Don't worry Devs, I know how to fix/funbalance this game

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Unknown
edited February 2014 in MPQ General Discussion
Seriously, you guys should pay me for this one. Here goes:

1. Spidey

All you really need to do to fix him is fix his blue power, as nerfing this will by extension nerf his other powers as well. The problem is that the ap is too low, so instead you should change either the number of turns you stun the team for, the number of web tiles laid, or the number of people stunned (changing this would likely raise the ap cost for it though). Something like this would be good:

All Tied Up
1. 8 blue AP – Stuns one player for 1 turn + 1 turn for every web tile on the board (max total of 6 turns). Places one web tile at random.
2. 8 blue AP – Stuns one player for 2 turns + 1 turn for every web tile on the board (max total of 6 turns). Places one web tile at random.
3. 8 blue AP – Stuns one player for 2 turns + 1 turn for every web tile on the board (max total of 6 turns). Places two web tiles at random.
4. 8 blue AP – Stuns one player for 3 turns + 1 turn for every web tile on the board (max total of 6 turns). Places two web tiles at random.
5. 8 blue AP – Stuns one player for 3 turns + 1 turn for every web tile on the board (max total of 6 turns). Places three web tiles at random.


If you want to change yellow at all, just go for a scaled healing where you heal more the more covers you invest, or just lower the amount it heals and keep the way it levels as it seems like it's a bit OP at higher levels. However, if the problem really is that you're just tired of seeing him, the only REAL fix to this is to create another 3* character with a healing power.

BOOM done, perfect fix. Onto the next.

2. Original Black Widow

I as an avid OBW user, I admit she is a tad OP. Not only does she steal... well... everything, but she hits harder than everyone because of her Espionage ability. Really though, all that she needs fixed is the way her espionage damage is applied. As of right now, if you have strike tiles out, the damage bonus gets added once to OBW's main attack, and then added A SECOND TIME for her espionage damage. THIS DOUBLE DIPPING IS RIDICULOUS. Get a few of wolvie's strike tiles out and suddenly a normal purple match does 600 damage for each hit easily.

The fix is easy though, just change the way the damage is applied for her espionage power:
(tile damage + espionage damage) + strike tile damage

Instead of the ridiculous way it is now:
(tile damage + strike tile damage) + (espionage damage + strike tile damage)

but again, you will continue to see a lot of her as long as the options for healers stay as limited as they are now.

BANG done again, so quickly? What else we got...

3. Iron Man - Model 40

For a 3*, IM 40 is pretty gimpy. His red and blue powers, for what they do, are waaaaay too AP expensive and drain too much AP. The idea of AP drain is interesting as it's meant to simulate how Iron Man can divert his powers to different parts of his suit in critical times. It forces you to make difficult decisions, be versatile, and play a high risk - high reward kind of game play. Right now it's just not being utilized properly. Solution? Just lower the AP cost to use the initial power! With a lower AP cost, more powers become available to IM - 40, but because they drain the other AP's, you are forced to make more difficult decisions about how and when to use the powers. Some of the power's affects might need to be balanced with this lowering of the AP in mind, however.

For example, lets compare IM 40's red power to astonishing wolvie's red power. Does it make sense that the experimental and unstable 3* character's red power costs more red and drains more ap for only a damage boost of 700? Of course not! So here's my solution:

Unibeam (damage based off max level, and even then is only an approximation)

1. 12 red AP – deals 2500 damage to a single character and costs the team 3 AP of every color
2. 11 red AP – deals 2500 damage to a single character and costs the team 3 AP of every color
3. 11 red AP – deals 2800 damage to a single character and costs the team 3 AP of every color
4. 10 red AP – deals 2800 damage to a single character and costs the team 3 AP of every color
5. 10 red AP – deals 3100 damage to a single character and costs the team 3 AP of every color


Blue could also due with some changes. Again consider the comparison between IM 40's blue and Storm Classic's blue. As of right now, Storm's power costs slightly more than half of IM 40's, does way more than half the damage of IM 40's attack (for 2 more AP, you can use storms blue twice and do 600 more damage), stuns longer, AND doesn't drain AP. Not only is IM 40's blue totally useless in it's state now, but it's a severe downgrade from a 2* character. Just changing the AP without consideration of the damage done can be dangerous, however, considering that this attack damages multiple characters. I think instead, the increase of damage done to each character ought to be decreased between upgrades, the stunning affect taken out altogether (it was a strange tack on anyway) and the cratering affect ought to be played up a little more, so here's my suggestion.

