Cactuar Crate - Coalitions Edition

50% seems like it's too much of a nerf, 75% doesn't seem like it changes much of anything. At the same time I feel strongly that we need to do something, so.

 

No themes were specifically nerfed with the formula update.

Most runes got cost increases at various levels.

 

But if you are deciding what to play based on if it has been nerfed with the patch, then you have to acknowledge that the baseline has shifted as well.

Balance doesn't happen in a vacuum.

 

Whether or not it's nerfs or buffs, you can always argue that meta BGs can adapt or take advantage better.

Which is why typically I don't buff or design runes with meta in mind - they will find things that work regardless. I love themes and believe they are healthy for the game and my goal is always to expand themes in a balanced way.

 

Do you think themes should use a different formula?

And if we reverted the formula change, you could then argue that meta BGs got buffed more than themes. So I am not sure there's a way to win with this line of argument; because the premise appears to be that change benefits meta more than themes.

 

I agree, which is often why their racials or unique interactions are far cheaper than would otherwise be and have overt synergies built in between champions - the latter of which I want to expand on in particular for most themes.

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Let's put it this way, off the top of my head...

There are some of the themes for which I am solely responsible for their existence:

• Ferren
• Crystals
• Fae/Aurora
• Slag
• Wings/Sigils
• Worms (Creep in my day)
• Minotaurs

These are some of the themes for which I am responsible for greatly expanding:

• Bleed
• Firk
• Myx
• Hyaenids

And the Maljaran races I worked on alongside Corpse and Rev.

 

It's true that various themes are at various levels of playability. I do think most are playable, rather than "shoebox" just because they aren't top tier. The revamp hurt a lot of themes in particular and some, such as Ferren, no longer work anything like they used to. These have been being worked on, and I will continue to work on them. Even Worms have had various passes on their runes (I buffed many of them) before the Necrosis nerf (which I feel is a justified nerf, and we'll have to see if the specific implementation works or not).

But anyway, the point is that I love themes and have been working on developing them for a long time, and most of the themes that exist exist largely because I made them so. You might be skeptical of my support for themes based on a formula change that did not target themes specifically, but I am asking you to look at the bigger track record.

 

I will tell you this.

I've been trying to get the baseline of this game more correct since I've come back. While I believe the goal of the revamp was good, it did hurt a lot of the balance that had been achieved over the long haul, and I feel like the baseline is just getting back to normal - a lot of it has to do with the formula as well as the base cost of abilities. There's still stuff to shake out with the formula, particularly for really low cost stuff that had modifiers due to the old formula not handling low HP values well (altho Moga don't really have as many as people believe).

With most of that work out of the way, as well as a lot of over the top stuff having been dealt with (not all, mind you, but a good chunk), I can focus more on what I have been wanting to do; review and buff themes in a comprehensive faction.

You will see I had intended to do this sooner, for example, with the Maljaran theme thread I made... awhile ago.

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So on this we agree: we want themes to be more playable and competitive, and I look forward to your continued participation in this endeavor.