Just wondering when the game's gonna be released.. 

(Haven't seen any news since march 24th)

Cheers!

 

     Seriously it feels like ive been waiting forever for this to come out  I hope the final version is like that old MTG:shandalar where if you lose to a wizrd you could lose more than just fame like cards from your deck or total life points ... w/e.  also will there be any like artifacts when you beat certain wizards that will let you have some say in what cards pop up in the duel and so forth?  I just hope this game has some depth and not just single line stratagy.

The game is almost done :) It's very close to final state.

So will there be any beta testing for the other factions, or is this pretty much it for testing?

Just curious. Testing the same build week after week is getting old. I'm happy to contribute to stress testing, but if there's another (5?) magic types to externally balance with holy and illusion there's still a long ways to go.

If they're being tested internally, please let us know.

I don't understand how the game can be almost done, unless there is a whole other beta group.  We still have two other sections of the stand alone campaign, and all the other classes to balance.

It is interesting to read that here, when ther hasn't been any new news since May 8, more than a 1 1/2 months ago.

 

 

Yes, we test internally the rest of campaign and other magic types.

So beta's done at this point? We're just playing the 2 magics for fun?

Wanted to know if there was a need to put effort in or just uninstall until the game actually releases.

I Hope this gets released before GenCon or... hmmm   (Is that the plan? to demo it there?) oh well i cant wait to get my hands on it need to play some thing to pas the time till GenCon

 I second the Shandalar suggestion. In fact, I've been trying to get that thing across since Astral Masters (AM) was released, with a AM-shandalar style (2007, Mar-Apr).But it was cut off almost as quickly.

Arent there already artifacts? Or Items? I remember getting artifacts that adds max life, etc. But what I think you want is something more like an INVENTORY that your character has, such that you can choose whatever you want into combat.

 Its more like May the 30th since the last release. Hopes it gets out soon, and hope AM is still getting updates. hehe. 

 I don't think adding more depth in the actual gameplay will improve the fun of it.
That game is well balanced in terms of randomness and choices you make.

You have no more than an average of 10 moves to choose from, but you still have the uncertainty of opponent's cards and his possible moves that makes your strategy more complex to build.

If new gameplay features are added, they should be very light.

Spectromancer is a sharp mix of MTG and Chess...

       Dont get me wrong I think the game play is just fine in the card playing part itself and for online purposes.  What I'm saying is for the 1-player campain for it to be more in depth.  In terms of game development I'm thinking like blizzard used to make game's (i.e. before World of Warcraft).  Now, was there actual game play better than the other around at that time for the programs they had out? i.e. warcraft(1/2/3) star craft--> Dune (2/2000), Command and Conquer(series) for example were the graphics or A.I. engine ever better than their counter part? no.  But what made those games better? well first off supreme balance and secondly and (for me) most importantly an interesting detailed story. maybe thats not completely on point basically all I am saying is if all i have to do Is march across the map and kill all of the mages instead of having to choose the hard/easy one for different special rewards(in accordance to difficulty) and may be skip some i dont want like getting the spider or elvish healer so i have a better chance of getting either nature ritual (+8 health thingy) or sprite (1/20 attacks whole side).  just saying strategy out side of the actual card game would be nice too.

 

thanks and sorry to rant,

Nick

P.S. shoulda gave more examples, I geuss, but registration for astral master is taking forever gotta go check order status

If they even just fix the chat bug, I'll buy it. I hate that getting too friendly with people bugs out the game, and I can't imagine anything WORSE for building a community.

( EDIT:  I thought of something worse haha, no chat  at all.  I'm just a slow thinker.  )

 I didn't get that was about the campaign. I agree there is little/poor overall strategy in it. Choosing one battle or another don't have much consequences on the whole campaign.

Scenario would be hard to improve if it stays as block of texts. Maybe adding pictures to illustrate a bit the story like Blizzard did on Diablo III videos, the characters are in the pop-up but their picture goes outside the frame. I'm not a big fan of stories unless their are immersive or you can really feel the impact on gameplay.

