So, I started playing this game about a month ago. There were some elements (hyuk) that I enjoyed, and I was really hoping to have found a great online CCG. Unfortunately, the enjoyment of this game is far too hindered by an extreme lack of balance in the cards, and what I've been reading on these forums supports this notion.
I'm guessing some people are already crouched and ready to pounce in defense of their game, but just go read one of the threads on farming FG's and tell me what exactly it means when half of the encounters you run into are best handled by simply ending the game before you have played a single card? A balanced game, a status that Elements can achieve if they work towards it, may put you at a disadvantage based on the cards you have used to build your deck, but in this game you can already have flat out lost before a single card has been drawn. In place of what should be challenging encounters is the monotonous behavior of clicking a button in submission. Not very entertaining or thought-provoking.
Of course, you still have the other half of your other matches remaining. Sadly, another 3rd of those can probably be chucked out the window based on your draw and the fact that, for some unknown reason, the mulligan game mechanic is completely absent. We know (I hope), that in a CCG environment with random card drawing and limitations on cards, that the cards you need to execute your strategy will regularly appear in clumps. When this happens you have very few playing options available, and clicking "Done" repeatedly is a boring way to spend your time. By allowing a mulligan, you can drastically increase the number of playable hands, and provide the player with an interesting decision (assuming the common mulligan trade-off of -1 card) instead of a frustrated sigh. Better yet, they have more fun, which I believe is a big aspect of playing a game.
So, optimistically speaking, let's say we are left with 40% of our matches being playable. That's a relatively poor percentage regardless of what it is we are measuring. And, even within these matches, you can find that a single type of card that you do not have a counter for will essentially seal the game, instead of just changing it. A prime example would be Eternity, a card that could very feasibly appear on the 2nd turn, and rob your opponent of several turns right off the bat. Earthquake, Black Hole, Hope, and so on, all cards that can drastically reduce if not completely eliminate any decisions by the opponent (i.e., yawn). It's a lot of hay-makers and few jabs.
I don't want to make it seem as if nothing is working: the game has a lot of great ideas behind both the concept and mechanics. The bar just need to be set a bit higher concerning playable matches, and balance is the way to do that.
