[Suggestion] Some minor card buffs to consider

Here are some minor wizard card buffs I would like to see. I only included wizard cards because I am more experienced with them and because most values on warrior and priest attacks seem right, except Impaling Stab.

Penetrating Bolt: Damage up from 3 to 4.
Argument 1: Comparison with other silver quality direct attack cards shows that its damage should be 4, and not 3. (a) Sizzling Bolt at range 10 deals 4 damage, with a Burning 2 additional component; trading the Burning 2 and 2 range should be enough to warrant the addition of Penetrating. (b) Sorcerous Bolt at range 6 deals 6 damage, so trading 1/3 damage for 2 range and the Penetrating effect should be enough considering wizards cannot buff arcane damage with traits.
Argument 2: Penetrating Bolt is not on any very strong items and buffing it would not make any item too strong; it's also never in more than 3 copies, which limits use for buffing with frenzies.
Argument 3: Flaxative himself called this card a joke.

Penetrating Zap: Damage up from 2 to 3.
Argument 1: Comparison with other paper quality direct attack cards shows that its damage should be around 2.5, but it would be advantageous if the damage were rounded up. Zap has 4 damage, so trading 1 damage for 1 range and Penetrating wouldn't be too much of an advantage.
Argument 2: If the damage were buffed, all the tokenless Arcane Items it's on would appear more viable, which is a good thing considering the limited options for tokenless Arcane Items. Penetrating Chain could suddenly be an alternative to Copper Zapping Wand for buffed close range damage.

Arcane Spray: Damage up from 3 to 4.
Argument 1: Right now it's a Cone 2 version of Little Zap, which is worth -1 card points. If its damage were increased to 4, it would be more comparable to Fire Spray and Magma Spray in usefulness and value.
Argument 2: The items it's on really need all the help they could get. This would at least improve them a bit, and make items like Vermillion Pendant and Mad Eskin's Pin situationally good instead of eternally bad.

Force Blast: Range up from 5 to 6.
Argument 1: Right now Force Cannon is almost always preferable over it, since it gives a greater effect at the same range. Since adding damage to this card would be bad because that would allow too much damage at medium range on an arcane item, I propose that the range be increased instead. This would allow it to be at least comparable to Force Cannon and preferable over Telekinesis in some situations.
Argument 2: Aside from the increase in meaningful choices in terms of card selection, it would also make its range and damage values more sensible when compared to Force Bolt. 4 card points for +1 damage, +1 Slide Back and +2 range seems very reasonable.

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Part 2: More wizard cards.
Laser Beacon and Dual Laser Beacon: Range up from 4 to 5.
Argument 1: In multiplayer Dual Laser Beacon is almost always worse than Wall Of Fire because the latter has far superior range and therefore reach. By experience, it is too difficult to setup a good double-hitting scenario with Dual Laser Beacon without being at huge risk.
Argument 2: Laser Beacon is basically a delayed Arcane Burst that can be dodged extremely easily. Giving the card greater range would allow greater flexibility. If the range were increased to 5, one could maintain their wizard 6 squares away from the opponent in line with most wizard spells.
Argument 3: The fact that you almost never see Laser Beacon Terrain in games of 1400 Elo and above shows that it's just not viable at its current state. A small boost to range would really help the cards in general.

Acid Spray: Add Slide Back 1 Self.
Argument 1: Acid Spray will never match Acid Jet in utility, and despite my multiple attempts to make a viable build with it, it just seems to be too weak for a wizard card with range 2. Adding a move function to this card will make it more useful at low range.
Argument 2: Acid Jet and Acid Spray together are very similar to Perplexing Ray and Short Perplexing Ray. The only difference is that Acid Spray doesn't have any sort of added utility to match the range deficit. This should fix that.
Argument 3: Adding Slide Back 1 Self will make a lot of sense thematically because you're releasing a lot of acid and such an action should knock you back. Thematically consistent and entirely logical, this would definitely be an interesting buff.

Reflexive Teleport: Roll for the move whether or not you are directly targeted.
Argument 1: Right now Reflexive Teleport is just an overcosted Dodge without many perks. Allowing it to proc against cards like Flash Of Agony and Fireball would definitely make it stronger without kicking its potential too high.
Argument 2: It is better to allow it to proc for all attacks instead of buffing the roll to 4+ because at a 4+ roll, holding 2 Reflexive Teleports means you have a 3/4 chance to "block" any melee attack, which is absurd.
Argument 3: Rolling for the move for untargeted attacks would make a lot of sense because you are moving reflexively instead of voluntarily (compared to Dodge). Your reaction time for reflexive actions is far, far smaller than for voluntary ones.

