Psykers struggle as it is, and it's not a lack of smite spam that was the problem, rather the opposite. I guess they just listened to what was complained about rather than what was OP. Giving the SMURF's a nod with the smite spam and not the already terrible and now also nerfed warlock conclave was just plain idiotic.
You mean the nod they gave to Grey Knights, the one army that is considered to have the most useless codex to the point that you rarely see them being played any more? The army that had a toned down version of Smite that was made all but useless by the beta rules? Yeah, it's such a shame that GW made an exception for an army like that...
I've been considering the character rules, and they are in no way better than the current rules actually, as you can still hide a screening unit behind a wall, and become untargettable.
You simply can't use a character for screening.
As a backlash, characters can't take cover behind other characters even in the open.
Actually, the current rules require that the screening unit be visible. They took away the visible requirement because people were using vehicles to snipe characters. Then they took away the screening ability from other characters to prevent the lists of 6+ Cullexus Assassins from screening an army of characters.
CWE changes feels like a knee jerk reaction to what people were having a whine at, but didn't really play test all the changes out with the new rule adjustments.
Not being able to spam reapers, especially given Battle brothers effect on Ynnari, puts a lot of hurt on the tourney lists, which were often backed up with Seer support, that before accounting for the point increases.
Reapers were ridiculously good with their previous point cost, which is
why they were spammed. If you had just left the 0-3 restriction, you would see that cap filled for Reapers every time. That would bring you back to 7th edition lists where Eldar lists started with a Riptide Wing, and then went from there. Now, considerations may be made to other units.
To be frank, it feels more like GW are trying to stop people in tourney's from being nobs, but it comes are a really big hit to those who just play for fun and show some shelf control. If I don't want to be trashed by a new codex now, I'm going to have to put more filth in the lists.
That's just it, these rule changes are in Matched Play. Matched Play is the rules set
designed for the tournament players. If you want to play fun, fluffy games, then that is why they have Open or Narrative. But complaining that GW is changing things because they are being abused by competitive players in the rules set designed for competitive players just doesn't make sense.
High point cost low model count armies suck in 8th.
My Custodes would disagree with you
I never had an issue with command points for taking a battalion. Is this more of a slap to stop people abusing the other 1 CP detachments? This also puts a massive benefit to low cost armies. I don't get this change either considering the other 1 CP detachments were a way of spamming units, which with the new anti-soup rules makes it very hard to do.
As was mentioned, this is more to benefit the elite armies that can't really afford to run multiple detachments. In 2000pts, my Custodes have exactly 6CP. After I use one to deep strike a unit, and another to pay for a second relic, I am down to 4 for the entire game. At that point, Victor of the Blood Games is not worth the cost, and I have to really consider if I want to spend 1CP for something like redrawing a Tactical Objective.
Seems like we are being pushed back to CAD style gaming, not a bad thing in itself, but moves away from the rhetoric of being able to play the game they way you want...
We never left the CAD style of games. You have a set number of detachments that are all very similar to the CAD of old.
Smite is a real problem and the nerf doesn't go far enough.
It's a solid change. Not going to severely hamper 2 or 3 psykers, but 6 or 7 will feel the pinch.