First off, great job making changes to so many heroes! You've clearly put a lot of work into this patch and although I think in general you've done an absolutely miserable job of it, it's better than nothing. As bad as these changes are, you've undoubtedly made the game better...just not nearly as much as you should have. The Artifact Forge and Advanced Quests are also really positive changes, and I wanted to thank you for that before I lay into for being so utterly inept with the balance changes. I won't cover them all, but I'll certainly cover a lot of them!
Rotos
Honestly, I'm okay with this nerf. He was definitely too OP and needed to be scaled back. I think a lot of people are misinterpreting how the nerf actually works. If I'm understanding it correctly, you just need to use his A2 ONCE. As soon as you've used it once you've increased his MaxHP, and that's the only requirement for his A3 to gain block revive. He doesn't need to have MaxHP, or to have earned the absolute maximum possible. He just needs to have increased his MaxHP from using his A2 and then his A3 gains block revive. Rotos arena users are now left with a choice:
- 1-shot someone, but they can be revived (still works great vs teams with only 1 reviver), or
- build up your MaxHP first so that on your 2nd turn you can 1-shot someone and block the revive. Put him in Relentless gear and 18% of the time you'll 1-shot someone on his first turn. You also have a chance to get your 2nd turn if anyone deals 50% HP in a single attack
He's still really strong and is still a top tier hero, so great job with this one! The most legitimate complaint I've seen regarding this nerf is that it should have either been reduced damage OR the change to the block revive, not both. Time will tell whether or not this was a perfect nerf, not enough, or too much. Personally, I think you've probably gotten it just right, but it's possibly a little too much. However, if all balance changes were as good as this one, I'd be a happy customer!
Siphi
Well, so much for being a happy customer! The only "balance improvement" that more blatantly shows how little you understand about your own game than this one is Serris! First off, great job recognizing that being able to spam 4 of the best buffs in the game every 3 turns was clearly OP. However, the "every 3 turns" is the LEAST OP part it!!!
Here are the things that make Siphi overpowered (in order), followed by the changes you should have made (and yes, you need to make ALL of these changes to make her just insanely good):
- Too many insanely good buffs from a single skill (TM boost, Block Debuffs, DEF, and SPD?!?!?)
. Just 3 of these are insanely strong, so pick 3 and remove the other. Barely nerfing just 1 of these and increasing the CD by 1 turn is not nearly enough. Not only did you not nerf this insanely OP skill correctly, but when you factor in the nerf you made to Tormin (a hero she ALREADY counters HARD), she comes out further ahead!
- Her passive removes Fear & Freeze AND Heals?!?!?! Is she anti-control or a healer? Pick one, delete the other! Siphi was out-healing the best healers in the
game. Bringing her healing more inline isn't enough. If she's removing control effects, then she shouldn't be a top tier healer AS WELL.
- Her revive gives full TM and ATK buff and CRI buff, allowing her to partner with a squishy nuker, who you can NEVER stop from 1-shotting someone on your team
. Actually, you could...but you nerfed the only guy who could stop this from happening (Rotos).
- Her base SPD is the highest in the game...on a hero who has OP abilities that ALL benefit from taking as many turns as possible
- The CD on her insane FOUR buffs skill is 3 turns. Good job correcting this one, but it's hardly the sort of nerf that's going to bring her into balance, now is it?
- She has a built-in higher than average RES, making it impossible to control her (bc every Siphi player is going to stack RES)
You do realize that the nerfs you made to Tormin & Rotos end up being massive buffs for Siphi, right? There's probably no other hero who benefits more from their nerfs than she does. Seriously...how are you so bad at this? Literally any person who has played this game for more 6 months could have done a better job nerfing Siphi, while still keeping her as a top tier hero.
Duchess Lilitu & Blind Seer
I'm going to discuss these two in tandem because they have similar skill sets. In fact, comparing similar heroes side by side is a GREAT way to determine if one is OP, as well as come up with creative ways to balance them. It's very clear from this patch that you don't do this!
How do you look at Duchess and think, "Okay, so we'll reduce her CD by 1" and then look at Blind Seer and think, "We'll improve her CD by 1" and think you've somehow brought these 2 heroes into balance?
