Thanks. I appreciate the attention that you bring to Runeterra. (I probably wouldn't be playing the game at all if OoC hadn't covered it from the start.) I did see this morning's new article on the cosmetics. These are the other things I would add about the patch:
The patch notes explain that the changes to Kalista, Shen, Aftershock, Ember Monk are intended to get them more play. Hothead, Khahiri, and Murkwolf Shaman are intended to be more useful for the player. I think those qualify as a buff rather than a sidegrade (unless you disagree with Riot's idea, in which case I'd hope to read more about your thoughts).
The patch notes also say that Legion Deserter's change is explicitly to lower his threat level a bit. So that's a nerf rather than a sidegrade.
The changes to shards in Path of Champions are HUGE for anyone who is playing the game. Getting shards for fully leveled champions has been a major pain point for lots of players.
Now that the patch has gone live, we know more details about this than the patch notes said. Shards are turned to wild shards at a 5:1 ratio, and you can have a maximum of 40 wild shards. You also get 4 free wild shards if you complete the daily PoC quest.
The patch notes are exaggerating when they call the new Vault "skip" button their most exciting note ever, but it is a big deal for players who've completed their collection. The game has made many quality of life improvements like that lately, perhaps enough to justify a separate article.
Now that the patch is live, we also know about another quality of life upgrade. Mobile players can finally view their opponent's known cards reliably when they click on the hand. This is HUGE!
I love these so much. I bought the board right away, and it's the first time I'm tempted to buy skins. (Nami is the only one that I can see myself using much, though.) I really wish there was a card back, and those emotes don't really grab me. Now, an emote of a character rolling dice? That would be an auto-buy, too.
Me, too. This site in general is doing ok, but I am worried about how sloppy the LoR coverage is.
In addition to being 3 days late, the article has several glaring typos and makes some debatable judgment calls in it summary: Some clear buffs and nerfs are listed as “sidegrades”, rules changes are moved into the buff and nerf lists, and other significant changes in the patch aren’t mentioned at all.
Could you explain what this means for the people who haven’t played Marvel Snap yet? I don’t understand what credits or boosters are.
This makes it sound like you have limited credits to play games each day (but why?). I can’t tell whether boosters increase your collection (but isn’t the only mechanic there one where you increase a collection level to get the next card?), or whether they are used to get variant art (but I thought that was tied to “infinity splitting” or something).
The biggest news is buried across a couple answers: They expect a new game mode to be released in “a few months”, and alsohope the new game mode comes out before the global release.
So if you’re hoping for a global release soon, don’t hold your breath.
Time for the obligatory question: Is there any news about this game’s availability opening up? Since it’s publicly released for the Philippines now, I assume there’s no reason to wait much longer. I don’t think they’ve said anything, though.
I wonder if that’s a bigger market than we realize. LoR is incredibly generous with people who are willing to devote a few hours per week to it. But maybe there’s a potential audience of casual players who would enjoy playing less than that? If so, they now have enough resources to build a deck around their favorite LoL character, and they can have fun. Some of those players will eventually become more serious, and others will stay casual but keep the player base up. I see that as a good thing.
That is a pretty amazing deal. How does it work logistically? As long as you have the cards, your duplicates automatically turn to shards worth a fraction of the value. If you buy any bundles, the cards you own are prorated and removed. If you cancel the pass and your cards disappear, you might feel cheated because you couldn’t get those cards before…
I am actively losing interest in the game as I see news about events happening before I can even try it.
Edit: Also, since the comparison between this and Tavern Brawl posts is fair, I’ll point out that there has been no post so far about the Tavern Brawl that went live yesterday.
Making a separate game inspired by Path of Champions is an optimistic read. Since the developers are being distributed to “some other projects”, it sounds more like they’re just taking resources away from the game. The PVP side (presumably with the paying players) kept its developers, so this is being spun as a “focus” there, but since they didn’t get any NEW developers, that doesn’t mean much.
I’m cynical about it because it feels predatory. The people who hang out on Hearthstone message boards may not be big Tavern Brawl fans, but a lot of casual players do enjoy it. When they see a big exciting splash screen that says “Your favorite F2P mode has an event with big rewards this week!”, I worry that a lot of them will sign up before they figure out the details.
At last year’s Brawliseum, I heard people who joined saying that a lot of their opponents were simply BAD players. They didn’t even have reasonable meta decks, and weren’t playing them with skill. Hearthstone tricked them out of 1000 gold with big promises.
Hearthstone can be expensive, but I usually hold it up as a model F2P game that avoids tricks and makes it clear what you’re getting fo your money. This event is an argument against that, though.
Edit: If the Brawliseum was a special event in Arena or a one-off mode, and it wasn’t presented as a Tavern Brawl event, I would be ok with it. I think most other people would be, too.
I love love LOVE the Backgammon-style doubling cube and the way it makes bluffing/predicting such a vital part of your ladder climb.
Things I worry about:
3-minute games with the same 12-card deck could get old fast.
Unless the meta is so degenerate that you can recognize someone’s full deck based on the opening cards, I don’t think I’ll have time to determine the other player’s strategy and predict their plays.
