Suspect Discussion: Prisoner
What It was Designed For
A character which supports his team by locking down enemy passives (with his passive) and abilities (by sealing/stunning).
What We Got
A character which defines the top-end PVP meta so much that he counters nearly every defensive strategy you can set up without taking a turn… and largely cannot be countered (as having a Prisoner sort of levels the playing field, but that doesn’t stop him from doing what he does).
Why This is a Problem
- Almost every interesting team composition choice that uses passives to help weather the first turn is nullified, reducing counterplay options
- Because the first turn or two are so critical (with many matches with 5 star characters only lasting 1-3 rounds), disabling all enemy first turn passive is disproportionately powerful
What We Could Consider Changing
- Make it so his passive applies a block passive status effect to a random enemy each round (reduce amount of impact)
- Make it so his passive doesn’t work on the first turn (reducing the scope of what he counters)
- Make it so his passive works on only certain passives (such as passives which aren’t first turn effects)
- Make it so his passive can still affect all enemies each turn, but only has a chance to per enemy (retaining his value most of the time while not being a sure thing each turn)
- Introduce talismans which have set effects that provide Damage Reduction Shields, Immunity, etc (giving non-passive options to survive the initial onslaught)
Please let us know your thoughts on this character in the comments. Keep in mind that this is not a for sure set of changes we’re going to do to this character; this is merely where our appraisal design-side is of the character, and we want to discuss this more with the community to get a better sense if changes are necessary for this character or if this character is fine as is.
Thanks for addressing this
boy, I don't want to be in your skin now devs. This is a really hard one. Well, let me consider a bit:
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sparton_LOTB
Make it so his passive applies a block passive status effect to a random enemy each round (reduce amount of impact)
I don't think this one is a good idea. Could introduce more bugs, for example block a passive on an Eddie (does not have passives) instead of a Troll. Also this would de-characterize Prisoner.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sparton_LOTB
Make it so his passive doesn’t work on the first turn (reducing the scope of what he counters)
This also no good. Since the first turn is so powerfull if you disable it in the first turn this would destroy him for teams that don't go first. We would have the same problem in the end, but this time Prisoner would be very very underwelming.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sparton_LOTB
Make it so his passive works on only certain passives (such as passives which aren’t first turn effects)
This would also create a lot of bugs. Besides it is the same as removing Prisoner passive. He is there for this reason, and disablinf only for the first turn could be disastrous for the team if it goes second.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sparton_LOTB
Make it so his passive can still affect all enemies each turn, but only has a chance to per enemy (retaining his value most of the time while not being a sure thing each turn)
This is one of the best solutions so far, althought I think the last one is better (see below). If well done this could make him viable in both defense and offense, introducing RNG that is something cool about this game and its PvP: you never know what will happen next.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Sparton_LOTB
Introduce talismans which have set effects that provide Damage Reduction Shields, Immunity, etc (giving non-passive options to survive the initial onslaught)
IMHO this would be a really good solution, because could make even more toons viable in PvP. Right now for example no one uses PSS: he's squishy, easily countered, not great damage, just heal for utility, hard to land his debuff. But, if we change for example Explosive talisman so that it gives explosive shield to all allies every turn, returning damage? Or Magus CotD with a Cyclone talisman that gives cyclone shield to all allies and freeze enemies at the end of turn?
This has a really large potential to be a game changer in PvP. And the good is: counters Prisoner and Blue Bat and Death Dog. The only con is that we'll have to farm and level a whole new set of talismans, especially because they might be 3 set, so it mighjt take some time to see them shine.