New SOE Game - Legends of Norrath: Card Game

[Cuppycake]

Definitely don't knock this one until you've tried it. I gave it a go and it really is a ton of fun. Something that you can play for a few minutes or a few hours and have a blast.

- You can play it within EQ1 or EQ2, or also in a standalone client without a subscription to either game. Everyone plays together.
- You can purchase cards online (believe boosters are going to be like $2.99 and starters around $10.00)
- You can accumulate a full deck (albeit slowly) just from in game drops on mobs.
- You can trade your cards with other players in a trading area within the game.
- The in-game rewards are actually fun and useful. The cloaks and mounts that I saw look AWESOME. There are some great illusion spells too.
- You can challenge people to play cards with you in game, cross game, and out of game. You can also play with the computer if you don't wish to play with other real people.

It is mostly just a great way to connect the different games together and also possibly bring new players into either game. It's relatively cheap to get into (and possibly even free if you choose to not purchase anything).

You guys are acting disappointed in this, but you didn't honestly think that SOE could have kept an entire MMO under wraps this long when he announced that the game would go live in August, did you? I think this is a neat idea, and I like that it is digital and not physical. Give it a try though, it becomes addicting fast.

[Sithro]

I like the idea, I just get the feeling I'll be gimped if I don't pay up for boosters and shit. It sucks because I won't even have a shot at being good at the game, especially if they release new card sets really fast.

[Xaxius]

Scott just posted this a little bit ago, seems pretty cool.

You'll be able to challenge people across alignment, across server, and between EQ and EQ2, even on PvP servers.

We demoed a live EQ-to-EQ2 challenge (using Game.Server.Character notation, just like sending a cross game tell) during the product announcement a couple nights ago. Not sure if they'd be high enough detail on the videos, but those videos are here if you wanted a look:

YouTube - Broadcast Yourself.
Sony Registration Page


Edit: Just looked. The challenge itself isn't on the screen, but the laugh was people appreciating Clint and I insulting each other through the challenge dialogues. SMILEY

[TwiNCannoN]

we need a cross-game multiplayer version of /gems imo

[Manatra]

I really like this idea, and I hope it's a sign of more things to come. Personally, I've gotten sick of the MMORPG obsession with character advancement. Getting a new piece of gear, stat, or ability is nice, but I want some variety. I want to also be able to be able to challenge players to card battles, ala FF8's triple triad, I want to be able to go into a Golden Saucer type area and play random mini-games, with more being added each content patch. This card game by Sony is a good start, I hope they execute it well.

[Draegan]

Originally Posted by CharlieMopps

Smeadly, I dont know if you read the internets... or if you even know the internets exist... but if you do, I just want to make sure you know that we all hate you, want you to die, and would dance arround in circles cheering with glee if you were hit by a truck.

You have severe emotional issues.

[Kendricke]

I've noticed almost no one is asking about the gameplay itself. I sat down on Saturday morning with some guildmates and over an hour or so we played through the tutorials, and then a game or two. It was pretty fun.

Basically, you choose an avatar based on one of the four main archetypes. These avatars are prechosen based on cards you presumably get in the card sets.

The playmat is split into quarters. On the right side, you play your quest. On the left side, your opponent plays his or her quest. Your creature cards are then split between your half of the playmat, against your or your opponents' quests.

The general goal is for your avatar to either kill the other avatar (pvp win) or to complete four quests first. The creature cards I mentioned are basically you playing NPC's to make the other person's questing harder (random encounters).

Also, you can play abilities for your avatar at the base of your side of the playmat. These abilities are needed by your avatar to complete the quests.

So, while you're playing creatures (ice giants, gnoll scouts, etc.) to slow down your opponent's avatar, he or she is playing creatures against you. These creatures are specifically split to "defend" one quest or the other. So if you play all 3 of your creatures against the quest you've played, that means the other quest is undefended and wide open for your opponent to complete.

Now, you can either keep the creatures sitting there doing nothing, waiting for an opponent to attempt the quest. Or, you can "exert" (i.e. "tap") them to proactively attack your opponent's avatar directly.

Meanwhile, your own avatar can either attack creatures defending quests, use abilities to attempt quests that are currently undefended, or attack the opponent's avatar directly (GANK!).

It's actually pretty tactical, especially when you start taking events into account (i.e. - instants/interrupts/traps). Took about 15-30 minutes to really start to understand it, and another 15-30 minutes before I was really getting into it.

