Ethics Gradient

I'm going to agree with everyone that shuffle by itself probably isn't broken. But be careful about narrowing it down to just those two cases. There are literally dozens of things which initiate a shuffle in this game. Evading a bane starts a shuffle, undefeated villains start several shuffles, augury starts a shuffle, shuffles galore starting a scenario, etc... Given the sheer number of times the game calls for the shuffler, it seems evident that it behaves most of the time, so it isn't globally broken. However, that that doesn't rule out a narrow instance where an expected shuffle goes awry because of some other code issue...

Bad luck, sorry. Rolls appear to be handled by some pretty simple and standard Unity random functions. It may not be be "cryptographic" randomness, but we're just throwing dice here, not securing financial data. Considering how heavily this game relies on random numbers, if the "randomizer" were truly broken, much weirder problems would manifest than the occasional reports of five-in-a-row rolls. I also sometimes feel like more stuff gets shuffled to the top of a stack than seems normal, and it is one of the things I've been trying to analyze how digital Pathfinder handles. It appears to work, but I haven't quite mapped out how or why. Too many references referencing references referencing references ​referencing references..., and I've got a limit on how much assembly language I will load into my brain at any given time . Anyway, despite all the reported bugs over the last couple months, I still give a lot of credit to the devs for making it work as well as it does. The game mechanics appear straightforward if you've played it tabletop, but from a programming standpoint, every other card seems to require special handling or a rules exemption. Compared to other digital card games like Hearthstone, which was designed for digital from the ground-up, the Pathfinder rulebook constantly assumes there are a couple humans playing the game that can parse the plain-language text on the cards and find a way to balance that against whatever's going on in the scenario.

The mechanism to cull cards is already in place. Its effects at AD3 are there, but fairly subtle. However, once you're playing AD4, expect about 80% of all Basic cards in the vault to get "shuffled out" before play. Numbers are a little lower for quest mode, but should still be noticeable.

Its mostly true. The number of treasure cards selected for a session depend on quest/adventure level and number of characters(locations). Say you are on AD3/Quest Tier 3 with three characters. The game would then pull up to 14 treasure cards each from decks B, 1, 2, and 3 (I think, I'll double check the math after the next patch). That would add a max of 54 treasure cards into the "box" for the game to select from. Those 54 treasure cards are still subject to possible culling, and are still shuffled in with the hundreds of other base cards from Rise of the Runelords. I'm not saying that treasure cards don't come up, but hoping to grab a specific card may be a long wait. If you're really searching for a specific card, best bet is to play a large party at the appropriate adventure level.

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.

I'm not trying to tell people to stop buying. I'm only trying to tell others to stop panicking. Pathfinder Adventures is a very generous F2P game, and an otherwise very good paid game. However, treasure chests inhabit a "worst of both worlds" middle area between the two. Go enjoy the actual game for a while and wait for the dust to settle on how treasure cards work. Gotta catch 'em all! wasn't a key component of the physical game, and the digital is 100% complete, whole, fun, and playable without the treasures.

Bugs aside, better transparency on what is and isn't a treasure card would help a lot too. As of right now, just by scrolling through the vault, it is impossible to differentiate treasures from adventure deck rewards or whatever other "easter-egg" cards (like Stalker Mask) might be unlocked through Special Circumstances*.

No. That's why the problem is twofold: 1. More treasure cards appear available than actually are. At some point you'd just be throwing chests away until that gets fixed. 2. Even if all the cards were available at this moment, it would take a stupid number of chests to complete the collection (if that's really important to you). Despite the "assigned" rarity of Legendary and Epic cards, there are actually a whole lot of them, and they drop far less frequently than uncommon and rares. Over on reddit, it took some guy near 500 chests to get almost everything that is presently available (minus the 75 or so impossible cards). If it weren't for the fact that the humble bundle helped make his experiment possible, it would have cost something like a quarter-million gold or $200 in real money.

When browsing characters in the IAP store, selecting "See More" brings up a window titled "Character Name" instead of, for example, "Ezren." Also, as alluded to in this post, the character Power tab in the IAP store is pretty useless if you are unable to tap on icons to get a description of what the different powers do. Fortunately, you can easily browse powers and roles at the character selection screen instead.

While you can't get all the details about character powers through the store interface, you can easily do so in the party selection screen. Just click on one of the greyed out portraits and you can check out their powers and still trees.

Right. I guess my point was that cards don't "exist" in a whole form within the app. Borders, images, text and filagree all get slapped together on rendering. Cards with plain black borders just have the "common" attribute and are rendered as such. I just thought it was odd that treasure chests specifically don't pull common treasures, or that there were common treasures in the first place. I'm willing to bet that everything will be upgraded to Uncommon or better in the next release. Drop rates for legendaries are terrible (and probably ok) as is. Adding a fifth card class back into the drop math might segment things too much unless the entire treasure pool is rebalanced a bit.

