Wizards of the Coast plan digital reimaging of Magic: The Gathering
Quote from pcgamesn »
Blizzard beware, a card game titan may be rising to steal your throne. In a statement released by Wizards of the Coast president Chris Cocks, the long-standing board and card game developer are planning to redouble their efforts in the world of videogames. With the recent formation of their Digital Game Studio, Wizards of the Coast have hired experienced Magic designers, as well as industry talent from all over to help them crack the digital market.
According to Cocks, the team is currently experimenting with how “players might tap mana and prepare spells”, so be on the lookout for a revamped mana system in this new version of Magic: The Gathering.
Magic: The Gathering has never got off the ground in digital form, with Magic Online and Duels of the Planeswalkers failing to make headway among either casual or hardcore card game players. This new direction may see Wizards of the Coast finally rival Blizzard for dominance of the digital card game market, but it will be quite the wait before any of these grand plans actually come to light.
Quote from Wizards of the Coast »
We are reimagining digital versions of Magic and other Wizards games....We recently created the Digital Games Studio, a group of all-stars....The Magic Online team is now included in this group, as well as digital art and game design. They're all thinking about how players might tap mana and prepare spells in the future, and I can't wait for you to see what they're working on.
We will bring our characters and worlds to other games and experiences....What would it be like to throw fireballs as a Planeswalker in an MMO, or quest for treasure with your friends in a D&D augmented-reality game?...bring Magic and D&D to unexpected settings, genres, and platforms.
The only digital MtG game Id have any interest in would be a modern day Shandalar with the entire MtG Library. Sadly, the undertaking for that would be near impossible
The most exciting part about this to me is that this sounds like they are continuing to branching Magic lore into other game systems. I loved the D&D supplement for Zendikar and am thrilled at the possibility to see more.
*tongue-in-cheek* I'm looking forward to the MtG-MOBA. ^^
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Planar Chaos was not a mistake neither was it random. You might want to look at it again.
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The only digital MtG game Id have any interest in would be a modern day Shandalar with the entire MtG Library. Sadly, the undertaking for that would be near impossible
For a long while some people had kept updating it, but I couldn't quite get it to run for some reason. Every time I would go to edit my deck the game would crash. But I agree. My friend introduced me to magic, but Shandalar taught me how to play. Here's the website for the people who keep updating Shandalar.
Here's the website for the people who keep updating Shandalar.
Sorry what? Do we have a Modern Shandalar?
no. its just a cracked version of the original game that added more cards.
That's correct. It has some cards added, but it's not anywhere near complete, or fully "fixed" so that the NPC decks aren't super old junk, so it can be a little awkward.
What this looks like: Wizards realizes that digital is a hugely untapped source of potential players, and their tech-savvy CEO recognizes MODO for the antiquated junk that it is.
What we'd like: A huge graphical and on some degree mechanical overhaul of MTGO that makes it look like a program coded this decade, better online support that enables a smooth transition from the paper to the digital and back again, and being able to make the two systems almost synonymous.
What I think is most likely: Wizards just kills MTGO and replaces it with new!MTGO, leaving everyone who bought and paid into the first system just screwed out of hundreds of dollars with no recourse. (The Zach Jesse case made it clear that you don't actually OWN cards on MTGO, you own the licensing rights to play with them)
What I fear happens: Wizards transitions MTG to an online-only game and abandons the physical entirely, introducing tons of RNG effects that no one likes except their inbred focus groups.
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Top 16 - 2012 Indiana State Championships Currently Playing: GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
What this looks like: Wizards realizes that digital is a hugely untapped source of potential players, and their tech-savvy CEO recognizes MODO for the antiquated junk that it is.
What we'd like: A huge graphical and on some degree mechanical overhaul of MTGO that makes it look like a program coded this decade, better online support that enables a smooth transition from the paper to the digital and back again, and being able to make the two systems almost synonymous.
What I think is most likely: Wizards just kills MTGO and replaces it with new!MTGO, leaving everyone who bought and paid into the first system just screwed out of hundreds of dollars with no recourse. (The Zach Jesse case made it clear that you don't actually OWN cards on MTGO, you own the licensing rights to play with them)
What I fear happens: Wizards transitions MTG to an online-only game and abandons the physical entirely, introducing tons of RNG effects that no one likes except their inbred focus groups.
What I'll do: continue to use Cockatrice and proxy decks
What I fear happens: Wizards transitions MTG to an online-only game and abandons the physical entirely, introducing tons of RNG effects that no one likes except their inbred focus groups.
