Well, after speculating a ton of changes, the final verdict is out. If you have not seen my post about the buffs I’m hoping, here’s a link: The buffs that TH11 need

And the biggest change that occurred is that now infernos will not block heal. There is a more extensive list of changes, but really they’re small.

And wtf SC, golems buff for TH8 and hounds buffed for TH10? Its TH11 that needs those changes, but I hope other things in TH11 would make it better. I’m still shaking my head at these peculiar changes.

Now, onto the meat. The biggest beef I have with this change is that now TH9 can quite easily hit TH10 for loot and stars making TH10 a joke. I honestly think that TH10 defenses needed a buff to stop TH9 30/30 from easily taking out a TH10, likewise TH11 needs the same buff as well. However, the change is to nerf defense and that was a big no-no for me.

The problem is that it is too simple to “win” in offense, you can spam troops as a TH9 and still quite easily “win” a maxed TH11 in legends. That is the main thing that needed to be rectified, before we even talk about buffing offense/nerfing defense. The core mechanic is not good because it allowed even low level unprepared players to get “wins” without thought. My maxed TH11 in Champs/Titans lose a ton in defense because any noob can spam troops and still get an easy 50% without much thought at all.

With the nerfing of defense, I think that it would allow much easier hits from lower TH against higher TH levels. Why bother progressing if you can do about the same towards higher levels? I strongly believe that the stagnation we see in the game right now is because it is unrewarding to progress, there is little to no sense of progression as you go to new levels. This is in contrast with the builder base, a BH6 is a BH6 and will always be stronger than any maxed BH5. This is what we need to see in the home village as well.

A funny thing is the plethora of whining we see when people say that TH10 will be steamrolled by TH11. Well of course, why the hell would you upgrade if you still cannot beat the level lower than you? Ever wonder why the 3 star rate is so poor at TH10 v TH10? Just look at TH11, you need maxed heroes and maxed troops to even stand a chance to 3 star a TH10, how would a TH10 fare?

This nicely leads to the next point, SC claims that this update is to promote people to go to TH10 which is a good thing, however the means is inappropriate. Why don’t people progress or have the desire to progress at a quicker clip? The main reason I see is “I don’t want to start over the grind being a noob in the higher level”, which basically means that being a big fish in a small pond is much better than being a small fish in a big ocean. That is fine but SC should look into this and promote/force/coerce people that progression is key.

They should make it so that whatever progress you have/had in TH9, you would be a bigger fish whenever you upgrade your TH level. Why not tie in some automatic upgrades to defense/offense the second you reach a new TH level? Or allow huge improvements within the first few days of the TH level? Or lock features by TH level or that new features are significantly more advantageous for higher levels. For example the clan games system, you are not able to provide much benefit as a TH8/9 or you score significantly less. Whereas being a TH10/11 allows you to clear stronger missions/quests/games to give many more points/marks/score compared to being a TH8/9. Whatever the means, they should make systems to strongly reward upgrading the TH instead of people feeling that they need to max out.

The funniest thing is what I see in the forums. People are crying because this will lead to another buff for engineering. People forget that any change is a welcome change to engineering because maxers are dead set on their bases/rules/mantra. The cult of maxing is so inflexible that any changes will invariably bring benefit for engineering. People should know that ideas such as “minimum weight for TH” or “weight in TH” will never happen because it only helps the vocal minority (maxers) in the forums/reddit. The silent minority who are casuals will not give a damn and will be severely impacted by any such changes. In fact, I think the changes we see is because SC wants to promote and help the casuals so that they are on equal footing with maxers. Its just that engineers have the right mindset and thus make themselves look casual but are able to beat those maxers.

I’m hoping to see what changes this brings to the meta, but my think this major change to infernos will undoubtedly allow lower levels to hit much higher and much harder. I do hope SC intends to buff defenses again to slightly reverse this change.