Ixalan Blog Posts *Updated (2/8/18)

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Comments

  • bk1234
    bk1234 Posts: 2,924 Chairperson of the Boards
    Brigby said:
    Hi Everyone. While it is true that Ixalan will not bring new PvE events, that certainly does not mean we've forgotten about them. The team has been working very hard to quickly finish development of Ixalan, and while PvP events can be created relatively quickly, comparatively PvE events take up much more time, due to the amount of unique content required. Once we're caught up with Magic: The Gathering's set release schedule, then I speculate the team will be able to return to the usual amount of content released during these sets. Thank you for understanding! 


    Does this mean we will have a much smaller gap than the normal 2-3 months for RIX? 

    Also can we get some insight on what the events schedule will look like and how they will handle stale content in the meantime? (Oktagon has done a great job so far bringing back HoD, AM and the Holiday Showdown — but HOD has already gotten a bit stale and AM runs 12 hours too long to be fun with 5 nodes). 
  • Kinesia
    Kinesia Posts: 1,621 Chairperson of the Boards
    FindingHeart8 said:
    Brigby said:
    Drewster said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    Brigby said:
    Just as an FYI for everyone, Across Ixalan will initially be replacing Trial of the Planes, as the PvP event with an entry cost.
    Love the more affordable cost! So...you're gonna keep the rewards the same though, right? It'll be like xmas all over again ;)
    I hope the rewards are kept the same or better because I like grinding jewels.
    Yes. The rewards for Across Ixalan will be the same as Trial of the Planes.
    httptreachtvwp-contentuploads201601Squeepng

    I applaud the goblin love but think of the little goblins too...
    "The rewards for Across Ixalan will be the same as Trial of the Planes."
    Ummm... For Platinum that is good. For the rest, NO. Give _bronze_ a reason to play it. Platinum have done nothing more than the others to deserve the 30 gold off, give it to everyone or noone. There is ZERO reason to give platinum more reason than the others to play.
    You can adjust the rewards for each level, but actually _look_ at them and make sure they are actually appealing for ALL levels. The classism is inherent in giving each level different types of rewards, you don't have to add a "top 1% percenter" insult to the mix by giving the elitist fools (of which I am one in this game) free money for zero effort.

    Everyone gets free money or noone does. At least make the class bias less blatant and obvious.
  • ElfNeedsFood
    ElfNeedsFood Posts: 944 Critical Contributor
    Kinesia said:

    httptreachtvwp-contentuploads201601Squeepng

    I applaud the goblin love but think of the little goblins too...
    "The rewards for Across Ixalan will be the same as Trial of the Planes."
    Ummm... For Platinum that is good. For the rest, NO. Give _bronze_ a reason to play it. Platinum have done nothing more than the others to deserve the 30 gold off, give it to everyone or noone. There is ZERO reason to give platinum more reason than the others to play.
    You can adjust the rewards for each level, but actually _look_ at them and make sure they are actually appealing for ALL levels. The classism is inherent in giving each level different types of rewards, you don't have to add a "top 1% percenter" insult to the mix by giving the elitist fools (of which I am one in this game) free money for zero effort.

    Everyone gets free money or noone does. At least make the class bias less blatant and obvious.

    I think a pack for 20 gold is a good value at all levels.
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,090 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited February 2018
    Kinesia said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    Brigby said:
    Drewster said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    Brigby said:
    Just as an FYI for everyone, Across Ixalan will initially be replacing Trial of the Planes, as the PvP event with an entry cost.
    Love the more affordable cost! So...you're gonna keep the rewards the same though, right? It'll be like xmas all over again ;)
    I hope the rewards are kept the same or better because I like grinding jewels.
    Yes. The rewards for Across Ixalan will be the same as Trial of the Planes.
    httptreachtvwp-contentuploads201601Squeepng

    I applaud the goblin love but think of the little goblins too...
    "The rewards for Across Ixalan will be the same as Trial of the Planes."
    Ummm... For Platinum that is good. For the rest, NO. Give _bronze_ a reason to play it. Platinum have done nothing more than the others to deserve the 30 gold off, give it to everyone or noone. There is ZERO reason to give platinum more reason than the others to play.
    You can adjust the rewards for each level, but actually _look_ at them and make sure they are actually appealing for ALL levels. The classism is inherent in giving each level different types of rewards, you don't have to add a "top 1% percenter" insult to the mix by giving the elitist fools (of which I am one in this game) free money for zero effort.

    Everyone gets free money or noone does. At least make the class bias less blatant and obvious.

