Let's talk about healing

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

This has been bugging me for ages. I hope to express my opinion that; healing needs to be somewhere in the region of double the numbers of damage.

I understand that you want to put restrictions on healing because health packs are a form of revenue. I get it, but if that’s the case remove it from the game, no harm no foul. I write this because it is in the game. One of the biggest uproar ever was the introduction of Burst healing. (that silly in game healing that disappears at the end of the game) True heal still works well but burst heal is nearly as bad a mechanic as countdown tiles or trap tiles.

True heal still works well because Health packs and out of game regeneration are an interesting mechanic, where a player is faced with the choice of do I think my half health character can get through this or will I use a precious health pack. Risk V’s Reward. Excellent simple & compelling mechanic.

So lets define it first, in this game we have:

Single target or group healing,
True heal or burst heal,
Out of match regeneration,
Health Packs

Really in game there are only combinations of the first two. Single target or Group, multiplied by true or burst. But some combos are not, nor should not be present.

Single target X True heal, e.g. Patch, Daken, OML works as intended
Group X True heal, nothing in game, would be interesting, but could be easily abused. ergo probably wont or shouldn’t happen.
Single Target X Burst Heal, e.g. Chulk, Ares etc is usually awful
Group X Burst Heal, e.g. Cho, OBW etc is vaguely helpful in some games but also usually awful

Healing is rarely as good as damage on a 1 to 1 scale. There’s a lot less times you would rather do say 10,000 single target heal, over 10,000 single target damage. More to the point, if I am facing two teams, where one has burst damage and one has burst heal I’m going in on the heal team every time. So in most cases burst damage is more of a deterrent than burst heal. The only exception may be that last PVP push where I need to win fast.

The main reason in my opinion is that healing doesn’t really help win a game it just delays the game. Nobody ever finished a game off with a heal. The other reason is elementary, to me at least. 10,000 damage carries over to the next game, but 10,000 burst heal is less effective then damage and at match end is gone.

So not only does it do less in game, it disappears at the end. Anyway my only real argument to all this, is that Burst heal would need to do double the numbers of damage to make it effective. The only burst heal I would vaguely rely on is KK. Please think about this; the reason KK is reliable and good, is 1. I’m not detracting AP from winning fast and 2. If those numbers were damage it would be a broken mechanic. As a heal it scrapes through as playable.

2

I think I mentioned it somewhere before, but I’d be in favor of changing all heals to true heals and just reducing the numbers as appropriate, so that it would be difficult or impossible to abuse the healing to circumvent health packs.

Also, I think you meant Ragnarok rather than Ares.

3

I was thinking along the same lines, but frankly, any material reduction to healing numbers would make healing pointless, as (to one of OP’s point) damage already outstrips it by a fair margin. Perhaps burst healing could be comprised of 75% or more burst, 25% or less true? That way healthpack revenue doesn’t decrease, but healing characters’ value increases.

I don’t know. I do remember OBW was my MVP back in the day, but the prologue was what made healing abusable. I don’t believe that’s the case anymore.

4

Two things that I would add. One is that prologue is not abusable any more, or at least not long term.

The second is that, with the exception of OBW, the characters with an active power more or less dedicated to burst healing are all toward the bottom of their tier:

Mr F
Spidey
Beast
Rags
Gwen

Am I missing anybody? It’s clearly an underpowered mechanic at the levels the secs currently put it.

5

I really agree with this but would you agree that OBW other part of the heal (Increases countdowns) adds enough value to get it over the line in terms of playable. As I said KK’s heal is passive, no AP cost bonus to a top tier 3 star. You could remove the burst heal component of OBW with little impact on her play ability, She is pound for pound one of the most OP batteries in the game.

As you said Palaver this list of trash tier characters above all have burst heal and would all potentially move to at least mid tier if their numbers were reversed.

Mr. Fantastic stands against the impossible in defense of his family and his world. Whenever an enemy matches a friendly special tile, Mr. Fantastic damages for 409 and generates 1 Green AP for each other Fantastic Four member on the team. - Level 5: Damages for 3406.

  • This would now be mid to high tier.

Spider-Man webs makeshift slings, Damaging his opponent team for 142. If 3 or more Web tiles exist he converts them to bandages, Damaging the opponent team for an additional 149.- Max level 141 5/5: Damages for 2314 with an additional 934 with 3 Web tiles.

  • again this would now be playable

Dr. McCoy uses his medical triage skills to patch up the team before they rush back into battle. Gives a burst of 383 health to allies. If there’s a friendly Blue Special tile on the board, he provides a gadget to aid them. 1 basic Blue tile becomes a strength 16 Protect tile. Max Level: Damages for 2191 health and creates 3 protect tiles of strength 121.

  • brings him a bit closer to mid tier

Ragnarok hurls his hammer into the thunderclouds, where it absorbs the power of the storm. Creates 1 Green Charged tile. Catching the hammer charges the cyborg with electricity, giving him a burst of 312 health. MAX Level 5: Creates 3 Charged tiles. Ragnarok Damages 1754 health.

  • Sorry still trash tier

Kick Out the Jams - No matter how bleak the situation, a good jam session with the Mary Janes gets Gwen’s head back in the game. Gwen gives each teammate a burst of 136 health and creates 2 web tiles. Level 5: Grants 3064 Damage and creates 3 web tiles.

  • Rubbish IMO
6

I do agree that burst healing is annoying because it disappears once you exit the battlefield. Though moves like Anti-Gravity Device would be abused since it gives such a great amount of health and would cause you to just go against low-level grunts to heal up your team.

At least there’s an upside to burst healing, it stacks with true health (though caps at max health). Wolverine 2*, for example, has a healing factor that triggers at true health. This means that, when given a bunch of burst health, Wolverine can stay alive and heal up his true health in combat.