To variant or not to variant, that is the question.

JeffCascadian

A thread in a Facebook group brought up the idea of "Oh, no. Not another Iron Man." (Not that one's being announced. Don't panic!)

I generally agree with the idea but I'm not as strict as some other players. We have enough Iron Man choices that are Tony Stark but I'm quite fine with variants that aren't Stark inside the armor. We already have one: War Machine. Despite how the vote went, I wouldn't be surprised if we'll have an Iron Man (Riri Williams) sometime fairly soon. An Iron Man (Victor von Doom) isn't out of the question, either. Iron Patriot, were he to be introduced into the main game instead of just being on the console version, would be variants of both Iron Man & Green Goblin but I'm still OK with that.

Another variant example is Spider-Man. We have four that are actually Peter Parker (at the , , , and levels) but there's also the Miles Morales Spidey and Spider-Gwen with Spider-Woman already announced. It wouldn't hurt my feelings to see Silk (a character I like more than Gwen). Wouldn't Spider-Ham be a fun addition?

So, for me, it comes down to secret identities. If the new character being introduced is a different person behind their mask then I don't mind so much. I'd still rather see some completely new-to-the-game characters (like Hercules, Sif, and Mockingbird). I don't want to see any more variations of Steve Rogers, Tony Stark, Peter Parker, Sam Wilson, James Howlett, or Frank Castle. I'm going to make an exception for Thor as I would love an Odinson (him without Mjolnir) as a playable character.

Iridious

I think for most people the issue is more what you touched on there at the end, by releasing a variant we get that instead of a wholly new character. It means a move-set and artist/developer time was used on giving us a version of a character we already have available in place of using someone from the breadth of untouched possibilities. Were there the capacity for us to get both at the same time people might not mind so much (beyond the obvious struggle to roster and grow those characters for them to be usable!), but with generally fixed release rates and possibly a finite number of characters per tier it means most of us would rather someone completely new to play with.

SnowcaTT

I don't mind variants at all - I just wish they'd be consistent with it. Make 2*/3*/4*/5* OML and Iron Man, that's fine. But if you are going to do other variants, why not make them in the lower levels also?

Honestly, having a variant for ALL 5*'s would be great for the occasional variety.

Also it would be nice if you simply could use all versions at once all the time - so folks stop getting confused about why you can use Rulk/Hulk and Peggy/Cap (I think you can do that one? Haven't tried).

HxiiiK

SnowcaTT wrote:

Honestly, having a variant for ALL 5*'s would be great for the occasional variety.

Variety, yes, but when you lock out my 5* and still count it towards MMR because of a lousy 3* variant, prepare for my wrath!

Actually to OP's suggestions, I'm all for it, let me play different Ironmen together, they're not always Stark in the suit (can't think of any scenarios off the top of my head, I'm sure there were some!)

Put Peter Parker in the same team as Ben Reilly! Heck, maybe even Kaine Parker in the same team, they're not the same people in the same suit! Possibilities are endless, we don't need James Howlett at every level!

JeffCascadian

HxiiiK wrote:

SnowcaTT wrote:

Honestly, having a variant for ALL 5*'s would be great for the occasional variety.

I'm all for it, let me play different Ironmen together, they're not always Stark in the suit (can't think of any scenarios off the top of my head, I'm sure there were some!)

There are a lot of people who've worn the armor even if just for a single issue. This includes some of Stark's friends like "Happy" Hogan and Bethany Cabe. We could also have Pepper Potts in her armored identity of Rescue. That would be very interesting because her suit didn't have offensive capabilities (other than straight-up punching someone).

broll

I personally don't mind the variants. The only thing that bothers me about the variants is how they can't keep naming consistent across them (well not just them but all). I wish they would standardize them all. Today some have things like:
Costumed Name (Identity) example - Quake (Daisy Johnson)
Identity (Costumed Name) example - Kate Bishop (Hawkeye)
Costumed Name (Variant) example - Invisible Woman (Classic)

I would love to tsee them do something like this:
Costumed Name (Secret Identity) [Variant]
Examples:
Quake (Dasiy Johnson) [Classic/Secret War/we]
Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) [Young Avengers]
Susan Storm (Invisible Woman) [Classic]

This would cover pretty much all characters with the exception of the few characters like Luke Cage who don't have have a costumed name, but they could do something like Luke Cage (Luke Cage) [Hero for Hire].

This is probably just my add and kinda off topic from the OP but it's something that bugs me all the time.

Norksman

broll wrote:

Costumed Name (Identity) [variant]
Examples:
Quake (Dasiy Johnson) [Classic/Secret War/we]
Hawkeye (Kate Bishop) [Young Avengers]
Susan Storm (Invisible Woman) [Classic]

This is a great idea, but it makes me laugh that even as you suggest it you get it wrong. Maybe that's what happened to the devs as well.

Spiritclaw

broll wrote:

This would cover pretty much all characters with the exception of the few characters like Luke Cage who don't have have a costumed name, but they could do something like Luke Cage (Luke Cage) [Hero for Hire].

Luke Cage and Dan Rand used to team up in a comic entitled "Power Man and Iron Fist." He has a costumed name, but it's a little silly so he doesn't use it much.

ZootSax

SnowcaTT wrote:

Also it would be nice if you simply could use all versions at once all the time - so folks stop getting confused about why you can use Rulk/Hulk and Peggy/Cap (I think you can do that one? Haven't tried).

In case you're curious, you can use Peggy, Steve Rogers' Cap and Sam Wilson's Cap at the same time. I was running that team against the trivial nodes a few PVE's ago.[/threadjack]

zodiac339

JeffCascadian wrote:

Wouldn't Spider-Ham be a fun addition?

With Howard the Duck in the game, why not? There's an April Fool's Day every year. Give him powers like "When Pigs Fly!" and... sorry, can't really think of any other good ability names.

MarcusGraves

I'd rather have new characters instead of more variants, but not lame **** characters like Wasp (yawn). We need more villains mainly, where is Onslaught, Apocalypse, Mister Sinister or even Taskmaster?

JeffCascadian

MarcusGraves wrote:

I'd rather have new characters instead of more variants, but not lame **** characters like Wasp (yawn). We need more villains mainly, where is Onslaught, Apocalypse, Mister Sinister or even Taskmaster?

The first three of those are X-characters which means we won't be seeing them in this game any time soon. Taskmaster sounds good, though.

I disagree with your assessment of Wasp. She's not only a founding Avenger, she named the team and has been one of their longest-lasting leaders.

alaeth

I actually completely disagree with you.

There are way too many unique Marvel characters, and running out copies of the same old four just seems like the easy way out. Sure, "The Boss" himself (Stan Lee) has said many times his favorite character is Spider-Man. But re-reading through Deadpool comics, there are so many other choices I'd love to see (Cable anyone?!)

Rather than yet another variant... let's get new characters (and new mechanics).... Black Bolt, Moon Knight.... rock on! Peggy Carter (ehh.. why the Cappy version?)... but still, new mechanics... awesome!


Keep the game fresh and exciting, keep bringing in counters to "old" abilities... make us *think* about team make-up (I love bringing 4* Jean to hard counter Scarlet Witch) - rather than just match this, match that... meh.


One of my favorite match-ups is the DP one-on-one.... Invisible Woman versus Quicksilver. You have to be very careful about which tiles to match, not just focus on your own AP build-up.