Fateful Showdown needs to be harder

Justyce

I just wanted to say I love the PvE events as the high level AI makes the games more challenging.

Could you make fateful show down be as hard as the avacyn' madness event. Especially like persistent nightmare, the bandit and avacyn herself. It would actually be even better if it was much harder.

For example maybe make node 2 encounters start off with double mana like the recent event. Make node 3 encounters start off immediately in enraged mode.

Steeme

I admire your thrill of a challenge but increasing the difficulty might gate a lot of players out of the basic progression.

Morphis

The main problem I see with this event is the lack of removals for ai.
This makes any creature that can grow in size absurdly powerful.

Also since removals in this this game are exceptionally cheap(compared to all creatures that pone a real threat) it means ai is unable to get the "tempo" advantage we get with our removals.

wereotter

Steeme wrote:

I admire your thrill of a challenge but increasing the difficulty might gate a lot of players out of the basic progression.

Agreed. People are all over the map in terms of planeswalker level and card collections, and especially for the latter, this is the single best way to build that. Making it harder for the benefit of high level players will unintentionally lock out newer or lower level players from progressing.

Perhaps some new content could be implemented for those seeking more of a challenge. I've seen the idea floated elsewhere to be able to play against your own decks, or decks from your coalition.

khurram

Justyce wrote:

I just wanted to say I love the PvE events as the high level AI makes the games more challenging.

Could you make fateful show down be as hard as the avacyn' madness event. Especially like persistent nightmare, the bandit and avacyn herself. It would actually be even better if it was much harder.

For example maybe make node 2 encounters start off with double mana like the recent event. Make node 3 encounters start off immediately in enraged mode.

If its too easy for you, start off the encounters with your planeswalkers at half health.

That being said, it is kind of easier than expected.

Justyce

yeah rewards will have to be changed. But they could do other things maybe give some boss a loyalty ability that gives hex proof to their first creature, an ability that can make you skip your draw phase or cast one spell on their hand for free.

I want the bosses to feel like they are overwhelming and they don't drop to a predictable pattern that makes them easy to beat which happened the avacyn ones eventually.

Magog

How about putting in a fourth node with a devastatingly hard boss (Tezzeret?), then on the rewards side of things just put crystals and runes as additional rewards beyond the booster pack + rare? BUT they have to keep the basic progression (rare at 450 points) the same.

It'll add something difficult (and the additional rewards provide an incentive to try it) while still allowing people to get the rare as they currently can. Those who are able to beat the fourth node will be able to smash the first three anyway, so it's not like it's been made any easier. And since the rewards are just crystals and runes it's no big loss if you don't get those, so there shouldn't be much anger about impossible-to-get rewards.

Applying this to the other events might also do something about the rock-and-a-hard-place complaints about either needing a near perfect run to complete the individual progression (as with recent events), or only getting individual rewards for half of the event, making further play pointless if you weren't in a competitive coalition.

tm00

The hard mission of scraphead scrounger is quite tricky for me. Others not so much unless one of the 2 with a bunch of haste dudes also has a 20 or less life lost too and I forgot about it.

wereotter

tm00 wrote:

The hard mission of scraphead scrounger is quite tricky for me. Others not so much unless one of the 2 with a bunch of haste dudes also has a 20 or less life lost too and I forgot about it.

Scrapheap Scrounger isn't too tough if you have a good deck for Liliana. Most his guys have berserker, so Graf Harvest will keep them busy and let you still get in attacks.

Torrential Gearhulk has been the rough one for me. Tried it both with the strategy of using things like Abbot of Keral Keep and Volcanic Rumbler to keep his servos off the board, which didn't work out, and with all the lock down the first creature effects like Claustrophobia and Supression Bonds. That worked, but only if I got lucky and drew them, AND they didn't get placed right where they'd get destroyed the next turn.

Mainloop25

Both the 2nd and 3rd gearhulks are a piece of cake with creatureless Ob. Kill spells and card draw is all you need

AngelForge

I would suggest some kind of balancing. For me in silver tier these events are hard. While Avacyn is a nightmare, showdown is a little bit easier but still no joke...
So I think these events should also be separated by tiers (I don't like the way they set up these tiers but that is another story), so that it is not that frustrating for newer players as it is now...

Lightcell

I have been having a lot of issues with the noxious gearhulk. Hate eliminate the competition

blacklotus

Mainloop25 wrote:

Both the 2nd and 3rd gearhulks are a piece of cake with creatureless Ob. Kill spells and card draw is all you need

my critterless ob almost lost to the 2-2 node.
bad card draws and insane first turn cascade + super first hand emptied for the AI.

First turn i drew 3 supports. couldn't draw a kill spell till turn 5. i have 3 kill spells /10 cards in my deck. I have tamiyo and archive and ob's first to draw additional cards.

first turn ai played marionette + kamal + dynavolt tower.

bk1234

I actually like this event. The objectives are more interesting and I can't burn through it with the same deck.

I love putting together my Koth baby zoo for 1.1 and I have a nice 1 spell Aj deck for the supports objective and low spells-- which I have to completely flip to almost all spells for 3.1. Also I'm playing Arlinn without wolves for the 2 creatures of less and I'm really enjoying experimenting with the red/green synergy without being tied to the theme.

