Marvel Puzzle Quest: Character Rebalances - Batch #2 (Nov 13, 2025)

@BriMan2222 said:

@entrailbucket said:

@TriSentinel said:

@entrailbucket said:

@TriSentinel said:
What I have found far more game changing than the rebalances to characters is the change in difficulty to the clearance levels.

I'm perfectly happy to run new teams to contend with new challenges and the increased levels and hit points of the clearance levels has definitely changed that.

My only concern is the increased length of matches, which might be the length the devs think is reasonable, but, as is the case with most long time players, the longer you've been playing the less time you have to play.

It's definitely a big change, but I don't understand why it's a problem. Anybody who doesn't want the increased challenge, or doesn't have time to play harder matches, can just pick a different difficulty level. They let you pick!

I can see getting caught out by it the first time, because they communicated the change pretty poorly, but once you know the new CL10 is not for you, why not go back to CL8? It's like picking Nightmare difficulty in a shooter game and then complaining that it's too hard -- just pick Normal!

I'm enjoying the changes but I'm concerned about the increased duration of matches when I have limited time. It's just something for the devs to consider, I certainly don't want them to whiplash back and introduce an new two character meta.

I've been playing long enough that I don't feel the need to bump back to CL8.

I really really wish they'd called the new levels CL11 and CL12, because I do get where you're coming from, but I think it really would've changed how it felt. If the narrative was "stepping up" rather than "dropping down..." I just think we're all having a different conversation about this.

They probably would have if they could, but in Marvel shield clearance only goes up to 10 and Marvel has to approve everything. I don't think anything higher than shield level 10 exists in any other games or IP.

Yeah, I know why they can't do that specifically, but I think reusing the same names has caused problems. I'm sure they could've worked out something with Marvel to accomplish something similar.

@bottleface said:
Well Shang Chi and Mighty Thor are my most highly levelled 5 Stars. Great to know I've wasted my time.

Kinda getting afraid to level anyone now as all the people listed for buffs are characters I have zero interest in.

Why aren't you interested in the buffed characters? Is it because they were bad in MPQ, or because you don't like the characters?

Why are you interested in Shang-Chi and m'Thor? Is it because they were good in MPQ, or because you like the characters? If you just like the characters, why do you care how good they are?

@Scofie said:

@WhiteBomber said:

@Scofie said:

@WhiteBomber said:
Naah, screw a reputation...

You are all acting like a bunch of babies, grow up and at least TRY to look at it from a different perspective (a balanced one). They barely even hurt Polaris and MThor, haven't even touched Shang yet, made Hawkeye debatably BETTER than Shang and people can't keep seem to accept it.

Did you all really want to play only Shang-Chi and MThor for another ten years? Did you really think they were never going to adjust more characters? Some minor tweaks to characters who aren't even the top of the meta right now and we are like "yeah, that's it, that's the reason I stop playing after years of investment, but I better blast my tantrum all over the forum first, that'll teach em"?

I can understand the the frustration if those 3 characters are ALL you've invested in for years because they've waited years to fix the problem, but holy hell, see the writing on the wall... or in the forums... ADAPT. Or at least be more adult and strategic with your complaints.

@WhiteBomber - You should have had another think before posting, in my opinion (and others that have flagged the post, obviously)....

There's a certain irony in "see it from a different perspective" and then dismissing others' opinions as "acting like babies". I've no issue with the points you raise here, and indeed, agree with most of them, just not how you have characterized them. But I can also see the point of those who spent real money to build up characters that they enjoy playing with too have the news that they'll no longer be relevant (and again I don't think that's true either - these nerfs seem reasonable). To them perhaps it's like buying a book written in invisible ink and they didn't tell you.

And let's not forget that in isolation this might not be such a big deal. But with bug after bug, error after error, it's not unreasonable for some people to just not care anymore. They might not want or have time to experiment with new characters. They might not have time to play the game at the SCL they want anymore. There's a whole load of things that these decisions impact in real life and it's not a good look to trivialize that.

On a personal note, I don't disagree with the nerfs but will wait to see what happens with Shang Chi and Grocket. I loved SC because he was fun to play with and achieved his aims quickly. Far more fun than winning without matching a 3 that I'm doing currently to save time. That last event that Frankie was boosted in, I honestly made 1 match in the entire PvE round of 50 node hits it whatever it was. Quick, successful, not fun. I wish I'd played for placement.

