Aloyzo's Arsenal Discussion Thread

The difference is that Nimbus stops a whole slew of things, like, a lot of things, while Only Bones only stops a certain subset of cards. While this sounds like it would give Only Bones points, having ONLY that certain subset of cards feels so sour, it isn't "Man I ran in and he Nimbused that guy, I can't hit him this turn". It's "Man I stepped in from the corner and threw out a Vicious Thrust and it did no damage to him and I can't hit him ever with half of my attacks". It might not be the same power level, but out of the two, Only Bones creates the most frustrating scenario

I didn't say this would change anything, that was actually in your defense; even if the power of Blizzard Breath is gold, your item is still within the rules, which is a good thing

Point taken, I don't think Thickened Mail instead of Rusty Armor would've been too bad though

Blind Rage also provides cycling unlike decent Tar cards like Backbiting Strike, which is why it's seen so often in competitive play. Maybe i'm just a little biased against the card Also for pushing the item to tokenless, maybe you could've tried Pressing/Lunging Bash? Monkeys don't bash but they mostly do crushing attacks (Punches) and those are the ones that are mobile

My thoughts on the last 3 pages will have to come later, I have guests over now

EDIT: oh look he addressed it, that's a fine explanation. Still not wholy convinced by Blind Rage since, as you said, it's a stretch, but I'll take that.

 

Ok, so Monkey Dagger!
I based it around Monkeys, in particular Zaius
Pickpocket is a monkey exclusive card. Enough said.
The Perforating Strike and Penetrating Lunge cards are based around Zaius and becuase its a monkey dagger, it should have had penetrating cards (imo). When thinking of my item, if it gets picked I imagined it being a re-textured Rageblood Dagger.
Blind Rage is based around the idea that the monkeys (like the gnomes) have gone crazy:

All in all, my item isnt very powerful and deals little dmg, it can be used in the case of armour going meta but is quite weak compared to items like Raxcotl's Hammer and Rageblood Dagger.

 

Out of curiosity, will the new player/monster cards (if any) be usable in QD, and will they be viable options for future Aloyzo's Arsenal?


Going to comment on just the (new) monster cards used. Obviously the items can be balanced even if the cards are not, but some cards are probably not good to have in players' possessions.