What could be interesting to make the campaign gameplay more fun is different consequences for different winning conditions. For example if you stay alive for 10 turns you get a crappy artifact but if you beat the opponent you get +30 life for next game.
Or even, if you don't kill your opponent within X turns, he becomes an ally for next game and plays an additional card that you can't play yourself from time to time in addition to your one card a turn. This would add a bit of surprise in the story, as you don't know what will happen during the battle.
But this would not add much depth for the campaign itself.

I think something can be done if you consider the campaign as a single basic battle: one campaign battle equals is like one card played in a single battle. You can build a strategy on the next 3 battles in campaign as you could do it with playing your 3 next cards in a single battle.
I'll think about that, it's always interesting to create multi-levels gameplays.

I hope this post was clear, sometimes I don't find the right english words :)

 

Zalgarde:

If they even just fix the chat bug, I'll buy it. I hate that getting too friendly with people bugs out the game, and I can't imagine anything WORSE for building a community.

( EDIT:  I thought of something worse haha, no chat  at all.  I'm just a slow thinker.  )

Actually, no chat at all would be better than the bug, as that destroys the integrity of the game.  A chat function that works could be introduced at a later time.But as they seem to be doing 99.999999 percent of the testing internally now, I am sure this is being addressed.  Yes, sometimes I am a little passive aggressive, and that was sarcasm.

If as playtesters we aren't being told anything, or helping the process, what is the point in playing - not sarcasm.

Edit: fix spelling mistake

 

Sorry, just a little upset as we haven't had any update since May 8, except that a lot of the PT'ing is being done internally.

sbeu:

 I don't think adding more depth in the actual gameplay will improve the fun of it.
That game is well balanced in terms of randomness and choices you make.

The game is not well balanced in terms of randomness and the choices you make. You don't get any choices. The game predetermines your strategy for you when it deals cards.

 The limited number of options available to each player and the 100% randomness of the card selection makes planning any sort of cohesive strategy before the start of the game a waste of time. It's simply 'cross fingers, click play, hope you can make sense of what you are dealt (as in no healing or no group damage or no heavy hitters in one hand)'.

Chess is elegantly simple and has few pieces BUT both players have equal access to the pieces (they get the same on both sides of the table). The handicap I see (a neat gimmick if the powers had deeper card selections) is that only one player has access to any one card. Example, if you see the 2 direct healing spells and the Master Healer in your hand, you know the opponent has NO healing. Nice to know, but also hobbling to the opposing player. It limits real skill development (I'm sure the players who have memorized every card and can guess what their opponent has within 2 card plays will argue with me, but how hard is it to memorize about 60 cards?) and pretty much depends on blind luck at the draw for a win. Yes, a player with more familiarity with the cards dealt a losing hand can eke a win from a less-experienced player with a better mix of cards, but matching equally-skilled players against one another and giving one 3 heals and armageddon can basically guarantee a win (just an example).

You have no more than an average of 10 moves to choose from, but you still have the uncertainty of opponent's cards and his possible moves that makes your strategy more complex to build.

Not so much. As above, it isn't too difficult to start guessing what cards your opponent is sitting on with there being only 12/power and 8/special (if you're both playing the same special power then you KNOW what your opponent has in his hand from the start of the game). I'm sure there are folks out there with little checklists sitting by the computer where they mark off their cards and the cards played by their opponents to lessen the 'uncertianty' of what the opponent has.

Spectromancer is a sharp mix of MTG and Chess...

More like a mix of Chess and Poker with only one suit included. MTG implies some sort of constructability to the decks. Spectro has none. It deals out the cards and puts the ones not used away.

 Kel's top 3 requests:

1. (probably the easiest) Leave the card pool open to both players. Each has full access to all the cards in a power. This will deepen the strategy needed as well as increase the uncertianty of what your opponent's bringing to the table.

2. Deepen the card pool for each power. There needs to be more to the game if it will be 100% random.

3. Allow a degree of customization for players (either setting their starting 'mana' values, or selecting ONE card per power.

