We need a new character that can steal AP...

bbigler

AP stealing is few and far between in this game. We have lots of characters that drain AP or generate AP, but very few that steal it like the Hood or 2*Widow. Red Hulk and King Pin get close with their drain AP and generate AP attacks, but it's not the same. Winter Soldier can steal 3 or 4 selected AP, but for 8 Purple! 2*widow can steal 3 AP of each color (except purple) for that cost. Why do I want this? Because AP stealing is both offense and defense at the same time. If I can consistently steal AP from the enemy team and protect against match damage, then I can stall forever and defeat anyone. Which is why I use Luke Cage and Hood for tougher battles.

When I first saw the Hood's powers in 2013, he became the ultimate character to get (for me). Once I had him fully powered and leveled up, I kicked butt in this game. Unfortunately, the Hood is easy to kill (but harder to kill with Luke Cage in the way). The Hood is just becoming less and less competitive with 4*s and 5*s everywhere. I've looked over the 4*s and 5*s and haven't found anyone to fill the role of the Hood in the upper tiers.

Your thoughts?

SnowcaTT

I think Hood was the king of 3*'s (until level boost nerfed his health, and 3*'s stopped being relevant).

I think SL is suddenly a great, great 4*.

I think characters like 3*IM, 5*BB are dangerous in large part -because- they accelerate what you can do, and stealing both accelerates you and stops the other character. Devs seem rightfully hesitant in using these abilities!

(I also think if you returned 4* Wolvy X-Force black to his old state - where it stole strongest AP - he might, MIGHT be slightly usable again. Green probably has to return to it's old state as well.)

TarjanVK

If you have the blue AP stocked up, Wasp Blue creates a 1 turn countdown that'll steal 2 AP of a random color or deal damage if the tile gets matched away...

Berserk_Al

Wait until they release X-Force Psylocke. You will be bewildered.

bbigler

TarjanVK wrote:

If you have the blue AP stocked up, Wasp Blue creates a 1 turn countdown that'll steal 2 AP of a random color or deal damage if the tile gets matched away...

Yeah, I forgot about wasp, but you would have to focus on getting 9 Blue AP before it starts working.

Ducky

bbigler wrote:

TarjanVK wrote:

If you have the blue AP stocked up, Wasp Blue creates a 1 turn countdown that'll steal 2 AP of a random color or deal damage if the tile gets matched away...

Yeah, I forgot about wasp, but you would have to focus on getting 9 Blue AP before it starts working.

How is that different than gaining ap to use an actual move?

BassMuffinFIve

DuckyV wrote:

How is that different than gaining ap to use an actual move?

Hood and OBW do it passively.

Jabrony_Geoff

bbigler wrote:

AP stealing is few and far between in this game. We have lots of characters that drain AP or generate AP, but very few that steal it like the Hood or 2*Widow.
Your thoughts?

Loki steals AP but could do with a buff to steal more AP.
What happened to game producers plan to introduce more 5* villains?.

Perfect time to introduce Thors number 1 stalker the enchantress.
And give her mahoosive AP stealing abilities.
Just an idea.

Ducky

BassMuffinFIve wrote:

DuckyV wrote:

How is that different than gaining ap to use an actual move?

Hood and OBW do it passively.

And both of them have conditions to do so. OBW has to tank and there are tile conditions that have to be met for Hood. No different than having a condition for Wasp.

Vhailorx

Ap theft is very powerful, and demi has been very cautious with it since early 2015.

Maybe as we get new members on the dev team someone will be willing to try it again at the 4* or 5* level. Wasp was the first attempt and she is kinda meh (her blue needs too much ap to get started and her black drains her blue)

bbigler

Jabrony Geoff wrote:

bbigler wrote:

AP stealing is few and far between in this game. We have lots of characters that drain AP or generate AP, but very few that steal it like the Hood or 2*Widow.
Your thoughts?

Loki steals AP but could do with a buff to steal more AP.
What happened to game producers plan to introduce more 5* villains?.

Perfect time to introduce Thors number 1 stalker the enchantress.
And give her mahoosive AP stealing abilities.
Just an idea.

Sounds good. Since the main point of stealing AP is to prevent the enemies from using an attack, perhaps a character could have a power to steal from the enemies largest color pool. For example:

6 Blue AP: steal 9 AP from the enemies largest color pool
OR
6 Purple AP: steal 4 AP from 2 chosen color pools
OR
Passive: whenever an enemy color pool is greater than 6 AP, steal 1 of that color
OR
7 Purple AP: steal 2 AP from all colors
OR
Passive: whenever you make a color match, steal 1 AP of that color

SangFroid

bbigler wrote:

Jabrony Geoff wrote:

bbigler wrote:

AP stealing is few and far between in this game. We have lots of characters that drain AP or generate AP, but very few that steal it like the Hood or 2*Widow.
Your thoughts?

Loki steals AP but could do with a buff to steal more AP.
What happened to game producers plan to introduce more 5* villains?.

Perfect time to introduce Thors number 1 stalker the enchantress.
And give her mahoosive AP stealing abilities.
Just an idea.

