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5 months ago ::
Dec 21, 2012 - 6:59AM
#11
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Date Joined:
Aug 24, 2011
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(...) I bought MTG online earlier this year because of my love of DOTP, and I spent some money on cards. I haven't even opened it in 6 months. For me the interface is terrible, and the single greatest dealbreaker is that the cards look terrible (I love looking at the card art and you can't zoom on the cards in MTG online). (...)
I've had a very similar experience. Never played magic before, and got addicted to Planeswalkers 2012 on PS3 last year. After a while got tired of playing the same decks over and over (I believe it was Realms of Illusions and Vampires at that point), and decided to get into Magic Online for some variety. Spent about a week getting used to the interface, and playing a few games, but like you, I just hated the visuals. They did look like they belonged back in the 90s. After that week, I never started the client again - didn't even bother to open the booster pack that came with the subscription.
Around that time, I saw posts mentioning they are in the middle of GUI redesign, so I was hoping I could return when it's done. Unfortunately, I just looked at what the current client looks like here, and it's clear I've been spoiled by the Playstation version.
There is no cool 'floating' in the air effect for creatures with flying, and the cards themselves still look crappy (especially borders). I do understand it's a tradeoff, between visuals, client machine specs and gameplay, but I still find the overall look very unapealing. Ironically, I'm glad it turned out that way, because I can see myself wasting countless hours and tons of cash otherwise.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 21, 2012 - 7:41AM
#12
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Date Joined:
Dec 15, 2011
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I would pay 60$ for that option to use any card available in DOTP 2013 to build my own takes.
Ye, I am very serious. This would take this game to another lvl.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 21, 2012 - 8:59AM
#13
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Date Joined:
Jul 18, 2012
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DotP is like the equivalent of grabbing a bunch of Intro Packs and playing around the kitchen table. It's fun and easy, but extremely limited, and doesn't give you the feel of playing competitively. MTGO is like having the entire world of MTG available. You have all the freedom you can afford to play in whatever format you want with any card from the entire catalogue. But even setting aside the interface, it can be a pretty expensive investment, not to mention all the options can be a little intimidating for newer players. Both of these options are fine, but where is the middle ground? Where is the digital equivalent of going to your LGS, buying one or two Event Decks and playing them competitively at FNM, then taking them home and customizing them with a deckbuilder's toolkit or two? I feel that WotC has a bit of tunnel-vision when it comes to MTGO that's blinding them to the fact that there's an extremely large, untapped market. There are a lot of people who aren't interested or are on the fence about MTGO, for whatever reason, but at the same time want more than what DotP offers.
- A limited format that's not defined by who can afford the best cards
- Preconstructed decks that are designed for competitive-level play
- A large, global card pool that can be used to fully customize each deck
- A highly-polished interface, and design that doesn't sacrifice accuracy for simplicity
- Built-in tournament support and more format options
- A single base game with annual or semi-annual expansions, complete with its own 'rotating' and 'eternal' formats
I think Wizards is losing a lot more money than they think by stubbornly insisting that such a game is not necessary and that anyone who wants more than what DotP offers should just play MTGO. A game like this -- properly priced -- could pull in a lot of players. Maybe some people would stop playing MTGO in favor of it, but they probably would've stopped eventually anyways. And maybe it would give some of the people who are on the fence the push they need to dive in. I'd gladly pay $40 for a game like that, plus $10 for expansions, if they were good enough to warrant it.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 21, 2012 - 12:09PM
#14
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Date Joined:
Jan 28, 2006
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I would pay 60$ for that option to use any card available in DOTP 2013 to build my own takes.
Ye, I am very serious. This would take this game to another lvl.
Of course you would. You would buy that instead of Magic: Online which costs more. That's why it won't happen ever. 
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5 months ago ::
Dec 21, 2012 - 1:44PM
#15
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I would pay 60$ for that option to use any card available in DOTP 2013 to build my own takes.
Ye, I am very serious. This would take this game to another lvl.
Of course you would. You would buy that instead of Magic: Online which costs more. That's why it won't happen ever.
I get that you're just ribbing, but the point that there is an intermediary market still stands. I don't have the time/money to invest in MtGO, but I would certainly like the option of something a bit more substantial and robust than DotP; and I've only been playing this game for 6 months.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 22, 2012 - 3:10PM
#16
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Date Joined:
Jul 12, 2012
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(...) I bought MTG online earlier this year because of my love of DOTP, and I spent some money on cards. I haven't even opened it in 6 months. For me the interface is terrible, and the single greatest dealbreaker is that the cards look terrible (I love looking at the card art and you can't zoom on the cards in MTG online). (...)
