MPQ Developer Q&A January 2024 (ANSWERS)

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MPQBlaine
MPQBlaine ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 127 Tile Toppler
edited 9 February 2024, 23:38 in MPQ General Discussion

We've got some answers here for you to your recent questions for the DEVs!

  1. @djy [Official Forums]
    Question: Are we going to see a 5-Star Dr Strange rebalance? This was the winner of the rebalance poll last fall.

    Answer: Yes! His balance just went live alongside one of our new favorite costumes!
  2. @skittledaddy [Discord]
    Question: Except for Civil War, all of the Boss Events are against villains. Any possibility that we could get some Boss Events against heroes? The switch-up could be fun, plus then you can select the Villain affiliation for "Heroic"/"Villainous" version.

    Answer: Devpool: This would be fun to do, especially since we've seen several characters switch sides or operate in that anti-hero / anti-villain space. Normally when we think of bosses our heads definitely go to the "big-bads" but this message has me thinking we should broaden the scope of this. Thanks!
  3. @dante_the_collie [Discord]
    Question: With the final batch of champions 2.0 release and now everyone being able to ascend, do you guys have plans on update the deadpool's daily quest to accommodate the fact now all characters can go beyond their respected star levels?

    Answer: With the dust settling on Champs 2.0 we're looking at EVERYTHING. When releasing a feature like that, you have plans for how it will go...and then reality begs to differ sometimes (most of the time). We're keeping an eye on how everything shapes up and plan to make edits where they are needed (and yes we have our eyes on DDQ).
  4. @UnityGamer [Official Forums]
    Question: Certain players like myself would love to create new moves for characters. Have you considered doing a contest where fans can submit move ideas for pre-existing or up and coming characters?

    Answer: We love how active our community is around all aspects of MPQ and yes, those kinds of community activities have definitely come across our table as our team brainstorms how to create fun activites for players outside of the game. Unfortunately just due to the sheer nature of cadence of character releases and the rigorous approvals that are required, it's just not something that we've got the workflow to implement.
  5. @Hammer3001 [Official Forums]
    Question: Any chance of Cosmic Ghost Rider, Colossus (Juggernaut), Terrax the Tamer, Crimson Dynamo?

    Answer: Devpool: Get out of my head! These are all great characters, Crimson Dynamo has been on the "maybe this year" list for a couple years now, and Cosmic Ghost Rider is currently in my personal top 5 faves list. Basically, never say never!
  6. ReturnalShadow [Reddit]
    Question: SCL 10 PvEs have become easy mode with boosted 5-stars and power creeps. When would ascended characters with (R5) supports (and immunity to stun/away/airborne) be appearing as enemies?

    Answer: We recognize that changes in the game (like Champs 2.0 and Supports) stand to tip the balance of the game. As for power creep, while we believe the current team has done a great job of hampering that a great deal, there are some obvious historic cases (one of the reasons why rebalances are so crucial these days). We'll be looking at SCL 10 modifications (and edits everywhere) but we currently don't have a timeline for it.
  7. @ElReyFelix [Official Forums]
    Question: When will you guys fix character powers which aren't working as intended when the character is ascended? I.e. the power gets worse when the character is ascended or leveled up? E.g., 3* Magneto's blue power, among many examples

    Answer: It's been stated in a few areas, but leveling up a character from one tier to the next isn't supposed to represent a steady rise in their power. It's just not as simple as that. As for powers that aren't working as intended, we're logging bugs and treating them as we and our players find them.
  8. @Carnifex [Official Forums]
    Question: Is it possible to have a toggle to turn off PVE story text before the node starts? I'm sure no one still reads the story every time a PVE cycles round now? Apologies if this has been asked before!

    Answer: We're hoping for some streamlining to enter the game this year, which may include this story text. Right now the focus is on doing things like increasing the speed of ability banners and such, but we'll take note of this.
  9. @Gonz2000 [Discord]
    Question: Will the possibility of applying for retro rewards on ascended characters continue, thus ascending especially 4 stars have no risk at all in this regard?

