Upcoming News?

LordWill

Hey there,

I know you guys are really busy....It's been over a month since patch 1.3.1 and I haven't really heard anything about what's coming up. No news other than there will be a patch in April from someone not even on the dev team.

From a marketing perspective it would probably be in your best interest to upsell the upcoming patch so people who are not interested in buying the Dragon's Hoard might reconsider. I've heard zero about anything upcoming....

Will there be new cards? a new set? new planeswalkers? Are dupes being addressed? I could go on and on but the point is, instead of dragging this information out of you, why can't you post something about what's going on? It's not like you are NOT going to patch. You KNOW what features and things you are doing. Are patches/updates always going to be monthly? or every 2 months?

For me, purchasing decisions rely heavily on what is to come. Maybe I'm not alone?

Unknown

I agree, it has been too long since any information has been shared. I would like to purchase the hoard, but am waiting on more information. I haven't had very good luck in my last few fat packs, so I'm not as inclined to slap $30 without at least a word from the devs.

David [Hi-Fi] Moore

Hi,

The dev team are really focused and working hard on the big Battle for Zendikar update. It's just a few weeks away now and we think you're going to find it exciting and worth the wait.

Apologies for the lack of fresh info, but there's more good (and entirely new) stuff coming soon!

loroku

I was thinking of posting a "is this game dead?" thread, and while it's a little melodramatic, I have to admit: it seems like a fair question right now. So far we have:

- a game wildly unready for release that was kicked out the door in December - two months of a nearly unplayable game until it was finally patched to playability in early February and then to what could generously be called a "beta" state in mid February (1.3.1) - zero developer feedback unless forumites literally beg for it - zero content for another month and a half

I mean, it's not looking good. By contrast, your stepsister MPQ has had tons of updates and lots of developer feedback in the same time frame. There are dev threads every week in that forum. We get crickets. (I know you're sharing David Hi-Fi but even he doesn't seem to like the look of you, since he's got probably 3 posts in MPQ for every 1 in MtGPQ.)

So then (like all FtP games) it comes back to money. The new Dragon Horde thing seems like a great deal - until you start to think: is this game going to be around in six months? Right now it seems much more like abandonware than a game. I am dead serious. And this isn't negative feedback: this is a fact. (And I'm one of the people who likes the game. What are people who are lukewarm feeling?) Ask yourself: how many other app developers can get away with a half-finished game that in 3 1/2 months has effectively one update that only made the game playable and nothing else? In all seriousness, how many others have done that and died on the spot? Is it your license or literally anything else keeping your lights on right now?

In short: why should we support you? This is a question you need to constantly be answering. This doesn't mean you need to post updates every day - but you DO need to ENGAGE with the community. And you DO need CONTENT. Right now I cannot think of a single reason to buy the Dragon Horde in the two days we have left. Can anyone? What reason do we even have to think this game's servers will still be up in six months?

As someone who has played this game solidly for two months, I realized this weekend I let two Quick Battles go by where I didn't even play a game. It wasn't even worth my time to log a single 5 minute combat for a free **** uncommon I already have. That is just not a good place to be. You need to tell me WHY I should be fighting these matches. WHY should I care about placement? WHY should I even log in anymore? Much less why I should drop a heavy chunk of change on getting a bunch more cards for a game that - as far as your actions are telling me - is just about dead?

"David wrote:

Moore"]The dev team are really focused and working hard on the big Battle for Zendikar update. It's just a few weeks away now and we think you're going to find it exciting and worth the wait.

Apologies for the lack of fresh info, but there's more good (and entirely new) stuff coming soon!

This post just doesn't mean anything anymore. It's not that I think you're lying - I'm sure you believe what you are saying. I just wonder why I should.

Irving

I've posted some critical feedback recently myself, but I don't recognize the game you're talking about at all. "Half-finished?" "Nearly unplayable?" "Abandonware?" I just went back through the bugs forum to refresh my memory and see if I was remembering wrong. It did have a bunch of weird, not game-breaking bugs until 1.3. There *was* that short period after the update when it crashed all the time and QB numbers were getting reset, which I would call nearly unplayable for the QB feature. But in general, and since then, it works up to what I would have thought were reasonable expectations. The big one still out there is the one where some players get to play L.50 vs. L.1 quick battles - don't like that fixing that has not been a priority.

Maybe you have lots of experience with other games and feel like this one falls short. I haven't played too many other similar games. I wish there was more content, and I'm *definitely* worried that it's going to be way too expensive to play any expansions if drop rates don't improve, but the game itself is fun and intricate and balanced enough that colors all play differently and you can win with any of them, with meaningful decisions to be made along the way. (Somewhat too easy, but not enough to keep me from playing as long as there's variety in the games.)

