The current state of Magic

[Barook]

http://www.pcgamer.com/magic-the-gat...rpg-treatment/

So apparently MTG is getting a MMO. Not sure how to feel about that. Imho, it's going to be giant waste of money on Wizards' side.

[Dice_Box]

I have no interest in this, but at the same time I play flight sims so I am not the target. I could see it working though. There will be people who want this if they do it right. It's not like they don't have a really solid foundation to build off.

[Barook]

I have no interest in this, but at the same time I play flight sims so I am not the target. I could see it working though. There will be people who want this if they do it right. It's not like they don't have a really solid foundation to build off.

That's a big IF. Sure, it could be cool to stroll around in Ravnica, fight in the Cabal Arena, etc., but I do fear that the technical execution and amount of actual content is going to leave alot to be desired, even if it isn't developed in-house.

The MMO trend is long over. At least they didn't try to make a Planeswalker MOBA - yet.

[Fox]

I can't imagine a worse mistake than making an MTG mmo. Just pay Bethesda to make Skyrim2.0 set in Dominaria.

[DLifshitz]

So apparently MTG is getting a MMO.

Hasbro has been trying to turn Magic into a franchise for some time now, what with the comics, the board game, action figures, the movie, and some miscellaneous vaporware. The current storyline, which features what is essentially a superhero team going from plane to plane and righting wrongs, is quite obviously part of that strategy. Making another computer game, even one that probably won't be very unique or innovative, is very much a logical move.

I expect we will see many other products with the Magic brand. The last year or two especially must have demonstrated to Hasbro that there are limits to the growth of the card game itself, and that the brand must diversify. That should also help them directly reach potential customers, and in particular people who might be put off by your average FLGS.

[Megadeus]

I can't imagine a worse mistake than making an MTG mmo. Just pay Bethesda to make Skyrim2.0 set in Dominaria.

I'd play a good magic RPG. that would actually be really fucking cool

[Crimhead]

I'd play a good magic RPG. that would actually be really fucking cool

I think D&D 5th now offers Zendikar and Innistrad as playable worlds. That's probably as close as you'll ever get.

[Barook]

Hasbro has been trying to turn Magic into a franchise for some time now, what with the comics, the board game, action figures, the movie, and some miscellaneous vaporware. The current storyline, which features what is essentially a superhero team going from plane to plane and righting wrongs, is quite obviously part of that strategy. Making another computer game, even one that probably won't be very unique or innovative, is very much a logical move.

I expect we will see many other products with the Magic brand. The last year or two especially must have demonstrated to Hasbro that there are limits to the growth of the card game itself, and that the brand must diversify. That should also help them directly reach potential customers, and in particular people who might be put off by your average FLGS.

Yes, the card game has reached its limit, but one has to question why is that. Competition has become more fierce and WotC has neglected their main way of recruiting new players, online, with their piss-poor software and ancient, outdated pricing model. It certainly doesn't help when your flagship format, Standard, is by far the worst format of the game and is mainly played for price support, not because people love it.

As for turning the game into a franchise, it really hurts the core game on their quest for more money. Everything they did so far backfired spectaculary. The Jacetice Leage is liked by some, detested by others. The focus on pushed story cards (e.g. Emrakul) fucked over Standard really, really hard. As did the lack of playtesting the format because gotta save money. Or the hastened up Standard rotation. Or cannibalizing set sales by pushing 4 fucking sets in 4 months.

WotC doesn't exactly have a good track record when it comes to selling things different from the card game. Think about the forgotten PW tabletop game. Or the Jace silver coins.

I just can't think of a way how a MTG MMO could be successful. Only a fraction of the 20 million playerbase would probably be willing to play the game. The normal Joe doesn't care if your damage spell is called Lightning Bolt, the actual game has to deliver or nobody will care.

We don't know yet how it's going to turn out, but my concept for a MMO that's integrated into the franchise would be:
- Whenever a new plane comes up, it also gets released in the MMO. Story-wise, you play what happens in the card game. That would require a return to the old "One plane per year" plan, but was it really that bad? As the story unfolds, it the client gets updated. E.g. with Hour of Devestation, the Amonkhet plane would end with a raid on Nicol Bolas at the end. In addition to that, give opportunity to revisit old events, like e.g. the Phyrexian Invasion. Whether or not a year of development time is feasible for good content is a different question, though.
- But what's even more important: Integrate the actual full card game into the client. Like Gwent in the Witcher 3, a game in the game, basically. Still let it function like a client for the card game and could be monetized.

But in the end, the execution is the most important thing. And I'm very sceptical about that.

[TsumiBand]

There are a bunch of ways to "fake" a card game to get the attention of CG players while also just riffing on popular MMO themes. Wizard101 did it fairly faithfully, games like Battlehand tried it but failed (imho), and Mobius Final Fantasy uses the word "card" and "deck" to describe in-game mechanics that are honestly more akin to Pokémon and its "you can only teach pokes 4 moves" gameplay.