    Answer: IceIX: This was addressed just recently with the release of Victor Mancha and the update to rewards so that Gertrude Yorkes, who now feeds into Victor Mancha (Victorious), so that the Ascended version of Gertrude gains rewards for Victor as well for 7 days post-release. This should ameliorate that risk in general!
  10. Discord Khruk (gawkhruk), Reddit Khruk [Reddit]
    Question: Why the last perk of "Stepford Cuckoos" support item doesn't work for 5* Emma?

    Answer: Not sure that's functioning as intended - we'll take a look!
  11. @DJ47057 [Official Forums]
    Question: Are there thoughts about daily offers for support-shards similar to character-shards?

    Answer: You can expect to see some of these, yes!
  12. @Pwuz [Discord]
    Question: The Original Puzzle Quest has some additional puzzles that simply required clearing the entire board of a set series of tiles. Any consideration of doing something similar next Quandary or for some other puzzley event?

    Answer: Something we're working on is a set of tools that allow for us to basically play around with game modes like this. It's part of a big Puzzle Ops overhaul that we're working on. Short answer is yes, we'd love to do this!
  13. @DAZ0273 [Official Forums]
    Question: Any thoughts to finally adding a 5* Node to Deadpool Daily Quest now you guys are selling 450 1? You could make room by combining the two 2 nodes?

    Answer: Although not our highest priority, looking at ways to grow the DDQ alongside the player community is totally a thing.
  14. @entrailbucket [Official Forums]
    Question: In high end PvP, the metagame is basically 100% Mighty Thor now. What do her usage/winrate numbers look like from your side, are you watching her, and/or is she on a list to get rebalanced anytime soon?

    Answer: Mighty Thor is in the top 10 as far as character usage is concerned. As for win rate, they are in the top 3. The character is talked about in conversations concerning balance in general (though it should be said that there are many avenues we consider ahead of a rebalance).
  15. @Godzillafan67 [Official Forums]
    Question: For many, the ISO drought has worsened as we’re no longer selling 1* covers or flipping maxed 2s. Can you offer a glimmer of hope on *WHEN the ISO debt situation will be addressed?

    Answer: Devpool: As vague as it is, my answer is currently "probably this year." I say probably because of a number of variables involved. The intent is to release a feature in the game this year that stands a good chance of giving players the agency to focus on ISO as a reward. It's a different approach than injecting ISO into the economy at large (which we don't really think is the correct solution since different players are at different stages of play in the game). There are obstacles that might prevent this feature from going live, and there is always the chance that it isn't used as intended by the player base. Regardless, we're actively working to give players the tools to overcome ISO scarcity.
  16. @Tony Foot [Official Forums]
    Question: As as T100 to 200 Player I don’t earn many standard tokens compared to for example heroics. Can you add the standard token reward to the higher placings please?

    Answer: Will consider this in our overall economic rebalancing plans; thank you!
  17. @Zhreveya [Official Forums]
    Question: Has there been any consideration to do away with the mechanic of countdown tiles overwriting trap tiles? I feel it's overstayed it's welcome now and needs to be removed so as not to unfairly penalize trap laying characters.

    Answer: Devpool: I sort of think that trap tiles just need some love and consideration. There are some cool things that can be done there. Just need some time to dedicate to them.
  18. @Glockoma [Official Forums]
    Question: Chasm’s rebalance has left another meta character to hover around “niche” to “trash” tier. Outside of quelling overuse and pushback since his release, what was the intended purpose of his new diametrically opposing kit? Given his status,any thoughts?

    Answer: While no longer an auto-include in every lineup, Chasm is still in the top 20 of characters used with performance stats to match. Chasm has always been a character about conflict. Strong capabilities tempered by drawbacks. In the grand scheme of things, we believe that the rebalance was successful in making Chasm part of the player's arsenal, and not the entire arsenal itself.
  19. @CASSIDYFROST [Official Forums]
    Question: Could you give an explanation and/or justification for your choice and why you want to add each of the characters chosen for this year's vote? And rooting for Sebastian Shaw, Boom Boom and Toad to win and come to the game!

