News from PaizoCon

[Doppelschwert]

Looks like this was announced last night:

 

Obsidian update: working on PC/Mac port for the ACG game. Potential June (?) release.

 

Next new content for the computer ACG: Rise of the Goblins. 5 new scenarios inspired by We Be Goblins. 2 playable goblin characters: Ranzak & Poog. New asymmetrical goblin dice.

 

The PC/OS X game will be on Steam. Single accounts so you can play on PC, Ipad, etc. Will implement the side deck for banishing.

Edited May 28, 2017 by Doppelschwert

[Hannibal_PJV]

So Goblins has been verifyed...

Goblins hack and Goblins burn, Gobling will get their own turn!

https://www.google.fi/search?q=pathfinder+goblins&prmd=ivmn&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi28eSInpLUAhUJiywKHXMhDjUQ_AUICSgB&biw=1024&bih=653#imgrc=TcUflDO2hWPlhM:

Edited May 28, 2017 by Hannibal_PJV

[Dunesparrow]

Finally!

 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DA4zX_SUMAIhNV2.jpg

 

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DA4zX_SV0AA0NK_.jpg

[Slide87]

the stash!!!!

[King_Momo]

I'm excited for the news but doesn't this game just seem so expensive for an add-on? 5 scenarios equate to 1 adventure deck plus some static alts for $25? Seems really steep to me.

[Hannibal_PJV]

25$ is for Runelords. 39.99$ is for runelords and addons.

Interesting to see if there is upgrade option from Runelords to Runelords and addons, but most propably it is like the previous that you have to buy The addons separately if you want them all like the character alts.

 

I allready hate the card stash because it makes allready easy game even easier, but ofcourse I don't have to use it.

 

Otherwice just as expected but does not include the full season of Goblins but a modified shorter version of it. Well maybe level2 will come later, I really hope it because even 2 levels is too Little even for the Goblins

Just have to hope that Paizo will make new scenarios to the Season of Goblins and we need those new levels Also in this game. I have really enjoyed the fysical version of the Season of Goblins, it is so bizar!

The first party games scenario was hilarious. I did bite quite of lor ears during the festifal!

 

Just quessing that They did leave of those scenarios that requires new locations, and did keep those that can be played using Runelords locations, but in few (or so) Months we will see!

 

Also robust multiplatform support is nice to have. A lot of comfort upgrades this time.

Edited May 29, 2017 by Hannibal_PJV

[Doppelschwert]

You can always wait for a sale.

[wakasm]

Well.  I can't say I didn't expect disappointment, but there is is.  A card stash - really?  Now they are creating a mechanism to circumvent the actual game's rules and to make an already easy game easier?  Is this something that was actually requested?

 

All I wanted out of the app was the ability to play the board games 1:1 digitally solo.

 

Unique adventures are great... , which, as I've voiced many times before, Adventures and Characters is ALL this app ever needed for an additional revenue stream.   This game has 3 things:

• A Ruleset
• Adventures and Stories
• Characters 

That is what distills the pen and paper to a board game... but for whatever reason, Obsidian keeps taking queues from mobile/video games such as F2P and Diablo as inspiration to change something that doesn't need changing. 

 

Steam integration is a move in the right direction.  Will be glad when that happens. I'm glad they decided to make the account sync - but I don't think they announced if it will cost anything to get onto the platform or will be truly f2p to start/sync.  I think the pricing model will garner lots of negative feedback from Steam though.  The prices are both incredibly high, and in addition, there is a f2p mechanism of lootboxes which is the worst of both worlds for users. 

 

+1 for the soundtrack.  One thing they've done right from the beginning is the sound/art design of everything.

 

Other than that, I feel it's two steps forward, one step back, as always.  

Edited May 28, 2017 by wakasm

[Nym]

I allready hate the card stash because it makes allready easy game even easier, but ofcourse I don't have to use it.

 

A card stash - really?  Now they are creating a mechanism to circumvent the actual game's rules and to make an already easy game easier?  Is this something that was actually requested?

