All Spark attacks are Electrical and there's probably hundreds of them on Arcane items - staffs, skills, etc., even the Unskilled Arcane slot gives you one if it's not filled.
Really nice changes. The counter encumber is kind of unexpected though. Since Elf is the only race with default move being able to bypass the most powerful encumber (Freeze) Giving them more option doesnt make more sense rather than give Drawf an option (even if it is a worse one). But that's just speculation from me, let's wait till the change is out and we will see how that goes.
All of these look good and make sense except for the Elf buffing. I don't have a problem with the elf buffs, but they are puzzling since they revolve around anti-ancumbrance, and the race that has the least issue with encumbrance is Elf. It seems your goal with the Elf buffs is to increase Elf representation in Multiplayer, but this is the wrong way to go about it. The reason Elf IS ever played in higher level MP is twofold - 1) already high movement/good vs. encumber and 2) Elvish Insight. The reason Elf IS NOT usually played in MP is onefold - 1) low HP's
I think some people are missing that being able to handle encumber makes elven warriors in heavy armors a lot better, so not just "a straight movement buff". However, if I had my say - elves should have cards like Duck among their racials. It's always felt more like a "dodge and snatch" rather than a dwarven block... (used to be a dwarven racial, in case newer beta testers are curious).
Seem like some very well though out changes. I appreciate the boost to elves regarding encumbrance too (elves need some love), but lets be realistic it only allows you to designate 2 cards per elf deck. You'll probably need to run a full elf party to get it anywhere near consistent and that requires giving up a lot of hp. I'll be curious if this makes a 3 elf warrior party more viable.
I don't mind nerfing Fireball a bit, but this is really a lot. Could you leave one on the Staff Of Fireballs and two on Staff Of A Million Fireballs? If you think that's still too powerful, you can add a Combustible to each to keep the items out of MP. (And I better hurry up and beat Temple Terror now while I still have some fireballs...) I've always preferred elves over the other races, but I'm not very good in MP (my rating hovers around 1000). If it was up to me, I'd change to Slippery to remove its current effect and instead give Free Move to any move card you play. Or at least cause you to ignore zone of control.
Kalin, Slippery is great against terrain effects, and start turn positioning in my book - while your suggestion is a useful one, not sure it actually makes the card better. Just turns it into Flight Aura.
*holds up his fist* Elf power! .... im sorry, that was a poor excuse for a joke. lemme try again *puts on a big white hood with elf ear points* imma burn in hell. im sorry
The fact that Elves are now the blatant masters of Heavy Armor is...bizarre. That said, I think these changes are all good. Actually, Skip, he's right. He just meant Arcane Items, and not Arcane items. There are zero Arcane Items that I've seen that have any sparky attacks on them.
GREAT changes, especially the fireball nerf. The spell was way too strong. However, I do agree that many other wizard spells need buffs. Especially the arcane damage spells, as well as the low level fire spells. This is a fantastic suggestion. It makes sense to me for elves to get cards that resemble War Monkeys. Indeed, if Elves cannot have duck, why not the Acrobatic Flip?
Indeed. If you want Electrical for Spark Generator, your deckbuilding now revolves around Staves. And then . . . because Spark Generator also gives a Hard To Block effect for Arcane, all the Arcane cards on your Arcane Items become akin to the Hard To Block Sparks. It's a clever game design idea.
Sadly though, there aren't any staves that have enough high damage electrical attacks to justify using them. I personally would like to see Mighty Spark bumped down to Silver grading. Don't think it is going to happen, just a suggestion.
While I agree that there are not enough staves that feature electrical attacks, I do think there are some positive things to be said for both the Mindsplinter Staff and the Ironwood Staff Of The Magus.
Yeah, the relative weakness of Electrical spells baffles me a bit. Fire has DoT and area attacks, and Cold has Encumber. Electrical has a bit of anti-defense capability with HtB, but not much else. It seems to me that they could use a buff - either increased damage (to compensate for being single target), increased range (a la Long Spark) or more penetration. To continue BM's example - Fireball does 6 damage minimum, and will probably do more with proper placement. Mighty Spark does 7 minimum with HtB 2, to one target. They're both rated Gold. Is Burst 2 really equal to HtB 2 (and +1 damage)? I'm not really convinced it is. At least Generator/Inductor buff damage and Arcane spells whereas Kindler/Firestarter only buff DoT.
I'm just about to do some analysis of card usage. Unfortunately, it will be on data from before these changes, but one of the things I'll be looking for is cards and build types that are under-utilised. From that, I'll definitely be considering how to get more builds viable.
Maybe this would be a HUGH rewrite but instead of race base slots, why not test Class based slots Warrior, Priest and Wizard, instead of Race Human, Dwarf and Elf. that way any Warrior could get cards like Duck The big problem would be where Movement bonuses are played in these slots, would be hard to make a balanced move/class/race slot card.
There is already Arcane/Martial/Divine skills slots that are class based. So either i didn't understand your post, or it seems redundant ?
