[Suggestion] Make it easier for new players to participate competitively in PvP

This suggestion is based on my experience with my own friends, many of whom are more than competent MtG players who love to play competitive games and hone their play and deckbuilding skills. Many of these friends have observed high-level Card Hunter play, been intrigued, and then become bogged down in the campaign, which for whatever reason is not to their liking. It is very hard to compete at even the mid-tiers of PvP without access to the breadth of items you would get just by working through the campaign, so my friends become discouraged.

I know that it is possible to use pizza to buy chests and starter packs, and thus even the playing field a bit even without playing through all the singleplayer content, but I was wondering if there couldn't be some kind of packaged deal that would kickstart a PvP career for players who are only interested in PvP.

Right now, buying all the starter packs runs you a little over $3 at the best pizza/dollar exchange rate.

How about a $5 package that includes all the multiplayer party starter packs, as well as the addition of 1 of every common item in the game to your inventory, and a renown boost so that you can actually use the shops?

With this, the player would be able to compete at low levels immediately, mid levels pretty soon, and this means he or she would be able to effectively play only PvP while getting better items (winning at a reasonable rate). You would still have grinding and card-hunting, and the player could go to singleplayer if he or she wanted, but the point is you'd have this flat rate package deal that would get a player started in PvP immediately. Also, this package should be purchasable for its value in actual currency, so that new players don't need to figure out the pizza system or buy more pizza than they want to use.

Thoughts?

(Edited to make my suggestion stand out better.)

 

Great idea. I think $5 is too little in return for a great benefit. I would rather see a $25 MP starter pack

 

I think that is a very steep price. What I am suggesting is barely worth 5 dollars if you were to get it all normally.

 

I like the idea. I think all games like this should have some sort of PvP starter kit so that PvP players don't have to suffer PvE to be competitive.

My favorite game of all time, Guild Wars, which I played about 3 years, had a great way of doing this. They gave you 100% of PvP items the second you logged in. And PvE was only a way to get new skins for those items if you wanted. This was a perfect system for me because I seriously dislike any kind of grinding. Card Hunter is actually the only online game ever where I have played PvE longer than a couple of hours.

So yeah, PvP starter kit would be great. But I agree with kogi, $5 is way too little for it. Then again $25 might be too much, I don't know.

 

I think if it cost much more than 5$ it would need to have some serious other benefits included. You don't want people paying 25 bucks for something, then finding out they could have gotten it all for a fraction of the cost if they'd just picked different menu items that add up to the same thing.

 

Yep, What I mean is something similar to the starter pack

1 month of club, figures, packs, etc, etc. I think the old starter pack was $35 woth of value?

 

8$ and a free skin perhaps?

 

Yes, this is how I imagined it as well. If a PvP pack was implemented, it should definitely have more than just some cards.

Way too cheap imo. They need to try to get people spend more money. It's like in retail when they sell you "value packs" by saying that you "save money", when in fact you lose more money while getting more stuff. It's one of the main tricks in marketing and it works like a charm.

 

I don't see it as "bypassing." I think that PvP and PvE Card Hunter are completely different games, appealing to two distinct demographics—with some overlap, granted—, and that it's honestly kind of absurd that you need to play a ton of the latter to be able to play the former. I'm not suggesting that you get rid of all progression, just that you make it so that people can actually just do multiplayer. I think it would be in BM's best interests to make this possible, because the people who would avail themselves of this option wouldn't play through the campaign anyway.

 

If the game was strictly MP I'd never have played it, and I can see the other side of this. A "Start with MP" option might be added that would include it's own tutorial, and a package deal on Starter Packs, Skins (IMO these are mainly for MP anyway), and a standard useful selection of common/uncommon items. It should be priced at a discount based upon what it includes.
I'm not sure about the renown boost, because progression is still part of this type of game and usually isn't too hard to achieve. How much boost did you have in mind, Flaxative?

 

Enough to use the armory without penalty at least, maybe, say, up to 6—but yeah definitely not up to 18!

 

How about Basic Edition For MP?

still costs $25
still has 9 figures and 1 month Club Membership
does not have Treasure Hunts (value: -330 pizza)
includes one of each Starter Deck (value: +250 pizza)
includes 200 raw pizza instead of 100 (value: +100 pizza)
net value increase = 20 pizza, but if they never play SP they'll miss Gary's 150 free pizza

Speaking of MP-only players, we should add the tavern to the MP lobby.

 

I don't think so. You'll be staring at those characters for a long time in a game as good and with as much SP content as Card Hunter. I for one enjoy hand-picked outfits on my SP crew and I'm pretty sure I'm far from the only one in this.

 

Would really like to see a renown boost; you can't use the most basic shop without a loss until you've won what, 30 PvP matches?

Also, I agree about the tavern.

By the by I definitely think BM needs to get more money from customers, but I also think that there should be a cheap way to get into PvP. Why can't we have a package that doesn't force the player to buy 200 pizza and club membership?

 

I think just buffing the packs that exist would be a good option. Giving some 1 of extra single common in the game sounds absurd to me in terms of value for $5, maybe for $20, but even then I'd be against it in principle because it would make the single player incredibly easy.

 

I like the idea of an MP-specific starter pack for sure.