Guest posts by PhuzzY LogiK

121

General Discussion / Re: The Big Rare Debate

« on: March 07, 2010, 04:29:40 am »

Actually, there's absolutely nothing that keeps it from being both. 

See, Elements is a COLLECTIBLE card game -- but unlike YuGiOh or Magic, you don't pay cash to collect cards -- you pay time.  Time spent grinding.   As you invest more time into the game, your options and power increase.  Just like spending money on Magic cards.

In Elements, Time really is Money!

I see where you're going with this...but I have to disagree.  In Magic, once you get the basic idea of gameplay down, you can say to yourself, "I want to play Deck X,  which will cost me $N.  Is that worth it, or should I change out some cards?"  But, by and large,  you can play any deck you want, so long as you pay for it.

In Elements, you instead say, "I want to play deck X, I will grind N hours and HOPE I get the cards I need."  Your options are always limited by the fact some cards can only be acquired through chance.  And yes, as time tends towards large amounts, you can "pay" for your cards, but this is not practical.  You could be an experienced player who just never happened to win a certain card, thus you don't have the full chance to build any deck you want.

122

Deck Help / Re: keep random upgraded cards?

« on: March 05, 2010, 12:23:12 am »

^^^ This man speaks the truth.

Until you have a fully upped deck (so upgrading more isn't such a large priority), the only cards you should really keep are:
1. Anything you can use in your deck.
2. Rares that can't be bought: Weapons, Shards, Nymphs, etc...

123

General Discussion / Re: A few questions from a newbie

« on: March 04, 2010, 10:48:15 pm »

I've been playing about 5-10 hours a week (not a lot I know) for the past month, and I am only just now fixing to upgrade my second card.

It must just be a random glitch, which isn't terrible I've only seen it twice that I know of in roughly 500 games played.

Something doesn't sound right.  You win a lot and get mostly EMs against the AI5 (80 electrum per game),  but you're only upgrading your second card?  Do you spend electrum switching out decks a lot?

I don't see where your money is going.  I've only played ~400 games and I've got 12 upgraded cards, and I'd say I didn't even know what I was doing for at least 100 of those games.  Not trying to sound mean here, I'm just curious.  You should be able to progress much faster.

124

General Discussion / Re: The Big Rare Debate

« on: March 04, 2010, 10:37:14 pm »

The biggest problem I see with this is people are consistently vague about what a "rare card" is.  Do you mean current rare cards (as options 4 and 5 seem to suggest), or cards yet to be released (as option 2 seems to suggest)?

The fact of the matter is the current rares are not that rare (which was the start of all this), like it or not.  People have 6+ copies of "rares", and everyone else is grinding to get the same.  You can't go back now and say "I'm going to remove T50 spins and make the rare cards rare again" because so many people already have them.  The only way to make a truly rare card now is to make a new card that no one has yet, and make it difficult for anyone to get.

However, given the way this game is (no trading, only option is to sell), given enough time ALL cards can become common, because everyone has to be able to get them, thus an unlimited number of them can enter the game.  If there was some sort of trading system in place, there could be a limited number of rare cards introduced.  (Say, a rare card could randomly be won from spins after beating a certain FG, but would only appear in spins if less than 50 of them were in the game already).

125

General Discussion / Re: A few questions from a newbie

« on: March 04, 2010, 10:14:56 pm »

A couple of things I have noticed and/or have questions regarding:

1) Do any glitches exist currently that cause an automatic loss?  I played two games today where I had a 30+ bone wall up and 100 HP with Eternity keeping me from decking out, and I got a loss screen.

2) This is related to the first one, is there any way to see what caused you to lose?  I wouldn't mind my losses if there were a console I could pull up and see the match logs, or even if there were a button to push to see the last round again.

3) Again, related to the last one, if there is no console available to everyone, can we have one implemented?

4) Is there any "good" way to upgrade my pillars?  I cringe at the thought of spending 1.5k electrum on each of 15 pillars, just for one deck.  I've been playing about 5-10 hours a week (not a lot I know) for the past month, and I am only just now fixing to upgrade my second card.

