Дегустация Horn of the Abyss

I didn't understand the arithmetic, how did 5 Evil Eyes become equal to 3.5 Evil Eyes?

I repeat, I agree that the variance decreases, along with the number of Troglodytes.

The arithmetic is like this - in HotA, the Dungeon without Laura has on average 25*4+14 = 114 Troglodytes, 5 Harpies, and 3.5 Evil Eyes.

In SoD, with 2 stacks for both starting heroes and without Laura (the most common situation), the Dungeon has on average 35*3+14 = 119 Troglodytes + 5 Harpies.

So the trade-off is 5 Troglodytes for 3.5 Evil Eyes.

It's silly to argue that the Dungeon will be in the top 5 according to any player - that's clear.

Ideally, there shouldn't be a universally accepted top 5 at all; there should be personal preferences.

For example - in WoG, after the two universally recognized imbalanced factions (Swamp and Necro), there was a tight group of Conflux-Dungeon-Stronghold-Inferno, the choice within which was determined by players' personal preferences (for me, Stronghold was the leader). And 2 castles slightly behind (but not by much) - Castle and Rampart. Well, and the terrible Tower. WoG didn't survive to see the balancing of Swamp, Necro, and Tower, but the rest of the group was very compactly arranged; something like that would be desirable in HotA as well.

But for some reason, other castles from this top 5 (Conflux, Necro, Swamp) are being buffed, and please don't talk about a complete rework of castles, yes we need to test and so on and so forth, but this is a buff no matter how you look at it.

Well, how can I not talk about it... I, for instance, understand the balance of Heroes clearly better than average, but I don't have any firm opinion on who should be pulled in which direction. I laid out my arguments above. I envy your confidence.

But the Dungeon is being nerfed, and significantly. Why don't Air Elementals come in groups of 2-4, then, and so on. Was the Dungeon really such an impossible favorite compared to others? No, I don't think so, and it would seem you, as a statistics enthusiast, should know that better than others.

I told you - the Dungeon isn't being nerfed, the Dungeon is being kept in place. It's simpler that way.

25-35 Troglodytes, it would increase the starting army by exactly 10 Troglodytes, so that the average would be 120 Troglodytes — oh, how much that would change the balance, come on, please.

That's +20 Troglodytes. A bit much...

Vic, I'm not that familiar with the history of Heroes, that's understandable, but I don't need to be an eyewitness to a tournament to understand that taking a Griffin Conservatory for Necro on the second day with Vampires is easier than for any other castle (not taking into account spells, super stats, etc.). Not to mention the whole "million" other objects and guards that these Vampires break through, without the participation of the main army. And most importantly, you don't even have to strain yourself, it's like an endless summer, you just get a kick out of omnipotence.

It is easier, the question is, is it faster? That's the point — the more skilled the players, the less the factor of Vampires, because their tempo is achieved with other troops, which, unlike Vampires, are suitable for taking Dragon Utopias. For example, buy up Bears/Rocs/Wolves and start rolling. Meanwhile, Necro first spends money on Vampires, takes something with them, then still needs to buy the rest (Dreads for example). That's about -10K in gold difference. I'm not saying Vampires are bad, but that you're slightly exaggerating their imbalanced nature.

Again, an example from WoG - Vampires can be upgraded there, but how often is it done? Not very often, usually they prefer to buy the small fry/convert them into Skeletons/upgrade, then upgrade/buy more Dreads and go-go Griffin Conservatories-Dragon Fly Hives-Dragon Utopias. And the Vampires get upgraded/bought towards the end of the 2nd week to fight on a second front for resources to rebuild the guild and other small stuff.

Regarding the Cove, Vic, come on, it will be average - I won't argue, but right now, it's imbalanced. And not even as a whole, but through the specifics embedded in it, which later will simply be cut down and won't raise questions, because it's obvious imbalance (I already described in the previous post why I think this was done). Cassiopeia was already nerfed. Next up are Myriam, Nix, Sea Wolves (any weakening), Jeremy with his cannon.

Ehh... well, we'll see... :) Again, I envy your confidence, I wish I had it.

Regarding Cassi - in one of the early patches she was buffed to add another starter. But then "circumstances changed" (quote), and they forgot about Cassi. Kind of an oversight, hence the quick rollback. The rest are planned features, so if they change, it will be much less, much slower, and only if there are substantial arguments.

Regarding Myriam - she's definitely good as a scout hero, but taking her as a starter is a sharply negative move, so changes are unlikely. Regarding Jeremy - concerns existed before and still exist now, he was introduced with the comment "needs practical testing". The Nix are a feature, they were planned that way, so changes are unlikely. Sea Wolves - the percentage of their Precise Shot has already been changed a couple of times, so it's not a constant; it's acceptable to tweak them; we'll see.

Although personally, I wouldn't want to change anything more in the Cove, so the arguments would need to be very, very weighty.