Regardless of that, it hopefully goes without saying that I enjoy reading your posts and enjoy your take on the game and I'm sure regular posters on the forum will agree with that. But you got the tone of this one wrong I'm afraid.

@Scofie I have to start with, you are probably my favorite person on these forums, and I can definitely appreciate a good checking. However, enough days have passed now, I don't visit the forums over the weekend, and I'm still not convinced that even my tone was wrong.

Everything here is of course a matter of perspective, and I fully understand that I myself have a largely different perspective as well as play experience than likely the majority here. This due to the things that I enjoy about this game clearly often feel removed from the norm that I read and experience (I enjoy spending hours strategizing, leveling seemingly useless characters etc.).

In fact, I FEEL that I almost fully grasp the consequences of their nerfs. My wife only started playing this game because she watched me play a match with Polaris and BRB a few years ago. She quickly started playing and for years, built and played only Polaris, BRB, and MThor (not like, mostly, she ONLY plays those characters). I am also the highest leveled player in our alliance (by a lot), so the impact of those characters on smaller rosters is not lost on me. Oh boy do I hear about it... both in my alliance and especially here.

My personal reasoning for the tone

I am generally someone who is always looking for the positive, or at least trying to share positivity or getting people look look at a situation from a different light (perspective if you will). This is both in life, and here in the forums. I spend actual hours creating content trying help people better understand mechanics and look at less considered options as viable, if not good. I do this because I understand my investment in this game is not reasonable for the average player (or even vets), so in no way would it make sense for them to have the knowledge that I have about specific characters or interactions. Therefore, I try to help and I enjoy doing so.

During my time here people may have noticed that I also try to share some differing perspectives in regards to others getting emotional about a multitude of topics here (balance however being the most recent and relevant). Within the past month or so I have debated actual logic with reasons why balance is important, especially for a game that largely depends on creating new characters that need to compete.

• Recent example topics: How Shang Chi has a chokehold on 2 entire colors and playstyle making 90 + percent of the cast pointless. How game development actually works, and the people fixing the crashes and performance almost surely are NOT the people making new characters (I have been in game dev for 17 years and largely in embedded QA leadership, so I do at least understand general development, but I can accept that I could be wrong / who knows how they do it on their team).

So here I am, happily coasting along, trying to share differing thoughts or ways to look at the game, and BAM! Something happens that is actually good for the game (balance), and this isn't just like a me thing, this is game dev 101. Things like: not making crazy gameplay dependencies, not building in repetitive routine and releasing content that is clearly useless because your other content can't be topped.

We're not even talking a lot of balance here either... we're talking minimal changes that didn't even impact these nerfed characters use cases. Mechanical facts: MThor is still the queen of disruptive charged tile gameplay, Polaris still hits like truck that stuns you and makes 999 SAPs instead of 1000. Their placement in the meta, has not changed. They did however slightly add to meta by making 2 additional 1-2 stars top tier, but no one is complaining about that, and many agree that changing the meta can be refreshing.

What a great day! Right?? Some new characters are slightly more playable and 2 very very very very very clearly overpowered characters are slightly less OP.

Enter people I consider acting like very young humans of a certain descriptor (these quotes have only been slightly tweaked to protect the names of the "innocent"):

• "This is the worst thing you could do for the game. You have no idea know what you're doing! But I sure do!"
• "I can't believe you barely changed this thing that I feel entitled to regardless of how bad it is for the global good!"
• "Change it back! OR ELSE!"

All comments above (or similar to them) come from a negative emotional place, and or one that is lacking perspective. I get venting, I really do, I do it myself when I see things I really don't agree with (similar to my initial post), but the level of misunderstanding and entitled-ness is just too much for me personally.

So, after what I felt was a fair amount of time trying to share differing thoughts and perspectives, it has become evident to me that, none of that matters to these people and all they care about is getting their way, regardless of how it impacts the entire game.

This is a tantrum, and I PERSONALLY (this is where I will differ from plenty others) don't feed in to them, rather, I called it out for what it was. This is basically parenting at this point, and is heavily opinionated. You are completely allowed to handle this / them however you see fit, but my hope was that others would recognize what was happening.

Threads like this have already put a pause on buffing a lot of statistically useless characters. I get that not everyone cares about this, but there are people with similar interests to me that care about that balance, and in return, will similarly get bored / stop spending money just as the ones on the other side are threatening.

