Beta 1.28 (18 April 2013)

Discussion in 'Announcements' started by Jon, Apr 18, 2013.

  1. Jon

    Jon Blue Manchu Staff Member

    The Card Hunter Club is the last new feature before we do our first Beta reset. That's the big new thing with this build but there are some other noticeable things including a revision of the chest/loot system so that you don't have to take items from chests anymore - they will be automatically added to your inventory when you leave the loot screen.

    We also continue to do lots of work on the campaign story and fix bugs.

    Beta reset is getting very close now!

    Card Hunter Club
    • Implemented the Card Hunter Club!
    Chests/Loot
    • All chests auto-empty into your collection when you close or leave them.
    • New chest backgrounds for all chests.
    • Revised chest item horizontal layout
    • Made the chest shop BG blue
    • Fixed a small bug in item rarity.
    • Disable auto-reset of empty treasure store chests.
    • Sort chest contents by rarity (client side).
    • Show proper sized collection sheet on MP loot screen.
    • Treasure items can be found in MP reward chests.
    • Remove the adventure loot tables from the tutorial adventures.
    • Fix the tutorial battle loot tables to remove old items.
    Story/Adventures
    • Tons of work on the story and story adventures.
    • Level 10 tavern unlocks later in campaign.
    Currency Display
    • Currency and screen title integrated and use new art.
    • Added minor background shadows behind upper UI in world screens
    Tutorial
    • Tutorial now doesn't bother forcing you to take loot.
    • Fixed tutorial crashes associated with null adventure data.
    • Fixed up quest introduction tutorial.
    • Glow/pulse the prompt continue button.
    Login/Account
    • Fixed login details being retained after deselecting remember option.
    • Credit promotional items from beta to live accounts on first login.
    • Update routine for crediting back beta pizza purchases to players.
    • Add a DB procedure for resetting all accounts
    Server
    • Added a maintenance message when server is down.
    Cards
    • Battlefield training only allows allies as targets.
    • Did a pass on short card names
    • Made Mind Worm text a bit clearer.
    • Fixed board get random location when dealing with non-rectangular boards (fixes a resurrection crash).
    • Clarified Firestarter rules text.
    • Retreat correctly handles 2x2 monsters for adjacency calculations.
    • Talented Healer only draws on play of Heal cards.
    • Fixed lots of typos in Card Flavor text, fixed a couple of card text issues.
    • Added flavor text to cards.
    • Stone Spikes was listed as a melee attack. Changed it to Magic.
    • fixed bugs with Rockfall, cave-in and berzerk spin cards.
    AI
    • Fixed AI trait handling so it can't decide to play a trait it can't actually play.
    Monsters
    • Fixed Yellow dragon's hover display name
    • Fixed cockroach names
    • Changed Hydra's "single headed bite" to "Bite".
    • Added SlubGut Portrait.
    Multiplayer
    • Fixed battle win/loss on disconnect not happening (hopefully for real this time)
    • Move lobby locations around again
    • Added a purple epic chest icon to the reward track.
    Card Art
    • Fixed art for accelerate time card
    • Added card art for Flowering Fungus
    Boards
    • tidied up Wizard's workshop boards
    • fixed terrain in Melvelous 2 board
    • Moved dead markers in Yellow Dragon adventure
    • Fixed decorative tiles in Morvin maps
    • moved dead markers in Roaches-Morvin board
    • Fixed terrain in Woodhome graveyard.
    Optimization
    • Optimised inventory data transfer a bit. This might speed up opening the deckbuilder for hoarders.
    • Optimized ArrayList initializer sizes.
    • On the server side, replaced a synchronized class with unsynchronized class where it made sense, for efficiency.
    • Refactored ActorSizeSquareIterator in accordance with best practices. Also, reduced initial capacity of the visibility list in CardInstance.
    Internal stuff
    • Reset account update for new fields.
    • Fixed a map editor bug that was causing doodads to migrate to the wrong screen position, when a tile was placed.
    • Tighten up logic behind success status returned by ItemTransferManager on item transfers.
     
