Hero Deck, Why?

As far as I can tell, it is there solely to piss off soloers, i never thought about this until my friends stopped playing.

I have a wall squire.

I have an aura monk.

I have a trap huntress.

To me, these are my absolute minimum requirement and that leaves me with one slot left.

I can use an apprentice for towers, I can use my second squire for cannon tower (i love cannons) or I can use him to tank or use a huntress for DPS but I have to choose to be short some viable options which don't exist in multiplayer games because someone else can cover some of the build options.  When I played with friends we had all build options covered and we could tank every lane, or tank most and dps the lane which had bosses or were congested.

It is significantly harder and far more limited with solo play.  Is this intentional?  I remember reading that there would be more focus on a primary lane and the others would more or less take care of themselves, I haven't really noticed this in most of the maps I have played, bosses are appearing almost everywhere and any given lane can be hit with the most obnoxious combination of mobs.

Well, I guess it encourages actual team play, unlike DD1 where a single person would usually build and all the others would just upgrade and repair. I can see how hero deck is an issue, though, specially for solo play...

What if they gave us the option of solo play (and by that I mean letting no one in your game, not even by sending invites) with the advantage of being able to use all of our heroes, and leave the deck system for multiplayer (both public and private)? Just my opinion.

I too am puzzled why they've included the hero deck. 

It hurts their money system as well... people wont really buy more hero slots if they always have to have the "bare minimum" as you say. 
Likewise, with 4 heroes being enough you don't really need more than 4 leveled pets....

The hero deck really hurts a couple of the other sides of the game.  Doesn't really help a lot?  It could only gate solo players into being unable to clear more difficult maps down the line.

Hell, it's already harder on solo players because you can never replicate the effectiveness of a good (phys res pet, curse aura, +good gear) squire tank in each lane...

Its unfortunate but its just following the way that video games are moving nowadays, more involved in team play. It also just adds a degree of difficulty, you have to be wise with how you set up your hero deck, you must change it for the scenario that u want to try.. it adds really nice depth into the skill required to play the game, anyone can build if they have access to 10 specced charcters, not many players can still build when they must fit their heroes into a deck of 4 characters.

However, i do agree that a bit bigger then 4 characters would be nice, and having access to them from the start of the game would be more fair as there is no reason to block 2 characters slots at low levels..

It BARELY fosters team play guys

Like the OP said, I bet 75% of people's decks is the same between the necessity of a waller, phys damage, magic damage, AA, and DPS/tank/"active" hero. 

IMO, the bigger reason this game is more team oriented than dd1 is because of the difference heroes can make if built correctly.  If we want more team play then make heroes more impactful.

I haven't thought about deeply until right around now but the hero deck literally makes no good sense to keep around.  Want team play?  make heroes more impactful.  Money?  Give people reason to buy more hero slots... Gold sinks? Pets costing 50k to reroll?  Drop that price and give people reason to have more than 4 pets...

I see no reason for the hero deck, seriously.  There's better ways to do whatever it's meant to do.

I find the hero deck good as it makes me think about my strategy more closely.  I can't just bring the best in everything.  Do I need sturdy walls or poweful cannons more, or can I make a compromise between the two?  If I bring all four builders, can I build a solid enough defense that I don't need a DPS hero?  Am I skilled enough in avoiding ogre attacks to keep them occupied with a non-tank?

If anything, I'd like to see similar strategic elements introduced to multiplayer.  [[31834,users]] made a long post about it earlier.

Forcing team is never going to work when playing with randoms, thankfully in latest dev stream the husky guy with a beard said the hero will in all likely hood change, by change I hope he means destroyed.  

@TimberWolf quote:

Well, I guess it encourages actual team play, unlike DD1 where a single person would usually build and all the others would just upgrade and repair. I can see how hero deck is an issue, though, specially for solo play...

What if they gave us the option of solo play (and by that I mean letting no one in your game, not even by sending invites) with the advantage of being able to use all of our heroes, and leave the deck system for multiplayer (both public and private)? Just my opinion.

Encourages team play?

I don't solo because I am anti-social, I solo because my friends stopped playing and the vast majority of DD2 player have one character and haven't been beyond insane.  I understand it doesn't really impact a lot of the players who aren't going to invest a lot of hours into the game, however, fi you are going to create content like NM+ you want to make sure it is fun to play that content when your friends aren't around.

If you wanted to encourage team play you would create a lot more interesting dynamics outside of building defenses, create more fun and interesting hero roles.

I don't think building limitations should be part of that incentive, if it's intentional, because we are talking about having insufficient access to handle even the basic classes, when they add in the other DD2 classes and those classes bring more defensive perks then it will become more and more restrictive for those that solo.

This is problematic because balance invariably is based around what those who have access to everything can accomplish, not those who are restricted.

@tdb quote:

gigazelle made a long post about it earlier.

You guys are welcome to read through it! Personally I see it as something that has a lot of potential, but its current implementation leaves a lot to be desired.

It doesnt mean anything when they force you how you have to play to Kill any Mobs in NM! 

The Famous :

Hunter Trap

Monk Electro 

Squire Wall

Mage Ice Tower

this is how you can survive NM... -> So you actually just need this 4 and you win..