This build contains a whole set of balance changes which you can read about on the blog. These contain changes for priests, racial skills and general game balance. As well as that, here are some other fixes/changes: Kongregate Tweaked kongregate profile bounce url Added profile button to user popup, links to [META], Steam, Kongregate profiles Items White Star diamond won't drop from random chests. Fixed sets for Adventuring Boots and Hunting Boots. Fixed Candied Nauticorn name.
So it happens that while i read 3 pages of really exciting changes, i have been nodding all along. Well, almost. Mass Frenzy, Team Run, Resistant Hide, Obliterating Bludgeon, and Dodge got nerfed? Priceless! New racials? Fabulous! Which one? All of them! Mostly that certain one shouting a Bludgeon into someone else's hand, i love this mechanic. Are priest changes look promising? Check! However, the new priest cards. First and foremost, because someone has to say it, i take it as a personal insult when Bungled Heal has been qualified as "hilariously poor card". What. Bungled Heal for me was the undervalued champion card, and i wanted more of it. If there were options to choose between items containing Heal or Bungled Heal with slightly better cards accompanying it, i would go for the Bungled Heal all the time. I wanted more of it, but i couldn't; honestly, the only thing wrong with it is that the items containing it aren't really focused. If it was ever packed with other big, targeting heals, or *gulp* another two Bungled Heals on a divine item, that easily could have been the pinnacle of health restoring. A triple BH sounds like a tokenless divine item i would pay a minor token for. However its best cameos are in Greasy Tome, Scuffed Relic, Terxes' Medallion, maybe Tome of Sanctity and that's it, one per item. Sure, there are some scenarios when the net gain is zero, and the purpose is only to elongate the battle, but the case is more likely to heal a bit and simultaneously have an attempt to get rid of a presumptuous gold block across the wall. And it feels wondrous every time it happens. In a warrior vs warrior battle i tend to give the initiative, get hurt, then blam BH let's see whether you have Defender's or Disorienting Block. It is also a clever and tactical card, as it requires positioning and checking for both enemies and allies for primary target. Now that card that replaces it according to the plans... it is less than impressive. Basically, a conditional Minor Healing that can be purged, penetrated, or overwritten by three traits. It also can be lured out with let's say, a Winds of War, then it was 1 hp advantage. All things considered, even Minor Healing is superior to this Armor of Faith, especially the new buffed Minor Healing. Did i overlook something? And yes, i'll mourn Wavering Faith. It wasn't a good card by any means, but a good conception. Discarding the opponents' card from range shouldn't be wizard-exclusive. Personally i would like to see more weak (so nothing like old Short Perplexing Ray) discards tailored for priests . I wouldn't call it "a less cooler way to get around blocks", and i definitely disagree with the statement Surestrike Blessing being useful for campaign. My first impression is that is has little use against the masses of enemies in campaign, but a beast in multiplayer. To a lesser extent, i would miss Healing Presence and Benediction as well. Complete rework of Bad Medicine is welcomed even by sentimental me, though. Finally, what i totally expected to happen in a priest update and instead it is intact: that most subtle Healing Spirit. Now off i go to the beta server!
Working my way through the campaign from scratch, Tree, I like surestrike in the campaign. Theres several fights with enemies with armor (golems, trogs) and lots of blocks (kobolds, kobolds, kobolds) and the early surestrike gives me the option to deal with them, possibly/probably before I have access to the more advanced stuff. That said, there are some fights with large numbers of enemies that don't have much armor/blocks (demons, sprites, that sorta stuff) So, overall, in my opinion, surestrike is useful at least in the early campaign. And, uh, a lot simpler to understand for me than wavering's target/card selection mechanism... It took me a little bit to 'get' wavering, but I understand surestrike right off the bat.
When I completed Kobold Encampment the first time, the chest contained Bulky Club, Topaz Shard, and Kobold Killer. The Killer is guaranteed loot, and the club is typical for this adventure, but I don't think I was supposed to get a third item.
So the new targeting rules go beyond just priest items. You can target yourself with almost anything. Telekinesis yourself, Almighty Hack yourself, etc
Pulverizing Hack needs a card quality downgrade to match the Pulverizing Bludgeon. It is not Amethyst material anymore. Team Walk also needs a quality downgrade from gold to silver to match Walk! Team since it is now less effective than the latter.
Team Walk is less good than Walk, Team even though 50% more characters move? I'd love to hear more, thanks for any insight.
So to clarify: You have three characters, A, B, and C. A has either Team Walk or Walk, Team! If A played Walk, Team!, B and C can move, for a max of 4 squares of movement across 2 characters. • If B or C is dead, Walk, Team! nets 2 squares of movement across 1 character. • If both B and C are dead, Walk, Team! does nothing.* If A played Team Walk, A, B, and C can move, for a max of 6 squares of movement across 3 characters. • If A is halted, the card can't be played at all.* • If B or C is halted or dead, Team Walk nets only 4 squares of movement across 2 characters. • If both B and C are halted and/or dead, Team Walk nets only 2 squares of movement across 1 character. • If B or C is encumbered any amount, Team Walk nets only 5 squares of movement across 3 characters. • If both B and C are encumbered any amount, Team Walk nets only 4 squares of movement across 3 characters. • If A, B, and C are encumbered any amount, Team Walk nets only 3 squares of movement across 3 characters. • If an opponent has Maze of the Mind, that opponent controls Team Walk.* • If A has any boosting cards (e.g. Quickness Aura, Energizing Move, Teleport Self), Team Walk nets more or better movement. I've put asterisks next to the scenarios where the cards are totally dead cards. I think Walk, Team! is dead far more often than Team Walk, as it's more common to have a dead teammate than to be halted or subject to Maze of the Mind. In all other scenarios except that in which all three members of your team are encumbered, Team Walk seems to outperform Walk, Team! Am I missing something or does this analysis seem legit?
Are you supposed to be self-target with the new human command cards? I was able a little while ago to play Attack, Soldier! on myself. It seems thematically weird, at least, to be able to do that. But with the effort to rejigger priest cards so that they're not useless if your allies are dead or out of LoS, though, I wasn't sure if that was intended behavior or not.
