To summarize a bit about my feeling on this game, I like this game a lot (the only match-3 game which I like out of the many match-3 games out there, even), and I want to be able to enjoy the game, but currently there are too many problems with the game which really ruin my experience. I can think of some ways that the game could try to make it more enjoyable.
deep breath
(1) RNG
Yes, I know it’s supposed to be random yadda-yadda, but I’ve lost count on how many, MANY times the AI keeps getting million cascades (essentially nothing short of infinite mana), or whenever I make an innocuous or calculated match, the next incoming gems are instantly set up for the AI to make a 5-gem match followed by infinite cascades again. Or I don’t know how many times I start the game with the wrong/unneeded cards.
1.a. If you don’t think you can/want to change the RNG algorithm whatsoever, how about this: Give mana limit. What I mean is, make it so that for the first few turns, neither side can gain more mana than a certain limit. For example: Turn 1, you can only gain maximum of 6-8 mana and 3 loyalty no matter how many cascades you get. Turn 2, maximum 12-16 mana and 6 loyalty regardless of cascades. Turn 3, 18-24 mana/12 loyalty and so on, and then starting from turn 5 or 6 remove the limit, as while infinite cascades at late game can still be game-changing, at least it doesn’t happen too early; It’s absolutely NO FUN when the AI is constantly able to play their first 3 (expensive) cards on turn 1 and you’re stuck with a half-filled cheap card. No fun.
1.b. Please, add mulligan. Once-per-game mulligan (like Hearthstone) should be good enough for the most part (given that the small hand size will render the card game’s version of Paris mulligan impossible to implement).
(2) Relationship between the mythic creatures and removal spells
When I first saw things like Grip of Desolation and To The Slaughter, I was like, aren’t these kill spells too cheap? Then after looking around for a while I came to conclusion that these cheap kills spells might be somehow made to balance the monstrously powerful mythic creatures; so many of those mythics are the “kill-me-NOW-or-die” kind of cards, which really sucks the fun out of the game.
I personally think you need to do two things: Tone down those mythics, and once they’re reasonably strong but not instantly game-ending (looking at you, Olivia and Akoum Firebird), increase the cost of the kill spells. Cheap kills spells are very detrimental for this game due to two reasons:
2.a. Unlike the normal Magic card game, you are all but forced to go tall (buffing one or two creatures to massive bodies for the kill) seeing that you only have 3 creature slots.
2.b. Your deck is endlessly cycled, which means (especially when Behold the Beyond kind of card is involved) those cheap spells become a neverending stream of board wipe from which there is no escape. A good example is the Ob Nixilis deck I occasionally see during the events; it abuses Behold the Beyond + Grip Of Desolation + To the Slaughter + I don’t remember what other cheap kill spell, and for a few dozens straight turns my board ends up being empty because my creatures keep getting killed, and I only won because the stupid AI spent several turns killing itself with Nixilis’ first ability. Theoretically speaking, in the hands of actual player, that deck CANNOT lose, except perhaps against Hexproof, which is still vulnerable to Languish anyway.
(3) Nodes stocks in Event matches
So from what we’ve seen, when an event with Nodes start, each Node immediately starts with full stock which cannot be further replenished until they are utilized, and that these stocks are replenished once every 4 hours. This is unfair for players who are at timezones where the event starts during sleep hours, because during the few hours they sleep, the node stocks are still at maximum capacity, and by the time they wake up a few hours later and use up the stocks, they have permanently lost several stocks which render it literally, completely impossible for them to compete for top prize.
I have a suggestion: At the zero hour when the Event start, start each node with only one stock out of the maximum of 3/5/any other number later. That way, regardless of when the Event starts, every player around the world has a buffer of 8 hours (long enough for normal sleep time) to utilize their first stocks before they start losing the stocks permanently for the event.
Another potential suggestion, which I think may not work, is immediately give the players the full amount of play stocks for the entire event but do not replenish them. That is, for example for normal Nodes of Power, give each node 14 stocks which the players can utilize at any time of their liking, but that’s all; no additional stock, no replenishment etc; If they want, players can utilize all their 70 matches in a single day. I can imagine several reasons on why this idea is inferior (lack of ladder tension, defeats the purpose of play everyday yadda yadda), so maybe not.
(4) What’s mana runes for?
I remember full well during the first days of the game when I could buy basic packs for 800 mana runes apiece. Basic packs suck, sure, since they’re very likely loaded with commons almost all the time, but not only it’s still a chance of progression, it gave me a motivation to earn mana runes because then I could spend it (aside from leveling up planeswalkers).
