Me being a player who just came back after years of being away i find it difficult reading the patch notes to determine if a rune was buffed or nerfed because usually it doesn't say what the previous iteration of the rune was (nora cost and such) It would make it a great deal easier if the notes were worded so one could understand what exact changes took place. (IE: mora cost changed from 78 base to 73 base, lost life siphon on base, gained majestic on base) something like that. Sorry if this sounds like I'm just complaining, just want things to be easier for when i look at a guide or a BG that was shared a week before the patch i want to know what changed and if for the better or worse.
Personally, i dont understand why what it's previous iteration was once it has been changed is still important. Once its changed. Its changed. All that matters is it's current build and wether i think its worth running or not.
Its in reference to previous guides and things that are not kept up to date. Knowing what it was previous would help understand what u would need to change if you're looking at a BG posted from a month prior to the patch.
Even then by deduction if the rune has been changed you'd soon work that out when you went to build your BG. then its up to you to decide on wether it is still worth running in its current iteration. knowing what came before shouldn't affect your decision.
It's important in order to review changes over time and to keep less stuff on your brains. Pretty handy as a developer or when suggesting balance changes.
And if you don't have the rune yet, but have to forge or trade for it? Because let's face it, there are a lot of runes out there that have changed completely over the years. Just off the top of my head, let's use Tide Master as an example. Tide Master has always, always had Water Front, since I believe its inception. It was the standard go-to when you wanted to run a mobile aquatic battlegroup without relying on Flood Generators that freeze up or lag the game. It was such a signature rune in the Swamp's early days that he even has an equipment that gives his standard set of abilities to other units. Like everyone knows Talgar has tough, and everyone knows Vindrax has vulnerability to magic damage, Tide Master had Water Front. He was great to use with pirahnids, since he could jump past or around certain enemies and flood the area so your fishguys didn't choke and lose speed. My mental image of the Tide Master was a badass shaman that took no prisoners. He was sort-of lanky, but he was smart enough to surround himself with big-jawwed muscle. Like the Swamp's mob boss. Other boghoppers didn't like working with him, but they did, because he got what they needed. Then, one day, Water Front was gone. I don't blame you if you missed it in the patch notes, as Water Front being removed wasn't even mentioned persay. It just gave his new ability lineup and new nora cost. I didn't even know Water Front was removed until I started up my Swamp battlegroup and the fish around him started choking. But let's say you are a returning player, who doesn't have one, but remembers those days when he was around. And for fun, you want to build one of those battlegroups. So you forge a bunch of runes...only to find out you used your shards to no avail, and now you have to craft up a Boghopper Paladin or something as well. Or if you're a new player and you're just reading about him on the forums and don't assume that the rune might have changed since the forum post was made, and you've just spend your precious shards on something that doesn't do "as advertised." I am aware all it takes is a quick glance at the rune checklist to see if the ability still exists on the rune, but when you're trying to cobble together 30-odd runes, any of which might have been changed in a major way, it is very difficult to verify every single one of them. Especially if it is a case where a rune hasn't been updated in years and suddenly gets adjusted. Just imagine if Talgar suddenly didn't have Hammer Throw. Anyone that uses Talgar would be like..."What?" Anyone coming back to the game after a long break would be like, "He had a ranged attack for 10 years...didn't he?" Any new player would be like, "Why visit the forums if all the information is just outdated anyway?" I say take it several steps further. There should be a database of all runes, and previous incarnations of the runes with exact dates they were changed should be listed. I am aware it would be very difficult digging through the ten years of history to find this information, so don't even worry about that. But start doing it now.
