OKTAGON Q&A Session - July 2020 *UPDATE (08/07/20)

Magic:PQ Support Team
Magic:PQ Support Team ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 3,257 Chairperson of the Boards
edited August 2020 in MtGPQ General Discussion

UPDATE

1. When was the Afflict ability icon changed?
2. I continue to encounter changes in the game that aren’t announced. For example, the multicolor symbol was changed to a circle and the Afflict ability icon was changed. In other cases, cards with similar wording that don’t work the same can be updated to work the same, sometimes without announcement. Can we please receive timely and comprehensive change announcements as changes are made?
Answer (1 and 2): We have listed the change for the Multicolored Card icon to the Release Notes of the 4.3 release. The addition of the Afflict Ability icon we have missed to add. Thank you for pointing that out and please accept our apologies.

3. Odyssey and Torment sets feel out of place in the card set filters, which generally appear in order the sets were released in MtGPQ (except the Special “shooting star” set and Zendikar Vs Eldrazi). I feel it would make more organizational sense to include these set icons at the start of the legacy sets to represent their Status as older legacy sets and reduce confusion as they currently appear in line with standard rotation sets.
Answer: This is now part in the latest release 4.4.0. You have probably seen that already.

4. Is it possible to open the next Q&A thread as soon as the previous thread is closed?
Answer: Yes, we are doing this already. Thank you for the feedback.

5. 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.
Answer: We will take your feedback into account and will look into optimizing the Card Filter in that matter.

6. 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.
Answer: Yes, we have plans to make some changes in Daxos, to improve him and his abilities. We really want to make him a worthy opponent for Kalemne, which is currently called among the GDs as “The Truck”, as she literally tramples over any opponent. We usually say her name in the same way as an announcer would introduce the wrestlers of the night’s main fight. But we’re aware that Daxos deserves to be more than a “heel”.

7. Would you consider allowing us to swap runes for other currencies? I would propose 10,000 runes for 1 MJ and 8,000 runes for 1 MC.
Answer: There are no plans at the moment, but the idea is definitely interesting. Thank you for the feedback.

8. Could you send out another survey for things that you're considering doing so we can vote on it? Could you do this as an in-game notification?
Answer: Thank you, we will definitely check this possibility.

9.Are you planning on adding cards from Odyssey and Torment as in game avatars? The available avatars from new sets is pretty reduced compared to the amount of cards per set.
Answer: Yes. We will introduce these avatars with the release of Zendikar Rising. Then everyone will be able to wear Ambassador Laquatus’ poisonous smirk or Jeska’s trending face-painting.

10. Are you planning on releasing new PvE coalition events?
AnswerYes, we probably will release a new PvE Coalition event again. May be in a shorter format in terms of duration, but no plans so far.

11. Will we get an addition to origins that will remain standard to patch up some gaps  in the origins set? (like adding graveyard recursion, untargeted removal/exile and cards that make some of the set specific PW's viable again)
Answer: We have no plans so far for any adjustment or addition to the Origins collection, but thank you for bringing this up and for your feedback.

12. Are the devs thinking of cleaning up the UI? Like being able to hide unwanted PW's, or removing the exclusive tag on a card that is owned (once you own it, the exclusive serves no purpose)
Answer: Thank you for your feedback regarding the Exclusive Cards. We will take it into account. Would you mind giving a little bit more details when you say unwanted Planeswalkers, what do you mean by that?

13. With the new basic booster/vip booster rule in place, what can the devs offer to entice me to not turn my VIP off once I've earned and bought all my cards?
Answer: First of all, thank you for subscribing. Besides the non-duplicate Boosters that you have access to, there are additional benefits for each VIP Tier Level. We have recently updated the list in the FAQ. Check out the details here.

14. Can we get an option where animations are consolidated? For instance, when summoning 12 creature tokens you get the animation once with a big 12 over it or all the loyalty added in one go, but not buffing sequentially etc etc
Answer: Thank you for the feedback. We will take it into account and will look into optimizing the Game Experience for the topics you have mentioned.

