I quit using prestige after my 2nd time hitting max because the power of a level 45 vs a lower level are quite obvious.

A few examples:

Yuri's mine power: I thought that Yuri was completely underpowered until I stayed at max level and played with his full damage mines. With all mine damage upgrades with carpet bombing, each tiny mine does 30 damage with a 90 damage burst if all the mines are in 1 place. Before getting that final mine damage upgrade he honestly feels a bit underpowered to me.

Clunk's missle barrage: Either I can buy 3 different upgrades for different missles with no other abilities at all, or I can stay at max level and get all of the missles + homing + attack speed... Really not balanced at all

There are many more examples of this throughout the game, but they are all pretty obvious. (See Time warp range, drone damage, slowing attacks ect...)

Anyway to get to the point, I feel that using prestige should just reset your level but let you keep your unlocked technology. I have been at max level for weeks, and it would be cool to see how much prestige I would actually have by now, but playing at max level comes with so many benefits it just isn't worth going back to level 1. Certain awesomenauts like Voltar are awesome from the beginning, but others (see Yuri) are immensely more powerful at max level.

I am sure that somebody is going to come in here and give specific anecdotes about how they own at level 1 and thats cool and totally possible, but the advantages of a max level are undeniable.

A lot of early level upgrades are the same as the older ones except cut into pieces and cheaper up front.
Late game Yuri isn't exceptionally better than early game Yuri because the 2/3 of the upgrades I use the most are unlocked at the beginning or fairly early. Laser range, Duration on Time Warp, etc..
While specific builds may require certain upgrades, one upgrade is not indefinitely better than another. Except for the Dynamite blinding effect, that's bloody useless.
Clunk's Salvo Pack is a whopping 400 solar, and personally, I don't build my... build around Clunk's rockets. A early level early game Clunk may have one of the 160 solar upgrades while a late level early game Clunk may still be waiting for it.
Some people like to pay $15 for the vase, and some like to pay $10.

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But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
tabdoesn'tworkthis'lldofine -Robert Frost

It's no different then say...prestiging in Call of Duty. It's not like they are vastly overpowered. They just have more options available to them that give them better builds. That's why prestiging is an option, not forced. If someone wants to prestige for.. prestige at the price of giving up items, it's their choice. It's not like it takes long to level in this game anyway.

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hm I don't really agree.
I almost only use the begin upgrades with most character, only not with lonestar's dynamite (I like the health and mine upgrades)
don't underestimate the begin upgrades, most of them are really good.

Some items that I feel are essential and thus making a high level have an advantage: Contact dynamit, lifesteal/slow on Leon, Faster detonation on Clunks SD, Yuri's mine damage, Piggy bank(although it's lvl 4) and more... Those are minor advantages, BUT advantages nonetheless. I feel it's completely silly and stupid to have some items unlock at higher levels. Imagine being that dude that really loves this game, but can only afford to play about 3 games a day. He has to play for about a week before he can use items he'd maybe rather want.
Don't punish people for having little time for your game, Ronimo ):

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So you feel that they are an advantage, but also feel that people shouldn't have to work to gain said "advantages"? I can see where you're coming from with the 3 games a day example, but i feel that the only thing that gives you an advantage on this game is teamwork. Not skills, not certain characters or anything else.

If i imagine being that dude who can only play 3 games a day, then i imagine i would try to make those 3 games last as long as i can to get more solar and reach those higher levels faster...possibly playing as Voltar

And then you're limited to who you play, because you don't have a lot of time. Are you against or for this? I can't really tell

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LOL, i do tend to just hover near the middle ground. <- Voltar reference

I am pro-choice, I threw in Voltar's name cause his Solar gaining abilities are second to none in long matches...played skillfully of course. This is just a logical choice based on the situation given. Of course you always have the choice of playing as your favorite character.

As for having all skills unlocked at the very start, I am against this. While it could be potentially nice having my Clunk build from the start, it takes away some of the accomplishment of having to "work" to get there. Which is basically why we have the option to prestige, of course it's not forced onto everyone. As others have said before, and I concur...it is a choice.

I agree with xenorith, the only reason I sometimes prestige is so that I get the feeling I actually achieve something (gaining abilities) besides the fun.
The unlock system is something that gives me even more motivation to play, even though I don't use most of the upgrades.
+ the advantages aren't that big, you can own a lot in a game with the starting abilities too (just piggy bank that you get at lvl4 seems a must to me)

It would be nice if you only had to unlock everything once. After resetting for prestige you should keep all the abilities. I'm at level 3 not sure if I'm going to go all 5 or not. It's a lot more fun to play when you have access to all upgrades so you can choose exactly what you want. Especially when having friends over to play.

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Prestige 5, Level 45, Rank 61 - - Xbox Tag: AwakeningSE - - Lonestar or Yuri (flash-heal)