Finally we can talk about this freely and I do have my two cents (more like twenty cents).
TL;DR version: This beta is disappointing.
Maybe I'm being too harsh, after all programming all the interactions and create an adequate engine for even Standard can be an arduous task, they don't have the luxury of limiting the number of objects that the system has to track like other online games; however, I'm disappointed about how the beta is being conducted. I think the game is being rushed even as a beta. It feels like an alpha build. I played various other betas, including card games like Eternal and HS and they had way more features and polish.
The UI is clunky and featureless. The UI should be clear and also express the flavor of the game. As of now it doesn't do a good job in anything. The collection should be easy to navigate, but the symbol system isn't that intuitive even for veteran MTG and other online card games. You can get used to it, but it doesn't mean it is good. Pack opening should be something exciting, but Arena gets this aspect wrong. Before the reset, you could accidentally skip what you got and there is no easy indicator of what cards you opened. After the reset its better visually, but it's still a wimpy experience. They have to make this experience a pleasure, not a chore.
At this point in the beta we should be testing a proper economy (both P2W and F2P aspects), other formats and game modes, and customization and communication features. The beta is too bare bone. Are we just looking for bugs in card interaction and simple ladder system? Other games do the same plus way more. They have to test card balance, something Arena doesn't need to worry about. I think they have the resources to handle all of it at the same time.
The rewards feel OK compared to HS. They give you a somewhat constant supply of cards, but you can't really freely choose your cards. You are too dependent of RNG. If you open those wildcards, good for you; otherwise, tough luck, keep your useless rares, uncommons, and commons that you will never touch in your life in your collection. The system is so inflexible compared to other card games. The reward system feels lazily done and inferior to the competition. If you played other card games, you know how lame Arena is right now. Being just comparable to HS isn't enough.
Another big problem inherent in MTG is because of the paper aspect they will likely never rebalance the cards. Eternal and Shadowverse make constant periodic changes to their card balance. Direwolf even buff underused cards, a concept that seems to elude Blizzard. At least Blizzard can nerf cards to the ground and shake up the meta. Direwolf can just give a free new card playset that may be just for funsies or may impact the metagame. WotC can't do anything about it except for erratas and bans. The reset has been just one day out and decks seem pretty fairly streamlined. Everyone and their mom in this beta know what are the cards to make and play. However, there is no system that helps new players to identify what is good and bad. They will probably waste precious wildcards and have a bad time with the only ladder system we got as of now.
What is this game for? Just MTG hardcore fan? If yes, MTG Arena is doing a good job because only hardcore MTG fan can tolerate the lack of feature and amateurish UI. To attract the casual players, twitch folks, and the mobile card game players, they need to get those aspects right. One thing MTG has that other cardgames lack is a variety of formats. Just give us these features. Imagine Draft, Sealed, Brawl, some form of 4 player format, and so on. Also, they could implement a cube system, something even MTGO lacks. A singleplayer that teachs the complex aspects of MTG rules plus add flavor to the setting would go a long way to attract new players and make regular customers happy. Even HS offers some form of singleplayer content that guides casual players. They have the resources to do a good job.
Also, it seems that WotC think buying packs and maybe drafts will be more than enough to get money from us. They shouldn't be lazy with that. MTG players like to express their individuality besides deck choices. Sleeves, playmat, alternate arts, and so on are a good source of revenue. Hopefully it's not just a lazy foil the cards system. MTG foils are so lame as is. The direct digital version of these won't cut it. We should be testing some of these options by now.
Although I'm being super negative and harsh, I really want this product to be awesome and successful. It can be a win-win for everyone if Arena can make a substantial dent on the online card game and hopefully the mobile market as well. I believe more players is for the most part beneficial for the future of this hobby we all love (to hate sometimes). I can see the potential, but I don't see the proper effort that Hasbro/WotC can deliver compared to the resources they have. I hope it's just a shaky beginning.
The economy is a joke, they amde it worse with these changes, even tough alot of beta players were saying that it was too grindy so they decided to make it RNG and more dependant in booster packs(that are way too expensive btw)to get your cards specially mythics since they got rid of Mythic Wildcards for general rewards
multiplayer formats would be difficult in that UI. There's a reason hearthstone, shadowverse etc basically stick to 1v1. There's only so much screen space. Bear in mind the game is meant to be played not just on a computer monitor, but you have to keep in mind mobile device capabilities to really extend the product's reach.
