[Preview] Hex: E3 2013 - Defining the MMOTCG

BillMurphy

We chatted with Cryptozoic CEO Cory Jones at this year's E3 to learn all about HEX, the studio's upcoming MMOTCG.

HEX has been in development for more or less two years and the team recently concluded a wildly successful Kickstarter drive. Cryptozoic was only looking for $300,000 to make HEX a reality – but enthusiasm for the project was so strong that the team ended up with a cool $2.5 million at the end of it, making the project the ninth largest Kickstarter project to date.

Read more of Michael Bitton's HEX: E3 2013 Preview.

majinant

KING backer myself. Am strangely looking forward to this a lot.

kosac

next money pumping thing.. passsinggg

Vlacke

I have to say that this game looks very promising to me, i love this idea of of mix between a card game and an MMO, hopefully all will turn out well and frankly i am looking forward to checking this out.

RollieJoe

As a formerly huge Magic the Gathering fan, and as an MMO fan, this game will be hard for me to resist.  But I won't be spending any money on it.  Unfortunately like Magic its going to mostly come down to how much money you spend.

steamtank

I would be extremely interested if they had a sub option... gather cards as you play, they stay in your deck until you sub again or whatever... something that set a standard pace for card aquisition... instead of biggest wallet rolls the table.

 

MTG is such a money sink... i love the game, but it hates my wallet, and i like playing sealed sooooooo

Betaguy

Originally posted by kosac
next money pumping thing.. passsinggg

I feel ya there, I am passing as well.

Nemesis7884

Originally posted by Betaguy

Originally posted by kosac
next money pumping thing.. passsinggg

I feel ya there, I am passing as well.

 

yep...trading card games are bigger money graves then perfect world games...

Ginaz

Originally posted by Nemesis7884

Originally posted by Betaguy

Originally posted by kosac
next money pumping thing.. passsinggg

I feel ya there, I am passing as well.

 

yep...trading card games are bigger money graves then perfect world games...

The pve, mmorpg side is 100% free.  You can trade your pve stuff (pve only cards, gear, crafting mats etc) to other players for pvp cards. 

Wizardry

The truth is the market is flooded but the truth is these guys have not learned what this genre needs to be a stellar hit.

SOE came the closest with Tactics,absolutely gorgeous animations and soem nice strategy.

However i will underline the two MAJOR flaws this genre has stayed in,which is sad because that tells me they are either too dumb to learn or simply can't afford to do it right,either way is not good for the customer.

Flaw1 :Trash cards,everyone can see through this scam,a huge disparity between cards so that consumers over spend and end up with a pile of useless trash that they can't do anything with.There are a few work a rounds,make ALL cards valuable with a very large database.IMO the BEST way to work around it is to ONLY make money via a sub fee and tournaments.Also there shoudl be a system to reimburse or trade off trash cards for some sort of monetary value.

However ,i will make this clear,yo ucan NEVER show the greed factor,it is always very obvious.Example what SOE did was make their tournaments operate too quickly,they favored the speedy player,all in favor of getting more tournaments in to make more money.That does NOT make for good solid game play only greed.

Flaw 2:Players don't just want another board and a bunch of cards,they want a GAME,a RPG game to be exact.If you do not break the mold and offer a game,then your  game ends up exactly like all the others in the genre.

Again Tactics had the right idea with objects but a 15x15 grid is not a game.That it why you have a sub fee to support operating a game map with a lot more objects and terrain to bring the game to life.

Bottom line is Tactics is miles the BEST entry level effort but far from the type of effort needed to bring this genre right to the fore front.If a developer could do as i mentioned,i would probably drop all other games and play this genre first.

AIMonster

Originally posted by Wizardry

The truth is the market is flooded but the truth is these guys have not learned what this genre needs to be a stellar hit.

SOE came the closest with Tactics,absolutely gorgeous animations and soem nice strategy.

However i will underline the two MAJOR flaws this genre has stayed in,which is sad because that tells me they are either too dumb to learn or simply can't afford to do it right,either way is not good for the customer.

