ArchSenex
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Posts posted by ArchSenex
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I hadn't realized how much they improved salvage rates. Last time I opened chests, you got 2 to 3 per card, was a joke. Now seems much better.
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Consider Treasure cards purchases as well, that's all server side. All you stand to lose is party progress, and that's only if cloud save didn't work for you.
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I want difficult things to be difficult to acquire (like in real life).
I actually agree with this 100%, but I think the difference in opinion here is that I don't consider "time consuming" to be difficult, or "luck-based" to be difficult either.
If the cards required you to complete challenges, like having fewer turns, more to do, harder objectives, then I'd be all for that. I have no objection to the cards that only unlock when you complete all adventures on legendary, for instance.
However, requiring a person to just keep repeating the same simple action until luck aligns and gives them something? That's not difficult.
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Okay, this may be silly, and it's entirely possible I'm missing something pretty basic, but I can't seem to figure out exactly how card distribution, well, works.
Okay. Based on this post by dev LadyKaieta ("For some players figuring out the system is an experience they enjoy"), I'll use that as a springboard to share what I've found to answer some behind the scenes mechanics I've figured out.
Building the Box
Unlike the physical game which sits in a closet or under your bed unchanged between sessions, the digital card "box" is rebuilt before each scenario or quest. It follows roughly the following steps.
1. Put all the cards up to the present adventure number/quest tier in the box.
2. Add in a small number of randomly selected treasure cards from deck number up to the present adventure number/quest tier.
3. Add in C-deck or promo cards if you have them.
4. "Shuffle" the whole lot.
5. Cull a percentage of basic and elite cards based on the adventure number/quest tier
6. "Deal" the game.
So, with regards to seeing a specific treasure card like "Keen Scythe +2":
a. You need to have first found it in a treasure chest.
b. It needs to be one of the randomly-selected cards above in step 2.
c. If it survives the cull (some treasure cards are Basic or Elite), then it has to be one of the cards randomly chosen to be dealt into a location deck to discover.
Yes, the odds of seeing a treasure card are pretty lousy. But, in a way, that is somewhat the point. The core game remains >95% the same, and every now and then something cool pops up. Almost anything else would dramatically unbalance the game if all treasure cards had the same chance of discovery as a "base" card.
Based on the number of times I see treasure cards compared to normal cards, I don't think your #2 is entirely accurate. I wouldn't categorize the amount of treasure cards pulled into the box as a "small number." I generally feel like I have about even odds to get a treasure versus a core set card in any specific encounter, which means that the system seems to be dumping my entire treasure set into the universe of possibilities (and back when I had things like 10+ copies of some treasure cards, I couldn't encounter anything else it seemed).
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You should NOT lose any unlocks when you start again, just character progress in story and quest. If you no longer have the character and expansion unlocked, something is seriously wrong.
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Yup. I always full restart before any play session at this point.
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Static content is already part of the system, it's how the character deck is released. Also, I'm assuming it's how they'll be releasing future characters. I'm going to go out on a limb and guess there's not a single person who'd be cool if characters released in the treasure system.
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New cards should always be released in new booster packs (in our case, new types of treasure chests that contain only new cards). Players will then have a choice to buy the old treasure chests or the new treasure chests. Every release should have new boosters/add-on treasure chests.
There is not a lot choice on how this needs to be handled because it is tied to economics of the game (it is tied to how much Obsidian will be able to sell treasure chests today and in the future). It is also tied to profitability of the game.
If you continue to add new cards to the larger pool of old cards in the old treasure chests, that would mean players who have almost complete set of old cards will have to buy an insane amount of treasure chests just to get the new cards. You will turn off some players. Some players will buy less. Some players will hold purchasing until all cards are released (but there will always be new cards). Obsidian will lose sales on treasure chests overall in the long run. That's why there is no choice on how to handle this other than release in new booster treasure chests.
This is a horrid idea. Adding too many types of paid resources does not add to the value of a game, regardless of its monetization standards. This sort of thing rarely tests well and always results in failure for mobages on all fronts. I know PFACG is different from the average mobage, but the treasure similarity is a huge factor. Please look at articles that explain the economics behind this on sites like Gamasutra (odd name, but it's a game developer news site that has a lot of very great articles on everything, including mobile and tablet gaming).
What *should* be done is any of the following:
- Have significant drop rate up events on certain card types or themes every 3 to 7 days and cycle through a full rotation that can be done every month or two (at most). Maybe certain types of cards, a focus on certain deities, factions or alignments.
- Just have a different pool of cards available every other day. Make it consistent to the day of the week or have it offset to cater to those who have work days or schedules that don't easily permit them to play at all on a particular day (cell coverage, work restrictions, etc). Both structures have pros and cons to them, but the latter is best if the devs have a means of communicating the schedule on a regular basis, which this forum is a perfect example of (a news update page in the game's store that people can view would be priceless too).
- Allow for guaranteed highest rarity drops on a pool if X# of treasures are opened. I've seen a few other forums complain about the horrid rates for the Legendary cards and I generally have to agree that this type of game should never require literally thousands of dollars, if not more, to unlock all cards (when it's not even a competitive pay to win)! Other games may do this, but Obsidian shouldn't stoop to their level!
