Mr Fixer draws more cards than anyone else. Thanks to his Toolbox and not having to trash equips, he always ends up with half his deck or more in his hand, which means he has access to just about every tool and style in his arsenal, which in turn also means he will be capable of handling absolutely just about any situation the villains will throw at him, every game.
He seems pretty fine to me. Not always exciting, but he has never failed on his own merits in play.
Actually, I often struggle to get him to draw cards. I've been lucky to start with Tool Box the last few games, but using Tool Box to get a lot of cards requires multiple uses, and I can't always afford to spend time playing Tool Box over and over again when I need to be playing cards.
I'd like it if Tool Box actually did as its name implies and let you draw a tool from your trash or deck, making it a counterpart to Meditation.
But I'm totally in agreement that he's not designed to be a total powerhouse (even though he totally can be). If you need a powerhouse, he can do that. But he's better if you apply him to more situations than that.
Personally I've found that on the few occasions I've played Mr Fixer, I never seem able to get out that many cards. I don't think his Toolbox has ever come out for me. By far the most regular mass-card-drawer that I've played is Nightmist - if I haven't got at least half her deck in my hand within a few turns, I've got problems. Once I even managed to draw her entire deck and realised I'd buggered myself up a bit since I couldn't use any card that required me to reveal cards from my deck ;). Anyway, Mr Fixer can be pretty cool - using Driving Mantis style and the Jack Handle is very useful against Plague Rat, I've found…well, as long as you've not got any damage buffs in play (to push the Infection damage over 2, which Driving Mantis then can't redirect). Playing with Legacy at this point is then a bad idea, as I've discovered ;). May not have been so bad if I'd managed to get the Jack Handle out - think I only had the Mantis style out. We died before I could get much more :P.
I rarely use Toolbox either, honestly, but I still have yet to find Fixer ever in want of cards. Since he recovers many cards he plays, ala Tools, his hand just gets bigger instead of smaller as he draws one (at least) every turn and plays (generally after a few rounds) less, due to his tool pick-up, and if he's lucky, already having Harmony and/or a nice Style in play.
I really rarely find Mr Fixer at a dearth of weaponry, sometimes Styles. It's always Expatriette that has problems with getting guns and/or ammo. I just played with her a small time ago and found every copy of her Submachine gun, one ammo, and a dead Expatriette.
Expatriette does NOT have draw cards. Her search cards Quick Draw, Reload, and Arsenal Access each put the card into play. You can put it into your hand, but you rarely do that. Even if you do it's a one for one play that costs you your play phase. If you use your innate power (or Speed Loading) twice then your hand is empty. Most other heroes tend to combo well with their innate. She doesn't because playing lots of cards means you need to have lots of cards, which she can't get.
Her innate is for the "play a card then play unload" combo.
But yes, Expat needs card draw support more than anyone else in the game, especially since one of her set up cards kills her deck without it.
But, I digress. Expatriette is far better than Fixer. He does need fixing.
I tried playing him where he was allowed to have up to two stances in play and it was much more enjoyable. He felt like a real hero. But, two stances doesn't make him over powered. Even with this tweak we still lost to Voss the first game. We beat him the second game with everyone at 7HP. The original post was "Does Fixer Need Fixing" with a lot of good points made on both sides. What Fixer fixes have people tried?
I think letting him have two tools would make him way too powerful.
Setup:
At the start of the game, shuffle your deck and draw three cards.
Gameplay:
Whenever Expatriette destroys a target, draw a card.
Whenever Expatriette uses the power of a gun card without an ammo card played next to it, destroy that gun card.
Setup:
At the start of the game, you may place up to 6 minus (H) tool cards in your trash. Shuffle your deck and draw three cards.
Gameplay:
At the start of your turn, you may discard a Toolbox to search your trash for a tool card. Place that card in your hand.
JayMann, are these your custom rules for the two?
I'd think I'd find Expatriette to be better if Arsenal Access let you take two equipment cards. You could put one into play and the other into hand. That'd just make her less reliant on others making her draw cards.