Horned Headbutt: A bit weak for silver, but alright.
Festering Guts: Incredibly annoying handicap from radiation as is. I wouldn't like to see more ways to get it, as you can just make a bomb of a character.
Only Bones: Strong, but I don't think inherently overpowered. Immunities can obviously be game-changing, but with armour removal I don't think it's a problem. More counters against CoB is fine with me.
Devouring Touch: A reasonable vampire card that adds nice variance.
Ooze Shove: A bit weak, but interesting.
Mind Muddle: Very strong, gives great opportunities for using AoA and the like. A gold quality card at least, I think.
Sneaky Bloodsuck: Very strong, a possible base swing of 20 hp. Personally, I think most of the vampire cards are slightly too strong for their level. I think that requiring an attack from the back keeps it at gold quality though. Adds an interesting dynamic to the game, which is why I used it.
Unstoppable Chop : Too strong for gold. Requires good positioning to use to its maximum potential, but easily emerald quality worthy when it is.
Tripping Sweep: Halt duration 1 is quite strong, entangling roots often wins games. Duration 2 is probably deadly, though purge or attachment cycling might be enough not to make it absolutely game-winning. Easily emerald quality.
Raise The Alarm: 2 cards for 1 is obviously good. Demonic power is a great card as is with damage, this is gold quality worthy.
Crude Plates: Silver quality worthy, even if it only prevents damage from the front. The additional effect (move back) probably doesn't really swing it either way, as it can be used to get further out of range, but could also be used to knock someone wearing it off a vp. Adds an interesting dynamic.
Pickpocket: Interesting, but very powerful. At least gold-worthy. Better than duck, even if it requires attacking from behind (pretty much always going to attack from behind with this).
Blizzard Breath: Acts as a purge and then adds encumber and damage, though a bit harder to aim. Gold-worthy, I think.
Beam Of Hate: Balanced card.
Teleport Other: Upgraded telekinesis, what's not to like?
Hard Tin Fist = Able Bludgeon
Ice Bolts: Long duration encumber, but low damage. Well balanced.
Paralyzing Bolt: Obviously very strong. A good counter against high-movement elves. However, I don't think it's over-powered, but it is very interesting.
Reanimate: I don't think it's a good idea for players to be able to bring back dead characters.
Wild Spark: High damage at long range, but the drawback makes it reasonable.
Perfect Block: A massive 3 card advantage. At amethyst quality possibly balanced.
Death Meld: Adds an interesting dynamic.
Infected Bite: About on par with fiery stab.
Wizard's Hat: A +1 card advantage each turn, but easy for enemy to discard.
Brains!: Weak attack, but stun effect is very useful, probably balanced in all.
Brainhook: Possible 12 damage per enemy character. Overpowered, even if it were amethyst.
Contagion: Really strong, not a good addition to have to player cards.
Word Of God: Mass frenzy+wimpy for 1 turn. Interesting, though probably emerald-worthy.
Long Thin Branch: Balanced.
Solid Wood: Solid armour.
Reactive Trip: Interesting card, good against wizards.
Crushing Sweep: Potentially very strong, though require good positioning.
Brachiation: Flying brutal charge, awesome.
Pinning Spear: Like tripping sweep, but at longer range, very very strong.
Phase Shift: Two great movement cards for the price of one, way undervalued at silver quality, probably amethyst worthy.
Dreadfully Ill: Essentially a card less in your deck.
Shambling Bash: Good damage, good tech, very strong card.
Eyes Everywhere: I don't think it's over-powered, but it does ruin careful positional play (admittedly, so does defender's block, but I don't like that either ), so I wouldn't like to see it.
Fiery Breath: Very strong if one manages to hit all opponents. Undervalued at silver.
Unholy Curse: Longer lasting fragile curse. Would do massive damage along with fire, possibly over-powered.
Clumsy: Interesting trait, but the duration does not last long enough, in my opinion.
Rumbling Charge: I'm all for more charges as long as they aren't overpowered. This one is nicely balanced in my opinion, would have been my second choice for making an item.
Skillful Dodge: A dodge that triggers more often.
Stink Bomb: A pretty strong burst attack, with better range than the current lot.
Buzzsaw: Short ranged dissolve armour. Balanced.
Shattering Sweep: A slightly stronger crushing sweep.
Small Pseudopod Strike: SPR for warriors.
Hurricane: Too random for my tastes.
Radioactive Pusle: Upgraded firestorm (less range means you can avoid your own characters easier), very strong.
Psychic Blast: Very strong long-ranged attack. Will easily do 8 damage without trying too hard, 10 or 12 would be doable with perplexing rays or the like.
Punishing Bludgeon: Easily gold-worthy. Easy enough to get 15 damage out of it.
Taunt: Could easily be used on warriors to make them useless for two rounds.
Lunging Bite: Balanced.
Paralytic Poison: Does too much for one card, very strong.
Amorphous Body: See Only Bones.
Leathery Hide: A good counter against burst and the like.
Bishop Heal: Hard to use well; balanced.
Shotgun Slug: Reasonable ranged attack.
Cowardly Attack: 10 potential damage for bronze, maybe a bit strong, but the requirement possibly makes it balanced.
Invisibility: no, just no.
Spore Cloud: Very overpowered.
Alabaster Wyrmhide: Way too strong
Tree Limb Smash: Overpowered.
Charged Laser Barrage: Probably game-deciding when drawn, not a good additional for players.
Steal: Pickpocket with no condition required. Emerald-worthy at least.
Poisoned Pseudopod: Incredibly strong with two abilities. Too strong.
Mental Flensing: no, just no.
Radioactive Bite: An interesting one, but overpowered at bronze, as it gives a bad card and removes a good one.
Hemorrhage: Very dangerous against healing priests, probably balanced overall.
Tough Bark: A stronger only bones.
Mud Pit: Pretty strong, but would add a nice spin against blocks.
Mind Drain: Overpowered.
Dragon Claw: A reasonable stab-range attack.

 

Of course they will be in QD though because they are only on 1 item they will be a lot rarer for QD.

 

As regards the items, I can't see anything other than weak items making it. Can't really blame devs though, many of these items would be game-changing, and it's really hard to judge what would be well-balanced in the game without prior testing. Still though, I reckon we should see a usable item out of the five.

 

The items I would have picked, if I was choosing which items would be added, I would pick: (not in any specific order - not from #1 to #5)
http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/aloyzos-arsenal-3-custom-item-submissions.8127/#post-100043
http://forums.cardhunter.com/threads/aloyzos-arsenal-3-custom-item-submissions.8127/#post-100056
http://forums.cardhunter.com/thread...stom-item-submissions.8127/page-2#post-100138
http://forums.cardhunter.com/thread...stom-item-submissions.8127/page-5#post-100586
http://forums.cardhunter.com/thread...stom-item-submissions.8127/page-6#post-100927
Ofc. I would not pick my own if I was selecting, but since I am not picking, I may have a chance

 

Previously in this thread:

I had a great time designing (or trying to design) a whole bunch of items for AA#3. The "base it on a monster and include up to one monster-only card" made it very interesting and I spent many a happy occasion looking through the list of monsters on the wiki. Now that the winners have been chosen I thought I'd share my reject items and ideas. There are lots of them so I'll put each one in a spoiler to avoid taking up a ridiculous amount of room and to avoid inflicting them on people who aren't interested.

