Mind Gem Season Character Updates *Updated (2/6/17)

Brigby
Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
edited February 2017 in MPQ General Discussion
Hey Everyone,

Two characters will be receiving a update with the upcoming Mind Gem Season: Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and Sam Wilson (Falcon). Both of these characters are support characters that don’t see much play from the player base. We reworked their abilities to ensure that they will feel stronger than before while maintaining their support qualities.

Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) Update: *New Update*
Level 366 is the level of a Max Level 4-Star character that has the Weekly Character Powered-Up level boost.

Flexibility
The cost of this power has been reduced by one. The player chooses two basic tiles to be swapped. Before the tiles are swapped, they become fortified protection tiles. This allows you to make strategic choices while ensuring that you get to keep the protection tiles. The Stun remains a 3-Turn stun at power level 5.
MrFanFlexibilityRework.pngOld%20Flexibility.jpg

Master of the Fantastic
The heal has been converted to a burst team heal. The amount of AP earned each time this power goes off has been increased to 3 as long as you have a member of the Fantastic Four on your team.
MrFanMasterOfTheFantasticRework.pngOld%20Master%20of%20the%20Fantastic.jpg

Imaginaut
The cost of this power has been reduced by two, the Countdown tile is now fortified and the damage has been increased for making Red, Green, and Yellow tile matches.
MrFanImaginautRework.pngOld%20Imaginaut.jpg

Sam Wilson (Falcon) Update: *New Update*
Level 249 is the level of a Max Level 3-Star character that has the Weekly Character Powered-Up level boost.

Inspiration
(Unchanged)

Redwing
The only change to Redwing is that it can no longer target other player’s Redwing Countdown tiles.

Bird Strike
The cost of this power has been reduced by three. The power now creates fewer Protect tiles and deals damage to the enemy team.
FalconBirdStrikeRework.pngOld%20Bird%20Strike.jpg
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Comments

  • halirin
    halirin Posts: 327 Mover and Shaker
    Sounds reasonable. Looking forward to trying them out.
  • Killians8
    Killians8 Posts: 134 Tile Toppler
    Sadly Falcon was the first 3* I champed before I understood the meta game better. Lets hope that mistake will now be more useful depending on the damage his purple now does.

    I hope to see more Mr. Fantastics in PvP as that would add a little more flavor than usual. I don't have him rostered myself though I have two black covers set to expire soon.
  • stewbacca
    stewbacca Posts: 82 Match Maker
    Boosted mr f is awesome to use currently with these changes he is going to crush. Imaginaut on a cascade crushes already..
  • Phumade
    Phumade Posts: 2,477 Chairperson of the Boards
    These are good changes, but I think they missed the boat on actually improving the character.

    Mr. F. changes seem more aimed at making his CoT match reasonably challenging vs exercise in futility. I do appreciate that the fortified tiles makes the blue and black specials more survivable. I like the changes, but they missed the boat on experimenting and truly reworking the char. It seems like they maintained the same character but made him a little more durable and able to dish damage.

    Falcon's changes are really just common sense edits to make the character function more smoothly. The alteration to blue is really intended to address our play complaints vs actually making falcon better. I appreciate that fact, but these types of tweaks should be incorporated in a new idea. Adding damage to the bird strike and adjusting costs are are great tweaks towards making the power more effective.

    These are all very good changes but I wish they could have been more original.
  • stochasticism
    stochasticism Posts: 1,181 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited February 2017
    MrF blue looks like one of the best tus in the game now. Have to see numbers before judging black and yellow but reducing the green AP generation to just require one FF member looks great.

    Falcon changes look good. The redwing change alone should speed up his PvP by hours per match. I like the change to his purple also. Should make him much more useful than just as a special tile buffer with cage and fist. Maybe this will be enough to move him to 3/5/5 in more general teams. Again, numbers dependent though.
  • Punisher5784
    Punisher5784 Posts: 3,836 Chairperson of the Boards
    Brigby wrote:
    Hey Everyone,

    Two characters will be receiving a update with the upcoming Mind Gem Season: Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) and Sam Wilson (Falcon). Both of these characters are support characters that don’t see much play from the player base.

    You mean to tell me that Falcon is used much less than 3* Spidey? Falcon is very useful in 3* land buffing Luke Cage, IF, and Daken's special tiles, but Spidey.. doesn't really fit in with any team in 3* land. I feel like at this point, they're purposely avoiding Spidey even after all the pleas, the posts, the surveys.. I don't recall any player on the forum clamoring for a Falcon rebalance. Do we have to wait until Spidey's new movie released before we potentially see his rebalance? Come on already!
  • mega ghost
    mega ghost Posts: 1,154 Chairperson of the Boards
    Oh thank God. I'm excited to see the final numbers on Mr. F, when can we expect those? These changes give him the potential to be a legitimate support character. I've sold about 10 of his covers to date, am sitting on three of his covers right now, and will be getting another one tomorrow in the resupply. Sounds like the time to finally champ him!
  • fmftint
    fmftint Posts: 3,653 Chairperson of the Boards
    I don't know if Mr. F losing a true heal could be considered a buff.
    Or keeping the stipulation of if paird with another FF member provides any additional benefit
  • spectator
    spectator Posts: 395 Mover and Shaker
    Would still prefer imaginaut to work with his active colours...
  • Punisher5784
    Punisher5784 Posts: 3,836 Chairperson of the Boards
    fmftint wrote:
    I don't know if Mr. F losing a true heal could be considered a buff.
    Or keeping the stipulation of if paird with another FF member provides any additional benefit

    Agreed. I would love to pair him with buffed IW as she's really good and could use the green AP but both their blue skills create special tiles.. I still don't understand why no F4 member can have a purple skill for the full rainbow..
  • STOPTHIS
    STOPTHIS Posts: 781 Critical Contributor
    Sad to see the true heal gone, as that was the one aspect I liked about him, but seeing as just how annoying Medusa's team burst healing can be it might be for the best. Really liking the addition of fortifying his tiles.

