Upcoming Balance Changes (8 Nov 2013)

Could damaging drawback traits maybe deal %maxhp damage, rounded up? So brain burn could deal, say, 10% per magic card in hand—for an 18th level elf wizard, this would be 1.7->2 damage; for an 18th level dwarf wizard, this would be 2.5->3 damage.

 

First fitting that explanation on the card and then requiring the player to do the math seems two steps too far.

 

I don't understand the nerf of brain damage and ouch : They were already seldom used, and certainly did not look like a no brainer to equip. The tripe nerf on Demonic Feedback might be too strong : by nerfing its card from 2 to 1, it turns a 1 card advantage into a 0 one, which is already huge, no need to nerf the range too. Nimble strike remains a problem.

 

Changes look good, hopefully devs remain open to testing these changes and tweaking them.

I do think that with inspiring presence, card draw is still viable, particularly with wizards or nimble strike warriors (still broken, still will need a nerfing). Firestorm isn't really affected other than that you will have to use inspiring presence or use more heals, or focus on buffing your characters with accelerated thought, unholy energy, savage curse, etc and chaining inspiring presence 0 token items if you can and outhealing the damage with heals.

 

Come on guys, balance changes are good for precisely the two reasons you mention: 1) to diversify builds; 2) to make play less boring. Successful games like Guild Wars and League of Legends had regular balance updates years after their initial release. Why? Because people who play these games tend to gravitate toward the easiest builds to be moderately successful with, and that leads to stagnant gameplay. You can either accept this as the final outcome of your game, introduce new powers which creates an increasingly hard-to-balance power creep, or have ongoing balance updates. Please don't minimize balance updates. They are necessary to sustain a vibrant competitive experience over the long-term.

Then again, since people buy those 2500gp items from Randimar's with dollar bills, it may be hard to update those cards without upsetting them.

 

My condolences, SP.

Unholy Power (range and damage changes) didn't take much beating. This is almost like a buff because it can't waste the warrior's armor/Toughness on acquisition which enables the warrior to survive longer in the field without nimbus. The current maps are good for 3 range spells. In Lion's or w/e and Koi the 8 range was useful every once in a while. The current rotation has maps that have their VPs pretty close to each other making 3 range viable in mid and late game.

Demonic Feedback became terribad along with Demonic Revenge. It's like the give 1 card to ally card, except that you can give other classes' skills, which is okay. Using it on warrior might be the best thing to do usually, since they have a good chance to get a high damage attack or a step attack. Alas many won't use this skill if they have something else to deck instead in their arsenal. A high drop from an instaGG skill.

Demon's Golden Blade, my favourite priest weapon became much worse. I hope some items will get changed too to factor in the nerfs. Now DGB has 4 gold cards and two pitch black skills. In my eyes it isn't epic anymore.

Dwarven Battle Cry is no longer necessary to have in your deck because you can get it's effect now without decking it yourself, without the disadvantage of giving the other player any skills. Pick something else instead, Toughness is another card draw which synergizes well with parties with little or no healing.

Ouch! and Brain Burn need some tweaking. SP is at stake. Some maps might become easier with monsters ouching themselves for 15 damage; not complaining.

I might need to re-evaluate my need for 1 priest when running just 1 warrior. Purge is kind of useless for removing encumbers when I can easily deal with it and it isn't reliable for removing Impenetrable Nimbus either because Hard To Pin Down is still too proccy. Mass Frenzy doesn't get to its full power with 1.5 melees. Then again for what would I need two wizards for? Yeah, you're right.

 

attacks that are 14 and up should have drawbacks, just sayin. Obliterating strike =17 damage. Elf wizard hp = 17. The attacks should at least give dodge, jump back, hard to pin down, or blocks a roll bonus...It only makes sense(wouldn't you have an easier time dodging such a heavy swing?). Until then, I'll just enjoy killing elf parties with just a couple cards.

 

While I think these changes are good, the amount of nerfs is *very* heavily overkill. I think changing Demonic Feedback to 8 damage, 1 card draw, and unblockable makes it probably one of the worst cards in the game. I'd say keep it to 2 cards but make it 8 damage and unblockable. Why would anyone ever use it if they could use Inspiration for cycling?

