Quest mode at 30 - cards missing, etc

[Brainwave]

So I hit level 30 on quest mode last night - which first off, I wasn't sure was possible. Based on the completion tab on the characters sheets in quest mode, it only lists rewards to 29, so I was a bit surprised that it allowed me to level up to 30 before the XP stopped.

 

In case anyone's curious, you get a card feat at 30 as the unlisted reward for that level.

 

Today I took a look through the deck lists for B,C, and 1 cards. Assuming "good" cards of a deck are bumped 1 level higher, I would have expected to see all the normal B and C cards in the 1-10 range and all the good B and Cs in the 11-20, or maybe in 21-30 if bumped 2 levels - but I was surprised to find several cards from those decks that I never saw (or never saw more than 1 copy which I acquired early and didn't encounter others afterwards). For Deck 1 I still would expect to see most low end cards in the 11-20 range and good versions in 21-30, so I was still a bit surprised that I didn't encounter all the cards.

 

Keep in mind that while there's always the random chance that you don't see a particular card, in quest mode you are running a lot more scenarios per "level" than in story mode. I don't know about everyone else but after about level 11 when the leveling slows down I'd say I'm averaging at least 2 scenarios per level. So at least 20 per rank vs the 5 in normal story mode - that's a lot of chances to see the various cards. So while I suspect that perhaps 1 or 2 of these cards I was just unlucky in not running into, it looks to me like the cards might be limited in terms of quantity compared to story mode and/or some might be bumped many levels higher than the normal cards from that tier.

 

Cards I never encountered -

 

B/C Cards

 

Returning Throwing Axe +1

War hammer +1

Father Zantus

Augury (only 1 should be 3 total copies)

Masterwork Tools (only 1 should be 2 copies)

 

Deck 1

 

Bastard Sword +1

Elven Breastplate

Shield of Fire Resistance

Staff of Minor Healing

Ven Vinder

 

 

It is vaguely possible that I encountered the shield of fire resistance or ven vinder because I don't generally keep either of those cards so could have forgotten, but I'm 100% sure I didn't encounter any of the others. Maybe I just had really bad luck but after that many adventures I would have expected to see most everything at least once, so I suspect that for reasons I don't understand (or possibly bugs) that some of these cards were really not available in that entire level range.

 

Also I don't have any treasure chest cards unlocked so there weren't other cards diluting the card pool, just the base cards from the original game decks. Has anyone else encountered any of these cards in quest mode?

[Hannibal_PJV]

Returning axe. One augury and one Masterwork tools.

[Rhygar]

Briefly , all those on the list I'd encountered at one point or another.save for maybe Warhammer +1 but i might not have paid it much attention and hence can't recall, as there's easily Warhammer and better option at that point.

 

Masterwork tools I had both copies in my present team, so no bugs there.

 

Augury , for which I have only 2 copies in my gallery and I got all the packs so to speak, I have only obtained one copy of it throughout my entire quest mode gameplay with ezren who holds it.

[LunarWolf]

I strongly suspect that the pool of cards in quest mode is at least somewhat modified compared to where and when the cards would show up in the regular campaign. And given that most of the decks haven't even been released yet, many of the cards might just not be implemented yet.

[Rhygar]

Something to add:

 

I just had another masterwork tool appear for looting in my game when I already had 2 in my party. there's only 2 in gallery now I check, one each in deck b n c .now I'm led to believe that I can't get a third tool in a proper game isn't that right ?

 

Also there's a copy of augury in deck C , making up total of 3 so that's correct. Now I still haven't encountered a second copy in game

[Brainwave]

Your comment about the masterwork tools is kinda why I think it's more than just card distribution, that there might be something buggy about cards available in quest mode. I'm not sure if it became available right away or at level 10, but even if it was at 10, I ran at least 40 missions between then and 30 and never saw a second copy. And you found more copies than should even be available.

