Valve gave out more details about Artifact, including some public APIs and pre-order is up

Haven't really gotten into any of these card games (except The Witcher 3 minigame :D ). I was mildly interested in this as a potential entry point, but then I learned...

Additional packs of cards will be $1.99, each pack has 12 random cards. You will also be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Market.

...that it has gambling mechanics. No thanks.


Last edited by Brisse on 12 November 2018 at 11:08 am UTC

So basically 2 decks of 54 cards and 120 cards in 10 packs with (at least) one rare card per pack. That's 228 cards with 20 heroes to start out with.

Now the big question is what this will bring you if you try to play this game seriously and want to get good at it. Technically the five gauntlet entry tickets could provide you with an infinite source of new entries and card packs if you are really good at the game. But what are the odds of that. This means that the "need" for rare cards and how the market will develop will be something to look at for this game. One good thing I noticed (from the little I understood of the game during the tournament) is that even the good/rare cards come with consequences, so it may not be all about getting those.

Since I haven't played anything like that since playing Magic The Gathering with actual physical cards a few decades ago, I'm inclined to at least jump in for the base package and see if I enjoy this.

I have made an exception and preordered Artifact :) I dislike the pack buying mechanic though. I hope there are other ways to get the cards and this is not pay-to-win.

Haven't really gotten into any of these card games (except The Witcher 3 minigame :D ). I was mildly interested in this as a potential entry point, but then I learned...

Additional packs of cards will be $1.99, each pack has 12 random cards. You will also be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Market.

...that it has gambling mechanics. No thanks.

In fairness, this is exactly how physical trading card games work. You buy packs of cards and get random cards inside.

Haven't really gotten into any of these card games (except The Witcher 3 minigame :D ). I was mildly interested in this as a potential entry point, but then I learned...

Additional packs of cards will be $1.99, each pack has 12 random cards. You will also be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Market.

...that it has gambling mechanics. No thanks.

In fairness, this is exactly how physical trading card games work. You buy packs of cards and get random cards inside.

I know, but that doesn't make it not gambling.

Kinda hopeing can do a -gl as an argument so can run it on the laptop as well.
Vulkan on the old hd 4000, displays white bars instead of text for some reason -_-.

Will the price be the same at launch ?
I want to buy it, but waiting for more opinions.

Considering how much such packs cost for real-life card games, that price is actually quite reasonable I think.

I'm not sure it's pertinent to compare the two... Considering how different the production means and costs are and the fact that you don't have to pay for distribution and resellers, I'd be upset if those virtual cards were not noticeably cheaper than real ones. Add the fact that Valve will get a cut of every player trade on top of selling the cards in the first place, and Wizards of the Coast should be jealous if this becomes popular ^_^

Considering how much such packs cost for real-life card games, that price is actually quite reasonable I think.

I'm not sure it's pertinent to compare the two... Considering how different the production means and costs are and the fact that you don't have to pay for distribution and resellers, I'd be upset if those virtual cards were not noticeably cheaper than real ones. Add the fact that Valve will get a cut of every player trade on top of selling the cards in the first place, and Wizards of the Coast should be jealous if this becomes popular ^_^

Considering the cost of a single starter deck for stuff in the UK, it's vastly cheaper to buy Artifact. You also get the convenience factor on top of that, being able to play anyone anywhere. I'm happy with the pricing personally.

Also another important piece of information that Liam won't include:

€17,95

:P

Besides the question how much playing competitive decks in Artifact may cost in the end (the good cards probably will ending up costing more on the Steam market, I guess?), the open question for me is: Will Artifact be enjoyable to play?

I watched the Artifact tournament stream with Kripp's (a Twitch streamer) explanations alongside and Dane's "teaching Artifact" stream today. I like games like chess and Faeria and watch MTG Arena streams on Twitch (although I can't play the game myself because it doesn't run on Wine for me) - so Artifact should interest me. But the game just doesn't look to be fun or interesting to play. For Linux I hope the game will be a hit but just a word of warning here: Hedge your expectations. And have a look at Faeria if you think your gaming mind works similar to mine because then you can't go wrong with Faeria.

