Q&A with Oktagon - December Edition (12/21/17)

Brigby
Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
in MtGPQ General Discussion
Hi Everyone,

Welcome to the December edition of our Q&A session with Oktagon. It's been a busy end of the year, right before the holiday season arrives, but we wanted to get one last Q&A in before we wrap up 2017, and usher in 2018.

Here to answer your questions are Pedro Rauiz (Game Designer) and Arthur Fukushima (Internal Producer).
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Is there anything that can be shared about Ixalan?
Players can rest assured that our engineering team is already working on the Ixalan cards. Since the game hasn't received a new set in a while, and this is the first set fully created by Oktagon, we want to release as much content as possible without losing quality; we want to make the mechanics loyal to the MtG card game. In order to ensure that level of quality though, players can expect the release of Ixalan to arrive around late January/early February. 

What does the future of Standard set rotation look like?
Until the release of the set following Ixalan, the collections in Standard will be: Origins, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation, and Ixalan.

Will there be any new adjustments or additions to events in the future?
All we can say about new Game Modes is that we have some really cool ideas in design (very early design, since our priority right now is catching up with Wizard's set releases)

Are there any plans to add or adjust how certain resources can be used in the future?
Now that Booster Crafting is released, the game received a new currency: Mana Orbs. Many players have a huge amount of duplicates that still reward Mana Runes, and can be used to level up Planeswalkers.

This month we are offering discounts on many Planeswalkers, in order to showcase them, as they will be one of the aspects we'll be focusing on in the future.

We know many of you have an enormous amount of Mana Runes, but since new PWs will be added in the future, we believe the currency will have its value increase over time. Another thing that will make its value increase are changes to the deck slot system coming in early 2018.

Where on the priority is addressing the early game? Do you have any plans that can be shared?
Yes, we do have plans to improve the first time user experience (FTUE). Since, for now, we can't give a specific date for these changes, we thought we could share a little bit of our vision about the game's first minutes, for players familiar with Magic, and for newcomers.

The first minutes in MtGPQ can be scary, especially for players that have never played paper Magic. Too many things happen at the same time: matches, visual FXs, cards popping on the screen, etc. That can cause a negative impression about the game. Players end up asking themselves: "Should I understand what's going on?"

For players familiar with paper Magic, the game fails to explain some basic concepts like, "Where are the lands?" "Are they special cards in MtGPQ or am I missing something?"

This problem is even more noticeable when it comes to the Planeswalkers. Many players don't even know what the concept of a PW is, or even their importance. The game fails to explain how important it is to have different PWs, and what can be achieved with that. We want to make the learning curve less steep, and introduce new features slowly and with purpose.

In short, yes, we have plans and are fully aware of the problems around the FTUE, but this is a long and delicate problem, requiring a lot of study and tests to make sure changes we make will actually improve these aspets.

What is the timeline and/or status of bug fixes?
Bug fixing is a continuous process, and improvements in the game will be noticed gradually over time. We always strive to fit in as many fixes as we can in every release.

What is the future of Color Mastery?
We know the Color Mastery system isn't the best way to measure player skill, or even their deck quality. Our team has some proposals for a change, but we must validate each idea, in order to offer not just an OK provisory solution, but a great and long-lasting one.
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We hope you've enjoyed the December Q&A session with Oktagon!

We want to thank everyone for being a part of our community. With Hibernum's closure, and Oktagon's transition period, we know this has been a bumpy road for players to travel with us. Thank you all for your patience and understanding, and we look forward to bringing you more new and exciting content in 2018.

Happy Holidays everyone!
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Comments

  • Yirrixees
    Yirrixees Posts: 19 Just Dropped In
    I am really liking the frequency and the openness of these Q&A'a and the responses given. Keep it up Oktogon
    !
  • Mburn7
    Mburn7 Posts: 3,427 Chairperson of the Boards
    In order to ensure that level of quality though, players can expect the release of Ixalan to arrive around late January/early February. 

    This is by far my favorite thing about these Q&As.  You give definitive timelines for the next big update.  This makes it easier for us to plan and holds you guys accountable to a set timeline.

    Thank you for continuing the Q&As, and thank you for being open and honest with us.
  • Gilesclone
    Gilesclone Posts: 735 Critical Contributor
    I’m reserving some judgment until Ixalan, but the communication here is a HUGE improvement.  Thank you 
  • Sorin81
    Sorin81 Posts: 558 Critical Contributor

    We know many of you have an enormous amount of Mana Runes, but since new PWs will be added in the future, we believe the currency will have its value increase over time. Another thing that will make its value increase are changes to the deck slot system coming in early 2018.


    There are some who do have a large quantity of mana runes and I say kudos to them however I believe the vast majority of players, especially new players, actually suffer from a rune deficiency.

    Simply due to supply and demand runes are already an immensely valuable and scarce currency. 


  • Brigby
    Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
    I'm not a developer, so take my comment with a grain of salt, however it's possible that they're aware of newer players and their struggle with Mana Runes, and they will address it when they improve the FTUE. The reply to the question about currency may just be in reference to the older veterans and some of their vast storage of resources.
  • Theros
    Theros Posts: 490 Mover and Shaker
    edited December 2017
    there are vets like us who suffer  from rune deficiency. this is another reason why so any of us are still upset about the removal of QB. QB for us was more about runes than prizes
  • THEMAGICkMAN
    THEMAGICkMAN Posts: 697 Critical Contributor
    @Brigby would you mind forwarding some of the comments in this thread to the devs anyway? It's an important subject and I'd like to be sure that the devs know all that they can about it.
  • Kinesia
    Kinesia Posts: 1,621 Chairperson of the Boards
    Levelling planeswalkers is hard as is coming by runes for new players... If you don't want to actually give out runes as currency though you can still help the beginners...

