Seb's giant re-ballance feedback

[razcrux]

Hello SE lovers,

Love this game, great CCG! Hours of fun. Can't wait for the new cards and hero rebalance!

This may all be discussed already somewhere else, but there are quite a few cards from the basic set that I think need some rebalancing beyond just those mentioned in http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....coming-up-soon. I won't cover heros because I think the changes already proposed are great! And they should finally all be much more comparable.

I've played both sides a lot and in general I find the shadow side's allies are much closer to a good balance than the human side.

Otherwise I am suggesting that ALL heros/sides have a harder time removing weapons/armor. You will see below that cards that say "destroy weapon/armor/item" are instead changed to reduce the endurance of the item by 1 to 2 points.

I hope its ok to put them all in one thread, as it makes writing this a lot easier since I am going to cover a lot of cards:

Cards which I don't mention I think are fine as-is.

When I list several change options, my preference is with a " * "

Jasmine Roscut:
Slightly too powerful, as her ability is better than medusa as you can "freeze" one ally and then her attack power is high enough to kill the majority of cards that are 1 or 2 casting. Change to one of the following:
1. cost 3 3-4 pay3: target is distracted
* 2. cost 3 2-4 pay2: target is distracted
3. cost 3 3-3 pay2: target is distracted

Dirk Saber:
Slightly underpowered.
1. Cost 3 3-2 ambush
2. Cost 4 2-2 ambush + no summoning sickness
* 3. Cost 3 2-3 ambush

Sandra True Blade
Slightly underpowered
* 1. Cost 5 2-3 destroy a resource when she is summoned [irregardless who has more]
2. cost 4 2-4 destroy resource if they have more

Aldon the brave
very overpowered, as his effect is immediate and makes all casting 2 cards played previously suddenly as if they were casting 3 [thus giving humans a double-turn effect in their allies=power], change to:
1. cost 4 2-4 your allies have +1 attack on your turn
* 2. cost 3 2-4 if aldon is not expended, your allies have +1 attack on your turn [thus doens't work the turn he is summoned], this stops him from giving a +1 to blake, making him 4 attack and killing a lot of cost3 enemies with a cost 2 card the turn aldon was summoned.
3. cost 3 2-3 your allies have +1 attack on your turn
* 4. cost 3 2-4 pay2: your allies have +1 attack on your turn [this also stops you from being able to use the+1 the same turn he was cast]

Aeon Storm Caller:
very overpowered, the fact that he can kill most cost 1 and 2 cards in one hit, and has a tank level of hitpoints, and he is a protector all make him extreme. some heros have an incredibly hard time dealing with him. 8 health is also unheard of in any other card. possible changes:
1. cost 6 2-8
2. cost 6 1-8 aeon is a Protector
* 3. cost 6 3-5 aeon is a protector

Raven Wildheart:
Too powerful, there is nothing less "fun" than having all your units made useless by her and she can level the field once she is onboard if you can't deal with her immediately. For some heros they can direct damage her away, but for others this will seal the deal because getting board dominance can take two turns or more to reverse. Six hitpoints, really? Are humans really that much tougher than shadow beasts? Her ability is like "ambush" on steroid cause the victim not only can't retaliate but its permanently crippled! Change to one of the following:
1. cost 5 3-3 hit targets can not be activated, for the next two turns
2. cost 5 1-5 hit targets can not be activated, for the next two turns
3. cost 5 3-6 targets hit by her loose one attack point [permanently minus 1 attack to victim]
* 4. cost 5 3-4 targets hit by her can not be activated until the start of your next turn.

Plasma Behemoth:
Needs a slight tweak to change its focus to be more singular, also needs more HP to be survivable [and more comparable to human side]:
* 1. cost 5 1-6 pay3: plasma bolt deals 4 damage to target
2. cost 5 3-6 pay3: plasma bolt deals 3 damage to target

Chimera:
Slightly underpowered:
* 1. Cost 4 2-6 pay1: +3/-3 until start of next turn
2. Cost 4 2-5 pay1: permanently increase attack strength by 1

Medusil:
Slightly mis-configured, she can almost never stay on the board and her attack strength is not what should be high
* 1. Cost 3 2-5 pay1: target is stoned and can't defend until your next turn

smashing blow:
too powerful that it can one-shot armor and weapons. instead change it to:
target weapon/armor loses 2 endurance.

