I know there’s a lot of talk here about diversity in PvP (or lack thereof). I’ve noticed a trend the last few days that speaks to a different kind of diversity, separate from just “I keep facing the same foes over and over”.
Maybe it’s just recall bias, but prior to about a week ago, my matches seemed to fall disproportionately into 2 broad categories:
- AI dominates me from the start due to a Devour or similar devastating effect.
- I dominate the AI from the start because of a good layout or casting a devastating effect first.
For the last few days, I’m seeing A LOT of closer matches. Sure I still have some that swing one way or the other early on but not nearly as many. I’m seeing a lot of matches that are coming down to one or two cards and are real nail-biters.
The game is really FUN right now.
8 Likes
That’s awesome. Glad you’re enjoying the game. There is quite a bit of diversity now. I am able to run several different teams and I am really enjoying the Leonis Empire troops. I have been using a lot of Poison Master as well. Taming the Great Maw has really opened up a lot of possibilities for me.
3 Likes
Yeah, I’m running 4 teams right now, all kingdom-specific: Sword’s Edge, Whitehelm, Stormheim, and Leonis Empire (yeah, I like those kingdom bonuses and seeing how creative I can be with them).
2 Likes
I hope they buff the kingdom bonuses in the future. I admit I mismatch my teams. Mist of Scales are the only troops I get bonuses for.
Marilith***
Poison Master***
Venoxia***
Hero (Imperial Jewel)
That’s my Explore Mode farming team. I really enjoy it.
1 Like
I agree that longer, closer matches are more engaging and more fun than ones where you overwhelmingly win or lose within a few turns due to devastatingly powerful effects or board layout. And that’s fundamentally why the level of power, the ratio of offense to defense, matters in balancing a game. When you have a powerful, game-changing outlier, buffing the opposition just means you win or lose more quickly, which increases the impact of randomness, and decreases the impact of skill. Counters only matter if you get a chance to use them. If one side can win on its first turn, it doesn’t matter whether the opposition brought the appropriate counter.
Buffs and counters are appropriate in a game that’s already mostly healthy. Anything so powerful that the opposition doesn’t matter needs to be reigned in, so that the dynamics of each component have a chance to come into play. No composition should be so powerful that what the opposition fields has no impact on its performance.
2 Likes