My Honest Thoughts on Act 9

Jinxesaxe

I’d like to start off by saying that this is my personal opinion and is meant to be taken with a grain of salt. I’m hoping to stimulate discussion and hear ideas from other people in the community!

I think that every new act sucks in the first chapter. 7.1 sucks because you don’t get the ability to pick bosses. 8.1 sucks because it’s long and weapon nodes weren’t fully realized. 9.1 sucks because scourge is unbalanced and the health pools are absolutely massive.

I really think 9.1 is going to be the worst of act 9, and 9.2 should be more fun, with a tougher boss. I think Kabam are highly likely to follow a formula going forward with act content.

Scytalis was easy to fight, but easy to mess up
Bahamet was annoying and difficult
Cerastes is in my opinion the easiest boss in the game
Glykhan was a finale with skill and RPG asks

Orochi really feels like Scytalis to me. I’m expecting 9.2 to be less of a slog, but with a tougher boss requiring more skilled gameplay. 9.3 will likely be flood gates opening for easy gameplay, and 9.4 will be the finale of Scourge, with equally fun and challenging concepts.

Now the real question is: When is the next progression title coming?

Historically, aside from Paragon, new titles come around every 18 months, or after three story chapters are released.

Uncollected in 5.2
Cavalier in 6.1
Thronebreaker in 6.4
Paragon in 7.4 (outlier)
Valiant in 8.3

9.2 will be the third chapter after Valiant’s release, which means we might be nearing the end of the Valiant cycle. What will the rank up requirements be for that? Will it be a r4 champion? Maybe we’ll see 7* ascension soon!

Would love to see other’s thoughts and possible theories on how we see Act 9 play out!

Jinx

JLordVileJ

I was comparing orochi to scytallis as well, very similar imo. And for difficulty at the time of boss based on progression, doing 8.3 cerastes first time is definitely easier than doing the collector or champion 6.2.6 first time imo

Jinxesaxe

JLordVileJ said:

I was comparing orochi to scytallis as well, very similar imo. And for difficulty at the time of boss based on progression, doing 8.3 cerastes first time is definitely easier than doing the collector or champion 6.2.6 first time imo

Totally! I more mean that 9.2 will be a tougher boss because Bahamet was a tougher boss with more skill tech required. My apologies for being unclear though!

I’m glad I’m not the only one feeling the similarities LOL

Jinx

Buttehrs

I doubt we'll see 7* ascension any time soon. Ascension is meant to bridge gaps between rarities. So we won't see 7* ascension until 8* comes out.

ahmynuts

How is valiant at its end when we still don't really have anything for it 💀💀

captain_rogers

Orochi is mid because her phases all were similar. And next progression is miles ahead. I'm guessing 9.4

JLordVileJ

captain_rogers said:

Orochi is mid because her phases all were similar. And next progression is miles ahead. I'm guessing 9.4

I'd say 9.3 if not 9.4

Jinxesaxe

Buttehrs said:

I doubt we'll see 7* ascension any time soon. Ascension is meant to bridge gaps between rarities. So we won't see 7* ascension until 8* comes out.

That’s fair! I’ve never really seen it that way, but I guess that was the point in introducing it.

Jinx

Jinxesaxe

ahmynuts said:

How is valiant at its end when we still don't really have anything for it 💀💀

I don’t think it’s at its end, but we are likely in the second half of its life cycle. And we have a Valiant level Battlegrounds store, Valiant deals, Valiant crystals, Valiant level selectors in double track and reunion events. We have a ton when it comes to Valiant gated pieces!

Jinx

Jinxesaxe

captain_rogers said:

Orochi is mid because her phases all were similar. And next progression is miles ahead. I'm guessing 9.4

I agree on Orochi’s phases being similar, which just increases the overlap of Scytalis and Orochi for me.

You really think 9.4? That’s an unprecedented amount of time in between titles. That would be 5 story chapters and ~30 months (2.5 years) in between progressions.

