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Dec 6, 2012 -- 3:09PM, Mir_Graggor wrote:

I just wanted to take some time to share the experience of a few of my buddies and me getting into Magic for the first time because frankly we're all a bit confused. We've done some google searches and can't really find much in the way of answers of what WotC overall business plan really is.

So there is 5 of us in all and we are all new to the game. We were introduced to Magic through Duels 2013 and all fell in love with this game. It didn't take long before we we're all asking the first question...Why can't we determine how many lands we have in the deck? Why can't we build our own custom deck? etc. So we quickly find through some searching that the plan is for us to be simply introduced to Magic through Duels and then transition to MTGO. Sounds reasonable....until we all downloaded the client and all equally had the same reaction which was of course, "What the F*%#!!" lol I mean, we tried to just deal with it but I don't understand how WotC takes a product like Duels to introduce us to the game and then expects us to go down to a "lesser version" visually speaking as well as ease of use. Yes, you can build your own decks and compete in all these different formats but at the end of the day all 5 of us said, F that! It looks and plays like Sh$#!

Ironically, we've all agreed that we would GLADLY dump our money into this game IF it looked and played just like Duels. I know there's a new beta but it still doesn't come CLOSE to what we've been pampered with in Duels. Not to mention no Mac support?! Kind of strange but whatever.

Just wondering why WotC would feed us a bite of filet mignon to get us to eat their entire 20oz ribeye that's overcooked....

Any hope of us noobs getting a more user friendly, visual appealing MTGO product any time soon??

I'm not sure I can add much more to Xarby's response, but yes, welcome to the game and the forums. The transition from Duels to MTGO is a rough step for some people, and it's an aspect of the two games that Wizards wants to work on - the first step in which is getting the new client up to speed where it can meet player expectations. That's a huge part of why, as Xarby said, getting feedback during the Wide Beta is extremely important. I imagine as a newer player coming from Duels, your feedback would be quite different from that of a seasoned MTGO player.
 
Both perspectives are important, but as a new Magic Online player there are a lot of possibilities for giving feedback that a designer might not have anticipated, and that haven't yet been given by other players. Pop-up tips or tutorials like you get in Duels wouldn't be on a seasoned veteran's wishlist for UI improvements, for instance, but would likely help the situation you and your friends ran into. That's just an example, but like I said you may have ideas unique to your situation.
 
I'm not trying to blast you with an advertisement for the Wide Beta, but I encourage you to become familiar with it so, at the least, you won't have to adapt when it eventually becomes the primary client for Magic Online.
 
One other thing about the flow and style of Duels (and I know Xarby touched on this as well) - it works well in the Duels environment where a limited number of complex actions can be performed between cards, but that number isn't anywhere near the level of card interaction you see in Magic Online, where you have nearly every printed card in existence represented for player use. Things can get weird in a way that Duels would have a hard time representing.
 
The pacing is also different in MTGO, and that's on purpose in order to cope with more advanced play (such as adjusting various stops throughout the turn steps). It's less streamlined, and made to simulate paper Magic (of course you'll also notice that playing paper Magic is different still). The board perspective is laid out in a very straightforward "top-down" way, which is a good example of how visual appeal has to be traded for the sake of visual card comprehension. A card shifted to a 3D perspective is slightly less easy to read. In Duels that's not such a huge problem since you can pause the game and zoom-in, and in the scope of things there are fewer cards in Duels to memorize as they hit the board, so most players eventually recognize them based off which themed deck their opponent is using. Magic Online, however, has a lot of high-level, competitive aspects to it that can't afford to have setbacks in card and battlefield readability.
 
That's not the entire story, I'll admit, but as my reponse is reaching DontheMage proportions, I'm hitting the submit button. Feel free to direct message me in the forums, or just add me in MTGO as Wizards_Sean if you have questions or want help getting used to things.

Dec 7, 2012 -- 11:28AM, Mir_Graggor wrote:

Thanks for the replies! I think I understand now why it has to be the way it is. I'll definitely leave some feedback in the stickies though.

Welcome to mtgo.

Xarby and Sean pretty much covered it all so I wont rehash.
What I want to do is thank you Mir_Graggor for posting this issue and for giving feedback.
Its great to get a new person who will post their issue and is willing to give feedback, as this does nothing but help the game over all.
   As Sean already said, if you need help in game, just my screen name, joekewwl, and pm me on the boards or in game.

There are a good many fo us who posts on the boards that have been around fromt he start of beta and are will ing to help anyone who needs it. Dont be afraid to ask for help or any question you have.
-Joe  

Dec 22, 2012 -- 2:56PM, dh50 wrote:

I'm a Duels player that also transitioned to MTGO in May; but the interface issue was so bad that I didn't even open the program again until yesterday.  And while I agree with almost all of the original post, I will say that since I've actually started playing yesterday in draft events, I think MTGO is outstanding.  I had never played in a draft event until yesterday but now I am entirely addicted to it.  But the interface has got to be easier to use.  I lost a couple of games in the draft event entirely due to not knowing how the interface worked (including hitting 'concede match' instead of 'concede game' - lol - but the player that I did that against was VERY helpful in answering some of my questions).  

The learning curve is steep for the interface, and I find it surprising that the entry barrier is this high to new players.  But it is definitely worth it to me now.

I have a couple of random questions that I couldn't find the answer to elsewhere if someone wouldn't mind responding:

1. I noticed today that I have a Shards of Alaria Block Booster Pack (Premium Foil) in my deck collection.  I definitely did not buy this, and while I won a few RTR booster packs in the draft events I played in yesterday and today, I did not see any prize related to Shards of Alaria.   Also, I'm pretty sure it wasn't in my collection yesterday, although I guess I could have overlooked it.  So:
--how did I get this?
--should I open it?  I was told I shouldn't open RTR boosters since they are draft entry requirements, and that makes sense, but how would I use this pack?  I only own RTR cards, a few M12 cards from when I bought this in May, and a few Innistrad cards
--how can I get more?  they aren't on sale in the store as far as I can tell

2. Is there any way to delete the DPA cards from your card collection since they are unusable in regular play?  I haven't built my own decks yet but when I try, the existence of these cards is annoying.  

3. When I switch the card view to only show cards in the Standard format, M12 cards show up.  I was under the impression that Standard only allowed M13 cards.  Is this correct, and if it is, how do I excluded M12 cards from the showing up if I want to make a constructed standard deck?


 

In Re the Pack of Alara: This is most likely a residual from the 10th anniversary gifts given to us all. You probably didn't notice it since it was given out after you last signed in (in May).