Flaw1 :Trash cards,everyone can see through this scam,a huge disparity between cards so that consumers over spend and end up with a pile of useless trash that they can't do anything with.There are a few work a rounds,make ALL cards valuable with a very large database.IMO the BEST way to work around it is to ONLY make money via a sub fee and tournaments.Also there shoudl be a system to reimburse or trade off trash cards for some sort of monetary value.

However ,i will make this clear,yo ucan NEVER show the greed factor,it is always very obvious.Example what SOE did was make their tournaments operate too quickly,they favored the speedy player,all in favor of getting more tournaments in to make more money.That does NOT make for good solid game play only greed.

Flaw 2:Players don't just want another board and a bunch of cards,they want a GAME,a RPG game to be exact.If you do not break the mold and offer a game,then your  game ends up exactly like all the others in the genre.

Again Tactics had the right idea with objects but a 15x15 grid is not a game.That it why you have a sub fee to support operating a game map with a lot more objects and terrain to bring the game to life.

Bottom line is Tactics is miles the BEST entry level effort but far from the type of effort needed to bring this genre right to the fore front.If a developer could do as i mentioned,i would probably drop all other games and play this genre first.

Well, looking at the card database of Hex cards so far none of the cards really stand out as "Trash".  There maybe cards that are more useful for a better number of decks, but I think just about any known card right now fits well into at least one specific deck.

As for the second Flaw, you do realize they are adding RPG elements, including gear progression and sockets to the cards (PvE only) as well as "dungeons" and boss encounters?  You can earn cards and gear for the cards through normal play from PvE.

ubermut

I like what scrolls did.  It's buy to play, and you can't buy packs of cards with cash, just gold you earn by playing the game.  It's a pretty fun game if you like these types of games.

 

SyrusSyi

This looks like it is going to be a game worth playing

Margulis

This is the first thing I actually backed on Kickstarter.  Never placed TCG's much - only Magic for a brief amount of time.  But with all the extra mmo type elements with this one it just sounds awesome.

pantheron

The idea  that this game should be a sub game is ridiculous. if any game should be F2P with microtransactions, its a TCG. 

Rakshall

PVE cards and content (quests, keeps, dungeons, raids) will be 100% free. There wont be any PVE things you can buy with money from store. Only PVP cards will follow traditional TCG model, but it will be cheaper than most TCGs - booster 2$ tournament entry 1$ (50% cheaper than Magic). And there will be optional(!) sub for 4$/month you get 1 booster (pvp cards) per week and special tournament.

RelGn

looks interesting hope magic the gathering becomes like this some day

redcapp

I really don't get the hype.  No way I'm pouring money into DIGITAL TRADING CARDS.  /shrug  Talk about pay to win.

 

Real life TCG's are expensive enough.

ev1lb0b

@ redcapp - so dont, play the 100% free PVE side of the game (Dungeons, raids, keep defense, guilds, crafting, talent trees, sockets and gems...). A $300k Kickstarter goal which ended up at $2.5 million speaks volumes....can't wait for alpha access.

 

Dralon

Perfect combination of gaming styles for my taste.  Great for gamers, who have reached the stage in life where 6 hrs at a card shop with people 25 years younger than you, isn't going to fly ver often.

Margulis

Originally posted by redcapp

I really don't get the hype.  No way I'm pouring money into DIGITAL TRADING CARDS.  /shrug  Talk about pay to win.

 

Real life TCG's are expensive enough.

The nature of trading cards dude, whether that be a game, baseball cards, whatever.  If you're that hard up for money to be able to buy a few packs yeah, definitely not for you.  Your argument that digital TCG is somehow more expensive than real ife, however, is based on zero actual fact or information.  Considering that you'll be playing with tons of other players, can trade, and have an aution house, plus you can play a lot of the content for free - it's pretty much the opposite of your statement as to which one you would drop more money on. 

MikeB

Man, I wish I could play the SWG TCG again. It was quite fun!

redcapp

Also I have no idea why this game is dubbed an MMO.  The term means nothing apparently. 

Just because something has online interactivity does not mean its MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER.  *shrug*.  I guess the term just means something entirely different than it used to at this point.  According to today's standards, the original Diablo, Starcraft, Counter Strike.. etc.. would all have been MMOs.  As if any game that is online and multiplayer is an MMO.

redcapp

Originally posted by Margulis

Originally posted by redcapp

I really don't get the hype.  No way I'm pouring money into DIGITAL TRADING CARDS.  /shrug  Talk about pay to win.

