WindHunter

Few changes: Parasite Swarm's swap limits have been changed from 150p --> 175p. Twilight Hag, Twilight Vileblood, and Twilight Treefiend are now T2 175p. This means they can be swapped by Parasite Swarm and transformed via Twilight Curse. Twilight Whisperer is now T3 150p, meaning it can be swapped by Parasite Swarm.

There has been a forum section to discuss balancing changes for the last 6 months. All major upcoming card changes have been announced in the Cards sub-forum since February. All major upcoming Map changes have been announced in Campaign Maps since September 2021. We even added a side bar so you can easily follow which discussions have new posts: We as a team understand people's worries about balancing changes and have tried repeatedly to respond to concerns, including on several of the issues brought up here relating to balancing and homogenization. Please see the quoted response below for our most recent answer to these concerns from July 15th. The idea of not touching any of the old cards seems to me misguided. In my estimation, when I first joined the team as a faction designer, I would say the breakdown of card viability in PvE was approximately this: Overpowered cards: 5% of total Well-balanced cards: 20% of total Viable but underperforming cards: 25-30% of total Meme cards and worse: 45-50% To not touch any of the old cards would have been, and still largely would be, to consign approximately half the cards in the game to permanent uselessness. We as a team do not think that is the path forward. I realize that not everyone will agree with all our decisions, which is why we also try very hard to be both transparent and open to feedback, both here on the forum and on our balancing discord which can also be accessed via web page. We have also released several design documents to allow players to get more insight into our thinking, which can be found here: Skylords Reborn Documents. Not only that, but we also try to release changes to the test server to allow hands-on testing and feedback, which is rewarded with a booster when a replay is supplied alongside constructive criticism. While this has not happened as frequently as we have liked recently, the upcoming round of balance changes for next patch will be announced and released on the test server in the next few days.

Hello MrTycoon, I like the map idea and I hope in the future we can have more maps with Shadow in them, as there is really only one right now (Dwarven Riddle) and even there Shadow has a very minor role. Given Shadow's lore as a kind of corruption, even predating the corruptive influence of the Twilight, I think the concept of a corruption-based Shadow map is quite a good one and could definitely be something we use in the future. In terms of any connection to Viridya, I do not think this fits the existing lore. Viridya also has already had a very large role to play in the game with a completed storyline, so I suspect we will not be returning to her in the future but instead moving on to using other characters.

All changes in the opening post, as well as the nerfs to Necroblaster and the buffs to Deepgorge, will go live with the next patch. The only exception to this is Infected Tower. We are currently working on designing a more interesting set of changes for Infected Tower. The more complex tower changes which have their own threads (Lost Launcher, Rocket Tower, Stronghold, and Bandit Launcher) will likely not be included in the upcoming patch.

1. We changed the Linked Fire description last patch to be substantially more accurate. We are quite happy with this description as it fits with the existing in-game language while also including all necessary details "Unit can connect to the friendly root network within a 25m radius, enabling more powerful attacks. As long as the unit is out of combat, it counts as 3 supporters for the root network. When in combat, the unit can benefit from up to 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 supporters itself; it will then be able to continuously shoot each wave of thorns ever faster." 2. This is not possible.

Hello Sopwith, We appreciate the constructive feedback and we agree with you on this topic. Forest Elder is intended to be a facilitator unit, even more so than Dreadnought (which is actually strong enough to be spammed due to Shattering Blow). We plan on adding a Pure Nature T4 pay-off spell similar to how we added Coat of Protection to Pure Frost, alongside major buffs to cards like Mind Control and Colossus. We mentioned this new spell in our recent Deep Dive in the design of the Pure Nature faction, which you can read here: Pure Nature Deep Dive

You are not forced to build Wheels. The fact that they are currently inefficient in most scenarios makes this more obvious. If we were to buff them, to the point of being good, one player would feel forced to build them and therefore not play the game. We will not do this. You can play a mostly support deck with spells and the new Lifestream and still actively participate, I would recommend attempting that if you are set on functioning as a support.

