Is exaltation too good?

[fordfff]

"Way too many people play it in high rankings"??? If that is a valid reason, then baduruu should have been nerfed 4 months ago, threbin 3 months ago, jerry and aramia 2 months ago. Not to mention that high rated players are more or less the same every season with whatever deck. And are you really saying that exaltation wasn't op before extractor buff? Is the card op or not? It doesn't depend on a draw engine. You're fine with a card if people don't draw it? That is some interesting logic right there.

[hatedkid]

I would be fine with it as long as it's either unique or can't be returned from the graveyard. I suppose removing steadfast would be sufficient, that way when xar modulator returns it for FREE(which, in my opinion, is what makes it OP) you have a couple ways to deal with it.

Or maybe if it is returned from the graveyard it loses steadfast. Because dealing with an endless stream of huge steadfast allies gets a little ridiculous especially when they can keep returning it for FREE

[fordfff]

Removing steadfast would mean getting rid of 7-9cc and 2 card for 2cc with retreat. That would make it absolutely useless.

[BP Holy Punisher]

I agree with previous players saying that it should be unique. I think with that change it would be fine.
So for example if you have a crippled/zail hymned/captured/whatever ally with Exaltation, you would have a choice between going for Super Focus or playing more allies but without being able to cast another Exaltation.

[Ness]

Just for a second, forget the meta and all the strong combos involving Exaltation.

The bottom line is that the buff to cc ratio of this card is way too high and people who cannot see it don't understand the concept of "balance".

[fordfff]

So says ness the master of balance. Dude, no offense but that is not how you argue a case. You can make opinions but yours isn't any more valid than anybody else's here.
For 6cc it was useless. We can't take the meta out of the equation, because it has been out in its present form for more than 2 months, yet nobody complained about exaltation until elemental decks flooded the meta because of the extractor buff

[fordfff]

So says ness the master of balance. Dude, no offense but that is not how you argue a case. You can make opinions but yours isn't any more valid than anybody else's here.
For 6cc it was useless. We can't take the meta out of the equation, because it has been out in its present form for more than 2 months, yet nobody complained about exaltation until elemental decks flooded the meta because of the extractor buff

This discussion is the exact same thing as the "embers" are op a month ago. The jerry invasion died down on its own before the cof nerf.

[Ness]

The meta changes with time so it is not a usable factor in determining whether or not a card is balanced. Just because people did not discuss it earlier does not mean it is balanced.
You just have to look at the raw data: card impact vs. casting cost.

[Gondorian]

The meta changes with time so it is not a usable factor in determining whether or not a card is balanced. Just because people did not discuss it earlier does not mean it is balanced.
You just have to look at the raw data: card impact vs. casting cost.

I think you're being overly simplistic in that (which I'll come to shortly), and I think you are placing too much emphasis on balancing on paper rather than through testing. The OP did talk about balance on paper, but also mentioned playing experiences, which is very important. Yes, the meta will move around (driven usually by strong cards that people are playing, such as this one), but over time you can draw solid conclusions about whether the card is harming the game or not. For now, I don't see it.

But if we must talk about being balanced on paper, in terms of card impact vs casting cost ...

As I said on the Ellos' Resolve thread, where a card exemplifies the strengths of its class, then it can go above and beyond what is out there for other factions and classes. Cards like Life Infusion and Super Focus are aligned with the Elemental theme of using allies as their tools, selectively buffing them or destroying them if they wish. Exaltation actually dates back to Dark Prophecies as a card idea, coming from our style of play discussions within the DT, but it did not get included due to there being more pressing cards to add.

We also have the issue that there are NO other 5cc buff attachments. I have absolutely no clue how you can draw such confident conclusions about something being unbalanced when there is not even a benchmark established. This card is setting the benchmark.

I hope no one reading this thinks this means the card does not need a nerf in our view, because we really can't know at this stage. Your help testing the card on 2.91 would be much appreciated, Ness and others.

[fordfff]

No, but it is usable to determine if the complaints are legit or it just comes from the butthurt of being beaten by it more than usual.
Last season everybody cried for embers nerf because it was everywhere. With the jerry invasion over, nobody cares about embers anymore, it stopped being op apparently. These kind of complaints are legit if the meta is in an unhealthy state for an extended period. Not 2 weeks. 2 weeks is nothing from a testing viewpoint.
Cc vs impact:
What you get for 5cc? Ampliflier 4/5 sf, buff your allies vs +4/+4 sf attachment protection. Looks fair to me, considering exaltation does nothing on an empty board.
Supernova, TW: very heavy impact. I agree that it is on the good side, but far from broken. It is only hard to counter if the player is smart. CB negates it for 2cc. Wulven stuff also. TPS, boris, victor, logan(!),mc, zh and so on all solves your problem. It only seems strong because the deck synergy is so good with all the fatties. You can't turn a lost board with exaltation usually.