Lurker > Mewtwo59

I can't even remember what the standard encounter rate was since I rushed Enc-None from the moment I got Diablos.

Knuckles

Honestly, last time I played, I had more sympathy for Squall having to deal with those idiots than with everyone having to deal with Squall.

Isaac

74 isn't really that old by Supreme Court standards. Of the last three to die while serving, Ginsberg was 87, Scalia was 79, and Rehnquist was 80. Without an underlying health condition, it's not old enough where I'd expect Thomas to just keel over any day now.

Suprak_the_Stud posted...

That's insane.

...his mother is still alive?

As much as we say Thomas is old and could keel over at any moment, he's only 74. He's not all that old in the grand scheme of things. I can't find how old his mom is, but even if she had him at 30, it's not too farfetched that she's still alive.

Yeah, I'm hoping they buffed the random enemy durability for these trailers, because they seemed to take too long to kill for what they were.

They seriously didn't redo the MMBN2 script?

What was Heidi thinking?

Does the least relevant person on the winning team send home the least relevant person on the losing team?

It could've been 10/11 if the teams ended up the right way and idols were played.

Frannie may have just sent her boyfriend home

So is it 6 V 5 or is someone getting screwed?

Is the nerd alliance actually happening?

Knuckles

Jeff

Are the new Batman weapons lethal? That was my problem with Batman. Yeah, Mercs magic means he'll kill, but his weapons are still glorified stun guns. The reason the Batmobile had to carry him in my opinion was because it was the only thing he had that could actually kill stuff.

1/day? He's covered wars, you know!

What terrains even have enough people on them (without something like Jinx's ability)? I know Kamurocho does, but there's no faster way to lose credibility than to say Leon massacres the civilians in Kamurocho to get Mayhem Mode.

Baltimore, MD

Baltimore

Philly

Bane_Of_Despair posted...

They at least did Bowser justice design-wise, and I can't imagine Jack Black disappoints from what we've seen so far. If anything I could see them not giving him enough even.

I've been thinking for a while now that Jack Black is going to carry this movie, and nothing I've seen since has convinced me otherwise.

Baltimore

1) Was it fun? This is our ultimate endgoal. The TR didn't have to be thrilling from start to finish, but did you enjoy it when all was said and done?

Yeah, I enjoyed it. That first week was rough for me, between losing out on Mewtwo and then running into a buzzsaw against Boko. It got a little stressful after that since I was doing so well, but the Vivi's Bad Day week helped a lot by basically giving me a week off to reset.

2) What did you most like about the Test Run overall? Any part of the game is fair to note here.

I liked the AP system, which made it a lot less stressful to decide whether or not to use that ability. Some things were a bit too strong when you could just spam them, but I think it's a net positive that you don't put yourself in a bad situation in the future for trying to win now, with certain exceptions.

3) Likewise, what did you dislike most? Any part of the game is fair game for this, and so is our job as admins if you think we need to improve on something.

It wasn't part of the game, but I have to agree with JC about Zenos and Meta Knight's time based abilities being unfun. The last thing any of us want to do is spend 3 hours pressing F5 on a wartime topic.

As for things that we actually experienced, I think it is a little too easy to spam some abilities. Some of them just ended up being no-brainers to use every week.

4) How did you feel about the new systemic changes such as AP, Bounty Hunters and others? Is there anything you feel needs to be adjusted in particular, after the already executed adjustments?

As I said before, I liked the AP system. Bounty Hunters were definitely too strong in the first cycle, but I think the changes made in the second cycle helped balance them out.

5) Were any mercenaries too weak for you to bother with? Likewise, do you feel any mercenaries are too strong?

Too weak:

• Tifa was a little weak with the way her ability currently works, but I know you've mentioned giving her some chi to start out with, which will help out a bit.
• I think Gael is a little weak as a merc that doesn't really have an ability for the first few weeks you have him even assuming you win every match. The KO and injury is a little much too. I know that ability can be strong, but I think it has too many drawbacks right now to be worth it.
• Jinx's ability is a little weak for something that eats up your whole AP allotment and can easily backfire on your team. I'm not sure I can think of a situation where I'd rather use that than spread the 3 AP out on multiple abilities.

Too strong:

• I think we've all heard enough about Vivi and Kiryu that I don't need to elaborate further.
• Liquid is pretty good with his variable upkeep letting him participate in every tier (even if I didn't get a chance to use him in Low), and an ability to let you get a backdoor 7 into Low and Mid. He stands out even more compared to the other variable upkeeps in Ashley and Kefka, the former who has a huge drawback to using his transformation, and the latter not having a non-paydown presence in Mid, as well as being iffy in Low.
• Zagreus's ability was really strong for something so early in the game. It didn't appear so much because Eddv misplayed it 2/3 times (putting Kiryu in the middle of a fight where one team is attacking a 10 year old, and Cyberdemon just doesn't play well with it, especially on a terrain where Cyberdemon's team is going to encounter the third party first). The changes you proposed should help with this a bit.

6) What is the strongest merc in the unbought pool, in your opinion?

In the context of the Test Run, Ashley is probably up there. Not so much in the main game since you'll actually have to deal with the consequences of his ability.

In the context of the main game, I think it's The RED Team. They've got some strong abilities in their kit, and Medic gives them a chance to use them even if they get hurt. Maybe I'm underestimating their nerf passive, but most of those abilities are good, and losing a bunch of them just gives Medic a whole ton of flexibility.

7) Any additional remarks you wish to make?

Phantasmals are a pretty nice addition. My only complaint is that some of them have abilities that are too good for the "no ability muscle" that they're supposed to be. You have ones like Cyberdemon or RAY with no real ability at all, and others like Sabin and Ridley who have useful abilities. I think that should factor into their price a little bit more than it has.

