Prestige Panic

[BallotBoxer]

PRESTIGE ABILITIES​

SGM Twitter (https://twitter.com/sgmobile) info first:

Coming soon in 4.9: PRESTIGE ABILITIES! Prestige Abilities add new mechanics to every Fighter that will radically change how you approach each battle. Unlock and upgrade these powerful new skills on your Fighters by sacrificing their Duplicates!



Each Prestige Ability has unique requirements to charge it during combat. Once fully charged, tap your character portrait to activate it and bring the pain! Can you guess what Valentine's PA does and how to charge it?

https://twitter.com/x/status/1448492083225022464

The level a Prestige Ability increases is based on the natural tier of the Fighter being sacrificed. Natural Bronzes only grant 2 levels, but Natural Diamonds grant 20 levels! While PAs do gain strength as they level up, just unlocking a PA is a powerful upgrade!



Evolution has no affect on Prestige Abilities. A Bronze that has been evolved to a Gold will still grant the same amount of PA Levels.

PS: While Prestige Abilities do increase Fighter Score, they do not increase your Fighter's stats.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1449167658642026505

Soon there will be a new system to make use of your duplicate Fighters! In addition, sacrificing Fighters will grant ALL the remaining Skill Points that Fighter would normally gain through leveling up. No need to level up unwanted Fighters just to squeeze out extra SP!



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Got all that?

Twitter is the usual rollercoaster of emotions: some high praise and some doom & gloom. Some are panicked, believing this to be a new unfair era of pay-to-win. Others think this is a much-needed expansion for late-game players with shelves full of dusty dupes. What do you think of Prestige Abilities?

 

[evilgordo]

I don't think it is doom and gloom, but OTOH, I don't see it as that big a boon for having dupes. As I said in my status update, I don't think this really solves the dupe issue in the sense that as 'hard' as Diamonds (or exclusives) are to get, players want to get unique charas before getting dupes of Diamonds they already have. (and honestly, that goes for any other tier as well).

Prestige, if only tied to saccing dupes for XP, well, it's a 'perk' for making players use a feature we didn't think was valuable/efficient for years.

There's still more details to come, but if Prestige is only unlocked after maxing Skill Tree...kinda defeats the SP bonus (meaning SP earned can only be used on other cards) and if that card is already at Max Level, saccing gives them no XP, so that's wasted.

This just looks like another 'card-sink' that's not as good as Evolving. Evolving seems to be still the best use of dupes/extra cards.

And don't get me started on the whole 'X-Factor' abilities...per character too (so, on a team of 3, that's 3 'x factors' per match)

It's more "the stronk get stronker" for having played the game so long and have a massed sooo many dupes. If you don't have dupes...this does nothing for you...and when you do get a dupe, you'll still be disappointed it's not a 'new' chara you don't have...

 

[BallotBoxer]

I worry about waste when sacrificing. Here is a sample of the kind of XP one could be leaving behind if you don't level up your fighters before sacrificing:

silver level 1 (FS 195) Gang Green Squigly
+10,000 XP
Squigly bonus +2,500 XP
Air bonus +2,500 XP
Total: 15,000 XP

silver level 40 (FS 1709) Gang Green Squigly
+88,643 XP
Squigly bonus +22,160 XP
Air bonus +22,160 XP
Total: 132,963 XP

gold level 50 (FS 8263) Gang Green Squigly
+515,603 XP
Squigly bonus +128,900 XP
Air bonus +128,900 XP
Total: 773,403 XP

Conversely, why worry about XP when you can get six figures from one Hollowdeck Hazard fight (with active multiplier)?

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More math:

What does it take for Bad Hair Day Filia to become PA 100?
You will need 50 bronze (don't evolve them!) BHD Filias
Depending on the PA, it may not be worth all that bronze melting. (My level 50 gold BHD would need to evolve to diamond first, I can't pour all that XP into a maxed fighter)

Diamonds have less to eat, only 5 duplicate diamonds. What about the convert option?
1 elemental essence x5 ➡ 5 elemental essences (almost two fighters chance to diamond evolve)
500 Skill Points x5 ➡ 2,500 Skill Points (you get more Skill Points by sacrificing your diamond, 590 > 500)
40 diamond shards x5 ➡ 200 diamond shards (the 1/25 was a weak payout anyway)

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I'm eager to see the PAs. Beowulf's increased damage is a good bonus, but I'm trying to see the benefit of Valentine's "revive my dead teammates to watch me win, I guess" PA. Maybe it is for rare, end of streak, desperate struggles?

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All this Prestige stuff would make good new Accolades at least.

 

[Erick Draves]

Soooo, bronzes only works for Bronzes, and diamonds for diamonds or what?

 

[evilgordo]

Soooo, bronzes only works for Bronzes, and diamonds for diamonds or what?

Yep, kinda. Seems Evolution makes no difference in how much prestige levels earned when saccing.

 

[BallotBoxer]

50 Bronze
25 Silver
10 Gold
5 Diamond

Take a look at your collection. Do you have that many duplicates for a fighter? Who will be your first to 100% Prestige?

