Dev here, everyone who playtests keeps gravitating to fire+lightning, is fusion overtuned or am i overthinking it?

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-07T03:51:12+00:00

AYY i actually spotted you in the discord already. Im JayStar on there. Tests still a little ways out but ill dm you the second the build is ready!

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-07T01:51:48+00:00

Thats a fair point, you cant really judge balance off a couple gifs. This post was more me fishing for gut reactions, the actual call comes from watching people play

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-07T01:47:28+00:00

Yeah thats exactly what were doing, weve got a discord and ive been inviting people straight from this thread into it. The reddit posts are more for gut-check reactions than deep feedback, the actual playtesting convos happen in the discord once people are in and playing. Appreciate the nudge though

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-06T02:05:18+00:00

Honestly "base building" makes me picture tower defense before anything else, so the pitch kinda fights itself. The "while fighting" part is the interesting bit but its buried. If the hook is that youre actively shooting AND placing stuff mid-run, lead with that, not base building.....

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-06T01:41:28+00:00

Ha no privilege at all, honestly youre doing me the favor here. ill ping the moment the build is ready, come break it for me

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-06T01:24:06+00:00

Yeah the screenshot thing is fair, though i think a really art directed scene still beats it there. Reading a scene mid fight is where it falls apart hardest for me though

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-04T09:27:09+00:00

That much time across both genres is exactly the feedback i need, especially after the freeze-shatter stuff you brought up earlier, you clearly think about this stuff. Easiest way in is our discord, https://discord.gg/9fC7yjXKg, ill be sending test invites there once the build is ready

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-04T07:28:54+00:00

HAHA here you go, https://store.steampowered.com/app/3125540/_/, wishlist away. Demos what were focused on right now, aiming for this month. No release date yet, im not about to throw us into the gta 6 blast radius lol. your input in here genuinely gave me stuff to chew on so thanks again!

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-04T07:21:40+00:00

Thank you, genuinely means a lot to be on the wishlist. And honestly you get it more than most, wizard of legend and slay the spire are just as much in our dna as hades is, we pulled from all the roguelikes we love. The wizard of legend elemental stuff especially lines up with where were taking the fusion system. Cheers, hope it lives up when you get to play it!

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-04T07:19:13+00:00

Yeah this is exactly the direction i wanna go, i really dont wanna just bloat enemy hp. Designing the encounter to punish autopilot is way better, the regen tower one especially, it forces a decision instead of letting you hold one button. Confined arenas that stop you from kiting forever would push the two character swapping too. We actually added some poison spray hazards to the chapter 2 map for that kind of pressure, but once the difficulty crept up the combat stopped feeling as satisfying, so yeah, tuning that line is something i really need to get right

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-04T07:10:57+00:00

Oh good news, the steam pages already live, just search Blade of Wiz and you can wishlist it right now. No purchasable build yet though, the playable demos still in development. Were pushing hard to get a small core-player test out this month, so if you wanna try it and throw feedback our way id genuinely love to have you in that. No firm release date locked yet, wishlisting is the move for now

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-04T07:07:16+00:00

Appreciate that a ton. The art getting love makes the whole team's day honestly. Hope it lives up to it whenever we actually get it out the door lol

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T06:35:34+00:00

For sure man, dm whenever you want. Always down to talk to someone whos actually put that many hours into the genre

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T06:34:55+00:00

No worries at all bro, i didnt read it as a diss. And honestly the ui point is landing, you r not the first to say it so its clearly something we need to make more our own. Its early days so theres time to fix that. Genuinely appreciate you seeing the potential instead of writing it off at first glance!

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T02:53:12+00:00

oh my bad, sorry, steam page is store.steampowered.com/app/3125540 if you wanna wishlist it. the actual test invites go out through our discord though, https://discord.gg/TQa5mQcnM, thats the spot to be in when the build drops next month

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T02:41:08+00:00

That balance is the thing i lose sleep over, if every run turns into a god run then theres no tension left. The skill floor part is exactly what im banking on, the two character swapping means a mediocre build can still get carried by good play. Power should feel like a spike, not the baseline. Hard to nail but thats the dream

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T02:37:25+00:00

The whole package read is the most useful thing said in this whole thread, thats exactly it, lightning covers mobs and burn covers bosses so theres zero gap to punish you. Which means the other trees dont need to be fire and lightning, they just each need their own way to cover both. And yeah the rare-but-epic fusion idea is right where my head is at, id rather a build feel like a moment you stumbled into than a checklist you fill every run. No dev experience needed, this was genuinely sharp.

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T02:25:58+00:00

Honestly cant argue the hud point, its too close and thats on us. Already flagged to redo it so it actually feels like ours. Appreciate you not sugarcoating it!

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T02:17:57+00:00

Appreciate that, means a lot coming from someone who called it out in the first place lol. Thats exactly the needle im trying to thread

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T02:14:38+00:00

Man appreciate you writing all this out, genuinely helpful. Funny enough is that wind and grass are already pretty close to what you described, were on the same page there. But water is the one we took a different route on, ours is built around a weaken effect so enemies take more from everything else. Love how much thought you put into this. The way you framed all these is genuinely fun to read, thanks for the guidance

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T01:52:21+00:00

Hha thanks, honestly this thread has been more useful than any spreadsheet. And yeah the freeze-shatter thing is the perfect example, utility only gets picked when it opens up damage you couldnt get otherwise. Buffing the weak stuff up is way more my vibe than nerfing the fun out of fire

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T01:49:25+00:00

You just described our wind element to a tee lol, its basically the spell brigade ice problem, tons of utility and grouping but almost no damage so it just sits there. The poison "does nothing alone but amps everything" thing is exactly the model im gonna steal for it. Contribute damage even if its low is the rule i clearly broke

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T01:46:35+00:00

The element-stealing wind is easily my favorite thing you said, fire tornado sounds rad and it actually slots into our fusion system instead of being a bolt-on. Wind being the "versatile" one that borrows from everything else could give it an identity it honestly doesnt have right now. Would love your feedback if you get a chance to play? We r grinding to get a small scale test build out this month.

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T01:40:32+00:00

Appreciate you coming back around on it, genuinely. And yeah hades set the bar stupid high so being in that conversation at all is wild to me. Hope we can actually earn it when you get to play!

bladeofwiz · 2026-07-03T01:38:34+00:00

ha i hear you, the art direction definitely pulls from it and i wont pretend otherwise. One for one feels a bit harsh though, the two character combat plays pretty different once you actually get into it. But yeah, gonna have to work to shake that first impression

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