That would certainly be a worst-case scenario. The real losers in that situation would be the LGS locations with which the company has established relationships. For all of their mistakes over the years, I'm optimistic enough to think that the company would not dare to abandon those stores and the culture that surrounds them just to tap the digital market. Forget current issues with format balancing and the direction of design, the backlash from that mistake would destroy the game as we know it.
What I fear happens: Wizards transitions MTG to an online-only game and abandons the physical entirely, introducing tons of RNG effects that no one likes except their inbred focus groups.
That would certainly be a worst-case scenario. The real losers in that situation would be the LGS locations with which the company has established relationships. For all of their mistakes over the years, I'm optimistic enough to think that the company would not dare to abandon those stores and the culture that surrounds them just to tap the digital market. Forget current issues with format balancing and the direction of design, the backlash from that mistake would destroy the game as we know it.
I have to agree that such a move would completely kill the game. Especially considering that casual players are not the ones that would necessarily transition to the digital product and it basically will kill all confidence player have for the company. I was also fearing this not too long ago. If anything, they should do like pokemon and include codes in their packs. Or even if it were 1 pack = 1 ticket, it would be fine. It could potentially even boost physical pack sales even more.
What I fear happens: Wizards transitions MTG to an online-only game and abandons the physical entirely, introducing tons of RNG effects that no one likes except their inbred focus groups.
That's an absolutely worst case scenario that I can't see happening.
Magic is for physical TCGs what WoW is for MMORPGs, there is no way they would abandon a leading position in the market like that anytime soon.
It sounds like they might shift their online branch to some kind of 'magic light' though.
In any case that poses a very delicate act of balancing. If done well, this could improve the mtg online experience greatly, otherwise might just kill it.
What they should do imo is some quality of life stuff just to support a better 'flow' of the game, without really sacrificing complexity for playability.
Worst route they could go would be dumbing things down to Hearthstone levels - works well enough for blizzards approach (since it was built that way from scratch), but would basically neglect a lot of what makes Magic appealing.
In the end we have to wait and see. Let's hope they won't be tempted by the prospect of attracting a new online audience enough to alienate their actual playerbase.
Just because some poster here mentions that they'd stop printing MTG cards does not make it even remotely possible or worthy to discuss.
This is great news, they've hired a strong software team and will try to take their digital offerings further. I don't think we can ask for much more at this stage, as Cocks hasn't been there that long. They know that Heartstone and similar games is a threat, and they know they have the deepest and best game in the business.
Wizards wont kill the paper product. There's too much investment in it to do so and it would be bad for everyone from the player level to the LGS. I'd view the digital movement from wizards separate from the paper movement, as the company is still trying to figure out how to support paper magic outside of standard without harming standard.
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1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
I think Magic Duels was supposed to do this originally. It has a very Hearthstoneish flair. It is a nice way of casually playing magic, cheap, quick, online.
But the developer is just plain horrible. Their system is worse than anything I've seen in recent AA/AAA franchises.
Peer-hosting (->cheating/hacking), a cheating flawed repetitive AI, unfixed bugs and glitches that have existed since its launch, no real gratification model, it just feels like a sloppy job with no quality control at all.
I wish it had been more closely monitored by WotC
My interpretation of that statement is that it's pretty much to do with the branding, and not the actual "online card game system". They mentioned MMOs (basically WoW) and Augmented Reality Games (Pokemon Go), but nothing of their closer competitors like Hearthstone and the other variants (which may or may not be subjectively better than Hearthstone) or the even closer ones like the Pokemon TCG.
From what I can see (which isn't admittedly a lot or sufficient, but this is just a disclaimer clarifying so), I'm deducing they actually aren't stepping into those territories a lot of us would like them to, at least not for now. Technically all these while with their online/video games that aren't MTGO, all their online platforms are pretty much nothing more than advertisements for the paper-version of the game itself and they were probably thrown to (other) video game developers to reduce costs since it is ultimately advertorial. This announcement pretty much seems to be as refining of those "advertisements" at best. If we're lucky, we're get a nice decent games worth playing for their mechanics.
If anything, I feel like they will just shut down MTGO and use its finances to put how higher quality "advertisements" for the paper game. With a bit of luck, those games will be quality pieces for their genres respectively and the MTG Brand will be a Jack-of-all-genres (and hopefully still master-of-one, but then there's the recent Standard commotion...) I don't see them entering the "Hearthstone" model/market because of the mechanic changes (and potential backfire as an advertisement if it turns out better than the paper card game, but generates less profit), but I could see them attempting the Pokemon TCG model eventually.
