Old Events and Devs response in February's Q&A

khurram

1. There exist past coalition events now classified as retired. Many of these(speaking specifically about Hour of Devastation, Race to Orazca, Battle of the Four Tribes, and The Dragon War) featured not only the best rewards in the game's history but also some of the best gameplay.  Can you explain why these are considered retired and if we will ever see them again and why or why not that is?  Thanks.
   Answer: Thank you for the interest. These events also have been seen differently in the past by the players. I think there were even threads like "Please, no more Hour of Devastation" at some point. Also The Dragon War has received a lot of criticism due to the size of the event (5 nodes).  Also we have added new Coalition events from the newer set, and therefore have stopped using some of the older ones.

I'd like to address this. It is appreciated that the devs took the past complaints into account. However, enough time has passed and the topic needs revisiting. New players have joined the game (i hope), many older players have quit or become causal. The player base and their perspective can change and the events might be received differently now.

Regarding the new events replacing those old classics, I'd just respectfully say that these are just not exciting enough and don't compare to the old events either in game play or rewards. The individual rewards of the new PvP events are lackluster. Unless you are in a top 10 coalition, the rewards are kinda insignificant. We only get one new PvP per new set unlike 1 PvP and 1 PvE that we used to get before. On top of that it feels like that one new event is only run 2 or 3 times before 3 months have already passed and the new set is due, with its own version of its new (but not really) 2 nodes PvP event, with choked leaderboard ties and unexciting rewards.

Getting back to the old classics, players did complain but those compliant threads also mentioned what we didn't like about the events, a rework would have been more welcoming than completely discarding those events. When the players bring up an old event we aren't necessarily asking it to be run exactly as it was, we are asking if those events can get a new life, in any shape or form. The response in the recent Q&A above seems a little bit dismissive of the request "you complianed before, so you don't get to play with it anymore"

There are a few solutions to bring back those events without turning them into a slog. Solutions that are not new at all but have already been implemented for other old events.

1- Make them solo events. Not being a coalition event immediately takes an immense amount of pressure off of the players. No player is going to start a campaign requesting to ban a non coalition Hour of Devastation. 

2- Break the events having 5 nodes into two parts with 2 to 3 nodes each. Oath of gatewatch used to be a single event.

3- Reduce the number of total charges. Breaking the dragon war event may take away some of its flavor but either solution should work.

4- The node structure of coalition PvE events from amonkhet and kaladesh sets was changed to the current format. The same rework can be applied to the other retired PvE events.

In short, please bring some of the high stakes events back from the past and make new ones as well. In terms of gameplay the current structure of PvP events is too casual as well, compared to the old ones. No PWs restrictions, no color restrictions, no locked nodes all of it resulting in leaderboards filled with rank 1 ties, all of them competing for a reward of 5 jewels and some runes (the boosters almost always end up as a few orbs)

jtwood

TDW was always my favorite event at the time. I think 5 nodes is perfect.

I realize I'm in a minority on this.

ambrosio191

jtwood said:

TDW was always my favorite event at the time. I think 5 nodes is perfect.

I realize I'm in a minority on this.

TDW was a lot of fun, though I'm not sure if that's nostalgia speaking or not.  Unfortunately it was plagued with bugs from the onset, which turned a lot of people off. 

I  would guess most peoples complaints about 5 nodes is the amount of games you have to play, but that could be easily remedied by adjusting the recharge rates, which they have been hesitant to due for most events.

I really just want past PVE coalition events to get converted to the same format as other single player PVE events.  A lot of past PVE coalition events were fun, and they would be even better without the coalition pressure to get all objectives.

ArielSira

I feel the reasons people complained about HoD (and RotGP when it was run every weekend) are in three categories: 1) bugs, 2) repeated too often, 3) too many charges/matches. Seeing that it has been years, problem #2 is not an issue anymore.

The solutions presented in this thread are solid and take care of the complaints.

TDW as a non coalition event in Legacy would probably be very nasty but you could make it more like Seize the Day by selecting sets, this also keeps the flavour of the events.

Other than that I would LOVE to play Bo4T in Legacy.

Ampersand

I also loved The Dragon War - it honestly might be my favorite event. If the bugs have been fixed, please bring it back even if it isn't a coalition event.

Also, HoD was complained about because it ran so often for a while. Could be time to give it another run.

A thought I just had - why not rework some objectives for these old events, like the way Oktagon changed them for RotGP? Could be a way to freshen up these old events.

jtwood

Ampersand said:

I also loved The Dragon War - it honestly might be my favorite event. If the bugs have been fixed, please bring it back even if it isn't a coalition event.

What did you love about TDW?

For me, it was the combo of five, three-color nodes with the PW locking to the nodes. It landed in a sweet spot where you didn't have to make too many decks for the event, and you also faced a wide variety of opponents.

JopeX37

I asked the question so I'll weigh in here.

