Postby Tex » Thu 03 Nov, 2016 3:12 am
Well I guess its my turn to provide some thought...
I will list things I think are missing in blue and my hot contention points in red.
Random stuff
-General bug fixes are always very welcome!
-Hold fire ability is a great work. Thanks so much for this guys!
-Rotation rate changes are very "caeltosian". The only one I can see having a significant impact is on plague marines and it limiting their ability to kite. So... good change I guess?
-Hotkey changes look good. I like that most keys have migrated to being within range of the left hand.
Chaos
-Blood sacrifice cost increase to 175 red is a good change. Its a semi-powerful global that allows a high pressure hero to apply even more pressure. I agree with bringing the CL to heel.
-Nurgle shrine fix is good. Now how about we take a look at making the shrines more comparable in performance? CL shrine is absurdly powerful with shot blockers. Sorc shrine is awful. In fact, the aura from tzeentch shrine doesn't even stack up against the aura from the khorne shrine (10% ranged damage reduction from T-shrine compared to 10% blanket damage buff from K-shrine) , let alone the fact that the doombolts are absolute trash compared to getting free bloodletters appear.
A fair start would be making the khorne shrine only buff melee damage, and not ranged damage.
-Dark flames cost reduction from 150 to 125 is a bad change. This is a strong global. It got moved to T2 for that very reason. Excellent retreat killer and can be combined with all kinds of sorc shenanigans to good effect.
-Sorc bolt pistol damage increase is a good change. The sorc is such crap against low model count squads. This will definitely help him peel models and be a real threat in the early game.
-Rod of warpfire change is something I will reserve comment on. When it hits, it hits hard. When it misses, you just wish you didn't waste 30 power on something so trivial. Let's see how it plays out. (PS, the ability is supposed to do plasma cannon damage so supposedly this wargear should be supplementary AV but I have never been able to get a noticeable result... anyone else notice this?)
-MoK upgrade cost reduced. Good change for internal balance.
-Nerf to havocs and bc's, heading in the right direction. Spammable anti-all is cancer.
-Plague marine AI capacity is too much. This is the main problem with these guys, not upkeep, rotation, or squad size.
-Chaos dreadnaught changes are inexplicable to me.
-Predator normalization... thank goodness!
I think a few chaos wargears need looking at as well, such as the Icon of Tzeentch which has been made into absolute garbage. Also, The CL gets a ton of sustain from his armor of the inferno. Even if it would need a req reduction, I think it would make sense to make this armor more of a casting option and less of a "buy this to get massive HP and an I WIN spell for a very reasonable price".
Eldar
-Buffs to warlock underused wargear. I welcome these buffs, now please make gates cost 75 red.
-Entangling web moved to T2. I'm indifferent to this change, I didn't see root + grenade combinations nearly as much as I thought I would. I think a more appropriate change to the WSE is to remove his special attack and tie it to his melee weapon upgrade.
-Dire avengers are getting a hp shift from initial to upgradable. Dire avengers were underperforming at 300 req and are now overperforming at 270 req + having a high hp leader with detection that prevents them from being hit by mines or boobytraps. Obvious answer to me in fixing this balance issue is to increase their initial cost to 285 and to remove their detection in T1 when mines and traps are of greatest consequence.
-DA exarch changes are unnecessary if the previous line is followed.
-Banshee exarch cost reduced to 90-20. This is probably fair. We've all seen the exarch dying a lot.
-Warp spider changes to haywire grenades. Warp spiders never became bad. They never became unusable. They simply require a touch of micro and planning to use, and compared to fire dragons, are much less convenient to use for obvious reasons... The changes are almost too numerous to list that have internally nerfed warp spiders. Buffing haywire grenades to me seems absurd.
-Falcon changes. I think any nerfs to the falcon in its current state are good. This is the most dominant unit in this entire patch. The falcon is just doing so much damage though. I'm actually okay with it being a hard to kill/sustain kind of unit (although the shield battery does indeed need to recharge MUCH SLOWER), I just think that it needs to be less of a threat to either vehicles or infantry. Either one will give the opponent a much clearer choice on soft countering/hard countering strategies.