Well, I'm a week late, but better late than never.

Well, I came into this just hoping to get Mewtwo and have some fun with this. Then Aria put me in a bidwar for Mewtwo that I lost, so I decided to go tryhard. Looks like it all worked out for me. Looking forward to the real game now, and I hope I can carry over some of this success there.

And also, this is late and doesn't matter, but 20 XP on Zeratul's character upgrade. Man deserves it for how much he helped me out in the second cycle.

Baltimore

Baltimore

I refuse to say Serena. If she can't be bothered to show up at the biggest match of his life when even freaking Chloe did, she doesn't deserve Ash.

Baltimore

What are Zero's mobility options in the MMZ series? I know X is mobile enough that he's not totally walled by the bridge going out, but I don't know if Zero has those same options.

So where does Matthew climbing that rock land on the list of dumbest moves ever?

Baltimore, MD

Baltimore

I think the only way the Ravens come out of this looking like losers is if Lamar goes back to his 2019 form with a new team, and I highly doubt that happens. He's not winning a Super Bowl with whoever gives in to his demands (maybe the Jets if they pivot away from Rodgers, but that's the only chance). I'm more convinced that in 5 years we'll be saying the Ravens made the right choice.

Baltimore

People are forgetting that the agent works for Lamar. If the agent isn't getting Lamar what he wants, he's not going to take the deal just because the agent tells him to. He'll just fire the agent and find a new one who says they can get him what he wants.

Hold up, don't I win because I have the H2H tiebreaker?

The rules for determining the TR's winner are simple. Most winning team wins (no duh), and head to head breaks ties.

Don't you just need to send something over to Home to get the mystery box, then you open it and catch a Meltan? I think you'll have to wait another day to be able to transfer it, but that's it. Then you get Melmetal for free because you transferred a Pokemon from GO.

So I looked at a video of the map again, and I saw that there's actually no doors on the outer walls of the structure. So V definitely encounters Zagreus's team first. This is bad for them, since I see the Cyberdemon instantly going into kill mode.

Meanwhile, Batman can let his team know where exactly everyone is with his detective mode. If he sees V fighting the other team, he can send his team out a different door and try to sneak attack them. Batman stays in the main room and teleports on top of a pillar when everyone's gone.

Now from the videos posted, I'm not actually that impressed with the Cyberdemon. He's beefy, but his attack patterns don't seem too far off from a Mega Man boss's attacks. I think Mega Man eventually wins that one, but it'll take a while.

Batman takes advantage of the chaos to take out BJ. It won't be as easy as taking out scrubs in Gotham, but Batman's going to get in melee range before BJ knows he's there, and I take Batman to win a fistfight between the two.

I don't know how the Batmobile gets here (does it get airdropped?), and I'm also not sure how useful it'll be here with the sandy terrain. But a stationary gun can probably help out Mega Man a bit with the Cyberdemon before it gets destroyed.

V, Kiryu, and Leon can take a half-health Zagreus, especially if he's lowering his health even further by using the Guan Yu spear. I'm not sure which thing in his writeup actually gives him the four lives, but I've heard that he's not going to be revived with much health, so I think the trio can take him four times.

All in all, I think this just becomes a disaster for Zagreus's team from the moment the Cyberdemon sees V, so I'm going to have to go with Team We Don't Kill.

Batman's teleport is pretty good here. No way is anyone going to expect a guy swooping down on them from on top of the pillars. Only problem is that he needs his team to run ahead of him so he can teleport out.

I'm guessing V starts in one of the outer rooms, then? Maybe just outside it? If he's outside, I think he engages with Zagreus's team first. Inside, it really depends on if V heads further in and which direction Batman's team goes. I think I remember something about V seeing through walls. Is that true?

Hey Eddv, could you pinpoint where your team starts on that map you posted? I'm trying to imagine exactly where V starts here, since the bold says it's as close to equidistant as possible.

That's not much better, since V is going to be the first person fighting the Lost Souls, so the other team will go for him, forcing him on Team Batman's side.

Eddv posted...

The Lost Souls are hostile to everyone.

Even Cyberdemon gets attacked by them in Doomguy is clever enough in Doom.

Oh. The terrain description should probably say "hostile to everyone" in that case.

Was that an admin ruling or his interpretation? I have to ask because I know he's not always the clearest about it.

I think V would join up with Batman's team if they agree to a truce to take care of the Lost Souls, and then they see the Lost Souls ignoring the other team. It requires them going out the right door, but Rika might help with that.

Is V a "shoot first and ask questions later" kind if guy? He won't necessarily attack on sight, so he's probably going to be dealing with the Lost Souls and won't bother with anyone else if they won't bother him, unless there's some evidence to the contrary?

Eddv posted...

Well it just strikes me that Cloud would favor the giant sword as opposed to his support spell suite

Well, there's also the factor of a "too many cooks in the kitchen" effect. With Ridley tanking and Zeratul and Maria (if she's still alive) being melee fighters, it's better off for Cloud to hang back so my team doesn't end up tripping over each other.

Eddv posted...

So my only problem with your argument is this idea that Cloud is going to cast himself as the caster of this bunch.

Otherwise really solid.

Why not? He has the second highest magic stat in FF7, and he's your best caster at the points where Aeris isn't around. I used him as my caster in the Cloud/Barret/Tifa chapters. Dude is super adaptable. And personality wise, I don't see why he wouldn't go for it. You even see the low class SOLDIERs using magic in combat. Cloud's smart enough to know what his strengths are and to play to them.