Some people will argue otherwise, but Obsidian should never be targeting whales & white whales in a game like this - it's extremely exploitive and poor pricing ethics, something I can't personally condone (A major factor for why I left the mobile gaming industry. Please think of people who actually have a gambling problem and how games like these can literally ruin their lives, financially and mentally. After meeting a few myself at a gaming convention, it really put things in perspective). I really want this game to be successful, since I absolutely love and am a huge fan of both companies involved in this product's release!
Wait... so your argument for not exploiting gamblers is to just play around with the odds during predetermined windows? That doesn't really seem to fix the problem of slot machine pricing. Much better suggestion for that is to take out the random and just charge for predetermined content, like the physical game did, and all other apps based on board games.
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I'd be surprised if the gold amount is stored on the game at all. Your game sends events to the server, like +100 gold, but doesn't know what the total is. To allow it to work offline, they would have to keep a running log of everything that you do while offline, to audit when you reconnect. Otherwise you could just change your total.
In fact, you probably could cheat to gain gold now by faking those events, and probably making a play simulator, but it would be hard to detect.
I'd rather they just tank gold and make everything purchase, then this whole concern goes away, and you can play all content offline regardless.
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hard close the app and connect again. I've noticed that sometimes if I leave it suspended for a while, the connection disconnects silently, the game thinks it's still connected but doesn't award gold properly.
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Not my style of playing a Druid. I'm going to try another path, I'll see how it goes.
On the Allies front, I like the Cat, dislike the inefficiency of burying a card to retrieve a single Spell (so no Toad), Monkey/Crow is OK, but the weapons are for giving to the other party members and I've not encountered the sabertooth.
Raptors. Lini makes a great dinosaur. Can't wait for them.
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Yeah, I am aware of the rules on defeating dual-check monsters. It was a matter of principle and I got Nualia the next time we cornered her in that scenario.
Glad to hear! Apologies if I over explain, some people arrive here quite lost
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Also, a point of order, monsters with two checks require you to defeat both to defeat the monster, unless specified otherwise. Your post seems to suggest you thought Seoni could pull it out, but all she was doing was avoiding damage. If you have a character with no cards and don't need to pass the check, best to have them take it, since they have nothing to discard.
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Yeah, the weasel sounds good until you realize.
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Yeah, can't help you if you've annoyed RNJesus, but glad you got the technical item sorted out. You're not the first person to miss the button.
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Did you click the small, hard to notice purple icon at the top to change the active person for the check. It's very easy to miss.
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Have you gotten past ad1 In that story group? Try going to gallery from the main menu to see everything you have unlocked.
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I do still have to ask what the long term plan for treasures is. Will there be a cutoff after which no more will be added to this set, or will they continue to be added for the life of the game? I can't open or buy any chests without knowing what the long term plan is.
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Also, if you're a new player, only playing with the starter 2 characters, you're going to fail some times while you just get used to the pace of the game. Knowing when to push, when to regroup, etc. is something that comes with time.
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You could also back up your save, delete the party and recreate. You are SUPPOSED to be able to reform a party at the same progress without losing any if all chars have the same progress, but it has failed before.
I try this... I save the file game.SAV elsewhere and delete it on the game folder. Then I try to create a new party but I only have the choice of newbie adventurers... The experienced button is "greyed"(sorry i'm french and i'm not sure this word exist). However the character in the party that doesnt load are not the same than those who are in the group who works. Am i missing something ?
Don't delete the save from the device, or it resets everything to zero, including experienced characters. Try putting it back on the device.
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Ok. If one party works and the other doesn't, that's... very weird. I'm afraid I'm out of helpful advice at that point. You may need to get a copy of your save over to Paizo to see if they can get the issue on another device and then offer more elevated insight.
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Llama did Aarik not get back to you? Might want to pm ping him.
Amion, you've done the most important thing, which is get your PFID so they can look into your account. I'd recommend either ping Aarik as well or contacting get support directly. The forums are only so so at getting good direct attention and the community can't help with these issues.
I'd be curious, if you can recreate it, see if you get a new pfid after opening another chest. Wonder if the game is creating new accounts for you.
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I believe the progression issue is on deck for the next patch as well, but so far every report I've seen is that collecting the last card yourself will get you going.
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Totally ideas, haven't gotten the issue so no gurantees.
Try making a new second party, then see if you can switch back to your first.
You could also back up your save, delete the party and recreate. You are SUPPOSED to be able to reform a party at the same progress without losing any if all chars have the same progress, but it has failed before.
Can you play quest mode? Just curious.
Free Epic and Legendary Card DLC for Limited Time on Steam
in Pathfinder Adventures: Announcements & News
Posted
So it looks like the steam version uses a static DLC format, instead of the godawful gacha-style booster packs that completely turned me off of the mobile version. Will this be the standard release format for the pc version? Pay for content in a static format without random luck required to get a complete set?