nkmol

Thanks for the introduction! The new artwork looks epic 😍

Thanks for the introduction! The new artwork looks epic 😍

I'm glad that you think about security aspects in our software. And you're indeed right with what you say. Admin privileges are actually a "No Go" for today's software.
The Updater itself doesn't need any administrative privileges in the system. The fact that it still forces the user to start it like that is a problem from the past where we were still in the development process of how the packets were sent to our server instead of the EA ones. Fun fact ... even the EA BattleForge Bootstrapper required admin rights. 🙂 
In the past, our little piece of extremely important software (let us call it Injector for now) was started along with the BattleForge executable and injected itself into the BattleForge process. The injector itself was invisible for the user and ran as a background process. The injection however was only possible with admin privileges since you have to call a method where you need those privileges. Otherwise the method call would fail. We decided to transfer those permissions over to the Updater since all processes called by it will also start with the same privileges (also called AsInvoker in manifest files). The reason for that was, that the user doesn't get a system popup for a software he can't see (the Injector) and maybe denies the execution of it. If he would, the game wouldn't start and connect to our servers at all. That's for the history of the injector.
Unfortunately at some point there were some pieces of information which got stored afterwards at some places on the user's PC which can only be accessed with write permissions when the software will be started with administrative privileges. This wasn't the intention in the beginning. And the information isn't stored by the Updater, but by the game. That information will need to be stored somewhere else before we can remove the admin rights request for the Updater. But we're of course in the process of doing so. I actually expect an update for the current Updater in the upcoming days/weeks to remove that whole thing.
Side note: I was always against an Updater which needs that high level of privileges. Some users (and I count myself to that group of users) don't like software, which require these permissions, at all. And maybe that's also a reason for them to not use that software.

When we remove those permissions, we need to make sure, that the Updater and the game can access all files with all needed permissions. That's also the reason why our installer doesn't accept directories as installation location which are protected by Windows. Those locations are however hardcoded.
I hope you can live with the fact that it requires those permissions for another few days or weeks. They will for sure be removed in the near future.
Sneak preview: The new Updater won't have that requirement at all.

I would definitely not remove the difficulty names from the buttons: the approach to add the symbols next to the names sounds much more suitable and I think is a good solution.
Even though I think the initial proposal of using small dots is cleaner, stars likely convey the message better. That being said, I would make them much smaller and always at the same position, like image below.


In order to make the UI consistent with the achievements, I would make it such that the stars indicate the highest won difficulty and not all the difficulties played. As an example, if the left and middle star were yellow it would indicate that the highest difficulty won is advanced (and not that you won standard and advanced). 

The exact details of what difficulty you won could be added in the tooltip of the map icon. It's a big widget with little information. The first image is how it is now, the second how I could imagine it being.


 So this shows as  in the worldmap but when hovering over it, you would see that you actually only completed advanced.
Curious to hear what you think.
 

Hey all,
it's been a while since my last Deck so time for another one! Today we continue with a Stonekin variant that actually doesn't leave enough Stonekin to call itself that. However, since the army consists only of Stonekin units, I have always mentally added it here. I can't even say exactly why Gemeyes catch my eye so much and why I like this deck so much - I think it's just "sympathy" that I can't explain further.
Theme/Scope: Gemeyes! Getting out as much as possible, getting them as strong as possible

Playstyle: Micro <-> Macro
Budget: medium expensive
Addresses to any kind of player
Core Deck:
- Key Card is the Purple Gemeye! Ofc both can be taken if you like
- supported by the best of
- supported by the best of
- as we have no straight tanks, we want to have strong CC and strong sustain spells to keep our Army steamrolling
Important side note:

The Gemeyes show both a flat dp20 of 2750 dmg - this is the flat value of the spit attack leaving out the damage over time (DoT) effect. The real dmg of a purple Gemeye is much higher though you will sadly never have a situation where it can deal its full possible dmg.
T1/T2 - either or or (in the shown specific order)
It may seem strange, after I have made very free specifications in my decks, that I give here on the one hand 3 clear starting suggestions which appear however also very differently.
The reason for a Shadow or Frost start comes from the T1 Spells Motivate or Homesoil - both of which we can scale perfectly into T4 - therefore this recommendation.
The reason for the T2 is to further set priorities: Starting with allows for very early setting of Resource Boosters and is therefore a very strong one, as we can possibly get more Gemeyes out.
If you decide for a blue start, even if it is for reasons, it also makes sense in T2 and T3 to quickly get to to be able to set boosters faster. Especially on harder maps the double shadow spells help you of course to get to T4, to hold it and to go into further progress.
The  start variant is definitely inferior to the above mentioned in direct comparison - but I still like to list them, because a Stonekin start is in my opinion much more beginner-friendly and stronger than a blue/shadow start. You want to take it slow, maybe never played shadow before - then this is your start.
Please don't start this deck with green - it would be at least one wasted deck slot, more like two.
What do we take specifically:
For I would never go without my Forsaken as allrounder (superior to Nox Trooper), the Green Soul Splicer and a Motivate. Git up a few Forsaken, build a Soul Splicer before the T2 camp, drag the enemys in the Splicer and FOCUS them one by one. 6 Forsaken should do it with the exeption of hard Lost Souls starts.
For T2 the common options would be: Shadow Mages (+your Soul Splicer, Warp, Motivate), a Harvester or the best-in-slot solution Phoenix/Embalmers Shrine
For the meta-start would be Frost Mages and Master Archers + Homesoil and Ice Barrier.
T2 as imho not much strong options, Phoenix/Embalmers Shrine is prolly the way to go if you want serious strengh, else Stormsingers are not bad and some of the Lost T2 Units are playable too.
For the start please check my other stonekin guide:
T3/4 - completing to any row of
T3/4 spells you want to add are: Stone Shell Green, Frenetic (either or both), Infect and prolly a Warp, fill with dmg and healing as you feel need for them
Other stuff to add to the deck: Gemeyes, that's why we are here! Furnace of Flesh + Cultist Master for Void return. Ofc a Breeding Ground that wasn't mentioned before.
You maybe want to bring Rifle Cultist+ Offering for more fast Gemeyes, even mandatory if you play with Motivate.
Last but not least: If you face lost souls your Gemeyes get disabled (like any ranged unit) from the Lost Dragons - either bring a Yellow Mo for that, or make sure your CC hits those Dragons perfectly (last is more an expert solution)
Even if you decided for the inferior start, you have strong spell options at T3 which should always give an easy access to T4 (Thunderstorm/Stoneshell, Heals, Oink - all combined with a rock solid T1/2 army)
If you decide for a late green orb, T3 offers you Frenetic/Infect which should be even an easier access to T4.
If you are forced to defend T3 for a minute raise a Furnance of Flesh to get Void back faster on the waves that you defeat. Spawn Cultist Masters there as soon as you can - once your Void manipulation is up things get usually easier.
How to play T4 stage - "I have only a squishy ranged unit, how the hell do I proceed?"
Though it may be obvious for many veterans I want to describe a bit the playstyle as some Beginners may say: "I have only a squishy ranged unit, how the hell do I proceed?".
Spam Purple Gemeyes, you can splash in 1-2 Green ones in the Mix for some CC, but you want to have mainly purple ones as they deal the dmg. A super serious Gemeye Deck would perhaps even cut the green Gemeye completly - at least I do.
When you engage a camp the first spell is a CC, usually a Frenetic. Stone Shell your at least 4 Gemeyes, Infect the crowd and perhaps add a dmg spell for faster Infect procs.
Then you use either Motivate or the Homesoil/Ice Barrier combo for a really nice dmg output.
When you have Motivate/Offering/Rifle Cultist use that Combo as often as possible to max your army size.
Once you got out 4-6 Gemeyes you should snowball any rpve map.
 
Any struggling situations:
This deck is slower in the early match, beware to engange strong dmg bosses like Infester or Urzach before you have at least 4, better 5, gemeyes. (4 is the critical mass for a perfect Stone Shell buff, the fifth gives you even the security that you could loose one and you are still "safe").
Once you hit the 4-5-6 counter this deck gets more and more rolling and no boss or situation should be able to stop you.
Willzappers can be taken out from afar.
Bosses usually never have a chance against a Stone Shell protected army and so neither any camp has.
 
At this point I usually add replays, which I leave out this time for two reasons: First, I was simply too lazy and thought something "Nobody watches this anyway" (or only the usual suspects who actually know the shit but only enjoy the gameplay).
However, I have just seen that the replays were downloaded more often than thought  - next time I'll be happy to share some again.
The second reason to do without replays was clearly the upcoming update which is just around the corner and would break them anyway.
If you have feedback, suggestions, nice replays or storys about this deck, please feel free to post below!

As always, all information without guarantee and with strong personal preference.

See you in the Battlegrounds!
 
 
again partly Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)