Now that the meta has had time to settle a bit, just a few observations/feedback on the big balance update from august. Overall, I'd say the game state is much improved from before. No longer do the hordes of frenzied ninja whirlwind dwarves oppress the population, their reign is over and the game is better off for it. Ultimate trolls aka 3 dwarf control wiz is hardly to be seen, whimpering back to their dank troll caves from whence they came. Also click click range-less firestorm spam from the backline has lost its mid 1500's shine. Formations are more predictable, the battlefield is easier to "read", and people are trying fresh strategies. So what has taken their place at the top? Well 1 priest/2 warrior is still a deadly combo, vampires are on the upswing, and elven blitz are doing pretty well for themselves too, we've even seen the rise of the burning fire wizard. Some are even doing well with a 1/1/1 ultimate adventurer party build. More variety now, not *lots* but definitely more. Just a few thoughts on some cards that felt the balance nerf/boost : Spells Whirlwind/Whirlwind enemies : a rarity on the battlefield nowadays, gone from common at the top to just plain gone. Awesome. Punishing Bolt : since the nerf range, a lot less powerful, but I've still used it/seen it used here and there. Still deadly, just doesn't feel as unfair as it used to, felling enemies from across the map Cold spells/Encumber : Overall I like the minimum 1 movement, but it does mean we see a lot less frost wizards around. Fire/burning spells : I think only 1 card, flame spit, got any sort of boost, but much more common nowadays as ppl replaced their nerfed wiz cards. It can be pretty incredible to watch how fast an unarmored full hp dwarf burns to cinders with instant burns+ fire attachments + firestarter winds/gust/tele : A source of much controversy but lets face it winds of war/frost jolt put the t in troll. Needed to go, now some control is still possible, but no longer overwhelming. Blocks Disorientating Block (prev. acrobatic flip) : its unique in its effect, from replacing ppl on single vp to setting up for a kill blow, triggering this one on a fully loaded war is pretty bad news for the initiater. A fun card but hard to get. Hard to Pin down : Well you used to be awesome, now not so much, still a universal block with a good roll at least, or a run. Banished from my decks now. At first I was unhappy with the nerf but I've come to realize it was probably a good thing for the game. Surging Shield Block : HtPD's ugly stepchild, yeah I'll still use it, even though its roll isn't that good. Defender's Block / Cause fumble : much more common now. Don't ever get too secure even when someone's back is turned, their teammate just might have trick up their sleeve. Attacks Nimble Strike : So much debate over this one, while agreement was nearly universal something needed to be done, the BM team sure threw everyone for a loop when they said : less 2 dmg, less 2 movement, add fly, ok done. I don't own a vp or anything but I was as skeptical of this as the rest. It seemed too much, would nimble go the way of the dodo ? Short answer, no. Nimble strike as a matter of fact is still awesome yes I said it. They changed the dynamic of it, but the usefulness still exists, no longer as a spam card, but as a splash card. Many times I have used a well-timed nimble as a finisher, leaping over their back or over a river as need be to deliver the final blow. It still works well as the opening blow to save your movement for chase or retreat as need be. I have seen attempts in post-balance games of vibrant pain spammers bouncing around trying to cause havoc, but in the end its just not enough damage to prevail. Utilizing a terrible metaphor I shall call it an upgrade from spam to premium ham. Vicious strike : still fairly common, the loss of 1 movement hurt it buts it still packs a meaty enough punch to make it worthwhile. Vampire/Draining Attacks : Well these were mostly all buffed and as a result vampires are better, simple cause and effect. I recently joined the dark side and made an all vamp team and wow bashes/barge : minor improvements across the board, still see them here and there. barge lost a bit of utility but the dmg buff makes a lot more threatening. Overall good I guess. Drawbacks Well the vulnerable one was pretty harsh, but it makes it a lot more on par with other traits, wimpy sucks pretty bad now but again makes sense. Overall I think they did a good job on these, though at first I was opposed to some I've come around to see the light. Heals Overall improvements, nothing crazy but puts more stuff on par with team heal. Another well-thought out change. The cleansing heals were a nice touch too. Moves Elven trickery : At first I thought this was going to be junk with the change, but having used it for some time now, think they made a wise choice. Instead of completely shutting down melee you can also disarm wizards, and the free move is handy. Very tactical card, and no longer OP against certain teams. Leap (formerly scuttle) : Well what is there to say, you went from an oddity, to a powerhouse in 1st round of balance changes, when ppl were making their own Nimble Obliterating Bludgeon in conjuction with quickness aura, back to an oddity again. The facing change is basically useless most of the time, if the opp back is to you after leap and they have no move or atks doesn't matter what facing you have, it might have a rare use jumping over someone to get to vp first and setting your block up, but is really mostly strange and pointless overall. Back to an oddity again, but might see some use on specialized maps like wicked waterways. Ok well just giving some feedback from my perspective, also not really addressing singleplayer here, just to note. I think they will get some good sp quest feedback when they add the quest reset button in the near future and ppl try those again.
