[Responded] Slugs in unlocked slot not counting properly?

2/9/2018 11:56 PM
Title: Slugs in unlocked slot not counting properly?
Reproduction Rate: 100%
Blocker?
Details:
Using an unlocked but 'organized' slot, with extra spells that are not assigned to the unlocked slot will still count and prevent slugs (see screenshot for an example, Immolation is not assigned to the 0 key). In theory this could get you in a situation where nothing is available to be drawn, but don't have to wait for the slug to drop off.


Steps to Reproduce:
Create a deck, lock all but one slot. Assign any number of spells the unlocked slot. Add spells to the deck 'draw' pool to prevent slugs from generating.

User Specs:
OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 (6.1.7601) 64bit
CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-6700K CPU @ 4.00GHz (8) System RAM: 16336
GPU: AMD Radeon (TM) R9 390 Series GPU RAM: 8167
SotA.EarlyAccess.LIVE.Win.64.728.Date.01.30.18
Area: POT_forest_metropolis_01b_template/Insulam de Nocte
Area Display Name: Insulam de Nocte
Loc: (48.4, 38.0, 276.9)
Debug: UE9UX2ZvcmVzdF9tZXRyb3BvbGlzXzAxYl90ZW1wbGF0ZXxJbnN1bGFtIGRlIE5vY3RlfCg0OC4zOTcsIDM3Ljk5OCwgMjc2LjkwOCl8KDAsIDAuMTcyLCAwLCAwLjk4NSl8NDQ0LjgwNjF8MzQuNjc2Mzh8MTcuMTE5MjM=

 

I hope this explains it well enough. Hang in there with me.

The grey ones mean there is no place for it. In your example, Immolation. You can get this to happen whether you have a potential for slugs or not. You could have 44 glyphs in your glyph pool and you will still have immolation greyed out as there is no free slot, nor is there a designated place for it. You can actually create decks with fewer glyphs and not get slugs, but it depends on what you lock and unlock. While you may avoid the slugs, you WILL get blanks. It won't have anything there. The more you lock, the more you can stack those with heat stacking. Example: if I have gust at GM and I lock it, I can stack it 5 times. They don't even need to be on the right hand list. In fact, I can lock a different glyph on each slot and have 'O glyphs' on the list. And I will get NO slugs. But quantity wise, it won't let me use more than I have earned. So if it is low level, I can't hold it down and use it 5 times.

Now the moment I have a glyph slot unlocked - whether I have an unlocked glyph or if that slot is blank - AND I have one more more glyph on the list to randomly pull from, slugs come into play as I have introduced the shuffled deck system. You'll get a slug there because nothing can be stacked (it's not locked) and it's looking at your deck to pull from. If you only have one glyph on your list with a shuffled deck, the other 11 are forced blank cards, the slugs. It is always going to always force 12 by filling in the rest with slugs. It is ignoring all your locked skills.

But in the end, you won't be able to use more glyph or skills at any time than the system intends. Your current deck is just set up without any random shuffle in mind, thus no slugs. But the moment you DO set up any kind of shuffle for a slot, it's gonna look for 12 glyphs it can pull from. Why do this? Shuffled decks brings a lot of variety to certain play styles and once you are slug free, they all pop super fast. Boom, boom, boom. So it won't make much sense to work with any kind of shuffled deck and only use a couple glyphs for it. People can of course, but I wouldn't recommend it. I tend to use a few different combinations with SOME shuffled deck in play. Just gotta stay slug free.

So between all the variations of combat decks: locked, unlocked, assigned slot (including multiple glyphs in a slot), shuffled deck, and heat system: I have a hard time explaining this. But it's an amazing system and one of the complexities I truly appreciate about the game.

