ALL of the Balance Changes in Update 45!! Bloons TD6

[@Mojipop420]

Nks process of 'balance changes': Tower is underused>buff damage/pierce/range etc>tower is too strong but they cant revert changes>price nerf. Problem solved😃👍

[@doreoisbad]

@@Mojipop420 literally this, except condor which they nerfed in a different way but a way that just makes it annoying to use

[@tpfoxCastro]

Cryo Cannon and Bloon Dissolver getting prices buffs: Aircract Carrier getting an attack speed nerf:

[@benro6564]

As one of the 3 captain churchill fans in existence, this patch is great actually

[@doreoisbad]

@@benro6564 fair

[@demon456gaming2]

Aint no way Legend Of The Night Got A Buffed Because Of Wolfy Playz 💀

[@lordgrub12345]

Deserved fr

[@F22Raptor_Brqwlstars]

We eliminating the Moab Elim with this one

[@Jdnfjdksndj]

We confusing the players with these changes🥸

[@doreoisbad]

@@F22Raptor_Brqwlstars as usual, nerfing towers that don't need nerfs

[@enric0392]

not one Geraldo change holy shit

[@doreoisbad]

@@enric0392 crazy

[@Parzec]

Aw man, they really did my boy Bloon Solver dirty with this update. It wasn't over powered before (except the mermonkey synergy) and while I haven't tested it yet that big of a nerf seems over the top.

[@doreoisbad]

@@Parzec solver was pretty good anyway, I don't understand the nerf, but I didn't use solver too much anyway

[@magixowo5856]

Wdym? gluegunner top path is overall stronger now, so it's a fair nerf

[@randomlad7851]

And even then, i feel like the nerf werent THAT impactful compare to the supposed 25% dmg nerf. As powerful as the puddle is, it will usually be used to tank bloons which solver have no problem with. It can still deal significant damage to moab, ive been able to use the puddle chain from moabs to stop round 95 even with non-ddt tower (like carrier flagship) Its kind of the same as the glaive lord nerf where a goated tower went toa really good tower

[@AgXGalactrieXGaming]

The beast handler nerf pisses me off so hard I was about to use one of your guides for chimps with it :(

[@DrewBoivie]

3rd/4th tier top glue feels SO MUCH better now. Bloon Solver feels unchanged. Track puddles weren't that important. Carrier Flagship bottom crosspath only lost like 10% of its popping power. Reasonable. Why won't they buff x4x ace? That thing is deep into F tier for its price. The bottom path ninja buffs did nothing that I noticed in testing. Popping power is unchanged. Top mermonkey is nuts now. It was decent before, but now its probably meta in single lane tracks at a minimum. White weakness hoses Popseidon in the tests I've done. Any round with ceramics eats his ability instantly now. Megalodon feels A LOT better now. I love the Rosalia and Churchill buffs.

[@doreoisbad]

@@DrewBoivie I guess solver is easier to save up for, lategame will be affected a lot tho, flag didn't lose 10%, it lost half because it was bugged last patch to have double pierce

[@DrewBoivie]

@@doreoisbad I tested both before and after patch, and that's what the results were. I've found that in a lot of cases pierce doesn't really account for a lot of a tower's effective popping power. For instance, if you test specter with a 5xx mermonkey and without it you will be surprised at how little difference the buff makes.

[@sefyaa]

it took 6 days for me to be recommended this video wtf youtube

[@minimum850]

AK and popseidon abilities get eated by cerams 😭 the ability basically doesn't function without a MIB

[@slugcatuwu]

I don’t think it’s terrible to make certain strategies that are dominant in pretty much every map more situational. Makes the game less repetitive? I guess? Although that’s really up to the player. I’m not a crazy map list ape so maybe these changes are a bit more detrimental than I thought.

[@doreoisbad]

@@slugcatuwu top maps especially got nuked, but for base game it's not even diversifying strategies anymore, it's just making good strategies still good but slightly more expensive, while not buffing any bad strategies

[@weebrahim]

Spike balls nerf got me sadge

[@bigfella23729]

heads up, permaspike now is still better with 205 if you have +2 pierce or less, but 3 or more and 025 is better (mainly matters for stronger stim). still very minor difference so it isn’t too inportant

[@Jdnfjdksndj]

I hope the projectile lifespan buff for the dart increases viability of bottom crosspath for juggernaut. Like a niche crosspath for those bouncy maps with lots of obstacles juggernaut favors.

