User:Blueeighthnote/Metagame Analysis/Water Improvements (August 2017)

Enochian Academic Paper 1: Water Attribute
With the recent news of "Sugar Shooting Stars" Andromeda's arrival, many players were excited, until they saw the restrictions of Water Elf Race. According to several notable game enthusiasts, the lacking leader multiplier of 5.25 on one side seemed lacking when her damage reduction skills looked to be unable to hold up the team - with the elf restrictions in mind. Many also criticized that there is a severe lack of more damage-oriented teams for water attribute lately (Nobunaga, Izanagi, Tang Sanzang, and Lubu were strong representatives of their respective attribute), while some argued that "there are only four attributes in the game".

It is certain that there was indeed a lack of high-leveled Water Leaders lately every since Special Draws were introduced, starting from the Fallen Halos series. For as long until Su Huan Jen, there were surprisingly few new Water leaders (outside of PR and VR) that came out, most of which were not praised highly due to race restrictions such as pure Elves. Su Huan Jen's leader skill was also criticized for being non-original, as the skills were copied from Satan's extra attack, Izanagi's Heart-equals-Water effect, and a surprisingly controversial runestone conversion skill that was dubbed "trying to save Water-Light teams". Right now, Andromeda's skills were deemed more original, but due to the underwhelming power, more and more players wished that the designers would just give them a Nobunaga for Water.

While some have argued that the similar criticism can be said to light teams due to Lucifer's dominance and Tang Sanzang's exclusivity, there was an even louder outcry for the attribute balance to be fixed, since Water teams have no overpowering member to fear. Furthermore, Cassandra is the only Water representative of long-lasting buffs, while other attributes have featured many of them. While this problem would be fixed by introducing Andromeda's active skill, the heavy cost of losing 50% recovery was not well received, especially with the condition that 3 attributes of runestones must be dissolved in each round to keep the buff.

In the end, things can certainly change, but many players are already unhappy by the "abandonment", as they called it, of pure Water teams. Many game theorists then proposed some ideas of how the designers could potentially fix the problem. Some suggested the power released forms of past monsters that have yet to receive buffs, while some look into the future. Evidently, a few of them pointed to some of the skills that were already created in an attempt to fix the problem but failed due to a low leader multiplier.