about 5 years ago - /u/Supercell_Drew - Direct link

Hey Reddit,

I'm here with some info on what we’ve been working on and what you can expect in the coming month!

We have an update slated for the end of September, AND we are gearing up for a spooky Season 4, launching on October 7th.

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Something we are introducing in the September update will be a tiebreaker.

Tiebreakers will be going into all game modes except 1v1 Ladder (Trophy Road) and will mean that draws will almost always no longer be possible.

If they perform as intended and we see positive results, we will also then extend tiebreakers to 1v1 Ladder in the future.

u/Supercell-Seth (our friendly neighborhood game designer) has shared his thoughts on the topic:

“We have been discussing draws in the team for a long time. It feels awful to grind out a 6-minute game and walk away with nothing. We feel that draws should effectively never happen, as they are a failure of the game systems to determine a winner. After watching the tiebreaker rules in our esports events for years, creating exciting moments in the final minutes of a match, we have decided to roll out tiebreakers with the next update.

The way it works is simple - when time runs out in a battle (after Overtime), each Tower will quickly take an even amount of damage until one tower goes down - which will be the Tower with the lowest Hitpoints.

The first tower to be destroyed will generate a Crown, ending the game in a 1-0 win (instead of a 0-0 draw).

Why do this now? Well, quite frankly, 5% of games ending in a draw is way too often. In some trophy ranges, draw rates approach 15%! Every draw is not generating trophies or chests for either player. With this change, a vast majority of games will end with a clear winner and prevent long draws that feel unsatisfying for both players.

We are doing this in all modes except 1v1 Ladder to observe any changes to the metagame before deciding whether or not to make it universal in all game modes. This will start with the next update, and we will let you know the results of the test as we approach the November balance changes.”

We’d love to hear your feedback on this - so please let us know your thoughts!

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We also have a few Quality of Life improvements, including automatic Clan leadership rotation (for Clans with inactive Clan Leaders) coming in September. These are relatively small changes in relation to other aspects of the update - but we wanted to inform you of this ahead of time!

We’re still being Legendary in Season 3, running the Lumberjack Rush challenge this weekend (what better way to celebrate Friday the 13th than with a bunch of crazed drooling axemen) and we will be holding Touchdown and Night Witch Challenges next week! Keep an eye out for those Night Witch Emotes too <3

Myself & Seth will be hanging out in this thread replying to comments so if you have any feedback let us know!

Have a good weekend,

Drew, Seth, and the Clash Royale Team

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about 5 years ago - /u/Supercell_Drew - Direct link

Originally posted by Earlio52

That sounds like a great system to solve the drawing issue (albeit it will still be possible to draw in global tournies with both sides consenting). With that out of the way, do you guys ever plan on addressing the lack of incentive to play the first card? Top level matches can sometimes go until double elixir time without playing any cards, and that’s no fun.

that’s always a hard one - we’ve thrown around a few ideas and one that seemed interesting was slightly reversed hearthstone opening of giving an extra elixir to the person who makes the first move.

but as we aren’t a turn based game it’s hard to get a ‘fair’ answer to incentivize going first. queue spamming a card as soon as the game starts etc.

we don’t have any plans to change this at the moment. maybe we could do a trial in CRL or tournaments where it seems to be a bit more prevalent but for now it’s not a massive priority!

thanks for the question

about 5 years ago - /u/Supercell_Drew - Direct link

Originally posted by Majin_Vegito7

Can you hint any balance changes or more update news for next month?

we will be releasing more update news towards its release, and as for balance changes - keep an eye out for what we do with the witch!

about 5 years ago - /u/Supercell_Drew - Direct link

Originally posted by Xhabdic

Can we talk about Witch?

First things first, witch is absolutely not in need of a nerf. It has a very low use and winrate (in GCs) for a reason, it's rather weak and has a lot of (hard)counters.

However with that being said, I feel like witch is too much rock-paper-scissor based.

If I have a valk and place it against a witch, I counter the witch for a 5 elixir positive trade (since the valk essentially has full health). Which in most cases, can be game.

If I have a Pekka and place it against a witch , the witch counters the Pekka for a 7 elixir positive trade (since the witch has full health). Which, again, in most cases can be game.

I can't think of any other cards in the game that can get such a huge positive or negative elixir trade by simply putting it down. Obviously every card has counters and every card counters other cards. However, I feel like the witch currently is too strong against single hitters and too weak against anything dealing splash.

Combine this with her high (5) elixir cost and we get a card that's imo very rock-paper-scissor based in her being extremely weak in some match-ups, but extremely powerful in others.

Therefore I think this card should be reworked. I think she would be less matchup dependent if she was 4 elixir (smaller negative elixir change possible) and spawn less skeletons, perhaps 2 instead of 3 (worse against single targetters). I'm not sure if it would be balanced (too weak or too strong) this way, but I bet you would be better reworkers than me.

Do you guys have any plans for the Witch right now? Or do you plan on leaving her as she is?

yep, we are looking at a rework for witch in season 4!

about 5 years ago - /u/Supercell_Drew - Direct link

Originally posted by -everwinner-

Tiebraker sounds like it makes damage spells even more important than they are right now.

I predict that we will see another spell tower damage reduction some time after the change goes live

this is one of the reasons we want to release it outside of ladder first, because there are a whole bunch of ways it could affect the meta. seth was discussing this exact thing (a spell tower damage reduction) as a potential side effect to having this.

it’s one of those things where it’s both exciting and scary to see what this change will bring, but seth has a bunch of answers for most situations which we are confident will restore balance if needed!

about 5 years ago - /u/Supercell_Drew - Direct link

Originally posted by sauterellle

Hello Seth and Drew! The tiebreaker is a really great idea!! :)

Could you please tell us what are the cards that could potentially get a buff, nerf or rework on October 7th? So far we only know about the witch rework, but I’m curious to see what other changes you have in mind!

P.S. a bowler buff would make my entire year :)

not in season 4 but we have been playtesting one potential bowler buff (increased elixir but more damage to buildings) and it’s feeling pretty good!

about 5 years ago - /u/Supercell_Drew - Direct link

Originally posted by Pusc1f3r

u/Supercell-Seth after the overtime has expired and the towers start to take damage "quickly" will there still be the abililty to play cards? Are you worried this will incetivize players to turtle up and spell cycle to the end with rocket/lightning/zap/fireball or the like and just try and chip down the opponent tower faster than their own tower dies?

also when you say it takes damage quickly, is it like 10 seconds or 1 second? I know it depends on the remaining health of the tower but constitutes "quickly" to you?

nope, cards will not be able to be played during this time, but the animation will better visualize the tiebreak to players. it will be a matter of seconds

about 5 years ago - /u/Supercell_Drew - Direct link

Originally posted by FlyingMachine33

What about a new card? We haven't seen one for two months!

😉