  2. Phaselock

    Phaselock Bugblatter

    console log showing:

    *** Static Data Duplicate record *** : ThroneofStrench9 in null
     
  3. irongamer

    irongamer Orc Soldier

    Haha, evil. Reward behind glass to tempt us! Look at what we missed out on! Well played.
     
  4. Shinigami

    Shinigami Kobold

    Can you tell us what is Hunter Club exactly?
     
  5. Kodi

    Kodi Orc Soldier

    Pizza club.jpg

    THANK YOU! my god! that was annoying!

    Is a membership buyed by pizza (Ex: 300 pizza for 1 month membership) that give you an extra item in every chest that you open in campaign or multiplayer
     
  6. Dark Wolfe

    Dark Wolfe Orc Soldier

    Damnit, no time to check out new build today
     
  7. Zalminen

    Zalminen Hydra

    I like the idea of the Card Hunter Club.

    But I REALLY have to speak against the feature of showing off the club reward on the loot screen behind the glass pane.
    Seriously? You're going to rub it on every non-member's face? After. Every. Single. Fight?

    Where's the joy of winning a hard fight if the game is going to mock you like that every time?

    The premium adventure rewards are fine because they're separate and you won't see them unless you actively go to check the premium adventures out but having them right next to the normal loot chest every time just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.

    I wouldn't even mind it that much if the glass pane was instead partly opaque (and the card popup display was disabled for the locked reward). That way the temptation factor would still be there ("Hmm, looks like I'd have gotten some kind of sword if I was a member") but it wouldn't feel half as bad to leave it behind.

    And this is coming from someone who was already thinking of buying enough pizza for both exclusive figures and will probably join the club in any case...
     
  8. Wozarg

    Wozarg Thaumaturge

    Also i really think prices should be dropped by between 50% and 33% as "10"$ seams like a lot for a months membership and at least for probably the first 4-6 months you will need membership to be able to be competitive in pvp unless you go the dirty rout of bursting tons of chests which costs even more. Also i would very much like to see weekly membership added as a option possibly for half of a month for people that got a week of and want to spend it getting some items.

    The current way definitely feels more rubbing it in your face than playful teasing which to be fair is a fine line that in my opinion was crossed by this.
     
  9. Jayce

    Jayce Hydra

    I'm of a similar opinion (and will probably also join the club, grab figures, etc.); I think there's probably a fair group of players who won't/can't opt for club membership and I could see it causing some frustration.

    I was going to suggest having the ability to turn off the reward item, but actually Zalminen's suggestion or a variant like it (e.g. a gift wrapped item with just the rarity indicated) is a nicer suggestion, it still provides encouragement to join the club, but doesn't take the shine off your win/reward items.
     
    Pengw1n and irongamer like this.
  10. Mance

    Mance Kobold

    I agree that the monthly cost seems a smidgen too high and that the current "look at the card you could have had" method of attracting club buyers is a little off-putting.

    I've gained a tremendous amount of enjoyment from this game so far (with almost zero bugs or glitches) and will definitely be purchasing a fair amount of pizza to support all of the hard work that went into creating it but a $10 monthly cost is a little steep. At $6 a month with the economy of scale discounts (buying $100 worth of pizza for a 12-month membership) I would probably stay subscribed to the club, but I would need to opt for the $100 pizza package initially instead of just starting out at the $50 level. A ~33% drop would put the membership about where I would want to pay month by month and then commit to a longer period after getting hooked- although not everyone's cost threshold will be the same as mine.
     
  11. irongamer

    irongamer Orc Soldier

    The price does feel too high if I compare it to other online rpg options, which are mostly mmorpgs. It is not really a fair comparison, but currently the price seems too high.

    I agree that it does feel liking rubbing it in your face, despite how people may interpret my former post in this tread. Removing the mouse over or any information about the item, other than it's rarity, would go a long ways moving it toward a tease.
     
