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January Patch Feedback Thread


WindHunter

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Hello everyone,

It has been ten days 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 cards and factions (PvE and PvP)? 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, etc.?

What do you think of the new achievements? Which ones are fun and exciting? Which ones are frustrating and boring? Do you like the shift to cosmetic rewards instead of gameplay rewards like boosters and gold?

You can also join us at our balance discord to further discuss changes to cards: https://discord.gg/jrGEBG9NT5

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Hey WindHunter,

then I'll make the start on this one again. But let me say first, for many things this not even 2 weeks are not enough for me to share more then a first impression. Even more as I have limited time and internet currently and I did not personally test everything as deep as I wanted.
 

On 1/25/2023 at 12:16 AM, WindHunter said:

Do you like the changes to cards and factions (PvE and PvP)? 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?

Only T1 card I checked myself so far is Strikers. I still don't see any really use case beside to have a fun opener in the Thugs and Striker changes. Nothing that hurts, but nothing that gave me excitement.

In T3 I liked most the changes to Rageflame, did not test it yet, but I'm excited to do so. The Unity nerf is reasonable, though it hurts my currently most beloved deck. In one match against Fire I really struggled to keep my army alive, but to early to say that it came from this quite small change, perhaps just executed poorly by me.

Fire Sphere nerf really hurts, but tbh - it feels more balanced now. Sad, Fire was lately just behind bandits decks in terms of meta speedy decks and fell now a slight bit behind. But still fire is in the best state ever. Batariel buff makes up for the Sphere buff from my feeling, as you get a higher stage more consistently. The buff for the purple one was not needed, but feels good!

Forest Elder finally feels almost worth the 4th Nature Orb, great job! Mind Control got a ton better, every addressed issue was perfectly hit imo. Good inventory, good solution!

Other T4 changes I really liked to read, but I did not test myself yet are Shadow Worm and Gemeye. But seen a Stonekin deck today where I was a bit disappointed. But we did learn with this patch, "Its the player, not the cards" - need to test this myself soon.

 

On 1/25/2023 at 12:16 AM, WindHunter said:

Do you enjoy the new cards, are they balanced, etc.?

Raven Walker seems weaker as expected on the first glance, but only made 2 games with it so far. I feel also that I did not find the perfect deck for it so far. It feels a bit clunky to use it to perfect conditions, but that is a thing I want and need to explore further. My first fears that it sounds/looks a bit OP have not come true. If it is really viable in the current state, it seems that you need quite some micro and a good deck composition to make it working really good.

Sanctuary green feels way better then expected after the final changes and the 75% CC reduction are more viable as I would have guessed. Finally a good tool against Zappers and worthy enough to me to have some more use of the 4th nature orb. The reduction is enough to bring even a smaller army in position and deal clean with Twilight camps, works even in a 3-Zapper camp though it needs quite some micro. I like it!

Sanctuary blue feels a bit pointless to me. Where do I use that and why? Perhaps a cpve thingy I could imagine, but rpve just wants the green one.
 

On 1/25/2023 at 12:16 AM, WindHunter said:

What do you think of the new achievements? Which ones are fun and exciting? Which ones are frustrating and boring?

Yes! All! None!

Jokes aside, I mean its achievements. Something you can do, nothing you must do. I mean I can complain fast, but see nothing to complain here. If someone thinks: Oh this is to tedious to me - just leave it aside. Or take it as extra motivation after all other things are done. If someone thinks that one is maybe too hard - leave it out for now. I guess for any of the new achievements you will find at least a handful of people who are grateful for that.
Really good job on this one. What brings us to

 

On 1/25/2023 at 12:16 AM, WindHunter said:

Do you like the shift to cosmetic rewards instead of gameplay rewards like boosters and gold?


Hell yes! I feel a good mix of rewards as we have it currently should be a good way to make the majority of people happy. There is stuff for everyone, some achievements grant a ton of boosters (or can be converted to hard BFP), some give a promo (that are behind a challenge, but not too harsh so that everybody can get those with some investment of time and effort) and others just reward you with nice fluff.


This patch was a milestone for SR for sure, alongside the buffs/changes to the pure factions and reforging tool.

Fanboy over and out. 🙂



PS: Nah - one last thing. Big love for taking all the community feedback (where I was quite loud for sure) on the buffed Batariel issue. I had not played it for quite some time and this was really one of the first things I tested. I would not have expected from the numbers, but he is back! ❤️ I love that the deck is finally playable again, even if not in that old state, but good enough to carry a 10 like it should or to use at least 1-2 Batas in a speedrun again. Not as OP as it was, but really enjoyable if executed well. I really hope that we (the community) and you (the balancing team) can agree on the current state as a compromise.

Tho I will still miss a beautiful 2-3 sec last row clear like seen sometimes if everything was executed really perfectly 🥺

EDIT PPS: Who is the genius behind the WBG promo. Damn I did not use WBG for quite a while, but this looks so awesome that I will play it once again in near future. What. A. Beauty.

Edited by Volin
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On 1/24/2023 at 6:16 PM, WindHunter said:

What do you think of the new achievements? Which ones are fun and exciting? Which ones are frustrating and boring? Do you like the shift to cosmetic rewards instead of gameplay rewards like boosters and gold?

I like the mix/range of options/rewards achievements gives now. I replayed Siege of Hope way more times than I would had to get Shield Texture with "No Human Left Behind" because doing maps with extra conditions (beside time) is up my alley and achievement/events would be the motivation.

