zoom wrote:Adding to my comments in the OP – which I strongly recommend that anyone with an interest in the patch reads, let alone before forming an opinion on this release – I would like to note some things:
1. A number of notable players have expressed the probable urgency of several of these changes; most notably tweaks to Indians, "The Shaman" and treasures. I take such feedback seriously, and simultaneously with a grain of salt (knee-jerk reactions must be avoided), which is why this particular release was particularly work-intensive, with regards to determining the merit of these concerns through exhaustive observation of reception and direct discussion with players, as well as the ideal response to them, on such short notice.
2. It is true that the minor updates of EP8.1 and EP8.2 are lacking in transparency, in the sense that their changes were not publically shared, prior to release. This is predominantly a result of the short notice of the updates, which is regrettable yet acceptable considering their minor nature, and my taking this into account when carefully selecting their content, based firmy in active collection of feedback, and the priority of minimizing risk. While EP8.2 features relatively many changes, they are almost entirely slight tweaks, with minimal risk. You should note that I'm consistently transparent in this regard too, for major updates—including EP8, to whose content my similarly transparent balance polls' results are plain to trace, for anyone who is interested in a nuanced perspective on feedback, and its enormous influence on patch updates).
3. To my great shock, it seems that the changes causing the most contoversy relate to addressing the awful Consulate bug, arguably the most urgent item of the update. Please read the comments on related changes, in the OP, and understand that the scope of the changes, to Japanese, is a tiny buff to non-Isolation land units' attack (+0.38 Yumi Archer ranged attack, for example), and a significant nerf to Japanese Isolation units' attack (-0.72 & -14 Konsha Yamabushi hand attack & hitpoints, respectively, for example)—as well as a significant nerf to Yabusame ranged attack. With that said, I will continue to keep a close eye on results, and adapt accordingly.
Thank you all!
To elaborate on "3", I would like to attempt to better explain the nature of the bug: Prior to this update, ending an alliance with British Allies or Japanese Isolation would cause all of the player's land units to permanently lose hitpoints and attack, respectively, which is unacceptable and urgent. Thanks to Eaglemut's work, who found that certain values do not suffer this problem, we've been able to circumvent the bug, by adjusting the value by an acceptable amount.
From a private conversation:
"japanese isolation increases the attack of all land units by 5%; now 7%. 7% is the best value that avoids an unacceptable bug that causes units to permanently lose attack when you end the alliance. it is currently impossible to fix the bug, but in this way, we can avoid it,
effectively fixing it. to avoid buffing isolation and japanese, overall, the four units trained at the japanese isolation consulate no longer get default +10% (for example, the konsha yamabushi loses 0.72atk and 14hp, while the yumi archer gains +0.38rgd attack), and what players now consider an unwarranted buff (to the youabuseme) is reverted"