New Character DIscussion

[Wumpus the 19th]

As i have to go to school i cannot play the new update at the literal moment it comes out. so i am creating this topic for people to discuss their thoughts on the new character, positive or negative, constructive or you look away for 10 seconds and that DAMN FOREMAN GUTS YOU LIKE A FS-

 

 

the floor is yours for discussion on the new character on this topic

[blash365]

I would have never imagined that they would make a vroc hero. But there he is. Amazing. Too bad he doesnt have any negotiation cards.:/

[s5unaMe]

@Kevin hey, guys will there be an update to Experimental? Is that still a thing or we should move to the main alpha build?

[Kevin]

3 minutes ago, s5unaMe said:

@Kevin hey, guys will there be an update to Experimental? Is that still a thing or we should move to the main alpha build?

Yes, still a thing. We're just prepping it now.

With this update, Experimental is actually quite a bit ahead of the main branch. The Rook build that just went live was frozen after a QA pass about two weeks ago, because we wanted to keep it secret until release, but didn't want to risk making it unstable with new changes.

 

[s5unaMe]

18 minutes ago, Kevin said:

Yes, still a thing. We're just prepping it now.

With this update, Experimental is actually quite a bit ahead of the main branch. The Rook build that just went live was frozen after a QA pass about two weeks ago, because we wanted to keep it secret until release, but didn't want to risk making it unstable with new changes.

 

Super nice! I can hardly wait (but maybe will fall asleep until it will go live).

Buy the way, is there any way to get QA pass? 

[TF3]

So far absolutely loving the new character. While there's only two days so far, the days themselves feel a bit longer than those in Sal's campaign. Also a ton of fun new keywords (and the return of the Autoplay keyword in several cards). Bit of a shame there's a bunch of bugs everywhere but I suppose that's to be expected when the update was frozen for two weeks without community testers to find the issues.

 

On the topic of bugs, some of the new items from Rook's Campaign appear in Sal's campaign through the Rise and Shine quest. While some of the keywords in the items are character independent and can be used safely, like Burn, others like items that give Charge do absolutely nothing and should be removed from the pool in Sal's campaign.

Edit: Also massive spoilers for a very special random event:

Spoiler

Yoooooo its Sal

When I agreed to work with her, we tracked down Jeol, so I assume this fight lets you fight one of the Day 1 bosses. You're then given the option to either help her or betray her, both fights being isolated so you can kill whoever you fight. I betrayed Sal so I could see what she has for a Bane and as a death drop.

Her bane,  Wrong Side, gives you 1 doubt at the start of negotiation. Her death loot, Red Scarf, is unplayable with replenish and gives you 1 power permanently when drawn.

Combat wise, she builds up combo points on herself, and when she's at 5 or higher, she does a big damage attack.

 

[HappyFir3]

I really enjoyed the brief time I've spent playing Rook so far. I expected it to be far more similar to Sal, but they did a great job making sure they felt different.

I expected the gamble mechanic to be far more swingy, but it's very reasonable and if you build a deck wanting a specific side of the coin to always be showing it's actually rather easy to do so. 

My only concern so far is that due to defensive numbers being lower in general for Rook that late game in high prestige is going to be a nightmare in trying to keep yourself healthy. Have no idea though, as we only have 2 days so far

The added world-building is great, and the story so far is looking quite interesting. Looking forward to more in the future and raises my expectations significantly for character number 3! 
 

[pacovf]

Hot take:

- Fanning the gun hammer (combat) and War stories for the Dominance (Negotiation) are excellent.

- Some of Rook's common/uncommon grafts are reaaally powerful.

 

EDIT: And I've said it elsewhere but I'll say it again, the coin mechanic is really fun.

[Gr1m-]

On 14-12-2019 at 11:02 AM, pacovf said:

Hot take:

- Fanning the gun (combat) and War stories for the Dominance (Negotiation) are excellent.

- Some of Rook's common/uncommon grafts are reaaally powerful.

 

EDIT: And I've said it elsewhere but I'll say it again, the coin mechanic is really fun.

Fully agree with the common/uncommon grafts being pretty strong

There is one common negotiation graft (Cranial Patch) if your coin lands Heads you can draw a card for free. During day 2, I've had this event with Krog the gambler, you can get a "rigged" coin of him that always lands heads (or 90% of the time it does I read somewhere iirc). Pretty insane if you went Diplomacy.

Slug Nook good aswell reducing the action of a card everytime you gamble and land Snails, you can keep reactivating this I believe with multiple gambles and making sure your next toss is rigged for Snails.