You obviously have a certain set of expectations, and you have every right to have them if you want, but it's hard from where I sit to understand why you feel entitled to all these things. I agree - if there isn't more content I'll stop playing too, but more content has already been announced, they don't have a history of not delivering on such announcements, and if it *does* happen to be a false promise I'll say goodbye and move on with no hard feelings. I agree - more communication would be nice, and I don't appreciate that drop rates appear to have changed with no notice, but all that just affects how engaged their community is, which may be related to their profits, but that's their problem (unless it leads to the game going away, and given the expansion announcement that's not imminent).

Sure, give them passionate heartfelt advice if you want on how they should run their game, but basing it on exaggerated characterizations and assumptions makes you sound like a rager who's never going to be happy, and devs are used to dismissing those people as part of the job.

ChrisTot

Spot on! I didn't play at all in the very last two quick battles either. Not because I was trying to boycott anything, but because I forgot. And it makes sense that I did. I'm not to the point of forgetting to login at least once a day for the reward, but my 1st place quick battles have yielded nothing enough times that I've clearly developed a new subconscious outlook.

loroku wrote:

I was thinking of posting a "is this game dead?" thread, and while it's a little melodramatic, I have to admit: it seems like a fair question right now. So far we have:

- a game wildly unready for release that was kicked out the door in December - two months of a nearly unplayable game until it was finally patched to playability in early February and then to what could generously be called a "beta" state in mid February (1.3.1) - zero developer feedback unless forumites literally beg for it - zero content for another month and a half

I mean, it's not looking good. By contrast, your stepsister MPQ has had tons of updates and lots of developer feedback in the same time frame. There are dev threads every week in that forum. We get crickets. (I know you're sharing David Hi-Fi but even he doesn't seem to like the look of you, since he's got probably 3 posts in MPQ for every 1 in MtGPQ.)

So then (like all FtP games) it comes back to money. The new Dragon Horde thing seems like a great deal - until you start to think: is this game going to be around in six months? Right now it seems much more like abandonware than a game. I am dead serious. And this isn't negative feedback: this is a fact. (And I'm one of the people who likes the game. What are people who are lukewarm feeling?) Ask yourself: how many other app developers can get away with a half-finished game that in 3 1/2 months has effectively one update that only made the game playable and nothing else? In all seriousness, how many others have done that and died on the spot? Is it your license or literally anything else keeping your lights on right now?

In short: why should we support you? This is a question you need to constantly be answering. This doesn't mean you need to post updates every day - but you DO need to ENGAGE with the community. And you DO need CONTENT. Right now I cannot think of a single reason to buy the Dragon Horde in the two days we have left. Can anyone? What reason do we even have to think this game's servers will still be up in six months?

As someone who has played this game solidly for two months, I realized this weekend I let two Quick Battles go by where I didn't even play a game. It wasn't even worth my time to log a single 5 minute combat for a free **** uncommon I already have. That is just not a good place to be. You need to tell me WHY I should be fighting these matches. WHY should I care about placement? WHY should I even log in anymore? Much less why I should drop a heavy chunk of change on getting a bunch more cards for a game that - as far as your actions are telling me - is just about dead?

"David wrote:

Moore"]The dev team are really focused and working hard on the big Battle for Zendikar update. It's just a few weeks away now and we think you're going to find it exciting and worth the wait.

Apologies for the lack of fresh info, but there's more good (and entirely new) stuff coming soon!

This post just doesn't mean anything anymore. It's not that I think you're lying - I'm sure you believe what you are saying. I just wonder why I should.

ChrisTot

Irving wrote:

I've posted some critical feedback recently myself, but I don't recognize the game you're talking about at all. "Half-finished?" "Nearly unplayable?" "Abandonware?" I just went back through the bugs forum to refresh my memory and see if I was remembering wrong. It did have a bunch of weird, not game-breaking bugs until 1.3. There *was* that short period after the update when it crashed all the time and QB numbers were getting reset, which I would call nearly unplayable for the QB feature. But in general, and since then, it works up to what I would have thought were reasonable expectations. The big one still out there is the one where some players get to play L.50 vs. L.1 quick battles - don't like that fixing that has not been a priority.

Maybe you have lots of experience with other games and feel like this one falls short. I haven't played too many other similar games. I wish there was more content, and I'm *definitely* worried that it's going to be way too expensive to play any expansions if drop rates don't improve, but the game itself is fun and intricate and balanced enough that colors all play differently and you can win with any of them, with meaningful decisions to be made along the way. (Somewhat too easy, but not enough to keep me from playing as long as there's variety in the games.)

