I´m surprised no one has made a thread about this yet so below is a link to Magic The Gathering: Arena gameplay. Not sure why they just didn´t update Duels of The Planeswalker instead because it looks so similar.
I don't watch Magic steamers because it is so. slow. If this can deliver all the Magic we love in a more fun, fast, format (a la Hearthstone, the ruler and dark king of E-Gaming Cards right now) I will at least watch Gaby and other folks play it all day, every day. I may actually play a bit myself - duels also always struck me as painfully slow.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Sufferer of EDHD
Commander - Currently Playing: RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G) RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B) WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
I think it is a mistake to keep both Magic Online and Arena up. It seems wiser to just keep your focus in one online product, instead of mutiples, especially given that they have an overlap already (you would be able to play standard in both).
Arena clearly is WoTC's answer to Hearthstone. The sound effects, colors and overall design of the battlefield feels A LOT like hearthstone (and I assume other digital card games). Frankly, I dislike it. Bunchs of colors and sound effects aren't what I look for when watching magic games. I watch them to see cool, intricate games being played. Maybe with time it will be easier to just ignore that, but maybe not. I honestly would rather see an improved MTGO than this. However, I suppose that if their research team found that colors and sound effects are going to attract new players to the game and increase the twitch stream numbers, then so be it.
Removing the card text most of the time is also something I'm on the fence about. I agree card texts usually are just blank space in a digital experience, since it is almost impossible to read, but magic art isn't that dintinctive either. I have a hard time telling the basic lands apart in this new software. Anyway,let's wait and see. Clearly this is the push to make Magic: the Gathering more attractive to streamers. Let's see if it lives up to the expectations.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
.
Would you like to read Commander stories? Check my latest stories, coming from Lorwyn and Innistrad: Ghoulcaller Gisa and Doran, The Siege Tower! If you like my writing, ask me to write something for your commander as well!
I see many people hating on its hearthstoney graphics and seemingly "dumbed down" gameplay ("no stack?!?!?!?!?"), but from what I've seen so far, it looks quite good imo.
I'm not a fan of the animations and sound effects but I think you'll be able to turn off the latter at least. I think a lot of people on here would've preferred a cleaner interface that's also more functional and minimalistic, but well, that's what MODO is for apparently. The cards themselves also looked a bit blurry (maybe because of the animations), so I hope they'll make the pictures and frames more crisp. They said that the rules are going to be fully supported - that means there will be instant-speed interaction on the stack of course.
You may only get to play a form of Standard and Draft, but I think that's pretty decent for a f2p version of Magic. I guess you'll be able to buy the cards you want immediately for real money while you have to grind to get them if you're playing for free? But that would only work for Standard, they'll need another model for Draft.
I like it, it seems fun, fairly fast compared to other digital M:TG formats, allows for a large amount of control over the game, and the battlefield doesn't look as sterile and boring as Duels.
Indeed, I liked what I saw so much that I've signed up for the Beta.
On thing I hope you'd be able to do is select what world your battlefield is. They showed us Ixalan in the stream, but it'd be nice to play on a battlefield that represented Mirrodin, Innistrad, Kaladesh, New Phyrexia, Amonkhet, Any of the Alara Shards, Ravnica, Tarkir, and/or Dominaria.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
1. I didn't see any stack interaction.
2. One of the annoying parts of duels was that rules regarding moving from one phase to another. You couldn't like pause at opponents upkeep or draw step. This meant that for cards like Herald of Anguish if an opponent played it during his second main he could just go straight into end step and the trigger would go to stack. There was ***** you could do to prevent this.
3. No chat. I want to ***** talk to my opponents.
Ive been programming and designing games professionally for 7 years now. So I have a bit of experience when I say: That camera angle is the dumbest design choice Ive seen in a game in a long time. Putting your opponents cards at an angle distorts the image, making you need to mouse over WAY more often. Makes everything a little less clear.
Theres a reason most games (and broadcasts of pro-tours) go straight over head (with maybe a slight isometric tilt to the field, like HS). Conveying information visually is one of the most important things in a game like this.
