Last edited on 15 December 2016 - 08:10 PM by fordanjen

—– As many of you may know, last week Badlion released their first batch of test queues for Season 15. The new S15 Archer Queue was one of the two released, and it got varied feedback. Some players loved the changes and some hated them. I got Gold I when the queue was released, so I feel like I have some credibility talking about the subject. I am going to share a few of my negatives with the new kit, and some of my overall positives.
—– The main thing I enjoy about the kit is the inability to ender pearl and keep the game a long range only fight. In this current season archer, against most high ranked players (excluding the legend bow booster PepperMint) prefer to long range bow fight, and it is a game of dodging. Although this probably has a higher skill cap than the S15 test archer, it could get kind of tedious and boring. Games can last almost 15 minutes if both players are adept at dodging. The new archer's Speed II allows players to get a bit closer, and the lack of ender pearls allow players the change how far they are from their opponent fairly easily. However, there is no way out once you get mid/short range, which leads me into my first negative.
—– The first thing I noticed while playing the queue is that once you're in short range you are stuck there. If a player runs at you and dodges your beginning shots and gets short range, you are almost forced to stay in the short range bow fights, unless you can tank a few hits running away. This means any player who is good at shot camping will have a much higher win rate, which I think is NOT good for the game. Shot camping is usually a sore subject between players, and the new queue promotes so much of it. My idea for a fix could be to add Punch I/II to your bow, so you can hit players out of short range and possibly short bow boost away. Although some players hate bow boosters, I think making it possible to leave short range would benefit the game. This would also be ideal because players would not be able to spam bow boosts, because they would hurt themselves too often. Players good enough to get in short range without taking damage can force opponents to bow boost away to take damage, which adds a new level of play we haven't really seen before: forcing opponents to damage themselves.
—– The biggest negative I noticed is the luck of shot damage. I tested this with my friend Sewl, and we saw that damage varied at max pullback of a bow. It usually varied inconsistently between 2.5 and 3.5. This is HORRIBLE for an Archer Queue. Having varied damage could be the difference between close fights, even if players hit each other the same amount with same chargeback. I feel like there must be set damage, such as a constant 3 hearts per hit each full charge bow shot. This would remove inconsistency and allow players to feel like they have not been cheated out of a win. Far too many times have I lost a game due to my enemy being at half a heart, then realizing my shots have only done 2.5 hearts rather than the enemies 3.5, even at same chargeback.
—– Overall I feel like the staff went the correct direction in making this kit, but there a few major flaws that must be addressed before the final release: The inability to leave short range and the luck of bow damage. With these fixes, I feel like the archer queue will be much improved on the S15 release, and will allow players such as I to keep enjoying the server I love.

—– Warm regards,
—– fordanjen

Posted on 16 December 2016 - 02:26 AM

+1

Posted on 16 December 2016 - 02:33 AM

I'm not quite sure why they want to change it in the first place; right now Archer is probably the 4th most popular ladder and I haven't really heard any negative feedback myself. Getting no KB and having no pearls makes it unoriginal (UHC Ladder 2.0).

Posted on 16 December 2016 - 06:43 AM

I do admit I probably like it a bit more now, but some people want change to the kits. Also, its always nice to have a change of things once in a while.