Recommended turn order based on play times:

You asked to give feedback.
GC10 - against it. As I could see, autocombat fights (between players) pass almost without Charm/Convert/etc., if only there are not involved nymphs. And with GC10 why would we need Charm/Convert/etc.?
GC12 - may be for it 
AD07a - for it.
AD08 - may be for it
AD10a - definitely for it
AD11 - against it. For Archdruid most of the babies are summonnig. If we will weaken them then they will not have time to live up to the evolve :'(
AD15 - I don't know at what it will affect.
AD17 - rather against it. If the player would be able easily produce spiders/serpents, then I would vote For it. But it is not. May be you should propose some AD17a - AD leaders and heroes can use Befriend animal only on T1 and T2. When the player have researched, for example, Produce Shaman, AD leaders (only) can use Befriend animal on T3/T4.
Dr04c - I don't mind
For now it's all I can 

Stiffen Limbs and Necro are as OP as ever - just did turn 6 Sphinx Temple (only found it turn 6) with weak starting army - i.e. 2 lvl4 heroes, 1 gold lvl cavalry and 2 irregulars and 1 Lost Soul - i beat 2 Watchers (Evil Eyes) and 4 Mystics for 500 research points... and i say it's all because of SL - it let me do some crazy leveling before that. Reanimate lvl2 cavalry is too strong and so is the starting heal 25 HP.

disclaimer  - Abuser like me can do stuff that is just not intended do be done turn 1-5 (; I never do this kind of un-fair on people as you all may know - i hate to play Necro - just saying (;

Thanks Hellbrick, very useful!
The help of one or two persons would be very welcome to brainstorm on balancing Air Master, Water Master, Wild Magic and Shadowborn Master as well as high-level sites (Dungeon, Forbidden Sanctum, Sunken City, Sphynx Temple, Hall of the Forefather, Ziggurath, Lost City, Castle of the Lich King). After the brainstorm for these are finished, we'll need to discuss the proposed changes and quickly come to a changelog for v1.2 so that Zaskow has time to implement it.

==

Sjow has been replaced by Skuns in the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament. He'll face Fistandantilus in the 1st match of the final phase.

For what it's worth, here's some feedback for the changes that I have strong opinion about:

GC10: against.

AD11: don't mind, but don't really see the point. Baby animals are already weak enough to require careful usage and protection, so I don't think making them more vulnerable will actually make using them any more difficult.

Ne11: against. Making the starting army completely unhealable until leader/hero levels up seems a bit too harsh. If there's need to nerf starting healing for Necro, I'd rather suggest removing starting Heal undead from the Necro heroes only (while leaving the leader untouched). Or maybe split Heal undead into two abilities: one passive that heals the undeads in the stack overnight (available from the start) and one active that does the actual combat healing (available later for some UP).

GC12: for. This slows down the convertion rush without crippling it too much, which is nice.

AD17: for. I like the idea of making animal growing AD-only feature.

Ne01a: against. It may be very subjective, but I find unreliable debuff spells incredibly annoying. If Stiffen limbs needs to be nerfed any further (which I don't think it does), this is not the way.

Ne05h: for, but I think the upgrade cost should be reduced accordingly.

Ne09a: against. Doesn't fit the Necro paradigm at all. 

Ne13: against. This would seriously undermine their usage as temporary scouts.

Ne13a: against. For the same reasons.

Ne13b: against. This is just weird.

Ne15: against. Necromantic aura is risky enough to be used reliably as it is, I don't think it should be nerfed.

Ne16: against. The spell is not as useful later in the game, so I don't think it should be postponed. Not sure if it should be nerfed, but this is not the way.

Ne17: for.

Rg09: for.

Th05: for.

Ha03b: for.

Ha08: for.

HellBrick joined !!

Thanks Mauve! We have 15 votes so far, please vote What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament? for all those who haven't yet!
The current result is 53% in favour of "Forbidden to replay a class or race chosen before" which would mean in next PBEM Duel Tournament, players would have to change class and race at each round (i.e. if you played Goblin Sorcerer on round 1, you will never be able to play Goblin or Sorcerer again in subsequent rounds).

