Bozzah

Hello again Skylords, Skyladies and other Skybeings; it's time to announce the winners!  
First of all, I’d like to thank everyone for making the Crappy Community Contest #8 happen – no matter in what way: developing the idea, making and helping with the map, participation, sponsoring prizes, spreading the word or helping me to organize it. Special thanks goes out to Sucks for coming up with the wall-less idea and his help with finalizing the concept.
In total, we reached a total number of 29 participants – thanks to the Skylords Team for sponsoring the code: CCC8-NOWA-LLNE-EDED
 
Here are the Skylords who took on the hardest challenge of the CCC #8:
1st place      28 Points       Arabika             (01:03:34)
2nd place      28 Points       DemonRJ          (02:08:00)
3rd place       25 Points       Hauclir              (00:39:47)
4rd place       25 Points       Laze                  (00:56:48)
5th place       23 Points       Dutchy             (00:51:27)
6th place       22 Points       Aegis                (00:33:39)
7th place       21 Points       Ultralord           (00:21:23)
8th place       21 Points       Donaar             (00:22:04)
9th place       20 Points       Krodha             (00:21:28)
10th place     20 Points      Lord_of_Bread   (00:21:52)

11th to 15th place:   Hrdina_Imperia (20), Lans (18), Hi8Im8Pan (18), Midra (17), Drakk (16)
The last place goes out to the sole Skylord who did everything he could to achieve zero points. I'm impressed!

Congratulations to the winners! If you are interested, see below for the top 4 replays.
Winners of the Random Draws
The dice gods have determined the fate of the following cards:
Draw 1                       Avatar of Frost           clOWN86
Draw 2                       Spitfire                       Hunt65
Draw 3                       Church of Negation    Lans
Draw 4                       Bandit Minefield         Donaar
Draw 5                       Fire Worm                  Krodha
Draw 6                       Skyelf Templar            DemonRJ

Draws 7-11, one Banzai Lord (P) each:  Ultralord, SylarXXI, Itap, Aegis, Watermelonlord,
Draws 12-16, one General Booster each:  Drakk, Midra, JiiPee, 2022, Skury

Of the 29 participants, only 3 were of Silver or Bronze rank, so they all received not only one, but a nice assortment of the above-mentioned valuable cards.
I will send you all prizes as soon as possible through in-game mail. 
 
Some statistics
If you want to see how "(un)popular" objectives were, and time and point graphs, check the spoiler:
 
Replays

Here are the Replays of the Top 4 Runs: CCC8_28_arabika.pmv CCC8_28_DemonRJ.pmv CCC8_25_hauclir.pmv CCC8_25_Laze.pmv
In conclusion
First and foremost, I'd like to thank again all those who helped with this event, Of course, I'd like to thank the generous sponsors for all the prizes they gave: @womiy org, @TheBigWet, @Donaar, @T1421, @DeLirium, @Sylar, @Bozzah and the Skylords Reborn Team.
I hope some of you enjoyed the combination of making a contest-idea-contest (CCC#7) and taking one of those ideas that come from the community to become CCC#8. There are still more ideas to steal from the wonderful entries, so we might see a reference to CCC#7 in the future.

If you have a crappy idea for future CCC's you may share and discuss that with me, maybe I host your idea, or you can host your own Crappy Contest! Feel free to contact me anytime. If you want to discuss or host a non-crappy contest, contact our Event Managers @Minashigo Hiko and/or @Metagross31. They are super supportive and will help you to organize your event!