Let's start by comparing their revives:
- Duchess: 70% Heal + 1-turn Veil + 2-turn 15% HoT (resulting in 100% heal)
- Blind Seer: 35% Heal + 1-turn block damage
Although block damage is nice, I think we can all agree that Duchess' rezz is WAY better...and yet, even after improving Blind Seer, her team revive is still on a 5 turn CD compared to Duchess' 4 turn CD. So Duchess gets a better revive AND it's on a short CD? Okay, so Blind Seer must be better somewhere else then! After all, balancing isn't about making every skill balanced, but about balancing the whole package. So let's look at their A2s:
- Duchess: ATK buff (2) + xDebuffs (2) + Perfect Veil (2) on a 5-turn CD
- Blind Seer: Shield (2) + xDebuffs (2) on a 4-turn CD
Although the CD is better for Blind Seer now, Duchess's skill is still better. Duchess doesn't need to provide a shield, because if anyone dies, she just rezzes them back to 70% HP (with another 30% from HoTs).
This nerf to Duchess is also pretty pointless. It doesn't impact her standing in arena (where she's OP), and only serves to make her harder to use for CB. FYI, everyone complaining that she's now "useless" is exaggerating. She now needs to be balanced to 5:3 SPD instead of 4:3. Much worse for sure, but hardly "useless". Also, if a hero is a staple on EVERY team, then that's an indicator that they're OP and need to be nerfed, so even if you can no longer use her on your CB team, she's still a staple on every other team, and thus still OP.
They both have good A1s, but Duchess's aura is way better. These heroes are very similar and yet you utterly failed to balance them. The CD improvement on Blind Seer's A3 is a big improvement, but it's still not enough to close the gap. Duchess is also far easier to book! In addition to the 1 turn CD reduction on Blind Seer's A3, you should have also re-worked her books (and refunded any excess books). Take the healing bonuses from her A3 and apply them directly to the heal (ADD them, not multiply like they currently do), and have 2 books only for her A3 (both reducing the CD by 1, for a minimum of 4...the same as Duchess).
With these changes, you made an amazing hero very slightly less amazing, and made a useless hero useful. It's definitely a step in the right direction, but not nearly a big enough step (especially considering how rarely you make these changes). Your plan may be to continue to make adjustments over time, but I guarantee it'll be at least a year before you look at Blind Seer again.
Warlord
How do you look at Warlord and think, "This guy needs a buff"?!?! There are currently 3 legos who can extend debuffs in the game, and this is how most players would rank them:
- Warlord (top tier, useful everywhere)
- Septimus (very good, useful in CB, arena & Spider)
- Vizier (very good, best extender, useful in CB and possibly FK)
So how is it that you picked the BEST of those 3 heroes as the one who needed to be buffed? I get it, he's not nearly as OP as the other insanely OP heroes, but that's not a reason to buff him. He was already a top tier hero. I'm not saying you had to nerf him, but a nerf certainly makes a lot more sense than a buff!
Again, ANYONE who has played this game for 6+ months knows this. If you'd actually listen to your players, you'd stop making such idiotic mistakes.
Cruetraxa
Good buff! She does 1 thing, so she should be able to do it consistently. Well done!
Gurgoh
This is another hero with a similar kit & function as a different hero in the game: Shirimani, so let's compare them side by side and see if it makes sense to buff Gurgoh and not Shiri.
Both can have a 100% chance to AoE freeze (her A3, his A2). Both are on a 5-turn CD. Shirimani's gives her a 10% TM boost for each attacked enemy. Gurgoh gets an extra turn (which is clearly MUCH better). Gurgoh also removes 1 buff (allowing him to remove a shield or nullify an immunity set...the counter to a control team). So Gurgoh's freeze is better BY FAR.
Again though, we need to look at their whole kit.
A1: Shiri hits 3 random targets with a 15% chance to freeze. Gurgoh hits 1 target with a 2nd attack vs frozen targets. This is about equal. The extra chance to freeze is nice, but since Gurgoh gets an extra turn from his A2, he's guaranteed to trigger the extra hit. He can also freeze from his passive, so there's synergy there too.
A2/A3: Shiri gets a big (50%) single target heal, plus 20% team heal on a 4-turn CD, plus a 2-turn 15% HoT on any allies with full HP after the heal. Gurgoh gets a duplicate version of his A1 (extra hit vs frozen target) on a 5-turn CD. Presumably this one hits a LOT harder (but I don't know bc I don't have him). Clear advantage to Shirimani here. Making Gurgoh's A1 and A3 essentially the same is pretty silly (and lazy).
