DukeDublin

Submitted my replays, great map!

One major failing of the tutorial is that unit counters are not included, yes. This leads to PvP being incredibly difficult to approach, while PvE is easy enough on standard to never learn this core aspect of units.

Adding damage reduction to Banditos (Frost) does a lot for the design I feel, as one need only look to Skeleton Warriors and their success through Undead Army as a swarm card for Shadow. As a small note: changing Blessed Alliance to scale upon friendly over enemy units is a step away from a boss unit, another aspect of the Bandit archetype that is mostly absent in the T2 lineup (not that Banditos was functioning before as an effective boss unit, given the additive not multiplicative stacking of attack power buffs). Banditos (Nature), (or is it Fire affinity now?) I worry remain in an untenable state. They must reach the first increment of Gifted Alliance to compare to Bandit Spearmen's base statistics, and the second increment of Alliance to compare to Bandit Spearmen with their freely enabled weapon change. The restrictions innate to reaching Alliance's high unit count only falls away through Corsair's ability (which is why they function well as a summon ability), compounded by the fact Bandits lack economical cards (like Shrine of Greed or Resource Booster). Banditos (Nature) will continue to fail against Gang Up Thugs both in battle and for a deck slot. Other T2 S->S cards have forms of alternative game edge like Rippers, while Dark Elf Assassins can kill said Gang Up Thugs (and thusly anything Banditos is trying to) for cheaper with ranged advantages. The shifting of the friendly unit requirement alone I see only as a significant benefit to Corsair, not the state of play in T2.

As per the design documents, Bandits has always had problems with the identity of their cards and splash redundancy. Skyfire Drake is to Windhunter, Gunner to Ashbone Pyro, Frenetic Assault to Amok and further. Banditos faces the largest redundancies in the lineup as a S->S type, which even T1 unit cards are outperforming. This post is made as a long standing Bandit's player, and isn't meant to be any sole verdict on the state of cards within Battleforge, nor any effort to change the game beyond Banditos themselves*. First let us look at the card itself: Banditos are a swarm/anti swarm unit through their passive, Alliance. Swarms being within the Bandit archetype. Banditos have a Complexity Calculation of 2, having only passives, with Alliance containing external dependencies (sum of surrounding enemy/ally units). While Alliance stacks multiple times with itself, the function of the passive remains consistent and straightforward (though it may be interpreted as more complex or multi-stage, Alliance requires no further game knowledge). Banditos lack synergy with other Bandits cards, which is contrasted by other Bandits cards granting them a factional synergy. Banditos has the highest health value among Bandit unit cards in T2 at 840 HP (beating Bandit Spearmen by 30 HP). Banditos has a low attack power for a T2 melee unit at 660 ATK, which rises with 3 surrounding units up to 990 ATK, and a maximum potential of 1650 ATK at 9 surrounding units (comparable with Nightcrawler's Frenzied 1630 ATK). Banditos can be summoned four at a time by the T3 Corsair (Nature) for 120 power, a design choice seemingly made for Gifted Alliance to be active without needing the Corsair itself nearby, or for Motivate/Blood Healing to be more easily used underneath a supporting Corsair. Within PvE, Banditos can grant a significant advantage when swarming, but in practice suffers from a lack of support options such as Nature's healing spells. Earth Crystal and Ice Crystal appear to be heavily encouraged within Bandits, as many cards have a Nature or Frost affinity available, but these neutral buildings just help an already ahead player get further ahead. Banditos require a large power pool to make a difference, and only when they're not being knocked down or facing area damage. For PvP, Banditos face significant use-case issues: Army deterioration near immediately disables Alliance. Bandit's limited sustainability and high offense exasperates Banditos' lackluster statistics, especially when contrasted with Bandit Spearmen (who do not rely upon a conditional effect) having nearly the same statistics of a Banditos with Alliance active (without factoring in Bandit Spearmen's weapon change ability). Banditos (Nature) requires a significant lead to utilize fully, and in the situations 7-10 units can be massed up (and not lost to spells) the match has likely been decided first by other cards. Banditos (Frost) is a counter to swarms (without any ability to intercept said swarms). Banditos (Frost) are not useful against any swarm cards. Banditos do not counter Sunken Temple and its Pest Creepers, nor Undead Army or Harvester, while Thugs will always beat an equal power's worth of Banditos if Gang Up is active alongside proper targeting. Fire/Shadow has other S->S counter units, which Banditos offers no play advantages over. Thugs are more durable when swarming in T1 saving you a deck slot, Rippers will bounce back from spells and counter corpse use, while Dark Elf Assassins are already one of the most power-effective S->S units; and happen to be ranged. The primary issue with balancing Banditos is that they are produced by Corsair (Nature) for 30 power each, without binding power. While I personally believe the impact of buffing Corsair (Nature)'s Banditos will not shake PvE's balance, there may be significant problems in PvP if Banditos' are over tweaked. Corsair drops (especially Banditos) are currently in an okay spot balance wise for T3 PvP, but this is about the T2 unit, Banditos, not Corsair! So what can be done? Tweaking the units combat statistics to better compete with other cards in Fire/Shadow which are S->S unit counters. Again, this could be an issue with Corsair, but Banditos are not winning games outside of being the ability of another card. Raising Banditos' complexity, since the unit has a budget as an uncommon card for new effects. Maybe something which will support a swarm playstyle earlier for Bandits than T3 (as admitted to be the case by the Bandit Design documents). Perhaps a controversial take, but lowering Banditos power cost (maybe below 50 even) may grant the card some space in a deck without altering Corsair's functionality. Thugs are already outperforming Banditos with their Gang Up ability, but its questionable whether this approach would actually enable swarms, instead encouraging smaller trades over and over. Another route (which may be better as its own card) may be for Banditos to include a rapid constructing building, and over time it resummons these Banditos or has an ability which you can spawn another for a price. Again this isn't an effort to change the game beyond Banditos themselves, with Corsair it's a tricky subject to approach. The state of play for Banditos is defined by other cards in a deck of limited slots, and currently Banditos don't have a role alongside other Fire/Shadow cards.

