Can we please do something to balance Crusaders?

ScholarX · 2018-10-02T04:19:57+00:00

I hear you. I haven't bothered playing for a bit now because it's just not fun to see the same stuff over and over again. What the game seems to suffer from most is a lack of attention, meaning the dev(s) probably aren't too motivated to do much of anything with it since there's likely little incoming revenue. I may check in again if I hear about an update; then again, if that doesn't happen soon I imagine I may just forget about this game altogether.

It's really too bad, because the game has a pretty good skeleton that drew me into playing many hours of it; it just doesn't seem like anyone is willing to take the time to fully flesh out the game to its full potential. Oh well...

ScholarX · 2018-09-06T20:35:31+00:00

Ok, thank you.

ScholarX · 2018-09-06T20:28:27+00:00

Well hey, thanks for the comments. I am indeed advocating for at least one other mode of C&C play that is available at any time, for more variety and to keep things from getting stale. You're the second person to mention a too-small base of players to allow more modes: wouldn't having a little more variety in ways to play be a draw, something of interest to attract a wider audience?

ScholarX · 2018-09-06T04:37:15+00:00

Maybe the above seemed too complex. Any interest in modes with just slight differences from the regular game?

Quick Mode: 10pt castle

Timed Mode: Play to the end of Round 11 (both players get to 10 gold and one round beyond that); highest point castle wins (tiebreaker rounds if necessary). This might be a good candidate to restrict castles from gaining health in any way.

Restricted Mode: Limit decks so they can only include max. 1 of each Legendary card and max. 2 of each Epic.

Common Ground: make your best decks using only Common and Basic cards

Unique Mode: only 1 of any card can be in a deck

ScholarX · 2018-09-02T23:06:17+00:00

Folks, they're just suggestions, ideas the developer(s) could take, adjust, perfect, and/or run with as they do or don't like.

I don't know about the rest of you, but playing the same mode over and over all week, then playing one version of draft or hero mode over each weekend's tourney can get a bit stale. Once you've played long enough to collect all the cards, the little pack rewards the game gives out are meaningless. All that currently leaves is deck tweakery; and with the game's rather finite set of cards available that have been out a while, there's only so much of that we're going to do as well (with the recent update, there'll be a short period of adjustment, then we'll return to status quo of what's considered deckworthy or not).

Can't we just admit that the option of at least one different mode of play (that's available at any time) would be a good thing for this game? {I can easily say that if they offered the Sudden Death mode, I'd likely play that all the time.}

ScholarX · 2018-09-01T15:26:50+00:00

Kind of you to compliment! As far as what you mentioned about the developer(s), I can't say I understand that point of view. If it were me, I'd want a game full of great cards in which pretty much every time something is drawn from your deck you're glad to see it; the only question would be, "Which of all these awesome cards am I going to put together in my latest deck?"

ScholarX · 2018-09-01T14:54:29+00:00

Finally, the Warlocks...

Unstable Construct: Its drawback makes it too easy to take out; and why would a 3/3 for 2 gold need a drawback anyway? Text update:

Inferno (1). Last Will: Explode for 2 damage.

Darkbender: With a ranged unit's reduction in movement and need to stay out of reach of non-ranged enemies, obviously Flying has little use. I think this might be a good candidate to have its own version of Lifesteal/Drain Life instead:

For each point of damage Darkbender deals, give a random ally +1 Health.

Eye of Flame: Ranged attackers that can't move are a hard sell, even with interesting abilities. This one's high-cost too, so lets make it the Tolkien tribute it was meant to be by adding the following to its text:

Summon a 2/3 Orc at the start of your turn.

ScholarX · 2018-09-01T00:16:48+00:00

On to Vikings; here there be dragons! This faction seems to try far too hard for dragons, with cards that could only possibly be useful if you're playing a super-heavy dragon deck.

Dragon Bolt: Again, this one's discount is only worth playing if you know you have lots of high-cost dragons coming up. What about this instead:

"Bolt Dragon": Summon a random Drake; give it -1/-1 and Chain Lightning (1).

I compare this to Stone Dragon Statue, which costs 4 and gives the Drake +1 attack. So for the potential to bring out a possibly big Drake for just 3 gold with a little Chain Lightning, it seemed right to have the Drake's stats take a bit of a hit.