I think the UI is okay. Not great, better than MTGO which hell is a start. The cards look pretty good, information is sorted well, and things don't get too busy when playing or using cards. I won't use Arena, because I only play older formats. I think the dumbed-down game of the NWO design era is better suited to this game than modern or legacy.
I do agree on the economy being nonsense. Games can be very successful without the ability to buy/sell/trade among individuals. But they should be competing with other online card games. They're not, they are trying to translate the secondary market (that they ignore) to a hearthstone system instead of just fully adapting a hearthstone system.
Of course multiplayer format would be hard in that UI. UI is just bare bone. They should be able to have resources to make it work. They just are doing enough (to what they believe) to compete with the other offerings.
Shadowverse and HS have different ambitions. They could actually work on multiplayer too, but again they choose not to. SHadowverse is designed to last very shortly. If they wanted they could make it for campaign. HS did something that kinda work like that, 2p x 1 AI (which would be 3 "players" total). They could do something for more players. MTG is known for 4+ players. It's very challenging to do and MTGO it's very clunky, but serviceable. They could do a more clear way for singleplayer for instance.
There is a lot of space to be explored in card game space. It's a space that any developer could explore to distinguish themselves in this sea of card games. It's like saying FPS can't do multiplayer for more than 6 players excuse that big corps do all the time. It's challenging yes, but they just choose the lazy way.
That is the aspect that I dislike about Arena. The developers seem to only work the bare minimum. It's like a student aiming for a "C" in a test. Overall they are doing a great job at that if it's their aim. Eternal Beta it feels they are trying their hardest within their limitations. Shadowverse is also another game that tries hard to please their customer base.
If this was the beta 5 years ago, maybe I'd be very happy with it. Digital Games Studio has to step up their game.
I got a Mythic Rare Wild from a pack yesterday so they are not axed from the game. Not sure where that came from.
The stack is much better than it was (the timer was out of sync and more than 3 spells on the stack was lagging out and bugging) but it's still not perfect.
The UI doesn't allow you to turn off their animations which is absurd. Someone reported they have zero intention of allowing users to turn them off which is a basic feature of just about every game. Really really lazy or wrongheaded.
The economy has gotten slower this time around and we were suggesting it was too slow before with only 2 sets. Now with 4 it's really bad and you don't even get to pick what set you get packs from when you 'win' a bonus pack. Auto RIX.
As expected there are a few bugs here and there with the new sets but not atrocious.
There is still no set game timer. This is awful. Too many afk and minimize surfing warriors rudely making their opponents wait for simple land go situations. I can't imagine tolerating 3 game matches against such slow and intentionally slow opponents.
No surprise Friday night is a UB bloodbath as people build towards Scarab God decks.
The game could be really good with a little work in the right areas but we're not sure they're caring about some of the things we're reporting.
I get fed up and quit more than I really want to keep playing both from the game and the other players.
I just find Arena very frustrating to play. The UI is not very intuitive and just feels... clunky and slow.
Game speed is fine, but the animations get annoying. I wish I could turn them off.
The collection management is still hopeless, and while you can work with it, Arena's implementation does not work.
Timer and stack interaction is annoying. Especially opponents that don't for ages.
While I know it's in Beta, Arena just seems like it was developed in someone's basement as a side project, the looks and interface are woefully out of date. It lacks polish and that WOW factor that mtg should have.
What is really baffling with this reward system and all is we still don't have any drafting system. We should be testing it after the wipe. Maybe the economy makes more sense with the drafting rewards. I really wish they could give us more game modes.
The Matchmaking is absolute garbage, my first match after getting the beta key was against a Gold level player running Rananump Red, despite that Land being banned in Standard.
Been playing the Arena Beta since its inception. A lot of fun.
Since the last update, I have 1 major gripe of WotC/Hasbro's greediness: The fact that even in the Beta, they have given the tester a chance to spend REAL money on digital cards that will NOT be owned when the Beta testing is over!!!
Yup, you are either a fool, a whale (one who spends a lot in the "pay-to-play model"), or delusional thinking you will keep your account what the Beta testing is over.
