**WINTER OF WOE - BONUS OBJECTIVE POINT**
As previously announced, the team will be distributing an additional point toward milestones to anyone who completed the Absorbing Man fight in the first step of the Winter of Woe.
This point will be distributed at a later time as it requires the team to pull and analyze data.
The timeline has not been set, but work has started.
There is currently an issue where some Alliances are are unable to find a match in Alliance Wars, or are receiving Byes without getting the benefits of the Win. We will be adjusting the Season Points of the Alliances that are affected within the coming weeks, and will be working to compensate them for their missed Per War rewards as well.

Additionally, we are working to address an issue where new Members of an Alliance are unable to place Defenders for the next War after joining. We are working to address this, but it will require a future update.

Best ways to combat maxed mystic dispersion

Hi guys,
I'm not gonna rant that I think MD is a broken mastery, and that like old willpower it makes half the characters in the game redundant for AW, I mean I could rant for hours, but you've heard it all before, some agree some don't, but I had a list of ideas of ways to improve it, and wondered if anyone had any better ones??

In reverse order of my favourites:

MD could be capped at lvl3. I don't see much benefit other than wars defence for level 5 MD. it messes up playing with mystic characters with a complete lack of control of special attacks, for instance jumping over voodoos lvl1 is incredibly frustrating. If it were capped at lvl3 it'd make the game more playable and remove the instant death by fighting with characters like X-bones in AW, so making it more fun playing with and against mystic dispersion.

There's the classic remove crit bonus from dexterity, and move dexterity to the start of the utilities tree to make it a base level and only have a buff for lvl2 and 3 ranks only. Seems a no brainier to me.

I also like the idea of fighting fire with fire and removing dextetities crit bonus and replacing with a +10% power gain on evade. So no buff on dodging back, so no MD penalty for just not getting hit, but you've got a way to gain power from skill, a very small version of a DR strange like skill, where if you evade enough you can gain specials without making contact. Would make fighting electro and thorns super fun with any character with a projectile special attack. No longer only 3 or 4 characters that can take on thorns nodes, think of the freedom in team and path selection!!! Super fun!

A new mastery which has a 12% power drain on heavies and special attacks. Opponent has MD? No worries, just parry and heavy them to remove 12% of their power meter. Makes fighting Hyperion and Mordo fun and not frustrating when the computer AI just hides blocking in the corner. Again, all champs have a skill set against all opponents seems fair to me.

A new mastery which allows all buffs to be turned off during a fight. Realised the opponent has maxed MD, fighting with Angela? Well fear not, swipe back and double tap to block and hold for 2 seconds. All buffs are removed, no opponent MD gain but no benefit from buffs on you... can you still take them down? Sounds like a fair and fun fight to me! Feeling brave, we'll do it again, turn them on and see how long you last to get that last hit in!

Mystic dispersion is changed to a mastery which still gains power on buff expiration but power gain is limited to 95% of a full power meter through MD. so a lvl3 special can only be gained via contact by champ or opponent, no more insta-death should you ever play as Groot against MD.

What do you think, any better ideas?
I'd like to make Wars more fun rather than a succession of Mystic opponents with MD.

Comments

  • DLegendDLegend Posts: 745 ★★★
    Cap ww2 is your best bet. He does not gain buffs plus evading specials with dexterity is not needed that often.
  • RetroRocksRetroRocks Posts: 67
    Hi DLegend, thanks for the advice.
    But the problem I'd like to solve is I'm really bored of having a really small subset of characters I can use in wars, makes the game really boring to play, same same every time. I'm hoping to come up with some ingenious design fixes for how the gameplay can be altered to bring some new depth and features to the game, as the MD problem is making the game really stagnant. Plus there is the whole problem with some people not having a CapWW2, Guilly or Quake to take out mystic nodes.
    I don't think players should have their fun reduced just because kabam have designed a slightly overpowered mastery.

    I'm hoping for concensus on an innovative solution to fix s boring game problem rather than just make do and mend solution to circumvent the problem.
    I'd really like deeper masteries to swing the fight in different directions rather than just constant boring baiting of specials, I feel the game needs to develop to make wars a fun and involving game mode rather than just surviving fight after fight.
    Any ideas?

