Support NeoGAF

[la_briola]

Disclaimer: SolForge is leaving early access after 3 years with a brand new client, made in Unity.

TRAILER YouTube | DEVELOPER StoneBlade Entertainment | RELEASE DATE May 31, 2016 | PLATFORMS Steam, iOS, Android | INTERVIEW PC Gamer

TL;DR for old/current players: New Client Update: Season 1 Ranked and Tournaments | SolForge Economy Update


What is Solforge

SolForge is a free-to-play digital collectible strategy game that combines all the depth of a traditional trading card game experience with the convenience of online and mobile gaming. In SolForge, you take on the role of a Forgeborn, one of the select few who can wield the magic of the SolForge itself. You collect cards that represent ferocious creatures and powerful spells, and use those cards to construct decks and battle AI opponents or test your skills against other players in the arena.
​

Goal of the Game

You and your opponent each start a game of SolForge with 120 health, and the goal of the game is to reduce your opponent’s health to 0 by dealing damage with your creatures and spells. How you do this—whether it’s by attacking with a swarm of creatures to win as quickly as possible or playing defense with powerful spells until you can take over the game with a single unstoppable monster—is completely up to you.​

The Field

Most of the action in SolForge takes place on a board known as the field. The field has five columns, known as lanes, and each lane is split into two spaces, one for each player. These spaces are where you deploy your creatures to battle against your opponent. Your creatures always battle the opponent’s creatures in the same lane, or deal their battle damage to your opponent directly when there is no creature opposing them. Each player can have no more than one creature in each lane.​

New Players

I recommend reading Konan's New Player Guide and n3rks Guide about Keywords and Mechanics.​

Leveling up

Cards in SolForge have three levels (with some rare exceptions that have one, two or four) and they transform as the game goes on. At the beginning of a game, your avatar and all of the cards in your deck start at level 1. When you play a card, it levels up, which means a higher level version of that card is into your discard pile. Every four turns, you level up, and you reshuffle your discard pile into your deck, allowing you to draw your higher level cards.

The higher levels of a card are usually more powerful versions of the low levels, but some cards transform in different ways. You can tell what level a card is by looking at the icon in the upper right hand corner. You can always look at the different levels of any card by selecting it in game.
​

Playing Cards

- Each turn, you will draw a hand of five cards from your deck and play up to two of them (some cards allow you to play more and some are free).
- The exception to this is the player who takes the first turn of the game only plays one card on that turn.
- There are no costs associated with playing a card. To play a card, simply select it in your hand and make any necessary choices.
- At the end of your turn, all of the cards remaining in your hand go to your discard pile and you draw a new hand of five cards for the following turn.
​

Deck building

Turn Structure

Forging (crafting)

You can forge (and dismantle, if you have a card more than 3 times) every card in the game (except Alternate Art cards, purely cosmetic).

- Legendary cards: Forge cost 100k and Dismantle for 25k
- Heroic cards: Forge cost 25k and Dismantle for 5000
- Rare cards: Forge cost 2500 and Dismantle for 250
- Common cards: Forge cost 250 and Dismantle for 25

There is also an option to multi-dismantle cards, like in Hearthstone with the "disenchant all" button.​

Sharing

SolForge was a game built around combining the best of the paper trading card game world and the digital free to play world. One of the greatest things about traditional paper trading card games is that very first word – trading. Swapping cards with your friends to improve your collection and help both of you build better decks is social, economical and helps provide the foundation for a life-long connection to a game.

Sharing Basics

- Most cards purchased with in-game gold will be Sharable
- You can send any Sharable cards to any friend in your friends list
- Your friend receives those cards the next time they go to their home screen.
- Each card may only be Shared once.
- You keep the cards you Shared

Let me repeat that last line again- You keep the cards you shared! This is something that is obviously impossible in the physical game world. Now you can give a friend cards and still keep them for yourself! In effect, every card you buy is really two cards- one for you and one for a friend. We hope that players will use this feature to bring new friends into the game and functionally share their collection with one another!​

Free 2 Play Structure

- There are 2 currencies in the game: Silver and Gold. Silver you earn by just playing the game or breaking down excess cards. Gold is purchased with cash.
- Boosters are bought with silver or gold.
- Tournaments (draft and constructed) are entered with event tickets. Tickets can be purchased with Gold or be won in the daily prizes.

