Character Rebalance - ***** Jean Grey (Phoenix) *****

IceIX
IceIX ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 4,328 Site Admin
edited January 2022 in MPQ General Discussion

It's a new year, and that means rebirth. And who is more likely to be reborn in the flames than the Phoenix herself, Jean Grey?

That's right! For our first character rebalance of the year, we're going with the long desired classic and one of our very first 5-Star characters, Jean Grey (Phoenix). Unlike Lockjaw whose kit got some mechanical updates in addition to some numbers tweaks, Jean's rebalance is pretty much exclusively buffing the numbers to all her powers. Which makes sense for an omnipresent cosmic being, I guess.


Jean Grey (Phoenix) 
5-Star Rarity
Affiliations: Heroes, X-Men, Mutants
   

"A founding member of the X-Men, Jean Grey sacrificed herself to save her teammates. Upon her death, Jean's heroism and telepathic potential drew the attention of the Phoenix Force.

The cosmic entity of creation and destruction merged with Jean's consciousness and, as the Phoenix, Jean was reborn powerful enough to save worlds... or burn them."

(Abilities listed at level 255, followed by 450)

Health and stats have been updated.

OLD:

10567 Health / 42474 Health

 15 | 107 | 17 | 122 | 137 | 16 | 69 | 4.0x
 59 | 428 | 69 | 489 | 550 | 64 | 276 | 4.0x

NEW:

17638 Health / 70894 Health

 24 | 178 | 29 | 203 | 228 | 27 | 115 | 4.0x
 98 | 714 | 116 | 816 | 918 | 107 | 461 | 4.0x

5-Stars were powerhouses when they premiered, with HP values and damage values far in excess of all those puny 4-Stars. While some of those characters have shown to be absolute destroyers throughout the years, others are a little less comparatively strong at this point. Phoenix is a prime example of this; Back in the day 42K health was a LOT! Now it gets one shot by some other abilities. With this update, it puts Jean Grey back up into the vaunted heights of health, while also giving her base match damage a good boost. She won't hit as hard as Gamora (Deadliest Woman), but then again, few do!


OLD:
From the Ashes -  PASSIVE
(PASSIVE) Locked in a cycle of death and rebirth, the Phoenix is eternal. When Jean Grey becomes Downed, create a 3-turn Red Countdown tile that revives Jean with 40% of her health and changes this power to Phoenix Force.

This power can fire while Jean Grey is Stunned.
  • Level 2: Creates a 3-turn Countdown tile that revives Jean with 48% of her health.
  • Level 3: Creates a 2-turn Countdown tile that revives Jean with 48% of her health.
  • Level 4: Creates a 2-turn Countdown tile that revives Jean with 55% of her health.
  • Level 5: Creates a 1-turn Countdown tile that revives Jean with 55% of her health.
NEW:
From the Ashes -  PASSIVE
(PASSIVE) Locked in a cycle of death and rebirth, the Phoenix is eternal. When Jean Grey becomes Downed, create a 3-turn Red Countdown tile that revives Jean with 45% of her health and changes this power to Phoenix Force.

This power can fire while Jean Grey is Stunned.
  • Level 2: Creates a 3-turn Countdown tile that revives Jean with 50% of her health.
  • Level 3: Creates a 2-turn Countdown tile that revives Jean with 50% of her health.
  • Level 4: Creates a 2-turn Countdown tile that revives Jean with 55% of her health.
  • Level 5: Creates a 1-turn Countdown tile that revives Jean with 60% of her health.
This change raises the overall amount of health that she'll be resurrected with, which is magnified by the fact that this amount of health is also larger due to a bigger health pool, making a stronger impact. Additionally, it also provides another bonus boost at Level 5, which increases the value of a 5 point power choice.

OLD:
Phoenix Force - 9  AP
Returned with a vengeance, Jean unleashes the destructive elemental power of the Phoenix Force! Deals 4144 damage to the enemy team and 1295 to Jean's teammates. (Max level 16656/5205 damage)
  • Level 2-5: No Change

NEW:
Phoenix Force - 8  AP
Returned with a vengeance, Jean unleashes the destructive elemental power of the Phoenix Force! Deals 6750 damage to the enemy team and 1266 to Jean's teammates. (Max level 27132/5087 damage)
  • Level 2-5: No Change
Lowering the ability cost slightly makes it easier to cast, but the damage has also been increased on each use. The formula used also happens to lower the amount of incoming team damage taken by a small amount, but that was mostly a byproduct of the primary rebalance. At max level, this ability now deals about 50% of the health of a bruiser like Deadpool (Spirit of Vengeance), meaning that it's going to be dealing significant team damage to the enemy at the low cost of 8 AP. Downside of course, is that it still requires Jean Grey to be downed once first.

