Forge: The Battle Standards

[WesleyT245]

This is basically everything you need to know about the enemy Battle Standards summoned in the Forge.

Facts:

-Summoned by Crocommanders (1 each) and the Boarrior (4 at once) when he calls for reinforcements.

-There are 3 types of Standards: Damage buff, Healing, and Defense. Each has 30 hp.

-During the double Crocommander rounds, they will summon one each, always of the same type. They will summon another if the first one is destroyed.

-During the Boarrior, when he summons the pigs, four standards of the same type will spawn in predetermined spots around the arena.

-The Damage Standard: Looks like a jawbone, increases all mobs' attack by 25%. 

-The Healing Standard: Looks like a wreath of leaves, heals all mobs by about 15-20 hp/sec.

-The Defense Standard: Looks like a purple shield, decreases all damage taken by mobs by 50%.

-None of the Standards stack, meaning the effect of one standard is the same as four standards.

Opinions:

The main problem with the standards in my opinion is that one, they are unbalanced, and two, the type spawned is random. Balance: In my opinion, the defense standard is way more powerful than the other two. It can single handedly double the amount of time needed to kill an enemy. This is especially damaging when they are summoned by the Boarrior, as it makes destroying all the standards necessary to kill the spawned Pit Pigs with a meteor. The attack standard seems about the right power, as a 25% boost to damage is pretty balanced. The healing standard is really situational, and is overall very weak. If the team is focusing on the same enemy, the amount healed is negligible, as it will only keep the mob alive a couple seconds longer. But this problem is only actually a problem when compounded with the next part.

The other problem is that the type of standard summoned is completely random. Having defense standards spawn during the Boarrior is much more difficult to deal with than the other two types of standards spawning. Meaning, you have a 2/3 chance of having an easy Pit Pig clear, and a 1/3 chance of getting the more difficult defense standard to deal with. Additionally, having defense standards spawn during the Crocommander rounds means that round is significantly longer to clear, as the team will either have to put up with the 50% damage reduction, effectively doubling the time necessary to kill everything, or the team will have to have one member run to the other side and take down the banner, also lengthening the time as then that member isn't dealing damage. While this isn't a difficult challenge to overcome, it is annoying for speedrunners who basically have to rely on a random event for the fastest times.

My main suggestion to fix this problem is either to balance the standards, which is very difficult because of the inherently different abilities of each standard, or more interestingly, eliminate the randomness. Instead of random banners getting spawned, have a specific standard be spawned for each Crocommander round. That way, it's not up to chance which standard is spawned, and it doesn't seem unfair when defense standards are spawned. For the Boarrior, instead of four of one type of standard spawning, why not have one of each type of standard spawning in predetermined spots? (I know that would lower the amount of standards spawned from 4 to 3, but they would stack as they have different abilities.) That way, we can plan for the exact standards that will spawn and plan accordingly, instead of hoping that one spawns over another.

These are just my thoughts on the matter. I know that these standards don't overall impact the game in terms of difficulty too much, but it's the randomness that makes the game feel unfair at times. 

What are you thoughts on this?

 

[minespatch]

I'm curious as to why Wilson is holding one in the promo image, I thought it was a preview to players getting a chance to use it but I guess that isn't the case.

 

[Sinister_Fang]

It seems fine to me. In a proper team with a decent amount of awareness, they shouldn't sit around for more then a few seconds anyway.

[RogueGamer12]

1 hour ago, minespatch said:

I'm curious as to why Wilson is holding one in the promo image, I thought it was a preview to players getting a chance to use it but I guess that isn't the case.

 

I know right? It sounds like a weapon where it's special is some form of team buff. 

[axxel]

Banner as (buff) weapons? Would be a cool idea.

[Majestix]

I don't see a problem with balance. With the boarrior pigs, any decent team will knock down the standards before calling the meteor. And in any case, some rounds being easier than others is not a big issue.

[MostMerryTomcat]

As people previously stated, in any so-and-so competent team those banners - be it in Crocs, 2nd Boarilla(s) or Boar wave - won't stand tall-'n'-proud more than some seconds. Boar strat is pretty straightforward: taking down said banners is a priority. Only time I can see these (banners and their RNG-type drop) being a "problem" in indeed at the extreme micro-management level of speed-runs; but then again that is a self-imposed challenge and game shouldn't gravitate in that insanity's direction - vast majority of us play the game for fun wins, not in uber-optimized job-like compulsive style.

[Fuffles]

Honestly I feel more like the Crocommander Banner (Yes that's what the purple shielded banner is called... weird, eh?) is in the right spot, the others are way to under powered.

Banners are supposed to be big threats, yet the only one that feels like it is the purple one

I feel like the other 2 banners might need a buff

 

[pedregales]

They are fine-ish. I think the damage and healing standard should be buffed.