You obviously have a certain set of expectations, and you have every right to have them if you want, but it's hard from where I sit to understand why you feel entitled to all these things. I agree - if there isn't more content I'll stop playing too, but more content has already been announced, they don't have a history of not delivering on such announcements, and if it *does* happen to be a false promise I'll say goodbye and move on with no hard feelings. I agree - more communication would be nice, and I don't appreciate that drop rates appear to have changed with no notice, but all that just affects how engaged their community is, which may be related to their profits, but that's their problem (unless it leads to the game going away, and given the expansion announcement that's not imminent).

Sure, give them passionate heartfelt advice if you want on how they should run their game, but basing it on exaggerated characterizations and assumptions makes you sound like a rager who's never going to be happy, and devs are used to dismissing those people as part of the job.

Nearly unplayable for quick battle? I had 250+ points (good for way in first place) and then got reset back to 0. If you don't understand where he's coming from, how do you know if it's just aspects of the game you don't know because you're not as used to what gamers expect from games? There are a lot of apps on the App Store and using each one is an opportunity cost.

I am an app developer and crashes actually are a big deal. You sound like a patient person, and I'm one too, but not everyone is. Although these were hard to fix, and that's always unfortunate..it doesn't mean they didn't happen. My girlfriend's game crashed in the tutorial. Going from guest mode to signing in shouldn't make you play all over again, but should just save your account to your FB. The characters should be elves, goblins, etc but they have no labels. Their inventory screen is so bad there has to be a master list on the forums..and the forum master list is incomplete too. Crystal rewards were stripped from quest missions. Core mechanics of the games needed rebalancing (Supports and Bounce).

How many things need to be not fully fleshed out for an app to be considered unfinished?

The Events section even says "Coming Soon!" Doesn't get any more beta than that.

Unknown

Clicked on this thread to see if there was any news. I guess it's time to uninstall and find something else. So much missed potential.

Thanks to everyone inthe community for keeping it interesting long after the app itself justified that level of interest!

LordWill

I guess part of my frustration is that people have pointed out the lack of communication and they responded they were aware and making more of an effort to be more responsive and forthcoming with "lots" more information and then nothing. So yea, its irritating.

I do like the game, and as I said before I kinda want to know whats around the corner so I can justify any purchases. If I were them I would be selling the **** out of the BIG HUGE NEW UPDATE coming but we get nothing but silence. Yes I get they are busy. But when they say they are going to be more active and involved and then don't, it makes me wonder.

I'm having a hard time believing they can't say anything about whats coming, even if its not in depth. I have absolutely no clue what the update even means so why should I even get excited about it when they haven't given us an overview. It's not like between now and then they are scrapping every single new feature or card or whatever they are working on. They say they have a plan and know where they are going, so far I haven't seen or heard anything. Again, pulling teeth to find out anything.

Hibernum_JC

Hey guys,

I'm sorry we haven't been more active. As David said, we're insanely busy with work for 1.4.0, which as was said brings about Battle for Zendikar (and a whole bunch of new cards and content).

I know it might not hold up much weight, but believe me when I say we're actually looking at the forums and the feedback. We might not be incredibly active since we're crazy into BFZ, but we're looking at a lot of incoming stuff that should be out soon(tm)!

Obviously I can't say a specific date as I'm not only not privy to the exact information but it's entirely outside of my decision scope, but everyone is super hyped at having you guys play with the new cards, seeing what you can come up with, etc. The team has worked incredibly hard to get new mechanics in for the next set of content so the cards feel fresh, and we've taken a lot of criticism to heart when it comes to the power level of some cards that need to just be better (the new mythics in general feel very powerful, game-changing and all-around awesome) as well as the design of some Planeswalker abilities, their costs and their power level.

I'll have a talk with the powers that be to see if I can release some info to you guys before the actual release of the set and see what we can work with.

loroku

Hibernum_JC wrote:

Hey guys,

I'm sorry we haven't been more active. As David said, we're insanely busy with work for 1.4.0, which as was said brings about Battle for Zendikar (and a whole bunch of new cards and content).

I know it might not hold up much weight, but believe me when I say we're actually looking at the forums and the feedback. We might not be incredibly active since we're crazy into BFZ, but we're looking at a lot of incoming stuff that should be out soon(tm)!

Obviously I can't say a specific date as I'm not only not privy to the exact information but it's entirely outside of my decision scope, but everyone is super hyped at having you guys play with the new cards, seeing what you can come up with, etc. The team has worked incredibly hard to get new mechanics in for the next set of content so the cards feel fresh, and we've taken a lot of criticism to heart when it comes to the power level of some cards that need to just be better (the new mythics in general feel very powerful, game-changing and all-around awesome) as well as the design of some Planeswalker abilities, their costs and their power level.

I'll have a talk with the powers that be to see if I can release some info to you guys before the actual release of the set and see what we can work with.

