02/22/2010 IGF Balance Changes

[diesbudt]

Since the def of most units changed. Maybe the warriors protect should become a -3/+3 now instead?

[Ross Przybylski]

Since the def of most units changed. Maybe the warriors protect should become a -3/+3 now instead?

Since the Warrior's Defense is remaining at 17, the -4 won't be hurting him any more than before (assuming you don't also attack with him).  Also, the +4 is already balanced by the overall decreased Defense.  Remember from your findings in the Battle Simulator that extra Defense becomes more valuable at high values.

[Ross Przybylski]

Ok, I'm just about done getting these changes implemented in the next version- did anyone else have any comments/suggestions? 

With the exception of possibility the summon rule change, I don't think the balance changes will aversely affect anyone's gameplay experience, so I'll probably post them at the end of next week as v1.3.  I'll be happy to make any necessary tweaks you guys feel are needed after playing.

[Ross Przybylski]

I did a brief test run of the new balance changes with my Friday night game group and wanted to share some of our initial impressions:

• The added visual ques for stunned and immobilized units were a very welcome addition (units that are stunned are tinted blue and immobilized units are tinted purple so they’re very easy to pick out on the battlefield)
• The Soul Reaver’s Taunt ability was very well received by all- the added fun factor of being able to direct opponents’ attacks (and the occasional blunder when it resulted in her untimely death) added much laughter and epic fights to the game
• Balance changes on the Samurai did not seem to hinder his strength at all; he became slightly more susceptible to attacks, but this was easily fixed with Defense enchantments.  The added bonus of being able to Eviscerate whenever he wanted resulted in satisfying game moments.  One friend of mine in particular took exceptional delight in cranking up his speakers whenever he eviscerated one of us.
• Demonic Lash, Fireball, and overall Destruction spell changes seemed to work favorably with the lowered Defense values.  Destruction spells were effective, but not capable of one-shotting Heroes in a single turn without guardian attack support.
• Lots of groans on the nerfing factor- particular spells, like Lightning Bolt, just didn’t feel substantial enough to merit spending a card on
• The Summoner's new power, while really cool in concept, did not play out well at as well in the game.  It took too long to create a mob of skeletons (at only 1 skeleton per turn), and the inability of the skeletons to attack immediately resulted in the creation of units that would often get hacked by a barbarian or blasted by a spell before they had a chance to do anything.
• The new summoning rule, in particular, was perhaps the most frustrating and unwelcome change.  There were so many times we’d draw awesome summon cards- Earth Elemental, Iron Golem, Crystal Golem, and then realize…oh wait..he can’t attack right away...that won’t help my situation.  I tried to rectify the problem by allowing certain summon spells to allow immediate attacks (skeleton warriors, fire elemental), but this only added confusion to the game.  Having tried the new rule, we all agreed that we much prefer the simplicity of “all summons can attack immediately”.
• Ultimately, the extra Augmentation Spells appeared to be the greatest source of power within the game. In our 3 test games (1 FFA and 2 team games), victory favored buffed Barbarians, Samurais, and Soul Reavers delivering the beat down.
• Adding the additional spells to the deck greatly altered the flow of gameplay; perhaps I’m used to expecting certain cards emerging at critical game moments, but it was frustrating getting extra copies of Earth Elementals and Lightning Bolts in situations where I couldn’t make use of them.  This leaves me thinking that the increased spell instances may be an unwise change.

Overall, I feel like these changes will need some more work before they are ready for implementation.  To Baker’s point, I don’t want to launch changes with intentions to renew player excitement that instead leave you feeling like your favorite abilities just got weaker.

I welcome more feedback from our players.  In particular- what elements about the game do you really enjoy, and what elements do you find lacking and in need of improvement?

[diesbudt]

As much as I thought the summon change change might work; in the back of my mind I almost knew that change was going to burn up. Just because like you said, first few turns, sure setting up an army its fine, but late game when you need damage now or healing now and not next turn, so they become discard fodder.

I do agree, just recently when not busy with school, i realized you unbalanced the "flow" of magic in your most recent change post giving many more spells in it.

I still say the sorcs 1 card lightning bolt is needed, with all the changes you made to destro spells, a free lightning to any hero is quite powerful. The card however... I can agree, I don't know when ill ever spend 1 mana on a 3 dice spell card that requires a up, down, left, right or diagonal. {Maybe make it in all "basic" (up, down, left, right and diabonals) directions at once on the card version of it?}

You say the defense enchantments on the samurai was powerful, remember before that change the samurai became even more invulnerable (17 def like a paladin/warrior).  {Maybe the + defense card should just be removed entirely?}

Also, did no one try buffing a warrior for a beat down? since they do "double dip" the enchant?

At the moment i have no other input with my mind currently elsewhere.

[Ross Przybylski]

Another idea I'd come up with when working with the Summon balancing was to restrict the casting range rather than the summon's abilities. 

What if all summons could move and attack immediately?  And, instead of being able to place summons anywhere you can see, you have to place them on a space surrounding your caster?

With this solution, Summon spells would still be useful in those "I need help now!" situations, while Destruction spells would have a range advantage.

[diesbudt]

That idea would work, itwould reduce the long range and first turn spiking of summons that players (especially me) have abused (which is why all my maps have walls in areas so no player can summon attack a person on the very first turn without trickery/exposure.

Also this means when in the middle of battles that mana can actually be used to fight back and not just 'unusable weak walls' for a turn. this will also make it seem more realistic (standing over the materials you are going to summon) and make it less confusing to some.

So the new question is, what is air elementals new ability gonna have, since his ability is now going to spread to all summons (move n attack on same turn)

[Ross Przybylski]

I've played a few games with my wife using the revised summon solution, and it has turned out to work really good.  Like you've already said, it resolves the range problem, preventing first turn summon bombardments from across the map.  It also adds a bit more to the creatures getting to create them and then send them marching into battle.

To answer your question, Air Elemental's powers will simply stay the same.  The purpose of giving him the Haste was so that he could take better advantage of his Ethereal ability to move through other units.  With the revised summon change, Ethereal will actually have significant impact since he'll be the only unit able to move past enemies to attack desired targets.

On a different note, I think players are really going to like the Soul Reaver.  In the few games I've played, Taunt has proved itself to be a very formiddable power.  The last game I played, my wife used her to continuously harass my Warrior (rendering him incapable of using his dual attack).  Then, when my guardians were defeated, she Taunted my Fighter Mage to prevent him from attacking her mage on my next turn (this seriously hindered my plans, as I was going to enchant him for a power attack).

[diesbudt]

I see the advantages of the soul reaver, but I also clearly see the disadvantages she obtained from the ability change.

I guess the one thing that I need to know before I can say she is permanently exiled from my team roster is:

If I taunt a unit, on his turn can he sprint away?

[Ross Przybylski]

Any unit that is Taunted loses their ability to attack on their next turn.  Since you can't attack, you can't expend your attack to sprint away.  I'm looking forward to seeing her on your team so you can discover for yourself just how amazing her new ability is.

I've adjusted the other changes a bit and I think we're almost ready.  I'll try and do another test run on Friday.  If all goes well, we might have a public release as early as next week.  I'll keep everyone posted!

[diesbudt]

On my team? unless you program random choice to force her on my team, I won't take her, I found other units I like more.

[Six]

welp I would like to test the new changes. Being relatively new to the game i like how it is other then the lack of people. After the proof read im pretty unsure. But i dont play with any of the premium decks. So take it for what its worth.  A scrub that likes it as it is. =)

[diesbudt]

I'm excited to see how the changes we spent practically a week debating on turns out tonight.