Problems with the Previous System
- Damage Negation was an extremely potent defensive layer that could not be itemized for since it was exclusive to hero passive powers. The band-aid solution was for everyone to have it, which is equivalent to no one having it (and reducing mob damage).
- Projectile Deflection/Reflection suffered a similar problem as Damage Negation, though the tuning of ranged mob attacks was also a factor for these particular stats.
- Defense Rating appeared in large values on gear slots 2-5, which meant players started far into diminishing returns and could not feel appreciably tankier without gearing for prohibitive amounts of it.
- Dodge Rating suffered a similar problem as Defense Rating except that some heroes received a large amount of it on their defensive passives, creating a similar problem with itemizing for dodge rating.
- In part due to the above issues, Health was the dominant defensive stat to itemize for.
Overview of Changes in the New System
Damage Reduction
There is now 1 stat named "Damage Reduction" which simply and clearly tells the player how much damage a same-level enemy hit will be reduced by. Gamers might otherwise know this term as damage "mitigation". (For those interested, exact formulas can be found in
Gameplay Guides)
Defense Rating
Previously, Defense Rating was mitigation in Marvel Heroes, and it still is a big part of the equation. Specifically, Defense Rating still converts to Damage Reduction, but there are several other methods of gaining Damage Reduction as described below. Defense Rating will no longer appear as the "white" stat in gear slots 2-5. Damage Reduction % will directly replace it in those slots. The rationale for this change is that all players will start with a baseline amount of Damage Reduction that does not push them far into diminishing returns of Defense Rating just by equipping a few pieces of gear.
Currently, gear slots 2-5 can grant up to 27% Damage Reduction with maximum roll.Example: a level 60 player with 5000 Defense Rating will gain 11.8% Damage Reduction. Total Damage Reduction is now 38.8%.
Dodge Rating
Dodging in Marvel Heroes has had a long and storied history, and today it returns to its roots of giving the player a chance to completely
avoid all damage from an incoming attack. The formula which converts Dodge Rating to Dodge Chance has been modified so that excessively high chances cannot be attained for balance reasons. Additionally, to help ameliorate the issue of Dodge being a "spiky" defensive mechanic, 40% of a players Dodge Chance will be added to Damage Reduction. For those keeping track, this used to be what was known as "8% Block/Evade". As such, the Block/Evade mechanic as been eliminated, since Dodge is the equivalent mechanic in the new system.
Example: the same level 60 player with 5000 Dodge Rating will have a 11.3% Dodge Chance and gain 4.5% Damage Reduction. Total Damage Reduction is now 43.3%.
Deflect Rating
Deflection in Marvel Heroes is now defined as a chance to reduce incoming damage by 50%. Again, for those keeping track, this is simply the old Dodge. It makes thematic sense that deflecting an attack will result in partial damage being taken. Projectile Deflection has been eliminated and in most cases replaced with Deflect Rating. Projectile Reflection still exists in a few places and in small amounts, mostly for flavor. 20% of a players Deflect Chance will be added to Damage Reduction
Example: the same level 60 player with 5000 Deflect Rating will have a 22.5% Deflect Chance and gain 4.5% Damage Reduction. Total Damage Reduction is now 47.8%.
Total Rating Multipliers
Accompanying the 3 primary stats of Defense, Dodge, and Deflect are the corresponding multiplier stats: Total Defense Rating, Total Dodge Rating, and Total Deflect Rating. These stats are very simple to understand and simply increase your base rating value.
Example: a player with 20% Total Defense Rating and 5000 Defense Rating will have a final value of 6000 Defense Rating (20% more than 5000)
The purpose of these rating multipliers is to increase the value of a certain stat to a certain hero. In every hero's kit, passive power(s) will grant 2 of these rating multipliers, which flavorfully reward a hero for gearing a specific defensive stat. Hulk has Total Defense Rating and Total Deflect Rating, while Squirrel Girl has Total Dodge Rating and Total Deflect Rating. Only Taskmaster has a smaller amount of all 3 rating multipliers!
Rating multipliers can be found on select items/omegas/team-ups, and Attributes will be the primary way for players to gain more (more below).
Damage Negation
Damage Negation has been removed as a mechanic from Marvel Heroes and is replaced by the Total Rating Multipliers mentioned above. There are still powers which reduce damage multiplicatively outside the 3 stats mentioned above, but those mechanics now use the language "Takes X% reduced damage". An example of such mechanics are the Ignore Pain mechanic of Punisher, Ghost Rider, and Moon Knight.
Melee vs Ranged
Previously, we compensated melee players for their more dangerous positioning by giving more Damage Negation. In the new system, Melee players will in most cases gain 8% more Damage Reduction than their Ranged counterparts. A fully Melee hero will gain it passively on their defensive passive (this includes Specializations that make a Hybrid hero primarily Melee). A Hybrid hero will need to hit with Melee powers to gain 8% Damage Reduction for a short duration. A few heroes have alternative mechanics that increase survivability while using Melee powers (such as Health on Melee hit or 100% Damage Shields) and will therefore see a lower amount than 8%.
