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Is there a date on the near horizon for a Bot Balancing Update?
Synthwave
Posts: 1,012
Hound, Starscream, Blaster, Waspinator, and (though some might say it's too early) Jazz all need attention of varying degrees.
1. Some bots have balancing solutions that can be tackled from multiple points of view.
Hound, for instance, can be given increased damage output on burns and bleeds and/or could have some small changes made to his unique game mechanics (faster ammo changes, increased chance on heavies to trigger Crit Resistance debuffs etc.). Waspinator could use some acid debuffs on things like heavies and his timer on resistance debuffs could be increased, allowing him more time to set up his bigger attacks that would make him feel more like a demo bot.
2. Other bots have sig issues, like Blaster, who is currently set up to punish players more than reward them by trying to get heals that never come from a static 40% chance and when the heals do come, they aren't even worth the effort of trying for because the gains are so small. This makes his sig nearly useless. Give him a dynamic % to heal that increases 10% per interference debuff currently applied to the enemy. Easy peasy.
Hound's sig is another one where it's a cool idea but actually attempting to use it in game can punish you more than benefit you because the AI just blocks or dodges 90% of your ranged attacks. Firing futilely to try and use his sig will often just mean the opponent just dodges and dashes in and lays a combo on you. Again, this makes his sig nearly worthless.
Jazz's sig actually gets overridden by his abilities nearly every time to the point that you never really get to see it happen and when you do see the stun, the 1 second you're given to react is over before you even realize they're stunned. Again, pretty worthless as it's currently set up.
3. Some issues are simple synergy ones.
Again, Blaster is the one that comes to mind. He has some of the most vanilla synergies in the game on top of an already broken sig. Jazz has a great synergy with OG, but if we're going off of character connections alone (something the dev team has done previously, to their credit) then Jazz and Blaster should have a unique synergy that will want players taking these guys to battle together.
4. Finally, some bots are just too heavy in one particular area and nearly non-existent in another.
Take Starscream who even though he's a tactician you're forced to play him like a demo bot (only you don't get demo damage results) because all his bells and whistles involve ranged attacking. Having to rely strictly on ranged attacking, especially at higher difficulty levels is tantamount to suicide (this is also part of Hound's problem). The bottom line is that Starscream has zero melee game. Give him something in the melee department that fits with Starscream's personality (sucker punch that nullifies etc.) to make him viable.
Jazz is heavy on just pure abilities and nothing more. His sig and his sp1 fight with each other because of his confusion ability and his sp2 is redundant because of his heavy attack. This conflict and redundancy take both his sp1 and his sp2 off the table and forces you mainly to rely on using his sp3 over and over again and just dodging specials to gain attack buffs. While relying only on his abilities and sp3 make him a damage-dealing powerhouse in the few fights we currently have in the Legends of Cybertron mode, in the other game modes involving shorter fights, he's got his hands tied because his first 2 specials are unusable.
I promised myself I wouldn't get too much into specific solutions (even though I know I did), but it feels like cases such as these need to be laid out as to why these bots need re-balancing and where they need it. I just know that a few of these bots are over a year old and have been riding the bench a long time so it would be great to get them off of it and into the missions reserved for more balanced bots. I also know it doesn't cover all the bots that need it (Grindor's sp3, Grimlock's sp2, and Hot Rod's chance to decerlate are some on my own personal list) but those I consider to be secondary to these 5 bots.
@Kabam Miike @Kabam Vydious @Kabam Yolotron
1. Some bots have balancing solutions that can be tackled from multiple points of view.
Hound, for instance, can be given increased damage output on burns and bleeds and/or could have some small changes made to his unique game mechanics (faster ammo changes, increased chance on heavies to trigger Crit Resistance debuffs etc.). Waspinator could use some acid debuffs on things like heavies and his timer on resistance debuffs could be increased, allowing him more time to set up his bigger attacks that would make him feel more like a demo bot.
2. Other bots have sig issues, like Blaster, who is currently set up to punish players more than reward them by trying to get heals that never come from a static 40% chance and when the heals do come, they aren't even worth the effort of trying for because the gains are so small. This makes his sig nearly useless. Give him a dynamic % to heal that increases 10% per interference debuff currently applied to the enemy. Easy peasy.
