[Balance] Card Discussion

Powerful. One priest can hold 10 of them in deck; two priests 20... but we don't need that much quantity, because it doesn't win matches on his own (it helps a lot when we can control the VP). OP? I would say yes. If it needs a nerf? Not a priority. (Bejeweled is dominating, that's priority).

 

/////////////////////////////
Card of the Day: Toughness
\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\
(Insert image of shirtless muscular dwarf here)


Blurg. It's been a hellish couple of days.
But there's only a few cards left. So I figure, hey, let people do their thing.

Spoiler: Cards left to be discussed

Reflexive Teleport/Dodge
Acid Spray
Grounding Plate
Nimble Strike
Twin/Triple/Team Heal/Healing Pulse

 

A one-shot armor that cycles, and can very be annoying to players who don't use weak attacks to draw blocks and such. Shredding or Sundering will always dispose of it. Something to account for if you play vs. dorfs. Something to consider bringing if you're playing a dorf. Are some players still miffed about this one?

 

Nothing makes me feel like not playing more than playing a strong or Hard To Block attack or spell on a full-health dwarf warrior in melee range from behind only to watch him reveal a Toughness card, draw a card for my petty troubles...and then bop me over the head with the Obliterating Bludgeon he just topdecked.

Whoops, he had it. Dang. Maybe next game.

Elven Trickery triggers a similar response from me. It's everything I wish racial cards weren't!

Yeah?
It's like, WHOOPS, I engaged the other player in melee range. Better not do that again.

 

I think it should lose the card draw.

 

Question: was Cleansing Ray ever brought up to be on the list? A card that heals, clears terrain, and possibly give a card draw?

That card alone might get me to think about leaving wizards behind and playing three Game Genies all day.

 

And is an overcosted Minor Heal vs. triple warrior? XD

 

I don't like that Toughness overshadows more interesting cards, such as Duck. I don't think toughness is too powerful, but I sometimes feel like it has a frustrating lack of counter-play options; a bit like Defender's Block. Usually the best option is just to use a low-damage attack first, in which case the enemy still gets a card advantage. But maybe that just means I should put more armour removal cards in my deck.

 

There have been suggestions that penetrating attacks could bypass Toughness. Why not actually?

 

I don't think there's much of an issue with Toughness, really. If you play right that's just another Rusty Armor or heck, even Cloth Armor for the opponent with card draw. If it didn't have the card draw, its gold card status would be unjustified. You can only have two of it max, and the item that gives two also gives a terrible card, Rusty Armor. Having one only means the enemy will draw it very infrequently and it will only even more rarely have a large impact. Again, it's fine as it is.

I'm actually more concerned about Duck with a 50% proc chance. It's harder to bait than Toughness, and can lead to more tricky situations.

 

This is 100% true.

I think that's cool - what concerns you about it? We know Duck isn't too good, it just gives players some grief once in a while.

 

Toughness isn't really an armor card, it's basically a block.

Does something with an attachment, like a burning card, attach when it triggers toughness, like they do even when other armor cards block all the damage?

 

Well, it may not behave much like other armour cards - but that's how it is classified in-game. It is destroyed by Boiling Armor, and by Sundering Strike etc.

In most cases, I choose to keep my armour-destroying cards until I know the enemy actually has armour. But with Toughness, the armour destroying card has to be played first - otherwise the toughness will have drawn a card and disappeared as soon as you discover it exists!

 

Yeah, I know. It functions more like a block, so parry is probably as valuable a comparison as the armor cards.

 

Lord Feleran raises an excellent point, Toughness with its gold rating is meant to be a good card,
and lets face it, you can only carry 2 anyway. So maybe making it not immune to penetrating could help.
I dont think this card is overpowered anyway, sure it can be annoying at times, but as Bluemage points out,
unless your hitting them with a Sundering or have a Surestrike attached, its really more of a block.

 

It's not a Block at all. All the other effects of your attack (attachments, movement, etc.) still function. Winds of War into Toughness? Still get to move them.

 

Okay, that answers my second question.

So yeah, I don't think there's any major problem with Toughness then. Sure, it can be annoying, but do can any other armor or blocks.

Glob of Flame > Toughness in that case.

 

Actually my problem with Duck @Flaxative is how unreliable it is for both players. 1/2 proc chance means that there's still a big chance that it's gonna fail two attempts (1/4). Making it more reliable (66% chance) would be great for both the opposition and the card user, since then it will be both easier to bait and also easier to proc when it's not yet revealed.

 

That's fair.

 

I feel that the problem with Toughness is that it would be better on any other race, but then it would be horribly overpowered instead of just being regular strong.