Spoiler: Psi Cat Familiar

I really wanted to make an Arcane Item based on the Psi Cat and have it represent the wizard's familiar.

Psychic Barrage is an interesting card comparable to Big Zap, sometimes better sometimes worse depending on how many allies are near by. However, the Psi Cat has a distinct lack of other cards which are player available and suitable for an Arcane Item so I had to abandon this idea. Ultimately, the best thing for this item would probably be 3x Psychic Barrage to make it comparable to the Copper Zapping Wand.

Spoiler: Geomancer's Lodestone

Arcane Item
1x Hot Spot, 1x Telekinesis, 1x Everlasting Ground

The first time I ran through the campaign it was the Geomancers who felt like the most unique enemies, with all their terrain-based shenanigans. There's no way that I'm including Blooming Ground on an item available to players, and at duration 3 both Cave In and Rockfall seem like bad ideas too. Ultimately, with cards like Dual Laser Beacon around, I though that even Everlasting Ground might be open to abuse.

Spoiler: Sacrificial Dagger

I won't lie, I basically just wanted to get Hemorrhage onto an item or weapon.

The preventing healing ability is unlike anything else in the game. The problem is that the other attacks on the Blood Disciple are Cut and Flurry of Steel, neither of which are available to players. So I abandoned this in favour of:

Spoiler: Blood Priest's Shuriken

Divine Item
1x Open Wound, 2x Bad Luck

Possibly a very niche item, but does something unique and it's tokenless. I think I prefer this to the item I actually submitted

Spoiler: Staff of Flensing

Staff
1x Psychic Blast, 2x Short Perplexing Ray, 2x Subtle Parry, 1x Brain Burn

I'll never forget the first time one of my characters got hit with Mental Flensing. Putting said card in the hands of the players would probably not be the greatest idea, so instead this staff is my tribute to the Mind Flenser.

Spoiler: Crown of Confusion

Arcane Item
1x Memory Loss, 1x Perplexing Ray, 1x Short Perplexing Ray
Based on the Thought Munchers. Did I want to include Mind Munch? Yes. Did I think it would be overpowered? Also yes.

Spoiler: Bronze Knuckledusters

Weapon
1x Flailing Bronze Fists 3x Able Bludgeon, 2x Bludgeon

Flailing Bronze Fists is a worse version of Chop... unless you have Crusher in which case it's better.

Spoiler: Poisoned Spear

Weapon
1x Strong Stab, 1x Poisoned Spear Stab, 2x Predictable Stab, 2x Stab

I think someone else submitted something very similar. I think it's pretty flavourful.

Spoiler: Sprightly Sparkping Staff

Staff
1x Lightning Bolt, 2x Deadly Spark, 1x Arcing Spark, 1x Devastating Spark, 1x Powerful Spark

Potential to stun every character on the enemy team... if you can get your wizard into the right place. I really like this item and it was pretty high up my shortlist. I just worried that maybe Lightning Bolt was maybe a bit too good.

Spoiler: Umber Bulk Hide

Robes
1x Maze Of The Mind, 1x Resistant Hide, 1x Reliable Hide Armor

When I think Umber Bulks, I think of Maze of the Mind. Putting it on Robes means a max of 1 per wizard. The alternative was an Arcane Item with 1x Maze of the Mind and 2x Path Of Knives, but I thought that may be a bit too evil.

Spoiler: Chupacabra Cloak

Robes
1x Maze Of The Mind, 1x Flight Aura, 1x Dodge

Eh, I prefer the Umber Bulk Hide. Sorry, Chupacabra!

Spoiler: Troll Hide Armor

Heavy Armor
1x Thick Hide Armor, 1x Troll Regeneration, 1x Combustible

I couldn't decide whether Troll Regeneration is too good and whether Combustible is bad enough to even it out.

Spoiler: Infuriatingly Shiny Shield

Shield
1x Taunt, 1x Jarring Block, 1x Dropped Guard

Based on the humble Orc. Personally I find the Taunt + Dropped Guard combination amusing. An alternative way of getting Taunt would be...