 

Real life TCG's are expensive enough.

The nature of trading cards dude, whether that be a game, baseball cards, whatever.  If you're that hard up for money to be able to buy a few packs yeah, definitely not for you.  Your argument that digital TCG is somehow more expensive than real ife, however, is based on zero actual fact or information.  Considering that you'll be playing with tons of other players, can trade, and have an aution house, plus you can play a lot of the content for free - it's pretty much the opposite of your statement as to which one you would drop more money on. 

 

LOL, what?

 

A) Nowhere in my post did I indicate I was 'hard up' for money.  Keep your presumptions to yourself.  The point was, obviously, that I find the notion of paying for digital trading cards to be a turnoff.  If that doesn't apply to you, then enjoy.

 

Nowhere in my post did I argue that "digital TCG is somehow more expensive than real life".  Real life trading card games are expensive, and so, it seems, is this.

 

Seriously, did you even read the post you're replying to?

Incomparable

Originally posted by Wizardry

The truth is the market is flooded but the truth is these guys have not learned what this genre needs to be a stellar hit.

SOE came the closest with Tactics,absolutely gorgeous animations and soem nice strategy.

However i will underline the two MAJOR flaws this genre has stayed in,which is sad because that tells me they are either too dumb to learn or simply can't afford to do it right,either way is not good for the customer.

Flaw1 :Trash cards,everyone can see through this scam,a huge disparity between cards so that consumers over spend and end up with a pile of useless trash that they can't do anything with.There are a few work a rounds,make ALL cards valuable with a very large database.IMO the BEST way to work around it is to ONLY make money via a sub fee and tournaments.Also there shoudl be a system to reimburse or trade off trash cards for some sort of monetary value.

However ,i will make this clear,yo ucan NEVER show the greed factor,it is always very obvious.Example what SOE did was make their tournaments operate too quickly,they favored the speedy player,all in favor of getting more tournaments in to make more money.That does NOT make for good solid game play only greed.

Flaw 2:Players don't just want another board and a bunch of cards,they want a GAME,a RPG game to be exact.If you do not break the mold and offer a game,then your  game ends up exactly like all the others in the genre.

Again Tactics had the right idea with objects but a 15x15 grid is not a game.That it why you have a sub fee to support operating a game map with a lot more objects and terrain to bring the game to life.

Bottom line is Tactics is miles the BEST entry level effort but far from the type of effort needed to bring this genre right to the fore front.If a developer could do as i mentioned,i would probably drop all other games and play this genre first.

The only justification to have a sub fee is to avoid huge incremental costs of a cash shop.

however, f2p is on the rise, and what is to stop people from running private servers for something not as rewarding? 

So imo, there should be a hybrid model. A f2p option that allows access. A p2p model that also importantly creates a package program of giving acces to certain decks of a certain playstyle. However the p2p gives access to tournaments and tournament spectating.

to only have a sub fee would encourage people to migrate or create a private server.

Ginaz

Originally posted by redcapp

Originally posted by Margulis

 

Nowhere in my post did I argue that "digital TCG is somehow more expensive than real life".  Real life trading card games are expensive, and so, it seems, is this.

 

Seriously, did you even read the post you're replying to?

Do you even know what they're going to charge for and for how much?  As far as I know, the only things you need to spend money on are: 1) extra starter packs $10 (one free with account creation), 2) booster packs $2 (free one with account creation), 3) entry fees to tournaments/drafts which I believe its $1 (could be wrong) and 4) VIP program $4/month (1 booster pack a week plus entry into special tournaments).  Thats it.  If you never touch the pvp side of things you'll never have to pay a dime as ALL the pve content is free.  All the rest seems very reasonably priced and could be had for less if you trade with other players.  The nice thing about the tournaments is if you are good and win quite a bit, you can play the pvp side for minimal money (or for free if you are REALLY good)  since prizes are available to be won, such as boosters and platinum (RL money exchange currency).  From the hex site: "HEX will feature tournaments and events around the clock available worldwide. With real cash prizes, HEX is poised to be the definitive professional online TCG."  http://hextcg.com/game/overview/