Recommended turn order based on play times:

once u played all classes and races, then picking system will be refreshed

Regarding the rules for the 2017 tournament:

"5. A team can never play a class or race that it played in all its previous matches (so you can play Goblin only once in the whole tournament, you can play Sorcerer only once, etc.). BEFORE the match, you must let the Judges (but not your opponents) know what class and race you will play for your upcoming match by private message in the Battlefield website. "

How are we expected to play a potential 10 matches without reusing a class when there are only 7 classes available?

That's a valid concern and complaint. Believe me, the judges do not like changing the rules either. In this case, it's not exactly a rule change, future rounds will still be 2 months long. It's more an exceptional adjustments based on the current situation. The preferences of the 3 judges were different but we all conceived it was possible to give this extension.
So what are the reasons for the change and its announcement yesterday?
You are right that we knew 2 matches had a 1 month extension but the decision to extend for all matches was actually taken 2 days ago so we announced it as fast as possible, in less than 24 hours. As I said, we had different preferences and I did not expect we would take this decision so we did not anticipate it more, sorry about that. The reasons to take the decision were that: 1/ at least 2 ongoing matches had significant delays due to holidays or Ironman notification issues which caused pauses while judges deliberated and so it was fair - or at least justifiable - to give them extensions, 2/ we did not think it would penalize anyone, 3/ if we did not give extensions for everyone, some players would have to stop their match today and wait for maybe 1 month for the matches affected by replacement to end (and actually it's your game that is in this situation) so it would seem a bit stupid to stop their match to then let them wait. And also, in terms of fun and frustration, it seems better to let people finish their game. The counter-argument we had is that we don't want the tournament to continue for ever and we don't want to go in a slippery slope and start allowing extension. But this situation is and will remain exceptional (except if we have other holidays period, like Christmas maybe).

Please send a PM to the judges if you think we should change our decision.

==

!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 2017 PBEM Duel Tournament ANNOUNCEMENT !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The tournament's registration are opened! Please check the news Registration for a PBEM Duel Tournament will open on 15 October and join here: http://www.the-battlefield.co... />
==
@Skuns: regarding
Ne06g
Ghouling Strike does not give any damage bonus (was +5 physical, +5 blight)

It would not mean Ghouling Strike does 0 damage, it would just do normal damage of a melee attack. Currently it does +5/+5 compared to a normal attack. So are you still against?

And regarding Ne05h
Lesser Reanimate Undead and Greater Reanimate Undead give Undying to their target (was reanimate it at 50% and 75% HP respectively)

Well, that's the point to make these abilities less powerful. Currently the big strength of Necro is that you can keep all your units alive in every fight and "block" the AI by making it attack over and over again the same unit that you reanimate. With Undying, you would not be able to do that anymore.

"Ne11 - I wouldn't be against it with old rules for the tournament: "
Which old rules?

Not sure if I like altering the rules at the last minute.

You have known about the game extensions for some time.  And
you have known some games were still far from over.  Any reason
you waited till the last minute to allow extensions for all games.

TOURNAMENT ANNOUNCEMENT:
In the 2vs2 Team Tournament, following discussions among judges, as 2 games received a 1 month time extension because they had to restart due to team dropping out of the tournament, it was decided that all matches were allowed to continue until a/ these 2 matches are finished or b/ the 1 month extension expires.
So whichever of a/ and b/ (15 November) comes first, will mean the end of round 1 and all matches still ongoing at that time will have to stop and the team with the highest cumulated score will win the match (as planned in the rules).

=====
Thanks mauve and Skuns! mauve, you're one step ahead compared to others here, who probably didn't see the proposed specialisation changes.
It's better to discuss the specialisations in the forum for now as we are still at a brainstorm level and no priority change has been agreed upon: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... (we need to limit messages on this player pool to the minimum to avoid having people overwhelmed with messages).

I'm going to add your opinions on the table tomorrow Skuns.
Thanks also to rrrrookie for feedback on the chat.

mauve, regarding bugs, I suggest to report them on the PBEM Balance Mod discussion which is more adapted for new version announcement and bug reports (even though here it's a vanilla game bug it seems): http://aow.triumph.net/forums... />(by the way, mauve I sent you a PM some time ago, to sort out priority from non-priority changes, I'd be very interested by your feedback by PM, same for Marcus )
====

For those who haven't yet, please vote: What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament?

