So first off, I just wanted to thank Corle for analysis of the minis demo.  I am totally looking back to Corle’s post about the Comic-Con demo and if you haven’t read it yet, please do as I will not be relisting all the character/action bar stats.  I, too, played the demo at Comic-Con, twice.  I played Horde both times, however, so I thought I would give my opinion from the other side of the map, so to speak.  First, I just wanted to address the Fireblast issue.  I’m pretty sure that the Fireblast, an instant, gives the user an addition 3 die magic attack along with their regular attack.  That means that you cannot Fireblast Gorebelly, move, then attack Lotherin.  When I had Fireblast used against me, Ruby rolled 3 die for Fireblast, I rolled resistance, then Ruby rolled her 6 die regular attack.  Basically, it gives the user +3 die to their attack, but they are resisted independently from the regular attack.  Still pretty powerful, though.

 

Now on to the games.  First, I should say that I play Horde (Undead Frost Mage) so please excuse any unforeseen bias on my part.  Second, I have never played a minis game before in my life.  I have, however, played a crap ton of WoW, so I approached this game with a WoW strategy as opposed to a minis game strategy.  Personally, I found the Gore/Loth combo preferable to the Hod/Ruby team.  The simple reason is because of overall survivability.  I know, I know, what’s more survivable than a Holy Paly (especially one with a devotion aura which basically means it’s a healadin)?  Simple.  A warrior and a priest.  Personally, I felt that the Horde team had an advantage over the Alliance team.  I think this is great news since Corle felt the opposite way, which bodes very well for the game and its many different strategies.  Also, I know that means that many of you will probably think up counter strategies to mine, which I would love to hear. 

 

So let me tell you how I played the game.  First, the game starts with the players bringing out their characters one by one.  In the demo game, I’m sure that 99% of the time, players brought out their warrior or paly first, followed by their caster.  Not too much strategy their, but I thought important to mention, anyway.  So by the end of both turns with the clock at 2, both Gorebelly and Hodoon we close to the middle with Ruby and Loth right behind.  I then had Gore use charge on Hodoon.  This should do some ok damage, but most importantly is the stun that adds one tick to Hodoon.  Why is this important?  Because it will force Ruby to act, most likely using Fireblast on old Gore, and it keeps Hodoon from healing himself.  Depending on how the game pans out, it can give the Horde (or whoever is using Charge) a huge advantage by allowing their characters to move before the recipient of the Charge for possibly the entire game!  I think charge is the most important action card I saw, and its proper use will change the tide of the battle from the beginning, much like Charge in real WoW.   Now it is possible for Ruby to one shot Gore with this attack, but she would have to hit all 9 (or 8 with one crit) to kill Gore.  And because there will be two separate rolls (3 for Fireblast, 6 for the regular attack), Gore will get two resistance throws, further decreasing the likelihood of being one shot. 

 

Now it’s Loth’s turn.  I want to clarify Loth’s stats from what Corle wrote, most importantly, that Heal is his box ability not an action bar card!  This is important because it allows Loth to heal on each of his turns, where Hodoon can only heal once and then has to wait until the clock is at 1 for his heal to be activated again.  Loth’s second action bar card is Mind Blast, a 2 or 3 tick, 2 or 3 ranged, 5 die magic attack, and on crit, your opponent has to exhaust one of their action cards, which could be the Alliance team’s only heal, Hodoon’s only ranged attack, Ice Barier, which is essential to keep the mage alive, or if it hasn’t been used yet, the super powered Fireblast.  So now that it’s Loth’s turn, what’s a priest to do?  Heal Gore, of course!  It is, I believe, a 4 die heal, crit gives +1 heal.  Now Gorebelly is healed up and ready to fight and fend off Hodoon.  The strategy after this should be to kill the gnome!  Ruby needs to be killed ASAP is Gore is to survive.  In both games I was able to pull this off before  Gore died.  Which is another important thing to remember:  Gorebelly Will Die!  In this setup, though, that is expected.  As long as Ruby is dead or at least weakened, Loth will be fine.  He can finish Ruby with Mind Blast, if need be.  However, most likely, Loth will have take no damage during the fight, with all damage going to Gore.  Another important point to bring up is Hodoon’s Hammer of Wrath can only be used on character’s who have taken damage, so if Loth is at full health, Hodoon will have to use a physical attack on Loth and be right next to him.  And since dying only adds two ticks to Gore’s clock, Hodoon only has two turns to nab Loth before Gore is back in action.  If Loth uses the classic Priest strategy of running the hell away, then he should be able to survive it.

