Are 5 star characters created with more reserve now, compared to 4 stars ones?

thedarkphoenix

It's a trend I've been noticing for the last year or so, it use to be 5 star characters had the cool never before seen powers, or new takes on abilities, and then somewhere along the lines 4 star characters started dropping with powers that would have been awesome as 5 stars.

IE bishop, cap, polaris, Rocket and groot, scropion, rogue, Chavez, legion, spiderman 2099 juggernaut... I mean just those people along I'd switch out for the majority of 5's we got 

Now the 5 of recent have been pretty good and interesting, apoc, charles, Beta ray, deadpool etc....


Just something I've noticed, seems like they are willing to take more liberties and risk with 4's, which from a balance point I understand.

DAZ0273

5* land is endgame, make a mistake there and it hard to fix because these characters are so hard to obtain and build. You only have to look at Gambit. Obtaining 4s is pretty easy now for a large group of players but that tier is so bloated they need some hook/trick to keep people chasing whilst the 5s trickle in.

HoundofShadow

We have about 2 great 5* releases a year with the rest belonging to meh or average. For example,

2020: Apocalypse and Immortal Hulk
2019: Prof X and Beta Ray Bill
2018: Okoye and Kitty Pryde
2017: Gambit and Thor

I see a lot of newer 5* having cool, never seen before power that can't be found in 4* land, like Adam Warlock, Immortal Hulk, Deadpool, Heimdall etc. 

I guess each tier has it own unique selling point? Some 4* character can help to bridge the gap between 4* land and 5* land. The same can be said for certain 5* that would be good to help 4* players jump to 4* land. Also, some of the 4* were created in response to counterting meta in 4* land, like Bishop and  Worthy Cap.

Juggernaut's equivalent will probably be IHulk and many are tired of seeing IHulk. IHulk's damage increment can be similar to America Chavez, just different conditions.

Out of those that you mentioned, I find Rogue and Legion the most fitting in 5* land, in terms of being a pain.

Polares

I kinda agree with you, they are definitely taking more risks in 4 land (also because with cover inflation power creep needs to be even more broken in 4 land). 

Most new 5s are decent, they do something nice, but they are very far from disrupting the meta in either PvP or PvE. It is obvious, the 2 strongest 5s in the whole game are still from 2018, and they are VERY hard to replace. New additions complement those or make them deadlier (like BRB or iH), but Okoye and Kitty are still the center of all teams. The only one close to replace those two is Apoc.

I think Devs are afraid of releasing someone stronger than those two and what it could do the game (aka breaking the game).

Borstock

I feel like the main difference between 4's and 5's is that 5's can usually do more with their powers. I feel like a lot of them have active+passive properties, whereas 4's tend to have one or the other.

And I base this solely on my impression. I haven't done the work, so I could be totally wrong here.

MoosePrime

Borstock said:

I feel like the main difference between 4's and 5's is that 5's can usually do more with their powers. I feel like a lot of them have active+passive properties, whereas 4's tend to have one or the other.

This was a design philosophy they mentioned from the very beginning, with OML's changing power set.  (Well, he was the second 5*)

Akoni

In terms of powers, I think every character released (rather 4* or 5*) is released with a unique power set. Just going off of what I have seen so far, characters are less likely 5* due to their powers. I think it has more to due with dev's gut feeling in terms of what the players want/need at various tiers. For example, characters like Polaris, Karnak and Worthy Juggernaut could have been released as 5* based off of powers alone. With 5* characters being at the top of the food chain, this would have created a massive jump in power creep with severely difficult teams to beat. Imagine a 5* Polaris with Kitty and BRB. 
As 4* characters, they seem to satisfy a specific role in that they speed up the game for 4* players. Since their release, games utilizing Polaris, Karnak and/or Juggernaut appear to end faster than they would have in the past. Karnak sets a hard limit on most games since his Black power gives him a massive boost after 4 turns, which happens to be just enough time to get enough AP to fire his Blue AND Red powers. Polaris, depending on her allies, can obliterate the enemy team in a single turn with a lucky cascade. Juggernaut's extra team damage adds up very fast, especially if utilizing strike tiles.
I guess the answer to your question is yes. 5* characters set the ceiling for power in the game. If devs are more conservative with 5* characters, power creep will be minimal. If or when power creep starts to "creep" up there, devs will be forced to make some adjustments to the game. I made a such a suggestion in this thread: https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/83124/6-star-cosmic#latest