Guest posts by Sastrugi

1

Patch Notes and Development News / Re: Elements 1.22

« on: April 03, 2010, 09:52:18 pm »

I believe it shows the default as whatever the atk/hp is has after it ate something, and when damaged, the current hp will go down and the default will show how much it should be. that's how it works for creatures with the growth ability.

That's a lot more useful, but maybe "default" isn't the right word here? Default sounds like it would refer to the stats that appear on the creature's card, which would be redundant as the card still appears when you mouseover. What this number really represents is the total of the creature's card stats and any permanent effects. (Plate Armor, Mutation, Growth, etc.) It might be better to call those the "Base" stats instead, to avoid confusion.

Having played around with it in the trainer, I really like the way the info panel works. I'm curious about the Delay section, though. I don't think anything currently produces that effect for longer than one turn, so is this an indication that we may see more cards that put things in time bubbles?

2

Rainbow Decks / Re: Scaredgirl's (almost) NON-UPGRADED False God Rainbow

« on: April 03, 2010, 03:43:50 am »

My suggestion is that you add another two dimension shields to three.  This decks start up is its real breaking point and getting enough towers and hourglasses on the field takes a lot of time.  In almost all my games I get to the point where I need eternity and the shields are needed to survive until bonewall gets going

Actually, my experience has been the opposite. A few Sundials are usually all I need to stall with until I can get a quinted Oty out and have Bonewall and/or Firestorm in my hand and ready to go. I have needed Dimensional Shield to deal with the occasional bad starting hand, but if one can't save me it's because I'm too far behind for anything to help.

It could be because I have a few extra cards upgraded (Firestorm, Bonewall, 2 Quints) but I suspect your timing is off somehow. Dimensional Shields are expensive and adding more of them would make it harder to get the cards you really need.

3

Patch Notes and Development News / Re: Elements 1.22

« on: April 03, 2010, 03:23:31 am »

I had a game recently where I had a large un-quinted Oty and a mutant with heal on the board, and the AI kept hitting the Oty with an Eagle's Eye. I lost track of how much health the Oty was supposed to have, so I could never tell if it was damaged or not. Some kind of "maximum health" display would have been nice, but would this info box help in that situation? It looks like it would just show 0/5 default and then whatever it was at currently.

I really like the idea, though. It's definitely a big improvement over what we have now.

4

General Discussion / Re: About Metamorphis And Marks...

« on: April 02, 2010, 10:12:50 pm »

Stick to one deck and your problem is solved.

I know i sound like an ass but its your answer.  Stick to one deck, save money for a FG deck then mark changing wont mean anything to you.

Not to sound like an ass, but I think you're missing the point of playing a card game. 

One of the main attractions of this sort of game has always been trying new decks and finding new and interesting ways to use the cards you've found. Placing a limit on that experimentation seems rather counterproductive. (and boring)

Also, I have a FG deck and I would much rather spend my money upgrading more cards than having to think twice every time I want to try something new. Even if newbies are the only ones that really have a hard time affording this, do we really want to discourage them from exploring different elements? The metamorphosis cost just gets in the way of enjoying the game, and that's something you never want.

5

Game Suggestions and Feedback / Re: Permanent Marks

« on: April 01, 2010, 03:31:38 am »

Also where the hell is your math, 100 times 150 is 15,000! not 1500

Note to self: Never base calculations on someone else's math. 

The problem I have with paying per element is that it doesn't really fit my situation. I mostly use a mark now, but that's only because I can use both the unupgraded FG grinder and an AI3/Top50 speeddeck without paying to change it. I'm frankly bored with both of those, but there isn't any single element I'd switch off to. They're all equally likely to catch my attention. Surely I'm not the only person who wants to play as many different decks as possible?

6

Game Suggestions and Feedback / Re: Permanent Marks

« on: March 31, 2010, 11:44:35 pm »

My original suggestion was to allow players to pay 1500e (the same as upgrading a card) to get rid of the 100e metamorphosis fee. You wouldn't have to buy each element separately, which might make it easier to implement.

At that cost it wouldn't pay off until you change marks 15 times. I don't use metamorphosis very often, so it might not make much sense for me economically, but I would certainly use it more if I didn't have to worry about losing money each time. The peace of mind alone would be worth the price.

7

Game Suggestions and Feedback / Re: Permanent Marks

« on: March 30, 2010, 09:15:40 pm »

Ok, I'm not trying to kill Metamorphosis here but...
IF you run 2 active decks that use different marks then having to use metamorphosis for every change really drains your electrum (esspecially when you mostly play around with duels) so what if you could permanently "Buy" marks, as well as metamorphosize?

Salmon's already one step ahead of you, pepokish.

I suggested a very similar idea in chat once, but everybody there thought it was stupid. Maybe 100 electrum isn't a lot for most people, but I would certainly feel a lot freer if I could pay a larger upfront cost and not have to worry about it later.

8

Patch Notes and Development News / Re: Elements 1.21

« on: March 30, 2010, 06:18:02 pm »

It was always 10% chance to get a card, 100% if it's nymph. And I got a pulverizer in display but didn't get it today, I am pissed off indeed, it's the only rare weapon I don't own.

Really? I thought you always got the card before, but I never checked unless it was a nymph or a rare. This change makes a lot more sense now, as does my card stockpile.

9

Patch Notes and Development News / Re: Elements 1.21

« on: March 30, 2010, 01:05:52 am »

I'm surprised no one has mentioned the Oracle nerf. It doesn't give you the card automatically now; that new tab determines whether you actually get it or not. I predict a lot of angry people once it starts displaying rares without awarding them.

"Hey, isn't this Nymph card really awesome? Do you want it? Well, too bad because YOU CAN'T HAVE IT!" 

10

Light / Re: Hope / Hope

« on: March 23, 2010, 02:30:03 am »

I like the card, but I don't like mathematical variables and equations in card text. It looks out of place, makes it harder to figure out what the card does, and is usually a sign that you're doing something too complicated. Fortunately, this one looks like an easy fix.

Old Description
Shield: physical damage reduced by N. N is the number of your light emitting creatures. Immaterial.

New Description
Shield: Reduces physical damage by 1 for each of your light emitting creatures. Immaterial.

New Description (upgraded)
Shield: Reduces physical damage by 1, plus 1 more for each of your light emitting creatures. Immaterial.

It's not an important thing, but I think it reads better this way.

11

General Discussion / Re: Suggestion for dividing Elements into 4 different groups

« on: March 23, 2010, 12:55:17 am »

I'm still not happy with the group names.  "Spiritual" seems inaccurate and has too many religious/mystical connotations; I only used it because I hadn't found anything better yet. My OCD is also nagging me to replace "Cosmic" with something that doesn't break the spelling pattern.

How about this:

Physical or Material (pertaining to matter and substance) 
Modal (pertaining to modes or states of being) 
Celestial (pertaining to the heavens and outer space) 

I want to avoid using "Fundamental" because that word is one of the definitions of "element". Saying that some elements are more fundamental than others is crazy talk.

12

General Discussion / Re: What have you won from the Oracle?

« on: March 22, 2010, 01:03:22 am »

Got my second nymph two days ago; a green one. I also got a Fahrenheit today. It's not as good as a nymph, but I didn't have one yet.