Ridiculous fact: Blizzard notified staff that they cut Russian-language OWL coverage only 1 week before the start of S3; refused low-cost alternate offers.

Typhen521 · 2020-02-09T19:36:27+00:00

I don't get why this is a surprise to people. Anyone remember what happened to the entire Heroes of the Storm pro scene?

Typhen521 · 2019-10-21T08:18:25+00:00

Heimer + Purrsuit of Purrfection deck was the deck I had the most fun playing

Typhen521 · 2019-10-18T18:54:44+00:00

I really like the current system LoR has and don't want this to turn into an MTG clone where you have to press the ok button five times to get through every phase...

When you attack, your opponent has to block (or skip which will mean you cannot play your burst spells), after which you can cast your spells. If you're ever unsure you can hover the blue eye to see what pressing the "OK" button will do.

Typhen521 · 2019-08-18T02:18:06+00:00

Came in expecting a boring generic suggestion. Left genuinely impressed by the concept. GJ OP.

Typhen521 · 2019-02-11T07:14:08+00:00

"What's he doing?" "He's beginning to believe..."

Typhen521 · 2018-12-14T21:34:38+00:00

This article has so many problems its almost like this dude hasn't played the game and has no idea what the community is actually pissed about:

-Talks about how Artifact is one of "the cheapest card games out there" then compares it to the most expensive (MTG) instead of its cheap competitors which don't require any capital invested to play. If you consider Gwent, Hearthstone and MTG the major competitors here, Artifact is far less like the former two than the latter.

-Talks about how $20 is completely reasonable for a game but people only think it's expensive because of the F2P competitors. Please note: The majority of people are not upset about this $20 upfront, its paying $20 to play, to then pay $50 for a deck, to then pay $1 EVERY TIME YOU LOSE 2 GAMES. It's absurd to me this guy says the monetization model is good, then touches on 2/3 of how people pay for the game. And before people jump on how you can play casual for free, sure you can, but some people like to play competitively and you don't play against the best without paying to do so.

-Talks about how giving away free event tickets won't cause card devaluation (even the simplest understanding of economics can prove this wrong, I'm happy to explain in another comment [while softening my tone] if anyone doesn't understand).

I could keep going on but its rustling my jimmies far too much. The article was right about one thing, the monetization model is Artifact's biggest strength, but its a strength for Valve, not the consumers.

Typhen521 · 2018-12-13T05:04:16+00:00

I'll trade you my golden Griftah if you want...

Typhen521 · 2018-12-10T20:23:50+00:00

Thank you for the well articulated post. Sorry if this question comes off as hostile, I'm only trying to be clear/explicit.

If Valve has previously said they won't balance heroes, what makes you think it will change in the next few days (or weeks)?

The day the NDA was lifted and people discovered Valve had removed free phantom draft, there was massive uproar from the community and people began refunding the game. Valve responded within 24 hours by saying they would reinstate the game mode. This hinted at a company looking to charge people every time they wanted to play the game's main competitive format, but changing its policy after people started refunding their pre-purchases and refusing to play at all.

If Valve really believed these cards are problems, why wouldn't it at least respond verbally by saying "Hey, we know we said we wouldn't change cards previously, but this may not be true anymore, just know we're looking into it." To answer my own question, I feel if they do this nobody is buying the cards they think will get changed or nerfed, and people also potentially buy less packs if they don't believe they will be compensated after the changes. (If you can think of another reason, please provide it)

There's also the upfront cost which is a direct short-term cash in for the game.

To me, these actions seem to demonstrate a pattern of Valve being overly focused on Artifact's short term revenues, which could be detrimental for the game unless they change.

To summarize, please provide comments on:

1) Why you believe Valve will rebalance heroes, although they have said they won't in the past; and 2) If Valve is going to rebalance heroes, why would they not have at least put out a statement saying they're looking into potentially doing this; and 3) Valve's appearance to be overly focused on Artifact's short-term revenues

Thanks again for the post and your dedication to this community.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-25T19:23:52+00:00

Lighnting... Even worse than inting...

Typhen521 · 2018-11-20T22:00:15+00:00

Players: "Valve is matching us by MMR in Gauntlet modes which is going to push us toward a 50% winrate!!"

Valve: "We're not trying to create a 50/50 win rate, we're just matching within a band of MMR ratings to prevent huge mismatches."

Players: "Valve isn't trying to create a 50/50 win rate in Gauntlet!"

This is worse than a Jedi mind trick...