There's some other nuances to it, but that's the quick basics of the gameplay. I can see my guild setting up a night just for the card game. I know at least two guilds which have chapters in EQ and EQ2 that could use such a night for cross-chapter socializing.

[CharlieMopps]

Originally Posted by Draegan

You have severe emotional issues.

You clearly have not been dealing with the great satan (Smeadly) for as long as I have.

I hate Smeadly in the same way that baseball fans hate the Steroid makers. I love a game that once was great and is now dead due to this guy trying to profit off of cheaters.

I'm still hoping that AoC will save the industry. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Vanguard was certainly a disapointment.

The cardgame would have been great if it were free. It's not. It's a scam that will fail like everything else smeadly has done.

[Bongk]

Originally Posted by CharlieMopps

You clearly have not been dealing with the great satan (Smeadly) for as long as I have.

I hate Smeadly in the same way that baseball fans hate the Steroid makers. I love a game that once was great and is now dead due to this guy trying to profit off of cheaters.

I'm still hoping that AoC will save the industry. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Vanguard was certainly a disapointment.

The cardgame would have been great if it were free. It's not. It's a scam that will fail like everything else smeadly has done.

did you forget to take your meds again?

[Vorne]

Yeah damn that scam card game! Charging us for the client, oh wait thats free. Well then making us have to buy or cards, wait again, the starter is free and booster packs can drop off mobs, sure sounds like a scam to me.

CharlieMopps you've gotta be an ex SWG player, only they go truly psycho at the mention of Sony or Smed.

[Braen]

Originally Posted by CharlieMopps

You clearly have not been dealing with the great satan (Smeadly) for as long as I have.

I hate Smeadly in the same way that baseball fans hate the Steroid makers. I love a game that once was great and is now dead due to this guy trying to profit off of cheaters.

I'm still hoping that AoC will save the industry. Guess we'll have to wait and see. Vanguard was certainly a disapointment.

The cardgame would have been great if it were free. It's not. It's a scam that will fail like everything else smeadly has done.

I am actually going to feed him... this once.

You honestly think the disappointment that was Vanguard was Smeds fault? WOW! Your hate is like someone having to wait in line for hours at the DMV, getting poor service there and blaming the President of the United States.

Smed had nothing to do with the "failure" of Vanguard other than giving them money after Microsoft said "fuck this" and then after giving said money told Brad to produce by a certain time. The failure of Vanguard stems directly from Brad and all the unfufilled and unrealized promises.

The card game IS FREE. You can collect an entire deck jsut form drops in game. If you are impatient or just have a lot of money laying around, you can skip the time sink and purchase cards. Now, if people will spend money on the cards is directly related to if the game is actually fun or not.

Not everything Smed or SoE has done is a failure. EQ1 was not a failure, EQ2 is not a failure (even if it isn't as popular as WoW). Admittedly SWG was probably their biggest disappointment. SoE, AFAIK, is a profitable arm of Sony and Smed is the President of SoE. Many of the games that are "failures" in terms of hype and subscriptions that SoE controls, were developed by other companies and SoE bailed them out and let the players that did enjoy the game continue playing long after it should have gone down in flames.

[Sabolin]

By his logic, MTG is a scam because it isn't free.

[Digits]

Originally Posted by Sabolin

By his logic, MTG is a scam because it isn't free.

Your face is a scam.

The card game actually sounds fun, and I'm interested in checking it out. Now that I'm done with that, feel free to return to bashing...Smedley?

[Braen]

That reminds me, I have hundreds of Rares from MTG I need to get rid of...

[Laerazi]

Originally Posted by Sulrn

I'm a little late chiming in, but I honestly don't understand how anyone could find a real argument against the cards being an alternative means of advancement( reward tuning aside).

I mean seriously, how could you go wrong "borrowing" from Square?

Because people can use real life money to get better cards? I could see it as a form of advancement if people couldn't buy more cards (and thus, rares) whenever they wanted, but they can. Where as I don't have the money to spend on digital cards, some wealthy individual could easily blow $1k on them, if they so deserved, and have a ton of great cards (essentially skipping any need to "earn" these cards). Would you still enjoy leveling if people could just buy levels with RL money?

I think the concept itself is cool, and probably a fun game, but because you can buy your "advancement" with RL money, it seems skewed.