Jinx

captain_rogers

Jinxesaxe said:

captain_rogers said:

Orochi is mid because her phases all were similar. And next progression is miles ahead. I'm guessing 9.4

I agree on Orochi’s phases being similar, which just increases the overlap of Scytalis and Orochi for me.

You really think 9.4? That’s an unprecedented amount of time in between titles. That would be 5 story chapters and ~30 months (2.5 years) in between progressions.

Jinx

They said in an earlier stream they aim to increase the intervals between progression title, since if they keep on introducing them and assuming the game runs for another 20 years, We may end up with like 25 progression titles.

Jinxesaxe

captain_rogers said:

Jinxesaxe said:

captain_rogers said:

Orochi is mid because her phases all were similar. And next progression is miles ahead. I'm guessing 9.4

I agree on Orochi’s phases being similar, which just increases the overlap of Scytalis and Orochi for me.

You really think 9.4? That’s an unprecedented amount of time in between titles. That would be 5 story chapters and ~30 months (2.5 years) in between progressions.

Jinx

They said in an earlier stream they aim to increase the intervals between progression title, since if they keep on introducing them and assuming the game runs for another 20 years, We may end up with like 25 progression titles.

Did they? I must have missed that! Do you have a video or anything for me to look at? That could be very interesting!

Jinx

Gamer

Act 9 health pulled is need for the Eventually. R4 and above there is a reason 6 star doesn’t get the bonuses anymore I do think the hp is fine i also have a lot of r3 so most fights was 3 minutes but 1 and half minutes So for me that fine to many things it was meant to be a breezy for everyone i find act 9 and 8 and 7 boring because it got to essay not really challenging like act 6 had I do believe act 6 had a few good things obviously also bad node combos but as time go one the strong the champion has gotten to yes 2024 hasn’t had the best.

OGAvenger

The increased health pools are a natural progression with summoners ranking higher level champs. Can’t expect it to stay the same as when rank 4 6 stars were the highest level. People just need something to complain about.

Awesomep12

This is exactly what I was thinking. I predict that the next progression will come in 9.3 or 4. The health pools were too high and shouldn't increase to test amount till 7* r5s exist aka a while lol. The boss was really easy, but I had lady d. I don't think that chapter bosses should have counters as some people will be blocked by it. She was still enjoyable but not difficult enough. Rewards were perfect though. Hopefully 9.2 gave similar but better rewards. I know this was a bit controversial 😆

Awesomep12

OGAvenger said:

The increased health pools are a natural progression with summoners ranking higher level champs. Can’t expect it to stay the same as when rank 4 6 stars were the highest level. People just need something to complain about.

The health changed but our rank of champs didn't. It feels like kabam expects us to run through with all 7* r3s, which most of us don't have a full bg deck of. I'd say that's the problem.

jdschw

I'm still surprised that so many people found Orochi so easy. Maybe I was just not using a good counter, but I found her to be a huge pain in the butt starting at the 3rd life. She would just back me into the corner with her inexorable passive and heavy me to death. I guess my champs' specials just weren't good enough to give me any breathing room, because she'd throw one special back and, bam, back in the corner.

I've only beaten her once so far, and it was super frustrating. Took me like 20 revives. Maybe I'll change my tune with some different champs. I've heard Juggernaut is much easier, because it will be easier to stay out of the corner with him. But for that fight, I found her to be tougher than any act 8 boss, purely because of the inexorable passive.

jdschw

I'll have to watch some videos on how people are soloing her. Given the discussion about this fight on these forums, I must be missing something.

Awesomep12

jdschw said:

I'm still surprised that so many people found Orochi so easy. Maybe I was just not using a good counter, but I found her to be a huge pain in the butt starting at the 3rd life. She would just back me into the corner with her inexorable passive and heavy me to death. I guess my champs' specials just weren't good enough to give me any breathing room, because she'd throw one special back and, bam, back in the corner.

I've only beaten her once so far, and it was super frustrating. Took me like 20 revives. Maybe I'll change my tune with some different champs. I've heard Juggernaut is much easier, because it will be easier to stay out of the corner with him. But for that fight, I found her to be tougher than any act 8 boss, purely because of the inexorable passive.

