Grrrr. I've tried to do the first Kobold mission 15 times, I just can't win. 14 Kobolds, all with 8/11 HP and high maneuverability, I'm astonished anyone has *ever* beat that adventure without going back at a higher level Related to that - I think drawback traits when drawn by a minion should apply to all minions in the pack. The Kobolds, for example - they're meant to be whimpy, but there are 5 in the pack (2 packs of 5 and one of 4) but when they draw the Whimpy trait, only one of them gets it, and the others just pound on you. If the same pack draws Whimpy again, the AI just assigns it to the same one that's already Whimpy, so you still get no relief. If traits affected the entire pack, it would make things a bit easier. Of course, then you would have to be wary of advantageous traits, as they would affect the entire pack as well. Hmm.
Yes, it would be nice if more of the foes became Wimpy or whichever. But sometimes you can, in fact, aim for the one cursed enemy and take advantage of it. Personally, so far I haven't had to "leave and come back" for any adventure, and I've beaten each at a reasonably-similar level. Yes, I've had to re-strategize, re-spec, and retry. One of my most common strategies for when I think I'm outclassed is to look for choke points: out of all these mobs of Kobolds, where can I make a stand? I might have to prioritize killing a few in order to steal their defensible starting location. In that case, if I die before I kill them . . . then I die. But if I get the right draws, then all remaining foes on the map are dead meat one-by-one thereafter.
I wish that'd been my experience. There have been a few times where I've known what I needed to do in order to win but just didn't have the gear for it. And then there have been a few strings of matches where their rolls couldn't miss and mine couldn't hit. Or they'd get good draws and I'd get poor ones. Or both. I've been stopped up to the point of frustration a couple times now and I've only been playing two days. It actually got me thinking about how much randomness there is. Everything defensive is based on a random roll. But you're already dealing with random draws. Random on top of random, coupled with the opponent's card advantage, it can make for some very frustrating times. Maybe I'm just in a slump and my draws and rolls will pick up.
Yes, but when you combine that with randomised loot that's an issue. I simply haven't found good enough loot to progress. I don't get XP for lower level missions anymore, and the 2 level 5, 2 level 6 and 2 level 7 missions available to me (my characters are all level 6) are all extremely hard with the equipment I have managed to find, so even grinding better gear is an exercise in frustration. Possibly, I've just had the worst luck in the world. But the difference between the random loot in CH and in other games such as Diablo is that in the other games, the loot gets better in smaller increments, and you have other skills to fall back on, you're seldom at a point where you can't progress or at least grind. But presently in CH, the loot is literally everything, and if you don't have good enough stuff, you not only can't progress but you can't even grind effectively to get better stuff. Occasionally, I'll see something awesome in a shop, but it's always way out of any possible reach of my gold I have accumulated. Don't get me wrong - I'm not having a winge, this is a beta and these kinds of things are exactly what the beta is about discovering. And I certainly wouldn't want to see the game get too easy, but with the ability to play the game based entirely on the randomness of loot drops, it can clearly lead to situations where players cannot progress without a lot of frustration and head-bashing-on-desks (it would appear it's not just me), so it's something I'm highlighting for the dev team to keep in mind as they work on balance. Cheers, Brian.
Yes, I know I'm fortunate, because usually I've found "the loot I need." But I hesitate to say "oh, well, I'm just 'fortunate' and that's the end of the story" until we're SURE it's the end. As you say, we're here to see if the game needs tweaking: we have to know whether it's the players or the game, first. So: Random on top of random, huh? If that's the problem, tangmcgame, then how much "randomness" can you eliminate from your gameplay? Can you flush out (or wait out) enemy blocks and armor instead of hoping that they won't trigger? Can you minimize the random cards in your own deck? I hate it when the enemies have Parry, and I don't even like 4+ (let alone 5+) in my armor, so I circumvent/minimize those. Obviously, if you don't have the items, then we've exhausted this route. Then there's lack of loot/buying ability. Brian Leybourne, you've probably noticed the many discussions on gold and prices: there's probably tweaking needed. But if you need ideas for more gold: First, are you doing Raid on Ommlet every day? Easy gold. Second, are either Ruby Demon Portal or The Wizard's Workshop viable? Have you done the (viable) challenges and exhausted the "high-quality" loot? Third, though I'm still testing this one, do you have anti-troglodyte gear? I THINK that Beneath the Frozen Earth (level 7) is becoming my "go-to" adventure for easy gold and loot above level 1. You explicitly said it's too hard, and I don't mean to doubt your assessment, but this might get you your loot and your next level (15 XP; is that enough?) in one go. I could keep talking, but I want to "be helpful" moreso than "ramble."
I'll respond in more depth later, but I just wanted to say that I still have some things to learn about this game and my skill is still growing. I understand strategy just fine but I'm fairly new to ccgs (or, rather, haven't played them in a while). Now that I've got my pride out of the way a bit, yeah, I'll admit that at least some of my frustration is at my own mistakes.
Oh, don't get me wrong: I've failed to put a single move card into a deck and then complained that I wasn't drawing move cards. I've been so frustrated that I've used precious, precious pizza on retry attempts. (Not making that mistake again: I want to unlock more dungeons for beta testing.) And really, I'm trying to help. I enjoy talking strategy and finding those little "ah-ha!" moments where you get a new idea and the game is suddenly exciting again.
You can just call me Brian I'll try Beneath the Frozen Earth again. And no, I don't do Omlett every day, because it's boring doing the same adventure over and over, especially when I can't earn XP for it, but maybe I need to be doing it for the gold I gues. I just think it shouldn't be necessary to do quite so much grinding. And to be fair, I do have a bunch of semi-decent stuff, but they all require a white circle for talents, and none of my party have talent points yet, when do those kick in?