OLD:
Psychic Rapport - 7  AP
Jean's telepathy creates an intense bond with those she cares about. Convert 3 random basic or Team-Up tiles to Red.

(PASSIVE) On a Match-5, improve 3 random friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 104 or reduce 1 random enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tile by 104 (to a min. of 1). (Max level 416/416)
  • Level 2: Converts 4 basic or Team-Up tiles to Red. Improves 3 friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 104, reduces 2 enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 104. (Max level 416/416)
  • Level 3: Converts 5 basic or Team-Up tiles to Red. Improves 3 friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 130, reduces 2 enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 130. (Max level 520/520)
  • Level 4: Converts 6 basic or Team-Up tiles to Red. Improves 3 friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 130, reduces 2 enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 130. (Max level 520/520)
  • Level 5: Converts 7 basic or Team-Up tiles to Red. Improves 3 friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 156, reduces 2 enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 130. (Max level 624/520)

NEW:
Psychic Rapport - 7  AP
Jean's telepathy creates an intense bond with those she cares about. Convert 3 random basic or Team-Up tiles to Red.

(PASSIVE) On a Match-5, improve 3 random friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 169 or reduce 1 random enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tile by 169 (to a min. of 1). (Max level 678/678)
  • Level 2: Converts 4 basic or Team-Up tiles to Red. Improves 3 friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 169, reduces 2 enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 169. (Max level 678/678)
  • Level 3: Converts 5 basic or Team-Up tiles to Red. Improves 3 friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 211, reduces 2 enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 211. (Max level 848/848)
  • Level 4: Converts 6 basic or Team-Up tiles to Red. Improves 3 friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 211, reduces 2 enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 211. (Max level 848/848)
  • Level 5: Converts 7 basic or Team-Up tiles to Red. Improves 3 friendly Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 254, reduces 2 enemy Strike, Attack, or Protect tiles by 211. (Max level 1017/848)
This power got a large buff to the Passive, increasing the effectiveness of the improvement and reduction effects by about 65%. With these changes, this allows Jean to heavily mute the prowess of defensive characters like Beta Ray Bill without necessarily having to destroy or eliminate those tiles (which would just give Bill more AP).

OLD:
Psychic Flames - 9  AP
Jean unleashes the Phoenix Force on her enemies, but begins to lose her sense of self in its elemental power. Deals 1295 damage and creates 2 strength 104 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 2 strength 259 Black enemy Attack tiles. (Max level 5205 damage, strength 416/1041 tiles)
  • Level 2: Deals 1683 damage. (Max level 6766 damage, strength 416/1041 tiles)
  • Level 3: Creates 3 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 3 Black enemy Attack tiles.
  • Level 4: Deals 2202 damage. (Max level 8849 damage, strength 416/1041 tiles)
  • Level 5: Creates 4 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 4 strength 324 Black enemy Attack tiles. (Max level 8849 damage, strength 416/1301 tiles)
NEW:
Psychic Flames - 8  AP
Jean unleashes the Phoenix Force on her enemies, but begins to lose her sense of self in its elemental power. Deals 2320 damage and creates 2 strength 173 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 2 strength 207 Black enemy Attack tiles. (Max level 9327 damage, strength 695/832 tiles)
  • Level 2: Deals 2742 damage. (Max level 11023 damage, strength 695/832 tiles)
  • Level 3: Creates 3 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 3 Black enemy Attack tiles.
  • Level 4: Deals 3585 damage. (Max level 14414 damage, strength 695/832 tiles)
  • Level 5: Deals 4007 damage. Creates 4 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 4 Black enemy Attack tiles. (Max level 16110 damage, strength 695/832 tiles)

Another ability that has had its AP cost changed, but losing none of its power while doing so. As a matter of fact, the base damage is almost doubled while the strength of tiles have also been improved in the process. It also decreases the downside creation of enemy tiles, making it a better candidate for a 5 point power versus dealing with the extra 30% bump that the tiles got previously.

These increases to Jean's powers should help her become more of a threat on the battlefield since the years of her original release. She was meant to be a high damage enemy that you avoid at your own peril, especially if you down her before dealing with her teammates first. These changes are aimed at rekindling that feeling of dread you get when you aren't paying attention and miss that Countdown tile on her Green triggering, thus heralding the return of the Phoenix. This rebalance is scheduled to go Live on the normal morning server update on 1/13, so look forward to a rekindling of space bird flames on Thursday!

