Arcane Wonders Forum
Mage Wars => Player Feedback and Suggestions => Topic started by: paulylol on October 31, 2012, 03:12:19 AM
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Hello fellow Mage Wars players, first things first I'm happy that I've bought this awesome game, the only problem so far I've had is the dice, but you can always think about average rolls so it lessens the luck. But to the main topic - I'm your basic enthustiastic gamer, I get hyped about new games, I wanna test them out etc etc. but there's one problem still in the ''card gaming business'' even though the classical collectible card game format is dropped. I'm talking about not getting all the cards for reasonable price. I've had this same problem with Fantasy Flight Games Warhammer Invasion and Android Netrunner.
So what I'm asking is, please, be the first company to make it easy to get all the cards and for reasonable price. The problem is for hardcore gamer like me that you can include six level one spells and four of higher level spells. I would need to buy probably four (or more even?) boxes of Mage Wars.
I do realize that selling cards cheaper / in more affordable collection box seems quite risky. But there are probably many players who don't get into card games like this because ''oh I can get in with just 50$ BUT if I want to be competitive I have to spend 300$''.
So make a man's dream come true and make a box compatitible with the core box which would give max ammount of all cards - even better would be the ammount for two players :)
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Hello fellow Mage Wars players, first things first I'm happy that I've bought this awesome game, the only problem so far I've had is the dice, but you can always think about average rolls so it lessens the luck. But to the main topic - I'm your basic enthustiastic gamer, I get hyped about new games, I wanna test them out etc etc. but there's one problem still in the ''card gaming business'' even though the classical collectible card game format is dropped. I'm talking about not getting all the cards for reasonable price. I've had this same problem with Fantasy Flight Games Warhammer Invasion and Android Netrunner.
So what I'm asking is, please, be the first company to make it easy to get all the cards and for reasonable price. The problem is for hardcore gamer like me that you can include six level one spells and four of higher level spells. I would need to buy probably four (or more even?) boxes of Mage Wars.
I do realize that selling cards cheaper / in more affordable collection box seems quite risky. But there are probably many players who don't get into card games like this because ''oh I can get in with just 50$ BUT if I want to be competitive I have to spend 300$''.
So make a man's dream come true and make a box compatitible with the core box which would give max ammount of all cards - even better would be the ammount for two players :)
Hello, Nekra. Welcome to the forum.
Am I correct in reasoning that you are requesting packs of cards, sans board, dice, tokens, etc? That would probably be do-able from a financial standpoint, but it is an unlikely scenario from the perspective of hosting a sound business model.
The better alternative is that Arcane Wonders follows the reasonable and sound business model of redistribution through expansion, which is a concept enveloping the release of new cards for the base game in tandem with reprints of older, popular cards from the base game. This serves multiple purposes in that it increases the card pool (expands the broader game and enriches the game through added stock) and lowers the barrier for "suitcase" players and collectors, allowing them to (albeit on a schedule restricted by release) gradually fulfill complete "playsets" of every card in the game.
This formula is in use by a few companies, already, and is tried-and-true.
Under the current distribution, it is perfectly possible to be a "competitive" (whatever that means...there is no organized play system yet in place) Mage Wars player with only the base game and 1 or 2 copies of the current expansion.
Good Gaming.
-nihil
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1st: if you want to use more copies (legal) then you have available, take some little paper and write down the spell on it. Replace the paper with the according spell when possible.
2nd: if a certain spell is limited, face it and make the best of it.
Isn't that the beauty of these games. Looking for the best strategy with any given combinations instead of altering combinations to get the best strategy?
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Am I correct in reasoning that you are requesting packs of cards, sans board, dice, tokens, etc? That would probably be do-able from a financial standpoint, but it is an unlikely scenario from the perspective of hosting a sound business model.
I only wish more cards, I do not have need for boards, dice etc.
The better alternative is that Arcane Wonders follows the reasonable and sound business model of redistribution through expansion, which is a concept enveloping the release of new cards for the base game in tandem with reprints of older, popular cards from the base game. This serves multiple purposes in that it increases the card pool (expands the broader game and enriches the game through added stock) and lowers the barrier for "suitcase" players and collectors, allowing them to (albeit on a schedule restricted by release) gradually fulfill complete "playsets" of every card in the game.
I do see the point of redistributing more cards in upcoming expansions but the problem is they are upcoming. And for me, being competitive means that I can have maximum amount of any card I deem powerful, take example of Magic the Gathering, you usually want to max the most important cards for your deck in order it to run well.
