This is the last post regarding the upcoming balance changes. Here we discuss a couple of simple but important rule changes that are coming into the game.
Encumber
Encumber is a valuable attribute of many cards, often used by Wizards to slow down Warriors (or monsters). Most Encumber cards Encumber 1, slowing Dwarves down to a Shuffle, Humans to a Walk and Elves to a Run. However, nastier cards like Cone Of Cold Encumber 2, bringing most characters to an almost complete halt.
A nasty trick with Encumber is to stack two or more Encumber effects on the same character. So long as those effects come from different cards, Encumber will stack. So, a Cone of Cold and a Chilling Rime will bring a Human to a dead halt. In many ways, this is logical, since that’s how all other cards and effects work (for example, multiple Frenzies will add up). However, we feel that it’s too punishing, especially given the fact that we are slowing Warriors down by reducing the long step moves.
So, from now on, Encumber will not stack. That is, Encumber effects will only apply based on the largest Encumber value attached to a character when they move. If you are Encumbered 1 from a Chilling Rime and Encumbered 2 from a Cone Of Cold, you will only have your movement reduced by two, not three.
Draw Limits
For a long time, the game has suffered from the existence of “infinite draw” engines. Although we’ve made card changes to make this kind of build harder to develop, such decks still exist. In addition, even without infinite draw, it’s possible to build decks that rely on a lot of card cycling via Traits and other draw engines. These decks are dull to play against as your opponent must wait while you cycle through your cards.
A solution we developed a way back is the draw limit. This limits each player to drawing a maximum number of cards per round (in addition to those automatically drawn at the start of the round). This draw limit has been implemented in some ranked multiplayer boards for a while now. From now on, it will be implemented in all ranked multiplayer boards.
This player can’t draw any more cards this round, as indicated by the red zero above their deck.
When a player hits their draw limit, their characters can no longer draw any cards until a new round starts. Since this limit is set at five, it’s unlikely to affect any deck except those built to draw large quantities of cards. Be careful how many Traits and card drawing cards you include in your deck, as some may end up as dead cards if you hit your draw limit!
Note that draw limits will not apply to campaign battles.
Test it Out
Don’t forget that you can try out these changes now on the test server!
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