So it came up in conversation that: And this I will not stand for (I'm seated as I type this, y'see) So behold, Card Speculation Thread. This form has served me well to date: //Card name, (source) // //(there are usually blanks here, // //It makes it look more like a card// //forum hates 'em) // //Card Type, Ability, effect // //----------------------------------- // //Cards other Type, ability, // //effect or flavour text. // An example, stealing Zoorland's card name and on the assumption Golems are ever implemented: //Rolling Stone, Golem Skill // // // //Move 5 squares in any direction // //ignoring terrain and passing through // //characters, stop at an obstacle // //Deal 2 damage to every character // //moved through in this way. // Have fun, folks.
At some point there was a great collection of all the cards we have seen in the dev diaries, but Jon has also made it clear that some of those have been altered a little as the game has been tweaked. Actually, it seems to be scattered across the dev diary forum posts. Here and here are some good ones with some old cards, and here is another with the ever-changing prismatic color system. As far as pure speculation goes? I'm pretty sure Blu Manchu has been working very, very hard on game balance so any guess I have would be waaaay OP.
When it comes to speculation, right now I'm less attached to fabricating my own cards (though that is fun) as speculating about existing ones. I'm still thinking about those "loot" cards. Green-skinned Mona Lisa? Barrel of pickled herring? The mind reels. Though I could, perhaps, suggest my own loot cards, even if I don't yet know how they're quantizing wealth. Nauga hides? (Naugahyde, har har.) Mummy wraps? (Sandwich wraps that are, shall we say, preserved.) Blue dragon talon clippings? (Shadowrun reference.)
Man, I totally missed that. It didn't look like they were specifically referred to as "cards", though, but rather just as "items", so I'm assuming those are maybe just "trash" that you can sell to a "vendor" for "gold"? There were a lot of quotation marks in that sentence. Sorry. I'm actually paid by the mark. On a related note, while we're speculating furiously, what about all the "chits" that are being talked about by Rudolpho lately? "Skill" and "arcane item" chits could be referring to their inventory icons, but what about "teleporter" chits? "Luck" chits?
...I'm a bit embarrassed by how much I laughed at that. Just a bit. Back on topic, I think the reason, or at least one of them, that there's been so little card speculation is that we've seen so few "finished products." What cards have been introduced to us were either explicitly or implicitly changed at a later date. The entire card system has been in flux until very recently. Thus we were left with little speculative baseline for both card balance and card utility. We (now) know that cards have varying rarities. We do not have a good power constraints for the various rarities, and in fact from cards we have seen some more common cards seem strictly stronger than rarer ones. The rarity balance, and card balance in general, are likely very closely tied to utility and card interaction (combos, synergies, whatnot). We've seen far too few cards to get a good feel of what this is like. Also, much of the fun of card speculation is in filling in gaps or weaknesses, or mitigating strengths, in the current card set. We... have no current card set. If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm asking to see more cards. Please let me into the Beta. What have we seen, though, that I want more of? Ranged melee attacks and a few ranged weapons. Remember the Defender's Polearm and Vicious Javelin? I want forty copies of those. Just because. We have also seen cards that can move other characters around (Teleport Other, etc.). //Stay Back! (Ricochakram) // // // //Attack 5, Range 3 // //----------------------------------- // // Target must retreat one square // // directly away from character. // ----- Movement denial? Yes please. //Dance, Pardner! (Ricochakram) // // // //Attack 2, Range 5 // //----------------------------------- // // Target may not play a move // // card until the beginning of the // // next turn. // Specifically stated as "may not play a move card" so as not to deny allies (or enemies) from using other cards to move them. That particular target simply can not move under it's own power until the next turn begins. ----- //Exploratory Poke (Boatman's Oar) // // // //Attack 2, Range 2 // //----------------------------------- // // Target must reveal all armor // // cards in their hand, even if all // // of them do not activate. // Could make some neat combos/synergies with existing cards.
Oh? I thought that all naugahyde jokes were worn out by now. Not that I'm complaining. I totally give you permission to enter the Beta. We were talking about the tank with all the fish, right? All this "wishing card thinking" (which is closer to the truth than "speculating," really) has another meta level: we've got to think about card suites, too. "Combos, synergies, whatnot." After enough playing the game, I could easily see myself going "Argh! There needs to be a suite that does THIS!" So yeah, this game has SERIOUS potential as a gamer's game. By definition (the number of meta levels), we've never seen something this deep before.
While I would be the first to field an all Elf team armed only with barrels of pickled herring (Fish oil wrestling, educational and nutritious) I think that those will sadly be relegated to the realm of vendor trash. Unless that's exactly what you meant, in which case ignore me. (Well, continue to ignore me) I am liking the idea of a mid-range throwing weapon to harass enemies as they come towards you, though. Allow me to add: //Buzz Cut (Ricochakram) // // // //Attack 2, Range 5 // //----------------------------------- // // Deals damage to three// // targets in the area of effect. // //"Little off the top?"// Note the lack of "up to" before the three targets. Risk/Reward and team trolling situations abound.