    Answer: The list is chosen from a couple of sources, but mostly from the surveys we put out from time to time and other anecdotal evidence we pick up throughout the year. So when we put out a survey with a line like "Who would you like to see next?", know that we are actually actively listening to that. Along with that listing, we also usually toss a couple wild cards in there as well (like Kid Colt this year) and a return or two from previous polls to see how they run. Which, this time around, resulted in Black King hitting it big!
  20. @StrangeWitch [Official Forums]
    Question: What can we expect from the next costumes to be launched this year? Do you have a list ready, like the character launches, or does it just depend on your taste? And will we have more original costumes for the game too?

    Answer: Devpool: We have a list for the entire year. Sometimes we can add an additional slot or have to pivot for various reasons. We won't go deep into the details as that would give too much away, but buckle up. There's some seriously cool stuff coming out this year!
  21. @CarnageWing [Official Forums]
    Question: X-23, Daken and now Gabby, Logan's children are all almost complete in the game, as it should be, now only Jimmy Hudson/Poison is missing, we'll have that too, right? (Maybe even Raze...)

    Answer: IceIX: Can certainly look into it. Just like leaving the Phoenix Five or the Four Horseman unfinished feels weird, it also DOES feel strange to have most but not quite all of Logan's family hanging out.
  22. @phillsam [Official Forums]
    Question: As a person who was only able to use Facebook login to play (Android user and login with GooglePlay also has a lot of flaws), I'll kind of be left without a way to play. Until March can you put a new way of login to game in addition to existing ones?

    Answer: I'm curious what flaws your referring to with GooglePlay. Most modern games these days leverage Apple and Google signons for account management, and migrating is important for MPQ in the long run. We'll be looking to help our players out along the way, so if anything is amiss just let us know.
  23. @LOKI2355  [Official Forums]
    Question: Are we going to have more simple PVE events like Cosmic Chaos and The Hunt that don't rely on Alliances? And make some more roll at the same time so we have more things to play besides PVP

    Answer: More PVE events will be created and released, and we're hopeful to have some out before the end of the year. As for the quantity, at the moment we're happy with it. We do have some more activities planned to give our players craving more beyond traditional PVE and PVP...stay tuned.
  24. @kleussaroot [Official Forums]
    Question: Q&A December 2023: 40: "expect to see a couple of villainous females this year!" 37: "a wide variety of Marvel properties" Can we get more hints about what to expect when it comes to this year's character additions?

    Answer: You'll just have to wait and see :D
  25. @PHOTONrumbeau [Official Forums]
    Question: Is this order of releases (4*, costume, 3* and 5*, support) planned to remain until the end of 2024 or do you plan to change it? And in the coming years?

    Answer: Devpool: Sort of, but not exactly. You'll see what I mean very very soon.
  26. @OrorotheStorm [Official Forums]
    Question: And when is Quandary's comeback coming? Will she become a playable character or will we have other original characters related to her or costumes for existing ones?

    Answer: She'll be coming back for Anniversary this year, if not sooner. No plans for her to become a playable character. She's the MPQ BIG BAD after all! Quandary-related costumes...could be cool :D
  27. @GHOSTCARD [Official Forums]
    Question: Everyone already knows that MPQ's arts are the best in the current Marvel games (FACT!), but could you, and the artists, provide more wallpapers of the characters and even the supports and landscapes of the events?

    Answer: Devpool: Seeing as how I'm always begging the team for this in a very personal selfish way, I love this idea and will ask! Also, I shared your comment with the Art Team and I'm pretty sure you made their whole year <3
  28. @Seph1roth5 [Discord]
    Question: There was unofficial talk about 5* Peggy being looked at again. Is there anything more official if she's going to get a rework? Or more of a small tweak like Magik? Or...?

    Answer: We''ll brin this up with the appropriate teams!
  29. @Heartbreaksoup [Official Forums]
    Question: Would you consider adding new quests to the daily rotation, and perhaps making "win1versus mission" non-mandatory? Perhaps "Make 10 match-4s" or "Make 5 match-5s" or use some of the 12 days "Win x matches with an Avenger on your team" would be nice.