[@doreoisbad]

@@Jdnfjdksndj maybe, but middle attack speed should still be better usually

[@emi_lives_alone]

I don't dabble that much in BTD6, but i have a lot of experience in modding and balancing tower defense games. This is my take on the whole way they balance the game. Felt it would be fun to share. It's just a really unfun way to do it. Increasing the price of everything that's strong instead of actually *nerfing* the unit is not very fun. That's the big takeaway: It removes a lot of fun and satisfying strategies. I think NK should prioritize trying to improve middling/garbage strategies to be able to actually compete with viable towers, instead of literally nerfing all of the viable ones. "If everything is bad, nothing is" is way less effective than "if everything is good, nothing is". Because half of these bad options (from my own experience, anyway) don't feel very satisfying or fun to use half the time. Not saying everything should be good - there should still be a lot of caveats to different strategies, that's what BTD6 is about after all (using different combos and strategies to win). A lot of these changes are also very misguided on actual usage of these towers, I.E buffing AZ's freeze attack. It's not even a QOL change, it *actually* does nothing. Always study how players actually use your units before deciding what to do with them. It's like if S.Maelstorm got a buff to it's normal attack. Also, when balancing, you want to make sure everything has a semi-steady usage rate. Unless, say, it's very complicated to use but will yield great results. (Don't know a good example, but maybe Corvus is one?). When's the last time you've seen S.Maelstorm or Total Transformation or even Plasma Monkey Fan Club? (Again, speaking from little experience here, these towers might be good, but their cumbersome usage compared to the power they have to other options has always seemed a little jarring). Giving small bumps to stuff never hurts. Thanks for the videos, Doreo! Please feel free to correct me on anything on this comment. Have a great day!

[@tpfoxCastro]

Have you never heard of powercreep? Because it was (and is) a problem in btd6. Version 1.0 is much harder than the modern version and NK wants to reduce that

[@FadedDragon.]

we need glacial trail chimps guide

[@tpfoxCastro]

Yall in the comment sections never heard of powercreep before? "Why not buff the weak towers instead of nerfing the strong ones", because of powercreep. BTD6 nowadays is much easier then it was on version 1.0 and NK realised that. They've stated they want to decrease the overall power level of towers as well as make weaker towers stronger, which they did. People in these comments are very nitpicky, acting like they didn't give any price buffs to weak towers and stat nerfs to strong ones.

[@ggaattyy2]

spirit was unchanged except attack speed now affects it. this is a giant buff.

[@funny36ful]

Shinobi ninjas have been nuked this update. A 20 stack master bomber can barely kill rounds like it used to.

[@Simba94481]

If you ever feel like you need to increase your dose of ninja kiwi brainrot switch from btd6 to btd battles 1 or 2 🔥🔥🔥

[@BlueLobster-t3w]

seriously why does every tower get more expensive each patch

[@infiniteevil27]

NK adding inflation each patch

[@tpfoxCastro]

To reduce the powercreep created by previous updates

[@BlueLobster-t3w]

@@tpfoxCastro yea but why not nerf the power? Seriously the only way you can reduce power creep is to make stuff more expensive?

[@ennui_dios]

No new hero skin is the real travesty (along with the condition of Doreo's Sauda plushie (it's crusty now!!))

[@crispycookies3064]

Dats crazy

[@Murs.]

rosalia change is actually great but good god my boi corvus got murdered

[@BlueLobster-t3w]

the only silver lining is nothing about sharpdef cos got nerfed

[@Will.2003]

new chimps guides for the expert maps in update 45 plzz!

[@doreoisbad]

@@Will.2003 that's what I'm trying

[@picatzo6182]

very expected but also kinda disappointing changes, like its pretty much only nerfs idk I dont like it

[@nathanieljones8043]

I'm sorry but until until Churchill has a better late game than quincy no one will use him outside of challenges he is 2k and is only really good in the mid game.

[@GreenKookie56]

Nk trying to not mess up beast handler challenge (impossible)

[@doreoisbad]

@@GreenKookie56 yeah the range nerf is stupid

[@bilalahmed-bu7bi]

I was hoping they would buff apache and maelstrom.

[@doreoisbad]

@@bilalahmed-bu7bi hehe nope

[@bigfella23729]

maelstrom isnt bad rn, could use a buff but doesnt need it

[@Yurmm_]

They should've buffed glord and nerfed permaspike again 0/10 upsate

[@doreoisbad]

@@Yurmm_ honestly I'm not upset with the glord nerf, I'm just mad that they completely killed glord harmonic being a strategy with the price nerfs, and the power nerf to glord too

[@joseemilio1869]

Why the hell they keep buffing boat

[@doreoisbad]

@@joseemilio1869 mid path deserves it

[@LarryorgavinColtrane]

will carrier flagship still be a meta tower?

