Dev Diary: Champions of the Contest

Check out the latest Champions of the Contest, our latest Dev Diary which explores our philosophy of Champion Design, how that translates into our vision for the future, our new rebalance cadence, which Magento is getting buffed, and information on a couple new crystals coming to the Contest!

Read all about it on our Blog!

Then don't forget to read our final Dev Diary of the series, which will be coming soon! We're going to talk about the future of the Contest, and updates to Incursions, Arenas, and so much more!

Comments

ESF

I am about to devote the next 24 hours of my life to this thread. GET READY

*Well, after I read the Dev Diary first. But then I am gonna be here!!!!!!!!

H3t3r

I have one questions. With the Wish crystal you guys used an example of a Cavalier crystal. Does that mean it will only be in those type of crystals or will that design be brought to the basic crystals like 4 and 5* basics.
My understanding is that is just an example of how a Wish crystal would work, the idea being that the players get some agency in steering the crystal towards the champs they want, but randomness still affects what you ultimately pull. A Cav crystal structured the way they describe would hand the players control over which champs appear, while the Cav structure would randomize which rarity tier you got from that list. But other kinds of things are possible besides that.

Personally I think it is unlikely that you'd see that specific kind of Wish crystal tied to a rarity-specific crystal because then the players would have full control over both which champs appeared and which rarity they got. That seems to be more control than they are signalling they are currently targeting with the examples they provided. I think it is more likely that we could see a "featured-wish" where the player selected one or a couple of champs to appear in a rarity-specific crystal, and the game randomized or curated the rest.

Okay so if they did stick with just Cav or Gm crystals. What would we use to purchases them Units? Shards? As I dont see them staying at the typical 200/300 unit price. But we will have to see as it is a ways off before we see anything like that.

lowlevelplayer

I like it!
Can we get a cyclops buff?

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Mauled

Honestly, this is exactly what I’d hoped for.

I went through my roster the other day and thought there were nigh on 70 champs that needed a bit of love, varying from an increase in numbers to the Colossus treatment, so it pleases me that a split focus has been taken.

Crystal-wise, I have long hoped for a class crystal, even if I had to pay a premium for it, dual classes for the same price is a happy compromise in my eyes, especially for those of us with larger rosters who are looking for specific pieces to complete our puzzle.

The sig stones sound excellent, to a cavalier that works out as 30 generic stones/month if you hit all of the milestones in the current 22hr events (unless I’ve misinterpreted it), which in turn will rapidly increase the amount of max sig champs we have and therefore access to 6* will increase too.

The ‘wish list’ is an interesting notion, not something that I’m no concerned about personally as a non spender but I believe that it would bring the cost and value of cavaliers far closer together. It would be awesome if Act 6 cavalier crystal rewards could be replaced with these, or a 5/6* equivalent could start to come about as rewards for high end content rather than just a chunk of shards, maybe even a nexus wish list crystal could be a consideration.

If you manage to keep to these self imposed deadlines and the buffs maintain the high quality then you’ve got me well chuffed.

Rookiie

I'm SO excited for Punisher 2099! His animations are great, and his base kit is great (Heal Block, Regeneration, Stun, Evade Counter, Armor Break, Power Drain & Power Lock). He has the potential to be a fantastic champion if tuned right!

DNA3000

As long as you don’t go touching my ghost quake and Corvus I’m fine, imma have issues if you go nerfing champs that have been in the game a long time though
That part was the scariest section for me. I’ve invested a lot in both Ghost and Corvus, and I’m a little nervous of their intentions with those specific champs.
Yeah, they shouldn’t go nerfing existing top champs, that’s a bad move, people have invested extreme amounts of time money and resources into them and changing them would honestly be the worst thing they can do, there’s no adequate compensation for 3 days of arena grinding or thousands spent on crystals. When it comes to nerfing new releases I’m still not a fan, and it should only be done when 100% necessary, which someone like namor wasn’t imo, and they need to be quick on pointing it out

Avoiding nerfs doesn't avoid this situation, it actually accelerates it. You're assuming that the only way to negate someone's investment in a champ is for that champ to be nerfed. But that's not the only way. The other way is for that champ to become irrelevant because first the devs make champs that completely outmatch those champs you invested so much in, and then instead of nerfing them they make all future content require them, so that your got tier champs that you invested extreme amounts of time and money into become worthless.

Targeted nerfs make those champs less valuable. Unrestricted power slope means those champs still become less valuable, but so does everything else besides.

