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TVsVeryOwn posted:Can someone point me to an explanation of why Wizards has this bug-nutty tiered development cycle? They want the groundwork of the set to be laid out so that they can start ordering art, writing story stuff, and templating the card text for rules/mechanics and stuff. They want every department cranking somehow out at all times so you need to have multiple projects in development at all times. Sigma-X posted:Most game development has a pre-production, production, and polishing phases that are basically "browse pinterest for cookie recipes" "make the cookies and frost them" and then a "add sprinkles and eat the ugly ones" steps. You can't really compare it to game development because there's a physical product and a non-negotiable release date. Everything has a lead time, and something must go out the door every three months with no take-backsies. If you have a system that can pull that off, you probably don't want to risk messing with it.
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Feb 16, 2017 04:04
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Yeah that. Cube year round would just embarrass all the other options especially since entry fees/pay outs are pretty poo poo throughout. My several time a year modo usage is almost entirely for cube though that standard gauntlet looks dope but I know I'll just get ww and the pay outs are somehow even worse,
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Feb 16, 2017 04:06
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little munchkin posted:They want the groundwork of the set to be laid out so that they can start ordering art, writing story stuff, and templating the card text for rules/mechanics and stuff. They want every department cranking somehow out at all times so you need to have multiple projects in development at all times. There are plenty of games that have consistent time boxed release schedules. I have literally built teams and methodology to ship on seasonal deliveries like that before.
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Feb 16, 2017 04:12
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From a "numbers in a spreadsheet" perspective, the Modern format is probably getting politically weak inside of Wizards. I can't imagine anyone is putting up money for a Modern deck that isn't already playing another format (either EDH, standard, or limited), so there's no net gain in total customers when someone starts playing the format. Right now it's probably getting floated on the higher margin of the Modern Masters products and store event support, but those figures will hit diminishing returns at some point. And if no one internally wants Modern numbers tied to their performance goals, the amount of financial support the format gets will atrophy, resulting in fewer events that the business will fund. Products and events for Standard are probably the easiest to hit or exceed their performance goals with, so lean times probably means that line of business just gets pushed harder. I'm not surprised a paper products company trying to run a successful software product has turned into the rake-stepping olympics. More than a few software companies can't turn a corner with their own products, and working at Wizards sounds like a dumpster fire for a bunch of other reasons, too, so they can't overcome what would be normal issues somewhere else with talent. Ultra-Pro Eclipse sleeves seem pretty good in the few days I have had them. They're actually opaque on the back, don't have the dumb hologram on the front, and shuffle better than KMCs.
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Feb 16, 2017 04:14
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ThePeavstenator posted:Half the reasons I've heard for business decisions they make sound like conjecture someone in upper management said once and it became unquestioned gospel internally and the other half is that they did a similar thing years ago that didn't work out so they vowed to never try it again even if circumstances changed. I think it's like Kremlinology to try to say what's going on inside WotC, but it looks like they have a really weird relationship with risk taking. When they take a risk they're hypersensitive to short term feedback. They took away modern pro tour, then reversed the decision. They changed standard rotation then reversed the decision. MTGO just appears to never take any risks lol. araeris posted:From a "numbers in a spreadsheet" perspective, the Modern format is probably getting politically weak inside of Wizards. I can't imagine anyone is putting up money for a Modern deck that isn't already playing another format (either EDH, standard, or limited), so there's no net gain in total customers when someone starts playing the format. It's so surprising to me how they make almost no attempt* to monetize Modern or EDH. They have Grand Prix and Pro Tours, which appear to be successful marketing vehicles for selling packs. They don't try to promote EDH events at all or even try out ideas to make money off of it. *Modern Masters lol clamiam45 fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Feb 16, 2017 |
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Feb 16, 2017 04:29
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clamiam45 posted:I think it's like Kremlinology to try to say what's going on inside WotC, but it looks like they have a really weird relationship with risk taking. When they take a risk they're hypersensitive to short term feedback. They took away modern pro tour, then reversed the decision. They changed standard rotation then reversed the decision. MTGO just appears to never take any risks lol. Sanctioned 3+ player game events are a recipe for misery at every level. They'll sell commander decks every year, but even Wizards is smart enough not to try pushing it as a sanctioned event format.