I've had a very similar experience. Never played magic before, and got addicted to Planeswalkers 2012 on PS3 last year. After a while got tired of playing the same decks over and over (I believe it was Realms of Illusions and Vampires at that point), and decided to get into Magic Online for some variety. Spent about a week getting used to the interface, and playing a few games, but like you, I just hated the visuals. They did look like they belonged back in the 90s. After that week, I never started the client again - didn't even bother to open the booster pack that came with the subscription.
Around that time, I saw posts mentioning they are in the middle of GUI redesign, so I was hoping I could return when it's done. Unfortunately, I just looked at what the current client looks like here, and it's clear I've been spoiled by the Playstation version.
There is no cool 'floating' in the air effect for creatures with flying, and the cards themselves still look crappy (especially borders). I do understand it's a tradeoff, between visuals, client machine specs and gameplay, but I still find the overall look very unapealing. Ironically, I'm glad it turned out that way, because I can see myself wasting countless hours and tons of cash otherwise.
So, after complaining about MTGO here a few days ago, I decided to open my account yesterday and give it another shot. The interface is still...appalling...but if you can get past it, it's quite fun to play. I say this as someone who has never particpated in a draft event until yesterday, but I had an outstanding overall experience. And the complexity of the card mechanics available in MTGO is fantastic, it is so much more complicated than Duels that I had a blast with it.
But the interface is a huge roadblock; it is very hard to learn and it's ugly. If you can get past it though, and you like Duels and want deck construction, it is worth trying out. A few days ago, I would have said MTGO was mostly terrible and frustrating (that was my experience with it in May) but after playing a few draft events, I would very strongly recommend it to anyone (as long as that person was willing to spend time learning an interface that is not even remotely close to DOTP - I lost a number of games before I found out how to cast instants before my opponents could declare attackers, for example).
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5 months ago ::
Dec 22, 2012 - 4:14PM
#17
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Date Joined:
Jan 29, 2011
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I like MTGO. Once you get past the learning phase of where and how to do everything it's great. If you got to mtgotraders.com and put in a card you're interested in it will tell you how much they are for online play. You have to have an account to play. The good thing about MTGO is you only have to ever have 4 of any card, because you can play the four in any amount of decks you want. You just pick the next deck you've built and the four are already in there.
Cards are actually pretty inexpensive for the most part. One ticket online equals one dollar. and alot of the cards are .02 to .04 per card. Planeswalkers and mythic rares and the expensive ones to play in paper are expensive online too, but it's relatively inexpensive to play.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 23, 2012 - 7:54AM
#18
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DotP did its job and got me sucked back into MTGO. I had only messed around with the cards I got from the original purchase before, but now I've been playing in a lot of drafts. If you're decent at drafting, you can get a pretty good collection of the current set cards for a sizeable investment and then a few bucks here and there. I play mainly swiss drafts. Drafts are 14 tickets ($14), or 3 boosters and two tickets ($13.97). So my first draft was $13.97. After that, though, you can use the packs you win from the draft to help enter another. I play once a week or so, and can usually win two packs from a draft. I've probably spent $70 out of pocket in the last four months, but I have a ton of cards now. I've tried to play a couple of constructed games, but I apparently suck at making a decent deck outside of limited.
As others have said, though, the UI is very ugly compared to DotP. I haven't tried the new client because it's in beta and I've seen a lot of people complain about bugs that have got them booted or lost them games. If you can get past the interface and the learning curve, then it's quite a bit of fun. Make sure you tell the game to give you a chance to react at the start of combat and when attackers are declared. I lost a game each because those aren't set by default.
Anyway, if you're looking for the full deck customization experience, that's where you have to go. I feel pretty confident saying that DotP will never, ever have a custom deck option because they want your love of deck building to lead you to MTGO.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 23, 2012 - 8:39AM
#19
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Date Joined:
Jul 24, 2011
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While I like the idea of custom decks I just don't think that's what the game is designed around. To me DOTP is like a fighting game with cards. Each deck has it's own character, and it's own style of play. If you could customize the decks it would be the equivalent of giving Chun Li a Dragon Punch.
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5 months ago ::
Dec 23, 2012 - 2:56PM
#20
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Yeah, I don't want full customization either. I actually enjoy the limited format DotP offers. It puts a different spin on deckbuilding, and also forces me to use a lot of cards that I otherwise would never have touched.
Duels of the Planeswalkers 2013 deck builds and analysis: http://megamaster125.angelfire.com/dotp2013/ Another one of my websites: http://megamaster125.angelfire.com/rationalchristianity/ 
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