But as of now and only with the information I read here - I'm seeing nothing but "glorified" Magic Duels and errr... Magic Puzzle Quests in other genres of Video Gaming, probably with funds funneled from MTGO and with some hope, they will turn out to be good in their respective genres and help boost the paper card game.
The author of that article doesn't know anything..."failing to make headway among casual and hardcore players" - basically every hardcore player uses MTGO!
I'm more surprised by how many people know about Hearthstone instead of Magic, even more surprised when they say Hearthstone is the best card game in history.
WoTC has always been utterly horrible at digital products. This is coming from a long time player who has always enjoyed Magic. They squandered a lot of opportunity by ignoring where the future was inevitably headed. Both duels and MTGO are a joke and have been forever. The development house behind Magic Duels is absolutely awful. I'm pretty sure the same shaved chimpanzee does both their user interface design and their bug testing.
I hope that they are able launch a digital platform that actually does a good job. Even if it is years late.
I hope they make some changes that reduce the number of meaningless clicks on MTGO. That would go a long way towards improving usability.
For example, make the user decide which lands to tap, but not which colors each land produces for multicolored lands.
For example, if I am tapping 4 Hallowed Fountain for Supreme Verdict, I should just be able to tap those without saying which Hallowed Fountain taps for W and which for U.
I know theoretically the rules require you to stipulate what color each land is tapping for, but at even the highest levels of tournament play this never actually happens. If, in the finals of the Pro Tour players never have to declare which colors which lands are tapping for, there's no reason this has to generate millions of unnecessary clicks on MTGO.
(Let corner cases like Sunburst revert to the way it is now.)
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Sources:
http://www.pcgamesn.com/magic-the-gathering-duels-of-the-planeswalkers-2013/magic-the-gathering-digital
https://company.wizards.com/article/press/making-moves
........................
Sounds like there's still a long ways to go before we see a finished product.
*tongue-in-cheek* I'm looking forward to the MtG-MOBA. ^^
Finally a good white villain quote: "So, do I ever re-evaluate my life choices? Never, because I know what I'm doing is a righteous cause."
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I really can't imagine a digital version of YGO being any worse than the TCG offering short of badly written software.
For a long while some people had kept updating it, but I couldn't quite get it to run for some reason. Every time I would go to edit my deck the game would crash. But I agree. My friend introduced me to magic, but Shandalar taught me how to play. Here's the website for the people who keep updating Shandalar.
http://www.slightlymagic.net/wiki/ManaLink_3.0
In Progress
GBIshkanah, Grafwidow ~ BWGRTymna the Weaver & Tana, the Bloodsower ~ UGRashmi, Eternities Crafter ~ RGAtarka, World Render
That's correct. It has some cards added, but it's not anywhere near complete, or fully "fixed" so that the NPC decks aren't super old junk, so it can be a little awkward.
What we'd like: A huge graphical and on some degree mechanical overhaul of MTGO that makes it look like a program coded this decade, better online support that enables a smooth transition from the paper to the digital and back again, and being able to make the two systems almost synonymous.
What I think is most likely: Wizards just kills MTGO and replaces it with new!MTGO, leaving everyone who bought and paid into the first system just screwed out of hundreds of dollars with no recourse. (The Zach Jesse case made it clear that you don't actually OWN cards on MTGO, you own the licensing rights to play with them)
What I fear happens: Wizards transitions MTG to an online-only game and abandons the physical entirely, introducing tons of RNG effects that no one likes except their inbred focus groups.
Currently Playing:
GBStandard - Golgari Safari MidrangeBG
RBWModern - Mardu PyromancerWBR
RLegacy - Good Old Fashioned BurnR
Clan Contest 3 Mafia - Mafia Co-MVP
That would certainly be a worst-case scenario. The real losers in that situation would be the LGS locations with which the company has established relationships. For all of their mistakes over the years, I'm optimistic enough to think that the company would not dare to abandon those stores and the culture that surrounds them just to tap the digital market. Forget current issues with format balancing and the direction of design, the backlash from that mistake would destroy the game as we know it.
My Stupidly Large Number of Current Decks
PucaTrade with me!
The Multiplayer Power Rankings
Cube: the Gittening (My Multiplayer Cube) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
The N00b Cube (Peasant cube for new players) - MTGS Cube List | @ CubeTutor
I have to agree that such a move would completely kill the game. Especially considering that casual players are not the ones that would necessarily transition to the digital product and it basically will kill all confidence player have for the company. I was also fearing this not too long ago. If anything, they should do like pokemon and include codes in their packs. Or even if it were 1 pack = 1 ticket, it would be fine. It could potentially even boost physical pack sales even more.