Huh. I was planning on posting a snarky comment about "RNG gonna RNG" or a badly-photoshopped Ilsoari Gandethus holding a d20, but there's something fishy to the list that Archangelrey posted earlier: It includes every "Common" treasure card. I've only opened a few dozen chests myself, but I haven't caught any of the below either. Maybe the treasure chests only pull uncommon and up? I'm sure most of the others will turn up eventually based on drop rates, but its funny that a big chunk of the cards the angry mob are sharpening their pitchforks for appear to be commons. B Common BlessingOfCaydenCailean B Common BlessingOfMilani 1 Common SocialClimber 1 Common CentipedeVenom 2 Common Cook 2 Common BlackMarshSpiderVenom 2 Common HatOfGlamour 2 Common SkinsawMask 2 Common Whetstone 2 Common Renewal 3 Common Valet 3 Common VarisianIllusionist 3 Common BloodrootPoison 3 Common BlackArrowLongbow 4 Common BlessingOfSivanah 4 Common Displacement 5 Common BlessingOfAchaekek 5 Common WyvernPoison 5 Common LifeLeech 5 Common VenomousBolt 6 Common Bewilder

Don't want to say specifically, other than I feel sincerely bad about my previous F2P ambitions, and will be ponying-up the $25 for this and any releases to follow. The Humble Bundle shenanigans were their own fun meta-game. Maybe it'll happen again someday, but it seems fair not to be an absolute freeloader anymore.

Reddit mostly, but a lot of people were just giving them away in Steam forums since Pathfinder isn't a PC game (yet?). Just had to find the right gaming community and be courteous (or lucky). A lot of Humble Bundlers were as disinterested in Pathfinder as I was in the Warframe or Armored Warfare booster packs.

I really hope so. The "Pathfinder Gold Rush of 2016" is winding down, but it has been a lot of fun the last few days making friends, talking and trading with random people on the internet. This Humble Bundle was a bigger outlier than usual. Something for everyone; but a lot of things that people have zero interest in. Yeah, a few were trying to make quick buck selling off unwanted keys, but it was otherwise a pretty chill social experience engaging with strangers and giving away keys that neither of you saw any value in. I know it wasn't exactly Obsidian's intent to flood the internet with chests, but every time I came across something like: "LOL, I don't know what Pathfinder is anyway!" I've tried my best to leave them with rudimentary understanding of the ACG. Hopefully I was at least a competent ambassador of the Pathfinder community. Anyway, gotta get back to building myself a log cabin out of all those empty chests.

Just bought the bundle and was able to redeem the key easily via the Pathfinder iOS app.

The minimum is $1. Still a huge bargain Also, it finally explains what that "Voucher" button is for. I was beginning to wonder what it was going to take to get a code.

Ugh, you're right. It's been a while since I last played the RoTR campaign. Based on how my friends and I experienced that card in the physical ACG, the text should have read: "Roll any number of dice to automatically defeat Enchanter, then discard two cards anyway."

Always hated the Enchanter. Even in the first adventure deck, you'll probably defeat them easily, but they are almost guaranteed to do a point or two of damage. By the time your party can routinely cope with force/fire damage they'll likely be pulled from play.

Has there been any word on how they envision the multiplayer will work? Is it aiming for a real-time digital version of the tabletop ACG where everyone is playing in the same room? Or will it support asynchronous play like Words With Friends and other games where you go about your life and receive a pop up a notification when your turn comes around? I'm just wondering how to handle situations where players may need to cooperate to finish the scenario, but may be entirely different locations. "Hey, how was your weekend? Sorry I haven't called in a while... So.., I just ran into another Siren. Mind if you hook me up with a blessing? I took a beating last time and things are looking a little grim..."

Ok. I follow. Looks like the paizo game devs chimed in on this exact issue a couple months back. Seems to be a minor conflict of rules vs. intent regarding cards that should be banished when used to defeat the villain. Vic Wertz noted they were considering a rule change to banish any cards that should have been banished, after the scenario, before you rebuild your character deck. In effect, all displayed boons would have a post-game banishment check (end of turn, end of encounter, location closing, etc) to send cards intended for single-use back to the box.

I understand what you're getting at regarding the turn not fully ending after a villain is defeated. Otherwise you might run into odd scenarios like where a character beats the villain and dies when they try drawing up to their hand size. However, the pathfinder FAQ seems pretty clear that if a non-spellcaster plays a spell, they *have* to banish it. Banishment is mandatory. It is an action that occurs when the card is played, and thus shouldn't remain in some kind of non-banished limbo while the turn waits to end. Here's the relevant question: ------ I've just acquired a spell that says "If you do not have the Arcane or Divine skill, banish this card." My character does not have a required skill. When exactly do I banish the card—when I acquire it, or when I play it? Also, if my character isn't a spellcaster, can I actually play it? You can play it—once—and then you have to banish it. (As for not being a spellcaster, think of it as using a spell from a scroll.) Resolution: On page 10 of the rulebook, under "Playing Cards," add the following sentence to the end of the first paragraph: "Any paragraph in the power section of a boon that doesn't involve playing the card for a particular effect is not itself a power—it's a mandatory action that you must take when you play the card."

Cards played to defeat the villain may not function as the text intends. ---- For example, Merisel can occasionally pick up a Guidance spell since it has such a low check to acquire. If that Guidance spell is used to beat the villain, the scenario ends before the game finishes parsing: "After playing this card, if you do not have the Divine skill, banish it", and the card is returned to Merisel's hand in the post-game screen. I'm aware that the physical Pathfinder ACG rules are also a little vague on what happens when villain is defeated (i.e. how immediately does the game end?), but it would make sense that the scenario wouldn't halt while a card is in the process of being banished. Other spells that are be banished when the user doesn't have Arcane/Divine would presumably have a similar issue. ---- I've done this several times in iOS 9.3.3/iPad solo play, with one character (Merisel), Pathfinder app version 1.0.3. I know it's a bit of an edge case, but if I had the gold/cash to unlock more of the game I'd purposely find a way to have Merisel backstab the villain with a Lightning Bolt for 5d6+1d4+1 damage, knowing the spell won't get banished in the process.