I notice that the aforementioned Commander/Boost/Defender thread has been taken down, though I'd like to make a slight suggestion: Why not make these abilities Active as opposed to Passive? For example from: Boost Beast (2) - "Friendly Beast champions within 5 spaces gain +2 DMG and +6 HP (this ability does not stack)." To: Battlecry: Beast - "All friendly Beast champions within 5 spaces gain +2 DMG and +6 HP for 4 turns (this ability does not stack)." CD: 3 AP: 2 Provides a more limited availability for the buffs and allows the opposing player to utilize counterplays as opposed to simply preparing for a specific drop. Any thoughts?
- I like the discussion this should generate. Other options could be: "Empower : X" - "Friendly champion with race/class Y gains Z , this ability is removed after it is used" (build'm tough as an example, granting an ability as a one off that is removed after used) "Rally : X" - "Friendly champions that share a race/class Y gain +1 speed (or something) for 3 turns when deployed. - I just hate aoe persistent aura buffs...its probably a gameplay preference but it also happens to be bland, boring and riddled with bugs as a mechanic.
Pox already has incredible board complexity, I don't think that complexity needs an additional temporal dynamic.
- Well this also bleeds into another topic, which I think Pox could be better at letting the player know "Something has happened" on the board. AoE aura's could give a visual representation on the champs affected and/or the aura itself could be shown to better help the players know that something is happening instead of just "knowing". - Burden of knowledge is deep in this game... some stuff could be better informed on the map instead of buried in lines of text on combat log. I think every spell should have a pop-up text over the area of centered on map when cast. "Essence drain!" floats briefly over the champion or centered is fine. Same could be used to help "Boosting champs". A little "+" sign could be hovering over allies boosted or "-" over champions with some type of debuff etc.
It's not just about knowing what is happening, or seeing it, it's keeping track of all the things you know. Pox can be really bad about even letting you know, but that issue usually obscures the larger problems with information quantity. I know exactly how any number of Fascinate triggers will shift around even a pack of champions, but mentally working through all of the math and calculations -- even just remembering to work through it -- can take up well more than half a turn. Even a player who has 100% information about the field still has to handle that information, and that's a monumental task. Every decision that either you or an opponent can make is another line of play to consider, and every trigger or condition on the field is another fact in a big strategic equation. It sounds fancy, it sounds cool, but damn, it's also hard and prohibitive. I don't think Pox needs more of that.
