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ninjaboffin · 6 years

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What Makes a Game Competitive?

Some time back, I made a script for a Video titled “What makes a game competitive” but never actually got round to making it. Here it is and enjoy the script in its entirety!

Most of the time video games are played for enjoyment. Relax and not really care about what happens in the game world. Play the pacifist or you can play the champion everyone wants by conquering over your enemies with brute force.

However, there are some of us who do care about the game but not to roleplay. Not in the traditional sense.

I don’t believe that people play games to escape from their everyday lives. Often and this is certainly the case for me, playing games becomes a part of your life. Making friends and forming a community with other like-minded people. One such community which I got involved in from the very beginning was actually the competitive community.

So what is it about the competitive side that people like?

At its heart, the competitive side of the game is about mastery. But it’s not some XP bar with some numbers that will reward you ingame like most games have implemented,.

It’s about mastery with yourself and the various mechanics the game itself has to offer which goes way beyond just spamming one character or even spamming the game itself.

So this got me thinking. What should this week's video be that applies to other games as well. Every game has a different map, different champions, different genres as well which means different emphasis as well.

BUT thinking about this made the process a lot simpler as well. Why not discuss all of the mechanics. Better than that, what differentiates a casual game from a competitive one. This was also brought up when I was talking to HirezMartinni in Dreamhack Valencia. How do you differentiate casual players from the competitive players?

For starters how does one make a game competitive?

If you get enough people who want to get good at the same game, and you come up with a useful ruleset for testing and comparing their skills, you have a competitive game.

So starting with the first thing first, the type of games. Because believe it or not some games really cannot be played competitively. Candy Crush isn’t a competitive game but you know, I won’t be surprised if someone posts a link to I dunno, a candy crush world championships.

Generally speaking, if you can pay your way to be the best without using much skill, then the game really can’t be competitive. Before you use hearthstone as an example, the game still requires skill. Deck building, mana management and statistical odds really play a huge deal in the game. It’s possible (and I’ve seen it done many times) for a good player to beat a new player with access to all cards while having access to basic cards themselves.

Different games genres require different skillsets. FPS require aim, turn-based strategies require forward planning, Card games require calculations and so on so forth.

Now I play FPS’s a lot. For quite some time I’ve played paladins while dabbling into very few other games. So I can’t cover all the things that make every game competitive. So even though there are 100’s of things that can make a game competitive. We will focus on 3.

TTK, Core Mechanics and Developer Support.

So to make sure you guys TRULY understand what I am talking about. Let’s make a game. It’s a simple one.

There is an empty room with just two players. You and the enemy. Both of you can’t move and each has a gun pointing to the enemy. Once the buzzer goes off, you shoot. Whoever kills the enemy first wins.

That is the base game. Now let's discuss the specific mechanics in regards to this game.

Starting with Core Mechanics, how do we make a game where you can train to be the best of the best if you so desire?

Well for starters, there will have to be minimal RNG. Coming back to our game, imagine this. After the buzzer ends, you both shoot but there is a random chance where the gun will shoot. So you can never know who will win. Maybe both guns don’t shoot. Maybe both guns shoot? Or maybe 1 gun goes off. There is no counterplay to that. So this wouldn’t make a good competitive game because there is literally no way to train to be better. I addressed this in an older blog post.

We have the paying element. Let’s say for every game you win, you get a certain XP which will basically upgrade your gun to fire faster. But you can pay your way through to get the best gun in the game. If you lose, you gain no XP. If you draw, you also don’t gain XP. So you can see how paying for items also adds a chance of making the game no competitive.

However, there are quite a few things which we can add that makes the game require skill. So why not add movement to the two players? Before it was only the first person to shoot. Now it’s the first person to hit the target.

Why not add even more mechanics to the game? How about the ability to crouch and jump? So we get some verticality and you’re not always shooting at a box moving in 2 dimensions? Why not ramp it up and add 0 gravity, meaning you can now have to aim at the enemy player in the air?

You, however, have to understand one thing. There are gimmicks and then there are mechanics. So what I mean by this is that some games are very similar to other games BUT they have a “gimmick” that makes them different to other similar games out there.

So if we use recent examples. The MOBA market is very saturated. So if you want to survive in the market, you need something new. A new moba game that was released called “Master x Master” is one such example. So what does the game offer than the other MOBAs don't? Champion switching.

You can use your abilities as one champion and then at the press of button transform into another champion. Your previous champion will still be there, but their cooldown will be on hold until you switch back to them. Apart from this, there is little to nothing mechanically that differentiates this game from its other brothers or sisters.

In terms of our games, imagine that instead of having normal guns, you are throwing out fruit.

It’s the same mechanics as out other game, but the guns have been replaced with fruit.

The fruit is a gimmick for you to play the other game, but mechanics wise it’s the same as the original game.

A mechanic would, therefore, be something like making fruit thrown in projectiles. So when I shoot a gun, it will hit the thing I’m pointing at instantly. That is hitscan. But if I throw something and it takes time to travel there, that is projectiles.

Now we have 2 separate games even though both require aim. One in which your raw aim needs to be good and in the other, your ability to predict where the enemy will need to be good.

This was a very rough example of gimmick vs mechanics. Some could argue that gimmicks are mechanics, which they are correct about but if the game highlights one “mechanic” exclusively. Chances are it’s a gimmick.

Now moving onto something that is different for everyone. TTK. or time to kill as it’s in its full form. This is something that is quite hard to get right. But TTK on its own is weird. You need to consider moving with it as well.

So in our gun game, if you are going at snail speeds and the guns are a 1 hit kill, no one would move, they would just in one spot spamming the fire button. But if we were whizzing around everywhere and it literally took 300 hits to kill the enemy, no one would bother. It’s a delicate balance.

Let's use some examples. There are games like Quake where you are whizzing around and if you hit them once, they are dead (like the rocket launcher). But it never really feels bad if you die to a rocket because it’s a very hard thing to pull off. To counter it, you need to be much more unpredictable by using teleporters weirdly etc etc.

Then we have games like CS:GO. The TTK is pretty low and the movement isn’t too fast. What this poses in a weird situation. The aim is king, yes. But with a TTK that low, it also encourages camping. Waiting around the corner to get a quick kill. Now the counter play to that would be to check every corner, which a LOT of people do. But what’s the counter to getting a headshot? Some would argue that you shouldn’t have been exposed and to some extent they are right. But at a point, it will boil down to whoever has superior aim, which by no means is a bad thing. But it does leave you thinking if the enemy players get a lucky headshot through mid-doors on dust 2, what possible counter-play is there? Hope they don’t get lucky? Of Course, this is a rare occurrence and you can’t call a whole game bad because of it. Still, something to think about.

The final example for TTK would have to be Overwatch. Now it’s important to understand that I play both paladins and overwatch, but I do not play as much as paladins. So I will be as unbiased as I possibly can. The TTK is overwatch is pretty low. Headshots result in a 1-hit kill most of the times. But that’s fine. Headshots are hard to hit and need to be rewarded. That’s not the problem. The thing is annoying is using an ability and you can’t react to it. And frankly, ow is full of this. To name a few, we have Hanzo scatter arrow, Roadhog hook and shoot combo, Mcrees stun + headshot among many others

Now without sounding too salty, the lack of counterplay should mean that the TTK should be a bit higher. If I get stunned, I expect my health to tank if it’s one person. If they are with a team member, then yes. That means death.

What I don’t like is getting stunned and killed by the same champion.

For those playing Paladins, how frustrating would it be if Mal’damba stuns you with full health but then 1 second later you died to a solo Mal’damba. It’s a bit bs and you don’t expect to die to a solo Mal’damba that fast.

If you got stunned in the middle of 5 enemy people, then yes. I would expect to die that fast.

Another thing that doesn’t make sense with overwatch TTK is the movement speed.

You are pretty damn slow. Playing games like gigantic and paladins, it really does feel like snail speed. I mean with paladins there are mounts which make you go faster. In OW, if you die it takes AGES to get from spawn to the objective.

Overwatch itself is a very good game. A polished one at that. And there is nothing wrong with that. But that being said, it’s a casual game. You pick it up, shoot some, get killed or be killed. There is little to no counterplay in its ultimates too. So most of the time you are charging your ultimates and the team with the better wombo combos win.

If you disagree with that statement, then do tell me how you would counter this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZNVaSiyf58

You really can’t. Unless you have a mercy res up, there is no counterplay to that.

If games have little to no counterplay, they really can’t be considered competitive.

Now I’m going to stop because I can already see my comments section filling up with posts saying I’m wrong. I potentially am but I may be correct as well. I’m just stating what I’ve seen.

Anyways, moving along to our final point. Developer Support.

If the devs don’t support the game, then how can the game be competitive?

What this means, is that patches keep the game fresh with an ever-changing meta.

All of the current competitive games have had very good developer support.

Just to name a few we have League of Legends, Dota 2, CS:GO, Smite, Paladins and so much more.

While some games (like Paladins and Smite) have a meta that changes a lot in a very short time (1 patch every 2 weeks), some games have patches not so much (CS:GO). But the fact that the devs support the community in helping run tournaments, getting involved themselves and often even helping out with pricing. In this day and age, most developers want their games to succeed and one definition of success is to have an alive esports scene.

Ok, I lied. Developer support isn’t your final point. The one thing you need to make a competitive game truly viable has to be viewers. You could have the slickest mechanics and the most competitive aspects in place, but if the game never gains any viewers, it’s not a successful game.

There will always be people that want to get good in a game, but there are not many games that people want to watch you do it. Like we said, you need a following for the game and having viewers for the game is followers. But not just any followers, these are the hardcore followers in your game. At the end of the day, Games are meant to be enjoyable. The thinking has shifted dramatically from enjoying the game yourself to enjoying top level plays by another player.

Thank You All for Watching! If you liked the video then press that like button and let me know in the comments of what you thought about the video! If you didn’t like it, the dislike button is right there as well.

Follow me on Twitter @NinjaBoffin

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ninjaboffin · 6 years

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A Case for RNG: The Mal'Damba Conundrum

Consider this a follow-up post to the Vivian blog post. And as the title suggests, this post is all about the snek boi of Paladins; Mal’Damba.

During the mid-season update for Paladins, it was announced that quite a few of the champion have been nerfed and buffed and quite a few of the talents have been reworked because they weren’t working as they were originally intended to be. Maeve’s talent “Street Justice” got reworked from bonus damage to execution. Grover can now cripple multiple people but for a much shorter duration. Mal’Damba had one of the more interesting changes because apart from one other champion, he is the only other champion to have an RNG included in either his cards or their respective talents. The talent in question is the reworked “Ripened Gourd” which now doesn’t slow enemies by 50% but instead, it has a chance of not going on cooldown. Which means, in theory, you can throw 200 gourds back to back (but that chance of that is happening in the game is astronomically low).

When I originally watched this on the live stream, to say that I was a bit taken back is an understatement. No other champion until now had a “chance” factor to their base kit. The only things left to chance was if a player had somehow got the projectile arc wrong and MAYBE it will hit the enemies. No other champion had this RNG in their base kit.

But then I remembered that there was actually one champion. One champion from the entire champion roster that had the RNG in their “skill set” and not just one, she had two.