Spoiler: Stargod's Dancing Shoes

Boots
1x Taunt, 2x Dodge

Actually based on the Gnome Inciter but, "Dance-off, bro. Me and you."

Spoiler: A Quartet of Undead-Themed Items

Because it's for Halloween after all.

Spoiler: Fist of the Mummy

Divine Weapon
1x Shambling Bash, 1x Able Bash, 2x Touch Of Death, 1x Combustible, 1x Slowed

Spoiler: Giant Skeletal Leg

Weapon
1x Anvil Strike, 1x Mighty Bludgeon, 2x Strong Bludgeon, 1x Large Weapon, 1x Clumsy

The leg is Tvericus's. Maybe it's also partner to the Giant Skeletal Arm? Gets Anvil Strike for two minor tokens but rejected because when offered the entirety of the collection of monster cards to pick from I choose Clumsy to add to the game. Really?

Spoiler: Staff of Alet Zhav

Staff
2x Mighty Spark, 2x Deadly Spark, 1x Mud Pit, 1x Defensiveness

Spoiler: Beefy Arm

Weapon
1x Mighty Bludgeon, 2x Powerful Bash, 1x Able Bash, 1x Shambling Bash 1x Slowed

Based on the Muscular Zombie but image icon should definitely be as close to the beefy arm of a Trogdor the Burninator as possible.

What? You didn't believe me when I said I had a list Now to wait for next Halloween to pick one to submit! And then the one after that. And the one after that. And the one after that...

 

Great! It's always encouraging to know our players are planning to stick around for the next several years.

 

I'm already stockpiling my cash so I can buy out the holiday shops. Again. Because if I want max usable of everything, I can't afford to not buy Pumpkin Bomb every year.

 

Really? I thought they can choose items to exclude, since I don't think I've ever seen cushion armor in QD.

 

Cushion armor is only on a few armors, so not very surprising.

 

i write a reply to GregarFalzar about your item revision of my blocker delightful that was wrong i use vacaz item creator before submit and its a level 21 not as u say that its level 23 the cards values are perfect 15 bloodied 3 jarring 3 21 points one major token and about the monster theme its a question of user review the only main purpose of my submission its because i like to see a high level block with all cards with atribute block any and obvious with that pretty nice amethyst and 2 bronze to get the balance and went i make it, i dont search any theme only desired design item.

 

I "Liked" a couple posts in the last couple pages of this thread that had LOTS of comments even if I disagreed with a couple points because boom LOTS of comments. $E^ b Also, generally, yeah, I enjoyed and probably agreed with a whole bunch of what I read.

I'd love to comment on everyone's items, but I figure my novicehood wouldn't contribute much for the time it'd take me -- although I might at least comment on the ones I clicked "Like" or something. I predict three hours (or more?) to try to write up something for everyone; I mean, look at poor awesome @GregarFalzar now taking over a day just to write a short li'l blurb about everyone's submissions!

--

My comments about @LieutenantCommanderData using Only Bones with specialized Immunity to two kinds of generally Melee Attack:

Spoiler

Resistant Hide has been a player card for how long? (They're even the same quality and rarity, interesting.) Specialized Immunity to four kinds of generally Magic Attack and 50% Armor 1. How many times have you tried Mighty Spark or Ember Burst or Lava or what-have-you against a wizard only to be met with total denial, Keep? I didn't realize it when I first read @Fry 's post, but "Oops you don't get to play this match" already exists. Warriors still have Crushing, Laser, aaaand .. oh wait, is that it? $E^ D lol well perhaps nevermind then. $:^ P Wait, let's see, Wizards can still play only Arcane and Laser (with maybe a little Crushing) against RH, right? Mimetic Armor's Bludgeon still works (as does Attack, Soldier!'s), but its Spark gets shut down; Mimetic Crown gets Arcane against RH. Amorphous Body is probably worse than OB since it makes every Bash and Charge painless, too. (I remember the first time I had to really reconfigure my Campaign party was when I ran into the Oozes, hoo boy.) Battlefield cards could prove the scary combination, though: RH + OB. Eek.

So yeah, I could see Only Bones being rejected on the grounds of not being thoroughly tested, but to me it seems super comparable to that already 1/36 chance of drawing Resistant Hide. Inversely, how often does your wizard never draw that one RH? Your warrior might similarly never even see that one OB in a match. Meanwhile, Wizards and Priests (with no Battlefield) can still be Pierced and Slashed all day long -- granting for lack of Blocks and Toughness and Nimbus and all that jazz. $E^ b

Game-changers can be fun since it just literally means the game is changed -- in this case meaning people changing the way they play -- and since CH MP seems to be so warrior-centric according to the different ranked people talking, I fully understand OB would become quite the game-changer -- we'd see some increase in armor removal and some decrease in warrior characters, meaning some more distribution of classes -- but I also fully understand that's what Aloyzo is stated as not being about, especially with that aforementioned lack of deep testing. ~shrug~

tl;dr
Only Bones isn't anti-multiplayer, just changing-multiplayer; see Resistant Hide.

