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The Synthwave Feature Bot Op-Ed - Wheeljack: Mad-Scientist, Insurance Broker, Gambler
Synthwave
Posts: 1,012
So I skipped last month’s bot, Tantrum because he just wasn’t all that appealing to me and there were already some pretty decent reviews/improvement suggestions floating around to not really warrant a review of him. But this month’s bot is definitely worthy of a review, so here’s my take on the eccentric inventor, Wheeljack.
As someone who grew up on Transformers, I’ve always been a fan of the lovable, good intentioned but often misguided Wheeljack, so I was happy to hear he’d been spotted in the game files a month or so ago. A quick look at his abilities on paper also hinted that he would behave like a tech bot, which is another plus in my book as I really enjoy using that class. So I was overjoyed when I was able to not only land him, but to awaken him as well because I could then put him through his proper paces.
I ranked him up to r2 (this is the 5 star version, which was thankfully not affected by the exponential damage bug the 4 star version experienced). I think I’d be pretty upset if my first test run with him had him doing that much damage followed by my giddy excitement, followed by Kabam shaking their head and saying “sorry, that’s not how he works”. So with my trusty, but still slightly anemic r2 Wheeljack ready to go, I immediately sent him up against RoK Mixmaster, the heavy punching bag used by all players trying out their new bots. And here’s what I found:
PLAYSTYLE
I noticed right away that when it comes to movement and playstyle that I was gonna love Wheeljack. His sidesteps, dashes, and backsteps all felt fluid and natural. There were no crazy herky-jerky, stuttering punches and kicks that, while look cool, can often spell trouble for interrupted combos, missed connections, or anything like that. When Mixmaster dashed in to attack, Wheeljack was able to sidestep and counter without any issues or having to change one’s timing. In short, this was exactly how I wanted Jazz to play, so I felt like my disappointment from debuting Jazz in June was made up by getting to play Wheeljack. I give him an A+ in the playstyle/movement department.
ABILITES
Another pleasant and unexpected surprise was Wheeljack’s abilities. On paper before he was released, he looked like he could be a little complicated, with all the different upgrades, how they’re constructed and how they interact together. I’ve found that in their righteous (and much-appreciated) quest to make new bots fresh and interesting, that the dev team has found a lot of success, but have also had a few misses. I’m always eager to see what new game mechanics they’re going to come up with next and while many have worked well right out of the gate, lately I’ve personally felt that their more recent creations (namely Hound, Blaster, Jazz, Tantrum) have definitely needed some adjusting to one degree or another in various departments. So I was a little worried about how Wheeljack would do.
In-game, however, his abilities are quite simple to utilize and that’s pretty refreshing after having to deal with some bot game mechanics that could definitely use some tweaking. While he is a bit of a walking slot machine (I normally don’t like using bots that rely on random chances to gain something of significance) I think the dev team did a great job of insuring that every time you pull the slot machine handle, you’re gonna get a payout of some kind and if you really play your cards right, a jackpot (more on that in the specials section below). OK enough, with the mixed gambling metaphors.
After being frustrated by how Jazz’s signature ability interacts with his other abilities and specials, I was happy to see a signature ability in Wheeljack that I could get behind; literally. His Force Shield is fantastic and will immediately find plenty of uses in modes like Spotlight and AM (section 1.3 anyone?). By the time I had finished beating on poor Mixmaster, Wheeljack still had 100% HP and it ain’t because I’m a ninja who didn’t get hit. In fact, I’d say awakened Wheeljack is a perfect bot for the almost-ninja. The player who can hold their own against most bots but still needs a little insurance in their back pocket for those errant heavy attacks or specials that can catch you flat-footed (or during the dreaded lag). The higher the sig level, the longer the insurance coverage lasts and what’s more, it gives you 3 different opportunities to rely on it before the insurance company drops you for too many accidents. But, going back to the gambling metaphor, if you can hit that aforementioned jackpot you can get an opportunity to regain a little more of that coverage you lost and if you’re really good, you can maybe regain all of it.
SPECIALS
In keeping with the theme of simplicity, Wheeljack’s specials are straightforward, but like Jazz’s, also have some redundant interaction with other aspects of his gameplay (which I find a little annoying, from a creativity standpoint). I like bots with abilities and specials which are wholly unique unto themselves, so when I find specials that do what other specials do or specials that do what heavies do (I’m looking right at you, Jazz!) I get disappointed because it makes the bot seem one-dimensional and less developed. So while yes, Wheeljack’s sp1 and sp2 pretty much do the same thing with the exception of a random upgrade replacement mechanic, it’s masked a little bit by the whole inventor-trying-to-perfect-his-invention schtick, which makes the specials at least feel logical from character standpoint.