For those that read the Vivian blog post, you won't necessarily be surprised to find out that the culprit in this instance is Vivian. Her talents aren’t the ones that have the random mechanic, it’s her cards (and that is worse compared to Mal’Damba).

Vivian has two cards. They are “Unchecked Ambition” and “Hidden Reserves”.

Unchecked ambition at level 1 means that you have a 12% chance of not using an ammo (If you hit the enemy). Each level increases that percentage by 12% (Meaning at level 5, it’s a ridiculous 60% chance of not using any ammo if you hit the enemy)

The other card is a bit more crazy. Hidden Reserves at level 1 means that EVERY SHOT THROUGH PRECISION has an 8% chance of not costing any ammo. Every level increase that by 8%, meaning at level 5, it’s 40% chance of not using any ammo.

The wording for both is important. Unchecked Ambition is for every shot hit and Hidden reserves is for firing any shot through precision. Which means if you hit shots through precision, you are getting unbelievable value. If you were to get both cards at level 5 in your loadout for Vivian, that’s 60% chance of not using ammo if you hit the enemies through hip-fire, a 50% chance of not using any ammo if you hit enemies through precision and a nutty 40% chance of not using any ammo for firing through precision. “Shots Hit” is a key-term here and it doesn’t just mean enemy champion. Technically if you hit a wall, that’s still a shot hit but it doesn’t work like that (Which is good news). But that means that apart from enemy champions, every single destroyable deployable also counts as “shots hit”. Illusions, turrets, walls and most importantly shields. So now just imagine this scenario. You have level 5 unchecked ambition and hidden reserve and are against a shield heavy team comp (Let's say Makoa, Khan and Nando). Ideally, you would want to pick Bom King and pick the “Demolition Talent” but that’s been banned the enemy team (Which is good drafting). You can just pick Vivian and get “Sapper rounds”. You will dominate early game with a Wrecker 2 inbuilt in your kit. If you’re close-to-mid range, just hit the shields with precision to get the most value (Ideally on Nando/Makoa Shield). If you’re long to mid, you use precision (and get the compounding chance of 50% of not using any ammo). FOr items, you can get cauterize (to make their lives a living hell, meaning there shields melt and they also don’t get healed). If your team has an AOE champion that has gotten cauterize, then you can also additional wrecker (But with the implementation of the diminishing returns on items, it’s not worth getting wrecker 3 and often wrecker 2).

That thing is actually there is no counter play to this. If Lian was using the “Death and Taxes” talent, you could at least get rejuvenate to counter the lower healing. There is no such counter for Wrecker. Worse yet, you can't also counter the RNG. It’s in the name.

Now you must be wondering why have I named the blog-post “A Case for RNG” and then proceed to describe nightmare scenarios. Well, until recently I also thought that RNG had NO place in Paladins because, by design, it’s something that you can’t prepare for. If there are two teams of EQUAL skill and champion roster, it could come down to RNG to see which team will end up winning. But now I think some RNG is ok and maybe even good for the game (But not in its current form).

A game that I’m actually hyped about is Artifact. It’s a TCG and that too made by Richard Garfield (Creator of MTG) and Valve. Having played MTG throughout Secondary school, it’s a genre that I may not play much now but it still holds a special place in my heart. Card games have randomness in them and it’s actually a big part of their appeal. The reason that I started to play Paladins in the first place was because of the loadout system and its heavy inspiration from card games. You make a deck of 15 cards and after a certain time, you would choose 1 card out of three to be your “active”. This meant that the loadouts came out randomly and you HAD to have multiple builds ready and it was up to RNG. It wasn’t a bad design but the other aspects of the game were too broken for that mode to survive. Plus that level of randomness didn’t compliment the crisp FPS element we have now. It was way to clunky back then.

So why can some RNG be good? Well, it’s mainly related to adapting. For example, we can train dogs to respond to “Fetch” and sure enough, they will fetch (After training). If you say “Acquire”, you can’t really expect the same results even though it’s essentially the same thing. The good boy doesn’t know what you mean. Similarly, you can train your aim, drafting skills, execution and whatever else you need to but if you can’t react and adapt to something that you don’t expect, then what's the difference between you and the dog? Real skill doesn’t come from the expected, it’s how you react to unexpected situations and in this instance, not let the enemy strategies faze you.

The caveat here is that it has to be RNG that can be managed. If there was a talent that had a 50% chance of dealing 100x more damage, you can’t be expected to react to that (as it’s complete nonsense). If it was a 10% chance of dealing 25% extra damage, that’s still manageable. You can position better, coordinate with your frontlines and invest in Blue Items like Haven or Blast Shield. You may get really unlucky and have a Drogoz that has done 25% extra damage for 10 successive shots but that has an astronomically low chance of happening. Another big attraction of manageable RNG is the fact that it’s enjoyable for the viewers. If in a professional match you see the Drogoz get off 10 successive bonus damage shots, that builds hype because it’s hard to get successive shots on targets let alone bonus ones. It turns into a lot more hype if the team against the Drogoz completely negate the enemy drogoz and wins the point or even the game.

If you’re going to type that RNG can literally ruin the match for two equally competent teams, then I would have agreed with you in the past but as I’ve mentioned because of Artifact, I don’t believe that is the case. For starters, very few/no professional teams are equally matched in skill. Paladins has a lot of moving parts to it and it’s hard to believe that one team is a master in EVERY single aspect of it. Some teams are better at drafting (EnvyUs), some have great synergy (Spacestation Gaming), some are masters of itemisation (Fnatic), have crazy good aim (G2 Esports) or even excel at positioning and zoning (NiP). You could have great aim but the draft does not favour you and you could lose. Your draft may be great but you can’t pull it off because you have no team synergy. In the unlikely event that both teams are equal in aim and draft, bad itemization can also cost one team the game. Considering all of that, RNG in these things don’t necessarily hurt the game. If one team loses to an RNG factor, chances are they messed up somewhere along the way and the enemy team didn’t. Similarly, with RNG, you can’t rely on it to work on your behalf. It’s AN avenue, not the ONLY avenue. You need multiple strategies ready. This also promotes playing well because the things you can control need to be played really well or you’re going to be disadvantaged. But like I’ve said, no two teams are equally matched in every aspect of the game for RNG to really be a problem (If the RNG is handled right).

The current RNG is ok but it doesn’t really offer anything much over the other “meta” picks. For example (for Solo Healer), why would I want to pick Mal’Damba if he has a CHANCE of throwing multiple gourds when I can just pick a stronger and more consistent heal? Why would I pick Koga having a chance to not use his bullets when I can use them for gaining back the energy used?

It’s good that there is some RNG in the game but with the game specifically moving away from RNG all those patches back, you have to add RNG that has a high-risk-high-reward. That’s why RNG is fun to watch because neither the players or viewers know what’s going to happen next and how everyone will react to it.

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ninjaboffin · 6 years

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Champion Design: The Vivian Problem

Paladins is an ever-evolving game. The game gets an update every two weeks, and major content is added at least once a month. This could be new game modes, maps or champions. For the latest patch, it was the “Mid-Season Balance”. This patch while it added a new game mode too (A semi-ok Rocket league clone type thing), it also went over existing champions, reviewed the champions and in some instances, fundamentally changed how some champions work.

To list a few examples, we have the change to street justice for Maeve. Instead of doing bonus damage to targets that are missing health, it now instead insta-kills targets pounced that are under 35% of their health. Personally, I like the change as it solidifies Maveve as a flanker (Whose main objective is to finish off the wounded and low health enemies). Grover had a change to his talent “Deep Roots”. Instead of just crippling 1 person, the axe will now bounce and can root multiple enemies for 1 second. Viktor had a significant change to his “gunnery” talent, which has been renamed to “burst mode”. His rifle now functions like a burst rifle that fires 3 shot. It does more damage and is better at a range.

There were a few more changes, but I’m not going to list them all. You can just read the patch notes for that. While I’ve wanted to make multiple posts analysing Buffs and nerfs for quite some time, I just didn’t know how I would make it. What topic exactly would it be and how do I address it?

Now as you’re reading this and have also read the title, I’ve figured out how to address it and what topic I need to cover.

The premise is a simple one and depending on the reception of this post, I can expand on this topic a bit more.

Vivian (As she is the focus of this post) made her way into the realm in OB63 (which was released on November 15th, 2017). She is a damage character and has a straightforward kit. She is rather beginner friendly. Her kit includes her Light Machine Gun (LMG) which can also be scoped (Similar to Viktor and his rifle). She has a frontal shield that doesn’t fully cover herself and a sensor drone which can be stick to various surfaces, and that reveals enemy champions in a large radius. Her ultimate summons two drones that will fire out a blast shot of kind every second. They will stay summoned until she is either damaged enough or is killed. It's a simple kit. Most of her emphasis is placed on her weapon, and she has two active skills. The shield and the sensor drone. Her ultimate in a way just enhances her base rifle, so we don’t count that. She has no “escape or movement” ability, so once you get near her, she really can’t do anything apart from “try to run away” or deal you damage with however log she is alive.

As I've said, a straightforward kit.

As tradition goes, when she was initially added she was a DPS monster. She was a new damage champion. Whenever a new champion is added, everyone is anxious to try them out in their games. As a result, she was first picked for quite some time. There were quite a lot of threads on the forums and Reddit that complained about how busted she was. While this was somewhat true, you also have to consider the fact that she was a new champion and wasn’t out long enough for people to figure out how to precisely counter her. Her talent “Opportunity in Chaos” paired with a high rank of “Hidden Reserves” and “Unchecked Ambition” meant that you could fire for a VERY long time without having to reload (Assuming you were hitting most of your shots).

As tradition follows, she was nerfed to the ground in the next patch (Which was actually just a week later 21st November 2017). Her shield health was dropped, and it’s cooldown increased, her own health was decreased, and her ultimate damage was reduced by a whopping 50 from 250 to 200. The “final” nail in the coffin was funnily enough in OB64. Her damage dropped from 200 to 170. And her “new” talent got added in the game “Bobby Trap” which allowed your sensor drone to explode if the enemy teams got close. But at this point, Vivian became unviable (for casual play). The next change to Vivian actually came 4 months later, and it was an insignificant buff to her LMG. The recoil was decreased by 10%. Her sensor drone was also made a bit more useful as it now revealed the enemies to your teammates and could also reveal stealth. But that wasn’t enough for her to be viable. Jumping forward another 5 months, in Patch 1.4, Vivian got another buff. She can now have two sensor drones up at any given time and her talent” bobby trap” now also applied knockback.

During the lifetime of Vivian in Paladins, she was worked on for only worked on 4 times (of which she was nerfed to the ground literally a week after release). Since then, EvilMojo has tried to buff her, but without avail. Vivian is still very easily countered and it too easy to play against someone who has somewhat of an idea of what to do in Paladins.

And this is where the main idea for the blog comes into play. It’s a working theory.

The harder or complicated the kit of a champion, the easier time the developers have balancing them.

Like I’ve already said, Vivian’s whole kit revolves around her LMG, and it’s manipulation. Yes, she has her own shield and sensor drone, but Vivian is really all about her LMG, and that is her downfall. She is a damage champion, and her damage output is what makes or breaks her.

