Hello all! I am a returning player and have run into the issue of the tremendous amount of power creep this game has experienced. As someone only really interested in playing in a casual setting, I’m trying to determine some house rules for discounting points on older figures.

Going off of legacy cards, I’m thinking something like:
2007-2015: 40% discount
2016-2020 25% discount

Does anyone have suggestions or use similar rules in their games? Thanks all!

I don't think there's a really good way to do this. What we've done instead is give a year target - for example, when I wanted to play the JLU Seven Soldiers recently, the other players in my group also cut off their team building at that year.

I use the following method for home games:

(Percentage of printed cost)
2020 (only): 0.80
2016-2019:* 0.75
2010-2015:* 0.70
2007-2009:* 0.65
2002-2006:* 0.60

Round to the nearest increment of 5 (ending in 0 or 5).

Examples


Adjusted: 70 points

Comparable to...


_______________________________


Adjusted: 165 points

Comparable to...

_______________________________


Adjusted: 30 points

Comparable to...


_______________________________

Most modern characters will have an advantage, obviously, but this does make the more expensive point costs of older designs more competitive/desirable in many cases.

I feel that everything from 2020-forward, including the 2020 sets with smaller sculpts, are priced fairly enough that they don't need to be adjusted.

This is probably the best approach, but unfortunately isn’t really feasible for me. I’m largely playing within my own collection which is made up of what I opened from some random sealed product in 2020 and a small amount of individual figures from 2014-2019. I’m really only looking to acquire one or two versions of a given character, with a focus on dials I like.

For a specific example, I really like the Trinity War Batman(I know there’s a way to link specific figures, but I can’t figure it out). I don’t think any of his recent dials capture Batman in the same way. However, he just is not worth 150 points compared to current figures. I suppose I could do custom legacy cards for the figures I feel this way about, but I feel a systematic approach to avoid bias and streamline the process would work better.

Great choice on the JLU Seven Soldiers too - I’ve actually got the Stargirl and S.T.R.I.P.E. currently lined up for trade, and those figures are all quite fun.

This is basically exactly what I was asking for - thank you! I’m going to give this system a try. Curious what you do with JLU pieces as they’re in a bit of a timing purgatory and I’m quite fond of the set.

I’m also realizing my read on power level might be a bit off - I keep comparing figures to the AV60 Captain America Prime and the MOT Blue Beetle Prime, but I think those are supposed to be power level outliers. I own that Blue Beetle and might just need to house rule ban him or make him 100 points or something… or just hoard rare primes so every team gets one as a treat.

I initially set the cutoff for point reduction at the smaller sculpts (SVAC and older), but mistakenly attributed those sets to 2019 instead of 2020 (and forgot that the larger scale began in 2021, not 2020).

Feel free to modify as needed.

We have a point discount at our local venue. This is our local silver age for non-Modern figures (no non-carded figures allowed) :

If a card has a dial on it, deduct 10%, round down to nearest 5 point increment.

If a card does not have a dial, deduct 20%, round down to nearest 5 point increment.

Anything 25 points or less does not get a deduction.


This one has a dial on the card, so it's discounted 10%, or 7.5 points. Round down to nearest 5.

Adjusted cost is 65 points.

--------------------------------------------

This one does not have a dial on the card. It is discounted 20%, or 14 points. Round down to nearest 5.

Adjusted cost is 55 points.

Thank you for the detailed feedback. I'm gonna use your numbers to start and work from there. I feel the JLU figures could generally use the bump, but my fiancé has been whooping me with the SVAC Absolute Carnage which has felt fine for its points.



I'm also curious to math out the changes done with legacy cards as far as points go. I feel they're generally pretty heavy handed so it wouldn't be a perfect comparison point, but it's somewhere to start. I'm inclined to believe the math looks similar to the percentages you outlined though. Maybe a spreadsheet project for me this week!

EDIT: I figured out how to embed dials on here. Yippee!

I appreciate the eloquence of this system. I think I will use a more severe system for my home games, but this is a nice system for a group and seems like a much easier sell. I may suggest this if/when (hopefully when!) I find a local group.

Sure thing.

Do whatever works best for your group, of course.

I tell ya though, for me this decision to implement this adjustment has opened up my entire collection again. I typically play a lot of older figures, and with this discount I have no hesitation to play anything I want.

Heroclix simply isn't designed that points are consistent even within the SAME SET.

I don't bother with points reductions. If anything, I try to put some older stuff on both teams & hope that balances out.

You want a truly fair game in Heroclix, play the game, switch sides with your opponent and play again. Whoever score more points is the winner.

That or just have both players play the same team. Those are the only fair ways to play clix because point costing of figures is random & meaningless.

That might be the closest way to have a truly even and fair Heroclix game.

Now if someone will buy me all the chases and con exclusives that are used at my venue, I would consider that fair, too.

You should probably base any point value system comparisons against the latest non-prime characters? Even within this current era or within the same set, primes are usually much cheaper/cost effective than other figures. so you're definitely comparing older figs to the biggest power creepers of the day.

Yeah, I’ve realized this now. My MOT brick had both the Prime Blue Beetle and the Prime Reverse-Flash, which are among my favorite characters, so I was unconsciously using that as a comparison point. I may just need to ban them from my home games, or only allow a Prime if every team has one. Thanks for the feedback!

I quit venue play long ago after the COG events. I see little value in that format. I learned some things but after that, quickly found it full of cheaters & min/maxers and lost interest.

I just prefer double themed battles to the elimination of one side or the other to a time limit match of brokenness.

Plus, I can't even keep all the current rules straight. I use a mix of the rules I liked best thru the years like regen in 1/2 the die result whether that's the current ruling or not.