20FEB18 - Defy Death Update

Ten Kulch wrote: The simple solution would be to raise Defy Death from 1% per level to 5%. As long as the rolls are truly independent--which the fixed RNG code should ensure--any attempt to spam elite Heroism commanders will quickly run out of steam.

Jabob wrote: I like the idea of defy death gear.  Make it a mount.  Give it a % added to defy death.  If the commanders defy death skill fires have the mount take the hit instead of the commander, thus killing the mount (destroyed no chance to scavenge) and make the commander walk home.  Use some of the unused herbs, minerals or anatomies in the game for the mount recipe.  And you could even make a quest to get the recipe (just not one like Audrey that no one can figure out.)

Or better, turn that steady warhorse into something useful.

Hucbold wrote: Defy death worked in a particular way. It may not have been the way intended but it had worked that way for 8 years. Wars had been won or lost on these mechanics.

Name one. A war that was won or lost on the Defy Death mechanic doesn't exist.

Hucbold wrote: Strategies had been developed on these mechanics. ... In the middle of a war, at the behest of The SINdicate, the devs have altered the dynamics to reduce the effectiveness of elite attacks against big sieging armies without consulting the game at large. Its effect, if not its intent, favours one side. It stinks.

"Strategy" is generous. You discovered an exploitable bug, and instead of reporting it, you chose to systematically abuse that bug across two dozen different accounts. That stinks. There should be no sympathy for anyone who exploited that bug. Do you really think the devs should allow you to continue abusing a code malfunction to create an actual advantage in the game? "Everyone can use it," is not an acceptable argument. They squashed the bug, case closed.

For those wondering, the Defy Death bug wasn't a game-breaking problem until the 5x equipment update. That update poured gasoline on the spark, allowing a 61 troop army with 4 deathless commanders to attack like 1000 troops. As a single shot gambit that's fine. Exploiting the defect to strike over and over without waiting for resurrection time (the intended balancing factor) made the knowledge of how to systematically trigger the bug more valuable than all the troops you were producing in your cities.

At that point, you fix the bug, period.

AdmiralRage wrote: Steering away from bashing on Hucbold's complaining, I also don't think we should try to "balance" low level commanders and high level commanders. I think high level commanders should have an inherent advantage.

Some people want that balancing because they either think that it will help in emergency (which it should not), or because they think it will help new players (who have no chance of surviving against someone who has played even 6 months with or without this balancing).

OssianII wrote: This thread is turning into another bash Hucbold fest from the alliances who deliberately go out of their way to personally harass, humiliate and deride other players at every opportunity. There is no need for us tolerate this anymore. We should keep a record and report it. Where there is long delay in GM's  taking action on these reports then we should band together and force their hand! Some of these practises must stop before this game gets a reputation.