 

Hate to break it to you folks, but this feature already exists in the game. You can easily store excess cards on characters you're not using. This just makes the process of moving those cards between characters significantly less tedious, and I'm all for that.

[King_Momo]

I think they forgot to mention the secret bonus which we all will get for free - a buttload of bugs.

[Hannibal_PJV]

Och, but that is not a secrect bonus... it is well known feature

New card new character, new character powers... there has to be a guite a lot new bugs in there. There is some much intermixing between all those possible power. Hopefully They have time to fix some of them before the release. But it is zero chance that there will not be bugs in there. But bugs or bugs, it is still good to get some new contents. Those new Goblins characters gives some more breathing room to this set!

[Ethics Gradient]

Hate to break it to you folks, but this feature already exists in the game. You can easily store excess cards on characters you're not using. This just makes the process of moving those cards between characters significantly less tedious, and I'm all for that.

That's my take on it too.  The way the game is currently designed, there is no easy way to prevent card mules.  A card stash doesn't fundamentally alter how people will use the digital app, it just makes it more straightforward to do a thing that they are already doing.

 

Honestly, I'm probably just going to use the stash to hold onto all those loot cards I don't particularly like, but for some reason can't bring myself to banish.  I guess I'm just thinking of it more as a digital trophy room, not some sort of game cheat.

 

Instead of worrying about features making the story mode easier, it would probably be more worthwhile to lobby for some sort of "Trial of Iron" mode to enforce some of the tabletop rules (i.e. Permadeath on, no experienced characters, only play through each scenario once on Normal).  I'm okay with the present incarnation being something of an "arcade mode", but there are apparently quite a few players who would enjoy one-shotting through the scenarios like they would in tabletop play.

[BAdler]

Hey, guys. I am the designer behind the Stash. I figured I would drop in and let you know why we decided to include the Stash in the game.

 

There are a handful of issues I was trying to address with this new feature:

• As some of you have already noted, many folks were creating characters specifically as mules to hold cards. My thought is, if this is how people want to play the game, we should accommodate them to some extent. The Stash makes this process much easier and allows users to make characters that they actually want to use in the campaign, instead of just to hold cards.
• One big problem that I identified when I first came onto the project was our treasure chest system. The previous implementation of treasure chest cards only added the treasure cards to the campaign's box. Users didn't get anything immediately from the chest. It doesn't feel good to purchase a chest, open it, and not get an immediate reward from it. I wanted to remedy that by giving users copies of the cards that they found from treasure chests. To do this I needed a place where users could get a copy of those cards and assign them to their parties. The Stash works well for that purpose. It also allows us to grant copies of promo cards, as well.
• Anecdotally, I noticed many users (especially new users) are hesitant to banish cards because they are removed from your character deck permanently. This also means that users are less likely to keep cards in their decks that have banish costs. Having the Stash allows users to experiment with using banish cost cards without losing other items that they may want to keep.
• There are many scenarios where specific cards would be much better choices than others. The stash allows users to swap out cards that wouldn't normally make the cut for a character deck, but may be really good for a specific scenario. For example, if you found the Birdcruncher Crown you may not keep it in your deck because you consider it too special case, but with the Stash you can swap it in and out for scenarios that make sense. Think of it as something similar to a MtG sideboard.

For those of you that only want a 1:1 board game translation, I completely understand where you are coming from, but I do feel that the Stash will make the game better for a large majority of folks. I wouldn't have pushed to add it, if I didn't believe that. Also, since the Stash isn't a required system, you do have the option of just not using it. If you would like a purer experience you should just not use the Stash. The gameplay should be the same as what you currently have in the game.

[mccrispy]

I neither use, nor would want to use card mules. Neither do I want a card stash (or indeed Treasure cards in Story Mode). If you're going to do something that diverges radically from the physical game, please do it in such a way that it can be disabled and rendered invisible outside the setting dialogue to turn it on. If you were keeping Quest Mode, I'd ask that it be treated in the same way as Treasure in Story Mode. Of course, that's a pointless request - or at least a moot one. IMO, just 'cos some folks game the system, it doesn't mean that you should (a) facilitate that or (b) make it a built in part of the game. What statistics do you have in support of card mules as a "widespread" activity?