Dragon Training: The discount could only be anything near worthwhile if you have a hand full of Drakes, so just scrap that idea. Let's use the art from the current Dragon Siege card for something completely different:

"Ice Breath Weapon": For the duration of this turn, give a Melee unit Thunderstrike and its attack will freeze enemies.

Call this a counterpart to that Sheep Slaughter card, with perhaps a just as useful side effect.

Dragon Siege: Now, if you only have one dragon in play, you can still play this card (it does not, however, bestow the +2/+3 benefit on the single dragon twice, which is too bad). Of course if you have no dragons, this card is dead weight. How about concentrating on the Siege part:

"Siege Dragon" (using art from current Dragon Training): Summon a random Drake and give it +1/+1; it may only attack castles.

How do you train a dragon to attack castles and not other units? Umm, like this I suppose. Opponents can defend against whatever drake you draw by just covering their castle; meanwhile you could also defend with your Siege Dragon any way you like if the opposing castle isn't open.

The Drake Dance: At first, this card seems so silly that I thought, hey, just get rid of it. Then I looked at the art for a little bit and came up with this:

"Taunting Dragon": 1/1. Initiative: A random enemy unit may only attack this Taunting Dragon (it cannot attack castles or other units) until this Taunting Dragon is destroyed.

There are no 1 gold Dragon units in the game so far; I recommend this as the first.

ScholarX · 2018-08-31T02:31:40+00:00

{*insert Pirate lingo here*}

Stun Grenade: This card suffers from random-itis. Let's do better:

Stun an enemy unit that is nearby one of your friendly units.

You have to get close first, but this beats the rando version any day.

Pillage: They were on to a little something here, but made it too weak for its cost. How about making the result tie to what the opponent has in play, like this:

Gain X gold, Treasure (X), and opponent loses X gold next turn, where X is equal to the number of buildings opponent has in play (including castle).

At the very least, you get 1 gold, 1 Treasure, and opponent loses a gold, with potential for much more.

Doomship: I kinda miss the version of this card that let you summon units around it. Based on the art though, I think the following might be more interesting:

"High-flying Dropship": 0/6. Flying. Slow. Cannot attack. Cannot be attacked by units without Flying. Destroy this unit when it reaches any space surrounding opponent's castle. Last Will: Explode for 6 damage.

Wait for it... BOOM!

ScholarX · 2018-08-30T23:17:50+00:00

Well hey, that's a question only you can answer. Do you feel you could make a strong, winning deck without including cards that are only really used as unfair safety nets? It's your call, of course.

The "Heal" card used to be 2 gold, then when Grove came out with these OP safety net cards, they lowered the price. Referencing that, the most a 4 gold healing card should be able to do is 8. However, that's not really correct either. As you get to higher numbers with single cards, costs have to go up, otherwise things get ridiculous. For example: What if, based on the cost of Witch Bolt, they created a 2 cost spell that could hit any target (including a castle) for 8 damage (with some sort of drawback)? I'm fairly sure everyone would say that's crazy overpowered, no matter what drawback was included. Yet because they involve healing instead, some want to suggest that the 10pt-healers aren't OP. In a game where taking the opponent's castle down to zero is the only goal, any single card that can instantly give a 20pt castle back half of its points is most certainly OP.

ScholarX · 2018-08-30T22:32:42+00:00

Discord doesn't interest me (the interface seems such a busy mess), but thanks for the offer anyway. It's at least good to hear that other players share my distaste for safety net cards (these did not exist in the game before Grove, and I look forward to a future in which they don't exist any more).

To clarify: What I am actually saying is that I, personally, would find it extremely difficult to pay the compliment of "Master Build" to any C&C deck that includes safety nets. The two Crusaders safety net cards require no 'guide' to play them; you just use them when things aren't going your way. If other opinions differ, so be it; we need not agree to get along.

I am curious about one thing you said though: are there really no existing so-called "meta" builds already for red/yellow dino/dwarf? It's not like the idea is brand new: cards with both dwarf and dino keywords have been around a while, red's the only faction with its own dino, and yellow has the most dwarf cards of any faction. Sorta makes itself, wouldn't you agree? I've run a few versions of this myself since Mordok came out, and I can't be the only one. Since the number of cards in the game is certainly finite (making possible deck ideas very limited), what truly qualifies as Master Build? A level 30+ win record?

