I started Dominations in the first week of its release, and I've always loved the game and the aspect of taking risks but being rewarded in the long run. I picked Germany when it was considered pretty bad, but it has paid off in that it was underrated to begin with and it was buffed a few times. I picked Terra Cotta when I could look for an hour and find no players that had it, and I couldn't be happier.
I always wanted to pick Temple of Tikal when I was starting out--the hp boost to storages sounded like a really cool strategic bonus, and I always watched the progress of the one player on the leaderboards that had Tikal, and how interesting his base design was in order to capitalize on the storage hp boost. However, shortly before I took a long break from the game, Tikal's bonus was changed from boosting hp storages to a 3% loot refund and +2 trade good capacity. The player on the leaderboards with Tikal quickly used the new, "Change Wonder," function to replace Tikal with Versailles, switching to Versailles being a pattern almost every player has opted for.
I expressed my concerns with this balance change via in game customer support, but did not hear back, which was a little disappointing but understandable. With a game that has always rewarded my risks well, it's a little disappointing that I don't feel like I can do the same with the Gunpowder Age wonders. There is no reason at all to pick Tikal, since it is now unreasonably poor. Taj Mahal is in a similar boat, but the mercenary per day puts it a little ahead of Tikal. And Versailles is obviously the top choice.
The design intent around this long past balance change seems a little odd. Taj Mahal's loot bonus is an extension of Britain, while Tikal's loot refund is an extension of (the later added) Korea. These loot bonuses existing twice within two separate decisions provides some flexibility for the player (i.e. choosing whether or not to stack the loot bonus with their nation bonus), but the issues here are un-originality in the Wonder's bonuses ("copying" nation bonuses), and very little actual affect on the game.
I've always really wanted to pick Tikal, maybe because nobody has it, but unlike in the past when not many people were Germany and not many people had Terra Cotta, this isn't a risk that will ever pay off and it would be plain dumb for people to pick Tikal. I don't feel like it caters/rewards certain select playstyles even, and it would be incredibly ill advised for anyone to pick Tikal when the other wonders exist. In addition, the change to Tikal was made over a year ago and no rebalancing attempt has been made despite what would have to be a common forum topic (or at least, I speculate it is since I don't browse too much). I'm sort of curious how this has remained constant, and it's a reason why I still consider Gunpowder Age to have three wonders, and it's incredibly unfortunate that that's the case.
Though Tikal is undoubtedly the strongest example of unbalanced Wonders, there are others too--Pyramids, for example. Every age has certain Wonders that don't stack up to the others, and though maybe it isn't reasonably to expect all of these Wonders to be balanced, I don't think it's too silly to expect some of the most obvious examples like Tikal to be balanced--and after coming back today after a ~year break, I am shocked to read through the patch notes and see that it hasn't been touched.
The Dominations staff has a lot of great ideas, and I can offer my unimportant gamer suggestions that probably aren't too good, but ultimately we rely on the good ideas of the developers for any rebalancing. My ideas: Give it back a portion of its hp boost to storages so that its placement within the base is strategic again, or do something like significantly increase its existing bonuses at the very least.
After seeing surprisingly little attention given to what seems like a glaring negative aspect of balance in the game, it's important that there be more discussion. Other than Tikal, what changes need to be made to some of the other Wonders? I've seen a couple threads on the topic, but they taper out quickly and I'd like a thread to get the attention of developers. It really holds back balance and the absolute fundamental advantage of Dominations over other build style games--being able to make risky/rewarding in game decisions that actually affect the way we play.
I always wanted to pick Temple of Tikal when I was starting out--the hp boost to storages sounded like a really cool strategic bonus, and I always watched the progress of the one player on the leaderboards that had Tikal, and how interesting his base design was in order to capitalize on the storage hp boost. However, shortly before I took a long break from the game, Tikal's bonus was changed from boosting hp storages to a 3% loot refund and +2 trade good capacity. The player on the leaderboards with Tikal quickly used the new, "Change Wonder," function to replace Tikal with Versailles, switching to Versailles being a pattern almost every player has opted for.
I expressed my concerns with this balance change via in game customer support, but did not hear back, which was a little disappointing but understandable. With a game that has always rewarded my risks well, it's a little disappointing that I don't feel like I can do the same with the Gunpowder Age wonders. There is no reason at all to pick Tikal, since it is now unreasonably poor. Taj Mahal is in a similar boat, but the mercenary per day puts it a little ahead of Tikal. And Versailles is obviously the top choice.
The design intent around this long past balance change seems a little odd. Taj Mahal's loot bonus is an extension of Britain, while Tikal's loot refund is an extension of (the later added) Korea. These loot bonuses existing twice within two separate decisions provides some flexibility for the player (i.e. choosing whether or not to stack the loot bonus with their nation bonus), but the issues here are un-originality in the Wonder's bonuses ("copying" nation bonuses), and very little actual affect on the game.
I've always really wanted to pick Tikal, maybe because nobody has it, but unlike in the past when not many people were Germany and not many people had Terra Cotta, this isn't a risk that will ever pay off and it would be plain dumb for people to pick Tikal. I don't feel like it caters/rewards certain select playstyles even, and it would be incredibly ill advised for anyone to pick Tikal when the other wonders exist. In addition, the change to Tikal was made over a year ago and no rebalancing attempt has been made despite what would have to be a common forum topic (or at least, I speculate it is since I don't browse too much). I'm sort of curious how this has remained constant, and it's a reason why I still consider Gunpowder Age to have three wonders, and it's incredibly unfortunate that that's the case.
Though Tikal is undoubtedly the strongest example of unbalanced Wonders, there are others too--Pyramids, for example. Every age has certain Wonders that don't stack up to the others, and though maybe it isn't reasonably to expect all of these Wonders to be balanced, I don't think it's too silly to expect some of the most obvious examples like Tikal to be balanced--and after coming back today after a ~year break, I am shocked to read through the patch notes and see that it hasn't been touched.
The Dominations staff has a lot of great ideas, and I can offer my unimportant gamer suggestions that probably aren't too good, but ultimately we rely on the good ideas of the developers for any rebalancing. My ideas: Give it back a portion of its hp boost to storages so that its placement within the base is strategic again, or do something like significantly increase its existing bonuses at the very least.
After seeing surprisingly little attention given to what seems like a glaring negative aspect of balance in the game, it's important that there be more discussion. Other than Tikal, what changes need to be made to some of the other Wonders? I've seen a couple threads on the topic, but they taper out quickly and I'd like a thread to get the attention of developers. It really holds back balance and the absolute fundamental advantage of Dominations over other build style games--being able to make risky/rewarding in game decisions that actually affect the way we play.