[nsr]

Thanks for explaining the design reasons, I think this was a great design choice.  It added something I didn't know I needed but had already found a cumbersome work-around for, just as described.  And it doesn't sound like it will impact people who don't want to use it.

[Kyzar]

I just wanted to pop in here and say something that I haven't seen said yet on this forum.

 

Thanks you Obsidian for giving us new content!  Many thought you had abandoned the game and I, and many others I'm sure, are super excited that this isn't the case.  I am just as excited to see where this goes from here.

 

Hoping you have a great Steam launch that funds a Skull and Shackles, or any of the other base games.

 

We now return to our normally scheduled bitch session.

[Longshot11]

Hey, guys. I am the designer behind the Stash. I figured I would drop in and let you know why we decided to include the Stash in the game.

 

There are a handful of issues I was trying to address with this new feature:

• As some of you have already noted, many folks were creating characters specifically as mules to hold cards. My thought is, if this is how people want to play the game, we should accommodate them to some extent. The Stash makes this process much easier and allows users to make characters that they actually want to use in the campaign, instead of just to hold cards.
• One big problem that I identified when I first came onto the project was our treasure chest system. The previous implementation of treasure chest cards only added the treasure cards to the campaign's box. Users didn't get anything immediately from the chest. It doesn't feel good to purchase a chest, open it, and not get an immediate reward from it. I wanted to remedy that by giving users copies of the cards that they found from treasure chests. To do this I needed a place where users could get a copy of those cards and assign them to their parties. The Stash works well for that purpose. It also allows us to grant copies of promo cards, as well.
• Anecdotally, I noticed many users (especially new users) are hesitant to banish cards because they are removed from your character deck permanently. This also means that users are less likely to keep cards in their decks that have banish costs. Having the Stash allows users to experiment with using banish cost cards without losing other items that they may want to keep.
• There are many scenarios where specific cards would be much better choices than others. The stash allows users to swap out cards that wouldn't normally make the cut for a character deck, but may be really good for a specific scenario. For example, if you found the Birdcruncher Crown you may not keep it in your deck because you consider it too special case, but with the Stash you can swap it in and out for scenarios that make sense. Think of it as something similar to a MtG sideboard.

For those of you that only want a 1:1 board game translation, I completely understand where you are coming from, but I do feel that the Stash will make the game better for a large majority of folks. I wouldn't have pushed to add it, if I didn't believe that. Also, since the Stash isn't a required system, you do have the option of just not using it. If you would like a purer experience you should just not use the Stash. The gameplay should be the same as what you currently have in the game.

 

Because some people wonder "who asked for this?" - on these very forums, multiple newcomer players have repeatedly asked if there's some sort of Stash they're supposed to use to keep some of the cool cards they don't have a place for in their decks - which, at the very least, testifies to the intuitiveness of the idea for the uninitiated users. Also, there are literally dozens of accounts (especially from experienced players counseling the newcomers from the first sentence) that show that people do indeed use "mules".

 

So, BAdler, I'd like to join the team of like-minded people in thanking you for the introduction of the Stash feature. You've nailed all the points on the head, and I just want the add in particular - without a  Stash, the "banish" cards are not only useless to keep in your deck - they're actively detrimental to it; the big problem being not that they will disappear on use, but rather that you then get saddled with whatever random crap you picked up during the scenario to replace them with. Needless to say, in the card game all Potions and alike have always felt like a waste of perfectly serviceable card real estate.

 

Also, I *have not* asked about a Stash in the Paizo forums, for no other reason that it has been brought up multiple times ever since RotR, and they just seem reluctant to do it, for whatever considerations (Granted, there are plenty vocal people there that will be quick on the "game too easy now" bandwagon, so maybe Paizo/Lone Shark don't want to aggravate them, but I just don't see this as valid reasoning if Stash is introduced as "optional rule"). So count me among those that would be very pleased if this turns out to be one feature that cross-pollinates back into the card game.

 

(Also, I know discussion on the Internet quickly devolves when the word "entitlement" is thrown around, but I don't know what else to call it when a group of players whine about a feature that is *OPTIONAL* and that is clearly requested/needed by a bunch of other players).

