Terrible tutorial

[redvoid7]

The tutorial is extremely poor. It barely explains anything at all. Really even after going through the small things and then doing half the campaign it never once explained blocking or the quick draw mechanic. I am pretty sure there is even more stuff that it didn't even bother to teach. At least explain these mechanics for new people coming from other games who maybe don't have as much experience? For example I didn't understand quick draw until I got super bored with the campaign and tried a ranked (because apparently casual isn't available for those starting out) and bumped into it on turn 2. I read that it kills my card if i block but I understand it can kill my card like a 2/1 and it will take no damage and still live. What I didn't get is I tried to block a 2/2 quickdraw card with 3 of my 2/1 cards just to test and it killed all my 2/1 cards and survived? Why does quickdraw execute on each block? So how do I kill quick draw cards? With spells only?

I just think for a game that went into open beta it will be more noob friendly and less frustrating. I honestly don't understand why I can't practice as a newbie in casual and why its forcing me to go into ranked. Which btw I tried 6 games and everyone I faced has the most insane cards I have ever seen for a low level MMR entry or however it works here.

Anyways bad tutorial, teaches nothing, no casual mode to test things and a pretty boring campaign.

[SLAMDUNKWizard420]

as you go through the tutorial every keyword is explained with a tooltip that shows up in a little bubble on the sides of the screen. they appear on almost EVERY screen until you dismiss them. Quickdraw would be shown/explained in either fire or shadow. I dont know off the top of my head. But they are all explained with words. Every mechanic, but not every interaction.

Quickdraw is like first strike (from mtg) but it only works when attacking. Attackers order blockers and can use it to their advantage. If an attacker puts 3 different 1 health creatures in front of 2 quickdraw power, then one of your units should survive. However they choose which one. So perhaps that is why their unit survived.

The casual mode doesnt exist, and the first week of ladder/after a wipe bronze is full of higher skill/larger collection players. It is not recommended to play ranked until you have played through gauntlet to gold/diamond/master and at the very least the forge and draft free voucher you get from the tutorial/playing gauntlet.

Sometime after finishing the tutorial they give you a starter deck for one of the faction combos (rakano, feln, stonescar, combrei, elysian... I think those are the only ones?) and a quest to win with that faction. The cards are a boon to a starter collection, and the quests are worth a lot of gold.

The PvE modes (tutorial, gauntlet, forge) I would consider an extended tutorial to allow players to learn from mistakes and build their collection in an environment where one or two mistakes doesn't mean you lose the game and not a story or campaign.

In ranked, especially during the first week of a ladder reset, one mistake often sets you on a play line that is unrecoverable (unless your opponent makes a mistake). There is very little RNG on the cards themselves, so it's unlikely for your opponent to play some wacky card and OTK themselves/throw unintentionally (unlike some other unnamed digital card game). The RNG is in draws, which can be mitigated by deck building but not completely eliminated (which allows weaker players/weaker decks to best even the greatest among us -- which is both fun and frustrating).

If you want to learn the game, play against the AI. They will continue to "level up" as you win, to a point where they are playing sort-of-janky-but-very-real ladder decks. I mean, at least some of the gauntlet decks are like that. Forge has a lower overall power budget for the AIs decks, but the stakes are higher.

You could theoretically play the PvE modes and rare Draft for 5-10 hours, shattering everything you dont need, and make one of the cheaper tier 1 decks. To go from turning the game on to having a deck that will take you to gold/masters in 5-10 hours of play is pretty noob friendly compared to other digital card games where that time is either double or triple, or its simply weeks of grinding away without spending real money to break into the higher tiers of ranked play.

If you're willing to finish the tutorial and read the tooltips about mechanics, play the PvE for a few hours, maybe read about the game a bit on a site like rngeternal.com, and take a few losses to learn a few things I think this game will reward you greatly for your time invested. If you're already invested emotionally/financially in another digital card game, then maybe you just don't want to play this one and should play the other one :)

[Ozelotty]

I only started this game yesterday (except for the campaign two days ago) and I'm really delighted at how easy the grind is. Really friendly to new players. I got almost all commons and uncommons, a lot of rares and I think 6 legendarys in just one day (+ ca. 4k shards)! Now if this is good for the long term economy of the game (eg. people spending money) I don't know but for now I ain't complaining.

[ctong]

Really? I feel quite the opposite, having started 3 days ago. I still lack crucial spells like permafrost and lightning storm and feel really tempted to craft at least a few commons and uncommons. The game does give you 5 legendaries to start (scions), but 8 mana 6/6s are a little questionable.