My suggestion would be that ladder requires you to alternate through 3 or 4 decks, each with no overlapping cards. That would keep the short games more varied, and ensure that you can’t just rely on the same OP cards every game.
That is similar to the way you build 4 “war decks” in Clash Royale. That creates interesting choices and varied match-ups, but the complaint there is that most players can’t afford to build 4 decks’ worth of cards to a competitive level. If Marvel Snap is truly F2P, that won’t be a concern here, so it would be a great format!
Yes, it doesn’t seem like enough. I’m expecting more Chime cards to be added. Since I understand these to be all over Runeterra in the lore - and because I hope they will do more with Boons - I think it’s reasonable to hope for that.
With only 6 support cards, Bard may be a viable champion, but he won’t offer interesting deck-building challenges.
I think Bard’s Origin should be the model for future champions: It’s very limited, but comes with a nice bonus effect. (Add Chimes at the start of each round.) Assuming it’s balanced now, it should stay balanced. On the other hand, I worry that Jhin’s Origin is too open-ended, and some future cards will make him way too powerful.
Those are all good concerns about Clash Royale. My experience is that the game worked out well for me. (I'm absolutely not telling anyone they're wrong not to like it, though! Everyone's opinions are valid, especially the opinions that keep you away from F2P games 😄.) At least at my skill level while buying the pass, my progression through the ranks was pretty much perfect with my rise in skill and my opponents' ranks. I never had a time when I really felt frustrated by the cost or grind ahead of me. In contrast, it was so frustrating when I started playing Hearthstone, bought a $50 expansion deal, and then realized I was unable to build a single competitive deck. Today, I can afford to max out several new cards per month as I experiment with new decks, which also compares favorably to how often I can experiment in Hearthstone.
On the negative side, Clash Royale does demand more time from you than Hearthstone does to earn your rewards. And I do prefer the CCG model of progression (where you either have a card or you don't) to the Clash Royale model (where you have the card but should work to make it even stronger).
I guess my main point, though, is that the Clash Royale model for games isn't automatically predatory. And while Blizzard may not be as good as they used to be, their games generally aren't predatory. I agree with your points about how their monetization sounds like an improvement. (Other than the focus on PVE. I'm probably not going to stay interested unless PVP is a focus. But that's just me.)
I may be in the minority, but I don't mind Clash Royale's monetization. It's a $5/month pass, the same price as Hearthstone's Tavern Pass, except that you can choose to buy it in smaller increments. And unlike Hearthstone, I don't feel like I need to pay any more for progression or cosmetics once I've bought the pass. Most Clash Royale knock-offs are a lot more obnoxious when it comes to bugging you to buy stuff.
I don't see enough about the monetization in this game to make a judgement call yet. I do think it's interesting that this early marketing is focusing more on the single player experience rather than PVP. I'm willing to pay a (small) ongoing amount for a PVP game that has continued support and an evolving meta, but I want my single player games to just give me a full experience with a set price.
Noz Face Hunter worked great for me last year, but I’m not feeling it with the new cards. 3 losses in Ranked Standard - I ran out of steam in 2, and never had a chance against a Switcheroo Priest.
Thanks. I appreciate the attention that you bring to Runeterra. (I probably wouldn't be playing the game at all if OoC hadn't covered it from the start.) I did see this morning's new article on the cosmetics. These are the other things I would add about the patch:
I love these so much. I bought the board right away, and it's the first time I'm tempted to buy skins. (Nami is the only one that I can see myself using much, though.) I really wish there was a card back, and those emotes don't really grab me. Now, an emote of a character rolling dice? That would be an auto-buy, too.
Me, too. This site in general is doing ok, but I am worried about how sloppy the LoR coverage is.
In addition to being 3 days late, the article has several glaring typos and makes some debatable judgment calls in it summary: Some clear buffs and nerfs are listed as “sidegrades”, rules changes are moved into the buff and nerf lists, and other significant changes in the patch aren’t mentioned at all.
Thank you for taking the time to write all that! It’s a great explanation, and it helped me understand a lot of the random comments I’ve been hearing.
Could you explain what this means for the people who haven’t played Marvel Snap yet? I don’t understand what credits or boosters are.
This makes it sound like you have limited credits to play games each day (but why?). I can’t tell whether boosters increase your collection (but isn’t the only mechanic there one where you increase a collection level to get the next card?), or whether they are used to get variant art (but I thought that was tied to “infinity splitting” or something).
The biggest news is buried across a couple answers: They expect a new game mode to be released in “a few months”, and alsohope the new game mode comes out before the global release.
So if you’re hoping for a global release soon, don’t hold your breath.
Time for the obligatory question: Is there any news about this game’s availability opening up? Since it’s publicly released for the Philippines now, I assume there’s no reason to wait much longer. I don’t think they’ve said anything, though.
I wonder if that’s a bigger market than we realize. LoR is incredibly generous with people who are willing to devote a few hours per week to it. But maybe there’s a potential audience of casual players who would enjoy playing less than that? If so, they now have enough resources to build a deck around their favorite LoL character, and they can have fun. Some of those players will eventually become more serious, and others will stay casual but keep the player base up. I see that as a good thing.