Lack of a stack makes me wonder why they didnt just make a new game. Use classic Magic characters/visuals/etc, but build a game better suited to simplistic play. This wont compete with HS, this wont draw in most Magic players (who want more interaction), this is a game that hasnt committed to what it wants to be. (edit: looks like stack is planned for the game. They promise a faithful rule set)
Personally, I wouldnt mind a simplified version of Magic. Hearthstone is too random most of the time, and Id like something a bit more serious (both tone and strategy). I like what the Elder Scrolls card game is doing (not perfect, but its a nice start and I find it closer to Magic). But I dont think this is any better than Duels.
Magic as-is is far too complex for a mobile game. I get that. They need a game to get on mobile because getting on mobile is highly profitable. Makes sense, no complaints. But... This game isnt that. Still WAY too much going on to work for mobile effectively. So if its probably PC/Mac only, why not give us full Magic? I dont understand what/why they want this to be
EDIT:
So, the website says the rules "Are accurate to tabletop magic". While I still have issues with visual cues, this is alpha. I dont expect major changes, but there will definitely be changes.
It looks like (for now) this will be a digital standard. While I question that decision (who the **** wants to play standard?), at least that makes more sense than the gutted version of Magic we thought it might be
I think the most important question is whether they're going to simplify the standard and draft formats to suit this environment. That sounds like a huge mistake that they aren't unlikely to do.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
When I hit my 3000 post mark, I'm gone for good.
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
I've had a while to think about this now and i'd like to share my thoughts. Who knows, maybe someone from Wizards will read it...
1) few small quality-of-life changes needed i.e. make the camera angle more top-down for ease of seeing what's happening, and don't have the deck just sitting on the field (it looks like an afterthought, out of place). Accommodate the deck in its own little area and have the battlefield just for permanents. after all - in the real game, your library technically doesn't sit on the battlefield. I'm fine with the Hearthstone-y feel. It's fine, other games do it too. Needs a little visual/mechanical/design polish but it's about 50% there and I wouldn't complain if we had a future MTGO equivalent that looked vaguely like this, especially if it enables support for tablets and touchscreen devices (that's a big plus). That said, at the moment the finish is a bit crude and looks basically like they took a bunch of Duals assets and repurposed them. That's a terrible way to develop a new product, so I sincerely hope that's not what they did. Overall, it looks half-decent and could be a good basis to work from, but it's raised a few concerns for me in terms of their working process.
2) Fragmenting your offer isn't always wise, and I don't see the need for Wizards to be developing two digital versions of the same game. It's perfectly feasible to build an intuitive, well-designed interface for your core product that can cater for beginners and experienced players alike, and just expand the core product to include Modern, Legacy, Commander etc etc etc. There are plenty of case studies to show why this fragmented approach hurts your core product, so I won't lecture here. Just know that less is more & while Duals was a thing for a while, the best future scenario is to merge all these secondary products into a single (better) one. Put your money where it matters & don't scattergun everything.
I understand that there is development going ahead at this moment, and there's potential for great things - so i'm optimistic about the future... but as a designer and project leader myself, I feel like I can see some of the cracks underneath the paint here and it's not filling me with hope.
I'll be excited about this when I can play it on my phone. A few people have mentioned about the stack but isn't that what the 'full control' option is for? It puts a stop everywhere there could be one on MTGO. I think it looks fine as an MTG Heathstone clone. I don't play standard at all but if I could play this anywhere, anytime, then I probably would. I'm not too upset that I won't be able to play modern (the only format I play outside of draft)because I play modern on MTGO all the time anyway. I feel like if they can iron out the bugs and make it worth while to play, it could be really cool. I'd really hope that they would do what Pokemon do and reward you for buying physical product by giving you the digital product code with it but I can't see WOTC being so generous.
At 48:50 he starts explaining about "Full Control Mode" where we should have a real stack and passing priority for every possible step.
Let's see.
The female player (I forgot her name, sorry) does use it in the second game, giving her full control over how to respond to her opponents plays, this allows her to turn the game around and win.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
What I really want though, is a game similar to the old Microprose M:TG game, that would be amazing.