Passive: Gurgoh has a 50% chance to freeze any attackers if he loses 20% HP (and since he's an ATK hero, that's going to be most attacks). Shiri has no passive.
Auras: Both have FW auras: 44% ATK for Gurgoh, 33% DEF for Shiri. Advantage Gurgoh, but not a big one.
Stats: Shiri has 104 SPD, compared to 92 for Gurgoh. Since they both have the same main function (AoE freeze), this is a HUGE advantage for Shiri. Their survivability is comparable (slight edge for Shiri due to higher HP), but Gurgoh has much better damage (although that's not really what you're looking for in a control hero).
Overall, I'd say Shiri is slightly better. Even though Gurgoh's signature ability is WAY better, Shiri's heal is better than Gurgoh's duplicate A1, and base SPD is very important for a control hero.
So, slightly improving Gurgoh makes sense (at least compared to Shirimani. Most players would consider her to be a good, but not great hero, so a minor buff to Gurgoh seems in order (well done Plarium). However, not much of a buff is required since he's not much worse than Shirimani.
The main issues with Gurgoh are:
- Base SPD too low for a control hero (you sort of fixed this by increasing it from 92 to 98. Again, well done Plarium!). This fix alone makes him already better than Shirimani (remember, their main function is control, and his AoE Freeze also removes 1 debuff and grants an extra turn)
. The problem is that you ALSO increased the number of debuffs he removes. Remember, this ability is already WAY better than Shirimani's, so why are you making it even better? If it ain't broke, DON'T FIX IT!
- A1 and A3 are redundant. Both compliment his extra turn from his AoE freeze, but they should probably be unique. Maybe make the A3 ignore DEF against a frozen opponent, or extend the freeze debuff by 1 turn (allowing him to lockdown 1 hero for a bit longer). The CD on his A3 is already really long, so make it really good!
- His passive doesn't fit for an ATK hero. ATK heroes don't do well with passives that trigger when they get hit! Being an ATK hero also doesn't work with his slow base SPD (even with his improved SPD, he'll still struggle to be quick enough). This is the fix you should have done: convert him to a DEF-based hero. Instead of making him another Shirimani (a fast freezer), he could instead be a freezer who surrdenders the first turn. Keep him with his slow SPD and keep the new "removes 2 buffs" improvement. This allows Gurgoh to basically say, "You can go first, but if you don't kill us, you're not going to get another chance!"
. THAT is how you balance a hero: compare them to a similar hero, and find ways to make them equally useful, but different.
As I said, increasing his base SPD is an option, but it's not nearly as good of an option as converting him to a DEF-based hero (and leaving him slow).
Elder Skarg
Oh boy...what were you smoking on this one? Why would I want my lego with 870 base DEF to be provoking? Oh, I see...its so that I can inflict my ATK in damage when they murder me? So Rotos/Bloodgorged/Cruetraxa/etc. hits Elder Skarg for roughly 10M damage, but it's okay because he'll do 4-6K in return? Oh yeah...and that's pre-mitigation isn't it? So....maybe 1K damage? Yup, that'll make him top tier for sure! Do you really think the 60% DEF buff and 15% reduced damage is going to save him? Bump his damage reduction up to 40% vs legos and he might be viable.
Candraphon
Holy smokes! You may have just introduced a meta-breaking new hero (and possibly pulled another Ma'Shalled massive over-buff with this one). Candraphon is now going to absolutely WRECK Arbiter SPD nuke teams (which comprise roughly 120% of all Gold IV arena teams)!
I really like this change, but I also think you may have gone overboard. I think the 40% damage reduction and the TM boost were required, but I think the damage boost is probably too much. This guy's going to survive the first attack, interrupt the enemy team, and then 1-shot EVERYONE (especially if paired with a Krisk).
It also begs the question of why you realized that 40% damage reduction was important to keep alive a hero with just 903 base DEF and 17,505 base HP, but thought that Elder Skarg's measly 15% was fine (even though Elder Skarg has both lower base DEF and lower base HP). I mean, these heroes are listed one after the other, so the glaring disparity should be incredibly obvious!
