November Balance Changes: Priests, Racial Skills, and more!

But might if it weren't gold...?

 

I think round 2 is an improvement, which is the whole point of feedback, I suppose.
It's a pity Martyr Blessing can't be self targeted if all your allies are dead. Kind of a Forlorn Hope scenario, which I doubt would see much abuse considering the price.

 

Dodge is still OP simply because it is easy to get while Reflexive Teleport is not. I'd still keep the Encumber prevents to allow some type of counterplay.

 

Great news! It's good to see basically all of my previous doubts fixed Now I can think that writing that last absurdly long post was not a waste of time Changes to Martyr and new elven skills also look nice. Big thanks too Blue Manchu staff and all testers!

 

I am happy to see the stop to the Martyr's Self target, I had an ideas to take advantage (allow a solo vamp w/ Martyr's specifically) but it feels right to me.
As for dodge I don't know what the answer is. Has anyone considered turning it into a trait? Much easy to counter, have a duration of 2 or 3 and it loses the extra move factor. Not sure if the buff of it cycling outweighs the vulnerability of a trait and the fact that it is now a known entity. Of course it would then be called Dodger or the like. What I do know is 33% is terrible... but I don't see it being as unused as Reflexive Teleport which now makes me want Daring Clogs assuming I don't have a pair and just never thought to use it.
Draining range 2 attacks are powerful when properly mixed into a vampire build, but the reduction to Mass Frenzy should reduce the power of these cards since they are minor w/o a buff. If you are worried about them make them easier to block or only heal to a max number... Vamps can dominate due to not having to worry as much about taking damage, I think all draining cards should have a cap on their heal equal to the base attack, but I understand that is out of scope most of the time.

 

I have done 15 games now on the test server with a variety of builds, and these are my thoughts so far:

Dodge is a little weak now, and could be changed to move 3, so it would have a niche as the best mobility you can get on shield and weapon slots.
Surestrike blessing seems weak, even for a paper card, and could probably be buffed to duration 2 given that it only works on one attack anyways.
Curse of fragility can be very powerful when comboed with fire damage, but still has all the same problems fire damage builds already have (martyrs blessing cast on someone who already has a burn card on them is almost an instant win).
Talk walk is still good, but the nerf makes dwarves a less desirable option. I actually favor humans warriors now.
Unholy wellspring is the premier buff now, as it should be given that it is gold and mass frenzy is silver. Vamps can self-buff with both demonic power and unholy wellspring, making them very hard to deal with.
Healing rays is really good now that it is self targetting, and potentially worth a token for in the divine skill slot.

 

It's very important to me that I know which version of Dodge you're discussing. I know that most of those games were done with "4+, Move 2 Free Move"—have you tested "5+, Keep" yet?

 

Ooh, I hadn't thought about that. Was waiting for that buff for a long time

 

Sorry, the version I played against was the 5+ triggered keep. Even in the game I played where the opponent had two copies in hand I still just ignored it and attacked anyways. One of them triggered and he moved out of range, but had no other move cards to get back next to me so he had to use one of the dodges for movement. When he was back in range, the single copy of dodge didn't trigger for my remaining attacks. Playing three games against a dodge heavy build is not enough to know for sure, but it seems very hard to justify taking a weapon with dodge over bejeweled shortsword, or a shield with dodge over aegis of defender.

I think dodge is playable in its current form (5+), but changing it to move 3 would give a unique advantage over step attacks for the weapons that have dodge on them.

 

dodge 5+ is crap.

Shield of ultimate dodging: 3 dodge for a major token! Nobody want to expend a major token for unreliable blocks. Weapons with dodge should be useless too.

 

You say it's crap; @Stexe says it's too strong... Know what you both have in common?
Neither of you has playtested the current version on the test server to the best of my knowledge.

 

For the next balance round, can we kill every map based off of Streams? Plzzzzzzzzz? ^___________^

 

I like Dodge now.

 

Not sure how serious you are, but if this is real please make a separate thread describing the issue

 

So one of the design goals mentioned in this update is encouraging 1/1/1 builds. It'd be neat if this extended to races as well.

One idea I've been thinking about to encourage more racially diverse builds is changing all the elf/dwarf specific card effects to be more broad. Humans work great in a support role because their cards help all of their allies, but elves and dwarves often work better with only their own race. I suggest:

Dwarven War Cry: All humans, elves, and dwarves draw a card.

This would become less of a no-brainer in SP, and less match-up dependent in MP.

Elvish Scamper: You and all allies move 3 Free Move.

This would give an alternative to team run, but require an elf to take advantage of.

Elvish Insight: All enemies reveal their hands. Draw a card.

This would match this card up with scouting move, and make it more playable.

 

A more playable version of Dwarven Battle Cry for MP would be: All adjacent characters draw a card.

Elvish Mobility was replaced with Elvish Scamper. In any case, it would be way too powerful as you and your allies move 3 free move. We would see a ton of 2 dwarf warriors and 1 elf priest builds, because the dwarf mobility problem would be solved again without too much sacrifice. If anything, maybe replace Elvish Scamper with Team Walk, and value it as a silver on elf racial cards.

Elvish Insight already does see some play in MP, and does not actively discourage using different races since it is based on the other team, not your own. It would probably be fine to buff it, but the change does not match your stated reasons.

 

I would make the Elvish Scamper: You and all Allies move 2, If ally is Elf Free Move.

 

I think that might be a little -too- good

My bad on the old name, edited. I don't think free move 3 would be -that- excessive, because humans are still going to have double "move, team!" skills, but replacing it with team run would probably be fine too.

I just kind of threw the insight change in there because it could use a buff and was the only other racial-specific effect left

 

I think adjacent characters draw a card is equally powerful with other gold cards. To get the full benefit, your characters have to be adjacent, which probably will cost at least one move card to accomplish. The enemy has some counter-play, in that if they are adjacent they will also draw a card. Compare that to something like bless, and it seems about equal. In any case, my guess is all of the changes are out of the scope of the current balancing patch, but its good the get them out there for the future

 

I have one suggestion .. one of biggest problems in nerfing Cards is that they ruin the best items in the game .. hunted for months, paid for etc ..

If card nerf needs to be done.. it would be nice to keep items power by some other means ..

For example .. The Bludgeonator .. most players love that Item (legendary, good damage, nice picture etc ).. if you nerf OB, you could for example raise 1 5dmg attack do 8dmg ..
that would also put him a bit more over Infused Greatclub (as diff. now is only 5dmg total)

Also The Hackmaster .. Most players agree that it's not worth the tokens .. it would now be even less worth .. show some love for highest DMG card in the game .. dont let everyone just play Bejeweled..

I dont have anything specific on my mind .. I just want to point out that nerfs are because of 1 Card power .. ok, we understand .. but no need to destroy that item ..

And DODGE .. whatever comes at the end .. please dont let that nerf puts Reaper's Scythe and Quick Jon's Axe out of High level MP cards .. that would be sooo unfair ..