First impressions with the update

[Prinny]

Doofus is not a real defensive war, just fyi, he just still haven't finished his build yet on account of him being a dumbass. He's in no way like Aegis and Barrier who'll never even try to hit you.
And even though I have a tank, I do have to agree some of these tanks are just waaay too cheesy.

He carries a shield hence he is a defensive gladiator! I did note that he isn't on the same lvl as the top ones didn't i? :P

[Alba Kebab]

......Fine, I won't argue with that.

[Jelle]

Been about a week now and I've still not fully tweaked the strategies, that's great! I'm really loving the new viable strategies and how the entire spectrum of activity and bloodlust can be used, instead of the usual 6/7+ on both.

Both offensive and defensive war seem viable options, though there aren't that many offensive skills to be had in the war tree. Seems like death from above is the real centrepiece for an offensive war build, and going hybrid for the rest.
Lots of skills that promote use of a shield, I sort of wish there was something similar in the theatrics tree. I don't even know entirely how armored fortress works yet.

The theatrics tree seems to have a healthy mix of offense and defense, still need to try out bloody spectacle but it seems to mostly benefit bleed builds. I hope bloodletters aren't going to dominate theatrics specialization entirely. One thing to note is that I've only very rarely seen surprise ending occur, even when using mostly a defensive fighting style. When it does at the right moment though, but I suppose that's a matter of luck.

Can't comment much on rage as I don't run any, but I have tried out adrenaline rush and I must say it's immensly powerful, maybe a little to much. Rampage hitting for ludicrous amounts even with one handed weapons. Hell I had a really hard time beating bird of prey with my theatrics, him hitting for over 500 with a dagger. Hard for me to say where rage is at, they really seem to be hit or miss to me now.

Overall seen a performance increase on several glads and decrease in others. Seems like Aegis is starting to actually compete at least, although she seems to have a harder time making the hits count. Maybe because of the shift from all out offensive fighting styles to more reserved ones. Staring contests still as boring as ever though, got to do something about that...

[sevenseas]

My opinion on the update and its effect on rage...it's seems to me that rage is now the hardest specialty to work in, and for me personally, it makes me want to just walk away when i see a knife continuously hitting WAY harder than my 2 hand weapon. Wars and theatrics seem to have a pretty easy time after the update...Dirty John (Perhaps my worst glad pre-update ) is maybe my best glad...a theatric and i'm not even trying with him. My rages: ..loss...loss....loss...loss. It's quite frustrating, because it seems there are no strategy combo's that will work in 2 fights in a row. It's not been fun for the rages over here at SevenSeas.

[Apoca1ypse]

On the flip side, bruce went from a steaming pile to a top 10 glad. makes me happy

Ahhnold is also starting to climb the ranks but we'll see how long that lasts. Sure, he's the most juiced 2H rage of all time (possibly most juiced glad full stop when it comes to starting attributes), but if he can make top 10 that fills me with some hope for 2H rage being viable.

[sevenseas]

I seem to be finding a little bit of a rhythm in rage now, but it seems what works for one rage doesn't for the other, I have 2 swordsmen and their strats as far as activity and bloodlust goes are totally totally different, and i still can't make a 2 hander do anything worth while. I'm less frustrated now, but i may still take a vacation from the pits for a while, i have things that require my attention more than fine-tuning my gladiators do. We'll see what happens.

As far balance goes we will just have to keep watching and learning...it's new game ya know...there is still alot to learn.


However, i still hope Nate thinks of someway to accommodate those of us who have spent money unlearning skills before, the fact that my guys aren't built exactly the way i wanted to has to hurt their performance. Also, I'm not too keen on the idea of spending that money unlearning...again. I know Nate tries to consider everything we say and wish for, and sometimes what we want isn't whats best for the game, so we will see what happens. Good luck, all!



7C's

[Alba Kebab]

We all have guys that aren't built the way we quite want when we did the initial respec, you are not along there sevenseas.

[Lunarion199]

Today level 4 veteran rager Riya killed level 12 theatric veteran (fight 505).. Agreed at low levels but she often defeats level 9-11 opponents - with only one fight strategy row yet available and a couple gear still unequipped. Got a good attribute-race-skills sync I was always looking for.. need to build up on that.

Ragers may still make a comeback..after today's update from Nate the chances seem more brightened.

[Team Kaos]

Well, whatever tweaks were made in the latest update has absolutely killed my builds and strats. My guys are getting rocked something aweful no matter what I try. Crushed by Rage, Crushed by 2H war, put to sleep by tanks and bled to death by theatrics. I thought I'd be able to tread water at 55-60% against all these HOL Primus guys until 1500...which they were doing well enough and better then hoped up until the newest tweak. Now..I'm lucky to keep them from dying every fight...

Ouch

[oedi]

same thing i experienced with my defensive theatrics bleed build. I had 4 of them in the top 15 . after the latest update i got 1 left . The really sad thing is that the defense nerf was supposed to hit the war gladiators, but my 2 defensive was glads are doing just as fine, after minor tweaks and changing one from urk to spite.
so what really happend after the last updates is out with theatrics and in with rage. its 1 theatric left in the top 15.
I know im crying just because I had 4 really good gladiators, but im doing it anyway. I had everything going for them. right build, weapons and strat. now i need to reconsider the entire build