  12. Roshirai

    Roshirai Goblin Champion

    I'll be the lone voice of dissent and weigh in that I think $10 is fine. At this point, $15/month is pretty much industry standard for a subscription. Look at it from Blue Manchu's perspective. The sane price points you could be thinking of using here are $14.95/month, $9.95/month and $4.95/month. If we're gonna dip below $15/month, which doesn't seem unreasonable for a more "indie" game like Card Hunter, it makes sense to start out on the price point with some wiggle room. If $10/month does prove to be too expensive, it would be easy enough for them to experiment with a 25-50% off sale, perhaps followed by a permanent reduction in cost. There's nowhere you can really go from $5/month, however, if that isn't the correct price right off the bat: subscription prices aren't really a thing you want to raise, though cutting them after the fact is (obviously) fine.

    As far as teasing you with your possible reward item, I'm personally pretty ambivalent to that. However, I will say that my gut says that you'd gain more club purchases from folks who want the shiny item they are missing out on than you would lose from folks who are annoyed at having the club dangled in their face. I haven't seen that system at work in-game yet: if you buy club membership immediately, do you get the item behind the glass? That seems like a pretty powerful motivator.
     
  13. Jayce

    Jayce Hydra

    Personally, I'm fine with the price; as it stands, based on the items I've obtained from regular playing, and the current rewards you get from joining the club, I'd probably currently only join for a few months.

    I haven't actually tested getting the club whilst rewards screen is active, but the interactions required to join the club didn't seem to punt you out to another screen, so I suspect you could join at the moment you saw a particularly delicious item.
     
  14. Molotova

    Molotova Mushroom Warrior

    ... to a Massivly Multiplayer Online RPG.

    I was personally a bit disappointed, I was hoping/thinking more of a scheme where if you spent X amount on pizza, then you unlocked Club membership once and for all.

    And I am 100% with Zal on this:
     
  15. Wozarg

    Wozarg Thaumaturge

    This was actually my thinking as well and while i would have preferred that I'm fine with this model as i like the crew and enjoy the game and that makes me more willing to support their future work. That said i still think the price is high and that a lower price would bring in more purchases ending up with a net gain or at least no loss.
     
  16. Dorian

    Dorian Mushroom Warrior

    Remember, $10/month is the current maximum price you can pay -- that is, it's what you pay if you buy both the pizza and the subscription at the least economical rates. If you take a more average rate for both -- the 690 pizza for $20, and 3 months of Card Hunter Club, it works out to about $8.20 per month.
     
  17. Wozarg

    Wozarg Thaumaturge

    I understand Dorian but the problem is a lot of people not being able to pay 10 a month and if they can't do that its even harder to dump 20 at one time. But i understand you need to make money so that is for you to figure out in the end. Also 690 pizza isn't enough for 3 months currently if it was i would be fine with it. I know that might just have been a example of a logical rate but that just makes my point stronger as people would have to at least buy a 20$ and a 10$ to get 3 months.
     
  18. theSovereign

    theSovereign Mushroom Warrior

    I have to concur with a lot of the foregoing posts.

    1. 10 bucks is a little too high in my opinion. I would be reluctant to pay this continously for a longer period of time, and would try to think ahead how much I will play this month. If people should buy it on impulse, 6 bucks would be easier spent.

    2. Even more important in my opinion, seeing the item you could have gotten is just plain frustrating, especially when it is something you would have wanted - but when you see it you can't do anything about it anymore...
     
  19. Roshirai

    Roshirai Goblin Champion

    This is a sublimely excellent point. :)

    I dunno if it necessarily has to be addressed by dropping the price of the Club membership, but I definitely think people should be able to snag three months of Clubitude for one reasonably priced transaction. Add a $30 pizza pack, maybe, or some other $30-ish bundle that comes with 3 months of Club membership, a bit of pizza, and some other stuff?
     
  20. Sir Knight

    Sir Knight Sir-ulean Dragon

    Something got buried in all this "club" stuff:
    Oh, good! Was that the cause of the "Gary is playing a trait" freeze?
     

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