I'll add my thoughts too. I've only played 166 ranked games since the balance changes hit live server but that's not that few. Didn't include every change. WW and WWE - good. I didn't expect them to get that nerfed but okay. FS - good. I love the idea of FS requiring positioning which CH should be about. It made farming SP a lot more difficult though so I'm still excepting a way to earn more gold or to make items in shops cheaper. Step attacks - good. Noone excepted NS to get that nerfed but I really like that nothing gets to step more than two squares now. NS was made more „special“ than DC which I also like although why not make VT also somehow more special than all these other 1-step attacks? Not sure how though. SPR - perfect! WoS - perfect! Most important was the ability to target every kind of player created terrain but also having water instead of blocked terrain allows a lot more counterplay while still being useful or even deadly. Telekinesis - very good! WoW - idk. Could perhaps do with a small buff. As already suggested, move target 2 squares not 1 if only one target was selected. It used to be the main method for mages to push opponents around and isn't too useful atm. Surging Shield Block - very good! Hard to Pin Down - very good! It was a huge nerf so obviously unexpected but why not!Forgetfulness and Counterspell - perfect! Bashes - perfect! They used to be quite a joke cards to play, now with reduced usefulness of step attacks one might even try Basher's Delight Linear Sparks - idk. I mean I welcome buffs to Deadly and Potent Sparks but this was huge. Didn't we have a logic that rarer cards should be more interesting not strictly better? Not that I have any other ideas for these sparks either. Leap - perfect! I just love that cool card although am not running any myself Vamp Attacks - the change I like the least. Ok, you can add or remove 1 damage to/from cards but adding 1 range is a big deal. Hopefully they won't become too dominant in ranked play. Vulnerable and Wimpy - perfect! Many items with them (especially Vulnerable) were a little too good. Now it's a lot more risky card to have in one's deck. Slowed - weird but I don't really care. Advanced Battlefield Training - perfect! Now some small buff to regular one too maybe Arcane Shell - perfect! I really like this one. Stuck Arrow - perfect! It was such a pointless card before. Cause Fumble - very good! With 6 range it was a really weird card. Too weird. Disorienting Block and Defender's Block - perfect! Golden blocks are supposed to be better than a regular Parry Shrug it Off! - perfect! This card was really not worth it before. Weak Parry - perfect! A very cool addition to the card. Energizing Move - perfect! Defensiveness - very good! Was too huge of a drawback before the change. Edit: Also I like the small nerf for Dodge and Shredding Strike -> Sundering Strike. Made many more items viable. And Barge is cool too now
Yeah, the balance changes did help a lot, but there are still a few problem areas I'd love to see hit. Namely, Mass Frenzy and Dodge. Maybe Martyr's Blessing too. I also still have a problem with overly binary cards like Resistant Hide, Grounding Plate, Smoke Bomb, and Impenetrable Nimbus. Besides that the game feels a lot more varied in uses and builds. Which is good and bad -- there won't be any "top tier" builds that win all the time so I don't expect anyone to be able to break 1800+ due to more of a rock-paper-scissors nature. But it definitely allows people to have a large multitude of viable builds.