Ballistic Salvo (damage based off max level, and even then is only an approximation)

1. 14 blue AP – deals 1400 damage to all characters. Craters the battle field and destroys 3 random tiles. Costs the team 3 AP of every color
2. 13 blue AP – deals 1400 damage to all characters. Craters the battle field and destroys 3 random tiles. Costs the team 3 AP of every color
3. 13 blue AP – deals 1550 damage to all characters. Craters the battle field and destroys 5 random tiles. Costs the team 3 AP of every color
4. 12 blue AP – deals 1550 damage to all characters. Craters the battle field and destroys 5 random tiles. Costs the team 3 AP of every color
5. 12 blue AP – deals 1700 damage to all characters. Craters the battle field and destroys 7 random tiles. Costs the team 3 AP of every color


His yellow power also suffers from the raise in AP cost that all the black widows have that dissuades people from wanting to upgrade the skill. So the question becomes how can you set up the power without dissuading players from wanting to upgrade it? Also, it the lowering of IM 40's other AP costs must be taken into consideration when deciding how much AP he should generate. There are lots of tweaks that can go work, but here's my solution:

Recharge

1. 9 yellow AP - Creates 2 countdown tiles that activate after 2 turns. Each tile generates 1 AP of every color. Stuns Iron Man for 3 turns.
2. 9 yellow AP - Creates 3 countdown tiles that activate after 2 turns. Each tile generates 1 AP of every color. Stuns Iron Man for 3 turns.
3. 9 yellow AP - Creates 3 countdown tiles that activate after 2 turns. Each tile generates 1 AP of every color. Stuns Iron Man for 2 turns.
4. 9 yellow AP - Creates 4 countdown tiles that activate after 2 turns. Each tile generates 1 AP of every color. Stuns Iron Man for 2 turns.
5. 9 yellow AP - Creates 5 countdown tiles that activate after 2 turns. Each tile generates 1 AP of every color. Stuns Iron Man for 2 turns.


There, I think that helps to capture IM 40's intended versatile, deadly, and high risk nature. Plus by making the blue and yellow powers affect the board more and in random ways (more craters and more countdown tiles), it makes this experimental suit more wild and unpredictable. Any other fixes?

4. Ragnarok

"WHAT?!?" you all say. "Wasn't he just funbalanced not long ago?!?"

Why yes he was, but this one thing really irks me about him... as far as I know HE'S THE ONLY CHARACTER WITH ONLY 2 STRONG TILE MATCHES. Not only that, but his strong matches are weaker than all of the other characters' when matched. This is simply dumb. So fix it.

and for the last fix

5. Create a new character that heals!!!

Healing characters are essential, but there are only 2 right now that have the ability to heal, so give us some more variety to choose from! That way we don't have to keep complaining that we see too many OBW's and Spidey's like we're always complaining about.

There you guys go, that ought to keep you all busy for a while. I'd comment on the need for mags' nerfing and x-force wolvie's buffing, but i have no experience with either character so i don't feel like i can comment fairly on them.

You're welcome icon_mrgreen.gif

Comments

  • windfallstar
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    For IM40, wouldn't it make sense to have the damage or some additional effect scale on how much AP is drained? I mean, if draining ap is supposed to represent "diverting power" then shouldn't there be a reason behind it?
  • Mawtful
    Mawtful Posts: 1,646 Chairperson of the Boards
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    For IM40, wouldn't it make sense to have the damage or some additional effect scale on how much AP is drained? I mean, if draining ap is supposed to represent "diverting power" then shouldn't there be a reason behind it?

    Currently the "AP Drain" is actually part of the cost - compare to Hulk's Red which drains "up to" 10 Green. The difference here is the AP for IM40 is required.

    I like the implications of your suggestion. If Unibeam was changed to "X red + drains up to 3 AP of each other color, damage scales off total AP used" that could be quite cool - and I think would also fit to the unpredictable nature that Deadpan wanted to encourage through his changes. It certainly offers an interesting choice - do I rush the Red cost requirement and spam it? Or do I make sure I've built up a nice surplus of AP from other colors to make sure it's hitting its max damage value?
  • For IM40, wouldn't it make sense to have the damage or some additional effect scale on how much AP is drained? I mean, if draining ap is supposed to represent "diverting power" then shouldn't there be a reason behind it?

    The problem with lowering the amount of AP drained is that it makes the choice to use a power less significant. If each power only ends up draining 2, or even one, it suddenly doesn't become a big deal to use a power. And plus that diminishing the whole "diverting power" aspect of it, since you can then more easily use multiple of his powers at once.

    Unless you want it to start off by draining 4 AP and then as it levels get lowered to 3 AP, the amount drained really ought not be changed. Draining 3 is a good amount for the power of the attacks, one regular match from each color.
  • I think needing 8 AP for Spidey's ATU skill to activate is too high of a cost, he doesn't do much damage by himself, his only purpose is to stun the enemy and heal when needed, so gimping that by making him have high cost for a no damage skill is a big deal, I suggest what someone else said before on the forum, which is have the web tiles go on the blue color instead of yellow, that way you need to make a choice to either give up some webs for more stunning power or keep them but limit your own blue AP accumulation.

    His healing should probably be reduced at the minimum and increased at maximum number of web tiles cause it heals too much like 2k for 2 web tiles or so.
  • windfallstar
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    Mawtful wrote:
    For IM40, wouldn't it make sense to have the damage or some additional effect scale on how much AP is drained? I mean, if draining ap is supposed to represent "diverting power" then shouldn't there be a reason behind it?