-Wraithlord change is inconsequential. Wraithlord could probably be made fine again simply by improving its hp to 1100 from 1000.
-Wraithguard changes have made them go from OP to UP. Wraithguards could probably be given a slight range increase, courage damage increase, and windup decrease, given that they now need to fire from being stationary. It would also make sense to move their leader to the back or side of the formation.
-Power cost increase for fire dragons from 30 to 40. The way that fire dragons are performing in this meta probably warrants their cost to be increased to 45 power, pending a re-evaluation of how eldar performs with what presumably should be a net nerf to their performance. Their high levels of performance across the board should very likely be tied into two seperate abilities that both cost 60 to 65 energy. This seems to be the magic number for balancing an ability choice on a level 1 squad. I also don't like the leader mechanic on this squad at all.
Ordo Malleus
I'm going to make general commentary here. I don't think my feedback is nearly as valuable in this section because I simply have not put enough time into GK since 2.5 launched.
-new global looks pretty bad
-Aeges mechanic seems good. requires more micro but offers an overall greater focus on synergy and helps to provide the theme and flavor we have all been dying for GK to have.
-New Canticle mechanic is decent, but I would rather have it as an energy costing ability that must be activated to shorten the cooldowns by 50%. What this would amount to is the brother captain having enough energy to reduce his cooldowns, and then cast a spell. He would then need energy supplementation either by strike squads or by the global bar to continue casting spells. I see this being a much more micro intensive and rewarding system for using the canticle. Think about 2 hammer strikes or 2 warding staff usages in a single large engagement. I don't see this being done in a meaningful way with a 30% cooldown reduction passively.
-Nemesis vortex change is good. Maybe make the snare effect vehicles?
-Psychic lash seems like it will be an integral part of BC play against certain races. I fear the ability knockback will allow it to be used for cheesy retreat killing though.
-Acolyte leader change seems strange to me...
-Strike squad I'm going to reserve comment on mostly. Seems like they will actually need to be in melee combat, vs being proficient at it if need be???
-Psycannon/Psilencer rework seems okay
-Ops seem useful again in a big way. Great work on this one!
-Great attempt at making GK dread variants all useful in some way. Let's see how it plays out.
-Other GK changes seem like largely inconsequential changes that could be listed under the "optimization category".
Imperial Guard
-Good changes in general for inquisitor.
-ST call in seems a bit too cheap at 200-125 tbh.
-Commissar execute changes look good
-Fist of Brokus nerf could probably be limited to 20 seconds instead of 15, but I think it will still be super powerful when used correctly.
-Lord General changes are great. I think the LG grenade launcher could use a slight range increase
-Heavy weapons team cost normalization is okay. In terms of tanks and HWT''s I'm totally okay with a certain level of standardization.
-Auto cannon nerfs, good!
-I'm going to call the catachan changes a net buff. I think this is an interesting change that will only hurt people like me who use double catas in T1 for a very early double (sometimes triple with an execute) dose of AOE damage.
-Flare shell is fantastic. Spotters have now gone from niche to almost necessary. Only problem is that it has a prohibitive cost!
-Storm trooper anti armor squad hp buff. Change seems okay, might end up exposing the fact that these guys actually do a good job and are probably being used poorly.
-Banewolf nerfs are no brainer. Good job!
-Leman changes I'm neutral on. They did seem pricey, but the plasma one does pretty big damage...
-Baneblade changes just prove that this unit is a mess. It has been tinkered with many times and we still haven't found a sweet spot for it. I can appreciate the attempt at making this unit more accessible.
