**WINTER OF WOE - BONUS OBJECTIVE POINT**
As previously announced, the team will be distributing an additional point toward milestones to anyone who completed the Absorbing Man fight in the first step of the Winter of Woe.
This point will be distributed at a later time as it requires the team to pull and analyze data.
The timeline has not been set, but work has started.
There is currently an issue where some Alliances are are unable to find a match in Alliance Wars, or are receiving Byes without getting the benefits of the Win. We will be adjusting the Season Points of the Alliances that are affected within the coming weeks, and will be working to compensate them for their missed Per War rewards as well.

Additionally, we are working to address an issue where new Members of an Alliance are unable to place Defenders for the next War after joining. We are working to address this, but it will require a future update.

Prepare Yourself. My Obnoxiously Long Questing Roadmap Review Has Arrived.

RockypantherxRockypantherx Posts: 3,897 ★★★★★
Well after twiddling our thumbs for the last little while, we finally have our first major roadmap, and boy is it a doozy. I’m going to break it down here, give some thoughts, hopefully spot some things you might have missed and maybe even offer some suggestions. Exciting, I know.

Variant 5:

First up, Variant 5. Who the hell thought it was a good idea to scale back their releases, Who! I hope stern words have been had because I cannot think of a more ludicrous decision if I’m being honest. As for what we learned, looks like it's going to have a similar feel to V2, with champ specific global buffs. Looking forward to that. Champion requirements are...worrying. This does not go well very often. I am very much hoping V6 is before the end of the year. To me, this is the sort of content that should come out every 3 or 4 months. Tides people over until the next big thing as well as being just good content generally.

Act 6:

Act 6. Champion nerfed.

Holy {redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}!

My heart sings for all those who haven’t done it yet. The nullify damage is a small thing, its nice, but the block penetration is huge. That, coupled with the reduction of dexterity requirements, should make actually blocking the special a viable option. Gone will be the days of dashing in and out or getting perfect timing. Hopefully. Although, I think I would have preferred the charges were kept at 5 but were persistent. This is a fair compromise though.

And to whoever decided to remove No Retreat, you are my new favourite person in the office. The worst fight in the game hands down. I think I actually squealed when I read that. Don’t judge me, I still have nightmares from that fight.

Reducing attack values is excellent, no more mincing blocks from Punishers hopefully. One of the biggest issues with Act 6, and I hope this has been carried over to Act 7 as well.

Revisiting pain points is massive, and a focus group is interesting. I would say to take feedback from elsewhere as well, 30 people is not a large sample size, even for this. I’ve already ranted about some of these fights in my Act 6 review, so developers, if you’re reading this, go read that. Shameless plug I know.

As for compensation...look, I’ve 100% it recently. If no compensation is sent out across the board, I’m honestly fine with that. I’m just ecstatic to see that other players won’t have to suffer it. If it is given out, it needs to be blanket, taken on a quest by quest basis. Maybe should be something other than consumables. Units are fine. I don’t think anyone is looking for shards or catalysts, but if you want to throw them in, hey, I won’t complain

Act 7:

Act 7, Act 7. Where to start.

Firstly, I wasn’t invited to the beta, so I did not experience the content hands-on. But from what I saw it was a {redacted}show. I’m worried at this quick turnaround. December is a much more respectable release date, but I’m worried what we’ve been told here has been rushed. Don’t get me wrong, it sounds good, but geez, take your time. Beta was only a few months ago. But let’s actually get into the meat of this section.

Path-based rewards. Good, this was a massive plus for 6.4 and gives a greater incentive to explore. I’m liking this new philosophy of in-fight rewarding for optimal play. The biggest issue with the beta and Act 6 was its approach. It was ‘If you want to play, do this’. It wasn’t fun, and unfortunately, it looks like AW is following suit. Seriously, {redacted} 90% less damage nodes. Stop it. Just., stop it. But from what we’ve been told here, it sounds like we’re back on track. I remain sceptical, we’ve been told this before in the 6.3 beta.

Energy cost! YES! God, this was so frustrating it Act 6. Kabam, let us play your game, we want to. This is a great decision and one I am totally on board with. I actually don’t mind paths taking a bit of time, it nice to sit down for a few hours and grind it out. I’ve mentioned it before, but the most fun I’ve ever had in this game was sitting down over a few nights and grinding through 5.3 and 5.4. But I don't think reducing the time can in any way be a bad thing. As for the RPG and utilising more champions, thank god. Acid Wash Mysterio is the perfect example of how this has been done so wrong so far. Make nodes less about specific abilities and more about styles of play.

