Uneven Boosting between 3* and 4*

Marvel Puzzle Quest MPQ General Discussion
1

I don’t know if this has been discussed before, but I’ve noticed a big difference between a boosted 4* and a boosted 3*, meaning that the amount they are boosted is uneven between the tiers. I’m referring to the weekly boost list, but this applies in other boosted situations too. I’ll use my roster for example:

Regular Star Lord (3/5/5) level 272 - Health: 14,103, Oldest Trick in the Book: 2,789 Base Damage + 1,177 damage for each CD tile (Max 9,851 damage)
Boosted Star Lord (3/5/5) level 368 - Health: 28,221, Oldest Trick in the Book: 5,560 Base Damage + 2,343 damage for each CD tile (Max 19,618 damage)

*So, you can see that his health and damage are increased by about 100%

Regular Scarlett Switch (5/3/5) level 187 - Health: 9,741, Reality Crush: 2,305 team damage (6,915 total damage)
Boosted Scarlett Switch (5/3/5) level 274 - Health: 14,212, Reality Crush: 2,757 team damage (8,271 total damage)

*So, her health is increased by 46% and her damage is increased by 20%

I’ve noticed this with other characters too, such as Boosted Nick Fury deals 20K instead of 10K with his Demolition; Boosted IW deals 16K instead of 8K with her Force Field Crush; but boosted 3s only deal about 20% more damage, so I end up choosing a non-boosted 4 over a boosted 3*. Perhaps the discrepancy comes from the concept that a boosted character is roughly equivalent to a non-boosted character one tier above them, meaning a boosted 3* is similar to a 4* and a boosted 4* is similar to a 5*. If this is the case, then it shows the small difference between the 3* and 4* tier, but the huge difference between the 4* and 5* tier.

I’m sure I’m not the only one who has noticed this.

2

You basically resolved your own observation here.

3

Boosted 3* used to be much stronger - strong enough to beat a lvl 270 4*. Damage output from a boosted lvl 166 3* character was close to what boosted 266 3* does now (but with less health). When championing went live, power curves for all tiers underwent a big change - 4* gain power faster with levels, 3* and below much slower. Before that, even boosted four stars couldn’t take on a single lvl 450 5*.

4

4* boosting is very strong post champion day. 3* boosting was stronger pre-champion, but was nerfed (without any prior anmouncement) as part of the champion day rollout.

IMO the purpose of the strong 4* boosts us two fold.

(1) it fills the gap between the 4* and 5* tiers (which are much further apart than any other tier in the game). Booated 4* champs allow 4* players to more or less compete with 5s. I hace never understood why demi put the 5 tier so far above the 4s, but having done so, a bandaid like 4 boosting was pretty necessary.

(2) having such strong boosts that only kick in at or near max level is a very strong incentive for players to keep champing their characters. This keeps player engagment up.

The problem with the system is that it severely distorts the playing field in a way that favors vets pretty heavily. Having enough 4* champs that you can always field a boosted characrer or 2 makes pve fairly trivial because 390+ 4s crush the lecel 330 opponents you will see. But havung a deep bench if 3s is nowhere near as useful (until you get them all up to 230+ pre-boost). And since a boosted 4* champ is basically 2x an unboosted one (or more if you have 20+ champ levels), there is very little incentive to ever play any unboosted 4* (except as support). Vets have already started evaluating new releases on a purely “when boosted” basis.

5

nowhere is this more evident than balance of power where all characters are boosted to 550 but are clearly unequal. beyond 350 or so 4s scale like monsters.

3s got destroyed by the nerf bat. icon_redface.gif