Considering the points mentioned, it’s ridiculously hard to balance her. If you buff up her damage output (like when she was released), she will be TOO good at dishing out damage and thus be overpowered. If she stays in her current state, she will never really see the light in comp games because she doesn’t add anything extra that someone else already brings.

If we look at a different champion also in the damage class that has a somewhat of a “complex” kit I would say it’s Shalin. He has been out for quite some time (Released on November 10, 2016 [OB37]) and he has seen consistent competitive play. It was the champion that Bonkar played in the 2017 HRX to secure the win for Burrito, and subsequently, an esports skin (The only one added as well) was Burrito Shalin. For HiRez (or EviMojo watching) Where is the 2018 Navi esports skin?

His kit like is complex and we can break it down a bit more. For starters he is a “projectile only” champion and more than that, it’s a varied projectile. Depending on how long you hold the bow will also affect how far the bow will travel. Just tapping the mouse button will make your arrow fall in front of you and a full hold will cause the arrow to go as long as the map. Then we have his primary ability. Planted. You fire arrows rapidly, but as the name suggested, you are planted in one position. You can also cancel the ability early and not get all the shots off. His alt fire manipulates one of his arrows to knock someone back. If they are knocked into a wall, they also get stunned. His “movement” ability is “withdraw” which will make your character model back and go into stealth. You then exit stealth once the time is up or if you fire an arrow. His ultimate puts him in stealth mode while also giving him additional movement speed and only reveals him when he shoots an arrow.

This champion design is something that is very easy to balance. Apart from the actual damage numbers, Shalin has a lot of components that can be analysed.

Actually, before we get into that, some things apply to all champions. Health pool, Default damage and ability cooldown. Sure there is also movement speed, but that is very rarely touched. So looking at all of them as things we don’t want to touch for the sake of the example, Shalin is still easy to balance. Firstly we can adjust his bow strength. Meaning the time it takes to charge his bow fully. Lower it for a buff and lower it for a nerf. Then we look at planted. You can either increase or decrease the number of arrows fired. Then we can also look at the activation or exit time. We then move onto withdraw. Increase or reduce the stealth duration and increase or decrease the leap distance. Finally, we can also look his ultimate. That is a simple increase or decrease of the length.

This is all without even looking at talents. But that’s a different discussion.

Looking at Vivian in the same light there is very little we can do. Manipulate the number of sensor drones and their effective range. For the shield, we can play around with its size. I specifically didn’t mention health because that can be manipulated with the loadouts. But that again is a different topic entirely. What makes a good card variety for champions?

So what we’ve learned so far is that the simpler the champion kit is, the harder it is to balance them. But there is something a bit deeper here. 'Paladins' is a predominantly competitive game and having an easy champion out while it does help the newer and more casual base, it’s not viable for competitive play. The more complex the champion kit, the higher the skill ceiling for them will be. Once that skill ceiling is being closed upon, that’s when we see the stellar and phenomenal plays. A quick differentiation, Skill ceiling is different than skill floor. Skill floor refers to the minimum time required to play a champion at a decent level. Skill ceiling is the amount of time required to play the champion at it’s highest level.

So Vivian has a low skill ceiling and floor. Shalin also has a low skill floor but a higher skill ceiling. The developers I get that they have to get quite a few numbers of champions out, but that shouldn’t mean that they should make more 'Vivians'. Yeah, she was easy to make and increases the champion diversity in the game, but when we champions as Varied as Evie, Drogoz and Talus, does the game really need champions like Vivian?

Newer champions should be a way to experiment with new ideas and mechanics. Like I said in my Supports video, both Jenos and Seris have a place in the game from a design standpoint. Singular healing vs mass healing. When we look at the damage category, we have enough variety as well. Viktor is all about that mass damage/tagging from mid-long range. His grenade and assault rifle do that. Tyra is about point control and zoning people. Drogoz is AOE mobility damage, and Bomb King to an extent is burst damage and point control. Vivian yet again doesn’t really add anything new. The vision (while it’s useful on paper) can really be done by most damage characters in much more unique ways. Preemptively grenading a potential area. If you hit someone, you can see the damage numbers meaning you know someone is there. If you see your multiple numbers, you know there are numerous people. Drogoz does the same thing with his fire spit. Willo with her seedling, bomb king too. You get the picture. If we take her talents into account, then Sapper rounds seem really good. But Bomb King has demolition, and yes that also works on Bariks ultimate and also goes through Terminus Power siphon.

So while I understand that Vivian is already a champion in the game. She can either be too busted or not useful enough. There really isn’t a viable “state” for her. One thing I would personally bring in her kit would be something like “opportunity in chaos” but built in her default gun. Instead of doing more damage, I would much prefer to see her gun “warming” up as you fire it and her rate of fire increases in doing so. So the longer you stay firing, the more efficient your damage output is. That gives her movement speed penalty some trade-off which that makes sense.

I would like to discuss more why Vivian won’t be competitively viable in her current form, but that also drags on another topic which I also want to cover in a separate post. If you follow me on twitter (Which you should), I asked a question about what video you want to see. Vivian is one, and the next post will be on Mal’Damba. That will go a bit more into the Vivian problem while tackling an entirely new topic; RNG.

Is it REALLY as bad as people make it out to be?

Hope you enjoyed that read. With the studies for my masters course already started, it’s getting harder to make videos. I'm just going to release “video scripts” as blog posts. I’ll also have a different post for the channel and what’s happening with that.

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ninjaboffin · 6 years

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Social Media Delirium

A couple of days I tweeted out this and while it was meant as a joke, it really did get me thinking about Social Media, My online presence and how you can’t force change.

https://twitter.com/NinjaBoffin/status/995672077138059264

Social media is addictive. Actually, it gets so addictive that often it can feel like a necessity. It’s not hard to see why as well; You put out your “thoughts” to the world and then as you watch the reactions, likes and comments roll in, you feel like you’ve done something (This is what I used to think personally). When you think about how the “like” system on twitter actually works, for every like you get you know that:

Someone read your tweet

Agreed or even liked what you had to say

Made the effort to press the Like Button (Which sometimes shows up on their followers' feed)

Maybe even retweet it

This makes you feel heard and in this & age with a heavy emphasis on maintaining a social presence, it can get unhealthy very fast. While I don’t have a job where my social presence needs to be monitored 24/7, I might in the future. With the growing importance of it, they will no doubt check my social presence prior and judge how I present myself:

Am I impulsive?

Do I get into “fights” a lot?

Where do I stand on Social Issues?

Political Affiliations? etc

Even though Social Media was meant to be used as a way to stay connected with people, share experiences and even experience new things, It’s turned into a popularity contest. Reading multiple posts about how looking through Facebook and seeing how people you don’t really talk to anymore are sharing pictures of their babies, vacations or even pictures of their lunch, doesn’t exactly make them happy. The fact we’re now connected more than ever also means that we’ve never been more disconnected personally. I’m lucky enough to have made friends online and we even hang out when we get the chance. The same goes for friends that I’ve had since school. Even though we don’t stay in touch as we used to, once you actually meet them and start talking, it’s like not a single day has passed. Even with these interactions, I’m still personally drawn to the ecstasy of strangers liking or even agreeing my comments. More time is spent refreshing the ‘Notifications’ page and seeing who has read and liked my tweets than actually doing something productive.

It’s not something I’m proud of (and hence why typing about it here is very important). This behaviour isn’t new though. The same thing happened when I used to upload a video. The first 24 hours when the video was uploaded, the ‘Real Time Statistics’ and ‘Community’ page were my home. Every good comment made me feel amazing (as they should) and every negative comment made me realise what mistakes could be erased in the next one. But that was all warranted. Videos take hours to make and some even took days, I had invested time & effort in them and was anxious to know what the world would think of my efforts. But Twitter is something completely different. It takes minutes (if not seconds to make a tweet) and to get attached to it the same way as I did for a video, is quite ridiculous. Once I realised this, It became evident that a change in the framework is needed.

While writing this, I have 2400 twitter followers (Which Coincidentally is just about 1/2 of Youtube subscribers). While my YouTube engagement and average views are about 60-75%, Twitter actually boils down to less than 5%. The simple reason is that the number of followers that I have is severely inflated with the multiple giveaways I’ve done. Most of the people following me just want skin codes. It’s not representative of the people that like my content or what I have to write. While a big number of followers is a thing to brag about, it’s no good if they’re not “real” (Not to me atleast). With each passing day, the more I start to truly appreciate authentic comments, people and thoughts.

I’ve made a lot of mistakes along the way. I’ve judged people wrong, got jealous of others, Held my thoughts above others and have a wrong sense of confidence. The prime example of this is my defunct Discord server. The original point of the server was a place for a close group of friends to hang out together. Share memes, make jokes and the whole lot. It was then opened to the general public and then shortly after became a server to discuss Paladins lore. After that, it became the house of the first ever ‘Server Wars’. This is where the server starts to lose its identity. Because I had publically advertised this server for the ‘Server Wars’ it quickly became huge (jumping from 50 people to 300 in a day), It was no longer still the server for Friends. Even though some of the people that joined were fans, a lot of them wanted to try and play Server Wars. We then decided to move Server Wars to its own dedicated Server and not use this server anymore. Let’s break it down before we move to the next point:

No Longer The Core Server For Friends

No Longer The Lore Server For Lore Fans

No Longer The Home For Server Wars

It was just a server with a mixture of people from all walks of life. This is where my overconfidence comes into Play. I tried to make this server into a Personal “Fan Server” and I guess I’m still trying to. I never made the initial server, I was handed the server. I never really tried to do anything with it except spam everyone when I had a new video up. Even that stopped 6 months ago when I went on a YT Hiatus. It’s lucky to get a new message sent every week and has sporadic moments of “activity”. It’s basically time to let it go and start a new. Like I said Initially, no point trying to force change. It’ll never be as good because the original changes and growth were organic.

Coupling all of these major realisations (especially in the last 2 weeks), I’m now no longer bound by any real excuse to not do any work. I had a lot of University work prior, but that’s over too. My last exam was on the 14th of May. So from me personally, You’ll be seeing a couple of changes being implemented slowly that have frankly been a long time coming.

Twitter Giveaways will not be the main ways to obtain Paladins Codes from me. The codes are a means to grow communities and that is what they’ll be used for as well. One thing which I liked but stopped was Puzzle Videos. Something along the lines of month-long puzzles and a prize pot for the people involved and solvers.

My Twitter handle @NinjaBoffin will basically be a lot less active from random crap. No Sneaker Retweets, Random Memes, Screenshot of my games and stuff like that. While being ‘Personal’, it’s not really at all personal. It’s a huge mess.

The channel “NinjaBoffin” will be Paladins centric. Taking inspiration from ‘3KliksPhilip’ (Whose Videos I enjoy very much btw). I’ve set up a new channel for everything that is not Paladins. I’ve tried to add things that are not Paladins on the channel and the response has been too random, So I rather keep that in one place. More info on that later.

The main complaint I get is that my videos take too long to come out. This is normally due to the fact that I want my videos to be different than all the other creators. That is what initially got me where I am. So the “Big Videos” won’t be the only things that are uploaded. Expect a much more consistent stream of videos on the main channel. A project that I want to have up as fast as possible is a comprehensive guide. Individual Videos on things like Items, Maps, Team Compositions, Class Breakdown etc.