 

The reason I found the Horde team a powerful combination is because of their ability to stay alive and get a lot of kills.  In both games I played, I killed both Ruby and Hodoon, and my opponents only killed Gore once.  The reason Gore can survive is that his high health works very well with continuous streams of heals.  The problem with the Alliance team is that they have very limited healing and Ruby has the lowest health.  Also, Gore’s Execute ability is great for adding to the all-important VP.  Gore’s Taunt box ability is another useful resource for keeping Loth safe.  In my first game, my opponent went to attack Loth with Hodoon, but because Hodoon was also next to Gore he was forced to attack Gore, keeping Loth safe and free from any future Hammer of Wrath.

 

Here’s where the Alliance team has an advantage:  luck.  If the Alliance team is rolling well and gets a lot of crits, the game could be much more difficult for the Horde.  I.e., if Ruby hits all successes on her Fireblast/Attack rolls, or if Hodoon crits on his melee attack and uses his magic attack and does high damage, and Gore doesn’t defend well against either attacks, he’s screwed.  However, in both games I had Hodoon crit on Gore, but because of Gore’s high defense, the regular attack didn’t do much damage and the 4 die roll didn’t do enough to kill him.  The problem I found with the team was A) while Ruby was a master nuker, she was a quick, easy kill.  B) Hodoon cannot effectively deal damage and heal.  He has to choose one or the other, while Gore can hit for high damage and have Loth heal him.

My overall opinion of the game is very, very high.  Like I said, I had never played a minis game before, but I loved this one.  The figures looked great and it was very easy to learn.  I think that for 3v3 games, the classic Holy Trinity (Warr, Mage, Priest) could very easily dominate.  Especially if frost mages are cool.  My guess on what they’ll do with them?  Maybe a 4 or 5 die roll standard attack (as opposed to arcane Ruby’s 6 die roll) with crits adding one tick to account for the chill affect.  I don’t know, I just think that would be cool.  Regardless, I’m very excited for the release of the game because it’s just so damn fun.  Please tell me what you think about this or if you need me to clarify anything.

Very cool post and great counterpoint to what we've already heard, its good to hear the perspective of a WoW player whos never played mini games before.

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 First, I just wanted to address the Fireblast issue.  I’m pretty sure that the Fireblast, an instant, gives the user an addition 3 die magic attack along with their regular attack.  That means that you cannot Fireblast Gorebelly, move, then attack Lotherin.  When I had Fireblast used against me, Ruby rolled 3 die for Fireblast, I rolled resistance, then Ruby rolled her 6 die regular attack.  Basically, it gives the user +3 die to their attack, but they are resisted independently from the regular attack.  Still pretty powerful, though.

My only thought on this is that above is the most directly effective way to use fireblast, though not its only way. Being an instant, it can be cast anytime along when that figure activates, so maybe even during a pass action, though shooting a single snipe like that isnt going to be too effective, unless say your taking a snipe at a wounded figure nearby whilst saving yourself (and keeping your ticks close at hand) for dealing with another threat soon - Id like a confirmation on this though, and just more info on how passing works in general.

 

Mind you, the way you mentioned above is more typical from what I hear of how a mages spell rotatation works to get that big burst damage, charge up a big spell and then pop an instant cast at the end. I read that whilst comparing the game mechanic to the WoW Spell (I plays druids and never tried a mage). So burst the guy down before he can be healed.

 

Defintely great post, the strategy and tactics sound very true to 2v2 arena team play, and will lend themselves equally well to 3v3 and 5v5. Now to await the arrival of the MS warriors and resto druids.

Excellent post. I'd be surprised if the starter set markedly favoured one team over the other. I figure after a game or two, most experienced gamers should be able to play 2v2 pretty tightly. Doesn't seem like there are a whole lot of permutations going on. I think 5v5 will separate the men from the boys though :)

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A Mini Journey

Very well written. Concise, logical and fun to read. :-D

My friend played a demo Sunday and corrected two of my statements... I'm not sure if he is right, or if you are right above but I noted two differences. Just something to ponder, I guess.

1) Loth's box was 3tick, 3range, 3 heal crit +1 (I think you noted 4 dice heal above).

2) Fireblast can target a second target. (I didn't do this in my game, but my friend did in his and it was allowed.)