I don't think I've ever cast any of the spells listed as up for change in the specialisations, and I also haven't really done anything with the partisan specialisation, so balance-wise, I don't have a lot of input on these.

I will give a few general thoughts though.

First, I agree with BBB on the AoW3 forums that boosting the masteries in general would make them more of a consideration. As it is, grabbing two adepts that you are going to use, versus a single mastery that won't have anything researched before many games end, makes the former a more likely choice. Unless someone is deliberately choosing a mastery so that they are more likely to get class skills instead of specialisation skills early on instead.

Second, the comparison between "domain of" spells and "iron grip" isn't entirely justified, since the domain spells might be cast on cities that aren't entirely within that domain. In other words, they are already far more situational without the corresponding empire spell (which itself requires a mastery specialisation). In my opinion, the happiness doesn't need to be balanced against something like iron grip for this reason, since the spells do different things, and iron grip will always be just as effective on every city. I definitely favour some kind of buff to the domain of spells, and all the proposed changes seem reasonable.

Finally, where would be the best place to post things if I think I see some bugs or typos or other errors in the game and/or mod?

For instance, I just noticed that the springs of life provides 200 population according to its tooltip, but my orc outpost is only getting 150 from it according to the city information screen. There are no morale modifiers, although that appears lower in the screen anyway and shouldn't affect the unmodified income.

Dr04b, Dr17a - for it.
Ne01a - against it. I am satisfied with this spell in its current form
Ne05h - definetely against it. What I like in using Reanimate - I can use it after my unit died. And I have much time to reanimate it. What I don't like at spells which cast Undying - very often you have no enough time to protect your unit with Undying before it was killed.
If choose between Ne06f and Ne06g - I'm for Ne06f. I think it's unfair to leave Ghouling Strike without any damage.
Ne09a - I don't mind
Ne11 - I wouldn't be against it with old rules for the tournament: 
Ne13 - for it. 
Ne13a - against it.
Ne13b - may be for it.
Ne13c - for it.
Ne14 - may be for it.
Ne15 - interesting, for it.
Ne16 - for it.
Ne17 - against it. I don't agree pay for it's researchig more than 80 RP (now 60 RP)  
Ro06a - for it. But I don't understand, why Antiserum can not heal units on the strategic map. Theocrat's skill Healing can heal units.
Ro09, Ro15 - for it
Th05 - for it
Th06 - rather against it. May be, if it possible, you should leave it for Theo leaders and remove it from heroes? Or may be it should appear at higher levels - 13-15 level, for example.
Wa05, Wa11a, Wa12 - for it
Ha03b, Ha08 - for it
Ha09i - I don't mind

You asked to give feedback.
GC10 - against it. As I could see, autocombat fights (between players) pass almost without Charm/Convert/etc., if only there are not involved nymphs. And with GC10 why would we need Charm/Convert/etc.?
GC12 - may be for it 
AD07a - for it.
AD08 - may be for it
AD10a - definitely for it
AD11 - against it. For Archdruid most of the babies are summonnig. If we will weaken them then they will not have time to live up to the evolve :'(
AD15 - I don't know at what it will affect.
AD17 - rather against it. If the player would be able easily produce spiders/serpents, then I would vote For it. But it is not. May be you should propose some AD17a - AD leaders and heroes can use Befriend animal only on T1 and T2. When the player have researched, for example, Produce Shaman, AD leaders (only) can use Befriend animal on T3/T4.
Dr04c - I don't mind
For now it's all I can 

Stiffen Limbs and Necro are as OP as ever - just did turn 6 Sphinx Temple (only found it turn 6) with weak starting army - i.e. 2 lvl4 heroes, 1 gold lvl cavalry and 2 irregulars and 1 Lost Soul - i beat 2 Watchers (Evil Eyes) and 4 Mystics for 500 research points... and i say it's all because of SL - it let me do some crazy leveling before that. Reanimate lvl2 cavalry is too strong and so is the starting heal 25 HP.

disclaimer  - Abuser like me can do stuff that is just not intended do be done turn 1-5 (; I never do this kind of un-fair on people as you all may know - i hate to play Necro - just saying (;

Thanks Hellbrick, very useful!
The help of one or two persons would be very welcome to brainstorm on balancing Air Master, Water Master, Wild Magic and Shadowborn Master as well as high-level sites (Dungeon, Forbidden Sanctum, Sunken City, Sphynx Temple, Hall of the Forefather, Ziggurath, Lost City, Castle of the Lich King). After the brainstorm for these are finished, we'll need to discuss the proposed changes and quickly come to a changelog for v1.2 so that Zaskow has time to implement it.

