Discussion: Spirits Beyond Patch Notes

To hell with the formula, you don't fix what isn't broken. Many of the changed champs were not broken; they were nerfed without just cause and you're trying to write it off as collateral damage. Not only does this kind of thing waste Sok's time, but it should never have made it into the patch in the first place. Hoping for changes in the next patch is a poor view to take, since it's just one small step away from being drawn into the "SoonTM" loop.

 

no range should be over 4 max and those that are 4 max should be more expensive or sandbagged... menalaus shouldnt be abe to doubletap every turn from 7 range, 8 with covenant

 

I gotta say, with the splashing of vulnerablities, even at 25%, and the weird nerfs to already bad ranged units, i'm a little disappointed. I was expecting the meta ranged champs like Mena and Juya to be hit, but were pretty much untouched.

 

Ranged options were deemed a fundamental problem. Everything is being universally scaled back. Better that, I think, than the haircut approach of "a bit off the top" and then wait for other things to grow ahead. I believe that this round of changes resulted from some tweaks to the formula -- I could be wrong on that. If, however, that is the case, then these sort of blanket changes are precisely what people should expect. Folks were clamoring about balance problems and ranged domination so much that Sok decided to do something about it.

However you feel about this round of changes, Jazz, be the reasonable guy you can be and sit on it for a week or two. My gut reaction to E. Lich losing 1 DMG without apparent compensation is also "wait, why is that happening?", but lets stow the harsher rhetoric at least until we see the material effects of this patch and expansion.

 

It's more the sentiment that annoys me the most about this patch: "Ok, ranged is too strong, so let's nerf the OP ranged champs AND the weak ranged champs".

The problem I see with universally scaling things back is that it affects the weaker runes way more than the stronger runes. Stronger ranged units will still be stronger, because the weaker runes will get even weaker, giving players even less of a reason to pick them. It won't change a single thing; people will run the previously OP ranged units because, while they are weaker than before, the other options will not even be worth considering.

You could say "well in a future patch, those weak runes will be buffed to be on the same level as the stronger runes", but in the interim they're left to rot for who knows how long. And by the time they ARE buffed, new runes will have been released that will raise the power gap even further, forcing the devs to buff those weak runes more than they should so that they are able to compete. I know that in a game with so many runes, a certain percentage are bound to be shoebox at any given time. But deliberately reducing the power of already bad runes just to tone down the power of strong runes seems fundamentally wrong.

 

What is Catastrophizing?
By John M. Grohol, Psy.D.
Catastrophizing is an irrational thought a lot of us have in believing that something is far worse than it actually is.

Falling prey to Catastrophizing is like striking out in your mind before you even get to the plate. Catastrophizing limits your opportunities in life, work, relationships and more. It can affect our entire outlook in life, and create a self-fulfilling prophecy of failure, disappointment and underachievement.

This may lead you to self-pity, to an irrational, negative belief about the situation, and to a feeling of hopelessness about your future prospects. Catastrophizing will possibly paralyze you from going further with efforts toward your goals in pox.

Battling Catastophizing
Every time you now want to Catastrophize a situation, you should answer yourself back in your mind:

Stopping yourself from Catastrophizing takes a lot of conscious effort on your part, patience, and time. But if you try, your Catastrophizing will be a thing of the past!

 

My suggestion wasn't quite that, although other posters have made such a case. I really meant "Wait until the competitive grind indicates which things are bad or good, then voice a strong opinion."

And wait, because, while we may have a reasonable or logical way to sprint to a conclusion, certainty demands some form of patience; we may think that the changes to some runes are bad, but until we have looked at everything in a new context, we can't say for certain whether or not that is either the case or undesirable. So don't worry, I get your position, and agree with the concern. I just think that the concern should be expressed a bit differently. I have been in exactly your shoes before with changes to FW: I've flipped out multiple times about changes to worms, to Bile Zombie, what have you; I've objected quickly and vocally to nerfs and buffs in the past. And, sometimes I was right! at least right in that I held the same opinion months later after careful evaluation. I have personally been wrong enough, and often enough, to be cautious of my own opinion and judgement -- to be careful with it. Your case makes total sense, I merely want to encourage you to have a similar kind of self-awareness about the process.

 

Also patch notes are sometimes unreliable. So the actual impact may be beyond what we are seeing here.

 

Just want to inform everyone that my posts in this thread are being deleted and edited by the moderator.

 

I like most of of the changes on this patch, huge ammount of bug fixes, gj

 

Probably something they judged inappropriate, I don't believe your posts would be deleted because of your opinions.

 

same here

 

First like deserves a free box?

 

Holy smokes these runes turned out well. I had my doubts about some of them -- doubts allayed.

 

Lookswise or do you mean mechanically? I am really excited about a lot of them.

<3 <3 <3 = Jellebrium Overlord

 

Ok, it really pains me a lot to say this but here I go (this is only regarding ST):

1) The whole idea of everything being XX/YY is terrible, at least to me. It will make a lot of bgs the same, even in different factions, which will lead to bgs looking more and more alike. I'd understand if there were a couple of runes, but almost all in every faction? Bad idea to me.
2) The runes are really, really underwhelming. No creativity put into place, no upgrade lines to choose from. There is one obvious answer and thats it. Props to Leaf on the Wind, though, he is cool.
3) The art on the runes are terrible for the most part. The jakei one looks like he was drawn by a 10 year old untalented kid. Pox has always had awesome art, this was a big let down for me. Except for Leaf on the Wind, his art is cool too.
4) Sok keeps releasing new abilities for Exos every expansion. More and more complication to newplayers, powercreep, etc. Ugh.

All in all, I know I displease a lot of you guys with my "negativity", but come on. This discussion thread has 3 pages (it used to have more than 10) and I'm willing to bet there are less than 100 players online atm.
They should be spending time and resources brainstorming how to make this game thrive again, not nerfing shoeboxed runes or releasing OP spells (I didnt want to say it, but just take a look at buffed Shield spell in ST. LOOOOOOOL)
Anyways, from an outsiders perspective, it was a let down for me. Again, my opinion.

 

I haven't fully looked at the new runes so I won't comment on that.

4) It would be nice if the devs could just dramatically shift from 30-60+ abilities per expansion to 10 or less, but that's highly unlikely. The "Let's Build An Expansion Thread" is an example of how sok is trying to move away from releasing so many new abilities.

Shield was changed to stop the superchamp BGs that were always a problem.