2nd: if a certain spell is limited, face it and make the best of it.
Isn't that the beauty of these games. Looking for the best strategy with any given combinations instead of altering combinations to get the best strategy?
Playing Sealed format is different kind of thing, in deckbuilding I wish to have all the options available. If I want to have four of those legendary creatures in my spellbook, then I should be able to do it.
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I totally agree with Nekra, since MW insist this is not a CCG or a LCG it should be sold as a Board Game, meaning it should be complete. I should not have to buy extra Base Set or Core Set to be able to play it, if I'm allowed X copies of a card I should have it right from the start. Having to buy more cards makes it a CCG in reality.
This game is awesome, I love it, but to play it the way it should be, I had to buy 2 Base Set and 2 Core Set 1, something I won't be doing for the Forcemaster expansion. So I really wish they will sell the expansions with all the copies the rules permits.
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I totally agree with Nekra, since MW insist this is not a CCG or a LCG it should be sold as a Board Game, meaning it should be complete.
It is
I should not have to buy extra Base Set or Core Set to be able to play it.
You don't
if I'm allowed X copies of a card I should have it right from the start. Having to buy more cards makes it a CCG in reality.
Most people don't want to pay $100 for a board game.
Since if you want all the cards you can get them I really don't know what the fuss is about.
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If it was complete I wouldn't have to buy extra copies, I'd rather pay $100.00 and be done with it. Most people might not want to rebuy a game that they already bought either. People might also want to play a game to is fullest, maybe you're happy with a partial game but others might see it differently. Most people bought the Base and one Core Spell dishing pretty close to $100.00 anyway so I don't see the fuss either.
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If it was complete I wouldn't have to buy extra copies...
Again, you don't have to. If you want to then that is one thing but the game is very playable and quite a lot of fun, and complete, in the core set.
You need to distinguish between wanting something and being required to buy it. Simply wanting to have more card options doesn't mean that they are necessary to play the game.
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Again, what is necessary or not is a subjective concept, to you it is not, you are satisfy to play with a fraction of the possibilty which is ok you save money, but other people think it's essential and a lot more fun when you can play with the whole array of possibilities. When you buy a game you expect to be able to execute all the stategies that are contain within that game. The point is: to play MW the way it is intended by the rules you have to buy many copies of the base set and the core set, with 2 copies of the base set and 2 of the core set 1 I still don't have the 6 copies of every level 1 spells and 4 copies of the higher level, that's $140.00 and still I don't have all the cards, so yes I would pay $100.00 for the base set with ALL the cards I'm allowed to play by the rules of this game. You see the fact that you don't need all the cards doesn't do any good to those who want them, for those people, which are just as important to MW than you, the game will be to expansive to follow and some will stop playing because of it. Do you catch my drift or do you still think that everybody should feel like you do and the heck with the rest?
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Do you catch my drift or do you still think that everybody should feel like you do and the heck with the rest?
I understand you. I just think that you're complaining about nothing of any actual concern.
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Actually he is not. I had raised this exact same question in a thread long, long ago. When you are doing a card game with multiples of cards allowed, there will be a certain subset of your customers (let's call them hardcore gamers for ease) who would want to have all the options. This is not a Mage Wars thing, it's a card game thing - Magic and all of FFG's LCGs are in the exact same boat. Magic is a CCG, however, and people know right out of the bat that they have to hunt for those cards. LCGs and MW, on the other hand, purport to not having to hunt cards. In my previous thread, I clearly stated that I am on-board with the Core Set being as it is - it's meant to present a playable and enjoyable experience from one box and it does. Hardcore gamers will just have to buy a couple + maybe some CSTs ... BUT ... this is where it needs to stop. Going forward, if this game intends to maintain an audience of said hardcore gamers, the products need to be assembled appropriately vis-a-vis card distribution. If they are not, this game cannot claim to be anything other than a casual one or it becomes a gigantic money sink, second only the evil Magic (okay, maybe some other CCGs that I am not aware of as well).
I have also bought 2 core sets in order to expand my options and I was even considering getting one of each CST but I decided against it - I am not starting down that path with this game. At the same time, I am among those hardcore gamers so I would expect to have a much more reasonable way to get cards from here on out. If not, this was not the game for me and I will have to relocate my board game budget elsewhere. Incidentally, I don't need 6x of every lvl 1 spell or 4 of every higher lvl, but the card distribution in the core set is rather off. You cannot have 1x of Hand of Bim Shalla (a lvl 1) or 1x Lash of Hellfire (pretty central to the equip Warlock and a priority Dissolve target) and build what I would consider a competitive deck including either. That's what it boils down to for me.