==

Sjow has been replaced by Skuns in the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament. He'll face Fistandantilus in the 1st match of the final phase.

For what it's worth, here's some feedback for the changes that I have strong opinion about:

GC10: against.

AD11: don't mind, but don't really see the point. Baby animals are already weak enough to require careful usage and protection, so I don't think making them more vulnerable will actually make using them any more difficult.

Ne11: against. Making the starting army completely unhealable until leader/hero levels up seems a bit too harsh. If there's need to nerf starting healing for Necro, I'd rather suggest removing starting Heal undead from the Necro heroes only (while leaving the leader untouched). Or maybe split Heal undead into two abilities: one passive that heals the undeads in the stack overnight (available from the start) and one active that does the actual combat healing (available later for some UP).

GC12: for. This slows down the convertion rush without crippling it too much, which is nice.

AD17: for. I like the idea of making animal growing AD-only feature.

Ne01a: against. It may be very subjective, but I find unreliable debuff spells incredibly annoying. If Stiffen limbs needs to be nerfed any further (which I don't think it does), this is not the way.

Ne05h: for, but I think the upgrade cost should be reduced accordingly.

Ne09a: against. Doesn't fit the Necro paradigm at all. 

Ne13: against. This would seriously undermine their usage as temporary scouts.

Ne13a: against. For the same reasons.

Ne13b: against. This is just weird.

Ne15: against. Necromantic aura is risky enough to be used reliably as it is, I don't think it should be nerfed.

Ne16: against. The spell is not as useful later in the game, so I don't think it should be postponed. Not sure if it should be nerfed, but this is not the way.

Ne17: for.

Rg09: for.

Th05: for.

Ha03b: for.

Ha08: for.

HellBrick joined !!

Thanks Mauve! We have 15 votes so far, please vote What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament? for all those who haven't yet!
The current result is 53% in favour of "Forbidden to replay a class or race chosen before" which would mean in next PBEM Duel Tournament, players would have to change class and race at each round (i.e. if you played Goblin Sorcerer on round 1, you will never be able to play Goblin or Sorcerer again in subsequent rounds).

==

Next PBEM Duel Tournament will use v1.2 of the balance mod. But the changelog of v1.2 is not yet ready because we lack feedback! So please check my posts below containing the changes "to be dropped?" and "priority change" and give your opinion "for" or "against" them. Thanks!
The target to finalize the changelog is the end of October.

==

Some small issues remain with v1.18 but they will be fixed before 15 October. As 2 games of round 1 got time extensions due to late replacement of teams who dropped, I think round 2 games will play on the beta branch. Otherwise, we would have to update the main branch to v1.18 and the round 1 games still ongoing would be affected.

==

The final phase of the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament is delayed because Sjow drops from the tournament... Judges are discussing to see how to replace him.

I chose "no limitation" for the limit in the poll.

I want to comment here though, since I think it's good to talk about what the purpose of the tournament is. Actually, my preference personally would be to have on repeats at all, since I love getting a variety of situations to deal with.

But, for balance purposes, I think it's more useful to have the top class and race combinations float to the top so that they can be examined more carefully, which is why I currently favour no limitation.

v1.18 of the PBEM balance mod has been released on the beta branch!! http://steamcommunity.com/sha... Its changelog can be read in the article PBEM balance mod v1.17 released and v1.18 soon ready
REMINDER: v1.18 will be used in round 2 of the 2vs2 Team Tournament.

