Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
Wouldn’t this be an opportune moment to give DDHK a numbers boost; considering the shortened timelines? I’m not being cheeky, I’m being serious.
Edit: Just suggest it to the team @Kabam Miike , it could be a win for you guys at Kabam and a win for us.
Especially since Feige announced that DDHK is going to be in the MCU.
I think this would be great if it could be done. Most likely would need only minimal Dev involvement and could help spin up anticipation for the Hell's Kitchen event in Feb.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
Respect it. Glad you are taking the time to get DDHK buff right .
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
Respect it. Glad you are taking the time to get DDHK buff right .
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
Wouldn’t this be an opportune moment to give DDHK a numbers boost; considering the shortened timelines? I’m not being cheeky, I’m being serious.
Edit: Just suggest it to the team @Kabam Miike , it could be a win for you guys at Kabam and a win for us.
Especially since Feige announced that DDHK is going to be in the MCU.
I think this would be great if it could be done. Most likely would need only minimal Dev involvement and could help spin up anticipation for the Hell's Kitchen event in Feb.
This is a great time for that. No buffs? Numbers adjustment only.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
Respect it. Glad you are taking the time to get DDHK buff right .
I know it's close to Christmas so a lot of people are partying but please remember to do so in moderation.
That being said if they're going to take January off, that's more than understandable and if anything this makes me more optimistic for February's buffs as this will give them plenty of time to do a pair of proper overhauls. 🤞🤞🤞
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
Totally understandable! But maybe you could give us all a hint on who will be buffed in February?
I agree, according to Kabam buffs and reworks takes a couple of weeks definitely more than a month don't remember the exact so they can definitely let us know the champions if they want to.
Isn’t Rogue in pretty much every featured? I predict it’ll be her.
If they're going for something easy in January, it would make the most sense since everyone's agreed that she only needs a numbers bump.
If it were me, I'd do something like this -Slight increase to buff timer -Buff timer paused during opponent's special -Update the buffs she can steal to a much wider pool -Sig on base kit -New sig. What this would be is a bit up in the air, but maybe a permanent attack or special damage increase during the fight per buff stolen? Obviously with a stack limit, could be per unique buff or just total. Or amount of power stolen/health gained in the fight gives her an attack/special damage boost. I feel like special damage fits with the mutant class, and works off her current abilities of stealing health, power and/or buffs
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
I’m also an employee, and I sacrificed two weeks of leave to help others meet their deadlines and keep everything stable. Now, nobody is asking Kabam to go the extra mile. Just a small numbers change on DDHK would keep all parties satisfied; I’m fairly certain. Please talk to Kabam John, guys. Arrange something. If not now then in the New Year, early on.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
My guy it’s a week off Christmas, extend a little cheer and joy.
There are plenty of aspects of the game to constructively suggest Kabam can do better on, but one of them most definitely is not them taking a slightly lighter workload at Christmas.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
I’m also an employee, and I sacrificed two weeks of leave to help others meet their deadlines and keep everything stable. Now, nobody is asking Kabam to go the extra mile. Just a small numbers change on DDHK would keep all parties satisfied; I’m fairly certain. Please talk to Kabam John, guys. Arrange something. If not now then in the New Year, early on.
Man you're going to feel bad if John had really important plans with his spouse and or family and you want him to put that on hold for you.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
Sorry for the lack of support you have received from this post, but here it comes.
Did the Developer Team get a month off or something? Are the parry bugs going to be permanently fixed instead? Everyone is saying relax. For what? Asking someone to do their job? No one is saying to be a slave on Christmas, but what about the first 3 weeks? I would love to know what else they are doing.
He said there won't be any buffs for January. They didn't say they shut down work for everything. They just aren't having champion buffs.
Even still, regardless of what you want, it's their game and their company. They don't tell you how to go about your life. Comments like yours is why this community tends to be one of the most toxic communities. You think your needs and wants are above everything else.
Yes, there are things we all want in the game. There are things we all want to see. And there are things which can be done, should be done.
But from another perspective, I can imagine this has been a pretty hard year for Kabam staff. I understand the challenges with working with a legacy code base. From what we know about the Parry buff or was a nightmare to diagnose.
