My first 3 hours with the Dragon Front beta

[Deamon84]

First of, I played Hearthstone for 2 years and Magic the Gathering for over 10 years, so I´m know a thing or two about card games. I chose Thornes but I think they are very weak at the moment, at least the starting deck.

Here are some of the things I discovered and some ideas for the game:
-It takes very long to open a Booster Pack. Why does the chest have to fly up and then down to open? Why not open directly? If you have multiple Booster Packs, this can be very anoying.

-It can be very tricky to manage & build a deck, I would rather use
my controller to view/change cards instead of my head. At the moment it
is hard to compare cards, because you have to remember everything and
then move your head. You can only see details if you look at something, but if you move your eyes instead of your head the image gets blurry (a problem with the sweet spot of the Rift) It´s hard to explain... I just think there can be a
way to improve the deck building.

-I had one game where I did not draw a 1 mana unit/spell (I changed every card in my starting hand and still did not get one) until I drew 10 cards (all 2+ mana cards). The first card that burnt was a 1 mana minion =( I couldn´t do anything at all except spending 1 mana per turn into my champion. By the time I could play my champion my enemy already had a full board. I played the starter deck and I think there were 6 1 mana drops in it. I really like the gameplay mechanics that creatures give mana, but this game was a straight loss and there was NOTHING I could have done. Maybe players should get at least 2 mana instead of 1 at the 2nd turn.

-Now the opposite problem -> The starter deck from Thornes has way too much mana in the late game
but nothing to spend on. I am sitting there with 10-15 mana but I don´t
have any cards to play and my enemies just overrun me. All my cards are very weak and the enemies minions are stronger most of the time.

-Those tank & range units from Strife are devestating. And Strife gets 2 free tanks in the starter deck. Holy moly I don´t stand a chance against them. I lost every game against Strife yet. Those 4/2 range units, I don´t have anything that survives to reach them except for my champion, and by the time he gets there I´m almost dead and my champion is dead, too (because he gets 4dmg the turn I play him and then 4 the next turn in the fight). I know there are 2/1 minions with tempo that could reach him, but if you don´t have them in your deck or don´t draw them your done. 4/2 range is just way to powerful. Think about it - it kills a x/4 without taking a hit!

-I played 8 games with the starting deck from Thornes and I lost 7 of them. There is no way to change the starting faction and I am not willing to pay for another faction, yet. If a starting player like me makes a "bad" decision you might loose him as a player. It´s just not fun to loose every game. I think starting players should get at least 2 factions. I drew some nice cards in my 3 free booster packs, but not a single one for my faction. In Hearthstone I can choose between 9 different "factions" from the beginning without paying anything and that got my attention real fast because I could see in time what I liked and what not. Here I have to force myself to play another game. The 4 training missions are not enough to really see how a faction plays.

-The gold system is better than Hearthstones, where you get nothing for loosing. Here you get at least 10 gold, thats nice.

-The game runs pretty stable for now, 1 out of 8 games had a syncronisation error and we both lost the game (and that would have been the only game I could have won)

-We need more players, it can take a long time to find an opponent.

-Not every text is in german (yet) but I think you know that.

-I really like the tactical aspect of the game, where positions matter and you can play traps.

-I also really like the microphone and to talk to other players. Thats so much more fun than Hearthstones emotes.

Thats it for the first 3 hours. Keep up the good work!

[Anonymous]

If you were falling behind or approaching a full 10 card hand, why not destroy a card or two to get the extra mana to play a 2 or 3 mana card?Zannex said:

Deamon84 said:

-I had one game where I did not draw a 1 mana unit/spell (I changed every card in my starting hand and still did not get one) until I drew 10 cards (all 2+ mana cards). The first card that burnt was a 1 mana minion =( I couldn´t do anything at all except spending 1 mana per turn into my champion. By the time I could play my champion my enemy already had a full board. I played the starter deck and I think there were 6 1 mana drops in it. I really like the gameplay mechanics that creatures give mana, but this game was a straight loss and there was NOTHING I could have done. Maybe players should get at least 2 mana instead of 1 at the 2nd turn.

If you were falling behind or approaching a full 10 card hand, why not destroy a card or two to get the extra mana to play a 2 or 3 mana card?

[CrashFu]

I take it you've mostly been playing against human players and not the AI?

So far I've only played against AI, using the Thorn deck, and only lost once (I ran out of cards, while the enemy who was Eclipse had a seemingly infinite number to put on the board, especially with their champion)

The strength of Thorn  (aside from plenty of ways to generate extra mana) seems to be lots of units that start weak but then grow into power-houses if you leave them alone.  The 2/1 wisp things that gain 1 health every time an enemy enters your side of the board.. just leave them on the back row in a lane the enemy is blocked off from, and let them get stronger when someone enters a different row.  And the Mana Moles are great, you can turn them into a 1/10 before you know it.    Filling the board with units like this and then having the champion boost up their attack power so they have attack AND defense, that seems like the way to go.

Incidentally, if you can get any kind of walls into your Thorn deck, you won't regret it.   There's one that is only 0/2 but it costs ZERO mana to play, great in the early game, or just delaying the enemy for a turn while one of your other units buffs up a little more.

Regarding your incident with having a hand full of too-expensive units and not being able to play any of them,  did you remember you could sacrifice cards from your hand to generate mana?

Good luck with your future matches;  Maybe you'll even catch me on there at some point. 😄

[JackAttackMcD]

Hey Deamon84,

Thanks for trying out Dragon Front.  Sounds like you're having some mana issues in your games.  Did you know that your mana pool doesn't empty at the end of your turn like in Magic?  Any mana you don't spend during your turn will carry over into your next turn. Your mana pool can hold up to 10 mana at a time.  Banking mana on your champion can help ensure you won't hit your mana cap between actions and turns. 

