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  1. #1
    Shadow Era's Avatar
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    Post Upcoming balance changes

    Here's a special sneak peek of the upcoming balance changes that will first go on the Test Server.

    Crucial Balance Changes:


    Chaos Engine
    From: "When an item or support ability is targeted and destroyed on your turn, your hero gains +1 shadow energy and you draw a card."
    To: "Once per turn, when an item or support ability is targeted and destroyed on your turn, your hero gains +1 shadow energy and you draw a card."
    Reasoning: This card provides too much value for 2cc, particularly in terms of shadow energy ramp. We see this as a small nerf that can nudge things in the right direction without making Ter Adun too weak.


    Wulven Tinker
    From: "When Wulven Tinker is summoned, weapons you control gain +2 durability. When Wulven Tinker is killed, draw a card."
    To: "When Wulven Tinker is summoned, weapons you control gain +2 durability. When Wulven Tinker is killed, draw a card if you control a weapon."
    Reasoning: Tinker was intended to help Darkclaw and weapon based strategies, but ended up being widely used in all Wulven decks. We see this as a significant nerf that should make other comparable Wulven allies much more attractive to play in ally-based builds.


    Layarian Knight
    From: "All combat damage to Layarian Knight from allies with sword or claw attack is reduced by 1. All ability damage to Layarian Knight is increased by 1."
    To: "All combat damage to Layarian Knight from allies with sword or claw attack is reduced by 1."
    Reasoning: Layarian Knight has become obsolete due to the introduction of Frostflame Harpy and widespread ability damage. With this buff, Knight remains weak to Harpy but Harpy can no longer kill Knight on its own in one turn. We believe that this buff is a significant buff that should give humans a strong generic 2cc option.


    Transporting Golem
    From: 1SE: If an artifact has awakened this turn, seek an artifact with cost 2 or less. Transporting Golem gains +1 durability and if it has 3 or greater durability, it awakens.
    To: 0SE: At the start of your next turn, draw two cards and Transporting Golem is destroyed, or if you control no other allies or items, Transporting Golem awakens and gains "when Transporting Golem is killed, draw 2 cards."
    Reasoning: We believe that this new card can give players a new generic option for drawing cards at a well established rate of 3cc to draw 2. We believe that there is currently an over-reliance on class-specific draw engines and hope that slowly adding more neutral draw
    cards to the game will give players more deck building options. It also serves as a "come-back" card because it additionally awakens if a player controls no other allies or items. We hope that this will encourage more back-and-forth gameplay while being difficult to abuse. We believe that a redesign is unlikely to hurt many decks because of the low usage rate of Transporting Golem. In fact, this change aligns it more closely with the original vision of the card.


    Aldreides the Aged
    From: "Shroud. Once per each player's turn, when an ability is activated with shadow energy, all opposing heroes lose 1 shadow energy. 2SE: Draw 2 cards and shuffle target card in your hand into its owner's deck."
    To: "Shroud. Once per your turn, when an ability is activated with shadow energy, all opposing heroes lose 1 shadow energy. 2SE: Draw 2 cards and shuffle target card in your hand into its owner's deck."
    Reasoning: Shadow energy drain is a powerful effect. The fact that Aldreides could do this on both players' turns meant that opposing players would be reduced to 0 shadow energy too quickly. We see this as a small nerf that will make Aldreides a little less oppressive if it stays on the field for an extended period of time.


    Barrabus the Tainted
    From: "When Barrabus is summoned, all heroes lose their stored shadow energy: target opposing ally takes 1 damage for each shadow energy lost this way. 2SE: All opposing heroes and allies take 2 damage."
    To: "When Barrabus is summoned by a non-hero ability, all heroes lose their stored shadow energy: target opposing ally takes 1 damage for each shadow energy lost this way. 2SE: All opposing heroes and allies take 2 damage."
    Reasoning: We do not believe that Barrabus is too strong, but we believe that some of his interactions are unintentionally oppressive. Barrabus is intended as a come-back card designed to take back control of a game, particularly against players that like to hoard shadow energy. Instead, Barrabus has a T4 interaction in which Bloodfang uses Shadow Font to summon Barrabus early and eliminate the opponent’s shadow energy stack while controlling the board. We find this interaction problematic because it can completely oppress heroes who have a shadow ability that costs 4 or more shadow energy. While Shadow Spawn theoretically has a similar effect, it lacks the tempo that this combo creates. We want to discourage combos that rely on luck to create a blowout victory, and so we see this as a slight nerf that will have a positive impact on a player’s enjoyment of the game.

  2. #2
    Shadow Era's Avatar
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    Other Balance Changes


    Note: Why remove "empty" resources from the game? Well, firstly, cards that interact with cards in the resource pile already exist, such as Forgiveness. But also, the existence of empty resources prevents us from designing new cards that interact with the resource pile in new ways. This is a shame, since there are so many possibilities for cool effects that interact with the resource pile.