I've had this idea for a while for heroes to have optional setup cards. They aren't a promo replacement of the hero, so all the cards and character card for that hero are the same (and for heroes which have promo versions, you could use setup cards for either one). The idea is that villains always have setup cards, and thus no default setup, heroes have optional setup cards, with the default setup being "Shuffle your deck. Draw 4 cards," and the environment having optional setup cards, with the default setup being nothing at all.
The idea is to give an always in play effect from the beginning of the game which makes the hero more enjoyable to play. Usually this is by finding something annoying about the hero and coming up with a fix. In order to keep this from being far overpowering, I also add a penalty (typically, I always have three card draws instead of four, unless I have that hero search for and put a card into play at the beginning, then I usually have two card draw).
I've never tested them, but, when I've shown what I've come up with to friends, they all seem to think it would be fun to play. The two I've posted are the only two I'm confident would be close to finished, and, coincidentally, were the two mentioned as being underpowered in this thread. I also have ideas for Tachyon, Absolute Zero, Visionary, and The Tomb of Anubis, though the mentioned heroes would likely be far overpowered with what I have come up with thus far, and I really don't have much hashed out for Tomb of Anubis yet.
So, think of what I wrote in the quotes as if they were a second setup card for the heroes, much like villains have a second card for setup and gameplay.
Evandan, having arsenal access add one card to play and one to your hand is exactly the kind of thing I think Expatriette needs.
Jaymann, I like your idea for optional setups. I'll try them out. It would add some personality. The Expatriette one makes Pride and Prejudice and Unload hard to use, but submachine gun and shock rounds get better. Speed Loading might be too good, though. It does make sense that guns need ammo. I'll have to try her out.
I don't think the Fixer one fixes him, though. I think his main problem is once he has a tool and a stance in play he has 16 cards in his deck he can't play (without losing the old one). What would be nice is a way to use the extra cards he has in hand without playing them like Bunker, Haka, Fanatic, and Nightmist. Maybe he could discard a card to do one extra damage.
@lugaru
I've done Fixer vs. Spite, but it didn't go well. It's because I kept playing my draw card and trying to get hoist chain, instead of using the cards I had, so by the time I got the cards I wanted, Spite had the drug that forces equipment and ongoings back into your hand.
Here's my proposed 'fix' for Mister Fixer, an effort to make him a more interesting hero to play by encouraging the player to change tool/styles more often, rather than sticking with one set as I have so often seen:
All styles, like tools, return to your hand if you put another style into play.
Strike: You may play a tool or style. Deal one target 1 melee damage.
This. Is. Cool.
I think it gives him the flavor that >G was going for. A hero that is not hard hitting, but is able to be dynamic and change things up depending on situation. If it's too good you could do "You may play a tool or play a style OR deal one target 1 melee damage." I'll have to try it to find out.
While I really like playing Mr Fixer, and I don't think he really needs fixing, I must say this sounds really fun and dynamic.
Just played Mr. Fixer with The_Jakey's suggestion for his innate power: " All styles, like tools, return to your hand if you put another style into play. Strike: You may play a tool or style. Deal one target 1 melee damage."
It was excellent. He was so much more fun. Fanatic was the real hero of the battle, but Fixer was great, too. Especially Overdrive which let him use Strike twice. He used the first Strike to get out Dual Crowbars and the second Strike he switched them out for a Hoist Chain. It was cool because he could hit multiple citizens when needed, but switch when Dawn was the only target. He barely flinched at Devastating Aurora.
We still lost. Fanatic needed one more card to do Wrathful Retribution. Dawn was at 25HP. These are the kind of close games that make this game so fun. It would not have been close with the old Mr. Fixer. Dawn would have been too healthy for Wrathful Retribution to have given us the win.
Did he have out the Drug card that makes you mill the top five cards of your deck when you use a power? With a Scrapyard, Spite can increase your chances of pulling a Tool by 600%.
What Mr. Fixer needs is a reason to play styles when there's no good reason to play styles. Tools at least go back to your hand, so playing new ones situationally isn't a huge deal, though still clunky. But the styles (which are all helpful, but none at OMG-level) could use something like the following text in order to be more fluid and useful: "When this card is destroyed, Mr. Fixer deals 1 target 1 melee damage."
I like that idea. Would give me a reason to move between stances, which would feel like a natural thing for Fixer to do.