Here's a little challenge: Point me to a YouTube video of a match where no rules mistakes have been made!
P.S.: I realize that I may sound often overly harsh, but in fact, I really enjoy playing Mage Wars. However, it doesn't make sense to ignore the weak points of the game. As enthusiastic fans, we have a tendency to wear rose-coloured glasses when looking at our favorite games.
But any (perceived) weaknesses of the game should be pointed out and discussed, especially here in this forum. I think Arcane Wonders have shown that they care and react to criticism to make Mage Wars a better game.
It's good, though, that you're pointing out that Mage Wars is still a young game compared to the ones I mentioned. That, and Arcane Wonders is quite a small company, so there's only so much that can be done in the short term.
MtG also went through a major overhaul at some point to get rid of superfluous keywords and streamlined their rules. They also started to release simplified starter packs at some point to make it easier to get into the game. Of course WotC had a big advantage over Arcane Wonders: Almost limitless resources.
But if Mage Wars is to survive the next decade and escape from being very niche, it will need to go through a similar process. Despite my personal dislike of the Acadamy set(s), their release is a necessary step in that direction, and I definitely hope they'll be a big hit and attract a lot more players.
Hey Jhaelen, we do make a lot of mistakes, and I'm sorry that those mistakes have contributed to the way you feel about Mage Wars.
However, You're not unjustified in your opinion by any means. Mage Wars is an incredibly complex game and thus is prone to more mistakes than simple streamlined games like MtG. Another thing to point out is this game is
very different than most on the market and since it doesn't have the mountain of past mistakes to stand on we have the responsibility of being the ones to endure the mishaps. You're right about MtG when it first came out, it was ugly and incredibly broken; even now they have to ban their own cards (usually 2-3 cards a block) from tournaments because there were unexpected consequences of keywords and balance.
From a design perspective you have a critical eye when it comes to a game's fluidity and effectiveness. Rather than a forum debate, I suggest signing up to be a playtester. I've had many hard criticisms on cards and rulings, and when I brought them up to Aaron, he was incredibly receptive. They keep an open mind at AW and I'm sure they'd love to hear your opinions.
In final, there's a lot of players on the forums who love Mage Wars perhaps a bit too much :-p
We may make these videos but we also make mistakes, we're still learning and we don't cut our misplays because we want people to learn from them.
The reason there was debate on this thread is because your words pointed fingers at all players and said they also make flaws while battling it out. By making an extreme statement about all videos or games played you make yourself a target to argue with.
Whether you're right or wrong about all videos of Mage Wars put up on the internet I wouldn't lump all players together into one pile. There are some excellent players out there who have spent hours honing their skills so that they don't make mistakes. I can attest personally for Sailor Vulcan, I've never seen a misplay from him.
Just my opinion, I'm not lashing out or anything, you're right, we screw up and we strive to fix it. I'm simply suggesting/asking that you take your critical thoughts and apply them to the development of the game. It's a good skill to have
