Triggering versus structures makes sense in terms of simplifying the rules, but triggering on Orbs was a huge mistake.
I thought the whole point of Combat: abilities was to encourage minion combat and add in the meaningful choice of dealing damage to your opponent versus fighting to gaining the combat benifit(s). No one needed additional incentive to hit their opponent in the face.
Also it just doubled down on how powerful combat cards are in pandora. For example: Placing a Bouldering Ogre in the center lane now gaurentees +2F every turn, with no risk, or counterplay.
Hate to say it, but I agree. I like what the change can do for red decks, but me being able to rocksmash that orb so brutally while profiting so steadily just doesn’t feel balanced. Definitely changed up the game in a huge way…
Whether or not said change is reverted or balanced around, I would like to see orbs be able to go above 20 life, this would be an awesome boost for Tiki Healer and some others.
Also if it’s to be reversed, I’m just going to put this out there:
Mr. Combat
Creature, Neutral, 7
2/8
Combat: trigger another random combat ability on a creature you control.
I agree that it does feel too strong on some cards. But me might have to wait and see as more cards (and mechanics!) are added. Perhaps allowing overheal as mentioned or other defencive plays can bring everything in a good spot.
It’s only the Ranged dude that’s OP now and the devs have said they will change him around next week. Don’t wipe all these cards under the same rug. Once the ogre is fixed everything will be fine.
I think it was on reddit but I’m not quite sure. Nothing specific. When they’ll introduce the 10 new cards, I can imagine they will change some old ones as well.
Accusations of it being “terrible” were at least partially an emotional reaction to losing to it twice in a row. Since then I’ve abused it to my advantage a number of times, but equal-oppurtunity abuse doesn’t make it good design.
I think my intial point still stands, that part of the beauty of the old combat mechanics was that it presented an interesting choice, and incentive to not always attack your opponent. Removing that nuance still feels like a mistake.
With the changes that were made in the subsequent patches (healing buffs, changes to Boulder Thrower, etc.), this doesn’t seem like a balance issue anymore. But I do wonder whether it might still be a design issue.
I really enjoyed the old counterplay of using structures like Shimmering Statue and Petey Piranha Devouring Plant to force creatures with Combat Effects to hold off on using them for a few turns. Occasionally, I’d even refuse to place creatures on the board near them, giving them a free path to my orb while I pursued my own goals on the board. I thought this was really fun counterplay and I was sad to see it go.
Now, the only way to counter these creatures is to kill them with spells. Yes, Combat effects needed a buff in general, but I would have much rather seen the necessary creatures buffed slightly than the counterplay taken away.
I’d be curious to know what you guys think of the new “any time the creatures fights anything” mechanic, as opposed to the old creatures-only mechanic?
As a new player, it really surprised me that Combat triggered when attacking orbs. I don’t know how this change affects balance, but attacking a structure or orb doesn’t sound like “combat” to me. It also crosses over into the “when attacking gods” trigger, which is now basically just a weaker version of Combat.
Ye, usually, when you attack a god, u simply ask him to loose some life point, there is no fight ofc.
Same for structure, its even more simple to ask it to collapse right now, because you don’t want to Get your hands dirty.
