Aren't Saheeli's Challenges kinda... Story Mode levels?

buscemi

I thought you guys just couldn't find the time to write Story Mode levels? But, um... The Saheeli Rai Challenges are exactly that, aren't they?

So why not put them in there?

Why have them time limited?

PastrySpider

Probably because they believe events pull people into the game on a more regular basis than expanding story mode would. If you just put them into the story mode, people may put off playing them because "I can just do that tomorrow" and then forget about them. Frequent interaction with the game is obviously something they think it super important to keep people engaged (hence the daily/hourly rewards).

This isn't to say they shouldn't expand story mode, especially as it gives new players who have trouble with events something to do.

wereotter

PastrySpider wrote:

Probably because they believe events pull people into the game on a more regular basis than expanding story mode would. If you just put them into the story mode, people may put off playing them because "I can just do that tomorrow" and then forget about them. Frequent interaction with the game is obviously something they think it super important to keep people engaged (hence the daily/hourly rewards).

The irony here is that I have a bunch of story mode left incomplete because I don't have the time with the rapid fire event rotation we've been on the last several months. I feel I have to spend my effort getting points for coalition events and so I never get to work on story mode objectives.

Hibernum_JC

buscemi wrote:

I thought you guys just couldn't find the time to write Story Mode levels? But, um... The Saheeli Rai Challenges are exactly that, aren't they?

So why not put them in there?

Why have them time limited?

Here's the thing.

The Saheeli Rai challenges do not take a long amount of time to build, because the Planeswalker already exists, its abilities exist, its art is already integrated, the ability is already written and debugged and it's a matter of building decks for 4 encounters. It's also different because there's a bit more pressure to perform and to complete the encounters before their time is up.

Building a story mode requires building a set amount (usually more than 5, otherwise it's very short) of encounters, which includes designing opponents, building their abilities, writing the text, building the decks, balancing the encounters, lengthy debugging because it's new abilities and we need to test all sorts of interactions with cards, etc.

Sure, it looks trivial. But believe me, it isn't.

This isn't to say we'll never build a story mode ever again, but it's not as simple as saying "Well this is a story mode".

bk1234

Hibernum_JC wrote:

buscemi wrote:

I thought you guys just couldn't find the time to write Story Mode levels? But, um... The Saheeli Rai Challenges are exactly that, aren't they?

So why not put them in there?

Why have them time limited?

Here's the thing.

The Saheeli Rai challenges do not take a long amount of time to build, because the Planeswalker already exists, its abilities exist, its art is already integrated, the ability is already written and debugged and it's a matter of building decks for 4 encounters. It's also different because there's a bit more pressure to perform and to complete the encounters before their time is up.

Building a story mode requires building a set amount (usually more than 5, otherwise it's very short) of encounters, which includes designing opponents, building their abilities, writing the text, building the decks, balancing the encounters, lengthy debugging because it's new abilities and we need to test all sorts of interactions with cards, etc.

Sure, it looks trivial. But believe me, it isn't.

This isn't to say we'll never build a story mode ever again, but it's not as simple as saying "Well this is a story mode".

Hey @JC,

We've asked tons of times to have challenges like these and old PVE events integrated into Story Mode. (I'm sure @shteev can find examples). Why can't you just do that?

I mean really, isn't all PVE just story mode? You have SOI Story Mode with AM and Kaladesh with FS and RAC -- also three more Kaladesh encounters with Dovin, C2 and Saheeli. I'd LOVE to play these at my leisure with some insane decks that I couldn't play when they were events because I didn't want to let my coalition down.

I like this idea so much -- mostly because it was mine (and I'm AWESOME) -- that you're going to be reminded of it every time you see one of my posts.

Magog

Help me out here JC, I'm having some trouble understanding your logic too. The old PvE events like Fateful Showdown have already had all the work done for them, so why not just release them as story mode events after the block is over?

Designing opponents: Done
Building their abilities: Done
Writing the text: Done
Building the decks: Done
Balancing the encounters: Done
Lengthy debugging because it's new abilities and we need to test all sorts of interactions with cards, etc: Done

If all of these are already done, what's the non-trivial element?

Mainloop25

Hibernum_JC wrote:

buscemi wrote:

I thought you guys just couldn't find the time to write Story Mode levels? But, um... The Saheeli Rai Challenges are exactly that, aren't they?

So why not put them in there?

Why have them time limited?

Here's the thing.

The Saheeli Rai challenges do not take a long amount of time to build, because the Planeswalker already exists, its abilities exist, its art is already integrated, the ability is already written and debugged and it's a matter of building decks for 4 encounters. It's also different because there's a bit more pressure to perform and to complete the encounters before their time is up.

Building a story mode requires building a set amount (usually more than 5, otherwise it's very short) of encounters, which includes designing opponents, building their abilities, writing the text, building the decks, balancing the encounters, lengthy debugging because it's new abilities and we need to test all sorts of interactions with cards, etc.

Sure, it looks trivial. But believe me, it isn't.

This isn't to say we'll never build a story mode ever again, but it's not as simple as saying "Well this is a story mode".

Yeah, this post isn't saying "write us new story mode," it's merely saying "put the retired PvE events like Avacyn's Madness into Story Mode." Where is the extra work involved in that?

although some of us have been saying "build us new story mode" but that's for another thread...

Help me out here JC, I'm having some trouble understanding your logic too. The old PvE events like Fateful Showdown have already had all the work done for them, so why not just release them as story mode events after the block is over?

Designing opponents: Done
Building their abilities: Done
Writing the text: Done
Building the decks: Done
Balancing the encounters: Done
Lengthy debugging because it's new abilities and we need to test all sorts of interactions with cards, etc: Done

If all of these are already done, what's the non-trivial element?

Exactly!