Rising Tensions

2

Comments

  • ninjark
    ninjark Posts: 50 Match Maker
    Narcoticsagent said:
    I had two hour recharges that did not start until the node was unlocked.  Am I the only person that had 2 hour charges instead of 1 hour?
    Same.  2 hour refreshes.
  • ManiiNames
    ManiiNames Posts: 213 Tile Toppler
    Enjoyed this event a lot.  Thank you.
  • Kinesia
    Kinesia Posts: 1,621 Chairperson of the Boards
    It's a great event and the rewards are good at every mastery level which is a nice surprise!

    With the timing, this is a much nicer way to try and get people to login more often the old "2 hour = 1 free card".

    But you only need to win one fight on the first node early on, then it's safe to leave it and a while later you'll have 2 nodes at 4 charges and can mop it up.

    So people just need to know how it works...

    But I sat down and did it on 3 accounts in a row (bronze, silver and platinum) and had no problems getting the full score without any delays playing a mix of the nodes and losing a bit on some of the smaller accounts.

    This is a better design than Across Ixalan in terms of engaging people mixed with ease and rewards and that's saying a lot.
  • ManiiNames
    ManiiNames Posts: 213 Tile Toppler
    IDK what the max is, but I crunched out 350 / 60 points for a net gain of 14K runes.  That was pretty nice,
  • thesmallesthuman
    thesmallesthuman Posts: 99 Match Maker
    Um yeah this is pretty exciting stuff. The progression rewards are comparable to AI, much better if the dupes really do turn into daily orbs.

    But the biggest point for me is that they seem to have finally killed our need to grind heroics or (god forbid) training grounds for runes - and kept any desired rune farming varied and interesting at that!

    5 different decks tuned to the 5 guild objectives can fairly easily net you 600 runes per game if you meet all objectives. Y’all we get 200 runes per objective for every win! Refreshes really aren’t that bad, unlock each node as early as possible with a quick win and any time you log in for the rest of the day you’ve got 16 games to play for a possible grand total of 9600 runes every couple hours. Every weekday.

    I’m a little afraid to say it out loud after the duel decks fiasco, but this feels like the answer the rune-starved among us have been praying for.
  • arNero
    arNero Posts: 358 Mover and Shaker
    I appreciate Rising Tension as a replacement for Across Ixalan. It has roughly the same feel, and it gives some fresh feel for that particular game mode, and that the rewards is comparable or better than Across Ixalan is a plus.

    That said, I have some qualms about it:

    1) I still remember there are those who said that all four nodes in Across Ixalan should have been open from the get go instead of having to unlock it one by one. I understand that the node-unlock system is something of a carry-over from Across Ixalan's predecessor, the currently always-active Trial of the Plane, but thing is, TotP's nodes have clear increase of difficulty from node to node, so the unlocking system makes sense. Such a method is not very sensical for Across Ixalan and Rising Tension, where all four nodes can be considered of comparably level difficulty. Thus, it would have made sense to have all nodes open from the get go, especially since we start at 1 charge per node instead of Across' 3. Speaking of which...

    2) I don't like the change from full node charge at start to 1 charge per node that forces you to play AND wait for mode charges. There's probably a programming error somewhere or I don't know, but unless I see it wrong, you only get your 1st charge upon starting/unlocking a node, meaning that if you constantly fail to beat your first node, it becomes eventually impossible to complete the rest of the nodes because by the time you unlock them, time's already running out and you can't get more charges. This ties in with the 1st point: If all nodes start at 1 charge which only starts recharging after you unlock a node, please just unlock all nodes from the start.

    Nevertheless, all in all those problems can still be surmounted, but still do consider. Thank you.
  • NinjaE
    NinjaE Posts: 213 Tile Toppler
    I love this event. Great job!!!!
  • jtwood
    jtwood Posts: 1,285 Chairperson of the Boards
    I am absolutely loving this event.
    Great rewards. The 200 runes per objective... every time is an amazing alternative to grinding (which I never did, because it was so boring and fruitless).
    And then there's the mythics that may be dubiously playable, but still

    Anyway, keep up the events like this!

    But I will echo the original sentiment about having more deck slots. After going through this a couple times, I find myself wishing I had more options to save the configurations in place. Not looking forward to trying to remember what I did on each event next time it rotates around.
  • Mburn7
    Mburn7 Posts: 3,427 Chairperson of the Boards
    jtwood said:

    But I will echo the original sentiment about having more deck slots. After going through this a couple times, I find myself wishing I had more options to save the configurations in place. Not looking forward to trying to remember what I did on each event next time it rotates around.
    I get the desire for more deck slots, but why do you feel like you have to use the same decks every single time for the objectives?  Hell, why even bother with the objectives every time?