Map Balance Changes

PvE Map Changes
Behind Enemy Lines: increased initial power wells from 2 to 3. All three have a capacity of 1200, equivalent to a 40 min lifetime.
Behind Enemy Lines is a map with a high failure rate with non-Nightguard strategies, and is none to have substantial periods where the player is forced to wait. The primary goal is to keep the map strategic and difficult, while removing the tedious moments. A secondary goal is to buff non-Nightguard strategies in preparation for the upcoming changes to mind control. Convoy: buildings are now properly blocked from being built in the canyon in the center of the map in all locations.
Nightmare Shard: increased initial power wells from 2 to 3 and increased the capacity of the T2 & T3 power wells from 600 (20 min) to 900 (30 min). Once the goal is activated to destroy the infected Twilight spawns (which occurs either after the player has reached the Shard or the first Twilight Witch spawns, whichever is first) the fog of war over each infected camp is cleared in a 35m radius.
The average completion time for this map on expert is 48 minutes. The idea is to increase early power generation to reduce waiting, and to increase well capacity in-line with how long the map actually takes. Additionally, many players do not have a good idea of the strength of the various Twilight camps. The choice to remove the fog of war over the camps should help the players to make a better informed decision of where next to attack. Nightmare's End: increased initial power wells from 2 to 3 and increased initial well capacity from 900 (30 min) to 1200 (40 min). Increased the capacity of the T2 power wells from 600 (20 min) to 900 (30 min). 
Nightmare's End has an average completion time of 72 minutes. This makes it the longest map in the game, and it is notoriously frustrating, leading to low replayability. Initial power generation and well capacity does not match the map's actual difficulty or length, so we are hopeful these changes can help bring about a smoother gameplay experience. There are other issues with the map in need of changing, but they will need to wait for a future patch. The Dwarven Riddle: added a monument and 3 power wells on each side of the map, regardless of number of players. 
This change will allow both players to go T4. It should only affect players who play the map in a more "standard" method, in contrast to the speedrun method.   Standardized all official single player campaign maps to have 4 gold chests.
Defending Hope: added 2 gold chests to match the standard.  Ocean: removed 2 gold chests to match the standard. The Soultree: added 1 gold chest to match the standard Introduction: added one gold chest to introduce new players to the concept of gold chests.