Daily rewards give players event tickets for every three online wins they get (maximum of three tickets per day).​

Campaign

SolForge's Campaign mode is a mixture between Tutorial and in-game challenges that explore the lore.

The Campaign consists of many challenges. Some are unlocked at the start, some are unlocked upon mission completion.
Upon completion of a Campaign mission, a player is given a reward consisting of either specific cards or a booster pack.​

Tournaments

In the Tournaments section you can enter a Constructed or Draft queue. There are also special events like Weekend Warrior.

Draft is like in Magic (afaik) and comparable to the Arena in Hearthstone. (Draft pool)
- You should read this awesome Draft guide by Konan!

In Constructed you play one of the decks you build.

Rounds
- Players will be able to play rounds in their draft until they either get up to 7 wins or 2 losses

Entry Fee
- Draft will cost 4 tickets to enter, Constructed will cost 3
- Tickets are the only way to enter tournaments
- Tickets will no longer be available to purchase with Silver but their Gold price will be reduced

Prizes
- Seven Wins - 7 Event tickets, 20,000 Silver, 1 Booster Pack, 3 Elite Tickets and a random Legendary card
- Six Wins - 4 Event tickets, 15,000 Silver, 1 Booster Pack and 2 Elite Tickets
- Five Wins – 3 Event tickets, 10,000 Silver, 1 Booster Pack and 1 Elite Ticket
- Four Wins – 2 Event tickets, 8,000 Silver and 1 Booster Pack
- Three Wins – 1 Event ticket, 6,000 Silver and 1 Booster Pack
- Two Wins - 1 Event ticket, 4,000 Silver and 1 Booster Pack
- One Win - 2,000 Silver and 1 Booster Pack
- Zero Wins – 1 Booster Pack​

Ranked play / Ladder

When a player enters the random ranked queue, they are matched based on their ladder ranking only (no hidden matchmaking rating). You earn Forge Points by winning ladder games – one point per win. If you earn a Forge Point when you already have the maximum number of Forge Points in a Rank, you are promoted to the next Rank up. Players in Gold and below can go on a Hot Streak by winning three ladder games in a row. Each Hot Streak win grants a bonus Forge Point.

All of this culminates in you earning a ranking. Each player will earn rewards based on their ranking at the end of each season – with better rewards the higher your ranking. Season length is yet to be determined. Once a season is over and rewards are collected, we reset the ladder and start over again. Players in Silver Division and lower reset to Bronze I, while players in Gold Division and higher reset to Silver I.

Seasons 1 – 3 exclusive cosmetic Ranked rewards

The Alternate Art cards will change over with Season 4, so players have an opportunity to obtain a playset of each Alternate Art we offer as Ranked rewards.

Lastly, to celebrate our inaugural Ranked season, we will be offering a special prize for the player who finishes the season at the top of the standings. This player will be given the option to have their likeness created as a Forgeborn card in a future set release!
For more information you can read this explanation on the official site.​

Kaelari's Unofficial Competitive Ladder for SolForge

Kaelari was providing an unofficial ladder and will continue to do so.
Here you find a place for non-standard ladders (such as unheroric, unlegendary and league), as well as a hub to meet and communicate with other players.
solforgeladder.com​

Raiders Unchained (set 7)

Pre-Order (this is still up, not sure for how long)
- For $29.99, you get 60 Raiders Unchained packs (a 100% bonus over regular price) and each of the 4 exclusive Alternate Art cards
Patch Notes are here​

Credits

solforgegame.com
Some of the text is a carbon copy of Sinatars original (early access) SolForge thread. Got his permission to use it as I see fit.

My first OT, put probably way too much information in it, so be gentle and see you in SolForge. My account is mcd4ever, add me!

 

[la_briola]

The hype is real.

edit: it seems the servers are not yet up. Expected downtime is up to 6 hours, so in ~2 hours from this post.

