Perhaps you’ve noticed something strange happening to the leader board recently. With all of the changes happening, we felt it was time for a change of our own. Coalitions have changed their names to ones of protest to show that we as a community have banded together to try and express how against this recent update we all are. Some have stopped spending cash on the game. Some are sitting out events. This is our attempt to catch the attention of the development team and show them how much the entire player base LOVES this community and doesn’t want to lose it because of the direction the game has taken recently. I’m BEGGING you all to listen.
To the Development Team of Hibernum!
I have taken it upon myself to act as representative to an ever-growing faction of players who take issue with some of the recent changes made to Magic the Gathering: Puzzle Quest. It is my hope that, in providing a concise overview of the perceived issues alongside suggestions for how the players might like to see them addressed, we may stem the tide of discontentment that has begun to fester amongst these groups of loyal players and consumers, and return the game to a state that is both enjoyable for its players and profitable for you, the developers.
Issue #1 – Booster Packs and Duplicates
The recent update completely changed the way booster packs are purchased and distributed, as well as the card-to-mana crystal ratio. This is a significant change within the game’s economy - particularly when accompanied by the myriad other alterations that inherently tie into the value of each card pack (e.g. - dupe rates, frequency of rare-or-better cards, and the addition of the new ‘masterpiece’ cards).
The general consensus from those we have consulted seems to be that the changes made were not for the better. In coalition Discord and Slack channels, players are flooding the chats with complaints of duplicate cards, feeling betrayed after promises that steps were being taken to address that very issue. Others feel they are being slighted, since the cost efficiency per card is not all that was changed.
The Big Boxes that were previously offered provided a guaranteed ‘Rare or Better’ card, which meant that it was possible that a Mythic card could be received as a bonus for investing those 600 mana crystals. The new Premium Packs offer, very specifically, a guarantee of one Rare card. While this may seem like a small change in the grand scheme of the game’s economy, it is a noticeable one for players who spend mana crystals day after day, hoping they will get particular cards from a certain set that will help them complete their collection, or simply allow them to put together an interesting deck they thought up but have hitherto lacked necessary cards for.
Our suggestions are varied on this matter, as there are several ways this could be handled that would do much to appease the faction within the community that is displeased by the changes to the game’s economy. I have outlined two example solutions below, to be used as either inspiration or guidelines as you, the developers, see fit.
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Return the potential for a Mythic from the bonus card when purchasing a Premium Pack. The number of card packs from Premium Packs (5) is roughly one-third the number of packs from the previous Big Box (14). However, the price (300 mana crystals) is a full one-half of the old Big Box price (600 mana crystals). At that price, the possibility that the bonus card will be a Mythic does not seem so great a request.
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Reduce the cost of the Premium Packs, or increase the number of cards. Giving 71 cards, the Big Boxes provided a value of 1 card per 8.45 crystals. Premium Packs, at 26 cards, provide a value of 1 card per 11.53 crystals. That’s a roughly 35% increase in price. Quite simply, that is an egregious level of inflation over the course of a single day, and many players are left feeling uncertain about the future of the game if such sudden and drastic changes to the economy can happen without warning.
Issue #2 – Event Rewards and Mana Jewels
This is a two-phased problem in dire need of a solution. Based on some preliminary research into the matter (via coalition discussion and cross-coalition inquiry), players feel that the rewards for event participation have been reduced to the point that their desire to participate in events has waned drastically, Similarly, they are finding the introduction of mana jewels to be equally mishandled, based on the perceived rate at which players can accrue enough of this new resource to purchase the new Elite Packs for which they are intended to be used.
Put simply, players have suddenly gone from being able to readily spend mana crystals on either card packs or planeswalkers, knowing that they could accumulate more throughout the coming events for the next wave of merchandise, to feeling that it will take months to make a single worthwhile purchase, and that that purchase may yield little more than a handful of duplicate or underwhelming cards. You, as developers, have effectively decreased the quantity of product you provide without, to the best of your consumers’ knowledge, improving the quality, despite prior claims that your intent was to do that very thing.
We feel the solution here is simple and straightforward. The previous model was sustainable, and it was one that kept your players happy while still, as best we could tell, yielding significant profitability. We would like you to increase the mana crystal rewards back to their previous levels. Furthermore, we would like mana jewels to be obtainable at a reasonable enough rate that it will not take months to open a single Elite Pack. While I cannot pretend to know exactly what would be considered “reasonable”, I can offer this: the community will always let you know when it is not reasonable. It is up to you, as developers, to strike a balance.
We thank you, sincerely, for the time and work you have put into the creation and upkeep of Magic the Gathering: Puzzle Quest. It is our dearest hope that these issues will be promptly addressed, and that this game, and its wonderfully diverse community, may continue to grow and prosper for a long time to come.
Sincerely,
Your Loyal Customers
