buffer room between the tiers, so that it's not as huge of a jump. You have 2*s, then the 2.5*s in Championed 2*s, then 3*, then 3.5*s with Championed 3*s, ect.

It's more "You can keep making progress without having a full team of 4*s ready" then "You need 100 3*s to keep up"

Were there not maxed 5*s in the wild within a month of their release, I might believe you. But, the pattern for this game in recent times has been that devs add a "long term" goal which is acquired in a short time by a few, giving them clear advantages over people already struggling. I don't see the devs coming along and making 100% covered characters now closer to 5% covered a good thing for people already well behind in the arms race.

But the sorts of people you're talking about have long, long passed 3* land, and would end up with Super Champion 5* characters within the week or whatever.

And those are people who would destroy you anyways. Having a boosted featured Super Champion 3 star ain't going to change that much.

Anybody who has the power to make a 266 3* within a week really should be running their 450 5*s, or at least their 4*s instead. What are you doing running a 266 PSylocke when you probably have 15 Hulkbusters?