C'mon, I have on both sides of the fence on the BotU argument, you know the price of BotU was 4n (obtained through the xml files and published on poxportal and other several database), and the answer to the second question is always "no" (someone will answer no, and the herd will echo), because the current meta champion is underpriced. Necromancer, Dark knigh, Serkan, bone elemental, obsidian venger, mysian lamia, there is always an efficient OP beyond belief champion who would break the server in half if it were to get a nora discount. Which is fun in an important way: we, the players, did not decide the cost for BotU. Or soulharvest. Or any other ability for that matter. Can you believe one preview shows calcify cost 4n, but reflection 4 costs 8n? Would you pay 12n for tunnel lava? Who decided this prices? The developers. Of course they can made mistakes, and the community is eager to cry at the top of their lungs whenever they feel one have been detected. However, in ultimate instance, I tend to trust the developers more than random nerf herder because they former have access to more data and the larger picture, than the later, who usually only cares if their specific bg is countered by some specific rune. Hasshassin anyone? And more importantly: having a template and formulas to properly cost a champion is always more helpful than randomly assigning values based on perceived ideas about synergy. The last developer who went free style was that developer, and everybody knows how horribly were the things around that time. HawkFain also tried to do some balance patches, and his "for the kicks" (free style) reasoning was meet with the same criticism. A template allows to keep a sense of balance when compared to the larger scheme. A free style is just an excuse to ruin the game, as proven twice by two different developers.
youre saying that if botu were an optional upgrade for 4n, no one would pick it, except maybe zombie decks. I agree. but that means that botu is NOT worth 4n (in most decks). it didn't matter what the individual ability costs were since more went to the final cost of the champ, there has always been wiggle room. Sure there is some sort of template, but ill bet prices can vary +/- 10 nora after that, and its not linear the higher in price you go. No champ is worth 200 nora no matter how many abilities you put on it (for an extreme case to make the point). the real limit is probably closer to 100 nora.
I don't agree with this statement. That's like saying full faction bonus = Arctic/amphibious/semi aquatic/etc + their respective faction FF bonus Also there are champs that are not in FW that have BotU. Assuming champs pay for all abilities on the champ technically BoTU is not a bonus at all and shouldn't be lumped into the FF bonus which is just that… a bonus.
Disagree, amphibious does not compare to BotU. secondly you are forgetting that you also get other racials. life siphon on vampires for instance. ZA on zombies. Sure boghoppers get leap for example but in actuality leap negates the need to really have amphibious. aquatic renders amphibious irrelevant etc. artic would have been a much better comparison by itself. but I would argue that artic creates the same problem BotU does because they both have a real effect irrelevant of map 100% of the time in the game. I mean honestly if you want we can add dead eater, immunity poison, disease resistance and fearless to amphibious. seems like a balanced idea to me....
You are correct that amphibious is not as powerful as BotU and I wouldn't equate them power wise. Arctic is a better comparison but I also think that taking widespread abilities and equating them to the bonus is an inadequate equation.
It all makes sense now that the reason witches and creeps are subpar themes is a that they do not have BotU. *Sarcasm*
Boon, arctic and even amphib should only exist to keep runes from being negatively affected by the factions core elements or synergies be they snow/ice/water gen or loss of life/disease. They should not offer a boon ( get it?) vs the opponent in any way other than to not screw yourself over.
I approve of the new system going in place. Not every champion of a race or theme should just have an ability slapped on every time. Its better having specific runes adding to a theme such as the zombie apocalypse example. Ive long felt the skeezick rebellion should be changed depending on the skeezick so a couple might get +damage when the threshold was met, but the warcharged might gain an additional 1-2 charges or something. You would still work towards a skeezick bg, but the devs dont have to make every new skeezick have to be built around whether or not he will be op with 2 extra damage
Actually, they should ... I know not everyone agrees, but for all I care balance goes first, flavor second.
Sure if these type of abilities are targeted. But I was mostly targeting full factional abilities such as boon, arctic and amphib/semi more than immunity fire or construct immunities.