    Whoa, where did all that come from. What platinum players have certainly not done is anything to deserve that sort of backlash and to be called fools. (labeling yourself as an elitist and one of them does not make it any less uncalled for or less insulting) .
    Newer players in any game have to play catch up with those who have been playing a lot longer. I don't see any problem with that. There is a thing called sense of progress. TotP was designed by developers for that in mind and it was explained in detail when they introduced it. There is an incentive to move up.
    I understand that your kids also play the game and are at lower levels and you may have firsthand observation of new player experience but I have to agree with mainloop25. Your cries for classism are overboard, and a bit off topic if I may say.
  • khurram
    khurram Posts: 1,090 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited February 2018
    Stormcrow said:
    Kinjalli's Sunwing - Instead of trying to fix everything that is not-great about this wording, may I simply suggest that you just copy & paste the text from Thalia, Heretic Cathar instead? She does almost exactly the same thing, no need to reinvent the wheel here.
    I think (well I hope actually) that it works a bit different than Thalia. The creatures don't enter the battlefield disabled when she or Authority of the Counsel are in the battlefield. They enter, trigger their etb effects and then get disabled. Maybe with Kinjalli's Sunwing they'll enter the battlefield truly disabled and won't even trigger their etb effects?
  • Matthew
    Matthew Posts: 605 Critical Contributor
    What if they kept the reward structure exactly the same, while changing the cost of participation to scale as you progress through the mastery levels. Something like this, for example:

    Bronze: 40 crystals
    Silver: 45 crystals
    Gold: 50 crystals
    Platinum: 60 crystals (the current cost for everyone, regardless of mastery)

    Of course this could all be a moot point, depending on how devalued our jewels will be after this update. As things stand right now, I would agree with many of my teammates who have been saying that the combination of Crafting and the current drop rates from Elite Packs have greatly undercut the value of mana jewels, and greatly increased the value of crystals.
  • Gideon
    Gideon Posts: 356 Mover and Shaker
    The way it works has always been strange. For example If I have 2 copies of sky ship and my opponent has authority of counsel or Thalia in play then my first copy triggers ETB, then disables. Then my second copy doesn’t trigger its ETB effect . It also won’t trigger if I reinforce a creature that is locked down by any support that disabled the original creature such as Hixus, bonds,desert’s hold, and cast out. Was it intentionally programmed that way? Your guess is as good as mine.
  • FindingHeart8
    FindingHeart8 Posts: 2,731 Chairperson of the Boards
    Kinesia said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    Brigby said:
    Drewster said:
    FindingHeart8 said:
    Brigby said:
    Just as an FYI for everyone, Across Ixalan will initially be replacing Trial of the Planes, as the PvP event with an entry cost.
    Love the more affordable cost! So...you're gonna keep the rewards the same though, right? It'll be like xmas all over again ;)
    I hope the rewards are kept the same or better because I like grinding jewels.
    Yes. The rewards for Across Ixalan will be the same as Trial of the Planes.
    httptreachtvwp-contentuploads201601Squeepng

    I applaud the goblin love but think of the little goblins too...
    "The rewards for Across Ixalan will be the same as Trial of the Planes."
    Ummm... For Platinum that is good. For the rest, NO. Give _bronze_ a reason to play it. Platinum have done nothing more than the others to deserve the 30 gold off, give it to everyone or noone. There is ZERO reason to give platinum more reason than the others to play.
    You can adjust the rewards for each level, but actually _look_ at them and make sure they are actually appealing for ALL levels. The classism is inherent in giving each level different types of rewards, you don't have to add a "top 1% percenter" insult to the mix by giving the elitist fools (of which I am one in this game) free money for zero effort.

    Everyone gets free money or noone does. At least make the class bias less blatant and obvious.

    sorry for the miscommunication @Kinesia.  We've had plenty of banter in previous threads, you know I've always had a soft spot for the little goblins :)

    I will say though that I do think there should be -slightly- better rewards for higher tier, to motivate players to climb the ladder and a treat for players who have put in the time/money.  That being said, I think even the lowest tier of players should be able to at least get their refund of crystals by playing through the new events along with additional rewards to make it worth participating.

    Regardless of what other players are claiming to the contrary here, I do recognize your valid point of a class bias existing.  I agree that it's a problem and hope that the new event will result in a step in the right direction
  • FindingHeart8
    FindingHeart8 Posts: 2,731 Chairperson of the Boards
    Mainloop25 said:
    @Kinesia you're usually pretty spot-on, but I have to disagree strongly with you here. Trial of the Planes was always meant to be an incentive for people to level up to platinum. The lack of appeal at lower levels is part of the design. I agree that there should be a better incentive for lower levels to play it but not at the expense of Platinum players who use it as a way to acquire new cards, and at a pretty fair rate to the devs I might add. No need totgo overboard with cries of classism on this issue. 
     I don't know if you were present in the threads, but there were strong pushes for classism in previous threads that was in popular view with the players involved.  And with the common unfortunate outcome of many app games devolving into primarily pay-to-play, I would say it's a topic that's always good to be vigilant about.

    @khurram I would not say@Kinesia's argument is off topic, but more a supporting discussion to this thread as it relates to player feedback about Ixalan and the forward movement of this game.  Unless analyzing another's comment (that directly relates to the thread) is off topic, then his points are relevant.
  • Theros
    Theros Posts: 490 Mover and Shaker
    @Brigby please answer the previous question. is the new totp legacy or standard?