    I think kabam did well with willpower changes, changed the whole game up to make it different, I feel something equally as exciting would be great for combating constant power gain, such as frustrating characters such as Hyperion when the AI is not aggressive enough to release special attacks frequently, or different options for all or nothing or spite nodes other than just falling back on vision, who lets face it can be a bit dull at times.
  • I agree with your theme of not limiting the useful character list in certain areas of gameplay, and they already took a stride in that direction with SW BW Thor and DS being brought back to earth. But look what the fallout was from that, I can't see them doing this again for a long time, if ever. Certain challenges like Kang all or nothing or 3x power gain Dormammu where the list of characters who can hope to complete are miniscule, they continue to add them so i believe in your ideal but the reality isn't moving that way I fear
  • MD is willpower all over again. We know how that situation ended.
  • RetroRocksRetroRocks Posts: 67
    Agreed!
    Think I should say I'm definitely not looking for a nerf, NO NERFS!! it's a dirty word and all it does is upset everyone that's worked hard to earn a mastery, as is a stupid person's fix to a difficult problem.
    But what I'd like is an intelligent, fun and deep counter to the super power that is MD, it really controls a lot of AW, and even a little bit of arena streaking, disproportionately.

    Personally I believe another mastery setup to counter it and other power gain issues could be fun. For instance Hyperion on all or nothing is the same issue, just not much fun. Playing with others power gain however is naturally a lot of fun, just look at how much fun voodoo is to play.

    A small way of controlling power of others seems logical to me, even if nothing else, it gives players hope they can win, as if some characters stumble into a maxed MD node you might as well put down your phone, give up and make a cup of tea rather than bothering to even fight back, it's a lost cause, which isn't the right culture. Goliaths should be able to be dismantled by really skilled players. Not that I'm one, but everyone aspires to get there!

    The skill is figuring out a mechanic to make it fun but not the be all and end all of the fight.

    More mastery spending means more arms race unit spending for kabam, so everyone can win a little.

    I bet someone has a way smarter plan somewhere....?
    Alrhough I doubt they'd just smack it with an oversized nerf hammer, it's fantastic for getting kills, it just needs tweaking somehow I believe.
  • EvilEmpireEvilEmpire Posts: 639 ★★★
    MD is just straight up broken and hopefully sooner than later they can make the appropriate "balances" call it a nerf or whatever but everyone in top tier AW has it and if we suddenly didn't I'm sure we would all find war to be a more enjoyable experience. Just get everyone with an appropriate "compensation" and let's move on from this stupidity.
  • RetroRocksRetroRocks Posts: 67
    Hmmm... Compensation could work as a quick fix, but for me I'd want all class based masteries removed, fully compensated for along with class rank down tickets and reworked to fit post 12.0 update, or at least fit the new champions abilities to make them useful and fun.
    Class masteries worked at a point in time, but are either messed up or antiquated and useless now. Needs a refresh.
    MD however is a fun sponge. Makes all who enter its dark lair get stuck on a boring rinse and repeat cycle...
    Bring cap WW2, don't dare fight in an interesting way or bring any cool champs.
    Next fight, oh my how predicatable, another mystic, do it again, swear and be miserable when you die just because the AI plays defensively.
    You know what,... screw em, let's just milk the whales, yo yo yo, I've got an idea.... You'll love it,.... Let's make every fight the same till the players are so bored of baiting specials they'll actually enjoy buying potions just for something different to do,... yeah, milk the whales boys!!!
  • weavileweavile Posts: 288
    How about this: MD only gain power when the buff is nullified, not expiring, so fate seal, stagger, normal nulify or even Iron Fist chi disruption will give you power, while new layer of dexterity don't. This way not every champs benefit from MD just like the other class masteries, also it force the player to actively try to nulify to use. The only champs who can nulify without hitting is Dr Strange but let be honest, he seriously need help
  • MasutaSodoMasutaSodo Posts: 26
    why would they nerf something that makes them money? be realistic. WP was nerfed because they could make more money by doing so.

    anyone who hasn't figured out that the makers of this game don't care about making a better game is a fool. they only care about $$$.

