Over the last couple of weeks, I have been thinking if backing this project on Kickstarter was worth it for me. It was either my first or second KS and still remains as my largest (I backed at the DC level). The forums, the game, and the community all seem to be in shambles just a short 5 years after the fact. This really is sad. So, let's take a quick look at each of the KS Stretch Goals and see what happened:
So, was it worth it? Not for me is the answer.
I know early on there was a lot of buzz over "even if the game keels over, everyone got their money's worth." Looking at this list - I'll soundly disagree. My backing at such a vast amount (for me) was because I believed in the VISION of the game. When that vision wasn't lived out, it just drained what made this a great game. Shoot, let's throw FRA in the mix as to me, it was a really cool addition early on. What happened to it? THEY TOOK IT AWAY! I was left with what I viewed as "mean design". I mean, who designs to FRUSTRATE players? My sandbox, which is what drove me to continue to buy packs, was gone. For me, that was beginning of the end. It was with great sadness (but savings to my pocketbook) that FRA2 was released.
Quite a list. I feel like this was promises that were simply unfulfilled. Even as a DC backer - feel pretty ripped off. Looking at the list, the BASE GAME simply never materialized.
Anyway, I continue to lurk. My buy in is too much. I still hope ("hope") for something to make this all happen as the VISION is still sound - MMOTCG.
Happy gaming (elsewhere I assume),
Taleisin
- 330k - Add Authenticator - I believe this was done fairly quickly in the lifecycle of the game - possible within the first year even. Check.
- 360k - Add an additional city to each playable race complete with quests - what is this? We already start going of the rails here I think. Maybe a better "road map" would have been to keep all of the various stretch goals in front of everyone for good, transparent communication. Even if stuff changed, you could put a check mark on such items then! Anyway, this is not in the game.
- 390k - Add guild ranking and guild tournament support - no guilds. Sadness.
- 440k - Add crafting system at launch - no crafting. Blah.
- 490k - Add Primal Packs - completed at launch! Check.
- 540k - Add VIP Program at launch - well, it was there. Even at the beginning, I realized that I had misunderstood what this was (as I had to pay for the tournament!). After two or three years of support here, I withdrew my support. It simply wasn't worthwhile. More sadness.
- 600k - Three additional raids at PVE launch - No raids. No +3 raids. What happened here?
- 660k - 5 new game boards, etc - Hmm, there were game boards for sale in the last year or so. Is that what this means? I'm unsure. Is it just the special boards in the PVE? I'll say "check".
- 720k - 10 more dungeons with unique cards and equipment - I'm not even sure we ended up with 10 dungeons not to mention +10 dungeons! AFTER FIVE YEARS! SADNESS. This is a major reason why I backed - to play a card game in really cool PVE environments.
- 790k - Increased sound and particle effects to more cards - sure, check.
- 860k - AI deckbuilding tool - another point that really interested me as I was hoping it would help me build better decks. We've not seen (nor heard?) of this.
- 960k - Keep Defense - I think this is what was added recently, although I've never played as I didn't want to spend my little and precious gold on losing it. It's there, but I was bummed about it.
- 1.06m - Add playback support - Is this in the game? I've never used it if it is. Heh.
- 1.16m - Add motion comics intro - When the intro was upgraded, it was pretty SWEET!
- 1.5m - tablet support - glad I never bought a tablet, although I was sorely tempted as I kept thinking over the years that I would simply miss out. Not so much.
- 1.8m - Hex novel - got it. Read it. Enjoyed it. It was good. No sequels though. Oh well. I've determined over the years that lore is important for games, otherwise it's just 1's and 0's. So, nothing further here and in the lore realm was detrimental I think.
- 2.1m - more lore stuff - I didn't really see this with any consistency. I'll say that the website was pretty bad. Should have been able to parse through info you WANTED rather than click through page after page of updates that didn't mean anything.
- 2.5m HexCon - we didn't hit it, nor did this happen. I was scared that I would miss it the first two years. Seems more silly now than anything. Yeah, I'm bummed.
So, was it worth it? Not for me is the answer.
I know early on there was a lot of buzz over "even if the game keels over, everyone got their money's worth." Looking at this list - I'll soundly disagree. My backing at such a vast amount (for me) was because I believed in the VISION of the game. When that vision wasn't lived out, it just drained what made this a great game. Shoot, let's throw FRA in the mix as to me, it was a really cool addition early on. What happened to it? THEY TOOK IT AWAY! I was left with what I viewed as "mean design". I mean, who designs to FRUSTRATE players? My sandbox, which is what drove me to continue to buy packs, was gone. For me, that was beginning of the end. It was with great sadness (but savings to my pocketbook) that FRA2 was released.
Quite a list. I feel like this was promises that were simply unfulfilled. Even as a DC backer - feel pretty ripped off. Looking at the list, the BASE GAME simply never materialized.
Anyway, I continue to lurk. My buy in is too much. I still hope ("hope") for something to make this all happen as the VISION is still sound - MMOTCG.
Happy gaming (elsewhere I assume),
Taleisin