==

Next PBEM Duel Tournament will use v1.2 of the balance mod. But the changelog of v1.2 is not yet ready because we lack feedback! So please check my posts below containing the changes "to be dropped?" and "priority change" and give your opinion "for" or "against" them. Thanks!
The target to finalize the changelog is the end of October.

==

Some small issues remain with v1.18 but they will be fixed before 15 October. As 2 games of round 1 got time extensions due to late replacement of teams who dropped, I think round 2 games will play on the beta branch. Otherwise, we would have to update the main branch to v1.18 and the round 1 games still ongoing would be affected.

==

The final phase of the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament is delayed because Sjow drops from the tournament... Judges are discussing to see how to replace him.

I chose "no limitation" for the limit in the poll.

I want to comment here though, since I think it's good to talk about what the purpose of the tournament is. Actually, my preference personally would be to have on repeats at all, since I love getting a variety of situations to deal with.

But, for balance purposes, I think it's more useful to have the top class and race combinations float to the top so that they can be examined more carefully, which is why I currently favour no limitation.

v1.18 of the PBEM balance mod has been released on the beta branch!! http://steamcommunity.com/sha... Its changelog can be read in the article PBEM balance mod v1.17 released and v1.18 soon ready
REMINDER: v1.18 will be used in round 2 of the 2vs2 Team Tournament.

==

gabthegab and Sjow answered the questions I asked them in a written interview for the 3 participants to the final phase of the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament. Their answers will be published in news articles whenever they are eliminated in the final phase (which should start soon since the match between gladis and Fistandantilus seems to be getting to its end).

==

Please remember to vote What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament? to help choose the best system for next PBEM Duel Tournament. We currently have 10 votes.
The 2016 PBEM Duel Tournament's registrations should open around mid-October (but may be delayed in order to coincide with the release of a new design for the website). Registrations should stay open for 2 to 3 months in order to wait for v1.2 of the balance mod to be ready for its round 1.

==

Thanks Jean for the feedback!
Please check that report for an example of why Whispers of the Fallen is OP: http://www.the-battlefield.co... />
@others: if you haven't yet, please follow the example of Jean! Without your feedback, we won't be able to finalize v1.2 any time soon!
No need to react on AD15 and Th06 any more (they're now dropped!), nor on Ne06f (confirmed for v1.2).

Hey everyone. I'll comment on all proposals, even on dropped ones.

GC10 against. In the late game you often don't need to convert/seduce in the tactical battle because you win it easily anyway. All these snowballs abilities are important on the strategic map as they allow you to comeback in a difficult position or give you a chance to get some free units to tackle a fast snowball of your opponent (for instance, druid's or necromancer's)

AD11 for. Any weakening might be good for tier-1 units that level up so easily. You will need to play more carefully in tactics and sometimes do not use an injured animal at all.

AD15 against. Bad concept

Dr15  That's a good proposal, for. Even with emergency repair a dread hero "heals" injured machines in his stack too slowly.

Ne11 For. Necromancer should be nerfed more.
 
Th06 Well...This is a very painful proposal for theocrat. I consider this ability to be his "business card". And as I don't consider theo to be a super strong class in PBEM I won't agree on this proposal right now. Against.

Ha20a Indifferent

Ha21  For.

..................................

GC12  That's a very good proposal. We can call all these ideas "a package of laws" against snowball strategies. Everything that stoppes these strategies is welcomed by me. For

AD08  It will upgrade orc archidruid. I always see archidruids playing elves, draconians, so, I think, other races here are welcomed. For

AD10a For

AD17  For! That's important. Sometimes you get a second here - archidruid, are lucky to get animals nearby and end the game having a stack of level uped guys. Not funny.

Dr04b  Against. Don't like this "stunned" anti-buff

Dr17a  xD. Okay, for

Ne01a Against. This spell was already nerfed and became much less useful. Right now it's okay I think.

