Several players have commented upon the potency of status effects (dazed, stunned, confused, etc.). Astute as they are, DDM players also have noted that save ends effects are very powerful and somewhat imbalanced. A 6-point mini has a chance to daze-lock a 397-point mini? Crazy!
One essential difference between skirmish and RPG is that it's a pretty rare event for a 1st-level creature to battle a 12th-level creature in RPG. It happens all the time in skirmish. So, those rare instances of a timber wolf shutting down a Balor are more prevalent in our beloved game. Yep, conditions are the bomb. What's a designer to do?
One thing we're doing is toning down the status effects. You'll see fewer of them in the fall set. I've also been brainstorming different ways to design condition-removal powers. The Unicorn got its due at Gen Con this year, but I'd like to see some more figures of this sort in play to balance out the lockdown warbands.
Civilization: These guys are all about cooperation. The standard cleric or warlord "I smash you, and if I hit, my ally wakes up" sort of power seems to fit well in this faction. The nice thing about this type of power is that you don't necessarily sacrifice damage output. And, in the end, it's still all about damage. Ya hear that, Witchknife?
Borderlands: I picture Borderlands creatures as being hardy and versatile. There should be few keyword-specific synergies among red figures. So, powers modeled after the Bluespawn Godslayer's Shrug Off Pain seem right.
Wild: Wild is about brute force and a certain degree of recklessness. I picture a creature that loses control when it becomes dazed or confused. Prometheus unbound ... Maybe some kind of burst auto-damage when the creature is hit by a status effect.
Underdark: Tricksy and self-serving, a champion in the purple faction will remove an ally's deblitating condition -- for a price. HP? VP? Probably the former.
Anyhoo, just some design musings. What do y'all think? You never know what might make it's way into Streets of Shadow ...
