Aloyzo's Arsenal Discussion Thread

Congrats to the winners!

A few sidenotes:

Good luck with that... As far as I know enemy handicaps are unpurgable right now... Hopefully I am wrong or purge is changed before the item is released. I am very concerned about that card.

Muscle Through:
I really hoped Muscle Through would get buffed in the future, because i really like the concept (functions like an anti-Violent spin). Since Push 1 and Move2 are kind of underwhelming nobody plays it in ranked. With the addition of a pair of double Muscle Through + Cycling Trait-Boots there will be no future buff of that card. Sad.

Ice Bolts:

I like the concept of the staff, but Ice Bolts. Encumber 2, DURATION 3, really? Targets: 2. Come on... Do you hate warriors so much??

 

Burst All out Attack anyone?

 

Tongue Storm is a Magic attack.

 

I am coming to terms with two things, the fact that i am on the bad side of "subjectively judged" and that I shouldn't send serious entries into a competition that might have a transparent set of criteria, but a "humor me enough and anything goes" disclaimer. Well maybe an alternative forum account can fix one of these.

 

Yes, this is problematic. There's Gene Therapy and Warp Run, that are feasible at the moment at least...

Also Resistant Hide, Force Field and Impenetrable Nimbus will be handy against Festering Guts.

 

I gotta say, I'm a little weirded out by the sporadic hostility I saw in some of the earlier responses, especially given that game design is as much about the ways you break rules as the ways you hold to them.

It's that first word that's the really critical part of that sentence, for our purposes. No, there is not anything that instantly disqualifies you. Each item is judged on its merits. So if you want to color inside the lines, that's fine - and most of the winning items will come from that pool. But the fact that we CAN break those rules, when we feel it's really important that we do... that's super cool to me.

The guidelines that Flax has laid out are short, at least in terms of the literal number of words used to convey them. But they are complex, in that they put a great deal of trust in us, the submitters, to exercise our own creativity and judgement. We are asked to understand deep, nuanced goals - maintaining the health of both Singleplayer and Multiplayer with our submissions, generating compelling stories, creating puns, jokes, and serious narratives that will leave their marks, however large or small, on the game we all play together. We're asked to make something fun, something compelling, something interesting, with as little denied to us as possible. This is a huge responsibility. We are all, in this contest, game designers. And when the content we create is not picked, telling Flax that he did not make things clear-cut enough - that he did not fence us in, limit our options, and sanitize our choices properly - that, to me, misses the point. We are given so much space to think for ourselves so that in the end, the things that we make can be things that are amazing in ways Flax never envisioned.

We all have little things we do in our lives that bring us inordinant amouts of joy. One of those, for me, is when I get to a crosswalk with a light, and look both ways to see that no cars are coming for several blocks... and then crossing while the light is red. I love those little moments when the rules we live our lives by fail, and we get to experience how our ideas of the world and the world itself don't match up. So I challenge you to find those moments in your lives as well - to understand the rules well enough to know not only why you follow them, but why you break them.

If you're one of the people who have been saying they might not submit to the contest again, please reconsider! I've checked on each and every one of your submission, and they all brought something to the contest. I've loved getting a glimpse into what everyone wants to see in this game, and I would be sad to see any of you go. Your submissions are appriciated, even if they don't seem to be giving you exactly what you're looking for, and I hope that you can find enough value in that to keep coming back and sharing your creativity with this community.

I want to see Flax continue to trust this community to exercise its own judgement, to think, to create, and to build on this fantastic game. I want to see us each interpret the rules in our own way, and fail to follow them in little ways, and from those failures build something more beautiful than we ever could have made from coloring inside the lines.

 

I really wish they'd suck it up, admit they got the typing wrong, and make Festering Guts a boost, because having the (tied) highest quality card in the entire game be a supposed handicap is a pretty sorry state of affairs, no matter how you look at it. It's like the Heavy Armor thing but way worse. Also imo it doesn't really deserve amethyst, but maybe that's just because the other monster amethysts are brokenly strong at that quality.

