What am I doing wrong?

[CourtJesterCowboy]

... been playing this at my girlfriends and have done a good 20 runs. I was really captivated at first, and considering just buying it on my account. I watched some people on YouTube effortlessly beat a run on the hardest difficulty and it left me wondering if I even enjoy this game or if I am just chasing the dopamine of winning a run.

I have tried all sorts of joker combos and have built around every hand type. I just dont know what to do anymore. People have said Flush builds are the most OP. Ive seen builds around High card.

Seriously, I had one run where I lost in the 7th ante... but aside from that, I usually lose in the 4th or 5th just trying to make some niche thing happen as I have tried all the obvious ways to win.

Am I even enjoying this thing? lol very frustrating. Does it get easier as you unlock more Jokers into play or something, and the people on Youtube have just unlocked all options and the game is easier for them? What am I doing wrong here?

[Ronald Brain]

You probably tried too hard to lean into one kind of hand and bad RNG just ended your run altogether. Balatro is all about consistence and always have a back up plan. So...
-Don't invest in just one kind of hand, always have a backup. Flush is fine, but don't overlook Straight, Fullhouse, etc...
-Don't focus on single hand buff. +10 mult of Flush/Straight is fine, but you should always take something that always add chip/mult to various kind of cards, like Even Steven or Odd Tood.
-Focus on Tarot for a chance to get Hermit/Temperance. Planet cards are nice to upgrade weaker hand when you have spare cash.
-Skip tags are OPed when played right. Don't miss a chance for Poly/Holo Joker, free shop or Investment.

[CourtJesterCowboy]

Originally posted by Ronald Brain:

You probably tried too hard to lean into one kind of hand and bad RNG just ended your run altogether. Balatro is all about consistence and always have a back up plan. So...
-Don't invest in just one kind of hand, always have a backup. Flush is fine, but don't overlook Straight, Fullhouse, etc...
-Don't focus on single hand buff. +10 mult of Flush/Straight is fine, but you should always take something that always add chip/mult to various kind of cards, like Even Steven or Odd Tood.
-Focus on Tarot for a chance to get Hermit/Temperance. Planet cards are nice to upgrade weaker hand when you have spare cash.
-Skip tags are OPed when played right. Don't miss a chance for Poly/Holo Joker, free shop or Investment.

I only started focusing hands after 15 or so runs, and reading peoples advice online and trying anything. Just trying to figure out what works. My best runs were absolutely me just keeping options open and getting lucky with Joker combos. Thats why I am asking. I am at the end of the line here just looking for a simple answer of something I may be doing wrong, or if a specific play style has more success...

So do you think winning a run is easier or harder as you unlock more jokers and whatnot?

[Dollop of Mayo]

After about 10 hours playing (demo + full version) I've won a few runs and lost more than that, and I wouldn't say it gets easier with unlocking more Jokers. You definitely get more build variety and maybe you'll find a Joker that clicks with you and makes you realize a certain aspect of the game.

One thing I'll say that helped me a TON is that I didn't understand the difference between Mult (ex. regular Joker gives 4 Mult) and cards that say things like "x3 Mult if played hand has X"

I thought they were the same thing for several plays and snoozed on the xY Mult cards. But those cards are actually super great since they multiply your Mult. So if for example, you had 3 Jokers that gave you 25 Mult together, all you'd need is one more Joker that gives x2 Mult and you'd be at 50 Mult. I hope that makes sense and helps. I might have just not understood a basic and obvious thing.

[CourtJesterCowboy]

Originally posted by Dollop of Mayo:

After about 10 hours playing (demo + full version) I've won a few runs and lost more than that, and I wouldn't say it gets easier with unlocking more Jokers. You definitely get more build variety and maybe you'll find a Joker that clicks with you and makes you realize a certain aspect of the game.

One thing I'll say that helped me a TON is that I didn't understand the difference between Mult (ex. regular Joker gives 4 Mult) and cards that say things like "x3 Mult if played hand has X"

I thought they were the same thing for several plays and snoozed on the xY Mult cards. But those cards are actually super great since they multiply your Mult. So if for example, you had 3 Jokers that gave you 25 Mult together, all you'd need is one more Joker that gives x2 Mult and you'd be at 50 Mult. I hope that makes sense and helps. I might have just not understood a basic and obvious thing.