 

Same thing with the other cards I never saw. Other than staff of minor healing which maybe could be bumped up 2 "tiers" to the level 30 tier, I can't really see any of those other cards not being available at all somewhere up to level 30, and that was a lot of missions to still never see that many specific cards. It wouldn't surprise me at all for example if the war hammer +1 was just accidentally left off the card distribution for quest mode or something. Or there's something buggy about specific games that's locking out certain cards.

[CA_Obsidian]

So I hit level 30 on quest mode last night - which first off, I wasn't sure was possible. Based on the completion tab on the characters sheets in quest mode, it only lists rewards to 29, so I was a bit surprised that it allowed me to level up to 30 before the XP stopped.

 

In case anyone's curious, you get a card feat at 30 as the unlisted reward for that level.

 

Today I took a look through the deck lists for B,C, and 1 cards. Assuming "good" cards of a deck are bumped 1 level higher, I would have expected to see all the normal B and C cards in the 1-10 range and all the good B and Cs in the 11-20, or maybe in 21-30 if bumped 2 levels - but I was surprised to find several cards from those decks that I never saw (or never saw more than 1 copy which I acquired early and didn't encounter others afterwards). For Deck 1 I still would expect to see most low end cards in the 11-20 range and good versions in 21-30, so I was still a bit surprised that I didn't encounter all the cards.

 

Keep in mind that while there's always the random chance that you don't see a particular card, in quest mode you are running a lot more scenarios per "level" than in story mode. I don't know about everyone else but after about level 11 when the leveling slows down I'd say I'm averaging at least 2 scenarios per level. So at least 20 per rank vs the 5 in normal story mode - that's a lot of chances to see the various cards. So while I suspect that perhaps 1 or 2 of these cards I was just unlucky in not running into, it looks to me like the cards might be limited in terms of quantity compared to story mode and/or some might be bumped many levels higher than the normal cards from that tier.

 

Cards I never encountered -

 

B/C Cards

 

Returning Throwing Axe +1

War hammer +1

Father Zantus

Augury (only 1 should be 3 total copies)

Masterwork Tools (only 1 should be 2 copies)

 

Deck 1

 

Bastard Sword +1

Elven Breastplate

Shield of Fire Resistance

Staff of Minor Healing

Ven Vinder

 

 

It is vaguely possible that I encountered the shield of fire resistance or ven vinder because I don't generally keep either of those cards so could have forgotten, but I'm 100% sure I didn't encounter any of the others. Maybe I just had really bad luck but after that many adventures I would have expected to see most everything at least once, so I suspect that for reasons I don't understand (or possibly bugs) that some of these cards were really not available in that entire level range.

 

Also I don't have any treasure chest cards unlocked so there weren't other cards diluting the card pool, just the base cards from the original game decks. Has anyone else encountered any of these cards in quest mode?

[CA_Obsidian]

Cards I never encountered -

 

B/C Cards

 

Returning Throwing Axe +1

War hammer +1

Father Zantus

Augury (only 1 should be 3 total copies)

Masterwork Tools (only 1 should be 2 copies)

 

Deck 1

 

Bastard Sword +1

Elven Breastplate

Shield of Fire Resistance

Staff of Minor Healing

Ven Vinder

 

I hit L30 Quest Mode with Merisiel/Kyra/Seoni 2 weeks ago and I continued to farm Tier 3 for a few days, so just a comment to your list based on my experience with card drops @ Tier 3:

 

Father Zantus and Elven Breatplate (luckily) appeared after hitting L30, and I managed to receive a 2nd copy of Masterworks Tools too.

 

Personally I think that Quest Mode card distribution is not bugged, it's simply a different set of cards, some upgraded/downgraded from their story mode tiers in order to balance quest mode.

 

Father Zantus, eg, is a good example for an "upgraded" card, maybe the Devs saw it as too "OP" for a basic ally card.

[Hannibal_PJV]

Indeed. It seems to work just fine. Best cards Are put to rare drop pool and higher in the card list just as They should be!

