PoxNora - good online tactics/card based game

[Margalis]

I might make a post about this game is design/development at some point if anyone actually plays it a bit, because the design is really very well done.

PoxNora is an online tactical game that heavily borrows from Magic: The Gathering. It does a great job of taking some themes from magic and translating them to a tactics game, including deck construction, resource usage, tempo and a bit of randomness. I played Dofus Tactics for a bit (a tiny bit) and this game is about 10x better. It avoids a lot of the mistakes Dofus Tactics (Arena, whatever) did including having to click 20 times on each character to figure out what is up with them, and the gameplay seems a lot deeper and more strategic.

You can play for free with pre-made armies, which is pretty fun. After 4 or 5 games I'm getting the hang of using one of the pre-mades. I suggest everyone with an interest in tactics and/or card games to give it a whirl. (www.poxnora.com)

[schild]

I'll be playing this tonight. Getting signed up now.

[Margalis]

I should be on at about 10 or 11 EST.

[schild]

I'll miss you then. I won't be on until midnight or so PST.

[Margalis]

I stay up late, I might still be up then. I'm on as Margalis, look for me when you log on.

[Flood]

I'll check it out tonight, thanks for the info.

[Xilren's Twin]

I too will check this out, but it sounds similar in concept to Spiritwars which i found through Manifesto games.  Heavy MtG card elements plus a moving pieces around a map.  Sort like magic meets Stratego.
Free play with limit card set or you can pay for more.

Xilren

[MrHat]

Yup, I"m in there as mrhat. Seems like a fun distraction.

[Hoax]

Will check it out sometime this week...

[Xilren's Twin]

You can play for free with pre-made armies, which is pretty fun. After 4 or 5 games I'm getting the hang of using one of the pre-mades. I suggest everyone with an interest in tactics and/or card games to give it a whirl. (www.poxnora.com)

While interesting, just outta curiosity, how long did your games typically last?  My first game lasted well over and hour and was no where close to being done when finally my opponent just conceeded....

Xilren

[tazelbain]

Cooldown eventually prevented me playing any runes and I lost.

Same business model as MTGO and just as expensive.  Too bad, looked interesting.

[Margalis]

Game length varies hugely based on opponent and map. Against good players (top 100 say) my games tend to last 15-20 minutes. A lot of the time I could have easily conceded in half that time as it was obviously over.

Against players of equal (sucky) skill I would say half hour to an hour. Larger maps do tend to take longer. I've only had one or two games go over an hour. As a newb you don't really have a plan or a deck catered to a plan so it tends to be a slower war of attrition, whereas better decks tend to play more like combo decks and "go off" killing you. Against good players the writing appears on the wall pretty quickly as they shred my first couple of drops.

---

The business model is troublesome. Apparently the rarest types of runes, exotic, occur very infrequently, you can buy a 100 pack and not get any. And some of the rare/exotic units are way better. There is a large tier of units that are all pretty good and well-balanced, but then a tier above those that are just sick.

There is no form of limited play, which in my mind is the worst thing. Constructed always takes money because you want the absolute best things. This game would really benefit from some sort of league type of deal.

Also the price is pretty steep. $25 for 100 runes isn't much different than MTG booster/tourney pack prices. But MTG is an established game, you can trade the online cards in for sets to get some value back, and MTG online has a lot more features - limited play, constant tournies, different casual rooms, clans, ability to watch replays, etc.

In a game like this, the cost of the cards (runes) is really the cost of the overall game and features, and this game just doesn't have enough features to warrant the cost. If it had everything MTG Online had the price would probably still be a bit steep. But as it is with a paucity of features it just isn't worth the price.

$10 for a pack of 100 runes would be a pretty decent deal, with that you could buy 2 or 3 packs and run a fairly competitive deck for a while. There are definitely quickly diminishing returns on money spent, 3 packs is probably a sweet spot. $75? No way. The pricing structure is just off. Given that it is a fledgling game with not a lot of features and not many players it should be far cheaper than a competitor.

