Request for Balance Changes

[Adi_]

I am taking this opportunity to address some concerning balance issues with the current state of the game. I will make a list of the cards that, I believe, pose a heavy threat to the balance and fairness of the game and gameplay experience followed by a description and possible suggestions. This feedback is based on years of gameplay experience as a long term player (since game release).

Felinians:

Felinian allies appear to have too many passive abilities (even the low cost allies) easily outpacing pre-existing allies in tempo and dominating in board control. The new passive ability “Predator” is one of the issues. Although this ability helps players to deal with difficult stealth situations, its excessive presence in a full tribe of allies can create balance issues. Protector and stealth abilities are needed to maintain or regain board control especially going second. Early game predator allies prevent this. Many stealth and protector heroes such as Moonstalker, Tala, and even Lance rely on these abilities to survive (especially in early game). Introducing too many stealth/protector immune allies (in addition to many other counter play options like retreat and abilities) will give them little to no chance of doing so. My suggestion is to grant some and not all felinian allies predator (particularly the 2 cost allies) or to grant them conditionally (i.e. “while there are at least 3 friendly felinian allies is in play”, etc.). I will make a list of the cards that, I believe, pose the highest threat among the rest below:

Felinian Scout - this 2 cc ally has a standard 2/3 stat. In addition to this he not only has one, not even two but 3 abilities! His early game ability “Predator” as well as temporary stealth is not the only issue here. His third activated ability not only allows controller to retrieve allies and rebuild their deck constantly, but to have too much control over their next draw (top deck) at zero cost while opponents have to keep working to kill the allies using resources. Suggestion: Change activated ability to shuffle graveyard ally into deck instead of placing it on top. Remove stealth or predator.

Lightning Bringer - 3 electrical damage is quite high for a 4 cost ally and should be reduced to 2 in my opinion (for both the activated and the discard passive), considering that it has 2 other abilities (refer to 4cc adlmor sharpshooter for comparison).


Seer of the Forest - this ally has fair stats and abilities. My only objection is the cost of the ability being at 1 se. This allows controller to return or disable allies each consecutive turn creating possible board locks. Suggestion: increase se cost to 2

Gyre and Gimble - This weapon deals an additional 2 damage to a random opposing ally with each 2 damage hit on opposing player’s hero. That’s 4 damage per turn at 3 cost. With ability buffs like Serena’s, this now deals a total of 8 damage in a single turn (every 3 turns). Although this weapon only has 2 durability, its 3 resource cost allows Serena players to use cards like Helm of Saymeht to retrieve it and take advantage of a 4 to 8 damage per turn potential consistently, and at little to no cost in addition to its card drawing passive. That’s a better deal than you get with a 5+ cost weapon. Suggestion: Cap the ability damage to 2 max and exile the weapon after it is destroyed. Otherwise, simply reduce the attack value to 1 instead of two. This will keep the weapon useful while preventing it from being abused and seems fair at 3 resource cost.

Baptism of Fire - there’s been a number of complaints about this card and not without reason. Typically, shadow ability cards of 3 cost contain 1 to two aspects to their abilities. This card however, contains 3. The most concerning is the third: it not only grants +1 attack and hp but 2 with dragons alongside shroud and its first other two benefits. It makes even 2 cc allies like the infamous Sandwing Whelp into a 2 dmg reducing, ability deflecting 4 attack/ 5 hp monstrosity by t3 (at minimum). By the time an opponent gathers enough resources to deactivate shroud or even the 2 dmg reducing aspect, this kind of ally will have already dealt enough damage to nearly finish a player off. Suggestion: remove the attack buffs from Baptism of Fire/remove the last dragon buff completely or simply reduce it to +1 hp and atk instead of +2.

Treasure Seeker - the combination of on summon and seek together has posed some problems in the past in this game, calling for balance changes. On summon passives already contain too few counter play/prevention measures (i.e. groundshift). However, with on summon seek, this takes control to a whole new level, allowing players to hand pick their next card straight from their deck at will while there is little an opponent can really do about it. This changes the gameplay mechanic entirely granting one player the power to choose their gameplay sequence while leaving the other side to abide by traditional tcg rules to wait patiently for their draw to be favourable. Hence, you have players taking full advantage of these privileges constantly pulling their vipers and buccaneers instantly when they see fit gaining what would normally be a 7 cost board tempo at only the cost of 4 already at t4, disabling and poisoning allies turn after turn. Suggestion: provide conditions for seek, such as (if there is no friendly ally or other treasure seeker in play, etc.).

