OKTAGON Q&A Session - June 2020 *UPDATE (06/30/2020)

Magic:PQ Support Team

1. Special legacy sets like Odyssey and Torment are new to the game and there were some assumptions that these sets might behave like a standard set. For example, these sets do not provide a 50% orb bonus like other new sets and there was also later communication that these sets would not become available in the legacy booster packs or become craftable. When releasing sets or collections that behave differently in any way from standard sets, can you please clearly announce how they will be different? This will help drive a better player and collector experience by removing these false assumptions. Thanks!
Answer: Thank you very much for the constructive feedback. The cards and the series From the Vault are still relatively new and are currently treated as Exclusive Content, similar to the Vanguard Cards and Boosters (although sold in a different currency). We are however considering adding a From the Vault category to Booster Crafting in the future.

2. I've really enjoyed some of the Legacy cards in the Torment and Odyssey sets. Are there plans to go back any further in time to sets like Arabian Nights?
Answer: We are very excited about the From the Vault series and there will definitely be more sets coming, but we can’t share anything yet about the next set.

3. As an experienced player, I have literally millions of unused runes. Is there any plan for expanding the use of runes or allowing coalitions to share resources?
Answer: There are no plans for expanding the use at the moment, but sharing Mana Runes between Coalition Members sounds fun. As an experienced player you know that already, but we wanted to mention this in this reply for others to know, too, Mana Runes are mainly used for Leveling Up the Planeswalkers, which are released constantly. There are more than 70 Planeswalkers available now in the game, and each Planeswalker (at Level 60) has a Deck Slot to be unlocked with Mana Runes, too.

4. As an experienced player with a large collection, legacy packs with duplicates translate into ~70 orbs, which is a very small reward. Are there any plans to change this reward specifically for earning levels via xp, to make this a better reward? I would strongly prefer receiving one non-dup legacy pack every 10 levels over multiple standard legacy packs.
Answer: There are no plans to change the Player Level progression rewards at the moment. However, the Game Design team is considering adding new sources for Player Level XP. In this way, you might be able to get the desired and missing Legacy cards for your collection a little faster.

5. Can you consider changing how duel deck events are structured? At the moment, Daxos is severely underplayed, making the mythic exclusive Necromancer’s Covenant very difficult to obtain.
Answer: The Duel Deck event Daxos vs Kalemne is still relatively new, and we prefer to run it a couple of more times before considering changing anything. There might be a switch of sides, so to say, by players that participated in one of the earlier runs of this event. To take it a little bit with humor, we heard there is a movement #DaxosForTheWin looking for new leaders.

6. Will you release a quest-based system to utilize all the planeswalkers, like they do in Marvel Puzzle with the Deadpool Dailies? I think it would be fun and allow players to explore and learn the nuances of each planeswalker, so we don't keep seeing the same ones over and over in every event.
Answer: Thank you very much for this feedback, this is definitely interesting and something we might consider.

7. Are you considering boosting the power of Escape/Buried and Graveyard gems? They feel really underpowered at the moment.
Answer: With the new Standard rotation, and the feedback from both the community and the internal testers, we have some plans for balancing Graveyard gems and cards with Buried to better fit the upcoming sets.

8. I hate spending game currency or real money to buy boosters, since it's far too likely that even a premium pack will give nothing but duplicates. Why would I spend real money when I know I will probably get nothing but some runes and orbs with my money? Are you going to issue this "feel bad" problem somehow?
Answer: There are a couple of ways to get Boosters without spending anything actually. For example, the Planechasing Fblthp event rewards a booster from Theros: Beyond Death at the moment. Besides the events, there is the Daily Reward schedule where you can collect Boosters from Standard sets. When you collect 21 Daily Rewards you will even receive a Super Pack (3 Boosters) of the newest Set.

9. Considering the feedback on the new charge system in The Great Tussle was positive, would you consider changing all or part of the old events?
Answer: Yes, we are considering this, but can’t share details yet.

10. Could you please publish a list of all VIP benefits obtained by VIP level? For example, there are apparently level-specific bundles in the vault that appear as players persist through VIP levels. What bundles are available by level, and what packs/cards/etc come with them? Also, what are the jewel benefits for various purchases by level? That type of information would be great to have documented.
Answer: Thank you very much for this great feedback. We will update the FAQ VIP section as soon as possible.