Sounds good. Since the main point of stealing AP is to prevent the enemies from using an attack, perhaps a character could have a power to steal from the enemies largest color pool. For example:

6 Blue AP: steal 9 AP from the enemies largest color pool
OR
6 Purple AP: steal 4 AP from 2 chosen color pools
OR
Passive: whenever an enemy color pool is greater than 6 AP, steal 1 of that color
OR
7 Purple AP: steal 2 AP from all colors
OR
Passive: whenever you make a color match, steal 1 AP of that color

*cough cough 3*Blade cough*

bbigler

Sounds good. Since the main point of stealing AP is to prevent the enemies from using an attack, perhaps a character could have a power to steal from the enemies largest color pool. For example:

6 Blue AP: steal 9 AP from the enemies largest color pool
OR
6 Purple AP: steal 4 AP from 2 chosen color pools
OR
Passive: whenever an enemy color pool is greater than 6 AP, steal 1 of that color
OR
7 Purple AP: steal 2 AP from all colors
OR
Passive: whenever you make a color match, steal 1 AP of that color

*cough cough 3*Blade cough*

*cough* - need a 4* - *cough* - plus Blade steals the strongest color, not the highest AP color - *cough*

JackTenrec

bbigler wrote:

Sounds good. Since the main point of stealing AP is to prevent the enemies from using an attack, perhaps a character could have a power to steal from the enemies largest color pool.

Good news, everyone! I've just invented 3* Psylocke!

bbigler

JackTenrec wrote:

bbigler wrote:

Sounds good. Since the main point of stealing AP is to prevent the enemies from using an attack, perhaps a character could have a power to steal from the enemies largest color pool.

Good news, everyone! I've just invented 3* Psylocke!

10 Blue is too expensive, then you have to wait for a 2-turn CD tile that might be matched away. By then, your enemy has probably already used an attack. The point of this post is to suggest a new 4* (or 5*) character that is very good at stealing like the Hood. Instead of using special tiles to deal or prevent damage, just steal their AP for automatic defense and offense.

Jarvind

I'd prefer battery abilities to steals for the most part. Good steals are so ridiculously powerful that they usually need to be offset in some way - see Loki, Hood, and OBW's tiny health pools, and Wasp's, uh, everything.

Batteries, on the other hand, are stellar for winning a match quickly but don't need to be crippled nearly as much - Kingpin can dish out some major hurt, and IM40's red and blue are actually pretty good for finishing off a match when you don't need to worry about the self-drain. Scarlet witch doesn't have a ton of firepower, but a 5-turn stun is brutal against most opponents.

3Blade and Winter Soldier are well-rounded characters with steals, however their steal powers aren't nearly as devastating as something like Aggressive Recon - Blade can only drain one color which you can't control, whereas Bucky gains less AP than he uses to fire the move. Both also do almost-negligible damage in the process.

I'd wager that Wasp is the closest thing you're going to see to a 4* Hood. I dunno about the 5* tier - I'm not there yet and the game plays so differently due to the insane match damage that I can't really weigh in on how an AP drain would affect it.

bbigler

Jarvind wrote:

I'd prefer battery abilities to steals for the most part. Good steals are so ridiculously powerful that they usually need to be offset in some way - see Loki, Hood, and OBW's tiny health pools, and Wasp's, uh, everything.

Batteries, on the other hand, are stellar for winning a match quickly but don't need to be crippled nearly as much - Kingpin can dish out some major hurt, and IM40's red and blue are actually pretty good for finishing off a match when you don't need to worry about the self-drain. Scarlet witch doesn't have a ton of firepower, but a 5-turn stun is brutal against most opponents.

3Blade and Winter Soldier are well-rounded characters with steals, however their steal powers aren't nearly as devastating as something like Aggressive Recon - Blade can only drain one color which you can't control, whereas Bucky gains less AP than he uses to fire the move. Both also do almost-negligible damage in the process.

I'd wager that Wasp is the closest thing you're going to see to a 4* Hood. I dunno about the 5* tier - I'm not there yet and the game plays so differently due to the insane match damage that I can't really weigh in on how an AP drain would affect it.

Good point. Perhaps I should give up hope on a good AP stealer and focus on battery or "stunning" characters. How about a team of Black Bolt, Peggy and IM40? Sadly, it will take forever to get a usable Black Bolt.

CT1888

Dev 1: man, it's almost the holiday weekend, and I've still to design the next 4*
Dev 2: check out the forum, people are asking for a new AP stealer.
Dev 1: hmmmm. Got it! 4* She Hulk!
Dev 2: yes! And she's 4* cos she steals rather than knocks out the AP.
Dev 1: yes! Done! Let's finish a day early.
*high 5s all round*

Please note, in no shape or form do I think this to be true. The thought just amused me. Have a good break devs.

mega ghost

How is stealing better than draining and generating AP? Stealing is too reliant on the enemy having the AP, or else it does nothing, or just provides a diminishing return (especially if you want to use it multiple times in a short window.) Draining has the same effect of reducing the enemy's AP, and adding a generation of AP on top of that is a sure thing and 100% reliable. I'll take Red Hulk's Gamma Siphon over OBW's steal any day.

zodiac339

In general, the stronger the stealing mechanic, the lower the health. Hood and Black Widow Original share the tissue-thin health trait due to the breadth of their stealing capability. If a new stealer came out with all the stealing that Hood or OBW provide, we'd be looking at, hmmmm, 7000 health at level 270? The reluctance to make a big stealer in that range is due to both the strength of stealing and not wanting to make a legendary that easy to kill.

vinsensual

The way you guys want AP steal utilized, it's gonna be on a character with record low health. It's too powerful of a mechanic, especially if it steals from all colors, especially for anything less than OBW's established AP costs. I think Bucky's purple is a perfect compromise. You steal from the one AP pool you want to reduce, you can prevent a match in that color for one turn, or create a match without ending your turn.