For reference, here is the older thread with everyone who agreed with this viewpoint "of no actual concern."
http://magewars.com/jsite/forum/player-feedback-and-suggestions/1101-card-distribution-in-future-products
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It seems there is a few who share my concerns about MW, I hope MW will take notice and find a way to ease the financial burden for those who want to play the game to its full capacity.
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An idea I had some time ago, which I posted and never got much notice, was I think a compromise between the casual gamers and the hardcore gamers in terms of the distribution of cards in future expansions.
it goes like this:
include 3 copies of all level 1 spells
2 copies of all higher level spells
1 copy of all epic spells
this would, I think, satisfy the casual gamer. and for the hard core gamer, yes, you would have to spend more to get the "full" set of cards, but you will only have to buy one extra copy of any given expansion (as opposed to 2 or 3 plus 2 or 3 of the tomes)
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I think the term is completist as opposed to hard core gamer. Not all hard-core gamers are completist and not all completist are hard core gamers. Many are both, but I am parsing words. I am a completist myself so I understand that point of view. I would say, that mage wars challenges my completist nature because I find I don't need all those copies of the spells.
When this topic was previously discussed I suggested arcane wonders having a single store where people could buy single copies or multiple copies of the cards they wanted. I still think this is the best way to accommodate everybody.
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This would be a great improvement, it still mean buying 2 copies of every expansion but I could live with that if the price is fair.
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it would be nice that there would be possibility to buy set of cards of owns choice for fixed price. for example 30 cards would cost $10. everybody can decide which cards he wants. Spell Tomes could still exist because there you get more cards for less amount of money (but you get set prepared by Arcane Wonders).
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An idea I had some time ago, which I posted and never got much notice, was I think a compromise between the casual gamers and the hardcore gamers in terms of the distribution of cards in future expansions.
it goes like this:
include 3 copies of all level 1 spells
2 copies of all higher level spells
1 copy of all epic spells
this would, I think, satisfy the casual gamer. and for the hard core gamer, yes, you would have to spend more to get the "full" set of cards, but you will only have to buy one extra copy of any given expansion (as opposed to 2 or 3 plus 2 or 3 of the tomes)
I must say this would be an awesome improvement Arcane Wonders should really consider!
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theduke850's idea is perfect for me. I can't help but think it wouldn't work for everybody. I think if Arcane Wonders adopted that model for expansions and started selling singles in their online store almost everyone would be satisfied. I would guess some people will want extra copies but only of very specific cards. For example one might only want to play the priestess and therefore only want the extra copies of the cards for their various priestess builds. I doubt they would want to buy 2 forcemaster vs warlord sets for a handful of holy cards.
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I agree, each big set needs to have 2 of every card and then 4 of every card that is likely to appear more than once in a spell book. Then the core spell stuff, can fill in the rest
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One moooore thing,
This issue coupled with new content. If the new stuff is far superior to the old stuff, this problem will be exacerbated and just double down on the hardcore players and possibly the more casual player.
I love this game, just these few things can make or break it content be damned, and if we don't want it to die the devs have to be smart about not making us "feel like" even though there is no gun to our heads we have to keep buying. I'm at $100 myself with the core and CST 1 and 2 plus shipping. So please for $100 we should have 4 of every card and 6 of the lvl one cards. I'm cool with that line to not cross. Technically you would need double that for 2 ppl to do everything.
IMO the box plus 2 CSTs = enough for more than one person to play casually and
Core + 2x CSTs = enough for 1 person to hardcore or tournament play
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"Arcane Wonders releases a new version of their rule book"
"The only change?"
"Players are limited to 4 level 1 spells and up to 2 of very other spells. Epic spells are still limited to one."
That would solve the problem though right?
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Law of unintended consequences. Just put more cards in the box and charge $5 more.
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An idea I had some time ago, which I posted and never got much notice, was I think a compromise between the casual gamers and the hardcore gamers in terms of the distribution of cards in future expansions.
it goes like this:
include 3 copies of all level 1 spells
2 copies of all higher level spells
1 copy of all epic spells
this would, I think, satisfy the casual gamer. and for the hard core gamer, yes, you would have to spend more to get the "full" set of cards, but you will only have to buy one extra copy of any given expansion (as opposed to 2 or 3 plus 2 or 3 of the tomes)
ya i thought the same too when i was thinking about this problem. i think this would be a very elegant and satisfactory solution.
