Gaming
For Honor’s Warlord Becomes Useless: The Problem With Nerfs
Recently, For Honor introduced a new patch that aimed to balance one of the supposedly over-powered characters; the Warlord. Ubisoft’s patch-notes read like a last will and testament for players who love the bearded warrior.
Before I get into the details, full disclosure, I am (was) a Warlord main. For those who don’t appreciate the nuances of games like For Honor, there is a level of identification one feels with the available characters and for me that was the Warlord. I liked the defensive potential and the general feel of his movements, quickly deciding that the Warlord was the character I would use more than any other; my special little hero. Imagine the horror you would feel if your favourite character was decapitated.
When I booted up the game hoping to complete my daily orders, I was greeted by a patch download which quickly installed and I began to play. However, every parry or headbutt I performed suddenly felt wrong. My headbutts felt very slow -opponents were even dodging them- and my parry follow up simply did not work. The Warlord had been nerfed.
Nerfs have always had a slight stigma attached to them for pretty good reasons; why hamper some peoples’ enjoyment of the game to placate others? Even though I personally don’t feel the warlord needed a nerf (especially considering what the Centurion can currently do), many disagreed and their concerns should certainly be addressed. But the solution should never be to ruin a strong character, instead, the lower tier characters should be buffed.
Most people agree with this consensus and it has been pleasantly surprising seeing people who were not long ago calling for a Warlord nerf actually criticise the extent to which the character has been changed. All his damage has been reduced, his dodge recovery has gone up and his parry punish has been rendered useless. This is not how we should move forward with For Honor or indeed any game at all. We understand the need for balance, but isn’t this primarily a game to be enjoyed?
This opinion is not controversial, it should be the standard. I am avoiding a game I love because of a patch that ruins my favourite character. These changes seem oriented towards the competitive circuit. Any ‘fighting’ game goes through various iterations of characters and mechanics, but we often overlook the fact that most people play these games for fun.
So what happens now? Conqueror and Kensei mains are welcoming us Warlords with open arms and quietly shushing us to join them in the lower tier. We thank them for their support, but like the One True Morty I think it’s time we fought back. Ubisoft should listen to our concern at how they are treating our characters and work on building up all characters to fight toe-to-toe with the Wardens and Raiders with mutual love and respect. Except Cents, they can go away.
For more For Honor, see our reviews of the Gladiator and Highlander, as well as other articles here.
The Starbreeze cooperative multiplayer game Project Baxter is expected to follow PAYDAY. The official Dungeons & Dragons logo is on Starbreeze. However, we do not expect the studio to revere RPG settings like Larian did with Baldur’s Gate 3.
Starbreeze will develop and publish Project Baxter in 2026 for all major platforms. The company says it “will carry the signature Starbreeze game cornerstones of cooperative multiplayer, lifetime commitment through a Games as a Service model, community engagement, and a larger than life experience.”
Forgive the skepticism, but PAYDAY 3, Starbreeze’s latest release, lagged behind due to server issues that the CEO had to apologize for, taking two months to release the heist shooter’s first patch. It’s a disappointing story that may have gone unnoticed in a year with The Lord of the Rings: Gollum, Kong: Rise of Skull Island, and The Walking Dead: Destinies.
Would you like a Starbreeze multiplayer live service D&D game? Is this to capitalize on the setting’s moment between Baldur’s Gate and the surprising good Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves?
Konami promised that free-to-play soccer sim eFootball would add PES’ massively popular Master League mode, but while this month’s v3.20 update will add more solo content, you’ll have to wait. My League lets you play full seasons as a single player with changing weather and exclusive rewards to reduce the wait.
You’ll replace a real team from your league, like England or Italy. The gacha system unlocks players that you’ll use to fight the AI and win the table. Play through the mode as many times as you want, with custom cutscenes and other features to track your progress. It all seems like a way to make dream team gameplay appealing to offline players.
Online play is also getting better. A new tier system will match you with players of similar skill levels, and co-op will soon let you join strangers instead of friends. You can use emojis to discuss your matches’ successes and failures or strategize with new allies.
We assume new cards with perks will allow Konami to create “rarer” versions of players when they perform certain real-life feats. A new login feature will include a penalty-taking minigame where you must score a goal to climb a ladder and unlock in-game rewards like virtual currency. For now, that’s it.
The critically panned game improves, but not as fast as former PES fans would like. The gameplay is good, and there are more things to do, but without that meaty single-player mode, old-school franchise fans will always rank it lower. Konami should revive one of the best solo sports game modes soon.
We expected it to be big, but this big? Only ten hours after Rockstar unceremoniously released GTA 6’s trailer after an unexpected leak, it has over 50 million views. This video is the top trending video on YouTube worldwide, ignoring mirrors from IGN and Gamespot.
Instead of waiting until later today, the developer released the first footage of the latest Grand Theft Auto after a watermarked version leaked on Twitter. The team is understandably upset, but the video’s overwhelming response will reassure it. It has 50 million views and 6.5 million likes.
This could reach 100 million by the end of the day as it’s shared worldwide and fans search for Easter eggs and secrets. How many times have you seen the new trailer?
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