Thanks for reading

1) I'd bet you decked out (you get no warning before it happens).  Even with Eternity out, it's easy to focus on killing your opponent and forgetting to rewind your creature.  It used to happen to me enough that now I've made a habit of playing differently when I have 5 or less cards in my deck left so I don't deck out.

Be careful because after it draws a card, it can still display "1" as cards left in your deck for a second.  It takes it a short time to adjust the count to 0.

2) Unfortunately, no.  But after enough games you start to get a feel for how things ended the way they did.

3) Can't help you here, but it would be a nice addition.

4) In short, no, there is no shortcut to upgrading cards.  But you should not be upgrading pillars first.  Post your deck in the Deck Help section and ask how to go about upgrading your specific deck.  As you upgrade cards and can consistently beat the AI with more Elemental Masteries (doubles the electrum won), upgrading will come a lot quicker.  You will notice a pretty big difference in your deck with only 5 upgraded cards, if you upgrade the right ones.

Further, a lot of people will suggest you farm FGs, but the AI has been improved, and I personally don't feel it's very effective with only a few upgrades.  I'm fairly new and I grind the AI5.  I play about as much as you and upgrade about 3 cards a week.

Good luck.

126

General Discussion / Re: The Morality of Rare Farms in Top50

« on: March 03, 2010, 10:13:33 pm »

I see you are trying to help but that just doesnt work.

The top 50a re just to easy, the points for packs would have to come from PvP only, but not until pvp servers worked right.

This is easy to say in your position.  You already have the rares. 

I don't think some of you remember being a new player.  After the quests, you have one rare weapon and one upgraded card.  And you're saying you should have to PvP far more advanced decks just to get boosters?  That's not going to work, the skill and deck power gap is too great.  And if PvP is the only way to get boosters, the gap between older and newer players will just grow larger.  I know that everyone has worked hard for their cards, but I also know that before the AI was tweaked and the Sundials were nerfed, the FGs essentially functioned as rare farms for older players.  Sure, T50 is easy for you...but if you think it's too easy for everyone, I dare you to reset your account.

I'm a casual player, i.e, I play maybe 1-2 hours/day a few days a week.  I can expect to upgrade a card for about 2 hours of gameplay.  That means I upgrade about 3 cards a week, and I think I'm pretty typical.  I'm not asking for it to be made easier.  But if it's made so that a player like myself can't even acquire a rare or two every month, then I will not be playing this game, and you guys can have fun PvPing the same 30 people over and over.

127

General Discussion / Re: Top 5 mistakes you see people make

« on: March 02, 2010, 06:06:24 am »

"OMG -- there's a hacker on PvP!!!11111oneoneonetwothree!"

It's called de-sync, kiddies. 

In all fairness, most of the time when you're new to a multiplayer online game and you see something really screwy, it's not outlandish to think someone is doing something they shouldn't be. 

128

Issue Archive / Re: Next Bug with Malignant Cell

« on: February 26, 2010, 11:42:31 pm »

This has happened to me too, however, it didn't damage my new mutant with 2 damage per turn. It was just a symbol, and did nothing more.

I had the same experience.  In the second picture, the two on the left were mutated Malignant Cells.  The symbol had no effect.  The one on the right was a creature that was infected and was dying. 

(http://www.screenshotdumpster.com/view/m7Gbd48995/afla1) (http://www.screenshotdumpster.com/view/m7Gbd48994/afla2)

I didn't try devouring one to see if another Cell popped up, but I did kill one in a failed mutation, and it did not create another Cell.

[edit: Okay, I just played the same AI5 again, and I see what you're saying, Avenger.  If you devour a creature still marked with Aflatoxin, it will create a Malignant Cell (and a Skeleton if any boneyards/graveyards are out).  Once it is actually a Cell it lives and dies like a normal creature.  One thing I have not checked is devouring a creature with the darker symbol that appears after mutating a Malignant Cell, but I suspect it will have no effect, since it doesn't act like Aflatoxin.]