Zi’Jian, The Southern Monk - this 5 cc ally has stats of only 3/4. His steadfast and even his shroud seems relatively fair at 5 cc. However, the last two components of his abilities appear to be unfairly excessive. He prevents not only all his friendly allies from being attacked but also friendly heroes with an additional 1 dmg reduction on abilities. This does not allow many options for counter play at t5 with both shroud and steadfast especially for combat oriented decks even with stealth immune weapons/allies and resource costing abilities to deactivate shroud first, leaving opponents with nothing to do except wait unable to even finish off opposing heroes in their final turns and watching as their opponents take advantage of this opportunity to finish them off instead. Suggestion: change last ability to “other friendly allies and heroes” rather than “friendly allies and heroes” to allow opponents to attack Zi’Jian or, at least, his controller’s hero. Otherwise, change “can’t be attacked” to stealth instead to provide some choices. Remove 1 dmg reduction from abilities as it seems abundant and unnecessary.


All of these cards are most frequent among decks of the highest ranks and the difference in success rate to compare with others (who do not use these cards or use less of them) is obvious. Many players are taking advantage of these cards to ensure victories even against some of the most skilled players in the game with minimal effort, forcing many players to concede.

Making these balances is essential to allowing fair gameplay on all sides without unfair advantage or unfair victories in order to preserve the quality and integrity of the game in the eyes of players and to create a positive gameplay experience for everyone. It also promotes diverse deck building and gameplay by allowing other cards to be used. When a few set of cards dominate the game, it makes the game feel smaller with repetitive deck concepts and gameplay.

Thank you for reading my post. I hope it was informative and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

[udacian]

I second this.

Zi' Jian

Currently all top 20 rated players use human decks and they all contain Zi' Jian except in Felinian decks. That's how powerful and versatile he is.
He can be used in Agro, control, or stalk decks. He fits nicely in every kind of deck.

What I'm uncomfortable about his ability(and Valiant Defender) is that it's the same as Stealth except there is no catch. You can't use Ythan's ability, Kion & Vull, or any other counter-stealth cards. Why don't we just have Stealth?

I've been playing since the first set. Back then there was no limit on deck size and there was few cards to counter stealth. So Millstalker(Moonstalker with 80+ cards deck) became really popular. You are almost guaranteed to lose if you don't use Mage. Game was long. Many people complained about it and many cards related to millstalker got nerfed and many more cards were introduced to counter Stealth. Now millstalker is extinct.

But years later we are repeating the same mistake.

My suggestion for Zi' Jia:
Just Steadfast and Stealth. Even then it's still pretty good. You could increase it to 6cc and 3/5 maybe.


Gyre and Gimble

I like the idea of exile the weapon after destroyed. What I was thinking is:
- get rid of the draw bonus.
- Ability is activated only when attacking(like Dragon's tooth)
- Increase the cost to 4.

Felinian

Alongside Moonstalker, Tala, and Lance, another hero who is affected by the prevalence of predator is Ythan. Ythan's ability is predator + ambush + 2 attacks. Wolf Shredder has 2 of those abilities(plus more). It makes Ythan completely unnecessary. That's why nobody uses him anymore. He's never tier 1 hero but with good deck it was playable. It's shame he is in a worse position.

[Adi_]

Thanks for mentioning Ythan as well, Udacian. You make a good point.

Additionally, I’d like to also point out the felinian support ability: Nine Lives. I think this ability causes a problem because it allows controller to keep recycling their cards back into their hand at no cost from their graves with no real set backs for three turns. What is the point, then, in opponent killing the allies in the first place?
I strongly think that this card should either have a set amount of resource cost to its ability activation or stay at zero but retrieve cards placing them on top of the owner’s deck instead of their hand (similarly to Arthyle’s Crypt).

[Zyraquis]

The entire felinian tribe is outright ridiculous. Not only every card has at least 2-3 most desired abilities with 1 attack or health point deduction as an offset (instead of 3/4 or a 3cc card it is 2/4 for example), the player can easier manipulate the deck so the extra ability will always be triggered. What’s the point of creating this OP tribe in the first place.

[Adi_]

The entire felinian tribe is outright ridiculous. Not only every card has at least 2-3 most desired abilities with 1 attack or health point deduction as an offset (instead of 3/4 or a 3cc card it is 2/4 for example), the player can easier manipulate the deck so the extra ability will always be triggered. What’s the point of creating this OP tribe in the first place.

They have 3-4 abilities, some of which, cost nothing to activate while allowing them to rebuild and manipulate their decks for easy control. I think they were designed for the new stealth allies like silent assassin or slithering viper but things got a little out of hand…