His sp3 is really the goal you want to work towards because if you’re working with single-stacked random upgrades and want some stacked buffs instead with a little more umph behind them, his sp3 will get you there. More importantly though, if you’re low on health or need to try and replace a collapsed shield, the HP regain the sp3 gives can help keep you in the fight.
SYNERGIES
Aside from the vanilla armor and attack synergies and the ubiquitous Brain Drain/Gain theme they insist on using with all tech bots that approximately .5% of the population uses, Wheeljack has one special “Upgrades” synergy with Bumblebee GS and Jazz that will benefit all Autobots on the team if you bring one of them with Wheeljack. It’s a nice little random upgrade at the start of each fight and that can’t be nullified, which is nice, but just make sure you pay attention at the beginning of the fight to find out what upgrade it is, as it can often determine how you want to fight that particular match.
It’s no game-changing synergy like Beast Purification, but it’s nice. I do agree that a special mutual synergy should be added between Wheeljack and Grimlock (Creator/Creation synergy?) that would give both of them a little something extra, but that can always be added down the line, especially if other Dinobots make their way onto the roster.
I’m also a little confused by 5 Star Wheeljack’s leadership bonus, as it says he gives a 10% crit rate bonus, but it should be a 10% more power gain instead. So far I haven’t been able to tell if it’s simply a text error and he is actually giving 4 stars more power or if he really is giving them 10% more chance to crit.
CONCLUSION
So that’s pretty much it. No pages-long rants about schizophrenic game mechanics or in-fighting amongst abilities and specials. I feel like they made a great course-correction with the release of Wheeljack. He’s a fun, simple, workhorse bot to use with a great playstyle who I can see finding their way onto anyone’s permanent Spotlight or AM team.
Hope everyone here get's a chance to use him. Good luck!
As someone who grew up on Transformers, I’ve always been a fan of the lovable, good intentioned but often misguided Wheeljack, so I was happy to hear he’d been spotted in the game files a month or so ago. A quick look at his abilities on paper also hinted that he would behave like a tech bot, which is another plus in my book as I really enjoy using that class. So I was overjoyed when I was able to not only land him, but to awaken him as well because I could then put him through his proper paces.
I ranked him up to r2 (this is the 5 star version, which was thankfully not affected by the exponential damage bug the 4 star version experienced). I think I’d be pretty upset if my first test run with him had him doing that much damage followed by my giddy excitement, followed by Kabam shaking their head and saying “sorry, that’s not how he works”. So with my trusty, but still slightly anemic r2 Wheeljack ready to go, I immediately sent him up against RoK Mixmaster, the heavy punching bag used by all players trying out their new bots. And here’s what I found:
PLAYSTYLE
I noticed right away that when it comes to movement and playstyle that I was gonna love Wheeljack. His sidesteps, dashes, and backsteps all felt fluid and natural. There were no crazy herky-jerky, stuttering punches and kicks that, while look cool, can often spell trouble for interrupted combos, missed connections, or anything like that. When Mixmaster dashed in to attack, Wheeljack was able to sidestep and counter without any issues or having to change one’s timing. In short, this was exactly how I wanted Jazz to play, so I felt like my disappointment from debuting Jazz in June was made up by getting to play Wheeljack. I give him an A+ in the playstyle/movement department.
ABILITES
Another pleasant and unexpected surprise was Wheeljack’s abilities. On paper before he was released, he looked like he could be a little complicated, with all the different upgrades, how they’re constructed and how they interact together. I’ve found that in their righteous (and much-appreciated) quest to make new bots fresh and interesting, that the dev team has found a lot of success, but have also had a few misses. I’m always eager to see what new game mechanics they’re going to come up with next and while many have worked well right out of the gate, lately I’ve personally felt that their more recent creations (namely Hound, Blaster, Jazz, Tantrum) have definitely needed some adjusting to one degree or another in various departments. So I was a little worried about how Wheeljack would do.
