TheWittyScamp

I'm sort of torn on this. On the one hand, I do think that the mechanic itself grows stale exceptionally quickly. It's not a particularly fun thing to keep yourself busy doing, especially if you're soloing the map. On the other hand, I think that it's only this glaring because the map (and all others) are effectively AFK-able *if not for this mechanic*. That makes me wonder what this map would be like if the difficulty of the game matched what the endgame players were able to do... it would be a bloody disaster. If we actually had to engage the enemies more, this map would be impossible to solo. If there was even a minor risk of losing a lane to an ogre, we would have to do a cost/benefit analysis of taking out a Knight and letting the Ogre through. But that's not the case. It's the only thing to do at all on a map, and it seems that it's specifically designed to prevent players from going AFK on a map. I don't think that's the correct answer. You don't throw in a goofy mechanic because your game is too easy, you bump up the difficulty of the game itself.

Did you even bother to read Giga's post? At all? Giga's got 12k gems already. Paying isn't the issue. Paying THAT much for one hero *is*. This is why I've been getting less and less active on these forums. The ignorance, willful or otherwise, is too aneurysm-inducing for me to bother with it when I get enough of that crap with stupid clients that bumble into my office every day.

I'm not shy about my feelings toward 9oo6 at all, but I actually want to see this 'bet' of sorts play out because I think he has a point here.

Also, as far as the armour debate goes, remember that you do zero dps when you're dead. Health/AP all the way.

Agreed. If you're going to spend so much time blocking, being able to spam Seismic while using the flamethrower is far better than the Draco shield.

I love semantics. :P

NM4. There are threads on here, if you're so inclined, that show how to set up incursions so that you don't have to do anything at all during the combat phase. And this is with far from optimal gear. Some more flavourful combat mechanics are an interesting way to bump up the difficulty and increase the skill cap, both of which are things that the endgame community has been incredibly thirsty for since All Hallow's Eve. As far as people being carried up the ladder, and as someone that's carried people up that ladder because at least it's SOMETHING to do since the endgame is so meh, I don't care. TE has already hinted at an NM5, which suggests that the people that got carried/spun the wheel to their NM4 gear would have to step it up anyway to keep progressing. The strategic revamp (oh dear god hopefully) will make building more difficult, even for those that are already alt-tabbing incursions (which, fun fact, I'm actually doing a Ramps Inc NM4 run while typing this). Making the "active" part of an "active tower defense" game more engaging isn't a bad thing, and it blows my mind that anyone could think otherwise if they've played the endgame content (which you admittedly are not/have not). Endgame *was* just "hit tab, type 'startfire', point at where the air mobs are coming, afk until a boss shows up". With the advent of the Abyss Lord, it's now "build, hit g, go make a sandwich". If the game is going to be balanced, as it was for a very long time, around the idea of a DPS character being mandatory for endgame content, then the act of playing a DPS character needs to be more involved than "Hold the attack button/block button with the Flamethrower sword and point at a lane". That effectively makes you a walking tower, and isn't engaging, so I'm all for suggestions to address that.

I feel where you're coming from, and the fact that Orcs don't have crit scaling is a problem (*cough*HeavyCannonball*cough*), but I think the sphere system sort of lends itself to those awkward "fill slots". My wall squire has a movespeed sphere for lack of anything better to put in one of the medium slots (and the other one is crit since I don't use the super cost-ineffective ballista), and my Frost Apprentice and Serenity Monk might as well have empty uber slots (I think the App has the shielding guard or whatever, but i's just filler). Until there are a ton more spheres to choose from that do a ton more things, I don't see really good, really specialized sphere builds becoming a thing.

Do you have a specific Abyss Lord for Direct Commands? Because while it doesn't address the problem (which I've not noticed myself), I always use the duration to Orc Command sphere as my filler slot on a Wall Abyss Lord.

I literally AFK incursions solo, and so does a decently-sized portion of the endgame community. Just saying, it's both possible and common enough to not be "OMG you're so well-geared".

I did the same thing, and I had all of my heroes organized in the forge menu. Games like this hit my "spreadsheet God" addiction centres, but I also have to have a higher degree control over the organization for it to work.

This is just a quick little thread to (hopefully) pick up interest on a possible UI change. Nothing major, not even anything that will significantly alter the game, but something that my heart SCREAMS for. I'm compulsive about organization. I probably have some form of undiagnosed OCD. But that aside, it causes problems with a couple of things on this game, and one of those is simply the placement of the heroes on the hero deck menu. Every time I log in, I seriously have to fight the urge to delete a couple of characters, because I can't bear to see my Apprentices not grouped together, my Squires, Huntresses, and even the secondary Monk all in their respective places. Since the heroes themselves can be swapped around willy-nilly now, I would think that it follows logically that the placement of them on the menu should follow suit. Those that aren't bound to the same compulsions can simply place their favourite four heroes in the deck, and their go-to "secondary" heroes immediately after. It's just a little something that is a big bother for someone like me. :P

+1, but... Just have to point out (because I'm sick of seeing it on legal memos when people are trying to impress me) that it's "per se".

Another tip is that dummies, while they can have comparable health to spike barricades, do NOT get the "automation" passive. That passive is crucial in the sustainability of a wall if you're not well-geared, because mobs WILL be getting to the walls.

Yeah I always viewed "build defining" as exactly that. If you don't have Purge Evil, you probably won't use a Serenity Aura at all. If you don't have the Harbinger sword you won't use Training Dummies, etc.