Buffs
- GDI Solomon: Reduced Ion Cannon cost from 150 to 130 Tiberium
- Justifiable change. The interesting thing is that just recently, some good players have been successfully experimenting with Solomon base kill. I expect this to become even more popular and viable now.
- GDI Jumpjet Troopers: Increased hitpoints by +10%
- Justifiable change, even though I thought Jumpjets were not that bad even before. They were just a very specific role player, but decent at that. Their trades against Dogs and Wheels should now become more favorable.
- GDI Shockwave Troopers & Nod Flame Troopers: Increased speed to Fast (6.9)
- Justifiable change, as Flames & Shocks had fallen out of the meta nearly completely. It's going to be interesting to see how much of a comeback they actually make. Due to the popularity of "tier 2" anti-infantry Razorback, Chem Buggy and Snipers, they might still not be the best choice. But speed is certainly an interesting way to buff them, not just against Rifles, but also to allow them to quickly close in to Snipers, and evade Razorback, Venom, Chuggy a bit better.
- Nod Kane: Reduced Obelisk of Light cost from 130 to 110 Tiberium
- Justifiable change. I would have preferred to see some of the suggestions realized that Omeboi suggested, but I can appreciate that a cost change was simple for the devs
Nerfs
- Dr. Liang: Reduced Repair Drone cost to 40, and reduced hitpoints from 650 to 430
- I'm sure this is not what most players wanted to see. It might make it a bit easier to kill the Repair drone for e.g. Laser Troopers. But the overall mechanic stays intact, and it's even cheaper now. For people who have problem against Liang pad steals, I highly recommend to focus more on securing your back pad with Bike/Laser/Pitbull/Missile when possible, and not e.g. a surviving Rifle. (I know this doesn't solve the issue, but a part of the strength of Liang is players not adapting to it.)
- Nod Jade: Reduced Catalyst Missile damage to buildings (i.e. the base) by -29%, in turn increased the base damage of clouds by +11%
- Great change! This is exactly what many good players suggested: Keep up the overall viability of base kills, but only when clouds are present. Now it will be much harder to kill the opponent without actually getting a Chem Trooper / Chem Buggy next to the base.
- Nod Fanatics: Reduced vehicle damage by -44%
- Good decision. Fanatics have been very strong and a standard choice for a wide range of Nod decks. This now will make esp. Dogs and Wheels much more viable against them, and will make them less threatening against e.g. Bikes.
- Nod Chem Warriors: Reduced vehicle damage by -33%
- Ok change. In my view, this was not really necessary, as the problem was the base kills and not so much the Chem Warriors themselves.
- Nod Bikes: Anti-air damage reduced by -9%, Anti-vehicle damage reduced by -14%
- This is a horrible change in my view. The developers' argument is that "Bikes traded too favorably against most vehicles and air". In my view, this is a narrow view on situations where the Bikes have the room to maneuver well and either do 2v1 easily, or do hit and run easily. In practice, more complex situations are the norm due to terrain and other units being present, and this usually makes it worse for Bikes. Let's look against the "enemies" of Bikes and how they fared before the patch:
- Laser Drones: Here, people rather complain that LD are too strong against Bikes.
- Pitbulls: Early game, when there's few units out and Tiberium is scarce, Bikes might have the edge. But as soon as there's two Pitbulls out (that can be stacked), ideally with some blocker such as a Dog, Rifle or Missile Trooper, the favor turns. I recently asked Agent Shadow whether he'd want to play Bike/Wheel or Pitbull/Dog in a 1v1 on a random map, and his answer was a quick and expected "Pitbull of course"
- Tanks: If the Bikes can 2v1, they handily beat Tanks for cost. But they should, as 2 units is a big downside in many other aspects due to the pop cap mechanic and Tiberium become more available in the later stages of the game. In practice, as soon as there is e.g. some blocker (Wheels, Dogs or even Missile/Laser), Tanks crush bikes due to their Raider ability and Bikes not being able to engage 2v1 easily.
- Orca: Perfectly balanced relationship in my view. Orca one-shots bikes, but can be killed in two volleys. One of the really good and interesting unit interactions in the game. I hope that Bikes still two-shot Orcas.