In-game, however, his abilities are quite simple to utilize and that’s pretty refreshing after having to deal with some bot game mechanics that could definitely use some tweaking. While he is a bit of a walking slot machine (I normally don’t like using bots that rely on random chances to gain something of significance) I think the dev team did a great job of insuring that every time you pull the slot machine handle, you’re gonna get a payout of some kind and if you really play your cards right, a jackpot (more on that in the specials section below). OK enough, with the mixed gambling metaphors.
After being frustrated by how Jazz’s signature ability interacts with his other abilities and specials, I was happy to see a signature ability in Wheeljack that I could get behind; literally. His Force Shield is fantastic and will immediately find plenty of uses in modes like Spotlight and AM (section 1.3 anyone?). By the time I had finished beating on poor Mixmaster, Wheeljack still had 100% HP and it ain’t because I’m a ninja who didn’t get hit. In fact, I’d say awakened Wheeljack is a perfect bot for the almost-ninja. The player who can hold their own against most bots but still needs a little insurance in their back pocket for those errant heavy attacks or specials that can catch you flat-footed (or during the dreaded lag). The higher the sig level, the longer the insurance coverage lasts and what’s more, it gives you 3 different opportunities to rely on it before the insurance company drops you for too many accidents. But, going back to the gambling metaphor, if you can hit that aforementioned jackpot you can get an opportunity to regain a little more of that coverage you lost and if you’re really good, you can maybe regain all of it.
SPECIALS
In keeping with the theme of simplicity, Wheeljack’s specials are straightforward, but like Jazz’s, also have some redundant interaction with other aspects of his gameplay (which I find a little annoying, from a creativity standpoint). I like bots with abilities and specials which are wholly unique unto themselves, so when I find specials that do what other specials do or specials that do what heavies do (I’m looking right at you, Jazz!) I get disappointed because it makes the bot seem one-dimensional and less developed. So while yes, Wheeljack’s sp1 and sp2 pretty much do the same thing with the exception of a random upgrade replacement mechanic, it’s masked a little bit by the whole inventor-trying-to-perfect-his-invention schtick, which makes the specials at least feel logical from character standpoint.
His sp3 is really the goal you want to work towards because if you’re working with single-stacked random upgrades and want some stacked buffs instead with a little more umph behind them, his sp3 will get you there. More importantly though, if you’re low on health or need to try and replace a collapsed shield, the HP regain the sp3 gives can help keep you in the fight.
SYNERGIES
Aside from the vanilla armor and attack synergies and the ubiquitous Brain Drain/Gain theme they insist on using with all tech bots that approximately .5% of the population uses, Wheeljack has one special “Upgrades” synergy with Bumblebee GS and Jazz that will benefit all Autobots on the team if you bring one of them with Wheeljack. It’s a nice little random upgrade at the start of each fight and that can’t be nullified, which is nice, but just make sure you pay attention at the beginning of the fight to find out what upgrade it is, as it can often determine how you want to fight that particular match.
It’s no game-changing synergy like Beast Purification, but it’s nice. I do agree that a special mutual synergy should be added between Wheeljack and Grimlock (Creator/Creation synergy?) that would give both of them a little something extra, but that can always be added down the line, especially if other Dinobots make their way onto the roster.
I’m also a little confused by 5 Star Wheeljack’s leadership bonus, as it says he gives a 10% crit rate bonus, but it should be a 10% more power gain instead. So far I haven’t been able to tell if it’s simply a text error and he is actually giving 4 stars more power or if he really is giving them 10% more chance to crit.
CONCLUSION
So that’s pretty much it. No pages-long rants about schizophrenic game mechanics or in-fighting amongst abilities and specials. I feel like they made a great course-correction with the release of Wheeljack. He’s a fun, simple, workhorse bot to use with a great playstyle who I can see finding their way onto anyone’s permanent Spotlight or AM team.
Hope everyone here get's a chance to use him. Good luck!
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Comments
Are you using the 4 star or the 5 star version @Jay32 ?
The 5 star version will only hit harder as he ranks up because his attack upgrades increase with rank as well. At rank 2, his upgrades are only so-so (defensive 12%, offensive 18%, power 12%) but I think he'll be one of those bots that really feels the rank ups. But yeah, he's not a hard-hitter by any means, but definitely a survivor.
And what's with the hate on Ratchet? I thought he was your hero? lol
Lol I love Ratchet but yes I'm referring to the damage between him & WJ. Pretty similar now but I do wish I had a 5* WJ I've been unlucky with his crystals