    I hope it stays legacy.
    lack of pve is a bummer. I hope we get more coalition events
    .
  • Corn_Noodles
    Corn_Noodles Posts: 477 Mover and Shaker
    These blog posts keep getting more underwhelming.
  • span_argoman
    span_argoman Posts: 751 Critical Contributor
    Personally, I'd say reducing the cost of Across Ixalan to 20 Crystals down from Trial of the Planes at 60 Crystals is a move that benefits players of all tiers as the baseline is now that you get a discounted 20-Crystal XLN 5-card pack for a single win in the event since rewards are the same.

    But with the reduction of the entry fee by 40 Crystals, I think Platinum doesn't need that 30 Crystal rebate any more. If it still should be there as a tier, maybe 10 Crystals to make it 50% of the entry fee like it was for TotP instead of a 50% profit on entry fee.

    Platinum will already get more Jewels than the rest of the tiers. Heck, maybe just change the last tier for Platinum to a set number of Mana Orbs like 50.

    ---
    I'd also like to thank Oktagon for their efforts in trying to make Ixalan feel more unique compared to how the previous developers have done the events and cards for this game. Granted, I have my doubts on certain proposed ideas like some have voiced out here, but I think overall it's a positive direction and I am optimistic that we will see tweaks along the way in the right direction.

    May the MtGPQ community have sufficient good graces to give construction feedback to Oktagon instead of vomiting snarky comments and self-entitled demands like was done with the previous bunch.

    MADAFAKA said:
    @Brigby please answer the previous question. is the new totp legacy or standard?

    I hope it stays legacy.
    lack of pve is a bummer. I hope we get more coalition events
    .
    The header for the Across Ixalan Event description in the blog post states:
    Across Ixalan – PvP – Standard


  • bk1234
    bk1234 Posts: 2,924 Chairperson of the Boards
    span_argoman said:
    Personally, I'd say reducing the cost of Across Ixalan to 20 Crystals down from Trial of the Planes at 60 Crystals is a move that benefits players of all tiers as the baseline is now that you get a discounted 20-Crystal XLN 5-card pack for a single win in the event since rewards are the same.

    But with the reduction of the entry fee by 40 Crystals, I think Platinum doesn't need that 30 Crystal rebate any more. If it still should be there as a tier, maybe 10 Crystals to make it 50% of the entry fee like it was for TotP instead of a 50% profit on entry fee.

    Platinum will already get more Jewels than the rest of the tiers. Heck, maybe just change the last tier for Platinum to a set number of Mana Orbs like 50.

    ---
    I'd also like to thank Oktagon for their efforts in trying to make Ixalan feel more unique compared to how the previous developers have done the events and cards for this game. Granted, I have my doubts on certain proposed ideas like some have voiced out here, but I think overall it's a positive direction and I am optimistic that we will see tweaks along the way in the right direction.

    May the MtGPQ community have sufficient good graces to give construction feedback to Oktagon instead of vomiting snarky comments and self-entitled demands like was done with the previous bunch.

    MADAFAKA said:
    @Brigby please answer the previous question. is the new totp legacy or standard?

    I hope it stays legacy.
    lack of pve is a bummer. I hope we get more coalition events
    .
    The header for the Across Ixalan Event description in the blog post states:
    Across Ixalan – PvP – Standard


    I have a few thoughts on this--

    1. The entry fee and the rewards should be the same and always should have been the same. Anything that cash based currency (crystals are cash-based) is used for should be the same value no matter what level of play you are at. 

    2. Standard :( 
      --The thing is I love Standard for coalition PvP, but for a daily event that I pay for??? -- I've put so much time and money into my legacy collection and now they're basically devaluing it more???
  • AdriA
    AdriA Posts: 42 Just Dropped In
    As new sets are coming in the combos are becoming more powerful, some decks just need less than 3 turns to end up the match which is terrible, specially for new players who does not have a good collection. For me, it's almost a year playing to get a collection good enough for totp and still hard to win.

    Besides that, making more standard events is an incentive for players to buy the new exclusive mythics to improve their deck and keep the good revenue for the devs.

    I think it was a smart decision for both players and the devs.
  • Houdin
    Houdin Posts: 182 Tile Toppler
    Ummm... @Brigby wasn't the final part of the blog supposed to showcase the new cards?

    What I got from that was. 
    Cards need balancing but we aren't doing it now.

    Pw need updating but we aren't doing it now.

    Elite packs will have masterpieces from iconic masters but we aren't changing the rng 

    And here's two cards 

    Did I miss something other than that?
  • Brigby
    Brigby ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 7,757 Site Admin
    *Added the final chapter of the Ixalan Blog Posts: Balancing and Masterpieces!
  • DBJones
    DBJones Posts: 803 Critical Contributor
    Balancing the game sounds good to me! However, the cards we've seen so far make it seem like they're going to make the game slower to a greater degree than I would prefer, but I'll wait until I can see all the Ixalan cards to decide for sure…

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