I never introduced myself, but many of you probably know me by now. I’m that dork whose first post on the forums was a suggestion to make card quality dynamic, based on the win rates of parties running those cards. I didn’t yet understand that item levels were based on card quality, and thus that dynamic card quality would require dynamic items. It was a pretty cool idea, though, and it was a gateway into the forums. I’d already been playing for about a month at that point. I’d finished the campaign and begun a slow and excruciating rise up the PvP ladder, hampered, no doubt, by my insistence on handicapping myself. I’m referring, of course, to my love for the “vampire priest” synergies in this game. @Ben_Lee practically made the Halloween elf priest skin just for me, and there’s a vampire item in the game named after me. Have you been feeding your vials? In multiplayer, I went on to try a frost-heavy 3DC build that brought me so much success I quickly retired it. I spent most of the second Celestial rotation playing a hybrid control-Firestorm build that is to this day a well-guarded secret. I’m back to vampires, now, and losing—but that’s fine, because I’m having fun with it. In terms of playing singleplayer, I’m done with the drawback and no death quests. The 1 hp quests remain largely out of reach, though I’ve completed many of the low-level ones. The half-level quests lie untouched, simply because I’ve never felt like it. I have completed every Treasure Hunt, including the expansion modules, which included some of the most satisfying puzzles in the game. I couldn’t have asked for more in a first singleplayer expansion. Doesn’t mean I’m not greedy—where’s the roguelike mode? I’ve been playing Card Hunter for eight months, and I don’t intend to stop anytime soon. The game impressed me first with its aesthetic and second with its design, but what kept me here has been a truly ingenious engine that provides seemingly endless numbers of game states and an amazing player base. People are so friendly! And there’re so many game designers in the audience, which I think speaks to the quality of this game. I’m not without my complaints—I think there’re some balance issues, and some gameplay issues (I would place Nimble Strike in the former category, and Whirlwind effects in the latter). I’d really like it if the devs acted a little more quickly on the feedback of veteran players. We’ve lost some great community members to their apparent deafness. I understand, respect, and even admire the devs’ stoicism in the face of much of the feedback they receive. It is good to be slow to act, sometimes. Eight months of unleashed Nimble Strike is honestly seven months too many, though. The expansion is great. And I love that the devs are trying to balance with creation rather than change. I just don’t think those methods are mutually exclusive, and would like to see some nerfs (and the rare buff–Lateral Thinking comes to mind) sooner rather than later. I am always looking for ways to help the game and its community. To date, I have done the following: • Introduced the peasant format with @CT5 • Run the first Card Hunter tournament, in the peasant format, with video footage of matches • Founded the largest guild in Cardhuntria, the Sorcererers • Brought spoils of war to the Sorcererers by coordinating prize-sharing and enlisting guild members in subsequent tournaments • Organized the hunt for the Loot Fairy, and built the Loot Fairy Tracker Currently, I am: • Running the Spring PvP Season • Running Cardhuntria’s Most Stylish, a deckbuilding competition If anyone has suggestions for me, I’d be happy to hear them. I have more things planned, but only want to do one (or two!) things at a time. It always heartens me to see the community being active, so I’d like to take a moment to give props to fellow tournament-runners @Stexe and @Scared Little Girl, as well as guild enthusiast @neoncat. Also, all the scenario builders who contribute to Mauve Manticore. You guys keep this game going, and because I love playing this game, that means you are basically just doing me a tremendous favor. ~ Oh, right, my introduction. I’m a person who studied rhetoric in college and writes progressive stories about family, memory, and identity. I do freelance web development to pay my bills. I’m keen on game design, and am currently leading a team in designing and developing a paper card game. I am overly intimate with anime and all the flaws of the genre, and am a long-time player of Magic: the Gathering, with which I have a very abusive love-hate relationship. My biggest accomplishment in life to date has been ranking Top 8 in RPG Superstar 2013 and then promptly deciding I didn’t like Pathfinder anymore. Nice to meet you guys.
Nice to know more about you Flax, sincere thanks for all the effort and enthusiasm you have had and continue to put towards the game! To allay any concerns about favoritism, the vampire priest was actually a homage to a popular classic adventure setting (In CH it is called Fortress Crowattic). The figure was released as a Halloween themed special. However, there's another thing in development that IS inspired by your vampire priest idea which I hope you will enjoy.
It's not favoritism if you bestow your favor on everyone in turn... (And on a completely unrelated subject, thank you for the upcoming cat figures! They are the awesomest.)
Yes, thank you Ben for the cat figures which are totally not pandering to the feline players. And back on topic, that goes for Flax too.
'Ello ol' chap! And I agree: the game has a serious balance problem! Oh, and some major marketing problems too. :-P Still love it or else I wouldn't be spending so many hours playing it and chatting with the community and so on. =)
Alright, replaced color to make the background a bit more Nyan Cat-esque and added some butt rainbow.
@Ben_Lee: I don't suppose the 'thing in development' was Graveyard Gambol? I noticed the presence of draining attacks in the necromancers' decks, and wondered if that was to what you were referring.
