Venomous said: Can we just take a moment to appreciate her kit honestly? I know I'm not really like most players but the thing I am noticing from the posts from the thread is just how versatile she is. So many messages regarding 4 stars who are interesting that the forums wish were a 5 star instead. She isn't exactly meta or super strong, but her kit is very interesting. Unlike a lot of 5 stars, she seems very good at doing multiple things being tile buffing, healing, or just raw damage. Even her increased match damage on her Red isn't as bad as people think it is. It's a flat rate instead of a percentage. This means that even when she makes matches, she doesn't focus in, she is still doing a ton of damage. Colossus and Shang Chi are both super strong yes, but them both being a percentage means their colors that aren't their own don't do much more damage. She isn't meta and she isn't super strong, but honestly her kit is very interesting, and I sure would love to try her. Imagine all the possible synergies she could have.
Bzhai said: Venomous said: Can we just take a moment to appreciate her kit honestly? I know I'm not really like most players but the thing I am noticing from the posts from the thread is just how versatile she is. So many messages regarding 4 stars who are interesting that the forums wish were a 5 star instead. She isn't exactly meta or super strong, but her kit is very interesting. Unlike a lot of 5 stars, she seems very good at doing multiple things being tile buffing, healing, or just raw damage. Even her increased match damage on her Red isn't as bad as people think it is. It's a flat rate instead of a percentage. This means that even when she makes matches, she doesn't focus in, she is still doing a ton of damage. Colossus and Shang Chi are both super strong yes, but them both being a percentage means their colors that aren't their own don't do much more damage. She isn't meta and she isn't super strong, but honestly her kit is very interesting, and I sure would love to try her. Imagine all the possible synergies she could have. She reminds me of Super Skrull but more team oriented. They're trying really hard to make tactical characters with flexible playstyles. Most of them end up with bloated AP cost (Cyclops and Elektra) or powers that contradict each other (Magneto).
DAZ0273 said: Happy to have Crystal in the game and her powers look really interesting and fun. She seems the best 5 of the recent lot to me.
Vhailorx said: DAZ0273 said: Happy to have Crystal in the game and her powers look really interesting and fun. She seems the best 5 of the recent lot to me. I dunno, I think sersi has a better "complicated-support-character" kit and big wheel has a better "one-trick-pony" kit where all he does is boardshake-for-damage, but he does it pretty well.Crystal strikes me more as a jack of all trades character where her kit is diverse, but also has a lower ceiling (presumably to avoid busting whatever power budget system the use to design character). And over many long years of experience with mpq, I have learned to value high ceilings (i.e., as between three very versatile characters that can provide a little bit of whatever you might need, or 3 one-trick-pony characters that have really good tricks, the latter will almost always do better. Especially if you pick good synergies.)
Daniel2121 said: Kinda bummed that out of the other Inhumans, she seems to have decent synergy with Black Bolt and that's it.Maybe Lockjaw (another charged tile specialist) but I'm not sure on that. Then again BB is the only other 5* Inhuman yet.
bbigler said: I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target. But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target. My mistake there, I did misread your thought there.I also think you misunderstand Crystal: I do understand her, I just don't value her much.- she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time. Agreed, I only compared her to SC because that is perhaps the best character in the game, certainly top 3 right now. I could compare her to every character that I believe is better in 5* than her, and it would easily be 10+ characters without even thinking for a minute. I probably should have used 5Thor as a better comparison I admit. I have never found small, non-permanent incremental healing to ever be any good in this game, especially when it is conditional like hers. They have used it in several characters and I never once have had it be a significant factor in a match. Permanent healing on a large scale (or damage prevention) is what is important (ie Shang Chi, Okoye, Colossus, etc). Otherwise burst healing is nearly useless.- she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons. Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. AP generation drives victory in this game and passive healing is not a defensive deterrent.- her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions. A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match. Yes conditionally it can be good, hence why I feel she is ok as a buffer but not as good as some other tile buffing characters.- her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. Average on par with 5Thor, who I consider is average as an AoE dealer in today's environment (it is better than his slightly since it is cheaper in AP cost overall).- her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good Yes it is, no argument there but not a primary reason to use her.- her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are I meant to be.
BlackBoltRocks said: Looking at her in-game text, her Green passive defaults to Fire. This is really nice, and makes her great with characters like Apocalypse and Shang right from the get-go.
