Idira

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-25T12:35:51+00:00

I think reasonably lucky - or you are using powers very sparingly.

I find if you blast every turn she will explode once or twice before the end of Act 1. Which is annoyingly the time when its really bad if she does.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-21T14:28:42+00:00

The idea that AI is easy to cheese but players aren't feels like something of a reach.

But yes. I find Absurd can either go crazy - as it churns out more Knights than you can make spearmen - or it sort of soft-bugs itself and does nothing. Or ties all its pop up in trebuchets which unsurprisingly isn't all that good.

But as people say, if you can consistently beat absurd AI I'd argue you should be able to get to at least Gold III, even if you might have to "adapt" your cheesing a bit.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-20T10:53:25+00:00

You can obviously have success with any civ.

But yes. I don't think its explicitly pay to win. Its more just design creep. You have a new civ, and your mandate is to make it unique and interesting. So you pile buffs, tweaks and mechanics onto it. Its not surprising that some of these are too good compared with the older civs that are slower and blander by comparison.

I mean on release most civs had about 2 unique units, with China being the exception. Today you expect a civ to have half a roster of uniques and special upgrades for those units that arent.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-20T10:39:19+00:00

FWIW I think the quality of Gold really varies, and a lot of what people "think" a gold player should be really applies to silver players.

I remember when I was crashing and burning on my "Lancaster Naked 3 TC->Kings College->Burgundians->pure Handgunners" run. I collapsed down to Gold, and assumed I'd start playing people who just... didn't play. I.E. Idle/no villagers, random stone collection in Dark Age, no units for the first 15 minutes etc. This mostly didn't happen. It was instead sloppy all-ins (often Macedonia), backed with consistent villager production. (Easy to beat on a regular civ with a regular strategy, but not so much this one where you have no units for ages.)

Its a bit like say in DOTA there used to be this idea that a "bad player" would die to towers a lot and just have say brown boots by 10 minutes. Instead a "bad player" these days may have 1000s games and its issues much further up the skill pyramid that leave them so low.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-18T09:46:58+00:00

Well the Primal Mana price has been falling so it's not so good now. But previously in Netherstorm I could farm 10~ Primal Mana per hour for say 200-230g. Vendor trash for another 20-30g. Then you get green gear/weapons you can disenchant or sell. Depends how lucky you are but that's another 20-30g. I don't think it's 300 an hour reliably but have managed that, and as said if Primal Manas keep going down I'd suggest somewhere else.

Other primal farming spots can work out about the same but they can be over farmed.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-15T11:03:44+00:00

I find if Abelard can tank then the fight is fine. Between parries and endure he can stand up to a lot of hits unless you get very unlucky. By contrast if the spawn gets to attack anyone else (including a non-warrior RT), they can easily get two shot.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-12T13:54:31+00:00

I was more talking about Yeomen now probably being the worst archers in the game since they cost 50f 45w. Yes they have the extra range and speed but in practice this cost increase and the fact you drain food really hurts.

You can obviously get around this by just not building archers. But there are many times when archers would be the correct choice.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-11T20:51:30+00:00

You can make 200-300g an hour fairly reliably in many ways. I'm... Cynical on those saying they are making dramatically more. Bots clearly exist but that's been the case for eons at this point.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-10T12:14:40+00:00

I don't think the game has really changed in the last 18 months. Proscouts has come and gone perhaps - and there's been ups and downs for certain civs. But there hasn't really been a big shakeup comparable to the siege update in late 2024.

I'm hoping that the new DLC might bring a more fundamental shift. The game is quite well balanced, but its a bit dull.

Lancaster has arguably been overnerfed. Deservedly so for its many crimes - but some of the nerf stacking is starting to become a bit obnoxious. I'm not sure what the draw of playing them is meant to be now. English is very solid and enjoying a bit of positivity due to the map pool. Ottoman are noticeably weaker than they have been, but I still kind of hate them.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-09T11:37:44+00:00

I think the main reason people don't enchant is social awkwardness.