129

Deck Help / Re: Request for advice on my rainbow deck

« on: February 26, 2010, 10:46:53 pm »

So basically, the deck would end up looking like the deck that follows.
This looks very similar to the rainbows I've been using before this version. With my luck at drawing, I get the creatures late often, and there's only three creatures, all being a key part of victory. I haven't had much luck with that, unfortunately. That's why I tried to add something different.
Maybe I'll keep my version and swap out one of the creatures (lava golem, I suppose) for a shield, and put back the quantum pillars. At least I'd have a bit of extra defense, but I really like the extra security in my deck. So what about that second deck below then?
Maybe I could switch that flayer for an extra rain of fire though, I'd still have that toxin in it then as well as anubis.

I would definitely do whatever you feel is best to fit your own style.  Like I said, I'm not that much farther along than you, so I can tell you what's worked for me, but I wouldn't want you to make drastic changes based on it.

This is my current deck, which looks like what you're trying to move away from:


Normally I use the Sundials and Dimensional Shields to stall until I can draw most of my cards.  If I'm going to Fire Storm a large group, I throw up the Bonewall.  The Dissipation Shield is nice in the end game because I usually have quite a bit of Entropy Quantum built up (the deck only uses 5).

I know there are only three creatures and they are essential, but they have their uses individually (just never play them without a Quint).  Oty can eat things, obviously.  FFQ works well with the Bonds.  The Druid makes a surprisingly good defense if Eternity is out.  Just mutate the enemy creature, and then immediately use Eternity to rewind it back to their deck.  The creature will lose any bonuses from the mutation, it will replace their draw on the next turn, and if they don't have a lot of some Quantum, they may not even be able to play it again at all, so it just takes up room in their hand.   

I understand why you're doing what you are, though.  Fire Quantum doesn't get a lot of use, so you have plenty to spend on the Fire Golem.  And if I had an Elite Anubis I would probably use it, but I'm just not rich enough for that. 

Anyway, good luck with it!

130

Deck Help / Re: Speed Lance Deck?

« on: February 26, 2010, 10:27:18 pm »

That makes some sense with the Precogs though; they don't do much for a deck this size at all.  Interesting on the version you proposed there; it completely cuts out the hourglasses which is what I thought really made the deck work.  I'm guessing they provided too much of a quanta drag?

Well, I guess it's a toss up.  If you agree the Precognitions don't do much and drop those out, then the Time Towers are only there to support the Hourglasses.  With the Hourglasses in, you can potentially draw faster, but you're adding 14 cards to do it.

My thought process was if you cut out the Time Towers and Hourglasses all together, you should be able to use any card you draw except the Fire Lances, which you want to save until the end.  The Sundials will provide a moderate draw boost, but overall it will definitely be slower.  Also, if you don't get Cremations in the first few turns you could be screwed.

Now that I consider it, you may be right, though.  If you're looking to end the game in ~8-10 turns, you'll get your initial draw, 8-10 draws on turns, and up to 5 from sundials.  That's only 21-23 out of 37 cards drawn.  It may still work if you get Fahrenheit out kind of early to reduce their health.  It may also be better to throw in that 6th Sundial.

To be honest, I probably don't have enough experience to say what is better at this point.  I'd love to hear others chime in.

131

Forum Archive / Re: Not getting rare cards from t50s

« on: February 26, 2010, 05:24:55 pm »

Also note that there is a difference between "Rare" and "Upgraded".  Those Rare farms are set up so you can win rare cards (mainly weapons and shards), but you'll have to upgrade those cards yourself. 

132

Deck Help / Re: Speed Lance Deck?

« on: February 25, 2010, 09:16:09 pm »

Precognition is basically used to make some basically 24 cards deck. You splash time and you get few to none bad draws. (If I wasn't clear, I was talking about a deck like 18 burning towers, 6 crimson drags and 6 precogs, Mark of  . I know this is not the best deck possible, but you get the idea.)

Huh, I guess I never thought about it like that.  It makes sense, but since I like decks with 30+ non-expendable cards, I still don't really see the value in them.