==

gabthegab and Sjow answered the questions I asked them in a written interview for the 3 participants to the final phase of the 2015 PBEM Duel Tournament. Their answers will be published in news articles whenever they are eliminated in the final phase (which should start soon since the match between gladis and Fistandantilus seems to be getting to its end).

==

Please remember to vote What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament? to help choose the best system for next PBEM Duel Tournament. We currently have 10 votes.
The 2016 PBEM Duel Tournament's registrations should open around mid-October (but may be delayed in order to coincide with the release of a new design for the website). Registrations should stay open for 2 to 3 months in order to wait for v1.2 of the balance mod to be ready for its round 1.

==

Thanks Jean for the feedback!
Please check that report for an example of why Whispers of the Fallen is OP: http://www.the-battlefield.co... />
@others: if you haven't yet, please follow the example of Jean! Without your feedback, we won't be able to finalize v1.2 any time soon!
No need to react on AD15 and Th06 any more (they're now dropped!), nor on Ne06f (confirmed for v1.2).

Hey everyone. I'll comment on all proposals, even on dropped ones.

GC10 against. In the late game you often don't need to convert/seduce in the tactical battle because you win it easily anyway. All these snowballs abilities are important on the strategic map as they allow you to comeback in a difficult position or give you a chance to get some free units to tackle a fast snowball of your opponent (for instance, druid's or necromancer's)

AD11 for. Any weakening might be good for tier-1 units that level up so easily. You will need to play more carefully in tactics and sometimes do not use an injured animal at all.

AD15 against. Bad concept

Dr15  That's a good proposal, for. Even with emergency repair a dread hero "heals" injured machines in his stack too slowly.

Ne11 For. Necromancer should be nerfed more.
 
Th06 Well...This is a very painful proposal for theocrat. I consider this ability to be his "business card". And as I don't consider theo to be a super strong class in PBEM I won't agree on this proposal right now. Against.

Ha20a Indifferent

Ha21  For.

..................................

GC12  That's a very good proposal. We can call all these ideas "a package of laws" against snowball strategies. Everything that stoppes these strategies is welcomed by me. For

AD08  It will upgrade orc archidruid. I always see archidruids playing elves, draconians, so, I think, other races here are welcomed. For

AD10a For

AD17  For! That's important. Sometimes you get a second here - archidruid, are lucky to get animals nearby and end the game having a stack of level uped guys. Not funny.

Dr04b  Against. Don't like this "stunned" anti-buff

Dr17a  xD. Okay, for

Ne01a Against. This spell was already nerfed and became much less useful. Right now it's okay I think.

Ne05h For. This new ability will be more interesting in my opinion. And less powerful.

Ne06f  For.

Ne06g Against.

Ne09a  For

Ne13 Against. It's a good scouting option for undead guys, cutting hp will weaken it.

Ne13a  Against

Ne13b  Against. Bad concept.

Ne13c  Against

Ne14  Indifferent. 

Ne15  If honestly, I see necromantic aura ability really used in the game very rarely. Would like to see it used more often so against cutting it.

Ne16  Against. Don't like ruining key features of classes.

Ne17  Against. 

Ne18 Explain to me, please, why do you consider the spell to be so imba? I have little experience playing necromancer and when I played it I somehow didn't see anything too powerful in this spell. So some explanation is welcomed. I'm also looking forward to study necromancer more xD


Ro06a  Indifferent

Ro09  Indifferent

Ro09  For

Th05  For

Wa05 Against. This nerf is gonna be too cruel

Wa11a  I guess for. Spells dependancy is a good option to weaken Death March.

Wa12  Against.

Ha03b  For

Ha08  For

Ha09i  Indifferent

Ha10  Just forest will be enough. But for.

Ha13  For

Ha15  For

Ha15a  Indifferent

Ha16  Just forest concealment. For

Ha19a  Just forest. For

Ha28  For

There is a new poll ongoing to help make some choice for the next PBEM Duel Tournament which should open registration on 15 October (registrations should be open for at least 2 months): What would be the best system to prevent participants to choose always the same class/race in the next tournament?