Multiple final bosses is an interesting concept and I think it could make completion of quests much easier. This is something we’ll need to see in its implementation to properly judge it. As for new gameplay, this is extremely positive. The game needs this to stop it becoming stale, and swapping champions in quest content is such a good addition to story content. I can’t believe I’ve seen no one suggest it. Allows of much more wiggle room for RPG and more varied fights on paths, if done correctly. One small thing though. RPG is difficult to do in an RNG-based game. That’s why so many people moan at niche fights because they are at the mercy of RNG. Always take that into consideration, that no one wants to be waiting on 1 or 2 champions that they could quite possibly never get.

I think the next bit on reducing paths and fights is a great decision. People don't want to run the same quest over and over and over and over again. The signposting of paths is a great QOL feature, but I’m sure the community will judge what is actually the easiest paths. Simplifying nodes is a good decision, nobody wants to read a laundry list (ironic) of nodes, just to play and plan for one fight, but I would say to not oversimplify it. I quite enjoy coming up with counters to tough fights.

Finally, the restructuring of bosses. As I said, cautiously optimistic about multiple bosses. I like the fact they are being taken as stand-alone experiences, sounds like the language that surrounds the grandmaster fight. If bosses going forward are going to be designed in that same vein I am extremely excited, because Grandmaster was excellent.

Finally, finally, release schedule. This is great. I think 3 months put too much pressure on players to explore, especially at the top where the rewards are needed then and there. This should allow people t have some more breathing room before having the new most difficult content in the game dumped on them.

Cavalier Difficulty:

Three cheers for cavalier difficulty. It’s about a year late, but better late than never at this point.

First off, glad to see this is not going to be ‘cavalier’ level. It would have had no longevity, and focusing 5* rewards in completion with an easy path is an excellent, but a pretty obvious, decision. Focusing on 6* rewards for exploration is again, obvious, but very welcome. And confirmation on T5CC in the rewards is nice, but seriously, make it somewhat substantial. 5% might seem fair right now, but by the end of the year, it’s going to be obsolete.

September 2nd. Mark that day in your calendars. It’s going to be interesting at the very least. Looking forward to the legendary difficulty the next 2 months, especially since this month is pretty much dead in-game.

Also, Canadian difficulty. I had a good chuckle at that. And herald difficulty? Isn’t that coinciding with your 2 ‘hyper anticipated champions’? Honestly, no idea, someone more versed in Marvel lore in me can follow that one up.

Rewards Boost:

Rewards boost is… a thing. I think this is pretty self-explanatory, and while I’m intrigued to see it, for most players, this is a lot of dead text.

Cosmetics:

On to the cosmetics. Personally, I don’t care about the soundtrack all that much, I prefer to blast Slipknot or Rise Against while I beat the **** out of my enemies, but for anyone that does, this is going to be very, very nice.

I’m much more interested in the new visuals as, oh my god, are the current ones stale. Great to see this in the second book of the contest, hoping it isn’t reserved to her and it will make its way into EQ, or even arena if we see more fight backgrounds.

Boss Rushes and Beyond:

The summer smackdown. This is certainly interesting but is meaningless until we see difficulty, fights and rewards. The concept is intriguing though, so I’ll give Kabam that much, and will at least give us something to do and look forward to in these strangest of times

The Summer of Pain. Dear god, what have us end-gamers done. I’ve done all content in the game apart from anything in the Abyss, and even I’m terrified (Insert I fear no man meme here, FYI, I call any credit on that in the meme thread when that is inevitably made).

What fights do I think we’ll see? 6.2 No retreat champion. Slashed Tires Juggernaut. Acid Wash Mysterio. Abyss Collector. 5.2 Collector.

Great Seatin reference. Gave me a proper giggle.

Closing thoughts:

Overall, this is really positive. A lot of it is going to depend on what it actually looks like once it’s in our hands, and whether they hold to their new vision, but the words are promising. Unfortunately, we’ve had many walls of text before, and yet, we still end up back here. I’m hopeful. In fact, this post almost sounds positive, a rare occurrence for me. Follow through Kabam.


Thanks for reading this once again obnoxiously long and over-indulgent review. See you in a few days for the Alliance Roadmap.

