Artifact is shit, apparently

Today I logged in into Steam and was greeted with some news: Artifact was released. I personally don't care about the game, but I was interested to see what people thought about it, so I visited the store page and read some reviews.

It's a microtransaction-riddled piece of garbage, it seems. There's no way to get free cards, literally, no slow grinding or daily bonuses, nothing. Oh, and you want to play those events? Better buy some tickets! As several people have been saying, your best card is your credit card.

I was one of those people that still gave Valve the benefit of the doubt, but now? They've just turned into another AAA game company. The game may get patched at some point, sure, but nothing will change the fact that they released a game that pretty much forces you to constantly pay to play it.

I could understand the microtransactions if it were free-to-play- for example, I think TF2 handles it fairly, especially since F2P status doesn't restrict you from getting weapons- you just get them randomly. But such is not the case here. There is no reason for a company to charge microtransations for a game that the customer already paid for, and the fact that cards can't even be earned in-game is the worst part. The game doesn't even look good.

I really hope the gaming community gets smart and stops putting money into mediocre games by AAA companies who care more about milking consumers dry than providing a quality product. Maybe if no one bought games like this they would learn their lesson.

From the pre-reviews months ago of people who were flown to Valve to try the game, they too said it was bad or meh. Perhaps Valve should have just paid the top Hearthstone streamers to stream the game for six months before its release.

With a name like Artifact I keep thinking "what's that?"

oh is this that dota 2 card game thing that was anounced? i literally have not heard a single thing about it until now, which i feel says a lot.

I think on a surface level it's impossible to do certain modes that give you packs as rewards infinitely without selling cards on the market place to refuel your steam wallet. How much you can earn from selling cards for real money remains to be seen, but it sure looks like Artifact is supposed to run on a business model that turns average or worse players into payers, while only a select few people get to play the game in its entirety for free with all the bells and whistles.

In comparison to hearthstone, which by the way is also very unwelcoming towards new players unless they get some help by an experienced veteran, this means that there's a high chance they'll run into issues with player retention, because however greedy hearthstone may be, you can still work towards a good deck even if you suck at doing basic math. Artifact doesn't have those luxuries, and it isn't even free-to-play. At this point I wouldn't be surprised if eventually they'll change around their business model a bit, but honestly, if you wanna get into a CCG, play hearthstone for free, get good at "arena", and start building a collection. Most people who did that grind for a month or two were able to build themselves a deck to compete at high levels of play.

Huh, so it is that bad? Oh my, how surprising (not).

After all the rage from fans when it was first announced because it was no HL installment it's of no surprise, even less so if it's ridden with micro-transactions. Maybe it will change with time, I've seen games that were disasters at launch but changed dramatically with time (or got fixed at least). That might never happen if it's rotten to the core however.

Since this is going to be just the first in a series of many, I can't wait to see what trainwrecks will those remaining "3 (unannounced) full VR games" will be.

E: Okay so I've scrolled through some reviews after writing this post. So far those were interesting reads:

Mhm, so it's supposedly that bad. Well, I'm sorry for the poor souls who have nothing better to do with their hard-earned money. And people deserve this frankly, it's what they get for supporting greedy, shitty practices instead of taking action against them.

I thought this thread was about a really old online RTS game I came across as a kid, heh.

http://www.samugames.com/artifact/

As for this game... ugh. I don't see the appeal whatsoever in a TCG that has an entry fee before you even get to see your first card, let alone gaining possession of competitively viable cards and constructing a good deck. Personally I much prefer playing a TCG in person, physically, with tangible cards. You talk to the people you're playing against, you get a read on their emotions while they think / play, you make friends - playing online anonymises and depersonalises a LOT of what I like about TCGs... Though of course that's just personal preference.

I'll stick to Lightseekers for now, which has a great app and physical cards (which can be scanned into the app so you own your physical cards online too). 

I'm going to call the next doom wad I make "Half-Life". At least then I can create my dream game when the developers can't.

24 minutes ago, NeedHealth said:

I'm going to call the next doom wad I make "Half-Life". At least then I can create my dream game when the developers can't.

Seems fans have to do their work (see Project Borealis).

Well, that's going to be a fun upcoming Jimquisition then.

2 hours ago, FractalBeast said:

Well, that's going to be a fun upcoming Jimquisition then.

Seeing how his previous vids were mostly shitting on lootboxes, I can't wait for him to destroy this predatory game.