What are your thoughts on Deck Slots?

Brigby

Hi Everyone,

Deck Slots were a popularly requested feature for quite some time, and I personally wanted to gather some feedback after this feature was implemented several months back.

Do you love them or hate them? If so, why? I look forward to hearing what all of your thoughts are.

Thanks!
Brigby

Laeuftbeidir

I votet "other", because I have multiple opinions

 Generally I like the deck slots in the planeswalker grid (althought I haven't investeed in a lot of them). For my most used planeswalkers it allows me to be prepared for multiple events. Bonus point: they are easy to use.


I love the event deck slots - definetely the best feature in the last couple of updates! They make this game way more agreable to play, especially during multiple events.


I don't like the theme decks, they are quite useless as an advanced player;
several ideas have been made regarding those..my main problems with them would be:
No Dynavolt? No master decks from KLD! The latest theme decks that have not been designed by the community are partly useless..especially the expert deck of Gideon, to name one example. Also I am not sure if they fulfill the intention behind them, but that would be a point needing answer from newer players.

Sarahschmara

I like the idea of deck slots but I'm not thrilled about the way it was implemented. 

I had hoped that my deckslot(s) would be used for different decks for different goals. But unfortunately I need my crystals for new PWs (and I desperately need runes to level them) and cannot afford to buy extra. 

Then an I thought I'd save a penultimate winningest deck for each walker. But no, they weren't legal for standard play. So I started making Standard decks, but I'd end up getting confused and editing the event deck as I acquired new AKH cards and get confused when the PW deck was "out of date" because I'm often trying to squeeze in a few games before bed or early in the morning before work and I get tired sometimes. 

And I resent the premade decks taking up precious screen space ahead of *my* deck that I worked so hard on!

So I guess I thought I wanted deck slots but I had imagined something different. It's not your fault you couldn't read my mind and interpreted it another way. 

Tilwin90

With the introduction of Standard, I would say they *could* be a great addition. (read below before twisting my feedback) In fact, it becomes almost compulsory in this new format to have one slot for Standard and one for Legacy - and even more so, have the system automatically filter illegal cards out for you. This is just common sense usability.

With this being said, I think the Product Manager saw this opportunity to milk for more money instead of truly give something to the players. Usually a new feature is something the game provides to the users as part of the game. The fact that you turned this new feature strictly into a milking cow is deplorable and makes me detest this new functionality. The game should actually come with a number of slots available by default, especially seeing how the card database increases like crazy. I mean seriously... the crystal cost is ridiculously high, as is the mana runes cost (not everyone has thousands of hundreds of runes - you should know your statistic much better, especially after you have decreased the rune gain per day thanks to QB being removed).

I am curious what you will do (if) when you will introduce the number of shields of support cards visible on the card. You will charge players to unlock that functionality PER CARD? You guys really need to learn what to mark as premium functionality and what to include as part of the standard package. If you want players to get into the game and be involved, you want to offer them a good gameplay experience. You give them more deck slots, you encourage them to build more decks. To build more decks you need more cards. To get cards you play, but to speed up the process you buy crystals or offers. Clever how it works, huh?

Bottom line: you took a great opportunity, implemented it, tested it, and then decided to take a huge dump on it. To quote MaRo, "Just because you can do something is not reason enough to do it."

Cheers!

Waschecht

Hi Brigby, thanks for the poll. I like the expansion option of additional deck slots to further increase my options. The price tag for additional slots is quite heavy though.
The starter slots take up space but are hopefully a usefuful guidance for new players. Also I like the "hall of Fame" aspect of it, in that the winning decks of certain players are eternalized there.

Dologan

With the simultaneous implementation of Event Slots (which are a GODSEND -- would have quit by now in frustration without them), additional deck slots aren't really as useful as they would have been before. Personally, I find them quite overpriced and have been coping quite well without even a single one. However, they could come in handy in some circumstances, so I do like having them as option.