Wall Of Illusion: Target squares up from 3 to 4, or 5.
Argument 1: A terrain attachment card that lasts only one turn and doesn't even damage your opponent is very weak, especially for a silver card, which might as well be Wall Of Fire. Increasing the number of squares affected could help close out lanes so players can capitalize on its Stop effect.
Argument 2: Knowing that Illusory Barrier, which is Silver+, exists, Wall Of Illusion (at Silver=) just looks sad. Instead of increasing the duration to 2 which would make the cards too similar, increasing the number of target squares will make the card contrast its Rare counterpart more.

I don't think these buffs will mean much in singleplayer, but if they would (maybe only Penetrating Bolt and Acid Spray) maybe they could be changed and called a bit different a la Violent Overswing and Controlled Overswing.

Overall, I think this would help wizards use common or uncommon items. Wizards rely extremely heavily on Rare cards to succeed at the moment.

What do you guys think?

EDIT HISTORY:
1/13/2016: Added 4 more wizard cards.

 

I think all of these changes are completely reasonable! Not strong enough to cause any worries, yet all put them forward in some way as a reasonable alternative to something else.

 

I think the early sp game is exactly why some of these might be set in stone.

 

Not going to bother making a new thread for what can fit in this one really well.

Shield Block is, let's face it, a joke. A gold card for a 3+ block that is at best a chancy parry, and at worst a missile block. I discussed it in chat recently, and the ideas that were came up with were:
1. Have Shield Block draw a card on magic attacks as well. Seems like it could be a fair bit better this way, but still not the best.
2. Have Shield Block not need a roll. There's only one other block that is sans dice, and Lifesaving Block is a special case. Diverse cards are always something nice to have.
3. My personal favorite, combine 1 & 2. Essentially a Lifesaving Block, but it doesn't have to be a killing strike. Block the first thing that hits you from the front, draw a card. That sounds like something Gold Quality to me.

 

I vote for #3 but make it require some roll(so HtB works to some extent), so 2+.

 

Here's my take on Mystical Drakehide and Mystical Wyrmhide:
To the secondary effect, add the clause, "This roll is boosted by regular armor-boosting effects."

This means that stuff like Enchanted Harness will boost the chance to trigger the effect like Barbed Platemail. Now suddenly, you have a situationally strong card which would be a wonderful counter to the unpurgeable radiation!

If this is not good enough then the base roll could also be improved to 3+, so that if you have the armor boost you can get to 100%.

 

That actually already happens, it's just not noted anywhere.

 

Really...

 

I really like these ideas!

Why not implement these and a few other needed adjustments for a month to see how it goes and then if it doesn't work we can always revert back. 11 likes is good start!

Would make peasant more interesting, too!

 

We got a test server to try out card changes, Cooldood, we dont go back and forth on the actual game server.
I favor the changes too, though i am not sure if i am not overly intrigued by the prospect of change in itself.

But its a shame that there are so many cards and therefore items with so little appeal in the later game that they might as well be thrown out. Changing them to the better ist like introducing new, exiting content.

 

The same could apply to the early game. There are some items I only use in nudie runs, and a few that are actually worse than empty slots. I think CH should always have some "bad" and "weak" cards and items, but we may not need as many as we currently have.

The test server has been closed most of the last couple of months, presumably for testing the next project BM is preparing for release. I don't know what the project entails, but until it is tested, released, and debugged, I think it's unlikely for much to happen with suggestions or requests.

That said, this is probably a good time to think, suggest, get feedback, and rethink. When the devs get some free time, you need only bump the thread.

 

I updated the post to include 4 new card improvement suggestions.

 

I again don't have an issue with any of these; I think it makes a number of cards much more viable and playable. Which is a good thing, I think.

 

i had an idea for illusory wall. What if it required no LOS to lay it down within range 6. It might at least see some use in death march.

 

What if Arcane Spray gets a Slide back 1? In this way, you'll have a card that makes sense, and without thematically change it (because, let's face it, arcane damage is little, but almost no one will be immune to it).

 

Among others, a minor priest change i would appreciate concerns Bad Luck. For selfish reasons i would like it to be self-target, but that aside, a -2 modificator shouldnt be too extreme. Maybe on expense of duration or range.

 

A -2 on Bad Luck would rend 5+ cards powerless. It would destroy some niche cards. It would make BL a lot more useful indeed, but if it needs a boost, it would be on duration, and not on power, IMO.

 

blocks never get modified past 6 i think, they are never truely negated. Armor might be affected hard, but its only 1 damn round and even purgable, other then instants effect that attacks have.

 

I think Bad Luck could easily be buffed to have infinite duration without much fuss.

 

I would fuss a very large amount at that! -1 roll to things for a few turns is nice for paper, but -1 rolls forever would be really good, at LEAST silver quality in my opinion. Imagine tagging Blizzy with one of these after sundering his armor so his blocks take a major downturn, or a warrior that relies on parries, or any other engagement that's expected to last for a while.