PvP Map Changes
While PvP has been moving steadily towards a more and more balanced state, a major issue we still face is the maps themselves. Just like we previously made changes to the 1v1 maps, we are happy to finally unveil our changes to all the 2v2 PvP maps (and Yrmia). These changes should create a more competitive and fair play environment, with many existing imbalances and cheese opportunities removed. All minimaps have been adjusted to reflect the changes and to be more accurate in general.
[ 1v1 Maps ]
Yrmia / Yrmia (Spectator Map):
Decreased the capacity of all power wells with 900 capacity to 600 capacity (1). Decreased the capacity of all power wells with 1500 capacity to 600 capacity (2). [ 2v2 Maps ]
Danduil:
Removed the 4 fortification walls surrounding the Monuments on both sides. Added 1 power well of 600 power capacity at each of the 4 monument positions in the corners. Fixed an issue where it was not possible to spawn non-S-sized units by the ground presence solely provided by the outer power wells (2 and 3). Swapped the starting positions including the power wells and monuments of the teams, whilst preserving previous symmetry. Fyre:
Increased the construction cost of the 4 outer fortification walls from 25 to 50 energy. Decreased these wall's distance to the power wells. These walls can no longer be built by enemies if the player or ally own the power well closest to the wall. Additionally, slightly narrowed the layout of the respective area around the wall in the bottom left to enable the same effect there. Added flying blocking at the 2 big lakes in the center to prevent sieging across them with long-ranged flying units. This is now visualized by permanently present clouds in the area. The power wells in the top left of the upper starting base now provide spawn presence for units and buildings. The power wells in the bottom right of the lower starting base now provide better spawn presence for units and buildings. Fixed various other minor blocking issues. Swapped the starting positions including the power wells and monuments of the teams, whilst preserving previous symmetry. Gorgash:
Increased the construction cost of the fortification walls at each starting position from 25 to 50 power. These walls are no longer pre-built at the start of the game. Increased all player's starting void power from 400 to 425 to compensate for wall changes. Decreased the power cost of the walls at the central northern and southern bases at the border of map from 75 to 50 energy. Adjusted the position of the monuments and power wells in all 6 bases in the north and south of the map to decrease distance to the wall. These walls can no longer be built by enemies if the player or ally owns the power well or monument closest to it. Removed the 2 walls around the northern and southern bases in the center of the map. Changed the layout of power wells and monuments in these bases by rotating each cluster by 180 degrees. Moved the power wells and monuments in these bases outwards, hence further away from the center of the map. Removed the northern and southern power well in the well cluster in the middle of the map. Moved the 4 power well clusters near the outer left and outer right bases closer to the center. Swapped the starting positions including the power wells and monuments of the teams, whilst preserving previous symmetry. Koshan:
Swapped the starting positions between players, whilst preserving previous symmetry. Added 2 ramps to the sides of the new start positions, granting access to the plateau behind. Opened up the plateaus in the corners by creating connecting ramps towards the diagonal of the map. Adjusted the positions of wells, so that they are further away from the nearby wall, and thus hostile units mounted on the wall cannot attack the wells anymore. Nadai:
Added 1 power well of 1200 capacity at each side of the center monument position. Adjusted the positions of monuments and walls, so that 4 of the walls cannot be taken anymore if an enemy has taken the adjacent monument. Adjusted the positions of monuments, so that they are further away from the nearby wall, and thus hostile units mounted on the wall cannot attack the orb anymore. Swapped the starting positions including the starting power wells and monuments only within teams for consistency, whilst preserving map symmetry. Turan:
Opened up the middle of the map by creating 4 connecting paths between the power well clusters and the central monument. Swapped the starting positions including the power wells and monuments of the teams, whilst preserving previous symmetry. Yshia:
Adjusted the positions of the 4 outer fortification walls to prevent offensive walling, by moving them outwards and thus closer to the power wells and monuments there. Opened up the plateaus by adding 2 ramps to each of them. Widened one of the ramps leading up to the two small plateaus. Increased the cost of the plateau walls from 25 to 50. Moved the well clusters more towards the center of the plateau, but keeping them close to the wall to prevent offensive walling. Moved the monuments previously located off the plateau to add to each of them 1 power well of 600 power capacity. Swapped the starting positions including the power wells and monuments of the teams, whilst preserving previous symmetry. Zahadune:
Added flying blocking at various places at the borders of the bodies of water to prevent sieging across them with long-ranged flying units. This is now visualized by permanently present clouds in the area.
Fire Random PvE Balance Changes
Fire was added as an enemy faction in rPvE in our Anniversary Patch. While we are currently working on adding Nature as the next faction to fight against, we have been keeping a close eye on the balance and player experience against Fire among all skill levels. With this patch, we will be making some changes to improve the experience. 
[ System Changes ]
    - Significantly reduced the difficulties 6 and below.
    - Volcano now only spawns in level 4 camps and beyond.*
    - Incoming attack waves should now be less oppressive on higher difficulties.
[ Bosses ]
Removed fire class from all fire boss units - Protector's Seal no longer blocks the damage of Fire bosses.
Abaddon: 
   - Rage:
       - Reduced the damage bonus from the second stage from 300% to 200%.
   - Gates of Hell: 
       - Reduced the initial damage from 800 (2400 in total) to 400 (1200 in total).
       - Reduced the eruption damage from 2000 (6000 in total) to 1000 (3000 in total).
Aspect of Summer:
   - Global Warming: No longer prevents ice shield from being applied to target units.
Brannoc:
   - Reduced life points from 65000 to 60000.
   - Fire Sphere:
       - Increased channeling time from 3 to 5 seconds.
       - Reduced damage from 2000 (10000 in total) to 1500 (7500 in total).
       - Reduced the radius from 25m to 20m.
       - Reduced the casting range 30m to 25m.
Fireback:
   - Increased life points from 30000 to 40000.
Fiend of Fire:
   - Flamethrower: Reduced damage per second from 600 to 500.
Molten Golem:
   - Blazing Surface: Reduced damage returned from 50% to 25%.
Vulcanos:
   - Unit is now XL.
   - Can now damage air units.
[ Units ]
Emberstrike:
   - Fire Lance
       - Reduced damage from 1200 (3100 in total) to 1000 (2500 in total).
       - Only deals 50% damage to structures.
Firesworn:
   - Fixed a bug that prevented the unit from attacking units other than L-sized units.
Fire Dragon:
   - Rage: Reduced the damage bonus from the second stage from 300% to 200%.
Fire Worm:
   - Earthquake:
       - Reduced the damage per hit from 1000 to 500.
       - Now properly deals L counter damage.
Magma Spore:
   - Ground Blast: 
       - Reduced the damage from 720 (1120 in total) to 350 (1050 in total).
       - Reduced the area Radius 15m -> 10m.
Spitfire:
   - Fire Bomb: Reduced range from 50m to 35m.
[ Buildings ]
Pyromaniac:
   - Reduced the duration of the damage over time debuff from 10 seconds to 3 seconds.
Tower of Flames:
   - Volcanic Ground:
       - Reduced the damage from 6 times 200/1000 to 6 times 150/750.
       - Reduced the range from 25m to 20m.
Volcano:
   - Reduced life points from 5000 to 3500.
   - Reduced the size by 10%.
New Building: Flame Crystal - Spawns in Level 4 and Level 5 camps* and will periodically remove debuffs and cc effects from allied units
Fire can be extremely strong, but due to its high attack and low defense, it is extra vulnerable to Crowd Control spells. We want to counter this weakness with a brand-new building, while some major enemy damage dealers have been rebalanced
* Level 3 camps are usually right behind the T3/T4 camp; Level 4 camps are the row behind Level 3; Level 5 is always the last row.