Oh, wow, thats a great tip. Thats the stuff I am looking for. I actually have had one single win with the red deck. I got a holo "spare trousers" joker for TwoPair(Every time I play TwoPair it adds 2x to mult and I got it up into the 80s or something) and managed to get my TwoPair to level 7, mixed with not coming across "The eye" boss blind which doesnt allow same hand plays and also pulling a popcorn joker right before the final boss which gave me that extra quick 20x mult. Even then, I barely bulled it off by like a few thousand chips. Very rough game even when we think we are doing great... but thats a good tip thanks

[Goblin]

It's definitely easier to enjoy the game if you can enjoy little victories instead of just the ante 8 wins. Same way you can have fun in a casino even if you walk out with less money than you came in with. And at least here you don't need to set a budget or risk bankrupting yourself.

Originally posted by CourtJesterCowboy:

So do you think winning a run is easier or harder as you unlock more jokers and whatnot?

Some of them easier, some harder. There's a few that are hard to utilize and mostly just dilute the joker pool, though when they do synergize they usually pop off really hard. Meanwhile most of the xMult unlockables make it easier.

[snakeskip]

Factor modifiers (xY) are very valuable. Note that the order of jokers and cards is very important. You want to have factors applied after plusses. Cards and jokers with factor modifiers need to be rightmost.

The value of chips (blue) and multipliers (red) depends on the balance of chips and multipliers in final scoring of a hand. If you have equal amount of chips and multipliers (for instance 104x104), then +1 chip would be exactly as valuable as +1 multiplier. If you have a 2:1 ratio in final scoring (for instance 104x52), then +2 chips would be as valuable as +1 multiplier. And so on.

[Harmonica]

I don't think any of us can answer if you're having fun since everyone finds their fun in different ways :)

If you're trying niche things because that's fun then hard to say you're doing things wrong. But then you say that it's frustrating to not make it to eight (or beyond 4/5?), so it sounds like you need to find that balance between experimenting and relying on what you know works well. Or just be conscious of what you're doing with a run, whether it's exploring/unlocking, just going with whatever random stuff shows up, or trying for a particular reliable strat to hit 8+.

Sometimes these niche things just don't get there and it's kind of sad when you have all or most of the pieces and get denied before seeing your build do its thing. But then it just wasn't meant to be...

[CourtJesterCowboy]

Originally posted by Harmonica:

I don't think any of us can answer if you're having fun since everyone finds their fun in different ways :)

If you're trying niche things because that's fun then hard to say you're doing things wrong. But then you say that it's frustrating to not make it to eight (or beyond 4/5?), so it sounds like you need to find that balance between experimenting and relying on what you know works well. Or just be conscious of what you're doing with a run, whether it's exploring/unlocking, just going with whatever random stuff shows up, or trying for a particular reliable strat to hit 8+.

Sometimes these niche things just don't get there and it's kind of sad when you have all or most of the pieces and get denied before seeing your build do its thing. But then it just wasn't meant to be...

Yeah, it seems wins come from just keeping an open mind for what you come across and some luck. Only win i have gotten was because my first joker was a holo spare trousers and I just hyper focused TwoPair until I had a 70x mult on that joker and a level 7 TwoPair while also pulling the Banana and Popcorn joker right before the final boss and just barely pulling it off... But one win in like 30 runs is crazy to me

[Harmonica]

Yeah I've also had the early Trousers pick up and it's a sweet combo to build around, however without XMULT I don't know if it has the 'legs' to get far beyond Ante 8 :) (but then you can say that about everything, I guess).

1/30 seems a bit low to me but it all depends what you're trying and how long you're sticking it out if it's not working. If quickly retiring runs that feel bad then sure you'll run up the numbers. I would try not to sweat it either way.

Also it's high variance even when you're consciously evaluating most decisions. A single powerful token effect like 'initial cards and boosters are free' tends to remove pressures of actually beating antes since you get so many jokers or tarots and boosters in that shop and can mess around with building combos or kitting out the deck instead. Then some runs you are only narrowly winning and not seeing anything, can literally see almost no jokers, never see standard packs, and so on, just missing out on the things you need repeatedly. Not sure if there's a way to pivot when that happens, beyond hoping for transformative jokers or spectral packs in quick succession.

Also I think there's a lot to be said for having played other games with similar drafting and deck building mechanics. That stuff takes a lot of time to learn and probably a lot of us take it for granted. I absolutely sucked at drafting (ie selecting cards to add to a deck or building a deck on the fly (in MTG)) before I put in the hours to train my brain to be able to evaluate things moderately decently. The same goes for hand evaluation and playing to outs. So whilst we're all relatively new to this game previous experiences definitely give a leg up.