I would take this a step further and divide this into level brackets. Maybe a lot of low/mid-tier players are kvetching due to TDS, but it hasn’t been an issue for me for a long time and I play at a high level.
Heck, I would love to see some sort of info on the top-20 most used troops on defense for the level 1000+ bracket.
The counterargument I was making to this sort of leads me to “why I think TDS sees so much play”.
This is a theory, I don’t have data to support it!
I still feel “midgame” and I’m at 930 hurtling towards 1000 by the end of the week. I don’t have Psion, Famine, Infernus, or half a dozen other troops that seem to form the backbone of the endgame arsenal. I got TDS at 400, and by 500 had the team I’ve been using since fully traited.
Many of the endgame teams seem to be strong against a wide array of defenses but have a very narrow, very strong counter. So endgame players swap between their teams, making sure not to take a “bad” matchup.
Midgame players tend to have one “really good” team and the rest of what they have is “75% of a good team”. TDS synergizes so well with so many other troops it’s extremely likely to be on that “really good” team. I’m still missing a couple of crucial dragons, but I think I have at least 5 viable TDS teams in my arsenal. I’m traiting a dwarves team, but just obtained Pharos-Ra so obviously that’s a distraction. It’ll probably be months before I have a not-TDS team that’s viable!
So that’s my theory: TDS is “overused” because for mid-game it’s the most useful troop. A midgame player can’t adapt to their weaknesses, and TDS doesn’t have many glaring weaknesses. Taking it away feels weird, unless there’s some other choices for a midrange hero, or a way to get out of mid-game faster.
I’ll see how the nerf affects it, but tbh I’m finding that the more I advance the more I want to spend time in Explore/Challenge matches than PvP. I crave arcane traitstones. None of the proposed nerfs seem like they’ll hurt TDS much in this area.
Heros will be getting a minor buff in v3.3. I dont know if it will make a difference at midgame… All 3 Perks on the Hero class will be active instead of just selecting one. It should help early gamers greatly. Of course, At end game those bonuses are minor.
Whoops, I meant “hero” in the sense of “a troop that can fit on so many teams almost any midrange player can use it” and forgot it has a specific meaning in this game.
Gorgotha was my mid-range hero. Not a great damage dealer, but does everything else (tanks, self-cleanses and generates big mana). Still an integral part of many of my teams at level 1175.