Ask the Idea Guru

[furballdn]

If you could make one change (nothing that has to do with cards themselves though) to the game right now, what would it be? What features would you add/change/remove?

[OldTrees]

If you could make one change (nothing that has to do with cards themselves though) to the game right now, what would it be? What features would you add/change/remove?

"Nothing to do with the cards themselves"
So it has to be a structural gameplay mechanic.

I would add some more PvP Duel options:
Arena powers (People see these abilities and are tempted to use them. If people use them then Arena balance would be improved faster.)
Terrain Settings (Global effects that alter the game slightly)
Mark character (Beneficial and negative effects balanced relative to the default marks)

However I realize that this would take awhile to implement and should be implemented one at a time for easier balancing.

[ZephyrPhantom]

1) What are your thoughts on the concept of 'Hero' cards and a 'Hero' slot?

2) What are your thoughts on cards that limit/expand the number of copies they can have in a deck?

[Zaealix]

Hero concept? Hero slot?
Elaborate please, this idea could very well mean anything.
In my case I read it as either:
A. A card that alters the base abilities of the player (drawing more cards, getting more quanta from mark, that sort of thing.)
B. Something akin to a 'planeswalker' from Magic, that is, a special 'helper' of sorts that basically has a kind of 'lifeforce' and abilities that do things alongside a player.
As far as limiting/expanding the number of copies, I find this idea interesting, but such cards would have to apply even from within the deck, or somehow be availible for use at all times. As a creature/permanent/spell, these cards would have to have the 'limit break' ability as some sort of 'secondary effect'. The primary effect, which would be triggered when played, could resemble a weaker version of an existing effect, as a means to balance it out.

[OldTrees]

1) What are your thoughts on the concept of 'Hero' cards and a 'Hero' slot?

2) What are your thoughts on cards that limit/expand the number of copies they can have in a deck?

1) Hero cards are like Weapons and Shields. (Like a planeswalker if you were limited to only 1 planeswalker)
In general I am against cards that encourage including 6 of a kind in a deck but only allow 1 to be used. It feels irrational. I much prefer the current implementation Firefly Queen, Pharaoh and Anubis use.

2) In general I prefer exponential design (adding cards that enable breaking the 6 card limit) to linear design (adding cards that break the 6 card limit).

[OTL]

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,41239.0/topicseen.html

What would be a balanced cost for this card?

[OldTrees]

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,41239.0/topicseen.html

What would be a balanced cost for this card?

All creatures have a 50% miss chance for the next 3 turns. | All enemy creatures ...

The unupped is akin to a 1.5 turn sundial | The upgraded is akin to a 1.5 turn Dimensional Shield
1.5x 1 + 1 card | (0.5x 6 + Shield + 1 card) - upgrade
If 1 card = 2 quanta and Shield = 3 quanta
1.5x 3 | (0.5x 11 ) - upgrade
4.5 | 5.5 - upgrade
2.5 + 1 card | 3.5 + 1 card - upgrade
upgrade = 1-2
3 + 1 card | 3 + 1 card

[OTL]

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,41239.0/topicseen.html

What would be a balanced cost for this card?

All creatures have a 50% miss chance for the next 3 turns. | All enemy creatures ...

The unupped is akin to a 1.5 turn sundial | The upgraded is akin to a 1.5 turn Dimensional Shield
1.5x 1 + 1 card | (0.5x 6 + Shield + 1 card) - upgrade
If 1 card = 2 quanta and Shield = 3 quanta
1.5x 3 | (0.5x 11 ) - upgrade
4.5 | 5.5 - upgrade
2.5 + 1 card | 3.5 + 1 card - upgrade
upgrade = 1-2
3 + 1 card | 3 + 1 card

PS: Currently it does not have synergy with Immortal. "All creatures" does not imply the effect targets. You might want to update the notes to explain whether it does target (immaterial creatures are immune) or does not target.

Thanks for the cost comparison

Just to clarify, when I said The Immortal, I was referring to the earth-light stall, not the aether card

[furballdn]

Assume I have a card that has the effect "Gain X hp per turn" and its cost is Y quanta.

How much should a card that has the effect "Gain 5X hp" cost?
How much should a card that has the effect "Increase your max hp by X every turn" cost?
How much should a card that has the effect "Increase your max hp by 5X" cost?

How much is Y in respect to X?

[OldTrees]

Assume I have a card that has the effect "Gain X hp per turn" and its cost is Y quanta.

How much should a card that has the effect "Gain 5X hp" cost?
How much should a card that has the effect "Increase your max hp by X every turn" cost?
How much should a card that has the effect "Increase your max hp by 5X" cost?

How much is Y in respect to X?

I would start with the assumption that a card that heals 5X per turn would cost 5x* the amount of a card that heals X per turn. This is not always true because healing per turn is less effective at really small or moderately high quantities.
*5x the cost does not mean 5x the quanta cost. 5 photons cost 5 cards ~= 8 + 1 card.

Next I would use a comparison to an existing card.
Druidic Staff costs 2 + weapon + 1 card for 2 attack and 5 regeneration.
Shard of Gratitude costs 5 + Mark + 1 card for 5 regeneration.
Both of these can be reduced to 3 /6 + 1 card for 5 regeneration.
So X regeneration would cost X-2 + 1 card or 1.5(X-1) + 1 card.

Next I would compare healing to gaining max hp.
Heal 3 + 1 card for 20 healing
Shard of Divinity 5 + Mark + 1 card for 24 max hp
4X healing costs (X-2) + 1 card
5X max hp costs (X-2) + 1 card
This implies that max hp is worth slightly less than healing. This is counter intuitive. Healing enables Elemental Mastery. Max hp healing is cut off at 500 rather than 100. I would hazard a guess that Shard of Divinity is slightly more powerful than Heal. This sets max hp gain and healing at equal value.

So X max hp per turn would cost X-2 + 1 card or 1.5(X-1) + 1 card.

Note there are some assumptions that should be double checked.
1) When is healing not linear? (heal 500 is less valuable than 5x heal 100)
2) When is max hp gain not linear?
3) Are the cards used in the comparison balanced?
4) What is the relative balance relationship between Shard of Divinity and Heal?
5) Is the relationship between max hp and healing different from the relationship between max hp per turn and regeneration?

[Jyiber]

General thoughts on a creature that is affected by buffs and healing in reverse.

-Any attempt to damage this creature via spell or skill heals it by that amount instead.
-Vise-versa for attempts to heal it.
-Casting Infection on it instead casts a +1 Purify and vise-versa.

Thinking about having the same for buffs to attack... but there's lack of negative and positive diversity in buffs and debuffs. There's no spell to reduce something's attack in the game right now, so this would only allow negative affects.

[OldTrees]

General thoughts on a creature that is affected by buffs and healing in reverse.

-Any attempt to damage this creature via spell or skill heals it by that amount instead.
-Vise-versa for attempts to heal it.
-Casting Infection on it instead casts a +1 Purify and vise-versa.

Thinking about having the same for buffs to attack... but there's lack of negative and positive diversity in buffs and debuffs. There's no spell to reduce something's attack in the game right now, so this would only allow negative affects.

1) I have a hard time imagining a creature that would be healed by burns, beatings and bolts that would also be harmed by healing.
2) It would be really hard to remove.
3) There would be more debuffing if a debuff were added rather than a card that was debuffed by buffs.
I think the damage effect has been done before via negative hp on an undead creature. (However I could not find it)