Looking Back on 2018 for Legacy of the Beast

[GrimDusk]

I did a halfway progression post a few months ago, talking about how the game has been. I'm not going as in-depth this time, rather just opening up discussion about how the year has gone; what's improved, what hasn't, and what's gotten worse.

The good: A lot of content each month. Regardless of what type of content, it cannot be understated that there has been a lot of work put in over the last few months in particular, but even the entire year. We've gotten plenty of characters, new talismans, revamps to old characters, and overall a lot of new items. Plus, this month we will be getting Night City! The main story is finally progressing once more. We also got the Gauntlet, an entirely new mode which grants new rewards and entices people to not just buff the same toons over and over. We have been getting new events and worlds in the time rift, and overall it does feel still kinda fun to play.

The bad: Balance issues. Oh good lord, there are a LOT of issues when it comes to PvP. Certain team combos on defense are just unstoppable, and it seems that there isn't any reason for changing up the meta. The Powerslave gods are pretty much vital to any team, and the recent Eddies have just seen increase after increase in power. Take the most recent Eddie that was released (not counting Shogun Emperor), Phantom Eddie. He's not as broken as some of the other Eddies, but he outranks most of the old Eddies in the game, such as Navigator, Pharaoh, Fear of the Dark, and even Clansman. He's not even the worst offender, with how some recent defense teams have shown. Not only that, but down the pipeline we have Final Frontier Eddie, AKA "dear god what were they thinking when they made this" Eddie. Of course, he might be weaker in practice, but he seems so damn powerful from the little we've been able to see of him. Now, OP Eddies and toons wouldn't be an issue if the rest of the old characters could stand against them, but it seems that that won't be the case. Grim Reaper, Carriage Rider, Soldier, and Shaman Eddie all need to be revamped. However, with all the events that the developers have been giving us, it has become much easier to acquire new characters, so it's not all bad... right?

The ugly: Souls, drop rates, and exclusive characters. This is where you see most, if not all, of the rage from the forums coming from. The Beast, I believe, is the absolute worst example of this. He has been available in 3 different occasions, all of which have had him almost nearly impossible to get due to the amount of obstacles in the way. His debut featured him in the Infernal Soul (I believe that's what it's called), which had him as a 5 star highlight alongside the Warrior Child of the Damned. This meant that even if you were lucky enough to get a 5 star highlight, the Beast would still have to compete with the Warrior Child of the Damned. Then, he came back in the anniversary soul, where he competed with so many 5 star highlights that it was nearly impossible to get him. However, the devs were "kinder" here and made it so that if you opened up enough souls you could purchase the beast. How many? 150. How much ironite is that? 15,000. How much money is that? Hundreds of USD. So, you had to rely on a slim chance to get him or breaking your bank. Alright, so that was a shit chance as well. Finally, we had the Darkest Day event. You could get 10 Dark Souls which also made him the 5 star highlight, in addition to increasing the chance to pull an Assassin character! Alright, now you had a good chance... right? Nope. Beast Eddie was also a 5 star highlight. And he's an Assassin. This meant you had an equivalent chance of pulling an Eddie who, though admittedly looks awesome, is kinda shit in the PvP meta. And guess who pulled him instead of The Beast? Me. So I know exactly how awful this feels. Of course, the Beast isn't the only example, but he's the worst case. Other examples include Musashi, Samurai Emperor Eddie, Baroness Redan, Daedalus, the Madam, and the Count. These toons were shoved into Heroic Souls, which (though easy to get) have to slowly rotate to each character. There was also the Alexander Eddie and Primordial Talisman fiasco, with Alexander Eddie being released for 2,500 FC while some store packs that added up to 200 USD gave you exactly 2,500 FC, and the Primordial Talismans being nerfed into the ground after a bunch of people obtained them (though I agree they needed to be nerfed).

So, how was 2018 to this game? I can't say, because we have one more month of content. This month will be the deciding factor, because Night City is the biggest update to the game since Brave New World. Even though the Gauntlet was added, it's no huge update. If Night City was good, I'll put it at a 7-8/10 for the year. However, if Night City is shit and buggy, it'll be a 4-5/10. We have gotten a lot of good content, and a lot of nice characters who (though overpowered) are tied to Iron Maiden and are nice to see. I'm excited and looking forward to Night City, and I hope that the game really does fix the issues plaguing it. Iron Maiden is a great band, and I hope this game can kinda represent their legacy. What do you guys say?

[HuckFinn150]

I'm wishing they would bring the old toons levels up to match some of the new characters. It's bad enough they are so weak now, but to have to depend on them to try and get through gauntlet is sad. The game needs some attention to bring it up to snuff.

[Esquatcho]

Just throwing in my 2c as someone who left the game for over a year - Coming back, I've actually felt that getting drops of good characters is completely next level compared to back in the day! I think the last event I played was when FotD Eddie came out and I remember that after playing for about a year, it was the ONLY event char that I'd managed to get. It was a super occasion.

Coming back, I feel like I've been able to acquire so many great characters. Not even like at the top end of the spectrum. If anything, the biggest issue I've found it getting enough mats to keep up with the great chars and talismans I've been acquiring. In this respect, nothing has changed in the year I was away. Finding evo runes/shards to always the hardest, though at least now there is BNW for runes!