So, this is a lose lose for the devs (something for everyone to keep in mind).

Now, here is what I am NOT saying:

• The game isn't in an atrocious state for a great many people:
  Oh, it IS... again, from someone who lead the department that should be responsible for a lot of this. This IS one of the largest fumbles I've experienced in games. This however is very much removed from balancing gameplay. THEY ARE NOT THE SAME THING, so lets stop treating them like they are.

• The devs approach to this was good:
  It very much was not good and should have been more thoroughly communicated, especially to such a sensitive community, IF they care about that type of thing. This is all opinions as I personally don't believe the devs owe us anything. It is their project and they can run it how they see fit, they just need to know that their actions also carry consequences.

• You are wrong to be upset if you invested in those characters:
  You are completely validated in being upset because they let the problem go on for as long as they did, leading to understandable confusion.

My intent is not to insult and I do apologize for anyone that feels insulted. I treated this situation exactly as I would my own children or the people on my team.

Everyone here should know that their words carry weight, even if only in that negativity breeds more negativity. Your negative gossip about the urine in the pool all adds up. Eventually, all we see is yellow and no one wants to go in (whether the gossip was true or not!). As an adult (or aspiring adult) stop and consider the devs and other (differing) players perspectives, then maybe post your thoughts in a way that is not a tantrum.

I sincerely hope everyone continues to play (regardless of how much I disagree with you) and that the devs continue to improve in the ways that people don't agree with. Regardless of the too much money that I've spent on this game over the years, it is easily one of my favorites to play and I would love to see it carry on for at least 20 more years, because I love the PUZZLE in PQ.

I love you @Scofie and I still hope we end up on the same alliance some day. Additional apologies for making your job more difficult

Thanks for the lengthy and thoughtful response and I appreciate the effort that went into it. It may be a terminology point here and apologies if this seems overly-sensitive but, the issue really here is that you literally infantalised other posters because of their views. You've doubled down on that by referring to having to parent them in this response. It is language that undermines other posters views and basically claims a mental superiority over them. I'm a big advocate of disagreeing respectfully and that seemed off to me. Not every response that's emotional in tone is a tantrum. Being upset with something is a legitimate response, as you yourself were with the people who were genuinely angry with the situation.

Now you could have said everything else in that first post apart from the first and last sentences (and reworded the bit about blasting a tantrum all over the forums - a great vivid image and turn of phrase by the way but still with the child-equivalence) and I'd have nothing other than agreement with the original post and the tone - it would have been firm and direct, a little bit angsty, but reasonable.

Anyways - love you too @WhiteBomber and happy to accommodate you in the Alliance one day... Keep up the hard work on the meta busting teams - I enjoy reading them. We'll need new ones soon... 😜

Beautifully written, there is zero doubt you are a nicer human than I. I still have some of that old school Midwest in me that won't let me just roll with what I am seeing here. I still believe in tough love and accountability, especially when it is impacting the greater good (not saying you don't, but my approach is clearly more curt... my past 2 posts were me practicing restraint).

For what it's worth, the part about parenting, though related, was not intended to come across as I was parenting them, lord knows I don't want to have to parent anyone here.

@DAZ0273 said:

@entrailbucket said:

@DAZ0273 said:

@Read_Only said:

@DAZ0273 said:

They've recreated Gambatt with 1* Hawkeye, it really is incredible.

I think it would harder to find a worse comparison than this. 1* hawkeye is nothing like the original or first reworked gambit.

Gambatt. Not Gambit.

Edit: Gambatt was the version of Gambit where his 3* version passively produced red and purple AP (his 5* version of course did too). In order to sidestep Gambit's restriction on red and purple powers for other characters, players simply rostered a 0/0/5 in black version and voila had almost unlimited supply of red and purple AP. This was simple to do with a 3*. The team I most remember was Thing/Spider Gwen/Gambatt who basically stun locked you and constantly battered you to death. Thing jumped to the front to protect Gambatt. They changed 3* Gambit's black power because of this.

That team was annoying the same way Bishop was -- they passively stunlocked you on defense and prevented you from playing the game.

I don't think that's the right comparison for Hawkeye...I'm not sure what he is yet. It's kind of hard to judge because he's boosted right now. If we start seeing him unboosted it'll be time to have that discussion.