Attributes
To support the 3 primary defensive mitigation stats, 2 Attributes were modified to grant the Total Rating Multipliers. Durability now grants 2% Total Defense Rating (includes Mental, which was previously on Intelligence). In addition, the Health and Healing values have been increased. Speed now grants 2% Total Dodge Rating, 2% Total Deflect Rating, and increased damage to Movement Powers. These changes were made to ensure there is a reason to take all 6 Attributes, depending on your character's build and preference for damage vs survivability vs utility.
Pets
Pets now have a flat 70% Damage Reduction value, which does not scale with power points. Pets will only inherit a scaling amount of Health from the player. All pets were reviewed and their defensive stats balanced. This should help pets feel more uniform to players who choose not to gear defensively, while still providing a way for players to directly boost a pet’s health through their own stats.
Health and Healing
For the most part, Health and Health Regeneration remain intact at current values on most heroes. There were a few cases in which they needed to be lowered or raised for the entire kit to be balanced. We analyzed
every power of every hero to ensure that each hero had a diverse but equally effective defensive kit. This work will be ongoing in the coming months, but you can expert there to be a much, much tighter balance between the survivability of different heroes.
General Changes
- Mob Damage reduced by 40% to account for lower base Damage Reduction values for most heroes from Live.
- Projectile Deflection, Evade/Block Chance, Percent Dodge Chance and some instances of Dodge Rating have been converted to Deflect Rating and/or Total Deflect Rating. There are many powers and items with these conversions that won’t be listed below unless noteworthy for other reasons.
- Damage Negation has also been removed as a game mechanic and replaced in most instances with either Total Defense Rating, Total Deflect Rating, or Total Dodge Rating. This varies on a per power/item basis.
- The Dexterity Group buff now has Deflect Rating instead of Projectile Deflection.
- Gear slots 2-5 now have Damage Reduction in place of “white” Defense Rating. Heroes who had Damage Rating in slots 2-5 now have the same damage rating plus a smaller amount of Damage Reduction.
Synergies
- Kitty Pryde, Captain America, and Invisible Woman synergies changed from Dodge Chance to Total Deflect Rating
Omega System
- Antigenesis - Projectile Deflection replaced with Deflect Rating
- Cochlear Implant - Projectile Deflection replaced with Deflect Rating
- Misdirection - Projectile Deflection replaced with Deflect Rating
- Trigger Scent - Dodge Chance converted to Total Dodge Rating
Team Ups
- Quicksilver's There and Gone will now deflect 100% of attacks (instead of being invulnerable)
- Firestar, Iron Man, and Clea damage shields reduced to 10%
- Team Ups in Companion mode will now transfer 5% of incoming damage from the player
Notable Item Changes
- Shield of Perseus - Chance to reflect projectiles and ignore damage have been replaced with Dodge and Deflect Rating
Artifacts
- Advanced Hellfang of Zarathos - add 2 Durability and Defense Rating
- Advanced Reactive Repulsor - added 2 Speed, increased Dodge and Damage rolls
- Advanced Super-Soldier Serum - added Dodge and Deflect ratings, significantly increased Defense and Healing rolls
- EMP Device - replaced Projectile Deflection with Deflect Rating
- Magneto Was Right T-Shirt - replace Projectile Deflection with Deflect Rating
- Taskmaster's Fighting for Losers Guide - replaced typed defense ratings with all Defense Rating, Dodge Rating, and Deflect Rating
- Polar Bear Figurine - added Deflect Rating
- Shark Figurine - added Defense Rating
- Monkey Figurine - added Dodge Rating
- Rhinoceros Figurine - added 1 Durability
- Giraffe Figurine - added 1 Speed
Medallions
Added Deflect Rating to:
- Wizard
- Ultron
- Mega-Sentinel
- Gorgon (Defense Rating also increased 100%)
- Loki - (Also doubled roll values of Unaware Damage and Dodge Rating)
Team Ups Items
- Team Up items that grant health to players have had affix rolls increased 50%
- Team Up items that grant Total Defense Rating to players have had affix rolls increased 400%
- Team Up items that benefit the Team-Up no longer grant Projectile Deflection, instead granting Deflect Chance
- Team Up items that benefit the Player no longer grant Projectile Deflection, instead granting Total Deflect Rating
- Team Up items that benefit the Player no longer grant Dodge Chance, instead granting Total Dodge Rating
Gear Slots 2-5
- Dodge rolls increased 200%
- Defense Rating rolls increased 150%
- Can now roll Deflect Rating in slots 2-3
Insignias
- Dodge rolls increased 60%
- Defense Rating rolls increased 50%
- Can now roll Deflect Rating
Rings
- Dodge rolls increased 500%
- Defense Rating rolls increased 200%
- Can now roll Deflect Rating
Cybernetics
- 1% chance to Block converted to Total Dodge Rating and increased max roll to 5%
- 1% Projectile Deflection converted to Total Deflect Rating and increased max roll to 5%
- Can now roll Total Deflect Rating
Notable Hero Specific Changes
Ant-Man
- Big Foot Sighting - max Health bonus reduced
Captain America
- Serum related mechanics now refer to Deflecting attacks rather than Blocking. This allows Cap players to benefit a bit more from itemizing Deflect if desired.