A new Discord Server. Built from the ground up. The current one will not be deleted (as it has a lot of good memories) but most (if not all) of the channels will be hidden and the one that you can see will lead you to the new one.

This turned out a lot longer than even I had expected. I would like to take this moment to apologise for my lack of planning. I’ve made false expectations and even disappointed a few people. If you’ve still stuck around through all of these, I would like to Thank You from the bottom of my heart. I’ve met some great people through this experience and honestly, I’m glad I did. Even through all this crap, their sheer presence has made the whole experience bearable. I wouldn’t have continued otherwise <3

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ninjaboffin · 6 years

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Let’s Look at the Battle Pass (OB70)

Oh, Dear. It seems that I haven’t done anything on here for quite a long time. With the upcoming patch and the addition of the “Battle Pass” system, It’s a good time to write here again. It’ll be relatively short (Nothing like the monster patch analysis I’ve done before) but lets still clear somethings up!

We start with the first thing, the cost of the Battle Pass. It’s 500 crystals. I want to say that out of all the previous “things” that Hirez has put out, this is really quite enticing. In PTS, we don’t have level thresholds needed to advance from Level 1 to (let's say) Level 2, Nor do we have ideas on what the challenges are. I do know that advancing from Level 1 to 2, costs 70 crystals. Finally advancing from Level 2 to 50 (48 Levels) costs 3,360 Crystals. That’s 3430 Crystals meaning that for a player to buy EVERYTHING in the Battle Pass on day 1 will cost 3,930 Crystals. To put that into perspective, 3,500 Crystals cost $49.99.

Is that Good or Bad Value for the Pass? Well, let’s have a deeper look!

The Battle Pass has two components to it. The “Free Path” and the “Paid” Path. This is shown by the two rows. Note that “Paid” path also offers the free items

As you can see, not all the art has been added for PTS but we still know what everything is. Let's start with listing all the items you get from Level 1 to 10:

Level 1: Battle Pass Subscription, “Full Metal” Loading Frame, “Mecha Prowler” Mount, “Terminating” Title

Level 2: Battle Pass Tier 1 Challenges and “In The Bag” Shalin Mask

Level 3: Battle Pass Team Booster

Level 4: Battle Chest

Containing 14 Individual Items:

“Atomic” Kinessa

“Dusk” Lian

“Geist” Talus

“Hellion” Ash

“Manipulator” Vivian

“Millenium” Jenos

“Monarch” Bomb King

“Monolith” Terminus

“Nomad” Zhin

“Phoenix” Strix

“Pilot Suit” Skin

“Plum” Moji

“Sunstone” Inara

“Tyrant” Drogoz

Battle Pass Team Booster

Level 5: 5,000 Gold

Level 6: 5,000 Gold and Gold Chest

Level 7: 20,000 Gold

Level 8: 5% Personal Booster

Level 9: Battle Pass Team Booster and 10 Crystals

Level 10: “Tombstone” Death Stamp

The biggest level here is Level 1. You get the mount, frame, Title and access to the paid path. The Mount is my personal favourite but the fact that a lot of people will have it means that I’ll stick to my “Candy Unicorn” mount. The new edition of “Death Stamps” is also a very good idea and I can see uses for it in spectator mode (but that’s a different story). Onto the next tier!

Level 11: Battle Pass Tier 2 Challenges and “Prickly” Mal’Damba Mask

Level 12: Battle Pass Team Booster

Level 13: 5,000 Gold and 20,000 Gold

Level 14: Battle Pass Team Booster

Level 15: Battle Chest

Level 16: 5,000 Gold

Level 17: 5,000 Gold and 20 Crystals

Level 18: 5% Personal Booster

Level 19: 5,000 Gold

Level 20: Battle Pass Team Booster and “Roboforce” Ruckus Set

While I’m a Ruckus “Main” and do love seeing that in Level 20 you get the Epic Skin that is 10x Better than his Legendary Skin (Star Slayer), I much prefer the rewards for Level 17 (Gold and Crystals). If one thing is made evident from this Battle-Pass, It’s that after the initial purchase of 500 crystals, you’re thrown gold (A lot of it).

Level 21: Battle Pass Tier 3 Challenges and “Croakie” Lex Mask

Level 22: 10,000 Gold

Level 23: Battle Pass Team Booster

Level 24: 10,000 Gold

Level 25: Battle Chest

Level 26: 5,000 Gold and 5,000 Gold

Level 27: Battle Chest

Level 28: Battle Pass 5% Personal Booster

Level 29: 5,000 Gold and Battle Spray

Level 30: “Exarch” Jenos Set

No Competition here what so ever, Jenos Skin is one of THE best skins that currently exists in the game. You can go for a “Doom” look with this Body skin and the “Demon” Jenos Gun. I know that is what I’ll be running :D

Level 31: Battle Pass Tier 4 Challenges and “Bad Mother Clucker” Strix Mask

Level 32: Battle Pass Team Booster

Level 33: Battle Pass 5% Personal Booster

Level 34: 5,000 Gold

Level 35: Battle Chest

Level 36: 20,000 Gold

Level 37: 30 Crystals

Level 38: Battle Pass Personal 5% Booster

Level 39: Battle Chest

Level 40: Gold Chest and “Gear Up” Spray

As you can see here, not too many items for the Free users. Only two. That’s the challenges that everyone unlocks and at the very end, 1 Gold chest. It’s fair to say that a lot of models were used (Which take into account playtime, grind and whatever else is necessary) to find that a lot of Free players will mainly peak at the high 20′s. With all the choices being offered afterwards, the free players will be enticed to join the Battle Pass program. On a differing note, “Bad Mother Clucker” is one of the best names that currently exists in the game.

Level 41: Battle Pass Tier 5 Challenges

Level 42: Battle Chest

Level 43: Gold Chest

Level 44: 10,000 Gold

Level 45: Battle Pass Team Booster

Level 46: 5,000 Gold

Level 47: 40 Crystals

Level 48: Battle Chest

Level 49: 5,000 Gold

Level 50: Diamond Chest and “Neon Demon” Grohk Set

We see something interesting here. The Battle Pass Tier Challenges that were previously in the “Free” Path has finally been shifted to the “Paid” path. Which is weird considering If a free player does grind to level 40, it’s a bit disheartening to see that the final set of challenges are behind a paywall. We also have the “Neon Demon” Grohk skin was THE old skin that everyone wanted when the skin system was first introduced into the game and it’s somewhat great to see that it's not changed much (Or is it? The screenshot below is nearly 3 years old)

I also want to take a moment to show how much Hirez rewards the players that opt-in the “Paid” path of the Battle Pass. If you’re a “Free” player, you’ll earn 20,000 Gold solely from grinding the tiers/levels. You also only get two sets of Team Boosters, 1 Gold Chest and 1 Diamon Chest (If you decide to grind 50 level freely). In contrast, A “Paid” path player will have earned 30,000 Gold, Gold Chest, 1 Set of Team Booster, Battle Chest, Loading Frame, Title, Mount AND a rare Skin for Shalin by Level 7. If I look at the Gold alone for a “Paid” player than grinds fully til Level 50, they will get back an incredible 145,000 Gold while also earning 100 Crystals, meaning that the Battle Pass only costs them 400 Crystals (That’s exactly $8). Being a guy that really does own a LOT of skins in the game (Hell, I basically own all of them) and having spent a fair bit on them too, the Battle Pass is a no-brainer for me. I’ll try to make effort on not advancing the levels using my Crystals (I mean $50 is a decent chunk).

It can be argued that the free players are not getting enough love from the battle pass but I don’t think that’s the case. If I was only getting marginally better rewards than the free players, then I wouldn’t be enticed to get the Battle Pass. Furthermore, the Battle-Pass is decently amazingly priced as well. If it cost 1,000 Crystals then I understand a lot of people would have obvious hesitation (Truth be told, I still would’ve bought it). I would suggest one slight change, however. Moving the gold rewards below 20,000 into the “Free Path”. If you’re on the “Paid” path, you still get all the gold and the free player (Getting enticed with the gold (Pre Battle Pass Purchase)) get a little taste of what they could get if they spent a “measly 500 crystals”.

One good thing about that as well is that the levels are retroactive. If you reach level 30 on a free path and then buy the Battle Pass, then you get ALL of the previous rewards.

As a whole, I love the idea of the Battle Pass except for one thing. The Name. Personalize it a little bit. “The Realm Pass” has a better sounding tone to it :)

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ninjaboffin · 6 years

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The Backstory of All Paladins Champions

OB64 even though it was made live two days ago, Lore was added today! So I’ve spent a few hours collecting all of the backstories together and compiled them all in one place! Enjoy them all

Androxus

Once a noble lawman of the Outer Tribunal circuit judges, Androxus and his former partner, Lex, were relentless in their pursuit of criminals and threats to the natural order. After a tragic confrontation with a deceitful goddess, though, he became afflicted with an otherworldly disease dooming him with an endless hunger for souls. Now he wanders the realm adrift to feed that hunger, stripped of his rank and duties with the Tribunal, and condemned to live with the curse for all time.

Ash

Ash made a name for herself in the Magistrate army by volunteering for front-line duty using experimental heavy armor and siege weaponry. Lacking finesse or subtlety, she more than makes up for it with brutal tactics and overkill. The War Machine, as she is called by her allies and enemies alike, earned the title every time the dust settled and she was all that remained on the scorched battlefield. When the Resistance emerged and brought the war to Crosswind Hold, Ash led the charge against them with fury and determination.

Barik

Long before he came to the Deepwerks and helped develop the crystal-powered technology spreading throughout the Realm, Barik was a clever inventor and resourceful engineer. Since then, his signature contributions have appeared in almost every field and vocation, from mechanized mining suits and rocket-powered wings to the crystalline weapons used by Magistrate and Resistance soldiers alike. After a falling out with the corrupt Magistrate commander assigned to oversee the security of the Deepwerks, he left and pledged his services to Valera and the Paladins.

Bomb King

During a fortress siege long ago, a clever warlord decided that the best way to breach her enemy's defences was by creating walking bombs. Her warlock accidentally brought one of the larger bombs to life, creating the Bomb King. After destroying her entire army himself, Bomb King struck out on his own delusional quest to visit all the lands under his rule. The common folk know better than to offend or even stand very close to him, as his regal demeanour can instantly change to furious, explosive rage at any moment.

Buck

Buck's story is just as diverse and complicated as his fighting style, as one is the direct result of the other. Pulling from those experiences, he effectively combines the self-discipline of a devout monk, clever ambushes commonly used by underworld thugs, and the tactics and weaponry of a front-line soldier. Once a loyal member of the Magistrate's own elite fighting group he has now returned to where it all began, Crosswind Hold, to join the Resistance in their struggle against the Magistrate.

Cassie

Watching all her friends leave the Greenwood to join the fight against the Magistrate, Cassie lamented the curse that bound her bloodline to her family's homeland. When a mysterious oracle offered her an escape from her obligations, she jumped at the chance, even though she knew the sacrifice she made would haunt her. Taking nothing but her father's enchanted crossbow and her faithful hunting bird, Zigs, she raced off to join the Paladins in their resistance against the draconian Magistrate.