I actually do support them pushing characters like this, but they have to be able to pivot quickly if they've gone too far, and we know how that generally goes.

Obviously times have changed and the comparison isn't exact but unchecked constant AP generation normally ends up in misery. As we are playing Venom Bomb didn't they change something in the Venom/Carnage node so that players weren't constantly hit in the face by Symbiote scythes because of passive AP generation? Anyway, exact or not, it is worth keeping an eye on.

Good lord, that Venom/Carnage node used to hurt.

@Gymp28 said:

@bottleface said:
Well Shang Chi and Mighty Thor are my most highly levelled 5 Stars. Great to know I've wasted my time.

Kinda getting afraid to level anyone now as all the people listed for buffs are characters I have zero interest in.

You’ve absolutely not read any of the comments for this thread, have you…

I hadn't read through the thread no, I'd only just found out about Thor being nerfed as I'd been using other characters who were levelled up for events. This coming on the heels of finding out about Polaris being nerfed and Shang Chi being next on the chopping block was rather frustrating. I'm seeing now that the change to Thor wasn't as terrible as I would expect. From playing Polaris she still has a lot going for her.

I was however quite frustrated at major changes like this being something you have to search for. I wish there was some kind of note in game to let us know, oh by the way that character you use a lot? We nerfed them and changed how they work.

I shouldn't have to go searching in forums and reddit to find out why a characters abilities have suddenly changed.

Even if the nerfs haven't wrecked the characters, it is incredibly frustrating to see all the time and effort I've spent being diminished at the same time as the difficulty of the game has increased. Yes technically I could do SCL 8 instead of 10, but then I won't be getting the rewards I need to continue building up my roster. Shang Chi and Mthor were at least giving me a chance in pve since my highest character is level 490.

@entrailbucket said:

@bottleface said:

@entrailbucket said:

@bottleface said:
Well Shang Chi and Mighty Thor are my most highly levelled 5 Stars. Great to know I've wasted my time.

Kinda getting afraid to level anyone now as all the people listed for buffs are characters I have zero interest in.

Why aren't you interested in the buffed characters? Is it because they were bad in MPQ, or because you don't like the characters?

Why are you interested in Shang-Chi and m'Thor? Is it because they were good in MPQ, or because you like the characters? If you just like the characters, why do you care how good they are?

I like the characters but more importantly, I enjoy the way they play. There's a clear strategy to them that suits me. Most of the buffed characters are either characters I don't care for and/or they have play styles that don't appeal to me.

How do you know the buffed characters still don't suit you, after they were changed?

I don't, but it wasn't a matter of them being underpowered. Unless there was a major change in how their abilities work, then there is still the same problem of their play style not interesting me.

@bottleface said:

@entrailbucket said:

@bottleface said:

@entrailbucket said:

@bottleface said:
Well Shang Chi and Mighty Thor are my most highly levelled 5 Stars. Great to know I've wasted my time.

Kinda getting afraid to level anyone now as all the people listed for buffs are characters I have zero interest in.

Why aren't you interested in the buffed characters? Is it because they were bad in MPQ, or because you don't like the characters?

Why are you interested in Shang-Chi and m'Thor? Is it because they were good in MPQ, or because you like the characters? If you just like the characters, why do you care how good they are?

I like the characters but more importantly, I enjoy the way they play. There's a clear strategy to them that suits me. Most of the buffed characters are either characters I don't care for and/or they have play styles that don't appeal to me.

How do you know the buffed characters still don't suit you, after they were changed?

I don't, but it wasn't a matter of them being underpowered. Unless there was a major change in how their abilities work, then there is still the same problem of their play style not interesting me.

If you like Shang-Chi, you should try buffed Hawkeye -- they basically do the same thing. Sometimes the buffs they do are pretty dramatic improvements that are major changes in how their abilities work.

@BriMan2222 said:

@bottleface said:

@Gymp28 said:

@bottleface said:
Well Shang Chi and Mighty Thor are my most highly levelled 5 Stars. Great to know I've wasted my time.

Kinda getting afraid to level anyone now as all the people listed for buffs are characters I have zero interest in.

You’ve absolutely not read any of the comments for this thread, have you…

I hadn't read through the thread no, I'd only just found out about Thor being nerfed as I'd been using other characters who were levelled up for events. This coming on the heels of finding out about Polaris being nerfed and Shang Chi being next on the chopping block was rather frustrating. I'm seeing now that the change to Thor wasn't as terrible as I would expect. From playing Polaris she still has a lot going for her.

