Let me start by saying that I am quite busy, and do not get to play Card Hunter everyday. I would like to, but I can't. I play when I can, a few hours a week. So I have now gotten to the point where the initial thrill of this being a great game has worn off, and I want to start getting a little more in depth with my strategy. Unfortunately, I do not feel like I am fully able to do that. I have spent $25.00 on pizza, a reasonable amount I think. I play for a few hours here and there. Yet, I only have about 600 gold. I have a bunch of items in my inventory, but even if I sold everything I don't use I'd probably only have about 700-800 gold. The point is, I do not have enough gold to do any sort of deck customization. I think the game currently does not give casual players enough freedom to customize their decks. When good gear can cost 15,000 I would have to play for another 6 months just to buy one single item. I'm sorry, but that really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I do not want the world here. People who play all the time should be rewarded with good gear. However, as someone who has been playing regularly though not obsessively, I don't feel as if I have enough gold to buy even one single piece of good gear. Not one. That is not right. After playing for one month, I should have the ability to buy one piece of gear, right? Please do not spam with "well you are doing such-and-such wrong" or "I have no problem getting gear". This is my experience, and I will not be alone when this game is released. Casual players like me will feel like they have absolutely no gear customization options. When you cannot customize your gear/deck at all, well, there really is no more strategy to the game. It is just hoping you find a nice drop, and equipping your best items in every slot. Playrs like me currently have no ability to coordinate or customize a party because we simply do not have enough gold to buy even one middle-of-the-road item.
Well, it depends on if you look on buying gear as intended design, or just an option for the desperate. I'd say the prices currently hint at that you're mostly supposed to be getting your gear from actual play rather than spend your time in the shops - that's more for people with surplus gold that want to build their perfect decks et c. There's been a lot of discussion about prices, and one suggestion would be to raise the value of treasure drops.
Treasure drops increasing in value would help. I would like to make a little more than 5-10 gold per module, say 20-40. But I do understand that perhaps this is the way it was intended. If this is some part of the game design to eliminate farming/bots then I suppose I understand. However, even if it is intentionally designed to reduce gear purchases, perhaps that is not the wisest path to take. After all, this is a collectible card game, and one of the strongest draws of any collectible card game is customizing your deck and developing strategies based upon synergistic card combinations. If we have decided to severly restrict one's ability to customize their deck in the name of reducing gear farming... well, perhaps that is not a good trade off. And perhaps there is a more elegant way to solve that problem (someone smarter than myself will have to figure that one out).
Maybe just remove option to buy higher level items from the shops. Or make them same price as normal items. No more problems with gear costing 15k. It's wouldn't affect MP at all and latter option would make Campaign tiny bit easier. 2,5k is still bit high price for single item, and could be lowered. Although I would prefer more gold from selling stuff.
Hmm, on similar note, how are prices in the MP version of the shops. Are they still affected by you campaign level or will you get them at normal price?
MP shops are the same as the shops you unlock in the campaign (and only shows up when you find them in SP). Shouldn't be any different and starter packs don't change prices.
What exactly is costing 15,000? It's worth noting, if you try to buy something higher level than yourself it's affected by a multiplier (yes, MULTIPLIER). A level-appropriate common is only 5 gold, uncommon is 25, rare is 100, epic is 500 and Legendary is 2500. I do think the Legendary price is a little out of reach, but overall the prices aren't nearly as bad you're making them out to be.
700 to 800 gold buys you around 40 chests with 2 random items in them. Okay, they won't have any guaranteed rarity, but with 80 items you should find enough to build a few different decks. After that it is only a question of levelling up your first party, to remove the multiplier from the rare item shop. If you see items for 15,000, your level is too low. The price will go down when you level up.
Ah, so that's how the prices work. The highest I've ever seen was 30K for St. Nyssa's Hammer (18 L) when I'm only level 7.
I feel like the epic and legendary prices are way too high if you want people to actually buy them without spending pizza specifically for that purpose - so far I've only bought uncommons from the shops so that rares aren't priced out of reach if a really good one comes along. I've got around 200 gold at the moment - and would drop 100 gold in a heartbeat for another Rageblood Dagger - but I can't see myself ever being able to afford a legendary item.
If I decided to get a second Rageblood Dagger I think what I'd do is buy $5 worth of pizza and buy a second copy of Fierce Dwarf. That way I wouldn't have to wait for it to show up.
Yeah - already did that - and found another copy randomly so one of my MP warriors is rocking 3 copies now. But I would still spend gold getting copy number 4 - just not pizza!
Yeah, this was one of the most unintuitive features I've come across in this game. The whole game is elegant and clear. Why isn't it clear that these items get a markup because I'm low level?
I can help you on that one. It's "elegant" and "clear" . . . if you completely re-arrange your expectations: Thus it is always worthwhile for you to loot the Treasure in the level 6 Kobold adventures because Treasures will always have the same value even if you're level 20. Conversely, it is NOT worthwhile for you to spend a hundred dollars on pizza, convert it into gold, and purchase the "super awesome high-level item that will allow you to win instantly even as a starting player": assuming such an item even appears in the randomized stores, the price on it will be prohibitive with your "starting player's party." Level up (i.e., play the game, become more skilled, and have fun) and the price will drop. However, the idea that the "valuable Treasure" isn't all that valuable, and the Epic and Legendary items are priced too high, is still a question. So we get to this point: To date, Blue Manchu has changed the value of Treasure (approximately doubling it), but not changed prices. Ex nihilo nihil fit, and we go with the one thing we know: Jon's assurance that changes are likely in general.
Still, Gary could mention the level based markup when he introduces the first shop. As a matter of fact I'll start a separate suggestion thread to make sure this idea doesn't get lost in the shuffle.
I've been getting a run of treasures lately and it's really disheartening to have a stack of rare and epic treasures as your rewards. 2500 gold for a lvl 9 rare item, yet sell a lvl 9 rare treasure for 10 gold. It's like you're being laughed at when your two rare items in a chest are treasures.