Drogoz

Born wingless as a mere wyren underling to a vicious dragon, Drogoz escaped his servitude using a pair of crystal-fueled mechanical wings crafted by a clever dwarven engineer. The draconic blood in his veins pulsed with cruelty and greed, sending him on a Realm-wide rampage of destruction as he amassed his own horde, one that would rival that of the true dragons. As the war rages, Drogoz streaks through the sky above, swooping down to deal with his foes as quickly and violently as possible.

Evie

After cleverly tricking and imprisoning a great frost elemental in a magical gemstone, Evie went from apprentice sorceress to winter witch overnight. Though no longer welcome in her home village, which she left to an uncertain fate, she found her talents to be in high demand in the war against the Magistrate. Her true motivations are as mysterious as the exact details of her background, though, causing her allies to question her loyalty as well as how long she can really hope to keep the vengeful elemental contained.

Fernando

Though not of noble birth nor having any real combat training, Fernando assumed the mantle of knighthood when the knight he served met an untimely fate. From that moment on, he wandered from one heroic adventure to the next, making a name for himself throughout the Realm. When the Magistrate called on all loyal houses to join their efforts against the Resistance, he heeded their summons with pride. If his valour in combat and charming confidence can keep his allies from discovering his secret, he might just live to become the champion he knows he can be.

Grohk

Being struck by lightning once is usually more than enough to kill someone, but after dozens of strikes, Grohk was still standing. Though it took a while to realize Grohk had been imbued with the power to control the lightning itself, he put it to good use defending his tribe from a goblin attack that would have otherwise destroyed them. Seeing his power as a sign from the weather spirits, the rest of the Red River orcs immediately appointed him their chieftain. When the Realm erupted into civil war, he sensed another storm brewing and joined the battle on behalf of his tribe.

Grover

The soul of the forest isn't an invisible spirit or comforting poem about being one with nature, it's an angry walking tree with a huge stone axe. After decades of peaceful slumber since the last time Grover had to walk the land and help put down the goblin scourge, he has awoken once again to find the forests of the Realm threatened by the spread of humanoid civilization, rampant industrialization, and the fires of war. Hoisting his trusty axe, he stomps into battle once again, intent on destroying anything and anyone who would harm the natural world.

Inara

One of the few remaining stagalla, Inara was reluctant but oath-bound to join the Paladins in their time of need. Originally created to help the ancient order repel the First Scourge of goblin encroachment, the stone people slumbered for generations before being summoned to battle once again. Inara was slow to act, but after witnessing the atrocities committed by the Magistrate, she threw herself into the fight on behalf of the Resistance, heeding the call of Valera and the Paladins once again.

Jenos

Originally climbing the mountain to escape the ravages of the Second Scourge many generations ago, Jenos was merely a young monk in search of a greater wisdom. After finding it written among the stars, he ascended into the heavens, vanishing for years but leaving behind a small group of followers dedicated to carrying on his legacy. Now, as the Realm descends into war once again, so too has Jenos descended from the stars to walk upon the ground once again, joining the battle for some arcane purpose only he understands.

Kinessa

As a young recruit in the elite Sentinels unit, Kinessa took to her sniper lessons with an eagerness and enthusiasm that surprised her mentors. Frustrated by the rigours of military life, she left before she could complete her training and struck out on her own. As the Realm descended into chaos and war, vigilante bounty contracts were plentiful, earning her all the fame and fortune she'd lacked while in the service of the Magistrate. She refuses to pick a side in the conflict, though, because it's much more profitable to contract with both than commit to either.

Lex

The Outer Tribunal is made up of merciless, oathbound judges, none more dedicated than Lex. He and his partner, Androxus, travelled the fringes of the Realm together, tracking down infamous criminals and battling all manner of horrors on behalf of the Magistrate. After encountering a sinister goddess, though, Androxus abandoned his duties and quickly rose to the top of the most wanted list. Lex, unable to turn his back on the law or the Magistrate, vowed to one day take his former partner in, dead or alive.

Lian

After plotting to set herself up as the legitimate heiress to the Ruby Throne, nothing stood in Lian's way. Her sincere dedication to her family's legacy may have earned her the title of Scion, but her skill with the rifle is what won her the respect of her family's Royal Guard. When the Magistrate called on all loyal houses to unite against the Resistance, she was honor-bound to accept, arriving from her far-off homeland to represent House Aico along with her faithful bodyguard and general, Khan.

Maeve

After making a name for herself as a skilled thief and knife-fighter, the half-tigron Maeve decided to join the war for personal gain, selling her services to the highest bidder. She dashes from shadow to shadow with unnatural agility, concealed by her magical long coat, a souvenir from one of her most daring burglaries: the Magistrate's fortress keep. While her employers find her talents useful, they often complain of suspiciously misplaced valuables and lost coins after she moves on to the next fight.

Makoa

Once the dedicated protector of an island home of the Ska'drin, the ancient Makoa has now been summoned to wage war against the Magistrate on the mainland. Though he hopes to one day return to the islands, he fears that the unappeased volcanoes will rend them asunder in his absence. In the meantime, however, he brings both the fury of the ocean and the indomitable resilience of the tortoise spirit, as well as various naval implements, to bear against those who would defile the natural world.

Mal'Damba

When Wekono, the Mother of Sorrow and Revenge, turns her gaze to the mortal world, she appoints a champion. In this cycle, the island witchdoctor Mal'Damba has been gifted with her powers and sent into the war to evangelize her faith by laying waste to any who would stand before him. His mastery of dark magic and virulent poisons was already impressive before the insidious goddess imbued him with even greater abilities, rendering him one of the deadliest beings in the Realm, an extension of Wekono's will.

Pip

Unlike most other vulpin, Pip chose to specialize in weaponized explosives instead of curative alchemy. He left Brightmarsh, his homeland, in search of adventure across the Realm. Now he splits his time between brewing up all sorts of fiery concoctions to use against the Magistrate's forces and creating restorative potions to aid his friends. While his allies have come to appreciate his assistance and expertise, they fully understand that the little fox is as unpredictable as he is dangerous.

Ruckus

While toiling in the gold mines, a particularly wily and inventive goblin named Ruckus stumbled upon the long-lost mind-stone of a fallen war golem. He installed the relic into his mechanical digging suit, hoping it would provide the suit with enough power to outperform the other miners. But he was surprised when the ancient sentience reawakened and brought the suit to life. Though it resented its situation, its pilot, and the name it was given, Bolt nonetheless agreed to a tentative partnership, one that freed them both to scour the Realm in search of fame, fortune, and upgrades.

Seris

A being from beyond the void, Seris has taken the name of the city she completely destroyed upon first setting foot in the world of the living. Draining the souls of her enemies and occasionally restoring them to her allies, however, pales in comparison to her unnatural prescience, granting her the ability to see into the past and predict the future all at once. She appears here and there in time and space, always at the opportune moment to change the course of events toward some unknown but seemingly inevitable fate.

Sha Lin

Tales of the legendary adventurer Sha Lin have spread far and wide across the Realm, recounting his heroic exploits and death-defying antics. During his short lifetime, he's already helped topple warlords, recovered long-lost artifacts, and betrayed the infamous Thousand Hands guild. He's broken as many hearts with his magical longbow as he has with his silver tongue, but even he has a stake in the current conflict between the Magistrate and the Resistance, standing up to the oppressive Magistrate on behalf of the common folk.

Skye

Noble by birth, Skye abandoned a life of luxury and wealth to pursue her dreams of excitement and adventure. During her time spent on the streets, interacting with the criminal underworld of the Realm, she discovered a natural talent and boundless passion for killing. When her career as a contract assassin brought her fame and fortune, she caught the Magistrate's attention and now serves as one of Grand Magister Karne's closest advisors. To her, the War of the Realm is just a long-term contract, one that won't end until the last of the Paladins are dealt with.

Strix

Having spent most of his life in the military, Strix was an invaluable member of the Sentinels, tasked with training their elite sharpshooters. He was reassigned after the unit was disbanded, sent to the front lines with the regular army as it prepared to put down the Resistance. Always the calm and composed professional, he is the master of stealth and camouflage, able to pick off high-value targets before the enemy is even aware of his presence -- or that they are under attack at all.

Talus

Talus might still be young and overly optimistic, but he's got big plans. After almost losing his family to an angry mob that refused to accept the otherworldly Ska'drin as neighbours, he set out on a quest for knowledge. From the shores of an abandoned island paradise to the darkened corridors of the Deepwerks, he uncovered forgotten truths as well as unlocking his inborn aptitude. When the Paladins rose up to oppose the Magistrate, he joined them, eager to put his newfound abilities to work and prove that the Ska'drin deserve a place in the Realm.

Terminus

Whatever Terminus once was, he has since become an instrument of war fighting on behalf of the Magistrate. His mind and memories are long gone, his broken body bound by dark sorcery and unstable magic crystals. His lifeless yet undying state may be a mere shadow of his former self, but it has also rid him of hesitation and fear. He obediently charges into battle with reckless abandon, hefting a terrifying battle axe that few mortals could lift and even fewer could hope to endure.

Torvald

As the ranking scholar and preeminent authority on runic lore at the Deepwerks facility, Torvald is one of the architects of the wave of crystal-powered technology sweeping across the Realm. Though he would much rather have his nose buried in a dusty old history tome or reach into a swirling vortex of magical energy using his enhanced stone gauntlet, he understands that the Magistrate is the driving force behind all his research and has joined their effort to put down the Resistance. Once the war is over, he can once more get back to work.

Tyra

Raised to shoot straight and survive the harsh winters of the frontier, Tyra signed on with the Magistrate army at a young age. After the Sentinels' disastrous final mission, she returned to her homeland to make a living tracking down the monstrous threats to the common folk that lurked beyond the fringes of the Realm. Her unyielding stamina and pinpoint accuracy with the rifle serve her well in her new role: helping the Resistance fight back against the Magistrate and bring an end to the war that rages across the Realm.

Viktor

The former commander of the Sentinels, an elite Magistrate military unit, Viktor lives in the shadow of his former glory. He took the blame for what happened during their final mission, was stripped of his rank, and reassigned to a lower position by Grand Magister Karne. His training and skill as a soldier remain unparalleled, though, along with his unwavering loyalty to the Magistrate. Determined to regain his standing, he pushes himself well beyond his limits in battle against the Resistance, striving to end the rebellion before it picks up any further momentum.

Vivian

Rapidly rising through the ranks of the Magistrate, Vivian's clever, persistent scheming got her appointed to the Deepwerks facility, where she was the first to recognize the military potential of the research they were conducting. In the swirling chaos of the war with the Paladins, she sees only the opportunity to advance her station in life. Equipped with some of the most advanced crystal-powered weaponry ever created, she joined the battle not to prove herself or follow orders, but to silence the lone witness of her true plans.

Willo

Though short-lived and even-tempered, the faeries of the Summer Court wage an endless war against the encroachment of modern civilization. Willo might only have three summers to her name, but her aggressive demeanour more than make up for her lack of experience. She charges into the fray with an eagerness and tenacity that worries the precious few remaining faeries. At a time when the fae should be regrouping to bolster their dwindling numbers, Willo has taken it upon herself to attack both the Magistrate and the Resistance against them.

