Does anyone else hate "Lucky" as a mechanic?

[Krehlmar twitch/gm4ng]

Balance aside, "Lucky" is a entirely ♥♥♥♥ mechanic as far as I am concerned.

Playing as halflings, or against halflings, it isn't fun nor is it ever "balanced" in the sense that it's a entire godamn coinflip.

Why not make it so that the chance is instead double but the reward is halved? Say 20% chance to negate 50% of effect/damage. This way you could get say 50% Cursed, but the opponent could still cast curse again (multiple units on same turn etc) and even if that curse got Lucky'd it'd give another 50% of the curse to a full 100%. Or if you got "Very Lucky" it'd start to negate 75% of the effect or whatnot.

The point is: 100% negation is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ stupid, aggrivating and entirely RNG in a game that has enough RNG as it is.

Why not just make a godamn class called "Joker" that does 1 to 100 damage in base damage if you love RNG so much... But god do I hate it.

[Johnny 5]

Agreed. Basically what i wanted to say but did not have enough time.

[SaintTodd]

Originally posted by AnemoneMeer:

Having lost battles that by no logic I should have possibly lost due to lucky proccing in excess of 10 times, I still think it should be left in.

Halfling units, with very few exceptions, are on the bottom end of the scale. Not simply due to physical weakness, but a lack of advantages across the board. Fireworks is about the only useful offensive ability they have, and nourishing meal is only good for bolstering heroes, and otherwise adds only a single attack to do lethal on halfling units in exchange for a full attack cycle, which averages to two attacks more to kill at very lucky where it finally becomes cost effective.

The only good class unit they get that is the defacto best pick is Rogue Scoundrel... which is largely used as a suicide bomber for clearing dreadnoughts, or power levelled to become shadow stalkers, and the scoundrel part is typically the fastest by a not-insubstantial degree already. Luckmuskets are another viable one, but run into competition with goblin muskets, who outside of Very Lucky being what it is, are not better than cheaper goblin hordes.

It's not even a matter of statistics, very few units that halflings get have unique features, those that do oftentimes get sub-par uniques like chicken throw, and those that do get a useful unique are universally low tier units. Phys weakness alone isn't a balancing factor to lucky, their poor skill selection is the real reason why they have lucky, and fixing that would require a ground up redesign of their forces.

Lucky keeps them viable as it means that on average X% of skills, abilities, and battles they will win via dodges, which makes up for their sub-par stats and unit selection.

They have flying cavalry that have an uncounterable AoE attack. And their pikemen have a long distance ranged attack. Yes, their supports are underwhelming, but they're fine.

[AnemoneMeer]

Yes, wing flap is good. Too bad the unit it is mounted on is terrible at everything else.

Eagle Riders have 60 hp, 11 armor, 11 resistance out of the gate, or in other words, have tankyness a tier lower than they are. Their list of other effects is virtually non-existant without promotions, and what they do get has zero synergy. Backstab doesn't work when wing flap's AoE demands you get within pinning range in the first place.

Pike weakness atop physical weakness atop swinging for only 13phys per hit, a value that is passed by every other T3 Racial in the game as far as I remember. They only mitigate a single point of damage with attacked, meaning that they're taking full damage almost from every attack. Charge doesn't play nice with wingflap either, so they're only getting improved move range from being mounted, which isn't helpful when they have no real use for it, because wingflap doesn't play nice with backstab, and charge gets their supremely squishy frames killed. To make matters worse, the classes who have use of eagle riders most, Dreadnoughts and Warlords, get better units to do the same role or are better served with another race's units. Giving them guns doesn't help much when gryphon riders have first strike and better statblocks out of the gate, and warlords can forego the AoE to field knights or beetles, who are much, much more durable and damaging turn over turn.

Wingflap itself is good, the chassis it is mounted on is below average with painfully little synergy between its stats, passives, and actives.

[Noble Ten]

Its annoying but I dont hate it, its a unique trait to the Halflings. I dont come to a forum and cry about it when my attacks get avoided. They suffer from a -20 Phys resist... so they have a draw back with it.

[The Doctor]

Nope. I like the mechanic. If I am fighting Halflings, I do what I can to make them very unhappy and if I am a Halfling, I do everything to max out my units' happiness.

They're meant to be different. Let's not nerf each race/faction into mediocrity please. Or at least, mod it out if you don't like it. But I'd be very unhappy if the devs removed this mechanic. (They won't though. This game is finished and they're working on something new.)

[Sedghammer]

Because lucky is tied to happiness it is easy to exploit. Going against them, making sure you are fighting in terrain that they hate or using abilities that negatively affect happiness. Not only does this negate the lucky trait, it makes their physical weakness that much more of a disadvantage.