May 31st Server Downtime Schedule: (Subject to Change)

Soft Downtime (No new games can start) - 10:00am PDT

Hard Downtime (No access to servers) - 11:00am PDT

Expected duration of downtime - 6 hours. This is a sizable update so this time could vary but this is what we expect.

 

[Kiyo]

Did they ever actually put in a way to trade and buy/sell cards? That was one of the main reasons I backed it on Kickstarter, but when that took forever to get implemented (after them promising it for months), along with Hearthstone beta access, I kinda just stopped following the game.

 

[la_briola]

Did they ever actually put in a way to trade and buy/sell cards? That was one of the main reasons I backed it on Kickstarter, but when that took forever to get implemented (after them promising it for months), along with Hearthstone beta access, I kinda just stopped following the game.

Yes, you can share (trade) your cards! Read the part about "Sharing".

 

[bigkrev]

I really liked this when it launched, but then they kept updating and lost my interest. I'll probably check it out when it launches again, and give it a second chance

 

[Sinatar]

I really liked this when it launched, but then they kept updating and lost my interest. I'll probably check it out when it launches again, and give it a second chance

Yea this seems like a good time to jump back in.

 

[Aureon]

Finally happening. I clocked 2900 hours back in set 1\2, but then dropped off.
Turn timer and decent client performance should finally do it justice. Core gameplay is best among all TCGs i've played, except perhaps draft mtg - but that's outrageously expensive, and a little more than played out by now.

They're really hoping for some new players here, but i don't know if they're going to have any without some marketing. Is Kibler even still attached to the project?

Still, best TCG. Everyone who's dabbled in the basic ones should give it a shot.

I really liked this when it launched, but then they kept updating and lost my interest. I'll probably check it out when it launches again, and give it a second chance

That's in one hour and half!

 

[la_briola]

[...]
Turn timer and decent client performance should finally do it justice. Core gameplay is best among all TCGs i've played[...]

They're really hoping for some new players here, but i don't know if they're going to have any without some marketing. Is Kibler even still attached to the project?

Still, best TCG. Everyone who's dabbled in the basic ones should give it a shot.
[...]

I agree with everything you said. Turn timer was much needed.

The Kibler picture... he was in charge of promoting the game (got me to play), but he kinda dropped of after the soft launch. Maybe he will be back, the new client will make the game more stream friendly.

I do hope SolForge twitch messaged all the top Hearthstone streamers, they are always eager to try out new games.

 

[Darkroronoa]

Oh this looks like a nice update. I played it for a while, very casually, a few months back but it did not keep me interested. Also i did not like the client and the menus (felt kinda "cheap").
I will definitely check it out again, its a very unique tcg.

 

[la_briola]

For causal players this is the best time to jump in, with 9 wins a day you will get 3 event tickets, you need 3 for the constructed queue and 4 for draft.
You keep all 30 cards you draft.
Ladder is free of course.

Before today you got 1 ticket a day (with luck 2).

Also: you can play longer (no more capped at 4 games) and after 1 loss you can still go all the way. Way better imho.

 

[Aureon]

Oh this looks like a nice update. I played it for a while, very casually, a few months back but it did not keep me interested. Also i did not like the client and the menus (felt kinda "cheap").
I will definitely check it out again, its a very unique tcg.

Consider that the client was technically the "alpha" client and should've lasted "months" = P
Indie development is hard, man.

For causal players this is the best time to jump in, with 9 wins a day you will get 3 event tickets, you need 3 for the constructed queue and 4 for draft. Ladder is free of course.

Before today you got 1 ticket a day (with luck 2).

Also: you can play longer (no more capped at 4 games) and after 1 loss you can still go all the way. Way better imho.

Two losses and out is good, yeah. Unsure if they should've gone for three - it kind of depends on how long the matches are going to be on the new client.
Timers are now 75s / turn + 3:45 timebank, which is much better than the damn 30s/turn + 20:00 timebank it used to be - especially when people afked - but they could've gone lower IMHO. 30s/turn + 5:00 timebank would be my jam, perhaps extended a bit for ranked play.

