I would like the developers to consider removing or reworking any trait that can kill an opponent creature with no opportunity to respond. History has shown they are unbalanced and most likely to be used on defense to steal a kill as they are unreliable on invade. It makes the game much too random when a 5% chance auto kill invokes. And being traited, they will often be done on the first turn even with the Computer AI.
Having to cast something to generate insta kill type things is ok just not the triggered traits. Casting these on the first turn usually involves taking serious risks - on invade, its unreliable, and on defense, the Computer AI is unlikely to be able to invoke it - Princess E type teams.
Examples:
Apply Death Mark - Wraith, Deathknight. Yes, there are immunes to it. Having the one turn of grace probably is enough for this - its the no turn I think is the biggest issue.
Assassin Hero skill - 10% chance on Skull damage.
Archer skill - 15% chance on Skull damage
Very annoying, they even seems to proc when under Entangle or with a 0 attack.
And of course the famous Devour Maw debacle.
Seems that no matter how hard the devs try, insta kill traits can be abused. I salute them for trying but randomly triggered “you are dead” skills I don’t think can ever be balanced.
i agree on 90% of what you are saying, except with Maw. there are so many ways to silence or drain mana that maw isnt overpowered, although psion’s drain mana trait on skull damage is a pain in the butt
I agree with this, the instant kill mechanic is shortsighted or done by lazy developers (I put that in there with a nod to Verant Interactive who put Death Touch in the Plane of Fear that could kill zone wide, it was widely attributed to the devs being lazy in trying to code/figure out a more interesting mechanic).
While I appreciate the instant kills when they work for my troops for my team its far to frequent that it happens for the AI as it seams the AI gets a +50% adjustment to the chance anything happens. Everyone states this, the statistical chance that the archer/assassin class kill on skull damage for the AI has to be around 50% or more but is likely close to correct when done by the player.
I agree with previous statement about the Maw being ok now, I thought the third trait that he had at one point was far to much and I still think the third traits need to be removed from the archer/assassin.
And please get the patch in that nerfs the DKs third trait. Don’t wait anymore, push that out now.
Personally, I think DT should be made to do 75% of max health instead of instant death.
To give an example of this in action, say you have a Crimson Bat that starts with 50 life. You cast him once and it raises you to 67. He takes a few hits and drops to 54 life. If DT then went off, he would take 51 (67 * 3/4, roundedup) true damage dropping down to 3. If you have a troop with 40 life that hasn’t been hit at all, it would take 30.
Yes, it doesn’t make lore sense, but it would fit gameplay FAR better. Instant death mechanics completely invalidate every other stat in the game. If 75% doesn’t work, maybe 70% + 10, so if you had 67 max you would take 57 damage (67 * .7 = 46.9 = 47 + 10 = 57), but if your max was 35 you’d take 35 (35 * .7 = 24.5 = 25 + 10 = 35), meaning it would outright kill low level troops but still give you a chance at survival as you got stronger.
Likewise, devour could be made to only work if the target has less that 75% of max health. Otherwise it is “too strong and avoids being eaten”, but cut it’s health by 75%.