Let's all chill, ok? Asking nicely is better than shouting after all.
why is this thread making me so sick bruh there's a limit to what players can decide what happens in-game Our community seemingly forgets that sometimes and crosses the line I get the entire number only value buff for ddhk which would require only a little work, yes but to terrorize their time and decide it for your own benefit seems very harsh. I'm in full support of the buff don't get me wrong, but to say things like "'oh what do they have to do for the first 2-3 weeks yada yada, just work on the game"' is very wrong attitude
maybe the devs are taking time off in January to celebrate with their friends and family and just to prepare themselves for 2022, let them do it. Its this sense of entitlement that a lot of this community's members have that really take me aback.
You’re right, maybe we should step off Kabam a little. But here are my two cents if you will have them: For most of us, the buff program is one of the most valuable initiatives for the community, because it boosts our rosters and gives us more options for content and resources. Shortening the development timelines, but delivering a new feature in Strikers next month, along with new champions, concerns me. If you look at their track record, shortening the timelines implies that they will cover less ground with testing and QA, and you know what that means; remember, new feature. Even if they do cover that ground internally, who knows what the player base will find; remember the skip SP3 bug? I’m not mad at Kabam, but they’re writing their own ticket. The buff program could have been a quick win for them next month. Instead, well … And I’m just choosing to voice my concern. In no way, shape or form do I think even an hour should be sacrificed from holiday time.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
I’m also an employee, and I sacrificed two weeks of leave to help others meet their deadlines and keep everything stable. Now, nobody is asking Kabam to go the extra mile. Just a small numbers change on DDHK would keep all parties satisfied; I’m fairly certain. Please talk to Kabam John, guys. Arrange something. If not now then in the New Year, early on.
Man you're going to feel bad if John had really important plans with his spouse and or family and you want him to put that on hold for you.
I definitely wouldn’t want anybody at Kabam to sacrifice even a minute of their holiday time for this. If they can squeeze a discussion in before their leave, great. If not, then in the New Year. Sorry if there was a lack of context or a misperceived intention.
For us is a game. For Kabam it's meetings, test plans, development sprints, unit testing, staging and everything else.
One of the reasons why we've been pushing for a 'lite' tweak for DDHK is partially acknowledging this. Kabam have 1001 other priorities and I genuinely feel that by doing this as a quick fix, and maybe other mini buffs, it will make their life a little easier and our experiences in the Contest a proper more rewarding.
That's why we keep nagging, but trying to do this in an open, positive way for DDHK. Because if that works, a positive engagement on difficult subjects can happen again, and again, and again.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
I’m also an employee, and I sacrificed two weeks of leave to help others meet their deadlines and keep everything stable. Now, nobody is asking Kabam to go the extra mile. Just a small numbers change on DDHK would keep all parties satisfied; I’m fairly certain. Please talk to Kabam John, guys. Arrange something. If not now then in the New Year, early on.
Numbers adjustments are not small or easy and require just about as much testing and balancing as a full update. This is one of the reasons we stopped doing as many, and also told players about that when we changed the update cadence.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
I’m also an employee, and I sacrificed two weeks of leave to help others meet their deadlines and keep everything stable. Now, nobody is asking Kabam to go the extra mile. Just a small numbers change on DDHK would keep all parties satisfied; I’m fairly certain. Please talk to Kabam John, guys. Arrange something. If not now then in the New Year, early on.
Numbers adjustments are not small or easy and require just about as much testing and balancing as a full update. This is one of the reasons we stopped doing as many, and also told players about that when we changed the update cadence.
Fair enough. Thanks for the response on the DDHK thread - if anything, I’m glad it came from you.
Unfortunately, there won't be any buffs for next month. The shortened development timelines surrounding the holidays always make this a busy time of the year. We had planned to announce this with the release notes, but I figured there's no harm in letting you know now.
I'm going to be an **** since I, and everyone else at my work, met deadlines in preparation for taking time off for the holidays.