15. I greatly enjoy this game.  Thank you. I was a fan of the Star Wars Force Collection game that, sadly, is now defunct. There were a couple aspects of that game that would be very cool adaptations to MTGPQ. 1. In coalition battles for free. At any time, you could challenge a team mate to see the strength of your deck   It allowed more experienced players see your formation and give pointers. 2. The option of trading duplicates. Get an extra rare or mythic?  Gift it to a teammate or trade it for another card you need. You could also keep the duplicate gems, which I really like, too. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Answer: Thank you very much for this detailed feedback. We are aware of similar requests regarding the Coalition feature, from former Q&A editions and also from other Forum members. The topic is definitely on our list, but there are some other topics that we are prioritizing at the moment. May the Spark be with you!

16. Have you considered using wildcards like used in MtG: Arena as a crafting method  (exchange a mythic wild card to a mythic of your choice) and a pity timer (opening dupes eventually gives you a wildcard reward) or are we forever under the whims of random-number-generator?
Answer: Currently our efforts are directed to the development of new upcoming features, and we have no plans for changing the game’s crafting system so soon. But we are always studying new possibilities regarding the game’s card pool.

17. I happen to have hundreds of boosters for sets I have completed in my Vault. While I appreciate the mana orbs I can get from them, I would also be interested in a way to open them faster (like choose a number of boosters to be opened, just receive a listing of received runes, orbs and new cards without animations). Any chance you could help us here?
Answer: Thank you for the feedback. We will take it into account and will look into improvements for the described situation.

18. I find it odd that there are 3 different soldier tokens.  What I mean by this is the wording for the token and different pictures.  I have made a list of the 3 token types and the cards that fall into them. First is soldier (Murder Investigation), 2nd is Soldier-Human (Ironroot Warlord, Skyknight Vanguard, Ancestral Blade, Memorial to Glory, Decree of Justice, Heroic Reinforcements), and 3rd is Human-soldier (Commanding presence, Ulvenwald Mysteries, Strength of Arms, Omen of the Sun, Hero of the Nyxborn, Sigarda, Heron's Grace). It would make it easier if all these cards were 1 wording for soldier tokens. Just pick one of the 3 wordings and the same art work. Like Human-soldier.

Answer: We’re aware of this concern and our GD team is studying some options to better solve this issue. Our main approach to this matter in some sets is the insertion of key cards with the Leader ability, but standardizing most of the game’s tokens is definitely something included in our plans.

Or maybe we could give the Changeling ability to all tokens and mix up all of them together. Well, this is not the best idea ever… But would finally enable us to launch one of our GD’s most-wanted "From the Vault" sets: Slivers! 

19. Are there plans in the future to make tri- color Planeswalkers without blue in them.  Here just a few ones I thought of Sarkahn red green black,  Tamioyo white green red or white black red Planeswalker.

Answer: With the exception of a few original Planeswalkers in MagicPQ, like Fblthp, Daxos, Kalemne, or The Eldrazi Desolation, we’re restricted to follow the original Planeswalker’s colors of their paper version. So, we can’t create versions of Tamiyo that is Red or Black, for example, unless she is printed with one of these colors.

However, our creative team has plans to make every single Planeswalker ever-printed to be playable in MagicPQ. Well, they kind of want to give a Spark to a bunch of other characters as well… Such as Colfenor, Zedruu, Phelddagrif, Norin, Stangg, the Sliver Queen, Acornelia, the Myr Battlesphere, Lin Sivvi, some dogs, a few squids, and so on.


20. In the card collection UI, may we have an option to see only unowned cards? and an option to select standard only?

Answer: We will take your feedback into account and will look into optimizing the Card Filter, together with the observations from Question #5.


21. I just learned this page exists. Why hasn’t it been updated with recent sets?

Answer: After the release of War of the Sparks (WAR) the Card Galleries have been moved to the Facebook page of Magic: Puzzle Quest. Access the page here.


