In earlier iterations of Aethermon, an Aethermon’s Specific Battle Moves tended to be slightly more powerful than the Battle Moves available in the universal pool.
The rationale here was partially thematic – if Thunder Aethermon were supposed to the fastest Aethermon, it made sense that when using (q)uick attacks theirs would be more effective. It also incentivised players to pick moves from within their unique moveset.
Mechanically it also gave us more flexibility with balance. It was okay if an Aethermon’s specific move fluctuated above the powercurve because the priority was to balance Aethermon as a whole even if that meant some moves were imbalanced.
This unfortunately created a double incentive to choose only moves within an Aethermon’s unique moveset. (1) These moves were more powerful than moves outside and (2) These moves synergised with each other.
As a result we began to see that at the end of every playtest every Aethermon started to look very similar. This was contraindicative to our hope the players might take moves to offset their Aethermon’s weakness, or create novel synergies.
By buffing the Battle Moves in the universal pool, we have restored some of the interesting decisions when levelling up player’s Aethermon – players can choose between (1) Leaning into Aethermon Specific Synergies or (2) Taking potentially more powerful moves that cover the Aethermon’s weaknesses.
Stay Interesting AetherRent