No investment is permanent in this game. People spent lots of time and money (relatively speaking) to get the best 4* champs back in the day, and 5* champs eventually supplanted them completely. The clock is already ticking on 6* rank 5 champs doing the same to all the investments placed in 5/65 champs. It is ultimately content that drives obsolescence, and content is pushed upward by the champions available to the players. When the champs available to players becomes more powerful, content gets harder, and the need for those more powerful champs becomes greater, and eventually the progression curve of available champions makes quantum leaps forward, as with rarity. If you let OP champs stand, you're accelerating that process. If you want to preserve everyone's investments for as long as possible, you sometimes need to bite the bullet and even the curve out when extreme outliers exist. Or you let those extreme outliers dictate the pace of progress moving forward, and the pace of eventual obsolescence for everyone.

Aquavenom

Regarding the tuning of champs is it only applied to new champs or to existing champs like ghost, quake and corvus as well?

ALL Champions. From the very first to ones that come 3 years down the line. We want to be very clear that we have no intention of making any Nerfs at this time, and want to focus on Buffs for the time being, but I don't want there to be any misunderstanding here in the future.

I appreciate the answer. Hopefully even if it comes down to tuning of champs that it will be done correctly for the player. Because getting top champs into your roster usually requires a lot of time and money.

Thicco_Mode

Seems really cool

Nirocharlie

@""Kabam Miike"
With regard to the Dual Class Basic Hero Crystal, are you planning to just release the 5* version initially or will you release 4* and 6* versions along with the 5* version?

Cliffordcan

This is great, and has restored a lot of excitement in the game for me. I love that this one had dates as well!

Only thing I would request to see is which champs fall into what categories for the Strike Team. Maybe a forum post with all champs in the 3 categories. This will help inform people's rank up decisions. Extra credit if it is in the order they will done.

DNA3000

I have one questions. With the Wish crystal you guys used an example of a Cavalier crystal. Does that mean it will only be in those type of crystals or will that design be brought to the basic crystals like 4 and 5* basics.
My understanding is that is just an example of how a Wish crystal would work, the idea being that the players get some agency in steering the crystal towards the champs they want, but randomness still affects what you ultimately pull. A Cav crystal structured the way they describe would hand the players control over which champs appear, while the Cav structure would randomize which rarity tier you got from that list. But other kinds of things are possible besides that.

Personally I think it is unlikely that you'd see that specific kind of Wish crystal tied to a rarity-specific crystal because then the players would have full control over both which champs appeared and which rarity they got. That seems to be more control than they are signalling they are currently targeting with the examples they provided. I think it is more likely that we could see a "featured-wish" where the player selected one or a couple of champs to appear in a rarity-specific crystal, and the game randomized or curated the rest.
Okay so if they did stick with just Cav or Gm crystals. What would we use to purchases them Units? Shards? As I dont see them staying at the typical 200/300 unit price. But we will have to see as it is a ways off before we see anything like that.

That depends on whether the devs see this as correcting an error or providing a benefit. For example, the announced dual class crystals seem to have the same price as basic crystals, not higher price, in shards. So in that case, the devs feel those crystals correct the problem of the basic crystal being too diluted, so they don't feel they have to charge more for them. Whether the Wish crystal costs more or not depends on how the devs see them.

One alternative to charging more would be to limit the number that a player could buy per unit time, so people can't completely whale out on them and skew the value they provide. So I could see them having the same or similar price, under some conditions. But they could cost more; in either case as you say they appear to be a ways off at the moment, and things could change between now and then.

gp87

I agree with everything, but all those about new crystals should be applied and to 6* pool not only the 5*. It is a game of 6* nowadays.

Kabam Miike

Really happy to hear one question had at hard understanding the 5 star like sw and Wolverine wil ther go to basice or just Featured cystal and incursion

Eventually we want to get them to the Basic Crystal, but don't have a timeline for that yet.

ESF

Welp.

I have...absolutely nothing to add.

That honestly covered it all for me — as I have said a few times over the last few weeks, I truly think Kabam gets it.

Some of us had always said that not every kit needs a total overhaul, that some kits are fun to play as they were originally designed and just needed numerical adjustments.

A focused team to do this work...my gosh. THAT IS AMAZING TO SEE.

I say again: I am extremely excited about the future of this game.

