I yield

[Twijgje]

Although for the most part I throroughly enjoyed my time with Artifact, I have decided to shelve the game for now. While I criticise the game for an overeliance of randomness and an unbalanced set of cards, the reason I shelf the game is related to the dwindling number of players. Up until christmas, I was able to win prizes in draft now and then, but currently I am only able to reclaim my ticket at best. This is of course primarily because I am at an intermediate level of play, and regulary make sub-optimal (or dumb) play. My theory is that mostly experienced and good players are left, and thus there is very little room for error. Generally speaking, I like more challenging games such as dark souls and bloodborne, but in my experience those games allow you to make a mistake and recover from it; playing prize draft the last week has been too brutal. To quote Einstein: "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result.". So while I like the game, I attribute myself quitting to the skill distribution of the remaining player base; of course, I don't have any empricial evidence to back this up.

Love to come back when things change for the better in some way, although to be honest I have no clue how Valve should proceed with this game. I can only guess as to why some controversial points of the game where not caught earlier, and can only hope this is not caused by some deeply flawed development process at Valve.

[doc]

I'm pretty sure Einstein didn't say that. The drop-in player base is a problem however, you are correct in that the only people left are the very very new and those who are grinding out games and becoming better and better in the process.

It's a great time for some real competition but because there are so few players matchmaking cannot be having a great time and thus it leads to a lot of negative experiences.

[tolshortte]

totally makes sense to me. if you arent enjoying a game for whatever reason then shelving it is a great idea.

if you need someone to pummel, let me know, im not very good lol. i could even throw a crap deck together for 2 bucks if needed

hope to see you back

[chuckberts]

I'm still playing but pretty much strictly the free drafts. I found myself in a similiar boat w/ my prize draft win rate having dropped to closer to 50% at this point so I've gone from doing 1 a day to maybe 1 a week and when I do play it is totally nerve trying to overthink every possible outcome. Even w/ 0 mistakes draft luck and draw luck can doom you, but make an in game mistake and you are likely toast no matter what.

Regular draft you can't lose anything (except time) so it is still enjoyable to play. Getting a subpar deck isn't a death sentence where I lose a ticket, so I can view it as a challenge and try to see how far I can get or try out some abnormal card combos to see how they work.

[Cheeki Breeki Iv Damke]

Similar boat here, if anyone's up for some casual play feel free to add me.

[👽🐬 Old Black Nerd🐬👽]

Only 2.4k players left lol. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Valve really ♥♥♥♥♥♥ up this game. So much wasted potential

[Lagrange]

welcome to gwent op

[👽🐬 Old Black Nerd🐬👽]

Originally posted by Lagrange:

welcome to gwent op

I love Gwent, I hate that I have to play a dumb puzzle game to get extra cards. I HATE PUZZLES. I HATE YOU THRONEBREAKER RRRRRAWRRRRR

[Water Ｖａｐｏｒ Merchant]

I have to concede and say I think I'm also pretty much done with Artifact, at least until the next expansion comes round and piques my interest. Dota is my one true love, and the game I always keep coming back to. Two summers ago I didn't have access to Dota though, and picked up Hearthstone on my mobile device, so for a long while I was pretty invested into that, and when I heard about Artifact I thought I'd jump ship entirely. Then I got a laptop and was reunited with Dota, and now I think card games just don't scratch that itch the same way Dota does. I'll keep my eyes peeled when it comes to lore bits (because ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ Dota needs more of it), but as far as actually playing I think it's hitting the shelf.

[GeChenShi]

Totally agree. Not too much players left and many of them are some kind of prefessional players. I used to have wins and loses and that is still fun. However recently I feel quite frustrated by losing and losing and losing . I should admit i am not quite good at card games, but a game should always have different levels of players, no one like to be beaten all the time.

[👽🐬 Old Black Nerd🐬👽]

I'm just playing Faeria now for my card game needs. They changed the pricing model, but you get all the cards by just playing single player and vs mode, but you can just get the cards by playing against the AI. It's relaxing and quick. Shadowverse is also fun too.

[Twijgje]

Originally posted by tolshortte:

totally makes sense to me. if you arent enjoying a game for whatever reason then shelving it is a great idea.

if you need someone to pummel, let me know, im not very good lol. i could even throw a crap deck together for 2 bucks if needed

hope to see you back

Thanks for the invitation, I will take you up on your offer when I pick the game up again.

I will give Faeria a spin.

Slightly tangential, but the current situation with Artifact reminds me of Scrolls, the card game from Mojang which an emphais on positional play. Seems I am some kind of meta-masoschist who is drawn to doomed games :p

[kycaver]

Originally posted by 👽🐬 Old Black Nerd🐬👽:

I'm just playing Faeria now for my card game needs. They changed the pricing model, but you get all the cards by just playing single player and vs mode, but you can just get the cards by playing against the AI. It's relaxing and quick. Shadowverse is also fun too.

I picked up Faeria as well. Have never played a card game like Hearthstone or Magic before, and I was planning on making Artifact my first. Then they changed the starting inventory from 10 packs & 5 tickets to 5 packs & 2 tickets for the same price so that changed my mind. I realize that you can grind for 15 more packs, but the people that got the 10 packs can also grind for those same 15 packs, so a new player really gets less for the same $20 than than the people that purchased the game before the 1.2 update. Not a smart move if you are trying to entice new players into the game. Anway, once I get Faeria intalled and learn it a bit, maybe I will see you in a game.

[chuckberts]

Faeria was a fairly good idea, but unless they fixed a lot of the balancing in the last year or so I can't recommend it. It kinda reminds me of Red vs Blue on initial drop in Artifact, except in Faeria there was nothing to stall for.

The colors focused on high stats creeps (Green/Red if recall) simply pushed forward until they got close then just pump out poweful units right on top of you. There is no In Any Cost/Annilations to counter, and even if you could fend them off for a turn because of the game mechanics they just spawn another powerful right near your base next turn. All the potential the game has w/ making your field is wasted if everybody is forced into straight line charges w/ the same colors/units.

[kycaver]

Originally posted by chuckberts:

Faeria was a fairly good idea, but unless they fixed a lot of the balancing in the last year or so I can't recommend it. It kinda reminds me of Red vs Blue on initial drop in Artifact, except in Faeria there was nothing to stall for.

They added two expansions this year, one in July & one in Sept., so maybe that has fixed the balance problem.

[Mr.Suitss]

Just sell all your cards no matter the price and play Draft.