Oh, WebC, we seem to be shockingly in tune... I too weep for the poor unloved Gorilla...
I wrote a long thread about "Resuscitating Unloved Cards"
My approach was to change the Codex, not the cards
Here is a carefully edited excerpt relating to the Gorilla.
5. Rage tokens are not removed by Healing
Nature has some great Level 4 Elites: Grizzly, Cervere, Redcalw, Galador, Kralathor - Gorilla is not one
For c.16 mana, I've far better options than a Gorilla - the solution is to make Rage and Climbing better!
Because it's enemy creature attacks only (no Jelly chomping on Thornlasher companion), it's not great
I get 4 dice now with a promise of 7 dice if I survive 3 enemy creature attacks, too much future benefit
That's why the Gorilla also needs Climbing to be upgraded
6. Climbing is a move action
Climbing currently appears on just 4 cards: Eagleclaw Boots, Gorilla, Animal Kinship and Ichthellid
Climbing currently interacts with 3 cards in a rubbish way: Wall of Stone, Wall of Steel, Wall of Bone
The moving through Passage Attacks clause makes no sense, further validating need for a re-write
To make matters worse, Restrain stops move actions but not a Climb full action, it needs a re-write
Because I can always move 1 then cast a Wall across the border I moved, Climbing is situational
Climbing as it stands is a defensive situational trait while it could be so much more useful in books
By making Climbing a move action, it solves Restrain, brings Passage Blocks mazes into the game
The mage who puts Climbing into his book is incentivised to add those Walls - good for the game
For me, the priority is to re-invigorate old cards and introduce styles, even if I'm playing fast and loose
I see no issue Climbing being code for "ignore Passage Blocked", like Reach is dubious "ignore Flying"
By making Climbing a move action, it adds relevance to this trait, opening up some interesting builds
It also solves the Restrained issue (Passage Attacks "benefit" is simply dropped as makes no sense)
I think Rage and Climbing could be such cool traits
The only reason Climbing is relevant is to don Eagleclaw Boots to climb out of a Pit
(Yes, an Ichthellid can climb over a Bone Fortress then be easily killed so it's flawed)
If the cheesy Pit strategy finally gets nerfed, what is it good for?
I don't think the Gorilla would suddenly become overpowered with these changes
There is a very easy way to avoid Rage and that's to just avoid attacking it, leaving it as a vanilla 4 dice
It would make a great Bodyguard but there are ways round this: Push, Tanglevine, Mongoose, Slam etc
Of course it's only enemy creatures so you can damage it with attack spells before swarming for the kill
Unfortunately "Resuscitating Unloved Cards" was felt to be too reactive so didn't get much open support
But I still contend you can elegantly make lots of these bad cards playable if you just changed the Codex
I mean, does anyone really play Staff of Arcanum or Mana Leeches? Now what do they have in common...
I just want these rejected cards to become useful without card erratas, by just changing their keywords
And I just wish the Gorilla could join the rest of the great level 4 Nature creatures out there to choose from
(Makunda is another poor level 4 because, even with future Cat support, he compares poorly to Redclaw)
