Hi!

briggsbuilds said:

What I would really like to see is a fourth choice for your masteries based on faction.  This would add a lot of flavor and gaming interest to the different teams.  As it stands, if you didn't see the graphics, you'd have a hard time telling one faction from the next but if you could choose to give them a flavor oriented advantage.... well... 

Imagine disciplined Banner Lords able to give a little bonus to common and uncommon soldiers on their team.

Imagine undead summoning skeletons in place of dead teammates.

Imagine dwarves gaining percentage bonuses on their weapon's stats.

Imagine demons damaging themselves to up their damage dealt.

Of course these could all be new abilities for new heroes but having the ability to add faction color to my raiders would be cool.

Thank you for your suggestion. For a flavor to the fraction, we use character looks, animations, and champion preview screen. As faction-specific Masteries, abilities like this may break the balance of the game, and they do exist in different forms as abilities of different champions. There is also a concern that faction-specific Masteries give an unfair advantage or have too little of an impact to be chosen.

Have a nice day and stay safe.

Funny.  The frustrated and angry message didn't get erased.... :/

I feel I have to say one more thing in defense of this idea.  I know balance is important and I don't have my finger on the pulse of the metrics and other data that you do.  But interest is just as important as balance and I believe that someone who DOES have their finger on the pulse could design masteries that were both balanced AND colorful.  And I have to say, as an experienced game player, that the faction color isn't coming through except in the graphics (which are fabulous for the most part).

Arguably the most successful game in recent history, Magic the Gathering, maintains the devotion of its players not only with a reasonable balance but with a persistent color logic and compelling story that turns what is basically is a numbers game into a treat for the imagination.  I would argue that Magic succeeds at least as much by its color as it does by the strength of the game beneath it.  So keep adding newness.  Keep adding mechanics. Keep adding color and don't underestimate the power of the compelling, emotional part of your game.

I've played a lot of games.  I really want to love this one because it has good bones.  So don't focus on the off-handed, specific suggestions I made, but on the idea of faction color and interest.  When a player chooses a faction to focus on, make it an emotional choice and you will inspire them to love their team.