-I think that a couple items might have been glossed over for IG. I feel like guardsmen could use a slight nerf in their cost efficiency, but I would also like to take a little bit of damage away from the sentinel and put it into basic GM las fire. Further, I think that the Lord Commisar power fist is an underperforming upgrade compared to its counterparts and it could use a slight cost reduction to compensate. And lastly, I would like to see more accessibility for the "mobile base" upgrade and its uses as compensation for less cost efficient guardsmen. The upgrade could either be made cheaper or the mobile base could setup and tear down faster. I want to also mention that I think Kasrkin are a bit too expensive as an initial purchase and that their plasma upgrade is garbage.
Orks
-Warboss changes are overall good. Boss pole going back to 25 power I'm unsure about. We didn't even see it used that much at 20 power and I feel like putting it back at 25 power makes it not a serious tier 1 option when angry bitz offers so much.
-On angry bitz, can we not all agree already that this wargear just outright over performs? If anything lets make angry bitz cost 130-25 and keep the boss pole at 110-20...I mean my goodness... 40 second cooldown,112.5hp regenerated, huge speed bonus for charge, knockback, and a melee damage bonus bigger than that of a stim pack! Only thing keeping this wargear in check is a reasonable energy cost of 50, but for what it gives I feel like it should be 60!
-Spiky armor changes are a good start. It's still going to be a free pass armor against eldar though.
-Knob is taking a big hit with hide da boyz nerf. I think 60 seconds should be plenty of CD
-More Dakka global getting a huge buff it seems? 0 reload modifier means ranged units will be unaffected by suppression in terms of their ranged damage output. Maybe lets try 0.25 before jumping into "shoot through suppression".
-Turret cost reduction and electric armor cost reductions I strongly agree with.
-Overcharge nerf is a very good thing. This wargear is super strong.
-Super Tuff Beam nerfs are good. I think this wargear is very strong, but I don't know that it was every a game breaker simply because its a deep T3 item.
-Slugga changes are awesome.
-I'm indifferent to the shoota boy changes. They already dish out buttloads of damage when they are fully upgraded.
-Stormboy changes make sense.
-Painboy change is a double edged sword. He does nothing to solve suppression. Buying him is usually a huge risk/reward gamble. Why on earth would we need to pay another 5 power for something he should have had in the first place?
-Stikkbommas are a bit less enticing to purchase with the drop of melee skill to 70. Could 75 still be considered? Otherwise I can't see a reason to not spend only slightly more on a weirdboy who gets plasma cannon damage.
-Kommando squad cost increase is fair. They are currently pretty dominant.
-I feel like Lootas are still doing too much damage and suppressing too easily. Something seems a bit off. I also think that Flash Gitz could come down to 50 power. Banners also need to be looked at in terms of team game stacking. Lastly, I don't think that the Knob's extra equipment wargear needs to give such an enormous energy bonus. It is a survivability wargear and should probably give no more than 20 or 30 extra energy.
Space Marines
-Force Commander terminator armor changes seem fine.
-scout regen nerf is a good change.
-Tac and Stern changes are very good!
-ASM and Vanguard changes are very good!
-LRR changes are good. The suppression flamers were just insane.
-Ven dread cost reduction is good. Hard to believe it costs more than a LR drop and yet it cant be upgraded with ranged weapons...
-Terminator changes are acceptable. Assault cannon might be a touch too appealing not, not sure.
-I was going to say that the Tac ML could use a power cost reduction to 35, but with the sarge getting a power cost reduction, I'll take it. I also want to address the very important issue of the Force Commander Thunder Hammer. That thing is still STUPIDLY powerful and it usually isn't even purchased for what it's supposed to do (That is, it is purchased as an anti-ranged blob weapon in tandem with teleport, when really it is supposed to be an AOE melee counter)! Either this hammer needs to do less AOE damage and more AOE knockback, or it needs to offer a greatly reduced damage buff to the surrounding army of the FC player. The hits are guaranteed and the damage is so impressive that there is never a reason to purchase or to keep the powersword. Also, why do sanguine chainsword and stormbolter both cost 25 power? The apo is still very easy to focus down when he buys the sanguine sword. I have used this thing consistently and it is almost always a bad investment when compared to the stormbolter. Further, let's bump the power axe up to 25 power and give it a bit more damage than a Tier 1 power weapon.
