Special quests

[Sloth]

So, I modified Sloth's Setup Game State file. I created 6 new cards for the cardsfolder. These provide a card representing each of the 6 stages of a plant wall pet.

This allowed me to play test Sloth's deck in a state that matched that stage of a quest game. Oh, I like the deck idea.

Thanks Chris. The plant pet is quite the right choice against this deck.

I will tinker with the blue deck next. Starting out with Forced Fruition, it has to be very weak (since the human can only cast about 6 spells before he gets decked).

[Chris H.]

Thanks Chris. The plant pet is quite the right choice against this deck.

`
I suspect that most people will concentrate on the plant wall first (25 wins). I think that after the wall most people will go for a wolf or bird pet (50 wins). At 75 to 100 wins people should have a higher life and other pets.

[friarsol]

I suspect that most people will concentrate on the plant wall first (25 wins). I think that after the wall most people will go for a wolf or bird pet (50 wins). At 75 to 100 wins people should have a higher life and other pets.

I'm not sure how other people play Quest Mode but I make sure to have a Level 1 Pet and a level 2 or 3 Wall by the time I start playing my first game.

[friarsol]

Thanks Chris. The plant pet is quite the right choice against this deck.

I will tinker with the blue deck next. Starting out with Forced Fruition, it has to be very weak (since the human can only cast about 6 spells before he gets decked).

Ouch Forced Fruition will be brutal for my 40 card decks that I build. Is this deck going to have a lower starting life total or anything of the sort?

[Sloth]

Thanks Chris. The plant pet is quite the right choice against this deck.

I will tinker with the blue deck next. Starting out with Forced Fruition, it has to be very weak (since the human can only cast about 6 spells before he gets decked).

Ouch Forced Fruition will be brutal for my 40 card decks that I build. Is this deck going to have a lower starting life total or anything of the sort?

We can give the human a Quest for Ancient Secrets.

[Chris H.]

Thanks Chris. The plant pet is quite the right choice against this deck.

I will tinker with the blue deck next. Starting out with Forced Fruition, it has to be very weak (since the human can only cast about 6 spells before he gets decked).

Ouch Forced Fruition will be brutal for my 40 card decks that I build. Is this deck going to have a lower starting life total or anything of the sort?

`
If all of the special quest opponent decks start with an enchantment/artifact in play, will this lead people to concentrate on a white deck with disenchants?

[Chris H.]

I'm not sure how other people play Quest Mode but I make sure to have a Level 1 Pet and a level 2 or 3 Wall by the time I start playing my first game.

`
I have played a quest or two using this system. Sell off all unneeded cards in unused colors and buff up on the wall and the wolf pets. It is far easier to win those first 25 matches with this type of help in play.

I think that this is OK if you do not plan to play the quest for 100's of matches. But it does not allow you to try other decks out as new cards come in to your pool.

Nonetheless, for play testing we want to give the human something besides that Island.

[Sloth]

Thanks Chris. The plant pet is quite the right choice against this deck.

I will tinker with the blue deck next. Starting out with Forced Fruition, it has to be very weak (since the human can only cast about 6 spells before he gets decked).

Ouch Forced Fruition will be brutal for my 40 card decks that I build. Is this deck going to have a lower starting life total or anything of the sort?

`
If all of the special quest opponent decks start with an enchantment/artifact in play, will this lead people to concentrate on a white deck with disenchants?

The harder decks can have protection in form of Greater Auramancy, Hanna's Custody or Privileged Position.

[Chris H.]

@ Sloth

There used to be a txt file with quest info. This file included a win number which is used to determine which quest decks are available during a quest.

25 wins is the minimum. The first 6 quest decks do not have to be exactly 25 wins. We could make the three easiest of these 6 decks 25 wins. The harder of these 6 could be set to, say 30 to 35 wins.

I have not yet found where these values are currently set given the major rewrite of the quest mode.

[Sloth]

@ Sloth

There used to be a txt file with quest info. This file included a win number which is used to determine which quest decks are available during a quest.

25 wins is the minimum. The first 6 quest decks do not have to be exactly 25 wins. We could make the three easiest of these 6 decks 25 wins. The harder of these 6 could be set to, say 30 to 35 wins.

I have not yet found where these values are currently set given the major rewrite of the quest mode.

If you find it, you can decide what's best. We can also start at 20 if you wish.

[friarsol]

I'm all for lowering the threshold for when you first start getting Quests. I usually don't play Quest Mode past 50 wins or so, since the initial deck is the most interesting part.

[Chris H.]

I found the data.

Turns out that the "quest.txt" file is still located in the /res/quests/ folder. I now suspect that Fnoed intended to move this data into the .dck files once the deck metadata work was finished.

[Sloth]

Here is a first draft for the blue dungeon deck:

Blue Dungeon

AI starts with: Forced Fruition
Human starts with: Quest for Ancient Secrets

| Open

quest2
[general]
constructed
[main]
20 Island
4 Wasteland
1 Cognivore
4 Visions of Beyond
1 Bonehoard
1 Conversion Chamber
4 Veil of Birds
1 Veiled Apparition
1 Veiled Serpent
1 Straw Golem
1 Isolation Cell
1 Chimeric Egg
1 Soul Barrier
4 Aven Fogbringer
4 Glowing Anemone
2 Cloud Pirates
2 Cloud Sprite
1 Cosi's Trickster
1 Water Wurm
1 Wandering Ones
1 Slippery Bogle
1 Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
1 Fugitive Wizard
1 Grayscaled Gharial
[sideboard]

Note that the deck is designed to not exploit the situation (no countering, bouncing etc.), in fact the human has a lot of time to plan ahead.

[Chris H.]

Sol's point that he likes to make sure that he has both a wall and a pet at the start of a quest is valid. I went ahead a put together pet cards for all walls and pets.

This should help anyone who would like to play test these newer special quest opponent decks in a fashion that resembles an actual quest.

Unzip the archive and place the folder with the pet cards into your cardsfolder. Forge is capable of reading in these cards.

`

[Chris H.]

Here is a first draft for the blue dungeon deck:

Blue Dungeon

AI starts with: Forced Fruition
Human starts with: Quest for Ancient Secrets

| Open

quest2
[general]
constructed
[main]
20 Island
4 Wasteland
1 Cognivore
4 Visions of Beyond
1 Bonehoard
1 Conversion Chamber
4 Veil of Birds
1 Veiled Apparition
1 Veiled Serpent
1 Straw Golem
1 Isolation Cell
1 Chimeric Egg
1 Soul Barrier
4 Aven Fogbringer
4 Glowing Anemone
2 Cloud Pirates
2 Cloud Sprite
1 Cosi's Trickster
1 Water Wurm
1 Wandering Ones
1 Slippery Bogle
1 Merfolk of the Pearl Trident
1 Fugitive Wizard
1 Grayscaled Gharial
[sideboard]

Note that the deck is designed to not exploit the situation (no countering, bouncing etc.), in fact the human has a lot of time to plan ahead.

`
This was a close game but I was just able to barely win with a 40 card deck. I would not have won without the Quest for Ancient Secrets.

There might be some lands or creatures that could provide a similar sort of experience for these types of decks/challenges.