22. What is the programmed logic behind the Challenge of the Court charges? I recently played this event to a perfect score and finished 5 points behind 1st place to someone who apparently simply had more charges than I did. I thought I had done everything right to maximize my charges, including winning all four of my 1st matches on each node, playing them all within a handful of hours of joining, and joining fairly early in the event (started in ~60th). Even that did not prove to be enough to secure 1st place with a perfect score. Related to this question: Can this system be improved?

Answer: Thank you for the detailed feedback. Please could you send your UID to the support and explain in detail what happened so that they can take a further look?


23. Have you considered a price cut for legacy packs? It can be really hard for new players to get up to speed on older cards to build up a legacy collection, and that problem will only get worse in a few months when 4 more sets drop into the legacy pool. At some point it will become nearly impossible for a new player to be competitive in legacy due to the card total in that grouping. If I could get SOI or IXL packs for half (or less) of what they are currently for a five-pack, I'd certainly take my chances on a few packs during a relevant event. The price is already cut on crafting orbs - lets just spread the discount love around! Maybe pair this with some set restrictions for legacy events to spice it up, but also encourage people to get some cards for those sets? I would be even more inclined to spend on old packs if I had to play an event limited to just the old set. Keep up the good work!

Answer: Thank you very much for the feedback. Sorry, we can’t say much here yet. But the set restriction idea for Legacy events might be interesting for the future, and this could be something our team might look into.


24. Any plans to speed up gameplay further, either for all players, or just expert players, or just those players who opt to turn off slow FX in their options?

Answer: Thank you for the feedback. Our answer here is similar to Question #14 therefore we have more or less the same answer and we will look into optimizing the Game Experience in terms of FX.


25. Are you planning on making Vanguard cards craftable? WAR vanguards would soon become Legacy cards and I don't see why we shouldn't be able to craft them given the limited use for Legacy cards. Also, those are the only ones that are not non duplicate guaranteed.

Answer: There are no plans yet for the Vanguard Cards to enter Booster Crafting.


26. Why do some supports have no subtype? We have lands, enchantments, artifacts, vanguards... but some (like Nissa's Pilgrimage, or Hixus, some supports created by a Planeswalker) have no subtype! It kinda makes no sense?! Especially as almost every support destruction card now printed targets specific support subtypes. It makes these supports super hard to get rid of, and creates a bottleneck in design around Demolish which blows up everything on the cheap.

Answer: We are updating most of those cards that are typeless with the release of ZNR.

Observation: We know that some of our answers in regards to questions about new features and questions and feedback related to your ideas seem repetitive. It has to do more with the fact that we often can't say much about upcoming features nor give an estimate on when these ideas could potentially come to the game.

--------------------

Hi,

How are you? I hope you are all safe and healthy!
Here's another Q&A SESSION.
The July edition is officially open! smiley 
The form will be available until July 17, so please send your questions and doubts HERE.

Thank you for all the support,
Marcela.

Comments

  • Magic:PQ Support Team
    Magic:PQ Support Team ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 3,257 Chairperson of the Boards

    Hi everyone, 

    Just to inform you that I know the Q&A answers are a little bit late this month and I apologize.
    I will get them to you next week!

    Thank you for your patience,
    Marcela.
  • jtwood
    jtwood Posts: 1,285 Chairperson of the Boards
    Hoping these are on tap for this week :)
  • jtwood
    jtwood Posts: 1,285 Chairperson of the Boards
    jtwood said:
    Hoping these are on tap for this week :)
    Sorry. It’s hard to tell when this has been updated, since the post edit doesn’t make it look like the thread has been updated. 
  • soultwist
    soultwist Posts: 325 Mover and Shaker
    in Answer #11 you said no adjustments to origins, but then in #26 you mention fixing type less cards in the next release (the question calling out origins cards).  