Ying

A talented young spellcaster, Ying is a master of illusions and trickery, able to befuddle her opponents with bewildering misdirection. That same magic can also soothe the minds of her allies to ease their suffering and mend their wounds. She made good use of those skills to escape imprisonment by a bandit king and during her days as an adventurer afterwards. When the Magistrate began its campaign of conquest, subjugating the Realm in an attempt to restrict the use of magic by the common folk, she felt it was her responsibility to join the fight against the tyranny.

Zhin

Robbed of his noble lineage, Zhin ruthlessly carved out his own throne atop of the criminal underworld. By the time he was a man, he'd won the loyalty of enough thieves, assassins, and corrupt bureaucrats to build his own shadowy empire: the Thousand Hands guild. Anyone scheming against him had a way of vanishing in the middle of the night, while those who confronted him directly met their doom at the end of his wicked flaming sword. He refuses to pick a side in the war, as there's more profit to be made playing them against each other.

I will do a proper analysis of all the connections and the new discoveries after the video (That I have been working on for the past two months goes live). Until then, Enjoy yourselves and the newly added lore!

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ninjaboffin · 6 years

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A Comprehensive Analysis of Open Beta 64: Do You Want To Build a Bomb King?

Let me start by saying this. If you’re reading this on your lunch break or have a time limit, stop now. This is going to be very long read. Get a blanket, make yourself a hot drink and get comfortable. You’ll be here a while.

And one more thing. Give this a quick read as well, so you know exactly what I aim to achieve with this post and how I personally give my feedback. I’m not a game developer (Shock Horror), it’s my thoughts and opinions on the patch and in part, how to improve anything that I don’t like. At the end of the day, HiRez Studios are the ones that make, adjust and have access to the relevant data, so I’ll leave it to the experts. This post is not meant to one-up them or even show them in a negative light. It’s simply what I think of the patch and how I would have done things differently (If I was in charge).

Cosmetics

It’s that time of year again, where Christmas music is playing literally everywhere you go and the Christmas lighting is either in the process of being up or are already up. This also means that we get a lot the “festive” skins in the game.

The festive chest has been reintroduced with quite a few new additions:

Snowflake (Mount)

A-bomb-idable (Bomb King Epic Set)

Jolly Holly (Willo Wings)

Tough Cookie (Fernando Shield)

A-bomb-idable Helpers (Bomb King Epic Weapon)

Spitzen (Mal’Damba Snake)

Polaris (Jenos Weapon)

Barrier Wreath (Makoa Shell)

Double Axel (Legendary Evie Emote)

My favourite skin from the chest is actually Spitzen (as it’s a very goofy looking skin) but the best-looking skin in my personal opinion has to be Polaris. The snowflake animation is really something else.

Apart from the Festive, there are 5 new community spray being added (Made my MilaTheMute):

Festive Bomb King

Festive Grover

Festive Makoa

Festive KInessa

Festive Evie

You get these drop from the Golden Chests.

Finally, we have the VIP specific skins. This patch you have a chance to pick up Ice Walker Inara from the VIP store from its patch rotation. But there are two skins which you can only get from the new VIP milestone system. Imperator Androxus and Divine Seris.

Not going to lie at all, this is giving the Infernal Seris a run for it’s money (You’ll understand this joke a bit later) but when OB64 is released, Seris will be pimped out with the HRX2018 Weapon, Infernal Seris Voicepack, DIvine Seris Body and I've yet to decide on the headpiece.

VIP Milestone

I personally feel these additions didn’t get a lot of attention or coverage (Which will make sense if you’ve been online for the past few days). The VIP system has gotten a significant addition.

Tiered Content

The basic premise here is that the more VIP points you earn of your game lifetime, the more the more it will help you with quite a few things. These include the following:

Additive Account XP

Additive Champion Mastery

Additive Gold Earned

Additive VIP Points

Additive Discounts in the VIP Store

Tier Specific Rewards

This is a great idea that has been implemented well. The main “Goal” of the VIP store is to get some exclusive skins that most players will never get. You can either pay for the individual skins or play for them (as VIP Points drop after every game). Nothing in the VIP store is game-changing. It’s purely cosmetic. The new addition changes this. Now the VIP is not purely cosmetic. Depending on your playtime or your bank balance, you can now “progress” faster. The game as a whole doesn't have an end goal. With every match you play, your journey is displayed through your champion masteries and account level.

However just because your account level is high, it doesn’t give you any advantage over the other players. Your account level doesn’t account for your skill. You could be level 200 and still get destroyed by a level 50 player. Being a Tier 5 VIP doesn’t make you better than a non-VIP. It just shows that you really like the game and support the developers (Through either your playtime or your hard earned money).

Progressing through the VIP tiers are kinda long, but worth it (In my opinion). Every game you play WILL count towards your rewards. You can, of course, bypass the grind with crystals but just for comparison, progressing from level 4 to level 5 (Maximum) will cost you an eyewatering 9520 crystals.

Will I personally pay for level 5 of patch day? Absolutely not. I’ll try to grind out as much as I can. I also have no doubt that new items will also be added to this system in future patches. So even if I did pay over 12,000 crystals from tier 1 to tier 5, I know that I will get my money’s worth in the future. If I don’t spend anything and still get level 5, that’s a huge plus as well. You can read the specific numbers and rewards here

Finishing up on the VIP milestones. I like this idea and its implementation. Even though the Tier 5 mount has not been revealed and considering that Tier 4 is Divine Seris, It’s going to be a gorgeous mount. The grind will also get easier over time (as you will have previous tier rewards helping you out). It’s a great system.

New Legendaries

Before I get into the main chunk of this post, going over the new legendaries is better done now than later (Just trust me on this). So I’ll be going through each new legendary and I'll give you my brief explanation them (Are they going to to be viable or Not).

Androxus: Defiant Fist Successful hits with Revolver increase the damage of your next Defiance by 5/ 7.5/ 10/ 12.5/ 15% up to 100%.

With a 100% charge, your fist will now do a 1200 damage on your next defiance attack. This is a good legendary if you’re running a defiance build and might even be fun in casual matches. This will give Androxus a different pacing for sure. But from a competitive point, I don’t see this replacing the “meta” Godslayer or Dark Stalker anytime soon.

Ash: Slug Shot Your weapon shots travel 50% faster and further, deal 12.5/ 18.75/ 25/ 31.25/ 37.5% more damage, but no longer explode

This is interesting. Unlike most legendaries, this legendary will be applicable to you throughout your game (meaning it’s not an ability or ultimate bound). No longer having an AOE attack BUT it travels further, faster and does more damage. What’s not to like about this? In a competitive environment, I can see this getting picked up more if Ash is picked as a secondary frontline (which are normally picked to zone the enemies). Battering Ram was always picked beforehand as it was the BEST legendary (due to it’s CC immunity). With that gone, this is a very interesting addition.

Barik: Hair Trigger Blunderbuss fires 15/ 22.5/ 30/ 37.5/ 45% faster.

Not as interesting as the other legendaries added. However, this does have a place vs dive comps/ “In your face”. Barik hits you for a lot when the enemies are medium-to-small range away. Firing faster means that your DPS has been increased. This is a niche pick that can work but with Tinkering and Architectonics being used a LOT, this will see little daylight in a competitive environment.

Bomb King: Royal Subjects Increase the explosion size of Sticky Bombs by 50/ 75/ 100/ 125/ 150%.

Yes, you did read that correctly. The explosion size has been increased. To put 150% into context, this is what I tweeted with Bomb King having a 75% increase range.

https://twitter.com/NinjaBoffin/status/936356076399841280

This legendary has made BK easier. A LOT easier. The bulk of BK’s skill come’s from either landing the direct bombs on the enemies or detonating the bombs near them. With a range like that, he becomes less skilful to play. Now does this make his other legendaries bad? In a way yes. He is known for the ability to hit hard using auto attack with the rest of the kit helping him slightly. So if you can hit your targets a lot more consistently, what’s the drawback? There really isn’t.

Buck: Bucking Madness Eliminations during Buck Wild resets its time counter. Charges 7.5/ 11.25/ 15/ 18.75/ 22.5% faster.

Not as broken as it sounds. You can only get 5 kills maximum at any given point (But even that is rare). While it will be hilarious to play in Casual, the competitive side won’t be picking up this a lot. It doesn’t add anything special over the old legendaries.

Cassie: Just Breathe Crossbow shots deal up to 25/ 37.5/ 50/ 62.5/ 75% increased damage over 100 units.

I like this legendary a fair bit. Encourages the player to stay in the backlines as a secondary DPS. If your aim is good and you have a good idea of projectile travelling time, then this legendary will do you wonders. It’s still hard for a lot of people to adjust from the exaction nerfs, so this is a good way to encourage long-distance damage. Now whether it’s picked in the comp scene is a different story. But I don’t see why it won’t be. Rewards good aim & game knowledge and it’s a reliable way to increase your DPS. Will be good to see post HRX

Drogoz: Reign of Terror Salvo now activates instantly, always fires 6 shots, and deals 5/ 7.5/ 10/ 12.5/ 15% more damage.

Sounds good on paper but this doesn’t do enough to warrant switching over from WYRM jets or combustible. The movement speed and displacement are too great to give up over something that fires instantly and at max level only does 15% more damage.

Evie: Snow Globe Ice Storm now deals 50/ 75/ 100/ 125/ 150% more damage and costs 60% energy, but lasts only 2s.

It’s a nice twist on the Ultimate. Does more damage and costs less energy BUT it only lasts two seconds. This now makes solo ulting an enemy feel better. Now instead of ice blocking through your ult (as you do in most instances through the ult) you’ll be encouraged to shoot in during your ult. If a team has picked a true solo flanker, this legendary is worth a shot. I think we will see this picked up a fair bit in maps like Brightmarsh and Stone Keep.

Fernando: Dragonfire Lance Flame Lance now fires small fireballs that deal 50/ 75/ 100/ 125/ 150 damage every 0.2s.

You know how we had Flanknando? This is Flanknando 2.0. Why 2.0? Because his default weapon now shoots fireballs every 0.2 seconds. Which means, Long range zoning too. This should definitely be picked up in those tighter maps.

Grohk: Spirit’s Domain Healing totem can now deploy at range and healing full health players creates a shield with up to 500/ 750/ 1000/ 1250/ 1500 health.

YES. YES. YES. YES Point Stacking OP, Full Health Now Gives Shield and It can be deployed at a range (Nothing too crazy though). This will be a lot more seen on the console side of things rather than PC (but seen on both).

Grover: Efflorescence Increase the passive healing and area of Blossom by 50/ 75/ 100/ 125/ 150%.

Just like Hair Trigger Barik, this I can see being a niche pick on a closed up map. The other legendaries made Grover work as a secondary support with utility. This may change up things because like Bomb King, you have increased range on your main tool. But unlike Bomb King, It’s on your Healing and not Damage. So it may be picked up but Deep roots or even Ferocity offer more utility (Which is the name of the game).

Inara: Wrath of Stagalla Hitting all 3 shots on the same target deals an extra 100/ 150/ 200/ 250/ 300 damage.