I predict the PF prize set will be the top of many players' prestige list:
Ageless Wonder Annie
Wulfsbane Beowulf
Epic Sax Big Band
Harlequin Cerebella
Immoral Fiber Double
Diva Intervention Eliza
Parasite Weave Filia
Vaporwave Vixen Fukua
Claw & Order Ms. Fortune
Raw Nerv Painwheel
Primed Parasoul
Untouchable Peacock
Blue Screen Robo-Fortune
Poltergust Squigly
Silent Kill Valentine

Conversely, think of the fighters that have the lowest chance to be prestiged. Necrobreaker Squigly and maybe daily-relic-only Oh Mai Valentine? Well, maybe not for Cellsai...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1448496955760463876

( look at the chat)

 

[Dusty00]

Overall good for me since this means not sacrificing dupe bronze, silver and gold just to clear character space. Every time I do a mass relic opening hundreds of them are just converted to insignificant XP and no SP gained.

The idea that higher tiered dupes will provide more makes sense because they are more powerful to begin with. It’s not much but this could make some bronze and silver variants more viable than before.

What I don’t like is that you can only use the same variant for this system I would prefer if it’s not variant specific but character specific. Otherwise, it will be near impossible to max PA for the non PF gold variants, as well as Elemental relic exclusive, oh Mai, and necrobreaker. It’s hard enough just to get a copy, let alone a dupe or 10 copies.

If PF variants are always the weakest variant, then it’s somewhat balanced because they will be easier to max their PA levels. Unfortunately that isn’t the case.

The PA system would make more sense if the Relic Agency mechanism is also implemented at the same time, allowing players to have a better odds at pulling the more elusive variants. Until then, I fear the game will be unbalanced at first like when Rift was first implemented without catalysts.

 

[ZeoW]

From the PAs we've seen, there doesn't seem to be any that's defensively useful. And none of the PAs that we've seen have been "MUST HAVE". Also, the need to charge it takes significant time points away from competitive Rift Battles. I don't think it's going to solve any dupe defenders/offenders issue in high Rift. Having multiple Neuromancers/Model Leaders/Immoral Fibers/Blue Screens/X-Bots would still be better.

I see it more as a nice little bonus if you're lucky enough to get a dupe but not necessary at all. A lot of people still struggle with the game mechanics and AI behavior in high Prize Fight ladder, I see these PA as a helping hand for those players. It's more like: if you haven't pulled this really strong variant yet, use weaker variants with powerful PAs to compensate first.

Still waiting for the rest to be revealed though. But I'm really liking the direction they're going for so far.

 

[Boboflesserdoom]

I worry about waste when sacrificing. Here is a sample of the kind of XP one could be leaving behind if you don't level up your fighters before sacrificing:

silver level 1 (FS 195) Gang Green Squigly
+10,000 XP
Squigly bonus +2,500 XP
Air bonus +2,500 XP
Total: 15,000 XP

silver level 40 (FS 1709) Gang Green Squigly
+88,643 XP
Squigly bonus +22,160 XP
Air bonus +22,160 XP
Total: 132,963 XP

gold level 50 (FS 8263) Gang Green Squigly
+515,603 XP
Squigly bonus +128,900 XP
Air bonus +128,900 XP
Total: 773,403 XP

Conversely, why worry about XP when you can get six figures from one Hollowdeck Hazard fight (with active multiplier)?

All this Prestige stuff would make good new Accolades at least.

Just for reference, it takes this much XP to max fighters by tier:
Bronze: 63,335
Silver: 786,438
Gold: 4,156,034
Diamond: 26,350,354

That means you'd be losing XP if you sacc'd your leveled fighters to non-leveled ones, in fact according to your numbers, a maxed gold gang green wouldn't get a lv. 1 silver Gang Green to lv. 40. I'm not sure what XP you're losing out on if your XP invested is diminished. The adage of not using Power Up to maximize SP (also for evo fodder) gains doesn't hold true anymore either, so I'm not sure what benefit you're looking for. You can definitely lose a good amount of evo fodder if you try to power level the prestige though.

 

[Art3mes]

I am just here for pretty borders

 

[Tez]

A detail I really would like to get clarified, is whether sacrificing for all the new benefits will work when sacrificing for both power up and evolving?

Also, I was afraid about the potential “p2w-era”. But since Prestige is a new activated Ability, that you also need to charge during a match. I think it sounds pretty cool and fun, and also like something you could potentially counterplay, even as a f2player. So I’m way less worried now.
In some games, merging leads to whale units having insurmountable stats for a f2player to challenge and overcome, so that is what I initially feared. And fortunately, that wasn’t the case.
Trust in devs maintained.

 

[BallotBoxer]

A detail I really would like to get clarified, is whether sacrificing for all the new benefits will work when sacrificing for both power up and evolving?

It would be nice if one got all the potential Skill Points when evolving and not just power up sacrifices. Imagine how crazy it would be to evolve a gold to diamond and get all that XP and SP. There would be no level 1 diamonds. They'd start in their 20s or even higher.