However, if you're referring to the variety of pre-made Beginner/Expert/Master deck slots that recent Planeswalkers have, my vote would be quite negative. They are all terribly designed and only serve to clutter the interface. I would much rather have a Legacy and a Standard slot each.

Sorin81

I like the idea of deck slots but not the implementation.

I voted other.
With standard I think it's almost necessary to have an additional slot, but because of the high cost of the slots it's difficult to obtain for players who still wish to purchase and level up planeswalkers.

I have opted to not play any standard events because I do not have the resources to purchase deck slots. I enjoy building a deck. A deck, singular. Once I have a deck built that I'm happy with I don't want to deconstruct it and start over. I'll change a card out here and there but mostly it stays static.

If there were an additionally provided deck slot or if the cost of purchasing a deck slot were drastically reduced I would change my vote to "I love them! Deck Slots are incredibly useful."

hawkyh1

I find the attention to detail lacking making it not
nearly as good/useful as it could be. the rune
price is not a true reflection of the true rune price
for players like me. it cost me ~100k runes to
level one of my level 40 dual colour planeswalker
to level 60 and then an additional 45k runes to
purchase the additional deck slot. places where
it would be useful to use the same deck slot as
above (eg totp event) is not implemented. this
results in having decks slots but continuously
having to build new decks. you can't edit decks
unless you have a charge means I constantly
don't bother and just use/edit my single deck as
I have done before. only now there's more editing
due to the standard restrictions.

HH

Gilesclone

Good - the idea of deck-slots, wish I had some
Bad - completely unaffordable 
Ugly - beginner/expert/master slots.  Worse than useless.

So I voted "other"

Scotcamp

Good - the idea of deck-slots, wish I had some
Bad - completely unaffordable 
Ugly - beginner/expert/master slots.  Worse than useless.

So I voted "other"

MTG_Mage

With 2 formats it is absolutely necessary for each PW to have 2 'custom' deck slots. I know we can buy 2 more for a total of 3, however they are insanely overpriced. Consider that there are currently 26 Planeswalkers right now and thats an average of one every 3.5 weeks or so, which makes it unaffordable to buy PWs, packs and deck slots with the current economy. Thats 5200 crystals and 1.17m runes just to catch up to now!
If they were 1/10th the price that would be good, but no more than 1/5th, so 20 to 40 crystals per slot or 5-10k runes.

I suggest we have a deck slot sale for a 4th custom slot at 20-40 crystals, or a one time buy in of 600 to 1000 crystals to unlock it for ALL PWs you own on your account (will be unlocked on ones you purchase after as well).

Or how about the beginner/master/expert slots once completed you can do what you want with them like your other custom slots

@Brigby please consider these ideas as a second deck slot is essential with 2 formats

arNero

If we're talking about the Beginner, Expert deck slots thing, they're mostly pointless. Sure, it's fun to be rewarded 1000 runes when you manage to complete the set, but then what? You're not going to play those decks anyway, **** stuffs.

If we're talking about how we have to pay to unlock deck slot, that's rubbish too. Admittedly as someone mentioned, the fact that we can create Event decks from scratch any time there's an event mitigates this problem, but still, isn't it nice if we can just save some of those decks so that we can insta-pick them whenever there's an event instead of having to create them from scratch over and over again?

mrixl2520

Other

In general I like them as they were a much needed quality of life upgrade. However, I find them a tad pricey, I was hoping for something in the $2-$3 range. Also needing to max level a PW to unlock one feels arbitrarily annoying.

The pre-fab decks are pretty pointless. Its nice that they're a way to get a few more resources, but they just waste space. The beginner decks look terrible, and the expert & master decks being loaded with mythics and exclusive cards is simply salt in the wound. Also, they don't appear to have much synergy. Last, part of the fun of this game is crafting your own deck, so I really don't know who these decks are supposed to appeal to.

Kinesia

Sorin81 said:

I like the idea of deck slots but not the implementation.

