Instead of OML changes, limit characters by CL

zaku

I figure I might put my two cents in on the nerf as well

So if OML usage  was truly a problem, affecting the game's 'fairness' and was detrimental to a level playing field, what would have been a preferred solution to a nerf?
 I think that aside from raising other five stars to OML level, the simplest solution would have been to gate 5 stars from certain CL of competition. For example, CL 1-4 wouldn't see 4 stars, except in telease pvp, 5 and 6 wouldn't see 5 stars, then 7 and beyond are free for all. I think a system like that would help deal with MM a I think a system like that would help deal with MMR,  scaling, and other issues that come with having open brackets. 

[Moderator note: updated discussion title to better reflect content. -DayvBang]

Carnifexx

I feel they should use the MTG model. Make an OML killer. 3 purple OML dies and the rest of your team takes 20,000 damage. Don't nerf, do a workaround. ????

killerkoala

i think they cared more about health pack sales than actual OML usage.   why would they care if we all used the same characters.

Xenoberyll

OML is just mid tier among 5s. The nerf was about his healing and/or bad interpretation of the usage stats. They don't WANT your alternatives. They wanted to put down the guy.

Suddenreal

Xenoberyll said:

OML is just mid tier among 5s. The nerf was about his healing and/or bad interpretation of the usage stats. They don't WANT your alternatives. They wanted to put down the guy.

I don't think it was about his healing, but about the strike tiles he threw down. There are only a handful of characters that can be used in any composition, and those only have a one turn benefit (Kamala's burst heal for instance), while OML's strike tiles could stick around for a while (even if they're only for two turns on the board, that's two turns of extra damage).

Quebbster

Suddenreal said:

Xenoberyll said:

OML is just mid tier among 5s. The nerf was about his healing and/or bad interpretation of the usage stats. They don't WANT your alternatives. They wanted to put down the guy.

I don't think it was about his healing, but about the strike tiles he threw down. There are only a handful of characters that can be used in any composition, and those only have a one turn benefit (Kamala's burst heal for instance), while OML's strike tiles could stick around for a while (even if they're only for two turns on the board, that's two turns of extra damage).

His healing was quite insane at high levels. You rarely had to use a healthpack on a consious OML, even if he had only a Little Health left it wouldn't take him long to get back to full Health when he healed 5K each turn (way more than what the opponent could pump out with match damage). The black strike tiles could be a problem, true, but when you played OML you played him because he more or less negated the need for Health packs.

pheregas

I haven't stopped using him post-nerf since I really don't have the option not to.  It's slightly changed by play style in that I have to make sure he doesn't tank 100% of the time.  Getting hit for 7-10k hits needs a moment to breathe afterwards.  And fighting Phoenix in pvp is definitely riskier.  But in PVE, it just means that the matches take even longer because now I'm doing less damage per turn.  So softcappers win again.

Straycat

I just had a thought, after noticing some general wonkiness during the big enchilada.  One attack downed someone, then Ares entered and was immediately downed. I figured this was the double attack bug that was first brought to light by daken. That and the countdown dealing 1 damage are relatively new, but are a huge buff to strike tile makers. These bugs are not really game breaking, but they affect strategy and can work for and against you. I wonder if they looked at the data from before and after the bug, how OML was affected. He has the 2 stage attacks and tons of strike damage that probably made him OP for the last 2 months. I wonder if fixing those bugs would have been enough of a nerf, where they would only need to tone down the healing a little.

I don't use OML so I dunno if this is true or not. But I think they were treating the symptoms and not the cause, whether it is scaling or the buff that these bugs gave him.

byc

I doubt we'll really know what the reason was.  Because they didn't nerf just his healing.  They nerfed his Living Legend, Still Sharp and Old Habits as well.

I kind of wish now I did level him (I have 6 covers of him, but never leveled him), just to see how devastating he would have been.

SnowcaTT

I think we know what the reason was. Most didn't believe how great he was when they were told - but then anyone I knew that lucked their RNG-way into OML basically never had to use health packs again. He was ridiculous.

They wanted to leave his mechanics apparently, so they had to do mini-nerfs on all his abilities - when really all he needed was that healing completely gone.

I say all he really needed - his red is another reason he is good for early players, and makes you re-consider all future low-cost (*ahem C&D ahem*) characters in the future.