    The point of these daily events is to have a fun place to play around with new deck ideas.  You don't need to get a perfect score as long as you don't mind playing more matches for progression (and after we get all the mythics you won't even need progression!).

    I personally enjoy creating random decks that may or may not fit the objectives every day.  Isn't that why we play?
  • jtwood
    jtwood Posts: 1,285 Chairperson of the Boards

    Mburn7 said:
    jtwood said:

    But I will echo the original sentiment about having more deck slots. After going through this a couple times, I find myself wishing I had more options to save the configurations in place. Not looking forward to trying to remember what I did on each event next time it rotates around.
    I get the desire for more deck slots, but why do you feel like you have to use the same decks every single time for the objectives?  Hell, why even bother with the objectives every time?
    First question: I don't always have time to sit around and brainstorm decks.
    Second question: Because each objective is worth 200 runes every time. That's incentive enough for me.
  • Gabrosin
    Gabrosin Posts: 259 Mover and Shaker
    I'll add my support to the calls for more deck slots.  Charge us 20k runes a pop, I don't care, just let us maintain 4-5 decks per PW.  The more cards get added, the worse it gets to have to find the ones we want to rebuild decks on the fly, even with the filtering system.  We're also going to need a favoriting system for cards and planeswalkers, to cut down on this tediousness.

  • Nalthazar
    Nalthazar Posts: 141 Tile Toppler
    I actually think that the charges are important as a step in the right direction. The event is giving us so many runes. I feel like the main focus for this event should be our being grateful that it seems like we were listened to and we are getting a way to collect the runes we wanted, which will enable us to actually level up the new planeswalkers and buy deckslots. You can easily get well over 10,000 runes a day with this event by playing through all of the rewards and by replaying objectives, and it doesn't take nearly as much time as just grinding a story mode mission over and over and over again. I like it. 

    I think that if we had more charges at the beginning, the event would be over more quickly and carelessly for players with bigger collections, and we would see complaints about the event not being fulfilling enough time wise for people looking to play the game more. I actually like the balance that this event provides, especially BECAUSE we aren't getting another PvE or PvP event for this set. If we had another new PvE and PvP event, then I wouldn't mind the event being a quicker, Training Grounds-like event, but as this is all we get, I like that it feels like there is more to it that I have to play. If I miss an objective then I need to take another crack at the event, and it makes me want to make decks that fulfill more of the objectives so I can earn more runes and complete it more quickly for the exclusive mythic. With Across Ixalan, I only ever played the first node for complete in 10 or less turns and built speed decks to get my rewards and be done with it. I got really bored of it and didn't feel incentivized to make different decks.

    I think the bigger issue is that we need more new events like this one to keep us doing more deckbuilding with newer cards and experimenting more with new mechanics to keep the game fresh rather than just trying to build upon our old decks, which will make the game feel repetitive and ultimately boring. 
  • wereotter
    wereotter Posts: 2,070 Chairperson of the Boards
    Nalthazar said:

    I think that if we had more charges at the beginning, the event would be over more quickly and carelessly for players with bigger collections, and we would see complaints about the event not being fulfilling enough time wise for people looking to play the game more. I actually like the balance that this event provides, especially BECAUSE we aren't getting another PvE or PvP event for this set. If we had another new PvE and PvP event, then I wouldn't mind the event being a quicker, Training Grounds-like event, but as this is all we get, I like that it feels like there is more to it that I have to play. If I miss an objective then I need to take another crack at the event, and it makes me want to make decks that fulfill more of the objectives so I can earn more runes and complete it more quickly for the exclusive mythic. With Across Ixalan, I only ever played the first node for complete in 10 or less turns and built speed decks to get my rewards and be done with it. I got really bored of it and didn't feel incentivized to make different decks. 
    I do think it's important how they handle this, though. For example, in my previous comment I mentioned my more limited time to actually play the matches, it would be an improvement if your charges for all four nodes started tracking up as soon as the event unlocks rather than when you unlock the node.

    As it currently stands, if you can't commit the ongoing time to return to the event during the weekdays, that's bad for the players. You can still start the event with one charge per node so players keep coming back while letting a player who starts the event a little later and has less time to devote to coming back can also do the event.
  • Nalthazar
    Nalthazar Posts: 141 Tile Toppler

    I do think it's important how they handle this, though. For example, in my previous comment I mentioned my more limited time to actually play the matches, it would be an improvement if your charges for all four nodes started tracking up as soon as the event unlocks rather than when you unlock the node.