Tormin
Ah yes, it wouldn't be a RAID patch without you guys once again nerfing Tormin! Why do you hate this guy so much? Seriously, it's becoming an unhealthy obsession at this point. Not a single patch has passed without you nerfing him in some way, despite the fact that he's not even one of the top 10 most selected hero in Platinum arena teams.
As always with your obsessive Tormin nerfs, I'm not overly bothered by the nerf itself. I'm bothered by your focus on him. If you'd correctly nerfed the other 10 heroes selected more frequently than him MORE than you've nerfed him, I'd be fine with it, but you've BARELY touched them, while once again nerfing the only guy who can counter most of them.
Apparently I need to once again remind you that Tormin was the most difficult fusion you've ever released. He SHOULD be better than most other legendaries, so STOP.NERFING.HIM!!!
He's also one of the few counters to the existing meta. This patch was supposed to be about introducing MORE ways to compete in arena, so how does nerfing one of the only counters to Arbiter fit that objective? It's the EXACT OPPOSITE of your goal!
Also, why does this:
Does not work with effects from Artifact Sets, Turn Meter filling effects from Masteries, healing, or those buffs or effects that take place at the start of a Round.
only apply to Tormin and not EVERY HERO & ABILITY IN THE GAME?!?!?
Let's say I have 50% HP and the LS mastery (heal 5% of damage dealt when at or below 50% HP). My target has a 5K shield up. I hit him for 5100. He takes 100 and I heal 5. If he's got the "Heal 6% whenever an enemy heals" mastery and 50K HP, he'll heal 3K!!! How does that make any sense.
That hero then takes a turn and then my hero with 1 Immortal set takes a turn...and that hero heals ANOTHER 3K. That's just monumentally stupid.
The ONLY effects that should trigger as a result of masteries or artifacts are the counter-attacks for control effects. So, this is a very good nerf but again I have to ask, WHY IS IT ONLY BEING APPLIED TO TORMIN?!?!?! Surely Tormin freezing someone for getting a TM buff from a mastery is no more stupid than someone healing because the enemy healed 5% from a mastery.
Astralith
This is actually a deceptively good buff. Her A2 is the only skill she needs ACC for, so my making it unresistable, you've eliminated the need for her to build any ACC. That means she can use an ATK banner for more damage, or HP/DEF for more sustain. I'm not sure it's enough to make her useful, but it's a far bigger step in the right direction than most players are giving you credit for! That said, she's got 10 base ACC, which is now pretty pointless. Take that 10 ACC and apply it to her 102 base SPD and I think she'll be a more competitive hero!
Gurptuk
Definitely an improvement. Needs about 10 more improvements of this caliber if you want him to ever get out of the vault though!
Dracomorph (& Venus)
Another pair of heroes with very similar kits. Do a side-by-side comparison and you'll see that Draco (the one who ISN'T a Void lego) is far superior. Venus is a top 5 hero, and yet Draco does everything she does, but better! Giving Draco her signature A2 ability as his A3 way back when you buffed him from vault guardian to top-ranked hero in RAID was a HUGE mistake. He's an ATK hero, so why are you giving him the best ability from a Support hero? Giving him her A3 would have made far more sense. What idiot looked at a DRAGON, then looked at Venus and decided the DRAGON should get her AoE DEF reduction and Weaken and NOT her AoE HP Burn?!?!?
Serris
I've saved the worst for 2nd last. Serris is without a doubt the most broken hero in the game. She's not the most OP (that's Siphi), and probably isn't even top 5. However, she is without a doubt the hero who is the most OP compared to where she should be. She's a bloody epic, and yet would easily make ANY top 10 list of legendaries!
This hero is so badly designed that I kid you not, if anyone presented such a horrible pile of garbage in any other job, they'd be fired on the spot. I'm not trying to be mean when I say that the person who came up with this hero needs to seriously consider a different line of work, because they're really bad at this one. Serris feels like she was designed by a toddler. This is how I envision the conversation going:
- "and her 2nd abiwity it hits evewyone...
- ...and it can steal a buff from evewyone...
- ...and it can potect her frienz from debuffs....
- ...and it makes evewyone afwaid of her...
- ...and and and then...um...her 3rd abiwity...it can also affect evewyone....
- ...and it takes any all of their buffs..."