Mase1127

No changes to Cav Crystals? Guess I'll continue to not buy any of those. End game players don't need to pay for 3*s. We don't need 4*s really but I'd settle for you removing 3*s and re-balancing the odds to increase the 5/6* ratio. To be quite honest, I'm not sure why anyone buys these anymore. It's terrible value for a end game player.

Gamer

Really happy to hear one question had at hard understanding the 5 star like sw and Wolverine wil ther go to basice or just Featured cystal and incursion
Eventually we want to get them to the Basic Crystal, but don't have a timeline for that yet.

Thanks for responding great to hearing that’s definitely make me a bit more motivated to play had wished ther was a bit more with 6 star cystal but a man can dream right

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HeroBoltsy

As the roster continues to grow, we want to make sure that every Champion has its place in the meta.

This kind of philosophy as far as reworks go is great to hear. I believe @Bodhizen works by a similar philosophy, and I'm very glad to hear that this is going to be the philosophy going forward. Looking good!

Lvernon15

The roadmap mentions wanting 6 star options to be ‘more limited’ does that mean less crystal choices for them so less specific than 5 stars, or does it mean even smaller pools to target champs easier

XZANDER44

WHEN WE HAVE UPDATE ON ARENA IMPROVEMENT @Kabam Miike @Kabam Vydious

MaxtheSilent

If they can deliver then I'm excited and feel glad I've invested so much into this game. I think understanding that while gambling will always be a part of the game but that you should never be devastated by a crystal pull is the most important take away here. I don't even want every crystal to "God tier" because I want to be excited when it happens. But I can't stand the feeling of working/paying for a crystal to get a falcon type champ. I'm hoping to get my first six star in the next month or 2 and I'm already nervous that a year plus of working towards it will culminate in pulling Abomination or Iron Fist. It doesn't have to be Corvus but it'd be nice if it's not Ebony Maw. Ive never threatened to rage quit over a crystal but I can see losing the desire to play for a bit if all that work is someone I'll never use.

DNA3000

@""Kabam Miike"
With regard to the Dual Class Basic Hero Crystal, are you planning to just release the 5* version initially or will you release 4* and 6* versions along with the 5* version?

The announcement implied their focus was on 4* and 5* acquisition, with 6* acquisition to be looked at down the road. I don't think they've made any plans to release class-specific 6* crystals based on that statement, and it also sounds like they are proceeding more cautiously with those.

BigPoppaCBONE

Welp.

I have...absolutely nothing to add.

That honestly covered it all for me — as I have said a few times over the last few weeks, I truly think Kabam gets it.

Some of us had always said that not every kit needs a total overhaul, that some kits are fun to play as they were originally designed and just needed numerical adjustments.

A focused team to do this work...my gosh. THAT IS AMAZING TO SEE.

I say again: I am extremely excited about the future of this game.

This. Also: My duped 6 star Falcon and Punisher 2099 instantly became better pulls than they were prior to this update. I can't wait to get after it with a potent Punisher 2099.

DNA3000

The roadmap mentions wanting 6 star options to be ‘more limited’ does that mean less crystal choices for them so less specific than 5 stars, or does it mean even smaller pools to target champs easier

In context, the options being discussed in that section refer to crystal design options. So actually not necessarily either of those. They seem to be saying that whatever materializes for 5* champs, don't automatically expect the same range of options to show up for 6* champs. But that doesn't necessarily mean those options will be worse. It is, of course, highly unlikely to be better though.

KyrieRed

I can confidently say I read the post before commenting here. I was more interested on reading about the future of crystals . The two ideas outlined by Kabam team members are good (2 class based crystals and the wish crystal) however I was hopeful to hear about nexus type crystals where you can select from 5 different champions at least in combination of the two good ideas for example and nexus crystal for 2 class champions. (Nexus crystal for mutant/skill 1 of 5 choices every pull)

Ambjony

I would have preferred nexus than class crystals. I need Aegon but I’m overload with skill and mutant champions and I miss cosmics.

However, it’s an improvement and being same price is cool.

Nirocharlie

@""Kabam Miike"
With regard to the Dual Class Basic Hero Crystal, are you planning to just release the 5* version initially or will you release 4* and 6* versions along with the 5* version?
The announcement implied their focus was on 4* and 5* acquisition, with 6* acquisition to be looked at down the road. I don't think they've made any plans to release class-specific 6* crystals based on that statement, and it also sounds like they are proceeding more cautiously with those.

Cheers man. I figured that was the case and was just being hopeful, but understand why they'd delay that part