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Here's my suggestion, coming from someone who was told by Arcane Wonders staff at Gencon that all new expansions would include full playsets. Why not come out with a third core spell book expansion that brings the base game into full playset if you buy the base game plus all 3 core spell book expansions. Then any new big box expansions come with a full set or offer a secondary expansion to bring it to a full set.
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Hello fellow Mage Wars players, first things first I'm happy that I've bought this awesome game, the only problem so far I've had is the dice, but you can always think about average rolls so it lessens the luck. But to the main topic - I'm your basic enthustiastic gamer, I get hyped about new games, I wanna test them out etc etc. but there's one problem still in the ''card gaming business'' even though the classical collectible card game format is dropped. I'm talking about not getting all the cards for reasonable price. I've had this same problem with Fantasy Flight Games Warhammer Invasion and Android Netrunner.
So what I'm asking is, please, be the first company to make it easy to get all the cards and for reasonable price. The problem is for hardcore gamer like me that you can include six level one spells and four of higher level spells. I would need to buy probably four (or more even?) boxes of Mage Wars.
I do realize that selling cards cheaper / in more affordable collection box seems quite risky. But there are probably many players who don't get into card games like this because ''oh I can get in with just 50$ BUT if I want to be competitive I have to spend 300$''.
So make a man's dream come true and make a box compatitible with the core box which would give max ammount of all cards - even better would be the ammount for two players :)
Hello, Nekra. Welcome to the forum.
Am I correct in reasoning that you are requesting packs of cards, sans board, dice, tokens, etc? That would probably be do-able from a financial standpoint, but it is an unlikely scenario from the perspective of hosting a sound business model.
The better alternative is that Arcane Wonders follows the reasonable and sound business model of redistribution through expansion, which is a concept enveloping the release of new cards for the base game in tandem with reprints of older, popular cards from the base game. This serves multiple purposes in that it increases the card pool (expands the broader game and enriches the game through added stock) and lowers the barrier for "suitcase" players and collectors, allowing them to (albeit on a schedule restricted by release) gradually fulfill complete "playsets" of every card in the game.
This formula is in use by a few companies, already, and is tried-and-true.
Under the current distribution, it is perfectly possible to be a "competitive" (whatever that means...there is no organized play system yet in place) Mage Wars player with only the base game and 1 or 2 copies of the current expansion.
Good Gaming.
-nihil
Someone was discussing the idea of proxy use over on BGG. I'm against it for multiple reasons, not the least of which is, as nihil clarifies, it's not a requirement to have a full set to play well. There are many games that playing with full sets is a bad idea; A Game of Thrones for example.
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Actually he is not. I had raised this exact same question in a thread long, long ago. When you are doing a card game with multiples of cards allowed, there will be a certain subset of your customers (let's call them hardcore gamers for ease) who would want to have all the options.
I understand that. There are several issues at play here
1) For every gamer that wants to complete the entire set of spells there are numerous games who don't.
2) One person's idea of complete is not necessarily some other person's idea of complete.
3) A product needs to hit the store at a price point that it will sell at. Adding 100s of cards to the base set would make it too expensive
4) Adding new products increases the number of SKUs that owners need to stock, sell and be aware of. Retailers have a lot of SKUs already and are notoriously shy about adding new ones unless it is critically important
As a producer I don't know that Arcane Wonders can afford to dedicate their product development to a narrow segment of their play base when that player base wants, effectively, a specialized and more expensive version of the game.
The aim of a producer is to get a product in as many hands and as many stores as possible. When you are a new company with a new game you need to make the decision to buy and the decision to stock as simple as possible. A more expensive game with more cards would not sell as well.
Adding more products for a new game would also not be a great draw for retailers who don't want to have to stock multiple SKUs for a product that they may have just recently got into stores.
If AW has extra time to produce more material I would rather see them come out with more promo material and more OP kits and stuff to help promote the game in stores rather than trying to come out with completist products that aren't going to be as beneficial to the expansion of the game.
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Actually he is not. I had raised this exact same question in a thread long, long ago. When you are doing a card game with multiples of cards allowed, there will be a certain subset of your customers (let's call them hardcore gamers for ease) who would want to have all the options.