That's an absolutely worst case scenario that I can't see happening.
Magic is for physical TCGs what WoW is for MMORPGs, there is no way they would abandon a leading position in the market like that anytime soon.
It sounds like they might shift their online branch to some kind of 'magic light' though.
In any case that poses a very delicate act of balancing. If done well, this could improve the mtg online experience greatly, otherwise might just kill it.
What they should do imo is some quality of life stuff just to support a better 'flow' of the game, without really sacrificing complexity for playability.
Worst route they could go would be dumbing things down to Hearthstone levels - works well enough for blizzards approach (since it was built that way from scratch), but would basically neglect a lot of what makes Magic appealing.
In the end we have to wait and see. Let's hope they won't be tempted by the prospect of attracting a new online audience enough to alienate their actual playerbase.
W(W/U)U Ephara - Flash & Taxes W(W/U)U || B(B/G)G Meren - Circle of Life B(B/G)G
RGW Marath - Ever shifting Wilds RGW || (U/R)C(W/B) Breya - Artificial Dominion (U/R)C(W/B)
UBR Becket Brass - take what you can, give nothing back UBR
This is great news, they've hired a strong software team and will try to take their digital offerings further. I don't think we can ask for much more at this stage, as Cocks hasn't been there that long. They know that Heartstone and similar games is a threat, and they know they have the deepest and best game in the business.
1. (Ravnica Allegiance): You can't keep a good esper control deck down... Or Wilderness Reclamation... or Gates...
2. (War of the Spark): Guys, I know what we need! We need a cycle of really idiotic flavor text victory cards! Jace's Triumph...
3. (War of the Spark): Lets make the format with control have even more control!
But the developer is just plain horrible. Their system is worse than anything I've seen in recent AA/AAA franchises.
Peer-hosting (->cheating/hacking), a cheating flawed repetitive AI, unfixed bugs and glitches that have existed since its launch, no real gratification model, it just feels like a sloppy job with no quality control at all.
I wish it had been more closely monitored by WotC
From what I can see (which isn't admittedly a lot or sufficient, but this is just a disclaimer clarifying so), I'm deducing they actually aren't stepping into those territories a lot of us would like them to, at least not for now. Technically all these while with their online/video games that aren't MTGO, all their online platforms are pretty much nothing more than advertisements for the paper-version of the game itself and they were probably thrown to (other) video game developers to reduce costs since it is ultimately advertorial. This announcement pretty much seems to be as refining of those "advertisements" at best. If we're lucky, we're get a nice decent games worth playing for their mechanics.
If anything, I feel like they will just shut down MTGO and use its finances to put how higher quality "advertisements" for the paper game. With a bit of luck, those games will be quality pieces for their genres respectively and the MTG Brand will be a Jack-of-all-genres (and hopefully still master-of-one, but then there's the recent Standard commotion...) I don't see them entering the "Hearthstone" model/market because of the mechanic changes (and potential backfire as an advertisement if it turns out better than the paper card game, but generates less profit), but I could see them attempting the Pokemon TCG model eventually.
But as of now and only with the information I read here - I'm seeing nothing but "glorified" Magic Duels and errr... Magic Puzzle Quests in other genres of Video Gaming, probably with funds funneled from MTGO and with some hope, they will turn out to be good in their respective genres and help boost the paper card game.
Whatever.
Shu Yun, the Silent Tempest WUR Voltron Control
Temmet, Vizier of Naktamun WU Unblockable Mirror Trickery
Ra's al Ghul (Sidar Kondo) and Face-Down Ninjas
Brudiclad, Token Engineer
Vaevictis (VV2) the Dire Lantern
Rona, Disciple of Gix
Tiana the Auror
Hallar
Ulrich the Politician
Zur the Rebel
Scorpion, Locust, Scarab, Egyptian Gods
O-Kagachi, Mathas, Mairsil
"Non-Tribal" Tribal Generals, Eggs
I hope that they are able launch a digital platform that actually does a good job. Even if it is years late.
For example, make the user decide which lands to tap, but not which colors each land produces for multicolored lands.
For example, if I am tapping 4 Hallowed Fountain for Supreme Verdict, I should just be able to tap those without saying which Hallowed Fountain taps for W and which for U.
I know theoretically the rules require you to stipulate what color each land is tapping for, but at even the highest levels of tournament play this never actually happens. If, in the finals of the Pro Tour players never have to declare which colors which lands are tapping for, there's no reason this has to generate millions of unnecessary clicks on MTGO.
(Let corner cases like Sunburst revert to the way it is now.)