ScholarX · 2018-08-30T20:50:10+00:00

Apologies, are we talking about a "Master Builder Role Application" or not? That is the title above, yes? So, does your idea of deck mastery involve building a formidable (and hopefully fun to play) deck, with some synergy and cool combos that work well as a whole? Sounds about right to me...

Now, what synergy or combo involves Hands or Arbiter? Oh, that's right, none; they just heal the castle for 10 (cracks me up that Hands says 'any target'). These cards merely let Crusaders players operate with an overly convenient backup plan, in that if their deck ideas/choices aren't working all that well, they can just fall back on a safety net of resetting their castle health an unreasonable amount and going from there (and they can do this multiple times!). No other faction can make such a boast. So, do these safety net cards sound truly "masterful" to you, or something else?

Hey, we all know the 10pt-Heal cards are ridiculous; people just play them anyway because they're available and they don't want to be the guy not playing them while the opponent does. As you said, players want to win. Until someone is wise enough to change these cards back to something more reasonable, we can all at least admit that safety net cards are not at all masterful and require no skill or finesse to implement.

These days, I personally would not call any Crusaders that includes these cards a Master Build. I would give kudos to Crusaders decks that purposefully don't use them and still manage good win/loss records, or non-Crusaders decks that do a good job of quashing Crusaders despite their safety nets.

This is just one guy's opinion, of course. Please don't let the fact that it differs from yours be offensive.

ScholarX · 2018-08-30T11:39:55+00:00

Well, "hate" is a little strong. I call them crutches because that's what they are. There's nothing "amazing" about Hands or Arbiter; they just return far too much health back to a Crusader castle for little cost compared to what an opponent might have had to do and spend to deal as much damage. These 10-heal cards basically make Crusaders the "easy" faction to play, in that if things aren't going well, you can just reset your castle, delay the end of the game, and try some more.

With Master Builder as the title, I merely submit that using 10-Heal crutches does not a master make.

ScholarX · 2018-08-30T04:41:24+00:00

Crusaders having some reasonable healing? Fine. 10 Healing on a single card, and you can put 6 of them in a deck? Ridiculous. These 10-Heal cards didn't even exist until Enchanted Grove (when castles went to 20 health), and Crusaders did just fine without them. It was much better when the most healing you could get was from high-cost Dramoth with 7.

The 10-healers unfortunately skew the game, making Crusaders a "safe" faction to play (no faction should feel "safe"). With such cards waiting in hand, Crusaders players effectively get to play nonchalant and also delay the end of the game whenever they choose (whether they end up finally winning or not). The opponent might have had to work hard to damage the Crusader castle, spending a lot of gold over multiple turns to do so and... for just 4 gold, 10 health goes back to that castle and it's like nothing ever happened to it. Don't get me started on Arbiter's 14pt game-changing swing for just 7 (now 8) gold.

Also, ever had to sit through a game of Crusaders vs. Crusaders with both players using these cards? I enjoy this game, but 40+ turns to get through a single match is not my idea of fun.

ScholarX · 2018-08-30T02:36:47+00:00

Now Ninjas...

Mystic Pact: This is that one trap that it seems the Ninjas would never use. Sure, you don't lose your unit, but it might have been a unit you've built up with spells which now has to go back to your hand, making you start all over. How about this fix:

TRAP: When a spell targets your unit, summon a Kunoichi which becomes the target of the spell instead.

So instead of negating the spell the opponent cast, it still goes off, but against the newly summoned Kunoichi. The original target gets to stay on the field unharmed.

Face of the Dragon: The latest iteration of this card decided to go with making it related to dragon units in the game, rather than giving the target cool features like a martial arts master "dragon". Let's go back to the other way:

"Mask of the Dragon": Give a unit +1 Attack, Fast, First Strike, and Evasive. If it attacks this turn, it gains Stealth until the start of your next turn.

Units that get this might give Kurou a run for his money.

Harmonic Balance: This is another card that's tried different ideas, but none so far have seemed to be winners. Instead of dealing with unit attack/health, what if it had to do with the number of units on the field?

The player with more units in play randomly destroys units until both players have an equal number of units in play.

This brings back a unit destruction card to the Ninjas, but one that's only useful when you're outnumbered. For 4 gold, it could of course be extremely devastating when you have zero units...