- Serum points gained per block reduced to 1 (from 2), as Deflecting is much more common than the former Block chance.
- Shield Bash - defense rating to damage ratio increased
Captain Marvel
- Infused Regeneration additional healing after spending Photonic Energy reduced in favor of granting more mitigation affixes.
Colossus
- Armor has returned to a 100% damage absorption shield with a lower total value
- Osmium Punch now restores Health on hit rather than Armor on hit
- Osmium Charge no longer restores Armor on hit
- Crushing Smite now gains critical chance based on health rather than damage based on armor
- Titanic Slam now gains damage based on Health instead of armor, and fully restores Armor on use.
- Osmium Skin no longer increases armor regeneration rate. Projectile reflection restored. Endurance restoration now occurs on Deflection of any attack, or reflecting a projectile.
Cyclops
- Combat Roll no longer provides dodge rating (folded into other passives)
Deadpool
- Safety Through Stabbing now grants most of its benefits passively to all builds instead of only when hitting with a melee power.
Dr. Strange
Shield of the Seraphim has been adjusted as follows:
- The Constitution group buff will be converted to Protection, which grants the entire party 25% mitigation and percentage healing, but with the usual uptime (5s every 30s). This keeps the flavor of the power and the 25% shield/healing for the party but at more balanced levels.
- The current heal on activation will be retained for Dr. Strange himself, though at lower levels to account for the Protection healing stacking with it
- He will also gain a Deflect Rating buff for 3s
Emma Frost
- Diamond Armor - Now a 100% damage absorption shield with a lower total value.
- Diamond Form - Passive defensive stats now apply while Emma is not in Diamond form. Only Diamond Armor's shield is the defensive mechanic unique to Diamond Form/Melee builds.
Ghost Rider
- Spirit of Vengeance - Low-health extra damage mitigation values adjusted.
Iron Man
- Adaptive Armor - Now applies a 100% damage absorption shield on Iron Man when he gets hit (once every 5s), at the cost of some endurance.
Jean Grey
- Kinetic Wave - damage shield capacity doubled to 2% of her maximum Health every 5s
Loki
- Arcane Shield grants Deflect Rating while Frost Armor grants Defense Rating, allowing Loki players to choose which will be their 2nd defensive stat (after Dodge).
Moon Knight
- Carbonadium Armor - Low-health extra damage mitigation values adjusted.
Nova
- Nova Shield - Now a 100% damage absorption shield with a lower total value that replenishes when Nova uses a movement power.
Psylocke
- Psi Barrier - Now a 100% damage absorption shield with a lower total value.
Punisher
- Pain Tolerance - Low-health extra damage mitigation values adjusted.
Rogue
- Stolen Powers have all been reviewed for affixes substitutions as mentioned above. In addition, all passives received a tuning review, and any that were under-budget were buffed.
- Powers that were purely buffed (as opposed to just converted to new system):
Black Cat, Emma Frost, Falcon, Gamora, Lady Deathstrike, Red Skull, Star-Lord, Wizard
- Squirrel Girl stolen power has been updated to match Squirrel Girl’s changes to Squirrel Friends
Silver Surfer
- Polarity Field - Now applies a 100% damage absorption shield on Silver Surfer equal to a percentage of his health every 5s, at the cost of some Power Cosmic. This shield is restored when Silver Surfer hits with melee powers.
- Reconstruction - healing reduced in favor of new shield mechanic and mitigation affixes
Spider-Man
- Web Barrage, Spider-Brawl,Spidey Pummel, and Web Sling - dodge rating to damage ratio increased
Squirrel Girl
- Squirrel Friends - Health on hit is mostly now attached directly to Squirrel Girl, with each squirrel increasing that value by a small amount (rather than be strictly tied to the number of squirrels active)
Star-Lord
- Spartoi Grit - Now additionally restores Health on Critical or Brutal Strikes.
Taskmaster
- Has all 3 defensive Ratings. Because he's Taskmaster.
Thor
- Son of Odin - defense rating is now passive rather than on Melee hit
Venom
- We Are Indestructible - increased max Health and Health Regeneration on Symbiote Spikes activation
Vision
- Alternating between density modes changes which defensive ratings he has applied at a given time. Deflect is now granted in both density modes, while defense or dodge is granted depending on which density mode is active.
War Machine
- Purple Heart specialization - 1s Invulnerability converted to a 3s 100% damage absorption shield based on War Machine's maximum health
Winter Soldier
- Relentless Pursuit - increased Health on Crit by 50%
X-23
- Heart of a Beast - reduced healing
- Ferocious Stance grants Defense Rating while Fluid Stance grants Deflect Rating
Future Work
As you can tell, the magnitude and scope of these changes is enormous, so we will continue to improve on these changes in the near future. You can expect more item adjustments, hero power tuning, and bug fixes every week for the rest of this year.