I just finished today's ranking match, and I feel very deeply. This update reduced the slowing effect of "Frost Turret" from 50% to 35%. I originally thought it would directly retreat from the environment, but instead it gave birth to a new play style of "Fire and Poison Dual Cultivation". Battle reports show that it is now popular to use flame turrets with poisonous mist generators in high-level segments, using continuous burning and poisoning stacks to consume, and combined with the new "spore diffusion" skill, the front row zombies have become a mobile source of poison. This idea is really coincidental.
In fact, every time the version changes, the reaction speed of professional players and high-end passers-by is very different. Like the "Infinite Corpse Tide" affix in the newly added "Secret Realm Mode" last time, many people are still using traditional output formations to resist, but they are destroyed. Later, some commanders developed a field control chain of "ejection electric tower + energy-gathering halo" to gather zombies on the speed bump, and use the chain damage of the electric tower to clear the area, which is equivalent to exchanging control for survival. This idea has become a standard solution in high-end games.
But there are still some hidden dangers in balance. The base damage value of the newly updated "Shadow Assassin" turret seems reasonable, but the kill line after stacking six passive layers is too high, and it is impossible to counterattack with the stealth mechanism in the back row. In this week's ladder win rate list, 14 of the top 20 players are mainly playing this set, which is obviously beyond the standard. I think planning should limit the triggering conditions, such as changing each passive layer to require an interval of 0.5 seconds before stacking, or increasing energy consumption, otherwise there will be no room for other configurations to survive.
In addition, the rhythm of resource acquisition has also changed. After the version update, the daily mission sweep coupon output has been halved, but the number of secret realm challenges has been changed from three to five, which is equivalent to forcing players to play manual mode more. This is not very friendly to office workers. Many double-player partners are staggered in time, and the gap in rank becomes wider and wider. Personally, I prefer to keep the daily tasks easy to obtain, and put the challenges in higher difficulty dungeons, so that players of different levels can find their comfort zone.
Overall, the macro-tactical changes brought about by this update are positive, but the details of micro-balance and player experience still need to be polished. Do you think the new version of Shadow Assassin should be nerfed? Or do other forts actually have better solutions? Chat in the comment section.