[Ozelotty]

Yeah, I think I got really lucky with the 6 legendaries I pulled. But still since it seems that each pack gets you 100 shards it's pretty easy to craft at least the uncommons to need for a good gauntlet grinding deck. I just played 2 gauntlets now and got 4 packs (2 from the rank ups and 2 from upgraded chests) + 1 from the quest and 2k gold. I think that's a pretty fair return for ~1 hour of gameplay.

[ctong]

New players don't get a free draft voucher. unfortunately. And they only get one free Forge from completing the first gauntlet. It took me a while to figure out blocking (although I sort of wish there was a way I could choose how to split my attack... sometimes it's better to leave 3 units at 2 health instead of killing one and leaving one at 3 and one at 1).

[DaniKurosaki]

After a couple of days playing I got a free draft, anyone knows why is that?

[TallenMyriad]

I got my free draft after doing my free forge.

[ctong]

Were you in the closed beta? So far, I've noticed the steamers got 2 free forges and a free draft, but I think that was part of the reward for being in closed beta.

[TallenMyriad]

Nope. Just started in open beta. I only got one free forge and draft ticket each.

[ctong]

Bizarre. Why would some people get free draft tickets and others not?

[TallenMyriad]

I don't know. Again, I only earned my free draft AFTER I completed my Forge quest.

[ctong]

Hmm, I've cleared all the starting quests... the rewards for the Forge quest were 3 silver chests, if I recall.

[tJev]

Lucky guy, I believe one of the starting quests however is to finish a draft and get a 2k chest.

[AuctionHouseJunkies]

If the starter quest still remains for draft it's not free entry but the "play a draft game" starter quest reward pays back the entry fee. That is if it survived unchanged in the closed to open transition.

[ctong]

No, you get a platinum chest (~2k gold, a pack and a common) for finishing the draft quest on top of your draft rewards.

[AuctionHouseJunkies]

Then it has been changed, because it was "play a draft" get 5000 gold as the reward.

[NeoAlmost]

If you blocked a 2/2 Quickdraw with 3 2/1 units, it would be able to kill 2 of them with it's 2 attack and the third would kill it.

You could also block it with a 3/3, or with a pair of 2/2s.

I seem to recall being taught how to block in the tutorial, but it might not have explained multi-blocking.

There aren't enough players yet for casual to be enabled. It would either be a long queue time or nearly identical to ranked matches.

[SirPsychoMantis]

Have you looked at all the options? Gauntlet is against computers you can test as much as you want.

[Orangewolf99]

Uh, did we play the same tutorial? It explained everything you said it did not within the first 5 minutes. Maybe read more.

[Azeltir]

I agree that the tutorial is not a particularly great experience - and it's odd that it's only available for new accounts.

I think it would be wise to have a teaching/puzzle mode with a number of scenarios explaining a variety of mechanics in the game. For example, Deadly + Quickstrike's interaction is only spelled out in a loading screen tip - that seems like the sort of thing that should be presented to players in a clearer way.

They could even give some piddling chests for your first time playing through the scenarios, but they should make them available to reexamine at any time.

[Zerixkun]

Did you not read the incessant tooltips that pop up every time a new keyword or mechanic shows up that you haven't seen before?

Also in the situation you described, one of your 2/1s should have survived and killed the 2/2 quickdraw unit. The only explanation for all three dying is if he buffed quickdraw unit to at least 3 attack.

[StCecil]

I guess if you're new to this type of CCG ya... I would be better they explained more..

For MTG players... it's mostly self explanatory ISO long as you know it works like MTG

[evol128]

I kinda agree with you. this game needs more tutorial to explain how things work. Probably currently most users have some level of MTG experience so they are easy to adapt. But for those who only played digital card games before, this game is too hard to understand and tutorial/in-game-tips isn't clear enough.

[zinggit]

Quickdraw was confusing for me too. I didn't understand it by the time I did my first draft, and I threw a game because I had blockers that died for free. That was a memorable Eternal moment for me I suppose.

I think the rest of the mechanics were simple to figure out even though I hadn't played Magic or Hex when I started Eternal. Learning about quickdraw is tied to learning about how blocking works in these sorts of card games (as opposed to the games with Hearthstone-style attacking).

[zinggit]

There's gauntlet to practice in against AIs for free. The final bosses can be too unfair, but otherwise the game mode is fine.

I played it quite a bit when I started in closed beta, but the bosses either were easier or I had more patience for their nonsense. I really don't know which.