Anyone have ANY idea(s) as to why they would allow this (outside of greed & needing to test it out) to why they would do this? Why wouldn't they just give an allotted amount of blue gems to test it out.
Am I missing something? Do we keep our account? Or are there other reasons for some to spend their hard earned money on digital cards that will disappear eventually?
What is really baffling with this reward system and all is we still don't have any drafting system. We should be testing it after the wipe. Maybe the economy makes more sense with the drafting rewards. I really wish they could give us more game modes.
Drafting system has been teased in the recent update... teased, as in there's a count down clock that the first draft will come in 2 weeks.
They said quite clearly on their website any gems you purchase during beta will be refunded on launch. Of course there will be a wipe, but if you spent 50 bucks (around the cost of a normal video game) you will get 50 dollars of gems on launch after the wipe.
They said quite clearly on their website any gems you purchase during beta will be refunded on launch. Of course there will be a wipe, but if you spent 50 bucks (around the cost of a normal video game) you will get 50 dollars of gems on launch after the wipe.
Would have been nice for that info to be given in the email. All they mentioned was that there were more details in a link titled "State of the Beta by Chris Clay. Some folks, like myself, did not jump to that link.
Guess it would have made sense to put important info like that in the email, that's all.
So even though you get your gems back what if they change values? Will you get exactly what you bought back or get new values?
I'm having trouble stomaching the total lack of attention to beta tester inputs so why would I spend anything on a game I very likely will not play???
They need a chess clock. If they want to be 'easier' on newbies add a 5 sec 'free' time to make your moves without the clock starting. Too many idiots afking, minimizing, doing laundry, or just delaying so that people quit and give them a win. It's trash. The timer doesn't even work right still, half the time it ticks for the wrong person while someone is resolving the stack.
Land still jumps around trying not to be tapped. What idiot thinks that's ok? Why is that not fixed?
Creatures and lands restacking into 2 rows and getting really tiny is stupid. STILL NOT FIXED.
They've actually made the interface clunkier with successive patches. No idea what they're fixing other than WotC's wallet right now.
Almost ZERO communication of their intentions and what input they care for through the beta process.
They are steaming ahead leaving a lot of things busted. I predict they go to market with a sh** model, make some initial money, field a lot of complaints, and end up changing things a lot if they expect to keep making money and holding onto f2p people.
They make the Econ worse every patch. It's like they're pushing as hard as they can until everyone screams or quits at once.
The economy is pretty terrible if you intend to play it for free but I guess that's the point, thing is I would happily throw some money at it if it wasn't such a terrible rate. If I felt it was a decent deal I would happily sink the price of a DotP game at it (bought those and every expansion for years at £20-30), letting us buy full card sets at a reasonable price is what I want.
The game is reasonably fun when you aren't getting beat someone who has all the money cards, and I really have high hopes if they fix things but unfortunately I don't think they will fix the economy because its is making money. I kinda wish there was a chat but I guess toxic people on the internet have spoiled that.
I'm assuming that there will be a way to play brawl eventually and that might be a but more fun and even the playfield a little since you don't need to grind those 4 of mythics.
Now seems like a perfect time for some community backlash, if enough people start to make noise about it being similar to the loot box controversy (someone remind me how random digital card pack aren't loot boxes) then Hasbro may back off. Let us purchase a complete set without having to gamble.
I watched TCC's YouTube video on Arena Beta, and I am not surprised that the "economy" is the biggest complaint. They should trash the whole gem currency model and stick with solely pack purchases. WotC needs to balance their business and psychology aspect of in-app purchases. I'm not a fan of in-app purchases in general especially when its for a virtual currency and not a direct product like packs. It avoids confusion which the Prof states.
