To be honest, I have played this game on and off for three seasons, and every major version update is like a "shuffle". The most obvious change in this change is that the defense breaking value of Dugu Nine Swords has been cut, while the dodge judgment of Sunflower Book has been strengthened. At first glance, it seems like a balance adjustment, but in actual battles, the impact is much greater than the panel numbers.
In the past, in high-end games, the swordsman led Dugu Nine Swords as the first mover. His set of combos was so suppressive that he almost became a regular in the ban. Now that the income from breaking defenses has decreased, it means that the fault tolerance rate of pure burst flow has become lower. On the contrary, the Ranger sect, relying on the new version's bonus to movement attributes, began to take advantage in the mid- to late-game tug-of-war. I played a few ranked games last night, and I obviously feel that the Ranger's appearance rate has increased, especially those players who are stuck in vision and cheating on skills, which makes it difficult for the Swordsman.
In fact, I think this change is the right idea, which is to transform competition from "a set of seconds" to "game consumption". But here's the problem - the new version is not very friendly to civilian players. Because the dodge attribute requires a lot of equipment entries, and the cost of creating divine equipment is inherently high. Now in the arena, those who can stably take advantage of the new version are basically the ones with krypton gold or the Liver Emperor. If ordinary players do not keep up with equipment iterations, their experience will indeed be very different.
In addition, the tactical system of family warfare must also change. In the past, the fixed lineup was that the Crazy Sword took the damage in the front row, the Swordsman cut into the back row, and the Ranger provided mobile support. Now that the Dugu Nine Swords have been weakened, the swordsman's position is a bit awkward. Instead, some "kite style" play styles of the three rangers have emerged, relying on high mobility and newly enhanced dodge to delay the opponent's time, and then counterattack during the opponent's skill window. This routine has not yet been fully developed, but it has already begun to affect the ranking of families in the district.
Personally, I don't dislike version changes. After all, the biggest fear in competitive games is the solidification of routines. But I hope the official can adjust the skill values while also keeping up with the balance of the equipment system. Otherwise, the new version seems to have broadened the play style, but in fact it has made the resource gap even more obvious. In the future, if we can make dodge attribute compensation for low-level equipment, or lower the random entry threshold for divine equipment, the competitiveness of this version should be better.
In short, this version is still in the "chaos period", and everyone is searching for the optimal solution. Personally, I am more optimistic about the follow-up potential of the Ranger system, but the forced control of the Crazy Blade is always a variable. Competition, that's what makes it interesting. I look forward to the players in the professional league next week coming up with some new ideas. 📈📈