A fun legendary that will pump out some additional raw damage. So in Casuals, you could see something like “Flank-Nara”. But with CC immunity and the ability to Cripple, I don’t see this replacing that at all. You can also do more damage if you are alive for longer. Again a niche pick (that works if your aim is good).

Jenos: Binary Star Star Splitter now deals 200/ 300/ 400/ 500/ 600damage every 0.4s.

Sounds hilarious on paper. Is pretty funny to look at too. If you’re in 3rd person mode, then you can get in and out of Stellar Wind very fast (As shown by Kami) and the results are pretty funny. In competitive mode, 3rd Person mode is disabled and you only get level 3 of the legendary anyways, which means your DPS is still a ridiculous 1000. You could see this picked up on Jenos if he played as a secondary support. Currently, Celestial Touch is enough for Jenos to be the solo support.

Kinessa: Reposition Transporter is now instant and its cooldown is reduced by 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6s.

While the other Kinessa legendaries are good, this I feel will make Kinessa a lot more viable in the meta. A reduced cooldown and INSTANT teleportation mean that you can play Kinessa a lot more aggressively than you ever could before. I can see this being picked up a lot more over the other legendaries.

Lex: Fought The Law In Pursuit now deals 48 / 54/ 60/ 66/ 72% of the target's maximum health in damage over its duration.

I don’t like playing lex too much as it just feels wrong to win with him most of the time. He has an aim that is too precise while you’re moving, a small CD reposition ability, an auto-aim ability and I can see any 1 champion through walls at any given time. This is without even mentioning his “IF I HIT YOU ONCE OR TWICE, I CAN INSTAKILL YOU. KTHXBYE” ultimate. Now you’re telling me that his auto-aim ability has been buffed even more to do considerable more damage? This will most probably be played too much in Casuals and might even make Lex a lot more viable in the competitive scene. Only time will tell

Lian: Death and Taxes Your weapon shots reduce the effect of healing on your target by 30/45/60/75/90% for 1.5s.

Inbuilt cauterize but as a legendary. Don’t see anyone really picking this up Alacrity and Precision offer a lot more DPS (which is what Lian was made for). BUT if you do pick this up then you can go for more Red items. Wrecker, Bulldozer or even Deft Hands (Without feeling a tiny amount of guilt). This makes Lian less of a DPS monster, but rather a support (in the strictest essence of the word). If you see this legendary getting pulled out in a comp match, that means the team has a specific strategy in-play and have done their homework.

Maeve: Street Justice Pounce deals 15/ 22.5/ 30/ 37.5/ 45% of the target’s missing health as bonus damage.

I like and hate this legendary. For starters, this really enforces Maeve as a flanker. Find the low health champions and proceed to deliver the killing blow (with Pounce). Why do i hate this? Maeve already has enough burst damage. TL;DR: It’s a good time to be a Meave main.

Makoa: Davey Jones Locker If your victim dies within 2/ 3/ 4/ 5/ 6s of being hit by Dredge Anchor the cooldown is reset.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. New Meta Legendary for the Competitive Scene. It’s much more useful to have your hook available rather than being able to 2 shot squishes. Expect either Makoa 1st pick or Ban after HRX.

Mal’Damba: Wekono’s Curse May now be cast on enemies to deal 25/ 37.5/ 50/ 62.5/ 75% of the healing value as damage over time.

Good Addition. Really Good Addition. Either Heal or Damage using the Same ability. If you ask me, it should have been added to the kit anyways (Like Gourd has this) but as a legendary, I really don’t mind. Eerie Presence is going to be a must-have card with this legendary and expect to break your mouse very soon if you are a damba main.

Pip: Mischief Hits with your Potion Launcher reduce the Cooldown of all other skills by 0.5/ 0.75/ 1/ 1.25/ 1.5s.

Just when you start to think Pip can’t get any better, boom. Pip is a flanker (No Kappa), So when you tell someone that his ability CD is reduced if you land your shots, most people will think you’re having a laugh. But we’re not. Hit your shots and you can slow/heal or every jump around as much as you want to. New “must pick” card for Pip for the experienced Pip player. Catalyst is still the goto for newer players.

Ruckus: Rocket Barrage You may hold up to 3 charges of Missile Launcher and Missile Launcher deals 7.5/ 11.25/ 15/ 18.75/ 22.5% increased damage.

Not feeling too excited about this legendary. Sure your DPS has been increased by a significant amount and you have that “burst” damage. But you’re giving up Aerial Assault. His other legendaries give you either more shield, more damage the lower health (But not shield), so this is ok.

Seris: The Void Abides Heal all allies within 50ft of your Restore Soul target for 25/ 37.5/ 50/ 62.5/ 75% of the healing value.

LOLWUT? If you are point stacking and you decide to heal the lowest target, everyone close also gets healed up. But do remember that Seris normal range is quite small (If you are used to Mortal Reach). Utility wise, this card outshines every other legendary that Seris currently has. I can see this card being th next “standard” pick for Seris.

Shalin: Explosive Arrow Impaler Arrow now explodes on contact for an additional 150/ 225/ 300/ 375/ 450 damage and knocks back all enemies in the radius, but can no longer stun.

Think Cassie Blast Shot with Megaton. This is what this basically what this is. Is it a worthwile pickup? Yes, for clumped up enemy team comps this would be a standard pickup. Between Planted and this, it will either kill a few people or bring heavy damage to them.

Skye: Smoke and Dagger Smoke Screen now deals 300/450/600/750/900 damage when it deploys.

Good legendary that encourages the use of Smoke Screen differently. I would have preferred if Smoke Screen did poison damage, but I will count this as a victory. During Dreamhack Valencia, I did suggest a Smoke Screen specific legendary for Skye but it was a lot different than this. So it’s good to see this added. Now, will this make Skye a bit more viable? I think so. Skye got more damage and using this also obstructs the enemy view.

Strix: Unauthorized Use Increase the Projectile Speed of Flare by 100, increase its Damage by 150/ 225/ 300/ 375/ 450%, and reduce its Cooldown by 10s.

This is the most specific legendary if I’ve ever seen one. Use your flare to burn people. Is it enough to dethrone Nocturnal or Ambush? Maybe, but we haven’t seen enough Strix to make an informed guess.

Talus: Nothing Personal Targets below 65% Health are now revealed, and your Ultimate charge rate is increased by 7.5/ 11.25/ 15/ 18.75/ 22.5%

Similar to Maeve, this reinforces the “Flank” status for Talus. Find the low HP targets and kill them ASAP. I like it and I think we will see this a lot more. Talus can also call out where everyone else is (which makes talus a pseudo-support). I like this a lot actually.

Terminus: Seething Rage Attack 10/ 15/ 20/ 25/ 30% faster when you have no Charges of Calamity Blast stored.

Needed Legendary for Terminus. Why? It encourages you to keep using your Calamity Blast in the form of increased attack speed. Great Legendary. Will this be used in the competitive scene? I honestly don’t see why it wouldn’t be.

Torvald: Thanks, Grandpa Increase the duration of Protection by 1/ 1.5/ 2/ 2.5/ 3s. Protection grants CC Immunity.

Apart from having the best name of any legendary, this actually makes Torvald a much more consistent pick (even more than now). He now has the option to either make a teammate attack for 40% more damage OR get CC immunity. The fact that it’s increased duration as well, makes me think this will be the next “standard” pick.

Tyra: Burn, Monster Fire Bomb now Cripples enemies and deals 50/ 75/ 100/ 125/ 150% more damage.

So Tyra just became a viable pick. Cripple AND 100% more damage? I mean, do i need to say anything more? You don’t need an Inara with Warders Field to cripple when you have a freaking damage character than does a Frontliners Job a lot better.

Viktor: Shrapnel Increase Frag Grenade’s AoE by 40% and deal 100/ 150/ 200/ 250/ 300 more damage.

Good one. But with a name like Shrapnel, I was expecting someone like Willo’s seedling. But still, this also makes Viktor easier as there is a small mechanic where you do bonus damage to the enemies that have been hit with a grenade.

Vivian: Booby Trap If an enemy is within 20ft of your Sensor Drone, it explodes dealing 250/375/500/625/750 damage.

Good Legendary. Most people don’t see where the mine is BUT you don’t need constant feedback on where the enemies are. So if you get an idea of who is coming and deal them some damage in the process, I like it. Now her legendaries an inbuilt wrecker and bonus damage if you keep firing, so this may not be the “Best” choice in all situations. However, it’s a damn good one.

Willo: Nightshade Dead Zone now deals 300/ 450/ 600/ 750/ 900 damage when the initial explosion hits an enemy.

Sounds good on Paper, is actually quite difficult to hit in-game. Turns out the explosion only happens if you hit the enemy with the centre of Dead Zone. So if you can consistently hit it, great and you SHOULD pick this. If not, then Blastflower is a lot better and consistent.

Ying: Life Exchange Shatter now instantly heals your target for 400/ 600/ 800/ 1000/ 1200 health per active illusion, but consumes your illusions.

Good Legendary once again. You trade off either burst damage for consistent healing OR burst healing with no damage. Will take some time to get used as you would want to think about where you want to place your illusions.

Zhin: Yomi Your heavy hit passes through enemies, deals 75/ 112.5/ 150/ 187.5/ 225 more damage, and has no range limit.

Heavy Hit is your third attack. So that will pass through enemies. Is that worth picking up? While it’s consistent, chances that your attack will pass through more 1 enemy is actually low. On certain maps this will be a lot more effective, but not for the majority of them.

If you’re still here, I would highly suggest taking a break as the next part is going to be long (Even longer than the previous part). Refill that drink you made in the beginning, We’re just getting started (No, I’m not kidding at all).

Preface to “Cards Unbound”

If you haven’t been online for the past week, you have missed one of the most (if not the most) controversial patch that has come to fruition in the HISTORY of the game. The beginning statement of the new system makes sense. Directly from the patch notes, this is what it says

Essence is gone. Yay!

Paladins is even more free to play. All Cards (Basic and Legendary) are now free and immediately unlocked, and can be levelled up by collecting duplicates.

In the new over-the-top Quick Play mode (replacing Casual queue), you can play exactly how you want to play. Just build a loadout of your five favourite Cards -- no point limit restrictions.

Ranked Mode is now more balanced and competitive than ever before, with all Cards unlocked and set to Level 3.

If we look at this as a package, this is a good change. Essence (The currency that wasn’t really needed is being removed after 20 patches) and now we have 3 currencies (that actually make sense):

Gold (Your “Goto” Currency that is used to progress your account)

Crystals (Your Premium Currency which is the main way to seriously swag out your champions)

VIP Points (Your “Freemium” Currency that you get for playing games and once you get enough, you can get some decent cosmetics for free)

Essence was weird. Period. You spend gold to buy chests and open them to either get new cards or get a new currency that is used to SPECIFICALLY unlock cards. So why not just use gold to get cards and duplicates give you cards too? So better late than never, I guess! We’re back to the system pre OB44, where Gold is the only way to unlock (Unless you pay with crystals that is).