Warrior training:
underpowered because it interrupts the play of allies and the big-boys already have protection [unless aeon looses that ability], change to:
cost 4: target ally is a protector, draw a card

Cripiling blow:
overpowered against some [shadow], underpowered against others [humans]: which seems odd if you assume that shadow is more about strength?] because it one-shots your cards against some heros, and has no effect against others [who can retreat the card, for example, or boost them with aldon] -- instead change the card so that its effect is more comparable to both sides:
1. cost 2: target ally is reduced to 1 attack
* 2. cost 2: target ally is reduced to 0 attack for the next 2 turns

Mage spells:
"something" is needed to reduce the onslaught. Mages relly too much on direct damage. Items that are either neutral, or different hero-specific defenses are required so that mages have to actually "think" to make a good deck. Armor that reduces direct-damage, effects you can attack to your allies to protect them against direct damage, etc. then people will have to include some "protection" cards in their decks to deal with mage opponents. Englufing flames and poison gas shouldn't last forever: maybe 8 turns is enough? that's still 4 casting for 8 damage and the two together make 16 damage, which is nearly death for most players [especially if you add 4 fireballs]. Mages also have too many direct spell cards available and all of them can be 4x in a deck. nothing we can do about that anymore though.

Rapid fire:
This card should only be useful for a certain number of shots, suggest attaching it to a weapon instead of the hero.

careful planning:
you should draw a card after playing this to make it "useful". suggest changing to:
cost 2 you may look at the top card of your deck, draw a card when played

tracking:
[BUG make sure you can actually CLICK to zoom-view enemy cards!]
same issue as above, it disrupts your flow of allies and cards, so suggest changing to:
cost 4 you can view your opponents hand, draw a card when played

healing touch:
not sure if you can target the enemy hero and remove all HIS effects, but this should only be castable on your hero.

destroy arms:
should destroy non-weapon/armor cards, but for weapons and armor, it should instead reduce endurance by 1 or 2. effectively non-weapons/armor have an endurance of 1. currently it makes armor and weapons hard to play against a priest cause they can remove it on their turn and then attack you before you can get armor again. this seems unrealistic and unfair, this problem is with all "destroy armor/weapons" cards -- not just priest.

resurection:
for future-proofness: this card should be removed from the game when played [any card which managed the grave-yard should]

plague:
very OP when used with a meek-deck to level the enemy to zero resources, just plain boring and breaks the game. change to:
1. cost 4 both players lose 3 resources to a minimum of 3.
* 2. cost 5 both players lose 4 resources to a minimum of 4.
3. cost 4 both players lose 3 resources and all your allies [but not his] are killed.

sorsourus poison:
add a duration, like to flames and poison. a maximum of 8 turns is recommended.

captured prey:
powerful against shadow, weak against humans who can "retreat" out from it. Either add a duration or make it more effective against both-sides. also OP because it is permanent. also not very "interesting" since its a variation on crippled blow.
1. cost 3 target cannot attack or defend for the next 3 turns
* 2. cost 3 target opponent can not activate this card without first paying 3-resources [permanent and for each time they want to activate it or target it [so includes retreating it]]

[razcrux]

speed strike:
either attach it to your weapon, so that weapon-specific effects can deal with speed-strike, or make it have a duration:
cost 3 you may attack twice per turn for the next 4 turns
cost 3 target weapon may attack twice per turn

what big teeth:
slightly OP. Suggest adding endurance to it, but just making it very high:
cost 3 1-16 [this is still 16 damage, and if cards that "destroy" weapons instead reduce endurance [see other cards in this posting] then this card also becomes very resilient]
note that because i am suggesting all destroy-weapon cards instead reduce endurance this effectively makes this card very hard to remove.

lone wolf:
needs a duration, even if it is very long:
cost 4 if no allies in play, your hero heals 2 hitpoints for the next 8 turns.

shard of power:
needs a duration, even if it is a long one. enemies shouldn't be considered "damaged" for targeting by "is damaged?" effects. change to:
3 cost: all your allies gain +2 attack and their health is reduced to 1 for the next 8 turns.

cover of night:
not very useful right now due to the high-cost and low results.
4 cost: your allies can be attacked, but not targeted for the next 2 turns [so protection from spells and direct-effects]
5 cost: your allies can not be attacked for the next two turns, draw a card when played

retreat:
totally over powered, change to one of the following:
4 cost: put target ally back in owner's hand
2 cost: put one of your own allies back into your hand.
2 cost: put target ally back into its hand, opponent draws one card from their deck

reinforced armor:
not very useful because it disrupts play-flow:
4 cost: reduce damage to target ally by 1, draw a card
2 cost: target ally suffers only 1 damage per attack when defending until the start of your next turn, then remove this card
3 cost: reduce damage to target ally by 1 until the start of your next turn, draw a card

here there be demons:
not very useful at regaining initiative if you played second, which i presume was the original intent. also not that useful at keeping players at low-resource levels, suggest changing to:
3 cost: destroy a resource of the enemies if they have more than 4, draw a card
5 cost: destroy an enemy resource, draw a card