Part of what is frustrating about the current coalition event structure is how horribly cookie cutter and tired they have become. Same boring two or three node design, same boring, stingy rewards.

Regarding TDW, I think it's my favorite event of all time. The support that tacked on an additional effect to each loyalty ability really forced you think about which PW you wanted in each slot. That's what I meant by best gameplay they ever had.  In addition with top 5 individual reward of 220 Mana Jewels, it was high stakes.  One thing I don't know if the devs understand is that it's fine for the game to give big MJ (200+) rewards for an event. Opening EPs and collecting Vanguards is fun!  And getting a free one after a successful weekend was an awesome feeling!

Now I understand where having Legacy PvP coalition events can be tough for newer players, but I think holding them once a month or maybe every other month wouldn't be too much of a burden.  I think this would also address that these events tended to have more charges.  Of they don't happen every weekend but are only sprinkled in occasionally I think people would be able to handle that.  Additionally, you could set restrict them to curb the brokenness a bit as others have suggested.  I'd rather not split these events, I think it'd be best to alter the nature of the charges a bit to having the 24 hour refresh times.  Return to Orazca in particular could use that.  While talking cosmetic changes I think if they ever brought back Hour of Destruction it'd be best to not require the 3 HOU Planeswalkers for the top node.

Of course none of the issues surrounding Legacy PvP Coalition events come into play with BoFT, which might be my favorite PvE event ever.  Very flavorful and with some legitimately tough fights, I also like how they showcased the Ixalan tribes and the sets in general which remain some of my favorite in the game.

khurram

Among the events currently in rotation, Skoti Bloodline and Seize the Day are my favorites. Good individual rewards, reasonable event restrictions, event support effects that can have actual impact on game play. 

jtwood

khurram said:

Among the events currently in rotation, Skoti Bloodline and Seize the Day are my favorites. Good individual rewards, reasonable event restrictions, event support effects that can have actual impact on game play. 

I love StD. My only complaint is that it's the only place where we can use cards from that set, and the node objectives basically encourage us to only use a select, few of those cards. I'd love a Training Grounds for Odyssey-block cards so we can explore all of the mechanics they put in that set.

Magic:PQ Support Team

Hello guys,

I have sent your feedback to the team and they are checking for possibilities to run old events again. For now, the Hour of Devastation event is being tested to see if we can run it again without any problems. If everything is ok, it is possible that he will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

As soon as I have new information about it, I'll let you know. 😊

Rebeca

BongoTheGrey

This is really good news! More variety in coalitions events is greatly appreciated. Thanks! 

khurram

Oktagon_Support said:

Hello guys,

I have sent your feedback to the team and they are checking for possibilities to run old events again. For now, the Hour of Devastation event is being tested to see if we can run it again without any problems. If everything is ok with him, it is possible that he will be scheduled in the next few weeks.

As soon as I have new information about it, I'll let you know. 😊

Rebeca

This is great news, thanks. Its good to know that someone is listening. 

Just a quick note about HoD event, there were 3 different iterations with the top node in each, pre-locked to a specific planeswalker... Nicol bolas, Elspeth and Samut... I think its safe to assume that Nicol Bolas is probably owned by most people, compared to the other 2 planeswalkers.

It would be ideal though if that pre locked node wasn't locked anymore. 🙂

jtwood

@Oktagon_Support If they do decide to bring back Hour of Devastation, please note this objective from the left node:

"Take 10 or less damage during a single fight."

The 5.2.0 release drew a very important distinction between damage and loss of life (see below). All of us would be 125% grateful if the team could proactively comment on how that rule will apply to that, the most frustrating of all objectives.

https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/85768/pre-release-notes-5-2-0#latest

• Fixes:
  

Fixed the issue where the Battle Log did not differ deal damage from lose life.

jtwood

jtwood said:

@Oktagon_Support If they do decide to bring back Hour of Devastation, please note this objective from the left node:

"Take 10 or less damage during a single fight."

The 5.2.0 release drew a very important distinction between damage and loss of life (see below). All of us would be 125% grateful if the team could proactively comment on how that rule will apply to that, the most frustrating of all objectives.

https://forums.d3go.com/discussion/85768/pre-release-notes-5-2-0#latest

• Fixes:
  

Fixed the issue where the Battle Log did not differ deal damage from lose life.

@Oktagon_Support can I bump this request now that we are definitely getting HoD?

Will loss of life count towards damage taken on the left node?

EDIT: Just saw this. Have to admit that I didn't expect a change of objectives. Thanks for planning this out.

Heartstone

jtwood said:

TDW was always my favorite event at the time. I think 5 nodes is perfect.

I realize I'm in a minority on this.

5 nodes with less charges would be OK. 3 nodes with too many charges (see this week's HOD) is too much.

Conclusion: we should discuss events as n games to play (per day or event) in total instead of x nodes or y charges.