Now? Mana runes can only be used to level up planeswalkers. This is probably ok for newbies who just started the game (emphasis on probably; they probably also think this sucks), but for some of us who already max out all of our planeswalkers, mana runes are pretty much useless. And yet you still give this useless things as ranking rewards for events, quick battles etc. What’s the point? Very often when I already manage to get top 1000 or top 500 (especially the latter) in quick battle, I already have won like, I dunno, 20 games (unless I play this game literally 24/7 nonstop, which is not a good idea)? 20 games won give me 6000 Mana Runes, and the reward for not making it to top 250 is, what 500, 1000 mana runes? That is useless compared to the number of mana runes I got simply by winning quick battles.
Please, either give mana runes some additional use, or stop giving mana runes as ranking rewards for events/quick battles. I repeat, I’m happy to get some mana runes for winning each match in event/quick battles, but I do despise getting mana runes for not finishing at high enough ranking. Either you can do things like bringing back the option to buy basic packs with mana runes, or give us card crafting or something (like Hearthstone), or give only crystals for finishing events/quick battles, or whatever other thing for us to sink our excess mana runes into.
(5) Miscellaneous suggestions and/or bug reports
5.1. Runaway Carriage. There are several major problems with this card:
5.1.1. This card + Defender/Reach/Vigilance = Instant win against any deck without defenders. I’ve seen so many times how a Sharp-Eyed Runaway Carriage basically becomes an invincible wall immune against just about everything seeing that it loses Prevent Damage only when it becomes blocked, whereas in the original card game it will also die if it blocks. Please add additional conditions to removing its Prevent Damage, such as “lose Prevent Damage when this card blocks or becomes blocked”.
5.1.2. I’ve run into several situations where, if Runaway Carriage is blocked by a creature with First Strike, somehow it doesn’t lose Prevent Damage the first time, causing it to tank the First Strike, then kill the blocker, and then if the First Strike blocker survives, only the next time it blocks the Runaway Carriage finally gets killed. Given that Kessig Forgemaster/Flameheart Werewolf’s “whenever this creature gets blocked” effect triggers and works regardless of whether the blocker has First Strike, shouldn’t Runaway Carriage’s lose-Prevent-Damage effect also immediately be lost when it gets blocked by a creature with First Strike? It’s as if the ability somehow actually means: “When Runaway Carriage deals combat damage to a blocking creature, it loses Prevent Damage”, which makes it REALLY annoying…
5.2. Undergrowth Champion
5.2.1. First thing first, thanks for making it vulnerable to kill spells; this thing was an absolute beast the last time. However, I find that Ob Nixilis’ second ability cannot kill this guy; I tried it once, and it only makes Undergrowth Champion lose -1/-1 stat. Given that now kill spells instantly destroy UC, shouldn’t Nixilis’ second ability work the same?
5.3. Self-reviving cards (Akoum Firebord, Drownyard Temple, Despoiler Of Souls, Relentless Dead)
5.3.1. These cards self-revive so easily; shouldn’t they be made either more expensive or more vulnerable or such? Lower P/T for the Firebird, more mana needed for Despoiler Of Souls, etc?
5.4. Mirrorpool
5.4.1 Ok, I know in paper Magic, there are those Clone cards that cost 4 mana or something and can copy any creature, whether they cost 2 mana, 4 mana, 6 mana etc. But 4 mana in paper Magic doesn’t properly translate to 4 mana in Puzzle Quest. It’s ridiculous when this card costs a measly 4 mana and yet can be used to copy anything that cost at least 10 mana, or 20 mana. Considering taking the average costs of all cards in MPQ, then increase Mirrorpool’s cost accordingly. Seriously, even if Mirrorpool costs, say, 10 mana, I probably would still play it as it allows me to doublecast things like Hangarback Walker (that costs 25) for a fraction of its original cost. It’s also this Mirrorpool’s cheap cost which I suspect is another driving force behind the cheap kill spells I mentioned above.
Thanks for reading.
EDIT: Forgot this one to rage about:
(6) The daily reward each month
In months that have 30 days, missing out just a SINGLE day of login is extremely painful, given that that means you lose a booster pack immediately. Cards are hard enough to come by since without crystals you can’t get more cards at will, and crystals themselves are hard to get to boot.
6.1. Is it possible to reverse the order of the 5-day reward? I mean, currently the 5-day reward is Rune - Rune - Crystal - Rune - Booster. How about you make it Booster - Rune - Crystal - Rune - Rune instead? Given how useless runes are these days, accidentally missing out 2000 runes is no big deal.
6.2. Better still: How about you get your daily reward immediately when you open the game instead of having to go to Activity Hub then tap the reward at the bottom of the screen? I know there are some games out there who immediately award you with your daily reward when you login to the game for the day…