I agree with everything you said. Turn timer was much needed.

The Kibler picture... he was in charge of promoting the game (got me to play), but he kinda dropped of after the soft launch. Maybe he will be back, the new client will make the game more stream friendly.

I do hope SolForge twitch messaged all the top Hearthstone streamers, they are always eager to try out new games.

Honestly, this is it for solforge. Either it gets some decent users (Steam was down to 150 lately, 11 months without a new set was insanity) or they're probably dropping it, which would be a real shame.

 

[TerminalDogma]

I played this for a good amount of time when it first came out. Think I stopped right before the first real expansion came out, though. It's at 7 expansions now? Not sure if that's inviting to newer/returning players.

 

[Justice_Bolt]

Interesting, i never played the game before. I will try it tommorrow!

 

[la_briola]

[...]

Two losses and out is good, yeah. Unsure if they should've gone for three - it kind of depends on how long the matches are going to be on the new client.
Timers are now 75s / turn + 3:45 timebank, which is much better than the damn 30s/turn + 20:00 timebank it used to be - especially when people afked - but they could've gone lower IMHO. 30s/turn + 5:00 timebank would be my jam, perhaps extended a bit for ranked play.

[...]

30 sec/turn would kill any kind of draw/combo deck. They nerfed combo into the ground to be fair, but its still an option.

They can of course still lower or raise the timer. Time will tell how well it is received.

I played this for a good amount of time when it first came out. Think I stopped right before the first real expansion came out, though. It's at 7 expansions now? Not sure if that's inviting to newer/returning players.

I would recommend the same as in Hearthstone: start with Draft (Arena).

You have the same card pool as everyone else, you learn the game and keep all the cards.

Also: there is a campaign that is completely free. You learn the game and get some nice cards (Heroic/Legendary).

 

[Darkroronoa]

Consider that the client was technically the "alpha" client and should've lasted "months" = P
Indie development is hard, man.

Yeah, i read this on their site, thay must have had a really hard time but they did managed to reach this release point. Hopefully they will get a good player spike, people really should give it a try. And as someone (or more) mentioned its really generous on the rewards! Thats always a huge plus.

 

[Leafhopper]

I don't know about those new card frames though.

 

[ReaperXL7]

Is there any sort of single player campaign or Is this multiplayer only?

 

[Aureon]

Also, if anyone wants to hang out, there's usually a few folks over at Kaelari's Ladder, which has served as makeshift ranked games for the last two years : )

30 sec/turn would kill any kind of draw/combo deck. They nerfed combo into the ground to be fair, but its still an option.

They can of course still lower or raise the timer. Time will tell how well it is received.

30s/turn + 5:00 timebank is what i said though = P

Timebank is single-use time, and 5min is more than enough to finish off any combo.
I tend to be a very fast player, though, so.. yeah. 75 is probably all right.

(I question whatever they'd tweak the time, though... the new timer was decided back in august.)

Is there any sort of single player campaign or Is this multiplayer only?

There's plays vs AI and some campaign stages, but they're not much more than tutorials

 

[la_briola]

I don't know about those new card frames though.

Same, they need to grow on me first. I kinda liked the old ones.

Is there any sort of single player campaign or Is this multiplayer only?

Yes, there is a campaign. I forget to add it to the OT, will do now!

edit: they are not very long tho, but you can also play vs the AI/Computer.

 

[ReaperXL7]

Awesome, thanks. Obviously these games are built around multiplayer but having some kind of SP content makes it easier to jump in and get your feet wet in my opinion.

Downloading now..

 

[atbigelow]

The old UI and client were really bad. KickStarted this and, while the game is mechanically fantastic, the feel of it was never really there. And then Hearthstone came out and rocked it visually.

 

[Darkroronoa]

Awesome, thanks. Obviously these games are built around multiplayer but having some kind of SP content makes it easier to jump in and get your feet wet in my opinion.

Downloading now..

I really enjoyed playing vs AI to get the daily rewards.
I wonder if you can still can get them by battling the AI, but they should offer daily rewards only through pvp so you can find opponents easier.

