That saved nora in SP more often and more importantly, allows access to a spell/relic aided gib at first skirmish. In short, you don't have to wait for 8 deploys to capitalize.
A lot of good feedback so far. Lets expand upon the hypothetical. On the notion of not letting buffs to stack as in Regal Presence and Boost. Would a set cap on the amount a champion can be enhanced address the issue? E.g. a champion can only have a stat incrase equal to half their their base stats rounded up.
I've seen people mention Talgar/Klub + Equip, but it's not just them, it's hero equips. Most of the time you get like 2-3 abilities for 5-10 nora.
I think a cap on stats could be very good for the game Bear with me I'm going to expand with a bit of a tangent. A cap 50% of base stats probably would not work and still allow large stat bonuse (typically a boost is adding no more then 25% of their stat by then end of all of them stacking) A cap could be set on every unit stat in the game (much lower then 50% maybe 10-15%) This also keeps abilities like surge 2 from going way overboard and the tangent idea Rework faction bonuses to play with these caps, not the stats themselves (yes i know not all are stat bonuses) Allow certain themes to adjust those caps so they can be good in one area. example cyclops, and voil have different caps on defense reflecting the heartiness of their race Ud would have a higher damage cap then Kf, but they would have a higher cap on range or speed. This also keeps abilities like surge 2, bulwark etc from going way overboard late game.
Avatars need a separate designation from champions so that AOE spells and abilities do not hit them. Fanfair KF avatar, Boosted SP avatar, maca/regal IS avatar is all cute.. but... you know.
Yeah. Also, I thought one of the points of the revamp was to make things simpler, not overly complicated like your example here, Senshu.
Less abilities, Pox will never be simple. Even our basic movement/ attack system is more complex then most games.
I also think healing is OP. All forms of anti-healing have been nerfed. There are still champs with excessive healing abilities and beyond.
I agree, the solution to too much boosting is to have less boosting, or more expensive boosting - or to design boosting champs so that they aren't multi purpose and you have to dedicate a rune slot for it. Overly complex mechanics just give me a headache.
I think that would be manageable if you allow various abilites to continue to stack, but limited how much benefit can be gained. A champ can only be boosted 30% above their base damage, regardless of if it is a combination of Boost 3, and Regal Presence, or Battlemaster and Boost 3. The problem would then be the fact that powerhouse champs are more likely to have an ability that makes that boosted amount greater than the base, such as a champ with Tough 3 getting +3 def.
Did anyone every play Conquest of Champions? Go try that to get an idea of how simple=less abilities does not a good game make. Simple as in "easy to understand" and "well articulated in the description" is definitely the way to go. Also, simple as in calculating the effect of stacking abilities is crucial to lessening the learning curve. I don't think that the "hover for dmg done" is the way to go, its too easy, but maybe an order of operations and resulting dmg effects could be shown or expanded in the combat log so people can learn. Examples: Attacking a FF SL champ with 1 def. After the attack, you open the combat log to see: Baskitkase's Ironfist Minister ATTACKED Dagda's DumbRune for 8 physical damage. You click on the hyperlinked "ATTACKED" and it shows: Base Attack 10, -1 dmg caused by 1 def, -1 dmg caused by faction bonus = 8 damage total. Why is this important? What is the effect if I had casted Strip Armor? Base Attack 10 - 1 caused by 1 def, increased by Strip Armor by (9 * 1.4 = 12.6), -1 dmg caused by faction bonus (12.6 - 1 = 11.6) = 12 total damage. Or Base Attack 10, -1 dmg caused by 1 def, -1 dmg caused by faction bonus, increased by Strip Armor (8 * 1.4 = 11.2) = 11 total damage. Yeah, that 1 HP champion changes games and is endlessly frustrating.
I think the whole "boost" issue is that "improve range, damage, speed, def, Ect. were developed for a reason, to give themes that needed the "goodies" of boost, but the boost was so specific to a certain archetype and then completely ignored in every theme (cept constructs, 6 speed piledrivers would be blasphemous ). Skeletons has both boost, and improve speed and damage via dusk creeper along with bone alter. The core of the "boosting" exist to benefit toward making "efficient bgs" stronger through careful play and deck building. This dates way back to skeleton battle groups. The problem is that when are meta champions aren't designed with boost in mind at all. prime examples of this type of thing done right and wrong: Right: silverclan protector Wrong:Scarlet Wing Yes its an Ironfist stronghold example, deal with it cause its a good one and why its a good one Is two reasons: High risk, High reward Vs Low investment, High potential returns 97 nora 10 base damage, 3-6 range, barrage, magic beam, and pummel 48 hp. Perks: Access to construct based boost, equips, and has a speed steroid with decent healing for long ranged combat trading. 67 nora, 10 damage base, 5-6 range, Dot,flame strike, 2 types of damage potential. Perks: flying, boostable by beast support, speed steroid that translates into damage if not attacked, effectively can be a 1-6 range champion for 2 more nora(69 nora) When you seen someone play this guy first, most of the time you will be looking at it like, 97 nora for 10 damage and barrage? LOL waste when you can play a scarlet wing. But this is why this rune was done "right" in my opinion. When you factor in boost and protective, that is only when his damage starts to match scarlet wings things. Tough 3 access, and regen make him into a tanky ranged power house in theme. YOu get this for deploying helpless 40 hp units for 75 nora to boost him with. So you have 1 really great combat champion, a summon and a support unit. While his investment is costly, the reward for pulling this off, and protecting it, can win you games even if you only have 1. Scarlet is a type of unit you just throw in 2x cause you get 2 things, good ranged damage and alternate damage. What is this guys setup? 2 houndmasters, and 2 scarlets just right under 4 rounds of deployment nora, this is faster to get out, has the same effect, and is cheaper. You can swamp the enemy with dogs, have vision, and champions all day and have a 120 nora setup of range bearing down on you all game. You get 2 combat units, and a summon (with a lower cooldown and utility) in this rune package. Who would plan on exploiting a set-up so complex of Silverclan protector when you can axe throw and drive cheap units with the same boosting, to victory.
I also want to mention that "boost" is only an issue in certain decks/races I think we should assess which decks these are before we talk about changing something that could potentially sever some themes and decks.