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

HoundofShadow

It's due to to thematic purpose. Remember, the developers choose three traits of the characters and translate it into in-game mechanics most of the time. They explained the rationale for creating enemy attack tiles in their blog before. 

bbigler

The purpose of rebalancing a character is to make them more playable, meaning actually being chosen over other characters you have. To make that happen, they would need to be buffed to the level of the top tier. But if D3 did that, some people would rejoice while many would complain (I think). But the complaints could be addressed by releasing them in a token store….but not everyone hoards CP for an unknown future token store. 

I think the better option is simply buffing them to the level of “good when boosted”, but average otherwise. Nobody feels like they’re missing out but the character is usable now and then. 

But….. if all 5*s were just average, then there’s nothing exciting to chase after. The game would be boring. So, they release meta breaking 5*s every now and then to keep things interesting, but that process also creates power creep. This power creep also allows new players to compete with old ones. But really old players (or whales) with level 550’s should always have an advantage over new players. 

PorkBelly

This is good.  I’d love to see this as a continuing trend for older 5* characters.

MegaBee

Good trend here that I would love to see continue.

entrailbucket

HoundofShadow said:

It's due to to thematic purpose. Remember, the developers choose three traits of the characters and translate it into in-game mechanics most of the time. They explained the rationale for creating enemy attack tiles in their blog before. 

That's cool, except that they are completely in control of which parts of the characters' theme they choose to implement or ignore and how they interpret them.

Borstock

This is a fairly tame boost in that it corrects the obvious problems without changing the metas or basic mechanics specific to the character getting the rebalance.

I would've liked more, but I'm thinking the idea behind the 5* rebalances will be to take characters that weren't even playable boosted and bringing them into the playable when boosted category. I think that was accomplished with Ghost Rider and I think it was accomplished here, too. So, overall, seems like a win.

entrailbucket

bbigler said:

The purpose of rebalancing a character is to make them more playable, meaning actually being chosen over other characters you have. To make that happen, they would need to be buffed to the level of the top tier. But if D3 did that, some people would rejoice while many would complain (I think). But the complaints could be addressed by releasing them in a token store….but not everyone hoards CP for an unknown future token store. 

I think the better option is simply buffing them to the level of “good when boosted”, but average otherwise. Nobody feels like they’re missing out but the character is usable now and then. 

But….. if all 5*s were just average, then there’s nothing exciting to chase after. The game would be boring. So, they release meta breaking 5*s every now and then to keep things interesting, but that process also creates power creep. This power creep also allows new players to compete with old ones. But really old players (or whales) with level 550’s should always have an advantage over new players. 

I understand what you're saying here, and what you're saying was absolutely true...before about 35 weeks ago.

The 5* boosts completely changed how the game works.  If all 5* were completely average, then every week the best characters are the 4 boosted characters, and they totally outclass everyone else.  They don't have to release "chase" characters to shake up the metagame, because the metagame changes every week.

Instead, on many weeks, the best characters are decidedly *not* the 4 boosted characters.  Frequently, the boosted characters have no impact whatsoever, and the best characters are still the "meta" characters (even with the boosted guys getting +100 levels over them).  In most cases there's no need to ever use the boosted characters -- you can keep using the same overpowered guys every week and do just fine.


Do these recent numbers buffs help?  Maybe, but I don't understand what the goal is.  If they're trying to increase usage then I think they're targeting the wrong characters.  For some reason they're starting closer to the middle than at the bottom.  There are plenty of 5* much worse than Phoenix and Ghost Rider, that are never usable even when boosted.

ThaRoadWarrior

I like this one better than Ghost Rider - her kit was left intact, just made cheaper and stronger. Ghost Rider lost his AP self-battery capability, and it disrupted the rest of his loadout in a fundamental way.

Bad

IceIX said:

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).  

That phrase explicity says that there will be more rebalances. (And without being special events like this one).
I think this is only positive. 
A lot more health, a lot more match damage, less AP costs and damage adjust, plus her ressurection, actually makes for a really decent character to use.
It changes her to being a suicide option to a decent defensive one. That is a lot, and if god boosted, she could actually be good. 
We are pulling for classics on the special store along with new ones.
With this rebalance I wouldn't feel bad if pulling and getting a Phoenix cover.

Davidk777

Nice numbers but I also was hoping they was going to change her resurrection. Since she can only come back 1 time per match, unlike a Loki who could come back multiple times per match.

