Mechanics & Factions - More Utilisation Thereof (Part 2 of 2)

[jolly wagon]

This is just a way of setting out everything I had thought out which was in the ⁠#frosty-feedback channel (part 2 of 2)

3. Internal Faction Consistency. Again, what I love so much about this game is that every inch of the game is bursting with character. With that in mind, it feels kind of odd why certain mechanics are in the factions that they are. Note that I am not calling for a faction for each mechanic - I think that is both too simple and would needlessly dilute the game. What I do think, however, is that some mechanics could either be siphoned off when new factions come. Some examples:

• Why do Snowdwellers get Snow, Spice, Poison, and Shell? Seems rather odd thematically.
• Shademancers has a tighter faction identity, but I am not sure what Teeth is doing there. It seems that Sacrifice is about getting units to die, whereas Teeth ideally stays alive as long as possible. Overburn also has nothing to do with Teeth (other than a generic means of dealing damage).
• Clunkmasters feels the most thematically tight of the three with the exception of Ink, but it feels like Junk is underutilised.
  This leads into my broader point below.

4. Underutilisation of Mechanics. As of now, it feels like certain mechanics are either sidelined or just not worth engaging with, either because the cards are limited in quantity or otherwise. Again, I recognise that adding more cards would dilute the pool, which is why I would suggest adding more factions and siphoning off some of the mechanics. 2 examples:

• Spice. Not only are the companions for Spice rather lacking (Pyra & Firefist both have their own issues, mainly, being too slow), there are also only two of them. While it is true that there are also only two companions of other factions (Poison, for example), Spice seems to get less support from other cards.
• Mechanics Without Companions: Again, it doesn't have to be as simple as adding a companion which inflicts Frost but something that works off it.

[jagged shale]

1. It's fine if each faction has multiple different directions that don't seem to intersect, imo. You want factions to feel unique while still offering variety. Look at StS where for example the Defect could go full orb with builds for lightning or frost or darkness, but could also do a hyperbeam build, or a claw build. Silent could go shiv or poison or highroll for grand finale. Snowdwellers' identity feel fine for me as a collection of natural resource themed status effects that are very unit focused. Nothing fancy with summons, just raw stats. That's their thing. Teeth make sense for Shademancers if you think about the faction as being one that's adept at churning out chump blockers. Wear out the opponent while tanking their big attacks, then crack back for the win with set up.
2. Agreed re: spice personally. Not in terms of amount of cards necessarily - there are quite a couple items that deal with it, right. The one that gives 7 spice, the one that gives 2 spice barrage, the one that triggers with a certain amount of spice, etc. But that its two main units aren't reliable enough to make the mechanic feel fleshed out. Shorter cooldown and more flexible effect might work better.

[rustic spade]

Snowdwellers' theme is nature
Spice also makes sense on the snow team, as a hot/cold team.

Why do the Shademancers get teeth?
With their teeth-skull item, you're removing one of your summons, so it's more likely to land on one of your longer-lasting units. The larger Chik* summons and the barrage summon have enough health to be a good target for teeth just by themselves. So it's really just your basic summons, the overburn summon, and any small companions who you haven't buffed with berry bell, berry juice, or Berry Girl that aren't good candidates for teeth.