New Updates To Powered-Up Levels *Updated (07/14/16)

David [Hi-Fi] Moore

*Update (07/14/16)

An additional note from Demiurge providing some thoughts behind the changes:

"Shortly after releasing Champions and when we started to try out the new mission difficulty, we visited the Powered-Up numbers and made some adjustments. Now that we are moving forward with the new mission difficulty we wanted to revisit it again and made some additional adjustments. We will be observing how this impacts character usage in events and continue to make adjustments where necessary."

* * *

(07/12/16)

Hi folks,

Here's word from Anthony at Demiurge regarding new updates to Powered-Up characters:

"Starting 7/14, We will be updating the amount of levels characters gain when powered up. The first Story Event that will have these changes will be

Dark Avengers: Heroic. The first Versus Event will be Real Steel. Please see below for the actual changes being done:

Weekly Powered-Up:

4-Star:
Minimum: 140
Maximum: 366 (from 350)
Max Champion: 479 (from 454)

3-Star:
Minimum: 100 (from 95)
Maximum: 249 (from 240)
Max Champion: 367 (from 355)

Featured Story Powered-Up:

4-Star:
Minimum: 175 (from 160)
Maximum: 375 (from 350)
Max Champion: 475 (from 460)

3-Star:
Minimum: 138 (from 134)
Maximum: 264 (from 260)
Max Champion: 364 (from 360)

Featured Versus Powered-Up:

4-Star:
Minimum: 160
Maximum: 386 (from 360)
Max Champion: 499 (from 480)

3-Star:
Minimum: 145 (from 134)
Maximum: 294 (from 290)
Max Champion: 412 (from 405)"

Thanos

Featured Versus Powered-Up:

4-Star:
Minimum: 160 (from 164.5)
Maximum: 386 (from 375 )
Max Champion: 499 (from 480)

4* pvp incoming?

fmftint

Thanos wrote:

Featured Versus Powered-Up:

4-Star:
Minimum: 160 (from 164.5)
Maximum: 386 (from 375 )
Max Champion: 499 (from 480)

4* pvp incoming?

Only new character introduction

dr tinykittylove

I am very interested in how this will affect matchmaking and scaling...

snlf25

dr tinykittylove wrote:

I am very interested in how this will affect matchmaking and scaling...

As are we all. I wish they'd run 3* PvP and 4* PvP concurrently.

NickHewitt12

Any changes to new character buff?

an1979

One more incentive to LEVEL EVERYONE!!1!! (*cough*buyISO*cough*) because when they are powered up you won't stand a chance in PvP if you won't have one max & champed ?

udonomefoo

But...........why?

Seriously. Max levels increased between 4-24 levels. This is either a setup for something else, or you guys are just really bad at designing and prioritizing projects. I can't think of any reason why this matters at all, can someone help me?

wymtime

Here is my question if I have a championed character will they automatically get a level increase?
2nd if I don't have. Character championed will I need to spend more ISO to get them to the higher levels?
3rd what exactly is this extra buff suppose to accomplish. 3* cannot compete with 5* even with the extra buff and the new buffed 3* are not going to compete against buffed or maxed 4* in PVE. I am not against the change I just don't see the point or how it helps the game

TLCstormz

Soooo.....could this be a possible band aid / temporary fix / acknowledgement of the 3* nerf?

Or, does this accomplish nothing whatsoever, in fixing that error? I'm not good with numbers, so everyone else can chime in.

veny

Great, we have been waiting for this change for months! Oh wait...

spghttihead

Why is time being wasted on this when there are actual things they could be doing that would help the game. Go fix some characters!

Chrono_Tata

TLCstormz wrote:

Soooo.....could this be a possible band aid / temporary fix / acknowledgement of the 3* nerf?

Or, does this accomplish nothing whatsoever, in fixing that error? I'm not good with numbers, so everyone else can chime in.

Both 4-star and 3-star max buff levels have been increased so I don't think it has anything to do with that.

babinro

While I don't fully understand the ramifications of these changes I will say that on paper this is a great change.

Pretty much everyone wants to see the 4* to 5* gap tightened up a bit and if nothing else this change serves to help accomplish this. Admittedly the level increases seem small on paper but when it comes to later tiers of championing those levels start to impact skills quite a bit more.

If nothing else this represents a minor balance tweak to the game without going overboard and completely reworking things needlessly. It seems like a positive change even if the end results turn out to be negligible.

Hopefully they study the impact of this change and consider revisiting it again in a couple months.

carrion_pigeons

Some reasoning would have been nice.

Looks like the goal here is to make 4* teams more competitive with lower 5* teams? The buff to 3*s doesn't seem to actually do anything except keep them about where they currently are relative to 4*s, so what this really is is a minor stealth nerf to 5*s in pvp specifically.