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Comments

  • SnowcaTT
    SnowcaTT Posts: 3,487 Chairperson of the Boards
    IceIX said:

    This power got a large buff to the Passive, increasing the effectiveness of the improvement and reduction effects by about 65%. With these changes, this allows Jean to heavily mute the prowess of defensive characters like Beta Ray Bill without necessarily having to destroy or eliminate those tiles (which would just give Bill more AP).

    Excellent to see old characters that have long-since been outclassed to get a bit of a fix. Phoenix was always one that Dayv (miss you dino-dude) used to point to as a blip on the damage scale over 5* release time chart.

    Hopefully more fixes in store.....like one that would stop that problem of Beta Ray Bill getting more AP from simple tile destruction. Maybe as simple as only when tiles are matched.

  • dianetics
    dianetics Posts: 1,656 Chairperson of the Boards
    Good to see her getting a slight buff, but still she is not coming into the field of playable characters.
  • JHawkInc
    JHawkInc Posts: 2,605 Chairperson of the Boards
    Looking forward to putting this to work, seeing how she measures up. Always appreciate rebalancing older characters. Especially Phoenix, because, while she was never just straight up busted, she has definitely been our benchmark for characters who have fallen behind the curve.
  • HoundofShadow
    HoundofShadow Posts: 8,004 Chairperson of the Boards
    This is a nice surprise to kick off the new year. My JG is still a long way from being champed. I assume she will be in the same store as the new 5*?
  • Bzhai
    Bzhai Posts: 516 Critical Contributor
    This is a good choice to kickoff hopefully more updates. A lot of classics like Hawkeye, Blackbolt and Silver Surfer work well mechanically and just need their numbers adjusted. 

    Hope they go through this list first before tackling the more problematic ones.
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited January 2022
    Nice buff, though she won't be anywhere near the meta. The health and match damage are the probably the most important changes. The red is now up near 2k/ap at lvl 450, which is respectable. But there are still many better reds so I doubt it will be enough to make her useful outside of boost weeks.
    I wonder what the calculus is for demi on these rebalances. They have to be *something* or it's a total waste of dev time. But if they make a 5* from 2015 into a meta powerhouse, won't a lot of newer players gripe about how hard she is to cover?
    This should have been combined with a rollback on the always-unnecessary OML nerf. Would be fun to see some phoenix/OML teams in the wild again. And neither would be OP or even especially good in the current game.
  • Roland113
    Roland113 Posts: 298 Mover and Shaker
    Well . . . I know who's going to get a little ISO after waiting for probably six years? 

    Jean was my first five star.  I got two covers for her and leveled her up to Level 285 years ago, before I knew that I shouldn't level up my Five Stars.  So, Jean has been sitting at level 285 forever, she easily gets the record for the longest character that hasn't been touched.  There was a time when my go to team of my three best cards were 5* Jean Gray, 2* Captain Marvel and 2* Mags, I'd run that team all the time.  Now, I've got her at 8 covers and it sounds like its time to bump her up again.

    I'll be honest, I'm kind of excited about this rebalance from a purely nostalgic standpoint.
  • TheEyeDoctorsWife
    TheEyeDoctorsWife Posts: 829 Critical Contributor
    SnowcaTT said:
    IceIX said:

    This power got a large buff to the Passive, increasing the effectiveness of the improvement and reduction effects by about 65%. With these changes, this allows Jean to heavily mute the prowess of defensive characters like Beta Ray Bill without necessarily having to destroy or eliminate those tiles (which would just give Bill more AP).

    Excellent to see old characters that have long-since been outclassed to get a bit of a fix. Phoenix was always one that Dayv (miss you dino-dude) used to point to as a blip on the damage scale over 5* release time chart.

    Hopefully more fixes in store.....like one that would stop that problem of Beta Ray Bill getting more AP from simple tile destruction. Maybe as simple as only when tiles are matched.

    Any rebalance to BRB will have 90% of  the clones going nova here . ( I would love it just for the reaction)
  • Captain_Trips88
    Captain_Trips88 Posts: 268 Mover and Shaker
    This is excellent news, love the simplicity of just bringing the figures more in line with current 5*

    It isn't going to change the meta, but it doesn't have too! she will get a run out during boost week for the nostalgia
  • Vhailorx
    Vhailorx Posts: 6,085 Chairperson of the Boards
    TheEyeDoctorsWife said:
    SnowcaTT said:
    IceIX said:

    This power got a large buff to the Passive, increasing the effectiveness of the improvement and reduction effects by about 65%. With these changes, this allows Jean to heavily mute the prowess of defensive characters like Beta Ray Bill without necessarily having to destroy or eliminate those tiles (which would just give Bill more AP).

    Excellent to see old characters that have long-since been outclassed to get a bit of a fix. Phoenix was always one that Dayv (miss you dino-dude) used to point to as a blip on the damage scale over 5* release time chart.

