Macro Balance: Elemental Basics vs. Basic Elementals

[Guest Sancdar]

Well, Elemental Basics vs. Amplified Elementals, but that is not as catchy a title. Anyway, I was discussing with Karawasa during tonight's meeting how there is no real reason to build most of the basic/amplified elemental towers. Light and Nature are the primary exceptions, they do good damage at good speeds and have good range. Darkness is okay as well - if you're too lazy to race all over the map rebuilding, plop a few in the center and let them take care of everything with their huge overkill damage. Basically, those three can give you convenience and power in a pinch. Earth, Fire, and Water are pointless. Anything they can do, I can do with an elemental cannon. If there's a few high-HP leaks, I can use elemental arrows to do the job better than these splash towers.

Elemental arrows and cannons sell for 100%, and you can have massed basic arrow/cannon where you might need to catch leaks, ready to change into any element you want. Amplified elements sell for 75%, massed basic elements cost enough gold to lose you significant interest, and they can't change to other elements if you need to. Massing basics is important because most of the time you spend trying to catch leaks is in building the towers 1 at a time, not upgrading all of them at once.

So, elemental arrows and cannons are more mobile (full resale), more versatile (every element you have from 1 base tower), allow interest farming, and allow splash or single-target damage from every element. All this, and they have roughly the same DPS/gold as amplified elements.

My proposal is that elemental upgrades to arrow/cannon cost slightly more. The upper limit here is 9 extra gold, or 114 upgrade, 171 total cost. At that point, you have equal DPS/gold as a super, but you gain the ability to deal 200% damage if you have the right element. I'd suggest 7 or 8 gold extra to see how it goes. Ideally, players on pick should have a choice between the two, with DPS/gold as the trade off. Right now, only random players have a choice, because they get 100% sale from both options.

So, what do you guys think? Is it a problem that half the amplified elements are completely overshadowed by elemental arrow/cannon towers? Is this a good solution? Too much? Too weak? 9 gold is the most that can be reasonably added, so if more needs to be done then a different change has to be thought up.

Also, if this gets implemented...rest in peace, my speedy opening

[Karawasa]

As stated, adding nine gold to elemental basic cost would make it equal to super. We don't want that. Played with the numbers, and adding six seemed like a good compromise.

So elemental basic tower would go from 162 total cost to 168 (upgrade from 105 to 111).

Thoughts?

[jolin012]

hmm - so, make elemental arrows less effective than regular arrows? hmm. perhaps that is a good thing. not sure.

if it's a bad thing what we'd do is instead to make amps deal more dmg at same cost if we need to change something at all.

[Cisz]

hmm - so, make elemental arrows less effective than regular arrows?

Good point, that schould not happen.

[Karawasa]

hmm - so, make elemental arrows less effective than regular arrows? hmm. perhaps that is a good thing. not sure.

No, that is not what we are doing. Elemental arrows would still be a better value than super arrows. It is like this:

Super ~ 2.8 DPSG

Elemental ~ 3 DPSG

Amplified ~ 3 DPSG

We are basically making elemental to ~2.9 DPSG by doing this.

[Guest Sancdar]

hmm - so, make elemental arrows less effective than regular arrows? hmm. perhaps that is a good thing. not sure.

if it's a bad thing what we'd do is instead to make amps deal more dmg at same cost if we need to change something at all.

Unless we think that highter-tier pures are balanced.

[Kaini]

I don't know what i should think about that idea.

I hardly use them in early game - and later I don't care about 6 gold.

So.. I don't care But you are right I use more often Elementals than Ampfs.