As far as the chat issue goes. Dump it. If it's this buggy it should NOT be available upon release until the kinks are worked out. As Aldric says, if everything's gone internal and the external PT group's been left out to dry they'd better be exploring how to ensure this works as well (and if they aren't having issues on their end - better check with someone who reported it as a bug. I'm tired of posting screenshots of the error messages I receive without even a 'got it, reviewing' reply).

seriously need to update news with release date i mean I only check the board every other day (more than i check Starcraft II or Talisman:the boardgame online).

any news would be awesome

 

I disagree kel,

The game certainly doesn't predetermine your strategy for you any more than setting up the board in settlers of catan predetermines your strategy, it simply sets the framework you're operating from.  Strategy is ABOUT changes and reactions as much as its about the plan you walked in with, your efforts to make small scale decisions that may (or may not) deviate from the plan on a small level while steering along the goals you're aiming toward is the epitome of strategic gameplay. 

In all seriousness though, theres absolutely NOTHING wrong with not being able to plan a strategy for a  game before you've started playing it, it'd be like getting annoyed at not knowing what driver to use at a golf course before you've seen the holes or weather report. you seem to have infinite time on your first turn to plan your strategy and look over your cards (at least in the current build), so I can't see how you don't have a chance to form a strategy during that time.  Randomness can reduce strategy but it doesn't have to.

Theres also a "show cards" button to remove  the "I'm  too busy strategizing  to remember what cards my opponents played"  not everyone notices it as its a rather small icon.  But yes guessing at cards (and bluffing your opponent on those guesses) is a decent part of this game.

I've also got to question the healing bit.. contrary to popular opinion,  Divine intervention, farie sage, elven healer and even water elemental do in fact HEAL you. I'll take the combo of Divine intervention, water elemental, and farie sage over nature ritual rejuvenation and master healer ANY day.  Fairie sage is the one people complain about the MOST as you can heal with it and block an attacker, all without decaying the mana source that determines the amount it heals you, give me an elemental for further board control that ALSO heals me, and a holy spell that boosts both manas I'm healing with and ALSO heals me? I'm set. so yea, if you had a hand that had nature ritual, rejuvenation, farie sage, master healer, and water elemental and your opponent wasn't holy or didn't have Divine Intervention, then yea... you know you  can put the hurt on him. Unless he has iceguard.  Yes there are unwinnable hands and yes there is the occasional game where you can pretty much tell how its going to go right out of the gate, but they're quite rare in my experience.

That's abosuletly right, I've played games I thought I was going to loose because of a bad deal of cards, but you keep playing, thinking, trying new strategies and you see the game becoming better for you.

Sometimes you get in a bad loop that you have to identify quickly to change your strategy in time. For instance, a game loop with Faerie Sage, or with Air Elemental, you see that opponent keep playing the same cards over and over, and it's not going well for you.
It's not about having a good set of cards, it's about recognising the patterns of opponent's strategy quickly to circumvent it.

You can bluff as well, play a weak card that opponent wouldn't have played in your place just to make him think that you don't fear to loose life for a while.

Example:

Opponent has way to many creatures so you decide to play Hydra, but you know opponent has Tornado. As opponent has low life, you play Merfolk Appostate to make him believe that you have Aramageddon so he'll play Faerie Sage and won't instead kill your Hydra with his Tornado.

 This bluff won't work at all but it's just an example. I didn't play enough to confirm bluff can work in that game though. But I believe it does. 

    Well Gen Con thought there would have been a booth or a flyer or some thing in the event planner about this game but sadly no.  I'm not asking for you guys to hurry and rush it out or any thing but i would appreciate an update on the news at least once a month as a matter of courtesy.  I mean i feel like any more I'm just waste my time coming to this site if your not gonna bother update it.  I mean here i sit, money in hand, big hoping eyes, every time i come to this site and i get fed is the same card board crap you fed me last time.  I'm not saying MY time is more special than anyone else's but if you cant do an update to the news once a month for all the people who are checking then I think the developers are to F**K*NG lazy to make a good game any way.

 

Sincerely,

Guy who has been overly patient

P.S. Blizzard updates news on starcraft 2 once a month FYI