IIRC they did say that any troop that gets a nerf (and I assume any noticeable change counts too) will have the option to unlevel/untrait and refund the souls and stones.
People are also forgetting that frozen will be available on only 3 troops. One of those troops isn’t even implemented in the game, and I haven’t encountered the other 2 in my last 1000 PvP fights (I have literally never seen someone using ice witch, and giant was used some by people around level 20-40 and that’s it). Do people seriously think everyone will just make a team with them? I doubt we will encounter that affliction in more then 3% of PvP fights.
Other then that its much more potent in players hand then in computer hand (as with basically any other card). If you cast it on computer he won’t be able to play around. If computer cast it on a player, that player will just wait for the effect to wear off before casting chain-turn spells etc.
It won’t be game breaking by far, it’ll just introduce a new fun mechanics to play with.
2 Likes
The exact same things you could have said about Centaur Scout and Glade Warden before Agile/True Shot. Just 2 troops, that nobody used before. Who could have guessed they would suddenly be in so many teams just because of some combination of traits?
1 Like
Regarding trait changes… if we change trait #3 and you have all 3 traits unlocked, you’ll STILL have your 3 traits unlocked, it will just be a different 3rd trait.
There WILL be changes to Agile & Trueshot incoming. I don’t have exact details to share with you yet, because we’re still working on it. Every troop affected by this will be added to the refund list for one week after 1.0.9 goes live.
Also any troop that is receiving a change that might be negative (Skeleton is a likely candidate here) will be added to the refund list for a week.
Troops that are receiving minor “sideways” tweaks will probably NOT be added for refund (though we may treat this on a case by case basis), nor will any troops that are receiving changes that are fairly obvious buffs.
Lastly, 2-3 troops are receiving spell reworks in 1.0.9. These WILL be offered for refund JUST IN CASE somebody out there was enjoying the old spell.
6 Likes
@Sirrian - where there is a change in mana colour (e.g. Frost Giant), am I correct in assume the previous coloured Arcane Stone will be refunded (rather than that matching the new colour mix)?
That’s a very good question!
The answer is actually no, because we imagined some sneaky folks might use it as a conversion tool to convert one arcane to another by repeatedly traiting & refunding a troop.
However, we weren’t PLANNING on offering refunds for any of the 3 (I THINK it is currently 3?) color-changed troops, since nobody much (apart from Zelarith below it seems!!! 
) was using them anyway, and in all 3 cases they’ve also received a decent buff.
Are there also refunds when you change a troop’s mana colors? How does it work then?
I mean, for example, I have a Frost Giant with all 3rd traits.
His mana color changes from blue/yellow to blue/brown in 1.0.9
I have a deck where I used him in combo with Alchemist and can’t do that anymore, I want a refund.
What do I get for the 3rd trait refund? Arcane Sword or Arcane Shield?
Best thing would be to save the stones used on every unit so there wouldn’t be any abuse.
For example, if you answer me that I would get Arcane Shield in this case and if I have a lot of Arcane Sword Traitstone (hi Zephyros event) and would rather have Arcane Shield Traitstones, I would use my stones right now on Frost Giant just to be able to trade them for Arcane Shield…
But if I get Arcane Sword traitstones back, I could abuse this too : during the week when the refund option is available, I can trade my Arcane Shield for Arcane Sword. Several times on top of that !
That’s why, you must make it so you’d refund the exact stones used on the unit, not stones based on the unit’s current / previous mana colors.
@Zelarith, unfortunately, the way we store our data doesn’t allow for this.
However if we DO decide to offer a refund for a color-changed troop, AND you get back the wrong stone, we’re happy to handle that on a case-by-case basis in support, and give you the correct stones.
Then you should definitely refund traitstones matching the new color to limit any possible abuses ^^’
You can’t really compare freeze to agile/true shot. Agile/trueshot was just a huge addition to current skull dmg meta, that won’t be the case with freeze, it’s not supported by meta nor will contribute to meta. It will be played purely for fun purposes.
I compared the two based on your previous reasoning of “only 2 troops + not currently popular = will never be popular”. Just saying that these facts mean nothing in this context.
How can you possibly decide what will become meta? What the community finds useful is what considered meta. Goblins became useful enough - they became meta. Skull Spawners became useful enough - also meta. There are no rules to this, and you can’t possibly decide now that something will not become meta, just because it’s not similar to the current meta.
looks like it was a good idea to post so that the freakout could be over before the trait gets here 
1 Like
I’m not deciding what next meta will be, but a trait like freeze won’t change it for sure. Agile and true shot didn’t switch meta to skull damage, masiv increase in status shifted meta towards skull damage because magic damage became week in comparasion with skull dealt damage. So I am absolutely positive we won’t encounter teams with freeze skills in more then 3% of fights. A viable team could be made around freeze units, but it would still be much slower and unreliable compared to skull damage teams.
[quote=“DonBoba, post:94, topic:3426”]
it would still be much slower and unreliable compared to skull damage teams.
[/quote]Which is only a good reason for why people might not use it to invade (which is less of problem anyway), but that won’t stop anyone from using it for defense, since they don’t play it themselves, what do they care if it’s slow, as long that it’s winning for you.
Same thing was true with 3x Webspinner teams: They were too painfully slow for invade, yet everyone used them for defense (if they had the troops), because it had good win rate.
This is not true, 3x webs were perfectly speedy for invade.
Fwiw I also think we won’t see a huge shift in three meta because of this new ability. That’s not to say I won’t be thoroughly annoyed if we do and games start taking way longer to complete.
Sidetracking but really? Table-flipping? If those types of decks cause that kind of reaction for a person, then that person isn’t meant for MtG, at least in the kinds of environments where you might see those decks. Either step up and build a deck to beat them or get out of that kitchen and go back to “creature wars” (as that seems to be only type of deck left).
Am i the only one who wishes to be a beta tester/game tester for these people? I don’t think i want to be paid by them either because playing newer parts of the game would be its own reward.
They took our jobs, then our wives… and now our extra turns!
I’m going to drop my card here on the side of “wait and see.” Part of the problem with other meta takeovers like True Shot etc. is that they are easily obtainable and easy to use - and overwhelmingly powerful. But Frozen looks like it will not be quite as readily available, not on common troops anyway, and while it might still prove to be game-breaking (or, dare I say it, c-c-c-combo breaking?), it is not all-powerful, as it cannot one-shot troops and avoid damage like Glade or Centaur. It’s a status ailment that wears off, for goodness’ sake, it’s not even permanent like poison, and since Herdmaster and Sheggra’s Heart seem to be popular right now anyway, cleansing shouldn’t be much of an issue.
Like I said, it may yet turn out to be really annoying or worse, but I’d rather wait to judge until I see it in action. Also, like someone - I can’t remember who - has said, not much if anything will change the devs’ plans at this stage, so save yourself the angst over something that hasn’t even happened yet!
4 Likes
I believe I said above - am also on the ‘wait and see’ party… Thought I’d repeat here for, reasons… And cos no one laughed at my ‘cool’ pun…