Valve can change the game of card games with ARTIFACT

Artifact will be the next game released by Valve after Dota 2 since 2013, providing an opportunity to reinvent the way we play the card game genre.

The biggest surprise so far, not from The International or a classic deal, nor an explosive phase, it was the announcement of Valve’s next Game release from 2013. Artifact is a DotA card game that will be released in 2018, and we still don’t know much about this game. However, from our experience with Valve and the tons of other card games on the market, we can make predictions about how Artifact will unfold.

Trade and sell tokens

This should be a main point. Although there have been some games that have come before, allowing the exchange and sale of cards, as in the game Magic Online allows players to exchange cards. But names like Hearthstone, Gwent and other popular card games are not. Also the Magic effect is really bad – it doesn’t have ‘virtual toss’ matches – which is also why we didn’t include this game in the discussion. At least until we find out what Magic: The Gathering – Arena really is.

Regardless of your thoughts on in-game accessories, the Steam Market has always been the oldest and most trusted exchange for moving items (e.g. Team Fortress 2 skins) and other virtual items between strangers and friends. Gambling controversies aside, the Steam Market has enabled millions of players to trade skins (items) in games like CS:GO, H1Z1, PUBG, and of course Dota 2.

Really interested to see how @PlayArtifact impacts the saturated card game scene. Ability to trade/sell on Steam market can be the x factor.

— Frodan (@Frodan) 9 August 2017

^{It will be interesting to see how @PlayArtifact will affect the already saturated card game genre. The ability to trade and sell on the Steam Market can be an important factor.}

Some of us enjoy opening a box of cards just to get enough materials to craft the legendary cards we need. As Hearthstone game caster Dan “Frodan” Chou said on Twitter last night, Valve’s ability to leverage the bustling Steam Market could create a different experience for players. want to build a collection fast, with huge benefits. Of course, there may be some restrictions on farming (plowing) cards to make money. The Steam team may have found necessary restrictions, such as you can only buy a certain number of cards per month or between people who have been on your friends list for a specified period of time. determined.

Or Valve will not care and let the player be free to do whatever he wants. Either way, it’s going to be a lot of fun, and will eliminate one of the key current limitations for CCG players (Collectible Card Game) that their collection won’t be. There is no value because the regulation prohibits the sale of accounts. The ability to trade will also open up opportunities to craft extremely rare cards, limited promotions with alternate drawings or the like. This will likely help the game become less boring while waiting for expansion versions to be added.

It can actually use your GPU (graphics card)

Although the game Elder Scrolls: Legends launched on PC, built on the computer platform more than a year ago entering the mobile market (mobile phones), it and other card games are built to be able to Runs on all platforms. They were forced to make big trade-offs to get the game to run on touchscreen devices that don’t have an expensive graphics processor.

There is a big possibility that Artifact will be a PC exclusive game. One of the benefits of this decision was the freedom to take advantage of the computer’s hardware. As in Hearthstone, the game’s graphics have recently been improved to include effects, such as the appearance of the Deathwing card. Blizzard artists had to consider how the effects would work on mobile apps, which meant limiting effects that were sharp and beautiful. That also explains why many effects like Hellfire, Abyssal Enforcer differ only in color. With many mobile players complaining about the game’s heaviness, it seems unlikely that Hearthstone (or other CCG games designed for phones and tablets) will ever be able to truly transform. much in terms of graphics.

But what if Artifact could do the same? Spectacular graphics will make a few differences, but the most obvious one is that this will probably be a genre made for mass consumption and Valve certainly loves the money. But the downside to this is that Valve has never actually made a mobile game before. It probably won’t be a hasty decision to get started right now as Valve already has a certain amount of players available on its own proprietary platform.

… and your mouse and keyboard

We’ve really seen some interesting gameplay over the last few years, from games like Faeria where you and your opponent build together a six-player board, to Gwent, where health (HP) , mana and combat are removed.

It would be better if Artifact wasn’t just a version of Gabestone: Heroes of Dota (a parody of Hearthstone) with an item market. Has Valve improved this series further by taking advantage of the keyboard and mouse in unexpected ways, such as…I dunno maybe hotkeys? Shuffle the cards manually? The real time factor? Building a stronghold? Whatever happens, it won’t be the first card game to split lanes.

This could be the first CCG game that can go head-to-head with Blizzard

The CCG series has never been as rich on PC as it is now, and is arguably oversaturated. But there’s a good reason why none of these games – despite the great details – can seriously take Hearthstone’s market share and it’s Blizzard’s big money. . Few publishers can compete, as we’ve seen recently even Bethesda has struggled to make a game that stands out despite a lot of investment. Valve is one of the few companies capable of doing this. As we have seen from CS:GO and Dota, the ideal model is games that are suitable for everyone but need better skills to get higher. Froda once again talked about the idea of ​​​​making the game more accessible to players.

Also curious to see if they will do it with low entry barrier similar to their other games…especially when marketed as a DOTA CG

— Frodan (@Frodan) 9 August 2017

I’m also curious as to how they’re going to do with making the series as accessible to everyone as other games Valve has made… Especially since the game is marketed as a Dota card game

This is an opportunity to seriously consider making the game esports-oriented right from the start

Given the mixed reaction from MOBA fans when Artifact was announced, it is safe to assume that when the game is released, it will become a big part of The International’s future. Of course we haven’t seen anything from the game yet other than some sharp graphics, so we can’t predict yet if Artifact will have any balance in the game. But it would be surprising if Valve didn’t heed Hearthstone’s biggest complaint about Hearthstone’s ‘probability’ RNG system. And while Blizzard has created many major tournaments, the esports arena continues to see grumblings from professional players about the way everything in the game is set up and managed.

The list of complaints ranges from having to climb the New Year’s Eve rankings for HCT (Hearthstone Championship Tour) points, to playing major qualifiers in Buffalo Wild Wings restaurants, to faulty rules. applied to the China region before a major event. Of course Valve has also made mistakes, or been involved in some drama, about the way Valve treats CS:GO and Dota like eSports – but they are There’s no denying that these games feature huge, competitive tournaments and clear systems that are appreciated by viewers. The question is whether the same can happen to any CCG game, and is this the direction Valve really wants to go in. But again, there’s a feeling there’s a lot of potential here if they’re on the right track, and with the Dota franchise being used speaks volumes about Valve’s serious competitive intent.

Valve can take the concept of ‘Twitch Drops’ to a new level

The Elder Scrolls: Legends has had significant success with a new approach – randomly rewarding players for watching streamers play games on Twitch with in-game currency. These Twitch ‘Drops’ have been generous lately, helping new players build their collections quickly. Not surprisingly, this also helped the game become extremely popular, dominating chat on most channels on Twitch. But that idea is actually not new, Valve has been a pioneer in “rewarding” viewers of “Souvenir” packages for watching CS: GO since 2014. You can bet that Bellevue – the design team Artifact designers – have always been watching Bethesda’s ‘Drop’ experiments with great interest, and they are working on how the system can be improved for the Artifact game.

Source: pcgamer.com