I understand that. There are several issues at play here
1) For every gamer that wants to complete the entire set of spells there are numerous games who don't.
2) One person's idea of complete is not necessarily some other person's idea of complete.
3) A product needs to hit the store at a price point that it will sell at. Adding 100s of cards to the base set would make it too expensive
4) Adding new products increases the number of SKUs that owners need to stock, sell and be aware of. Retailers have a lot of SKUs already and are notoriously shy about adding new ones unless it is critically important
As a producer I don't know that Arcane Wonders can afford to dedicate their product development to a narrow segment of their play base when that player base wants, effectively, a specialized and more expensive version of the game.
The aim of a producer is to get a product in as many hands and as many stores as possible. When you are a new company with a new game you need to make the decision to buy and the decision to stock as simple as possible. A more expensive game with more cards would not sell as well.
Adding more products for a new game would also not be a great draw for retailers who don't want to have to stock multiple SKUs for a product that they may have just recently got into stores.
If AW has extra time to produce more material I would rather see them come out with more promo material and more OP kits and stuff to help promote the game in stores rather than trying to come out with completist products that aren't going to be as beneficial to the expansion of the game.
I wholeheartedly agree which is why I keep suggesting AW offer singles in their online store.
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I think this whole thread is shifting focus. Nobody is saying pack all cards in a single box. What people want is to have a relatively easy and reasonable way to get all the cards. Singles would be one way; all the cards in a box would be another; having 1/2 the permitted number of cards per box would even also kind of work - then you know you have to get 2 boxes and have everything. And once again, I keep saying this over and over, I understand why the Core Set is as it is. Point is, things should probably shift from here on out with respect to the card distribution. I own 2 Core Sets and have more than I could use of some cards and quite a few cards that I have fewer of than I wish I did - this is frustrating.
As to OP Kits and promos vs ways to get the cards you want, I don't think this is the case at all but let's not derail this thread with a lengthy discussion on that topic.
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Great feedback guys. We've definitely heard this concern and we're trying our best to find a good compromise. Here's the situation as I see it:
1. As we've said before, we're trying hard to mitigate the number of unique cards we want in the game vs. the number of repeats. Basically, the idea is that if we give you a "full set" of cards, that means including less different unique cards, which means taking the options away from most sets, which means releasing more sets, which means you guys having to spend more money. We wanted a longer lasting product. Very rarely in our playtest sessions did we see Mages using 4-6 of one card multiple times. Perhaps with one or two cards if your strategy depended on it, but oftentimes in games it was more prudent to have one or two copies of multiple cards on the off chance that you needed to counter your opponent.
2. A "full set" in actuality, wouldn't technically be full, it would be full for one mage. Meaning, since six copies is the maximum that you can have of level one spells, and four of everything else - if we gave you six minor heals - that wouldn't really be a full set, it would just be the maximum that one mage would be allowed to have in his spellbook. Most players, we're hearing, are building multiple mages from the core set, either for themselves or for their friends and family. Our goal with the Core Set was to give enough variety in the new game to allow players to see what Mage Wars was really capable of, and how many different options there were in the game. We were afraid that limiting the number of options and opting for a "full" set would decrease what players would be able to do, and as such, decrease their enjoyment of the game.
3. Now, the potential solution would be to sell "full set" mages. Meaning, you go buy a priestess spellbook, and it's one complete priestess set. Again, you'd still have some of the uniqueness problem, but maybe less so depending on how many cards we release. But still, you're looking at paying something like $30 for one Mage, as opposed to $60 for four. Also, this is bad for retailers, in the situation where a particular mage doesn't sell well in their area, they still have to stock it, but then it just sits there forever because their store is heavy into warlocks and necromancers, but not so much into priestesses, etc. This also raises the barrier for entry for new players, as they'll have to buy a couple sets to get a feel for the right mages,
4. We even talked about releasing smaller sets, say with 30 cards, but each set was complete. Say 10 cards at level 1, gives us 60 cards - and then the other 20 were above level one, giving us the other 80 cards. That would cost in stores around $20 (like the Core Spell Tomes), and we could release maybe one of those a month - in fact, that would even be more profitable for us on our end. But it felt too much like the collectible market that we didn't want to get into, we really wanted to release a big robust game with a lot of different options in one set. However, to release a Core Set with a full set of all the cards we wanted to offer, would've contained about 800 cards or so - and even then, that would only have been complete for one mage.