    As it currently stands, if you can't commit the ongoing time to return to the event during the weekdays, that's bad for the players. You can still start the event with one charge per node so players keep coming back while letting a player who starts the event a little later and has less time to devote to coming back can also do the event.
    I can understand why this is a problem for you. I have a toddler that is a wrecking ball, a job that requires me to work during almost all of my waking hours that aren't consumed by the toddler, and as such have very little free time to complete events. That being said, this event is in place of a PvP event that would have many more charges to complete and a ranking system, which would require a lot more time. Instead of having one event during the week that takes a ton of time, it is parceled out over the span of a week. That makes it a lot more manageable for me. That being said, I wish there were also more events that consumed more time. 

    I think this event takes such a small amount of time compared to other events that I don't think it is bad for the players as a whole. It will only impact a minority while making the game better for the majority. You could just join the event, not start it, get extra charges for the first node, and then complete the other nodes as you unlock them to safely complete all of the objectives in one go if you needed to worry less about the objectives. 

    Ultimately, I hear you and what you are saying, and I think it is good to have a multitude of perspectives, but I just disagree. 
  • GrizzoMtGPQ
    GrizzoMtGPQ Posts: 776 Critical Contributor
    Ral’s Slot is 2000.
  • babar3355
    babar3355 Posts: 1,128 Chairperson of the Boards
    I also really dig this event.  The time commitment is about right.  The rewards are exciting. The node overlays have altered my strategies in a fun way.   Excellent job Oktagon!


  • Kinesia
    Kinesia Posts: 1,621 Chairperson of the Boards
    Timewise... I think it would be REALLY bad if someone could start just an hour before the event and (because they joined early but didn't play) they have 4 charges on every node and suddenly get the full rewards for minimal time investment. Given just how huge the rewards are for this (AND the extra runes!) turning into the trivial easy thing Across Ixalan was would be bad.

    This is a balance between Across Ixalan and TotP and it seems pretty right. It works _really_ well as an event you can do here and there throughout the day, working first to unlock each node, and then you can do a rush at the end or take your time to grind all the runes.
    Remember that this is worth doing for completely new folk in Bronze too.


    Last night (In Australia it starts in the afternoon) I failed my first game on the first node and _then_ again on the second and I was locked out for a while, but I just went away and did the other stuff I needed to (like kids and dinner and stuff) and then finally unlocked the 3rd node before sleep and then this morning it was easy enough to finish off.

    It's bad if you are trying to cram it all in at the last minute with no set up time or planning, but if you operate that way then this just isn't an event for you. And that's fine too, not every event is for everyone. If your desire for the rewards is > than your annoyance at the format then you'll adjust, if not then... Shrug. It's not like _everyone_ doesn't have at least one type of event that they treat that way.
  • Gabrosin
    Gabrosin Posts: 259 Mover and Shaker
    Kinesia said:
    Timewise... I think it would be REALLY bad if someone could start just an hour before the event and (because they joined early but didn't play) they have 4 charges on every node and suddenly get the full rewards for minimal time investment. Given just how huge the rewards are for this (AND the extra runes!) turning into the trivial easy thing Across Ixalan was would be bad.

    This is a balance between Across Ixalan and TotP and it seems pretty right. It works _really_ well as an event you can do here and there throughout the day, working first to unlock each node, and then you can do a rush at the end or take your time to grind all the runes.
    Remember that this is worth doing for completely new folk in Bronze too.


    Last night (In Australia it starts in the afternoon) I failed my first game on the first node and _then_ again on the second and I was locked out for a while, but I just went away and did the other stuff I needed to (like kids and dinner and stuff) and then finally unlocked the 3rd node before sleep and then this morning it was easy enough to finish off.

    It's bad if you are trying to cram it all in at the last minute with no set up time or planning, but if you operate that way then this just isn't an event for you. And that's fine too, not every event is for everyone. If your desire for the rewards is > than your annoyance at the format then you'll adjust, if not then... Shrug. It's not like _everyone_ doesn't have at least one type of event that they treat that way.
    It's tougher when the event starts at 11 PM local time.  Okay, you had some bad luck and took a loss... make it up in the morning before work!  Oops, took a loss there, guess it's time to go put those hours in.  Get home a little late, dinner, family time... suddenly the event ends in just a couple hours, and if you get stuck, you might not be able to finish those nodes out.

    Yeah, the rewards on this event are better, and we should be praising the devs for that decision.  The question here is: does forcing the player to unlock each node make for a better game experience?  Or are you just stressing people out as they try to get those rewards by not letting them play their nodes at a time convenient to their schedule?

    I think starting everyone at one charge per node is fine, but I don't like creating a hard stop on the event for two hours if you take a loss.  Unlock all the nodes from the start, please.
  • Kinesia
    Kinesia Posts: 1,621 Chairperson of the Boards
    I do think the first node deserves slightly more leeway than the rest, to stop being locked out so easily, but then... You don't want people _only_ playing the first node and not bothering with the rest. Don't know a solution right now.

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