Spectator mode does not allow for cheating, as some people obviously think it does. Spectator mode shows the moves as they are being played. Not when the player selects them. So no need to fret over if you have a friend in the stands or not, they can't see cloaked spells, fizzles, anything. The only thing is that sometimes when a pet casts during the round, you can see their spells, which gives no strategic advantage because their spells have already been chosen. I don't know what people don't understand about this, but I hope I cleared it up.
Of course wizards can use spectator mode to give their friend's an advantage in PvP. Maybe it's not cheating, but I think it is. Here are just a few quick examples, which I've posted before, but KI doesn't seem to give a darn.
1. My ice wizard has gear that gives an elemental blade which stacks with a regular elemental blade. I cast my regular elemental blade followed by my gear elemental blade, which is blue in color, if someone is watching closely. My opponent thinks I have cast two separate elemental blades, when in fact I have stacked two different blades. My opponent's friend is observing closely in spectator mode and sees my second elemental blade is blue in color, and therefore different than a regular elemental blade. He can now tell his friend that my elemental blades are stacked and not separate. This is info my opponent should not have.
2. I find myself lucky enough to find a 45% Balefrost bubble in the bazaar and cast it in the PvP match. My opponent thinks it's a regular 35% bubble, but his observant friend can now tell him that the bubble is the rare and hard to find 45% bubble. This is info my opponent should not have.
3. My balance wizard casts a weakness on my opponent. Then I add Extraordinary to a weakness and cast that on my opponent. He thinks he has two weaknesses on him, when in fact the Extraordinary card made it a different weakness, therefore my opponent has stacked weaknesses on him. An observant friend sees this in spectator mode and let's his friend know that he does indeed have two stacked weaknesses on him and not just two regular weaknesses. Again, this is info my opponent should not have.
I think spectator mode is a great addition to PvP, allowing people to actually be able to see the battle up close and personal. The solution to this dilemma is simple. Allow spectators to see the spell being cast, but don't let them mouse over the spell to see the exact nature of the spell being cast. Problem solved.
Malt22, all the examples you gave (except for # 2) might have been noticed by your enemy. Correct me if I'm wrong but these examples don't seem like a big deal.
When the spectator mode was first introduced it let you see the fizzled spell, thankfully this has been fixed. I remember contacting them and they told me something crazy then it got fixed.
Of course wizards can use spectator mode to give their friend's an advantage in PvP. Maybe it's not cheating, but I think it is. Here are just a few quick examples, which I've posted before, but KI doesn't seem to give a darn.
1. My ice wizard has gear that gives an elemental blade which stacks with a regular elemental blade. I cast my regular elemental blade followed by my gear elemental blade, which is blue in color, if someone is watching closely. My opponent thinks I have cast two separate elemental blades, when in fact I have stacked two different blades. My opponent's friend is observing closely in spectator mode and sees my second elemental blade is blue in color, and therefore different than a regular elemental blade. He can now tell his friend that my elemental blades are stacked and not separate. This is info my opponent should not have.
2. I find myself lucky enough to find a 45% Balefrost bubble in the bazaar and cast it in the PvP match. My opponent thinks it's a regular 35% bubble, but his observant friend can now tell him that the bubble is the rare and hard to find 45% bubble. This is info my opponent should not have.
3. My balance wizard casts a weakness on my opponent. Then I add Extraordinary to a weakness and cast that on my opponent. He thinks he has two weaknesses on him, when in fact the Extraordinary card made it a different weakness, therefore my opponent has stacked weaknesses on him. An observant friend sees this in spectator mode and let's his friend know that he does indeed have two stacked weaknesses on him and not just two regular weaknesses. Again, this is info my opponent should not have.
I think spectator mode is a great addition to PvP, allowing people to actually be able to see the battle up close and personal. The solution to this dilemma is simple. Allow spectators to see the spell being cast, but don't let them mouse over the spell to see the exact nature of the spell being cast. Problem solved.
You listening KI?
I don't think this is a problem. Honestly, the information about if it is enchanted or not does nothing to the overall gameplay. It just tells someone what they already know (if this person is a Warlord) Oh! It is enchanted! Just like they always do if they're smart! I don't see the big problem people have with this. Also most people shouldn't care about the strength of the bubble. They will be hunting down one of theirs anyways. If your opponent is a Warlord (or as a matter of fact, anyone paying attention at all) they would recognize that you just stacked 2 elemental blades. Also, right now, the spectator mode does not show TC gold coloring, or gear blue coloring.
I don't think this is a problem. Honestly, the information about if it is enchanted or not does nothing to the overall gameplay. It just tells someone what they already know (if this person is a Warlord) Oh! It is enchanted! Just like they always do if they're smart! I don't see the big problem people have with this. Also most people shouldn't care about the strength of the bubble. They will be hunting down one of theirs anyways. If your opponent is a Warlord (or as a matter of fact, anyone paying attention at all) they would recognize that you just stacked 2 elemental blades. Also, right now, the spectator mode does not show TC gold coloring, or gear blue coloring.
Wolf Skullslinger, Thaumaturge by Trade
I believe there is a rather large difference knowing if I have weakness cast twice on me or two stacked weaknesses. I might just go ahead and do my main attack if I think there are two weaknesses on me. I'll think that maybe I can get off one of the weakness, but probably not both of them. However if I knew that I actually had two weaknesses stacked for my next attack, no way am I going to use a large attack.
I also see it as a rather large difference knowing whether my opponent has stacked blades or of just one blade cast twice. It could be the difference on whether I cast earthquake or not, especially if my opponent already had another blade up, thus bringing his blade total to three. I might not cast earthquake if I think he only has two blades stacked.
