Character rework due to lack of testing

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

This is not a post promoting or deriding character balancing. If something is not right, it has to be fixed. It wouldn’t need fixing if it was created right(ish). It would be created right if it was given enough trials and tests before releasing. It would be given enough tests to ensure if was right if it was afforded to time to get it right.

Quick glance at the balancing history of 3/4* characters. If I’m wrong, do feel free to point out:

Balanced 0 times since/before release: 22 characters
Blade
Captain Marvel
Colossus
Deadpool
Rocket & Groot
Wolverine(Patch)
Black Widow
Captain America
Cyclops
Gamora
Hulk
Human Torch
Iron Man
Kamala Khan
Luke Cage
Punisher
Squirrel Girl
Thor
Nick Fury
Starlord
Devil Dinosaur
Kingpin

Balanced 1 time since/before release: 21 characters
Black Panther
Beast
Doctor Octopus
Falcon
Hood
Sentry
She-Hulk
Spider-Man
Daken
Daredevil
Doctor Doom
Iron Fist
Loki
Magneto
Mystique
Quicksilver
Psylocke
Storm
Elektra
Professor X
Thor(Goddess)

Balanced more than 1 time since/before release: 3 characters
Ragnarok
Wolverine(X-Force)
Invisible Woman

Now it seems that almost half the time, characters needed reworking, and in 3 cases, it still wasn’t fixed after 1 try (I believe X-Force will be the first character to be balanced 3 times, after they overfarced his release, then overbuffed, and now overnerfed). This does not reflect very well on the character developing team at all. If half your goods are defective and needed to be returned, how much trust does that instill in your customers, especially the paying ones? Granted, some of the changes are warranted, like revising outdated 2 power characters, but still, those that are a real case of bad designing still constitute a fairly big proportion.

I am not trying to pin the blame solely on the developing team. They have demonstrated enough nous with some great character design ideas. I’m taking a punt that they are under severe time stress to release characters rapidly, possibly under the directive of the marketing team, whether to coincide with comic/movie releases, or just for the HP suck(!). Either way, they are not afforded the time required to properly beta test new characters before releasing, which leads to future reworks, and pitchfork parties. Pushing new characters every week punishes your developers and players alike.

So please do us and yourselves a favour, give your character developers the time to get a character right(ish) before releasing, it will avoid much unnecessary anguish on both sides.

edit: updated rework history list, thanx for the reminders

2

Black Panther was balanced before he was released or very, very shortly after.

3

Black Panther’s black was nerfed slightly just before release. And his yellow was buffed when they introduced team ups.

Falcon’s yellow was changed at least twice. Can’t remember the details exactly. Originally it boosted special tiles by a large percentage, then a smaller percentage, then by a fixed number.

Psylocke’s blue originally cost less AP.

Mohawk Storm’s yellow got nerfed when they introduced team ups. And it was already nerfed compared with the original form in the old Modern Storm.

Loki was nerfed once early in the game, and recently buffed when he got his green power.

4

Pre-release squirrel girl also pulse CD’s in a separate “event”, thats a nerf.
Also falcon, thor, prebugfix patch, panther too if i remember right
Hulk lost allied-anger too
Storm nerfed every fking time every game enviromental change.

5

Black Panther was actually changed twice after release. His black hit FAR harder than anything at the time and made quick work of everything. Falcon was changed after release as well. Yellow was percentage based. Hulk had his Anger threshold raised I believe or they made some change that effected it. I think it was self damage no longer activating it. Storm has had her yellow changed since they removed environmental tiles. Some of these were already posted. In my personal opinion, Thor got nerfed due to level shift raising HP thresholds and and with this upcoming HP change without changes to damage.