🧪 Early Information on Raid formations [Part of The Beta Beat v31]

[Mr.Spock]

Yeah I guess we’ll have to see as they roll it out. If you find that post about how long it takes to charge without getting hit I’d be very interested to see it

[Disposable]

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could duel with alliance mates and these new formations were introduced there first and everybody could play around with it for a month or so before it goes live to get used to this enormous change in one of the most popular game modes and figure out how to use it and how to attack it and whether we even want to use it instead of just the beta crew having that experience?

No beta hate here, seriously, but this kinda turns the whole raid arena on its head and we’ve got a small slice of the population who’ll have considerable practice by then.

I know this is an old complaint about beta heroes and features but honestly those things never bothered me. But this will be an entirely new arena with entirely new ways to think about team building, attack strategy, etc. It will all even out eventually of course, but I’m not really looking forward to the transition right now. And I know that the beta crew is a very small section of the whole population, but when every move we make will be a learning experience the advantage has to be real.

To that end, I wonder about some things that we probably don’t have answers to:

• Are there any plans to allow players to practice with the formations before they commit to using them or before it actually starts to count against their record?
• I mentioned it earlier, but: will teams with the new formations have their own raid arena, or will “Standard-V” teams be forced to fight them? What about teams who haven’t even unlocked the new formations yet?
• Will this be opt-in, or are you just stuck with it once you hit HA (or whatever the threshold is?)
• Relatedly, if we opt in and hate it, can we opt out again?
• Will there be any outside advantage to adopting the new formations, such as higher resource payouts or additional loot rolls? (wishful thinking, lol)

I don’t hate the new formations but I’m not sure if I like them yet either (I do like the idea so far, at least) - if I get stuck with them regardless it doesn’t really matter I guess, but as it stands now I’m not stuck because I haven’t built HA yet. A change like this could easily lead to new “recommended best practices” for advancing through the game, and the threshold for unlocking these formations could be a new breakpoint.

This is all hypothetical, but that’s really all I have to work with at this point.
So, hypothetically:

• What if the only way to viably attack the new formations is with mostly 5* attackers? Maybe in that case it could be smart to wait on unlocking the formations via HA until we have sufficient 5*s to compete (analogous to the 30-hero breakpoint for joining wars).
• The old classification of [1 Tank - 2 Flanks - 2 Wings] is obviously out the window, so what will be the new suggested minimum heroes for these positions? Will new positions develop? Reasonable assumptions could be anything from 3 tanks to all AOE, but it would be nice to be able to build what is needed before needing it.
• And how much of a hindrance will emblems be in all of this? Reasonable assumptions would again suggest that a Reverse formation would require different hero compositions than the Double formation, which are different still from Reverse Double. The cost to re-emblem just one hero is already a hefty consideration to team building & rebuilding, how in the world would a person be persuaded to re-emblem 2 or 3 heroes to experiment with these new formations? At that point it could be up to a month of resources to rebuild for a different formation, how many players will consider that a worthwhile exchange?

I’m mostly just thinking out loud here, so to speak, but there’s a lot in the new formations to ponder. Not the least of which is whether to rush HA because you’ll be at a disadvantage without the new formations, or to wait on HA until you have sufficient heroes for the new formations. Just knowing whether the old and new formations will be mixed together in raids would be a huge help.

(damn potent leaves got me writing novels again… oops. I should probably continue my pondering offline for the time being )

[Maltkitty]

@Disposable

Will this be opt-in, or are you just stuck with it once you hit HA (or whatever the threshold is?)

What do you mean by opt-in? You can change your defence team back to standard in the HA if you’re asking if you’ll be stuck with the new formation.

[Disposable]

@Maltkitty

What do you mean by opt-in? You can change your defence team back to standard in the HA if you’re asking if you’ll be stuck with the new formation.

The difference would be in the opponents you face, whether everyone is standard or a mix of new formations.

[Maltkitty]

I see what you mean now, I’m hoping it will be opt in/be a separate arena as I’m not sure if I’ll enjoy fighting these new formations.

[ArchiDevil]

With those new formations Telluria’s owners can level up more than one copy now.

[Fookit]

What happened to formations? I know it didn’t make it to v31 but is there any news about when?

[DaveCozy]

@Disposable

Are there any plans to allow players to practice with the formations before they commit to using them or before it actually starts to count against their record?

No you start using them right away as soon as you set it. You can’t change it until the 24h cooldown passes.

I don’t really think much about trophies myself, if anything the raid arena is where I experiment.

@Disposable

will teams with the new formations have their own raid arena, or will “Standard-V” teams be forced to fight them? What about teams who haven’t even unlocked the new formations yet?

Yes, standard-V teams can fight other raid formations. That’s how it worked in Beta. Same with potentially fighting them even if you don’t have the formations unlocked.

A big, big feedback request was previewing the formation before entering the raid. Staff indicated they have plans to do that. So you will never be in the dark as to which formation you’re going to fight.

