Shield | Tower Shield

[doublecross]

Honestly, it changes the metagame more than anything else.
It might mildly change deck-building in tournaments with strange or specific rules.

I honestly think that is the biggest effect.

Well, than an it might mess up some AI, who might play this on top of another shield. (AI tend to replace shields, just because they can, and they usually will be able to afford this)


EDIT:
I realized that this post didn't make my opinion clear enough.

I completely and totally agree with Essence in this case.

I often respect a thematic argument, but in this case, it is ridiculous.
In terms of it being balanced, OldTrees says it is balanced, and, before I read that, I had already come to the same conclusion.

He did a good job explaining, and, though I did a slightly different calculation, I don't feel a need to also post my work here.

Now, people say it won't be used.  I think it will, to some extent.


You don't see people looking at dirk and saying "This is ruining the game! It is so unlike to have an edged weapon!"

This is the same type of argument that Valimont is making.

Thematically it actually works with the game: it makes sense that if there can be weapons that are not aligned with one specific element, then of course someone could slap some metal together to make a shield.

Essence, + Karma.

[Falcon4415]

What will actually change when Tower Shield enters the game?

Skull shield has just left a spot as the lamest shield in the game. My money is on this shield filling it.
Oh, and now we need a new Dirk.

Honestly, it changes the metagame more than anything else.
It might mildly change deck-building in tournaments with strange or specific rules.

OR, we could see a new specific ban throughout every tournament (SoG, I'm looking at you).

[TheIdioticIdiot]

What will actually change when Tower Shield enters the game?

Skull shield has just left a spot as the lamest shield in the game. My money is on this shield filling it.
Oh, and now we need a new Dirk.

Honestly, it changes the metagame more than anything else.
It might mildly change deck-building in tournaments with strange or specific rules.

OR, we could see a new specific ban throughout every tournament (SoG, I'm looking at you).

we do have a new dirk... tho it's not too significant a buff...
also, this shield won't be filling it... this is useful for early game stalling in FG decks, and good in PvP too if you are running a rainbow

[Falcon4415]

we do have a new dirk... tho it's not too significant a buff...
also, this shield won't be filling it... this is useful for early game stalling in FG decks, and good in PvP too if you are running a rainbow

I meant a new weapon as lame as the previous Dirk, but you are right. New Dirk is almost as lame as the old one.
Aaand Fog shield you say?

[TheIdioticIdiot]

fog is nice, this is about as good...
they are about the same regarding early game stalling

[Falcon4415]

fog is nice, this is about as good...
they are about the same regarding early game stalling

If the mean attack of the enemy's creatures is more than 5, Fog is better AND cheaper. I don't think this shield is superior or outclasses any other shield in the game. Perhaps the exception could be Fire because it does not have defense, but then again, as Essence pointed out, rushes do not defend and stalls want to kill creatures. As for the unupgraded shield, it is noob friendly and I don't see why it shouldn't be added. What if now certain elements can get a grasp at everything? I you look at OldTrees' formulas, they have bonuses at doing some things, they don't own the exclusive right to profit from an ability.

[TheIdioticIdiot]

fog is nice, this is about as good...
they are about the same regarding early game stalling

If the mean attack of the enemy's creatures is more than 5, Fog is better AND cheaper. I don't think this shield is superior or outclasses any other shield in the game. Perhaps the exception could be Fire because it does not have defense, but then again, as Essence pointed out, rushes do not defend and stalls want to kill creatures. As for the unupgraded shield, it is noob friendly and I don't see why it shouldn't be added. What if now certain elements can get a grasp at everything? I you look at OldTrees' formulas, they have bonuses at doing some things, they don't own the exclusive right to profit from an ability.

it's not better... but it's useful to stall for more expensive shields in rainbow decks
and like you said, only when the attack average is about 5, can fog shield deny more damage than this, also, this shield can be considered very cheap... if you think about it, 1 nova can fuel it...

[DrunkDestroyer]

Now, to give Other some CC and some PC spell so all elements have everything. These Other cards are seriously taking away from the uniqueness of elements, especially Healing elements (Light, Life). I'm starting to think Other is not beneficial at all for the game.

^^ This.

I think the best "solution" (although I hate that term) is to make the upped version still only block 1 damage but cost less. 2 blocked damage for elements like Fire, Gravity, Aether, Darkness ... well it makes all the other damage-blocking shields partially obsolete. As I said in a previous post I would not create an "other" card that poisons you any more than this.

