Like the subject says, this is based on 4 days of playing approx. 3/4 hours a day. I realize that is not enough to have a thorough opinion about everything, but here goes anyway :)
THE GOOD
- I have been playing this game for about 4 days and i am quite enjoying this game. There is a lot of variety in decks, games are pretty fast-paced and it has a real 'might and magic' flavor attachted to it.
- Another positive thing i'd like to mention is that, for a F2P-game, it is easy to manage to get quite some cards with the initial seals and gold you get (i count completing the campaign as initial here, as it is pretty easy) and that the cards included will always improve your starterdeck. This makes a player really feel he or she is progressing, and - don't we all like that?
- The online matchups in the beginning are fair. Granted, sometimes you get an opponent who has some insane cards in my deck, but to be very honest, it is clear that a lot of them have no idea how to play a CCG or their deck and still manage to screw up (NOTE: This is not meant as arrogantly as it might appear. I just played quite some CCG's for a very long time and experience in hand/card/tempo management goes a long way).
THE BAD
Actually, i don't find a lot of factors bad per se. A lot of my problems will be in the next paragraph as i think they can be easily fixed. So far, there are two things i find very bad about this game:
- Cards can only be in 1 deck at once. There is a special thread about this, so i won't say too much about it. But it is just completely unneccasary in this game. It is a digital game. Considering it is hard enough to acutally get a playset of a card, let alone the difficulty of acquiring more then 1 playset. This is a digital card game meaning manual labor like swapping cards out 1 deck to have to put them into another deck is just stupid. If it is meant as a 'realism-simulator', then it is silly. If it is meant as a moneygrab to get people to spend more money, it is just plain stupid imho.
- Singles. Yes, this was long in a coming, but something has to be said about it. This game being F2P, i understand you want players to spend money. However, make people just able to purchase singles. There are lots of threads about it, so i will be short on this. I realize you want to have players spend money on boosters, because the very hardcore part will buy them almost infintely and you need a lot of other players spending something to equalize the profits one of those hardcore players will give you. But think about the longevity of the game! If i understand correctly, this game wants to launch quite some expansions which is good for the longterm health of a CCG. But make it moderatly possible for players to purchase singles. I am not going to tell you that it makes you more money, because i am very sure a large company such as Ubisoft has some very smart economists in their service with lots of complicated models, but think on the longevity!
The best example, as has been quoted, is shadowera. Hell, i've parted with about $50 to buy cards that allowed me to put together LOTS of competetive decks. The money is burning in my pockets to spend on this game as well, but a few completely random packs won't do it. And don't start about the Infernal Pit.
THE UGLY
There are quite some interface issues that seem very easy to fix and give players a better experience. Let me mention a few:
- Mulligan
At the start of a game, the dialogbox for mulliganing reads in large letters: MULLIGAN. In smaller letters it than asks "Do you want to keep your hand?" and in larger letters is asks YES or NO. Often i say "yes" when i actually want to mulligan. Just change the Dialog Box to "KEEP YOUR HAND?" with the same question, or change the question "Do you want to mulligan?". I think the first option is better, as lots of players probably have no idea what a mulligan is.
- Highlighting a card makes weird things happen
When i doubletap a card to read what it does, the system thinks i want to play it. This is stupid, not only because i have to tap the very small "x" (with a box behind it so that if i missclick i actually play the card), what is ever worse is that my opponent now sees the card as well. What can the idea be behind this? I think it is very bad design tbh. Just highlight the card and put the option "play" below it instead of auto-casting it.
- In the shop, as for confirmation.
Again, i know a F2P company needs to be a bit greedy for players to spend their currency, but just ask for a confirmation when a players clicks "buy" (change "instabuy" to "buy"). Saves a lot of frustration and players can actually spend their money the way they want and have often grinded hours for.
This is it for now. Other players feel free to add your opinions, but please, keep it constructive, it will get a lot more attention than just another whine-post!
THE GOOD
- I have been playing this game for about 4 days and i am quite enjoying this game. There is a lot of variety in decks, games are pretty fast-paced and it has a real 'might and magic' flavor attachted to it.
- Another positive thing i'd like to mention is that, for a F2P-game, it is easy to manage to get quite some cards with the initial seals and gold you get (i count completing the campaign as initial here, as it is pretty easy) and that the cards included will always improve your starterdeck. This makes a player really feel he or she is progressing, and - don't we all like that?
- The online matchups in the beginning are fair. Granted, sometimes you get an opponent who has some insane cards in my deck, but to be very honest, it is clear that a lot of them have no idea how to play a CCG or their deck and still manage to screw up (NOTE: This is not meant as arrogantly as it might appear. I just played quite some CCG's for a very long time and experience in hand/card/tempo management goes a long way).
THE BAD
Actually, i don't find a lot of factors bad per se. A lot of my problems will be in the next paragraph as i think they can be easily fixed. So far, there are two things i find very bad about this game:
- Cards can only be in 1 deck at once. There is a special thread about this, so i won't say too much about it. But it is just completely unneccasary in this game. It is a digital game. Considering it is hard enough to acutally get a playset of a card, let alone the difficulty of acquiring more then 1 playset. This is a digital card game meaning manual labor like swapping cards out 1 deck to have to put them into another deck is just stupid. If it is meant as a 'realism-simulator', then it is silly. If it is meant as a moneygrab to get people to spend more money, it is just plain stupid imho.
- Singles. Yes, this was long in a coming, but something has to be said about it. This game being F2P, i understand you want players to spend money. However, make people just able to purchase singles. There are lots of threads about it, so i will be short on this. I realize you want to have players spend money on boosters, because the very hardcore part will buy them almost infintely and you need a lot of other players spending something to equalize the profits one of those hardcore players will give you. But think about the longevity of the game! If i understand correctly, this game wants to launch quite some expansions which is good for the longterm health of a CCG. But make it moderatly possible for players to purchase singles. I am not going to tell you that it makes you more money, because i am very sure a large company such as Ubisoft has some very smart economists in their service with lots of complicated models, but think on the longevity!
The best example, as has been quoted, is shadowera. Hell, i've parted with about $50 to buy cards that allowed me to put together LOTS of competetive decks. The money is burning in my pockets to spend on this game as well, but a few completely random packs won't do it. And don't start about the Infernal Pit.
THE UGLY
There are quite some interface issues that seem very easy to fix and give players a better experience. Let me mention a few:
- Mulligan
At the start of a game, the dialogbox for mulliganing reads in large letters: MULLIGAN. In smaller letters it than asks "Do you want to keep your hand?" and in larger letters is asks YES or NO. Often i say "yes" when i actually want to mulligan. Just change the Dialog Box to "KEEP YOUR HAND?" with the same question, or change the question "Do you want to mulligan?". I think the first option is better, as lots of players probably have no idea what a mulligan is.
- Highlighting a card makes weird things happen
When i doubletap a card to read what it does, the system thinks i want to play it. This is stupid, not only because i have to tap the very small "x" (with a box behind it so that if i missclick i actually play the card), what is ever worse is that my opponent now sees the card as well. What can the idea be behind this? I think it is very bad design tbh. Just highlight the card and put the option "play" below it instead of auto-casting it.
- In the shop, as for confirmation.
Again, i know a F2P company needs to be a bit greedy for players to spend their currency, but just ask for a confirmation when a players clicks "buy" (change "instabuy" to "buy"). Saves a lot of frustration and players can actually spend their money the way they want and have often grinded hours for.
This is it for now. Other players feel free to add your opinions, but please, keep it constructive, it will get a lot more attention than just another whine-post!