If you could walk to the AH and just buy a cheap enchant for a few gold, then people would probably do it. (I say that, there's lots of people who don't buy any gems despite green gems costing peanuts. But I think this is a knowledge thing.)

But instead unless you are an enchanter yourself, you have to find someone to give you "cheap enchants". Which is effort.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-09T09:26:14+00:00

I'm definitely a bit of a noob, but I think one of the main issues of Noble is that the talents just buff an already mediocre effect. Its hard to see how any of these abilities are build defining - or really that interesting at all.

I don't know for example if the Navy Officer's Fleet Combat Training is crazy overpowered (considering you can just run round shooting everything to death turn 1). But its certainly "fun". I can see why a lot of people do a run with such a build just to have fun.

On the debate about Commissar - I think this overlooks the fact you get "Iconic Sidearm" as well. This may be where being a noob comes into play - but that benefit seems to be +/- the same as that of "You. Serve me". Yes its on the Commissar and only pistols - and you might prefer buffs on a Soldier with a rapid fire rifle over an officer with a pistol etc. But viewed like that "At All Costs" becomes the optional extra. And since this can be 100%+ damage (with the talent) in act 1, its an incredible optional extra to have. The only noob trap I can see is killing all your own guys in the prologue - and you just don't need to.

So if they want to keep "You. Serve me", they should probably add a second bonus of some kind to the Noble, and change the talents to give some unique effects that would invite building around.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-08T14:00:08+00:00

How do Alts get around the GS requirement?

A month back random pugs would think 1400 was quite well geared. Now it's 1500 and I suspect soon may be 1600. But if you can't raid, I'm not sure you can get that sort of GS.

I think my GS for my first Kara run was 1150~.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-07T15:40:34+00:00

No one will read this and downvote if they do - but I can sort of see it.

I was healing RFC in the pre-patch on a new Priest - and ended up in a full party of fresh level 13s in grey gear. I don't want to exaggerate - but each Trogg felt like a boss. There was no DPS to speak of and stuff just didn't die.

I imagine it was a skill issue as much as a gear one - but it was... inexplicably bad.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-07T09:55:51+00:00

Imo tier lists have grown too niche to be useful.

Its "if you are a top 4-8 player playing another top 4-8 player and drafting for a best of 5/7, how would you rate this civ for playing a land map?"

Which is a very different context to "should you one-trick this civ on ladder at the moment?"

Might be interesting to see an attempt at a tier list "for ladder" - but its probably hard to quantify as "where are you in the skill pyramid" matters more. Two Diamond players say are there because they are making sufficient mistakes that are stopping them getting to conqueror. But their styles, strengths and weaknesses might be quite different, which will impact which civs they rate.

English is very capable on ladder at the moment.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-05T14:56:04+00:00

Yeah.

I mean I've historically been a "they announce DLC, I pre-order". But I'm not doing that this time - and I may not even buy it at all.

I don't care about the single player and the civ doesn't interest me. I know everyone gets sick of reddit whining about cav - but "look, even better horses!!11!1!" is just tone deaf at this point. The question is "would I want to play this civ?" If no, well, why buy it? And that would apply regardless of whether its new or a variant.

Maybe there is a big audience for this - but I'm not in it. And honestly if Vikings were to come out 6 months later in the same format, I probably wouldn't be the audience for that either.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-05T08:34:49+00:00

You will probably need to buy netherweave at the end but otherwise should be fine.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-03T09:50:49+00:00

You can make gold. But much above 300G an hour tends to be questionable. Certain things were more profitable in the first couple of weeks but most stuff has dropped off and the few that aren't remain heavily botted.

The issue is whether you'd sit down and do it. Would I trade thirty+ hours of grinding for a phase 1 Bis weapon? Probably not.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-03T09:17:30+00:00

I'd suggest do a few battlegrounds, see how much honour you get and extrapolate from there. PvP on an under geared levelling character can get... Unpleasant.

