Pay to Win? Please tread carefully, this game can be amazing

In psychological terms, perception IS reality. That reality changes as new information is presented. "The sky is blue" is a reality for a lot of people but it does not have a color as we perceive other objects to have a color based on the fluid nature of the atmosphere and how light reacts to it. So yeah, the sky appears blue, unless it's red, or orange, or green, or grey, or white or transparent.

The perception you get from CH early is that it's P2W. That's enough for people to accept and move on.

 

i see this as being very true myself.

i've just started playing last week also and at first i thought i may have buy pizza just to stay with others in MP , but after playing a day or two i can see now that's just not the case. However there may be others out that just wont take the time to try more of the game to get that truth out it and that's a shame.

but on a more laughable note: i got a friend to start playing the other day and he spent all his tutorial pizza on MP team packs to get all the gear that came with them, thinking he would be a "god" at the start of MP. lol he can't even win against Gary at low rank lol . so ya use pizza to "P2W" but it all still comes down to skill level over pizza every time.

 

I used my pizza on chests. If I was to have another go, I'd do the bonus adventures, for guaranteed epic items (and bonus adventures!)

On topic, I find the money Vs time balance in Card Hunter acceptable, but I find the way the Club Bonus is displayed after each fight rather obnoxious.

 

That seems to be what most players feel and they should probably do something very relevant to fix that concern i could see it showing you the first club reward after the tutorial to explain its there and then after changing it so its hidden until you mouse over. It won't make people feel the game is less p2w but it will lower the annoyance and pressure to buy the club membership that I'm sure a lot of people feel.

 

I spent $20 on the game, because I think it's awesome and want to support the devs. I'll probably sign up for club membership for as long as I'm playing regularly. I like the extra loot, but it's more that I can afford it and want people to be rewarded for creating something really neat.

 

I had also spent early pizza on chests, but when we reset and I go through it all again, I will almost certainly use it on adventures or skins. Everything else you get eventually by playing long enough, even the MP packs.

 

I'd probably pay if it was a bit cheaper.
And I don't want to be a club member, because with that kind of bonus you "have" to play a lot to make the most of it. Which makes playing feel like a job, really.

What I'd be interested in are treasure hunts, and maybe other kinds of bonuses, but right now treasure hunts are $1.33 each, that's redonculous!
Especially as compared to the value you get from the club membership.
25-50c would be more reasonable.

Do you get a guaranteed extra epic item in treasure hunts from club membership, by the way? What about epic chests from the chest shop?
That would be crazy (and extremely annoying to someone who wants those but no club membership).
EDIT: Club Members DO receive double the epic items at the end of treasure hunts
So, given the value you get, you just HAVE to do the club thing if you spend any money on this game.

Also, I'd like to point out that if treasure hunts guaranteed a random epic item I'd be tempted by all of them. Right now there's only a couple I'd actually want.
AND it would feel less like buying the item and more like paying for an adventure.

 

I have zero problems with the club item. But, here is an idea.

When you purchase pizza, then the "club item" is hidden for 30 days.

 

So, the 'best' way to spend your pizza, then, is to unlock all of the adventures, pay for a single month of Adventure Club and unlock all of the Treasure Hunts, and then push through all of the Treasure Hunts within that month, then let the Club lapse and spend the rest on Chests.

Or something.

 

My sense is that even if you don't play too much, the club is almost certainly a better deal than chests.

 

It's not an either/or. If you want to invest any amount in chests*, you'd be a fool to not take the club membership.
*starting at 900 pizza, or 6 chests' worth, or $30.

 

For $20, you can get 1 month of club membership and unlock all the treasure hunts via the bundle. Then the club will give you the "random epic" for each adventure you want and you get all the extra content for a very reasonable price (this game is definitely worth $20). Even playing slowly, one month is enough to complete all the treasure hunts and get a solid item base if you do the first two pvp daily gold chests often (relatively low time commitment). If you either don't care about extra loot or don't care about extra content, you can just get the club or just get the treasure hunts for $10. All in all I think they are very reasonable payment options. No real reason to spend over $20 if you are on a budget, since the value of club diminishes after the first month (since the chance of getting repeat cards as the club bonus is higher). I don't really think things need to be cheaper, though I realize the "value" of games has gone down nowadays with all the bundles and super low price indie games.

 

Are you sure you get a extra epic from treasure hunts? I know we talked to the devs about it when the club was being formed but i thought both sides where leaning towards that not being a good idea.

 

Yes, I bought and played all the treasure hunts and there was an epic or higher in the club reward every time for the first playthrough (which made sense to me since there was a guaranteed epic in the original chest so there had to be a guaranteed epic or higher in the club reward).

 

This is a F2P game. The point is to allow every player to pay what feels right to him, so everyone pays a little.
The problem here is that the club is so disproportionately cost-efficient that you feel like a fool for spending money on the game without getting it. This effectively sets the floor to how much one can pay for the game at $10.
Which I won't, because what to me this is more of a $5 game.
Result: $5 less in Blu Manchu's pocket.

Multiplied by all the players who've gotten used to cheap games = a lot of money.

 

In what way is this a 5$ game? I'm not arguing with your personal feeling about the club, but just the current experience which is not max lvl mind you seems to me to equate to the same time as any of the 10$ indie games on steam.

That i don't like and i think they should strongly consider changing it because that does make the club feel like a double tap in value for those and that doesn't seem fitt with the rest of the club experience being a bit more loot more than have a bunch of epax p2w.

 

I don't know if it is p2w feeling or not but the club description did say "Your Club Reward item will be at least as rare as the rarest item you would otherwise be guaranteed". Since you were guaranteed an epic I would have felt shortchanged if my club reward had been of lesser rarity (just wording-wise). I can definitely see the perception that you are really missing out on serious loot by playing the treasure hunts without being in the club though... although I like to imagine there are people who would be comfortable to just spend $10 for the "story" and rest secure in the knowledge that all the epics they are missing will come "eventually" (the treasure hunt gary/melvin conversations were actually extremely entertaining and I found the geomancer ones nicely challenging for the level I was at). Though as someone who did not mind spending $20 on this game, the double bonus from club plus treasure hunts did not bother me that much (I just saw it as the best value for my $20).

 

Looking back on my computer gaming purchases over the last few years, I have very few above 5€ and most of those are humble bundles (which cover most of my gaming needs).
If I get an indie game on Steam, it's usually on sale.

I did spend $20 on a F2P game once, but that was after I'd been hooked for over a month.

I think it's a pity to not give small spenders like me something to spend our money on, because there are a lot of us.
The value-for-money gap between the club and the treasure hunts is just too wide.

And again, I'd like the option to go get a random epic rather than one I know I'm not interested in.
It seems that treasure hunt loot changes over time (daily? weekly?), so that one's ok

 

Thats a matter of opinion club gives you more loot treasure hunt gives you more fun and more content. But speaking only about items than yes the club for a month should give a much higher item yield if you play decently much.

 

This is built on a ton of assumptions. A club membership necessarily requires you play a lot to maximize your value. A treasure hunt does not. A club membership doesn't unlock additional content, a treasure hunt does. And with quests the gap between item gain isn't as large as it might first seem.