HEX: Eventual Shards of Fate (just get it from Steam)

[Rendakor]

Scold I don't really want to SirBruce you but I disagree with pretty much every point you've made. The best way to play Hex on a budget is just play draft; ~$7 for 4 hours of gaming and some cards added to your collection, which also lets you see a really wide variety of cards. After doing that a few times you can get a sense of what sort of constructed deck you might want and work towards it.

[Teleku]

Did he just reference counter strike as an example of a game with a good community?   

[Scold]

Did he just reference counter strike as an example of a game with a good community?    

...if you disagree, what data points are you basing it on? The main CSGO forum these days is Reddit, and /r/GlobalOffensive is usually quite civil. Ingame, voice chat on ranked matches more often than not is people talking things over civilly, 'nice try dude' if you miss your clutch shot, etc. (Unless of course you're on Euro servers and get paired with Russians)

As for the pros, there's occasional drama certainly, but a lot of the biggest personalities in the pro world like Fiffy, Pasza, etc. are known for their friendliness, fan interaction on Twitch, etc. It's not as heartwarming/fuzzy as the Smash Bros community (which is still the gold standard for a competitive gaming community), but it's definitely not the Bad Old Days anymore.

[Scold]

The problem is, in a TCG, your cards have actual value.  The things you want would tank the economy of a TCG.

I don't want my cards to have actual value -- it adds nothing except impediments to actually playing the game. I am not into playing CNBC with my cardstock. I want to have fun playing a video game. The stellar NetRunner re-release has proven the superiority of the non-collectible model in my eyes.

Scold I don't really want to SirBruce you but I disagree with pretty much every point you've made. The best way to play Hex on a budget is just play draft; ~$7 for 4 hours of gaming and some cards added to your collection, which also lets you see a really wide variety of cards. After doing that a few times you can get a sense of what sort of constructed deck you might want and work towards it.

I don't mind them charging for people who want to draft extra, but not getting free drafts every day or two is a huge problem since I can't feel free to experiment with my draft deck in a fun way without it costing me RL cash. SolForge handles this well with either 1 free draft or 2 free constructed tourneys (or 2 free phantom drafts) per week, assuming you log in daily.

Modern games are fucking Twitter compared to Magic's long form book style.

If that's what you like, cool.

I like Twilight Struggle and Magic. That's how things go.

A game can have MtG-level complexity without needing each of MtG's design and distribution decisions. (And it's not like every block of MtG has had a particularly scintillating meta; it's been hot and cold over the years, just as with many similar games)

In particular, I think SolForge's card leveling/transformation mechanic, if explored properly, allows for greater depth in both deck construction and gameplay than the MtG power ramping system. In sets 3 and 4, as SBE starts to really explore that design space, that's really starting to become apparent.

[WayAbvPar]

Uninstall. Not the game for you.

[schild]

In particular, I think SolForge's card leveling/transformation mechanic, if explored properly, allows for greater depth in both deck construction and gameplay than the MtG power ramping system. In sets 3 and 4, as SBE starts to really explore that design space, that's really starting to become apparent.

This is literally insane. A small shell script can probably play SolForge effectively. I have to assume you're trolling me at this point.

[eldaec]

Uninstall. Not the game for you.

Exactly this.

There is no point playing this if it is the TCG concept that you don't like. Trading and card libraries are a part of the game, they are not outside if it. It's OK not to like that fact, but you are wasting your time trying out games that are explicitly designed in this way. It's like buying Call of Duty and then declaring there is too much shooting.

Also, broader advice, you'll probably enjoy life more if you don't start convincing yourself that entire genres are simply superior to other genres.

[Ironwood]

In fairness, if there was Any Sniff of PvE, it might be ok to talk in this fashion.

However, I'm going to have to agree with the 'Uninstall' Crowd.  This just doesn't seem to be your game, so best off just leaving it.

[Scold]

In particular, I think SolForge's card leveling/transformation mechanic, if explored properly, allows for greater depth in both deck construction and gameplay than the MtG power ramping system. In sets 3 and 4, as SBE starts to really explore that design space, that's really starting to become apparent.

This is literally insane. A small shell script can probably play SolForge effectively. I have to assume you're trolling me at this point.