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
I’m also an employee, and I sacrificed two weeks of leave to help others meet their deadlines and keep everything stable. Now, nobody is asking Kabam to go the extra mile. Just a small numbers change on DDHK would keep all parties satisfied; I’m fairly certain. Please talk to Kabam John, guys. Arrange something. If not now then in the New Year, early on.
Numbers adjustments are not small or easy and require just about as much testing and balancing as a full update. This is one of the reasons we stopped doing as many, and also told players about that when we changed the update cadence.
Ooh that makes sense And you've said that you're not updating ddhk Is it anytime soon or is it never?
I think it’s final. Let’s pray the reworks for Spider-Man, OG DD, Elektra, Luke Cage and Iron Fist make a significant impact on DDHK. Always holding out for the best ✌🏼🕊
Y’all, let’s be upfront about this part: anybody who does not actively work on this game has no idea what the workload of the team working on this game is like. The same way that I don’t know what any of your lives are like and y’all don’t know mine. So to say things like “I got my work done, why can’t you do yours?” is outrageous.
Second, I saw comments about a shortened development window on Strikers because of holiday time off? What? Strikers was announced a year ago! I’m sure that another week wouldn’t be a make or break difference at this point. The work on it is done and, while I’m sure it will still have issues to be discovered by the player base, the in house work has done all it can do.
I totally get having a champion that you’re passionate about and want to see be better in the game. I was one of the loud voices around the Guillotine debacle. But c’mon now. When they say in mid-December that there’s no buffs slated for January because they’ve already done a ton of work and it’s the holidays and you respond with “no, buff my champion in January. Don’t take time off.” That’s grotesque.
Everybody deserves a break. Everybody should be allowed time off. If you are sitting here thinking “well, I do but *they* don’t,” then you are wrong and possibly broken inside. If the game means so much to you that you need other people to suffer to maintain your enjoyment, then you also need to take some time off.
Honest question (and about more than just DDHK): what is the objective of the champ update program as it stands today?
I confess I’m no longer sure I know. But I’d appreciate dialogue.
Dr. Zola
The buff program is making ‘less good pulls’ better. Better can mean a range of things. Sometimes better will mean a Bishop type change ironing out flaws and making him a decent pull. Sometimes better will mean a Diablo type change which rockets them to the top of the tree.
The things we want to avoid are nova level buffs that don’t really change anything.
I know you, @Rookiie and a few others were very committed in your push to get DDHK a buff, but I personally didn’t feel the same push. I like DDHK as a champion right now, I have him R3. Could he be better? Yeah of course. Does he have flaws? Yes. Is he the top option for much? No. But most champs can be better, most champs have flaws and few champs are the top option.
But to me, he’s a fun champion to play, he has some really great utility, decent damage. He has enough to make him useful in end game content, I’ve used him in end game content. And while fights take a little longer than higher damage champs, I’ve made great use of him. It’s a shame he doesn’t work well with suicides, but many champions don’t. I don’t think that’s a reason to buff a champion.
At the end of the day, some will like champions and others won’t. It doesn’t mean that the people who dislike the champion are right they should be buffed, it doesn’t mean the people who like the champion are right either. Ultimately it’s up to Kabam’s data and time available to decide where to devote resources. Personally, I’d prefer them to devote resources to buffing a new champion and get them to a good level of usefulness rather than take up a slot buffing DDHK again.
I know that this won’t change any of your minds on whether you think DDHK is deserving of a buff. And as Miike has confirmed he isn’t getting one, I don’t think it’s worth our time debating whether he does or doesn’t. That’s not what my post is about, so I’ll be upfront here, I’m not going to debate that part.
What my post *is* about, is that I feel the buff program is much more of a success than some of the posts recently seem to suggest. It has had its drawbacks and flaws like any other part of the game, or even life for that matter, but I just don’t feel it’s had enough losses to completely explain the question “what are its objectives”. Its objective is the same as it always has been, take lesser used champions and give them more uses.
Obviously sometimes those uses don’t extend to end game players, but a lot of the time they do. I mean, let’s look at the last few months.
Hawkeye has been used to solo every act 6 boss, if that’s not useful in end game content I don’t know what is. Nebula is a fantastic option for both path 3 and path 9 in end game war, even if it’s a little niche, the niche rank ups sometimes help the most as we can’t rely on the same champs.
