I agree, it was way too easy to win with an evolve shaman. The wins/losses weren't displaying on the front chalkboard screen, but they did show in the actual game, so I doubt that was it... I think they just saw how simple it was to get to 12 wins.
Ah, that makes sense. I'm not seeing coverup here btw, just some people not making a big deal over leaving. I also agree that it probably garnered attention now due to Blizzard's current activity in the news. Thx for the clarification Flux!
Seems odd to have the confidence that the patch will fix all (or almost all) of the problems, but don't have the ability to send the patch out now... if it's not ready, how do you know it will fix all the problems?
Thx! I will take a look... last time I checked (maybe 2 years ago?), they had connections but no unifying sense of lore or structure... it's great to hear they've put in some work to make it more rich and concrete!
You're right that there are a lot of factors which contribute, but at the end of the day, a game with no competition in its genre won't fall out of favor despite a lot of other failures in design, marketing, etc. Moreover, while your Halo example demonstrates how Halo's position weakened, and competition was able to come in and dethrone it, Hearthstone is not like Halo in one key aspect - the collection invests players with time and money in a way that doesn't happen in FPS games. The perceived cost of switching FPS games is much lower because the skills translate and you can start playing competitively immediately.
I think people are looking for an HS killer not because they want a one vs. one battle of games, but because there's a sense that HS's position in the market has weakened, but that the sunk cost hold HS has on players, and the mobile-friendly nature of it, makes competing much harder. It's not enough to make a better game - it needs to be better, still be mobile-friendly, and provide a reasonable new-player experience that can incentivize someone to leave a game to go somewhere else where they'll need to invest money and time to build a collection large enough to play competitively
I agree to a degree (wow, that rhymed...); I think there is a much greater sunk cost fallacy occurring with HS, but it still exists within FPS (more so now with microtransactions, but even back in Halo's prime the FPS has the time investment and the most basic sunk cost... the price tag. Still, you are right in that it is much stronger with HS.
I would also agree that the example does not fully hold up, but I think it actually works against the HS killer need, because you can easily play multiple mobile-friendly games... it's part of their attraction. The fact the game must be mobile-friendly and provide a new take on a genre is just the nature of the type of game you are attempting to make, and it doesn't necessarily need to incentivize someone to leave HS... the company just needs to get enough attention for someone to try it (we'll see if LoR tries to increase their gross impressions across the market to accomplish this). If the game is more appealing, HS players who have tried it will start to migrate over (or at least support it as much as they do HS). I agree that HS's market share is ripe for a hit, but I think the human psyche is the main reason we are seeing a hope for a dethroned Blizzard (plus, as I mentioned, everyone loves to champion the underdog, especially when the giant has done some bad stuff recently).
Not a fan of this brawl... there seem to be WAY too many ways to cheese out wins (i.e. choose Paladin; if the rotation comes from the right, summon a silver hand recruit every turn).
Interesting... I wonder if there will be a strong push towards establishing solid lore in LoL (I may be out of the loop, but I was under the impression it was pretty cursory on lore, focusing more on gameplay)
The concept of a "HS Killer" really reminds me of the supposed need for a "Halo Killer" during Halo's heyday... it really is a result of the human psyche's desire to have a "one vs. one" scenario and a prevalence to champion underdogs. Of course things are never that simple and there usually isn't a _____ killer; games die due to a ton of different factors. Halo's popularity (which was crazy at its peak) dropped due to some poor decisions in game design, marketing, company focus and competition, not to mention all the studio decisions regarding resources and contract negotiations. If LoR offers a legitimate alternative to HearthStone, that can only be good for fans of DCCG (note it may not be good for HS, but that's free market for you). As mentioned, if Blizzard sees a portion of the market swinging away from them and no longer feel dominant, maybe they will take some positive actions to make HS more appealing to both their veterans and newcomers to secure their position. If not, other games (including LoR) may take more and more of the market share. The introduction of a solid new product will always shake up the economy a bit, but don't expect LoR to drop and HS to die the next week... those things rarely happen.
LoR basically provides the same, but with some addeed depth. The gameplay is still fairly simple, but much more engaging than HS, the visual design isn't perfect, but it's definitely more appealing than most of the other card games, and finally it's set in the universe of a very popular MOBA that has many people hooked to it based on the characters and worldbuilding.
Is this true? I never got the impression that LoL fans were there for the characters or the world...