My problem is that while I like card games, I'm also terribly bad at them, and don't really have a card game guru to teach me, walk me through deckbuilding and the like. So while I like the mechanics of TCGs and the lore and the art, I just can't justify paying up front cash for a game I already know I'm going to suck at and become frustrated by long before I start to gain any degree of competence.

That's one advantage of the F2P model, at least I can goof around with a game like Hearthstone for that brief period of time before my incompetence catches up to me.

Guess like anything, just learn and understand how to use the starter decks first.
Get a feeling for how the game plays.
Theres going to be a lot of people playing the game in the same boat as us (not being very good at these games).
The only way we will get better is by playing and watching other people play!

My problem is that while I like card games, I'm also terribly bad at them, and don't really have a card game guru to teach me, walk me through deckbuilding and the like. So while I like the mechanics of TCGs and the lore and the art, I just can't justify paying up front cash for a game I already know I'm going to suck at and become frustrated by long before I start to gain any degree of competence.

That's one advantage of the F2P model, at least I can goof around with a game like Hearthstone for that brief period of time before my incompetence catches up to me.

That's one thing I like about Faeria. On many occasions the puzzle mode has made me go "oh, I can do that?" and strategize differently, and since the missions are preset you can retry them in a variety of different ways until you beat them, and try out new approaches as you do. I've gotten to a point where I can beat most regular missions with my main deck, but also sometimes I'm faced with a very specialized challenge and I know what kind of cards I'll need in a focused deck to counter it. It's been a really fun experience so far, and the tactical play on the board adds a much-needed dimension to take out the dryness of "just deck-building," in my taste.

Unfortunately for you it's not free-to-play anymore, but I find that there's plenty of solo content to justify the price if you don't want to measure up to more experienced players (I've played over 40 hours so far, all against AI).

Haven't really gotten into any of these card games (except The Witcher 3 minigame :D ). I was mildly interested in this as a potential entry point, but then I learned...

Additional packs of cards will be $1.99, each pack has 12 random cards. You will also be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Market.

...that it has gambling mechanics. No thanks.

In fairness, this is exactly how physical trading card games work. You buy packs of cards and get random cards inside.

I know, but that doesn't make it not gambling.

It isn't gambling because you always get something for your money though, this is how loot box type micro transactions skirt around gambling.

My problem is that while I like card games, I'm also terribly bad at them, and don't really have a card game guru to teach me, walk me through deckbuilding and the like. So while I like the mechanics of TCGs and the lore and the art, I just can't justify paying up front cash for a game I already know I'm going to suck at and become frustrated by long before I start to gain any degree of competence.

That's one advantage of the F2P model, at least I can goof around with a game like Hearthstone for that brief period of time before my incompetence catches up to me.

That's one thing I like about Faeria. On many occasions the puzzle mode has made me go "oh, I can do that?" and strategize differently, and since the missions are preset you can retry them in a variety of different ways until you beat them, and try out new approaches as you do. I've gotten to a point where I can beat most regular missions with my main deck, but also sometimes I'm faced with a very specialized challenge and I know what kind of cards I'll need in a focused deck to counter it. It's been a really fun experience so far, and the tactical play on the board adds a much-needed dimension to take out the dryness of "just deck-building," in my taste.

Unfortunately for you it's not free-to-play anymore, but I find that there's plenty of solo content to justify the price if you don't want to measure up to more experienced players (I've played over 40 hours so far, all against AI).

Honestly, if I were to try a pay-up-front card game it would almost certainly be Faeria.

I'm OK with the pack idea because I'm a _very_ casual MTG player with physical cards. After I get tired of my decks, I don't mind buying a $20 pack from a recent season to freshen up what I have. You don't always know if you're going to like the characters and levels in a PC game expansion. I guess if you're trying to buy a bunch of packs because you want a certain card, then you're gambling. I don't get into enough to be that concerned. I just want new cards after a while.

