400 Purple Crystal Elite Pack Discussion

Nalthazar

Now that we have had a chance to tinker with the influx of new cards we were able to get using booster crafting, I think it is time for us to start a discussion about how Elite Packs should work now that we have booster crafting. Given how long it takes for us to earn 400 purple crystals for an Elite Pack, I feel that one should not be able to pull a duplicate from an Elite Pack. I for one am not willing to spend 400 purple crystals on an Elite Pack now if I already have one of the cards in the pack, because I am afraid of the possibility of wasting a month of playing time on 500 booster crafting gems. While I really like the new Booster Crafting feature and how it works, 500 booster crafting gems is not enough compensation for getting a duplicate from an Elite Pack. I don't mind 500 booster crafting gems being the compensation for a duplicate mythic pulled in a regular booster, as there should be an element of RNG in this game. If you are in Platinum and you play all of the coalition events and the Trial of the Planes events, you are only looking at 1 or maybe 2 Elite Packs per month. Given how much grinding it takes to earn 1 Elite Pack, it should be exciting when you have the opportunity to open one. If someone has already obtained a number of the mythics that are being offered in an Elite Pack, then they should feel like they are being rewarded for their dedication/luck and have an opportunity to get new cards. The drop rate of mythics is already abysmally low in this game, so to have obtained a number of mythics from an elite pack requires dedication. As our new devs said when they were rolling out booster crafting, the most exciting part of this game is getting new, powerful cards to play with. If they truly believe that, then Elite Packs should also provide us with guaranteed new, powerful cards to play with. A player should not feel like they are being punished for investing a lot of time playing this game.

I want to know what you all think too. Please let me know.

Matthew

I think you'll be hard-pressed to find anyone here who disagrees with you on this. The only person I can think of who might have had an objection to this idea has been banned for a while now.

Nalthazar

Some of why I bring this up is to generate some noise about it. I feel like it is the greatest casualty due to the addition of Booster Crafting and is a simple fix that would make the game feel more rewarding to players.

Feiticiera

I think it would be nice if you pulled a dupe that instead of getting 500/1000 crafting points, you received an amount of crafting points equal to a mythic of that same set that you are trying to pull from for that pull only. 

I would feel like that would be a more fair substitute to re-rolling, and if you pull a dupe mp, then at least you have enough for a new mythic from that set or another with the same cost. Even though that would still pull down those players that already have all the mythics from that set, they could have much more to help craft when the new sets are released and would take some of the burn out of this. I agree, those purple gems are too hard to come by to be converted to just 500 crafting points.

My two cents at least.

hawkyh1

I'm thinking dupe elite packs can be converted back to
a percentage of jewels that were used to buy them. so
instead of losing a full month of grind you only lose
part of the months grind. there's disappointment but
then also hope to grind for a another try soon.

HH

wickedwitch74

Ideally, Elite Packs should be treated like Planeswalkers.

If you already own one, it doesn't show up in the Vault.

Grinding away in TotP events, only to receive a duplicate Mythic (and 500 orbs) is not a good feeling.

The game designers should be looking to minimize experiences like that.

It would also reverse what has ultimately happened, which is devaluation of the jewel currency.

DragonSorcerer

Agree with everything being said  here and lots of good ideas as well. I definitely will not be spending any if my 900+ until I'm guaranteed a non dupe, so that will probably not been until the next set is out.

Nalthazar

@Brigby

Any chance that you could mention this thread to the developers? I know that there aren't hundreds of responses to it right now, but I think it is an important issue that much of the player base would agree with. It would be nice if there was a chance they could address this in one of their Q&A sessions.

hawkyh1

wickedwitch74 said:

Ideally, Elite Packs should be treated like Planeswalkers.

If you already own one, it doesn't show up in the Vault.

Grinding away in TotP events, only to receive a duplicate Mythic (and 500 orbs) is not a good feeling.

The game designers should be looking to minimize experiences like that.

It would also reverse what has ultimately happened, which is devaluation of the jewel currency.

what about the rares, should owned rares not show up
too? getting a guaranteed mythic for 120 jewels is some
value jump?

HH

Kinesia

hawkyh1 said:

wickedwitch74 said:

Ideally, Elite Packs should be treated like Planeswalkers.

If you already own one, it doesn't show up in the Vault.

Grinding away in TotP events, only to receive a duplicate Mythic (and 500 orbs) is not a good feeling.

The game designers should be looking to minimize experiences like that.

