Honestly, many of the Traits used when designing a Faction are either redundant or undesirable even if only being used for "flavor"
I'll detail my thoughts on each and would like to know if I'm spot on, or whether others have a different PoV
Also disappointing in a new expansion that while some Traits have been tweaked, not a single new Trait has been introduced
Devs, it could also be fun to have a button for creating a random new Faction adding a different kind of challenge for players.
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Adepts/Civics/Warriors; I find all of these "free techs" to be flavor only as they're really just a targeted free handout of research points. Wasted selections IMO.
Archers; Desirable Pick, too bad you also don't get an inherent cheap ranged attack (throwing stones/sling for flavor) while waiting for bows to become available
Assassin's Tools; Decent rewards, though you'd think there'd be a poisoned Dagger in here somewhere
Betrayers; Does anyone else find it odd that a "Spell" uses 1000 Gildar to execute, and not Mana?
Binding; Fun and Flavorful
Cult of 100 eyes; Fun and Flavorful
Death Worship; Powerful in the right hands
Defensive; Not sure why Shields are tied to Spears. Bronze Shield is "ok". Why isn't there a new Spear as well? Still seems an odd mix.
Enchanters; Strong choice for the Scrying Pool Improvement. The staffs? Meh
Flesh Bound Tome; Only has one good spell "Candlecloak". The others may as well not exist IMO being too limited in use. Shouldn't this pseudo Book of the Dead unlock Production/Summon Undead similar in scope to the Cult of 100 eyes?
Axe Mastery; The recent changes to this make it a desirable pick. Dual Axes woot!
Great Hammers; It's okay. Why not include a new Hammer in the Magic Tree (Magical Forging)?
Heroic; Only really shines when paired with Wanderlust, or maps with "Plenty" of quests
Legacy of Serrane; Seemed to transition okay into LH, Warhorse might need tweaking. I'd prefer keeping the current Horse mods (+2/+2 Atk/Init first move) with a static +1/+1 always in effect. Bazaar seems so-so, nice if you have the cash to invest in rushing production
Light Plate/Master Chain; Not sure how I feel about these now that Heroes need to pick armor proficiency. Might need to be cut from LH
Lucky; Strong
Master Scouts; My only problem with this is that IMO Rivers should be removed from this and placed into a different/new Trait
Master Smiths; Strong Pick
Quick; Decent
Scholars; Unlike Adepts/Civics/Warriors, the included +10% bonus to Research brings longevity to the Trait making this a good choice.
Slave Lord; It was good before. Now it's Super appealing with how poorly Unrest is functioning on Large/Huge Maps
Stealth; No complaints excepting Monster AI rarely attacks adjacent Enemy AI units even without this ability
The Decalon; Really good, especially if you can hire Henchmen
Tough; Decent
Wanderlust; Quest Maps are great, Armor & Blades are great. Not sure how this conceptually came together. Strong pick, the pairings seem weird.
Warrior Caste; Vanilla. Have never picked it. Would add flavor to some builds.