    Hopefully more fixes in store.....like one that would stop that problem of Beta Ray Bill getting more AP from simple tile destruction. Maybe as simple as only when tiles are matched.

    Any rebalance to BRB will have 90% of  the clones going nova here . ( I would love it just for the reaction)

    Well, that particular nerf to brb, while seemingly small, would basically turn him into little more than a protect tile spammer. I don't think it would be a great change for the game.  Bill is very good but not overwhelmingly so right now, and there are plenty of ways to play around him.
  • y4747
    y4747 Posts: 166 Tile Toppler
    every boosted week, the devs can see which boosted 5 was used least by those that have them champed, and that's a good place to start with future rebalance buffs.

    if i rather use my 455 meta toon over a 550, that probably says that one could use some help.

    goblin seems like a great candidate next (for this style of numbers-only buff) - great mechanics, just poop numbers at this stage of the game's life.
  • bbigler
    bbigler Posts: 2,111 Chairperson of the Boards
    It would be awesome to rework Banner and Widow to work really well together. Widow could have a big hit while hurting a chosen teammate like Banner, then Banner goes into Hulk mode and hurts everyone, but then Natasha can calm him down when it’s over. 

    Also, rework Wasp and introduce a 5* Antwan to work well together. They could spam swarm tiles which should mess up the strategy of any team (stealing enemy specials, board shake and color manipulation). 
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,999 Chairperson of the Boards
    Yeah, I'm just not sure what this accomplishes.  She gets better, but goes from low tier 2 to mid/low tier 2.  She'll be usable when boosted, but she was already fairly close to usable when boosted.

    It's...fine, but it's nothing to get excited about.  If they want to do these kinds of small buffs they should do them in batches.  Just give all the old 5* a 25% health/match damage increase across the board, and drop all the AP costs by 1.

    Has anyone seen Robbie Reyes or Jockjaw since those buffs?
  • ThaRoadWarrior
    ThaRoadWarrior Posts: 9,471 Chairperson of the Boards
    Did the strike value go down on her red or am I reading it wrong? I'm definitely in favor of this attempt at not monkeying with the design, just the values. Mine isn't champed yet, but I'm more interested in queing her up once I get my remedial Ultron covers at some point.

    Psychic Flames - 9  AP
    Jean unleashes the Phoenix Force on her enemies, but begins to lose her sense of self in its elemental power. Deals 1295 damage and creates 2 strength 104 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 2 strength 259 Black enemy Attack tiles. (Max level 5205 damage, strength 416/1041 tiles)
    • Level 2: Deals 1683 damage. (Max level 6766 damage, strength 416/1041 tiles)
    • Level 3: Creates 3 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 3 Black enemy Attack tiles.
    • Level 4: Deals 2202 damage. (Max level 8849 damage, strength 416/1041 tiles)
    • Level 5: Creates 4 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 4 strength 324 Black enemy Attack tiles. (Max level 8849 damage, strength 416/1301 tiles)
    NEW:
    Psychic Flames - 8  AP
    Jean unleashes the Phoenix Force on her enemies, but begins to lose her sense of self in its elemental power. Deals 2320 damage and creates 2 strength 173 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 2 strength 207 Black enemy Attack tiles. (Max level 9327 damage, strength 695/832 tiles)
    • Level 2: Deals 2742 damage. (Max level 11023 damage, strength 695/832 tiles)
    • Level 3: Creates 3 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 3 Black enemy Attack tiles.
    • Level 4: Deals 3585 damage. (Max level 14414 damage, strength 695/832 tiles)
    • Level 5: Deals 4007 damage. Creates 4 Red Strike tiles. If there are 5 or more friendly special tiles, creates 4 Black enemy Attack tiles. (Max level 16110 damage, strength 695/832 tiles)

  • Captain_Trips88
    Captain_Trips88 Posts: 268 Mover and Shaker
    Her strike tiles are increased, enemy strike tiles are decreased compared to old version. It doesn't read great though
  • Tiger_Wong
    Tiger_Wong Posts: 1,065 Chairperson of the Boards
    I’m all for this change. Can’t wait to run her with Sersi after I champ her (presently at 4/3/3). Jean was always good to team with IHulk but her powers had no bite. Hopefully this will add to it. 

    BSSM up next? Please?
  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 5,999 Chairperson of the Boards
    Captain_Trips88 said:
    Her strike tiles are increased, enemy strike tiles are decreased compared to old version. It doesn't read great though
    Yeah, why exactly does her red power (which is...fine but a million miles from a good 5* power) still need to have that enemy attack-tile downside attached to it? 

    Would it really be overpowered if she could double cast her red with no consequences?

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