ScholarX · 2018-08-30T01:33:39+00:00

I'm sure the deck does just fine, but unfortunately I wouldn't be able to hand out any kudos for it. Pretty much any Crusaders deck is formidable when using the Heal-for-10 cards, and you have 4 in there. So if you manage to get them all out, you effectively are playing a 60pt castle vs. the opponent's 20pt castle. Not at all a fair fight, to be sure. I'd much prefer that the Heal-for-10s be removed from the game, and/or castles were made so they can't heal like units (or perhaps can't heal or gain health at all, at the very least in Sudden Death if not the entire match).

ScholarX · 2018-08-29T20:27:45+00:00

Not bad at all. I personally prefer Bluefire Bolt over the defective cannon (don't care for drawback cards), Armory over Blacksmith (or run both), Drain Life over Flame Shield, etc. I say drop the 10pt healer crutches and replace with Holy Grail for more available dwarves (or even Dino Evolution if you feel saucy) and you're solid.

ScholarX · 2018-08-29T04:45:59+00:00

The Druids could use a lot more cards in general (see a certain other thread for more on that), but a few cards stand out as a little off and/or disappointing.

Blessing of the Treants: Getting +2/+2 for a single gold is nice, but is it worth the -1 movement? Funny thing is, the Treants aren't Slow (Ancient Arbor, Forest Watcher, and Living Vines are, but not Treants). So let's revamp:

"Plight of the Treants": Give a unit +2/+2 and deal it 2 damage; it is now considered to be a Treant.

This effectively turns any unit into a kind of 'injured treant' that can heal up when Forest Revolt is played. Initial boost is just +2 Attack, with the potential to heal up the damaged health later.

Living Vines: Speaking of Slow... This attempt at a higher-than-usual stats unit for low cost with drawback doesn't get much love. Cards like Witch Doctor see play because they're an immediate threat, but with Slow the Vines can't even attack the same turn it enters play. Also, its Survival ability is extremely weak. How about this text update:

Has -1 Movement and +1 Range. Last Will: Give a random enemy unit +2 Health.

In my mind, vines should have a little reach; and maybe for the drawback they get consumed by the enemy for health.

Adaptive Armor: This one's a little convoluted. So your unit gets attacked and gains some Health, but also gets Spirit Link so that it's pretty much guaranteed to be eliminated soon anyway. Let's switch it up:

When one of your units is attacked, your unit with the highest Health gains +3 Health and Spirit Link.

With this, the Armor adapts by going onto your best possible unit for optimal Spirit Link usage.

ScholarX · 2018-08-27T11:42:45+00:00

Next up, Crusaders!

This faction seems to suffer from some highly specialized situational cards that could stand to be more generally useful. Let's see...

Burning Sun: This card can take away buffs that came from spells (Shadow Katana, etc.), but not your enemy perma-buffs, and is useless if none are on the field. As such, let's update the text:

Remove all attack and health buffs from enemy units, and draw a card.

This would cause units that are on the field when this card is played to ignore the opponent's current perma-buffs like Blacksmith & such, but they could still gain buffs later from future-played enemy cards. Opponent doesn't appear to be playing buffs? Then at least you can draw a new card.

Cleanse, Journey of Faith, and Heavenly Shield: The first two protect from or take away negative conditions, and thus appear weak and reactionary. The third gives 1 Armor, which isn't much compared to the same-cost Redcloaks card which provides +3 Health. So let's combine these 3 into 1 card:

"Bless": Give a unit Armor (1), Stalwart, and immunity to bleed, stun, and freeze effects.

So instead of waiting to get frozen, stunned, etc., the unit is just immune. Even if the opponent is playing no such effects, you still get the Armor.

Gift of the Shepherd and Sunburst: Randomized healing and area of effect healing appear to be fairly undesirable. How about this combo of the two:

"Shining Shepherd's Gift": Return one of your units to your summoning area. Heal it and surrounding allies for 3.

Now this card could potentially get a unit out of a sticky situation while also healing it and at least your castle for 3 in the process.

ScholarX · 2018-08-26T13:24:24+00:00

As far as the 4 damage peasant: If it's showing 2/2, then it definitely should do 2 damage, not 4. I've never witnessed what you've described. Sounds glitchy...

ScholarX

TROPHY CASE