The future of Outwitters

[CombatEX]

(07-18-2014 04:18 PM)onealexleft Wrote:  Hmm. My memory may be failing me but I feel like we had +X wit spaces in pre-release during beta (more than 1 wit bonus), as well as multiple wit spaces. The general conclusion we came away from it is if it is ever contentious (meaning it's a pathway to attack for both sides) it magnified FTA issues.

Perhaps that is true. Unfortunately I wasn't part of the original beta team. However, I feel it is inaccurate to judge the +2 wit change from back then as there have been many changes to the game since. Most importantly, player 2 has increased starting wits. Before this FTA balance change it was often hard for player 2 to adequately defend their wit spaces and/or important units. Naturally it follows that having wit spaces worth more would magnify this issue. However, now that player 2 has enough wits to make FTA much less of an issue, +X wit spaces would have to be retested to really come to any solid conclusion.

I do agree completely in regards to having contentious (on the natural path of attack) +X wit spaces being potentially problematic. That is why this change is meant only for out-of-the-way wit spaces. If the spaces are easily accessible then it defeats the purpose of the increased value. The increased value is supposed to make out-of-the-way wits spaces more efficient to attack (because there is a greater reward associated with the increased cost). Increasing the value of wit spaces that are already on the way to the opponent's base or nearby (within 5 spaces/runner striking distance from your spawn) could indeed be a problem and is not the intention of this change. With the current map pool there are actually only a few wit spaces that this could work for.

Some examples of wit spaces that I feel could benefit from +2 wits would be the top wit spaces on Long Nine or the top left and bottom right wit spaces on Foundry.

Some examples of spaces I would NOT suggest be increased to +2 wits are spaces like the space on Glitch, Sharkfood Island, Peekaboo, etc. Increasing the value of these wit spaces would simply magnify momentum swings and not open up new attack routes.