Hey y'all,
Now I know Mice and Mystics isn't a PVP game. But it is technically a PVE game. Therefore, there could be a power-rankings/tier-list/meta discussion of which archetypes and which characters/which party combinations are best at completing the different campaign content and side missions.
For example, certain heroes/abilities/combinations might be better in Sorrow and Remembrance, or in the Cat's Cradle bonus quest, than in Downwood Tales.
One thing that comes to mind is Filch's pilfer ability. This comes in less handy to manage the enemy cheese wheel in Downwood Tales than in S&R so he might be better in S&R than in Downwood.
Furthermore as Jerry stated, the Downwood Tales heroes were playtested by taking them through the S&R and HoG campaigns, so those hero combinations can be explored in S&R. Maybe Ansel is a top-tier hero in S&R?
Anyway, what prompted this discussion is the new player experience. I find that the new player experience with certain characters can be very different to their end-game power level.
Specifically I wanted to discuss Maginos. Now I have not fully leveled Maginos in any of my campaigns. I find myself more drawn towards Collin or Nez. And the only campaigns that my party had Maginos in, we had to quit, because the other players got bored (![]()
)
One of the reasons my players got bored was because the new player experience with Maginos is not good. In the early chapters, combat is pretty much ALL you're doing, and the combat is not that intricate. A tile of 3 rats, or 6 cockroaches doesn't take a lot of strategic thinking to defeat.
Maginos has the weakest combat of the starting heroes. Now you might say "but he rolls as much dice as Filch to start", well that is true however, Maginos feels bad. Filch gains cheese from defeating enemies. Since his base defense is 2, this is very good to start, and you will be able to put yourself in a lot of combat situation. Maginos' combat is only equal to Filch in melee. Otherwise, rolling 2 ranged dice is bad, and the chance to hit is very low. This means if Maginos wants to use his cheese generating ability early on, he's going to have to put himself in dangerous situations to actually be combat effective, rather than "roll for ranged attack: miss"
Maginos does not have a role in the party early in the game, unleveled, without a suite of abilities to choose from.
Nez is DPS/tank (although he's not much of a tank since his armor is so low, but has the potential to be because he has 4 life.
Collin is tactical/DPS
Filch is enemy cheese wheel management and DPS
Lily is ranged DPS/minion control
Tilda is Healer.
And Maginos is??? mystic? His lore is high, but that only comes up in very specific circumstances. And he is only "mystic" when you level-up to get access to his spells or find spell scrolls.
I have had the above experience with many players playing Maginos to start. And I have dabbled with Maginos a little bit.
Now players' say that yes, Maginos is terrible to start, but that's because his late-game is so busted. Well I wanted to discuss, is his late game busted enough to justify the early boredom? I have not had enough experience playing Maginos to explore his power-level, so I wanted to bring this question to the community.
Assumptions for discussions: When I talk about 'base' or 'new player experience' I am not taking into account any particular abilities. Any ability on a mouse I consider it to be "leveled" since players will choose a different combination of starting abilities.
Thanks! Looking forward to this discussion of the power-level of Maginos and the other heroes.
Now I know Mice and Mystics isn't a PVP game. But it is technically a PVE game. Therefore, there could be a power-rankings/tier-list/meta discussion of which archetypes and which characters/which party combinations are best at completing the different campaign content and side missions.
For example, certain heroes/abilities/combinations might be better in Sorrow and Remembrance, or in the Cat's Cradle bonus quest, than in Downwood Tales.
One thing that comes to mind is Filch's pilfer ability. This comes in less handy to manage the enemy cheese wheel in Downwood Tales than in S&R so he might be better in S&R than in Downwood.
Furthermore as Jerry stated, the Downwood Tales heroes were playtested by taking them through the S&R and HoG campaigns, so those hero combinations can be explored in S&R. Maybe Ansel is a top-tier hero in S&R?
Anyway, what prompted this discussion is the new player experience. I find that the new player experience with certain characters can be very different to their end-game power level.
Specifically I wanted to discuss Maginos. Now I have not fully leveled Maginos in any of my campaigns. I find myself more drawn towards Collin or Nez. And the only campaigns that my party had Maginos in, we had to quit, because the other players got bored (
)One of the reasons my players got bored was because the new player experience with Maginos is not good. In the early chapters, combat is pretty much ALL you're doing, and the combat is not that intricate. A tile of 3 rats, or 6 cockroaches doesn't take a lot of strategic thinking to defeat.
Maginos has the weakest combat of the starting heroes. Now you might say "but he rolls as much dice as Filch to start", well that is true however, Maginos feels bad. Filch gains cheese from defeating enemies. Since his base defense is 2, this is very good to start, and you will be able to put yourself in a lot of combat situation. Maginos' combat is only equal to Filch in melee. Otherwise, rolling 2 ranged dice is bad, and the chance to hit is very low. This means if Maginos wants to use his cheese generating ability early on, he's going to have to put himself in dangerous situations to actually be combat effective, rather than "roll for ranged attack: miss"
Maginos does not have a role in the party early in the game, unleveled, without a suite of abilities to choose from.
Nez is DPS/tank (although he's not much of a tank since his armor is so low, but has the potential to be because he has 4 life.
Collin is tactical/DPS
Filch is enemy cheese wheel management and DPS
Lily is ranged DPS/minion control
Tilda is Healer.
And Maginos is??? mystic? His lore is high, but that only comes up in very specific circumstances. And he is only "mystic" when you level-up to get access to his spells or find spell scrolls.
I have had the above experience with many players playing Maginos to start. And I have dabbled with Maginos a little bit.
Now players' say that yes, Maginos is terrible to start, but that's because his late-game is so busted. Well I wanted to discuss, is his late game busted enough to justify the early boredom? I have not had enough experience playing Maginos to explore his power-level, so I wanted to bring this question to the community.
Assumptions for discussions: When I talk about 'base' or 'new player experience' I am not taking into account any particular abilities. Any ability on a mouse I consider it to be "leveled" since players will choose a different combination of starting abilities.
Thanks! Looking forward to this discussion of the power-level of Maginos and the other heroes.