Ever since AoW 4 launched, the gameplay has suffered from one major problem. Stacking a single unit class and using that to crush the map.
First it was Hero stacking, and this remained true until the Wolf Update for Single Player. Meanwhile in multiplayer heroes were limited to 3.
This showcased exactly what is happening in the game now and had been happening to a lesser degree already, due to the game's design.
Because of the fact that the enchantment system has no limits, and the same is true for minor transformations, the best option is to stack one unit class.
You can see some of the T1 tomes were designed with synergies in mind. Blight Blades + Poison Arrows or Lightning Blades + Lightning Focus.
Sadly this does not work at all. Part of it is related to Society/Form Traits but the largest offender here is simply how enchantments work in the game.
The only other instances of this design are in Tome of Artificing with Siege Magic + Artisan Armaments, and Tome of Devastation with Focus of Devastation and Flameburst Weapons.
So that's Melee + Battle Mage/Support being covered. I think it's fair to make a split between Battle Mage and Ranged, but Skirmisher can double dip quite heavily in this design.
The problem is that no other tomes offer any kind of support for a multi-class army. Without enchantments you might as well not build the units, that's just how it is currently.
So what do people do? They end up picking all the tomes that offer enchantments for one unit class and just build that unit combined with heroes. Ta-da, army complete.
The problem goes deeper than this. T3 and especially T4 racial units become stacked with enchantments and transformations, thus entirely invalidating the existence of T5 units.
So how do we solve this problem? Simple, we take a page from the previous game, Age of Wonders: Planetfall.
I think the following design would solve the issue:
So while the enchantment will be compatible with 5 classes, you would be able to choose which of those 5 to apply it to individually.
This also brings up the point of unit types such as Animal or Construct. Those would simply consume one of the three slots as well.
This will bring down the power of enchantment stacking and promote building a healthy balance of unit types instead.
It will also allow for progressively stronger enchantments throughout the tomes, rather than more of the same being stacked.
I feel this is currently the largest issue the game is facing in terms of balance and it is definitely a source of frustration in multiplayer.
First it was Hero stacking, and this remained true until the Wolf Update for Single Player. Meanwhile in multiplayer heroes were limited to 3.
This showcased exactly what is happening in the game now and had been happening to a lesser degree already, due to the game's design.
Because of the fact that the enchantment system has no limits, and the same is true for minor transformations, the best option is to stack one unit class.
You can see some of the T1 tomes were designed with synergies in mind. Blight Blades + Poison Arrows or Lightning Blades + Lightning Focus.
Sadly this does not work at all. Part of it is related to Society/Form Traits but the largest offender here is simply how enchantments work in the game.
The only other instances of this design are in Tome of Artificing with Siege Magic + Artisan Armaments, and Tome of Devastation with Focus of Devastation and Flameburst Weapons.
So that's Melee + Battle Mage/Support being covered. I think it's fair to make a split between Battle Mage and Ranged, but Skirmisher can double dip quite heavily in this design.
The problem is that no other tomes offer any kind of support for a multi-class army. Without enchantments you might as well not build the units, that's just how it is currently.
So what do people do? They end up picking all the tomes that offer enchantments for one unit class and just build that unit combined with heroes. Ta-da, army complete.
The problem goes deeper than this. T3 and especially T4 racial units become stacked with enchantments and transformations, thus entirely invalidating the existence of T5 units.
So how do we solve this problem? Simple, we take a page from the previous game, Age of Wonders: Planetfall.
I think the following design would solve the issue:
- Limit Enchantments to 3 per unit class
- Limit Minor Transformations to 2 per race
- Give every Tome at least 2 enchantments
So while the enchantment will be compatible with 5 classes, you would be able to choose which of those 5 to apply it to individually.
This also brings up the point of unit types such as Animal or Construct. Those would simply consume one of the three slots as well.
This will bring down the power of enchantment stacking and promote building a healthy balance of unit types instead.
It will also allow for progressively stronger enchantments throughout the tomes, rather than more of the same being stacked.
I feel this is currently the largest issue the game is facing in terms of balance and it is definitely a source of frustration in multiplayer.
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