Devlog Weekly News – KAG Update for Halloween

I would really mourn the loss of the mine drop. It's led to some wonderful moments in captain's / gather style games, and it really isn't that powerful because it's pretty slow, you can very easily see it coming.

I've proposed this before a number of times but I think the mine nerf to start with would be:
-Mines can now be shielded, unless you make direct contact with it

One way that could be done is if there was a noticeable stun when you hit the mine, and then after a brief moment you both go kaboom. This would make it way less annoying from your teammates' perspective. As for the personal annoyance, they really shouldn't be covered by gibs because in most games the ground is basically coated with gibs making mines impossible to see in a hectic area.

MSpaint depiction

 

I don't actually think this is a problem, tbh. It's kinda creative and a butt-ton more predictable (particularly after the first time) than the alternative (of just minespiking people on the head where/whenever you feel like it). If someone endlessly reusing a mine is problematic then maybe have mines take enough fall damage that a failed mine drop can't be picked up and reused more than, say, once?

Maybe if you're a non-casual; but, having had the rather unique chance to go back to being terrible at the game (that's what 8+ months rest does for you kids), I can tell you in no uncertain terms that keeping mine dropping as it currently stands is a giant punch in the face to all the "trying to make the game less unfriendly to new people" stuff we've been hearing (and praising, you and me both, potato) for a while now. This game places a huge burden of knowledge on new players and adding yet another 1hko layer of meta means that anyone who's not 100% internalised that meta (like myself atm; and literally almost every other player you'll meet on a normal server) will be repeatedly rekt by players who'd mastered the mine drop. I mean, don't get me wrong, I get that there's some fun to be had with it; but at what cost? And, really, for what actual gain either? If it's as "very easily" avoided as you say?

 

did that player happen to be THE TUNNEL SNAKE
also, i love the new mines its so awesome to get ez kills with them. you can just toss em off towers and get at least 1 kill. also when im being a tunnel snake they are an ez counter to knights who are try to chase me out of my tunnel

 

Point. But then, let's be honest, when were knights (or any class played by someone not utterly terrible) hurting for coins? Never. I'll usually have at least 60 on me every single run I do--even after a bad run. And with the coins I net back from that mine? Hurhurhur...

 

Not sure of you point. Atm its six one way; half a dozen the other. Mines can't be blocked when they're thrown at your head, bombs can be.

You'd think so; but the number of times I've been/seen people minespiked (i.e. have the mine thrown, not just dropped--thrown--at your head) (often at the hands of a single player who really liked using mines) would seem to suggest otherwise. I mean, to be fair, I'm somewhat rustier than I used to be so maybe I just suck; but even that that's kinda telling, bc I knew to avoid mines even before I'd encountered them for the first time (reading the forums, kinda like a tutorial in that sense) and that knowledge hasn't really helped me.

Basically, as I see it, it's much easier to learn to throw a mine well than to throw a bomb well; but it's equally difficult to avoid a well-thrown mine or bomb. Thus mines are becoming the go-to item (and no, cost isn't [at this stage] a big factor. If you've not got money for a few mines when you go out then a) stop playing so badly and b) stop spending it on smokes & hookers).

 

On spikedropping, this is why they were nerfed - this is not comparable to mines because you cannot just whip out a mine and instakill someone in a fraction of a second. You have to toss them and they take time to activate. I think if you try to slam it down on somebody it won't activate before landing, but even if I'm wrong on that, the timer can simply be lengthened by a small amount to require more airtime. Do note that actual spike drops, that is, from a height, are exactly the same as they were before the nerf. Mines do have the added advantage of more horizontal distance

I'm not convinced the anti-casual argument applies here either, to be honest. It's not something that is advanced or hard to understand, or something that needs to be learned. It's just about being aware of your surroundings and noticing when someone lobs a mine from high up, and then moving out of the way. I guess you wouldn't exactly come into the game expecting there to be random deathballs falling from the sky, but people will likely see the thing and think "that doesn't look nice" and get out of the way.

I think I've mostly seen failed mine tosses, where it doesn't even come close to hitting anyone.

And I mean, I'm not really decided on this stuff. I'm not sure if it would make the game better for casual / new players, and I don't think I could really know that. It might make the game better overall but I would be sad, as would some other people I know. A good mine drop is always a great moment in a captain's match, and I find it hilarious every time. Kitty and Jig are the gods of mine dropping and I can't get enough of them casually instagibbing the best knights. Even they only land them a fraction of a time, and that's part of why it's so fun.

 

Yeah, I guess that is true with the mod thing, now that I think about it mine dropping really doesn't seem to add much to pub games. I like the idea of the mines not activating before they touch the ground, and maybe that change would stop people from just randomly throwing them at a group of enemies as well.


Obviously gather/captains style games are way different, but as for the tramps, plunking down a trampoline for your team to use takes no communication at all. It's true that it doesn't make sense to expect pubbies to wordlessly coordinate trampoline carrying / tossing to get over towers, but there's nothing particularly "organized" about setting one down by an enemy tower, and that isn't as powerful as tramp tossing but it still helps. People do choose to take actions to help their team. And yes, Pubbie McJoe who just wants to walk forward and stab some enemies in the face in lala land isn't going to think about doing that stuff, but if he sees a convenient trampoline, he'll bounce on it. That's a lot of what teamwork is in pubs, directing the lemmings.

Basically although there is little to no communication in pubs, some people do think of their team. Pub teamwork is a thing

 

Most people like winning, they don't really care how they do it. It's a pretty serious problem, haha.

 

There's always something satisfying about a keg slam, so that's a big part of it, and also knights who didn't want to walk places. The answer for the second thing should always be tunnels but why make tunnels when you can just make tramp cannons that are waaay safer?

There is a certain joy of winning, some people feel it more than others, but there's always something that makes it fun (for one side at least) other than winning. Unless the only thing one finds fun about the game is feeling like you're better than the other team.

But I definitely don't get how they were considered an interesting strategy for a builder. Like, you really just want to build the exact same thing every game? And if the enemy makes one too, welp no forward walls I guess.