Observation: Please note that some mentioned items that are in development or in an early stage might suffer modifications and will depend on changes to the release schedule.

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Hi,

How are you? I hope you are all safe and healthy!

Here's another Q&A SESSION.

The June edition is officially open!  

The form will be available until June 19, so please send your questions and doubts HERE.

Thank you for all the support,

Marcela.

madwren

Quality of life request: Can we please have a filter for the deck selection screen that selects "Standard" cards?

It's always been annoying, but it was mitigated slightly by the fact that all the sets were consecutive aside from Origins. Now that we have Odyssey and Torment shoehorned in that run of consecutive sets, it's a bit less intuitive. Maybe I'm the only one that keeps selecting Torment when he means Ikoria, and that's fine, silly Wren, but this seems like a simple QOL addition.

I know some people will say, "just use Standard TG", but I do a lot of deck building outside of Standard TG.  One, it isn't always available, but two, I also frequently build and test my Standard decks in Legacy events. Tapping those 9 icons constantly has really gotten old. 

Alternately, just change the display to have Standard sets in their own row at the bottom, but that seems like it would be more work than simply having a preset filter that you update once at set release.

Thanks for your consideration.

madwren

Second question:

Would you ever consider making Daxos' first ability more synergistic with the design of the planeswalker? He's clearly designed to use auras, most of which buff the first creature slot.  However, his 1st ability is also cheap and spammable.  What happens, though, is that you wind up fetching auras that create buffs, and then the Eidolon loses all of those buffs at the end of the turn when his power/toughness resets. It essentially converts all of your enchantments/auras into a +1/+1.  This doesn't make sense. While yes, the Eidolon can become more powerful over time, this incentivizes you to not use his ability until you can summon another creature in the first slot.  

Bubbles_CS

I think I forgot to ask before the form was removed, but can the non-Origins sets be ordered by release in paper Magic in the search filters? When ZvE was added, it was ordered with its block retroactively, but Odyssey and Torment are at the “New” end of sets and are even separated by Ikoria. Could Odyssey and Torment (and the presumably forthcoming Judgment) be moved to appear before Zendikar?

jtwood

Reminder that they have historically requested questions be submitted through the form and not as posts in this thread. 

Bubbles_CS

I read the answer to #8 as, “to avoid a bad experience related to duplicates in packs purchased for cash, (don’t spend cash and) get free packs from other sources”. Reading between the lines, I am very surprised by this response!

Bubbles_CS

I am confused by the answer to #4. How do new sources of XP help me get missing legacy cards faster? All I can figure is that this means I will earn more levels more quickly and have more standard legacy booster packs? If this is the case, I think I would need a lot of XP to earn enough legacy boosters to make any kind of difference in the chances of filling in those last mythics and masterpieces.

Smokincookz

Bubbles_CS said:

I read the answer to #8 as, “to avoid a bad experience related to duplicates in packs purchased for cash, (don’t spend cash and) get free packs from other sources”. Reading between the lines, I am very surprised by this response!

I am not too surprised by the answer at all, what I am surprised about is the phrasing of it. Maybe that’s what you’re referring to. You cannot do anything in life without spending something that is worth more than money- TIME! 

To state we can gain something without spending anything is a logical fallacy. I doubt it was intentional to say it like that. Fact is though, you must spend your time grinding, earning packs in return.

The time we spend in an app reflectively increases that app’s revenue. 

I find disappointment after grinding for said event reward packs/crystals for PP’s, getting many dupes, and often realizing it was a big waste of time. Sure, the journey along the way should be fun, and sometimes it is. With the bugs and many slow built-in features, most of the time it was not.

I could almost certainly make more money by not grinding, spending that time working instead, and then simply buying the crystals on sale and VIP.
I can see that now, with how much time I was spending trying to keep up. 

Instead of spending time or money, like some others here, I just play sparingly now, waiting for the QOL and bug fixes.

That being said, thank you to the devs for what you have fixed so far. I hope something can significantly change for the better, for both the players and devs.