    Falcon's unexpected, but interesting. Right now I only use him for buffing Iron Fist or Luke Cage's tiles and rarely at that. Nice that he causes damage now.

    Now, if only there were another 3* Y/B/P user who does zero damage that could use some love....
  • zulux21
    zulux21 Posts: 249 Tile Toppler
    fmftint wrote:
    I don't know if Mr. F losing a true heal could be considered a buff.
    Or keeping the stipulation of if paird with another FF member provides any additional benefit
    it's a bit sad, but at the same time it means you can team him up with someone like carnage to have a little fun with the enemy constantly healing your team by matching carnage's tiles.

    I know not great but still could be fun.

    either way I am looking forward to seeing the final numbers. he likely won't be top tier, but should at least be decent when boosted.
  • TLCstormz
    TLCstormz Posts: 1,668
    edited February 2017
    FALCON???????

    ARE YOU KIDDING ME?????? smh

    Out of ALLLLLLL the 3*s we have been begging FOR YEARS FOR, for y'all to fix.......you all go out of your way to PURPOSELY choose a character that literally no more than TEN PEOPLE have ever even mentioned.

    Maddening. Truly maddening.
  • mpqr7
    mpqr7 Posts: 2,642 Chairperson of the Boards
    Wow, they buffed a 3*! There is hope for you, Psylocke!!
  • hodayathink
    hodayathink Posts: 528 Critical Contributor
    I actually wouldn't be shocked if Falcon does get less use than 3* Spidey, for 2 reasons:
    1. Some people use Spidey simply because they love the character, his power set be damned.
    2. He's still the cheapest stun in the game period, and the cheapest stun in 3 star land by 2-3AP, I believe (Iceman and Black Suit Spidey come in at 6AP).
  • Tromb2ch2
    Tromb2ch2 Posts: 301 Mover and Shaker
    Was really hoping flaptain was getting boosted instead of falcon. Oh well.
  • Dormammu
    Dormammu Posts: 3,531 Chairperson of the Boards
    They're listening on Reed. Glad to hear it. icon_e_biggrin.gif Falcon? Yeah, I can think of 3-4 other 3-stars I would have rather seen get altered, icon_neutral.gif but this is a good sign that the 3-star tier isn't being ignored. Be patient Spidey, Psylocke, and lil' Pun... maybe your time is coming.
  • monsieurmojo
    monsieurmojo Posts: 370 Mover and Shaker
    I've had a 5/3/5 Mr. Fantastic sitting mostly unleveled and waiting for an update for a while. Unless the Imaginaut numbers are insane, I still don't see putting ISO into him for several months. Still requiring a Fantastic Four member on the team severely limits the AP utility of the yellow, and fortifying the tiles he's putting down hampers the healing ability, unless you're running with a heavy special tile producer.
  • wymtime
    wymtime Posts: 3,757 Chairperson of the Boards
    Brigby wrote:



    Mr. Fantastic (Reed Richards) Update:
    Flexibility
    The cost of this power has been reduced by one. The player chooses two basic tiles to be swapped. Before the tiles are swapped, they become fortified protection tiles. This allows you to make strategic choices while ensuring that you get to keep the protection tiles. The Stun remains a 3-Turn stun at power level 5.

    So this change is nice. It is like quicksilver black but with protect tiles. 7 AP compared to 8 is not that big of a deal but is appreciated and puts it in line with quicksilver.
    Master of the Fantastic
    The heal has been converted to a burst team heal. The amount of AP earned each time this power goes off has been increased to 3 as long as you have a member of the Fantastic Four on your team.
    So overall this is a nerf. Any time you go from true healing to burst healing it is a nerf. This means he is losing his fun carnage combination and use with other special tile creators. If you were going to take away his true healing you should have given him more direct damage abilities
    Imaginaut
    The cost of this power has been reduced by two, the Countdown tile is now fortified and the damage has been increased for making Red, Green, and Yellow tile matches.

    Overall looks like a boost I am interested in seeing the damage boost. The fortification will be strong, but the damage increase will need to be big to make him significantly better.
  • DrDevilDinosaur
    DrDevilDinosaur Posts: 436 Mover and Shaker
    The Falcon update doesn't quite seem to fit with the fanfare of the announcement; these are minor tweaks which feel more like bringing the character in-line with expected use cases and not an update/refresh as has been the spirit of previous changes. I think these changes probably could have been ushered in with any patch, but I'll not look a gift horse in the mouth and continued updates to 3* characters is welcome.

    And for Reed? Well, I'm okay with these changes. I think these fall a little short of the change we saw in Cho and Star-Lord, so there is a sense of disappointment. Still, Mr Fantastic already provided some very unique mechanics (both for the tier and for the game) so I can accept that there was little sense to completely replace those. The upgraded Blue power looks very impressive - the introduction of Fortified tiles will work well with his passive, and there are some combinations I look forward to (which I won't mention here for obvious reasons). The change to Black is not what I would have done, but it's a nice change nevertheless. Yellow feels like no-one knows what to do with it. This was the ability which I had expected to be rewritten or replaced entirely.

    Overall, I'm not quite as excited to test these out as I was for Iron Man, Silver Surfer, or Star-Lord, but I'm definitely more excited than I was for Invisible Woman or Cap.