Even something like Parietal Integrator (discard 2 cards and draw 2 cards at the start of each negotiation) is kind of good since Domination style for Rook seems to rely more on discarding.

Armor Plating, whenever you gain Charge, gain 2 Defense is really solid. Kind of similar to Sal's Boulder Stance.

Fanning gun seems really strong.. maybe even a little too much. I got Irkrow flashbacks from that haha

Agreed on War Stories aswell, a ton of Domination of 1 Action card is really strong

 

[ArtixBot]

There's something about Overcharge combat decks that I find really satisfying. The sound effects, perhaps?

[pacovf]

7 hours ago, ArtixBot said:

There's something about Overcharge combat decks that I find really satisfying. The sound effects, perhaps?

It hasn't been emphasized enough, but Rook's mechanics got a lot of love on the snazz side. The visual and sound effects from overcharge, the fiery circle under burning enemies, Rook pulling out a notebook to note down the name of people in the middle of a negotiation...  It makes Sal's combo count tugged under her health bar look rather sad indeed

Maybe I'm greedy, but I hope that when Klei goes back to her  campaign, they'll and snazz her up a little too.

[BadScra]

I saw Arint and Flekfis have powerful item drop in compendium. You'll got powerful item when you killing her or him. Arint and Flekfis must be bosses fight, right?

[SoM]

Coin is great, and most curiously there's a separate Pistols section too. Considering the cards we've seen so far, and the default Pistols already looked strong (well things can change), anything new will probably be super strong.

[pacovf]

I assume any new pistols will have trade offs. Like more charge capacity but doesn’t charge naturally, or giving something else than defense for empty cells, or limited maximum overcharge, etc. We probably won’t get straight up “better” guns, unlike coins.

[pacovf]

More hot takes:

- Wide firestorm is the most efficient source of damage in the game, by a very, very large margin.

- Sifting coin is the best day 1 coin, by far. Chaos coin is the best day 2 coin, but at least the other options for day 2 go in different directions altogether. 

- Blacklist (the influence card from the Spark Barons) is trying to fill a niche that doesn't exist. It's terribly, terribly bad at the beginning of the game, then slowly increases in power until it's very efficient. The problem is, it's the early negotiations that are hard; negotiation decks usually reach critical mass halfway through the game, and once you get there you won't need a superbuffed blacklist. Blacklist either needs to be less terrible early on (e.g. make it take names for free, then incept a 2-cost card that deals damage), have some sort of out-of-negotiation advantage (shills on play? special shop? something else?), a different effect than just straight damage, or some combination thereof. It's a shame, because it's a really fun concept!

- I love how many options and variations some quests have, and that the new opportunities and random events often contain small stories. I'm still trying to figure out all the permutations in the "train an enforcer" quest!

[TF3]

1 hour ago, pacovf said:

Blacklist (the influence card from the Spark Barons) is trying to fill a niche that doesn't exist. It's terribly, terribly bad at the beginning of the game, then slowly increases in power until it's very efficient. The problem is, it's the early negotiations that are hard; negotiation decks usually reach critical mass halfway through the game, and once you get there you won't need a superbuffed blacklist. Blacklist either needs to be less terrible early on (e.g. make it take names for free, then incept a 2-cost card that deals damage), have some sort of out-of-negotiation advantage (shills on play? special shop? something else?), a different effect than just straight damage, or some combination thereof. It's a shame, because it's a really fun concept!

I think the biggest issue with blacklist currently is the fact we only have two days. It can very easily become a single card negotiation win if we had more days to take names. Even with the current amount of days you just win against anyone who likes you.

[pacovf]

Yes, but you can win in the late game without Blacklist. The hardest negotiation in the game right now is convincing the Dock clerk to break the quarantine, in Sal’s campaign, so I’m measuring the card against that; nothing in Rook’s campaign is even close to that right now.

In that scenario, dealing 20+ damage for 2 actions is big, sure, but there are many  other ways to do it if you build your deck around it. And none involve spending 2 (!!!) actions for very little damage during the first day of your run. Rook is *very* weak in negotiations until he gets a new coin, and still takes some time to pick up afterwards. You’re going to take a lot of resolve damage and miss out on card xp by playing Blacklist. It’s not worth the long run benefits, unless there will be a negotiation in day 5 where you need to deal 30 damage by turn 2 or something.

It’s especially bad because getting Blacklist means you miss out on shovel, which is excellent in the early game, and stays relevant later on.

[Laindis]

Interesting character

[Wumpus the 19th]

i forgot i ever made this post but uhm...glad to see it's at least had some talk.