Ne05h For. This new ability will be more interesting in my opinion. And less powerful.

Ne06f  For.

Ne06g Against.

Ne09a  For

Ne13 Against. It's a good scouting option for undead guys, cutting hp will weaken it.

Ne13a  Against

Ne13b  Against. Bad concept.

Ne13c  Against

Ne14  Indifferent. 

Ne15  If honestly, I see necromantic aura ability really used in the game very rarely. Would like to see it used more often so against cutting it.

Ne16  Against. Don't like ruining key features of classes.

Ne17  Against. 

Ne18 Explain to me, please, why do you consider the spell to be so imba? I have little experience playing necromancer and when I played it I somehow didn't see anything too powerful in this spell. So some explanation is welcomed. I'm also looking forward to study necromancer more xD


Ro06a  Indifferent

Ro09  Indifferent

Ro09  For

Th05  For

Wa05 Against. This nerf is gonna be too cruel

Wa11a  I guess for. Spells dependancy is a good option to weaken Death March.

Wa12  Against.

Ha03b  For

Ha08  For

Ha09i  Indifferent

Ha10  Just forest will be enough. But for.

Ha13  For

Ha15  For

Ha15a  Indifferent

Ha16  Just forest concealment. For

Ha19a  Just forest. For

Ha28  For

There is a new poll ongoing to help make some choice for the next PBEM Duel Tournament which should open registration on 15 October (registrations should be open for at least 2 months): What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament?

The aim is to use v1.2 of the balance mod for this future tournament, which should bring many significant changes such as: healing once per battle, higher risks for high-level sites, boosts to weak specialisations, increased upkeep for mind-controled units, etc.
However, we are currently very late both on mod implementation (because Zaskow works alone and he has other things to do! by the way, big big thank to him for his work) and on choosing the changes for v1.2. So, could all of you please provide some feedback on the priority changes I listed in my previous post as well as the remaining 9 changes considered "to be dropped" so that we can slim down the list further:
GC10
Converted, Charmed, Seduced, etc. units are converted only until the end of Battle and disappear afterwards

AD11
Baby Spiders and Serpents have -6 HP and -1 defence and -1 resistance

AD15
Baby Spiders and Serpents are T2

Dr15
Dreadnought heroes and leaders can now choose Mechanised Field Medic at level X for Y points

Ne11
Necromancer heroes and leaders can choose Heal Undead at level 1 for 3 points

Th06
Divine Justicars is removed.
Theocrat heroes and leaders can choose Resurgence at level 11 for 7 points

Ha20a
Halfling military RG1 gives an additional +10 HP to Jester (was 0).

Ha21
Halfling economic RG1 gives +75 population growth to outposts and villages (was Store House costs 35 less to build) (Necro variant gains +75 dead population)

When we reach about 20-30 remaining priority changes + "to be dropped", I'll add new proposed changes that have been discussed in the last few months.

Thanks a lot!

The beta branch of the PBEM balance mod just got updated today http://steamcommunity.com/sha...
If all goes well, it should be pushed to the main branch in the next few days since it contains v1.17 of the balance mod, which mainly fixes a few bugs in v1.16 and updates the display of several abilities to make their effect clearer to players.

==

REMINDER: round 1 of the PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament will end on 15 October.
However, 2 matches received extension of 1 month because they had to restart due to team changes, they are matches #2 and #4.
Match #6 may also get an extension because it started later.
Hopefully matches #10 and #12 of round 2 will be able to start on 15 October and the rest will be only slightly delayed.