I voted other.
With standard I think it's almost necessary to have an additional slot, but because of the high cost of the slots it's difficult to obtain for players who still wish to purchase and level up planeswalkers.

I have opted to not play any standard events because I do not have the resources to purchase deck slots. I enjoy building a deck. A deck, singular. Once I have a deck built that I'm happy with I don't want to deconstruct it and start over. I'll change a card out here and there but mostly it stays static.

If there were an additionally provided deck slot or if the cost of purchasing a deck slot were drastically reduced I would change my vote to "I love them! Deck Slots are incredibly useful."

Sarahschmara said:

I like the idea of deck slots but I'm not thrilled about the way it was implemented. 

I had hoped that my deckslot(s) would be used for different decks for different goals. But unfortunately I need my crystals for new PWs (and I desperately need runes to level them) and cannot afford to buy extra. 

Then an I thought I'd save a penultimate winningest deck for each walker. But no, they weren't legal for standard play. So I started making Standard decks, but I'd end up getting confused and editing the event deck as I acquired new AKH cards and get confused when the PW deck was "out of date" because I'm often trying to squeeze in a few games before bed or early in the morning before work and I get tired sometimes. 

And I resent the premade decks taking up precious screen space ahead of *my* deck that I worked so hard on!

So I guess I thought I wanted deck slots but I had imagined something different. It's not your fault you couldn't read my mind and interpreted it another way. 

I agree. By default I would like 1 "wild" slot and 1 "standard" slot for everyone. Let us buy more if we want, but we _need_ 1 for standard that doesn't count against our limits.

One other possibility is the "theme" decks, once we unlock them, let us use them however we want and change them, they become "ours" now. (But let us reset them to the default if we want).

With the whole standard thing... One huge problem is that editing an event deck that requires standard show you all your cards, you need to manually select the standard filters yourself, it should be automatic to stop confusion. (But again have a note about why you cant see your other cards, or people will be confused in other ways.)

But, yes, 1 general and 1 standard deck, for free are _required_. I would never have recommended this game to my wife and kids before event decks, but things can still be better.

A big thing that would help is being able to export event decks back to main slots. I've frequently made changes in event that end up to be great, but I can't copy the deck back out.

Copioso

Gilesclone said:

Good - the idea of deck-slots, wish I had some
Bad - completely unaffordable 
Ugly - beginner/expert/master slots.  Worse than useless.

So I voted "other"

Pretty much this.

Brigby

Thanks for all of the feedback everyone. If anyone has more to share, please feel free to continue this discussion! 

I just wanted to let everyone know that I've been reading all the comments, and I'll be including this thread in my weekly report to the developers.

wickedwitch74

When deck slots were announced they sounded like a "nice to have".

Then we were told that the game was moving towards a standard environment.

At that point, deck slots became a "should have".

But... the cost of these deck slots is prohibitive, plus the Expert/Master decks are useless, mostly unobtainable, and soon to be rotated out of playability.

Ideally, each walker would have the following:

-Intro Deck Slot (Each walker's starting cards)
-Standard Deck Slot (FREE, and should restrict cards to appropriate sets)
-Legacy Deck Slot (FREE, and should allow unlimited access to cards)
-Custom Deck #1 (~50 gems)
-Custom Deck #2 (~5000 runes)

These seem like fair amounts that people would likely spend, especially with the introduction of further events (Pauper, Block Specific, Tribal, Theme, etc...) that requires build customization.

ElfNeedsFood

As with others, these are good, we should have "Standard" and "Unlimited" for each pw by default.  Event decks would be nice to carry over week-to-week, but building per event is still a huge improvement vs. the old way of having to readjust decks just to switch between events...

Also, the idea of editing slots you've managed to unlock is good too.

damonsteine

deck slots for legacy and standard decks free to all players, more affordable pricing for custom slots

Stormcrow

My thoughts on deck slots are all here already.

Dropspot

I think deck slots are really useful it's a shame they cost too much. If they costed like 50 I would buy one for each person. But at 200 I can't afford even 1.