Also, this kind of hurts people who didn't know you were going to go through with this... I just spent about 100 gold and 5 hours farming all the Demon Charms of the X Circle... is there any type of compensation we can apply for?

I'm still surprised a lot of super powerful Legendary items can exist while you go after these things. Vibrant Pain, The Bludgeonator, Wym's Lavastaff, and a few others are just obscenely strong.

 

No offence, but if you're talking about using Nimble Strike to chase down Trog Wizards and wondering if anyone uses Vibrant Pain then you don't understand the problem.

In multiplayer YES people are using it if they can get it, precisely because it lets dwarves catch up with anyone AND often attack them from behind, before they can move away again, probably while also buffed with Mass Frenzy, Blind Rage etc. It is way too good, and more than one or two people say so.

 

I think the changes are overkill, but as we've seen in other games better to overkill a broken no-fun strategy than to make changes and still fail to kill it (anyone else around for Affinity in MTG? Fu Manchu knows this one!).

I think the Ouch and Brain Burn changes are unnecessary. They are substantial enough drawbacks I don't use them and never see them used by players as it is.

I am very interested to hear if Fu Manchu have more changes in the pipeline (both nerfy and buffy) or if this is it for the time being. A bit worried that without draw decks it is going to be wall to wall Nimble Strikes and stupid Whirlwinds.

 

It's Blue Manchu.

 

I think the changes are in the right general direction. As others have said unholy feedback is very bad now, which certainly balances Demon Charm of the 2nd circle, but does make every other card that uses it completely useless. Simply reworking the card and modestly nerfing Feedback (3-4 damage and 1 card sounds fine) would have been better. I do like the Unholy Power tweak though, feels more appropriate.

I'm surprised Hard to Pin Down and Step attacks aren't also being considered yet. I feel like they are far and away the best item choices even if card drawing is toned down.

 

Ah, yeah, I always forget to mention Hard to Pin Down in my suggestions. I do think the card is definitely undervalued, but I don't think it needs TOO much tweaking. I think the easiest fixes would be either making it 4+ or removing the ability to move without the trigger. Making it 4+ makes it significantly less reliable, while removing the move would prevent it from having such ridiculous utility.

 

I think the devs have already mentioned noting that Hard To Pin Down is strictly better than Surging Shield Block at the same power level, surprised not to see them tweaked in this update. Only a tweak needed though.

 

I broadly think the change ideas are good, but I have some significant reservations about the details:

1) I'm happy to see draw nerfed, but I think, as others are saying, this is too far on Demonic Feedback. The current OP draw decks would be killed with less than this. Especially with the replacement Demonic Miasma for the negative trait not being a cycling card, the 2nd circle charm will be a weak item instead of a marginal choice.

2) Perhaps Dwarven Battle Cry changing to team mates (not including the caster) will stop dwarves dominating MP? Nimble strike, and the ability to receive opposition battle cries, still makes dwarves the race to choose at the moment.

 

You're right, however this is really the most clear cut case there is right now of card injustice with a simple solution - exchanging the rolls between Hard To Pin Down and Surging Shield Block - like jon himself suggested.
It makes so much sense when you think about it that it almost seems like it was an accident to begin with, could not for the life of me find another example of two same quality cards from the same category where the uncommon one is so clearly better than it's rare counterpart.
While it's not that obvious what the solutions should be for all the other demands for card nerfs if at all (like step attacks), this one, I feel, is very obvious. I don't own Hawlic's Surging Shield, but I think that people who do should wanna equip it and not go by default for the Slippery Shield which is better than every other shield that costs a major token in the game.

 

I think the nerf to drawing deck is a bit overdone but that's necessary considering the boring meta game with firestorm / uber warrior decks.

However, I see no reasons for people to whine over Nimble Strike. The card is the only way for warriors to catch up with wizards ' controls. It's only broken if one has 2-3 + copies in one turn coupling with other blocks /attacks , which is only achievable through card draw . And now the card draw is nerfed , I guess everyone will run an all wizards team as warriors no longer pose a threat.

 

Not true. It's just the best way.
There are others: being an elf, for instance.
Which no one does.
Because dwarves can use nimble strike.