[@doreoisbad]

@@LarryorgavinColtrane still good, just a little worse

[@LarryorgavinColtrane]

@@doreoisbad same thing for glord?

[@disk3001]

The bottom Mermonkey nerf was so extreme... I know that it was OP before, but going from 4.6k to 7k is absurd

[@doreoisbad]

@@disk3001 it's reasonable but the fact that harmonic wasn't compensated when it was already incredibly niche is stupid

[@slimbeardy28]

Now use Churchill on Ravine again >:)

[@doreoisbad]

@@slimbeardy28 I'm pretty sure the earlygsme still doesn't work but maybe with adasaurus early it can

[@orcrustyboi15]

Please let the glaive lord thumbnail be clickbait he has sucked ass long enough he should get another season in the spotlight :) Edit: damn thats not a small price increase

[@Zapples12]

yep this balance change is uninteresting af

[@doreoisbad]

@@Zapples12 yep

[@RancorSnp]

Agreed, usually I read the patch notes start to finish, this one I couldn't get through lost interest before reading the whole thing

[@leonardomatheus1888]

Why so many nerfs? I'm done with bloons, it's not fun anymore

[@doreoisbad]

@@leonardomatheus1888 yeah i really hated this patch because all nk knows how to do is price nerfs, and refuses to revert towers at all, and there were also pretty much no buffs this patch

[@leonardomatheus1888]

@@doreoisbad Yea it takes the fun out of the game for me, the last patches were filled with nerfs too, and they still keep nerfing everything.

[@Nico_Grrrr]

Now how will we do #OUCH

[@tpfoxCastro]

This whole video is just a guy crying because nerfs exist. "Oh no, I can't use the same tower I use every single game to destroy every single bloon anymore, what will I do?", grow up. Towers will be nerfed and you will not be able to "gg ez" all the time. Also, it's easy to say these were "dumb changes" when you simply ignore every good chance because "it doesn't matter". Really Big Bombs is not a good upgrade so they increase its damage, but instead of appreciating the attempt you just go "doesn't change anything, I don't use it". Learn that other people play the game and just because you don't use a tower doesn't mean it being buffed doesn't matter. Edit: You don't even seem to care about the balance of the game, you just care if the strategies used will be changed or not and get mad when they will. Which is dumb, since the whole point of balance changes is for people to change their strategies. Being sad or angry that you will be "forced" to use something else is just idiotic.

[@doreoisbad]

I'll admit, this video was very reactionary and didn't really think through everything I said in real time. My actual position that I've had time to think about is very different from what I portrayed in the video. In my opinion, balance changes only really matter if they change what towers actually get used by players. You mention really big bombs, will that +1 damage buff make it compete with other options? Hell no. It's still completely outclassed by everything to ever exist. The usage is the same as before. I do think that the meta should shift a decent bit each patch. I want strategy to evolve. I think that is good for the game. Every tower should have at least 1-2 use cases where it IS the best tower. But the game just isn't like that right now. My main problem with the update (which I didn't portray well in the video at all), is that the strategies DIDN'T change. The overpowered towers (glaive lord, symphonic resonance, solver, etc.) were nerfed, but only in ways that didn't affect their usage much at all. Yes, they got nerfed, but they are still the best towers in their niches by a long shot for 99% of players (i say that specifically because better towers DO exist in high-skill play, but they are hard to use and most players including myself don't bother). As I said before, the meta should shift a bit each patch, but this patch changed essentially NOTHING in the meta. GLord is still the best DPS tower for most games, and symphonic resonance is still absurdly good when used properly, but now they are just slightly more annoying and expensive to use. The change to condor was the only balance change this update that realistically changes how much it will get used. I've done quite a bit of testing this patch, and the best strategies for expert maps (which are what I mostly play) stayed the exact same, with the same dominant towers as before. I also genuinely believe that price nerfs are the most useless type of change in the game. A slight price adjustment to a tower won't make it substantially worse, it just makes it more annoying to use. And making a tower more annoying to use isn't a real nerf, because if you have just a little bit of extra money (which you ALWAYS do), the change won't affect you. so TLDR; the changes didn't change strategy much at all, which is a bad thing

[@chronogue30]

how could you not mention the worst change ever. THE WOF RE TEXTURE. not being mean to nk but in actually looks shit

[@foxgamerpros4622]

Yeah these changes are very questioning like why are most of these nerfs???

[@doreoisbad]

@@foxgamerpros4622 NK really took the philosophy that if everything is bad, nothing is bad (not my joke but still)

[@foxgamerpros4622]

@@doreoisbad imagine if everything was good for once?

[@Intellectual_Overlord]

A lot of those takes are atrocious

[@doreoisbad]

@@Intellectual_Overlord what