Solforge Catch-All

I grabbed Alloyin and Uterra since those were the two factions that seemed interesting to me from the original preview decks. Alloyin is fun because it focuses on speeding up upgrades but there's a robot "tribal bonus" thing going on. I'm not totally sure how well some cards in that deck will mesh with the other factions when deck-building goes live. The Uterra deck is really straight forward since it's a pure overrun deck with a couple of heavy-hitters and a few cards that increase the stats on others. Both decks seem to hold their own against the original hybrid decks although the Uterra/Black deck is still really nasty.

The Red starter is pretty brutal though. I really like that even if you don't buy a starter deck, you can let the AI use them against you.

shoptroll wrote:

The Red starter is pretty brutal though. I really like that even if you don't buy a starter deck, you can let the AI use them against you.

I played Uterra vs. the Red deck on Hard and was absolutely slaughtered. I think it was smart of them to let the AI choose a starter deck even if you've not bought it yet.

I also like the addition of Normal difficulty but the AI's play is still pitiful in that mode and barely a step up from Easy.

Maclintok wrote:
shoptroll wrote:

The Red starter is pretty brutal though. I really like that even if you don't buy a starter deck, you can let the AI use them against you.

I played Uterra vs. the Red deck on Hard and was absolutely slaughtered. I think it was smart of them to let the AI choose a starter deck even if you've not bought it yet.

Yup, that sounds like my experience with that matchup. I don't think I've tried to figure out a solution to that deck yet with Uterra.

I also like the addition of Normal difficulty but the AI's play is still pitiful in that mode and barely a step up from Easy.

There's some bugs in the AI code they've identified and will be fixing in a later update.

Woop woop, Update to the PC Beta.

Bought the skins since they are all on sale for 99 cents each.

Checked out the PC version, works just like the iPad version except they fixed the AI... so I got smashed a couple times. Yay challenge comesback!

If anyone is seriously interested in the game, I have another Steam Beta Key you can PM me for.

The last kickstarter e-mail mentioned giving steam codes to friends on request so I should be able to get my hands on some if anybody else is interested.

I'll take a key if anyone has a spare.

I just sent a code over to Koz and have one left if anybody else would like one.

Recap of Thursday's stream. Sounds like a lot of the big features (online play, deck constructions, etc.) are coming sometime in August to coincide with PAX Prime and GenCon.

Would love a code if there's one to spare. Been playing the hell out of this on the iPad, but deck building isn't turned on there.

Deck building isn't available on PC either.

Oh. I saw there were pages written on deck building, I suppose that's what I get for assuming.

Lots of good stuff in the latest livestream:

  • PC Client opens to Steam Early Access on Monday for $20
  • New and existing beta users will get 20 booster packs when boosters are available
  • Boosters will add a number of new cards to the game
  • Deckbuilder + Online play sometime in July for PC/Steam users, August for iOS
  • Starter deck compositions are going to change when they roll out rarities for cards. Doesn't sound like that will impact existing boosters.
  • Bunch of nerfs and buffs to existing cards incoming

Bought the game Couldn't resist.
Lots of MTG features I've noticed.

Sparhawk wrote:

Lots of MTG features I've noticed.

Like Ascension, the design team is composed of a couple of pro Magic players. Any MTG features are probably not coincidental

shoptroll wrote:

Like Ascension, the design team is composed of a couple of pro Magic players. Any MTG features are probably not coincidental ;)

As well as pro magic players I believe Richard Garfield (the creator of MTG) was also on the design team for SolForge

Cronox wrote:
shoptroll wrote:

Like Ascension, the design team is composed of a couple of pro Magic players. Any MTG features are probably not coincidental ;)

As well as pro magic players I believe Richard Garfield (the creator of MTG) was also on the design team for SolForge

Richard is still involved in designing cards. Though I imagine it's kind of the way he's involved in designing Magic still. He helps out here and there

MitchellW wrote:
Cronox wrote:
shoptroll wrote:

Like Ascension, the design team is composed of a couple of pro Magic players. Any MTG features are probably not coincidental ;)

As well as pro magic players I believe Richard Garfield (the creator of MTG) was also on the design team for SolForge

Richard is still involved in designing cards. Though I imagine it's kind of the way he's involved in designing Magic still. He helps out here and there :-D

I think they've confirmed he's not as involved now as he was at the start of the project.

