What to expect post balance program

I honestly don’t know what I think of the end of the balance program. I didn’t like its current iteration where every champ was subject to change and those changes could take months and months before they went into effect. But at least within a few months I’d know if someone was “safe” to rank up. Also it’s been great to see older champs get buffs and reworks. There are still so many classic marvel champs in this game who are unplayable. Not to mention some newer champions like Patriot and JTFalcon who definitely needed to be rebalanced. What will happen to those champs in the future if they are only going to adjust champions who are deemed unhealthy to the game?

That being said my biggest concern moving forward is knowing when it’s safe to rank up and put resources into a champion. Should we assume the 3 month time period is generally when you’d be making changes if you thought a champion was “unhealthy” to the game? If you do think a champion needs to be changed should we expect it to take as long as it currently does for those changes to go live? Should we just not expect any regularity or predictably when it comes to champion updates?

I didn’t like the balance program in its current form but I did like the predictability, the updates to older champs and the regular communication about champ balance.

Comments

NoahSansman

They basically said they're not nerfing any champs unless they are breaking the game like herc or quake did when they first launched. And they are certainly never nerfing a defender for being too hard.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2893876#Comment_2893876

No they didn't. They ended the program and now they can change whatever they want based on their own discretion. The same BS discretion they used to nerf SW, basically they can just make up a reason and call it discretion.

myanswer

The reason of canceling rebalancing program is simple :)

They don’t want to “bother” whales who invested 1000$ or 36k units into Dark Phoenix.

If DP stays unchanged, many players who don’t own her and still wanna play BG would be annoyed. If DP would be tuned down, players who have ability to invest resources to get SOUVENIR CHAMP would lose confidence for further Whale Event. But that’s not all. When DP is nerfed, some of her encounters like Spiral or Nico would lose some chance for use in different modes, just like economy. The form of refund for this nerf still takes a lot of time to construct since only ranking down gem is not enough.

Nerfing DP would make community worrying Nico and Karolina more in the next month then it would evolve in a credit crisis.

As one of the holders of DP, I actually support nerfing her in some aspects. But now they choose the easiest way to shut down everyone’s mouth in their sights. All I can do is to bless that the game can live longer:)

Aston316

I’m not surprised this as happened. the balance program isn’t fit for purpose. After failing to rebalance serpent and others and the debacle over spider woman they really can’t justify adjusting any champ after this. I really believe from here on they should leave new champs as they are and concentrate on bringing the older champs inline. They don’t need to make them op just make them relevant

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2893884#Comment_2893884

You really thought they were going to nerf a 1k dollar champ? Come on lol...

myanswer

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2893892#Comment_2893892

Well sometimes people just wanna see if something works in an unpredicted way.

It seems not :(

Sadly I have prepared plenty of snacks waiting for a wonderful debate and now they are wasted.

Frumpy_geezer

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2893899#Comment_2893899

Dude… just eat the snacks. No need to waste them.

BringPopcorn

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2893899#Comment_2893899

You should have bought non perishable food items instead of snacks, you will need a bomb shelter and an apocalyptic event for Kabam to do the right thing

Sambob

I’m surprised at the uproar this has caused. As someone who has been living in fear for my rank 4 Karolina, I celebrated when hearing the news. I can now rank up champions as soon as I get them from the Titan without living in fear every time I look at them until their balance update comes out. I’m excited to rank up silver samurai without a dark cloud looming over my head that he could be nerfed.

I interpret this as they are done nerfing new champions unless they cheese to an insane amount like Hercules or kitty. However the concerns over the unpredictability now are definitely valid. However, if they are disciplined and smart with this moving forward, I still see it as a huge win. Players should not hold off on buying, grinding for, or ranking champions because they are scared they will be nerfed. That’s bad for the game.

Protogenoi

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2893915#Comment_2893915

You're missing the point. Instead of altering/improving the rebalancing program, they ended it. It might seem good for you now, but wait until you start pulling these mid champs who dont get buffed.

They ended it to avoid adjusting Dark Phoenix, a champion that only whales have, not because they wanted to help the average summoner. We are likely going to see even more whale exclusive champs come out with no chance of being adjusted. Kabam had a chance to show some integrity and nerf DP, but chose the easy way out.

BringPopcorn

I would like some clarification. Does the end of the rebalance program mean that champions that passed the program unchanged will remain safe from any future changes?

Sambob

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2893921#Comment_2893921

Definitely a fair point about mid champs not getting tuned up. But I will push back on the idea that I only see this as a good thing for me personally. I think it’s good for EVERYONE that we will never have to worry for our new favorite champions. It was not healthy for the game to hold off on spending or grinding or ranking new champions because they might’ve been nerfed. It’s definitely valid to say they couldve improved it instead of shut it down tho. Idk. For now I’m happy until they give me reason to be otherwise. (Which knowing kabam will come soon)

Magrailothos

https://forums.playcontestofchampions.com/en/discussion/comment/2893921#Comment_2893921

What to expect post-rebalance program?

Well, no changes! to Dracula, the Maker and the High Evolutionary, for a start... 😥

RSoxNo1

Why not formalize this with actual players? Kabam has a reasonable enough working relationship with Content Creators and they clearly have the data to determine when a champion is exceeding expectations or under performing.

The biggest needle to thread is determining what changes to a champion would be considered reactionary vs. necessary.

There are numerous champions in the game that cause problems in multiple formats and it's easy to speculate that Kabam is backing off on this program because of the reaction on Spider-Woman and the anticipation of Dark Phoenix.

There are multiple members of the CCP that were absolutely anticipating a Dark Phoenix adjustment and Kabam would likely have been justified in doing so. But the other variable on her in particular is the actual money spent to acquire her.

This is a bed of Kabam's own making, but it's certainly something that can be fixed.

My proposal moving forward:

-All Champions have a review period between Content Creators, Kabam employees and data driven analysis. The window for the review is tighter than 6 months (say 3 months).

-All existing champions are subject to a review as well (this is kind of already going on, but largely from a buff standpoint). Illicit feedback from the CCP and the community as a whole on what champions they feel need to be debuffed. Allow for a set number of adjustments annually so that the burden of adjusted champions isn't overkill

-Rather than distribute rank down tickets for debuffed champions, issue all resources (Gold, ISO, Rank up tickets / resources) for the highest ranked version of a debuffed champion on any roster.