-
"Um...you already said she can do that with her 2nd ability"
- "DAAAADDDD!!!! Stop intewwupting me! I know! She can do it on both!
- ...and her 3rd abiwity can also lower their defences...
- ...and...um...their attack too...yeah...and, um...
- ...those effects will last longer than anyone else's!"
- "That seems a little strong, but okay..."
- "I'M NOT FINISHED!!!!!
- ...she also gets a shield evewy turn...
- ...and if she gets attacked, she makes the attacker afwaid...
- ...and if she attacks anyone...they get afwaid...
- ...and she's my girlfwiend...and...um...
- ...she says i can stay up as late as i want...and...um...
- ...i get to have ice cweam for supper evewy night!"
Bold text is the ONLY thing Plarium thinks is wrong with her (well, that and the last 3). Let's think about this for a second...does ANYONE care that they nerfed the debuff duration? You could make it 1 turn and wouldn't matter. You've just removed every buff on the enemy team, and applied 60% decrease DEF. They're not getting another turn!
Fixing Serris is EASY:
- A2: 40% to steal a random buff + True Fear if a buff is stolen (no block debuffs)
- A3: removes all buffs and applies ATK debuff (no longer applies DEF debuff)
No hero that removes buffs should also apply block debuffs. In other words, no hero should be their own counter! That's game design 101, and it's embarrassing that Plarium doesn't understand this very basic concept.
Also, removing buffs and applying DEF debuff is WAY TOO STRONG. It's so strong that if that's ALL a hero could do, they'd automatically be included in EVERY Arbiter SPD Nuke team. Serris is a control hero, so build her as such.
Think about this...those are two MASSIVE nerfs, and yet she'd still be an incredible hero! No other "balance fix" in this list is as laughable as this one is. No other change shows just how out of touch Plarium are with their own game than the non-nerf of Serris. And let's not forget, she's not just dominant in the arena, she's used EVERYWHERE (except on most CB teams).
Drexthar Bloodtwin
Honestly, this guy didn't need a buff. He was already the #1 hero for Spider20. If you're the absolute best hero in the game at 1 piece of content, then you're already strong enough (and aren't supposed to be useful anywhere else). That's called "balance". Heroes should essentially be average everywhere, or the best in 1 spot, and trash everywhere else (with lots of combinations in between). Now, plenty of people will point out that he's not even used on most of the SPD farm teams and therefore my #1 assessment is ridiculous. However, the thing that makes Drex the #1 Spider20 hero isn't that he's a great SPD farmer, but rather that if you have him, he can carry a mediocre team. Miscreated Monster is the #2 Spider20 hero for the same reason.
That said, I'm not upset about his buff. It just demonstrates how little Plarium understands about hero balancing. It's this inability to understand this very basic concept that results in Lyssandra not being identified as a hero badly in need of a nerf. Like Drex, she's the #1 hero for a piece of content (FK), except it's even worse than that because she not only carries mediocre teams, but is also used on every SPD run team. She's also incredibly useful in arena, as well as most other dungeons. It's not a difficult concept to understand. Think of it like the Olympics. Some athletes are the best swimmers, others are the best sprinters, others are the best pole vaulters, etc. And then there are some athletes who aren't world-class at any of these events, but are very good in all of them. These athletes compete in the heptathalon and decathalon. If Siphi went to the Olympics, she'd win Gold in every single event. That's some pretty awful hero balancing, and although this patch made things better, it's not nearly enough, and it once again very clearly demonstrated that Plarium:
- don't have a clue how to balance heroes, and
- don't listen to player feedback*
*Actually, the correct statement here is probably that they don't listen to the right player feedback. The reason I say this is because these balance changes (specifically the non-nerfs to Duchess, Siphi, and Serris) are EXACTLY what I'd expect to hear the whales recommend. The whales are very happy with their status in the game (built on the back of these OP heroes), and Plarium very clearly don't want to upset their cash cows.
If you made it to the end, congratulations! If you agree with what I've written, go ahead and give it a thumbs up. It won't make a lick of difference, since nobody who actually works for Plarium will ever read it, but it can't hurt.
amazing post. i really hope they'll read it and take it into account (even though i'm a happy draco owner)
keep up the good work, maybe posts like yours and a mindset in the right place will make a difference in the future!