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Feb 16, 2017 04:44
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Sigma-X posted:Why would you play anything other than Cube? Seriously. Why would you ever open a new set pack and draft that? Coming up with ways to entice me to crack packs and draft other formats is their job. If I want to play cube all day, offering me an inferior product or nothing isn't a solution. I don't draft the current format most of the time anyway, all the policy does is see me spend my time and money elsewhere. I can't imagine anyone trying to seriously defend this policy, especially when it wasn't like all the time cube was tried and failed, it's never even been attempted which is insane. They've been happy to rest on their laurels and nickel and dime players (4-3-2-2, lol) for years, to the detriment of the game.
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Feb 16, 2017 04:51
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I would spend a ton of money on MTGO drafting my rear end off if they ended set redemption and dropped pack prices so it was $5 to do a draft instead of $15.
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Feb 16, 2017 04:53
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araeris posted:Ultra-Pro Eclipse sleeves seem pretty good in the few days I have had them. They're actually opaque on the back, don't have the dumb hologram on the front, and shuffle better than KMCs. Are they better than Dragon Shield Mattes? At $8 MSRP for 80, I would have a hard time justifying even trying them over using Dragon Shields, especially not with years of Ultra-Pro sleeves being totally useless garbage spoiling their brand.
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Feb 16, 2017 04:58
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I think for magic to continue to be successful it always needs to promote standard AND its non-rotating formats. A healthy customer base is going to want to play both from time to time. People WILL play standard when its fun and has a lot of interesting and powerful cards new and old. A standard with legacy/modern/edh reprinted staples will be a format that these groups will buy packs for and participate in standard events for. You want your customers to invest in multiple formats because it makes you more money. WOTC fucks this up in so many ways. 1. Reprints next to nothing in standard for almost 2 years.  2. Makes masters sets almost triple the MSRP and leans heavily towards drafting which doesn't exactly line up customer base that actually has interest in the cards from the set. Power level of the cards is diluted making the EV the set lower than it should.  3. In a move that confuses everyone, drastically changes its set designs during its peak of popularity to something vastly different from what made it popular.  4. Non-rotating participation booms during the lovely standard seasons and they massively over-correct. They promote standard (which is smart) while then slowly cutting non-rotating (which is dumb).  5. In an effort to not pay judges , wotc fucks up the GP system with TO's who have the ability to go max greed and are running the poo poo into the ground. *Hint Hint* The bubble bursting hurts the bottom line and the overall health of your customer base. All it would take it is a little more regulation... but nope. 
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Feb 16, 2017 05:05
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Sickening posted:3. In a move that confuses everyone, drastically changes its set designs during its peak of popularity to something vastly different from what made it popular. I forgot what this was. I wanna say you're talking about going from three-set blocks to two-set blocks but I think that was generally well-received, at least on paper.
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Feb 16, 2017 05:19
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Entropic posted:Sanctioned 3+ player game events are a recipe for misery at every level. You put forth one really bad idea and we agree it's a bad idea. There are many other ideas that aren't miserable. They can do any number of ideas to promote EDH play and sales: create EDH Masters, give away promos to people who attend EDH Night series in stores, create an EDH Weekend where they fly in artists to sign cards or debut special EDH-focused products there. I'm just an idiot who doesn't even play multiplayer Magic and I'm sure my ideas suck, but I just wanted to point out that there are ways to make money other than "Sell Standard packs" and "Sell entry fees to swiss tournaments."
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Feb 16, 2017 05:22
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I got my tax return back and had planned on buying Modern Merfolk with some of it on MTGO. Recent developments with WotC's lovely policy of ruining everything have made me consider not doing that, despite being 100% for it despite MTGO's problems for about 2 months now. 
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Feb 16, 2017 05:24
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C-Euro posted:I forgot what this was. I wanna say you're talking about going from three-set blocks to two-set blocks but I think that was generally well-received, at least on paper. The same repeated stuff. Making burn poo poo Making discard poo poo. Making land destruction poo poo. Making removal narrow or just bad. Making sideboard hate less powerful or non-existent. Pushed story mythics. There is more but I am tired.