  • RetroRocksRetroRocks Posts: 67
    So now that Wars are a key focus of the game once more with seasons, and defender diversity is less important we are back to a map of mystic dispersion enemies on every major node.
    I still believe the balance of MD vs all other masteries is off, I run 5/5 MD not because I want it, its a real pain to use offensively at rank 5, but because without I am underpowered on defence kills, its expected on AW defence. Its not fun, and is way overpowered compared to other class masteries. However, as a game concept its good.
    To enjoy MD offensively its best to have it at rank 3 or 4, 5 is often too much.
    Therefore my suggestion is:
    A slight nerf of MD: remove rank 4 and 5 of MD, and refund all those that have unlocked it with the equivalent units required to buy the mystic mastery cores.
    It would allow all those with MD to spread their 2 new mastery points on other more entertaining mastery setups, generating setup diversity, rather than being forced to invest them in MD just to have parity in AW defenders vs your opposing alliance, it would also generate way more varied diversity in AW defence map placement as other non-
    mystic defenders are boosted in popularity.

    Oh and while we are talking of class masteries, maybe remove pure skill as its broken and replace with a new skill based mastery such as a small % ability accuracy reduction for every debuff on an opponent, which would fit with skill bleed inducing champs and give a little "blade" effect to other skill champs again promoting variety of champs used.

    I also believe the science energy attack reducing serum masteries are pretty useless, could these be replaced with reduced special damage received (eg 5%-40% reduced damage from all special attacks), so reducing damage taken from a special 3. This would let all science champs have a viable use against the mystic class which rely on heavy special attack usage to improving the class advantage and lend a little bit of a Iceman ice-armour affect to all science champs, making them more viable for use in endgame content as currently they are a pretty under-utilised class as they are currently often underpowered vs the other classes.

    Cosmic class specific masteries are also pretty useless, Ive never known someone go to rank 5 to reduce armour up when its already negated by any critical strikes, could this maybe be replaced with a mastery which increased buff potency or duration (3%-30%) which would tie in well with the cosmic class' reliance on buffs.

    Finally mutant class masteries are also not hugely useful or worth the unlock cost, maybe if these were updated to all forms of debuff reduction , so reduced effect of all debuffs applied to mutant champions, including incinerate, armour break, bleed, poison, degen, coldsnap, (by -5%-50%) which could make any mutant usable in AW on a poison or bleed node or good counters to magik's limbo, also fitting with the idea that mutants evolove to adapt to become stronger when stressed. All mutants, including meh tier rubbish like magneto all of a sudden have a use, while champs like rouge can become debuff immune if they shrug off debuffs quickly giving them scope to be used in endgame content like Act5.

    Thanks for reading.
  • Just use magik and power lock lol
  • BahamutBahamut Posts: 2,307 ★★★★
    Dolla dolla billz
  • RetroRocksRetroRocks Posts: 67
    I honestly believe the amount of cash everyone would drop on getting some decent 5/5 class specific masteries ranked up with expensive class cores would net more money than the potions for mystic dispersion deaths, and would probably be more enjoyable to play around with. And of course with MD rank 3 around you'd still get MD deaths , just not as prevalent. Plus its all units required rather than potions for glory or crystal popping.
    Cmon kabam, give me something fun in masteries, give me a reason to unlock stuff. Why would I ever change up my masteries currently, make me spend stuff that isnt some trashy crystal, let ,e unlock stuff I actually might want!!
  • TheHoodedDormammuTheHoodedDormammu Posts: 1,448 ★★★
    I dont hink MD should really be changed. And I think that willpower should be buffed a little bit. To address the Mordo and Hyperion holding block in a corner, Kabam should just change the way the AI controls them. Every AI should fight the same. Except for harder quests
  • RetroRocksRetroRocks Posts: 67
    Oh and final point on AW, I can't even begin to explain how much I enjoyed AW when the champs you faced were visible, it allowed for some really fun strategy and planning rather than just starting every fight with your best champ just waiting till you die from bringing the wrong champ just to have to try again once you know who you're facing.
    I really dislike the luck vs skill part of hiding champs, personally it really reduces the fun. I love the idea that with skill and planning any team can beat any opponent.
    Maybe there could be a halfway point where just one of the champion tags were visible so you could guess who it was and see if you're right.
    at least then you felt you were part of the strategy of champ choosing rather than blind luck guessing who you'd put on that node. The answer btw is NC, he is every none mystic node, well maybe a spidey.
  • JaffacakedJaffacaked Posts: 1,415 ★★★★
    RetroRocks wrote: »
    Oh and final point on AW, I can't even begin to explain how much I enjoyed AW when the champs you faced were visible, it allowed for some really fun strategy and planning rather than just starting every fight with your best champ just waiting till you die from bringing the wrong champ just to have to try again once you know who you're facing.
    I really dislike the luck vs skill part of hiding champs, personally it really reduces the fun. I love the idea that with skill and planning any team can beat any opponent.
    Maybe there could be a halfway point where just one of the champion tags were visible so you could guess who it was and see if you're right.
    at least then you felt you were part of the strategy of champ choosing rather than blind luck guessing who you'd put on that node. The answer btw is NC, he is every none mystic node, well maybe a spidey.

