How well should a F2P user be able to compete in MTGPQ?

Stalker

F2P users should be able to show consistent improvement, but should be considered lucky to reach the highest levels of competition

Stop calling this a true free to play(ftp), those games sell cosmetic only items. Ftp classics like this rely on content purchases which are necessities to stay ahead of the competition or to gain an edge. 

morgue427

F2P users should be able to achieve regular success at the highest levels of competition

not at all dont need all the card or the uber ones to compete, yes you may have a harder time to win but well constructed versatile decks and human intelligence can beat the ai most times

Kinesia

F2P users should be able to achieve regular success at the highest levels of competition

This game is mostly about skill not power cards despite what many constantly complain about.

You can _currently_ win easily against Legacy Masterpiece decks with Standard Pauper. Giving VIP faster access to resources won't change a thing about what is really needed to win, that'd only happen if VIP gave you +1 mana on all matches!

Firinmahlazer

F2P over what timeframe? I've been mostly F2P for 2+ years. I have spent money but not enough where I would say it impacted my rankings or drastically improved my collection. The fact is F2P players will struggle for a while especially in Legacy events. If you want to catch up on 3 years of cards in a reasonable amount of time expect to pay for it.

Tilwin90

F2P users should be able to achieve regular success at the highest levels of competition

I get where this poll is going but somehow I fail to see its purpose. I am sure most players (even hard investors) would agree that anyone should be able to succeed in this game, free player or not. The question is how often you get to a top level competitive collection. 

Let's look at this from multiple perspectives:

1. Big collections allow participating in various events and increasing the chance of getting various objectives. Sure, you can kid yourself that competing with an average collection can be overcome by skill level, but when specific walkers make certain objectives much easier and certain cards make those objectives a piece of cake, then average collections are much more subjected to chance since your decks will never be just as resilient.

2. How fast do you get there? This is in particular relevant for new players (especially if you consider getting into legacy events with all the rishkar expertise and omniscience and emrakuls and nissa renewals out there) but also for rotations. Rotations ultimately hit card collections so the faster you get access to the newer sets the better. If you have a full collection either you are a veteran, you invested into the game or a combination of the two.

3. This game ultimately relies on some chance on drop. Save for some key cards available for purchase, you either craft the whole set or you are subjected to chance. How many people had to craft up to the last card to get their guaranteed blue sun zenith? I know I did. And that's part of the game and its economy. But you are either with the sets up to date as new sets come out or you will always find yourself prioritising.

4. In MTGPQ there is very little you can do to help your team mates in-game. Compared to mmorpgs where you might farm together with your team mates and help them get to date by farming together, in MTGPQ you are limited to coalition events. And let's face it, how many top coalitions can afford beginners in their ranks while still remaining competitive? 

I'm not being malicious here I just say it how I see it. Money is not required to be successful, but it is necessary to reach the top in a timely manner.

And the whole "you don't need key cards to be successful" (consistently) is plain silly. Greg is stupid, but even with a top notch collection I get in panic mode when I see a Sarkhan dropping djinn of wishes. Because once those decks get rolling, you're done!

My two cents on the topic. 

HarryMason

F2P users should be able to achieve regular success at the highest levels of competition

I hate this topic. I hate everything about it. I hate that it's a legitimate issue now.

On one hand I believe that f2p players should be able to compete and win at the highest levels of play. That's always been the case, in theory. Regardless of how I even feel about p2w and premium subscriptions, it feels pretty late in the game for this to be happening. I mean, one of the rewards is non dupe rares. They plan on making exclusives or something? Non dupe rares are a myth on my account. There are a gang of these issues, but this isn't really about specifics. 

I play at a  high level. I'm f2p. What happens to me? I've become accustomed to a certain quality of life in the game. I'm not expecting to have all of the cards immediately. I usually manage to accumulate the majority of the mythics and masterpieces from a set by the time the next set drops. I don't know if this is right, normal or if I deserve this. I do know that I won't accept less than this. I've had 3 years to grow accustomed to this quality of life. Will there be severence payments? 

The flip side of this is that I understand that when a paid service is offered, it is always superior to the free product. I believe that my expectations are tempered. I'm not expecting the red carpet. I just want to continue doing what I do. I hope that happens. 

morgue427

F2P users should be able to achieve regular success at the highest levels of competition

well said, on the one hand if the vip only gets 2 weeks basically to enjoy having it as an exclusive, they are being robbed really but without better content the f2p wont bother either, much less pay to have that small an advantage

Tourmaline

F2P users should be able to achieve regular success at the highest levels of competition

Brigby said:

starfall said:

Let's also just take a minute to define our terms properly: technically, we are not

TheDude1 said:

haggling over degrees of freebies given to the user base.

With the removal of RT what's been taken away are not freebies but event rewards. 'Freebies' are the 6 hour boosters and the daily login calendar.

-snip-

Hi Everyone. I just wanted to jump in real quick to clarify that Rising Tensions is not being removed. It is merely being scheduled at a less frequent rate than every single week. As of right now, it's anticipated to be scheduled again for the beginning of June.

"We didnt take it out we just nerfed the pants off it and did nothing to replace the gigantic void it left in the play schedule and reward curve."

Bubbles

F2P users should be able to reach the highest levels of competition, but not win consistently

I think RT gave away too much free stuff - it really led to people like me not even thinking about spending money on the game, so I understand why it is now less frequent, I think that's a good move (from a developer perspective, or course, but they have rent to pay and bills, just like us). But the VIP system is just overpriced - it is a very good idea, but the costs need to be lowered, so it is accessible for all of us. It still won't be used by some players, fair enough. I am one of those players that has more time than money, so I can grind for my things (nothing should be exclusive to VIP unless cosmetic or purely fun, like a VIP Planeswalker, but some stuff could just be made very hard to grind for), but if they lower the price and allow faster success with VIP status (no need for 3 tiers either, just pay or non-pay player), they'd probably get a lot more uptake

FindingHeart8

F2P users should be able to achieve regular success at the highest levels of competition

It warms my heart to see the voting results of this poll.  Well done guys