The best I can really say is that we're constantly aware of this back and forth compromise that we have to do, and moving forward we're trying our best to find a better solution. As we saw with the CST1, we tried our best to guess which cards players would find the most useful - however, we learned that there were still a lot of cards from the Core Set that players wanted access too - so we took the feedback and released the CST2. It's possible we'll move to a model where expansions don't come with spellbooks, so we may be able to release more cards - or maybe we'll release expansions with the same number of unique cards, and then release CST's with more complete sets afterwards once players have an idea of which cards they want copies of. Right now, running a singles store online for us wouldn't be the greatest support of the retailers - but as time goes on it might be something we'd be able to revisit.
But again, thanks for the feedback, we're always listening and we're always trying to improve!
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i really don't see an issue with mimicking Fantasy Flight Games Living Card Game distribution model. It is a really popular model with TCG fans who are sick of random packs and the insane single's market that they have.
I also haven't heard any complaints from my local game store about the distribution model.
The key is making sure what cards are in what packs readily available so people can buy the packs they need for their current spellbook project rather than feeling like they need to just grab everything out there.
for example i play Game of Thrones. my initial investment was the core set and a special expansion box for the faction i play. after that i have spent $30 a month to buy two packs of cards. FFG releases 1 pack a month so i am slowly catching up with whats out and will eventually only have to pay $15 a month to stay current. very cheap for a card game. i pay that much a month to play a MMORPG.
also this elusive "full set" is not really something that should be discussed for the very reason brought up. For TCG collection purposes people are usually gunning for what is called the "Play Set" IE the maximum number they can play in one deck/spell book. this is a good target to have in your distribution model.
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I actually have some sympathy with the views expressed in this thread. I have bought a core set and both spell tomes thus far, and really want to do a bookaround canines, yet I STILL only have 5 copies of the bloody Bitterwood Fox :)
Personally, I think the ONLY way to fix this is for Arcane Wonders to sell singles. Personally speaking, I don't want 6 copies of EVERY Level 1 spell, but there are some I do want. The capacity to pick those individual ones up would be excellent - especially if I didn't have to pick up a 15 quid (sorry, I'm English ;)) tome to do so...
So, SeanDeCoy, what are the chances of getting Arcane Wonders selling singles?
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You know, it is a possibility, that we could sell singles. But I'll need to talk to my web team, sales team, and customer service department to make sure that if we did roll it out, it would go smooth, and that we'd be able to handle the orders in a timely manner. We'd also need to do some research with our retailers to make sure it wouldn't be perceived as not supporting them. Overall though, I'll ask my team to start looking into it and see what we can dig up.
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I do understand that it's perhaps quite not as simple as 'yay, you now sell singles', but from a players point of view, it has a significant number of positives.
What I wouldn't want it to do is have a negative impact on your future sales or your reputation....
But likewise, I don't want to buy another spell tome for 1 Bitterwood Fox ;)
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try this: http://www.twogsc.com/mw-bitterwood-fox.html
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try this: http://www.twogsc.com/mw-bitterwood-fox.html
Sadly, as I'm in the UK, the minimum shipping charge is $30 dollars..... I don't think I want it that bad. Cheaper to buy another tome in fact :)
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yes, I can see that is a problem... would the shipping from AW be any different though if they start selling singles from the website?
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yes, I can see that is a problem... would the shipping from AW be any different though if they start selling singles from the website?
I hope so! :) I've bought from American sellers before and they've been more reasonably priced. For $30 I could ship the base game....
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I am not sure of what the best solution is for my play style. I want to have a spellbook for each and every mage available, which means that even 6/4 copies aren't enough in some cases. Though at this time I have 2 of all three current releases, I still can't make the decks the way I want which is somewhat frustrating considering just how many freaking cards are at my disposal.
I suppose singles are a way to go, but when I can buy a spell tome for $20 with no shipping charge and some website wants to charge me $12 for two Lash of Hellfires plus some crazy shipping charge to reach me in the frozen north... I come right back to "Well, I guess I can buy a few more spell tomes."
Personally, I love the idea of the mage specific spell tomes that was mentioned upthread by Sean but I can see the idea of having to get shelf space for those at my local game store not being exactly popular. I mean, it would take up space that more Magic posters could be occupying.
It is likely that there will be more core spell tomes and maybe even a third core box set will be coming soon. Maybe I'll wallpaper my game room with the extra arena boards...