    Forgiveness
    From: "The bottom card in your resource pile is returned to your hand. Your hero gains +1 shadow energy and you gain 1 resource."
    To: "The bottom card in your resource pile is returned to your hand. Your hero gains +1 shadow energy and Forgiveness is placed on top of your resources."
    Reasoning: We want to remove empty resources. Technically you could loop Forgiveness, but to pull this off you’d need to stay on 3 resources, all of which are forgiveness, and have forgiveness in hand. Thus, even under optimal conditions you could only really loop this 2 times per turn at most.


    Stop, Thief!
    From: "Target enemy item is destroyed, and you gain one resource."
    To: "Target enemy item is destroyed, and Stop Thief! is placed on top of your resources."
    Reasoning: We want to remove "empty" resources from the game.


    Bounty Hunter
    From: "Attach to your hero. When an opposing disabled or poisoned ally is killed, you gain 1 resource."
    To: "Attach to your hero. Up to twice per turn, when an opposing disabled or poisoned ally is killed on your turn, renew 3 resources."
    Reasoning: We want to remove "empty" resources from the game. This also introduces a milling aspect that can help boost Skervox decks. Due to player feedback, we have decided to remove the milling element from Bounty Hunter. We ended up not going with a solution that places allies on top of the resources instead of sending them to the graveyard since this can interfere heavily with certain strategies and create several weird interactions.


    Thoughtful Investment
    From: "When Thoughtful Investment is summoned, you gain 1 resource at the end of your turn. When Thoughtful Investment leaves play, 1 of your resources is removed from play."
    To: "When Thoughtful Investment is summoned, look at the top 2 cards of your deck. Choose one to put on top of your resources. Put the other back on the top of your deck."
    Reasoning: We want to remove "empty" resources from the game. We also simplified the card by removing the part regarding losing the resource upon being removed from play. The net effect is minimal, but is a minor buff that allows for synergies with cards like Melt Down or Ravagers. Given the relative non-impact of uby-Embellished Dagger, we believe that this interaction will not be overpowered. Second change: this is done because sacking a random card can feel like negative RNG if you lose a key card in your deck. We will watch carefully to ensure it is not too strong to get the resource immediately instead of at the end of the turn.


    Eastroad Bandit
    Base attack reduced to 2 (from 3).
    From: "Meek (this ally can't attack heroes). When Eastroad Bandit kills an ally, you gain 1 resource."
    To: "When Eastroad Bandit kills an ally, it is placed on top of your resource pile."
    Reasoning: We want to remove "empty" resources from the game. We also want to phase out meek as a keyword on allies. We reduced base attack as a precaution because ramping resources can be very strong.


    Caravan Smuggler
    Base attack increased to 2. Health reduced to 3.
    From: "When Caravan Smuggler is killed, the active player gains 1 resource."
    To: "When Caravan Smuggler is summoned, target card in your hand is shuffled into its owner's deck: draw a card."
    Reasoning: We want to remove "empty" resources from the game. We also believe a 2cc ally that can mulligan a card can help give an option to players looking to increase consistency in their decks. It also helps boost the new outlaw cards.


    Change of Plans
    From: "Target player has each card in their hand shuffled into its owner's deck and draws an equal number of cards."
    To: "Target player has each card in their hand shuffled into its owner's deck and draws an equal number of cards. If you target yourself, draw a card."
    Reasoning: Currently this card is a -1 in card advantage when you target yourself, which makes it really bad.


    Soul Reaper
    Cost reduced to 3. (from 4)
    From: "Remove all ally cards in your graveyard from the game. Your hero heals 1 damage for each card removed."
    To: "Exile all ally cards in your graveyard from the game. Your hero heals 1 damage for each card exiled."
    Reasoning: This card was double nerfed and has since seen very little play since then. We see putting it at 3cc as a relatively safe move that can make a classic card playable once again. We additionally change the text from "remove" to "exile" to be consistent with wording in other parts of the game. This has the side effect of making Soul Reaper synergize with Void Wretch, and while we suspect it would result in a cool deck, it should be tested to ensure it is not
    overpowered.


    Freezing Grip
    From: "Target opposing ally is frozen (it can't attack, defend or use abilities) for 3 turns."
    To: "Target opposing ally is frozen for 3 turns and takes 5 ice damage if it was already frozen."
    Reasoning: We would like to buff frozen synergies in a way that makes freeze less about stalling, and more about controlling the board.


    Kelvin's Charm
    From: "Attach to target weapon you control. When your hero deals combat damage to an ally, that ally is frozen for 2 turns."
    To: Attach to target weapon you control. When your hero deals combat damage to an ally, that ally is frozen for 2 turns and takes 2 ice damage if it was already frozen.
    Reasoning: We would like to buff frozen synergies in a way that makes freeze less about stalling, and more about controlling the board.


    Wulven Tracker
    Health increased to 5. (from 4)
    Reasoning: This ally rarely survives long enough to deal combat damage, which is why it has seen little play. We see this as a small buff for the Wulven class.


    Synchronicity
    From: "Target friendly ally is moved to the top of its owner's deck and target opposing ally with equal cost or less is moved to the top of its owner's deck."
    To: "Target friendly ally is moved to the top of its owner's deck: Target opposing ally is moved to the top of its owner's deck."
    Reasoning: Compared to Retreat!, this card had too many restrictions and was largely useless. This greatly simplifies the card and makes it a lot more playable.