 

[la_briola]

I really enjoyed playing vs AI to get the daily rewards.
I wonder if you can still can get them by battling the AI, but they should offer daily rewards only through pvp so you can find opponents easier.

"Our daily rewards are also changing. Overall this system is staying close to what it is now, with one major exception. This exception is that instead of giving players a small amount of Silver for each online win they get as the day goes on, we are going to give players event tickets for every three online wins they get (maximum of three tickets per day). This will result in much less of a grind for players to receive their full amount of daily rewards. It will also make it so all players will be able to participate in tournament events more frequently."
-- http://solforgegame.com/news/solforge-economy-update/

Sounds like its only for wins against real players, you probably can win trade if needed... :lol

 

[Aureon]

"Our daily rewards are also changing. Overall this system is staying close to what it is now, with one major exception. This exception is that instead of giving players a small amount of Silver for each online win they get as the day goes on, we are going to give players event tickets for every three online wins they get (maximum of three tickets per day). This will result in much less of a grind for players to receive their full amount of daily rewards. It will also make it so all players will be able to participate in tournament events more frequently."
-- http://solforgegame.com/news/solforge-economy-update/

Sounds like its only for wins against real players, you probably can win trade if needed... :lol

Invite for 9 wins, concede them all is a time-honored tradition. They've probably gutted that, though.
Some years ago i would've said "Quests would be nice", but after HS, i completely loathe quests. 3-day window for rewards would be nice though, even if the rewards are massively generous as it is.

 

[la_briola]

I forgot to add this awesome DRAFT GUIDE by Konan (added now to the OT).
It teaches you the basics of a good draft, must read!

Invite for 9 wins, concede them all is a time-honored tradition. They've probably gutted that, though.
Some years ago i would've said "Quests would be nice", but after HS, i completely loathe quests. 3-day window for rewards would be nice though, even if the rewards are massively generous as it is.

We will see, not sure if they want to force everyone to play ranked.
Maybe they have a un-ranked random matchmaking system in place, that could circumvent the win trading.

 

[TheSeks]

a F2P TCG from the creators of Magic

I came as quick as I could. Now fill me in. How much "Magic-like" is it? Is it less grindy than Hex?

The gameplay looks similar to Uncarded. How close am I to that assessment?

 

[irfaanator]

I kickstarted this game and I've never played it. How is it

 

[Aureon]

WARNING FOR EVERYONE THAT'S STARTING NOW:
Use your first tickets for draft, not constructed. Constructed tournaments will kick your ass. There's a good chance i'll be there kicking ass personally, and a lot of people even meaner than me.
If you have to ask if you're ready for constructed tournaments, you're not. Get to Gold or so first.

I forgot to add this awesome DRAFT GUIDE by Konan (added now to the OT).
It teaches you the basics of a good draft, must read!



We will see, not sure if they want to force everyone to play ranked.
Maybe they have a un-ranked random matchmaking system in place, that could circumvent the win trading.

They do have unranked matchmaking. It's always been there.

I came as quick as I could. Now fill me in. How much "Magic-like" is it? Is it less grindy than Hex?

The gameplay looks similar to Uncarded. How close am I to that assessment?

Initial design was by Garfield, and that's the entirety of the involvement from the "Creators of Magic". Wizards is not associated in any way.

It's about the only TCG who doesn't ape MTG heavily. Well, not the only, but it's as different as it can be.

It's definitely less grindy than HEX, but there's a very dedicated playerbase lurking around. I know like 20 people with four-digit playhour counts.
So, play draft. Really.

 

[la_briola]

They do have unranked matchmaking. It's always been there.
[...]

True, that's what I play nearly everyday -- brain fart. :lol

 

[Aureon]

True, that's what I play nearly everyday -- brain fart. :lol

x)
Also, it's been 11 months? Hell. Didn't stoneblade have at least plenty of designers? Get some cards out dammit.

 

[Archpath1]

Wasn't starting on ios, iphone6

Weird

 

[TheSeks]

So, play draft. Really.

Draft's free to play?