    Answer: We will take this into consideration!!
  30. Codex [Reddit]
    Question: Can the game distinguish between bought ascended characters versus naturally ascended characters? The problem will arise if, say, a 3* ascended Ares feeds a 4* Hercules when you have offered 4* ascended Ares as a paid offer.

    Answer: We currently do not have a means of tracking the origin of an ascended character. IceIX: This is also an issue because a higher-ranked Ascended character could have multiple origins. IE, you have a 5-Star Ares that was Ascended from a 100% farm-grown set of covers, and then the other 4-Star max level was purchased. The resulting 5-Star now has multiple origins, and where does that line stand?
  31. @Hammer-Time [Official Forums]
    Question: Is there any chance to have PvE seasons similar to PvP seasons?

    Answer: We're talking about doing something along these lines. Stay tuned!
  32. @Sithshaft [Official Forums]
    Question: The only time I feel like I can truly enjoy manipulating/improving my roster is during anniversary when we have double iso 8 for a month. Would it be possible to run a double iso 8 week each month, kinda like a double xp weekend?

    Answer: We have some features in mind that may help make it feel like the ISO rewards are richer outside of Anniversary time. Hopefully these see the light of day this year!
  33. @bluewolf19 [Official Forums]
    Question: Is there any thought to making a Preferred character toggle so that you might see, when selecting teams, the boosted and your preferred characters either at the top or exclusively?

    Answer: Devpool: Definitely something worth considering. QoL features are something this game could use a ton of and we love hearing everyone's ideas!
  34. @DyingLegend [Official Forums]
    Question: After taking a small step away and playing some other mobile games, one question that comes to mind is, how do you intend to innovate the game and reinvigorated it? Feel like the game has become completely stale in its current state.

    Answer: Devpool: Since taking over the game almost two years ago now (time does fly) I think that much has been done to keep things fresh and veer away from stagnancy. New events, Heroic modes, 3*s, Supports, Support Shards / Leveling, Ascending, DDQ refresh, rebalancing of rewards in just about every corner of the game, etc etc. Is it enough? No. We're hopeful that this is the year that allows us to produce more content for the game in the forms of events and game modes, whilst continuing to improve the core of what makes MPQ great.

  35. @Bigjojo04 [Official Forums]
    Question: After seeing Hunter and Goose both having the exact same 3 strongest colors, is there anything that you use to base your decision which colors to give each new character as their strongest ones or is it more randomly chosen than anything?

    Answer: These sorts of overlaps are typically not intentional, but we don't go out of our way to avoid them. When deciding on colors, we aim to not only satisfy balancing the game's color usage as a whole, but also best represent the character in question.

  36. @leviticuschoms [Official Forums]
    Question: When doing the social overhaul this year, are there plans to update alliance structure? is the 20 members, up to 5 commanders being modified? what's the vision for an alliance at the end of 2024?

    Answer: Social overhaul as we have it planned is yet to be greenlit, so it's difficult to answer this question at this time. If we do proceed, we'll make any alliance structure updates known.

  37. @fight4thedream [Official Forums]
    Question: What are the dev team's thoughts on the power discrepancies between maxed 5* characters & their ascended counterparts, e.g. 3* Thanos' Court Death does double the damage of 5* Thanos? It's a bit jarring since 5* Thanos wields the Infinity Gauntlet.

    Answer: It's something we're monitoring! In a way, Ascension felt like releasing hundreds of brand-new characters into the game. Tons of planning went into it, and now we're keeping an eye on things to see how it all plays out now that it's live! IceIX: 3-Star Thanos DOES deal more damage than 5-Star with Court Death, but 5-Star also stuns, which 3-Star doesn't. Whenever possible, especially with Ascensions, we wanted to make sure that even with similar abilities that there's a different ""flavor"" between the versions. In this case, not having the stun leaves more overall ability budget to go into damage, so it did.

  38. @meadowsweet [Official Forums]
    Question: Could you build a tool (in-game or website) where we can see the stats for any character or support at any level / build? With Ascension and Shard Supports, people keep asking ""What is X like at Y level?""

    Answer: We WISH this was something that was easily doable, but the way our player facing numbers are displayed isn't something that we're able to easily tap into a database without a significant level of effort. We did recently launch our brand new MarvelPuzzleQuest.com website and have plans to expand upon it so if that ever becomes a feature, expect it to make its home there.