Looking at the second point, It’s a great change again. Now I can tell my friend to pick up the game and not be worry about the fact that they will have to grind out a few hours to get all of the cards to fully appreciate the individual character. Now instead of shelling out 7,500 gold over a champion and then spending more to get the cards, you can now spend the gold and get the full experience. With a chest system in place already, it goes without saying that you will get duplicates:

16 Cards Per Champion 34 Champions 4 Unique Legendaries 34 * (16 + 4) = 680 Unique Cards

Now that’s a lot of cards to unlock if you’re a brand new player and you don’t know what champion or class you want to main. So getting all cards unlocked is good. Actually, It’s great. Now getting duplicates will only make the cards you already own more powerful. Meaning the longer you play, the more rewarded you will feel (But this has a huge implication which I will bring in a bit).

The next point is the one that is the most “Iffy” in the whole place. The casual queue will get replaced with quick play. What it doesn’t state is if we can still choose what game-mode we want to play. It could just mean that Payload, Onslaught, Siege and even the Test Queue could be in a single queue and you get a random one assigned to you. As most of you can imagine, there is a big problem with this. Some people don’t like onslaught, some hate siege and some despise Payload. Putting them in one queue doesn’t seem like that smartest idea. I don’t think that they will be put in one queue but on the offchance, HiRez is considering it, Don’t do it. The second half of this part is more interesting for the general public (and me as well). The current point limit for a loadout is 12. Now it’s going to be 25. What this means is that you can all of your cards max in your casual loadout. I’m personally not a fan. Yes, you are not compromising anymore, but compromising is what made your loadouts meaningful. Playing games with optimized cards to see what works and what doesn’t was half of the charm. The other half came from finding a solid balance. Do you prefer Dredge Anchor or Shell Spin? Do you prefer Gourd or Mending Spirits? Loadouts with this system are unimaginative. Just pick 5 of the cards that are the strongest and get them at max level. Why would you even bother to get lower levels if you have them at max?

The final part is something I actually like a lot more. If you are playing ranked, then you and EVERYONE else in that match will have all level 3 cards. So there is minimal unfairness. There have been many times where your team will have lost because someone on your team doesn’t have an optimised loadout because of a lack of cards. That now changes. Now if you lose, that’s not due to a lack of the right cards. Team Composition, Proficiency of the player and communication will decide that for you. When everything is as equal as possible, that’s when you get the best games. The “level 3 cards for all” has actually levelled the playing field a LOT. Can this system be improved? Ofcourse, but unlike the casual queue, this is a lot more “thought” out. BUT BUT BUT there is a problem. Ranked is where you “show your mettle” and basically brag when you get your desired Ranked border. But very few players will ever play ranked. Most will stick to Casual. Actually, there is a lot more to that statement. Imagine a new champion is added and you want to learn them. You go in the shooting range and get a feel for their kit. What Next? You’re not going to learn the champions in ranked (Because new champions are banned in Ranked for 1 month anyway), you HAVE to go to casuals. But in casuals, you will play the cards that you have unlocked. If you have all level 1 cards, you won’t know how their kit feels in ranked. If you have all level 5, when champions are unlocked in ranked they will feel “weak”. If you have a mixture of cards, you’re basically screwed as well. So you can see why I don’t like the casual system and how Casual with Ranked doesn’t seem very thought out.

(Credit) Cards Unbound

I know I have teased you all a lot (and if you’ve made it this far, Kudos to you!) but I need to say one more thing. The values you see will NOT be published. If anything, HiRez studios will either revert to the old system and work on this a bit more or extend PTS if they want to REALLY get this patch out in a good way. Publishing these numbers to love client would be incredibly short-sighted and dare I say it, the final nail in the coffin before they lost a good majority of their players. These are the proposed numbers for levelling up your cards:

Now if you remember correctly, there are 680 unique cards in the game from all different rarities (Which to this day is redundant as “Epics” are not always better than “commons”).

I want this comparison to be as accurate as possible, so I got in contact with “no0ner” the creator of PaladinsDecks to get the number of cards in each rarity currently in the game. This is what he replied with:

These are the total duplicates needed to get from Tier 1 to Tier 5:

Common: 42 Cards

Rare: 28 Cards

Epic: 13 Cards

Legendary: 10 Cards

Now lets work out the total number of Cards to get ALL cards to level 5 (From Level 1):

Commons: 272 * 42 = 11,424 Duplicates

Rares: 170 * 28 = 4,760 Duplicates

Epics: 102 * 13 = 1,326 Duplicates

Legendary: (34 (Current Champions)* 4 (Legendaries)) * 10 = 1,360 Duplicates

TOTAL DUPLICATES NEEDED: 18,870 Duplicates for a full Level 5 collection.

This only applies until we get more champions added to the game. This only applies until a new champion is added. The number is going to up with every champion release.

This is without getting into how many chests you need to open!

Depending on the account booster that you have, you will be opening varied amount of chests.

If you have a booster activated, you get 4 cards drops a chest.

If you don’t, then you get 3 cards a chest.

Which coincidentally means:

Account Boost Chest Count: 4,718 Chests Minimum

“Vanilla” Chest Count: 6,290 Chests Minimum

It’s too complicated of a process to figure out how many chests you actually need (With the drop rates taken into the factor). So I will save you from that. Take the numbers above as a guide.

If we are to consider the costs of these chests too, you will see how bad the grind actually is:

Each chest costs 2,500 gold to buy:

2500 * 6290 = 15,725,000 Gold (For Players with no Boost) Each game on average gives you 150 gold. 15,725,000 / 150 = 104,834 Matches Each Match also on average lasts 15 minutes (104,834 * 15 ) / 60 = 26,209 hours

That’s a lot of hours for a player starting out to be expected to have a full collection. A valid point is that you don’t need all cards at level 5 (Which is correct). But expecting this kind of grind is still ridiculous. I did miss out certain rewards you get for levelling your account and champions and completing quests. Like I said, this is to prove a point. It’s not a definite number.

You can also spend crystals to open chests (for a chance to get unique cards with every single roll). With a system where you NEED duplicates, this chest system no longer works.

The Class Specific Keys are also not at all worth your money. The way this works is that you get 1 class specific legendary with the rest of the cards being applied to every other class anyway. If you are a Frontline main and decide to buy a Frontline Legendary Key, you will get 1 Frontline legendary (Which is ok) but it’s entirely possible that the rest of your cards will not be frontline specific.

They worked in the old system as you only need 1 version of the card to have all the “levels” of the card. Charging 150 was a bit steep but you knew with every purchase of these chests, your card collection was growing for both the class you preferred and grow your overall collection. The same price for the new system is unacceptable. If you want to keep the same system for the legendary key system then there are two logical steps:

Decrease the Crystals Cost of the Legendary Keys by 90% (150 cost becomes 15)

Significantly Increase the card drops from the chest (Instead of 4 unique, you get 20)

But I don’t like the system that is currently implemented. The main gripe I have with this system is that there is no way to level up the cards that YOU want. It relies on RNG to progress and I’m not a fan of these kinds of systems. If implemented well, they work. A duplicate system like this works wonders if you have a cosmetic economy (If sone well). So you can get duplicate skins which convert into a currency that can be used to buy the skin you don’t own. A game that does this is Overwatch, but I’m also not a big fan of this system. The duplicates in Overwatch don’t give you enough currency to buy a skin of the same rarity. You have to remember that Overwatch is a $60 game and once you buy the game, you don’t get to buy any “special” things that make you better than anyone else. You can buy loot boxes which only drop cosmetic items. Even after all of that, it hasn’t stopped Belgium from looking into them as a form of Gambling (But this story is better left to its own topic). If a loot box system DOES affect your abilities, then you can see how it will set of red lights for everyone.

No, I don’t like this system at all. The essence was unnecessary, but at least people had the choice to get what they wanted and they knew exactly what their progress rate was. An RNG centric system which also gives the player no choice into what they want to invest their money is very very wrong.

Here is a list of changes I would personally add:

Keep all the Free and still give the players that already have a card, a level 3 version of the card (This change I Like)

Add an option to upgrade specific cards with gold

You could either add in a flat cost to upgrade the card to the max level (1,750 per card) OR make the price of upgrading the card a little bit more expensive with every level gained. Level 1 to Level 2 would be 500, Level 2 to 3 would be 750 etc

Add in a Legendary Specific Chest

This would mean adding a new chest that costs 50 crystals per roll and it drops 3 (or 4, if you have a booster) Legendaries at Level 5. With 136 legendaries in the game, it would take you 45 Chests (with no boost) and 34 (with Boost). That is a total cost of 2,250 crystals or 1,700 crystals (Which would cost between £25 - £35).

IF you don’t want to add in these and are adamant on keeping the duplicate system, make the grind a lot less harsh (Fewer Duplicates and Less Chest Cost)

These are new total costs which I propose (Which seems fair and still a small challenge)

Common: 15 Duplicates Rare: 10 Duplicates Epic: 5 Duplicates Legendary: 0 Duplicates

If we use the number of unique cards again

272 * 15 = 4080 Duplicates 170 * 10 = 1,700 Duplicates 102 * 5 = 1,020 Duplicates 136 * 0 = 0 Duplicates Total Duplicates: 6,800 Total Duplicates Chests Needed: 2267 (Non Booster) or 1,700 (Booster)

This would still be overkill for if the chest cost was 2,500. Which is why it should be 500 instead.

2267 * 500: 1,133,000 Total Gold 1700 * 500: 850,000 Total Gold

Finally, 150 average Gold and 15 minutes average give us:

( ( 1133000 / 150) * 15) / 60) = 1,889 Hours For Full Grind (Without Booster) ( ( 850000 / 150) * 15) / 60) = 1,417 Hours For Full Collection (With Booster)

Now a lot of people will still not like this grind. It’s still nearly 1,500 hours. But we have to remember some things. This did not include:

Free champion chests (Which drop 5 cards)

Radiant chests for account levelling

Daily Quest Rewards

FWOTD (First Win of the Day Bonus)

DLC Bundles (Realm Pack, Frontline DLC, VIP Bundles

Founders Pack

Many more factors).

If you’re a new player, it will take time to learn and unlock all the champions. By the 1000 hour mark, you will have a great grip on the game and a fully levelled collection for quite a few champions. You also don’t need all cards at level 5. That’s more of a goal you give yourself rather than a must have.

If you are going to be doing fully casual play, then it will matter to you a lot more as every game will be different for you. In Ranked mode, all cards get bumped up to level 3, which means the barrier to ranked has been lowered for you (Which is both a good and bad thing).

If you made it this far, Then you must be crazier Paladins fan than I am (Or are a very interested HiRez Staff). Either way, thanks for Reading and I do hope that everything I said made sense. You won’t agree with everything I’ve said (and that’s perfectly ok). I made this to get my thoughts out on the patch and its shortcomings. Again, scroll to the VERY top and read the first section (If you forgot why I was doing this).

I could have written a lot more of the Ranked Eco-system but this is long enough as it is. It was more focused on the card system this time around. I also didn’t include any money specific costs for the chests (as we don’t know) how much it costs for the champion chests (Apart from the 1 crystal it costs in PTS for testing). If these values were to go live, you could spend $1000+ on this patch alone and still not get everything.

For now, however, I am going to close my computer get up and go for a long walk (Because this took a LONG time to write). I would also suggest that you get a third serving of the hot beverage you have!

Thanks Again for Reading and I hope you Enjoyed it!

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