Starter Pack

[tiebearius]

If greatness could be bought,

Marks cannot be bought. Tournament wins cannot be bought.
Skill cannot be bought.

Yup marks/nymphs/tourneys and skills can not be bought. However with enough cash one could conceivably buy enough "regular"  booster packs that they could trade in and buy up graded cards WITHOUT ever playing even 1 game.

And that would be SOOOOO fair to those of us that EARNED our upgrades.

[RootRanger]

They earned the money to buy starter packs with.

[Manipul8r]

I don't know about all that, I tend to laugh at people in any game that spend 100's of dollars and suck at the game, but I'm still glad they contributed.

Don't you think it's a little ironic saying that it would be unfair if people could 'buy' greatness, then say that it's easy to farm T50 for rare weapons that veterans have spent countless hours collecting?

Anyway, it's easy to limit buying power (e.g., as some have suggested, each pack can only be bought once).

[johannhowitzer]

They earned the money to buy starter packs with.

Not if they're 12-year-olds with rich parents.  That seems to be the demographic most interested in Blizzard's Celestial Steed mount, which is exclusively available for real-world cash.

[Manipul8r]

I don't know if I would compare this game to WoW so readily.  If you're 12 and your parents will buy you games, you probably won't be playing Elements, a relatively strategic and slow game with much more basic graphics.  Still, if there are 12 year olds playing Elements who would get their parents to pay Zanzarino money for a Starter Pack, I'd be thrilled about it.  Go education system!

I myself might buy my brother a Starter Pack so we can play occasionally.  I'd say he's earned it by helping me with my business at times.  I can wait a couple months, I just hope it gets implemented.

Thank you all for your input so far, whatever your point of view.  I'd still like more newer players' inputs, though, since it mostly applies to them and so far they seem to like it.  Personal desire aside, I think it would increase the forum participation, tournament participation, and new player retention rate.

[einherjar145]

Well whatever all u guys said are true. 1. but how many cards would be in a pack. and 2. it would be quite hard for ppl to get what they want and ya i dont know what to say other then it's AWESOME.

[BluePriest]

Im ok with starter packs if they follow 2 rules:Use or some other kind of currency like when daily quests come out let them be the reward, 2:NO chance of getting nymphs/any other ultra rare card. Regular rares are fine, and would be desireable.

[tiebearius]

Perhaps instead of a booster pack system, You could install a system where when you visit the oracle, You automatically get 1 random card for sure and a spin for chance of a card. At least then people would show a little dedication to the game to build up their card base. Rather then joining today and playing with almost every card tomorrow.

OR, Include a chance to win a booster pack when you spin the oracle.

Or both.

[killybob]

having reviewed the situation i would concede to supporting electrum starter packs. i would not want rares to be included in any starter packs, the packs could only be purchased once (too bad if you accidentally sell all your new cards), and finally they must be limited to unupgraded cards and only contain a sensible number of those cards.

[YoungSot]

having reviewed the situation i would concede to supporting electrum starter packs. i would not want rares to be included in any starter packs, the packs could only be purchased once (too bad if you accidentally sell all your new cards), and finally they must be limited to unupgraded cards and only contain a sensible number of those cards.

Exactly. Following all these rules should address all the primary objections ppl have to the idea, while still helping new players find the game enjoyable. Trying out new decks is a big part of the fun in Elements, and starter packs makes that part of the game a little more accessible to new players.

[killybob]

how about, for a price of, may be, 6-700 you could select a a deck to use - one for each of the elements. this could be for true noobs who have rubbish decks and need a boost. decks could include things like the traditional graboid rush, an anti matter/dragon rush, immo phoenix/dragon rush (purely mono with a few pillars), etc. this would help the newer players and avoid them clogging up their storage space with cards they don't need right yet as was in one of the suggested packs.

[YoungSot]

how about, for a price of, may be, 6-700 you could select a a deck to use - one for each of the elements. this could be for true noobs who have rubbish decks and need a boost. decks could include things like the traditional graboid rush, an anti matter/dragon rush, immo phoenix/dragon rush (purely mono with a few pillars), etc. this would help the newer players and avoid them clogging up their storage space with cards they don't need right yet as was in one of the suggested packs.

Well, I don't think making good decks is what we need to help the newbs with though. Deck designing is half the game, and having the starter pack be pre-made decks kind of makes it less likely that the new player will look at their cards, see some interesting synergy and build their own deck idea. I don't think a dislike of excessive grinding should be a barrier to entry for this game, but if they don't even like fiddling with and creating new decks, then yeah this probably isn't their game.

I prefer the idea of a starter for each element, including a smattering every non-rare for that element, perhaps varying the amount of any one particular card included from 2-4, with greater numbers of the more basic/generally-useful cards like shriekers and less of the more expensive/situational cards like nymphs tears.