I was thinking, Mass Frenzy should only affect (allies) within 3-4 squares. Put some more positioning into the gameplay. I've had some fantastic games with Healing Pulse and Inspiring Presence in Quick Draw, where getting your characters into position was key. There are quite a few games where I curse that ONE STUPID Resistant Hide. I understand that sometimes you need that one super-strong card in your deck, but please. This is too much. What's the point of having wizard spell variety if this card cancels 90% of them??? After some thought I concluded that Large Weapon needs some love as well. It is a brutal drawback on any well-balanced MP map (blocking terrain is necessary to prevent wizard dominance) and it's rarely worth using in SP as well. Saving Roll 3+?
Resistant Hide cancels less than 50% of them. It's only a problem if you run a straight fire or spark build with no other types of attack on any (surviving) character. (Or poison, but I doubt anyone runs a poison build.) I think Large Weapon is intended to be a brutal drawback, on par with Superstition. If I'm wrong (which I often am concerning the dev's take on things), it may get some love. Until then, I just avoid it.
OK so let's get this straight. First, find me a single obtainable *WIZARD* item with a poison card. Go ahead, look for one. There aren't any. *EDIT* More to the point, Resistant Hide cancels 90% of spells. Let's see what it does: Completely negates damage: Instant Burn, Ember Burst, Fireball, Glob of Flame, Flame Jet, Flame Spit, Firestorm.... Volcano, Wall of Fire, Hot Spot Obliterating Spark, Mighty Spark, Deadly Spark.... Note: Fire Spells have their Burning damage negated, regardless of Hot Flames. One armor card negates 100%, which in practice is up to 8 damage of the most damaging spells available. Also, if you run a Fire Wizard/Electric Wizard it makes sense to concentrate your damage types, NOT diversify. Negates two (Half!) damage regularily: Gusts/Winds of War, Flash of Agony, Arcane Burst, Arcane Beam, Zap, Stone Spikes... Frost Jolt, Cold Snap, Chilling Rime, Freeze Note: Cold Spells do not have their encumber effect negated. The only card that it does not negate damage from is Acid Terrain (Acid Blast/Acid Jet) but that is the exception, and rarely played or even effective. So you are left with a Frost Wizard/Arcane Wizard, who doesn't receive any arcane damage buffs, and whose spells deal 2-4 damage on average. That's the problem, folks.
Yep. You didn't look at clerics, Jade. And if you do, you'll see why nobody runs poison in MP. It's true that fire and sparks got some great buffs, arcane got very little, and frost got nerfed. I see that as more of a problem with mage attacks than with resistant hide. I rarely play MP, but I've been in the position in MP of having only a fire mage left who couldn't damage my opponent, and it did suck. But I've never entered a battle without someone who could take out a mage with resistant hide. That would just be silly.
We were talking about Wizards, a "poison build" for WIZARDS... Arg you guys got to me before I could clarify that. Curse you, lack of context! It doesn't change the fact that one card is still unreasonably strong. Sure you can beat it but it's still too powerful... Where's Stexe when you need him...
You can only have 1 per deck. That makes up for it. On the opposite side, you can have a lot of armor removal cards.
Maybe Resistant Hide shouldn't have an armor value for any other type of attack. It can still negate what it does, has no value against any kind of melee damage, arcane damage, etc...
That wouldn't solve the problem. All that does is make the armor's weakness a little weaker, not make the insane damage negation lesser.
If you're not packing an answer to armor(not just RH) in an all wizard deck you're setting yourself up to lose. There are plenty of ways to add a splash of armor removal. Acid blast plus a movement spell or two is usually enough to force all the moves out of a character and cook away their armor. You also have discard as a 2nd option which is usually against any team. SPR is no longer overpowered but definitely still a viable choice in any wizard deck. Plenty of zero token cards out there with it.
You know what else is good? Play an acid blast and then follow up with Maze when they move (as long as it's less than 2 squares), they will land right back on the acid.
