LogFAQs > #972778579

Mercenaries Changelog, Part 5:

This one will be smaller than the last, I believe. Let's get right to it, shall we?

Aigis: Aigis did a very fine job in the TR and we're proud of her. We're increasing the cost of her 'I'll Always Be By Your Side' ability to a permanent 1 AP, however, as we don't like that the suplex can reposition for 1 AP on a mercenary with great battleworth. That's just too strong an effect to have on the cheap. To compensate, we're reducing her min bid, from a massive 74 GP (!!!) to a much more reasonable 64 GP. This should keep her about as valuable, and still a great addition to any team.

Albert Wesker: We're clarifying that Wesker can reinforce for AP.

Batman: We were a little apprehensive about allowing Batman in, but he was a smash success. He brought votes to the yard, with the highest votals of the entire TR being one of his matches (which he lost super hard, even!). He also didn't seem overly overwhelming. Voters actually treated him like any other mercenary, dispelling our fears that he might be too strong.

That said, there were some things to tune up about him. His respect delta was immensely wide with some voters taking him to overcome even long odds to win, and others expressing they felt he was barely 3/week strong with his current build. As such, we're going to normalize him by compressing his ceiling a bit and pushing up his low-end respect point...by giving him more tools from other videogame appearances. His projectile weaponry array from NES Return of the Joker should let him fight without having to get up close and personal more effectively, and Injustice's WayneTech batarangs will allow him to shine in melee more brightly in turn.

We're also pushing his upkeep down to 4/week, and making the Batmobile an optional ability, so that people who don't want to argue Batman's car carries him won't have to do so. Lastly, to suit his lower upkeep, we're lowering his minimum bid to 62 GP. We believe this set of changes will make Batman into a consistent powerhouse without making him overpowered.

Cloud Strife: Cloud did very well in the TR. A little too well even, as characters were widely considered to be nerfed even when they rolled characters relatively similar to them of greater proficiency and power (Kiryu and Raynor, Crono and Tusk). Clearly, Hollow needs some adjustments, and so, we're making it grant equipment out the gate alongside perfect emulation of the target's skills -- just no magic and of course no parameter matching. We're also restricting it to hitting mercenaries of upkeep one lower, one higher, or of equal upkeep value, and adding a thematic way to narrow the pool of copied mercs which should make it more reliable and more comboable.

In addition, we saw Cloud get argued as a Bahamut bot, with the big dragon getting more respect than he did. This is fine as an option, but not as a default, so we're turning Bahamut into a character upgrade and throwing in a few extra materia Cloud is missing plus the option to aoe-target his magic to sweeten the pot.

Lastly, we're removing Cloud's ability to Reinforce. With Hollow now hopefully less powerful, he doesn't need it anymore.

Jesse Faden: We're removing Jesse's ability to Reinforce. As compensation, we're also lowering her min bid to 64 GP, to make her a more competitive investment.

Jim Raynor: We're converting old Jimmy's nuke ability to reference TP instead of GP and removing his ability to Reinforce. The changes to the TP system have made Hyperion less instantly desirable to spam every week, and as such, Jim's opportunity cost on Reinforcement has gone down.

Joshua & Estelle Bright: We're removing an extant clarification that wasn't necessary from Joshua and Estelle's writeup, and adding in their Master Quartz so people can actually look up what they do without having to deep-dive ToCS4. We're also giving them a Character Upgrade to gain one more Master Quartz, plus Lost Arts access. Try not to have too much fun, you crazy kids.

Mewtwo: Mewtwo ended up being a borderline 6/week overall. While more mortal than most 6s, we want to bring him down to earth a little. As such, we're making Strongest Pokemon cost 1 AP at baseline to use, removing his ability to Reinforce, and granting him a compensatory Character Upgrade to pick four TMs from his teachable Gen 9 movepool and add them to his writeup.

Selvaria: We're clarifying that Selvaria can reinforce for AP.

V: We're clarifying the rate of Chippin' In's HP drain and clarifying that its upgrade will not necessarily kill the enemy at the same speed the drain would if not tended to.

Zeratul: We're making Zeratul not be immune to abilities in peacetime, so as to give him a little bit of counterplay. He's just too safe ATM, particularly as a PS carrier, and that's obnoxious to deal with. We're also reducing his minbid cost to 65 GP to compensate.