The aim is to use v1.2 of the balance mod for this future tournament, which should bring many significant changes such as: healing once per battle, higher risks for high-level sites, boosts to weak specialisations, increased upkeep for mind-controled units, etc.
However, we are currently very late both on mod implementation (because Zaskow works alone and he has other things to do! by the way, big big thank to him for his work) and on choosing the changes for v1.2. So, could all of you please provide some feedback on the priority changes I listed in my previous post as well as the remaining 9 changes considered "to be dropped" so that we can slim down the list further:
GC10
Converted, Charmed, Seduced, etc. units are converted only until the end of Battle and disappear afterwards

AD11
Baby Spiders and Serpents have -6 HP and -1 defence and -1 resistance

AD15
Baby Spiders and Serpents are T2

Dr15
Dreadnought heroes and leaders can now choose Mechanised Field Medic at level X for Y points

Ne11
Necromancer heroes and leaders can choose Heal Undead at level 1 for 3 points

Th06
Divine Justicars is removed.
Theocrat heroes and leaders can choose Resurgence at level 11 for 7 points

Ha20a
Halfling military RG1 gives an additional +10 HP to Jester (was 0).

Ha21
Halfling economic RG1 gives +75 population growth to outposts and villages (was Store House costs 35 less to build) (Necro variant gains +75 dead population)

When we reach about 20-30 remaining priority changes + "to be dropped", I'll add new proposed changes that have been discussed in the last few months.

Thanks a lot!

The beta branch of the PBEM balance mod just got updated today http://steamcommunity.com/sha...
If all goes well, it should be pushed to the main branch in the next few days since it contains v1.17 of the balance mod, which mainly fixes a few bugs in v1.16 and updates the display of several abilities to make their effect clearer to players.

==

REMINDER: round 1 of the PBEM 2vs2 Team Tournament will end on 15 October.
However, 2 matches received extension of 1 month because they had to restart due to team changes, they are matches #2 and #4.
Match #6 may also get an extension because it started later.
Hopefully matches #10 and #12 of round 2 will be able to start on 15 October and the rest will be only slightly delayed.

==

We currently have 37 Priority Changes listed in the balance change table. It's a lot! Time to slim down a bit by either validating or rejecting some of them. So could you please give feedback on the following changes, here on the player pool or by PM or (best!) on the official forum http://aow.triumph.net/forums... (no need to read everything, just post your feedback direclty):
[the table is here: https://docs.google.com/docum... ]

GC12
Units acquired during a fight (mind-controlled or ghouled) start with 0 MP on the strategic map

AD08
Orc Hunters get Inflict Crippling Wound on Veteran

AD10a
Baby Spiders and Baby Serpents get the abilities of their evolved state (Spider Queens and Mature Serpent) on Elite, namely:
Dread Spider Baby: Inflict Severely Poisoned
Hunter Spider Baby: Inflict Enfeebling Fever
Vampire Spider Baby: Inflict Exhausting Fatigue
Baby Reed Serpent and Baby Shock Serpent get +4 MP

AD17
Independent Spiders and Serpents lose the Evolve ability (only summoned and produced units keep it)

Dr04b
Engineers have Lesser Overload: give +20% damage to target machine or Musketeer until end of combat, but has a chance (physical strength: 7)  to be stunned for 2 rounds after attacking.

Dr17a
Juggernauts produced in Halfling and Elf cities have Forestry

Ne01a
Stiffen Limb has a strength 13 Spirit check and cost 8 CP. If it fails, its target gets -12 MP for one turn (was no attack check and 7 CP).

Ne05h
Lesser Reanimate Undead and Greater Reanimate Undead give Undying to their target (was reanimate it at 50% and 75% HP respectively)

Ne06f
Ghouling Strike has strength 10 (was 11)

Ne06g
Ghouling Strike does not give any damage bonus (was +5 physical, +5 blight)

Ne09a
Energy Drain has a physical strength 10 (was spirit strength 10)

Ne13
Raise Corpse reanimate cadavers with 75% HP (was 100%), Greater Reanimate Undead reanimate units with 50% HP (was 75%)

Ne13a
Raise Corpse reanimate cadavers with 50% HP (was 100%)

Ne13b
Raise Corpse can reanimate only corpse of previously alive units (not corpses of Undeads)

Ne13c
Raise Corpse reanimate units without any medal

Ne14
Devour Corpse heals 20 HP (was 25 HP)

Ne15
Undeads that attack a unit with Necromantic Aura get “Immune to Necromantic Aura” (cannot be dispelled) if the Aura fails its 7 spirit attack check on them. Units with “Immune to Necromantic Aura” cannot be affected by it. 