Warbringa said: bbigler said: I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target. But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target. My mistake there, I did misread your thought there.I also think you misunderstand Crystal: I do understand her, I just don't value her much.- she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time. Agreed, I only compared her to SC because that is perhaps the best character in the game, certainly top 3 right now. I could compare her to every character that I believe is better in 5* than her, and it would easily be 10+ characters without even thinking for a minute. I probably should have used 5Thor as a better comparison I admit. I have never found small, non-permanent incremental healing to ever be any good in this game, especially when it is conditional like hers. They have used it in several characters and I never once have had it be a significant factor in a match. Permanent healing on a large scale (or damage prevention) is what is important (ie Shang Chi, Okoye, Colossus, etc). Otherwise burst healing is nearly useless.- she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons. Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. AP generation drives victory in this game and passive healing is not a defensive deterrent.- her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions. A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match. Yes conditionally it can be good, hence why I feel she is ok as a buffer but not as good as some other tile buffing characters.- her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. Average on par with 5Thor, who I consider is average as an AoE dealer in today's environment (it is better than his slightly since it is cheaper in AP cost overall).- her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good Yes it is, no argument there but not a primary reason to use her.- her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are I meant to be. I responded in italics and aren't these forums made for judging characters, hence discussion? I admit I could be wrong and she is awesome, but I have seen many characters like her that try to do a bit of everything and they have generally, always not be useful to me, nor considered meta.I think she is good, not meta, and can do a lot of things, just none of them great. My play preference is to have a character that does something great, even if it is limited. That is what defines really good characters in this game vs. just good characters.
bbigler said: BlackBoltRocks said: Looking at her in-game text, her Green passive defaults to Fire. This is really nice, and makes her great with characters like Apocalypse and Shang right from the get-go. You’re right! I see that too. Very awesome for Shang, Okoye or Apoc or if you want to do an Echo+MODOK winfinite. This also means that it will work on defense too. That’s 2 strong passives to deal with.
bbigler said: Warbringa said: bbigler said: I think you misunderstood me. I was saying that Shang is easy on defense; so if you climb with him, you’re a PVP target. But if you combine Shang with Crystal (who has a very defensive passive), then your team is less of a target. My mistake there, I did misread your thought there.I also think you misunderstand Crystal: I do understand her, I just don't value her much.- she’s not meant to deal high match damage, so it’s pointless to compare her to Shang; her match dmg increase is to make her tank most colors in case you want to play her defensively by making frequent blue matches to heal her 4K each time. Agreed, I only compared her to SC because that is perhaps the best character in the game, certainly top 3 right now. I could compare her to every character that I believe is better in 5* than her, and it would easily be 10+ characters without even thinking for a minute. I probably should have used 5Thor as a better comparison I admit. I have never found small, non-permanent incremental healing to ever be any good in this game, especially when it is conditional like hers. They have used it in several characters and I never once have had it be a significant factor in a match. Permanent healing on a large scale (or damage prevention) is what is important (ie Shang Chi, Okoye, Colossus, etc). Otherwise burst healing is nearly useless.- she’s not meant to be a great AP generator, so it’s pointless to make those comparisons. Her yellow passive is meant to be a big defensive deterrent, which sometimes helps on offense. AP generation drives victory in this game and passive healing is not a defensive deterrent.- her tile buffing can be exponential under the right conditions. A single special can be nearly doubled in strength with each green match. Yes conditionally it can be good, hence why I feel she is ok as a buffer but not as good as some other tile buffing characters.- her green AOE actually has very good damage output, being 3,315 per AP. Average on par with 5Thor, who I consider is average as an AoE dealer in today's environment (it is better than his slightly since it is cheaper in AP cost overall).- her extra dmg on red matches is just simply good Yes it is, no argument there but not a primary reason to use her.- her red power is not meant to be a nuke, but a decent hit that allows her to start tanking or having specials to buff Too many times people judge a character by what they want them to be instead of what they are I meant to be. I responded in italics and aren't these forums made for judging characters, hence discussion? I admit I could be wrong and she is awesome, but I have seen many characters like her that try to do a bit of everything and they have generally, always not be useful to me, nor considered meta.I think she is good, not meta, and can do a lot of things, just none of them great. My play preference is to have a character that does something great, even if it is limited. That is what defines really good characters in this game vs. just good characters. Haven’t you played against Medusa before where she would constantly burst heal the team making it impossible to down anyone? I’ve lost matches that way. Add in Mr Fantastic and it gets really bad. Let’s say you hit someone for 10K and then get a cascade match. That simple cascade could trigger Crystal’s burst team healing 3 times, undoing the damage you just did, plus damage done previously to others. So, don’t underestimate the power of burst healing on defense (she is like Medusa in 5* land).