If I'm reading the Solforge forum correctly, it looks like the deckbuilder went live in the last 24 hours for the PC beta (and explains why Steam updated it). Going to have to check that out tonight.

Has there been mention of whether my owned cards and built decks will seamlessly transfer between PC and iOS clients?

Mr Crinkle wrote:

Has there been mention of whether my owned cards and built decks will seamlessly transfer between PC and iOS clients?

Owned cards will, any of the stuff you own will be stored on their databases.

Decks, as a local file on your pc/ipad may/may not, I don't rememeber them commiting to that. (But I'd be some boosters that they will have an import/export function at the absolute worst)

I played with the deck building a little during lunch today. Seems easy enough and it as good of them to unlock all the current cards for a limited time so everybody can test the different factions.

One thing I noticed is that currently you can put three copies of any card in a deck, this allows for some fairly over-powered decks, at least compared to what we have had so far.

For example using a deck of 3 each of Ashurian Mystic, Flameblade Champion, Grimgaunt Devourer, Cull the Weak, Rageborn Hellion, Uranti Bolt plus a few other cards, the games I tried never even got to the third level and typically ended with me dealing 30+ damage to the enemy each round. I was under the impression card quantities in a deck were going to be limited based on their rareness so a rare card like Flameblade Champion or Grimgaunt Devourer would only be allowed once in a 30 card deck, maybe I was wrong on that?

Now it's really just a wait for multiplayer to be implemented so we can try these decks against real people.

Mr Crinkle wrote:

Has there been mention of whether my owned cards and built decks will seamlessly transfer between PC and iOS clients?

I just loaded SolForge up at home and the decks I built at work came across, which indicates they are storing them online, tied to your account. It makes sense that they will then copy to any device you log-in to.

I believe they intend for the game to be completely cross-platform, where PC players can play iPad players and you can start a game on the PC then continue it on the iPad, so it makes sense that things like decks would need to copy over.

Is this pay to win?

Baron Of Hell wrote:

Is this pay to win?

It's a CCG, what do you think?

EDIT: To be less snarky... It's pay-to-win in the sense that someone can always spend more money than you to have a bigger pool of cards to choose from when making their deck. If you wish to play competitively you have to either spend money or a ridiculous amount of time playing in order to earn in-game currency at a good enough rate.

However, because it's a CCG... having the right cards and knowing how to play well is more important than having a big pool. Big pool makes it easier to have the right cards but a person with less cash and a good knowledge of the game and deck construction should win over someone who's dumped a lot of money but doesn't know the strategy or hasn't built a good deck.

shoptroll wrote:
Baron Of Hell wrote:

Is this pay to win?

It's a CCG, what do you think?

EDIT: To be less snarky... It's pay-to-win in the sense that someone can always spend more money than you to have a bigger pool of cards to choose from when making their deck. If you wish to play competitively you have to either spend money or a ridiculous amount of time playing in order to earn in-game currency at a good enough rate.

However, because it's a CCG... having the right cards and knowing how to play well is more important than having a big pool. Big pool makes it easier to have the right cards but a person with less cash and a good knowledge of the game and deck construction should win over someone who's dumped a lot of money but doesn't know the strategy or hasn't built a good deck.

Since they plan to have tournaments, the play/earn rate may be a bit different if you happen to also be very good at the game then you might not need to invest a lot of time. That said, getting good might require time

Just hearing about this this week. Seems interesting. Enjoy the MtG game on Steam, but it's pretty darn limited. This sounds like a complete game.

If anyone gets another friend Steam code I'd definitely be interested. No iPad here, and not sure if it's coming to Android, or when.

Did they spruce up the art on a lot of the cards? It's looking sexier.

I started to put together a deck last night but the client crashed. Crash aside, deck building interface is veerrry rough. I hope they subdivide the screen again into a third area that shows the art/text of a highlighted card.

Online play is now live on PC version! Plus, a boat load of card changes.

I guess this isn't going to be on sale during the Steam sale. Probably best just to throw $20 at it and get in while they're offering pre-order bonus packs or whatever right?

I don't think it'll go on sale, as this is a bit different than most other PC games.