What went wrong?

[Plague]

The game is fun enough, pretty well put together UI wise, I mean granted it can be a money-sink PTW, but arnt most games these days? Last I checked with steamcharts, there was 43 people. So back to original post, what went wrong that nobody plays it?

[Chocos Ramabotti]

No new updates in the recent days, also the devs were giving away the core packs for newbies having an easier start, not sure if the decision was really wise, because in case of me, there is not much for me to play for, a handful of mythics which I never draw, but overall I have more than enough cards, since there is so far nothing new on the horizon announced I let the game rest for now, but once the new expansions draws near I will probably play again.

One thing the game surely needs btw to me is a game mode, that pulls you back again something motivating, sure the game needs new packs but it also needs more content overall in my opinion.

[Plague]

Thats too bad. This game has/had potential. Me and my buddy were always into the 2headed giant thing in magic, and this game would have filled the void. But, kinda hard to play when there is nobody to play with, and bots get boring.

[Chocos Ramabotti]

Originally posted by Plague:

Thats too bad. This game has/had potential. Me and my buddy were always into the 2headed giant thing in magic, and this game would have filled the void. But, kinda hard to play when there is nobody to play with, and bots get boring.

yeah 2 vs 2 is pretty difficult it's mostly 1 vs 1, but there is an 2 vs 2 event every week where the probability is higher finding other people.

[judcohan]

While I'm certainly disappointed that there aren't more people playing this game, I would like to point out that not all players use Steam.

[Plague]

Originally posted by judcohan:

While I'm certainly disappointed that there aren't more people playing this game, I would like to point out that not all players use Steam.

That is true

[Null Winter]

It didn't get much advertising for a long time, so there's that right off the bat.

The "free core cards" event was a mess. They prevented veteran players from getting copies of the cards or burning the copies they already had for the in-game currency so vets got a big middle finger, every single code for the factions was delayed due to marketing issues, and almost all the codes were released through middling/no name streamers and niche gaming news sites (some of which weren't in English). The codes were also time limited.

Even if a fresh-faced new player came in with the entire core set, they'd immediately be paired against the grizzled, hardened veterans with uber meta decks; the matchmaking system is pretty atrocious and will happily pair Bronze against Mythic rank even when enough players are online to avoid that.

And past all that, the meta is dead as heart. Once you actually hit the top ranks, Christmas Control (aggro Red and control Green) dominates with very little counterplay available aside from running the same thing; the dev team doesn't seem to understand that the counterplay to a problem card shouldn't cost much more than the original card. Red can heart out a bunch of economically free indirect damage and card draw, while the things like Warded that might mitigate it cost much more and often only protect one minion at a time; in no other game have I seen a faction that so heavily rewards you for playing badly and throwing your stuff away. Generally, matches are decided within the first four turns; if someone has two stat boosted Dopers out by turn three or a stacked up Life Tap minion, then very little can turn the momentum around and keep it turned.

Lastly, on a smaller note, the planned story mode has been dead in the water for months; a new player will probably play this first and then get a sour feeling when they see that it simply ends on a cliffhanger.

[Plague]

Originally posted by Null Winter:

It didn't get much advertising for a long time, so there's that right off the bat.

The "free core cards" event was a mess. They prevented veteran players from getting copies of the cards or burning the copies they already had for the in-game currency so vets got a big middle finger, every single code for the factions was delayed due to marketing issues, and almost all the codes were released through middling/no name streamers and niche gaming news sites (some of which weren't in English). The codes were also time limited.

Even if a fresh-faced new player came in with the entire core set, they'd immediately be paired against the grizzled, hardened veterans with uber meta decks; the matchmaking system is pretty atrocious and will happily pair Bronze against Mythic rank even when enough players are online to avoid that.