Thor Rags may not be the best champion, but he is one of the highest prestige, and that is by definition useful to end game players. No longer a choice of do I rank Phoenix or Thor for prestige, Thor is now useful as well outside of prestige.
Miles is another niche champion who will be useful for many. Especially with the amount of unblockable nodes added to act 7.
Just out of the last 8 buffs I can point out 4 that are useful to end game players. And the other 4 will be useful to newer players. I could go back even further and point out at least a champion per month that has been useful to end game players. Venompool for Peni, Diablo for everything, War Machine/Ultron, mr fantastic, crossbones, Angela. All of these are consecutive months. The buff program is working to its objective and more.
That doesn’t excuse misses like Guilly, Hood and Nova (and in your eyes DDHK). Those are the mistakes that I hope Kabam are working to change. But nor do those misses cancel out all of the amazing buffs we’ve been given. There’s a reason so many are excited for monthly buffs, and it’s because the program is working. Not without flaws, but working. And working on their objectives of making the lesser pulls of the contest better.
Comments
That being said if they're going to take January off, that's more than understandable and if anything this makes me more optimistic for February's buffs as this will give them plenty of time to do a pair of proper overhauls. 🤞🤞🤞
You guys really couldn't even do numbers-only tweaks on some of the handful of champs that would have benefited from such small changes? Especially when we consider that the character development team only had 1 new champ to work on for December...
Again, this is my unrestrained **** side. Don't take it to heart.
Now, nobody is asking Kabam to go the extra mile.
Just a small numbers change on DDHK would keep all parties satisfied; I’m fairly certain.
Please talk to Kabam John, guys. Arrange something.
If not now then in the New Year, early on.
There are plenty of aspects of the game to constructively suggest Kabam can do better on, but one of them most definitely is not them taking a slightly lighter workload at Christmas.
Even still, regardless of what you want, it's their game and their company. They don't tell you how to go about your life. Comments like yours is why this community tends to be one of the most toxic communities. You think your needs and wants are above everything else.
Yes, there are things we all want in the game. There are things we all want to see. And there are things which can be done, should be done.
But from another perspective, I can imagine this has been a pretty hard year for Kabam staff. I understand the challenges with working with a legacy code base. From what we know about the Parry buff or was a nightmare to diagnose.
Let's all chill, ok? Asking nicely is better than shouting after all.
But here are my two cents if you will have them:
For most of us, the buff program is one of the most valuable initiatives for the community, because it boosts our rosters and gives us more options for content and resources.
Shortening the development timelines, but delivering a new feature in Strikers next month, along with new champions, concerns me. If you look at their track record, shortening the timelines implies that they will cover less ground with testing and QA, and you know what that means; remember, new feature. Even if they do cover that ground internally, who knows what the player base will find; remember the skip SP3 bug?
I’m not mad at Kabam, but they’re writing their own ticket. The buff program could have been a quick win for them next month. Instead, well …
And I’m just choosing to voice my concern. In no way, shape or form do I think even an hour should be sacrificed from holiday time.
If they can squeeze a discussion in before their leave, great. If not, then in the New Year.
Sorry if there was a lack of context or a misperceived intention.
One of the reasons why we've been pushing for a 'lite' tweak for DDHK is partially acknowledging this. Kabam have 1001 other priorities and I genuinely feel that by doing this as a quick fix, and maybe other mini buffs, it will make their life a little easier and our experiences in the Contest a proper more rewarding.
That's why we keep nagging, but trying to do this in an open, positive way for DDHK. Because if that works, a positive engagement on difficult subjects can happen again, and again, and again.
Take leave Kabam, take leave 😵💫
Always holding out for the best ✌🏼🕊
I confess I’m no longer sure I know. But I’d appreciate dialogue.
Dr. Zola
Reading the tea leaves here…but my takeaway would be to expect the overall worst and least used champs to be targeted for updates.
If so, that’s great. As a corollary, I’d also expect champs who have a fairly clear and established use to remain more or less as is.
Not sure if this is the correct interpretation, but it’s my starting point.