Hopefully they did change it and didn't say anything about it. Will test it out here soon. I can see a Jean Gray and Scott Summer team working well together. 

entrailbucket

Davidk777 said:

Nice numbers but I also was hoping they was going to change her resurrection. Since she can only come back 1 time per match, unlike a Loki who could come back multiple times per match.

Hopefully they did change it and didn't say anything about it. Will test it out here soon. I can see a Jean Gray and Scott Summer team working well together. 

It'd still just be one time per match.  After the first resurrection, her green power changes from resurrection to the AoE power.

Davidk777

That's right silly me, haven't played her in while. Thanks. @entrailbucket

turbomoose

So pleased to see this , Jean was one of my first to be champed and I was always disappointed with match damage 

Tiger_Wong

She’ll have the strongest green match damage in the game. REALLY looking forward to running her with Sersi and Valkyrie. Put Sersi’s purple on black, blue or yellow. Possible winfinite with jean’s purple and Sersi’s green. 

BlackBoltRocks

Tiger_Wong said:

She’ll have the strongest green match damage in the game.

Ghost Rider says hi.

Glockoma

KGB said:

I really wish they'd fortified her revival CD (even if it wasn't till 4 or 5 covers) since it so often gets matched away. Newer characters like Immortal Hulk and Ikaris get to revive with out the need for a vulnerable CD.

KGB

This, all day long @IceIX

I love the numbers buff. So many of the old characters will benefit from just this. But the essence of her biggest issue when you actually utilize her (all things considered “equal” now) is the fact that she propagates red into her red tiles.

I really don’t know how much time you all can devote to giving these rebalances a look, but from what was explained in another thread, one has to find the ‘extra’ time to devote to such low priorities. With such valuable time, I would hope you can give this one small detail another look.

I believe most of us, especially the ones that have intimate knowledge of playing with this character since her release will advocate that if her 1-turn cd tile were fortified, her chances of reviving and seeing that payoff come to fruition would increase dramatically.

Her design was before the days of mechanics that spawn special tiles on off-power colors (e.g. Jessica Jones Red and beyond). But this would be the one thing that truly would propel her to more use than just the “flavor of the week” and bring ‘the dread’ back in to accidentally wiping her out first.

Edit: (Of course I say this with a bit of dramatization. I have to agree with many posters before me suggesting that these rebalances are to get some usage numbers up and not to shake the met. She will be propelled to usable, even if just healthpack saver that is somewhat reliable.)

Daredevil217

This is AWESOME. Thank you all so much! I’ve always liked Jean’s kit mechanically as I like true healers that tank, tile spammers, and batteries that flood the board, but playing her was a legit liability. This will go a long way in making her a Force (see what I did there?) especially on her boost weeks.

Also, I hope you aren’t being too swayed by the “this doesn’t make a difference” / “meta or bust” crowd too heavily. The folks who just play the meta clearly aren’t who this is for, and understand that there are many who appreciate what in my mind is a positive change. Many posters have asked for these straight numbers buffs to older characters and I get why you don’t just do this across the board. 1) it’s power creep so aside from outliers, some are in more need of work than others. 2) rolling out one at a time makes it more special. I also love the design insight.

As a champ em all guy, this buffing of left behind toons is probably my biggest ask (aside from a few more Saved Team slots), so again thank you. Between these upcoming boosts and the recent 5* god boosts it’s clear you all are incentivizing having a broad roster, which I love and hope increases  revenue (as a person who wants to see this game stick around). 

The OP suggests that this is the “first” of the year and I’m really hoping this is a regular thing, and if not regular, am still excited for the others you have in store!

Tony_Foot

9 covers on my Jean but won’t chase covers for a numbers boost. Good to see them buffing like this, I much prefer this to making her suddenly meta and having you split focus between latest and a rework out of left field. Which tbh if I ran the game I would do and bleed your hoards dry!

Can we have old gambit back now please? 1.0 or 2.0 I’m not fussed which.

DAZ0273

Seems like a nice buff that doesn't shake things up too much but now makes her more viable.

If we are doing the old guys when we get to Iron Man can I humbly suggest that he needs more than just a numbers boost - if we can re-work that red power to make it less reliant on team makeup that would be super!

Srheer0

Thank you for doing this. Hopefully you manage to rebalance (buff) 1 or more of the weaker 5stars a month