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

Mercury79

Is sentry gonna buff too??

TheMightyJon

Did I miss anything about quest crystals? I'm not using these anymore as 75 iso even on a 3 star champ is pretty pointless. Surely these need updating from a QoL perspective.

Also pulling 40% XP boost after getting to level 60 is frustrating. Unless of course kabam plan to up the summoner level!

They are updating them, it says so in the post.

gohard123

Dont know if anyone has asked this. Are the class crystals limited to 1 quantity? The blog post says "One Crystal will appear for 24 hours, replaced by the second the next day, then the third, then back to the first. So [Mutant/Skill] will appear day 1, day 4, day 7, etc"
Does that mean literally 1 (quantity) of the crystal is available or does it mean 1 (referencing type) is available?

TheMightyJon

Dont know if anyone has asked this. Are the class crystals limited to 1 quantity? The blog post says "One Crystal will appear for 24 hours, replaced by the second the next day, then the third, then back to the first. So [Mutant/Skill] will appear day 1, day 4, day 7, etc"
Does that mean literally 1 (quantity) of the crystal is available or does it mean 1 (referencing type) is available?

I'd assumed it was one type. Basic and featureds you can buy multiples of if you have the shards so don't see why you couldn't buy more than one of these, maybe if it was a nexus purchase limit could be in place or have a cool down.

gohard123

Dont know if anyone has asked this. Are the class crystals limited to 1 quantity? The blog post says "One Crystal will appear for 24 hours, replaced by the second the next day, then the third, then back to the first. So [Mutant/Skill] will appear day 1, day 4, day 7, etc"
Does that mean literally 1 (quantity) of the crystal is available or does it mean 1 (referencing type) is available?
I'd assumed it was one type. Basic and featureds you can buy multiples of if you have the shards so don't see why you couldn't buy more than one of these, maybe if it was a nexus purchase limit could be in place or have a cool down.

I assumed same on first reading but incursion crystals are limit 1 so who knows.

Ambjony

Dont know if anyone has asked this. Are the class crystals limited to 1 quantity? The blog post says "One Crystal will appear for 24 hours, replaced by the second the next day, then the third, then back to the first. So [Mutant/Skill] will appear day 1, day 4, day 7, etc"
Does that mean literally 1 (quantity) of the crystal is available or does it mean 1 (referencing type) is available?
I'd assumed it was one type. Basic and featureds you can buy multiples of if you have the shards so don't see why you couldn't buy more than one of these, maybe if it was a nexus purchase limit could be in place or have a cool down.

I assumed same on first reading but incursion crystals are limit 1 so who knows.

I don’t think there will be any limit but even if it were you will have availability of each crystal every three days. Unless you spend a lot of money you don’t get 10k shards that quick. In a month you can clear all your shard savings.

Snurris

You say your not gonna make some bigger changes to the 6* crystals, I relly think you should rethink. 6* is my opinion a big problem.
I get approximately 8000 5* shards a week but it takes 6-8 weeks to get 10000 6* shards for a basic crystal.
And to open them are just painful since it takes so long to get them.
This last year I’ve pulled the following champs from 6*.
Old cap marvel dupe
Deadpool x
Sentry
Magneto red
Rhino dupe
Red cyclops
Blue cyklops
Blue cyklops again

This is seriously so discouraging...

I’m no here to rant about my bad luck cause I know I’m not alone. Just saying that it just makes me sad to open such **** after another and never getting anything useful in a game where 6* are the future more then 5*.

H3t3r

You say your not gonna make some bigger changes to the 6* crystals, I relly think you should rethink. 6* is my opinion a big problem.
I get approximately 8000 5* shards a week but it takes 6-8 weeks to get 10000 6* shards for a basic crystal.
And to open them are just painful since it takes so long to get them.
This last year I’ve pulled the following champs from 6*.
Old cap marvel dupe
Deadpool x
Sentry
Magneto red
Rhino dupe
Red cyclops
Blue cyklops
Blue cyklops again

This is seriously so discouraging...

I’m no here to rant about my bad luck cause I know I’m not alone. Just saying that it just makes me sad to open such **** after another and never getting anything useful in a game where 6* are the future more then 5*.

