So I'm curious of people's opinions of powercreep. I suspect the folks at wizkids might think that powercreep will sell them more product. I'm curious if you the customers agree, and overall if you think it's good for the game or other points.

Please phrase your posts as follows: Answer two questions and then Discuss or post any comments you have on the subject:

Question 1> Do you like Powercreep?

Question 2> How does powercreep affect the amount you spend on new sets?

Discussion> Put your comments and stuff here.


NOTE- For those how are unfirmiliar with the term Powercreep...that's not the name of a new supervillan. What it is is when each new set is made with dials that are a little more powerful than the dials on previous sets. It is thought that some companies do this intenetionally to make newer figures seem more appealing than older figures from previous sets, to encourage more purchases of whatever is new. (I'll start this off with my own answer to this.)

Question 1> Do you like Powercreep?

I don't particularly like or dislike it.

Question 2> How does powercreep affect the amount you spend on new sets?

It doesn't, other than in the sense of figure utility.

Anyhoo, when making a new set, it can be roughly more powerful, less powerful, or equal in power to the previous set.

Equal in power and people complain of stagnation.

Less power and people complain that the set isn't worth buying.

More power and people complain about power creep.

Question 1> I hate powercreep.

Question 2> I am a collector, my purchase amount is based on trying to attain the whole set. Powercreep for me has no effect.

Discussion: I view it is a bit of a slap in the face to customers if Wizkids intentionally uses powercreep as a marketing ploy. It devalues the stuff they sold us previously, and that's not cool. Plus it's a game balance nightmare if the point costing formula is intentionally broken for new figures.

Question 1> Do you like Powercreep?

Yes

Question 2> How does powercreep affect the amount you spend on new sets?

"Powercreep" does not affect my buying whatsoever. I buy a case or two and trade for what I don't get. I melt the rest.

Discussion>

"Power creep" puts the OMG! in new dials. It raises excitement (well for me, anyway).




OMG!

Power creep? Not a fan.

Power balance, though? That's another thing altogether. Because let's face it, 0-range, non-Hypersonci bricks have just sucked in the past. Namor, Hercules, and the Thing beat out prior bricks, sure - but prior bricks sucked and I would prefer that they didn't continue to suck.

All figures should be competitively playable, at least to a degree. Some combos may be better than others but, on their own, no figure should stink. It'd be nice if the game eventually reached that point.

Question 1: I don't like Power Creep per se, but it is a necessary evil.

Question 2: I suppose it increases my spending. I buy new sets because they're interesting to me, based either on character selection or dial power/uniqueness. I didn't buy a lot of Batman: Alpha based primarily on the fact that the dials were unexciting. They weren't generally as powerful as base line HeroClix, their stats tended to progress linearly downward, they lacked certain PAC powers and had no SPs, so they weren't interesting.

Comment: Power Creep is necessary. People buy utility items and tools based on reliability. People buy luxury items based on bells, whistles, and sexiness. Therefore, to continue improving the attractiveness of your product to your consumers, you must increase the bells, whistles, and sexiness. In HeroClix, power is sexy.

Power Creep (PC) is an odd entity. Overall I am not a fan of PC, however some amount of it is good for the game. After all would we still want to be playing figures that all had Infinity Challenge style dials!

I do not think PC really effects what I spend on new sets. I just buy the comic characters that I want to play - providing they have reasonable dials.

Part of the problem is distinguishing between Creep and better game design. IC Figures almost all had front loaded dials that became useless after they had taken a single hit, and Hypertime Superman could not even break down walls for half his dial! New figures are playable to the last click, have better power arrangements and Special Powers allow for more comic accurate representations.

The second issue is that as the game does not have a true points formula, just a point estimation some power combinations are over or under costed. This is made worse with Special Powers most of which probably have no real cost formula associated with them. Charge/Flurry and Full-move-Charge were additions that Bricks needed to make them stand out in this range dominated game. Unfortunately when Superman gets the new powers and Wonder Woman does not, she ends up being over costed, whereas if she had appeared in ICONS she would have been a top choice...

Feats were the launch of Heroclix 2.0 and Special Powers were Heroclix 3.0 so there is little point in comparing new figures to anything before Avengers. That set had a lot of stinkers as they were still learning what they could do with Special Powers. Since then we have had even more updated with Indomitable. So long as my Avenger figures can still play competitively against HoT Figures next year I will be happy that we have not degenerated into Power Creep City.

