Greetings, Alchemists!
Once again, we have opened the Council of Alchemists to ask you, the players, for your input before making a decision that will affect, modify, and alter the very reality of the world of Cladia. Last week, we summoned the Council in this blog to discuss how to modify the "Alchemical Affinity" trait family to make it more intuitive for regular users without them needing to consult a guide. Ultimately, it was decided to implement a change where the trait itself indicates exactly how much Concentration it provides... This way, while you might not know in advance how much it will grant in future turns as the dragon grows, you can at least see its current value (without checking any guides).
Index
1. Introduction
On this occasion, we have summoned the Council of Alchemists for a balancing consultation. We all know that some traits are better than others, and this gap is magnified when we have to choose 1 out of the 3 traits that appear in the Incubator. There are traits that are "too weak" or "too situational" for their category, while others are simply far superior to the rest in their tier. There are also traits that are literally a worse version of another trait found within the same category.
2. "Problematic" Traits
2.1 Cruel
We’ve all been there: casting a few growth spells only to be hit with a temporary negative trait. There is always the fear of rolling Lazy or Rebel, but some Alchemists believe that one of the traits in the negative pool can actually be positive. This is the case with Cruel.
This trait makes the dragon always target the enemy with the lowest health or the lowest level; if there are other dragons present, it targets the youngest one. At first glance, it might seem like a "negative" trait because it causes your dragon to waste its massive claw attack on a 1-year-old hatchling instead of the 700-year-old dragon it's accompanying... an attack that is extremely valuable in a dragon-on-dragon fight.
However, it can also be seen as a way to reach numerical superiority faster in an even match. For instance, if we have a group of 6 dragons of various ages against another group of 6, having Cruel on a couple of them means clearing out the small ones right at the start, securing a numbers advantage early on.
Clearly, it all depends on the situation. Furthermore, if your opponent knows you have a dragon with Cruel, they could intentionally age up certain dragons to divert attacks toward the one with the highest Evasion or the best self-healing, for example. We’ve seen this tactic used before by Jaxun when players selected the "Challenger" trait (the counterpart to Cruel), which makes your dragons always attack the oldest dragon or the unit with the most health. After Jaxun gathered that data from a fight at a secondary tower against just a golem, he aged up his dragon with the highest Evasion to over 700 years. This caused his enemies' dragons to miss more attacks than usual by constantly targeting the one with the highest Evasion.
What do you think? Should Cruel be a common trait considered "good"? Or is it fine as a "bad" trait?
2.2 Sharp Claws
Veteran players are likely already familiar with the effect of Sharp Claws, but for the newcomers: it simply ignores 40% of the enemy's resistance when hitting with a basic attack. Since the damage formula is logarithmic, ignoring 40% of the enemy's resistance doesn't equate to exactly 40% extra damage, but it's close. In other words, it’s almost as if every one of your claw strikes is practically equivalent to 1.5 strikes from an identical dragon without this trait.
I’m not sure if much more explanation is needed. The data speaks for itself: Sharp Claws is the undisputed leader of the common trait pool. It is chosen almost every time it appears, and some players even trigger mutations before having high Genius stats just for a chance to get it. We are currently preparing a blog post about the trait selection process when choosing from eggs.
To give you an idea of the power scaling, Sharp Claws is currently competing on the same level as "Swift."
or with "Stallion."
For a trait you select from the common options, the power gap is simply staggering. It should be, at the very least, a "Green" (Uncommon) trait.
2.3 Teleport and the "Premonitory Dreams" spell
Veteran Alchemists surely remember the era when every dragon had "Phase Master" and "Teleport" because both traits were easily obtainable and didn't counteract each other. Thanks to the Gods of Cladia, these traits are now difficult to acquire and mutually exclusive, as we can no longer "jump" more than once per turn with the same dragon.
As we all know by now, new spells have been included that grant these traits for one turn. "Dimensional Portal" grants the "Phase Master" trait to a single dragon for one turn.
and "Premonitory Dreams", which grants a single dragon the "Teleport" trait for one turn.
The reality is that the creation of both spells has seriously affected the popularity of both traits—especially Teleport. Since the "Premonitory Dreams" spell is so, so cheap, the spell ended up being far better than the actual trait, completely overshadowing it and pushing it into second place.
So we ask you: What should we do? Should we increase the cost of the Premonitory Dreams spell? Should we lower the rarity of the Teleport trait, or is it fine where it is in the "Epic" tier?
3. Logical Cases
As the section title suggests, here we will look at cases that are beyond debate. These are objectively logical changes.
3.1 Incredulous and Magical Vision
Incredulous and Magical Vision are a clear example of traits that share the same rarity even though one is objectively superior to the other. In current matches, both are "Uncommon" (Green). Incredulous only gives us "10% Counter-Magic Evasion," while Magical Vision gives us "20% Counter-Magic Evasion." This is already superior on its own, as it doubles the only stat Incredulous provides... but on top of that, Magical Vision also grants us 20% Detect Invisibility. Therefore, it doesn't just outperform Incredulous in its own field, but it also provides additional benefits.
* Note: "Incredulous" has already been moved to the "Common" tier, while "Magical Vision" remains "Uncommon."
3.2 Aura of Fear and Aura of Terror
Both are currently "Common", but Treatening Aura should be the evolved version of Fear Aura. Essentially, Fear Aura gives -2 to enemy Loyalty, Accuracy, and Evasion, while Treatening Aura gives -5 to those exact same stats. This is the clearest example of why one should be the evolution of the other.
3.3 Fast Healing and Regenerate
For the newcomers, "Fast Healing" is one of the traits that the starting dragon possesses. It allows the dragon to heal 25% of its health for free every turn, regardless of the mission it performs. In other words: if it conquers, you heal 25%; and if you leave it resting, you heal 50% (since resting a dragon normally heals it by 25%, unless it has specific traits or tower buildings that increase healing).
Fast Healing isn't a bad trait, but it isn't a great one either... it is in the perfect spot to be a "Common" trait.
Now, let’s look at the trait that makes all the sense in the world as its "evolution", even though right now they are completely unrelated: Regenerate.
For the newcomers: Regenerate heals the dragon to 100% health after every combat. This means that if we have three battles in a single turn, it will heal us to full strength all three times. This is key for successfully casting Apotheosis or Talisman Synthesis and surviving the process.
Additionally, it provides a small buff: a 5-point heal for every COMBAT ROUND. In other words, every round—after using a breath attack, a claw strike, etc.—the dragon heals 5 health points.
Many of you might be thinking: Wait a second, 5 points? Wasn't Regenerate just 1 point? Yes, the SPELL version of Regenerate is DIFFERENT from the EGG trait version. The Regenerate trait from an egg heals 5 points per combat round, but the spell version only heals 1.
As they always say in Cladia: you’ll never pass a turn without learning something new. 😝
In short, it makes perfect sense for "Fast Healing" to be the lesser version of "Regenerate", and for them to form a family so you can evolve from one to the other.
4. Conclusion
What do you think, Alchemists? The Council has summoned you to hear your vote and your perspective. Would you add any other trait families? Would you increase the cost of Premonitory Dreams or lower the rarity of Teleport?
Leave us your thoughts in the comments section below—we’ll be delighted to read them.
That is all for now, Alchemists. See you in Cladia!
