OPTION I
Elements the Game
Fighting Half BloodsStalling Scarab Amalgamation (
http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,19400.0.html)
560 6rn 6rn 6rn 6rn 74a 74a 74f 74f 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q0 7q3 7q4 7q4 7q4 7q5 7qc 7qc 7qc 7qc 7ri 7ri 7riAvg. TTW: 16.7
AVG Time (in seconds): 265.475 sec.
Total Games Tested: 50
Total Win percentage: 80% (40/50 wins)
Total Elemental Masteries (Full HP at the end of the game): 16/50 (or 32%)
OPTION III
Elements Article
Article Writing(1384 words)
I’ll try to keep this as concise as I can. ^^;
In regards to World of Elements (or WoE), I personally believe that Time’s WoE skills are versatile, fun, and incredibly symbolic of the Time element as a whole. While the majority of the skills aren’t directly helpful in gathering resources or salvaging more cards compared to other elements’ PvP skills, they all have an incredible potential to speed up the leveling process for Time players, as well as provide unusual bonuses between round transitions and learning new skills.
Based on each tier:
Mark:Mark of Time – This is a basic skill that all starting elementals will begin with (or learn to access other abilities). It’s obviously a nice point for anyone.
Tier 1:Stall – The wonderful thing about this skill isn’t just the fact that Time has numerous drawing techniques (Hourglasses, Sundials, etc.), but for the simple fact that this ability can help augment the power of Gravity’s Champion skill, '
Deadweight', which forces players to use 45 or more cards in their deck. The fact that Time in itself has a strong capability to stall out various other mono-decks in comparison (with cards like Turtle Shield, Eternity, and Sundial) makes this a perfect candidate for the
Clockmaker ‘branch’, and something that I would personally pick up first if it weren’t for two other vital skills on this level.
Camel Riding – While the map isn’t completely finalized, this Fast Travel provides a wonderful edge to arrive at the Omniton (or the Other/Unaligned elemental City) as quickly as possible, even though it’s also fairly limited in terms of where else you can go with the Camel.
Bane of Aether – This is one of those skills that probably won’t be as wonderful at first because the majority of Aether players are across the map from you. It’s still a requirement for both branches however, so taking this after getting a few other Tier 2 skills would be an effective strategy to being a
Champion of Time.
Tinkering – Hands down,
Tinkering is probably the most vital of the early Time skills for the simple fact that Pendulums are going to be an extremely rare card to get a hold of; many other elements will covet this ability greatly. Because of Time’s close vicinity to the suspicious Earth elementals, Time players may want to take this so as to gain protection against Earthquake denial decks, as splitting up your main sources of quanta generation into pillars and pendulums can be the only way of avoiding those tactics. I would pick up the skill immediately not just for PvP, but also to increase my chances of trading and economic revenue as well, since most early elementals would want access to these cards, especially in mono or duo decks with the limited cards we have.
Adventurer – Another Tier 2 skill that can be significant in leveling up quickly as a Time player. While the spreadsheet hasn’t specified how the additional 2 active quest-pick ups are going to be done, I assume that being able to hold up to 5 quests (chains, global quests, conflicts, etc.) can allow a person to prioritize easier and find a way to accomplish each quest in a much more organized manner. Coupled with the
Scribe skill on Tier 3, this can be perfect for all those quest-doers out there – I know for a fact that I’m a PVE type of guy anyway.
Tier 2:Manipulate Time – Initially, I was a bit worried about the effectiveness of this skill until I realized that Relics could be bought from towns and cities. For 2 Action Points (meaning you can still move that turn) and a Relic, you can effectively deny people the ability to use Fast Travel (which requires a full 3 AP), prevent the Siege battle stance (unless they’re a Gravity player with the
Rapid Fire skill), and stop other nasty skills that require 3 or more AP from being performed in a single turn. Because of this,
Manipulate Time is probably one of the best control skills in regards to the environment – by denying hostile players their AP, you limit their plans to attack, move, and strategize accordingly.
Foresight – While not completely full proof, I imagine that this would be a great tool for people who aren’t sure of what to expect when it comes to deck building. From asking if they have certain forms of permanent control (Explosion and Steal come to mind), or if they have a certain number of cards in their deck (to counter rushes or stalls), Foresight can be an effective tool in predicting what the enemy is going to use against you. Assuming that they tell the truth of course; if they lie, then there might be something extra to punish them…
Research –
Research can be a great tool to gain a few extra skills to improve your crafting versatility (
Breeding,
Weaponsmith, etc.), movement (gaining Fast Travel skills like
Ship Captain or
Tunnel Rat), or even PvP capabilities (
Backstabbing and
Diversion). The best factor about this skill is that you can basically skip over obtaining the ‘Mark’ in order to learn the Tier 1 ability – being able to learn bonus skills for a Relic and AP can be great for almost any situation or area you feel you’re lacking in.
Scribe – The bread and butter of the entire
Scholar branch. Getting 4 additional XP each time you complete a quest is nothing to scoff at, especially in the beginning levels where quests may be overlooked for level gain compared to fighting hostile elemental players. Each experience point adds up, and eventually, one would realize how incredibly efficient Time could be with
Scribe in their repertoire.
Tier 3:Clockmaker – No matter how you slice this ‘class skill’,
Clockmaker is immensely useful for practically every situation. One could use the Siege battle stance while crafting Pendulums at the same time with
Tinkering. Or you could cast
Manipulate Time on your hex while using Fortify against a player that you know will use Aggressive Attack against you (thus, you gain an advantage do overcome them with additional upped cards based on the attack stances, while providing an annoying setback to the enemy in case you do lose). The possibilities are endless – for a manipulator of Time, Clockmaker is about adding extra control to what you can do, and increasing the speed at which you can finish your tasks on the map.
Scholar – While one cannot be a Champion of two elements, getting additional skills from any element (or simply increasing the speed at which you max out your Time tree) provides a lot of freedom for players to customize. Whether it’s 3 different Mark skills, gaining 3 skills in the Time tree (to probably obtain
Clockmaker faster), or just 3 skills in another element that you find interesting, knowing more for less experience is perfect as a Scholar.
Tier 4:Champion of Time (Flashback) – Few people realize how incredibly misleading the skill can be. For most players, having a match out of 3 battles can be nerve-racking and sometimes purely based on the flip of a coin. While losing 0-2 is an unfortunate outcome, being able to change said outcome had you won 1 out of 3 duels is a sweet tool against players who might have underestimated you. Does it give you an advantage during the battles? Not necessarily – but
Flashback forces opponents to realize that if they don’t beat you 2-0 (2 duels back-to-back), they’re going to have to go on for 4 duels and have a 75% win rate against you, which will not be easy if you use your other skills wisely (especially with skills like
Foresight and
Stall up your sleeve, alongside others learned by
Research).
The polls say it all. Time is probably one of the most popular elements not just because the skills are balanced, but are intuitively strong for the game as is in a different sense – character advancement and control. With the polar opposites of fast-forwarding time (learning new skills and gaining experience quickly via quests) and slow motion (stalling the opponent in duels or on the map), Time is going to be a favorite in World of Elements, and hands down will be the one I choose when the game is finally released.