Agreed. Though I decided to go with a more humble goal of retaining the little we have (had), I really wouldn't mind a campaign with nonlinear gameplay and deck customization. Considering they actually made a continental map for Ixalan this would be a cool time for some exploring campaign.
I'm interested to see what the Ixalan-themed supplemental does. I'm sad I never got to see e. g. HOU's campaign in Magic Duels since it could have included a fight against Nicol Bolas including scheme deck. There's a lot of potential there.
This is basically an improved Magic Duels. Duels had many interactions that did not follow the rules. Here, you can control how involved you want to be with priority, switching between "all stops" and a freer flow.
It looks good. Some things to improve - but I like the visual cues to show things like trample and hexproof.
This is an area they need to explore. MtG is complicated, and anything that simplifies the viewing experience is likely to help the game.
I didn't like how the cards in hand were not "straight".
Looks horrible, I can't believe this has been hyped up to be the next big step for MTG online play.
The big deciding factor however will be card acquisition. For any digital card game to be successful it needs a crafting system so people can actually make the decks they want.
I was super impressed by Arena. If I can play real Standard and Draft (for free!), I'll be very, very pleased. I really hope physical packs will come with digital redemption codes like Pokemon CCG offers. That's my one big request not addressed by the demo.
I was super impressed by Arena. If I can play real Standard and Draft (for free!), I'll be very, very pleased. I really hope physical packs will come with digital redemption codes like Pokemon CCG offers. That's my one big request not addressed by the demo.
From what I could gather from the stream's Q&A, that appears to be the intent in the future.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
It's about time for the reserved list to die, for the sake of Vintage and Legacy (And Commander).
This looks awesome for still being in the "alpha" phase of development. Yes some things could and probably will be improved once the product is put in front of testers and players: camera angle, tap angle, sound effects. Also, it seems there a toggle for priority/stack (which I'm not sure if the opponent knows when it's toggled on/off because that would be a dead giveaway barring bluffs). So many negative comments but honestly it looked great and puts the MTGO client to shame.
I wonder if they even need "cards" anymore and why not just have 3d models of forests and creatures on the battlefield then on mouseover you can see the details. But I guess they only make 3D models/animations for rares and mythics it seems.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"I have seen the true path. I will not warm myself by the fire—I will become the flame."
—Lim-Dûl, the Necromancer
I was super impressed by Arena. If I can play real Standard and Draft (for free!), I'll be very, very pleased. I really hope physical packs will come with digital redemption codes like Pokemon CCG offers. That's my one big request not addressed by the demo.
From what I could gather from the stream's Q&A, that appears to be the intent in the future.
They hinted at it, but left it pretty vague. The potential excites me so much.
On another note, I wish other people were as hyped as I am for this game. I see little discussion and quite a few complaints.
Private Mod Note
():
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I'm what the fox says.
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/173043639 (Video starts around 30 min in)
And here it´s the article about the new game https://magic.wizards.com/en/articles/archive/feature/everything-you-need-know-about-magic-gathering-arena-2017-09-07
What do you think of it?
RCRDaretti: Superfriends Forever RCR
WGBDoran: Ent-mootWBG
GGGMultani: Group Bear HugGGG
GB(B/G)The Gitrog Monster: Dredgefall DurdleGB(B/G)
RGWGahiji, the Honored Group Hug MonsterRGW
UB(U/B)Yuriko, Ninja Trinket AggroUB(U/B)
WUBRGAtogatog: Assembling a OHKOWUBRG
Arena clearly is WoTC's answer to Hearthstone. The sound effects, colors and overall design of the battlefield feels A LOT like hearthstone (and I assume other digital card games). Frankly, I dislike it. Bunchs of colors and sound effects aren't what I look for when watching magic games. I watch them to see cool, intricate games being played. Maybe with time it will be easier to just ignore that, but maybe not. I honestly would rather see an improved MTGO than this. However, I suppose that if their research team found that colors and sound effects are going to attract new players to the game and increase the twitch stream numbers, then so be it.
