Recently, a friend played "Attack on Dragons". I originally thought it was just an ordinary synthesis and placement mobile game, but after playing it, I found that its formation system and dragon skill combination actually have quite a competitive depth. As an observer who often watches KPL and LPL, I am naturally particularly sensitive to the balance of this type of game. In this issue, I will talk about some of my feelings about the current version.
Let's talk about the competitive environment first. The core of the game is to obtain high-level magic dragons by synthesizing and rising stars, and then arrange the formation according to the dragon's attributes, attack methods and skills. The current mainstream high-segment lineups are roughly divided into three categories: the first is the high-explosion second-row flow, which relies on the AOE skills of fire and thunder dragons to quickly clear the field; the second is the continuous consumption flow, which relies on the slowdown and dot damage of the poison and ice dragons; the third is the pure tank counter-injury flow, which uses the high-health front row of earth and dark types to cooperate with shields to make the opponent collapse. This pattern is actually quite similar to the lineup restraint chain in traditional MOBA. It has a counter relationship, rather than just mindlessly stacking combat power.
In terms of balance, after the new version is updated, several dragons are obviously supermodel. For example, the "Void Shadow Dragon" released in the latest event has a passive skill that hides for 2 seconds when it appears and increases the critical hit rate of the entire team. This mechanism is almost impossible to solve in a game with a fast synthesis rhythm - because when the opponent is still dragging the dragon to synthesize, you have already used stealth to let the back row directly cut to the opponent's main force. In addition, its basic attribute values are relatively high, which leads to many mid- and low-level players to easily win consecutively as long as they draw this dragon. This is not a good experience for players without it. I hope that the planners can release balance patches on a weekly or monthly basis like LPL, to appropriately reduce its initial attack growth or shorten its hiding time.
In addition, the randomness of the synthesis mechanism is also a double-edged sword. Although the game advocates "easy to get started", the synthesis path of high-level dragons actually has a probability weight problem. Sometimes you only produce junk dragons for three consecutive combinations, while your opponent produces legendary dragons for three consecutive combinations. This directly creates an imbalance in the outcome in the arena. I suggest adding "peer bond" or "synthesis guarantee" similar to "Auto Chess". For example, if the synthesis fails five times in a row, a rare dragon will definitely appear next time. This can reduce the element of pure luck and allow more room for technical layout.
Finally, let's talk about the feature of mobile formation. At present, most players are still accustomed to automatic positioning, but in high-end games, manually adjusting the dragon's front and rear rows and the top monster route is very critical. For example, use a low-star fast attack dragon to deceive the opponent's control skills, and then the main C will enter the field to harvest. The threshold for this kind of operation is actually not low, and is somewhat similar to the jungler's rhythm prediction in the LPL. Some dragons in the version have short skill ranges and can easily be kited if the player does not pull the position manually. Therefore, I hope the official can optimize the locking and dragging feel to avoid misoperations caused by lags.
In general, "Attack on Dragons" is a game with a good competitive feel in the placement category. Although the balance is flawed, it is generally within a controllable range. As long as we plan frequent balancing patches and control the expansion of Xinlong's strength, it is expected to develop into a lightweight strategic e-sports side game. 😎