 

[piratepwnsninja]

Didn't see this info in the OP, which means it's definitely there somewhere and I skipped it...are accounts linked between platforms?

 

[udivision]

Wasn't starting on ios, iphone6

Weird

Couldn't get it start on my 5c...

 

[Aureon]

Draft's free to play?

No, but you get 3 free tickets per day, and a draft costs 4 (And pays out tickets, too)

Constructed costs 3 tickets, but is a shark pool.

 

[Aureon]

Didn't see this info in the OP, which means it's definitely there somewhere and I skipped it...are accounts linked between platforms?

Yes! account is shared among all platforms.

Couldn't get it start on my 5c...

Servers are currently down for the launch. Should get up within a hour or two.

(Sorry for doubleposting)

 

[la_briola]

edit2: I would recommend to wait for a while, servers are on fire; think HS/Diablo3.

edit3: played my first ranked game, went very smooth, still a bit slow (on the server side)

Seems Steam and iOS work now, not sure about Android. Servers are getting hammered tho.

edit: Update Status Report

Steam is live now
iOS is live now but gold purchasing is disabled until we can get a new apple build approved. You can still purchase gold on the website here.
Android is currently not live but we are working on getting a fix out as soon as possible

I'm opening Legendary cards left and right, they didn't lie when they said the chances are higher.

 

[Brakara]

Is Kibler even still attached to the project?

Pretty sure Kibler is a full time Hearthstone streamer these days.

 

[A Sentient Keyboard]

Ill give this game a try, I like the idea of card games but I hearthstone is too frustrating for me at times.

I'm making an account right now and it asks me for a referral code. Is there any benefit to entering one (for me or the rerferrer)?

 

[Askherserenity]

Servers are still crazy slow. Really wanted to try this game out but it's kind of unplayable right now.

 

[Aureon]

Ill give this game a try, I like the idea of card games but I hearthstone is too frustrating for me at times.

I'm making an account right now and it asks me for a referral code. Is there any benefit to entering one (for me or the rerferrer)?

The old referral page is off, so i'm assuming that program ended a long time ago.

.. Probably best to wait a day or two though; the servers are just a pinch ahead of down.

 

[Karsticles]

I'll give this a shot.

Pretty sure Kibler is a full time Hearthstone streamer these days.

He's getting into Duelyst, too.

 

[Atomski]

I'll give this a shot.


He's getting into Duelyst, too.

Man when if Duelyst goes mobile my life may be over. I am looking for something on my phone though so I'm Gona check this out.

 

[la_briola]

The Android client got an update, but you will need to download all ~400MB again.
Not sure if it works now and/or the servers are down, don't have Steam to verify where I'm at.

They really failed with their Q&A team, such a shame, but they are like 5 people. I can understand it at least a little.

 

[Aureon]

The Android client got an update, but you will need to download all ~400MB again.
Not sure if it works now and/or the servers are down, don't have Steam to verify where I'm at.

They really failed with their Q&A team, such a shame, but they are like 5 people. I can understand it at least a little.

It worked perfectly on the dev env.. obviously. QA team did it's work, whoever did the engineering failed big time - probably a database bottleneck.

 

[la_briola]

edit: update

Just a quick update that we are experiencing significant server slowdown and are looking into the issue. We apologize for the inconvenience and will work through this as quickly as possible.

-- http://solforgegame.com/news/current-issues-update/

It worked perfectly on the dev env.. obviously. QA team did it's work, whoever did the engineering failed big time - probably a database bottleneck.

The bug thread on r/solforge and in the forums tell a different story. :lol
The iOS client seems to have many usability issues.

But I agree, the server side is the most problematic issue at the moment and should be solved first (and swift).

 

[Brakara]

Don't try to play any draft matches. Tried twice now and lost both matches due to being unable to end the turn.

 

[la_briola]

Yeah, don't play while the servers are dodgy. Wait for an update.

 

[la_briola]

Steam just pulled a 123 MB update for me.

 

[daydream]

played quite a bit of this when this first came out. the changes they did to it were for the worse so i stopped

good time to check back in, i suppose