    Lorhon: Twilight Encampment
    NC activation increased to 1SE.
    Reasoning: It's not difficult to kill an opposing Twilight ally, and +1 health to all allies is a very strong effect that deserves a higher cost. We see this as a small buff to help Twilight strategies.


    Nishaven
    From: "5SE: All allies take 4 electrical damage."
    To: "5SE: All opposing allies take 2 electrical damage and if an ally was killed this way, repeat this effect up to once per turn."
    Reasoning: Nishaven has not seen much play since its hero ability does not do anything that mages cannot already do better with Supernova. Nishaven is so bad that even Irum mages are better off with a different hero. There is technically synergy with electric immune allies like Thunderstone Golem, but this synergy is relatively weak and generally speaking, Nishaven suffers from an ability that hurts itself as much as it hurts the opponent. This new effect remedies this by only affecting opposing allies. Additionally, under optimal conditions, Nishaven can still deal 4 damage to all opposing allies, and this can be increased to 6 damage with
    Voltar’s Ring. We hope that this broadens deck building possibilities with Nishaven from gimmicky electric decks and solo decks to a legitimate hero.


    Rothem, King of Layar
    From: "5SE: Until the start of your next turn, weapons you control have +3 attack and allies you control have +2 attack."
    To: "5SE: Until the start of your next turn, weapons you control have +3 attack. Allies you control gain +2 base attack."
    Reasoning: Rothem has performed poorly due to the fact that his ability only works well when Rothem is already ahead. We see this as a major buff that can encourage non-aggro builds that focus on permanently buffing difficult to kill allies.


    Darkwood Panther
    From: "While Darkwood Panther is undamaged, it has stealth. (This ally can't be attacked if it has no damage to be healed.)"
    To: "Stealth. When Darkwood Panther attacks, it loses stealth and gains protector."
    Reasoning: Darkwood Panther is quite lackluster because it is too easy to remove its stealth. On the other hand, permanent stealth can result in uninteractive gameplay. This change keeps Darkwood Panther from being uninteractive while still affording it temporary protection from combat. It also now doubles as a new source of protector. We see this as a slight buff and as a way to appease a certain cat-loving SE player.

  3. #3
    Shadow Era's Avatar
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    Balancing New cards


    cp047 Blood Rush
    Neutral Ability - Attachment
    2cc
    From: "Attach to your hero. When a friendly ally is summoned, it takes 1 damage and gains +1 base attack."
    To: "Attach to your hero. Friendly allies take 1 damage and gain +1 base attack at the end of the turn they were summoned."
    Reasoning: The interaction with Mount Kazarr was too strong.


    cp001 Pack Outcast
    Warrior/Wulven Ally - Wulven
    2/1/4 Claw
    From: "While Pack Outcast is the only ally you control, it has Ambush and Defender. When Pack Outcast is targeted by an ability, it has +2 attack until the end of the turn."
    To: "While Pack Outcast is the only ally you control, it has Ambush and Defender. When Pack Outcast is targeted by a non-attachment ability, it has +1 attack until the end of the turn."
    Reasoning: The interaction with Vess was way too strong. Generally, a 1/4 with ambush and defender is already really good and borderline overpowered. This effect is not too difficult to trigger with armor abilities, Tala, or even occasionally by the opponent

  4. #4
    Senior Member A1 Otto7's Avatar
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    Golem: already tested to be OP this way. Dunno why we repeat it..
    Soul Reaper: we all see the Void interaction. Dunno why we install this possibility
    Rothem: i think this gonna be OP but lets see

    Nish: still doesnt inspire me a lot. Maybe cause killing an ally woth those 2 dmg requires some effort. We will see
    Panther: sounds too good on paper to habe a T5 guaranteed 2/5 protector but lets see

    The rest seem great choices
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  5. #5
    Chat Mod Catalina's Avatar
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    I love the panther buff!!!!! Best buff ever!!! ❤️❤️❤️
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  6. #6
    Senior Member Rajawali's Avatar
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    Transporting golem is 3/3 Tainted Oracle or somewhat better version of Hit List 😱, better watch out this one feels OP

    Nishaven kinda still feels weak, he's ability will now deal less damage against damage resistance ally but now he can easily kill Eternal Troll in one turn, reducing his SE cost to 4 will do justice IMO

    Most other changes seems good, can wait to see the full list. I hope those expensive but useless armor and weapon like Nova Infusion, Violet Thunderstorm, Fan of Blades, etc will be included in the list.

  7. #7
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    yeah good stuff i kinda like nishaven remember now only for enemy board ..still better then nothing .and ppl are right golem are too strong imo

  8. #8
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    Why is it Bounty Hunter can’t put allies on top of the resource pile but Eastroad Bandit can?

  9. #9
    Senior Member mojorge's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nu Lyfe View Post
    Why is it Bounty Hunter can’t put allies on top of the resource pile but Eastroad Bandit can?
    This was something that was looked at, but the fear was that it would be too strong by greatly hurting any graveyard strategies.
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