Ne16
Whispers of the Fallen cannot appear in the Research Book or be already researched at the beginning of the game

Ne17
Whispers of the Fallen is Tier 2 and costs 120 RP (was Tier 1 and 60 RP)
Ne18

Whispers of the Fallen provide 2 RP per unit tier for each unit killed in combat. Fallen Heroes provide 10 RP (was 3 RP per unit tier and 15 RP)

Ro06a
Rogue heroes and leaders can choose Antiserum for 4 points at level 5. Antiserum can be used once per battle on a Poisonned unit (touch ability): it heals 10 HP and gets 100% Blight Protection for one round.
Antiserum does not heal units on the strategic map

Ro09
Rogue heroes and leaders can now choose Assassin’s training: all units in the stack now have Backstab (stackable with other Backstab) – cost 7, available at level 11

Ro15
Rogue heroes and leaders’ Charm is a touch ability (was Short range)

Th05
Divine Justicars costs 12 points (was 10)

Wa05
Researching Death March allows to cast Death March for 60 CP (was 20) and Individual Death March for 20 CP, which has a similar effect. Individual Death March can only target 1 stack of 1 T1 Irregular (and units can only be targetted once by Death March or Individual Death March).

Wa11a
Scout Death March (new spell) can be researched for 140 RP, is tier II and cost 20 CP to cast. It affect only Irregulars (excluding Sphynx) and has the following effect: All units in target friendly army gain additional MP equal to their maximum MP until end of turn. All affected units lose 50% of their current HP. The MP capabilities of the units in combat are not affected.
Death March requires Scout Death March to be researched. Researching it costs 200 RP and is tier III (was 140 RP and tier II)
Units can be affected only by one of the two spells each strategic turn.

Wa12
Death March can be casted only once per (strategic) turn


Ha03b
Jester gets:
- 10 strength for their AoE attack (was 9)
- Fireworks does 10 physical damage (was 9)  and 5 fire damage
- can target an hex (like Fire Bomb) and does not require a valid target. That way you can dazzle units with 1 extra hex range

Ha08
Halfling cities get +75% on “Produce merchandise”

Ha09i
Brew Brothers cost 75 gold and 20 mana (was 70 gold and 20 mana)

Ha10
Halfling Exalteds gain Forest and Urban concealment but cost more in mana

Ha13
Halfling Shaman get a special version of Nourishing Meal on gold instead of Healing. That version would have a 2 turns cooldown

Ha15
Halfling Assassins get Pass Wall on Veteran (was on Elite)

Ha15a
Halfling Assassins get a new ability Shoot Poisonous Darts, short range, 1 physical damage, 4 poison damage, Inflict Noxious Vulnerability, Inflict Enfeebling Fever, Inflict Exhausting Fatigue, Inflict Severely Poisoned, and costs 10 gold more

Ha16
Halfling Succubus have Forest and Urban Concealment and their cost is increased

Ha19a
Halfling Bard get Urban or Forest concealment (or both)

Ha28
Farmers cost 45 gold (was 50)

Hey everyone! I hope to open registrations for next PBEM Duel Tournament around 15 October but first, we need to discuss settings and all!
I posted some thoughts here but nobody answered: http://aow.triumph.net/forums... />Also, I'm going to open a poll to see everyone's opinion on the "no same class/race twice in a row" rule, please post on the official forum if you have other ideas than: 1 round cooldown, 2 round cooldown, never the same class/race, no limitation. I will add the other ideas in the poll.

Modding goes much slower than expected so I'm not sure when the PBEM Duel Tournament will be able to start because I'd really like to play it with v1.2 of the balance mod, including increased upkeep for converted units and healing only once per battle (for heroes and leaders for now, and probably for all units after we further discuss it).

Also, please continue to provide feedback on the proposed changes I listed earlier and on which DreadReapr and AlX provided feedback.

Agree with Dread:
GC10, HA20a + Th06 (for it).

neutral: 
AD11, HA21

Against all other suggestions.