Charging full price while removing a major feature is probably not the best way to test sales...I would have purchased in a heartbeat if it had MP
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Magic 2014 - Duels of the Planeswalkers |OT| Cracking Packs
- Thread starter ultron87
- Start date
Are we going to get a spreadsheet up for some hot, sealed deck action online?
I'm still tweaking my sealed, but am curious to see what other people have worked up.
I'm so rusty, I'd forgotten what it's like to struggle between phat bombs in off-colors with no support, or weak main color cards.
Can't wait for Hex :/
I'm still tweaking my sealed, but am curious to see what other people have worked up.
I'm so rusty, I'd forgotten what it's like to struggle between phat bombs in off-colors with no support, or weak main color cards.
Can't wait for Hex :/
Maybe not, but with all the android = piracy fear mongering going on I'd much prefer for them to release a slightly slimmed down version than nothing at all. Not trying to justify the feature being cut, just trying to be a little realistic about it.
badcrumble
Member
Is it just me, or is the interface extremely janky on iPad? Feels like I keep zooming in on my cards because I tapped an empty space, instead of dismissing whatever's going on at the moment.
I was having crashes every time I tried to skip the tutorial on my GS3. Solved it by playing one tutorial mission and then skipping straight to Chandra.
Gillian Seed
Banned
Any codes to unlock the extra Promo cards on Xbox yet?
This year's challenges bum me out. Too many are just "heres how to play Magic". We really didn't need the one where you Giant Growth the guy they didn't block again. Heck, a situation like that should be in a tutorial anyway.
They haven't been released yet. Since the PC version just came out someone might figure out a way to figure out the codes from the files. Or we'll need to wait on Wizards to release them at future events.
They haven't been released yet. Since the PC version just came out someone might figure out a way to figure out the codes from the files. Or we'll need to wait on Wizards to release them at future events.
The Demon Headmaster
Member
Have they added an option to remove the timer during private matches? That fucking timer has ruined so many matches in previous games when it decides to bug out and skip a combat phase for no reason. Plus it doesn't give you enough time to actually attack if there are too many cards on the screen.
What pisses me off is when you have an option to choose a card from your deck and you get such a strict time limit I can't select the card I really want. I just go for the first decent one. Such a pain or I am doing it wrong?
The Demon Headmaster
Member
This is exactly the problem. The timer doesn't give you time to think and actually play the game. I don't understand how after 4 versions of this they haven't given us the option to remove it. It's making me and my friends not buy it this year.
I didn't see any option for it on iPad. Sadly. There is an "attack with all" button at least. But yeah, it is fairly dumb oversight when it easily has no timer for single player.
Yeah, this was a huge problem for me when I first started. Eventually in 2013 I just learned my decks and pretty much always knew what I was fetching before I cast the spell, but that shouldn't be a requirement.
Oh man. I was hoping you guys knew a way around it. You can pause the timer normally but when you need to choose a card you can't. Thing is it's such a strict time limit that, even if you know the card you want to go for, if you don't reach it in time you can only watch in horror as the computer chooses a card at random. There also doesn't seem to be any indication of how much time you actually have so it's a horrible race to find it in the deck.
Luckily for my black deck it's not such an issue but for blue it can be a real handicap.
Anyone on PS3 looking for some matches let me know. PSN id is Ivor_Biguns. Just started getting into this and pretty hooked so play quite a bit during the weekends.
so that Sliver deck seems kind of ... boring? (well, playing against it). You either have enough removals do get rid of his more nasty creatures or they steamroll you with the huge +x/+x boni
almost unlocked the Jace deck now, it's quite strong not all that fun to play with. The B/U seems to be the most interesting of the new decks, going to test that one next
almost unlocked the Jace deck now, it's quite strong not all that fun to play with. The B/U seems to be the most interesting of the new decks, going to test that one next
It's not in 'My documents' i can tell you that, there is a folder there but its empty. I assume its inside the Steamapps Magic 2014 folder embedded in one of those files. Maybe Rank.dll? i could be 100% wrong.
It am trying to delete and redownload the single files from Steam (Cloud is off). I should find the correct file eventually I guess, but it seems rather obvious that they tried to hide the save file this time. Another reason for me not to give them any money for unlock slots. Such a greedy fuckover.
Its not:
Data_Decks_D14.WAD
PM or quote to post please
edit: actually make it quote to post so all gaffers can see it.
PM or quote to post please
edit: actually make it quote to post so all gaffers can see it.
Still trying to figure out what actually led to it, but unfortunately it doesnt even solve the issue apparently. What I sort of did was:
1. Deactivate Cloud saving
2. Copy the Magic 2014 folder
3. Take Steam offline
4. Start up the copied game, which somehow reset my progress for the copied game AND the main game (for whatever reason)
Just replicated it again and it worked. After that I got all the intro/tutorial fluff again since it reset everything and I could redraw my first sealed deck, BUT:
The deck draws are identical. I read a theory that the game somehow reads out your username/a hex number associated with your account which is saved in the game and then generates the decks according your number/username, meaning you will NEVER get different cards.