 

I've looked around and didn't see any rule against bumping per se. I hope this isn't out of order.

(enumerated by PKB)

Right, so then the matter of theme is not merely "user review." You just stated you had no intention to follow a monster theme. No harm done there, just @GregarFalzar stating a fact, right? ~shrug~

 

I think it is wrong to compare Only Bones on heavy/divine armor to Resistant Hide. While they have the same effect, the ubiquity of Resistant Hide wasn't completely due to it's strength but rather a lack of alternatives. For a long time there just wasn't anything better. Then Sparkling Cloth Armor came along and BAM, glittery dwarf wizards flittering about everywhere. It wasn't until the Vulnerable nerf that Thin Sparkling Cloak was reigned in. Warriors and priests have much better armor options against damage in general and while immunity to piercing and slashing can be better against a specific matchup, that isn't enough for it to see play. Add some really bad cards on top and you've got a relatively unplayable armor that will see little to no multiplayer play. I am 99% certain that the Only Bones armors submitted are safe to print. That obviously brings us to the big question. If no one will play it why bother making it? Because it's cool and wrecks face in select modules. Throw the singleplayers a bone.

 

Wizards can remove armour from a distance. It's much harder for a warrior to do anything about an armour like Only Bones.

Killer74, you forgot Mighty Charge, which is rated bronze but should be gold at least.

 

Will the winner's items/ halloween special be added to the test server before the live server?
And how long before?
@Flaxative

 

I see someone else submitted a staff based on Mind flensers. I love this monster from such a long time. I think I first played against them in AdD&D, and really liked their part in The legend of Drizzt. I was so happy when they made a module based on it. Now we have the opportunity of a weapon ! I really hope either my submission of Clan Crusher's one will make it to the top.
So : Clan Crusher´s Staff of the Mind Flenser. You did a nice staff for sure. We have 3 attack 2 utilities and one weak block. All cards are welcomed on a staff. First question is : Psychic blast is very powerfull, but is it too much ?
We can first look at other powerfull magic attack. Obliterating Spark does 9 damage, usually 11 with electromancy. Without traits, Mega laser deals up to 10, but has a chance of missfire wich why it is only gold. Both have range 6. At range 8 we have fireball that does 6 damage burst 2. But let's be honest it is so easy to burn two heroes at the same time, we can say it deals 12 damage minimum. However these damages are scattered and slower. This explains why it is only a gold card. At range 8 we only have Cooling Laser, up to 10 damage and with erratic key word.
I believe Psychic blast is too strong to stay gold, it should be emerald.
The good new is that Staff of the Mind Flenser is still a good staff if it is an emerald card. Will probably be two major tokens but that's perfectly fine.

But then, is it strongly themed ? Is it fun ?
Personnally I think it's not very original. It really looks like many other staves, and I don't feel the monster being here as much as for other submissions. I hope Flaxatives likes that it really looks like what a staff should looks like. But I don't.

On the other hand there is my submission : Tentacle on a stick. It's not up to me to discuss about it.

I see Killer47 consider Mental Flensing to be just unplayable. I hope he means too weak because I originally saw the card as a very weak card for a wizard. But may be he means too strong.

 

I think I remember Sundering_Strike cutting through Only Bones on the test server.

 

I don't think Mental Flensing should be usable by players, no matter what it appears on. Don't forget that cards can always be passed on by battlefield training (admittedly a high level for what it usually does), which should always be considered when adding new cards to classes which can't get maximum use out of it. Anyway, even wizards can do reasonably well in melee. What counters Mental Flensing once it lands? Purge obviously. What else? Knocking it off with other attachments (it may lead to interesting battles where wizards target their own guys). Run a few purges yourself along with Mental Flensing, and you can usually avoid that counter. Anything that can only reliably be countered by a single card is not good. Perhaps it's not overpowered ( I think it would be in the hands of actual players), but even then it's a card I think should be avoided. Insta-kill (I realise it isn't actually insta-kill, but I hope you understand what I mean) should be avoided in games, in my opinion. I didn't like seeing it on monsters, and I would like even less to see it on players.

I realise I missed a couple of cards near the end, I might add them at some point.

Sundering Strike does cut through Only Bones.