    Currently the "AP Drain" is actually part of the cost - compare to Hulk's Red which drains "up to" 10 Green. The difference here is the AP for IM40 is required.

    I like the implications of your suggestion. If Unibeam was changed to "X red + drains up to 3 AP of each other color, damage scales off total AP used" that could be quite cool - and I think would also fit to the unpredictable nature that Deadpan wanted to encourage through his changes. It certainly offers an interesting choice - do I rush the Red cost requirement and spam it? Or do I make sure I've built up a nice surplus of AP from other colors to make sure it's hitting its max damage value?

    So I just went to double check to make sure, and sure enough you don't actually need 3 AP of every other color to fire off the ability.
    Deadpan wrote:
    For IM40, wouldn't it make sense to have the damage or some additional effect scale on how much AP is drained? I mean, if draining ap is supposed to represent "diverting power" then shouldn't there be a reason behind it?

    The problem with lowering the amount of AP drained is that it makes the choice to use a power less significant. If each power only ends up draining 2, or even one, it suddenly doesn't become a big deal to use a power. And plus that diminishing the whole "diverting power" aspect of it, since you can then more easily use multiple of his powers at once.

    Unless you want it to start off by draining 4 AP and then as it levels get lowered to 3 AP, the amount drained really ought not be changed. Draining 3 is a good amount for the power of the attacks, one regular match from each color.
    I'm not suggesting that the amount of AP drained being lowered at all. What I'm suggesting is that if AP is drained, then the drained AP should add to the effect of the ability.
  • Mawtful
    Mawtful Posts: 1,646 Chairperson of the Boards
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    So I just went to double check to make sure, and sure enough you don't actually need 3 AP of every other color to fire off the ability.

    Oh. So is it just badly worded? Or does it change by level? I'm only at 3 covers into my IM40 red and it reads "Tony Stark diverts all power to a focused energy beam fired from Model 40's chest. Deals 1726 damage and costs 3 of the team's AP in every other color."

    I'm about to leave work, so I'll give it a test in-game as well.
  • Sushi wrote:
    I think needing 8 AP for Spidey's ATU skill to activate is too high of a cost, he doesn't do much damage by himself, his only purpose is to stun the enemy and heal when needed, so gimping that by making him have high cost for a no damage skill is a big deal, I suggest what someone else said before on the forum, which is have the web tiles go on the blue color instead of yellow, that way you need to make a choice to either give up some webs for more stunning power or keep them but limit your own blue AP accumulation.

    His healing should probably be reduced at the minimum and increased at maximum number of web tiles cause it heals too much like 2k for 2 web tiles or so.

    I think ideally, spidey's strength should lie in the amount of web tiles he creates and are on the board. It's already limited since you have to bust the yellow ones for his healing powers, but if you had to break webs to get webs, you'd never accumulate very much and his other powers would not be as powerful. They key should be making the web tiles more integral to his character, not reducing the number of webs made. If anything, web tiles should just be placed on random colors and not just yellow.

    Though having that high an AP cost might make webbing the field just as implausible... maybe it should be 6 then. The problem is how it compares to other character's stun powers. Look at daredevil's blue power. At it's very best, it costs 7 AP to stun for 6 turns, but requires that a trap triggers it. Spiderman should not be able to stun for as long as that for cheaper than that. But with the way I set it up, it'll stun for a min of 3 turns, and then places greater significance on spidey's other powers being strengthened by the web tiles.

    You're definitely right about the min side of yellow though, it ought to be decreased, though i'm not sure the max should be increased (max is currently 11k+)
  • I'm not suggesting that the amount of AP drained being lowered at all. What I'm suggesting is that if AP is drained, then the drained AP should add to the effect of the ability.

    Ahhh that'd be interesting too! And add more significance to the recharge's ability to generate all colors of AP
  • Eddiemon
    Eddiemon Posts: 1,470 Chairperson of the Boards
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    Mawtful wrote:
    So I just went to double check to make sure, and sure enough you don't actually need 3 AP of every other color to fire off the ability.

    Oh. So is it just badly worded? Or does it change by level? I'm only at 3 covers into my IM40 red and it reads "Tony Stark diverts all power to a focused energy beam fired from Model 40's chest. Deals 1726 damage and costs 3 of the team's AP in every other color."

    I'm about to leave work, so I'll give it a test in-game as well.

    It takes it if you have it, but if you don't have it it fires anyway.

    That's why you fire all your other abilities, then unibeam.
  • windfallstar
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    Mawtful wrote:
    So I just went to double check to make sure, and sure enough you don't actually need 3 AP of every other color to fire off the ability.

    Oh. So is it just badly worded? Or does it change by level? I'm only at 3 covers into my IM40 red and it reads "Tony Stark diverts all power to a focused energy beam fired from Model 40's chest. Deals 1726 damage and costs 3 of the team's AP in every other color."

    I'm about to leave work, so I'll give it a test in-game as well.
    Yeah, I think it's just badly worded.