Starter Pack

[kitty45]

I still do not understand why people think this will give new players some sort of advantage. It will just allow the game to be playable for those without much time to spare.  Just about every facet of this game is fun except grinding. 

exaclty t  would not be far for the vertrens either

[Manipul8r]

Why would it not be fair for the veterans?

[Tiko]

[...]

Here's the basic idea, though:
- Six starter packs with the following elemental pairings:  -  -  -  -  - 
- 60 cards in each pack, including between 2 and 4 copies of each card.  Dragons and shields are always 2 copies, the rest is based on what would usually end up in a good deck.
- Light, Water, and Time contain one copy of Miracle, Arctic Squid, and Pharaoh, respectively, to give new players an opportunity to obtain these cards without rolling the dice, like the choice of rare weapon after the quests.
- Each starter pack may only be bought once on each account.
- Prices start low and end high, to prevent a flooding of each new account with cards from every element:

First pack costs  100
Second pack costs  250
Third pack costs  500
Fourth pack costs  1000
Fifth pack costs  1500
Sixth pack costs  2000

I noticed that the price of the packs I designed hovered around 2500 if bought one card at a time, so 2000 is about as high as you can go without it not being a discount.

Personally, I like johann's idea the most. It would also solve the argument about keeping the game free or just partially, using ingame currency. A few suggestions if I may:

-I would ditch the rares from the starter packs. Few other things feel so great like winning your first rare card (hence the name).
-I would make 250 the starting price maybe, as it is not that hard to aquire even for a fresh player (and until then, he/she can get familiar with the game's basics), and keeping in mind that a single dragon costs you more than 100; and not that long ago, a simple mark change costed you the same.
-60 cards could be a bit too much, if one's selling back all the cards gained, it may be an unbalanced refund, even if we take an average 25-30 for a card
-Packs containing the presented duos is a very neat idea, as you can instantly experiment with the basic synergies at hand with your chosen/favored element.

[kitty45]

Why would it not be fair for the veterans?

because they have been working hard to get all the cards and didn't get any help. they have decks to use here,but if you start helping newbs the vetrenes didn't get that so it isn't fair to them

[Manipul8r]

Veterans post decks that let newbies farm easily without thinking of the strategies themselves.  Lots of them post decks in the T50 for newer players to farm. Why would they be angry that new players are getting a head start on basic bazaar cards?

This is a game, it's not supposed to be hard work.  I don't think they regard it as hard work, and this would not devalue it any more than those things mentioned before that community members already do.

[zse]

I've understood that there is a way to buy electrum with real money using Paypal. I must admit that I haven't donated to zanz yet, but when I get my first real paycheck I'm going to.

So someone with more info can correct me if I'm wrong here:
If you donate $5 you'll get a redeemable code, right? And then you can use the redeemable code to get rare card or electrum, right?
At least that's the impression I get from this post on another topic:

wats a redeem code?

A redeem code, which can be obtained by winning various PVP events or by donating money, is a special series of numbers that, when used by the owner, give somebody rare cards, unique card art, or Electrum.  They can only be used once.

http://elementscommunity.org/forum/index.php/topic,10719.0.html

[Higurashi]

The donation code gives you a choice between an upped Shard or the Foil Chimera, also upped. That's a bit of electrum if you sell it. 1140 included other redeem codes in that sentence, making it a bit confusing. For instance, all four tourney codes give Electrum, but the first place code also lets you choose a Nymph/Mark.

[ninjamaster1991]

*inhales* Well, mebbe have a select screen where the person can choose the element(s) they want the cards to be in, then they get 5 or 10 random cards from that or those element(s). There could also be a 'random elements' button, where you type in the number of elements you want to be in the pack, and it'd pick random elements to put in the pack. You could probably buy it for 1500 or, like, $15 for a premium pack, which has slightly more expensive cards.

The stats would be summin like:

1500                                                                $15
Nymphs: 0.5%                                         Nymphs: 0.5%
Other rares: 2.5%                                   Other Rares: 3.5%
Dragons: 7%                                           Dragons: 11%
'good' cards: 30%                                   'good' cards: 35%
'meh' cards: 35%                                    'meh' cards: 35%
'bad' or 'never used' cards: 15%            'bad' or 'never used' cards: 5%
Pillars: 10%                                             Pillars: 10%

Let me know if that's fair.

[TheIdioticIdiot]

I do think a way to buy electrum using real money should be available
BUT, buying rares and ultra rares shouldn't be added, why? unfair advantages...
buying 10k electrum for $10 sounds fine to me
it will give new players a much faster start, and give zanz money

[ninjamaster1991]

I'm putting rares + nymphs in bcuz, well, 0.5% and 2.5% chances aren't much to buy 1,000 packs for. I shifted the stats slightly rarer for the $15 one for obvious reasons, and, advertise that there's a chance to get nymphs in the packs, so they sell a lot. I'm daydreaming about the  one already. Also, there's the fact that veterans will get the basic pack more, so they can finish their collection. Premium pack also helps the n00bs get good cards w/o grinding w/cheap decks.

[RootRanger]

The biggest problem i see with this is Kongregate. there is now growing a strict policy from the players for ACTUAL free games. Oh sure, they still play pay-to-win games, but doesn't mean they wouldn't like much more a fullly free game. even though pay-to-save-time isn't very frowned upon, it would be best not to risk it.

I'll be frank. This game is just amazing. It has depth and character. It doesn't try to money-grab like the other "multiplayer" games on Kong.

See? this is one of the top rated comments, with 2148 votes up.

Yep. And there are probably people on the actual site, not just kongregate, that feel the same way.

I'm not sure paying money for cards is the way to go. Some people just won't spend money on an online game, ever. Others won't spent money on a game they are new to. Still, there is too much grinding involved in order to make a good deck.

I think that there should either be more beginner quests (such as an EM against any opponent or winning a card in the spins).
Or there should be more cards given to players at the start of the game. Maybe, when you choose an element right after making an account, you could recieve all the unupped non-rares of that element and 10-20 cards of the other 11 elements. This would allow players to make many more decks.

[Manipul8r]

I'm down for any idea, as long as it's beneficial to new players and helps with the extended grinding period.  Those that won't pay don't have to, they are welcome to grind the cards they want like anyone else.  Those that want to see if they are interested have time to do so, as I have.

I like your idea as well Root, plus I think increasing and diversifying the initial card base would help keep new players interested.  The only negative side affect might be confusion since they have so many cards at first, so having extra quests with larger rewards is probably a better way to further implement that.

Another problem for newbies is that a few elements are weaker for grinding, and a few are very strong ( for grinding AI3's for example).  This imbalance is impossible to fix by changing cards since the PvP and AI environments are different, and having a larger card base at the start would even it out.