Hound's sig is another one where it's a cool idea but actually attempting to use it in game can punish you more than benefit you because the AI just blocks or dodges 90% of your ranged attacks. Firing futilely to try and use his sig will often just mean the opponent just dodges and dashes in and lays a combo on you. Again, this makes his sig nearly worthless.
Jazz's sig actually gets overridden by his abilities nearly every time to the point that you never really get to see it happen and when you do see the stun, the 1 second you're given to react is over before you even realize they're stunned. Again, pretty worthless as it's currently set up.
3. Some issues are simple synergy ones.
Again, Blaster is the one that comes to mind. He has some of the most vanilla synergies in the game on top of an already broken sig. Jazz has a great synergy with OG, but if we're going off of character connections alone (something the dev team has done previously, to their credit) then Jazz and Blaster should have a unique synergy that will want players taking these guys to battle together.
4. Finally, some bots are just too heavy in one particular area and nearly non-existent in another.
Take Starscream who even though he's a tactician you're forced to play him like a demo bot (only you don't get demo damage results) because all his bells and whistles involve ranged attacking. Having to rely strictly on ranged attacking, especially at higher difficulty levels is tantamount to suicide (this is also part of Hound's problem). The bottom line is that Starscream has zero melee game. Give him something in the melee department that fits with Starscream's personality (sucker punch that nullifies etc.) to make him viable.
Jazz is heavy on just pure abilities and nothing more. His sig and his sp1 fight with each other because of his confusion ability and his sp2 is redundant because of his heavy attack. This conflict and redundancy take both his sp1 and his sp2 off the table and forces you mainly to rely on using his sp3 over and over again and just dodging specials to gain attack buffs. While relying only on his abilities and sp3 make him a damage-dealing powerhouse in the few fights we currently have in the Legends of Cybertron mode, in the other game modes involving shorter fights, he's got his hands tied because his first 2 specials are unusable.
I promised myself I wouldn't get too much into specific solutions (even though I know I did), but it feels like cases such as these need to be laid out as to why these bots need re-balancing and where they need it. I just know that a few of these bots are over a year old and have been riding the bench a long time so it would be great to get them off of it and into the missions reserved for more balanced bots. I also know it doesn't cover all the bots that need it (Grindor's sp3, Grimlock's sp2, and Hot Rod's chance to decerlate are some on my own personal list) but those I consider to be secondary to these 5 bots.
@Kabam Miike @Kabam Vydious @Kabam Yolotron
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Comments
Jazz is another. Outside of OP synergy I don't think he can outperform other scouts in short fights (non-ROK). I'd have a couple ideas that could help him out.
1. Swap his sig to power gain. His sp3 is unique and can be a main focus of his strategy but I've never had the opponent use more than one special before they are dead. Then, since you need to get in close to utilize his stun on S1 give him a brief evade when gaining a power bar which would work well with a swap to power gain.
2. Make his s2 confuse for 10s and remain after opponent uses a special. Or you can give it a chance to stun based on crit stacks and/or whether they are currently confused.
I realize this makes him similar to G1 Bee but without some type of power gain I think his s3 is not a good strategy outside ROK.
With Hound's sig I can never figure out why sometimes he rolls and sometimes he doesn't. Like if you block one ranged he will not roll if you sidestep the second. All around too clunky.
I think Grimlock is pretty fair though he is basically the only brawler without armor. I'd like to see SP2 add an Armor buff instead that could be refreshed just like his melee/Bludgeon.
I've been saying for months that besides bot balancing, synergies need a huge overhaul and can be a very simple way to reinvigorate the game and unused bots...
Prime example is Sideswipe... I think he's pretty well balanced, and underrated, but his synergies are awful. His sp3 is Breakdance Fighting yet he couldn't get a synergy with Blaster or Jazz?
There are some pretty good new synergy ideas and just adding some to old bots could go a long way.
1) Increase chance to break armour on s2, and/or +30% critical rate buff on melee attacks against opponents with armour debuffs.
2) 1 permanent melee attack or Crit rate buff per burn debuff landed over the course of a battle. +5% bonus per stack, max 10 stacks.
3) 50% chance to land 15% power rate debuff on s1 for 10 seconds. His s1 needs something... It's just vanilla.