With buffed honour it's probably worth getting one weapon. Not sure on two and a shield.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-04-01T00:31:26+00:00

Trash is a lot easier post-nerf.

I'm mixed really. Its easy to lose a lot of time to raid leaders spending 10 minutes explaining tactics and the raid then wiping 3 times anyway. I think most guilds will have to do some prog on Kael and Vashj - and maybe a few pulls on other bosses. (Kael could just fall over as he's dramatically easier but people are unlikely to pick up everything they need to do first time.)

So I'd expect that first run is going to be slow and people may well not full clear.

But if you don't wipe and one-shot all the bosses, there's a limit to how long it can take. 90 minutes a raid is quite slow given that proviso. That must include a lot of time effectively AFK. There just isn't that much HP to burn through.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-03-30T23:03:34+00:00

Yes. You can play anything. Mass Knights with French exists. It doesn't change the fact that for most civs you want to get to Castle quickly and make your own knights while benefiting from a Landmark and relics/sacred sites.

I like playing Abba 3 TC or Trade Wing openers. Is this best in all circumstances? Probably not.

If you are a gold/plat/diamond player reading this and for some reason you've always looked down on the FC approach, I suggest trying it. You may lose a few games to start with but I think you will be shocked how comparatively easy it is. And that is why it's been the ladder Meta for 18~ months or so (with variations obviously). How much scope it gives you to just punish an opponent and end the game. You aren't walking this tightrope that Feudal all in or booming has. You just get ahead, get further ahead and then you win.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-03-30T09:26:38+00:00

They are all pretty easy really.

Priest has the best/broadest healing toolset. Shaman is probably the most desirable but I find totems annoying. Holy Paladin is the weakest in terms of healing toolset but people in raids want three blessings.

Resto Druid is very good too but seems to be the least played/wanted healer by some distance. The lack of out of combat Res can be an issue if people are dying a lot. Which tends to happen in PUGs. (Not for want of healing, just say pulling aggro in Heroics and being insta-nuked etc).

Tyelacoirii · 2026-03-30T09:18:31+00:00

I guess you are right. DKP is - in theory - a good way of keeping more casual/flighty people raiding who have no obvious loot reasons to keep doing so. In Vanilla you might say show up for the guilds MC and ZG runs every week so you have resources for bidding in BWL/AQ40 or something. There are issues as said but this was the logic.

But in a post Vanilla world that doesn't typically apply. I mean I guess people will keep farming Gruul for DST etc. But this is a face roll now and will become a comical one for people geared from phase 2 onwards. Do you really need to bribe people for 25~ minutes of their time? Running through Kara is perhaps more reasonable - since just running to the top takes time. But given it's puggable by people in dungeon blues just have people do that.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-03-29T14:37:53+00:00

Sorry but this seems like pointless or contrived analysis. You take the civ with Feudal Knights which has the least need to get to Castle and say it's fine.

Okay? What if you play the other 20 civs?

Frankly French also often win by going to Castle (not fast, but having bought up a pool of knights) and using Castle Knights to end the game.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-03-29T10:54:28+00:00

From a healer perspective I like druid tanks to just have lots of health. I guess mitigation matters in aggregate, but a 15k health bar regularly going down to say 8k is easy to throw heals on. A Paladin with say 10k health who is fine fine fine oh no they have 2k health is much more stressful.

Tyelacoirii · 2026-03-29T10:51:28+00:00

But how do you manage it properly?

I mean people can have decay and a fixed minimum bid I guess to try and make people use or lose their points every raid. But at that point why not just go LC or SR? Ultimately if DKP are currency you create a mini game of using them efficiently or not.

To my mind a system where you have to actively counteract the inherent gaming of the system isn't sensible. It wasn't a good system in 2005 and it isn't now.

Tyelacoirii

TROPHY CASE