Thank you! Finally, someone gets it. I agree that being a berserker, it's foremost nature is to be explosive but suicidal and that comes to the play of how players should be able to support Sven if they want to use him as a main damage dealer. If not, there are other set-ups which are equally strong. We are just blinded (or lazy?) to experiment with heroes.Nice balances except for a few. I've posted my hero-by-hero view of the changes in my (post-update) tier list topic viewtopic.php?f=6&t=4078
I'm going to focus this post on Sven because of all the controversy. If you disagree please try to be civil in countering my opinions.
Before i start my list, I would like to point out that the nerf should have been implemented much closer to Sven's release or failing so, the developers should have given some indication that there will be a nerf as this is a game with IAP and players could have whaled real cash to build Sven. The developers should take this as feedback to improve and learn to better manage their customers' expectations or risk losing customers' trust. This is a relatively new game so there's bound to be more severe backlash since this is the game's first ever big balancing patch.
Putting aside the timing of the nerf; try looking at Sven as a fresh new hero and evaluate him from that point of view. I'm certain that you should be able to see that he is still amazing but will require support to reach his full potential. This is a strategy game, hence the change makes players decide between taking the risk of losing the pet to deal big burst damage in 3-4 turns or keeping your pet alive to deal one Nuke and buff Sven's ATK during turn 6 like other berserkers. Doing both is still possible with setup or luck since it's an independent 75% proc chance that does not necessarily trigger together with the chain attack trigger.
I'm not going to argue about the complaints on lack of developer testing since Newnar has already provided a strong solid counterargument.
TLDR on list below - Sven is still a strong hero but is no longer a one man show.
Now to begin my counter-complaint list:
- Sven's pet dies too fast -> If his Pet dies solely from recoil damage, it means that it has done 5x ranged attacks with is a great amount of damage. If you want his pet to last longer, use some support or give Sven a lifesteal rune since his pet also gets his skill-rune lifesteal effects. Valiant force is not a one-unit game.
- Sven is now useless in PVE/Raid[ -> There is currently no other hero in game that is fully self-sufficient and can deal enormous amount of damage with "unlimited" RNG self-triggers. Sven still has potential do deal top tier damage with decent setup/support.
- Developer did not fix him being OP in PVP -> 3 turn CD means you have an additional to reduce Sven's hp to 25% before he summons or kill him on the 4th turn since he still loses a turn when summoning. He is still strong in arena but he is now more vulnerable to front line Ninja teams or Ranger teams. Also, if he's paired with another summoner, the opponent AI will summon twice in a row meaning an even wider window to kill off the opposing summoners.
- Sven does not have same ATK boost as other Berserkers -> He should not because he's not the same as other Berserkers. Sven can summon a pet that deals huge RANGED damage. He can also summon the pet twice since it's a 3T cooldown versus the 6T cooldown of other Berserkers. He can have BOTH the pet attacking AND the self-ATK buff whereas other Berserkers only have the huge self-ATK boost on turn 6.
- The nerf makes the game less diverse -> on the contrary, it frees up Sven's reserved spot in ALL teams meaning you now have 5 slots for heroes instead of 4 slots + 1 Sven. If you wish to use the new Sven to his full potential, then you will have to build a team that fits him just like all other heroes in the game. This means that for certain scenarios, other team compositions are now actually a viable option since it could be better than a team with Sven in it.
- Sven is now an overly-dependent unit -> No he is not, Sven can still deal a large amount of damage on his own but will need a form of support for sustained damage output. It's ridiculous to expect Sven to be able to continuously deal a sustained stream of huge damage. During turn 3 (4 in Arena), on his own, Sven can use his pet to deal up to 5x hits with 10k pet ATK stat (10k being a reasonably reachable figure).
At the same time, I really feel for all players who have spent time and resources in building their Sven Zerkers. As much as I approve the nerfing of Sven, I must acknowledge the lack of communications from VF to do such sudden changes and without prior notice. This is absolutely a bad way to maintain the trust of the player base.