I sat down and played again tonight trying to play both sides to the best of my ability. And, I think I agree with you. Horde does seem to have a small advantage. Something you didn't mention was how psychic scream is an aoe and can totally steal turn 5 or 10 VP square glory. This tempo steal nearly requires the alliance to get one more kill than horde to win. That is, if the game is tied on kills, a pscyhic scream can win it. And, I think you are right, charge is huge.

I disagree that Loth's heal is 'better' than Hodoon's. Three ticks to heal up to three (maybe four) doesn't seem great to me, while Hodoon's is only 2 ticks and heals 4... and readies on a crit. (adding to your luck theory for alliance.) For me, I'd rather have 1 heal at 2 ticks for 4 than 2 heals at 6 ticks for 6. I guess Loth might be able to use his three times a round, but that's nine ticks of doing nothing but healing. Hodoon can be changed (+1 tick), and heal (+2 ticks) still putting him even with Gorebelly. For what it's worth...(and, neat, I'm also an Undead Frost Mage online) I found Hodoon much harder to kill than Gorebelly.

You are totally right. The odds of Ruby one-shoting Gorebelly are virtually nil. And even if Hodoon crits vs Gorebelly he shouldn't do more than 2 or 3 damage. Hodoon has to get a hammer shot on Gorebelly to really seal the deal. And, if he gets mind blasted early, that creates a tough choice for alliance. Most of my game came down to: does ruby kill gorebelly, or does gorebelly kill ruby.

I found that sitting a character in the space between the VP and terrain is pretty huge. It forces the other side to attack that character... this was probably what happened with your Gorebelly.

Anyway, great write-up. I'm totally excited just to see two more characters, one for each side.

-Corle

ps. are you in San Diego? We should get a game in.

I wanted to add that you can attack normally, move, and then use an Instant.  I was able to make a regular attack with Ruby, which didn't finish something off, and then move forward to get in range of a Fireblast to finish it off. 

Also, I'm not sure if anyone mentioned it elsewhere or not, but you can only move once on a turn.  I had forgotten that your own guys don't block line of sight, so tried to move one square to hit the figure with the regular 3 range attack, with the plan of moving forward a second square to get in Fireblast range if necessary.  The demo guy pointed out that if I did that I wouldn't be able to move again that turn.

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Give a man a fire and you'll keep him warm for a day.
Set a man on fire and you'll keep him warm for the rest of his life.
It's a dirty job, but someone has to do it.

The efficiency of a heal is just as dependent on the target's armor as the efficiency of an attack. You can consider a heal to be approximately equivalent to an attack of (heal + target's armor) dice. That value is a bit tricky to approximate for heroes who have different def and resist and are being attacked by a combination of physical and magic attacks.

Example: You have a shaman with 3 res, 3 def and 4 damage on him. Lotherin's heal will be roughly as efficient as a 6 attack, crit 1 attack against that shaman. (It's actually fractionally less but near enough)

Example 2: You have Gorebelly with 3 damage on him, with Ruby's fireblast, and Hodoon's Hammer of Wrath readied. Lotherin's heal will be roughly as efficient as a 4 attack, crit 1 attack against Gorebelly, less a bit due to the max heal roll of 4 still only healing 3. (Gorebelly looks like he's about to experience an onslaught of Magical attacks so his Magic defense is the relevant factor in the calculation)

Except when around particularly high defense figures, Loth's heal will be a secondary attack. Certainly useful in some situations but not something you'd want to spam.

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A Mini Journey

That doesnt make any sense at all, someones healing being modified by their target allies armor or resist?

Is that confirmed mechanics of healing or just speculation, because it makes a lot more sense to have "Heals X number dice of wounds up to targets maximum " - flat, no modifiers for armor or resist since its not an offensive ability, though certain effects from Action bar abilities say Mortal Strike would have the effective amount healed.

The healing is not affected by the armor. The efficiency of the heal (the effect of healing a character for N points) is determined by how hard it is to damage the targeted character. For instance. healing a character that has no defense whatsoever isn't particularly strong as they're likely to take more damage than you healed in a single attack. Healing a character with a high resist and high defense is a more powerful play, as it's hard to damage that character. Hodoon's health is worth more per point than Gorebelly's, therefore, healing Hodoon is a more efficent action than healing Gorebelly.

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A Mini Journey

ah youre referring to the tactical act of healing a char, and not the mechanics of how a heal works, I was thinking that akin to how heals in Mageknight Dungeons worked.

