Blizzard Ball changes in 3.5.0
October 5, 2023
We’ve made some big changes to Blizzard Ball in Golf Blitz v3.5.0 based on feedback from players. Here’s what changed in the Blizzard Ball power-up:
- Frozen balls now get slowed instead of stopping and resetting
- Frozen balls will “thaw” and return to full speed after leaving the area of effect for a few seconds
- Blizzard Ball won’t collide with frozen balls
- The Blizzard effect ramps up over a fraction of a second
But why do this at all? Well, we wanted to address a few pieces of valid feedback we’ve received from players since the Blizzard Ball launch. The thing we heard over and over again was that the Blizzard Ball just increased frustration and decreased interesting choices so here’s our shot at fixing those
| Complaint | Fix |
| Getting frozen while shooting a power-up off the tee is frustrating since its stops your ball and cancels the power-up wasting elixir | Frozen balls now slow down but eventually continue on their trajectory and power-up. This means expensive power-ups are still viable off the tee |
| Blizzard Ball is too strong off the tee since it has a large area of effect that can easily affect every ball | The are of effect ramps up over a fraction of a second similar to the Repel Ball so that it’s less likely to impact all players shooting from the same spot. |
| It’s frustrating to freeze a ball and then immediately run into it ruining your trajectory | Blizzard Balls no longer collide with frozen balls so that the Blizzard can easily fly past frozen opponents. This also makes Blizzard much more viable on the green as it acts like a fancy Ghost Ball |
| It’s frustrating to get frozen multiple times in a row since you have to re-aim after each freeze | Getting frozen again will extend the length of the slow down but won’t require you to aim and shoot again. |
We hope these new changes make the Blizzard Ball more fun to use in-game. It still has lots of utility in slowing opponents (and finding shortcuts on water hazards) but should be less frustrating overall so we think the elixir cost is still appropriate.
Hopefully this was a fun glimpse into the thought process we have when balancing some of the mechanics in Golf Blitz. A big thanks to all who provide constructive criticism on Discord and other channels!