I think a slight buff to his burns and bleeds is a good idea though, it's a pretty simple way to raise his damage potential without interfering too much with his playstyle. A slight buff to the damage increase on crits against burning enemies might help guide people into his playstyle more clearly as well. The other thing he might benefit from is a simple health buff - for a big bot he feels awfully fragile, and I think part of the frustration people feel with him is that learning how to get the most out of Hound requires him to get beat up quite a bit, which he doesn't do very well at the moment.
One more point that needs to be made about Starscream getting a more beefed up melee skillset that I failed to mention is that not only is he currently forced to play the range game, but he is also pretty useless if a bot has nothing to nullify. Then you may as well be playing as a Sharkticon with no synergies. Giving him some melee skills that can nullify but also deal shock if they don't have any buffs. I like the Galvatron/Megatron/Cheetor game mechanic of dealing a specific action if you end a combo with a medium hit. Maybe Starscream could deal a little bit of shock damage on the end of a combo with a medium hit and if there's a buff it just nullifies the buff and deals the instant shock damage instead of just the DoT shock.
And yes, there are other bots that do need a tweak here and there:
Grindor's Sp3 (this is a tough one; maybe a chance to inflict burn and a 100% chance to apply 3 stacks of crit debuffs with longer timers?)
Grimlock's Sp2 (chance to gain armor buff or stun would be nice)
Mixmaster - Dave is right; he definitely needs a higher chance to inflict acid on his ranged attacks and his sig is pretty lame and underpowered)
Sideswipe - swap out Windblade on the Romance synergy for Arcee. From a character connection standpoint there was more with him and Arcee; I don't think he's even ever met Windblade but he and Arcee were tight.
Hot Rod - I think a simple boost to his % to trigger decelerate after he hits r5 is all he needs.
Soundwave - he's getting a little long in the tooth compared to other tech bots. His sp1 chance to stun should be boosted to 75% just like his power drain. He also needs a Lieutenant synergy with Megatron but reverse the way it works. Give Megatron 8% armor and in turn Megatron gives Soundwave something like a 25% chance to power drain on heavies; something like that.
Bludgeon has the ability to stun yes but that doesn't necessarily decrease evasion and once the stun wears off evasive bots have their usual chance to evade in the middle of a melee. And of course you have to rely not only on hitting on a heavy but you have to rely on that ultra-generous 19% chance to stun.
Drift has his precision buff that applies 100% of the time with heavy if not with streaks; Hot Rod has deceleration that easily applies from range even if the opponent is blocking; Bonecrusher decreases evasion with each stack of bleed and he has a very high chance to inflict bleed, in fact with Bonecrusher you can even screw up get hit, inflict bleed and decrease evasion just the same. Arcee does not have much but at least her signature has a relatively high chance for a precision buff which prevents evasion.
What does Bludgeon have?
Bludgeon's Sig plays off the idea that you actually WANT the opponent to evade, and it adds to the carnage if you pair him with swordmaster synergy for another reason... He has a low Crit rate, which pays off in longer fights. It keeps storing damage potential with every miss and every non Crit.
The more you miss, the harder he hits.Yeah, I agree and think it kinda sucks that he doesn't have anti evade, but I can see why it works when I stop and think about it.
That's also where the stun comes into play. After missing a bunch of times, you either decimate the opponent with a crit special, or stun with it or a heavy and land a huge Crit with a basic attack.
Bludgeon also has the hardest hitting heavy attack in the game if his Sig triggers. It's insane. If you've ever landed one, you know what I mean.
Maybe adding a Crit rate buff during stuns would help him play off his Sig and land more bleeds as well, since they play off his crits also.
Perhaps adding a chance to trigger his armor buff when the opponent evades would also help his survivability by mitigating the damage taken on the counterattack.
I think that would keep his playstyle unique and intact, as well as make him far more dangerous on top of it.
For bludgeon his sign should give +50% precision for next hit.
Hound is a pretty complicated bot with all of his buffs and debuffs, he only needs a damage buff, his burn damage should be doubled imo, his crits are fine. Maybe he should get Block Ignore on burn and crit procs. Hot Rod is an underrated bot, he kills every evaders in the game, I can see the point of Kabam adding 3 Scouts in just 4 months, 2 of them are frustrating to fight against.