If they insist on in-app purchases, I would be happier to see something like this below but it will still have people spending thousands to ultimately netdeck to win tournaments:
1 pack for 1000 gold (at least you can get something for grinding)
3 packs for 4.99 (1.66 per)
6 packs for 9.99 (1.67 per)
15 packs for 19.99 plus Rare (1.33 per)
45 packs for 49.99 plus Mythic and 3 Rares (1.11 per)
90 packs for 99.99 plus 3 Mythic and 6 Rares (1.11 per)
In the current Gem economy you can get a total of 99 packs with $100 purchase of 20000 gems leaving you 200 gems leftover. That's the 90-pack (18000 gems), a 6-pack (1200 gems), and 3-pack (600 gems). All gem purchases cause a small remainder (200 to 400 gems) that are useless unless you buy more...aren't we all shocked. My concern with gems is that it will inflate eventually when the economy stalls and WotC needs to give incentive to buy gems. So the $100 package is now 50000 gems and people then rush to buy in at such a great deal, at that moment! Then the price of packs go to 90 packs for 40000 gems, and the cycle continues again. Then throw in the special deals of the day like "Today only! 5000 gems, 3 booster packs and a Rare for only $19.99! WOW!". I've experienced all of this in a F2P game and it quickly became not fun anymore. At least with direct pack purchases, you can easily equate it will the physical price per pack, so if the digital pack was just as expensive as a physical pack (and you had access to a play group/LGS) you might as well consider going to a store to play now. In-app purchases are a ruthless predatory business model.
The best "economy" would be solely the earning of in-game gold and packs from winning games and tournaments in a ladder system as your decks and ability improve. For WotC to make money on this as a F2P game, shove redemption codes in physical booster packs. This way any person who wants to try out the game for the first time can and if they like it so much that they want more...then they go out and buy physical product which is $$ to WotC and supports the existing business model. Those new online players may or may not transition to play paper MtG but it satisfies the business either way with more booster packs being sold whether it's for online or physical play.
Just my thoughts on it as of now, and pray the in-game economy drastically changes because we all know where this is going.
They can't be bothered to fix simple things yet they're already pushing beta testers to give them cash. Their interface and graphics are clunky as hell and cause their 'timer' to screw up constantly while resolving stacks because of heavy/mistimed graphics loads (even on power machines).
If it was just the Econ needing fixing maybe there'd be hope but the design is poor and it doesn't look like they're going to fix it. Who thinks it's ok to have to chase lands around the screen to tap them? WHO?
No trading or wildcard transformations is a big deal and part of why the Econ is messed up. Instead of gaming their audience they should just put forth a solid product aimed at making MTGO obsolete. Instead it's something mushy in the middle of MTGO and Duels and bleh.
The economy doesn't work that well. MTG as a game is designed as being a TCG. It means sets are pretty huge to in order to make limited fun and as consequence, it's very difficult to open the cards you want. People are suppose to trade in order to complete decks.
I'm also not sure how much I like the Wildcard model vs. the Dust model of HG and other CCG.
The timer and ignoring simple fixes is getting old.
They don't communicate at all with the testers and seem to be chugging along like nothing's wrong.
Too bad really they could knock it out of the park but don't want to.
The timer and ignoring simple fixes is getting old.
They don't communicate at all with the testers and seem to be chugging along like nothing's wrong.
Too bad really they could knock it out of the park but don't want to.
They actively don't want to knock it out of the park, if they produce an online product that is actively good and gives people a great experience Magic Online will collapse.
The likelihood they will continue to support MTGO and MTA long term is very low.
I don't give them that much credit in planning.
They are planning the greedy path though. The predatory gem system tell it all. Not communicating with the testing community so they don't have to answer questions about direction and fixes is a big tell as well.
So many testers really want to help them make the game all it could be. They don't need MTGO and frankly that game is so old and dated they're not going to be pulling in new players there. It's MTA or continue in mediocrity. Guarantee within the first 2 years they change the system after releasing with predatory selling practices and an unpolished game. They're too busy prepping for release, the tell is they're working on Kaladesh block instead of fixes. MTGA initially will be standard only so they plan to release sooner than people think.
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TL;DR version: This beta is disappointing.
Maybe I'm being too harsh, after all programming all the interactions and create an adequate engine for even Standard can be an arduous task, they don't have the luxury of limiting the number of objects that the system has to track like other online games; however, I'm disappointed about how the beta is being conducted. I think the game is being rushed even as a beta. It feels like an alpha build. I played various other betas, including card games like Eternal and HS and they had way more features and polish.
The UI is clunky and featureless. The UI should be clear and also express the flavor of the game. As of now it doesn't do a good job in anything. The collection should be easy to navigate, but the symbol system isn't that intuitive even for veteran MTG and other online card games. You can get used to it, but it doesn't mean it is good. Pack opening should be something exciting, but Arena gets this aspect wrong. Before the reset, you could accidentally skip what you got and there is no easy indicator of what cards you opened. After the reset its better visually, but it's still a wimpy experience. They have to make this experience a pleasure, not a chore.
