Spells that attack all enemies used to have an animation where each enemy would be attacked individually and it looked super cool! But now the spells' animation just gives out one attack, and it feels really anticlimactic and boring. A portion of the spells I am referring to include but are not limited to: Meteor Strike Fire Dragon Tempest Humungofrog
That's why I request that the animations be changed back, or the player be given an option to change them back. This change is something I care so much about that I'm going to ask with a bolded, all-caps, and exclamation mark-included PLEASE!
i think you're right, honestly. im not opposed to updating AoEs, but i feel this update was definitely quantity over quality. spells that used to look clean and cinematic now look clunky and lifeless. alongside the ones you mention, i also feel that rebirth, scarecrow, sandstorm, forest lord, mystic colossus, and rain of fire all ended up a downgrade in multiple aspects -- animation, sound effects, camera, and so on. many more are also buggy in ways they weren't before (sirens, deer knight, meteor strike, etc.).
and the thing is, many of the AoEs weren't even that slow. there were just a few bad offenders like ra, forest lord, mystic colossus, etc. i think a much better move from KI would've been to focus on updating those super-slow spells and really innovating on them with new, better tech and clean animations. after confirming their changes actually had good results, then they couldve done it to other AoEs later. an example of an innovation couldve been creating adaptive tech that makes AoEs actually face toward the present enemies they're attacking, instead of just straight outward aimlessly. this would fix cases like in fire dragon where one of the battle spots arent even on-screen during the attack, so you can't see the damage done there. it looks sloppy and done without care.
sadly, im not sure KI will revert the AoE changes. for as clunky as they look, they do save more time. i just wish KI hadnt sacrificed so much quality to get it done. im not confident they will revisit the AoEs to polish them or fix bugs either, but thank you for sharing your thoughts and starting this conversation! i also care a lot about things like this, but i kept my feedback to myself after the changes went live. you inspired me to speak up! i hope KI sees your feedback and takes note to further improve our AoEs in the future
Honestly, I think it should go the other direction and that they should make all aoe do one attack.
AOE dominates this game and those spells end up being used 90% of the time. Making them shorter saves everyone a lot of time. I think the underlying issue lies in using aoe that much, but I certainly appreciate the shorter animations.
I strongly disagree. While I have issues with Forest Lord coming from the sky (not the ground) and I miss the Frost Giant's stun-breath, with those two exceptions, I think changing the AoE animations is one of the most player-friendly updates I've seen. Meteor Strike's camera angle may be off, sure (as is Blizzard's), but it looks far more impressive to hit all 4 enemies at once. I love Humungofrog's change because I hate the spell, and this makes it last less long.
Tempest needs to have rocks behind all enemies in the battle, rather than between the second and third battle slots. Orthrus needs some reconfiguring to seem more impressive- the flavor of the double hit is sorely missed. Power Nova should hit all enemies at once- why does the nova rebuild itself after exploding (and as one of the least visually intriguing spells in the game, it needs all the help it can get, or to have its pip slot swapped with Ra...).
Sitting there for over a minute and a half while Forest Lord hits was one of the most boring experiences I've had in the game. Seeing Scarecrow flip around after every hit was disorienting and took away from the power level.
The AoE changes are streamlining game experience and making extended playtimes way less bland. A great call from KI, even though there are places they missed the mark.
The reason they changed it is because we, the community, complained for years that they were too slow; they took too long. This happened because 1) the animations were slow 2) it hit more than one enemy. I am glad they changed it to hit all at the same time because the game has way too many slow down points. However, a complaint I DO have with them, is the camera angle is now set for position 2.5 (in between spots 2 and 3). I think that the animation should be centered on how many people the spell is hitting. If it's hitting one person, it should be straight on. If it's hitting 2 people, it should be centered between spots 1 and 2. If it's hitting 3 people it should be centered on spot 2. If it's hitting all 4, it should be centered in between spots 2 and 3. This way, we get to see the animation correctly.
The only AoEs that I wouldn't mind being reverted back to hitting one enemy at a time are the ones that were already really fast. Those being only Meteor, Blizzard, and Sandstorm. Power Nova too, but that spell still hits all enemies individually.
As a Myth main I'm especially glad that Humongofrog was sped up. Compared to the other cheap AoEs, Humongofrog was noticeably slower than the rest. There were times when I was farming and I opted not to attack just because the next wizard could just win the battle with a spell that was a good 20 seconds shorter than Humongofrog.
I have a somewhat different opinion on this. I agree that there was a need to make the spells hit every enemy at once. This is primarily because of spells with long animations like Rain of Fire, Humungofrog, and Forest Lord. This change overall improves the playing experience in regards to time.
However, I also agree that the animation quality has decreased as a result. Some spells don't look as great as they once did, with the "style" of the attack not suiting hitting multiple players at once. (Looking at you, Deer Knight.)
Here is my suggestion: It's not that the changes need to be reverted, it's that some of the spells (And only some, Fire Dragon looks great) still need to be improved upon. With new animations! Perhaps Frost Giant slams his hammer into the mountains beneath him, bringing down an avalanche that crashes into the opposing side, with another blow releasing a shockwave of cold that stuns everyone at once (To improve turn time even more). Perhaps instead of multiple smaller waves, Tempest is one enormous wave that crashes into everyone. There are changes that might make this better.
I know a lot of you might disagree with me, but I feel that this could be an interesting improvement that still maintains the faster round pacing.
