The problem with an “easy button” is that it puts players in the uncomfortable position of having to choose between what they’ll enjoy, and what the game will reward. It’s easy to sit there, winning quickly and easily, raking in the rewards, while telling people they have the option of doing something less efficient if they want. Games inform people how they should be playing by their reward structure.
If there’s an easy option, it shouldn’t be as rewarding. The most efficient way to generate resources should also be the most engaging, and it’s the developer’s responsibility to create that kind of dynamic.
This is why I recommended left-side PvP slot as the “easy mode.” It’s already implemented, provides proportionally less rewards than “hard mode,” and you can use whatever lineup you like. For “hard mode,” there should not be a single “press button get biscuit” team composition.
I’m curious if you could elaborate on this. The way I see it, EK’s Stun doesn’t help Mab except against Mana Shield, of which there is currently only one troop. It won’t work against Impervious. His damage is true damage while Mab’s is not, so they’re not getting that synergy either. His spell also drains the enemy’s Mana, making Mab’s attacks less potent.
Early/Mid game it’s super frustrating and boring running into Goblins and Rock Worms over and over and over again. This is countered primarily by running Goblin or Rock Worm teams. Late game, it’s a sea of Goblin, Maw, & Mab, which is countered by Maw & Mab. 4 teams dominating the entirety of the game for months/years isn’t good for the game.
I absolutely understand why people don’t want these things nerfed since any given individual likes their team and doesn’t want to feel punished, but when something like 3/4 of your matches have Goblins or Rock Worms for 200 levels, then for the next 800 levels it’s 4/5 Goblins, Maw, & Mab, there’s clearly a problem. Their popularity is not bc they’re “fun”, it’s bc they’re disproportionately strong.
The answer is not “Fight stuff on the left” or “Deal with it”. The answer is that these troops are too strong and legitimately hurt the game by making it stale, frustrating, etc. And bear in mind that the game gets balanced around these outliers, so it’s actually more of a grind for anyone not running these teams, which further incentivizes their use. If these teams weren’t as strong, yes, it would still be a grind bc it’s a F2P game, but it would be a much more even grind where a wide variety of team comps are viable and gain resources at roughly the same rate. As it currently stands, the only reason anyone will ever switch away from Maw or Mab teams is if we see power creep that creates an even stronger team.
MtG, Hearthstone, and list goes on… there will always be good cards and synergies and then the rest as long as the ‘environment’ is static. The only way other cards get better is to change up the environment in which they are utilized… then, all the sudden other cards become more valuable in that new environment.
Simple fix is to stop messing with the troops themselves… doing so only moves everything closer to same stats / same powers.
Power feels good to the player… they want to be able to dominate a match. Variety in experience is obviously desirable as well. However, to accomplish that - you change the environment the troops are used in, so all troops are not equal all the time.
Example - make each kingdom have pros / cons list that affect the game. Such that not all troops are good in all locations all the time. Maw / worms / monsters - whatever could absolutely suck in water and fire regions, but be quite handy in wooded regions and even get a bonus in plains country… fire / lava / hell minions might be fine in plains or blighted areas, get a bonus in wooded areas and get negatives in water / frigid areas…
Want to take it further, allow a different defense to be set for EVERY kingdom… will you run into similar setups at a given kingdom, in time you will… but, you will be changing up your opposition troops based on the kingdom you are invading as well.
Want to take it a step further, change up the bonus’s / penalties that are in effect each quarter… so keeping the same set of troops on defense each quarter can be done, but is not ideal.
Then - dev’s can stop messing with things like Maw, Mab, goblins, Mercy, Rock Worm, Astral Spirit… whatever… it is then okay to have powerful troops - as they are not powerful everywhere… and you avoid temptation for nerf requests to turn this variety and rich fictional game into one gigantic bland environment of everthing has stat 20s and all have the same traits… cause that’s where all these nerf requests are headed.
I absolutely love this idea! It would add so much new excitement to the game, and it would add a new strategy layer as well. It wouldn’t be a trival change to the codebase, but I think it would be worth the effort to add it in the future.