[Shaithias]

I would like a streak breaker mechanic added to lucky. If you get lucky, then on the next hit you are less likely to get lucky, and if you dont get lucky, next chance you are more likely to get lucky. That way, it still feels random to a degree but its not as annoying. As in you won't have that one halfling that manages to run into battle with one hp and luck out two shadowstalkers -.-

[Yaro97]

Could even just make it limited to once per combat

[Malaficus Shaikan]

Is it really that bad?
In my experiance halfings almost never get lucky.
Sure it happends but never the amount people discripe here.
I consider it a good thing.
It makes halfings different then just an other short race.
We already have dwarves who are short walking tanks.
We already have fast breeding goblin's.
What shoud halfings have if not lucky that doesnt make them a discount dwarf or goblin?
If you want to complain an about unfair advantage let talk about goblins.
The only race that outright ignore's blighted terrian, reproduce like rabits, cheaper units and are just as good/better in a fight then most race's(swarm darters and butchers anyone)
And unlike halfings those bonuses arent a "chance" to happen.

[The Doctor]

I LOVE playing as Goblins. Goblin Theocrat is a blast to play.

[Krehlmar twitch/gm4ng]

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

Is it really that bad?
In my experiance halfings almost never get lucky.
Sure it happends but never the amount people discripe here.
I consider it a good thing.
It makes halfings different then just an other short race.
We already have dwarves who are short walking tanks.
We already have fast breeding goblin's.
What shoud halfings have if not lucky that doesnt make them a discount dwarf or goblin?
If you want to complain an about unfair advantage let talk about goblins.
The only race that outright ignore's blighted terrian, reproduce like rabits, cheaper units and are just as good/better in a fight then most race's(swarm darters and butchers anyone)
And unlike halfings those bonuses arent a "chance" to happen.

That's my point here

I AM NOT ARGUING IT IS UNBALANCED OR NOT

I AM ARGUING THAT IT IS A NON-FUN MECHANIC

[AnemoneMeer]

Originally posted by (Woc_Krehlmar:

Originally posted by Malaficus Shaikan:

Is it really that bad?
In my experiance halfings almost never get lucky.
Sure it happends but never the amount people discripe here.
I consider it a good thing.
It makes halfings different then just an other short race.
We already have dwarves who are short walking tanks.
We already have fast breeding goblin's.
What shoud halfings have if not lucky that doesnt make them a discount dwarf or goblin?
If you want to complain an about unfair advantage let talk about goblins.
The only race that outright ignore's blighted terrian, reproduce like rabits, cheaper units and are just as good/better in a fight then most race's(swarm darters and butchers anyone)
And unlike halfings those bonuses arent a "chance" to happen.

That's my point here

I AM NOT ARGUING IT IS UNBALANCED OR NOT

I AM ARGUING THAT IT IS A NON-FUN MECHANIC

The inherent problem with that stance though is that fun is a subjective experience. There are people for whom dodge mechanics are fun, and people for whom it is not fun, just as there are people who do and do not enjoy the game.

We can argue the objective merits and drawbacks, the reasoning behind its creation and implementation, and its effects of balance across the game, as these are all objective qualities, but we cannot argue "is it fun?", as that is something for everyone to decide for themselves.

Also, your OP does include mentioning you find it unbalanced.

[Kyoko]

I like the Lucky mechanic though I'd prefer every unit have an attack rating and miss chance.

[Morphic]

Originally posted by Kyoko:

I like the Lucky mechanic though I'd prefer every unit have an attack rating and miss chance.

Originally posted by AnemoneMeer:

We can argue the objective merits and drawbacks, the reasoning behind its creation and implementation, and its effects of balance across the game, as these are all objective qualities, but we cannot argue "is it fun?", as that is something for everyone to decide for themselves.

Yeah, that's pretty much the problem ... people's opinion on what is fun and what is not.

I personally loved the AoW 1/2 combat mechanics, in that it was very similar to the D20 system of D&D. Everyone had a chance to miss/dodge, everyone had a chance to Crit/fumble, regardless of their Tier or abilities. It felt like I was playing D&D on a massive scale with multiple characters. That's why I'm conflicted over AoW 3's Combat and actually prefer to use Auto-Battle most times. It feels more like a "wannabe competitive, except not" wargame.

There have been multiple, huge, threads discussing the Pros and Cons of each system. Ultimately it comes down to your opinion and what you find fun. Much like the Lucky Mechanic. Taking into account AnemoneMeer's earlier comments of the Halfling lineup and Unit stats ... Lucky is actually fairly balanced. Whether you like it or not is a totally different story lol.

[Yaro97]

It is just an additional factor to consider when going up against halflings. Losing to it isn't exactly fun unless the perspective on it is different. In a way it is punishment for over confidence and lack of understanding of each units capabilities. Given the situation where there are Cavalry going up against Halfling infantry, both are critically low. If you charge the cavalry into them and the halflings get lucky, retaliate and kill your unit, it feels bad. So you have to take them being lucky into consideration. Acknowledge that playing into that scenario has a chance to lose you the game. So conserve a spell, put more value into your ranged or play slightly more cautiously. Its not about removing the mechanic because 'you should have won' but adapting your strategy. Akin to how you can bring a swarm of infantry against some Draconian Flamers, if you group your units together, your chance of winning drops drastically. So you spread them out to minimize their benefit.

That my new mentality towards 'luck', its just another thing to play around.