Edited June 1, 2017 by Longshot11

[Flounder]

Just want to point out for the purists that there is the option to not use new content.

 

[mccrispy]

Just want to point out for the purists that there is the option to not use new content.

 

F_TreasureCards.png

 

I guess I'm a purist (why does that sound like a dirty word?) and I use that control at the moment. Of course it's really going to be a "Treasure cards on/off" feature soon, isn't it (given the demise of Quest Mode)? I wonder what the impact of a bunch of "purists" having no incentive to buy treasure will be. Presumably zero or OBS surely wouldn't have gone that route. Ach, more water under the bridge...

[Hannibal_PJV]

Better under than over

 

"Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Black Magga R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn"

 

How do I know that Magga is one of the ancients... Ques

Edited June 2, 2017 by Hannibal_PJV

[DrDior]

I am really confuzzeled by the stash/mule haters. If you don't think a feature is for you, don't use it. I greatly appreciate that Badler is backing this idea with some creative uses. For example. I consider banish cards a complete waste, but now, I can experiment with a set of banish cards to see if I can complete a scenario in a new way.

 

Haters, just chill. Badler, many thanks.

Edited June 2, 2017 by DrDior

[Ethics Gradient]

I entirely agree with what everyone has said so far about banish cards.  I'd rather have a mediocre card I can rely on instead of a awesome one that is banished after use.  The net cost is always more than the loss of that specific card; after the scenario, your character runs a pretty good chance of filling the hole in their deck with a Troubadour or Mattock.  Even having a slim reserve of cards will allow players to experiment with combinations they might otherwise pass on.
 
Part of what makes Pathfinder Adventures different is its approach to deck-building.  It isn't incredibly difficult to figure out, but as a free game, there hasn't been much emotional or financial investment to figure out the rules when it gets confusing.
 
If a user leaves the game frustrated, they probably won't come back.  It's bad for the PACG community, and bad for the app if the rest of us want to see it be successful.  Little things to aid card management or answer "what happened to those cards from my treasure chests?" will go a long way to hold on to new players.  The game isn't solely here for those with prior play experience.
 
The tabletop game rules are already quite fundamentally broken by the decision to allow users to replay scenarios and swap characters around on a whim.  The developers made the gameplay decision with the support of Paizo, and ideas like the stash just allow users to more effectively play the game within the framework of what the app presents.  I'd rather help users find ways to bend the tabletop rules instead of getting confused or disappointed enough to delete the game before finishing AD1.
 
When I sit down with my iPad, I get that I'm essentially playing non-competitive adventure solitaire.  It doesn't bother me that others might be "cheating" or that I might occasionally have a lot of fun abusing the heck out of an exploit. 
 
Anyhow.... if traditionalists want to gripe about the stash, I bet that's only just the beginning.

[BAdler]

To your point about the changes, we should have a blog post coming out next week that goes over some of the features/changes.

The roll success chance was something I requested a few months ago. After watching new users play the game (physical and digital) one thing that became apparent was that many people drastically overestimated their chances of success. Hopefully this bit of UI will help new players understand when they need additional help to succeed on a roll.

 

For users that would rather not see the UI, it can be turned off from the options menu.

[Ethics Gradient]

Well, I'm 100% behind whatever's coming.

 

I still believe that the digital version of Pathfinder Adventures can rise to be better than the original, and not simply be content to emulate the tabletop experience.

 

#PathfinderHype

[mccrispy]

At risk of being called a "hater" simply because I don't agree with those who like to throw offensive terms around the place, I'd just like to say that what I really want from this App is a faithful rendition of the physical game that I can play solo. I don't need fancy dice, I don't need dice stats that remove the need to think, I don't need card stashes and I don't want treasure at all in Story Mode. I play the digital because it saves on the overhead necessary to set up a game and tear it down afterwards. 

 

The only departure from the physical game that I do care about - and passionately so - is Quest Mode. And that's the one thing that's going away. Quest mode is where I want to use all the fancy stuff (except a stats calculator!).