I was once gear blocked for the rest of a day then i spent some gold in the shop filling in the biggest holes in my gear and i was on my way through the game
Absolutely true. But once you have attacks with nice damage, you basically just click on three kobolds and then you're done. 14 gold, woo!
So, to explain my "random on top of random" comment, essentially what I mean is that any defensive action in this game has to go through at least two random steps. First, you have to have the card drawn. Second, you have to beat a roll. That's two random steps compounding on one another and it makes defense a very iffy business. Anyway, here are the factors of combat I've been thinking a lot about lately: -High damage on many/most NPC attacks -Low defensive odds; can be built around to an extent (Reliable Armor, Parry [can't wait to get a few of these], etc.) -Low healing output, even under ideal circumstances (Healing Spirit + Heal; is there a more powerful heal?) I'm guessing healing and damage is balanced around having armor and the armor working. I've started (as you suggested) switching over to more reliable armors, nothing less effective than 3+ except in special circumstances. It helps mitigate my irritation if nothing else, but I, like you, prefer more reliability than potentially big swings. Now, dealing with "flushing" enemy blocks and armor, the only reliable way for me to do that is to force a pass. I'm usually positively giddy if I draw more than one attack card on anyone but my wizard. Of course, if it's on the dwarf warrior that often means I don't have enough movement cards to keep up with the trogs or what-have-you. I'm getting better about this, though, learning how to wait for the right time to move. It's usually a matter of surviving a few turns, first, and, well, see my previous paragraphs on that. Regardless, the issue of enemy armor and blocks isn't so big because, so far, enemies are either good at one or the other (or neither, freaking lizards with their 20 million damage but no defense), but not both, so its just a matter of figuring out how to deal with whichever they've got. No, the real problem is just the high damage enemies. Those are the only ones that frustrate me. Well, specifically the high mobility, high damage enemies with just enough hp to take at least 2 and often 3 cards to kill, assuming they hit. With minion movement and card advantage, it can get overwhelming pretty fast. Maybe my problem is gear. Maybe it's bad luck. Maybe it's that I'm way worse at this game than I think I am. Maybe it's Hedermale, the elven priest who feels like a giant freaking albatross around my neck. Maybe it's trying to use a priest at all. For God's sake, my human wizard has more hp than him. I dunno'. But I guess I can boil all my thoughts down to this one question. For any game, but especially a free-to-play game, that lives and dies by its ability to lure players in, show them a really good time, and invite them to stay, does it make sense for the encounters to be this difficult this early?
Healing is being considered for a slight buff and i would honestly say that difficulty is good besides the trog wizard that is obviously too hard. Also stated earlier priests can be dead weight early feel free to replace him with a warrior or wizard and then pick him up when you have the gear to work him.
I'll give some specific ideas in specific places. If they don't work, toss 'em and move on. Alright? Let's rock. The fact that you can keep some armor in your hand between rounds is very helpful here. Think about what annoys you about an armored enemy: "Ugh! They have TWO armor cards that they got early on and they just KEEP!" Once the enemy has drawn the defense, that randomness is now old news, right? What if you could likewise get time on your side? Consider: if your Warrior didn't draw defenses this turn, what did he/she draw? Move cards? Good: the Warrior can run from the enemy this turn (either running directly from melee or running into cover vs. a ranged enemy), making it waste its cards, and wait for a better draw next turn. Then there's the rest of the team. Say your Priest drew Unholy Frenzy this turn: cast it on the Warrior now and it will still be good when he/she's ready. Say your Wizard drew ranged attacks: this might be a waste, or it might be a great opportunity to shoot the sucker running after your Warrior. Yes: Greater Heal in one go (heals 8). Other cards heal repeatedly across turns (Healing Presence and Healing Blessing each total 6): even better when you're running for an entire turn. Then remember the basics: hit blocking enemies from behind, preferably by sandwiching them. If you must attack from the front, flush blocks by using your weakest attack first. Got only one attack on your entire team and you're coming from the front? You're outclassed: why aren't you running? (If the answer is "I can't," then I acknowledge you're dead.) Armor, of course, requires forcing a pass or carefully using discard abilities like Wavering Faith. Hands down, that's a problem. Out of a 37-card deck, my Wizard (today) has 29 attacks or special cards I use to kill things (like Enlarge), my Warrior 22, and my Priest 20. I also have one card-draw ability on the Warrior and 4 on the Priest. How are you doing? Yes, they are horrible. If you must, then run, run, run. Don't have enough movement cards on that dwarf warrior? Buy better boots. Huh. I've got an elven priest. In the low levels, I loaded him with Frenzy abilities and Wavering Faith (anti-armor, anti-block); now I've added mid-level unholy damaging powers. It would still be good to see more damage from them at low levels. That is a matter of opinion. There is raging debate about whether games are "too easy" these days. If these people create a classically-difficult game (and bill it as such), they will reach a particular audience. In fact . . . the same audience that played with cardboard miniatures and card games years ago.
I love this game for kicking my ass its hard and brutal but mostly fair and that is what i want out of a game like this. If a specific map is stomping you voice your opinion on that after trying some gear swaps and tactics since its still beta and some maps are silly hard for the point you get to them. But overall the game is about as hard as i want it to be and i would be very upset if it was made much easier.
"Mostly fair," yes. There are, of course, legitimate problems in it and hopefully those changes will make the experience better. But here's a thought: Gear swaps. Hmm. Some complaints have been that folks don't have the gear to swap. In addition to pizza infusions, which don't help much with single-player gear, might the devs consider just HANDING people test gear? Or would that be more for alpha testing, and defeat the point in beta?
Common practice in alpha is to just give premade characters to people. Perhaps we can do this for beta at some point. Easy to wipe if you just had a char wipe but you want to test a few things before having another long test period.
