Controlling Druid spirit animals?

[Hooch]

I assumed I would need to control the spirit animals, but all it it does during the animal's turn is cycle through its cards, then end its turn. I've tried selecting one of those cards, nothing happens. The spirit animal doesn't even move into another spot on the map. It's as if the spirit animal is 100% useless as it just takes up space. I can't get it to attack or move.

Surely I'm doing something wrong, but I'm not seeing it. Any ideas?

[CreatureOfAppetite]

Look at the attack pattern on the summon's cards (the dots on the left). They auto-attack but have pretty specific requirements. The wolf, e.g., will only attack in a straight line (same lane). So if they're in a lane with no enemies, they won't do anything. They also won't move on their own, but you can force them to move by swapping on another character's turn.

I am also underwhelmed by summons so far, but they can contribute with a little nudging.

[dwmr]

The minions previously used to move but because they ended up breaking a player’s formation, the change was eventually made to keep them static. In exchange, more minion movement cards were made available that would grant additional effects like move + guard. That’s the gist of why they act the way they do currently but we will continue monitoring feedback to make changes.

[Hooch]

Originally posted by dwmr:

The minions previously used to move but because they ended up breaking a player’s formation, the change was eventually made to keep them static. In exchange, more minion movement cards were made available that would grant additional effects like move + guard. That’s the gist of why they act the way they do currently but we will continue monitoring feedback to make changes.

Why not make them controllable, like the rest of the characters? Each spirit animal could have their own unique card sets and AP. Would open up the summoning aspect quite a bit in the game.

Loving everything else. It's a terrific game, one of the best card rpgs I've ever played. But the summoning mechanics just seem so out of place with everything else you guys have done in the game.

I changed my mind about this. After playing around with it for a few hours, I became accustomed to how it works, and actually enjoyed it. It just takes a bit of time getting used to. It can really be very powerful if the right cards and passives are in play.

[Kriminaal]

Originally posted by CreatureOfAppetite:

Look at the attack pattern on the summon's cards (the dots on the left). They auto-attack but have pretty specific requirements. The wolf, e.g., will only attack in a straight line (same lane). So if they're in a lane with no enemies, they won't do anything. They also won't move on their own, but you can force them to move by swapping on another character's turn.

I am also underwhelmed by summons so far, but they can contribute with a little nudging.

True to start but... there are a few cards you can use to 'level up' your summons. Once you have a mastered summon card and the right cards (mastered one that masters your summons skill cards + the mastered passive one that allows x3 attacks which is actually x6 attacks with the 2 attack cards they have) the summons become ridiculously overpowered (including the ability to attack in 3 lanes instead of one). You do have to focus on one summon type if you want it to be effective.

Also, Werewolves are pretty awesome. With positive reinforcement and that passive one mastered they were hitting x6 (x3+x3) in 3 lanes for 30 damage per hit. They also had like 75 HP.

[Astronest]

Originally posted by Aionion:

Why not make them controllable, like the rest of the characters? Each spirit animal could have their own unique card sets and AP. Would open up the summoning aspect quite a bit in the game.

Loving everything else. It's a terrific game, one of the best card rpgs I've ever played. But the summoning mechanics just seem so out of place with everything else you guys have done in the game.

I think if you should control all the minions you summon, each battle will take too long and you'll get easily stressed by lots of micro. Guess that's the reason, I think. This game has really lots of battle

[Hooch]

You might be right. I gave it a 2nd go, and learned how the mechanics actually worked, and adopted accordingly. It's not as bad as I originally thought. I quickly became accustomed to it and used summoned beasts effectively.