#smite items

[hirezajax-blog]

In regard to the Devourer’s Gauntlet change in 4.15, Why do you buff items that are on the edge of meta, yet ignore items that are clearly bad, like Soul Eater, Blackthorn Hammer, or War Flag? (From r/smite)

There a few reasons why we might be buffing certain items even though much more obvious buff candidates exist. Generally it is one of our goals to address items that no one purchases but we also make many balance changes to specifically adjust certain classes. Patch 4.15 is an example of class specific changes.

There is no logical connection between specifically targeted items and obviously weak items. Two items cannot be directly compared unless they share the same design goal. Devourer’s Gauntlet is a Hunter item, and although these suggestions include physical power, they have completely different design goals and would be used by completely different gods. In 4.15 We specifically want to buff hunters and diversify their starting builds and we specifically want to nerf warrior itemization. With this goal in mind, buffing Blackthorn instead of Devo’s wouldn’t accomplish either of our goals. It would only create more unknowns and make it harder to see if our currently proposed changes were successful.

Also, the obvious item might not be such an obvious buff candidate. Plenty of times in SMITE we have seen new items sit in the item shop, untouched by players, for a long time… only to be discovered later that they have extremely strong potential. They also might be working in a different game mode or situation that players aren’t considering. War Flag has more applications in casual modes than it does in Conquest. 

Obviously weak items usually have bigger issues. Simple buffs to stats are not enough to fix some items. If an item like this goes a long time without being touched, we probably have bigger plans for that item. This is the case for Soul Eater.

Finally, bringing something totally new into the meta can have very large and unpredictable consequences. We want to be more calculated with these changes and not force players to adapt to multiple big changes at once.

[hirezajax-blog]

Why doesn’t Loki's Decoy trigger Bluestone Pendant? (from EVERYWHERE)

This is intended and is consistent with other mechanics in SMITE. It is because Loki’s Decoy is considered a pet, and pets do not inherit any item passive triggers from their owner god.

Pets are summoned entities specifically characterized by their ability to take hits from towers. They do not get item passives. Vulcan’s Inferno Cannon, Nu Wa’s Clay Soldiers, and Bastet’s Cat Call all summon pets.

Pets are most commonly compared with a different ability type called “deployables.” These are summoned entities that occupy a certain space for an extended period of time. Deployables can sometimes be attacked by other gods or minions, but they can never take tower hits. Examples are Terra’s Obelisk (hittable deployable) and Chaac’s Axe (standard deployable). Deployables that deal damage do trigger item passives and work very similarly to other damaging abilities. Even Chronos’ Time rift is considered a deployable.

I realize that Loki’s Decoy feels more like a deployable than a pet to many players so we will be updating some ability descriptions to better clarify the ability types. This will be a project that spans across multiple patches, but we will start with “pet” type abilities in 4.16.

[hirezajax-blog]

What was the thought process behind cases such as Golden Bow and Hastened Fatalis where an item is buffed and then it breaks the current system so it eventually just gets removed? (From r/smite)

Items that are only used on one god are not good. This can limit the god’s success unless players do an excessive amount of research and it also needlessly complicates the item store. We could have just removed it and buff the specific gods at the start, but both of these items had fun and interesting effects that we wanted to see used on a wider range of gods.

In both cases, having the item on a wider range of gods created unhealthy game states.  If stats are overwhelmingly showing a specific class or strategy is too strong (at casual, ranked, and SPL level), or if there is overwhelming negative community feedback, then we have an unhealthy game state. This occurred in both occasions. Golden Bow showed hunters skyrocketing to the top of the stats, and Hastened Fatalis created constant community turmoil.

At this point we knew that these items’ unique characteristics were bad for the game. The things they specifically were designed to do were actually hurting the overall god diversity and causing frustration. This means the items were bad designs, and should be removed. We had a choice to revert each item back to their “one god” states, but there is good reason why we want to avoid “one god” items. Instead, its much better to remove the problem item and adjust the god individually. Mercury received a large set of buffs in 3.13 after the Removal of Golden Bow. Freya, Sol, and Chronos received a strong alternative to the item that we are still in the process of balancing, but initial stats show all 3 gods are quite powerful in Season 4.