Jump to content

Grove Spirit - Upcoming Changes


WindHunter

Recommended Posts

As part of our upcoming Nature balance changes, Grove Spirit will be receiving the following proposed changes. Please note that all changes proposed here are provisional and as such as subject to change:

Iteration 1
1. Semi-Swift (6.4 m/s)
2. Life points: 1100 --> 1900
3. New auto-cast "Woodland Blessing" - "Every 2.5 seconds, unit is able to cast a protective spell upon friendly units that lasts for 10 seconds and restores 60 life points per second, up to 600 in total. Target will additionally be immune to all major debuffs for 10 seconds. Only one instance of the spell may be applied to a unit at a time."
4. Healing Song Rework: "Activate to create a magical zone of 25m radius where friendly units will be continually protected. Grove Spirit continually applies Woodland Blessing to every ally unit in range. Lasts for 20 seconds. Reusable every 30 seconds."

Iteration 1 Goals
Equalize speed with units to be supported... increase life points to improve survivability... give new auto-cast to function as a better Crystal Fiend... change ability from pure heal to function as an anti-cc aura...

Draconnor, Mynoduesp and Xamos like this
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nature has more than enough healing at its disposal. If anything, the heal is there for flavor and really not that important.

What is the main draw here is that units will be safe from debuffs, including CC. Notice it's worded the same way as Disenchant G. Which includes freeze and paralyze, giving Nature an extremely powerful tool to preemptively make their army immune against Willzappers and other CC threats. However, it has to be applied beforehand as it does not actively cleanse. Only prevent the application of debuffs/CC.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I see, in which case a cleanse effect and the heal being dropped entirely would be more useful.  The paralyze towers aren't that big of a deal unless you solo with few units and no anti structure spells, but those as well as Spellbreaker disenchant would be something useful to counter.  Off the top of my head, I see no other relevant utility for the ability though.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"No anti structure spells" is exactly the situation that pure Nature is in. And even after the update it won't have them. However, it will have other, thematic ways of dealing with high priority buildings. Namely Mind Control, which lets you take over a strong enemy unit, have it be immune to debuffs, and then send it after the target. And Grove Spirit, which lets you protect your army before it gets caught up in CC.

I think an additional cleanse effect would make too strong and remove an interesting aspect of the ability. Namely having to time it right instead of mindlessly spamming it whenever. Also, the idea is that the factions are still unique and don't just get the same tools to deal with everything. So while similar, there is a unique spin to it.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 6 months later...

For me it couldn't be better : Not only she still heal (Even if it is still little compared to what she had), but she also gain a superb ability in same time to protect units against nearly anything. For me it is a win win situation for such a magnificent, but still not known enough.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice changes and not over the top with additional Steadfast. 

Wouldn't be opposed to enlargening the unit from M to L either since 6.4 m/s is default L-speed. Instead of adding pseudo-Swift. 

On 4/2/2022 at 10:42 PM, Cocofang said:

it has to be applied beforehand as it does not actively cleanse. Only prevent the application of debuffs/CC

That's wrong right? Field immunizies most likely will cleanse every existing effect on units, therefore it can be applied after units got paralised.

Not 100% on this, but close to especially after the couple of tests with Greenpeace. 

Doesn't really hurt the card and flaire IMO. It's still very different Disechant (g) since it is a channeled field effect rather than single target and as long as Groovespirit doesn't have steadfast theres still couterplay to it.

(just realised this is quite an old thread :D) 

Edited by Mynoduesp
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have some concerns...

I can't really imagine how its supposed to work in the game.

Quote

3. New auto-cast "Woodland Blessing"...

Will the paralyze beam stop being an auto-cast or do you intend to remove it altogether, because it isn't mentioned?
I guess it would be used even less, since paralyzing would mean she can't do her new heal, immunity gimmick.

Quote

4. Healing Song Rework: "Activate to create a magical zone of 25m radius where friendly units will be continually protected. Grove Spirit continually applies Woodland Blessing to every ally unit in range. Lasts for 20 seconds. Reusable every 30 seconds."

Why butcher the healing song heal?

Is it the same immobile dome animation? So if I get that right its 20 seconds area buff, but Woodland Blessing still only lasts 10seconds after leaving the area.
How are you supposed to use it if you run into a camp with ice, willzappers etc.?
You'd have to cast the healing song twice, before entering and inside the camp.

She is supposed to be able to cast it every 2.5 seconds for free, meaning she can keep up the buff on 4 units (excluding herself).
Sounds like two grove spirits will be enough to protect a whole squad, 8 units is plenty in t4 (may be only worth it in multiplayer).
The Grove spirit can stay out of range and cast the buff and doesn't risk getting splash killed by standing in the middle of a camp to cast her dome.
Also 60hp/s isn't terrible but its quite the opposite of her super heal.
I'd say Nature has more regeneration abilities rather than healing (ray of light, regrowth, wheel of gifts, gardens, well, fountain, werebeasts, forest elder).
You can't even stack her effect unlike Timeshifter, healing a huge amount of units might give an insane heal value but do we really need it?

just for comparison:
Wheel of gifts heals every friendly unit for 26-48hp/s (3500 - 6400HP Unit)
both Ray of Light and Regrowth every unit in the area 105-192hp/s (3500 - 6400HP Unit, but the heal is capped)

I feel like immunity would be more fitting on Colossus's roar, something you use before walking into the enemy

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The paralyze beam will remain, similar to how Shaman has both a heal and an attack. Woodland Blessing will be given higher priority, which should mean Grove Spirit prioritizes buffing unless specifically commanded to paralyze an enemy. 

About Healing Song: By T4 Nature has a lot of healing and nearly all of it is more convenient than adding in a T4 M-unit and keeping it safe. Equilibrium, Healing Gardens, Forest Elder, and Regrowth are all better and you likely have at least 2 of these in your deck. So while this is a nerf to Grove Spirit's healing, it does allow the unit to provide something which Nature is lacking, namely, CC immunity. Nature has zero offensive spells which can damage buildings meaning the heavy lifting needs to happen via units. We could have "fixed" this by giving Nature an offensive anti-building spell or unit ability but instead decided to accept it as a design restriction and attempt to design around Nature's building weakness for the sake of more unique gameplay. Grove Spirit will provide a 25m radius area of CC immunity and 10 seconds of safety outside of that zone. This should allow Nature's powerful backline in Primeval Watcher to do its job without interruption. 

I will also note that this card, while in active development right now, is not yet complete. It will undergo a testing phase during which we will adjust its values based on Nature's needs as a faction. 

Volin likes this
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Update:
The current proposal for Grove Spirit has proven high problematic in terms of bugs and usability. We are therefore postponing its release. Additionally, it is highly likely we will need to once again change its design given the likely unsolvable problems caused by the current iteration.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I might have an idea for her. How about if we add to her a bombard like shadow witch but at the place of damages and knockback we make it paralyses?

Also at the place of the heal (or she can keeps it if needed) she could have a deployable area of effect that could potentially give a buff. Any buff could do : Defense, offense, healing buff, or even an ensnaring effect. 

We also could give her high range for exemple, 40-50m. 

Those are only ideas, but if you want to inspire from those, just go ahead. ^^

Edited by DDrazard
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue. Terms of Use