==

We currently have 37 Priority Changes listed in the balance change table. It's a lot! Time to slim down a bit by either validating or rejecting some of them. So could you please give feedback on the following changes, here on the player pool or by PM or (best!) on the official forum http://aow.triumph.net/forums... (no need to read everything, just post your feedback direclty):
[the table is here: https://docs.google.com/docum... ]

GC12
Units acquired during a fight (mind-controlled or ghouled) start with 0 MP on the strategic map

AD08
Orc Hunters get Inflict Crippling Wound on Veteran

AD10a
Baby Spiders and Baby Serpents get the abilities of their evolved state (Spider Queens and Mature Serpent) on Elite, namely:
Dread Spider Baby: Inflict Severely Poisoned
Hunter Spider Baby: Inflict Enfeebling Fever
Vampire Spider Baby: Inflict Exhausting Fatigue
Baby Reed Serpent and Baby Shock Serpent get +4 MP

AD17
Independent Spiders and Serpents lose the Evolve ability (only summoned and produced units keep it)

Dr04b
Engineers have Lesser Overload: give +20% damage to target machine or Musketeer until end of combat, but has a chance (physical strength: 7)  to be stunned for 2 rounds after attacking.

Dr17a
Juggernauts produced in Halfling and Elf cities have Forestry

Ne01a
Stiffen Limb has a strength 13 Spirit check and cost 8 CP. If it fails, its target gets -12 MP for one turn (was no attack check and 7 CP).

Ne05h
Lesser Reanimate Undead and Greater Reanimate Undead give Undying to their target (was reanimate it at 50% and 75% HP respectively)

Ne06f
Ghouling Strike has strength 10 (was 11)

Ne06g
Ghouling Strike does not give any damage bonus (was +5 physical, +5 blight)

Ne09a
Energy Drain has a physical strength 10 (was spirit strength 10)

Ne13
Raise Corpse reanimate cadavers with 75% HP (was 100%), Greater Reanimate Undead reanimate units with 50% HP (was 75%)

Ne13a
Raise Corpse reanimate cadavers with 50% HP (was 100%)

Ne13b
Raise Corpse can reanimate only corpse of previously alive units (not corpses of Undeads)

Ne13c
Raise Corpse reanimate units without any medal

Ne14
Devour Corpse heals 20 HP (was 25 HP)

Ne15
Undeads that attack a unit with Necromantic Aura get “Immune to Necromantic Aura” (cannot be dispelled) if the Aura fails its 7 spirit attack check on them. Units with “Immune to Necromantic Aura” cannot be affected by it. 

Ne16
Whispers of the Fallen cannot appear in the Research Book or be already researched at the beginning of the game

Ne17
Whispers of the Fallen is Tier 2 and costs 120 RP (was Tier 1 and 60 RP)
Ne18

Whispers of the Fallen provide 2 RP per unit tier for each unit killed in combat. Fallen Heroes provide 10 RP (was 3 RP per unit tier and 15 RP)

Ro06a
Rogue heroes and leaders can choose Antiserum for 4 points at level 5. Antiserum can be used once per battle on a Poisonned unit (touch ability): it heals 10 HP and gets 100% Blight Protection for one round.
Antiserum does not heal units on the strategic map

Ro09
Rogue heroes and leaders can now choose Assassin’s training: all units in the stack now have Backstab (stackable with other Backstab) – cost 7, available at level 11

Ro15
Rogue heroes and leaders’ Charm is a touch ability (was Short range)

Th05
Divine Justicars costs 12 points (was 10)

Wa05
Researching Death March allows to cast Death March for 60 CP (was 20) and Individual Death March for 20 CP, which has a similar effect. Individual Death March can only target 1 stack of 1 T1 Irregular (and units can only be targetted once by Death March or Individual Death March).

Wa11a
Scout Death March (new spell) can be researched for 140 RP, is tier II and cost 20 CP to cast. It affect only Irregulars (excluding Sphynx) and has the following effect: All units in target friendly army gain additional MP equal to their maximum MP until end of turn. All affected units lose 50% of their current HP. The MP capabilities of the units in combat are not affected.
Death March requires Scout Death March to be researched. Researching it costs 200 RP and is tier III (was 140 RP and tier II)
Units can be affected only by one of the two spells each strategic turn.