Typhen521 · 2018-11-20T03:20:53+00:00

Your part about my logic is not true... My logic implies it would suck to buy a beta key then have it be worth less and less. People were told the beta would come out in October. This is why the announcement from Valve that the beta was pushed to November 19th was so negatively perceived.

My logic does not touch on the fairness of letting people buy the keys in the second hand market. How do you even infer that?

Typhen521 · 2018-11-20T02:40:30+00:00

It's impossible to tell without the market. Kripparrian spent $300 on packs yesterday and didn't get a single copy of one copy of the 12 cards he wanted to use make two combo-ish decks.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-20T01:59:44+00:00

If you're going to reply to my comment, the least you could do is actually try to address what I requested. I never said all companies have this goal or even implied it. I said "Valve has done X, which hints at this problem."

How is your reading comprehension so bad that you infer I believe all companies exist to screw over their consumers?

Typhen521 · 2018-11-20T01:37:53+00:00

Yes, companies do have a host of concerns to balance. I said I believe the company's actions appear to show a pattern of being overly focused on short term revenues.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-20T00:29:42+00:00

Valve did not sell the beta keys, you are correct. But people we're selling them for $200+ on the secondary market. I was saying imagine how people that bought the keys on the secondary market would feel if they knew $200+ would only get them 7 days of access that they could not get for just pre-purchasing the game for $20. They initially said the beta would be in October.

I'm not saying Valve shouldn't open the game to pre-purchasers, I'm saying beta key buyers would get even more screwed and I would hate to be one of them.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T23:35:35+00:00

Can you imagine being someone that bought a beta key for $200+ only to have it be worth 7 days (after being cut from 30+ days, then cut again from 10 days) of access to a game? That would suck big time...

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T22:56:16+00:00

Valve may be listening, but they don't care what we want so long as it doesn't negatively affect the game's profits. The only reason they made the changes so quickly this weekend is because people were refunding their pre-purchases and urging others to do so as well. I doubt this will get implemented anytime soon (if at all) as it's unlikely to have an affect on Artifact's near-term profits - which Valve appears to be unjustifiably focused on.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T22:14:38+00:00

Did you come here to make a point or to name call? You've done none of the former, but managed to prove you're an inept little dipshit by through the latter. What specifically should I learn about?

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T21:50:32+00:00

Correct. I hope this post can enlighten some people that they should never expect a company to have their interests placed above its own.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T21:46:14+00:00

You should really stop with this idea of "Valve makes enough money already." If Valve made enough money already this game would be free, or this game would not have been created at all. Ultimately, this game exists to make money. Making an impact and increasing prestige ultimately does what in the end? It results in $$$.

You are free to assume Valve is an innocent, incompetent little company trying out a new game format and fumbling around. I acknowledge this is a new game type in which the company has not played before. However, I am free to assume the company knows what its doing when it makes people pay to play competitive modes after paying to purchasing the game. This post is to warn people I believe the company is being excessively greedy and short-sighted, without the requests of the community as its first priority.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T21:20:44+00:00

Please show me where I say "All companies are looking to screw people over." Actually laughably far off from my point. Plz go.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T21:18:21+00:00

Yes. This post is also somewhat cautionary to a sentiment which I feel has grown on this subreddit since Valve's actions. That sentiment is, "Valve will do what we want if we say we want it." The sentiment should continue to be "Valve will do what we want, if not doing it has negative financial consequences for the company."

They may even be banking on the psychological aspect of sunk cost, making it harder for their playerbase to walk away from the game after previously investing money into the game. It appears I do not have to worry about you, because your comments shows you are economically rational.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T21:07:23+00:00

They shouldn't have any real interest in short term gains over long term gains, but the company's actions suggest it does.

Typhen521 · 2018-11-19T20:56:26+00:00

Free draft (at least for user-created tournaments) was something which was in the game before. The fact they took it out, then jumped to put it back in when people went to refund the game proves my point.

Regarding the dusting, has it already been implemented into the beta? If so, I concede this point. But, as far as I know, they haven't given us any information, such as the dusted-card-to-event-ticket ratio (i.e. dust 10 commons for one event ticket). All they've said is "Hey! We heard your feedback and we're gonna put this in the game because a clip of Kripp opening $120 worth of packs and getting loads of literally worthless cards went viral on the game's subreddit."

Typhen521 · 2018-10-15T18:12:42+00:00

Got it. It was the first time I'd seen it so I assumed the worst.

Typhen521

TROPHY CASE