[2019] Focused Feedback: Heroes

Originally posted by Szaby59

Wasn't this posted already Focused Feedback — Heroes ? Or is this a second survey to collect more feedback ?

Originally posted by DeadQthulhu

EDIT - u/F8RGE, do we need to rewrite our feedback now that the heal-on-kill changes have gone live? Or would you prefer to wait for a future feedback request?

This is an amended version of my comments from the last thread -

• Health on Kill - I feel this should be universal, but capped on the amount of Health gained "per event" so that room-clearing characters (most obviously Anakin, but also Palpatine and others) are not made disproportionately tanky compared to more focused characters (e.g. Dooku). I'm also concerned that removing Palpatine's heal-on-Chain-Lightning and Iden's heal-on-Stun will have strong negative effects on their current playstyle.

• Should Yoda’s Presence block explosive damage? - I feel Presence is fine as-is. I don't believe it would be improved by making its effects "two tier". Players have enough trouble trying to understand the game, it doesn't need to be made more complicated.

• Evolve - Finn - Finn lacks the ability to effectively stall Villains when alone - Big Deal is no counter to Villain Damage output, and his Deadeye Cards lack application in both HvV and HS (lock-on reticule radius is moot, extend on kill is moot, bonus damage for the current activation after three kills is a whole different dimension of mootness). He's overly GA-centric, and suffers up close because you cannot melee during either Deadeye or Undercover Team - you can just take a Shielded Specialist and knock him out (note that most other Blaster characters can melee while using a Blaster-related Ability). He would be improved by passive heal-on-kill because his current method effectively locks him to taking two Cards - the heal-on-Undercover-Team-kill Card, and the extend-Undercover-Team-on-kill Card.

• Evolve - Leia - Her Shield is most often a liability for her team. Her Grenade is lacklustre since Saber attacks track while Blinded, while Blaster Villains don't need to be anywhere near her. "Blinding Reveal" appears to serve no practical purpose, in any mode. She's pretty much locked to one specific Card combination, which just doesn't feel right to me.

• Star Cards - Good - The logic behind Anakin's Cards is fundamentally sound. With rarity reducing the requirements for their effect, they ensure that the Cards are useful across all game modes - at the highest rarity you can use them with confidence in both HS and HvV.

• Star Cards - Improvement - On a related note, the "greater than X targets" Cards should be brought in line with the above. Many of the target requirements (Palpatine's Cards are the most obvious example) are simply impossible in Hero Showdown, and effectively impossible in HvV. If the Cards were changed so that rarity lowers the requirements on targets affected, you'd have more diversity in the loadouts. I would also appreciate a pass on the wording used in the Star Cards, so that the language is universal and the benefits clear - no vague references to being "near" an ally, ambiguous terms such as "lock-on radius", or disingenous information (Lando's "Disabler Growth" doesn't extend the Stun area, but does extend the Scramble and detection area).

• Star Cards - Changed - If the bugged Cards can't be fixed, they need to be amended. Boba's "Blaster Disabler" has a Disable radius smaller than the Concussion effect, his "Death From Above" is permanently active after he first uses his Jetpack. Vader's "Fueling the Rage" Card causes Focused Rage to go on cooldown if it overflows the timer. Bossk's "Sniper Expert", Iden's "Pulse Cannon Mastery", and Boba's "Extended Exposure" aren't bugged, but none of them are worth a slot compared to any other Card available. The majority of Leia's Cards are of low value due to the nature of her Abilities.

• Abilities - Good - Anakin, Kylo, Luke, Rey, and Vader are all solid examples of a good set of Abilities that allow for a wide range of roles, from room clearing to 1v1s. They're good individually, they can be chained to trade vulnerability for a big damage spike. In addition, each of these Heroes and Villains have the capacity to recover from a 2v1 and can also make good use of their respective heal-on-kill Cards.

• Abilities - Improvement - Players really shouldn't have to rely on Palpatine activating his Abilities during regular Lightning use in order to avoid being "locked" by animation startup. "Rule of Two" appears to have misunderstanding around it - by my calculation you're only getting the equivalent of an extra Lightning tick on a single target despite the vulnerability involved in using Electrocute. Grievous still has a nasty habit of having his Abilities flake out on him. Phasma's Staff Strikes is getting better as time passes, but could benefit from better tracking on the first hit - she's far too easily "stun locked" or counter-melee'd even when she has the drop on someone. Could a happy medium not be found between Staff Strikes and Sinister Strikes? On a BX-related note, Lando's Smoke Grenade pales compared to what they're using.

• Abilities - Change - Kenobi's Defensive Rush is, so far as I can see, the only Ability in the game that cannot be activated from Block. As covered above, Leia's Abilities really need a complete overhaul.

• Who is your top hero you want to see added to the game? - I have no strong preference - I'd far rather have the existing Heroes and Villains working at their best before adding new elements to an imperfect system.