    Whenever they master a card with a planeswalker they get a burst of experience for _that_ planeswalker. So they can work on levelling whoever they want, but they have to play lots to do it.

    It shouldn't break anything and will add an extra little bit of "micro-joy" when mastering a new card.

    I mean, I have most PWs but not enough runes to raise them and this would add interest for me too, I'd actually start using a whole bunch of cards that are just dust because there is 0 point mastering them for me currently.

    This would help everyone _except_ the people with too many runes already and that seems just fine. (And the people it doesn't hurt still wouldn't be harmed by it either.)
  • HypnoticSpecter
    HypnoticSpecter Posts: 190 Tile Toppler
    What does the future of Standard set rotation look like?
    Until the release of the set following Ixalan, the collections in Standard will be: Origins, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation, and Ixalan.
    "Until the release of the set following Ixalan" is curious wording, when the name of the next paper set has been known for months. It would also be odd to rotate standard between Ixilan and Rivals of Ixilan, when they'e part of the same block. I wonder if they'e planning to skip Rivals to get caught up with the paper release schedule?
  • Mainloop25
    Mainloop25 Posts: 1,959 Chairperson of the Boards
    Thanks for the update. I think this is the most informative one yet. 
  • Mburn7
    Mburn7 Posts: 3,427 Chairperson of the Boards
    HypnoticSpecter said:
    What does the future of Standard set rotation look like?
    Until the release of the set following Ixalan, the collections in Standard will be: Origins, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation, and Ixalan.
    "Until the release of the set following Ixalan" is curious wording, when the name of the next paper set has been known for months. It would also be odd to rotate standard between Ixilan and Rivals of Ixilan, when they'e part of the same block. I wonder if they'e planning to skip Rivals to get caught up with the paper release schedule?
    I think they mean the block after Ixalan, which has not been released yet (as far as I know).  That would make the most sense
  • theyrejustelves
    theyrejustelves Posts: 34 Just Dropped In
    I ended up with less orbs because I converted my dupes for runes to get my PWs leveled as quickly as possible.
    In hindsight, I think I should have skewed towards the waiting for the booster crafting.
  • jchesnutt
    jchesnutt Posts: 8 Just Dropped In
    Brigby said:
    I'm not a developer, so take my comment with a grain of salt, however it's possible that they're aware of newer players and their struggle with Mana Runes, and they will address it when they improve the FTUE. The reply to the question about currency may just be in reference to the older veterans and some of their vast storage of resources.
    I am by no means a new player. I have every PW but only about half are leveled all the way. I play everyday and saved all my dupes for crafting fo the last several months. I got quite a few runes at the conversion, but barely enough to fully level one dual color PW!
  • IM_CARLOS
    IM_CARLOS Posts: 640 Critical Contributor
    I got 180k enough to max a pw but i gpt all my pw maxed before.

    I grind in story mode for runes if I need to. You get 250 runes per match and the cards get mastered very fast (7 matches for rare, 15 for mystic) instead of QB (20/40).
  • WacoKid
    WacoKid Posts: 17 Just Dropped In
    Brigby said:
    I'm not a developer, so take my comment with a grain of salt, however it's possible that they're aware of newer players and their struggle with Mana Runes, and they will address it when they improve the FTUE. The reply to the question about currency may just be in reference to the older veterans and some of their vast storage of resources.
    As a newer player I'm always in short supply of mana runes. It is a struggle. Also, there are two other big issues I see, the rotation of planeswalkers and card sets. Make all of the planes walkers and card sets constantly available. Having to wait sometimes weeks for the walker you want to come available is discouraging. Also card sets not available means I have no access to them. The two hour free booster does not make up for that. I like this game but it is hard on new players.

  • QuiksilverHg
    QuiksilverHg Posts: 128 Tile Toppler
    IM_CARLOS said:
    I got 180k enough to max a pw but i gpt all my pw maxed before.

    I grind in story mode for runes if I need to. You get 250 runes per match and the cards get mastered very fast (7 matches for rare, 15 for mystic) instead of QB (20/40).
    Carlos, how’d you figure out the amount of times it takes to master, or is that information posted somewhere?
  • DBJones
    DBJones Posts: 803 Critical Contributor
    Carlos is talking about heroic encounters. The original card mastery grind info is here:

    https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/comment/748004#Comment_748004

    It might be somewhat outdated, but it's close to what Carlos said.
  • Chad739
    Chad739 Posts: 27 Just Dropped In
    Mburn7 said:
    HypnoticSpecter said:
    What does the future of Standard set rotation look like?
    Until the release of the set following Ixalan, the collections in Standard will be: Origins, Kaladesh, Aether Revolt, Amonkhet, Hour of Devastation, and Ixalan.
    "Until the release of the set following Ixalan" is curious wording, when the name of the next paper set has been known for months. It would also be odd to rotate standard between Ixilan and Rivals of Ixilan, when they'e part of the same block. I wonder if they'e planning to skip Rivals to get caught up with the paper release schedule?
    I think they mean the block after Ixalan, which has not been released yet (as far as I know).  That would make the most sense
    Perhaps they mean that KLD will rotate out when Rivals of Ixtlan drops, leaving Aether Revolt until the following set is released.

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