DEVUPDATE #66: VARIANCE VARIATION
MARCH 4, 2022
Hey everyone, lemmingllama here. With version 5.14 live, we’ll be looking ahead to the next update to come. 5.15.0 will be focusing both on reworking some common pain points surrounding raiding, and also on changing the pacing of the main game progression. Today we’ll be looking at some of the raid changes coming with this update.
Starting off, one of the large initiatives we are pushing is to lower variance in raid attacks. To this end, we are making changes to how Support cards work. Previously, Support cards would require you to tap and swipe on parts to have a chance to activate the Support bonuses. With the 5.15.0 update, we’ll be changing these support cards to always be active. Support cards will have a single stack of the effect that is always active. This will entirely remove the variance caused by Support cards, and will also ensure that your damage dealt in the first seconds of a raid attack is the same as your damage dealt later on in your attacks. To note, but this change will not apply to the Totem of Power card, as Totem of Power has an alternate method of applying support stacks that is inconsistent with other support cards. Similarly, this will not affect Maelstrom’s support bonus, as Maelstrom is classified as an Affliction card. In addition to reducing variance through the Support cards, we are also looking to smooth out some of our cards with the highest variance. The first of these cards is Grim Shadow, which will be undergoing a rework to help increase the consistency of damage. Grim Shadow’s previous behavior was that you would gain a large boost of damage when you reach the maximum of seven stacks of Grim Shadow on a single part. With the rework, we’ll instead be changing Grim Shadow to get a boost of damage per stack applied to a single part. For each stack you apply on a single part, it boosts the damage of all stacks on that part. The end result will be that Grim Shadow’s damage will be more consistent, and it won’t have the ”on or off” gameplay that Grim Shadow currently has. We are also reworking Radioactivity, another card that has high variance. Radioactivity’s previous behavior was that you would increase damage against a particular part as long as it was afflicted with Radioactivity, and that damage bonus would be lost when your stacks of Radioactivity wore off on that part. With the rework, Radioactivity will no longer lose the damage bonus if you lose all stacks of Radioactivity on a part. The damage bonus will still only apply to the specific parts, and will only increase when that part is afflicted. However, you will no longer lose the full damage bonus if your Radioactivity stacks run out.
Starting off, one of the large initiatives we are pushing is to lower variance in raid attacks. To this end, we are making changes to how Support cards work. Previously, Support cards would require you to tap and swipe on parts to have a chance to activate the Support bonuses. With the 5.15.0 update, we’ll be changing these support cards to always be active. Support cards will have a single stack of the effect that is always active. This will entirely remove the variance caused by Support cards, and will also ensure that your damage dealt in the first seconds of a raid attack is the same as your damage dealt later on in your attacks. To note, but this change will not apply to the Totem of Power card, as Totem of Power has an alternate method of applying support stacks that is inconsistent with other support cards. Similarly, this will not affect Maelstrom’s support bonus, as Maelstrom is classified as an Affliction card. In addition to reducing variance through the Support cards, we are also looking to smooth out some of our cards with the highest variance. The first of these cards is Grim Shadow, which will be undergoing a rework to help increase the consistency of damage. Grim Shadow’s previous behavior was that you would gain a large boost of damage when you reach the maximum of seven stacks of Grim Shadow on a single part. With the rework, we’ll instead be changing Grim Shadow to get a boost of damage per stack applied to a single part. For each stack you apply on a single part, it boosts the damage of all stacks on that part. The end result will be that Grim Shadow’s damage will be more consistent, and it won’t have the ”on or off” gameplay that Grim Shadow currently has. We are also reworking Radioactivity, another card that has high variance. Radioactivity’s previous behavior was that you would increase damage against a particular part as long as it was afflicted with Radioactivity, and that damage bonus would be lost when your stacks of Radioactivity wore off on that part. With the rework, Radioactivity will no longer lose the damage bonus if you lose all stacks of Radioactivity on a part. The damage bonus will still only apply to the specific parts, and will only increase when that part is afflicted. However, you will no longer lose the full damage bonus if your Radioactivity stacks run out.
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