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Comments

  • ThisisClemFandango
    ThisisClemFandango Posts: 661 Critical Contributor
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    They said the thing!

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 4,953 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Sounds like we're about to get a bunch of random m'Thor counters!

  • ThisisClemFandango
    ThisisClemFandango Posts: 661 Critical Contributor
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    @BriMan2222 said:

    @ThisisClemFandango said:
    They said the thing!

    They said it!

    Inspired.
    Exceptional work

  • Godzillafan67
    Godzillafan67 Posts: 516 Critical Contributor
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    "Choose your own reward" (hopefully that interpretation is on point) sounds like an interesting and well-serving feature.

  • KGB
    KGB Posts: 2,962 Chairperson of the Boards
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    1. @PHOTONrumbeau [Official Forums]
      Question: Is this order of releases (4*, costume, 3* and 5*, support) planned to remain until the end of 2024 or do you plan to change it? And in the coming years?

      Answer: Devpool: Sort of, but not exactly. You'll see what I mean very very soon.

    Anyone else notice this. Clearly about to get something new added to the release cycle.

    Smells like a poll (which I am too lazy to create so lets list a few things there)
    1) New 1* releases
    2) New 2* releases
    3) 6* releases :)
    4) Something else

    KGB

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 4,953 Chairperson of the Boards
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    @KGB said:

    1. @PHOTONrumbeau [Official Forums]
      Question: Is this order of releases (4*, costume, 3* and 5*, support) planned to remain until the end of 2024 or do you plan to change it? And in the coming years?

      Answer: Devpool: Sort of, but not exactly. You'll see what I mean very very soon.

    Anyone else notice this. Clearly about to get something new added to the release cycle.

    Smells like a poll (which I am too lazy to create so lets list a few things there)
    1) New 1* releases
    2) New 2* releases
    3) 6* releases :)
    4) Something else

    KGB

    I didn't catch that. That's pretty exciting, actually, whether it's 1, 2, 3, or 4 (I don't know what 4 could possibly be, though)!

  • Ptahhotep
    Ptahhotep Posts: 416 Mover and Shaker
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    4* releases might become dual 4/1 or 2 releases.

  • rainkingucd
    rainkingucd Posts: 1,296 Chairperson of the Boards
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    @Ptahhotep said:
    4* releases might become dual 4/1 or 2 releases.

    Increase the releases! Tri 5/3/1 releases and dual 4/2 releases!

  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Why are we all getting excited about diluting the 1* pool so it takes longer to add levels to those?

  • bluewolf
    bluewolf Posts: 5,334 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Y’all: OMG new 1s and 2s!!!!! Yaaaaa!!!!

    Devs: what if we switched the weeks we released the costume and support?

  • StanleyBurrell
    StanleyBurrell Posts: 143 Tile Toppler
    edited 10 February 2024, 23:35
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    @fight4thedream said:

    @fight4thedream [Official Forums]
    Question: What are the dev team's thoughts on the power discrepancies between maxed 5* characters & their ascended counterparts, e.g. 3* Thanos' Court Death does double the damage of 5* Thanos? It's a bit jarring since 5* Thanos wields the Infinity Gauntlet.

    Answer: It's something we're monitoring! In a way, Ascension felt like releasing hundreds of brand-new characters into the game. Tons of planning went into it, and now we're keeping an eye on things to see how it all plays out now that it's live! IceIX: 3-Star Thanos DOES deal more damage than 5-Star with Court Death, but 5-Star also stuns, which 3-Star doesn't. Whenever possible, especially with Ascensions, we wanted to make sure that even with similar abilities that there's a different ""flavor"" between the versions. In this case, not having the stun leaves more overall ability budget to go into damage, so it did.

