Request for Balance Changes (updated)

**Adi_** · 09-22-2023, 01:46 AM

I would like to address some balance concerns with the current state of the game (and I feel I am not alone). 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 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” together with his conditional stealth is not the only issue here. His third activated ability not only allows controller to retrieve allies and rebuild their deck constantly (while hiding behind its stealth), but to have complete control over their next draw (top deck) at zero cost while opponents have to keep working to kill the same allies using resources. Suggestion: Change activated ability to shuffle graveyard ally into deck instead of placing it on top or increase its ability resource cost. Make stealth available until start of controller’s next turn.

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 ability 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) with a massive 4 ability damage. Although this weapon only has 2 durability, its 3 resource cost allows Serena

players to use cards like Helm of Saymeht to retrieve it several times 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. Additionally, its convenient ability damage ignores stealth and doesn’t give opposing allies the opportunity to defend unlike with weapons like Fan of Blades

(which is twice the cost and -1 attack), reducing damage to both hero and friendly allies while doubling damage to opponents. 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 and increase its durability. 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 an additional 2 for dragons alongside shroud. 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: make the buffs mutually exclusive (“+1attack,+1hp, shroud OR +2attack, 2hp, shroud if ally is a dragon). Having them together at +3 hp and +3 attack with shroud is excessive for a 3cc ability especially for a tribe that already gains both of these attributes consistently, making it nearly impossible to control.

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. However, with on summon seek, this takes control to a whole new level and changes the gameplay mechanic, 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. One player has the power to choose their gameplay sequence almost entirely 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.).

Slithering Viper
I don’t think anyone realizes that this card actually has 5 abilities. Yes, 5! Its first being its stealth, second on summon poison, third on summon disable, fourth discard poison and 5th discard disable. This is quite excessive even for a class specific card at just 4 cc in comparison to cards like poison arrow, being also class specific with 2 of those abilities at just 2 cc less (and a simple ability card, not a 2/3 stat ally at that). Suggestion: Remove permanent stealth as it is abundant in addition to the other 4 abilities and is used for stealth spamming alongside silent assassin, making it difficult especially for combat oriented decks to handle. Otherwise, remove the on summon passive of poison and disable to encourage more discard gameplay and stop players from spamming the on summon ability turn after turn (also leaving room for retreat options as well).

Deepwood Tiger
This ally has more than competitive stats of 3/5 at only 3 cost. If that’s not enough, it forces opponents to unwillingly transform valuable cards of any cost (including high cost items/allies and draw abilities) out of their decks into useless 0/2 stat allies, which, are not even worthy of a 1 cc status ally for easy gambit targeting and body spamming for Spirit Shuriken

. This serves to do nothing more than to intentionally waste opponents’ cards, resources and persistently interfere with their gameplay. It encourages low effort stall play especially for large decks making it easy to kill opponent’s allies and destroying items without using any additional resources (or allies) for the controller on top of giving them an unfairly generous body and attack for opponents to deal with. Suggestion: make the ability apply only to cards of 3 cc or less and set attack equal to their resource cost as a fair compensation for the card usage. Otherwise, keep the ability as is, while taking cards from the controller’s deck instead of opponent’s to justify the card stats and benefits.

Rise of the Banners
This game already contains few options for support ability removal. The use of Ravencrest: Valley of Secrets

together with this card providing a flood of draw for the controller, encourages overwhelming ability and ally spamming at an uncontrollable rate that costs far less for the controller than it does for the opponent and far too much tech removal (in a short amount of time) to handle. Suggestion: provide a limit in both draw and ally count for each support ability that is destroyed (i.e. maximum of 2) to make ally and support ability spamming more manageable.

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 and rendering most decks (and cards) nearly obsolete.

Making balances (allowing fair gameplay on all sides without unfair advantage or unfair victories) preserves the quality and integrity of the game in the eyes of players and creates a positive gameplay experience for everyone. When designing cards, I believe it is just as important to put yourself on the other side in order to consider and offer a reasonable, diverse amount of counter play opportunities as it is to create advantages for the controller of the card. This will even the playing field and promote a competitive and enriching gameplay experience for both sides. It also promotes diverse deck building by allowing other cards to be used. When a few set of cards dominate the game (as we are currently witnessing), it makes the game feel smaller with repetitive deck concepts and tediously predictable gameplay.

Thank you for taking the time to read my lengthy post. I hope it was informative and I look forward to hearing your thoughts.