An open letter to the new studio to come.

TheDragonHermit
TheDragonHermit Posts: 465 Mover and Shaker
edited August 2017 in MtGPQ General Discussion
Welcome to the game. I would like to give some friendly warnings and advice. These forums can get fairly toxic at times, people are very passionate about this game, and that is part of what makes it great, but that leads to lots of loud and angry arguments, please take the time to read between the lines to the messages behind the statements made. Recently, as of posting this, we had not heard much from the developers resulting in a lot of concern about announced features that had already been delayed, a statement on the upcoming features that you would like to put forward, in clear and direct wording if possible, and how they might, with acknowledging that development is a flexible and changeable thing, be executed, perhaps making a regular posting to clearly states where development is and any changes that might have been made to the plans, might be nice. I think this could aliviate at least a bit of the tension that players on the forum are feeling. Just remember we all want this game to succeed, even if we have different opinions on how to get there, so don't be too discouraged to communicate by the shouting matches you see.

Comments

  • shteev
    shteev Posts: 2,031 Chairperson of the Boards
    Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
  • Thésée
    Thésée Posts: 238 Tile Toppler
    shteev said:
    Abandon hope, all ye who enter here.
    Are you promising them hell? :-). That's a warm welcome 
  • TheDragonHermit
    TheDragonHermit Posts: 465 Mover and Shaker
    Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'entrate indeed, though that seems more appropriate to Phyrexia than Amonkhet, nine nested spheres and all.
  • THEMAGICkMAN
    THEMAGICkMAN Posts: 697 Critical Contributor
    Welcome to the Fold, new team, whoever you may be. 

    A piece of advice, no matter how it may seem, everyone here wants the best for the game. Some simply have different ways of expressing their criticism. Keep that in mind :)
  • TheDragonHermit
    TheDragonHermit Posts: 465 Mover and Shaker
    I think I might add a personal wish list here:
    1. Please make it so that the crafting system makes it so you can target a card you want. The previous statement made was a bit vague with a few different interpretations, something some previous change announcements made us harshly conscious of, that we had an interesting time trying to figure out. This seems to have devolved into wild mass guessing recently.
    2. Tie a recovery option to the forum. Some of us don't like Facebook and do not have an account. Since this is a dedicated D3 forum it would make sence to have the recovery tied here. Plus it would bring more players with more ideas and opinions into the forums. Polls would certainly benefit from a wider sample size for more accuracy in results.
    3. Don't make our Planeswalkers so angry. I have read many threads of people getting enraged about enraged. It has become more that a bit overused and limits strategy a bit, while supercharge would give a lot more play. Both speed fights up, but have different means. Maybe something else to boost loyalty gain to make PW abilities more accessible could be fun too. More varied gameplay could make for a happier player base. Plus it just isn't a good idea to make a Planeswalkers angry, a very dangerous thing to do.
    4. Communicate with us. It would make a certain amount of sence that players have ideas about what players want and while that isn't always what is best for business there is a compromise between abundant free cards for all and massive austerity. Keep in mind that players are paying attention, they have little choice, and they will react, there are still those about saying Not.Another.Dime and I still see six out of ten of the top coalitions with names like D3ceived and D3valued so they would seem to have a long memory. 
    That was a bit longer than I thought it would be.
  • Steeme
    Steeme Posts: 784 Critical Contributor
    majincob said:
    • Rewrite the whole game please.

    I'm quite wary of any type of full re-write.  That could literally tank the entire game, depending on how ambitious it is.  Also, who would pay for that?
  • majincob
    majincob Posts: 732 Critical Contributor
    Steeme said:
    majincob said:
    • Rewrite the whole game please.

    I'm quite wary of any type of full re-write.  That could literally tank the entire game, depending on how ambitious it is.  Also, who would pay for that?
    They would need to develop a new system in parallel with the current system as trying to rush something out in one release cycle does seem like a likely path to ruin.

    Yes, it would be a larger investment of time/effort/money. It is an investment in the long-term future of the game, spend some more now to make future development easier, cheaper, less buggy.

    Ideally they would develop the new system with an open beta since it would get them free feedback/bug testing and could restore some good will in the community if handled well.

    Get players to feel optimistic about the future of the game again and the spending will increase.
  • TheDragonHermit
    TheDragonHermit Posts: 465 Mover and Shaker
    A complete rewrite would be a beneficial thing, I would have to look at the code, not happening in this universe, to tell, but it feels like they coded it for the core mechanics without planning for expansion. But it would push back any other features and we know how that goes here.
  • Steeme
    Steeme Posts: 784 Critical Contributor

    Convincing management to allow a code re-write out-of-pocket is generally a losing battle.

    Typically, code re-writes are approved when the current architecture or technology is holding them back from either introducing certain features or supporting new devices / environments.

    Having a list of bugs deployed with every release is more of an internal SDLC issue.  They might need to introduce an additional testing cycle in between the Dev and QA phases.

    majincob said:

    Get players to feel optimistic about the future of the game again and the spending will increase.
    Regular communication on the forums would go leaps and bounds into making the players feel optimistic.  Sadly, they choose radio silence.  Such a wasted opportunity.
  • Corn_Noodles
    Corn_Noodles Posts: 477 Mover and Shaker
    Complete re-write isn't going to happen. More trouble than it would be worth.
  • WiLDRAGE
    WiLDRAGE Posts: 145 Tile Toppler
    I would just appreciate them fixing the fact that the application sucks up battery faster than Hearthstone and also turns my phone into a griddle.  I swear if it was bigger, it gets so hot, I could fry some breakfast on it.
  • Steeme
    Steeme Posts: 784 Critical Contributor
    WiLDRAGE said:
    I would just appreciate them fixing the fact that the application sucks up battery faster than Hearthstone and also turns my phone into a griddle.  I swear if it was bigger, it gets so hot, I could fry some breakfast on it.

    Have you tried Legendary Game of Heroes?  Now THAT app drains battery.  It even drains my battery while I'm plugged into the USB port!

  • losdamianos
    losdamianos Posts: 429 Mover and Shaker
    edited August 2017
    majincob said:
    My wish list:


    Public API. There are lots of smart, talented people in the community. Let us get creative. Some things it would be nice to be able to have access to:
    • Current collections (with user authorization)
    • Player/Coalition event scores
    • Game logs
    • Coalition management tools

    This.

  • TheDragonHermit
    TheDragonHermit Posts: 465 Mover and Shaker
    WiLDRAGE said:
    I would just appreciate them fixing the fact that the application sucks up battery faster than Hearthstone and also turns my phone into a griddle.  I swear if it was bigger, it gets so hot, I could fry some breakfast on it.
    Yeah I noticed the app goes through battery life faster than a Game Gear. Part of why I would like the games to be saved mid battle, I can't tell you how often I am doing awesome and then my phone tells me it is powering down. The panic and rage.