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On 1/25/2023 at 12:16 AM, WindHunter said:

Do you like the changes to cards and factions (PvE and PvP)? 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?

Balance changess yesss. 

Some cards I tested because they were already in decks I recently played: 

I like Strikers change to be able to gang up with orks, would be cool if there are more other orks than thugs tho. Maybe some ork-archers (crossbow).

Earthkeeper´s change is what I was waiting for! Thanks 😄 finally 🙂 BUT it seems to be buggy - his damage taken should be spread out to stonekin-units nearby, but some don´t work. At first I thought certain units don´t receive any of the spread damage, but Now it looks to me like the raduis is just bugged.

- > stonekin units SIDEWAYS to earthkeeper can stand 25m away and still receive parts of the damage, while units BEHIND Earhkeeper cant go farther away than 10m to still receive dmg. How can this not be a circle?
Also the text on the card is wrong (german) because it states that stonekins within 40m take damage, thats certainly not the case.

And 40m is the max range the tether works, but for activation the Earthkeeper has to move withing a range of like 25m. Then the connected unit can walk a bit further away, thats a bit cluncy to use.

AbyssalWarder´s ability finally doesn´t feel completele useless in PvE and you can see it deals real damage. Not too strong tho. What´s sad is that the XL unit dies sooo fast and being left with the smaller ones that can´t use the active is not that good in some situations. 

Artillery has something weird going on - I think I can´t tell the building to focus enemies that are further away than it´s original range, but it does attack enemies 60m away by itself (just not the ones I want it to hit). 

Firebomb is funny now, as it can be set up whilst in fights (PvE) 😄 the new "allow to hit air" change sounds nice, but the range of the explosion is actually quite small so some enemies dodge this by default

Infected Tower´s damage increase certainly feels good, this tower can now properly defence by itself and not only function as a creep spawner. 

Viridia´s splash-dmg change is nice.

(didnt test this card but) Nox Carrier feels weird now, because the unit is so slow and can´t defend itself or anything. Do the Rippers spawn whenever the carrier dies or only when the ability goes off? If only when ability this is still very weak and completely useless in PvE.

QueekQueek it´s nice to see that this one gets some attention, but a teleport-friendly-units-ability would still be nice (and fitting for the teleporting-pig as is in cpve)

Vulcan can still not hit air units and thus can´t really be used in PvE sadly, I don´t get it why Rageflame does get the change but Vulcan doesnt. The ability can imo still only hit ground but his normal attack should dmg flyers aswell. 
I would still love to see a change being made to Gravity Sourge tho - to affect all flying units (up to 5 f.e.) in an area instead of just one, so this 2 cards could be used together very well.

 

Edited by Xamos
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Also, why was "Tainted Death" completele removed from Thunder Wagon instead of simply added to both affinitys? While this wouldn´t have that big of an impact, it´s not op by any means and if the ability is there why not make use of it?

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As my feedback, I specifically want to mention I really enjoy the achievements. Often times I like the idea of the PvE contests (e.g., do a specific map in a certain amount of time with a set of rules) but I am always intimidated by the time limit and competition. These achievements that call for very specific game rules (only buildings, only 1 color, etc.) are really a fun way to challenge myself in my own time frame and with no pressure or external competition. Really love them and I would enjoy more of them!

The new cards are really cool and blend in well. As far as I can tell, they bring a lot of new life to certain areas. So far bandit minefield, banzai lord and dome of protection are my favourites.

The cosmetics are a fun little reward to add onto the PvE challenges. Not everything can be a promo, so this is a neat little way to reward the challenges. Overall nothing negative to report! Thanks for the hard work 🙂

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On 1/26/2023 at 3:13 PM, Volin said:

EDIT PPS: Who is the genius behind the WBG promo. Damn I did not use WBG for quite a while, but this looks so awesome that I will play it once again in near future. What. A. Beauty.

SpiritAlpha did a great job on both the card artwork and the model textures. 

On 1/30/2023 at 6:57 AM, Xamos said:

AbyssalWarder´s ability finally doesn´t feel completele useless in PvE and you can see it deals real damage. Not too strong tho. What´s sad is that the XL unit dies sooo fast and being left with the smaller ones that can´t use the active is not that good in some situations.

Try using it with Promise of Life, it is a whole different card. Promise of Life is also useful in T4 to unbind your Forest Elder, greatly increasing your rate of building an army. 

On 1/30/2023 at 6:57 AM, Xamos said:

Artillery has something weird going on - I think I can´t tell the building to focus enemies that are further away than it´s original range, but it does attack enemies 60m away by itself (just not the ones I want it to hit). 

We discovered this before releasing the last round of changes but did not have time to fix it. We are still investigating the issue. 

On 1/30/2023 at 7:52 AM, Xamos said:

Also, why was "Tainted Death" completele removed from Thunder Wagon instead of simply added to both affinitys? While this wouldn´t have that big of an impact, it´s not op by any means and if the ability is there why not make use of it?

We do not think on-death abilities of this kind are fitting for Fire units. 

12 hours ago, Mortaza said:

As my feedback, I specifically want to mention I really enjoy the achievements. Often times I like the idea of the PvE contests (e.g., do a specific map in a certain amount of time with a set of rules) but I am always intimidated by the time limit and competition. These achievements that call for very specific game rules (only buildings, only 1 color, etc.) are really a fun way to challenge myself in my own time frame and with no pressure or external competition. Really love them and I would enjoy more of them!

I think this is a great explanation of what makes the challenges different than our regularly occurring events. Several of the achievements are spins on previous events as well, but now there is no time or social pressure on the player. 

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