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Can we make the rebalance and buff program tier based to add more transparency to the process?

Level 1 rebalance - simple change in numbers, swapping of debuff type, increasing length of a buff or debuff to make timing more consistent or rotation easier to execute. Timeline should follow old rebalance program.

Level 2 - changes to the kits, special attacks, animations, interactions that could have a knock on effect on other parts of content - 3 to 6 months

Level 3 - iron man or cyclops level rehauls that is practially a new champ. Can even take a year here because it is like practically releasing a new champ that will hopefully be caught up to the meta of the game.

This ignores the fact that the changes all take the same amount of time regardless of the type of buff. They still need to gather data and test the changes then do any further refining and testing. The idea of a more clear label for the buffs is fine but everyone seems to be forgetting how buggy the old buffs were when they were cranking them out 3 per month

Deleting the number 7 and changing it to 5 does not take the same amount of effort and testing as a full overhaul. What you talking about

The actual changes may take less time but the testing is still the same. Yall are acting like they can crank these out in an afternoon

Kinda like how Silver Sable was tested before release? Or you mean something like Deathless Vision?

Don't forget Spiral, 6 arms and still whiffing atks on release "after testing"

There are obvious champs that we may never see as 7* (Quake, Herc) and some that may only be released as 7* in monetized events or as special prizes (Magik, Kitty, Wolverine, e.g.) while still others may be on hold because they could be too effective with 7* stats (Hulkling, Scorpion, Valk, e.g.).

But there’s a large-ish group of good to very good champs who aren’t game breaking but can still be effective in their current state as 7*.

For example:

Tech: Nimrod, Silver Centurion, Star-Lord
Mutant: Toad, Jubilee, Cable
Science: Cassie, Miles, Wasp, YJ
Skill: Agent Venom, Stealth Spidey
Cosmic: Champion, Thor, Ikaris
Mystic: Mephisto, Morningstar, Claire Voyant

What’s holding back releasing champs like this in a special crystal or generally?

Dr. Zola

I noticed reading reviews on Apple Store and android store, that newer people seem to be overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information they need to know to take stuff on. I’ve read a lot of 2 and 3 star reviews that complain of pay to win suggesting that they need to pay to overcome an event, or that too much knowledge is needed etc to take on bosses.

I can totally see why new people will struggle. The learning curve from start to valiant is extremely steep, and without offering newer players some form of assist with knowing what to do in quests, I fear it will continue to push away newer players. Only very committed new players will reach out to global or forums or YouTube.

Most will just think “damn….this game is tough..I don’t like it any more.”

I wonder if there needs to be a new “training ground” for new players, that helps them with mid game also. The implementation of the parry training ground etc was a good start. But it really needs something like a testing ground, where people can select nodes, and get an assist with in game explanations.

Let’s be honest. Some of the in game descriptions of nodes and abilities are just horrid. They don’t explain things properly. They can be very ambiguous, and sometimes just confusing. It can be hard to work out how different node and abilities interact because of poor description.

I’ve lost count of the number of times in alliance we’ve said

“Does this champs abilities work on this node to counter it?”

And the general reply is
“No idea…it should do….guess we will have to test it ourselves and find out in war….good luck.”

Given that the end game players would like some sort of test ground, and it’d be great for newer players too, can this sort of stuff be implemented ?

We posted about the shift to Batch Updates a few months ago. There are various reasons why we shifted to Batch releases instead of the old system - one of them being, it does give us more time for full review where we can make sure if a Champion needs a tune up they get one.

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It isn't about "waiting" to release his buff, it's about having an orderly process that allows the team to do their best work without having to crunch to unrealistic timelines.

I am pretty apologetic for my stance here Kabam - but you can't have it both ways. You can't say "it didn't take us seven months to rebalance Patriot" while also saying "we didn't have Patriot rebalanced before the seven months was over and just choose not to release him".

Like... okay I get the whole rebalance program cadence but, it really felt bad with Patriot here. I can appreciate that perhaps the old cadence was getting to be too much for the developers and something needed to give; but Patriot was released over a year ago and the people who do play him quite hard have been waiting for this almost as soon as he was released.

Waiting an entire year to find out how my champion will be adjusted is kind of wild.

Now, I'm not suggesting that you give us updates during the process, because with this community that would clearly be a nightmare. I'm also not suggesting that you go back to what it was. Yes, that rebalance cadence worked for the community but clearly it didn't work for the developers and frankly - they're the ones who matter here.

But can we please find some middle ground where, sure there's a standard and orderly process, but if there's a character like Viv Vision or Patriot who end up not taking the whole process to tweak... maybe give the community a treat and say "Hey, we're actually done early and pretty pleased with what we have. Here are some notes to look forward to." or... if actually possible, just push them live rather than wait for the deadline.

~*~

Now, on to the actual thread.

Stronger and longer physical Vulnerability, ruptures now last less time but do the same amount of damage for shorter fights, extended heavy charge duration and the lower threshold for steadfast

So nothing meaningful. Got it

Okay, I'm clearly all aboard the train in saying that Patriot shouldn't have taken this long to release. But if you actually think that:

Increasing the potency of his physical vulnerabilities by over 100% and extending their duration by 50% is "nothing meaningful" then respectfully, you either don't understand the character and numbers, or just never had realistic expectations for his rebalance.

The extended heavy alone is actually pretty huge piece of utility that transformed his Reversal from being "nice, but kind of niche" to "this is actually useful".

The shorter timeframe on his ruptures while leaving the potency the same as they were is another increase in damage.

He's doing much more damage overall in shorter windows and he's a lot smoother.

Patriot's rebalance may seem like only a few numbers were changed and a line was moved, but that's actually both quite meaningful as well as suggestive that his core kit was already quite good.