    It's much better with the champs hidden, adds way more skill but tbh you can generally work out who they are by what node they are on. I mean you can the still see the class of them. Seems you need to up your game instead of wanting to nerf things, learn to play around md or use power control champs. Bottom line man up an stop crying
  • ChadhoganChadhogan Posts: 456 ★★★
    It's quite funny mystic dispersion has been left as is and the pure skill mastery got diluted down from a great mastery to junk skill for a fighting game should be rewarded not penalised kabam logic been baffling gamers since 2015
  • RetroRocksRetroRocks Posts: 67
    Jaffacaked wrote: »

    It's much better with the champs hidden, adds way more skill but tbh you can generally work out who they are by what node they are on. I mean you can the still see the class of them. Seems you need to up your game instead of wanting to nerf things, learn to play around md or use power control champs. Bottom line man up an stop crying

    Lol, I've got trolled on MD already, amazing. At least you didn't moan about my spelling. Thanks, thats actually quite hilarious that you assume I'm rubbish and can't do it, personally I just enjoy strategising which is fun, planning my whole route fight by fight rather than gung-ho smashy smashy kill mode that hidden champs are.
    Tbh I never said I couldn't do it, admittedly I'm only in tier 4 for AW these days but I do always clear my paths and mini bosses, it's just I think its less fun to do so now is all. I'm not asking for help, I just want a discussion over AW cos I think the game mode is a bit meh, if the consensus is no to change then thats fine. Its also completely fine you disagree but don't assume I'm useless at a this video game cos you have a different opinion. You very much have the option to not read my post. You could guess from the title what it said.
    True you can usually work out placement if people follow logic, sometimes its fun not to and throw people off I suppose, but I care less about defender kills, I enjoy planning my team from my roster the most, plus when you have 6 mystics in a row it'd be nice to figure out if its 6 Dormys in a row or a couple of Mordos thrown in as well is all.
  • Brew_SwayneBrew_Swayne Posts: 500 ★★
    weavile wrote: »
    How about this: MD only gain power when the buff is nullified, not expiring, so fate seal, stagger, normal nulify or even Iron Fist chi disruption will give you power, while new layer of dexterity don't. This way not every champs benefit from MD just like the other class masteries, also it force the player to actively try to nulify to use. The only champs who can nulify without hitting is Dr Strange but let be honest, he seriously need help

    I'm mostly in the camp that says MD is perfectly fine the way it is, but I kinda dig this idea.

    I'm not sure that all mystics would benefit from it though (UC for example has no nullify or stagger ability), and since it's a class specific mastery, it really should apply to each and every mystic champ. Of course, you can always add something like stagger to UC (with his heavy) and it wouldn't be unrealistic.

    Something like that wouldn't be the worst thing to happen to the game, but I think I'd still just leave it alone tbh.
  • BDLHBDLH Posts: 148
    MD is already basically dead at the higher tiers. Our 4/55 sig 100-200 Magik's get 1 kill if they're lucky with the armies of Blades, GHulk, Rulk running loose now. We're in the process of eliminating most MD based teams they have such strong counters now - you'll rarely ever see Magik bosses anymore at tier 1 they get 0-1 kills on regular basis. The only MD champ left that's still semi hard for the MD killers is Dorm but even he gets way less kills than a few months ago.

    It's countered so effectively now, capping it or nerfing it any further would make it completely useless. 6 months ago, these changes would've been welcome but with 2-3 blades per BG at higher tier wars and RULK and Ghulks starting to flood the attack teams, most people are already trying to get rid of their MD teams.
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