LogFAQs > #973034871

It's tiiiiiiime! The last set of changes is here.

Mercenaries Changelog, Part 8:

Kefka: We updated Kefka's battle writeup in his god form. This was unlisted in the last set of changes, so I'm noting this for clarity here.

Bowser: Bowser's verbiage for his kidnap ability option has been updated to more clearly interact with his unique terrain selection ability, and also tweaked to interact with the TP system better.

Now, on to this log's focus: Phantasmal Mercenaries and Supports.

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On the topic of Phantasmal Mercenaries: We were quite satisfied with Phantasmals as they stood. They did good work, served as a strong reinforcement for teams to round out their comps with, and provided meaningful, significant value for a decent price. We believe the system to be valid, but we also learned a few guidelines we will be applying to them going forwards, as follows:

-Phantasmals should generally be discounted about 2 upkeep from their baseline price, if they are mid or high tier mercenaries. Discounting any further makes them degenerate, as they generate too much battle worth for their weekly cost, 'paying for themselves' several times over. Phantasmals should not be econ mercs! Just valid filler battle options.

-Phantasmals who have an ability should be priced higher than Phantasmals without one. This goes without saying, obviously, but it's still worth thinking about. We're making sure not to undercost Phantasmals more than they need to to be appealing purchases.

-Phantasmals should cost somewhere between half and two thirds of a full merc's price, depending on their ability support.

Without further ado, your Phantasmal changes are as follows.

Lady Maria of the Astral Clock Tower: We're applying Recharge 1 to Maria's ability. It's niche, but a KO on a Phantasmal is no laughing matter and we want to give it the respect it deserves. We're also raising her minimum bid to 40 GP and setting her to 2/week status, to more accurately reflect her overal battle worth: This also makes her slightly more vulnerable to screwjobby abilities, too, which is a good thing in our view, and the extra econ efficiency is a fair tradeoff.

The Lone Wanderer: TLW is a fairly model Phantasmal and we're very happy with them. We're clarifying the Wasteland Survival Guide's terrain edits a little bit more, and we're tweaking its upgrade to be a little more functional. We expect to make no further changes otherwise.

Marx: In accordance with our Low Tier ability changes, we're setting Marx to Recharge 1 to make him less spammable.

Metal Gear RAY: We're upping RAY's upkeep to 3/week, to match TLW's, as their combat worth is expected to be about equal.

Rathalos: Rathalos was the single Phantasmal to make absolutely no waves, and so we started wondering why. Our conclusion is it was far, far too eclipsed in battle worth by Lady Maria, the Cyberdemon, and subsequent Phantasmals, and it was in dire need of some adjustments. So, following the Gordon Principle, we're moving Rath to Low Tier where it can be a properly imposing tank with some mid tier upside (Dreamy Bowser vs Rathalos, place your bets everyone!), raising its upkeep to 3/week, removing the Phantasmal Soul passive, and adding an upgrade to its ability to make it a bit more appealing. We're also applying Recharge 1 to it as part of our pass to limit easy ability spam in Low Tier.

Subject Delta: Delta is lowkey one of the most powerful mercs on offer, and the fact he wasn't bought is truly a mystery to the admins (maybe 'who???' factor at play?). We're nerfing his flooding ability to raise the water level at half the previous speed and applying Recharge 1 to it as part of our pass on low tier abilities. He's still unbelievably strong and a wise investment, however.

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Additionally, we are implementing changes to some of the Supports on offer. They are as follows:

Cranky Kong: We've implemented several tweaks to Cranky's build to make it more interesting and generally usable. Right now it's a little too feast-or-famine and difficult to use, and we believe we can fix that. Our guiding principle with the support Kongs is that unlike actual Kongbatants, they should be valuable on any team first and foremost. Funky Kong achieved that. Cranky didn't...until now. We're looking forward to his future bidding war.

Also, we're giving him the King tag now. Sorry, Mario movie makes the rules, not us!

Darknite: Darknite was a degenerate merc. It was not used to its full potential, and even so, it was too strong to be fair due to repeating the same abilities over and over, invalidating the whole point of the design. We're nerfing his Heart of the Cards ability so no one card can be drawn directly more than once per game, nerfing Toon World to be less painful to fight against, clarifying Gate Guardian, buffing Barrel Dragon and Legendary Fisherman, and tweaking Dark Sanctuary. Overall, you should be excited to actually try your luck with Darknite now as more options are valid and useful and the same cheese can't be spammed again and again.

Snatcher: We're tweaking Snatcher to function with the TP system, and also modifying his 'unlock upgrade abilities' option to only function with abilities that can be bought with EXP. This was always meant to be the intent, but we missed the fact that unusual upgrade conditions would interact weirdly with him. 'Whoops'.

And that's all! The next time you hear from us, we'll be introducing the first set of new Week 1-5 mercenaries to pad out our list, with letters and all. Please look forward to it!