shadow spawn:
once all heros have 3 to 5 SE cost effects, change to:
2 cost: both heros loose all their SE and take one damage for every 4 SE lost [round 0.5 up]

shriek of vengence:
instead of limiting it to items of cost 4 or less, change to:
1 cost: sacrifice a resource, target item loses 1 endurance [add to rule-book: non weapons/armor have an assumed endurance of 1]
3 cost: sacrifice a resource, target item loses 2 endurance [add to rule-book: non weapons/armor have an assumed endurance of 1]

nova infusion:
not very useful, suggest adding some additional benefit like:
also blocks direct-attacks/spells. if this card were harder to remove [see alterations made to cards that destroy armor] then it becomes more viable. some suggestions:
* 6 cost: 3protection-8end remove all attached cards to your hero, your hero takes 1 damage per turn.
6 cost: 3protection-5end your hero takes 1 damage per turn, allies who attack you are engulfed in flames and suffer 1-fire damage per turn.
6 cost: 3protection-5end your hero takes 1 damage per turn, this armor reduces damage from all sources

soul seeker:
as the strongest attack-bow it shouldn't also have such a high HP gain from kills, either one or the other. Suggest slightly nurfing:
* 5 cost: 2atk-4end enemies killed give your hero 2HP
5 cost: 1atk-5end enemies killed give your hero 3hp

wizent's staff:
too efficient SE use, effectively 3 bonus cards for a 4-casting. change to:
* 4 cost: 1atk-4end 2SE: draw a card
4 cost: 1atk-1end 1SE: draw a card

thanks for taking the time to read my suggestions.

[Atomzed]

There will be much changes coming up in v1.27 and v1.28.

Read here:-
http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....coming-up-soon

and here.
http://www.shadowera.com/showthread....-Heroes/page48

The changes that you are proposing is in the current meta.... Things will change when v1.27 is out. So your proposed changes might not be suitable in the new envt.

[Giskard]

Dear moderators,

Please add a filter to automatically delete threads created by newcomers with balance in the title.

Thanks in Advance,

Giskard

[sweetgab]

That's a bit harsh Giskard But I see what you mean. Apart from not agreeing with many of the classifications, I believe it's clear that none of us alone should be dictating how over/underpowered each card is. It doesn't mean you can't have an opinion or make a thread discussing about how much Retreat should cost... but if you want something changed, do expect disappointment as there are a million players, and we all think differently.

Another thing I want to call attention to is a sort of player bias - it's easy to overvalue cards like Soul Seeker or Fireball since these are the cards that either kill you or devastate your board. Puwen, on the other hand, forms as much of a backbone of decks as the above cards without calling much attention. He provides you and your deck a rather large advantage starting from the 2nd turn, but when you deliver the killing blow on the 8th turn, he almost seems insignificent. That's why the developers look at card win rates and all those statistics before deciding to nerf / buff a card - players, like me or anyone here, can be blind or biased.

[razcrux]

Erika Shadow hunter:
Slightly OP because not everyone has a way to deal with stealth units effectively. Currently this forces every hero to have some direct-attack/effect cards in their hand or die a slow painful death. change to:
cost 5 3-3 stealth
cost 5 4-1 stealth
cost 5 4-4 pay3: erika has stealth until the start of your next turn
cost 5 4-3 pay2: erika has stealth until the start of your next turn
cost 5 4-3 erika has stealth for the first two turns after she was summoned [only]

[MattOG]

Read up to the first proposed change.

Errrr, diplomatic.....

Thanks for taking the time to post all that, it obviously took you quite a bit of time. I'm sure CalmDown, our resident card balancing dude will read it all through.

[razcrux]

Dear moderators,

Please add a filter to automatically delete threads created by newcomers with balance in the title.

Thanks in Advance,

Giskard

Just because I'm listed as a junior member doesn't mean i was born yesterday. I develop games myself and think that I somewhat understand this one. I've played hundreds of match ups, enough to see a trend. I understand changes are coming, and yes many of my comments might be out-dated then. But I still took the time to provide you with my feedback, my time is valuable, just like yours. I'm giving feedback because I care. I'm taking my time to try and suggest improvements to the game, to make it better -- I am not speaking from a negative place, nor do I assume to know best. The title of my post is "seb's giant feedback rebalance" not "the game sucks and i know best, listen or die", my title implies "opinion". I am sorry you can't accept that opinion w/o some kind of badge of importance.

sincerely,

seb.

[Giskard]

You posted your opinion, I posted mine, threads like these should be automatically deleted because all they do is consume precious bytes of data at the forum database.

It's my opinion, deal with it.

[kentuequi]

TL;DR

Basicaly, you want to change everything... Maybe you can create your own game "Sebowera", looks like you have a lot of idea (too much).