Removing the card text most of the time is also something I'm on the fence about. I agree card texts usually are just blank space in a digital experience, since it is almost impossible to read, but magic art isn't that dintinctive either. I have a hard time telling the basic lands apart in this new software. Anyway,let's wait and see. Clearly this is the push to make Magic: the Gathering more attractive to streamers. Let's see if it lives up to the expectations.
Read my other stories as well (some ongoing):
Reaper King (a horror story), Kaalia of the Vast (an origin story), Sequels for Innistrad (Alternative sequels for Inn), Grey Areas (Odric's fanfic), Royal Succession (goblins),The Tracker's Message (eldrazi on Innistrad) and Ugin and his Eye (the end of OGW).
I'm not a fan of the animations and sound effects but I think you'll be able to turn off the latter at least. I think a lot of people on here would've preferred a cleaner interface that's also more functional and minimalistic, but well, that's what MODO is for apparently. The cards themselves also looked a bit blurry (maybe because of the animations), so I hope they'll make the pictures and frames more crisp. They said that the rules are going to be fully supported - that means there will be instant-speed interaction on the stack of course.
You may only get to play a form of Standard and Draft, but I think that's pretty decent for a f2p version of Magic. I guess you'll be able to buy the cards you want immediately for real money while you have to grind to get them if you're playing for free? But that would only work for Standard, they'll need another model for Draft.
Indeed, I liked what I saw so much that I've signed up for the Beta.
On thing I hope you'd be able to do is select what world your battlefield is. They showed us Ixalan in the stream, but it'd be nice to play on a battlefield that represented Mirrodin, Innistrad, Kaladesh, New Phyrexia, Amonkhet, Any of the Alara Shards, Ravnica, Tarkir, and/or Dominaria.
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
1. I didn't see any stack interaction.
2. One of the annoying parts of duels was that rules regarding moving from one phase to another. You couldn't like pause at opponents upkeep or draw step. This meant that for cards like Herald of Anguish if an opponent played it during his second main he could just go straight into end step and the trigger would go to stack. There was ***** you could do to prevent this.
3. No chat. I want to ***** talk to my opponents.
I think it will be PC first, then released to other platforms.
Yeah, they said it's built on Unity so that it can work elsewhere - but PC will be first.
Theres a reason most games (and broadcasts of pro-tours) go straight over head (with maybe a slight isometric tilt to the field, like HS). Conveying information visually is one of the most important things in a game like this.
Lack of a stack makes me wonder why they didnt just make a new game. Use classic Magic characters/visuals/etc, but build a game better suited to simplistic play. This wont compete with HS, this wont draw in most Magic players (who want more interaction), this is a game that hasnt committed to what it wants to be. (edit: looks like stack is planned for the game. They promise a faithful rule set)
Personally, I wouldnt mind a simplified version of Magic. Hearthstone is too random most of the time, and Id like something a bit more serious (both tone and strategy). I like what the Elder Scrolls card game is doing (not perfect, but its a nice start and I find it closer to Magic). But I dont think this is any better than Duels.
Magic as-is is far too complex for a mobile game. I get that. They need a game to get on mobile because getting on mobile is highly profitable. Makes sense, no complaints. But... This game isnt that. Still WAY too much going on to work for mobile effectively. So if its probably PC/Mac only, why not give us full Magic? I dont understand what/why they want this to be
EDIT:
So, the website says the rules "Are accurate to tabletop magic". While I still have issues with visual cues, this is alpha. I dont expect major changes, but there will definitely be changes.
It looks like (for now) this will be a digital standard. While I question that decision (who the **** wants to play standard?), at least that makes more sense than the gutted version of Magic we thought it might be
Options->Sound-OFF, Animations->OFF
Cubetutor Peasant'ish-Funbox
Project: Khans of Tarkir Cube (cubetutor)
Stay reasonable, be mindful of your expectations and don't feed the trolls.