It would also reverse what has ultimately happened, which is devaluation of the jewel currency.

what about the rares, should owned rares not show up
too? getting a guaranteed mythic for 120 jewels is some
value jump?

HH

The rare pack should _only_ be rares, but yes, no dupes there either, just 0 chance for mythic or masterpiece.

ElfNeedsFood

@hawkyh1I think the rare pack has never had a no dupe guarantee so could stay that way or the idea that it could translate to 1000 dupe orbs (guaranteed crafting rare) could work too, which would be a boost. I think either stick with the 100 gem price or bump to 150 with the higher conversion rate would be fine. 

Theros

They were willing to give reroll for dupe from elite for good reasons. It's shouldn't be hard for them to make elite not give duplicate.  
Unless i'm wrong, its not possible to get 2 elite packs in 1 month by pure game play without spending a dime. My monthly max was 600-650 jewels or less

span_argoman

I don't think Jewel Packs should be giving a guaranteed new card from the pack.

In terms of Orbs, if you're opening a Jewel Pack where you only own half the Mythics, your expected Orbs per Jewel is already triple the expected value for Crystals, or double of Crystals spent on a first-month bonus set. If it's all new, then it's 7.5x (or 5x vs first-month bonus).

And though people may argue that Jewels are supposed to be endgame currency for elite players to round out their collection, I'll argue that Orbs is the great equaliser that has made that role irrelevant. They can now be just a more selective means of acquiring new cards.

Making Jewel Packs yield a guaranteed new card could create perverse incentives like making TotP a must-play since for Platinum it would quadruple your invested resources. It would also incentivise players to hoard Jewels to spend on packs where they have all the Rares and Mythics. 120 Jewels for a Masterpiece anyone?

@hawkyh1 Why not go all the way to have a Masterpiece for 120 Jewels?

*edit*
Perhaps each pack could have an option for a guaranteed new card as well for 1,000 Jewels?

Theros

DragonSorcerer said:

Agree with everything being said  here and lots of good ideas as well. I definitely will not be spending any if my 900+ until I'm guaranteed a non dupe, so that will probably not been until the next set is out.

And when the next set is out, you can only buy one elite pack and wait 2 weeks for another rotation to buy another. This is the dilemma I'm in right now with the current elite pack in vault. The change of getting a dupe after purchasing a second elite is too high. It's not even worth the risk after a month of hard grinding.

khurram

Can't believe I am saying this but after booster crafting which already gives guaranteed new cards, I also don't think getting guaranteed new masterpieces from elite packs will be such a good idea.

Drewster

Last 400 jewel elite pack I opened was from this current pack and I got a dupe mythic. 500 Orbs cost me 400 jewels. I was not happy...

I think the best fix for the overall game present and future is to just give more orbs for that particular dupe because of the cost involved: say 2000 Orbs for a mythic dupe in an elite pack and 3000 Orbs for a masterpiece dupe in an elite pack.

I hope our first preview of Ixalan is today!

ElfNeedsFood

I agree @Drewster the simplest and most straight forward solution is to just give more crafting orbs if you dupe an Elite Pack. At least you know you can get one new card. 

Theros

@Drewster I like your idea. it's much better than increasing /decreasing the cost of elite packs

EldrosKandar

@Drewster idea has its allure, but it could have negative repercussion on the other packs, seeing as Elite pack will be the far better way to get Orbs. Like any other solution, it should be tested to see if it doesn't bring the economy in disarray.

But maybe it would suffice to not allow MP dupes if you still have a MP you don't own, but mythics and rares dupe. This would lessen the bad feeling.

wereotter

Here's the problem with your proposal as I see it:

Let's say there's an elite pack with four mythics I do own and four masterpieces I do not own. Under your proposal, it means I've spent 400 jewels for a guaranteed masterpiece while another person who doesn't own all four mythics spends the same amount of currency and doesn't have that same guarantee. It directly contributes to the problem of those who already have getting more than those who don't.

This was already something that could theoretically be abused under the old reroll system, but now that booster crafting is a reality and having every mythic rare card on offer is much more likely than it was, I think it would be unfair to allow people to have that kind of access to the most powerful cards in the game.

ElfNeedsFood

@wereotter that’s where a guaranteed non dupe from a very small subset of the game is not good. The idea I like with the bonus crafting tokens is that you know you will get a new card, just not necessarily from the limited set and without an opportunity for MP’s.