In PvE, this makes unbuffed characters less relevant, since scaling will go up with the buffs.

OneLastGambit

Who is the beneficiary of this change?

Are there other issues which might have been more important?

Which need does this change facilitate?

Overall....why bother?


To close the gap between the tiers? Ok I'll bite that one, the 4-5* gap has nothing to do with health pools or power damage...its entirely determined by match damage.

Oml can single handedly match damage any 4* to death with little fuss and finish with full health. Any 5* can beat any 4* with just match damage...

THIS is where the real disparity is, unless you're giving 4* (and as a consequence 3*) match damage a boost to make it equal 75% of 5* match damage then that disparity will exist regardless of how you change the boosted levels.

Polares

babinro wrote:

While I don't fully understand the ramifications of these changes I will say that on paper this is a great change.

Pretty much everyone wants to see the 4* to 5* gap tightened up a bit and if nothing else this change serves to help accomplish this. Admittedly the level increases seem small on paper but when it comes to later tiers of championing those levels start to impact skills quite a bit more.

If nothing else this represents a minor balance tweak to the game without going overboard and completely reworking things needlessly. It seems like a positive change even if the end results turn out to be negligible.

Hopefully they study the impact of this change and consider revisiting it again in a couple months.

This really looks like this. I am even starting to think if it is worth champing 5s (considering also scaling in PvE, that you fight just against other 5s, etc). I guess they still are stronger, but the gap now is much smaller, so I dont know if they are so much better considering all the extra problems. Top 5s (OML, GG, IM) obviously are, but I am not that sure with the others.

I think they have made 5s like SS and Cap completely useless. Why use them when you can use someone like Rhulk with 40k hitpoints who can do 20k AoE for 18AP? Iceman buffed is going to be incredible!

OneLastGambit wrote:

To close the gap between the tiers? Ok I'll bite that one, the 4-5* gap has nothing to do with health pools or power damage...its entirely determined by match damage.

Oml can single handedly match damage any 4* to death with little fuss and finish with full health. Any 5* can beat any 4* with just match damage...

THIS is where the real disparity is, unless you're giving 4* (and as a consequence 3*) match damage a boost to make it equal 75% of 5* match damage then that disparity will exist regardless of how you change the boosted levels.

Yeah match damage is still a big difference in favor of 5s, but I think you are missing the point. I don't think they want 450 level 5s to get closer to 370 level 4s, 5s should be stronger! But what about 370 level 5s? OML has regen, but do you think GG or IM are worth using at 360 level against iceman, rhulk or Punisher? I don't think so, not anymore! And those are the best 5s!

And even with 450 match damage, killing someone like rhulk with 40k hitpoints is not going to be fast. GG 22k black is suddenly not as strong. PH red or SS red damage is now a joke, etc, etc.

PS: Who said Peggy's yellow was not OP? Fighting a 34k hitpoints level Peggy with 5 in yellow and blue doing around 20k is going to be fun. I might level her before Punihser

Pylgrim

TLCstormz wrote:

Soooo.....could this be a possible band aid / temporary fix / acknowledgement of the 3* nerf?

Or, does this accomplish nothing whatsoever, in fixing that error? I'm not good with numbers, so everyone else can chime in.

It's actually a further nerf to 3*'s capacity to go against buffed 4*s:

Originally:
240/290 3*s vs 350 4*s.

After champions feature launch:
Nerfed 240/290 3*s vs greatly buffed 350 4*s.

Now:
Nerfed 244/294 3*s vs greatly buffed 366 4*s. (+4 levels vs +16)

Man, I'm thankful that I'm mostly through with my 3*-4* transition. Condolences to everybody who is not. Hopefully this is truly an indication of segregated PvPs as some theorise.

Polares

Pylgrim wrote:

It's actually a further nerf to 3*'s capacity to go against buffed 4*s:

Yeah I agree. But I don't think this is a bad thing in the long run (even though for starting the 3->4 transition is going to suck until you can get enough 4 covers to at least max one :S).

4s were in a very bad position now, with people going strait from 3 to 5 land. Now there is a big incentive to get 4s and level them. Until you can level 5s to the 400+ range, 4s is the way to go. And even with 400+ level 5s, some 4s are really strong and can easily complement them.

wymtime

From the changes this is what I see. 3* players will be able to compete against non buffed 4* more so the player who has 2-3 maxed 4* and no 5*.

The other person this helps is the player with a lot of 4* but no useful 5*. Thier buffed 4* will help them more in PVP against the player with 1 decently leveled 5*.

The people it hurts are the new 4* players as they will be hit more by buffed 3* players and still be easy targets by deep 4* players.
These transition players just got a lot more vulnerable in PVP.

In PVE with all the tests going on I am not sure what real effect this will have on scaling

Felessa

It my seems odd... but what really bodered me is that now we have much less rounded numbers