Waiting eagerly for adventure 3 and going beyond level 30!

Edited May 23, 2016 by Hannibal_PJV

[delpheki]

been 30 for a while now and I experienced all of your confusion and frustration which all comes from the lack of clarity on obsidian's part.  I believe their decision to move cards around all comes down to the balance issues between physical / digital and now that I've found most the cards at 30 and know it's not just buggy or erroneous I understand it.  

 

In the physical card game each tier/box had a handful of cards that were obviously stronger than their peers.  Flaming Mace+1 Returning Throwing axe etc.

In the physical game though that was all you get, so if you're playing with a group of people there is balance, (not to mention helps them sell promos) because only 1 persons deck gets that powerful item.

In the digital version though you would be able to farm that item on each hero individually thus making the rest of stuff junk .  So they have to take each tier and make sure everything is about = in order to keep it balanced.

[delpheki]

This is something that still gets me.  I was unable to find masterwork tools before 27, then I bought the character add on pack and one comes in deck C which gets added to the quest vault.  Now that I'm 30 I've come across other copies.  I have 3 different decks with 3 different location markers on them, a B, a C and a 2.

 

 

[Brainwave]

So you guys are probably right in that the distribution is just skewed that much... a lot more than just moving cards up one tier if they are good cards.

 

I guess I just don't get it, I mean the deathbane crossbow was either B tier or tier 1 (I definitely had it by level 11 or 12 but not sure if I got it before 10), and yet the war hammer +1 and returning throwing axe +1 are at least two tiers higher? I just don't get that, I mean they are good cards for sure and the war hammer specifically nice to use against two cards, skeleton and ancient skeleton. But I'd overall say the deathbane is a better anti undead weapon or at least similar in level.

 

Plus you have to consider that this isn't story mode where it's only 5 scenarios to get to the next level, it takes a lot more than that in quest mode so bumping things up levels is that much more significant.

 

Anyway, all I'm saying is it may be working as intended but I'm not sure that's the same as it working "just fine."

[Hannibal_PJV]

You get more skill and power, and card upgrades in quest mode. You Also play Many more games than in quest mode so They have to save those better boons to higher level! So far the balance have been much better in quest mode than story mode. In story mode I have to use legendary mode to get challenge. In quest mode heroic level has been enough, so there is more headroom in there to increase the difficulty if needed. The extra skill and power upgrades help a lot, but having not so good cards in the deck makes big difference.

 

Don't underestimate that one extra skill and one extra power and one extra card slot upgrade that you get in quest mode! They have big meaning and could make those very high level adventures interesting, because you can open more powers than normal!

[Rhygar]

For that matter I think I remembered getting the deathbane crossbow early in the lv10s in one of my play though.

 

The big question now though is how could I have encountered a third masterwork tool when I have got 2 in party and only having 2 copies in gallery ? Can someone answer that

 

Generally the stretch from 1-20 is where you might not find enough powered up cards in deck B + C for the somewhat long grind in levels. the downward modified card like pixie which u can access early in these levels didn't do anything for me. The game seem to pick in fun factor after 20 with new decks of card n modified henchman base. And yea, the extra character development available are a plus for me compared to story mode.

[delpheki]

I'm surprised they didn't tune the deathbane xbow higher as well but that could just be to entice purchasing the character add on pack / full version.  Same reason why you can get masterwork tools at 10 if you bought the add on pack too.

[Brainwave]

Sorry, just don't agree.

 

You get more skill and power in quest mode... So you should have to wait longer to get the better cards? That seems counterintuitive to me, because on one hand you're saying in one way you get more power but on the other, less power?

 

I find very little difference in the difficulty between Heroic and Legendary since there's only really one or two wildcards that matter very much. You get one of those, it's harder, you don't, it's not. And you can get those on either difficulty. Adjacent movement while a neat concept doesn't really matter that much in terms of actually increasing difficulty. An occasional lost turn here and there, but nothing compared to Night Approaches.