Also, don't forget that you can discard a card for 1 extra mana once per turn.  This can help ensure you're able to play any 2 or 3 drops on curve, or even a little earlier than normal.  Don't be afraid to discard a high cost card that you may have received after your mulligan if it allows you to play some units early on.

I hope this information makes your next few games a little more fun.

-Jack

[Deamon84]

Zannex said:

If you were falling behind or approaching a full 10 card hand, why not destroy a card or two to get the extra mana to play a 2 or 3 mana card?Zannex said:

Deamon84 said:

-I had one game where I did not draw a 1 mana unit/spell (I changed every card in my starting hand and still did not get one) until I drew 10 cards (all 2+ mana cards). The first card that burnt was a 1 mana minion =( I couldn´t do anything at all except spending 1 mana per turn into my champion. By the time I could play my champion my enemy already had a full board. I played the starter deck and I think there were 6 1 mana drops in it. I really like the gameplay mechanics that creatures give mana, but this game was a straight loss and there was NOTHING I could have done. Maybe players should get at least 2 mana instead of 1 at the 2nd turn.

If you were falling behind or approaching a full 10 card hand, why not destroy a card or two to get the extra mana to play a 2 or 3 mana card?

Oh thanks, didn´t know that! How do you destroy a card?

CrashFu said:

I take it you've mostly been playing against human players and not the AI?

So
far I've only played against AI, using the Thorn deck, and only lost
once (I ran out of cards, while the enemy who was Eclipse had a
seemingly infinite number to put on the board, especially with their
champion)

The strength of Thorn  (aside from plenty of ways to
generate extra mana) seems to be lots of units that start weak but then
grow into power-houses if you leave them alone.  The 2/1 wisp things
that gain 1 health every time an enemy enters your side of the board..
just leave them on the back row in a lane the enemy is blocked off from,
and let them get stronger when someone enters a different row.  And the
Mana Moles are great, you can turn them into a 1/10 before you know it.
   Filling the board with units like this and then having the champion
boost up their attack power so they have attack AND defense, that seems
like the way to go.

Incidentally, if you can get any kind of
walls into your Thorn deck, you won't regret it.   There's one that is
only 0/2 but it costs ZERO mana to play, great in the early game, or
just delaying the enemy for a turn while one of your other units buffs
up a little more.

Regarding your incident with having a hand full
of too-expensive units and not being able to play any of them,  did you
remember you could sacrifice cards from your hand to generate mana?

Good luck with your future matches;  Maybe you'll even catch me on there at some point. 😄

Thanks for the tips! I know did play against the AI to learn more about
my faction and did not loose any game (none of them were even close).
But I only played Thornes against Thornes (to see what the AI does with
my faction). The game has some very nice tactics that remind me at Clash
of Might & Magic.

JackAttackMcD said:

Hey Deamon84,

Thanks for trying out
Dragon Front.  Sounds like you're having some mana issues in your
games.  Did you know that your mana pool doesn't empty at the end of
your turn like in Magic?  Any mana you don't spend during your turn will
carry over into your next turn. Your mana pool can hold up to 10 mana
at a time.  Banking mana on your champion can help ensure you won't hit
your mana cap between actions and turns. 

Also, don't forget
that you can discard a card for 1 extra mana once per turn.  This can
help ensure you're able to play any 2 or 3 drops on curve, or even a
little earlier than normal.  Don't be afraid to discard a high cost card
that you may have received after your mulligan if it allows you to play
some units early on.

I hope this information makes your next few games a little more fun.

-Jack

Yeah I just discovered that mechanic as I played against the AI to level
5. One player mentioned the Booster Pack for levle 5 and I had to get
it - and of course, another rare card for another faction other than
mine =(
I understand that you have to make money, but in Hearhstone
only other Hero Portraits cost mana, not the Hero itself. I thnk the 4
(or
at least 1 more of them) starting factiosn should be free, with
additinal faction to cost money. People will buy booster packs anyway,
with them you will make lots of money. (I remember people paying 1000s
of Euros/Dollars for Hearthstone packs, even I paid 300 Euro for packs
& adventures.

[CrashFu]

In case you haven't figured it out on your own since your last post,  to destroy a card for mana, just inspect it in your hand (up on the Oculus Remote, I believe) and look for a little icon.. I think it's somewhere near the center / center-right of the card's display.

It's kind of a desperation move, but if it lets you get one more useful unit or play a spell at just the right time, it's totally worth it.

P.S.   I keep getting really nice units for the (I believe it was called)  Scales faction, and I picked Thorns as well.  Lol.   Fortunately I have gotten some interesting Unaligned cards too, and by now my deck is like 2/3 Thorns and 1/3 Hollows.  😄   Also got a unit of bats that have both Flight and Blight traits, although I have yet to find out what Blight DOES, and I got this big wheeled grinding machine that has rush and destroys all forts in the lane whenever it moves. Ooh.

It would be kinda fun to use 100% unaligned cards in a deck (if that's even logistically possible) ... Probably throw your opponent for a loop, when it says they're going up against the Thorns faction and then no actual Thorns units show up to the party  (save for the champion)

[Deamon84]

I noticed it is very strange that the music in the menu only plays on your right ear. After a while that gets painfull, at least for me. It was so anoying I had to turn off the music. Please consider a "music box" on the left side of the main menu room or to position it at the front 🙂

[HVS_Claire]

@CrashFu Blight destroys the opponent's mana fragment. Typically when a unit dies, the owner gets back some of the mana they spent on that unit. A blight unit will stop that from happening, so a blight heavy deck will starve out your opponent in due course.