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Feb 16, 2017 05:26
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Sickening posted:The same repeated stuff. Making creatures better than any other option by slapping stupidly good effects on them while also being immune to any sort of removal due to said points above plus dumb stats.
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Feb 16, 2017 05:28
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Hellsau posted:Are they better than Dragon Shield Mattes? At $8 MSRP for 80, I would have a hard time justifying even trying them over using Dragon Shields, especially not with years of Ultra-Pro sleeves being totally useless garbage spoiling their brand. I don't think I've ever owned Dragon Shield Mattes, so I can't say. I bought these because I like the way modern Ultra Pro matte sleeves shuffle (although these are slightly different), and finally they appear to be making a product that doesn't disintegrate on contact with oxygen. Plus they fixed most of the other dumb problems. Those little holograms have been stupid since the late 90s when they covered up the forfeit value on SWCCG cards. I also don't know if anyone else is selling good quality sleeves in safety orange, but that was the color I picked for these.
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Feb 16, 2017 05:32
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Sleeve chat forces me to ask if there's some random deal that offers sleeves in all colors. The token section of cube is getting bulky and alphabetized by color seems like a better solution.
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Feb 16, 2017 05:36
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Sickening posted:The same repeated stuff. Oh yeah, duh. A lot of this has been gradual (like LD) but I guess they did come out and say that they wanted to try not having a bunch of staple effects going forward (1 CMC mana dorks, 4 CMC wraths etc.) at one point. I guess there's a reason why they're considered staples! Count Bleck posted:Making creatures better than any other option by slapping stupidly good effects on them while also being immune to any sort of removal due to said points above plus dumb stats. Creatures have been slowly getting better for years but yeah it's gotten to the point where they're doing so at the detriment of other parts of the game. If they're smart enough to course-correct on this in upcoming sets I could see a really fun (or at least high-powered) Standard in a year or two where we have the good creatures available right now paired with the hypothetical good removal/discard/etc. in these upcoming sets. But again, "if they're smart enough"
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Feb 16, 2017 05:46
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Pontius Pilate posted:Sleeve chat forces me to ask if there's some random deal that offers sleeves in all colors. The token section of cube is getting bulky and alphabetized by color seems like a better solution. This is a really good idea. I just got a bunch of sweet new tokens at Pitt and they don't all fit in my old box anymore. Has anyone bought one of those cub3 box things? Are they any good? The holiday boxes kinda suck and I'm not super in love with the idea of having my $14k cube sitting in a cheap piece of cardboard.
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Feb 16, 2017 05:47
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araeris posted:I also don't know if anyone else is selling good quality sleeves in safety orange, but that was the color I picked for these. I respect and admire this decision. I have the Ultimate Guard Supremes in orange and have been disappointed in how safe they look, the Eclipses seem much closer to the colour I want. Papa Was A Video Toaster fucked around with this message at 03:14 on Feb 17, 2017 |
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Feb 16, 2017 05:51
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Sickening posted:The same repeated stuff. Most of these fit with what I said above about making the newbies happier, but burn doesn't make sense. Kids love burn. Tournament players love burn because it's usually a cheap way into any format. Everyone loves burn! Wizards keeps bringing up how they made a conscious decision to make burn weaker for a while, usually in the context of "but it's coming back, no, really!" or "here's Shock, aren't you grateful?" but it's been two and a half years since Lightning Strike. That's not "let's see what happens if burn sucks for a couple of sets".
