Quarrels Are Disappointing (Rant)

[DeadOptic]

This is my opinion, I am not a game dev and I do not know the technical struggles of developing this game and I have the utmost respect for all the amazing people at thing trunk who made this game. That being said, I have been woefully underwhelmed with the recent addition of Quarrels, so if you're not interested in a long winded overly critical rant, than this post is not for you. I just needed to get this off my chest.

My thoughts on Quarrels

What they're good for:
-Better close range damage than arrows.
-Hits 2 enemies.
-Actually does decent damage on higher rarities.
-The idea of Lover's-Quarrel and Wasp are actually pretty good ideas. I just wish there were more like them.
-Zhuge Crossbow has potential...if you're doing a quarrel build.
-Dragon's Breath great...but its just better for arrow builds

Why I Hate them:
-THEY ALL GIVE SHAKY HANDS...ALL OF THEM...
-Neuters arrows entirely by their very existence in your deck
-Has very few synergies
-Basically the arrow without syngergising cards like Shrapnel to bolster their build.
-Upgrades are all basically the same card just with buffed damage or the addition of moving a single enemy AWAY from the quarrel's effective range.
-The Quarrel's effective range is close, yet Ram/Loki move them to far...where they will do less damage due to shaky hands.
-A kick plus an arrow does the exact same thing as one single Ram/Loki quarrel for the same exact cost except the quarrel will leave you with shaky hands.
-Invalidates the push based influences.
-Cheek rest is literally a re-skinned eagle's eye exclusively for quarrels.

Literally any other build can accomplish what quarrels do without all the self inflicted pain. They don't do insane damage (sharp rain can deal far more damage than any quarrel to far more targets with far less setup) so why do they lower your damage at all? They don't pierce defence, they hit a maximum of 2 targets, they don't inflict some debuff, if their only sin is doing damage at close range then what is the point of carrying quarrels which only purpose is currently for attacking close range.

Quarrels feel so uninspired, just re-skin after re-skin of existing cards that are so niche and so disconnected from the rest of the rogue's cards that they end up hindering more than they help. They add no additional value or strategy to a deck, its just more garbage to avoid or get rid of.

Imagine how awesome it would have been if quarrels were all influences that could be loaded, then fired with stacking damage and effects at targets or patterns determined by a crossbow attack card. That would introduce a unique and risky play style with strategy and many potential builds instead of being bland attacks, more focused on grand setups to sweep floors. The Zhuge crossbow is the feint glimmer of this idea, but is limited by just how pathetic quarrels are, only dealing single target damage and only if you have nothing but quarrels in your hand.

Quarrels could have been good, but honestly they just released with too few cards. They needed more synergies and support cards, and they will stay redundant until these cards are added in future updates. Either quarrels needed more time to develop that content, or they needed a better design to begin with, because right now they're just disappointing.

[Konstanty]

Awesome of you to take time to write down this feedback, I have forwarded it to the rest of the team (especially guys working on cards). This is good stuff, thank you!

[Whitey]

Originally posted by Konstanty:

Awesome of you to take time to write down this feedback, I have forwarded it to the rest of the team (especially guys working on cards). This is good stuff, thank you!

I think one thing that would help them out is making them bypass block and/or hit all enemies in a narrow cone (even make the cone narrower than normal if need be).

[Nordos/atord]

Another small point I want to add:
The new influence that is a carbon copy of the Mage one is ... unfitting (Quarrels/Arrows deal double damage to frozen enemies)
Since Rogue has no access to frozen cards, I would like to have it changed. Two things would be more fitting, though I dunno which I would take:
- Enemies that are stunned take double damage
This is something a few different classes have access to, but especially rogue has a lot of stun support. Also synergises with the generated Garbage Arrows
- Enemies that are marked take double damage
This would tie it closer to mark decks and support that archetype. On the flipside, this would make the influence decidely weaker than the stun one. In return, it allows to nuke an enemy (say they have 5 marks, and your 2 damage arrow would deal 14 instead of 7 damage against it)

[Whitey]

Yes, I've always wondered why there's no damage mechanic around stunned enemies. I think I prefer this proposal over dealing double damage vs frozen enemies.

[King]

I think more mechanics to synergize with other classes is great, so Quarrels work well with Mage and Eternal Winter.

[Whitey]

Originally posted by King:

I think more mechanics to synergize with other classes is great, so Quarrels work well with Mage and Eternal Winter.

Then you'd love the idea of quarrels dealing more damage with stunned enemies since more classes can stun than can freeze.

[Sneak Dog]

Quarrels are weird. The low rank quarrels are great value. 2 damage + a push or another 2 damage is awesome. But they do not upgrade well, better to just get the accompanying influences or go into an arrow build as you upgrade.
The Zhuge crossbow is... ok? It means not playing the other quarrels...

[Nordos/atord]

Originally posted by Sneak Dog:

Quarrels are weird. The low rank quarrels are great value. 2 damage + a push or another 2 damage is awesome. But they do not upgrade well, better to just get the accompanying influences or go into an arrow build as you upgrade.
The Zhuge crossbow is... ok? It means not playing the other quarrels...

I agree. The starter card is really really strong, the common ones are quite useful ... and then it goes downhill. The same is true for the legendary arrows, but arrows have way more support with things like Shrapnel, or Streak.
If I look at other things, it feels like the crossbow is a worse version of, say, Shredder Strike. Yes, it does deal more damage, but ... also not really?

[Doomy4Life]

Close Range Rogue could be a fun subtype. Eratta cards like Shreder to be buffed from Quarrels instead of Arrows. Add an Influence card or a Quarrel that has a pull in effect. Call it Rope Quarrel or something where all enemies hit get pulled to the close range

[coldpersonman]

Doesn't seem like anything has changed at all. Quarrels just feel vastly infernior to every other rogue build like bombs, or rain or etc. What's the point except to make it harder on yourself?