The reason that "other" weapons work well is that they have no special ability, whereas every single elemental weapon is primarily used because of its special ability. And there is no element that lacks any damage differential from its weapon (healing yourself is essentially the same thing as damaging the opponent). If 4 or 5 elements' weapons did ZERO damage to the opponent, then something like Longsword would be bad for game balance too. That's what I'm looking at with this shield.

I hate to sound like I am against every new card. Basically I think Elements is a fantastic game precisely because of the excellent balance between elements. It's the game's best quality. Some of the new cards are wonderful for this ... Catapult, Schrodinger's Cat, Cloak, Crusader ... these are all wonderful new additions. Sometimes we forget to stop and compliment Zanzarino on the wonderful aspects of the game! But nonetheless I do think that this shield is unnecessary.

I have disliked all other cards since...ever. The weapons, I only see as cards for new players, since the elemental weapons are 'rare'. They should not ever be used over a rare elemental weapon IMO.
My solution would be not introducing it. Or if it is necessary, give it to entropy, and make it life Animate weapon upped. It sucks to not put in a card once it's presented, but...

[Boingo]

I agree with Essence on this one.  This shield will add an option to every Element, and can be used in every deck, but will undoubtedly gather a lot of dust.  I haven't seen this much undeserved outcry over a single card since Fractal.  And that was even after Fractal had been in the game a good long time and Fractalmania had failed to woo over the masses.  So if this card gets used, well, that's a good thing because we don't want useless cards after all.  And if every deck ends up packing it, we'll know we have a problem.  But let's wait to see it actually "break the game" in real life before we get out the torches and pitchforks again.

[EvaRia]

You know, deep down, some things are not a big deal.
But those things occasionally just have a bunch of people making a big deal of them.

I agree with Essence. The change that this shield will cause to the game is virtually nothing. A couple decks may use it just to add in a but of defense, but it's nothing special.


I personally think that there's no reason to keep the themes and uniqueness exactly the same in all elements for the rest of the history of the game.

The only things that matter is that the card makes sense thematically in itself and belongs to an element that supports the theme.

Acceleration for example, is a card that people were complaining over just because they felt that fire is the ONLY element that powerful attack growth should belong to. However, the theme and mechanic and theme of the card make complete sense and it matches the theme of it's element completely as well.

I have seen similar complaints such as "I feel drawing cards is reserved for time." and "This card deals with randomness, so should be entropy." etc. etc.


But let's reverse our thinking for a second.

We are not taking away from the uniqueness of a particular element.

We are ADDING to the uniqueness of another element, giving it a specific theme it did not before.



I understand that this does not apply to this particular case, since it is an other card, but It's a point that I really feel should be put out and I feel this is the right time to do so.

[skyreal]

I support EvaRia.

Furthermore, blocking damage is not the theme of a single element

[Uncle Jellyfish]

I agree with Essence on this one.  This shield will add an option to every Element, and can be used in every deck, but will undoubtedly gather a lot of dust.  I haven't seen this much undeserved outcry over a single card since Fractal.  And that was even after Fractal had been in the game a good long time and Fractalmania had failed to woo over the masses.  So if this card gets used, well, that's a good thing because we don't want useless cards after all.  And if every deck ends up packing it, we'll know we have a problem.  But let's wait to see it actually "break the game" in real life before we get out the torches and pitchforks again.

You know, deep down, some things are not a big deal.
But those things occasionally just have a bunch of people making a big deal of them.

I agree with Essence. The change that this shield will cause to the game is virtually nothing. A couple decks may use it just to add in a but of defense, but it's nothing special.


I personally think that there's no reason to keep the themes and uniqueness exactly the same in all elements for the rest of the history of the game.

The only things that matter is that the card makes sense thematically in itself and belongs to an element that supports the theme.

Acceleration for example, is a card that people were complaining over just because they felt that fire is the ONLY element that powerful attack growth should belong to. However, the theme and mechanic and theme of the card make complete sense and it matches the theme of it's element completely as well.

I have seen similar complaints such as "I feel drawing cards is reserved for time." and "This card deals with randomness, so should be entropy." etc. etc.


But let's reverse our thinking for a second.

We are not taking away from the uniqueness of a particular element.

We are ADDING to the uniqueness of another element, giving it a specific theme it did not before.



I understand that this does not apply to this particular case, since it is an other card, but It's a point that I really feel should be put out and I feel this is the right time to do so.

QFT. It seems like the "Other" cards are getting a bit more love. It'd be nice to see a vanilla "Other" creature, too. Perhaps a 3/3 for 6 or 7 with no ability or something. Or perhaps that would ruin things, not sure. I'm just thinking of Artifacts from M:tG (I used to play Artifact decks a lot....>.>).