Magneto is getting buffed so he might be one of the best mutants in the game afterwards

DNA3000

You say your not gonna make some bigger changes to the 6* crystals, I relly think you should rethink. 6* is my opinion a big problem.
I get approximately 8000 5* shards a week but it takes 6-8 weeks to get 10000 6* shards for a basic crystal.
And to open them are just painful since it takes so long to get them.
This last year I’ve pulled the following champs from 6*.
Old cap marvel dupe
Deadpool x
Sentry
Magneto red
Rhino dupe
Red cyclops
Blue cyklops
Blue cyklops again

This is seriously so discouraging...

I’m no here to rant about my bad luck cause I know I’m not alone. Just saying that it just makes me sad to open such **** after another and never getting anything useful in a game where 6* are the future more then 5*.

To be candid, 6* champs might be the future, but 5* champs are the present. And most players should be playing for the present, and not trying to leapfrog over 5* champs directly to fantastic 6* champs. So the priority should be to address the issues players have with 5* champs first. Right now it should be harder to get 6* champs, and also much harder to target 6* champs. I do sympathize with people who are disappointed with their very infrequent 6* pulls, but in a game where random champ acquisition is always going to be the norm, that isn't an easy thing to address without making earlier progress tiers redundant.

Things are happening for 6* champs as well, just more slowly than for 5* champs, which I think is appropriate. For example, the Canadian side quest difficulty rewards appear to be signalling a significant increase in 6* shard availability for Cavalier players, possibly doubling or tripling 6* shard availability for Cavalier players. And at the moment it is primarily Cavalier players that have any progressional need for 6* champions. And they did announce better curation of both 5* and 6* featured champion crystals, reducing the worst case scenario for those.

But I think with limited time and resources, the developers should be concentrating their efforts on improving the experience for players who need things now, and not for players who are looking too hard at the future.

Imran

I feel like, magneto only be good champ against metal champ!! And that's not good if it’s become reality.

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Bgchow13

Sentry should be in the update category. He definitely needs more than a "tune-up".

Lvernon15

Sentry should be in the update category. He definitely needs more than a "tune-up".

He was an example of a champions who has received a tune up

Bgchow13

Sentry should be in the update category. He definitely needs more than a "tune-up".
He was an example of a champions who has received a tune up

Correct. And I am saying Sentry requires ability changes and should be placed in the Update category rather than just tuning up his numbers. See definitions below.

Balanced – Champions that are “Good Enough for Now”, or better.
Tune-Up – No ability changes just tuning up numbers (Torch or Sentry)
Update – Numbers and Minor Ability Changes but largely the same kit (a la Red Hulk, or Carnage)
Overhaul – Whole new kit time. (Think Hulkbuster or Colossus)

Many fans of Sentry were disappointed when he was released and more work is required to do him justice. Especially, when Void is considered God-Tier or beyond by most players. Void is the photonegative of Sentry and the two should be foils for another.

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Jmille85

I’m a little worried about the part about “nerfing champs” I feel if there is a need to nerf that there should be a limited timeframe after the champions release that it can be done... Like for example a champ can only be nerfed within 3 months of that champ release so they can collect data and make changes if necessary and we also get the certainty a champ won’t be altered after investing time and resources into getting that champ... So I will be extremely ticked off if champs like Doom, Corvus, or Ghost are nerfed after how long they have been the way they are in game...

Everything else I’m excited about!

GroundedWisdom

Is no one going to talk about the Easter Egg? I say Apocalypse.
Play this month's EQ.

Polygon

@Kabam Miike

“We’ll also be looking at 6-Star as well, but expect it to be more limited than the 4-Star and 5-Star options.”

Can you clarify if this means something similar to the dual class crystal as the 5* will be released? If not , what did you mean?

Any timeframe on this one?

Polygon

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.

Someone mentioned rotating the dual classes so theyre not locked to just the 3, believe it was @Lvernon15 but I think that is a fantastic idea, and it would just fit better with the theme of this announcement since its centered around giving more control to crystal pulls.

Can we get a consensus on this?

Cabsy84

I am stoked for magneto buff.

Pulled falcon as a 6 six star this morning was not disappointed.