...when was the last time you played SolForge? The way you talk about the game, tbh it seems like your experience with it is seriously limited. The game has an extremely high skill ceiling in draft, as evidenced by the ability of top players to consistently 4-0 and 3-1 for dozens of drafts on end (either record allows you to draft again without paying additional money).

My guess is you popped into the game for a bit during vanilla set 1 and your impressions were formed by that?

[Rendakor]

For those of you who don't follow the Hex subforum, we're starting an f13 League.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=24641.0

[Kail]

For those of you who don't follow the Hex subforum, we're starting an f13 League.

http://forums.f13.net/index.php?topic=24641.0

I think access to that subforum is still restricted, I'm getting an "off limits" from that link.

[Rendakor]

It is, PM a mod for access (schild isn't in IRC or I'd harass him for you).

[schild]

Kail, you now have access.

[WayAbvPar]

In case f13 is your only source of Hex news, and you aren't in the private forum, this has finally gone 'gold' with a fairly large PvE update. Still missing some stuff from the Kickstarter (guilds, etc), but the free to play part is reasonably robust now. Worth checking out if you haven't yet done so.

[Ruvaldt]

If you need commons, hit me up!

[Rendakor]

I can also contribute to any f13er's collection.

[Yegolev]

Making time for this is the difficult part, but I am going to try a bit harder with this news.

[Thrawn]

Set 4 was (finally) released and Hex is also available on Steam now.

[lamaros]

Set 4 was (finally) released and Hex is also available on Steam now.

But is it any good yet?

[Thrawn]

Set 4 was (finally) released and Hex is also available on Steam now.

But is it any good yet?

Initial impressions are yes.

[Malakili]

It's been good all along. The problems have been entirely with set release delays, in my opinion.

[schild]

Haven't encountered a single bug, and seriously, this set seems great.

[Velorath]

Yeah, I'm really liking Set 4 so far (it helps that I've been doing pretty well early on).

[lamaros]

It's been good all along. The problems have been entirely with set release delays, in my opinion.

I played from the start, there were a lot more issues than just set release delays!

Good to know it's more stable now, I might give it a whirl.

[Ruvaldt]

Set 4 is excellent and it's easier (cheaper) to start playing now due to a new evolving sealed gauntlet pvp format and expanded pve.  I still recommend swiss draft for new players though.

[WayAbvPar]

It is definitely starting to flesh out. If they can ever get regular set releases and add some game types, they will really have something. Set 4 was long overdue, but it might just have been worth the wait. Seems really fun so far.

 The chat system is still a fucking disaster though. If you want to communicate with friends it is far easier to use 3rd party software.

[Velorath]

The chat system is still a fucking disaster though. If you want to communicate with friends it is far easier to use 3rd party software.

Yeah, I tend to avoid it to the point where I only just now noticed that I have friend requests from a half a dozen people here that I never accepted. Not that there's much reason to talk while playing unless you end up in a draft with someone you know. 9 times out of 10 now I don't even respond to the customary "gl and hf" some people greet you with at the start of a match.

[Malakili]

Reminder that we do have an Irc channel for people who want to talk hex.

[hal1]

This may not work well, but I'm gonna try anyway. Can I please have access to the super seekret hex forum? I downloaded it yesterday (from steam) been playing today. And prolly understand 1% of what is going on. So any and all insight will be helpful.

[schild]

This may not work well, but I'm gonna try anyway. Can I please have access to the super seekret hex forum? I downloaded it yesterday (from steam) been playing today. And prolly understand 1% of what is going on. So any and all insight will be helpful.

You have access.

[hal1]

Thank you. I want to say so much more. But just thank you.

[lamaros]

I went to download this and was then reminded of how many games I got shafted because the timer issues with lag. Have those been addressed?

[HaemishM]

Lag seems to be in the "annoying at worst" stage and has been for a long time. I don't think I've seen a game won or dropped for timer issues due to discos or lag in almost a year.

[Quinton]

Just reinstalled, figured out passwords, etc, blergh, their font rendering still makes my eyes bleed.

[Falconeer]

Just reinstalled. I was given a beta code two years ago by eldaec, but I didn't do much with it because it was raw and required money and I decided to wait. As far as I know, I had zero cards. Or a couple of starter decks, not sure what you used to start with back then. Reinstalled today and apparently I have 1256 cards in my collection. Is it possible? How? Why?

EDIT: They are all white and green. And literally three blue.