Its all about good dot champs eg lady d or iron heart

Riryoku

jdschw said:

I'm still surprised that so many people found Orochi so easy. Maybe I was just not using a good counter, but I found her to be a huge pain in the butt starting at the 3rd life. She would just back me into the corner with her inexorable passive and heavy me to death. I guess my champs' specials just weren't good enough to give me any breathing room, because she'd throw one special back and, bam, back in the corner.

I've only beaten her once so far, and it was super frustrating. Took me like 20 revives. Maybe I'll change my tune with some different champs. I've heard Juggernaut is much easier, because it will be easier to stay out of the corner with him. But for that fight, I found her to be tougher than any act 8 boss, purely because of the inexorable passive.

Or maybe you didn't read how her abilities work. You have to heavy punish her specials to remove the inexorable passive.

Awesomep12

If you heavy counter her specials, the inexorable goes away

jdschw

ohhhhhhh I absolutely did miss that. Wow.

Awesomep12

jdschw said:

ohhhhhhh I absolutely did miss that. Wow.

That'll be it XD
Good luck with your future runs

jdschw

Holy cow. This explains it. That would have made all the difference in the world. I'm so pissed that I missed this and wasted all those revives.

In case anybody else happens across this thread having made a similar mistake: you don't even need to officially punish her specials. Hitting her with *any* heavy attack will remove the inexorable! Since she's stun immune, the special punish will be the easiest window to do it. But if you have somebody with, say, unstoppable, you can just throw the heavy whenever and it does the job. I could be missing something, but I think untouchable would work too, because I don't think she has a miss counter.

Awesomep12

jdschw said:

Holy cow. This explains it. That would have made all the difference in the world. I'm so pissed that I missed this and wasted all those revives.

In case anybody else happens across this thread having made a similar mistake: you don't even need to officially punish her specials. Hitting her with *any* heavy attack will remove the inexorable! Since she's stun immune, the special punish will be the easiest window to do it. But if you have somebody with, say, unstoppable, you can just throw the heavy whenever and it does the job. I could be missing something, but I think untouchable would work too, because I don't think she has a miss counter.

Sorry you heard it late lol

jdschw

Awesomep12 said:

Sorry you heard it late lol

I mean, it's my own fault. I didn't watch any videos beforehand, and I missed or forgot that detail when I read her abilities.

Awesomep12

jdschw said:

Awesomep12 said:

Sorry you heard it late lol

I mean, it's my own fault. I didn't watch any videos beforehand, and I missed or forgot that detail when I read her abilities.

You're good. We all make mistakes

Awesomep12

I watched videos so I knew and I think it took 3 or 4 revs. I can knock that down on my other 2 runs soon as well. What tech champs with dots do you have?

OGAvenger

Awesomep12 said:

OGAvenger said:

The increased health pools are a natural progression with summoners ranking higher level champs. Can’t expect it to stay the same as when rank 4 6 stars were the highest level. People just need something to complain about.

The health changed but our rank of champs didn't. It feels like kabam expects us to run through with all 7* r3s, which most of us don't have a full bg deck of. I'd say that's the problem.

The rank of champs definitely did change and a slightly bigger health pool should be the least of anyone’s worries

TyEdge

I’ve done 10 paths and found it very manageable. Maybe it’ll get worse as I do the final path and final boss in each quest. (I’ve done 2-2-2-2-1-1)

Jinxesaxe

OGAvenger said:

The increased health pools are a natural progression with summoners ranking higher level champs. Can’t expect it to stay the same as when rank 4 6 stars were the highest level. People just need something to complain about.

I think that’s an unfair assessment of my criticism. The scale of the health pools wouldn’t necessarily mean much to me, had 8.4 not felt like WAY less. At that point I only had 1 R3 7*, 6 r2 7*, and 4 r5 6*. I had 7, 19, and 12 for 9.1 respectively. My roster has grown a TON, but it hasn’t scaled the way the health pools did.

Again, these are likely growing pains that will be addressed further into the content. But without feedback, where would those changes come from?

Jinx