Sideswipe's survivability and evade are alright for a Scout bot. Maybe his Heavy and Specials should inflict some kind of Crit resistance debuff to increase his damage output, and they must be stackable.
Soundwave needs an ability that reflects his mind-reading powers. Maybe passively reducing the opponent's ability trigger rate or increase his own ability trigger rate. Power leaks got old after Kickback was added. Maybe Kabam should change SW's power leak into Power Leech, allowing SW to steal 100% power drained. His SP3 is a joke, I'd like to see KEWLER effects, such as a Sonic Boom debuff, reducing the opponent's power rate and ranged damage, also granting their projectiles a chance to miss. Instead of Power Locking the opponent on his SP3, why not a combination of his heavy and SP2, since it has both Laserbeak and Ravage, maybe instead of gaining a Power Gain buff, he should gain a Power Rate buff, or a Power Leech debuff. SW also lacks damage, a 50% damage increase on SP3 would be appreciated. Soundwave uses a Concussion Blaster, not just any normal blaster, it should apply some kind of defensive debuff on the opponent or deal more damage when the opponent is shocked.
Mixmaster needs a higher Acid proc chance, his damage buffs also take too long to stack, there should be second way to gain a buff immediately, other than parries, how about usung heavies or inflict crits on basic attacks.
Bee should gain an ability to counter the annoying Brawlers like Primal or Motormater, since Tantrum is coming to the game very soon, maybe the ugly little scout should have an anti-unstoppable ability. Bee's medium attacks strike with grace, allowing him to bypass 100% defensive ability accuracy and nullify all unstoppable buffs. He should gain some Crit damage buffs, I know he's not a Warrior or a Scout, but Optimus Prime inflicts bleed and Starscream has one of the most devastating ranged attacks in the game, a few crit damage buffs on special attacks should benefit him enough to make him a decent bot.
He literally relies on getting the crap beat out of him before even thinking about being good with his rang speed buff. That is about the only thing he is good for. He is weak and fragile, making it harder to gain power and to do damage. His delayed sting does not last very long, where as once it turns to a debuff you have little to no chance to get close to do damage on your opponent because it is as if the AI knows it has a debuff and blocks/dodges accordingly. By the time you can get a strike in, your opponent is now at full resistance again.
Although it is cool that he can come back to life with his signature ability, it goes back to what I said earlier, Waspinator only thinks about being a useful bot once he gets his a$$ kicked.
He needs some sort of Damage over time, or armor, or power gain. Out of all the demolition bots, he got the shaft. Everyone else has a power charge or burning or unstoppable. Waspinator just gets to get beat down, then he shoots things fast and comes back to life at 5% health, he is fragile and his base attack power is weak.
Wasp isn’t all bad, a couple ranged shots to inflict the delayed Debuff is enough time to land a 5 hit combo just as the Debuff starts. Spam sp1 and repeat and you’ll be surprised how much damage he fires out. Of course he’ll never hit IH levels of damage, or a fully charged galv sp3, but for sp1 spam he does the job fairly well. Not to mention he’s the only BW bot hat has a ranged heavy, which in a BW team is great at melting primal’s worst opponent. Ultra Magnus.
Far from saying he doesn’t need a buff, lots have mentioned acid damage from ranged which seems reasonable without being overpowered. But if you don’t play him like a typical demo bot he’s fun to use.
I want to love him. I always enjoyed him in the show, and I love using a Beast Wars team. Which by the way you forgot Primal's heavy is a ranged heavy.
Maybe you could give some more pointers. I use Him, Cheetor and Primal for raids. Id like to start using a Beast Team in Alliance Missions but I do not have a 4 Star Rhinox and using Waspinator would get me killed in a hurry.
Waspinator is great against weaker bots. You di dmention what I forgot...he DESTROYS Ultra Magnus because of that nullify...but that is just it...he only nullifies resitance buffs. Making his only real target Ultra Magnus. I would like for him to at the very least have more fun buffs/debuffs. I try to use his stigner but I cannot play him well with it that way. Also, I really do not like the fact that you have to get a beat down before he becomes better.
Windblade's heavy though gets a "miss" on 100% of ranged attacks and Ratchet has massive health generating abilities.