 

First off, we now have the official word on how Fireblast works, which ups my opinion of Ruby a bit. . . but she's still a little too squishy for a 2v2, imo. We've also now seen the Flash of Light card, and as Corle pointed out, I had forgotten it was readied again on a crit, which raises my opinion of the card and Hodoon.

In regard to Loth's heals being better than Hodoon's, I think that better might not be the operative word. I think I prefer Loth's because it's slightly more flexible. Because Hodoon's heal is an action card, he could potentially have to go through 10 clicks of the game clock (if he uses it on tick 1) before he can heal again. However, now that I know that a crit can ready the heal again, this lessens the chance that this might happen. Also, per 10 GC clicks, Loth could heal 3 times, where Hodoon can only heal once, unless he crits.

Hodoon is also certainly harder to kill than Gore, but he also has a harder time at killing Gore, at least in the games that I played. Because of the characters that make up the Alliance team, Gore has to go after Ruby, because like Corle said, much of the game comes down to does Gore kill Ruby or does Ruby kill Gore. Against the Horde team, both Hodoon and Ruby have to go after Gore to keep him from downing Ruby, which leaves Loth untargeted and free to heal or attack.

However, that is what I have seen in the two games I played, with not much knowledge to strategy. I think we should all put our collective, interweb heads together and think of some strategies to break this mold!

We have to remember that later Ruby and Hodoon could have different ability cards.

Therefore I don't think it is worth comparing an ability card to an ability actually printed on the hero - as the hero will always have that heal.

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WoW Rules Knowledge Level 2
Player Management Level 2

After some more internal debate, I agree that Loth's heal is 'better' (agreed, diction isn't perfect) in that it's ALWAYS there. It isn't a card, so it can't be stolen, exhausted, etc. Also, it doesn't take one of Loth's card slots. When Mind blasted, Hodoon has to make the choice to exhaust his heal or hammer. He doesn't like that choice at all.

Those are the larger reasons I like Loth's heal. But, obviously, Hodoon's stats are better on the heal. I'd almost always trade -1 range for 1 less tick to cast.

"However, that is what I have seen in the two games I played, with not much knowledge to strategy. I think we should all put our collective, interweb heads together and think of some strategies to break this mold!"

I went at that last night. And my game opened up in two significant areas. First, I went in with a game plan for Alliance. My plan was: if gorebelly was going to kill my Ruby he was going to do it next to my starting zone. (He actually killed Ruby next to the vp marker again, but hey). What I started doing is difficult to explain but I think it is one of the natural things we'll all learn in our first few games. You may already know this, but let me try to explain it by example.

I tried to not let Ruby attack until Gorebelly had attacked first. Then, instead of attacking back right away. I started running. So, on turn 2 gorebelly charged Ruby, who ice barriered. Now Ruby is on 3 and Gorebelly is on 5. On turn 3 I moved Ruby (noticing the idea of staying by my starting zone was silly) toward the edge of the map, behind terrain to protect from Loth. Loth moved up. On turn 4 I launched arcane blast (at Loth) and then fireblasted Loth (which killed him: 9 dice, +2 for crits vs 4 armor = better chance to kill Loth than Gore by +1--and if Ruby didn't finish Hodoon can finish that job easier. And Loth's heal isn't as good on himself since his armor isn't great.) After Ruby killed Loth she finished her turn by moving all the way to the edge and positioned herself between the map edge and terrain. On turn 2 Hodoon had healed some of Ruby and on turn 4 now moves to physically block where gorebelly would need to move in (now) threes turns to attack Ruby. I bought a tick, basically.

So, to recap, I held off on Ruby's attack for a turn, letting her get to a defensive position.

Second, I used terrain to cause a defensive bottleneck. Hodoon spent much of the first round just healing. (He crit on the first heal but not the second.)

That being said, I was playing solo. So, I had a plan for Alliance and (as some of it was on the fly) didn't have much of a plan for Horde except to smash Ruby.

-c

Hodoon definitely doesn't like being stripped of either of his action bar cards, given his primary attack is...well...rather soft.

I think Horde has their work cut out for them, Gorebelly is forced to tackle Ruby, but thanks to devotion aura, heal and frost armor, Ruby is quite well set up to receive the charge and unload straight back.Maybe Lotherin has to get in there and separate the alliance guys with his scream, so Belly can more effectively take care of Ruby. I don't think Horde can match Alliance face to face, unless you can engineer a situation where Belly strikes and Loth mind blasts Ruby before Hodoon can sneak in a heal, even then it's not a sure kill by any stretch.

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A Mini Journey