Comments

  • DPXFistheGOATDPXFistheGOAT Posts: 727 ★★★
    I hope Kabam doesnt just stick all our essay-posts into one giant megathread forming the Great Wall of TLDRs
  • RockypantherxRockypantherx Posts: 3,897 ★★★★★

    I hope Kabam doesnt just stick all our essay-posts into one giant megathread forming the Great Wall of TLDRs

    The thought alone is terrifying

  • SpideyFunkoSpideyFunko Posts: 21,795 ★★★★★
    I love your reviews.
  • lowlevelplayerlowlevelplayer Posts: 4,292 ★★★★★
    edited June 2020
    I'm here inb4 they make a merged thread
  • lowlevelplayerlowlevelplayer Posts: 4,292 ★★★★★
    Good review, covers pretty much everything I was thinking
  • SneakyWarriorSneakyWarrior Posts: 853 ★★★★
    please nerf 6.2.2 Mister Sinister Kabam.
  • SatsuiNoHadouSatsuiNoHadou Posts: 753 ★★★
    Shorter than expected
  • NojokejaymNojokejaym Posts: 3,892 ★★★★★
    edited June 2020
    I didn’t read that but I see you enjoy what you do
  • gohard123gohard123 Posts: 993 ★★★
    edited June 2020


    Variant 5:

    . As for what we learned, looks like it's going to have a similar feel to V2, with champ specific global buffs. Looking forward to that. Champion requirements are...worrying.

    I dont understand how you compared it to V2 but missed that V2 (along with all variants) have had champion requirements. Not as hard as V1 or Act 6 but soft champion requirements where you get extra for bringing in those champions.


    Act 6:

    Act 6. Champion nerfed.

    Holy {redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}!

    My heart sings for all those who haven’t done it yet. The nullify damage is a small thing, its nice, but the block penetration is huge. That, coupled with the reduction of dexterity requirements, should make actually blocking the special a viable option. Gone will be the days of dashing in and out or getting perfect timing. Hopefully. Although, I think I would have preferred the charges were kept at 5 but were persistent. This is a fair compromise though.

    And to whoever decided to remove No Retreat, you are my new favourite person in the office. The worst fight in the game hands down. I think I actually squealed when I read that. Don’t judge me, I still have nightmares from that fight.

    I agree. The block penetration is huge but I think they should have left no Retreat. The difference now is that you can actually block without needing to dash back since block penetration and attack values have been nerfed. No Retreat would've been an alright challenge without the huge chip damage.
  • RockypantherxRockypantherx Posts: 3,897 ★★★★★
    gohard123 said:


    Variant 5:

    . As for what we learned, looks like it's going to have a similar feel to V2, with champ specific global buffs. Looking forward to that. Champion requirements are...worrying.

    I dont understand how you compared it to V2 but missed that V2 (along with all variants) have had champion requirements. Not as hard as V1 or Act 6 but soft champion requirements where you get extra for bringing in those champions.

    I meant the globals each quest that buffed specific champions like the one in the last quest that gives venom and others double debuffs and buffs. I see what you mean about champion requirements but my interpretation of the post was that they were returning to hard champion requirements. Could be wrong.


    Act 6:

    Act 6. Champion nerfed.

    Holy {redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}{redacted}!

    My heart sings for all those who haven’t done it yet. The nullify damage is a small thing, its nice, but the block penetration is huge. That, coupled with the reduction of dexterity requirements, should make actually blocking the special a viable option. Gone will be the days of dashing in and out or getting perfect timing. Hopefully. Although, I think I would have preferred the charges were kept at 5 but were persistent. This is a fair compromise though.

    And to whoever decided to remove No Retreat, you are my new favourite person in the office. The worst fight in the game hands down. I think I actually squealed when I read that. Don’t judge me, I still have nightmares from that fight.

    I agree. The block penetration is huge but I think they should have left no Retreat. The difference now is that you can actually block without needing to dash back since block penetration and attack values have been nerfed. No Retreat would've been an alright challenge without the huge chip damage.
    For the last 10%, I can see that point, but it was also awful in the first 90%, especially in his unblockable phase where you either needed to intercept him the first time he dashed at you or you would get hit or degen. I think removing it is just a much simpler solution than trying to fix the fight to male it fair

  • Monk1Monk1 Posts: 743 ★★★★
    I think removing no retreat is very fair... but reducing the overall attack rating by soooo much feels over kill.
  • SpideyFunkoSpideyFunko Posts: 21,795 ★★★★★
    gohard123 said:


    Variant 5:

    . As for what we learned, looks like it's going to have a similar feel to V2, with champ specific global buffs. Looking forward to that. Champion requirements are...worrying.

    I dont understand how you compared it to V2 but missed that V2 (along with all variants) have had champion requirements. Not as hard as V1 or Act 6 but soft champion requirements where you get extra for bringing in those champions.
    Because V2 also had size based tags, and they said more champ specific tags are coming.
  • gohard123gohard123 Posts: 993 ★★★
    Monk1 said:

    I think removing no retreat is very fair... but reducing the overall attack rating by soooo much feels over kill.

    No retreat damage is dependent on defenders attack so reducing attack means your are indirectly needing no retreat. I think it’d have been enough
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