As you know I like a balanced game and in the last years, The explosion tactic (quicker but riskier) has trumped the control tactic (more thinking, more predictable).
Devs told us Exploder were « on watch »
We got Doomskull, clearly giving more edge to Exploders.
We were told Exploders were on watch.
Now with Class Trait, we see the Hunt trait in action more and more, and once again, Exploders are benefiting (believe me, I have many Exploder teams, and they all are greatly faster since the Hunt trait).
So, still on watch or should we accept that this is what Gem of Wars should be now?
Hunt trait puts Hunter Mark on 4-5 Matches.
A Troop that is marked also takes double explosion damage. So say exploding 5 skulls and 2 doom skulls means 30 damage.
I feel exploding skulls (and doomskulls) could be balanced down a bit in a sensible way by making skull resist traits affect them. A Gorgotha or Stonehammer tends to take more damage from a board of exploded Doomskulls than if they were matched by a troop with around 30 attack, which makes absolutely no sense.
You know I have not tested that, explosions are so erratic I forgot to check if armor traits protects from explosion damage.
I take it from Mithran that it does not.
I like the Exploder game more than the Control game, but I respect they are both valid and enjoyable ways for the game to exist. I think the devs have kind of embraced the Exploder game more.
I wish there was a mode that gave you the Control mode you want. I might even find myself alternating between the two.
When mass exploders are more reliable for extraturns and less risky to use than supposed medium-strong gem spawners(9-10 single colour or any double spawners that don’t spawn 24 gems!) the balance is definitely skewed.
I still blame Unity, the overarching change to gem-clump resolution because of Kraken and the knee jerk changes to double spawns after the Gar’Nok rework(had a great week buddy), but the Devs are evidently happy with those troops being meh.
Increased variance of outcomes from the invisible dynamic involuntary difficulty system render board control almost a relic of the past. Exploders are the ideal units to take advantage of wildly variant outcomes, as is demonstrated by the doomskull units.
Besides, if there was consistant board control possible, players would be able to reach those evasive desired prizes at the top of the ladder much more easily and not suffer freak losses that leaves them one or two wins short of a key prize tier and need to cough up a couple hundred additional gems to reach that prize tier (which is intentional by design).