JWA News Update: Megaloceros is Coming, Battle Balancing Survey, and Your Chance to be Featured!

Welcome back, Explorers! It's been a pretty quiet week but we hope that means they are busy gearing up for the holiday season! We did have a soft update this week that revealed the cute dino poll dinos and there is also a current tournament going on that is a common skills tournament. Make sure to check out our articles about those below. Also this week, we got an announcement about some changes to the Scent of Claws that means Megaloceros is finally coming, the Battle Balancing survey was sent out, and you might have the chance to be a featured writer on our website! 

Today there was an update to the Winter Holiday Event post on the forum and it has to do with the Scent of Claws (which is the themed Christmas scent from last year). According to the post, the contents of that scent will change on December 16:

UPDATE:

If you still own Scents of Claws from last year, please note that the changes detailed below will be effective on December 16th in preparation for the upcoming holidays.

So that means we will finally get a chance to dart the elusive deer! These scents are pretty much like rare scents where they are guaranteed to attract 1 rare creature so Megaloceros isn't guaranteed but you have a pretty good chance if you run multiple scents. And since this is usually the xmas scent there is a very good chance these creatures will be featured that week as well. We hope they are available in supply drops like last year so we can really stock up on all that DNA. 

Last week in our news roundup, we mentioned that they would be sending out a survey in regards to some battle balancing. Specifically having to do with Dracoceratops, Ardentismaxima, Procerathomimus, Cautious Strike, and Swap in Savagery. That survey went out this week and players had the opportunity to vote on changes they would like to see. There were some technical difficulties for some people so we hope everyone had the chance to fill it out. It was a pretty long survey so we won't go over the whole thing word for word but will try and highlight what the proposed changes were. 

Dracoceratops

The first few questions dealt with changes to Dracoceratops including its attributes and moveset (including changes or removal of the regeneration move). There was also a question about Swap in Savagery that would affect both Dracocera and Dracorex Gen 2

Dracoceratops Attributes

• Do not change anything
• Reduce Attack
• Reduce HP.

Dracoceratops Regeneration

• Keep Regeneration as is
• Regeneration Heals but does not cleanse
• Replace Regen with a cleansing move
• Replace Regen with a high damage move
• Replace Regen with a stunning and damage ability
• Replace Regen with Dig In

Swap in Savagery (SIS)

• Keep SIS as is 
• Half and Half. SIS deals damage based on the attacker's damage and opponent's max HP.
• DOT. SIS is changed to Damage Over Time
• Damage at end of Turn. A new mechanic where SIS is based on the creature's attack value but the damage is done at the end of the turn.

Cautious Strike

One of the most controversial moves in the game right now, this is pretty much 5 different abilities wrapped up into one. The following are options to changes to the move:

• Do not change anything
• Remove Cleanse
• Remove Speedup
• Remove Distraction
• Remove Dodge
• Remove Precise
• Remove Damage and Precise making it a defensive move like Sidestep

Procerathomimus

As with Dracoceratops, there were several questions about Procerathomimus including Attributes and moveset. 

Procerathomimus Attributes

• Stay as is
• Reduce Attack
• Reduce HP
• Reduce Speed

Procerathomimus Moves

• Stay as is
• Replace Evasive Stance with Dodging Impact (1.5x damage with a cooldown)
• Replace Evasive Stance with Evasive Strike
• Distracting Rampage becomes Distracting Impact
• Distracting Rampage becomes Debilitating Distraction

Ardentismaxima

They are looking at a rework for this creature to have a very specific skill set. These were the options:

Instant Move

• Stay as Instant Invicibility
• Becomes Bellow

Additional Moves

• Current: Decelerating Strike, Decelerating Impact, Defense Shattering Rampage
• Anti Tank: Definite Strike, Decelerating Impact, Defense Shattering Rampage
• Anti Dodge: Definite Strike, Decelerating Impact, Precise Rampage
• Anti Self-Buff: Long Decelerating Strike, Definite Impact, Nullifying Rampage
• Speed Control Tank: Shielded Decelerating Strike, Precise Impact, Defense Shattering Rampage

Speed Ties

There was also a question regarding speed ties and how they should be decided:

• As is (fastest input goes first)
• True Random: every time there is a speed tie it would be random and up to RNG
• Balanced Random: the decision is random the first time and then would alternate every time there is a speed tie after that

As with any surveys, these may never be implemented in the game and we hope they take careful consideration when deciding what to do with these creatures. We are happy they are asking for feedback but we are not developers and it is often hard to see the whole picture of what these changes will affect. 

As you all know, we love our community and we love the discussion that come from platforms such as the forums and our discord. And we recognize that these views, thoughts, and opinions are often very different from our own. So we want to start a new scheduled article every week that will feature one of our amazing readers! We want to hear from players in all levels of the arena to see what you have to say. 

So if you think you have a great idea for an article or have an opinion piece (even if it differs from opinions we have) we want to hear about it! And you just might be chosen to be published on our website. If you are interested please fill out the form below and we will be in contact with you soon! 

We have been enjoying the Holiday Event so far and we can't wait to see what else they have in store. We will update you on Sunday as soon as we know the featured creatures. We are also planning to have a community tier list survey next week so keep an eye out for that. Make sure to join our discord as well for more discussion!