Poll (+Discussion): Do you want to be able to use Supports in PVP?

jtsings

  This subject has been touched on in other forum posts already.  But since Supports are becoming, at least marginally, more available:  I think many might be interested in a discussion about what you think would be good or bad about using Supports in PVP?  Please feel free to discuss whichever option you chose.

Lebeau007

No

Voted No because Hell No was not an option.  Supports should never enter PVP.

Dormammu

Yes: both on offense and defense

Darn right they should be in PvP. Supports are here and they're here to stay. Why keep them in only 50% of the game? They'd make PvP a helluva lot more interesting. Heck, I say give them to PvE opponents too. I ain't scared.

BlackBoltRocks

No to PvP, yes to PvE.

Supports give unpredictable - which could necessarily lead to unfair - advantages in matches. Everyone has different ranks and differing levels of Supports. Let's say an Okoye with Rank 5 lv250 Royal Talon Fighter vs an Okoye with Rank 1 Lv50 Shield. It's obvious the former gets an unfair advantage over the latter. Even if opposing Okoyes had RTF attached, they could be different ranks and levels.

What makes Supports so unpredictable is that a lot of them use percentages. That comes down purely to RNG. If Supports had only guaranteed effects - like the RTF definitely reducing Okoye's AP for every 5 Teamup AP - then I'd vote yes to Supports in PvP, because I know what exactly I'm getting, what exactly is going to happen.

That's why using boosts is fine: boosts give you a guaranteed amount of AP or match damage the moment you enter battle. It has nothing to do with percentages and RNG. Imagine if, 15% of the time when i go into battle with a GladiaThor using an Atlantis support, he gets 6 Green AP right off the bat. Imagine a villain like Thanos having Corvus Glaive attached. Just as I think I've won, Corvus suddenly activates his 20% chance of doing damage that downs my last character. Imagine an Okoye with RTF activating its 20% chance of doing team damage, boosted by Okoye's Black. Yucks. There's already plenty of uncontrollable factors involved when playing PvP, like cascades, how much an opponent is worth, who's climbing and shielding, etc. We don't need one more.

Once again, to use boosts as a comparison: the opponent never uses boosts, so I don't have to bother worrying about what boosts, and how many, the AI is using. But Supports? You want me to painstakingly check which Supports my three opponents are using, what level and rank they are? No thanks, especially not in the speed-oriented landscape of PvP.

In PvE, I'm all for it. Would at least make the grinds a tad more interesting.

bbigler

Yes: on offense only

If supports were offense only, then you could hit above your weight making people think twice about hitting weaker rosters who have less points than them. Plus, you could hit stronger rosters with more points than you. I think the end result would be a somewhat leveling out effect bringing the average PVP score up, but I could be wrong. 

Plus, enabling supports in PVP make them more worthwhile to chase after. It also creates a greater variety of competitive teams. More gameplay mechanics creates more possibilities and more competitive teams, which is more variety for everyone. 

FraggleinPA

Yes: both on offense and defense

One of the most frustrating things for me about PvP is the monotony... too many Thorokoye or Gritty teams.  If it is truly Player vs. Player, I think allowing supports will force players to look at who they are attacking more closely before blindly attacking them.  I agree with earlier comments made about percentages not being the same as boosts.  But I also agree with the comment made about how the devs have gone through considerable effort to make supports more available in the game (and offering new supports on a consistent basis).  I am all for “shaking things up” to make things truly competitive and less “routine”.  Plus - supports may give offensive players the edge they need in a battle (or defensive players when the AI is playing for them).

Bowgentle

No

No.
Because they're pointless.

Nobody will care what supports people might have on defense, because it's still points that decide whether a team is worth attacking.
A support activates and wipes you?
Tough luck, can happen with cascades too.

The people who think supports will shake up anything are badly mistaken.
It'll be the same as now, with maybe a few more bad wipes, especially if people find out that the team they're grilling on has a bad support.

DAZ0273

I don't have enough Supports to make an informed decision

I have a collection of mostly not very good Supports and so I decided to vote for that option so it wasn't lonely.

Tony_Foot

I don't think they just gave everyone a shot at the RTF and Okoye/Thor out of the generosity of their hearts.

I'm happy with supports in PVP either on offense or both.

HoundofShadow

First turn Vulture Battery or IM40 Battery... Increased match damage...
Increased Critical Damage...
First turn AoE or power...
First turn invisibility...

Sign me up... For both parties as well.

DAZ0273

I don't have enough Supports to make an informed decision

The obvious thing seems to be - do a test, in off season.

I'd give it a go.

rixmith

No

I don't see a need to make a change from the way things are now regarding supports.

Straycat

Yes: on offense only

Enemy teams can't use ap boosts, and can only use a random team up. Going off that precedent, I don't see why enemy teams should use supports.

MoosePrime

No

I'm not sure about offense, but definitely no for defense.

ThaRoadWarrior

I wouldn't mind a Support Circuit PVP, similar to the Support Circuit PVE; or as previously mentioned a specific off-season PVP event that consistently ran between seasons. I'm not sure the UI is anything like good enough to facilitate a general roll-out across all events. While I was sitting there looking at who is equipped with what support before a match, what it did, etc., I'd probably get hit and docked points 4-5 times lol.

At first I was thinking maybe they should only let them be used in Simulator, since it's outside the boost list, but then I thought that might not be a good move simply because Simulator is the only place where you can go to have a pure roster-to-roster fight without boosts getting in the way. 

Should supports get a boost list of their own? Should there be a support that adds a character to the boost list regardless of who else is on it?

MegaBee

Yes: on offense only

Poll needs an "I am broll" option.

Warbeast_7

Supports, what's that?

no one cares about supports

Dormammu

Yes: both on offense and defense

Warbeast_7 said:

no one cares about supports

Based on players passionate pleas for more access to them here on the forums, I'm going to disagree.

The Viceroy Returns

No

I'd just be another more extreme Pay to Win.

Waddles_Pines

No

I can maybe be talked into it for offense only (still don't like the idea regardless), but definitely no on defense for the following reasons:

• adds time to every match since you now would have to check what the support does, star level, actual level... on every match, every character
• adds time to the climb since now you have people who normally wouldn't go after you (being a tier below you) sniping you  
• considering we don't even have an easy way to see which of our own supports are equipped on which character, the user interface would leave a lot to be desired
• added RNG is never a good thing
• on a coding level, how would D3 accommodate the 2hr cooldown from switching supports to different characters, would be a nightmare to code

An outside the box suggestion if this is really going to happen in pvp: make it one support and make it random.  Much like how the enemy team gets one random TU, make it one random support that is visible on the pre-battle screen as an picture icon next to the random TU.  

GrimSkald

Yes: on offense only

While I don't think supports will have a huge impact on PVP, it's another factor in the fight and another thing you should check before engaging with another team.  That gets pretty cumbersome pretty quickly.  I think if supports enter PVP at all, it should be offense only.