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Cost comparison between "card game" games
anemo
Member RarePosts: 1,903
Every so often I get a nice temptation to get into MTG, though due to my crazy schedule it's always tempting to go online... As part of that look I found a nice little guide for the prices you can expect for competitive decks, that also includes other games: https://www.mtggoldfish.com/articles/how-expensive-is-magic-online
For the interesting part for TLDR-ers
MTGO: about half of what paper cards costs (but still $100, to $X,XXX). With some fun options for cheaper decks and play styles (unofficial penny dreadful touries, official pauper play styles, and just playing with people that are sane).
Hearthstone: $106
Eternal: $80
Hex: $142
Pokemon Online: Too contorted to easily measure, but likely cheapest.
_________________
I guess that explains why companies were so fast to try to spam their own card game, that even when Valve wasn't bothering to make games they managed to find the muster to announce their own card game. Since you'll end up with two types of players, those that "play forever" to get their unlocks (not an option for MTGO) and those that pay the price of two to three games for your one game.
While these games do play at "MMO scale", I wish someone would release an actual MMORPG that offers the complexity/thoughtfulness of a cardgame for their combat. Not everything needs to be designed for looking good with particle effects and twitchy gameplay.
For the interesting part for TLDR-ers
MTGO: about half of what paper cards costs (but still $100, to $X,XXX). With some fun options for cheaper decks and play styles (unofficial penny dreadful touries, official pauper play styles, and just playing with people that are sane).
Hearthstone: $106
Eternal: $80
Hex: $142
Pokemon Online: Too contorted to easily measure, but likely cheapest.
_________________
I guess that explains why companies were so fast to try to spam their own card game, that even when Valve wasn't bothering to make games they managed to find the muster to announce their own card game. Since you'll end up with two types of players, those that "play forever" to get their unlocks (not an option for MTGO) and those that pay the price of two to three games for your one game.
While these games do play at "MMO scale", I wish someone would release an actual MMORPG that offers the complexity/thoughtfulness of a cardgame for their combat. Not everything needs to be designed for looking good with particle effects and twitchy gameplay.
Practice doesn't make perfect, practice makes permanent.
"At one point technology meant making tech that could get to the moon, now it means making tech that could get you a taxi."
Comments
If it's anything like MTG:Duels that they had on the phone you can earn the currency needed for more booster packs by either playing the game or swiping. It seems to be a more advanced version of duels from the very little I know about it so far.
I played Duels from shortly after it's release until they stopped creating content for it, never put a single dollar in, and had a blast playing it. Made some very effective and deadly decks.
So I'd keep your eyes open for MTG Arena. May be a very cheap way to get your Magic fix.
Cryomatrix
You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.
I was an experienced magic player coming in to using that app and it made me a lot stronger through more frequent practice. The downside is since it is no longer being updated it's harder to find matches these days, hence why I am interested to see if Arena fills the Duels sized hole in my life.
I must learn how to play them but the real physical card games are too rich for me. I was talking about games like Hearthstone which was the videos I watched. I guess if I found a good video that makes the explanation more interesting and enjoyable I may actually learn to play.
I like having access to both modes of play.
There's a wiki as well and a bunch of online resources to see specific rules, as the cards tend to have a lot more depth than normal CCG's.
i sold my entire collection of mtgo cards and made $2k with roughly $400 spent over a period of 2 or 3 years. (from innistrad until KTK, granted i didn't play much nor did i try to invest in anything. had i done that i probably would have made over 5k maybe more)
regarding mtg:arena, i've been playing since the first invite wave a couple months ago and while it is much more polished than mtgo (not really hard), they really need to make the progression much better. it is extremely slow to build up your collection.
it's mtg and it's unmatched within the card games in my opinion and despite not being a big fan of standard, i've been enjoying playing magic again a lot.
i would love to have access to modern but it sadly will never happen and will forever be gated behind the abomination that is the mtgo client.
I have played ALL of these tcg games and i know the costs.
Using Hearthstone as an example,your not getting anywhere with one deck,matter of fact if you want to go into tournaments you'll need pretty much ha top tier deck from almost every class.
W/o getting into the math,i have done it before but to get even one solid deck is more like $200 but the VALUE from that 200 is far less than MTG where you can actually sell your cards instead of the 5 dust Blizzard gives you or the 400 dust for a legendary that takes 3 of those.To get 3 takes a lot of packs 60-70 just to get 1 legendary crafted but as i said the value is very low considering the total dust versus money spent.
There is another distinct difference within the MTG structure.Doing drafts you keep your cards.so you might need 3 packs to enter but can come away with a rare if you want to pick it.Win these small drafts and come away with several packs,in less time that it takes to get those packs doing quests in HS.
Furthermore in HS there is no UI built in the game so a VERY lazy Blizzard team that has already had 3 years to get it right.
Oh it goes far deeper.
So in HS you actually need to WIN to get that gold to buy packs,with nothing to start it might take you forever just to complete one quest.Do people really have 6 hours a day to play for 100 gold to buy one pack,then you only get 1 new quest each day for maybe 40-60 gold.
A game i actually found fun and didn't need to spend a lot was Duelyst.
Still bottom line is MTG is the best overall design and you actually OWN your cards.Now i don't know how this new online Arena works,i only played two games and wasn't impressed at the difference in levels /cards from a noob rank 1 to rank 4/5,you literally have no chance.However it is p2w in every single one of these tcg's so going in your expect it but imo it isn't right.
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Cryomatrix
You can see my sci-fi/WW2 book recommendations.