Great write up and introduction to the game! Outof.cards is providing an excellent resource for all of us that have not yet had the opportunity to play, and the reviews of the preview have been pretty much all positive! Hopefully it won't change elements before full launch...
This is the first DCCG that has looked as interesting since I started Hearthstone (and it comes at a very opportune time). HS appealed to me because it was free-to-play, has a great fun design and is easy to play but difficult to master. It looks like those elements are present in Legends of Runeterra, plus the ability to create a specific deck with less RNG really calls to me...
That being said...
While I optimistically hope to receive a key for November 14th, I will temper my enthusiasm (and I would recommend everyone do the same) with memories of other titles that have looked phenomenal before launch to fall flat when released. The preview patch helps negate some of those concerns (i.e. we are actually seeing real-time play, not being shown it), but developers often have wonderful, groundbreaking ideas that, for some reason or another, never make it into the game... at least, not in the way we thought. It's great to be excited and looking forward to a game's launch, but it's kind of like declaring Jared Goff the next Tom Brady (for those that watch football).... slow down a bit, and let's wait and see.
I hope it's incredible and changes the landscape of DCCGs, but until LoR releases, I will just remain hopeful and not invested.
Did pre-registration, but I guess I wasn't lucky enough to get into the preview (I did pre-register after it was posted here, so it was probably already in progress). Thx!
Is this game live? I was under the impression that it has not yet launched, and to purchase packs before even experiencing the final game play seems... presumptuous on the game's quality...
Sounds great, but I'm somewhat concerned about the business model and how that will affect the players... if you can buy a lot of wildcards, then it becomes pay-to-play (which, to be honest, a lot of F2P games are). If you can't buy a lot of wildcards, then early adopters will get frustrated with waiting and you will also have a minimal revenue stream.
I don't have a suggestion for a solution (I think this problem plagues most games), but without any historical data to assist, the model presents a lot of uncertainty (though, as they said, they could always adjust).
The work put into this is incredible... great job! I think it may be a bit overpowered (even given the weaknesses, this class could snowball like nobody's business easily), but the concepts, the artwork, and the incredible detail given to the card mechanics is awe-inspiring!
I did notice the portraits within the Arena now display a Halloween theme (which I didn't see before), as well as the CPU home screen has a theme as well (including the aforementioned candy corn... not a fan either of the candy, but the screen looks nice). I only about 800 wins away from the 1k on my closest class (I jump around a bit), so I didn't experience any issues or resolutions there :)
I have no idea what the deck even looks like... this gets upvoted on story alone! Great read!
I agree, it was way too easy to win with an evolve shaman. The wins/losses weren't displaying on the front chalkboard screen, but they did show in the actual game, so I doubt that was it... I think they just saw how simple it was to get to 12 wins.
A lot of dragon artwork (no surprise there)
I like the calendar mechanic... from a marketing standpoint I think it is really effective
Ah, that makes sense. I'm not seeing coverup here btw, just some people not making a big deal over leaving. I also agree that it probably garnered attention now due to Blizzard's current activity in the news. Thx for the clarification Flux!
I'm a little confused... if this happened in May, why is the article being written now? Did something change or some new development occur?
I'm not being snarky or anything (I didn't realize they left at all, which is maybe the point of the post), I am just trying to understand...
Yep, that was the implication
"How do you know it will work?"
"Because it fixes the problems!"
"How do you know it will fix the problems?"
"Because it works!"
Seems odd to have the confidence that the patch will fix all (or almost all) of the problems, but don't have the ability to send the patch out now... if it's not ready, how do you know it will fix all the problems?
Thx! I will take a look... last time I checked (maybe 2 years ago?), they had connections but no unifying sense of lore or structure... it's great to hear they've put in some work to make it more rich and concrete!
I agree to a degree (wow, that rhymed...); I think there is a much greater sunk cost fallacy occurring with HS, but it still exists within FPS (more so now with microtransactions, but even back in Halo's prime the FPS has the time investment and the most basic sunk cost... the price tag. Still, you are right in that it is much stronger with HS.
