Am I missing something, or is there no way to avoid getting handicaps aside from arrogant armor (which I actually don't have unfortunately)? I ask because the Secret of the Elder Minds is killing me...literally. I have endless purges, but would like to not get the handicaps thrown at me in the first place. Feels...cheap to allow things to attach to someone with a force field around them, or Nimbus Edit: Mystical Drakehide robes seem to work well. *Whew* level 17+ adventures are crazy!
Wait, I'm confused. You should be able to take off things like Mind Munch and Mental Flensing with Purge and Purging Burst. If you mean the traits in your deck (Dimensional Traveler, Combustible, etc), then the only thing that works is Arrogant Armor, yeah.
No no, I misunderstood the Citadel card Gene Therapy as it only seem to get rid of traits, not handicaps. I thought all negative cards attached were consider handicaps (because they are, right?). Then I got further upset that having a force field or nimbus would still allow things to be attached to me. It doesn't really make sense. I'm getting frustrated that the level 14+ adventures all seem to be puzzles to solve more so than the fun pre-teen hack-n-slash adventures I was having. This is really tedious.
One of the strategy to remove invulnerabilities is to put enough debuff/buffs on a character so that it falls off when a character passes the three card limit. So I'd imagine no, invulnerability to damage shouldn't block handicaps. Genetic engineering is an offensive card. Take off all positive buffs in exchange for three totally random ones. Invulnerability/damage boost/damage boost becomes immune to sonic/immune to lightning/basher? Yes please.
Gene Therapy states: "Discard each Handicap card attached to target then attach an equal number of random Boost cards." My issue is that negative things like Mental Flensing and Mind Munch should be removed by this card, but it didn't work for me. Are they not handicaps?
Not intending for this to address your main point or in any way negate your sentiments; But specifically in regard to the quoted comment- Without taking the even cheaper purge counters into account, Nimbus and Force Field are already remarkably potent for their quality tier. Adding any sort of negation effect to them would take them from 'highly favorable' to 'completely mandatory'- Which would in turn make cramming decks full of purge necessary. Right now there's too many overpowered cards and necessary counters in the game already, narrowing build possibilities. Lets not encourage that further Besides, don't blame Nimbus and Force Field- they're allowing you to still breathe within their bubble, and apparently rabies and stomach bugs can penetrate them because of that. Would you rather suffocate? =O Also, there are other ways to get rid of enemy cards or handicaps attached to you.. [and yet another reason not to boost nimbus/etc, since that'd make those cards unnecessary to equip]
Level 18 adventures are completely and totally unfair and often require specific builds to have even a moderate chance of success. Even the best builds that have a decent level of success don't change the fact that most of these adventures are long, grueling, and sometimes painfully random. Most times you need a specific key to open those locks and there's a reason why the Artifact Adventures are the last three modules to be checked in the Loot Fairy Hunts. That aside, Gene Therapy is working exactly as intended. The Handicap cards it targets are only the ones that come from your own deck. Things like Trip, Vulnerable, Combustible, Wimpy...those are all Handicap cards that attach to you, and it would probably take some gymnastics to make a deck centered on Gene Therapy work. Things like Mental Flensing are enemy controlled cards. They're considered attacks, not handicaps. As of right now, Arrogant Armor really is the only way to stop attachments without a purge of some kind, and it's probably best for game balance if things stayed that way (although I think a case could be made that gene therapy should just replace all of the cards regardless of what they are, not just handicaps). My advice is to simply keep your eye on Radimar and the Daily Deal for Arrogant Armor cards. Most of them are Epic level so it'll cost you, but it'll definitely be worth picking up for the SP campaign at least.
I *did* finally get an arrogant armor item today! Funny how these little things can make one happy, heh. I did also finally beat Bliz (heading to Citadel now) this morning, but I have to tell you, a 1-1-1 party of DWa-EP-HWi was amazing fun up until the 17+ range (Hell, I wiped the monkeys out in 1 try). Now it's just tedious at best. What happened to the fun? I hope Citadels is more friendly and less puzzle-ish. Challenges are great, but they should also be a pleasant experience! Some of the adventures require VERY specific decks, requiring specific items, and that's just not casual or even moderately experienced-friendly. If i didn't pull Nimbus/force field AND armor kills, then Bliz was nigh unbeatable. You shouldn't need those to win, but you (well, the vast majority of players) really do. Anyways folks, thanks for chiming in. As always, I'm learning a lot from your input!
AotA 18 adventures are notoriously grueling. All reports indicate that Citadel adventures are more enjoyable.
