Hey there, as much as I enjoy a barrel buff and new skin (As far as I know I was the only person in the game to have him fully maxed before the update and am really happy to see him improved), I am highly disappointed in how lackluster his buff, new ability, and skin is.
Firstly: The Buff.
That’s it? I really hope you go back and revisit him and attempt to buff him again. This changes close to nothing in terms of how he plays in the game, and seemingly only buffed 3 stats. Was his damage improved? Was his weapon changed at all? it really should have.
Here’s a quick suggestion list on what you should buff and improve about Barrel to make him more sought after and desired:
A: Lots of HP.
currently his HP is lackluster in comparison to some of the other tanks found in
game that don’t even have mythic or Legendary skins. Improving it even more
would really help with Barrels effectiveness in battles as it gives him higher
survivability and a higher likelihood to stay in the match longer and be a more
effective team member.
B: Weapon.
Now that he has a more damage oriented ability (The newly added and more
effective weapon boost), he would highly benefit from a Damage per pellet boost
and a Higher magazine in general. My personal suggestion is to make him have
a maximum magazine size of 10 (currently 6) rounds, 20 rounds (currently 12)
from the standard boosted Silver active ability, and (currently 24) 30-40
from the newly added Silver Legendary active ability.
C: His Platinum passive ability.
Currently its the only thing that makes him worth using in PVP, as the “De-buff
meta” is still a thing. The platinum ability allows his allies to have a small chance
to be cleansed from any negative effect, however this ability does not apply to
Barrel himself. I know the Devs are just getting acquainted with the game and its
code still, but I believe it should be possible to implement a change that allows
for Barrel to receive this buff as well. This would allow for him to be more
survivable against the commonly used heroes ingame and more effective as a
tank unit. This is probably the most important change you can possibly
implement for him.
D: Power / Skin type.
Currently his power is high (perhaps even for a Legendary skin owner), but it
could be higher, and even make him far more sought after, especially in terms of
desirability for War usage. Furthermore, if you were to do 3 things to Barrel’s
new skin along with improving his total power (and desirability), you would very
likely make a large sum of income from Barrels new skin:
1: Make Barrel’s new “Survivor” Legendary skin a “unique” skin with 9
Upgradable levels. (DECA learned how to “upgrade” skins in the past, you may be able to reach out to them on how to do so if you’re unsure).
2: Then make it unpurchaseable for the 2000 Skin nano dust it can currently be
obtained for, and lock it behind a crate.
3: Then run a skin raid event, to unlock the crate behind a skin co-op raid event
as done with mythic skins. You’ll need to create a Skin Token item and a skin
crate to use the item on for this. However that does mean designing a whole
new token and crate with images and all.
If you do those 3 steps in regards to Barrel’s new skin or any future high rarity
skin, I can assure you a lot of people will pay for skin token offers, or the skin
offer that usually appears for ~15-25$ that many hunters tend to buy if they fail
to retrieve the skin from the crate.
Finally, I understand that the team is still settling in and getting used to the game and how it runs, but only adding a recolored version of the base hero as a new “rare skin” is indeed a bit lazy (but understandable as you have a small team and are only just getting started) and lackluster. Also, only doing one singular buff is similarly lackluster. These mini updates, even without heroes, could be so much more and add much more to the game for the playerbase to enjoy. I highly recommend:
1: Buffing 3 or more heroes in a singular update, as buffs are highly requested and enjoyed by nearly everyone who plays the game and often looked forward too by the playerbase.
2: Making the skin more worthwhile (and visually appealing)
3: Making the hero of focus for the month more attractive/desired by the player (Such as buffing Barrel and adding a new skin for him and player to try to obtain)
4: Don’t just make an update called the “Kier update” and then make Barrel the main focus by mainly buffing him and providing a new skin… like… why?…
5: Make the buffs more exciting and of higher value, rather than just increasing 3 stats. Try to modify or improve a lot of stats and change a thing or two.
The update may already be out, but perhaps you could apply these things to future updates to find more success in them and profits from the game.