Artifact

[Alan]

Probably want either 3 Phase boots now or to swap out some Travelers Cloaks for Assassins Veils with the item cost changes.

[Jonathan]

There's no way Golden Ticket has a positive expected value now, right?

Hmm, I wonder if I can work Keenfolk Plate into my ping list...

[Alan]

Haven't played Artifact in a while. It really needs some new content. I can only assume that the next patch is going to be a big one, but who knows what is happening. At this point I'd still return once/if that happens but if they wait too long I might not.

[Jonathan]

https://playartifact.com/news/1819924505115920089

Since launch, we've been looking carefully at how players interact with the game as well as gathering feedback. It has become clear that there are deep-rooted issues with the game and that our original update strategy of releasing new features and cards would be insufficient to address them. Instead, we believe the correct course of action is to take larger steps, to re-examine the decisions we've made along the way regarding game design, the economy, the social experience of playing, and more.

Sounds more like a re-launch planned, rather than a patch.

[Alan]

Yep. Seems like it will be a while.

[Jonathan]

https://playartifact.com/news/1821083382556531528

A year later, they post to say they'll have news later?

Edit: they're calling it "Artifact 2" internally. https://www.polygon.com/2020/3/20/21188 ... abe-newell

[Jonathan]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/583950 ... 3190369211

Technically, "Artifact Beta 2.0". Which makes sense, as they really did not have an actual beta.

The biggest change is zooming out to allow players access to all three lanes at once. The majority of effects still work on individual lanes so they still maintain their identity, but it’s less likely that a player will get shut out in the same way they used to.

I read this as no more denying mana spend by hero killing.

Test boring stuff <- We are here
Trickle out invites, starting with players of the original release (ramping up similar to Dota 2)
Work on the Beta, eventually transitioning to an open beta
Leave Beta (hopefully quicker than Dota 2)

So I guess that includes both you and me, Alan, as potential closed beta testers. I logged into the client and played a game just in case that was part of the criteria. They don't say it is, though.

Sounds like the gameplay has changed enough fundamentally that they're not trying to do anything with people's collections, which is annoying. I'd be more annoyed if it was a lot of money to me.

[Alan]

Would be nice if they let you trade in your cards for credit towards whatever it is they’re going to sell in the future.

I guess I’ll try this when I get access.

[Jonathan]

Reddit speculation is for a buyback program. Dunno what will actually happen.

[Jonathan]

https://steamcommunity.com/gid/10358279 ... 8295276281

Their update says two things:

• They'll probably do something for players with existing collections, but won't decide what it is until later

• Artifact 2 has new heroes, completely different stat lines (average 60% of the Artifact 1.0 stat lines), and new items, so it's a fairly extensive overhaul

[Jonathan]

https://playartifact.com/news/3487417872003751630
https://playartifact.com/news/2217403321334436090

All 4 of the basic heroes stat lines are posted now, plus the fundamental reworking of the mechanics (e.g. Armor applies to only the first source of damage each round, melee creeps are 1/2 instead of 2/4, 5 slots per lane, no randomness in the deployment).

Debbi
Statline: 7/5 -> 4/3
Signature: Consume 3 mana, Deal 3 -> Consume 2 mana, Deal 2 and give Feeble
Ability: 2 extra damage to towers & heroes -> -1 armor to towers, +1 armor to Debbi

I think this hero illustrates the changes they're making pretty well. Signature cards and abilities are more impactful, the lower end of the mana curve is more powerful, there's new mechanics for additional threats & considerations, and so on.

[Jonathan]

The biggest change is zooming out to allow players access to all three lanes at once. The majority of effects still work on individual lanes so they still maintain their identity, but it’s less likely that a player will get shut out in the same way they used to.

I read this as no more denying mana spend by hero killing.

Actually, after digesting the Mechanics post for a week, I think what is happening is your opponent can deny mana spend in a lane, but you probably can still get value elsewhere. You start with 3 mana, not 3×3 mana. On the Annihilation turn (if that still exists), your opponent only gets to play one card. Similarly, on the Thundergod's Wrath turn, you can't play two copies, just one. So even the multilane effects will be muted in effect because your opponent can't stack them.

[Jonathan]

https://steamcommunity.com/games/583950 ... 8381948888

We will be sending an email to all players with the original game on their Steam Account (it doesn’t need to be installed). Emails will appear by NEXT WEEK. Follow the instructions in the email to sign up for the Beta.

[Jonathan]

Got my invite today and signed up for the beta.

[Alan]

Me too.