Lastly, and very importantly, the librarian needs more love!His initial cost is incredibly prohibitive in terms of internal balance, and a better initial purchase in T2 will almost always be a razorback or whirlwind. My proposal is that the Librarian should be designed around an initial cost of 360-40. In fact, the way he currently performs, that is probably the fair price to pay for him without changing anything! I also think that because he is so incredibly vulnerable against dedicated melee squads, you should be able to upgrade his hp by an additional 60. In essence, the changes would be as follows:
-Librarian starting price reduced to 350-40.
-Librarian ability "quickening" duration increased from 5 seconds to 8 seconds.
-Librarian tome of time upgrade cost changed to 50-25, upgrade no longer grants +100hp, upgrade now increases energy regeneration by 1 e/s.
-Librarian psychic hood upgrade cost changed to 75-20, upgrade now grants +150hp and increases energy regeneration by 1.5 e/s.
-Librarian force staff upgrade cost changed to 100-25, upgrade now grants +210hp.
*NOTE* ---- My reasoning for the reallocation of stats on the librarian is such that you can buy the librarian earlier, and upgrade to his most powerful ability earlier, but you are not granted any additional combat capability on the librarian himself.
Tyranids
-HT venom cannon nerfs are much needed. Good job!
-Brood nest nerfs much needed! Good job!
-RA tunnels holding 7 squads... can you say retreat kill?
-Ravener squad changes I'm curious about. I have no comment for now other than I am very interested to see how the slower timing will affect the reward of purchase.
-Tyrant guard should still be strong. Let's see if the shield wall nerf is sufficient to bring this thing to heel.
-Ripper nerf is welcome. They are quite strong.
-I feel like a few things are missing from the nid change list. If anything it looks very thin. HT bio-plasma could certainly use some flavor. Either make it more castable or make it do a little less damage with more knockback. This needs to be a more cost efficient anti-HWT option in T1 than the infamous charge/rending talons combo, which to be fair, is OP.
I also feel that the lictor alpha "assault leap" could easily have its damage greatly reduced or removed, and still be a very effective ability. We can easily sight the fact that other jump troops have on landing effects that don't include damage and are still very effective. Having the AOE damage tied into this ability really damages the internal balance of the LA's wargears, and I feel especially strong about this one because with the jump and the knockback, he can easily do AOE damage afterward by following up with "Scythe" ability, which by all accounts is practically energy FREE! And this leads me into my next point, that being that the LA has never received the attention he deserves in terms of a redesign on energy management. This hero is simply too easy to play, and the LA has wargears that reward a player FAR TOO HEAVILY for purchasing them. I mean, let's just take a look at the energy requirements of his abilities (and also consider that the LA is one of the easiest heroes to gain early levels on in the game because of fleshhook and cloaking) shall we? Flesh hook costs 45 energy, toxic burst costs 30, assault leap costs 20 energy, scythe costs 20 energy, pheremone costs 65 energy and terrify costs 60 energy. THE ONLY ABILITY WITH A PROHIBITIVE ENERGY COST IS PHEREMONE!!! Using pheremone as the example, the energy cost is probably the only thing that keeps this ability in the realm of being balanced! 20 energy for a full range jump with knockback and 35 piercing damage? 20 energy for a 25 piercing damage stomp that suppresses? 30 energy to regenerate 100hp and do 100 piercing AOE over 10 seconds, castable every 40 seconds!? Like damn... toxic burst isn't even a huge offender, but the efficiency per energy used on these abilities (including flesh hook mind you!) is just off the charts. Why buy adrenal glands armor slot wargear when you simply don't need it right?
I hope at least some of this is insightful. Thankyou to the team for working so hard and making this game great again!
Kappa