9th Age Possible Solutions to 9th Age SA Problems

[Haemoglobin]

Oh I am nagging as politely as I possibly can Asking for certain threads to be set up, asking for feedback directly to the RT not the ABC etc.

If we look at the broader external picture, this means our competitive lists basically will be the same, since we have too few options. Personally I believe this show that we are far from okay. Especially if that too many bring the same list to a tournament, indicate that a nerf is needed

With being "externally balanced" I mean that when we look at power level of the book (regardless of our choices) we are doing okay ish. We are definitely not at the top, and we can still make lists that are good. There just arent a lot of lists like that, and it is quite boring. But doable.

That reminds me I need to go ask some more things to the RT

 

[The Sauric Ace]

Very much to your credit as well @Haemoglobin are some of these interesting and quite needed debates about what to do with various of special rules and units. I especially like some of the suggestions for Born Predator, and hope that the RT will too

 

[Lawot]

I agree about the external balance thing - it looks like we can still win games, just with very few ways to do it.

I'd also say, in reference to T9A messing up the way we went about fixing the issues and creating more diverse builds, that it wasn't so much using the nerf sledgehammer, it was doing it so late in the development. In earlier versions, with plenty of time to tweak, I think it would have ok to drop the power levels of a lot of units at once, and then build them back up. It was doing it in the second-to-last version that makes it so hard to correct it, and so unnerving for those who are considering playing it. We were supposed to be in a "balancing phase" already, making only small changes, but there was so much concern that the Cloud (in particular) was still so consistently overperforming that the RT found it worth it to make a major change to the design of the Skink units. There was also enough concern that SA in general were overperforming, so that the RT was looking for ways to tone us down in general. Again, not a bad move if it came earlier - but we have so little time for playtesting and development, now, that there's a lot of pressure to come up with just the right solution without a lot of data.

 

[NIGHTBRINGER]

I agree about the external balance thing - it looks like we can still win games, just with very few ways to do it.

I'd also say, in reference to T9A messing up the way we went about fixing the issues and creating more diverse builds, that it wasn't so much using the nerf sledgehammer, it was doing it so late in the development. In earlier versions, with plenty of time to tweak, I think it would have ok to drop the power levels of a lot of units at once, and then build them back up. It was doing it in the second-to-last version that makes it so hard to correct it, and so unnerving for those who are considering playing it. We were supposed to be in a "balancing phase" already, making only small changes, but there was so much concern that the Cloud (in particular) was still so consistently overperforming that the RT found it worth it to make a major change to the design of the Skink units. There was also enough concern that SA in general were overperforming, so that the RT was looking for ways to tone us down in general. Again, not a bad move if it came earlier - but we have so little time for playtesting and development, now, that there's a lot of pressure to come up with just the right solution without a lot of data.

Excellent observations on the timing issue of the changes. I fully agree!

 

[Haemoglobin]

Yup

Way too big changes, waaaay to late