Map Editor Changes
Increased maximum allowed file size of community maps from 64 to 512 megabytes. Added optional verbose logging for LUA. This is relevant for mapmakers and can be enabled in the debug section of the configuration file at `/Battleforge/config.json` using the `lua` configuration. The logs can be found in the `/Battleforge/Diag` folder. Increased max brush size in the map editor. Fixed crashes for the height map generation for Random PvE in the map editor in certain cases. Allowed selection of the fire Random PvE preset in the map editor.
Bugfixes
Fixed issue related to character names becoming too long with the added `{GM}` prefix and not being able to be whispered. Fixed issue with deleting community maps while they are being downloaded by another player. Fixed incorrect ordering for all time rankings in the leaderboards. Fixed ability to add 21 cards or 21 boosters to trade, instead of 20. Fixed too large scroll step size for upgrade view when trying to scroll through the upgrades. It now scrolls with the same steps as the cards scroll view. Fixed inconsistencies in the Amii card frames. Card descriptions will no longer overflow into the card artwork. Fixed walk speed mismatch between respawned squad members and existing ones, causing the group as a whole to move at an unfavorable speed. This could be noticed for example with Werebeasts and Strikers. Fixed wrong displayed remaining card charges for Offering in rare cases Fixed incorrect handling of overkill stampede damage when destroying buildings. In general, this has a nerfing effect on stampede. Improved error handling and logging for issues related to starting BattleForge with DirectX10. and many more!

heh I will try to think of something funny and then I can toss in a decent reward for a challenge on its own 😉 those 4 banzai lords were just a fun bet for Kapo's CCC 😄 
it's a bet, and I raise it to 8 Banzai Lords G 🙂 I am convinced that a 1 point run is impossible. If someone proves me wrong then I will for sure enjoy that replay 😄 

 

Not sure if this is a joke or an official sponsoring offer 😉

If you want, I can add you to the list of sponsors as a "Bounty" Type if someone makes it.

if anyone posts a run with 1 point I will give that person 4x banzai lord green 😄 

this was a lot tougher than expected but very fun :)
 

8 Years ago, some good friends helped me making a huge Christmas giveaway, which kind of marked the end of the good old Battleforge as we knew it. This winter, we are celebrating the release of BF Reborn!  Of course I kind of want to keep this "tradition" going.
So yeah long story short, if there's a card you've always wanted to have in your collection deck (or just cards of a certain color in general), post your wishes here and I will try to make them come true as long as they are realistic. 
 
See ya ingame!
 
Donors of this giveaway:

- Evil market guy Bozzah 
- Kybaka who was kind enough to send me 15k bfp for giving away cards to newbs.
 
 

8 Years ago, some good friends helped me making a huge Christmas giveaway, which kind of marked the end of the good old Battleforge as we knew it. This winter, we are celebrating the release of BF Reborn!  Of course I kind of want to keep this "tradition" going.
So yeah long story short, if there's a card you've always wanted to have in your collection deck (or just cards of a certain color in general), post your wishes here and I will try to make them come true as long as they are realistic. 
 
See ya ingame!
 
Donors of this giveaway:

- Evil market guy Bozzah 
- Kybaka who was kind enough to send me 15k bfp for giving away cards to newbs.
 
 

it gives me 127.0.0.1 as the server IP .... so I guess you are right