 

Now that you mention it -- going in kind of the opposite direction as you, Punf, but inspired by your post nevertheless -- first-time Campaign players (who've never ventured into multiplayer, the forums, etc.) ought to find themselves much better severely warned when an enemy draws that card. "Oh, look, a black card, yeah, I read it, looks bad, I'll kinda sorta be careful maybe." vs. "Oh, look, a black card, and WHOA! what's with the gleaming, beautiful purple gem of a title bar?! this thing must be demanding my serious attention! ~reads carefully~ Yeah, that sounds really dangerous!" ...all these random quotes and such are just the kinds of imaginary scenarios that play out in my head. $E^ b

 

I'm gonna chip in with my two cents and say that, while I understand people's frustration over the fact that a submission that defied the rules managed to win, I have to stand with Flax on this one. Sure, it might feel like you were cheated when you hear that your submission was trumped by one that by all accounts shouldn't have been picked because the rules says so, and personally I felt that way at first as well. But at the end of the day, this was a contest where people were invited to express their creativity and present an item to be judged based on its theme, and Flax picked the items that he judged to be the most thematic. You can argue the rules weren't clear enough or badly worded, that's fair, but had the rules not been there at all, we would have an onslaught of items unfit to be in the game (Which we apparently somehow still did! Mine included, whoops. ). The contest is still in its infant stages, give it a few more incarnations to really nail down what it's about and how it operates, and hope to have better luck next time. Personally I think it's really nice that we as players get to contribute to a part of the game's design space and show off our creativity, so hat's off the Flax for letting us have this.
And of course, congratulations to the winners! I look foward to testing out your items once they're in the game! ^^

 

Thank you very much! Really delighted to win.

I thought of a melee Oozeball submission as a joke at first, since warriors wouldn't want their attacks replaced by their slimy, 0-damage counterparts. But then I realized there might be a serious place for an Oozeball utility card on boots instead of weapons, and it might actually be a good way of getting rid of Maneuvering Elves without giving them a way to walk back. Glad the name was appreciated too.

Congratulations to the other winners! Festering Guts and the long-range melee tongue cards are intimidating. I thought Infected was a particularly creative item.

 

I rewatched Aloyzo's Arsenal #3 Results and finally got the idea behind @Duke Tresnor's Spritastrophe - very clever! I also cracked the code of the item name glow color in the video - it's the item rarity! :slow_sherlock.gif:

 

I appreciate the sentiment, but I'm just not getting the value or enjoyment out of the contest that I thought that I would by taking part every month. That doesn't mean that I'm just annoyed that any item I've created hasn't been chosen, or recognized, or whatever; there's a very small field of items that are able to fit into those slots, and I respect that. Does it play a part? Sure, I would be lying if I said it did not. Ultimately, however, I just realize that I'm approaching the contest in the wrong fashion: I am attempting to create items that I feel I would want to use or could see a use for, when I should be attempting to create items that are interesting or creative. Personally, I'm not looking for more items that are creative or interesting that will, eventually, sit in my keep with many other items. That's what the items created so far are, especially when coupled with how I approach game strategy. What can I say, I've always been much more a fan of defense than offense. Turning my wizards into acid bombs is not my cup of tea (just to pick out an easy example); I'd much rather determine ways to prevent your acid bombs from ever reaching me, and to frustrate you by countering everything you attempt to throw at me. But I'm in a very small minority within the community of this game (maybe a group of 1, I'm not sure), so I recognize the chances of items to help me with this are going to be few and far between. But that also means I would get less enjoyment out of a contest that, so far, has only given me items that won't help me with my approach to the game. That only seems natural to me.

But again, I stress, this is just me. I am, in no way, trying to state that the contest itself is useless or pointless, or anything like that. I understand it's value, and that many people enjoy it, and that's a very good thing. However, I don't see myself continuing with it...but as I stated in my previous post, I hope someone does create an item I'll want to use in the future. I haven't seen one yet, but maybe that will change one day.

And lastly, as before, congratulations to the winners.