Doomsdayin'
1) few small quality-of-life changes needed i.e. make the camera angle more top-down for ease of seeing what's happening, and don't have the deck just sitting on the field (it looks like an afterthought, out of place). Accommodate the deck in its own little area and have the battlefield just for permanents. after all - in the real game, your library technically doesn't sit on the battlefield. I'm fine with the Hearthstone-y feel. It's fine, other games do it too. Needs a little visual/mechanical/design polish but it's about 50% there and I wouldn't complain if we had a future MTGO equivalent that looked vaguely like this, especially if it enables support for tablets and touchscreen devices (that's a big plus). That said, at the moment the finish is a bit crude and looks basically like they took a bunch of Duals assets and repurposed them. That's a terrible way to develop a new product, so I sincerely hope that's not what they did. Overall, it looks half-decent and could be a good basis to work from, but it's raised a few concerns for me in terms of their working process.
2) Fragmenting your offer isn't always wise, and I don't see the need for Wizards to be developing two digital versions of the same game. It's perfectly feasible to build an intuitive, well-designed interface for your core product that can cater for beginners and experienced players alike, and just expand the core product to include Modern, Legacy, Commander etc etc etc. There are plenty of case studies to show why this fragmented approach hurts your core product, so I won't lecture here. Just know that less is more & while Duals was a thing for a while, the best future scenario is to merge all these secondary products into a single (better) one. Put your money where it matters & don't scattergun everything.
I understand that there is development going ahead at this moment, and there's potential for great things - so i'm optimistic about the future... but as a designer and project leader myself, I feel like I can see some of the cracks underneath the paint here and it's not filling me with hope.
GW Tron list - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/06-09-17-gw-tron/
Mono U Tron - http://tappedout.net/mtg-decks/mono-u-tron-4/
The female player (I forgot her name, sorry) does use it in the second game, giving her full control over how to respond to her opponents plays, this allows her to turn the game around and win.
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
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."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
I hope so to, It was a fun way to play.
What I really want though, is a game similar to the old Microprose M:TG game, that would be amazing.
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
I'm interested to see what the Ixalan-themed supplemental does. I'm sad I never got to see e. g. HOU's campaign in Magic Duels since it could have included a fight against Nicol Bolas including scheme deck. There's a lot of potential there.
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."
Factions: Sleeping
Remnants: Valheim
Legendary Journey: Heroes & Planeswalkers
Saga: Shards of Rabiah
Legends: The Elder Dragons
Read up on Red Flags & NWO
It looks good. Some things to improve - but I like the visual cues to show things like trample and hexproof.
This is an area they need to explore. MtG is complicated, and anything that simplifies the viewing experience is likely to help the game.
I didn't like how the cards in hand were not "straight".
8.RG Green Devotion Ramp/Combo 9.UR Draw Triggers 10.WUR Group stalling 11.WUR Voltron Spellslinger 12.WB Sacrificial Shenanigans
13.BR Creatureless Panharmonicon 14.BR Pingers and Eldrazi 15.URG Untapped Cascading
16.Reyhan, last of the Abzan's WUBG +1/+1 Counter Craziness 17.WUBRG Dragons aka Why did I make this?
Building: The Gitrog Monster lands, Glissa the Traitor stax, Muldrotha, the Gravetide Planeswalker Combo, Kydele, Chosen of Kruphix + Sidar Kondo of Jamuraa Clues, and Tribal Scarecrow Planeswalkers
The big deciding factor however will be card acquisition. For any digital card game to be successful it needs a crafting system so people can actually make the decks they want.
From what I could gather from the stream's Q&A, that appears to be the intent in the future.
---
Numquam evolutioni obstes. Solum conculceris.
Pascite draconem, evolvite aut morimini.
I wonder if they even need "cards" anymore and why not just have 3d models of forests and creatures on the battlefield then on mouseover you can see the details. But I guess they only make 3D models/animations for rares and mythics it seems.
—Lim-Dûl, the Necromancer
They hinted at it, but left it pretty vague. The potential excites me so much.
On another note, I wish other people were as hyped as I am for this game. I see little discussion and quite a few complaints.