Fuck. Ah well i got some decent cards. I got a White/Green deck and a Black/Blue deck i'm happy with, plus i got those 3 booster packs in the Seal deck campaign.
I am still heavily annoyed at this issue, since I dont care about the endresult of the decks. I just want to start with 6 boosters new and build some new stuff every time for 6 offline matches until restarting. Does this "Today in DRM Scamming 101: Magic 2014" post make for a good thread? Because I really feel like this is a practice we should talk about. I dont like the right over savegames being taken away from me.
Lets discuss what happened here and whether we should be entitled to that right or not.
What the devs did:
They announced a new feature for this collectable card game, called "Sealed Play", which is a feature I was very much looking forward to since it is the first time in a long long time, since we were allowed deckbuilding in a Magic Offline campaign game. It had the potential for rather harmless casual play and works like this:
The caveats:
1. You only have two slots for the sealed campaigns
2. There is no way to delete the slots ingame and no unglitchy way to delete your save file
3. If you manage to delete them, we find out that cards are allocated based on your username/a certain hex number associated with your account so you will ALWAYS redraw the same thing.
4. You need to pay to unlock more slots
This game is advertised as offering "Sealed" campaigns (although you wont find them mentioning that you can only play it twice or even only 20 times if you buy every unlock), and I was taking part in discussions about how to circumvent this restriction by deleting the save file before and bought it before actually asking anyone whether its possible or not.
Now, I am fine with developers finding ways to monetize their games, but am I wrong in EXPECTING my right to delete my offline game save file? Am I wrong in EXPECTING my right to restart an offline campaign feature advertised for the game?
Not to mention its heavily Pay2Win since someone buying 18 unlocks definitely has a better chance in MP than someone with only 2 unlocks, but I dont even CARE about the MP.
So now, should we be outraged? Was it something I shouldnt even be bothered by? Is it my right to start an offline game as often as I want?
Also: Was there any other game that pulled the same shit? "Scamming" might be a harsh word (making for a good title), but am I being too entitled by expecting the rights over my savegames on PC (which is why I blindly bought the game)?
Minsc
Gold Member
You really think you're going to want to pay for it more than 18 times? I get it's not the most friendly decision ever, but it is what it is. You get two slots for free, and $2 for extras. Since you can bring the decks to online play, it'd be very unfair if you could just reroll indefinitely until you get the perfect deck (in fact, pre-determining seeds per username/account goes to show they absolutely want to avoid this) - unless they just straight out put in a deck editor with access to every card in the program which would be the ideal solution.
The tutorial in this game is super-obnoxiously slow. I disabled combat animations and it still counts down the health 5,4,3,2,1,0 in battles, and damage resolution is super-super slow (I think a single turn of combat would take over 15 minutes if you had 100 little 1/1 guys). Hopefully that's just a side-effect of the tutorial.
The tutorial in this game is super-obnoxiously slow. I disabled combat animations and it still counts down the health 5,4,3,2,1,0 in battles, and damage resolution is super-super slow (I think a single turn of combat would take over 15 minutes if you had 100 little 1/1 guys). Hopefully that's just a side-effect of the tutorial.
I dont even want a deck editor with all cards here or online play. I like the limitation of only getting 6 boosters and building a deck from scratch, and of course they wanted to avoid that by only allowing that through micropayments for more slots, but would you really not consider "resetting" your offline gameplay progress a right for your PC games? Thats a right being taken away here. I'd consider that worth a thread tbh. Previous Magic DotP games DID offer single savegames that you could delete. They certainly never advertised it as saying that the cards you get are predetermined.
And yes, I would want to play this more than 18 times. I played draft of the same Magic editions countless times with friends (which are ultimately the same cards as well) and I am fully content with having the same card set if I need to think of new ways to optimize my decks with the limited amount of cards I get. I consider that fun.
Yeah, it's just the tutorial, things start going a way faster on the match against Chandra. Still, so odd that you need to go over the tutorial if you've already put up the planeswalker difficulty.
Guys on Wizards.com forums are saying that the seed is based on your username. But do you get different set of cards when you do second deck, or same as the first one? And really don't understand why they did go all moneyhungry with the sealed. Or I understand, but really don't like it, just gotta hope that I will manage to get some good cards from the two decks I will construct.
Can't wait till some bugger finds out which username seed gets the 'best' cards and everyone else start using that username build.
Kinda sad that there ain't any new special type matches like two earlier had, though planechase was annoying. Hopefully next version would at least bring archenemy back, that is still so fun.
Absoludacrous
Member
You can skip the tutorial stuff and go straight to the Chandra fight if you want.
What's weird with that is that I double dipped on PS3 and Xbox, and got different decks with the same username. Which was good, cause I got worried when I started reading that stuff about usernames. Seeding must be different depending on platform.
I've been playing on my US PSN account, but will switch over to my JP account to see if sealed pickings are different or not.
What I'm curious to see is if you start a new profile, will
・you still have access to paid slot unlocks on each profile?
・you be able to draw different cards?
I'm with Toma, I hardly play online MP - I just like cracking packs and making decks to throw against the COM. It's too bad they couldn't combine Sealed with something else like the Archenemy (or even Planechase) mechanics from the previous titles.