The only change Wheel of Gifts will be receiving is the ability to reapply buffs if said buffs have been previously disenchanted. We as a team do not want to encourage a playstyle where a person functionally plays a city builder in his own base while his teammates actually complete the map. In terms of ability strength, the following hierarchy should generally be followed: Active > Conditional Passive > Passive. We want to encourage the player to interact with the game itself, not create a scenario where the game can essentially play itself. In terms of Shrine of War, this card is already incredibly strong and is easily the best option for multi-person void manipulation. Any cost decrease would have to come with major reductions to its void return percentage. Additionally, an active cost is functionally pointless on a void shrine, it would be paid back immediately. Void manipulation methods are balanced around three factors: orb cost, bound power, and void return rates. The strongest void shrine correspondingly has the highest bound power cost, which is exactly how it should be. I know you know this Metagross, but as a clarification for everyone else: All damage reduction and damage buffs are either external or internal. Internal buffs (Counter damage, Bloodhorn's self-buff, Stonekin's Adamant Skin etc.) can stack infinitely. On the other hand, external buffs choose the highest buff or damage reduction only. There are a few exception to this, such as absorb mechanics like Ward of the North, Revenge, or Ice Shields and ammo mechanics like Unholy Power, Death Ray, and Dreadcharger, but generally 1 external and infinite internal buffs is the rule.

This is a card I am personally content to see remain solely within the PvP ecosystem. I do think lower tier shielding options are currently sparse and hopefully something we can work on improving in a patch or two.

The Skylords Reborn team decided very early on that all factions should have access to two core mechanics: sustain and void manipulation. At the same time, we determined to add these mechanics to all factions in a way that is thematically appropriate to each one. I think, by and large, that we have succeeded on this account. In terms of sustain; Fire's Bloodthirst requires units to deal damage; Shadow's Blood Healing requires sacrifice; Frost's Coat of Protection, Winter Witch, and Dreadnought use Ice Shields; and Nature's sustain is primarily non-conditional. This is appropriate to each faction and allows each faction to be viable without feeling like we are thereby destroying the properties that makes that faction unique. In terms of void return, it is important to understand that an archetype that does not have access to void manipulation will be permanently held back in RPvE and most campaign maps. The compensation required to overcome this handicap in terms of card strength would be so excessively large it would inevitably unbalance the game. So, just as we did with sustain options, we too decided to give each faction a thematically appropriate source of void manipulation. Shrine of War requires fighting, Furnace of Flesh requires corpses, Shrine of Martyrs requires freeze, and Shrine of Memory is non-conditional. Again, this fits each faction. I would even argue that Shrine of Memory is more thematically fitting for Nature after the changes than before them. Before it was very weak and only affected the player. Nature support spells, buildings, and effects always benefit allies, and Shrine of Memory was the one exception to this rule. Nature is also the rule-breaking faction and now Shrine of Memory can break the normal rules of void return. This continues in the line of other Nature mechanics like Enlightenment, Mumbo Jumbo, and mind control (which is a Nature, not a Shadow mechanic). I understand the worry about the potential homogenization of factions, but I think this worry is overblown. Over the last year and a half, our changes have been carefully designed in such a way as to give each faction a unique niche into which it can fit. Pure Frost has its Ice Shield and freeze mechanics; Nature has unit-centric armies (most decks are spell-centric) as well as the Root Network; Bandits has several unique archetypes with Banzai Lord, Bloodhorn, and Tortugun; etcetera. We are right now trying to do similar things for factions such as Stonekin, Twilight, and Lost Souls. These changes will hopefully continue our work and make each faction possess fully unique ways of playing. To me, much of the reason there are worries right now are because many, even most, of the cards in the game remain unviable and many archetypes are underdeveloped or weak. As we continue to change this, I think the worry about faction homogenization will abate.

With the exception of Hatecaster, which has more of its stats in life points, Necroblaster is the most stat efficient card in the entire game and it is only T3 and completely splashable. In terms of damage per power, it is the most damage efficient card in the game. To pay for this incredible level of efficiency, the card is supposed to have the downside that it costs corpses. Except it only does at the beginning, and then never again. As it currently stands, Necroblaster would functionally be no different if we just removed the corpses entirely and gave it slow construction to simulate waiting for initial corpses. We are making Necroblaster's interaction with corpses a real mechanic, and not just the facade it is currently. If we did not move in this direction, we would have to substantially nerf some other aspect of the card to bring it down to a reasonable level.

