Vision of Ruin Shadow... too strong of an effect

[dull wind]

I am currently playing a multiplayer game with some friends and we were testing out the various visions. I'm going with a golem build, another is going for a sort of healer type build, you get the idea, we all have different builds. One player goes Shadow and takes Vision of Ruin - shadow.

The effects are, as follows. Spoilers

You can read about them in the images below.

Now, there is a pretty big difference in what they world effects do. Astral ironically enough benefits most of the players by giving them an additional spell per turn even if the prophet can basically cast double the spells at the same price in casting points.

Chaos makes all non-allied factions go to war, but by that time you've probably already drawn the battle lines on who is friend and who is foe, and they get power from slaughter which doesn't really affect anything.

Then we get to Shadow, which absolutely is detrimental to every player in the world that isn't also rocking undead. A 50% nerf to healing can turn a +40 heal into a +20. A 15 to a 7-8. (Most of the time undead factions don't have to worry too much about healing since well.. they basically just revive their dead anyway) On top of that, the prophet gets a battle effect that essentially increases their troop count by the amount of enemies they have without any downsides to it. The cherry on top, the +20 free souls they get per turn.

Astral and Chaos do not really screw over the other players in the lobby like Shadow does, and shadow is the EASIEST to achieve. What's more, there is nothing you can do to prevent it, no counter-play, no countermeasures you can put into effect. You're just kinda screwed over if you're not playing undead. There are way too many bonuses tied to Vision of Ruin - Shadow, and I do believe it needs to be toned down, especially for how easy it is to get and how powerful the effects are.

[dull wind]

Either a nerf to the effects or a change to the effects. Chaos and Astral do not have nearly as much impact on the playstyle of other players as Shadow does. It's basically a guaranteed 2 stacks of decay minus the damage on everyone that isnt undead.

If we keep that line of logic, Chaos and astral should both apply negative effects to units as well, no?

[delicate cape]

Imo astral and chaos could use a buff, especially astral.
With Chaos there's a lot of games you're just never gonna be able to complete it and by the time you do complete it you'll likely have already defeated a faction and wont really need the help. I will say the power from slaughter is a very strong effect, the rest is kinda meh though.
Astral takes way to much effort and the reward isn't really even that useful.
Shadow is very strong but It should be strong imo maybe they could make it take a little longer but I wouldn't want them to nerf the effect to much. I could see the anti healing effect being annoying but if they were to change it I'd want something at least close to as strong to replace it. Something like anytime anything dies on the map it spawns independent undead that are hostile to everyone but the prophet, unless they're animated by someone.

[dull wind]

Id be perfectly fine with that change for shadow

[dull wind]

My main issue is that Shadow's global effect actively disrupts/harms other affinity choices/playstyles that aren't also running shadow/undead.

Astral and Chaos don't do that. Don't see Astral with a "All non-incorporeal units suffer 2x stacks of Sundered Resistance!" or Chaos being like "All non-fiend units suffer 2x Stacks of burning at the beginning of every fight"

Shadow is basically doing the equivalent of slapping on 2x Stacks of Decay on all units that aren't undead, minus the damage over time part of decay.

If they implement a way to counteract the effects of this global effect via an artifact or something, or special research spell, I'd be fine with keeping it as is.