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Feb 16, 2017 06:24
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Count Bleck posted:I got my tax return back and had planned on buying Modern Merfolk with some of it on MTGO. If MTGO wasn't poo poo, I would have given WotC $700 to buy into Vintage 2 years ago. Instead, I just ground Pauper events and got into the format that way, with WotC receiving none of my money. They're afraid of accepting our money. araeris posted:I don't think I've ever owned Dragon Shield Mattes, so I can't say. I bought these because I like the way modern Ultra Pro matte sleeves shuffle (although these are slightly different), and finally they appear to be making a product that doesn't disintegrate on contact with oxygen. Plus they fixed most of the other dumb problems. Those little holograms have been stupid since the late 90s when they covered up the forfeit value on SWCCG cards. Safety Orange does sound pretty sweet. I have a deck in the classic Dragon Shield Orange and they're pretty gaudy, but I don't think they make a matte orange. Pontius Pilate posted:Sleeve chat forces me to ask if there's some random deal that offers sleeves in all colors. The token section of cube is getting bulky and alphabetized by color seems like a better solution. Ask your local game store if they've got a bunch of bulk sleeves lying around. My LGS has a bunch of sleeves in a box since if they buy a collection, they're going to desleeve the cards. Let them know you need a bunch of different colors of disposable sleeves and if your LGS isn't terrible, they probably can save you a bunch of the sleeves they take in. Hell, ask your fellow MTG players if they're going to get rid of some sleeves to just give them to you instead and you'll get enough over the course of a month. suicidesteve posted:This is a really good idea. I just got a bunch of sweet new tokens at Pitt and they don't all fit in my old box anymore. Tolarian Community College did a video on it (usual PSA - listen at 1.25x speed for normal human voice) and it looks like it was made of the same stuff that holiday boxes are made of. You might want one or two of the Ultimate Guard Arkhives since they seem like they're pretty decent quality, or this Rep Gaming thing which is the same price as the Cub3 and isn't a cardboard box. If you wanted to go super fancy you could get a Pirate Lab case, a bunch of deckboxes, and premake the packs and put three packs in a deckbox. Hand out a bunch of boxes, keep the unused ones for the next draft, and then remake the packs when necessary.
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Feb 16, 2017 06:28
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Considering how much people spend on cubes, they should probably just pony up the few dollars extra and build a nice hefty wooden case or whatever. Like, you could get one custom-made by any local hobbyist woodworker and it'd be a tiny fraction of what you spent on the cards you put in it.
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Feb 16, 2017 06:58
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Just logged in after joining a sealed league earlier today to find I'd been dropped from the league. Filed for reimbursement then checked their twitter, turns out leagues totally poo poo the bed a couple hours ago and tons of people's league sessions were corrupted or ended prematurely. They're working to fix it and then reimbursing en masse. Worth checking if you're affected if you had a live league as of a few hours ago. https://twitter.com/MagicOnline/status/832089729298370560
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Feb 16, 2017 07:25
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Marketing New Brain posted:Coming up with ways to entice me to crack packs and draft other formats is their job. If I want to play cube all day, offering me an inferior product or nothing isn't a solution. I don't draft the current format most of the time anyway, all the policy does is see me spend my time and money elsewhere. Lolling if you think Wotc can build a draft format better than cube to get you to crack packs.
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Feb 16, 2017 08:51
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BJPaskoff posted:Most of these fit with what I said above about making the newbies happier, but burn doesn't make sense. Kids love burn. Tournament players love burn because it's usually a cheap way into any format. Everyone loves burn! Wizards keeps bringing up how they made a conscious decision to make burn weaker for a while, usually in the context of "but it's coming back, no, really!" or "here's Shock, aren't you grateful?" but it's been two and a half years since Lightning Strike. That's not "let's see what happens if burn sucks for a couple of sets". I think the said it was like a pendulum swinging back but honestly I'm not expecting lightning bolt level power again
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Feb 16, 2017 10:26
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Sorcery speed bolt would go a long way and is balanced for the current standard environment. No surprise 2-4-1, no combat blowouts, no EoT kill. Giving modern burn another set of strictly better Lava Spikes is totally incidental.
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Feb 16, 2017 11:05
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Sigrist's breakdown of the problems with current standard is pretty good http://www.channelfireball.com/articles/the-4-big-problems-with-standard/
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Feb 16, 2017 11:15
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Sigma-X posted:Why would you play anything other than Cube? Seriously. Why would you ever open a new set pack and draft that? Wouldn't this be more of a McRib analogy?
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Feb 16, 2017 12:15
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Rinkles posted:Sigrist's breakdown of the problems with current standard is pretty good Seems well argued. Could they errata Guardian so that in competitive events it only flickers say creatures and artifacts, maybe enchantments? I know they are probably against cards not doing as their text says for the most part, but they did it with Blood Moon (albeit via a reprint) I would love to be playing Grim Nemesis again, so the format he envisions without it is appealing.