Holy moly. You’re going to be sorted mate!

Cabsy84

One thing I’m hoping Kabam can confirm is:

Does the crystal rotation cycle through all permutations of dual crystals? (eg after the three they mentioned does it offer other alternatives, say skill/tech, mystic/cosmic etc).

If you’re looking to really increase summoners options then I think that’s the way it needs to work.

I’m all stocked up on mutants at the moment (literally only missing domino and I don’t think I’d even use her all the time if I did pull her) and I really need Aegon and Nick, but I also really want Ghost.

At the moment I need Aegon more than Ghost, so I would target the skill/mutant one til I got him. But if I then just kept pulling mutants that I either already had or didn’t need then I’d be massively losing out, over also including the chance to potentially roll a Ghost.

Please please strongly consider this, for the sake of the players.

Otherwise good job on the updates so far. Really excited and optimistic for the future of the game 👍

Polygon

One thing I’m hoping Kabam can confirm is:

Does the crystal rotation cycle through all permutations of dual crystals? (eg after the three they mentioned does it offer other alternatives, say skill/tech, mystic/cosmic etc).

If you’re looking to really increase summoners options then I think that’s the way it needs to work.

I’m all stocked up on mutants at the moment (literally only missing domino and I don’t think I’d even use her all the time if I did pull her) and I really need Aegon and Nick, but I also really want Ghost.

At the moment I need Aegon more than Ghost, so I would target the skill/mutant one til I got him. But if I then just kept pulling mutants that I either already had or didn’t need then I’d be massively losing out, over also including the chance to potentially roll a Ghost.

Please please strongly consider this, for the sake of the players.

Otherwise good job on the updates so far. Really excited and optimistic for the future of the game 👍

Exactly what I said, It makes no sense to lock them to three permutations.

This would be huge

Sayantan

"We’ll also be looking at 6-Star as well, but expect it to be more limited than the 4-Star and 5-Star options."

@Kabam Miike can you please elaborate on this one please? What is meant by "more limited" here? Will it (the crystals) be limited to only class? Like just science class crystals? Any updates would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

Mr_Platypus

"We’ll also be looking at 6-Star as well, but expect it to be more limited than the 4-Star and 5-Star options."

@Kabam Miike can you please elaborate on this one please? What is meant by "more limited" here? Will it (the crystals) be limited to only class? Like just science class crystals? Any updates would be helpful. Thank you in advance.

Likely means they won’t introduce a class specific/dual class 6* crystal anytime soon.
If they stick to their plans of updating champions regularly then the 6* pool will improve with time as the bottom is pulled up.
The best I think you should expect is an improved 6* featured crystal with fewer champs that make you want to cry when you pull them.

A_NAZ

Overall very good post, however would have loved to see something about 1* champions. I think the 2* collector crystals we’ve seen in recent months are brilliant for those enjoy collecting champions at all rarities. If this was done for 1*s, you’d be pleasing both collectors and those who need them for V4 (would also mean those done V4 100% could go back and have more fun with new options) @Kabam Miike

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TheHeroDeserved

As someone who just pulled three trash champs - Punisher 2099, Antman and Vulture - Im really exited abut the Punisher 2099 tune-up. Im just curious, beacuse theres a huge difference between Sentery and Human Torch in terms of value in end game content. Are future tune-ups aimed towards the champs being valuable in endgame content or more kinda like a Sentery-like tune-up?

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tkhan08

Looking forward to exciting changes. Magnetos getting rework is really good. I don't have both of them. I have the classic one but not awakened.

Anyway, it's not about having the character. Magneto has a huge presence in marvel universe. Mcoc is a different setup but it's good to see these champs having bigger impact in mcoc.

Speaking of champs, I am not too excited about Punisher update. I think Ultron would have been a better candidate. He also is one of the more prominent character. He has utility and just needed damage output to increase.

Lunae

Ultron should definitely be the next big character to get a rework, him and lol Ultron. He deserves to be as powerful as Doom and hopefully as Mags will be.

Kabam should start will tentpole characters because it’s such a shame how disappointing most of their well know fan favorites are. Or atleast pair one major character a month like OG Spider-Man, Ironman, Antman, Captain America and etc.