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Magic The Gathering And Artifact's Game Mechanic Creator, Richard Garfield - Reflecting On Artifact
- Thread starter Brock2621
- Start date
I'm not able to watch the video, and will watch when I can, but I played and loved the game since Beta. I really wish it took off, because it was a ton of fun. The polish on it was incredible, and just stuff like learning more Dota lore when opening card packs or examining cards was really neat. Valve said they are "in it for the long haul" and plan to relaunch it, but honestly who knows what happened to that. I don't expect much. Maybe they'll come out with a rebooted version, but I don't know. Dota Underlords is out and massively successful, and I'm betting that's even less incentive for them to relaunch Artifact.
Thanks for this. I adored Artifact. The first live broadcasted tournament did not do the game any favors, though.
I dunno if that was the case so much as it was another game based on a mod that was already successful (Dota Auto Chess), much like how Dota came to be in the first place. Artifact was a brand new thing (other than being based in the Dota universe) and totally unproven other than having Valve's and Richard Garfield's names attached to it.
I'm not talking about the success of the auto chess format, I'm talking about how Valve are supporting it, communicating and quickly changing and adjusting it vs. Artifact's sluggish support and poor communication lead to an ironically quick death. It's clear they learned a harsh lesson about what it takes to support a game like this, lessons they didn't really need to learn with DotA.
If they treated Underlords like they treated Artifact, it would've been buried by the competition already. Not saying it's perfect, just clearly a huge step up.
To be fair they did change Artifact on a regular basis in the month or two after it launched. I think about a month later they launched the progression system (albeit half-baked IMO, and it eventually ended which is not what people wanted out of a system like that), and they initially said they would treat it like a physical card game and not do balance changes outside of releasing new card sets, but they went back on this and did nerf Axe, Drow, Cheating Death, and some other cards. But I agree the Underlords updates have been MUCH MORE rapid than Artifact's.
Surprised he still can't admit gameplay and RNG was a factor on why the game failed. Sounds like Valve is doing the right thing by cutting him off and taking it back to the drawing boards. Hopefully it relaunches and is a success because it's definitely the best looking card game on the market now.
Because it wasn't? Most people took issue with the monetization ($20 entry plus buying more cards), and I think RNG is nowhere close to the amount of it in Hearthstone, a successful game. If by gameplay you mean the length of the games, I can get that one, but that actually improved significantly once people understood how to play the game and they sped up some animations (things like that add up)
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I'm torn on this take. Magic has RNG and is mechanically sound by updating with new sets/rules and retiring certain cards. I really do feel the $20 entry plus purchasing of card packs was too much. It need to be given away for free, and just sold individual packs. I'm not saying that would have fixed everything, but I think it would have given it enough of a lifeline to continue as a viable product and not but murdered in public perception as people's addiction hooks sank in
Artifact had way less RNG than Magic or Heartstone. Aside from the pricing, I think the main problem with Artifact was the lack of "explosive" moments, when you play a powerful card that totally changes the state of the board. It feels good. Artifact felt more like playing go, a lot of small moves that contribute to a big strategy, but you rarely get that "gotcha!" moment.
Underlords - and basically every other card game - has far more RNG than Artifact and games run even longer and nobody gives a fuck. RNG or long games (I realize you didn't mention that but it's one people like to bring up) didn't mean a thing.
Ehhhh, I'd argue getting a good Prey on the Weak with Kanna followed up with a Emissary of the Quorum was pretty explosive.
We'll just have to agree to disagree. I just have a hard time believing that 99% of the people who payed the entry price and most likely bought a few cards/tickets just up and quit because of the monetization. There's lots of examples of games with worst monetization practices that find success.
Here's a good article on some possible reasons why it failed. I don't necessarily agree with all the points, but I think these are some of the tough concepts Valve is wrestling with to try and improve the game.
Well there were a decent number of cards that had significant board impact, it's just that there was three boards.
I really liked Artifact, the only reason I stopped playing because it died. The price point, lack of features, and entry barrier (confusing and not new player friendly) seemed like the biggest issues it had.
With the failure of Artifact, and Underlords losing a massive amount of it's player base to TFT. One must wonder why Valve of all companies, with their mega loads of cash from sitting on a store front is still chasing trends rather than producing games their audience knows and loves them for. It would be like if Nintendo stopped producing games they are known for and started making battle royales and card games. It really makes you think. I enjoyed Artifact for what it was, but it was designed to filter cash from every tiny transaction to the point of absurdity. I don't even know how they could call it a TCG in the store description. There was no trading, you could only go through the marketplace and no surprise Valve took a percentage cut every time you sold a card. The fact that RG says it was never intended to be a greedy mess it turned out to be is crazy! Especially when people outside of the ecosystem saw it coming from a mile away before the game even launched. I doubt they will ever relaunch it. I think it's donezo.
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I'm in for the long haul... I've got an artifact T shirt actually that I wear sometimes just to catch my tears as I walk around my boring life hoping they revive the thing. LOL