At this point in the beta we should be testing a proper economy (both P2W and F2P aspects), other formats and game modes, and customization and communication features. The beta is too bare bone. Are we just looking for bugs in card interaction and simple ladder system? Other games do the same plus way more. They have to test card balance, something Arena doesn't need to worry about. I think they have the resources to handle all of it at the same time.
The rewards feel OK compared to HS. They give you a somewhat constant supply of cards, but you can't really freely choose your cards. You are too dependent of RNG. If you open those wildcards, good for you; otherwise, tough luck, keep your useless rares, uncommons, and commons that you will never touch in your life in your collection. The system is so inflexible compared to other card games. The reward system feels lazily done and inferior to the competition. If you played other card games, you know how lame Arena is right now. Being just comparable to HS isn't enough.
Another big problem inherent in MTG is because of the paper aspect they will likely never rebalance the cards. Eternal and Shadowverse make constant periodic changes to their card balance. Direwolf even buff underused cards, a concept that seems to elude Blizzard. At least Blizzard can nerf cards to the ground and shake up the meta. Direwolf can just give a free new card playset that may be just for funsies or may impact the metagame. WotC can't do anything about it except for erratas and bans. The reset has been just one day out and decks seem pretty fairly streamlined. Everyone and their mom in this beta know what are the cards to make and play. However, there is no system that helps new players to identify what is good and bad. They will probably waste precious wildcards and have a bad time with the only ladder system we got as of now.
What is this game for? Just MTG hardcore fan? If yes, MTG Arena is doing a good job because only hardcore MTG fan can tolerate the lack of feature and amateurish UI. To attract the casual players, twitch folks, and the mobile card game players, they need to get those aspects right. One thing MTG has that other cardgames lack is a variety of formats. Just give us these features. Imagine Draft, Sealed, Brawl, some form of 4 player format, and so on. Also, they could implement a cube system, something even MTGO lacks. A singleplayer that teachs the complex aspects of MTG rules plus add flavor to the setting would go a long way to attract new players and make regular customers happy. Even HS offers some form of singleplayer content that guides casual players. They have the resources to do a good job.
Also, it seems that WotC think buying packs and maybe drafts will be more than enough to get money from us. They shouldn't be lazy with that. MTG players like to express their individuality besides deck choices. Sleeves, playmat, alternate arts, and so on are a good source of revenue. Hopefully it's not just a lazy foil the cards system. MTG foils are so lame as is. The direct digital version of these won't cut it. We should be testing some of these options by now.
Although I'm being super negative and harsh, I really want this product to be awesome and successful. It can be a win-win for everyone if Arena can make a substantial dent on the online card game and hopefully the mobile market as well. I believe more players is for the most part beneficial for the future of this hobby we all love (to hate sometimes). I can see the potential, but I don't see the proper effort that Hasbro/WotC can deliver compared to the resources they have. I hope it's just a shaky beginning.
I think the UI is okay. Not great, better than MTGO which hell is a start. The cards look pretty good, information is sorted well, and things don't get too busy when playing or using cards. I won't use Arena, because I only play older formats. I think the dumbed-down game of the NWO design era is better suited to this game than modern or legacy.
I do agree on the economy being nonsense. Games can be very successful without the ability to buy/sell/trade among individuals. But they should be competing with other online card games. They're not, they are trying to translate the secondary market (that they ignore) to a hearthstone system instead of just fully adapting a hearthstone system.
Shadowverse and HS have different ambitions. They could actually work on multiplayer too, but again they choose not to. SHadowverse is designed to last very shortly. If they wanted they could make it for campaign. HS did something that kinda work like that, 2p x 1 AI (which would be 3 "players" total). They could do something for more players. MTG is known for 4+ players. It's very challenging to do and MTGO it's very clunky, but serviceable. They could do a more clear way for singleplayer for instance.
There is a lot of space to be explored in card game space. It's a space that any developer could explore to distinguish themselves in this sea of card games. It's like saying FPS can't do multiplayer for more than 6 players excuse that big corps do all the time. It's challenging yes, but they just choose the lazy way.
