Q&A w/ Oktagon - February Edition (2/28/19)

Brigby

Hi Everyone,

Thank you for submitting your questions from both January and February. We want to thank the following 4 team members over at Oktagon for taking the time to review and answer the questions provided: Matheus Funfas, Alain Valchera, Pedro Rauiz Estigarribia Gestal, and Thorben Novais Silva Jensen!

Without further ado, here is the January + February Q&A Session w/ Oktagon!
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Can you remove the card art zoom during the game?
We have a feature in its initial phase of development that aims to allow players to disable the card art zoom during battle if they choose so, similarly to how we presented the Card Aid feature.

What are the biggest priorities for the game right now?
There's a lot still in development that should be ready and working as we expect soon. Although it takes a lot of work due to the system's own limitations, we want to keep building new modes and tools for players to enjoy. Our focus at the moment is to build a strong and engaging experience for players through their progression in the game with better first contact, newer and cheaper vault content, and some much-needed fixes for loop exploits.

How is your team planning on addressing problem card(s), such as those that freeze the match or create infinite loops?
We will be implementing a new system that prevents looping. It is fully operational, and it will be up and running in the next major update. Problematic cards are treated on a case-by-case basis, most of the time with specific fixes and many hours of testing.

Are there any plans to improve event times in the near future?
With the way the current system is structured, not much can be done regarding event times unfortunately. We expect to provide a much better experience regarding event duration once the Season system is ready.

Will there be any adjustments to Matchmaking in the future?
Matchmaking will change A LOT. There's no other way to put it. We know many players had their doubts about the recent changes, and given that we're trying to balance the game for a bunch of factors, that's understandable. It's hard, even for us to cover it all. Some thing are ready, and others haven't been fully analyzed yet, so they might not work within the system and need changing. Matchmaking isn't the case though. It won't use Color Mastery anymore. CM should be used in another aspect in the Season system and its event structure.

What are your upcoming plans for Duel Decks?
We have some nice plans regarding Duel Decks. Even though we had a lot to learn and fix in the event, it's a mode we really want to improve moving forward, especially regarding balance. The next Duel Decks is in the concept phase and should appear some time in the second half of the year between collections.

Will we see any balance changes for Planeswalkers that are currently considered weak?
Balancing Planeswalkers is one of our biggest desires right now. Starting with the War of the Spark card set, you'll be seeing the first aspects of how we intent to rework Planeswalkers into the game, both progressively and retroactively. That will be just a preview though! This is something that takes a lot of time and requires systems that aren't in place right now, so we'll take it how we can; one step at a time. First one thing, then tweaks to values and abilities, then another thing (we can't say more right now!)
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Thanks for checking out the combined January and February Edition of the Q&A w/ Oktagon. If you have questions you'd like to ask them for the March Edition, then please submit them HERE