That is a pretty amazing deal. How does it work logistically? As long as you have the cards, your duplicates automatically turn to shards worth a fraction of the value. If you buy any bundles, the cards you own are prorated and removed. If you cancel the pass and your cards disappear, you might feel cheated because you couldn’t get those cards before…
(Edited for spelling.)
I am actively losing interest in the game as I see news about events happening before I can even try it.
Edit: Also, since the comparison between this and Tavern Brawl posts is fair, I’ll point out that there has been no post so far about the Tavern Brawl that went live yesterday.
Making a separate game inspired by Path of Champions is an optimistic read. Since the developers are being distributed to “some other projects”, it sounds more like they’re just taking resources away from the game. The PVP side (presumably with the paying players) kept its developers, so this is being spun as a “focus” there, but since they didn’t get any NEW developers, that doesn’t mean much.
I’m cynical about it because it feels predatory. The people who hang out on Hearthstone message boards may not be big Tavern Brawl fans, but a lot of casual players do enjoy it. When they see a big exciting splash screen that says “Your favorite F2P mode has an event with big rewards this week!”, I worry that a lot of them will sign up before they figure out the details.
At last year’s Brawliseum, I heard people who joined saying that a lot of their opponents were simply BAD players. They didn’t even have reasonable meta decks, and weren’t playing them with skill. Hearthstone tricked them out of 1000 gold with big promises.
Hearthstone can be expensive, but I usually hold it up as a model F2P game that avoids tricks and makes it clear what you’re getting fo your money. This event is an argument against that, though.
Edit: If the Brawliseum was a special event in Arena or a one-off mode, and it wasn’t presented as a Tavern Brawl event, I would be ok with it. I think most other people would be, too.
Usually I’m happy to roll the “play 2 tavern brawls” quest on a Wednesday. Not this week.
I’m excited, but also unsure about the game.
Things I like:
Things I worry about:
My suggestion would be that ladder requires you to alternate through 3 or 4 decks, each with no overlapping cards. That would keep the short games more varied, and ensure that you can’t just rely on the same OP cards every game.
That is similar to the way you build 4 “war decks” in Clash Royale. That creates interesting choices and varied match-ups, but the complaint there is that most players can’t afford to build 4 decks’ worth of cards to a competitive level. If Marvel Snap is truly F2P, that won’t be a concern here, so it would be a great format!
Yes, it doesn’t seem like enough. I’m expecting more Chime cards to be added. Since I understand these to be all over Runeterra in the lore - and because I hope they will do more with Boons - I think it’s reasonable to hope for that.
With only 6 support cards, Bard may be a viable champion, but he won’t offer interesting deck-building challenges.
I think Bard’s Origin should be the model for future champions: It’s very limited, but comes with a nice bonus effect. (Add Chimes at the start of each round.) Assuming it’s balanced now, it should stay balanced. On the other hand, I worry that Jhin’s Origin is too open-ended, and some future cards will make him way too powerful.
Those are all good concerns about Clash Royale. My experience is that the game worked out well for me. (I'm absolutely not telling anyone they're wrong not to like it, though! Everyone's opinions are valid, especially the opinions that keep you away from F2P games 😄.) At least at my skill level while buying the pass, my progression through the ranks was pretty much perfect with my rise in skill and my opponents' ranks. I never had a time when I really felt frustrated by the cost or grind ahead of me. In contrast, it was so frustrating when I started playing Hearthstone, bought a $50 expansion deal, and then realized I was unable to build a single competitive deck. Today, I can afford to max out several new cards per month as I experiment with new decks, which also compares favorably to how often I can experiment in Hearthstone.
On the negative side, Clash Royale does demand more time from you than Hearthstone does to earn your rewards. And I do prefer the CCG model of progression (where you either have a card or you don't) to the Clash Royale model (where you have the card but should work to make it even stronger).
I guess my main point, though, is that the Clash Royale model for games isn't automatically predatory. And while Blizzard may not be as good as they used to be, their games generally aren't predatory. I agree with your points about how their monetization sounds like an improvement. (Other than the focus on PVE. I'm probably not going to stay interested unless PVP is a focus. But that's just me.)
I may be in the minority, but I don't mind Clash Royale's monetization. It's a $5/month pass, the same price as Hearthstone's Tavern Pass, except that you can choose to buy it in smaller increments. And unlike Hearthstone, I don't feel like I need to pay any more for progression or cosmetics once I've bought the pass. Most Clash Royale knock-offs are a lot more obnoxious when it comes to bugging you to buy stuff.
I don't see enough about the monetization in this game to make a judgement call yet. I do think it's interesting that this early marketing is focusing more on the single player experience rather than PVP. I'm willing to pay a (small) ongoing amount for a PVP game that has continued support and an evolving meta, but I want my single player games to just give me a full experience with a set price.
These cosmetics are great. I was tempted to buy them as soon as I saw them, and then I learned that they will be free!
Noz Face Hunter worked great for me last year, but I’m not feeling it with the new cards. 3 losses in Ranked Standard - I ran out of steam in 2, and never had a chance against a Switcheroo Priest.