I was however quite frustrated at major changes like this being something you have to search for. I wish there was some kind of note in game to let us know, oh by the way that character you use a lot? We nerfed them and changed how they work.

I shouldn't have to go searching in forums and reddit to find out why a characters abilities have suddenly changed.

Even if the nerfs haven't wrecked the characters, it is incredibly frustrating to see all the time and effort I've spent being diminished at the same time as the difficulty of the game has increased. Yes technically I could do SCL 8 instead of 10, but then I won't be getting the rewards I need to continue building up my roster. Shang Chi and Mthor were at least giving me a chance in pve since my highest character is level 490.

They have done a terrible job of relaying information, with nothing about this in game, but I think it’s pretty clear now that with enemies going up over level 800, scl 10 is intended to be for endgame 550 rosters who have characters boosted to lvl 672 who can reasonably take on enemies that high. This is the level where end game rosters have a challenge and can earn some 6 star shards to eventually transition. I don’t think players are meant to be able to play scl 10 with out a decent amount of 550’s.

You say you NEED scl 10 rewards to build your roster, but why? If they never had created the new scl 10 you would still be earning the scl 8 (old 10) rewards. You can still earn the 5 star shards and CP you did before, sure scl 10 has more and that would be nice but you don’t NEED that to keep growing and you sure don’t need to unlock 6 stars when you’re not at the end of 5 stars yet. To me, this is like being level 60 in World or Warcraft and expecting to be able to beat the end game level 80, or whatever level WOW goes up to now, end game. You’re highest is 490, how can you possibly expect that you should be able to beat enemies 300 levels above you? Should a team of lvl 50 1 stars be able to beat a team of lvl 350 4 stars?

It's true that I can't complete the nodes on scl10. I don't really want to go to 8 because the rewards are worse than the old 10. It definitely feels like a giant step backwards and a significant road bump. That said it may be necessary as there's only so much I can do at 10. Quite frustrating.

@entrailbucket said:

@bottleface said:

@entrailbucket said:

@bottleface said:

@entrailbucket said:

@bottleface said:

@entrailbucket said:

@bottleface said:
Well Shang Chi and Mighty Thor are my most highly levelled 5 Stars. Great to know I've wasted my time.

Kinda getting afraid to level anyone now as all the people listed for buffs are characters I have zero interest in.

Why aren't you interested in the buffed characters? Is it because they were bad in MPQ, or because you don't like the characters?

Why are you interested in Shang-Chi and m'Thor? Is it because they were good in MPQ, or because you like the characters? If you just like the characters, why do you care how good they are?

I like the characters but more importantly, I enjoy the way they play. There's a clear strategy to them that suits me. Most of the buffed characters are either characters I don't care for and/or they have play styles that don't appeal to me.

How do you know the buffed characters still don't suit you, after they were changed?

I don't, but it wasn't a matter of them being underpowered. Unless there was a major change in how their abilities work, then there is still the same problem of their play style not interesting me.

If you like Shang-Chi, you should try buffed Hawkeye -- they basically do the same thing. Sometimes the buffs they do are pretty dramatic improvements that are major changes in how their abilities work.

1 star Hawkeye? It would take me a lot of time or money to get him anywhere near 5 star.

Edited to add: I would not be willing to spend the money required to get him to 5 star.

Dunno, sounds like you're out of luck then. This game has 300+ characters -- if you're only interested in trying out two of them then it may not be for you.

I play more than the two of them. Those two are my mains partly because I enjoy their style and they're able to punch above their weight class. There are plenty of other characters I play, but those two I've put a lot more effort and time into building.

Spending hundreds of dollars to ascend a 1 star up is just a non-starter for me.

Apart from the CN and 5E there is nothing really in new SCL10 that a 490 roster shouldn't be able to handle. Even if you can't, you can still get significant progression just doing what you can do. If you want to be able to place or trivially clear SCL10 then yeah, you might have to think again and for the record I do not have any 550 characters. I don't know if things have changed but I also remember the Devs saying you didn't need the CN points to get progression any way. And Jane and Polaris are not bad! And there are weekly boosted characters to try! And Juggs/R4G/Guardian can clear a lot of the nodes. And Kang!

But apart from all that, I guess I'm out of ideas.