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PRESTIGE ABILITIES​

(all PA numbers are assumed to be at their maximum, level 100)

ANNIE
PRESTIGE ABILITY STARBURST
Annie charges this ability when using STAR POWER METER.
CHARGE RATE: 2% per 1% STAR POWER METER spent.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Annie's STAR POWER STARS deal 120% bonus damage.

100% charge = use a semicircle of Star Power (50%)

BEOWULF
PRESTIGE ABILITY NOW OR NEVER
Beowulf charges this ability when entering HYPE MODE.
CHARGE RATE: 50% per HYPE MODE ENTRY.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Beowulf deals 20% bonus damage in HYPE MODE for every 20 seconds elapsed during the match.

100% charge = enter Hype Mode two times (do 6 throws)

BIG BAND
PRESTIGE ABILITY BLAST BEAT
Big Band charges this ability on every 10th COMBO HIT landed on him or the opponent.
CHARGE RATE: 17% per 10th COMBO HIT.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Big Band's DASH ATTACKS gain a 60% chance to be UNBLOCKABLE and grant ENRAGE for 5 seconds.

100% charge = do six 10-hit combos, or do three 20-hit combos, or do two 30-hit combos, or do one 60-hit combo

FUKUA
PRESTIGE ABILITY DREAM EATER
Fukua charges this ability each time she or the opponent uses a BLOCKBUSTER.
CHARGE RATE: 25% per BLOCKBUSTER.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Fukua drains 10% of the opponent's BLOCKBUSTER METER and inflicts HEAL BLOCK for 5 seconds when using a BLOCKBUSTER.

100% charge = Fukua or opponent does a total of 4 Blockbusters combined

PARASOUL
PRESTIGE ABILITY DEADLY ACCURACY
Parasoul charges this ability each time she spawns a TEAR.
CHARGE RATE: 12% per TEAR.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Parasoul gains PRECISION every 2 second(s) while near a TEAR.

100% charge = make Krieg shed 9 tears

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Glimpsed PAs (exact details yet unrevealed)

FILIA
PRESTIGE ABILITY BOB AND WEAVE

SQUIGLY
PRESTIGE ABILITY STAY TOMBED

VALENTINE
PRESTIGE ABILITY REANIMATOR

 

[evilgordo]

It would be nice if one got all the potential Skill Points when evolving and not just power up sacrifices. Imagine how crazy it would be to evolve a gold to diamond and get all that XP and SP. There would be no level 1 diamonds. They'd start in their 20s or even higher.

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PRESTIGE ABILITIES​

(all PA numbers are assumed to be at their maximum, level 100)

ANNIE
PRESTIGE ABILITY STARBURST
Annie charges this ability when using STAR POWER METER.
CHARGE RATE: 2% per 1% STAR POWER METER spent.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Annie's STAR POWER STARS deal 120% bonus damage.

100% charge = use a semicircle of Star Power (50%)

BEOWULF
PRESTIGE ABILITY NOW OR NEVER
Beowulf charges this ability when entering HYPE MODE.
CHARGE RATE: 50% per HYPE MODE ENTRY.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Beowulf deals 20% bonus damage in HYPE MODE for every 20 seconds elapsed during the match.

100% charge = enter Hype Mode two times (do 6 throws)

BIG BAND
PRESTIGE ABILITY BLAST BEAT
Big Band charges this ability on every 10th COMBO HIT landed on him or the opponent.
CHARGE RATE: 17% per 10th COMBO HIT.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Big Band's DASH ATTACKS gain a 60% chance to be UNBLOCKABLE and grant ENRAGE for 5 seconds.

100% charge = do six 10-hit combos, or do three 20-hit combos, or do two 30-hit combos, or do one 60-hit combo

FUKUA
PRESTIGE ABILITY DREAM EATER
Fukua charges this ability each time she or the opponent uses a BLOCKBUSTER.
CHARGE RATE: 25% per BLOCKBUSTER.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Fukua drains 10% of the opponent's BLOCKBUSTER METER and inflicts HEAL BLOCK for 5 seconds when using a BLOCKBUSTER.

100% charge = Fukua or opponent does a total of 4 Blockbusters combined

PARASOUL
PRESTIGE ABILITY DEADLY ACCURACY
Parasoul charges this ability each time she spawns a TEAR.
CHARGE RATE: 12% per TEAR.
ACTIVATION EFFECT: Parasoul gains PRECISION every 2 second(s) while near a TEAR.

100% charge = make Krieg shed 9 tears

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Glimpsed PAs (exact details yet unrevealed)

FILIA
PRESTIGE ABILITY BOB AND WEAVE

SQUIGLY
PRESTIGE ABILITY STAY TOMBED

VALENTINE
PRESTIGE ABILITY REANIMATOR

Question is, with 10 PAs left to reveal, at 1 a day, including today, that will take us to Halloween...so, will the Costume PF start or end on the 31st? And how will PAs impact that PF if released before it starts?