I... I have no idea how a faithful representation of MtG gameplay could exist in an MMO setting without it feeling like a clone of something that was probably inspired by the game itself. It'll probably feel like a parody of itself tbh, and I don't say that just to be instantly negative or anything, it's just that Magic is a really shitty video game when it's trying to stay true to its roots. MTGO blows, DotP is only cool because it is limited in its execution and even tbe free form "no actual rules" things like MWS were always saddled by the same issues as playing with your average noobs only you get those toxic XBLA fuckers in on the game too. I dunno mang, I feel like any MtG MMO can only be successful in spite of the physical game.

[jandax]

I can't imagine a worse mistake than making an MTG mmo. Just pay Bethesda to make Skyrim2.0 set in Dominaria.

A whole bunch of this.

And then some more. Please.

Imagine that a mountain hold is Shiv, dragons flying around. Mishra and Urza are durdling around bitchfighting. I'm game.

Sent from my SM-A520F using Tapatalk

[mistercakes]

It's just incredible that they could just remake Shandalar and it would be a great game. They could even use their current storyline for it and release expansions based on story (set) updates.

[rufus]

It's just incredible that they could just remake Shandalar and it would be a great game. They could even use their current storyline for it and release expansions based on story (set) updates.

The that is that there are fundamental things that the complex rules and interactivity that make it hard to make a good MTGO client will also make any MMO difficult. Maybe Duels is some kind of dry run, but I'm not sure how much better those issues are there.

[Barook]

Announcing announcments - what's not to love?

Monday - future changes to sets (bringing back core sets?)
Thusday - digital garbage and B&R announcement (more Standard bans since it was moved from Wednesday?)
Wednesday - new products
Thursday - GP Vegas and Organized Play changes
Friday - Hour of Devestation spoilers

[Lord Seth]

As for turning the game into a franchise, it really hurts the core game on their quest for more money. Everything they did so far backfired spectaculary. The Jacetice Leage is liked by some, detested by others. The focus on pushed story cards (e.g. Emrakul) fucked over Standard really, really hard. As did the lack of playtesting the format because gotta save money. Or the hastened up Standard rotation. Or cannibalizing set sales by pushing 4 fucking sets in 4 months.

WotC doesn't exactly have a good track record when it comes to selling things different from the card game. Think about the forgotten PW tabletop game. Or the Jace silver coins.

Honestly, franchise makes sense. People often say that the reason Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh TCGs are popular at all is because of the strength of their franchises. I think that's become less true about the Pokemon TCG over the last year or two, but if products outside of the TCG can raise the TCG's popularity that much, then you have to consider how it could raise the popularity of Magic. Video games are the most obvious choice for such a thing. I was actually wondering why they hadn't tried doing a video game (as in, one not based explicitly on the gameplay of the TCG) because it seemed like such a good way to get more people in, if it were a good game.

[Ronald Deuce]

Bring back the Brothers' War and the goddamned Sarpadian Empires.

[Megadeus]

Honestly, franchise makes sense. People often say that the reason Pokemon and Yu-Gi-Oh TCGs are popular at all is because of the strength of their franchises. I think that's become less true about the Pokemon TCG over the last year or two, but if products outside of the TCG can raise the TCG's popularity that much, then you have to consider how it could raise the popularity of Magic. Video games are the most obvious choice for such a thing. I was actually wondering why they hadn't tried doing a video game (as in, one not based explicitly on the gameplay of the TCG) because it seemed like such a good way to get more people in, if it were a good game.

They did have a game for XBox. It was supposedly shit

[Lord Seth]

They did have a game for XBox. It was supposedly shit

Huh, you're right, there was. Looking at reviews, though, it didn't look like it was that bad, just kind of okay, which of course isn't enough if the point is to try to advertise the franchise.

[LegacyIsAnEternalFormat]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles...2-0-2017-06-12

1. The Fall, Winter, and Spring Sets Will All Be Large Sets That Are Drafted Alone

2. The Summer Set Will Be a Revamped Core Set

3. We're significantly pulling back on how often the Gatewatch will appear as planeswalker cards.

4. The Masterpieces Series Will Revert to Being in Fewer Sets

5. New "Play Design" Team to Provide More Playtesting for Standard

[Gheizen64]

Bring back the Brothers' War and the goddamned Sarpadian Empires.

This, times 1000.

[Barook]

http://magic.wizards.com/en/articles...2-0-2017-06-12

1. The Fall, Winter, and Spring Sets Will All Be Large Sets That Are Drafted Alone

2. The Summer Set Will Be a Revamped Core Set

No more small sets is just as important.

The changes sound good in theory, but so did they the last time (minus the shorter Standard rotation). While they can stay on a plane for 1-3 big sets now, I do wonder if they burn through mechanics even faster. We'll have to wait and see.