The Amii canonically were dressed in black and took the shape of humans (though I believe it to be more of a black skin suit as described in the chronicles, think a xenomorph from Aliens). I love the art otherwise, but the card so far looks more like a pure nature unit.

This card could be called Banzai Lord, for the sake of reference to the Mo mission. I think it would be cool if the birds spawned from corpse collection on the shadow affinity. The aura ability to buff bandits is meh imo, that part of the design does not interest me.

Using Looter in PVE is a shot-in-the-dark against null values, PVP you've got the prominent use-case against Phase Towers. Making Looter work in PVE is a massive undertaking of design work. In PVP there were the issues as to why Looter was changed to begin with; a lack of transparency and notably permanent swings in power for Fire even when a player should mechanically be punished for poor play. Looter should still not generate power, even against buildings for the above reasons, including for a unit like Strikers. Instead, I would prefer to see a void return; the more damage (Edit: OR instead of doing damage, incrementing if an enemy unit/building died nearby) the more void return is stored. Then to access the void return, they have to return to "base" and deposit their looted cargo through an active ability (with the stipulation they cannot do this in a radius near enemy units). The ability then rewards Fire if their opponent cannot take back their "loot". But I mean, Thugs are in a good spot if you like boring units.

Frost Sorceress requires a player to be good. You need to manage unit groups, use hotkeys, and generally have accuracy with your mouse. The gameplay Frost Sorceress provides is 100% more engaging than Shaman (literally engaging, requiring input).

NAME: Gemeye(Nature) upgraded loses paralyze DESCRIPTION: Gemeye(Nature) has Gifted Spit, which paralyzes enemies in the contaminated area after 5 seconds. The U0 version of Gemeye(Nature) functions as intended, with vfx clearly visible and units being paralyzed. The U3 version of Gemeye(Nature) loses this paralyzing contamination easily noted by the lack of vfx that the U0 version has. REPRODUCIBILITY: Easily tested in the forge. Make a U0 Gemeye(Nature) and attack some bandits, repeat with upgraded Gemeye(Nature) and see the results. SCREENSHOT: LOG: log_proxy_latest.log ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Not sure how busted U1 or U2 are. Other players report the same issue in rPVE so presumably this extends to missions. Gifted Spit gets upgraded with damage so something is probably broken in there. New issue with Jan 1, 2021 patch. _log_proxy_latest.log

I have qualms over the implementation of the following abilities: Rapid Construction, Accelerated Construction and Slowed Construction. Transparency for build time modifiers is good. Clarifying card information, cleanly, is the mark of proper design. However the present change has both format issues and ambiguity. See the following example of what I am bothered by: I now present Northstar, a building card missed by this patch. Personally I prefer Northstar's formatting where the construction speed is noted in the tooltip, instead than a new ability that leads to visual clutter. Also "Slow Construction " would be more correct than "Slowed Construction".

I'll agree that these decks should not have a fee attached. The payment for a new player entering PvP comes in the forms of queue time, and getting walloped because you are entering a ladder without the skills others take for granted (like map familiarity). A veteran could tolerate a proposed fee, sure. A new player paying a fee for these decks will have monetary pressure to perform on top of everything else, which could make them quit (and a lost investment keeping them away after).

@WindHunter To clarify, I don't mean rarity. These neutral Legendary cards. Gifted Flora (Pure Nature): Rogan Kayle, Mo Infused Flora (Nature Fire): Brannoc Infused Ice (Frost Fire): Brannoc

Imo: Legendary unit cards are potential spoilers for new players, have unique rules that increase a deck's difficulty and dilute colour identity for new players trying to learn. These cards should be exchanged for others, accounting for the whole of a new player experience.

Canada, contrary to my name.