Pff, Transformations don't get enough credit around here. Design-wise, Transformations were always built as the basis of power development rather than straight stat increases - which were added as a 'luxury' for players with lots of OM. (Caveat: I decided later to have 12 stats as a new baseline, so the first two stat increases are super cheap, basically freebies. Pick 'em up ASAP.)
Comparatively:
A character with only stat increases: 20 stat points maximum, 176,000 OM spent.
A character with only transformations: 30 stat points maximum, and assuming you buy a single of each tier, 4500 OM spent.
Looking at raw power ceiling, Transformations are how you get to fight Diablo et al. I recommend getting one of each tier ASAP once you get to the required levels.
Also, what's gonna make the bigger difference, narratively and in terms of a real impact: increasing your stats slightly overall, or doubling/tripling your stats for a single post?
If you realistically only wanted to look at sustained effects (treating Power-Ups as permanent, like stat increases), then let's look at a level 12 character with 112,000 Earned OM.
Player A sinks them all into stats, and now has 18 stat points.
Player B gets Transformations, and can sustain a Tier 2 Transformation for a whole fight. They still have enough money to buy 8 stat points, so they do that, and can sustain 28 stats for the entire fight.
(Bonus: Player C sticks with a Tier 1 Transformation and gets 15 stats for a whole fight at 6 SP. They can still buy 8 stat points, and can now sustain 23 stats for the entire fight AND still have enough SP left to drop three Tier 2 super moves.)
Realistically, you do a bit of each. That's the best approach, due to scaling costs. You also just get what you want - at the end of the day, we look at level as a general idea of how strong a character is going to be, how much SP was spent on the fight, and how injured they were at the start. When you boil it down to pure mechanics, that's the 'numbers' part of the system. How you express those numbers is up to you.
Comparatively:
A character with only stat increases: 20 stat points maximum, 176,000 OM spent.
A character with only transformations: 30 stat points maximum, and assuming you buy a single of each tier, 4500 OM spent.
Looking at raw power ceiling, Transformations are how you get to fight Diablo et al. I recommend getting one of each tier ASAP once you get to the required levels.
Also, what's gonna make the bigger difference, narratively and in terms of a real impact: increasing your stats slightly overall, or doubling/tripling your stats for a single post?
If you realistically only wanted to look at sustained effects (treating Power-Ups as permanent, like stat increases), then let's look at a level 12 character with 112,000 Earned OM.
Player A sinks them all into stats, and now has 18 stat points.
Player B gets Transformations, and can sustain a Tier 2 Transformation for a whole fight. They still have enough money to buy 8 stat points, so they do that, and can sustain 28 stats for the entire fight.
(Bonus: Player C sticks with a Tier 1 Transformation and gets 15 stats for a whole fight at 6 SP. They can still buy 8 stat points, and can now sustain 23 stats for the entire fight AND still have enough SP left to drop three Tier 2 super moves.)
Realistically, you do a bit of each. That's the best approach, due to scaling costs. You also just get what you want - at the end of the day, we look at level as a general idea of how strong a character is going to be, how much SP was spent on the fight, and how injured they were at the start. When you boil it down to pure mechanics, that's the 'numbers' part of the system. How you express those numbers is up to you.
Curious about me and the characters I play? See the 'Staff' page! See also the rosters for my characters Samus Aran or Enel if you'd like to see examples of well-formatted rosters. Hope you enjoy the Omniverse!