That is the aspect that I dislike about Arena. The developers seem to only work the bare minimum. It's like a student aiming for a "C" in a test. Overall they are doing a great job at that if it's their aim. Eternal Beta it feels they are trying their hardest within their limitations. Shadowverse is also another game that tries hard to please their customer base.
If this was the beta 5 years ago, maybe I'd be very happy with it. Digital Games Studio has to step up their game.
The stack is much better than it was (the timer was out of sync and more than 3 spells on the stack was lagging out and bugging) but it's still not perfect.
The UI doesn't allow you to turn off their animations which is absurd. Someone reported they have zero intention of allowing users to turn them off which is a basic feature of just about every game. Really really lazy or wrongheaded.
The economy has gotten slower this time around and we were suggesting it was too slow before with only 2 sets. Now with 4 it's really bad and you don't even get to pick what set you get packs from when you 'win' a bonus pack. Auto RIX.
As expected there are a few bugs here and there with the new sets but not atrocious.
There is still no set game timer. This is awful. Too many afk and minimize surfing warriors rudely making their opponents wait for simple land go situations. I can't imagine tolerating 3 game matches against such slow and intentionally slow opponents.
No surprise Friday night is a UB bloodbath as people build towards Scarab God decks.
The game could be really good with a little work in the right areas but we're not sure they're caring about some of the things we're reporting.
I get fed up and quit more than I really want to keep playing both from the game and the other players.
Game speed is fine, but the animations get annoying. I wish I could turn them off.
The collection management is still hopeless, and while you can work with it, Arena's implementation does not work.
Timer and stack interaction is annoying. Especially opponents that don't for ages.
While I know it's in Beta, Arena just seems like it was developed in someone's basement as a side project, the looks and interface are woefully out of date. It lacks polish and that WOW factor that mtg should have.
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
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Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
Since the last update, I have 1 major gripe of WotC/Hasbro's greediness:
The fact that even in the Beta, they have given the tester a chance to spend REAL money on digital cards that will NOT be owned when the Beta testing is over!!!
Yup, you are either a fool, a whale (one who spends a lot in the "pay-to-play model"), or delusional thinking you will keep your account what the Beta testing is over.
Anyone have ANY idea(s) as to why they would allow this (outside of greed & needing to test it out) to why they would do this? Why wouldn't they just give an allotted amount of blue gems to test it out.
Am I missing something? Do we keep our account? Or are there other reasons for some to spend their hard earned money on digital cards that will disappear eventually?
Drafting system has been teased in the recent update... teased, as in there's a count down clock that the first draft will come in 2 weeks.
Would have been nice for that info to be given in the email. All they mentioned was that there were more details in a link titled "State of the Beta by Chris Clay. Some folks, like myself, did not jump to that link.
Guess it would have made sense to put important info like that in the email, that's all.
I'm having trouble stomaching the total lack of attention to beta tester inputs so why would I spend anything on a game I very likely will not play???
They need a chess clock. If they want to be 'easier' on newbies add a 5 sec 'free' time to make your moves without the clock starting. Too many idiots afking, minimizing, doing laundry, or just delaying so that people quit and give them a win. It's trash. The timer doesn't even work right still, half the time it ticks for the wrong person while someone is resolving the stack.
Land still jumps around trying not to be tapped. What idiot thinks that's ok? Why is that not fixed?
Creatures and lands restacking into 2 rows and getting really tiny is stupid. STILL NOT FIXED.
They've actually made the interface clunkier with successive patches. No idea what they're fixing other than WotC's wallet right now.
Almost ZERO communication of their intentions and what input they care for through the beta process.
They are steaming ahead leaving a lot of things busted. I predict they go to market with a sh** model, make some initial money, field a lot of complaints, and end up changing things a lot if they expect to keep making money and holding onto f2p people.
They make the Econ worse every patch. It's like they're pushing as hard as they can until everyone screams or quits at once.
Disappointing.
The game is reasonably fun when you aren't getting beat someone who has all the money cards, and I really have high hopes if they fix things but unfortunately I don't think they will fix the economy because its is making money. I kinda wish there was a chat but I guess toxic people on the internet have spoiled that.