Thank you for the reply. Sorry to get all whiny and rant-y (and indirectly beg you for replies) but I stand by my statements. If you want this game to succeed maybe all you need is a sweet license, but I have a feeling you need much more. (And if you don't - it's sort of a slap in the face to all the other app devs out there who have great games and no brand to back it up. But I'm not a business person, obviously, so maybe marketing really does trump all.)

My best, most optimistic guess at the situation is that it's the old rock and hard place: you need more people, desperately, in order to get everything done (including community engagement, among other things). But hiring takes time and money, and I'm sure this is a fairly "low risk" project right now for the producers, and time and money raise the risk. So do you spend more money hoping to make more, or keep the risk level low and hope for the best, knowing if it fails at least not much was lost? In the meantime the playerbase is asked to just keep waiting, waiting, waiting - while literally hundreds of new apps are released every month and churn continues thanks to an unfinished product. I feel like I'm already writing the Gamasutra postmortem.

Ultimately, it still just comes back to: why should I support you? Not just with money but with my precious little time and attention in a sea of better distractions. Right now I'm having to make up reasons for myself. I need you to do that for me. The post above doesn't even count because it's mostly old information - "new content coming soon" sums up nearly the entire thing (to be fair, "better mythics incoming" is new, and "Jace's first power will be nerfed" - from another thread - is new). But we need more. Maybe start a thread each week just to get the ball rolling? I'm spit-balling.

Here is what you're up against, devs. Here's a post from Oct 29 of last year, during your pre-beta beta, and I saved it because it's perfect. The response is a perfect summary of every digital MtG offering so far. You need to convince THIS GUY why he should not only play your game, but probably give you some money. If you can do that, then the game that we KNOW is great and we KNOW is just waiting to be awesome can come to life. We WANT it to live. I wish we could do more. We're putting up with Frankenstein's monsters because we know you have it in you to make it work!

Daiches wrote:

Mawtful wrote:

I just noticed that Magic Puzzle Quest is available in the Google Play store, so I thought I'd check it out.

It's quite buggy and still missing a few art assets. There's load times on everything, coupled with a lack of feedback/response means that I'm forever pressing a button 4 or 5 times since I can't tell if it detected the first attempt. There's no consistent back button, so menus are a bit of a maze.

And it's still better than MPQ. Demiurge will really need to step up their game.

So it's a standard MTG digital product? Check. As a 20-year MTG veteran I'll skip this one as well then.

LordWill

JC,

Thanks for posting a reply.

Yes I know it can be crazy, especially around new releases and updates. I used to work for a gaming company.

However, there will always be SOMETHING that the team is working on.


So with the new update and "new cards" how does purchasing packs work? Will there be old packs and new packs?
Will the packs we have saved up be able to purchase the new cards?

Will we be able to use cards from both sets or is it going to be separate? (I've never played the real magic game so don't know how they do it)

These kinds of questions should be answerable without giving any specifics. The more information you can give us, the better it helps us make decisions and provide feedback.

LordWill

Still nothing?

It's a shame that you are working so hard on the game and yet let great opportunities slide by. You should have played up the upcoming expansion or update or whatever you want to call it in the hopes of spurring some purchases on the sale you just had. I would have bought if you would have at least answered some of my questions. You have failed to give us a reason to even be excited.

This lack of communication from you guys is really bad.

I'm really disappointed and took you at your word that you would step up and be active with your player base. Your actions speak louder than words....

Hibernum_JC

LordWill wrote:

Still nothing?

It's a shame that you are working so hard on the game and yet let great opportunities slide by. You should have played up the upcoming expansion or update or whatever you want to call it in the hopes of spurring some purchases on the sale you just had. I would have bought if you would have at least answered some of my questions. You have failed to give us a reason to even be excited.

This lack of communication from you guys is really bad.

I'm really disappointed and took you at your word that you would step up and be active with your player base. Your actions speak louder than words....

There's a lot of big stuff coming up very soon - I can't say anything but stay tuned, but I promise you we will satiate your hunger for more info shortly.

David [Hi-Fi] Moore

LordWill wrote:

Still nothing?

Look for new info as early as next week. Lots of cool stuff on the way.

rulerhumankind

The worst thing about the lack of info is we had a link on the activity hub that shows the zendikar release , but has nothing about MTG:PQ. They have the other two digital games by WotC but no Puzzle Quest. They dont even mention its existence...

Unknown

I haven't played a single game in... 6 weeks? (since the last update). I keep the game installed only so I'll know when it's updated and maybe I'll look at it again.

I would LOVE to spend money, but there's simply no reason to. The game is mediocre at best. There is absolutely zero excitement when opening new cards: oh boy! More stuff I don't need bit takes forever to open.

Lack of communication from the Devs is only mildly annoying simply because until they actually make an engaging GAME out of this... i hesitate to even call it a puzzle... whatever they would tell me would just reinforce the mediocrity of the product.