And past all that, the meta is dead as heart. Once you actually hit the top ranks, Christmas Control (aggro Red and control Green) dominates with very little counterplay available aside from running the same thing; the dev team doesn't seem to understand that the counterplay to a problem card shouldn't cost much more than the original card. Red can heart out a bunch of economically free indirect damage and card draw, while the things like Warded that might mitigate it cost much more and often only protect one minion at a time; in no other game have I seen a faction that so heavily rewards you for playing badly and throwing your stuff away. Generally, matches are decided within the first four turns; if someone has two stat boosted Dopers out by turn three or a stacked up Life Tap minion, then very little can turn the momentum around and keep it turned.

Lastly, on a smaller note, the planned story mode has been dead in the water for months; a new player will probably play this first and then get a sour feeling when they see that it simply ends on a cliffhanger.

well stated, and makes sense. So basicly it was very bad choices by the devs. And I get the vet players being irritated by new players getting all the cards they earned. Magic Duels did that crap, so I get it.

[Null Winter]

Originally posted by Plague:

. And I get the vet players being irritated by new players getting all the cards they earned. Magic Duels did that crap, so I get it.

It's not that the cards were given out for free; it's that the team made the conscious and active decision to prevent existing players from gaining any benefit at all.

[Chocos Ramabotti]

Originally posted by Null Winter:

Originally posted by Plague:

. And I get the vet players being irritated by new players getting all the cards they earned. Magic Duels did that crap, so I get it.

It's not that the cards were given out for free; it's that the team made the conscious and active decision to prevent existing players from gaining any benefit at all.

because it would be totally contraproductive, with this information people could simply dust their entire library and after that getting an insanely amount of dust at once, without any effort just saving it for the next card packs.
Of course this had to be prevented.

[Michelle Wong]

@ Null Winter: I totally disagree with you. The meta is healthy, and your analysis of it shows you lack an understanding of the meta....like, at all. The only thing I agree about is the Campaign mode, which is incomplete and may never get there...

Overall it's a fantastic game, and the devs pour much love into it.

[Null Winter]

Originally posted by Michelle Wong:

@ Null Winter: I totally disagree with you. The meta is healthy, and your analysis of it shows you lack an understanding of the meta....like, at all. The only thing I agree about is the Campaign mode, which is incomplete and may never get there...

Overall it's a fantastic game, and the devs pour much love into it.

I'll continue to believe the meta is dead for every day when I log in and see the same deck type being used by six people in a row. But you go ahead and continue using that ad hominem you've been dropping ever since you joined the forums~.

[DMaster2]

Originally posted by Null Winter:

Originally posted by Plague:

. And I get the vet players being irritated by new players getting all the cards they earned. Magic Duels did that crap, so I get it.

It's not that the cards were given out for free; it's that the team made the conscious and active decision to prevent existing players from gaining any benefit at all.

Doesn't really surprise me

[Plague]

was wondering how long it would take before an argument broke out....

[NoSoup4you]

For me, I dislike how much "bookkeeping" there is, especially since the last set. This card will turn into this card in 3 turns, that card gives you this card in 2 turns. In 3 turns his path will do this. Paths in general are clunky and my least favorite part of the game.

There also seemed to be a large shift towards early "answer or die" minions, which is always annoying and why Eternal sucked.

[RodHull]

The game puts me in mind of Hex: Shards of Fate in that it doesn't quite know what it wants to be. I think the story element is fine and all but it needed more focus, it ends up feeling a bit all over the place with to many dead end or half realised features and modes and it just puts people off. Hex is still alive barely, but that had a similar fate, good production values, decent mechanics, poorly realised and poorly publicised.

As much as I hate to say it the way Riot released LOR was the correct way to do it, started really simple with just a basic 1 v 1 straight down the line card game, simple mechanics and easy to learn. Then they have slowly started to iterate on that base model and now its actually a pretty decent game with multiple PVE and PVP modes and a very generous model to entice people to play daily.

That said hopefully is the expansion for this sees more coverage maybe it will get a surge in players.