 

Suffice to say I am very angry. And have not found a means of expression that remains respectful. Regardless, I wanted to at least voice how I feel. I hope to comment more extensively in the future.

 

Proves the point that winners doesn't need to be concerned with anything much other than the 4 required info.
Still, I will still give the extra info such as estimated token cost so it's easier for people to decide whether they like it or not. (I know I will need it)
Internet likes has its value. And much easier to get than a like from a particular wizard with muscle and foot fetish.

 

All the items are for Human Wizards, woo. My take on all of these:

Boots and Other Boots: I prefer Violent Spin, and I feel others probably feel the same way. Might give them a whirl, they are cheap after all.

Infected: There's a very real chance I will turn my wizards into suicide bombers for a minor token, can't wait to see warriors running from wizards for a change. This might make humans more common, which is nice.

Spiritastrophe: Not going to see use on a triple wizard team in my opinon, but with backup this is definitely a good staff with lots of good cards. Two Linear attacks, Fireball, an Encumber 3(!!) attack to two people(!!!!!); this is what I call strong.

Tongue on a stick: Compared to other staffs of similar quality, it's not the most damaging. The real potential is for Dwarf Wizards with frenzies, which will allow them to finally use blind rage for things other than bash wizardry. Probably won't buy it myself unless I happen to drop three legendary treasures in a row, though.

 

Seems like a good way to have your entire team of human wizards killed all at once by a buffed bursting wizard, to be honest.

 

Congrats to all the winners!

Happy to see Tasty Tasty Staff got included as it was my top pick for the contest. Just such a solid design in all respects. Made me wish I had submitted some of my 6 item ideas that broke the rules too. Flax you're messing with our minds here!

I'm still unsure if Festering Guts will have an effect on the game. I would consider it somewhat equivalent to a force field in terms of character protection. Maybe on human wizards but honestly, as a wizard, I'd rather have an escaping run or team walk. It's not purge-able which is nice. Could also be handy for tanking in a single VP point map.

As much as I dislike more boots being made, I do like to see the muscle through available as a build option. I'd still generally want a violent spin for controlling opponent positioning and forcing yourself onto a VP but I could see a spear warrior build putting it to good use for a minor token. Force opponent off VP or onto dangerous terrain when they are out of movement and poke away.

 

If a contest has rules, those rules should be followed. It should not be at all surprising to recieve hostility from those who followed the rules when they are beaten out by those who broke the rules.
I'm not upset about my item not winning. I built it to vent about about a real life situation, and intentionally designed it for disqualification, so that isn't a player in this evaluation.
A point was brought up stating monster cards that are basically the same as player cards should be usable. When I see any existing range 5 melee player cards, I'll believe Tongue Grab and Tongue Lash meet the criteria.
I won't say the design isn't really cool and appealing, because it is. However, it does not comply with the contest rules as stated, and its selection is extremely disappointing.
It should be withdrawn, but I doubt that will happen.
I certainly bear no animus for Inkfingers, who is a very talented and classy player.
I'm not angry with Flax either, but I am disappointed. Freeform design is one thing, but failing to follow the contest rules one sets will lead to a loss of credibility. In simpler form, don't post rules unless you are going to follow them to the letter.
I kid Flax a lot, largely because I like him. He works very hard on CH, and I think he's a great guy. I also think he put his foot in it this time.

 

I don't think we know that.

Good job

As am I. A lot of people in this thread are freaking out about Festering Guts. I think someone even said it might affect "the meta." This is an item with two Shuffles, and it costs a token to boot. I doubt this will warp the format in the foreseeable future.

Did I not say it should be a boost in the video? Maybe I only made that comment in the first, discarded video. But I've also said it a lot on the forums. I intend to change the card to be a boost the next time we do balance changes. I hope this pops your bubble of hostility, even if briefly

 

It was one of my favorites that didn't make the shortest version of the shortlist

I'm listening to people's feedback here, and am going to post a poll shortly.

http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/poll-alozyos-arsenal-october-community-choice.8236/