It would be sad if a game with a lot of depth and great gameplay was tanked purely by pricing decisions.

[schild]

It would be sad if a game with a lot of depth and great gameplay was tanked purely by pricing decisions.

I actually didn't log in the moment I saw the pricing. That was the end of it for me. Completely Unreasonable pricing.

[Flood]

Well I'm sorta bummed after playing a few games.  It's a fun enough little game. 

I was excited that it might be something to get into at a lower level than say, MTG.  (IE - there's not a card base of 94714874981611 cards that already exist - that you don't own)  That's my big gripe with MTG, money spent = competitiveness.  I get so into games like MTG that I end up blowing money on VIRTUAL gaming cards. 

I'm not going to pay the wacked out prices for Poxnora, and I'm not going to get sucked in to schilling out a bunch of money to "get into" MTG.  Too bad, I really enjoy playing MTG and it's ilk.  Maybe I should start a Stratego Club at my local Barnes & Noble.   :-(

[Hoax]

My thoughts have already been echoed prior to them even taking shape...

I played three games tonight, while interesting and a good example of the cool things people can do with a little time and creativity the price structure and the whole mega-rare card powercreep is a big fucking no-no when you are a tiny fish in the goddamn ocean.

F13 should get consulting jobs for some of these idiot Dev's I swear, hell I would tell some of these game co's how to suck a whole lot less for free...

[Margalis]

I suspect they need quick revenue to cover costs and figure charging a lot is the best way.

[lamaros]

Necro because... well it's the same topic.

Wondering if anyone still plays this these days. I played for a fair while last year and enjoyed it but got a bit bored of the balance issues and minor other issues. Wondering if anyone who still plays can say anything about how the expansions might have changed things and if there are any other issues these days?

Edit: Not really keen on putting much money into it, but I guess if anyone can say it's worth the effort I can probably trade a few runes about and have some fun.

[Bandit]

Funny you necroed this.  I have been looking through PoxNora again this week as a buddy and I have been looking for some turn-based strategy.  Pricing is still pretty awful though.

Single-Player campaigns are a welcome addition.  I have been getting my ass handed to me though while trying to build a faction deck (Forglar Swamp).

[lamaros]

I had a go of the single player campaigns last night. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Pretty easy to cheese if you wanted to, but I just played it straight.

However there have been 3 expansions since I last played and having to learn about all the new cards and then trade for what I might need is putting me off multiplayer. That and I expect there will be mostly cheese decks at top level like there used to be before (though most of the old cheese I remembered has been fixed).

Also, having to reset each unit (like 900 or so that I have...) one at a time before I can use them in decks. Annoying...

[lamaros]

Aquired by SOE just now.

I've been playing for the last few months.

[schild]

Good purchase.

[Aez]

This game should rock but the xp system and the lack of draft/league killed it for me.

[Margalis]

The game certainly has issues, the UI is pretty cruddy and unresponsive for one. But nothing that couldn't be fixed up pretty easily.

[lamaros]

It'll be interesting to see where this takeover takes the game. From snippets on the forums it looks like the next patch will be something of a big one.

If they can get some fixes and more publicity and keep new players then they might be able to lower the cards costs a little, etc.

[angry.bob]

It'll be interesting to see where this takeover takes the game. From snippets on the forums it looks like the next patch will be something of a big one.

If they can get some fixes and more publicity and keep new players then they might be able to lower the cards costs a little, etc.

A graphics improvement and being able to change the size of the playfield would be good. Playing in 1680x1050 is like playing on a postage stamp. If they require a station pass or something though, it'll kill the game I think.

[Ghambit]

This game will ultimately go the way of crickets once Battleforge comes out.  It's a good game yah, but not in the same league by far.

p.s.
anyone wanna buy my cards?

[lamaros]

Battleforge is very meh. I'm still playing Pox.

What cards do you have?