I’m just under lvl 500 and I’ve been seeing a good variety of teams for a while. Certainly a lot of Mab and Maw but less than it was a couple of weeks ago. And even then, it wasn’t terrible. I just beat them and move on.
For me personally, the only discussed Nerf that I’m personally vested in is Mercy and that’s because she’s one of my favorite cards. I don’t use Maw, I don’t use Mab, and I don’t use Goblins. I’m not in favor of nerfing any of them however because I just don’t see a problem with them. I face them regularly but not always and I beat them more often than not.
I do however, like some of the ideas kicked around. Kingdom-based bonuses/penalties, more team/type synergies, etc. would go a long way to helping.
Maw maybe, Mab rather not unless you really have no impervious troops at your disposal(not that you actually needed a Mab counter, if you feel like you do, then there are things in your playstyle you can improve on), i personally don’t find Mab exceptionally strong at all since the nerf and the change to impervious which makes fighting Mab ridiculously easy. But she is a fun troop to play.
But Goblins and Rock Worms are not disproportionately strong, i seriously can’t remember the last time i lost a game against these troops. They are played either because they are simple and uncomplicated or deliver a playstyle the user likes, not because of their power.
There are two issues here: 1. The absolute power of cards, and 2. The usage of those cards at various stages of play.
What level are you? I saw way more Rock Worm teams pre-200, but still see them occasionally now. I’ve always seen tons of Goblin teams. That gives a pretty good sense of how their power fluctuates at various stages of play.
That said, the over-usage of a few teams is the biggest concern in my mind. 5 teams dominating the usage charts across all levels of play shouldn’t happen. It leads to a lot of monotony, which is really bad for any game.
I think if you log your next 50 pvp games and the 3 match-ups presented along with your level along the way, you may find the data a bit more telling… one way or the other.
generalizations really aren’t a good basis of any argument “I encounter a lot of x” "I encounter more of y than x this week compared to last… etc.
Provide some data, devs can even verify such claims based on your record… and we can go from there.
Otherwise, it’s just a complaint which may or may not be founded opinion and emotion. Facts / data will help one way or the other.
I’ve found that the teams I’m running into have been a fair bit more diverse lately (I’m just under level 600). Sure, there was a major Maw period, then Mab, but that seems to be in the past. I like where Mercy sits right now. She’s a spark, as has been said, and fairly versatile, but on her own does little. She’s useful on invade battles, but is pretty easy to beat or just manipulate when you face her on a defensive team.
As for my Leonis Kingdom team (or Emperor Korvash team if you prefer):
It gets a bonus for 4 monsters, and a small one for 2 Leonis Kingdom troops. The Manticore defuses pretty much everything until Korvash is charged, then he pretty much dominates, with the Crimson Bat almost unnecessary as the Mist Stalker wipes up the leftovers. It hits quick and hard. I wish I had the Arcane Shield to get Korvash’s second and third traits, but my other maindeck is Behemoth-driven.
I am in the 6xx now, but obviously i have been in the pre-200 at some point for as long as anyone else, and while there were rockworms, i never thought they were overpowered. Annoying sometimes? Sure, any troop that loops itself is annoying when you face it, ironically that is also the reason why many player like them and other loopers, cause looping chains are fun.
I faced as many Goblins as anyone else in all levels of play, they can be annoying, but they didn’t feel too strong to me, even before the nerfs and they most definitely aren’t too strong after the nerfs and the additions of immensely strong legendary troops and their traits.
See i get you face these teams a lot and get bored or annoyed or whatever it is, but they are not too strong, they are average at best and get totally annihilated by any thought through legendary heavy team.
If type/kingdom style synergies are too strong, then they restrict the viable compositions by making complex teams too statistically weak. Restricting the pool of troops that can work well together isn’t going to increase team variety or encourage creativity. There are 4 possible varieties of team:
Teams that have no synergy
Teams that benefit from type/kingdom bonuses, but don’t work well together
Teams that have synergy, but don’t benefit from numerical bonuses
Teams that have it all
Increasing the impact of explicit synergies would just swap 2 and 3, and increase the gaps between the varieties of teams. In the end, which teams would be competitive would be different, but overall there’d probably be fewer of them.