I'm assuming that there will be a way to play brawl eventually and that might be a but more fun and even the playfield a little since you don't need to grind those 4 of mythics.
Now seems like a perfect time for some community backlash, if enough people start to make noise about it being similar to the loot box controversy (someone remind me how random digital card pack aren't loot boxes) then Hasbro may back off. Let us purchase a complete set without having to gamble.
If they insist on in-app purchases, I would be happier to see something like this below but it will still have people spending thousands to ultimately netdeck to win tournaments:
1 pack for 1000 gold (at least you can get something for grinding)
3 packs for 4.99 (1.66 per)
6 packs for 9.99 (1.67 per)
15 packs for 19.99 plus Rare (1.33 per)
45 packs for 49.99 plus Mythic and 3 Rares (1.11 per)
90 packs for 99.99 plus 3 Mythic and 6 Rares (1.11 per)
In the current Gem economy you can get a total of 99 packs with $100 purchase of 20000 gems leaving you 200 gems leftover. That's the 90-pack (18000 gems), a 6-pack (1200 gems), and 3-pack (600 gems). All gem purchases cause a small remainder (200 to 400 gems) that are useless unless you buy more...aren't we all shocked. My concern with gems is that it will inflate eventually when the economy stalls and WotC needs to give incentive to buy gems. So the $100 package is now 50000 gems and people then rush to buy in at such a great deal, at that moment! Then the price of packs go to 90 packs for 40000 gems, and the cycle continues again. Then throw in the special deals of the day like "Today only! 5000 gems, 3 booster packs and a Rare for only $19.99! WOW!". I've experienced all of this in a F2P game and it quickly became not fun anymore. At least with direct pack purchases, you can easily equate it will the physical price per pack, so if the digital pack was just as expensive as a physical pack (and you had access to a play group/LGS) you might as well consider going to a store to play now. In-app purchases are a ruthless predatory business model.
The best "economy" would be solely the earning of in-game gold and packs from winning games and tournaments in a ladder system as your decks and ability improve. For WotC to make money on this as a F2P game, shove redemption codes in physical booster packs. This way any person who wants to try out the game for the first time can and if they like it so much that they want more...then they go out and buy physical product which is $$ to WotC and supports the existing business model. Those new online players may or may not transition to play paper MtG but it satisfies the business either way with more booster packs being sold whether it's for online or physical play.
Just my thoughts on it as of now, and pray the in-game economy drastically changes because we all know where this is going.
They can't be bothered to fix simple things yet they're already pushing beta testers to give them cash. Their interface and graphics are clunky as hell and cause their 'timer' to screw up constantly while resolving stacks because of heavy/mistimed graphics loads (even on power machines).
If it was just the Econ needing fixing maybe there'd be hope but the design is poor and it doesn't look like they're going to fix it. Who thinks it's ok to have to chase lands around the screen to tap them? WHO?
No trading or wildcard transformations is a big deal and part of why the Econ is messed up. Instead of gaming their audience they should just put forth a solid product aimed at making MTGO obsolete. Instead it's something mushy in the middle of MTGO and Duels and bleh.
I'm also not sure how much I like the Wildcard model vs. the Dust model of HG and other CCG.
BGU Control
R Aggro
Standard - For Fun
BG Auras
They don't communicate at all with the testers and seem to be chugging along like nothing's wrong.
Too bad really they could knock it out of the park but don't want to.
They actively don't want to knock it out of the park, if they produce an online product that is actively good and gives people a great experience Magic Online will collapse.
Dragons of Legend, Lead by Scion of the UR-Dragon
The Gitrog Monster
Gonti, Lord of Luxury
Shogun Saskia
Hive World
Atraxa hates fun
Abzan
I don't give them that much credit in planning.
They are planning the greedy path though. The predatory gem system tell it all. Not communicating with the testing community so they don't have to answer questions about direction and fixes is a big tell as well.
So many testers really want to help them make the game all it could be. They don't need MTGO and frankly that game is so old and dated they're not going to be pulling in new players there. It's MTA or continue in mediocrity. Guarantee within the first 2 years they change the system after releasing with predatory selling practices and an unpolished game. They're too busy prepping for release, the tell is they're working on Kaladesh block instead of fixes. MTGA initially will be standard only so they plan to release sooner than people think.