- Banshee: For cost, Bikes should beat Banshees, as air brings other advantages that should push up the price. Also, Banshees already traded decently vs Bikes, especially in the later stages of the game where Tiberium is less of an issue, or when Bikes couldn't engage as easily (so that the Banshee might get off a shot more in defence before the Bikes fire).
- Mohawk: Currently, many GDI players are already happy to bring out their Mohawk against Bikes on the field. Yes, 2v1 they can beat Mohawks. But again: They should beat Mohawks 2v1 if they can engage right. The GDI player can make the Bikes' life much harder with Missiles or Liang in the play, or by cleverly using terrain and defenders's advantage.
- Razorback / Shade: The two new OP units of both factions (see more on Shade below) now get indirectly even stronger. Bikes now need 8! rockets against a Razorback.
- The community by the way largely agrees with me on Bikes having been pretty balanced before this change. I did a community survey (full results), and in it, 71% thought bikes were balanced, only 9% thought they were too strong, and 17% felt they were "a bit too strong" and 3% "a bit too weak".
- People made the case "Bikes must be OP if more than 90% of decks contain them". But Bikes weren't that popular because you could decide games with them. They were popular because you needed them against a wide range of threats.
- Tech decks will benefit from the Bike nerf as well, as many of them reply on infantry plus light/medium air (e.g. Laser Drones, Orca, Mohawk) to delay pad charging.
So most changes in this balance patch are okay, with the big exception of the Bike nerf. The problem is rather what wasn't changed: The Razorback even increases in strength due to the Bike nerf. Also, Tech wasn't nerfed (not even the Mammoth), even though there's many good arguments for nerfing Tech. And the newly introduced Shade also seems crazy good:
Shade confirmed overpowered
I did some testing in Custom Games, and came to the conclusion that the Shade is crazy overpowered.
- It one-shots Slingshots. And often doesn't even take damage if it can maintain it's cloak.
- It nearly one-shots Bikes. If cloaked, Bikes can barely return fire.
- It nearly one-shots Pitbulls. Thanks to cloak, it often just takes very few counter-shots from the Pitbull, if it can escape thanks to being air and having high speed.
- It two-shots tanks, just as the Orca does.
So, it's basically a cloaked, fast Orca for 40 Tiberium. Not even talking about EMP. Omeleet made a great short video where you can see it in action:
What might happen in the meta?
- Razorback wasn't nerfed, so will stay strong. Even a bit stronger with the nerf on Bikes, possibly.
- Shades are hard to level (Epic unit), so it might some time to see them on ladder. But in tournaments, I see them being used a lot. Most obviously in decks that used Laser Drones, but I bet there'll a a wide range of Shade decks being tested.
- Jade / Chem / Laser Drone deck is probably still viable. But Jade, Chem Warriors and Bikes all have been nerfed. And indirectly, Laser Drones might be nerfed, if players employ more early answers against air units like Laser Drones in their decks (due to Razorback and Shade). I expect some reduced usage of this meta deck.
- War factory will be played less, with the exception of anti-air specialists like Slingshot and Pitbull. The Stealth Tank might also see more play, as it offers an answer against Shade and Razorback that can be cost-efficient.
- Missile Troopers, already the best friend of Razorbacks, will be built even more, along with their Nod counterpart Laser Troopers. They do chip damage against Razorback and are one of the few early game counters of the Shade.
- More Phantom. Even before these changes, people always asked themselves: "Should I play a Phantom in this deck? Do I have the space for it?" Now, Phantoms might be borderline necessary. "Stealth Tank or Phantom?" might be the only optionality.
- More Talon. Talon is versatile and can help vs Razorback and Shade. And their arch enemy Bikes get worse.
- Even more Tech, as Tech wasn't nerfed at all. Other decks are less viable. We'll see even more Tech in Masters and Tiberium League. Razorback and Shade fit into quite some Tech decks. Besides the obvious Mammoth, I expect to see some more Zone Troopers/Cyborgs (decent against Razorback, good against Shade) and possibly Sandstorm (in an infantry/air meta, it fits as being a tech splash with a different armor type. And Suzaku and some others already successfully play Razorback-Sandstorm decks on ladder.)
Also see:
- Reddit discussion on this balance patch
- EA news on the balance patch
- Blog category with previous Rivals balance patches and new units
Captain Benzie also released a video with his thoughts on the balance patch and the Shade:
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