I don't like it when power creep gets out of hand. However, I do understand why the design team needs to create a sort of power creep. It was quite obvious in the days of Jeff Grubb or Jon L. - make figures have better stats and cheaper costs (usually ending up with less overall power or less consistency).

Seth seems to go for more consistency or more efficient special powers (where he can assign costs based on an arbitrary decision if he feels inclined to limit or expand upon power combinations within the special power) which has progressed quite a bit since his days of Collateral damage (9/16) to now (10/18).

Anyway, it's kind of necessary for power creep to exist, despite the limitations it brings to the longevity of the game. While collectors have no interest, Wizkids makes it income by selling sets for playability purposes (hence an intense emphasis on prizes and tournament play). When it comes right down to it, it can be insulting to players who have bought previously and realize the devalue of older figures. In most cases, unfortunately (and this is how politics works as well), consumers have a mind like squirrels.

I am indifferent to powercreep.

As for the buying, powercreep doesn't affect my purchases, my purchases are strictly character based. In any case, I think that most folks buy new sets to continue playing in restricted tournaments and to get new characters or newly designed dials for remakes. When it comes to "powercreep," there are many older figures that folks can use if they are playing strictly to win through power playing. I'm looking at you, KC Superman with rookie Destiny and Rookie Black Panther.

I just play for the fun of it all though. Strategy games are my favorites.:D

If the Creep has no effect on you, why do you hate it?
Are you saying you hate it becuase it devalues your investment? In that case why buy the set when it comes out. Wait two years until it is 'retrired' and then buy it cheap on the secondry market.

Half of the stuff Seth did I don't consider power creep. It's more of finally getting it right.

Some of it was getting a bit ludicrous (how many clicks of a 17 defense? 10 to an 8 attack for this little loser? charge and flurry again? Sue Storm with running shot? What the hell is that there for?).

However, I think most of Seth's designs from Armor Wars to today are actually similar. Armor Wars Spidey and Transporter Spidey are still butt-kickingly awesome. I don't see many being able to topple Thanos.

[b]Question 1> Do you like Powercreep?
Game balance first, character 'accuracy' secondary. Powercreep is only for those fanboys out there that can't deal with their favorite characters being anything less than unstoppable.

Question 2> How does powercreep affect the amount you spend on new sets?
Not really. The move to the new distribution has made my life so much easier as a collector. 1 sealed case and you're almost assured an entire CUR set with a few SRs on top of that. That's good enough for me.

Discussion>
While I'm not the biggest fan of SPs they do represent a means to making certain difficult characters more source accurate. SPs also represent probably the biggest fudge factor in a characters point value with some SPs being either overly complicated and/or far too dominating for their supposed cost. Keep things simple and straightforward WizKids.

1 - Second to that. I don't think PC is to be liked, it's only an understandable comercial need, and also a way to keep the game moving forward, not forever stagnant.

2 - I collect mostly characters, but i usually go to the most powerful version of the character i like. So yes, PC will probably get my collection moving too.

3 - As much as people get mad because some Ms. Skrullvell is broken, that's how the game works, and actually how most collectible games work. There will always be broken figures, it's actually part of maintaining the hype of the game, IMO. And broken figures always lead to counter-broken teams, until a new one arrives and here we go again!

What? No, of course not. what kind of question is that?

It doesn't. Only thing that's ever affected my buying habits if character selection (or in some cases, Wizkids unwillingnes to give me enough information regarding this for me to make an informed decision when preorder time comes around).

It does irk me though that while Marvel now has a few proper close combat bricks, DC's premiere superfast hand-to-hand warrior (at 250 points) is an oldfashioned sitting duck. Now I'm sure that there 'll be some Namor/Herc level bricks in Arkham Asylum, I'm just sorry to see absolutely all versions of Wonder Woman getting substandard dials.

if we still had 17 being the highest defense, ppl would complain. it makes me laugh how ppl complain about how figures aren't done right, but then turn around and complain when they are(supermen chase).

i love the 'powercreep' superman should be able to one stroke about anyone in the game. if you read ms marvel, you'll see that her dial is just what she's doing in the book. this 'powercreep' isn't going away. learn to deal with it or just play at home or unrestricted events. that way, you can use all the old 'pre-creep' figs you want.