Dr. Zola
Y’all, let’s be upfront about this part: anybody who does not actively work on this game has no idea what the workload of the team working on this game is like. The same way that I don’t know what any of your lives are like and y’all don’t know mine. So to say things like “I got my work done, why can’t you do yours?” is outrageous.
Second, I saw comments about a shortened development window on Strikers because of holiday time off? What? Strikers was announced a year ago! I’m sure that another week wouldn’t be a make or break difference at this point. The work on it is done and, while I’m sure it will still have issues to be discovered by the player base, the in house work has done all it can do.
I totally get having a champion that you’re passionate about and want to see be better in the game. I was one of the loud voices around the Guillotine debacle. But c’mon now. When they say in mid-December that there’s no buffs slated for January because they’ve already done a ton of work and it’s the holidays and you respond with “no, buff my champion in January. Don’t take time off.” That’s grotesque.
Everybody deserves a break. Everybody should be allowed time off. If you are sitting here thinking “well, I do but *they* don’t,” then you are wrong and possibly broken inside. If the game means so much to you that you need other people to suffer to maintain your enjoyment, then you also need to take some time off.
The things we want to avoid are nova level buffs that don’t really change anything.
I know you, @Rookiie and a few others were very committed in your push to get DDHK a buff, but I personally didn’t feel the same push. I like DDHK as a champion right now, I have him R3. Could he be better? Yeah of course. Does he have flaws? Yes. Is he the top option for much? No. But most champs can be better, most champs have flaws and few champs are the top option.
But to me, he’s a fun champion to play, he has some really great utility, decent damage. He has enough to make him useful in end game content, I’ve used him in end game content. And while fights take a little longer than higher damage champs, I’ve made great use of him. It’s a shame he doesn’t work well with suicides, but many champions don’t. I don’t think that’s a reason to buff a champion.
At the end of the day, some will like champions and others won’t. It doesn’t mean that the people who dislike the champion are right they should be buffed, it doesn’t mean the people who like the champion are right either. Ultimately it’s up to Kabam’s data and time available to decide where to devote resources. Personally, I’d prefer them to devote resources to buffing a new champion and get them to a good level of usefulness rather than take up a slot buffing DDHK again.
I know that this won’t change any of your minds on whether you think DDHK is deserving of a buff. And as Miike has confirmed he isn’t getting one, I don’t think it’s worth our time debating whether he does or doesn’t. That’s not what my post is about, so I’ll be upfront here, I’m not going to debate that part.
What my post *is* about, is that I feel the buff program is much more of a success than some of the posts recently seem to suggest. It has had its drawbacks and flaws like any other part of the game, or even life for that matter, but I just don’t feel it’s had enough losses to completely explain the question “what are its objectives”. Its objective is the same as it always has been, take lesser used champions and give them more uses.
Obviously sometimes those uses don’t extend to end game players, but a lot of the time they do. I mean, let’s look at the last few months.
Hawkeye has been used to solo every act 6 boss, if that’s not useful in end game content I don’t know what is. Nebula is a fantastic option for both path 3 and path 9 in end game war, even if it’s a little niche, the niche rank ups sometimes help the most as we can’t rely on the same champs.
Thor Rags may not be the best champion, but he is one of the highest prestige, and that is by definition useful to end game players. No longer a choice of do I rank Phoenix or Thor for prestige, Thor is now useful as well outside of prestige.
Miles is another niche champion who will be useful for many. Especially with the amount of unblockable nodes added to act 7.
Just out of the last 8 buffs I can point out 4 that are useful to end game players. And the other 4 will be useful to newer players. I could go back even further and point out at least a champion per month that has been useful to end game players. Venompool for Peni, Diablo for everything, War Machine/Ultron, mr fantastic, crossbones, Angela. All of these are consecutive months. The buff program is working to its objective and more.
That doesn’t excuse misses like Guilly, Hood and Nova (and in your eyes DDHK). Those are the mistakes that I hope Kabam are working to change. But nor do those misses cancel out all of the amazing buffs we’ve been given. There’s a reason so many are excited for monthly buffs, and it’s because the program is working. Not without flaws, but working. And working on their objectives of making the lesser pulls of the contest better.