It's making me think outside of the box in so many ways.

Also I agree with other posters that making it harder will basically shut people out.

My only complaints are the lagging and freezes and the 8 hour recharges because I'd like to play it cleanly and more of it.

madwren

wereotter wrote:

tm00 wrote:

The hard mission of scraphead scrounger is quite tricky for me. Others not so much unless one of the 2 with a bunch of haste dudes also has a 20 or less life lost too and I forgot about it.

Scrapheap Scrounger isn't too tough if you have a good deck for Liliana. Most his guys have berserker, so Graf Harvest will keep them busy and let you still get in attacks.

Torrential Gearhulk has been the rough one for me. Tried it both with the strategy of using things like Abbot of Keral Keep and Volcanic Rumbler to keep his servos off the board, which didn't work out, and with all the lock down the first creature effects like Claustrophobia and Supression Bonds. That worked, but only if I got lucky and drew them, AND they didn't get placed right where they'd get destroyed the next turn.

Torrential Gearhulk was made for a strong Ob deck.

Mainloop25

blacklotus wrote:

Mainloop25 wrote:

Both the 2nd and 3rd gearhulks are a piece of cake with creatureless Ob. Kill spells and card draw is all you need

my critterless ob almost lost to the 2-2 node.
bad card draws and insane first turn cascade + super first hand emptied for the AI.

First turn i drew 3 supports. couldn't draw a kill spell till turn 5. i have 3 kill spells /10 cards in my deck. I have tamiyo and archive and ob's first to draw additional cards.

first turn ai played marionette + kamal + dynavolt tower.

I happen to have shadows of the past as well as Alhamarret's archive, so I get a good chunk of life back when they trigger the traps.

Lightcell

RNG shined on me today. AI played Doubious challenge to get their only creature in play. I got Lashweed Lurker so it just went back to the top of their deck. Also AI has been casting buff spells on my own creatures again. Had a +4/+4 and trample until end of turn because my creature was the only legal target. Didn't really do anything to help me but it didn't help the AI at all either :-/

wereotter

madwren wrote:

wereotter wrote:

tm00 wrote:

The hard mission of scraphead scrounger is quite tricky for me. Others not so much unless one of the 2 with a bunch of haste dudes also has a 20 or less life lost too and I forgot about it.

Scrapheap Scrounger isn't too tough if you have a good deck for Liliana. Most his guys have berserker, so Graf Harvest will keep them busy and let you still get in attacks.

Torrential Gearhulk has been the rough one for me. Tried it both with the strategy of using things like Abbot of Keral Keep and Volcanic Rumbler to keep his servos off the board, which didn't work out, and with all the lock down the first creature effects like Claustrophobia and Supression Bonds. That worked, but only if I got lucky and drew them, AND they didn't get placed right where they'd get destroyed the next turn.

Torrential Gearhulk was made for a strong Ob deck.

I don't have Ob Nixilis, so I'm forced to use a different technique. Plus even if I did, I don't think I have the cards to make him work. Only have two kill spells for black, and from what I'm reading most run far more.

A good Dovin Baan deck can lock him down but you have to get lucky with your early draws. Need early Suppression Bonds and/or Claustrophobia then quickly get Empyreal Voyager and Saheeli's Artistry to fill the board with energy. It's how I cleared it every time the last two times we had this event, but had bad draws this time. Going to to turn 6 with still no first creature disable and a board full of servos is difficult.

blacklotus

Mainloop25 wrote:

blacklotus wrote:

Mainloop25 wrote:

Both the 2nd and 3rd gearhulks are a piece of cake with creatureless Ob. Kill spells and card draw is all you need

my critterless ob almost lost to the 2-2 node.
bad card draws and insane first turn cascade + super first hand emptied for the AI.

First turn i drew 3 supports. couldn't draw a kill spell till turn 5. i have 3 kill spells /10 cards in my deck. I have tamiyo and archive and ob's first to draw additional cards.

first turn ai played marionette + kamal + dynavolt tower.

I happen to have shadows of the past as well as Alhamarret's archive, so I get a good chunk of life back when they trigger the traps.

thanks. i may have to rethink including "shadows of the past" in my ob deck. i do use "Alhammarret Archive" in my deck. this card really shines in ob deck.

tm00

wereotter wrote:

tm00 wrote:

The hard mission of scraphead scrounger is quite tricky for me. Others not so much unless one of the 2 with a bunch of haste dudes also has a 20 or less life lost too and I forgot about it.

Scrapheap Scrounger isn't too tough if you have a good deck for Liliana. Most his guys have berserker, so Graf Harvest will keep them busy and let you still get in attacks.

Torrential Gearhulk has been the rough one for me. Tried it both with the strategy of using things like Abbot of Keral Keep and Volcanic Rumbler to keep his servos off the board, which didn't work out, and with all the lock down the first creature effects like Claustrophobia and Supression Bonds. That worked, but only if I got lucky and drew them, AND they didn't get placed right where they'd get destroyed the next turn.

I'm talking about the lose 20 or less life objective that he and node 2-2 have.
between marionette master+scraphead scrounger requiring a good board control and aetherwork marvel+dynavolt tower+ servo tokens combo being able to easily hit you for 5 repeatly it's not really a cakewalk.