Wa12
Death March can be casted only once per (strategic) turn


Ha03b
Jester gets:
- 10 strength for their AoE attack (was 9)
- Fireworks does 10 physical damage (was 9)  and 5 fire damage
- can target an hex (like Fire Bomb) and does not require a valid target. That way you can dazzle units with 1 extra hex range

Ha08
Halfling cities get +75% on “Produce merchandise”

Ha09i
Brew Brothers cost 75 gold and 20 mana (was 70 gold and 20 mana)

Ha10
Halfling Exalteds gain Forest and Urban concealment but cost more in mana

Ha13
Halfling Shaman get a special version of Nourishing Meal on gold instead of Healing. That version would have a 2 turns cooldown

Ha15
Halfling Assassins get Pass Wall on Veteran (was on Elite)

Ha15a
Halfling Assassins get a new ability Shoot Poisonous Darts, short range, 1 physical damage, 4 poison damage, Inflict Noxious Vulnerability, Inflict Enfeebling Fever, Inflict Exhausting Fatigue, Inflict Severely Poisoned, and costs 10 gold more

Ha16
Halfling Succubus have Forest and Urban Concealment and their cost is increased

Ha19a
Halfling Bard get Urban or Forest concealment (or both)

Ha28
Farmers cost 45 gold (was 50)

Hey everyone! I hope to open registrations for next PBEM Duel Tournament around 15 October but first, we need to discuss settings and all!
I posted some thoughts here but nobody answered: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... />Also, I'm going to open a poll to see everyone's opinion on the "no same class/race twice in a row" rule, please post on the official forum if you have other ideas than: 1 round cooldown, 2 round cooldown, never the same class/race, no limitation. I will add the other ideas in the poll.

Modding goes much slower than expected so I'm not sure when the PBEM Duel Tournament will be able to start because I'd really like to play it with v1.2 of the balance mod, including increased upkeep for converted units and healing only once per battle (for heroes and leaders for now, and probably for all units after we further discuss it).

Also, please continue to provide feedback on the proposed changes I listed earlier and on which DreadReapr and AlX provided feedback.

Agree with Dread:
GC10, HA20a + Th06 (for it).

neutral: 
AD11, HA21

Against all other suggestions.

im for GC10  HA20a
against all other suggestions

Update on the team 2vs2 tournament http://www.the-battlefield.com/aow3/index.php?page=tourneyroster&tourneyid=5 :

• 3 matches finished (King Serpents vs Coup de Grâce; Shadow & Flame vs West Coasters; BroZ vs The green elephant)


• 1 match had to be restarted following the departure of cbower




• rickyroo222 replaces cbower; the new team Hiliadan + rickyroo222 is currently confirming its name before the change appears in the roster ()




• 1 match paused: SIN vs Lucifuge




• Lucifuge is not playing its turns: we are looking for a team to replace them




• 3 matches still ongoing


• date of next round: should be 15 October but due to delay in the 1.18 of the balance mod (which will be used on that 2nd round), we may need to delay a little... Next round should last 2 months maximum (may be shorter if games finish earlier).

Update on the Duel tournament:
Match gladis vs Fistandantilus under way.
When it's finished, it will be the winner of that match vs Sjow.
I plan to interview the 3 players of the final phase, here are the questions I thought about: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... Feel free to propose new questions!

Update on the balance discussion! We need some additional feedback to slim down the list of changes currently in the summary table. The number of proposed changes is currently too high and that makes following the discussion difficult. So before proposing new changes, let's first remove those that do not make consensus!
The best option to give your feedback is to post here: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... />Otherwise you can just reply on the player pool, or in the chat (http://www.the-battlefield.com/aow3/index.php?page=community#chattab1) or send me a PM.

Please find below the list of changes that are on the brink of being dropped and for which we would need a confirmation. If you agree that we can drop them, or if at the opposite you think they are good ideas, please say so!


