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

Assume that Dodge doesn't exist in its current form. Would you still not go for Defender's Block?

 

I am already using some Defender's Blocks in my deck. But even after Dodge is adjusted, I won't be using the max number of Defender's Blocks (2x per character, 6 total) in my deck because of cost issues.

It's the scarcity and the costs involved that make me believe the card isn't broken right now (otherwise I'd be abusing the heck out of it).

 

I dunno, I think it will be the best card in the game (outside of maybe Imp Nimbus) once MF, Dodge, OB/AH, and a few other things are nerfed. I know I'll be running max of them and have been on the test server (when I'm not just using bursting wizards which is pretty obscene).

 

For the record Bless is a terrible thing use a comparison as it is a single item card that and the item is a yellow token priest only item.
Dwarven War Cry is on 4 items 3 which are pretty good and would probably be use a lot more if not for the possibility of helping the enemy and the OP nature of Toughness, the unique power of Duck and the fact that you must have all dwarves to maximize. I don't think the dwarven racials need any help.

 

Update!

This is probably the final set of changes before we go live. There's not enough to warrant a blog post, so I'll just post the news here.

• Dodge has been properly valued to C (level 3, bronze) across all items. Four shields have decreased token costs as a result: Shield Of Ultimate Dodging, Jannivol's Shield, Backflip Buckler, and Quinn's Buckler.
• Two elf skills that became too low-level as a result of this change, Apprentice Insight and Untrained Insight, were changed to have different cards. The former is Dodge, Dodge, Scouting Run. The latter is Dodge, Scouting Run, Skip. They remain tokenless, and their rarities are unchanged.

All decisions regarding these balance changes were made after receiving extensive player feedback. In the case that these changes are too little or too much, we are open to further balancing in the future, loathe though we are to change too many things too often. I would like to heartily thank everyone who participated in playtesting. Your feedback has been invaluable and I'll be passing out your rewards very soon.

 

Wow, that makes Shield of Ultimate Dodging even better. I'm still under the idea that Dodge is problematic now that Encumber doesn't nullify it.

Shame the binary cards still haven't been tweaked. Imp Nimbus spam just is annoying and boring to play against. Same with Res Hide and Smoke Bomb and Illusory Barrier. =/

 

Any chance we could avoid the change to Almighty Hack? It is very powerful as is, but it only appears on one (Legendary) weapon (as opposed to Obliterating Bludgeon, which is one several). I have seen it from time-to-time in MP, but it's not like all the best warrior teams are running 1 or more The Hackmaster.

 

I'd personally use it if OB was changed but AH wasn't. Personally, I find the lack of balance to cards that promote a rock-paper-scissors strategy much more problematic.

 

I look forward to dodging builds on the live server! If they prove problematic, we'll deal with them then. Cross that bridge kind of thing.

 

Yeah, just like we have MF + Dodge + Defenders Block + Imp Nimbus that I predicted from the last set of balance changes... Heck, at this point I'd prefer the old NS + WW/WWE strategy as at least you knew what decks were bringing. Now you're playing a rock-paper-scissors game before the match starts more often than not. =/

 

Okay, but it's easy enough to have a viable warrior build with 4 OB using only rares/epics. To get to 3 AH, you're sacrificing quite a bit. Even if you run 2x The Hackmaster, that's half as many high impact cards as running 2x Infused Greatclub/Colossal Hammer. I'm just saying that as powerful as it is, it wouldn't saturate the metagame the way OB does, due to both the rarity of the one item it's on, and how it's only 1/6 cards on that weapon.

(I just had a vision of a Battlefield Training/Advanced Battlefield Training build to transfer AHs and All Out Attacks. Heh. Doubt it'd be viable, though)

 

Hackmaster still gives you very high DPC (damage per card) for the token cost. Running Infused Greatclub just gives you more reliable spike damage when fishing for a huge hitter. If you took OB out of the equation then AH becomes more tempting as it is found on an already decent item. Yes, it does cost you a Gold token, but it would be worth it.

 

It's absolutely a good item, I'm just skeptical that you'd see teams running it as often as you see teams running OBs now. Too bad this is more of a question of prediction rather than a testing one.

 

You'd see less of it only because it is much, much rarer. But yes, it is a prediction if AH wasn't changed. I guess they could test it by not changing it until it becomes problematic, but I don't see as the change to AH to be a bad one given they want to curb damage spikes in general (which is a good thing).

 

Well speaking as probably the biggest fan of The Hackmaster, I don't think the change will stop me from using it, although I don't use it as often as I did when I first got it as there is little advantage to an Almighty vs. Oblit, BUT I still prefer a regular diet of 8 point attacks over the 4 point duds of an Infused Greatclub.

I don't remember if this was answered, but does the lowered damage when blocked get buffed and/or trigger AOA? Since they get stacked before a block is triggered, I would assume no, but these lil' details do matter.

 

Wait so does this mean Quinn's will be tokenless? if so I am sorry I didn't pick one up when I had the chance.

 

It will (continue to) be a nice shield

 

No buffing of the "unblockable" damage.

 

Yes, Quinn's is tokenless on the test server.

 

Yep! There are now at least two tokenless items with two Dodges (Quinn's and that one elf racial).

You'll probably get the chance again. And honestly, who knows. Maybe Dodge is crap now

Correct.