LogFAQs > #972600157

Changelog, Part 1: Systemic Changes

These will be line items explained in detail following their declaration. Please bear with me as I break them down bit by bit!

Item #1: Changes to the terrain bidding rules

Terrain matters. This is good! Terrains cost money to set up. This is very bad! The game already has the 'fight money with money' sink of paydowns and bounty hunters, which we believe does the job of throwing twists into the matchups just fine. It doesn't need to have another gold sink on top, as this just delays the acquisition of new mercenaries too much. To that end, we are introducing a new currency to the game: Terrain Points.

Terrain Points, or TP for short, are just what they say on the tin -- a currency meant only (at least at baseline) for terrain bidding. TP accumulates passively every week, just like gold, but unlike GP, TP income does not increase passively by winning matches. It is static, set to a rate of 1 TP per week. TP can be accumulated to a maximum of 5, and further TP gained while at the natural cap via passive TP income will be wasted! No 6TP just by chilling, no sir. Defenders will gain +1 TP while bidding on terrain by default, while attackers will win ties, same as always. We will be converting all abilities that interact with terrain bidding into TP over the course of the next few weeks. Our aim is to make terrain matter without slowing down the pace of the game too much, and as a consequence, create a more dynamic, strategic game. If you want to punt all your matches into the Waterball, you'll have to pick TP-drained targets aggressively and play smart, rather than spending great sums of gold on it. Good luck!

There is, however, another way to gain TP that isn't just waiting. Which leads us to the next systemic change.

Item #2: Changes to the Reinforcement system.

Reinforcement was a somewhat vestigial system in the Test Run. Intended to be a way for players to squeeze out more AP in a pinch, it saw very little use overall. Some of this was by design: it's meant to be moreso a midgame+ mechanic as it is now, a way to push past your limits to secure important, valuable wins. Some of this is the mercenary selections players made -- Reinforcement was granted manually to specific mercenaries, the kind of super high power ability users you'd hate to give up so easily. The driving ethos behind Reinforcement selection was 'if losing their abilities doesn't hurt, they shouldn't be able to Reinforce'. However, we still feel this system could use some more interaction, as opt-in periods of vulnerability make matches more varied and less stale. The implementation of TP introduces a viable outlet for this.

Starting in the following weeks, we will be converting several (mostly Low Tier-focused) mercenaries into Reinforcers, only able to reinforce for TP. Rather than a simple 'yes/no', mercenaries will now indicate if they can Reinforce for TP, Reinforce for AP, or not at all.

Why Low Tier? The answer lies in the next system change, but as a preview, we believe low tier mercenaries are the most impactful ability users overall. You get their abilities every week, they are a selling point, and they are the bedrock of firepower you use to tip the scales in your favor. This means their abilities get spammed, however, and that makes planning a bit boring. We want to add incentives to not use low tier abilities so much, and TP Reinforcement is a way to do so. Got a sick terrain like Castle Wolfenstien you wanna use? Send a lowbie out to reinforce for an extra TP to help you win the bidding this week! As always, we want to make the game less broken, and less braindead, and this should definitely help with the latter issue.