**Mastery Loadouts**
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
Due to issues related to the release of Mastery Loadouts, the "free swap" period will be extended.
The new end date will be May 1st.
7.4.1 Power Shield, Power Flow, and Superiority
altavista
Posts: 1,286 ★★★★
I completed the 7.4.1 Superiority path, that starts with Silver Surfer, and want to provide some feedback.
It seems like the core idea is to get the defender to throw more specials (hence Backhanded Compliment with the Taunt for Superior attackers), in order to block the specials to gain power (hence Power Flow), so that you can do damage with your specials (hence Power Shield).
What all these nodes in combination ends up doing, is just making it a long, boring fight that doesn't work as well as it could.
- I found that using a Superior champion actually made the fight take longer, since the Defender has reduced power gain. Even if the taunt gets the Defender to throw their special, you now have to wait out the entire duration of the Taunt, then build up the Defender's power bar, then get them to use the special. Without Superiority, you don't have to wait for a Taunt to end. This has the seeming effect of penalizing Superiority champions. Since the majority of defenders on this path don't have power gaining abilities (aside from Nova), the Backhanded Compliment node doesn't really need to exist.
- May or may not be a bug, but with Power Flow stating that 30% of a bar of power is gained per blocked special hit, you would theoretically need to block 4 hits to be able to use SP1 (120%), or 7 hits to be able to use SP2 (210%). I noticed sometimes, I appeared to gain less than 30% of a bar of power on blocking a hit, with sometimes I even didn't appear to gain any power. This makes the fight take a lot longer, as I can't damage the opponent if I am not gaining power correctly.
For example, Howard the Duck's SP1 consists of two hits, so I would expect that after blocking two SP1's, I would have blocked 4 hits and be at 120% of a bar of power. But sometimes, it took me blocking 5 or 6 special hits (3-4 SP1s), in order to gain one full bar of power.
I do have the mastery on that reduces Ability Accuracy, so I don't know if this is what is interfering with the Power Flow node or not. But I do think this interaction should be looked at to make sure it is working as intended.
Overall, the idea behind the nodes is good, as it gets us to think differently about the Defender's specials (block instead of evade), but the interactions can be improved to make it a better experience.
It seems like the core idea is to get the defender to throw more specials (hence Backhanded Compliment with the Taunt for Superior attackers), in order to block the specials to gain power (hence Power Flow), so that you can do damage with your specials (hence Power Shield).
What all these nodes in combination ends up doing, is just making it a long, boring fight that doesn't work as well as it could.
- I found that using a Superior champion actually made the fight take longer, since the Defender has reduced power gain. Even if the taunt gets the Defender to throw their special, you now have to wait out the entire duration of the Taunt, then build up the Defender's power bar, then get them to use the special. Without Superiority, you don't have to wait for a Taunt to end. This has the seeming effect of penalizing Superiority champions. Since the majority of defenders on this path don't have power gaining abilities (aside from Nova), the Backhanded Compliment node doesn't really need to exist.
- May or may not be a bug, but with Power Flow stating that 30% of a bar of power is gained per blocked special hit, you would theoretically need to block 4 hits to be able to use SP1 (120%), or 7 hits to be able to use SP2 (210%). I noticed sometimes, I appeared to gain less than 30% of a bar of power on blocking a hit, with sometimes I even didn't appear to gain any power. This makes the fight take a lot longer, as I can't damage the opponent if I am not gaining power correctly.
For example, Howard the Duck's SP1 consists of two hits, so I would expect that after blocking two SP1's, I would have blocked 4 hits and be at 120% of a bar of power. But sometimes, it took me blocking 5 or 6 special hits (3-4 SP1s), in order to gain one full bar of power.
I do have the mastery on that reduces Ability Accuracy, so I don't know if this is what is interfering with the Power Flow node or not. But I do think this interaction should be looked at to make sure it is working as intended.
Overall, the idea behind the nodes is good, as it gets us to think differently about the Defender's specials (block instead of evade), but the interactions can be improved to make it a better experience.
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