My View on the State of the Game and Balance
Balance is somewhat of a hot topic within the community right now, and since I left the DT a while back, I am only able to voice my opinion here or on telegram where it's likely to get buried. I'm posting this mainly for the benefits of the current DT but also to drive up some discussion on the areas that I think need addressing.
Priests
It's no secret that Priests are performing incredibly well right now and while some efforts are being made, I can't help but feel the proposed solutions are a little bit misguided. Rather than address changes specifically, I want to talk about what I perceive to be the general issue; Priests are good at everything.
The Priest class for me has always been a go-to for control oriented game-play. Their card-pool includes some premier removal and card advantage, backed up by survivability in the form of healing and damage mitigation. Up until the most recent set, there was 3 main versions of priest that saw a lot of play; Fat control, Haste, Templar Tribal.
These 3 archetypes were good in their own right, but they all had one thing in common; their true potential was only realised in the mid-late game.
Haste decks would want to land and stick The King's Pride before smacking into your face with cheap hasted creatures. The Templar decks often relied on certain key cards coming into play such us Templar Champion or Rod of Smiting. The fat decks would spend most of the game sculpting a hand of key fatties before closing with an onslaught of hard to remove threats backed up by board control and The King's Pride.
Fast forward to now, and the Priest pool has been fleshed out with some very very good cards. Some pushing the power curve, others being flat out under-costed, but the key problem is these additions have unlocked a level of diversity that has never been seen in any other class up until now. Efforts are being made to reduce consistency in the 'Fatter' Priest decks, however I think targeting the early game would be a more well adjusted approach, giving Priest back the identity they once had of being a primarily mid-late game strategy instead of the all star we are seeing today, which leads me onto my next topic.
Class Identity
Certain classes have fallen by the wayside when it comes to identity. Mages once known for being the go to Aggro class are now in limbo between mid range 'good stuff' decks or decks based on some of the new cards that manipulate items and support abilities. Elementals seem to have very little identity at all with no real defining features or strengths. Wulven decks consist of variations of the same core of fatties, which has shifted to Bloodfang being the only real hero of any worth in the current format, a similar thing has happened with hunters who's deck-lists will almost be identical in the 0-4cc category regardless of the hero, although the cards being used do somewhat maintain the hunter identity.
There is probably a lot more to add to the list but the point I am making is there needs to be some semblance of Class identity moving forward. There has to be a reason to play certain classes over others that isn't just 'the card pool is better' be it through well pronounced strengths or even purely style choice.
Nerfs Before Buffs: Finding a Balance
In recent months, the default approach for anything that might be breaking the format is to start discussing nerfs. I believe that more emphasis needs to be put on improving card quality overall instead of defaulting to a nerf every time something starts to shine. There will always be calls for nerfs, and there will be cards that definitely need nerfing, it is an inevitability, but if the approach to card balance is to first look at areas that can improve and help other decks fight what is good, it will lead to a healthier meta-game overall. I know there is concern for power creep and i will stress that ANY card change, be it a buff or a nerf, should be considered carefully with community feedback being analysed with importance and scrutiny. Nerfs are fine, Buffs are fine, currently the skew seems to be towards nerfs and I think that needs to be ironed out.
Final Thoughts and Looking Forward
Shadow Era has a lot to offer still, and a lot to pride itself on. The dedication and passion of the community is the driving force behind what is genuinely one of the most pleasant and fulfilling CCG experiences on the market. There are 2 key things that I think will make a huge difference when it comes to game balance; Bo3 with sideboard, and set rotation.
I'll talk about set rotation first as it's the most controversial. I absolutely do not think that a rotating format should be anything but an optional choice for those who want it, but what it does allow, providing regular releases are possible, is an environment that doesn't stagnate and allow certain decks to stay at the top for too long. Having this run along side the 'regular' format can give players a choice that keeps things fresh and exciting.
Bo3 with sideboard will solve A LOT of balance issues. Tuning for a Bo1 format can be difficult because of the limited amount of options you have against your worse matchups, being able to plug holes with sideboard strategies not only allows key 'tech' cards to be used that you wouldn't want to run in your main deck, while also adding another layer to the deep strategy we know and love.
That's all for now, if you stuck it out this far, congratulations! leave your thoughts below, no matter if you agree or disagree, as long as the discussion is happening, things can be changed for the greater good.
Peace.