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I bought two core sets so I could have plenty of copys for each spell, but it really isnt needed. I come from a CCG game that if you play a spell, you almost HAVE to have x4 in your deck...I now know you really dont want x4 of the same spell in your tome for mage wars, so I dont think its really a problem. You could also trade with friends or make a lone list like me and my friends will do with any kind of card game. I am happy overall by buying two core sets,(Even thou I really want the spell books from the core spell tomb, maybe they could sell those on there website with the other ones.) But regardless, I got both core sets for $80, I spend $80 in the blink of an eye for ANY other game....I am very thankful to Arcane workshop, after I lost my job I thought I would never get to play a game like this again,(there are others out there, but they dont scratch that itch you know?) So you are not going to hear any complaints out of me...Keep up the good work!
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Hello, new to the game in the last few weeks.
Where it is true that you don't often want 4x or 6x of a card, sometimes you do. For example, I have a beastmaster build that definitely wants 6x Falcon and 6x Fox. The trouble is, Falcons come 2 to a core set and 1 to a spell tome. That means I need to buy 3-6 products just to build the book that I want.
I know Game of Thrones LCG recently started selling sets that were complementary to the starter box, such that a player who had the starter and one of these had a playset of everything. It would be great if Mage Wars did this. I don't mind buying 2 things to get a playset from any given expansion, but I don't really want to have to buy more of that. Being asked to buy 3 core set just to play a book I want to is a turn-off for me, and its a turn-off for others who don't want to pay CCG prices to play a LCG style game.
(In shops in the last week I've been teaching people how to play, and several were like, "Nah, that game costs too much." referring to the need to buy duplicates.)
Anyhow, I don't really care how the problem is solved (always sell full sets, always sell half sets, make an advanced core with a full playset, sell singles) but I do care that it is solved. Access to cards is a huge issue in determining whether people get into this game or not, and I'd like it to be easier to get people into it.
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I think you're forgetting that all of the sets are designed with playgroups in mind, not individuals. $80-120 is quite an expensive tournament entry cost for one person, but each set comes with two spellbook binders and two mages. I think the optimal number of people to share Mage Wars collection of 1 core set and 2 expansions is probably 2 or 3 people. That way you have some decent room to customize competitive spellbooks simultaneously, and you'll be getting your money's worth, unlike if you had the collection all to yourself.
$120 divided by two people is $60 and divided by three people is $40. If you get your sets on Amazon they often cost up to $20 less. It's completely affordable. The only reason that you're having problems is probably because there aren't enough players for everyone to share their collection. That's why I haven't bought any expansions yet.
$120 for 1 person is really expensive, but a Mage Wars collection is really meant to be shared. I think that's why every expansion comes with two mages and two spellbooks, rather than just one.
Mage Wars IS a LCG, and it's completely affordable. In fact it's one of the most affordable games of its kind on the market as far as I know. You really have nothing to complain about except the fact that the game is only 1 year old and not well known.
Your financial barrier can be decreased by increasing the number of your friends who play Mage Wars with you, and that will likely get much easier as the game grows older.
Note: I think it would be really fun to get together with friends to build and test spellbooks. Spellbook building is half the fun of this game, but it is tedious and feedback is very beneficial to the process. Using a distribution model that makes tournament spellbook building a social activity just like the game itself (at least for players that aren't super-wealthy) I think is ingenious.
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Joining the unholy necromancy being conducted in this thread, the set I have is shared by myself, my fiancee, and a couple of my friends. We each have a couple of lists for the books we play, so it doesn't matter if we need to temporarily cannibalize a Warlock book to make a Fire Wizard.
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Oh, yeah, my wife and I share a set, and definitely have a few friends who play out of our card pool. I think sharing the game is nice.
However, it can still be frustrating to get 6x of a card AW doesn't anticipate you needing 6x of. Even sharing cards, it feels wasteful to wind up getting 5+ of level 2+s, and 7+ of some level 1s in the process of trying to get the 6th copy of a level 1 you want/need.
This isn't supposed to be a CCG, it's not supposed to be hard to get a playset of cards. This is an LCG, it's supposed to be easy to find, and get the cards. There's not supposed to be any trading, or collection hassles. Just buy the game and play.
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EDIT: Ignore what I originally wrote in this post; I miscalculated. If you just get 1 core set and 1 core tome 1, then you'll have 6 foxes, 3 falcons, 3 bobcats and 4 Darkfenne bats. That's sufficient level 1 animals for beastmaster swarm.