Haven't really gotten into any of these card games (except The Witcher 3 minigame :D ). I was mildly interested in this as a potential entry point, but then I learned...

Additional packs of cards will be $1.99, each pack has 12 random cards. You will also be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Market.

...that it has gambling mechanics. No thanks.

In fairness, this is exactly how physical trading card games work. You buy packs of cards and get random cards inside.

I know, but that doesn't make it not gambling.

It isn't gambling because you always get something for your money though, this is how loot box type micro transactions skirt around gambling.

Legally speaking, sure, but spending money to get something that may or may not be entirely devoid of value to you, or whose value is essentially random within limits, in addition to being arbitrary and subject to changes made to the game, is hardly better than risking your money in a game of chance. At least in most games of chance, you can walk away with your money and your earnings aren't designed to keep making profit for "the house," unlike Valve taking a cut of every subsequent trade in this case and controlling your Steam wallet. Unlike WotC with MTG, Valve owns the entire ecosystem this game exists in. You may or may not get your money's worth in entertainment, but you will definitely not make any real money out of it. So I would agree that it is not gambling in that sense, but arguably it is worse than gambling.

Haven't really gotten into any of these card games (except The Witcher 3 minigame :D ). I was mildly interested in this as a potential entry point, but then I learned...

Additional packs of cards will be $1.99, each pack has 12 random cards. You will also be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Market.

...that it has gambling mechanics. No thanks.

In fairness, this is exactly how physical trading card games work. You buy packs of cards and get random cards inside.

I know, but that doesn't make it not gambling.

It isn't gambling because you always get something for your money though, this is how loot box type micro transactions skirt around gambling.

Legally speaking, sure, but spending money to get something that may or may not be entirely devoid of value to you, or whose value is essentially random within limits, in addition to being arbitrary and subject to changes made to the game, is hardly better than risking your money in a game of chance. At least in most games of chance, you can walk away with your money and your earnings aren't designed to keep making profit for "the house," unlike Valve taking a cut of every subsequent trade in this case and controlling your Steam wallet. Unlike WotC with MTG, Valve owns the entire ecosystem this game exists in. You may or may not get your money's worth in entertainment, but you will definitely not make any real money out of it. So I would agree that it is not gambling in that sense, but arguably it is worse than gambling.

This applies to every single purchase you make on your steam account though, you can't make any real money because you can't transfer anything on your account short of selling the whole account.

Haven't really gotten into any of these card games (except The Witcher 3 minigame :D ). I was mildly interested in this as a potential entry point, but then I learned...

Additional packs of cards will be $1.99, each pack has 12 random cards. You will also be able to buy and sell cards on the Steam Market.

...that it has gambling mechanics. No thanks.

In fairness, this is exactly how physical trading card games work. You buy packs of cards and get random cards inside.

I know, but that doesn't make it not gambling.

It isn't gambling because you always get something for your money though, this is how loot box type micro transactions skirt around gambling.

Legally speaking, sure, but spending money to get something that may or may not be entirely devoid of value to you, or whose value is essentially random within limits, in addition to being arbitrary and subject to changes made to the game, is hardly better than risking your money in a game of chance. At least in most games of chance, you can walk away with your money and your earnings aren't designed to keep making profit for "the house," unlike Valve taking a cut of every subsequent trade in this case and controlling your Steam wallet. Unlike WotC with MTG, Valve owns the entire ecosystem this game exists in. You may or may not get your money's worth in entertainment, but you will definitely not make any real money out of it. So I would agree that it is not gambling in that sense, but arguably it is worse than gambling.

This applies to every single purchase you make on your steam account though, you can't make any real money because you can't transfer anything on your account short of selling the whole account.

Correct, but unless you're a compulsive buyer, the odds of the games you purchase vanishing before you play them and your money being wasted* are fairly low, whereas a blind booster purchase can easily turn out to be a net loss*.

*relative to whatever value you place on those entertainment services