Re-Buff Death Mark

Feature Requests and Game feedback
1

We were talking about our favorite weapons in another thread and since mine is Creeping Death, it made me think about Death Mark again.

I wish they would re-buff it. I know I might be in the minority here, but I just would love to see it. Honestly, with so much stuff being immune to it and with it being delayed by a turn, it’s kind of weak now. So, at the very least I would like to see it return to an instant thing instead of being turn delay. But maybe that’s just me.

Also, I want to say that I’m asking for this as someone who has been burned (no pun/game reference intended) by that Instant Death Mark, in the past. But, it also has done great things for me as well.

What do you guys think?

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2

I think Death Mark kinda hit a dead end in its design.
I agree that it is currently too weak to be relevant, and removing the grace turn would not make it too powerful, it’ll probably still be meh.

However i also think removing the grace turn would be a bad move regarding gameplay, as it removes the players option to actively counter it in a reliable fashion(instead of just letting it run its course and do nothing), further decreasing player agenda.

Death Mark is just a problematic effect inherently and probably needs to be completely redesigned to be both, relevant and not frustrating af.

Edit: I’d like to add though that i would not necessarily mind if the grace turn got removed, i think it is absolutely manageable.

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Fair enough. I just made this topic, because everybody has their “thing”. I absolutely love the Undead troops of this game, and by extension, Death Mark. I was really happy when they made the Undying trait, but super bummed when they turn delayed Death Mark.

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4

I don’t like the low chance instant death, I’d rather it be 50% chance to lose 50% of life, or some such amounts. Not low chance of death or no ill effects.

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5

I could argue both sides.

I don’t personally like widely-available low-chance instakill. I don’t personally like MOST of the luck-based mechanics in GoW. I’d kind of like to see Death Mark removed from the game.

But if I put on a designer hat and analyze it objectively: yes. Death Mark is so infrequent it’s irrelevant now. Most of the things you’d really like to instakill are immune to it. The only time I care about Death Mark is when it ends up in an event’s defense.

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6

I totally agree with you. Also change Deathknights 3rd trait to death mark a random enemy troop on 4-5 gem matches.

There is too much immunity in this game too, wish they balanced that as well with less immunity traits etc.

I loved to use Creeping Death, as well as Death, before! :+1:

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7

They should not re-buff death mark to have a 0-turn delay. The ability to use strategy in this game already lowers with each update as more instakill mechanics/troops are added. The player should have at least one chance to cleanse.

That said, I wouldn’t mind if they made death mark more deadly. I always felt that death mark should either 1) trigger 100% after the 1-turn grace period if it hasn’t been removed OR 2) the % chance of it killing should rise exponentially the longer it stays on a troop.

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Don’t forget our old mate the AI already benefits from death marks clanging more commonly than us! (Ok it’s anecdotal but you not what I mean!)

Don’t forget those stupid raid events with with limitations on troops in them where 1 turn death marks will make you go nuts! Now that will cause some fury… remember Taz and his 20% (100%) devour?

Today, faction event, I got turned by the toadstool and became 1. Fabbo what a great troop, 1 turn transformer! Except 15 attempts later it hadn’t gone off again! :slight_smile:

It’s a no from me.

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Thanks for all the replies, guys. I just thought we could have a cool discussion about something I enjoy. I figured this would be a controversial, but good “spirited debate” topic :slight_smile:

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10

All very cool ideas. Any one else have any other “balance” suggestions?

11

I think 4x Fire Bomb teams should start with 100% death mark.

12

dunno about dm but id like a decay troop something like all enemies lose 5% from all stats on extra turns or something xD

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13

I could live with that. Something needs to change. It needs a buff before New year. (hopeful)

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14

What if, we kept the 1 turn delay, but made it so that it only disappeared after X turns? Each turn at the same 10% chance.

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15

Change from 10% chance to insta kill with a one turn delay to something with some strategy and fairness for both parties:

“Lose 10% max-health per turn, 100% death on 3rd (or maybe 5th) turn Death Mark is active. 25% chance to recover per turn”.

Then there’s some strategy on both sides. I say “max” health referring to the troops’ “starting” health, not current health. Also, the 3rd turn thing might be TOO powerful, like if thrown on your entire team, which is why I included the 5th turn alternative. If it IS left at 3rd turn, I think a 25% recover chance is fair, that way there’s at LEAST a 50% chance to recover before the 3rd turn if there’s no cleanses on your team.

Even if it is recovered by the 3rd turn or even earlier, they are not left unscathed, and your Death Mark troops aren’t completely useless.

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16

I think these effects need leaving alone as they are, thanks.

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17

Honestly, this is what poison should become… ot at least something similar like (10% of current life, rounded up).
In terms of dearth mark, it could just be a ticking time bomb,
“instant kill in 5 turns” Capitalising on what seems to be the devs “favourite” mechanic right now.
The time left could even be randomised between 3 and 10, to add some RNG elements.
Or a leech of some kind:
“2 true damage each turn, same recovery rates as burn”
“Steal 1 hp each turn (randomly given to an ally)”

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18

IMO this is better than: You’re fine. You’re fine. You’re fine. Oops, you’re dead…

How about calling it something like Life Drain, rather than Death Mark?

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19

We already have a trait called life drain, so having a status of the same name might be confusing. But, I like where your head is at.

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20

Oops, I’d forgotten about that! Ok, how about “Sap Life”? (If I had time I’d dig out the Thesaurus… :wink:

I do like the idea of something that’s a more powerful version of Poison or Burn, but which isn’t an all-or-nothing effect which either kills you or has no effect.

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