We are very happy with the initial Nature changes but we still have a few more lined up, including ones which failed to make it into the last patch. The threads for Forest Elder, Mind Control, Colossus, and Primeval Watcher have all be updated with new information, while Spore Launcher and Grove Spirit are both still awaiting implementation. Other minor changes which were missed or are upcoming can be found below. Nature Iteration 2 Changes Tier 2: Sunken Temple: 1. Add Mode-change, "Hibernate" - "Pest Creepers enter a state of dormancy and are not longer summoned. Has an initial cooldown of 30 seconds. Reusable every 30 seconds." Tier 3: Wheel of Gifts: 1. Change effect to aura to allow it to reapply if disenchanted. Tier 4: Noxious Cloud: 1. Initial damage: 10 / 10 / 10 / 13 (3750 total to a single-target) --> 21 / 21 / 21 / 24 damage every second (5640 total to a single-target) 2. Time between damage increase: 2 sec --> 3 sec 3. Power cost: 290 / 275 / 250 / 250p --> 270 / 255 / 230 / 230p

Primeval Watcher has been updated to include an Iteration 2. Most of the changes did not go live last patch. The only two additional changes are that we will be adding Siege to the unit as well as increasing the amount of enemies Stasis Field can affect by 2, to a total of 9. Additionally, New units are currently in development for and to replace Primeval Watcher in these decks.

Mind Control's changes, which did not make it into last patch, have been updated to include the ability to bypass the population limit.

Iteration 1 and its goals have been completely revamped for Colossus. Additionally, we are interested in the community's thoughts on removing Colossus's normal Swift ability and connecting it to Lumbering Step instead. The idea is that this way Colossus would be the same speed as the other units a Nature player typically makes uses, such as Forest Elder and Primeval Watcher.

Added an Iteration 2 for Forest Elder.

Thank you for all the feedback so far and please continue to give it. We also have an active discussion on this topic ongoing over in our balance discord which we invite everyone to check out: Skylords Balance Discord As regards Fire RPvE: Our map team received a substantial amount of feedback over the last few months and the vast majority of players, of every skill level, told us two things: The damage was overwhelming and too punishing for some decks, while the faction was a wet noodle against decks with powerful CC. We aimed then to remedy this situation with the changes made, which experienced a very long testing period with a lot number of our map testers. If anyone wants to join this Map Tester group, we are always looking for more help! About Achievements: I am glad to see the overwhelming support we have had with our new achievement set, both here, in-game, and on discord. We are currently looking into ways to carry this momentum forward and continue to add more replayability and end game content to the game. This is one of my top priorities right now. Really glad you enjoy the changes. We are currently looking into some follow-up changes for Corsair, Sandstorm, Tortugun, Amok, and even Waystation. These likely will not have high priority (ie. likely not coming next patch) given how much love we have shown Bandits in recent patches, but once they are finished I think we will have achieved something pretty wonderful with the faction overall. In many ways, Bandits is an image of what we want to do with each faction. It contains multiple archetypes and has viable strategies for all levels of play.

Did you kill the Walker before fighting the Raven ships in your second run but not your first? I always kill the Walker, so at least assuming that is done: The Bandit Command Walker does not spawn until a certain point after you initially engage with the Raven ships. If you kill the Raven ships fast enough in the initial engagement, the map will end before the Walker can spawn, meaning you never have to fight it as part of the final battle.

We have identified the cause and will be fixing it.

Hello everyone, It has been a week now since the patch has released, and while this is not exactly a long time, I wanted to open a discussion and encourage everyone to provide feedback on the changes we have made to the game. Below are some of the topics of which we are most interested in soliciting feedback, though feel free to offer any suggestions regarding the patch and the current direction of the game. Do you like the changes to card and factions? Why or why not? Where did we hit the mark, and implement something exciting you'd like to see more of? Where did you miss the mark and what should we avoid in the future? Do you enjoy the new cards, are they balanced? What do you think of the map changes? Are you happy or unhappy to see changes to original maps? Would you like to see more such changes or less? Is playing Fire RPvE a better experience now? What do you think of the new PvP features? What do you think of the new achievements? Do you have any suggestions for future features, achievements, or changes along these lines?

Not all Nature changes made it into this patch. Additionally, the discussions today show that the balance discord is still very much active.

Personally I think there isn't a reason for many of the achievements to be excluded from achievement due to the AFK timer. The issue is that some of them (reserve) should be excluded, and I do not know if there is an easy way to differentiate between them. I think it is something which is possible for us, just question of effort.

Life Weaving is true damage.

I'm not opposed to changing it, but that also assumes we can find the correct script and variable to change it. Finding the correct variables on official maps can often be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Hello RedMush, Rogan Kayle requires that a unit be next to him in order to begin walking into Hope. There are a few different cards that can help you get around this without breaking the do not play a unit card requirement.