Mage Valor Abilities

[Ross Przybylski]

I wanted to start some dialogue about the Mage's valor abilities.  How does everyone feel about the balance between the different Mages?  Does a particular Mage's abilities seem overpowered in comparison to others, or do you think each character is well balanced?

[Aerotheos]

Balancing a game with as many complex characters as hero mages is certainly difficult.  That said, I am amazed at how finished this game already is, so much so that I don’t think these (or, perhaps any) changes need to be implemented.  However, this thread exists, which means Ross wants some feedback.  Here’s mine:

Fighter Mage:
10 Valor Passive â€" This ability stacks too much with others and can become overpowered.  It also causes people to save their augmentation cards until they have 10 valor, which seems a little counter-productive to the idea behind valor.  Instead, I think making it the same as the Wizard’s inherent passive, (but with Augmentations spells, of course) would be nice.  Doing this seems a little scary, as a player could conceivably cast Archon’s Might, Battle Horn, and Dragon’s Fury on the same character on the same turn.  Perhaps limiting it with a “once per turn” could avert this.

15 Valor â€" This is just too good to have around all the time.  It either needs to cost 2 cards, or be switched to Battle Horn, or perhaps a spell unique to the Battle Mage that gives “+1, +1 until start of next turn”, or something.


Summoner:
This class relies most heavily on getting the right cards. 

5 Valor â€" I like this ability, but I think it needs to be unusable if she has already a skeleton in play that was summoned in this way.  This avoids the possibility of re-casting and attacking over and over. 

10 Valor Passive â€" “Each summoned creature gets +1 to attack for every health point summoner has lost.”  I would love to see someone attack their own mage in order to beef up their Iron Golem to have a better shot at a stun. 

15 Valor (1 card) â€" Target summon takes twice the damage in place of the summoner until start of player’s next turn. I like the theory behind giving the summoner a flesh golem, but doing so would maker her too powerful.  This gives her a way to survive even when she is low on health (which is preferable with the 10 valor spell), but also eats through her summons quickly, which will make her opponents happy. 


The Wizard and Sorceress are both fine, I think.  The wizard relies heavily on getting the right cards, but this has been offset by his ability to discard what he doesn’t want.  Sorceress’ Valor abilities work with themselves, so she’s always a pretty good bet for vets as well as a good choice for beginners.

[Joshua]

I agree with Aerotheos about Fighter mage's 15 valor. 2 cards required should make it more balanced, otherwise the fighter casts it on himself every turn. About the 10 valor, I disagree. I think the current behaviour is good as it is. Keeping cards until you reach 10 valors is a pain (takes up space), and can be risky (having 1 extra hp could save your hero), but it's certainly rewarding when you use the cards on 10 valor. 2+ def on fighter mage + dragon fury makes him almost un-killable with 20 def every turn. His only weakless would be the physio blast (assumes 14 def).

[rokendo]

From my experiences, I feel the summoner's capstone ability ( Sacrifice) needs to be changed. 

It is very expensive and reduces the ability of the Summoner to inflict damage on her opponent, it just buys her time.  Maybe an ability to help her find more summon cards would be better than sacrificing troops.

I was thinking a subtle fix might to improve her attack to 3 and defense to 14, so she is a slightly better fighter than the sorcercess.

[Joshua]

Summoner's third tier skill becomes = 1+ group heal and 2+ self heal

[Ross Przybylski]

I think Joshua's suggestion- +2 Heal to summoner and +1 heal to allies is pretty good.  This makes the sacrifice like a mini group heal- but not too overly powerful.  In general, we've always liked the sacrifice concept behind the summoner because it goes well with her dark nature of studing necromancy.  Originally, the summoner was even called "The Necromancer".  Necromancy is magic deally with the mysteries of life and death- traditionally, the goal of a necromancer is to discover the secret to eternal life.  In many cases, sacrifices are made to transfer life essence to the mage- often called a Liche.  The dark arts are frowned upon by other mages, and it is particularly for this reason that Sibylla was banished from the Academy of Arcane arts and sought refuge in the lava caverns.

Another possibility, for those who like the Frankenstein/stiched monster experiments concept, could be the following:
Sacrifice (Card Cost of 2): Destroy one of your existing creatures and put a Flesh Golem in its place.

This also fits the theme of experimenting with life and death, as it deals death to one creature to birth another that gives life to the mage.  Thoughts from others?

[Ross Przybylski]

In regards to the Fighter Mage, I am inclined to agree that increasing the cost of Dragon's Fury from 1 card to 2 could resolve the balance factor.  Some have proposed that Dragon's Fury, when comboed with the Warrior results in a nearly unstoppable combo: Fighter Mage casts Dragon's Fury on Warrior, Warrior uses protect on mage- leaving you with a 4S / 19D mage and a 5S / 18D warrior with 2 attacks.  I feel the extra cost could help alleviate this as well (since it eliminates further card draws) but we could also adjust the FM ability so it only works on the mage himself.  Thoughts?

[rokendo]

Regarding the Summoner, I like the idea of replacing the creature with a flesh golem.

You are not reducing the summoner's combat effectiveness by sacrificing a creature and  a card to gain 3 life.

One alternative ability to fit the necromancer theme is to add this ability:

1 card: Drain Life - Target adjacent creature loses 1 life. Summoner gains 1 life. 

Its a net swing of 2 life  and can be used on her allies or enemies. Its also very effective and give her a little bite at the end.

I prefer an offensive capstone vs defensive because I'm getting the feel that the endgame can drag...but that is a topic for another post.

[codymonk]

Dragon's Fury definetl needs a change, and maybe add 1 card cost to sorcerers lightning spell