So I get everyones complaints here. Bugs particularly, though on ios I dont seem to get as many. Same, if you're at the top I can see it being frustrating if you cant get those last few really rare chars. But hey, if they were super easy, we probably wouldnt covet them as much right?

Look at the thread for the beast event just run. Those lucky few who pulled him are super happy!

Agree on balancing, though imo it would be good to balance out the talismans too. Ive found that with some of my mid-level chars (and a luck hallowed eddie drop in the event), I can compete against many teams, even those with some gods.... Except if they're all running complete 6 set tali sets. And those are much harder for beginner/mid-level teams to get. It'd be great if there were some accessible chars that could counter teams with tali sets that are quite rare.

[GrimDusk]

Same, if you're at the top I can see it being frustrating if you cant get those last few really rare chars. But hey, if they were super easy, we probably wouldnt covet them as much right?

Look at the thread for the beast event just run. Those lucky few who pulled him are super happy!

I understand they are probably super happy, but those who wasted a bunch of money for it and got nothing aren't. They are a lucky few, and though I understand what you're saying, having him rarely available and when he is it's almost impossible to get him, it's aggravating as all hell. Again though, I did agree that the content that was released this year was good, all things considered. Just the way they released it was shite.

[Esquatcho]

I understand they are probably super happy, but those who wasted a bunch of money for it and got nothing aren't. They are a lucky few, and though I understand what you're saying, having him rarely available and when he is it's almost impossible to get him, it's aggravating as all hell. Again though, I did agree that the content that was released this year was good, all things considered. Just the way they released it was shite.

Fair enough, I tend to play with minimal cost (only taking 'good' deals). But you could certainly make the argument that many things in this game are overpriced!

[Cefiar]

I think the other "Bad" that you forgot to mention has been the amount of bugs. Sure some of these come under "broken balance" you put under bad but not all.

The fixing of bugs has improved, but a few of the ones that have crept in have been quite annoying, and in some cases stuck around for quite a while before they get fixed.

[GrimDusk]

I think the other "Bad" that you forgot to mention has been the amount of bugs. Sure some of these come under "broken balance" you put under bad but not all.

The fixing of bugs has improved, but a few of the ones that have crept in have been quite annoying, and in some cases stuck around for quite a while before they get fixed.

Personally, I actually rarely encounter bugs so I can't comment, but that is an important point for those who do.

[edsel]

The content and functionality have definitely improved since the start of the year. Freezes in PVP and BNW are diminished, once in awhile a new talisman set or character bugs out and it gets fixed. Thats life in computer programming.

Accessing the ultra desirable event soul exclusive characters is a great tease, and must make NF serious coin judging from all the teams in PVP with stuff I don't have and they are level 37. At least the Heroic soul can help out getting them. I am stacking these so I can have a chance.

Now onto the meta imbalance. PvP was a blast for me back when Vampire ruled and the fights were a few quick rounds. The HE ML Alchemist and 4th rotating overpowered guest star teams have pushed me away. Yeah, I can do it still but the time and effort to get through 200 wins for this last event was overconsuming. I echo Shaolin's sentiment: fuck these guys!

[GrimDusk]

The content and functionality have definitely improved since the start of the year. Freezes in PVP and BNW are diminished, once in awhile a new talisman set or character bugs out and it gets fixed. Thats life in computer programming.

Accessing the ultra desirable event soul exclusive characters is a great tease, and must make NF serious coin judging from all the teams in PVP with stuff I don't have and they are level 37. At least the Heroic soul can help out getting them. I am stacking these so I can have a chance.

Now onto the meta imbalance. PvP was a blast for me back when Vampire ruled and the fights were a few quick rounds. The HE ML Alchemist and 4th rotating overpowered guest star teams have pushed me away. Yeah, I can do it still but the time and effort to get through 200 wins for this last event was overconsuming. I echo Shaolin's sentiment: fuck these guys!

I agree 100%, I think that there has been a lot of nice additions, but they need to fix what's already there. Just to put this into perspective, Crusader Eddie has 3093 base HP, with 209 Atk and Magic. Carriage Rider has 785 base Hp, with 262 Magic. That shows that old characters really just don't matter to the developers.

[Mizrael]

Personally, I actually rarely encounter bugs so I can't comment, but that is an important point for those who do.

No?!
So here is a sample of my 10 arena battles today:
-enemy Osiris has a “True damage shield” on, but takes no damage from magic or physical attacks

-enemy Osiris takes an extra turn after every basic attack without having the echo status on (this might be just the well known visual bug, but i didn’t get a chance to check, because Horus stunned my whole team EVERY round)

-the above mentioned team just wrecked my team like a house of cards in one battle and was a breeze in a park the next time...ever heard of the “Super AI boost plus your relics don’t apply”?

-enemy DDE revives even though his perfect immortality got removed by a previous attack (without killing him...and no yellow bat was present)

-my MLilith is hit with perfect corruption, but keeps 4 stripes of force shield (which do nothing ofc) untill she dies

-MLilith gets killed by such a massive that she pops back up from death, but there is no circle underneath her, nor can she take any action...well...cuz she be dead...obviously

These were just a few examples of everyday life in the arena. buffs appearing and disappearing for no reason,characters performing unexplained moves...and the list goes on. Sometimes it’s hard to tell in the sea of burn effects, debuffs and buffs, what should had happened and what is actually a bug. plus i guess we just got so used to them, that we subconsciously overlook half of them...