  • jtwood
    jtwood Posts: 1,285 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2020

    22. What is the programmed logic behind the Challenge of the Court charges? I recently played this event to a perfect score and finished 5 points behind 1st place to someone who apparently simply had more charges than I did. I thought I had done everything right to maximize my charges, including winning all four of my 1st matches on each node, playing them all within a handful of hours of joining, and joining fairly early in the event (started in ~60th). Even that did not prove to be enough to secure 1st place with a perfect score. Related to this question: Can this system be improved?

    Answer: Thank you for the detailed feedback. Please could you send your UID to the support and explain in detail what happened so that they can take a further look?
    I did this, but they dug their feet in on a response that the maximum score for CotC was 360 points all the time. But that is only true for the first handful of times that event fires. I think that even just 8 hours later, nodes 2-4 will start to lose charges in new pods, which will suppress that pod's maximum score below 360 points. But they weren't willing to discuss it. I left the ticket by asking that they consider that CotC node timers are bugged and investigate it accordingly. I did not get the impression that was going to happen in part because one of their responses included them telling me that most players don't even try to rank (I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean, but it sounds like they were telling me to not worry about finishing in 1st place because most people don't even try for that).
    Where this event gets really weird is that it seems likely that contestants in the same 250-player pod can have different numbers of charges available to them based on a combination of when their particular pod launched and when they joined. This results in some players never even having a chance to finish in first place even if they play every charge as quickly as possible.
    I think this is due to the fact that the node timers on nodes 2-4 don't start until the previous node has had at least one win completed on it, but node 1 has a timer that starts as soon as the entire event launches. It's super weird, which is why I asked here if it was possible to publish how the node charges work in CotC. It's not easy to discern.
    Personally, this matters to me because the event ends at 5am my time and I generally have to set an alarm at 4am to get up and have a chance at completing the event. One time, I did that only to realize I never had a chance at 1st place because someone else simply had more charges than I did (the person that finished ahead of me didn't even have a perfect score while I had won all of my matches).


  • andrewvanmarle
    andrewvanmarle Posts: 971 Critical Contributor

    UPDATE



    12. Are the devs thinking of cleaning up the UI? Like being able to hide unwanted PW's, or removing the exclusive tag on a card that is owned (once you own it, the exclusive serves no purpose)
    Answer: Thank you for your feedback regarding the Exclusive Cards. We will take it into account. Would you mind giving a little bit more details when you say unwanted Planeswalkers, what do you mean by that?

    Thank you for all the support,
    Marcela.
    Hi Marcella,

    When i say unwanted planeswalkers I mean the ones I own but don't play anymore, either because they are lacklustre from the beginning or dont work with the current meta.

    I own almost all the PW's but end up playing with less than half of them at a time.

    I'd like to hide the PW's from the selection screens and only see then in the actual PW menu so I don't clutter up the selection when playing an event.......
  • Nyarlathotep
    Nyarlathotep Posts: 92 Match Maker
    edited August 2020
    2. I continue to encounter changes in the game that aren’t announced. For example, the multicolor symbol was changed to a circle and the Afflict ability icon was changed. In other cases, cards with similar wording that don’t work the same can be updated to work the same, sometimes without announcement. Can we please receive timely and comprehensive change announcements as changes are made?
    Answer (1 and 2): We have listed the change for the Multicolored Card icon to the Release Notes of the 4.3 release. The addition of the Afflict Ability icon we have missed to add. Thank you for pointing that out and please accept our apologies.



    Well, it could help if we had one single thread, where we could re-read the latest patch notes.
    But half of them are buried under pages of absolutely long dead threads somewhere in general chat, while the other, erm, let's say half of them is to be found in some other thread with only around half of those half being stickied. 

    I noticed that a while ago and it drives me completely nuts everytime I search for stuff that is asked frequently. 

    Not having a single point of entry for all the knowledge seekers? 
    Why is that the case and I hope the guy who thought that was a great idea gets fired. 