I would also agree that the example does not fully hold up, but I think it actually works against the HS killer need, because you can easily play multiple mobile-friendly games... it's part of their attraction. The fact the game must be mobile-friendly and provide a new take on a genre is just the nature of the type of game you are attempting to make, and it doesn't necessarily need to incentivize someone to leave HS... the company just needs to get enough attention for someone to try it (we'll see if LoR tries to increase their gross impressions across the market to accomplish this). If the game is more appealing, HS players who have tried it will start to migrate over (or at least support it as much as they do HS). I agree that HS's market share is ripe for a hit, but I think the human psyche is the main reason we are seeing a hope for a dethroned Blizzard (plus, as I mentioned, everyone loves to champion the underdog, especially when the giant has done some bad stuff recently).
Not a fan of this brawl... there seem to be WAY too many ways to cheese out wins (i.e. choose Paladin; if the rotation comes from the right, summon a silver hand recruit every turn).
Interesting... I wonder if there will be a strong push towards establishing solid lore in LoL (I may be out of the loop, but I was under the impression it was pretty cursory on lore, focusing more on gameplay)
The concept of a "HS Killer" really reminds me of the supposed need for a "Halo Killer" during Halo's heyday... it really is a result of the human psyche's desire to have a "one vs. one" scenario and a prevalence to champion underdogs. Of course things are never that simple and there usually isn't a _____ killer; games die due to a ton of different factors. Halo's popularity (which was crazy at its peak) dropped due to some poor decisions in game design, marketing, company focus and competition, not to mention all the studio decisions regarding resources and contract negotiations. If LoR offers a legitimate alternative to HearthStone, that can only be good for fans of DCCG (note it may not be good for HS, but that's free market for you). As mentioned, if Blizzard sees a portion of the market swinging away from them and no longer feel dominant, maybe they will take some positive actions to make HS more appealing to both their veterans and newcomers to secure their position. If not, other games (including LoR) may take more and more of the market share. The introduction of a solid new product will always shake up the economy a bit, but don't expect LoR to drop and HS to die the next week... those things rarely happen.
Is this true? I never got the impression that LoL fans were there for the characters or the world...
Great write up and introduction to the game! Outof.cards is providing an excellent resource for all of us that have not yet had the opportunity to play, and the reviews of the preview have been pretty much all positive! Hopefully it won't change elements before full launch...
This is the first DCCG that has looked as interesting since I started Hearthstone (and it comes at a very opportune time). HS appealed to me because it was free-to-play, has a great fun design and is easy to play but difficult to master. It looks like those elements are present in Legends of Runeterra, plus the ability to create a specific deck with less RNG really calls to me...
That being said...
While I optimistically hope to receive a key for November 14th, I will temper my enthusiasm (and I would recommend everyone do the same) with memories of other titles that have looked phenomenal before launch to fall flat when released. The preview patch helps negate some of those concerns (i.e. we are actually seeing real-time play, not being shown it), but developers often have wonderful, groundbreaking ideas that, for some reason or another, never make it into the game... at least, not in the way we thought. It's great to be excited and looking forward to a game's launch, but it's kind of like declaring Jared Goff the next Tom Brady (for those that watch football).... slow down a bit, and let's wait and see.
I hope it's incredible and changes the landscape of DCCGs, but until LoR releases, I will just remain hopeful and not invested.
Did pre-registration, but I guess I wasn't lucky enough to get into the preview (I did pre-register after it was posted here, so it was probably already in progress). Thx!
Is this game live? I was under the impression that it has not yet launched, and to purchase packs before even experiencing the final game play seems... presumptuous on the game's quality...
Sounds great, but I'm somewhat concerned about the business model and how that will affect the players... if you can buy a lot of wildcards, then it becomes pay-to-play (which, to be honest, a lot of F2P games are). If you can't buy a lot of wildcards, then early adopters will get frustrated with waiting and you will also have a minimal revenue stream.
I don't have a suggestion for a solution (I think this problem plagues most games), but without any historical data to assist, the model presents a lot of uncertainty (though, as they said, they could always adjust).
The work put into this is incredible... great job! I think it may be a bit overpowered (even given the weaknesses, this class could snowball like nobody's business easily), but the concepts, the artwork, and the incredible detail given to the card mechanics is awe-inspiring!
I did notice the portraits within the Arena now display a Halloween theme (which I didn't see before), as well as the CPU home screen has a theme as well (including the aforementioned candy corn... not a fan either of the candy, but the screen looks nice). I only about 800 wins away from the 1k on my closest class (I jump around a bit), so I didn't experience any issues or resolutions there :)