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Feb 16, 2017 13:21
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BizarroAzrael posted:Seems well argued. Could they errata Guardian so that in competitive events it only flickers say creatures and artifacts, maybe enchantments? I know they are probably against cards not doing as their text says for the most part, but they did it with Blood Moon (albeit via a reprint) I would love to be playing Grim Nemesis again, so the format he envisions without it is appealing. Blood Moon was a mistake that they just sort of rolled with. There's a handful of other cards that, if you go by their mid-90's wording, would work differently today. Flying Carpet did something different, and so did Impulse (though Impulse was an actual mistake I think). There's also Loxodon Warhammer for a slightly more recent example. But somewhere along the line someone changed the wording for a new set, eitber by mistake or just thinking they were helping out by simplifying some wording, and we just go with the newest wording because why not. They'll never do it again because they don't do power level errata anymore. Too confusing, Magic isn't an online-only TCG where they can press a button and update the text on every card in everyone's collection.
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Feb 16, 2017 13:57
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BJPaskoff posted:Too confusing, Magic isn't an online-only TCG where they can press a button and update the text on every card in everyone's collection. And no, you can't do it despite this. People have enough problems knowing what cards do with the cards in front of them. If a card's text doesn't gel with its actual abilities then it just gets worse.
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Feb 16, 2017 14:19
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BJPaskoff posted:Blood Moon was a mistake that they just sort of rolled with. There's a handful of other cards that, if you go by their mid-90's wording, would work differently today. Flying Carpet did something different, and so did Impulse (though Impulse was an actual mistake I think). There's also Loxodon Warhammer for a slightly more recent example. But somewhere along the line someone changed the wording for a new set, eitber by mistake or just thinking they were helping out by simplifying some wording, and we just go with the newest wording because why not. They'll never do it again because they don't do power level errata anymore. Too confusing, Magic isn't an online-only TCG where they can press a button and update the text on every card in everyone's collection. Impulse was definitely a mistake. They re-un-earrata'ed Winter Orb when it was printed in Eternal Masters, as it was a chance to restore it to the original designed functionality. Loxodon Warhammer was printed when the text and the keyword were literally identical (briefly Lifelink was a triggered ability. This was changed in M10 when the combat rules were changed.) and since it's most recent printing that's the wording that stands.
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Feb 16, 2017 14:24
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BJPaskoff posted:Most of these fit with what I said above about making the newbies happier, but burn doesn't make sense. Kids love burn. Tournament players love burn because it's usually a cheap way into any format. Everyone loves burn! Wizards keeps bringing up how they made a conscious decision to make burn weaker for a while, usually in the context of "but it's coming back, no, really!" or "here's Shock, aren't you grateful?" but it's been two and a half years since Lightning Strike. That's not "let's see what happens if burn sucks for a couple of sets". This doubly doesn't make sense when you consider that Wizards made a sentient burn spell into one of its main characters with Chandra. Unless they don't want to print worthwhile burn in order to make her seem "special", which is an idea so stupid I almost didn't want to post it.
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Feb 16, 2017 14:27
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Is there a site where you input a spreadsheet of cards and get a tcglow or buylist price for all the cards? Thinking of selling my collection and would prefer to do it in one go.
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Feb 16, 2017 14:29
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I'm missing the Blood Moon mistake but I haven't had my coffee or my eight hours.
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Feb 16, 2017 15:57
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Snacksmaniac posted:I'm missing the Blood Moon mistake but I haven't had my coffee or my eight hours. The version printed in The Dark turned them into "basic mountains". All reprints just turns them into mountains, but they don't become basic lands.
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Feb 16, 2017 16:00
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Snacksmaniac posted:I'm missing the Blood Moon mistake but I haven't had my coffee or my eight hours. I don't know about any errata Blood Moon may or may not have gotten, but the original The Dark printing says:  Which creates a paradox as the nonbasic lands become basic, and thus no longer affected by Blood Moon, which returns them to being nonbasic, which makes Blood Moon work again, which makes them basic, so on and so forth.
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Feb 16, 2017 16:02
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Cheers! 
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Feb 16, 2017 16:05
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Orange Fluffy Sheep posted:I don't know about any errata Blood Moon may or may not have gotten, but the original The Dark printing says: That's not quite how it works. March of the Machines doesn't create a paradox. You just apply the effect once, in the appropriate layer, and that's it.
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Feb 16, 2017 16:41
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