@sgl2586

 

@Lexie In my example, if I removed the immolations from the 'pool' the deck builder will indicate I have slugs. Adding them (even though they can never be drawn/put into the slot), will cause the deck builder to be 0 slugs. If I am understanding your post correctly, you are saying this would count as by design? That seems...odd to me. If the 'unlocked but not shuffled' status of the deck posted can't have slugs, but instead suffers 'blanks' as you call them, why does it indicate slugs when I remove immolation? That seems at best unclear? Am I missing something here?

 

@sgl2586
That's good to know, it gives me a better understanding (I'm only going by what was shown here, if only screenshots allowed scrolling...)
And sorry if I repeat myself. It helps me to think things through.

So because your last slot is unlocked, you're kicking in the shuffle deck system. So you have 12 cards in your hand, including the immolation cards. They are not being completely ignored: randomly picking a card, you still have a chance of picking immolation. It just won't ever be used or show as a slug, because it's not a 'missing card'. It's just an invalid one. It will look at it, ignore it, then randomly pull from the hand again.

The sign of concern is the fact it's greyed out. You don't want greyed out spells in your shuffled deck. It won't slow you down by a HUGE factor, but you don't want them in the equation, whether you have zero slugs listed or not.

 

AFAIK -
Immolation is using up 2 glyphs - but not assigned to anything - so it's possible the "draw" on an unlocked slot will include an immolation glpyh - BUT - since you don't have immolation assigned to any slot, it will never actually show up - but if drawn, would stop another assigned card from showing up, until the next 'draw'.

If you leave any of your slots empty - then a random glpyh will be drawn, which could include immolation.

If you did assign immolation as a "locked" glpyh - you could only stack it to a maximum of 3 instead of 5 (assuming your skill level was sufficient), since you have 2 cards of immolation available to be drawn still.. if you removed them from the draw list, you could stack higher than 3 on the locked skill (if you had sufficient skill).

 

What he said

 

Still trying to make sure that my understanding, what you are saying, and what I am seeing is true...

Unlocked slot, designated glyphs, extra glyphs in the 'pool' not assigned, UI says 0 slugs: Draws the 'valid' cards, and puts to the designated slot. Can draw a card that isn't assigned, and will give a blank.

Unlocked slot, not designated, no extras (removed grey from previous), shows slugs in UI: Draws available or Slug, normal 'drop off' time before new card is drawn

Unlocked slow, not designated, 0 slugs per UI: draws and places into the unlocked slot, cards eventually drop off

The thing I am not understanding is the duration of the blank compared to the slug.

I can't say for sure (since it doesn't have an indicator) but it seems like a glyph decays in about 18s (possible some passives in play, but rough timer).

A slug takes about that same time (18ish seconds).
When you hit a 'blank' it seems to take 2-6 seconds for the next card to be rendered
On an unlocked/not designated, its about a second between cards/draws?

So this puts a scenario where you can avoid the slug detriment (18s of useless card) with 'blanks' for a few seconds. Bug? Design?

 

Yeah, I really still don't think there is a bug here.

@sgl2586
It's the better of the two I'd say (grey spell over dealing with slugs) on the exact two set ups you are comparing. There are other set ups where it would be the other way around. But you are still better off optimizing your deck by getting rid of both slugs AND grey spells, across the board.

Deck shuffling is hard with any slugs, for the reasons you mentioned. Your timing seems accurate. The current behavior is exactly what I've always known it to be designed as. Any kind of deck shuffling is better off being expanded slightly more into the rest of the deck, as you can only assign so many glyphs (stacked like that) to an unlocked slot. With your current set up, you have 2 'invalids' out of 12. So your blanks won't be as bad as hitting a single slug. But, I bet it was slowing you down more than you thought it was. Give it a try without the grey spells or slugs

Deck systems are kinda like apples and oranges...slugs are bad, but when avoided, can be so much more powerful than managing locked gylphs. But that depends entirely on the flavor of the fight, combinations used, strategy. Both do not behave the same comparatively, but were not meant to be.

 

I shall take it as Designed then, appreciate the sanity check if nothing else @Lexie

 

No problem, good talk
@sgl2586