When are they going to start including Planeswalker cards, too? I always wanted to get in on that ever since it first started with Vanguard way back in the day.
What I'm curious to see is if you start a new profile, will
・you still have access to paid slot unlocks on each profile?
・you be able to draw different cards?
I'm with Toma, I hardly play online MP - I just like cracking packs and making decks to throw against the COM. It's too bad they couldn't combine Sealed with something else like the Archenemy (or even Planechase) mechanics from the previous titles.
When are they going to start including Planeswalker cards, too? I always wanted to get in on that ever since it first started with Vanguard way back in the day.
SecretCoqui
Neo Member
Anybody has the promo codes yet?
This year's puzzles mostly stink. All of them except the last one have immediately obvious solutions. And then the last one is infinitely more complex than the rest and let's you sacrifice a Protean Hulk which is awesome town. So that is good at least.
It makes me sad since the puzzles were always my favorite part.
It makes me sad since the puzzles were always my favorite part.
DLC expansions haven't released yet. But like previous years you can slowly grind card unlocks per win per decks until they're 100%.
Sealed is 2 times free, P2P after that.
Yeah I've blazed through the first first 11 and am kinda stuck on the last one, after trying a bunch of different stuff, including some rad sacrificing of the Protean Hulk.
Shame about the others though, because there is something wonderful about poking and prodding at a puzzle until it eventually gives. Some of the beginner ones are especially egregious, with one solution literally being "block all the creatures".
I would be super into DLC with more challenges.
So all that dlc in the store page can be gained through playing?
Yeah, except for the sealed slots all the current DLC is cosmetic foil cards or paying to quickly unlock a deck instead of grinding it out.
I think WotC needs to realize that there is enough room out there for a more feature-complete version of DotP. It can coexist without cannibalizing their MTGO player base. They may lose some players, but I think they'd make up for it with more overall sales and less money spent on maintaining servers. MTGO is quickly becoming, if not already, obsolete and other (seemingly) high-quality titles like Hex will sink them if they don't start adapting now.
I used to think I was pretty good at those kind of puzzles. I'd been doing them since Mark Rosewater's Magic: The Puzzling back in the old Duelist magazines.
Some of those puzzles in 2012 were naaaaasty! They're probably the reason why I haven't really touched any of the ones in 2013.
I'm thinking, just in terms of overall quality / balance / presentation, 2012 has probably been the best iteration so far.
For me, 2014 has a lot of polish and matches go by a LOT faster - which is great! I don't really like the cutscenes they have going on, nor the focus on Chandra who seems to be a pretty lackluster character (not as versed in the lore as I used to be.) I probably liked the setting from 2012 the most.
I used to think I was pretty good at those kind of puzzles. I'd been doing them since Mark Rosewater's Magic: The Puzzling back in the old Duelist magazines.
Some of those puzzles in 2012 were naaaaasty! They're probably the reason why I haven't really touched any of the ones in 2013.
I'm thinking, just in terms of overall quality / balance / presentation, 2012 has probably been the best iteration so far.
For me, 2014 has a lot of polish and matches go by a LOT faster - which is great! I don't really like the cutscenes they have going on, nor the focus on Chandra who seems to be a pretty lackluster character (not as versed in the lore as I used to be.) I probably liked the setting from 2012 the most.
Thing I hate about Magic the most ....... when you KNOW the last card they have is a destroy creature/counter-spell/take your character away, and you have 2 cards in your hand and they just magically "know" that the second one is the better one and save it anyway =/
Or 1 turn from annihalating the computer only for them to draw some bullshit enchant creature shit that ruins your whole plan, and they win after having them to one life ......
why dont i just play on normal =[ save myself SOME aggravation
Or 1 turn from annihalating the computer only for them to draw some bullshit enchant creature shit that ruins your whole plan, and they win after having them to one life ......
why dont i just play on normal =[ save myself SOME aggravation
There are some really great puzzles in 2013 so I'd definitely check those out at some point. Though a couple of the late ones require you to fail once twice just to learn what you are going to be drawing.
Just take it with a grain of salt, man. Topdecking has been around since Alpha/Beta! Just accept it as one more hurdle you have to get over.
Having said that, I don't understand the complaints people have about top-decking in DotP. I don't think I've ever felt that the AI was cheating. If you're feeling too much stress at your current difficulty setting, just take it down a notch.
The situation you described is not uncommon. I eat damage on a regular basis if I even think there is a possibility that my opponent is holding on to something bigger. It's your job to harass the enemy (or force the enemy with a big enough threat) into dealing with your threats at YOUR pace. It's like baiting a counterspell - it's an art!
I downloaded and played through the demo, but i couldn't find the answer to this question. What are the local co-op modes? I have seen that it has two-head giant, but I'm concerned that it's only for online. What couch co-op can I do against the AI, and can I earn cards through that mode?
I think its just Two-headed Giant is local only. Free for all and Sealed Play are online only.
Anything that you should care about, yes. No1currs about foils.
The DLC expansion (and maybe the card unlocks if you're tired of the unlocking) are the only worthwhile DLC.