  • Tremayne
    Tremayne Posts: 1,607 Chairperson of the Boards
    @Nyarlathotep - isn’t the news and announcements section what you are looking for? https://forums.d3go.com/categories/mtgpq-news-announcements
  • Nyarlathotep
    Nyarlathotep Posts: 92 Match Maker
    edited August 2020
    Most defenitely not. 
    I thi k we have had more changes applied to the game than just 3.9.1, 4.0 and 4.4
    What I am looking for is all of those notes grouped up in one thread. 
    But half of the patch notes is in general discussion on page 2, 3, 5 and so on, the other half is where you point out that some of the notes are. 
    Wouldn't it be better to have them all grouped up in a thread, without anything in between?
    I mean that's how it is almost everywhere else.... 

  • jtwood
    jtwood Posts: 1,285 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2020
    Yes, it's totally a conspiracy and intentional and not at all the result of someone just being overworked, (probably) underpaid, and constantly harassed during their job
  • Tremayne
    Tremayne Posts: 1,607 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2020
    @Nyarlathotep - Sorry, I misunderstood you point, so is it correct that what you are asking for, is the rules to MTGPQ? And changes to said rules are collected in one spot so that you can read what the correct behaviour is intended to be?

    If so, see my message footer, I think that I have requested this for almost 2 years now and still no rules or collected change log is on the horizon.

    @jtwood - While I agree that critman is a bit rough in his criticism, I think he has a point. I believe that a big reason the devs. on MTGPQ are so much behind all the time is that they do not have a set of proper rules to guide them during development, leading them to a huge backlog of bugs and Marcela constantly having to spend time on this forum trying to clarify card interactions.

    Basically, their attempt to save time on the rules, are costing them mountains of time in the bug phase.
  • Volrak
    Volrak Posts: 732 Critical Contributor
    Well, it could help if we had one single thread, where we could re-read the latest patch notes.
    But half of them are buried under pages of absolutely long dead threads somewhere in general chat, while the other, erm, let's say half of them is to be found in some other thread with only around half of those half being stickied. 

    I noticed that a while ago and it drives me completely nuts everytime I search for stuff that is asked frequently. 
    Try https://wiki.mtgpq.info/wiki/Game_history - the first column links to the release notes for each release.

    (Mtgpq wiki: increasing players' sanity since 2018.)
  • Nyarlathotep
    Nyarlathotep Posts: 92 Match Maker
    Volrak said:
    Well, it could help if we had one single thread, where we could re-read the latest patch notes.
    But half of them are buried under pages of absolutely long dead threads somewhere in general chat, while the other, erm, let's say half of them is to be found in some other thread with only around half of those half being stickied. 

    I noticed that a while ago and it drives me completely nuts everytime I search for stuff that is asked frequently. 
    Try https://wiki.mtgpq.info/wiki/Game_history - the first column links to the release notes for each release.

    (Mtgpq wiki: increasing players' sanity since 2018.)
    Thank you, I used it before and will probably come back to it. 
    Its just strange that we have to fall back to a wiki and that we do not have a thread for this and nothing else. 


    @Tremayne yes, it might have been a bit hard to read, but that is what I was asking for.
    Again. 
    Like the 1000 ppl before me.
    xD 
  • jtwood
    jtwood Posts: 1,285 Chairperson of the Boards
    edited August 2020
    "4. Is it possible to open the next Q&A thread as soon as the previous thread is closed?
    AnswerYes, we are doing this already. Thank you for the feedback"

    I sure hope I’m not overlooking something when I ask: When will we get the August Q&A thread?
  • Magic:PQ Support Team
    Magic:PQ Support Team ADMINISTRATORS Posts: 3,257 Chairperson of the Boards
    Hi @jtwood
    Thank you for the heads up!
    We're having a few new/unknown issues in the game lately and it's taking a lot of my time.
    I apologize for the delay!
    The August Q&A thread is already opened.

    Thank you for your patience,
    Marcela.