 

Finally, they have to save boons because you play many more missions in quest mode? Sure, and they are already doing that. There's already a 10 level range in each tier (which is quite often 20+ missions) vs 5 missions in story mode. And bumping up boons one more level makes it 20 MORE missions before you might see that boon. The point is that they apparently bumped some boons even farther down than that which maybe in 1 or 2 cases makes sense but in most does not. The final thing I'll say about that is its not like they needed to bump boons to lvl 30+ otherwise there'd be no more boons. Presumably tier 3 will unlock some Deck 3 cards, tier 4 will unlock Deck 4, etc.. There's plenty of boons still to come so that's not really an argument for why they had to save boons to unlock later.

 

The way things are right now, unless treasure chest cards change the entire dynamic of acquiring stuff in quest mode, I think most players are going to lose interest. (And even if they do, a lot of players may not get there since that involves either farming gold or additional cash investment). Too much work for too little reward. It's somewhat interesting to play through once but the concept of doing it again with another group just doesn't seem like fun. Disagree all you want but If I feel this way as a fairly serious card game player, then I think to the average player, especially those that would never post here or never played the card game, that's going to be a pretty common attitude.

[delpheki]

The way things are right now, unless treasure chest cards change the entire dynamic of acquiring stuff in quest mode, I think most players are going to lose interest. (And even if they do, a lot of players may not get there since that involves either farming gold or additional cash investment). Too much work for too little reward. I

I agree for the most part but have to admit I am still enjoying it.  After getting my first party of 3 to 30 I started right back over again with 1 level 30 and 2 level 1's.  They just got to 20 and have all the boons they want until adv 3 comes out which means all that's left is defeating banes.  I really think they need to move a majority of the exp to a completing the missions lump sum so when you close 2 decks your first turn after only killing 2 henchman and a monster you can feel like you accomplished something instead of just wasting time.

[Rhygar]

@ it's probably just the phase of lv10-20 when you start to feel the lack of new cards as lv1-10 flies by really quickly. But in so far as dealing with the banes at lv10-20 I don't often find myself lamenting the absence of powered up cards . It's more really the absence of the novelty factor in finding new shiny for the party which I can handle.

 

It's probably for players for whom novelty factor is a big lure that the appeal of going through lv10-20 again will be less attractive . But at lv20 things fall into place when at each tier you have a new cache of boons to look forward to as long as you are fine with the rebalanced deck( tier-1 )general rule.

[Irgy]

I really feel like they missed the point with the card redistribution. The cards were never meant to be strictly ordered by a global quality metric. Sure, cards with a similar purpose should only get better, but we were always meant to have access to some of the powerful effects early on. It's also frustrating how undocumented it is. I spent a long time just raging over the fact that all I could ever find in quest mode was total rubbish cards before I realised they'd taken all the good ones out. As it is there's just nothing to look forward to.

 

Meanwhile we're fighting deck-1 villains without access to deck-1 cards, or even deck-1 quality B cards. I don't mind the game being difficult, but doing it by as good as removing the deck-building card-gathering side of the game entirely takes away the richness of the game.

[nsr]

FWIW I ran into the war hammer +1 right after getting to level 30.

[Rhygar]

You should theoretically be getting it before tier 3. Because the Warhammer+2 is accessible at tier3 which wouldn't make sense if the inferior +1 is made available at that same point.

[yaemon]

At what level is it possible to assign a Prestige Class to the heroes in Quest Mode?

[Brainwave]

Unknown but if it matches story mode it would be at the end of tier 3 so approx level 40. However in a lot of ways quest mode hasn't been as expected so I'm not super confident with this guess.

[Hannibal_PJV]

Level 40 Sounds right.

[Kamikazi]

Another odd thing, I did a run after hitting level 30 and got an iguana ally. Checking over the vault it is a deck 4 card, but in quest the card shows as deck 2. Perhaps many more cards are like that.