clear skies and weather: unhealthy game design
when a mechanic in the game requires a specific counter, it makes the experience highly frustrating.
if your opponent plays RNG and you don't have a clear skies in hand, you pretty much lose the round; regardless of what you've done so far. that, to me, is very unhealthy game design, and should be reworked as quickly as possible.
so many cards in the game have been reworked for this purpose, to avoid "infinite value" (commander's horn being the first that comes to mind)
the new movement mechanics certainly help, but most units in the game are still tied to a row. playing queensgard, for example, there's little you can do against an enemy who constantly spams fog, and even if clear the weather constantly, your opponent will be getting 2-6 value while you are getting none. (if you don't, you'll eventually lose the round...)
creating more and more cards to clear weather effects just shows how the mechanic is unhealthy for the game (in its current state). no matter how many weather clearings you have, you'll eventually have matches where you lose for not drawing one of them, and that never feels good. i play double clear skies along with ithline, and i've lost a couple of matches today to a 27+ RNR play
this is especially frustrating when playing around weather contradicts one another. if you spread your units to play around fog, you'll get crushed by RNG. if you stack them in a row to play against that, you'll be crushed by fogs...
the best way to solve this issue is to give the same treatment to many cards before: set a limit to their effectiveness.
keep weather on the board for a maximum number of turns, with a rework of the numbers. this way, the weather play will be rewarded - if played at the right time - without snowballing out of control when the enemy can't counter.
(removing or reworking "clear weather" goes without saying...)
for Ragnaroog and drought, make them differ from each other by their tempo vs value. RNR deals 9 damage a turn, (3 to three 3 units) for a total of two turns, while drought deals 5 (spread amongst the weakest) for a total of five turns. 18 vs 25, one is better for immediate value while the other is better in long rounds
i know in open beta it's less likely to change, but i don't think the game should be released with weather as it is
when a mechanic in the game requires a specific counter, it makes the experience highly frustrating.
if your opponent plays RNG and you don't have a clear skies in hand, you pretty much lose the round; regardless of what you've done so far. that, to me, is very unhealthy game design, and should be reworked as quickly as possible.
so many cards in the game have been reworked for this purpose, to avoid "infinite value" (commander's horn being the first that comes to mind)
the new movement mechanics certainly help, but most units in the game are still tied to a row. playing queensgard, for example, there's little you can do against an enemy who constantly spams fog, and even if clear the weather constantly, your opponent will be getting 2-6 value while you are getting none. (if you don't, you'll eventually lose the round...)
creating more and more cards to clear weather effects just shows how the mechanic is unhealthy for the game (in its current state). no matter how many weather clearings you have, you'll eventually have matches where you lose for not drawing one of them, and that never feels good. i play double clear skies along with ithline, and i've lost a couple of matches today to a 27+ RNR play
this is especially frustrating when playing around weather contradicts one another. if you spread your units to play around fog, you'll get crushed by RNG. if you stack them in a row to play against that, you'll be crushed by fogs...
the best way to solve this issue is to give the same treatment to many cards before: set a limit to their effectiveness.
keep weather on the board for a maximum number of turns, with a rework of the numbers. this way, the weather play will be rewarded - if played at the right time - without snowballing out of control when the enemy can't counter.
(removing or reworking "clear weather" goes without saying...)
for Ragnaroog and drought, make them differ from each other by their tempo vs value. RNR deals 9 damage a turn, (3 to three 3 units) for a total of two turns, while drought deals 5 (spread amongst the weakest) for a total of five turns. 18 vs 25, one is better for immediate value while the other is better in long rounds
i know in open beta it's less likely to change, but i don't think the game should be released with weather as it is
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