@Disposable

Will this be opt-in, or are you just stuck with it once you hit HA (or whatever the threshold is?)

Once you build the HA, the menu unlocks there. You can change your formation if you want, or you can just leave it as is.

@Disposable

Relatedly, if we opt in and hate it, can we opt out again?

Yeah, you can revert to the previous formation.

If you’re asking on whether you can opt out of rolling teams with the formations though, then no that was not possible.

@Disposable

Will there be any outside advantage to adopting the new formations, such as higher resource payouts or additional loot rolls?

Nope, and personally I am glad there’s not

Gameplay wise, many testers indicated from a first glance that the double formations seemed pretty strong though, mostly because you needed to take out two heroes to start ghosting tiles. But there’s still a lot of time to balance them out and I don’t believe we’ve seen the last of them in Beta.

@Disposable

The old classification of [1 Tank - 2 Flanks - 2 Wings] is obviously out the window, so what will be the new suggested minimum heroes for these positions? Will new positions develop?

I think the old classification we use in the forums (they’re not official game terms either) will still be valid, because raid formations are currently only planned for raids only. Not for tourneys and not for wars.

I’m sure we the community will come up with terms. Personally I suggest just numbering each position like I did in the graphics above, but we’ll see what sticks. That’s not an answer anyone person can arrive by themselves, the whole community will find terms that they think are best and easiest to remember.

@Disposable

The cost to re-emblem just one hero is already a hefty consideration to team building & rebuilding, how in the world would a person be persuaded to re-emblem 2 or 3 heroes to experiment with these new formations?
…
At that point it could be up to a month of resources to rebuild for a different formation, how many players will consider that a worthwhile exchange?

Probably not many lol.

Given that they’re only going to be used in raids, I doubt anyone will be rushing to remblem their teams just to try new formations.

If they expand to other areas of the game, then it might be worth considering.

[B1gHeadAss]

@DaveCozy

“Target and (minor damage to) nearby” skills

One difference between enemy mobs in map stages that use this formation is the way these skills work with Double and Reverse Double.

Currently, these skills nearby effects refer to enemies that are beside that hero, in the same row .

A visual example: let’s say Thorne targets hero in position 3 of Double… here’s the heroes that take the damage:

This formation seems stronger than the classic default in several ways. I’m assuming if you target hero 2, a hit-3 hero will only hit hero 2 and 4.

@DaveCozy

Also worth noting is that column 4 match damage is shared between your two front heroes. This works just like in map stages with these enemy formations.

For column 4, how do tiles affect mana generation between 2 and 4?? Does it charge both heroes as if it were a full tiles hitting them or does it split the tiles hitting them?

For example if u make a vertical 3-match in column 4, does it count as 3 tiles hitting hero 2 and 3 tiles hitting hero 4? Or does it count as 1.5 tiles hitting hero 2 and 1.5 tiles hitting hero 4?

[DaveCozy]

@B1gHeadAss

how do tiles affect mana generation between 2 and 4?? Does it charge both heroes as if it were a full tiles hitting them or does it split the tiles hitting them?

I think the mana gain per tile was halved just like it works on 2 bosses side to side in map levels. I think anyways, I remember that someone in beta pointed that out.

It was hard to tell for me though since there’s no number for mana bar, only visually we can guesstimate, and mana troops throw those things off too.

[MartyLikesTech]

I was wondering the same thing! Hopefully we’ll get an update (or we missed an update that was already given).

[littleKAF]

@Fookit

What happened to formations? I know it didn’t make it to v31 but is there any news about when?

The v32 beta testing roadmap was just released. Raid formations is not on it. So I wouldn’t expect anything new for at least a month.

[averagejoe33]

As someone without a great tank still (at level 61!) the reverse formation could be the one I’d go for, unless I get a tank before then

[Fookit]

Thanks for the into!

[Starless]

Anyone hear anything more about this?

[Guvnor]

Hasn’t returned to Beta since it appeared in V31 of Beta Testing.

[yelnats_24]

Was there a proposed beta feature that fail to be released before?

[littleKAF]

Replicating minions on Santa’s challenge I’d one I recall. I believe there were nerfs to guin before I was in beta too. Also, I don’t believe the war rule elemental charge ever came out.

[PlayForFun]

@Guvnor
Are you planning to update the OP here too with V35 changes ?

As Double Raid Formation seems to be changed to this:

From this in the OP:

So you can directly hit all 5 heroes with tiles as 3 is no longer blocked completely by 2 and 4

The target and nearby enemies effect is also changed for the Double and Reverse Double Raid Formation.
It no longer his enemies in the same line.
If you attack hero 2 then it attacks hero 1, 2, 3
If you attack hero 4 then it attacks hero 3, 4, 5
If you attack hero 3, then all heroes are attacked. (No matter how many of the other heroes are died)
And of course it is working the same way for buffs and status ailments.

[koziar993]

@PlayForFun

If you attack hero 3, then heros are attack.

Should be “all heroes” are attacked, am I right?