    @DevpoolMPQ_BCS @IceIX : Thank you for taking the time to answer my question. While I appreciate the desire to maintain a difference in flavor between the two characters, I ask that you consider the following stats:

    5* Thanos at level 550

    Health: 140408
    Court of Death lv5: 30260 damage (7504 ally damage) + bonus effect of 2 turn stun
    Infinite Power lv5: 80% match damage + bonus effect of board control
    Come and Get Me lv5: 43817 AoE damage

    Ascended 3* Thanos at level 550 (Unlimited)

    Health: 223198
    Court of Death lv5: 62387 (15978 ally damage)
    Infinite Power lv5: 260% match damage
    Come and Get Me lv5: 65374 AoE damage

    I think it's clear that Ascended Pre-Gauntlet acquisition Thanos has better numbers across the board. Yes, 5* Thanos has static bonus effects of stun and board manipulation but these are only situationally useful and are double edged abilities since they affect your team as well. Furthermore, they are static abilities that don't increase when a player builds the character.

    As a competitive player, it has caused me to lose interest in building up 5* Thanos; now I am focused on building his 3* counter part. As a comic geek, it's going to bug me to think Thanos would spend all that effort acquiring the Infinity Gems to only have his health and damage reduced.

    The Infinity Gauntlet should enhance his abilities, not make them appear to be less.

    On that note, I argue that 5* Thanos should be updated to better distinguish him from his 3* Ascended counterpart. I think it would be worthwhile to explore how to better represent his use of the Infinity Gauntlet as the current version only implies that he makes use of 2: the Time Stone (stun) and Space Stones (board control). What about the remaining 4 stones?

    Finally, I realize that perhaps in the future 5* characters may also be able to be Ascended (Champion 3.0?) but unless that is restricted to 5*characters only, I imagine we will still run into the same numbers problem. I should also be clear that I am not asking for a nerf on *Ascended Thanos but rather a better interpretation of the Thanos who snapped half of all existence into oblivion.

    Thank you for coming to my TED talk. I hope it provides food for thought. And as always, thank you for your hard work. Despite my minor gripes, I do believe the new Ascension system has breathed new life into the game and has me excited. Be well and take care!

    This was the answer I was most looking forward to and I’m extremely disappointed. There are other examples across the board where a 550 5* with a niche gets murdered by a 475 ascended 4*. It’s one thing to be “on par” but that Thanos discrepancy is a joke. The only “flavor” I see is 5* Thanos is garbage comparatively, across the board.

    To add to that the stun is terrible 😂. He has one use now, HoD easy waves. “I am inevitable “ turned into “I am laughable”

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 4,953 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Eh, I think it's good that the 3* and 4* characters become equivalent to modern 5* when ascended. The problem is that tons of the old 5* are SO much worse than modern ones.

    They really need to go back and fix those guys if they're not going to retire them (ie remove them from all tokens, feeders, essential, and features).

  • StanleyBurrell
    StanleyBurrell Posts: 143 Tile Toppler
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    Equivalent, sure? Completely outclass? No thanks.

  • Zalasta
    Zalasta Posts: 271 Mover and Shaker
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    How many classic 5 stars got reworked in 2023? How many are planned to be reworked in 2024?

  • Pantera236
    Pantera236 Posts: 383 Mover and Shaker
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    @Zalasta said:
    How many classic 5 stars got reworked in 2023? How many are planned to be reworked in 2024?

    This is the answers thread. You'll have to ask this in next months questions.

  • Bowgentle
    Bowgentle Posts: 7,926 Chairperson of the Boards
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    The answer is "not enough" to both.

  • entrailbucket
    entrailbucket Posts: 4,953 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited 11 February 2024, 20:37
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    @StanleyBurrell said:
    Equivalent, sure? Completely outclass? No thanks.

    Do you really think they outclass modern 5*? I've seen a few examples of strong ones, but for the most part the ascended guys just have really big numbers attached to ancient abilities.

  • revskip
    revskip Posts: 966 Critical Contributor
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    @entrailbucket said:

    @StanleyBurrell said:
    Equivalent, sure? Completely outclass? No thanks.

    Do you really think they outclass modern 5*? I've seen a few examples of strong ones, but for the most part the ascended guys just have really big numbers attached to ancient abilities.

    I think he's speaking specifically about Thanos. And from what I've seen 3 Thanos seems to be a much better option than 5 Thanos.