[Jonathan]

dwindlehop: Does the beta just show up in your library, or does Steam have some kind of notification that you get in?
mooahdeeb: you get an email
DrQuint: Shows in library
AlbertMelfo: Should be notified
Kollieflower: Just shows up, I think
DrQuint: and you get a mail
mooahdeeb: and it shows up in lunrary as Artifact 2.0

Lumi got in and has been streaming. Lots of different cards, and of course the mechanics changes are real, but that "Artifact" feel is definitely still there in the beta.

[Jonathan]

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... edit#gid=0 - dump of 2.0 keywords
https://kollieflower.github.io/Artifact2/ / https://williamangus.github.io/Artifact-Cards/ - dump of 2.0 cards

[Jonathan]

Rundown of our complaints, to see if they're being addressed:

It's really annoying that blue has all these threats on mana 6 and every other color has nada.

Still not great, but some improvement here. Green gets Emissary at 6. Black and Red each have an 8/8 at 6. Red loses Berserker's Call card. Still think it's weird that Red has no tools other than ToT for assuming a non-aggro identity, but maybe I'm alone.

I wish I had a replay

Definitely my #1 needed feature. Decision-making is way too board-dependent to be grokked without staring at the board state.

They claim support for in-game replays, but I haven't seen it in action.

Redmist.gg has a new stat tracking Chrome extension. Kind of reminds me of Hotslogs.

They claim they're building in statistics about games played into the game. Again I haven't seen this on stream yet.

Haven't played Artifact in a while. It really needs some new content.

By my count, they went from 48 to 60 heroes and tried to make more cards viable via lowering the mana cost. That said, there were 30 Red spells (15 creeps) and now there's 32 (18 creeps), so they didn't really increase the variety. They're showing signs in the beta of designing around synergy (see Greevils) but AFAICT it's not a fully fleshed out thought yet. Not impressed on this score.

I agree with the article that the number one issue with Artifact is the price, or the perceived price.

Well, they went away from tradable cards. I'm assuming they'll use a battle pass system like they did for Underlords, but they haven't announced the monetization scheme.
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The complaints about RNG mask a more fundamental problem that many players simply do not understand what constitutes good play.

Well, the flop RNG and arrow RNG is gone! The math is simpler due to the smaller HP and unit numbers. They claim they're cleaning up the card language to make it simpler for new players, but having looked at the cards I don't see it, myself. I assume bidirectional lane priority system will make the non-intuitive emphasis on the left lane less of a concern for new players. They're also claiming some other improvements, but I'm not willing to credit them yet.
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I think Valve should have an in-fiction single player campaign with cinematics and a story.

Well, they did that! A lot of streamers are streaming the single player campaign. I have not tuned in to avoid spoilers.

The game should build up the newbie hero collection with key characters from the comic slowly joining your deck over four to eight hours of campaign. That way new players are shown through play what constitutes good value, good trades, etc., in a much simpler setting with the narrative hook to keep them engaged.

They are taking a gradual approach to card acquisition, particularly in Hero Draft mode. I think you can get screwed by the current state of Hero Draft (play mono Blue, don't get Annihilation) but it's a reasonable way to engage new players while keeping the number of new cards to a minimum. I'm curious what they'll do for beta players at launch... will we have an option to expand our collections rapidly so we can dick around in constructed immediately? I'm fine grinding up once, maybe, assuming they adopt the Hearthstone policy of no excess duplicates, but not twice. In general, I hate grinding but I recognize some players prefer to learn slowly.

[Jonathan]

https://playartifact.ru/pages/compare/ - comparisons of 2.0 heroes to 1.0 versions.

The 60% mana is an extremely rough guideline. There's heroes that lost half their attack (Axe) and heroes that have the same attack (Timbersaw). Zeus went from 3 to 1! Storm Spirit gained attack, but lost his passive that increased his attack. And, notably, all heroes now have enough attack so they can kill a melee creep.

[Jonathan]

I was struck by the difference in Bears (2/2 for 2 mana) in 2.0 vs. 1.0.

In 1.0, the basic bear is Vhoul Martyr, a 2/0/2 with an ability for 2 mana. That's a normal MTG value bear. There's some 1.0 Artifact bears who have no ability, but better stats, like Untested Grunt (4/0/2 for 2 mana, no ability). These are value bears of another sort. I think those count; really anything that can kill a 2/2 and costs 2 mana deserves the title.

In 1.0, there were not many bears. Black had 2, Green had 1, Blue had 1, Red arguably has the highest value bear with Bronze Legionnaire (4/2/2 for 2 mana, eats bears for breakfast).

In 2.0, there are so many bears! I count arguably 2 for Blue, 3 for Red, 6 for Black, ~1 for Green(!). Not your older brother's Green. There's way, way more 2 drops across the board, for both spells and creatures, though half of those can't deal with a 2/0/2 for 2 mana.