GC10
Converted, Charmed, Seduced, etc. units are converted only until the end of Battle and disappear afterwards

AD07a
Non-Tigran and non-Elf Shamans can summon a T1 boar/warg in tactical battle (once per battle)

AD07a
Non-Tigran and non-Elf Shamans can summon a T1 boar/warg in tactical battle (once per battle)

AD11
Baby Spiders and Serpents have -6 HP and -1 defence and -1 resistance

AD15
Baby Spiders and Serpents are T2

Dr04c
Engineers have 34 movement points  (was 28)

Dr04c
Engineers have 34 movement points  (was 28)

Ne05b
Greater Reanimate Undead works only on T1, T2 and T3 (was up to T4)

Ne11
Necromancer heroes and leaders can choose Heal Undead at level 1 for 3 points

Th06
Divine Justicars is removed.
Theocrat heroes and leaders can choose Resurgence at level 11 for 7 points

Ha04
Make Pony Riders available at Barracks, unarmoured and with lower stats
Move Nightwatch to War Halls and gets Backstab

Ha10a
Halfling Exalteds have Backstab or High Morale

Ha11
Halfling Musketeers’ Musket becomes firework-like: 17 physical damage and 8 fire damage, can dazzle units around and panic animals around. They cost 90 gold (was 80) and 20 mana

Ha11a
Halfling Musketeers get a new ability “Lucky Cocktail” usable once per battle for 0 action point which gives them 3 fire damage, +3 electric damage and Inflict Dazzling for oneround but has a 10% chance of stunning the Musketeer.

Ha17
Halfling Crusaders have Urban Concealment and Backstab  (Backstab was on Elite)

Ha18
Halfling Crusaders have High Morale and a second copy of High Morale on Veteran

Ha19
Halfling Bard get Nourishing Meal

Ha20a
Halfling military RG1 gives an additional +10 HP to Jester (was 0).

Ha21
Halfling economic RG1 gives +75 population growth to outposts and villages (was Store House costs 35 less to build) (Necro variant gains +75 dead population)

Ha29
 Halflings no longer dislike or hate Subterranean terrain

No we don't unfortunately but if we are lucky and Zaskow is available, it could be available next week.
Zaskow just released v1.17 on the beta branch of the mod: http://steamcommunity.com/sha... />
Please use it on all your new game outside the tournament. The tournament will always stay with the main mod (http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=661597466).

@gladis and Fistandantilus: please send your class/race to judges for the final of the Duel Tournament #3 (and gladis, obviously, do not send it to Fistandantilus ).

Do we know when we are getting the update for second round for testing?

I more or less reported my duel vs Keldon. http://the-battlefield.com/aow3/index.php?page=actgames&actid=222
There are by Chance some thoughts about Necro.
I wrote that there was a Chance for Keldon to kill me if he would had won this fight on Turn 21.

But for the balancing - not to defend my playing - you should Keep in mind some circumstances:

1. No ghoul Curse or any other converting from my side at this Point - except a wraith king who survived and reached Lvl 13 at the end of the game
2. It was nearly a suiced attack, being outnumbered 8-14 - I was some Kind of forced into this battle because I took a risky path via UG and wouldn´t have been able to defend my throne if I wouldn´t have stopped this army right there.
3. My incompetence, cause I had played Necro only one time before in PBEM and failed heavily in this game after all

PS I think Keldon and I have the same Level in this game, so he really should give feedback as well.

Small update on the 2 ongoing tournaments:

• 2 vs 2 Team Tournament: 




• 2 matches finished and 6 matches ongoing


• Next round will start around 15 October even if all the matches are finished before


• The releases of v1.17 and v1.18 of the balance mod have been delayed because our modders are a bit too busy (initial release date for v1.18 was 15 August). Hopefully, we'll get v1.17 very soon to correct some bugs and after a short test period, it will be used for the tournament. v1.18 will be used for the 2nd round of the tournament only.




• Duel Tournament:




• Warlord Keldon vs gladis: this match should in theory end in about 7 days. The winner will face Fistandantilus

Necro seems to remain unbalanced, even with v1.16 (and v1.18 for that matter), so I have set up a small group to discuss its balancing in depth. However, we need one or two additional players to provide ideas and feedback on existing ideas. It would be really really useful if a few of you could volunteer to discuss that with us. Please send me a PM or write here.

Also, please note there is a new poll opened: What games of Triumph Studios have you played?