And if I knew my opponent had cast an extra powerful tc bubble, I might be more inclined to discard heavily to overwrite it ASAP. If I think it's a normal bubble, I still want to overwrite it, but I might not discard as heavily to do it.
Any information you can gather about your opponent in high level PvP can be important.
I believe there is a rather large difference knowing if I have weakness cast twice on me or two stacked weaknesses. I might just go ahead and do my main attack if I think there are two weaknesses on me. I'll think that maybe I can get off one of the weakness, but probably not both of them. However if I knew that I actually had two weaknesses stacked for my next attack, no way am I going to use a large attack.
I also see it as a rather large difference knowing whether my opponent has stacked blades or of just one blade cast twice. It could be the difference on whether I cast earthquake or not, especially if my opponent already had another blade up, thus bringing his blade total to three. I might not cast earthquake if I think he only has two blades stacked.
And if I knew my opponent had cast an extra powerful tc bubble, I might be more inclined to discard heavily to overwrite it ASAP. If I think it's a normal bubble, I still want to overwrite it, but I might not discard as heavily to do it.
Any information you can gather about your opponent in high level PvP can be important.
My belief is that it isn't cheating, even if they see it, most schools will remove weaknesses anyways. And if you see a hit coming you would shield anyways, right? Also, who earths 2 blades in a 1v1 for 6 pips? I sure don't. (level 62 myth) The bubble point. Almost every school will change the bubble no matter if they know its a 45% or a 35% fire, ice, myth, and storm will always change the bubble (often times life too) and Death may cast a doom and gloom on you, effectively making balance one that doesn't change bubbles a lot. So as you can see they will either be inclined to change the bubble no matter what, or not have any good effective way to change it. Besides, you could cast your supposed "45%" bubble on the turn after you arua/before you attack so that they have a dilemma with changing the bubble or getting blades off/shielding.
We will have to agree to disagree. I believe information and knowledge is power, and can give you an edge in 1v1 PvP. In the examples I gave, wizards can gain new information that they could never have gotten before spectator mode.
One thing I did notice when I watched a match recently is that KI has removed the color of the spell card being cast, so all spells, including gear spells, treasure cards, and enchanted spells, have that same white background as spells in your regular deck. However, you can still see the exact nature of the spell being cast, so it hasn't really fixed anything.
I believe there is a rather large difference knowing if I have weakness cast twice on me or two stacked weaknesses. I might just go ahead and do my main attack if I think there are two weaknesses on me. I'll think that maybe I can get off one of the weakness, but probably not both of them. However if I knew that I actually had two weaknesses stacked for my next attack, no way am I going to use a large attack.
I also see it as a rather large difference knowing whether my opponent has stacked blades or of just one blade cast twice. It could be the difference on whether I cast earthquake or not, especially if my opponent already had another blade up, thus bringing his blade total to three. I might not cast earthquake if I think he only has two blades stacked.
And if I knew my opponent had cast an extra powerful tc bubble, I might be more inclined to discard heavily to overwrite it ASAP. If I think it's a normal bubble, I still want to overwrite it, but I might not discard as heavily to do it.
Any information you can gather about your opponent in high level PvP can be important.
When a weakness is placed on you, numbers appear in the air how large of a weakness it is, unless it is cloaked, in which case spectator mode makes no differrence. And with your Balefrost example: I'm in pvp. My enemy casts a bubble of their school. I don't care if it's TC, boosted, whatever. I replace it ASAP, as I can't be dealing with their attacks being boosted by 25-45 percent. If I'm the same school as them, it doesn't matter if I know how big the bubble is or not, because one, I can't replace it (Unless I use a TC), and two, it boosts me as well. Any kind of Blade/Debuff Charm/ Trap/ Ward/ Debuff Ward says exactly what it does when it is played, in little numbers in the air. If your enemy is paying attention, it will tell them exactly what's going on, and having a spectator doesn't change anything. The only thing that spectator mode could make a difference on is bubbles, and honestly, half the matches I'm in, nobody casts a bubble. Spectator mode is not cheaty. Yes, information is knowledge, and knowledge is power, but name one thing (Aside from the mostly irrelevant bubbles) that you can find out from spectator mode that you absolutely could not normally, that would actually have an effect on the game.
When a weakness is placed on you, numbers appear in the air how large of a weakness it is, unless it is cloaked, in which case spectator mode makes no differrence. And with your Balefrost example: I'm in pvp. My enemy casts a bubble of their school. I don't care if it's TC, boosted, whatever. I replace it ASAP, as I can't be dealing with their attacks being boosted by 25-45 percent. If I'm the same school as them, it doesn't matter if I know how big the bubble is or not, because one, I can't replace it (Unless I use a TC), and two, it boosts me as well. Any kind of Blade/Debuff Charm/ Trap/ Ward/ Debuff Ward says exactly what it does when it is played, in little numbers in the air. If your enemy is paying attention, it will tell them exactly what's going on, and having a spectator doesn't change anything. The only thing that spectator mode could make a difference on is bubbles, and honestly, half the matches I'm in, nobody casts a bubble. Spectator mode is not cheaty. Yes, information is knowledge, and knowledge is power, but name one thing (Aside from the mostly irrelevant bubbles) that you can find out from spectator mode that you absolutely could not normally, that would actually have an effect on the game.
I don't get how you don't understand my examples and how they grant extra knowledge to your opponent that they could never know had it not been for spectators watching the cards closely and sharing the info with the player.
I guess the only question is whether or not it's cheating or not. Maybe it's not cheating, but it can indeed lead to getting information you could never get before.
P.S. I don't think you understood my weakness example. Extraordinary only puts extra accuracy on a weakness, so without a spectator watching closely, you could never tell the difference between a regular weakness and an Extraordinary weakness. And I stand by my statement that knowing whether you have two stacked weaknesses on you or two sequential weaknesses on you is important information.
