Feedback / Suggestions

[Alph]

+1 on the attack with all button

Another good idea would be to be able to define permanently a target for effects that you will always be using for the same permanent/player (i.e. Jace's Erasure and the like) and possibly an 'always use effect' button so that when you have 10 erasures on the stack you won't need to select target, confirm and repeat it 10 times
Also, the graft creatures on MM2, since I believe there are few exceptions when you will be giving your opponent's creatures the +1/+1 counters.

[The0retico]

I just wanted to write that:)...

It is really annoying to play with Pyromancer Ascension in modern storm- you have always two triggers and after two counters you want to always use copy and never add counters.
It would be great to have context menu on permanents where you could choose "Always use ability X." or "Never use ability X.", where X is an optional ("may") triggered ability.

Also ordering of cards entering a graveyard at the same is irrelevant for Standard and Modern (and most Limited formats) - it would be great to have an option in preferences to turn it off.

[The0retico]

Some more feature requests:
- option in table filter to show/hide password protected tables
- button to move all cards from maindeck to sideboard in the deck construction view for sealed deck
- it would be great to have ability to move cards using single click between maindeck and sideboard in sealed deck construction view
- a way to donate to the project through this site, ideally using micropayments on each release:)

[LevelX]

Some more feature requests:
- option in table filter to show/hide password protected tables

But you know, that the table "Info" column has a added " PW" for games protected by password?

- button to move all cards from maindeck to sideboard in the deck construction view for sealed deck

At least you can switch to the list view, easily mark all cards and push the button "Add selected cards to sideboard". Done.

- it would be great to have ability to move cards using single click between maindeck and sideboard in sealed deck construction view

You mean single click in distinction to double click (what is working now) while you're in the image view I guess?
It's no help to switch to list view and move multiple cards with one click on the move button?

- a way to donate to the project through this site, ideally using micropayments on each release:)

No, we don't need that.

[bestdayever]

Some small problems I've noticed after jumping into a server and playing a game or two.

- No button states
This is probably one of the most painful parts of the client and in most platforms the easiest to fix. Whenever you click something in client you get no feedback whatsoever. This makes it so painful to do simple tasks like adding cards, clicking done on phases etc. Would be nice to highlight the tab you are on and buttons with pressed and other states. I wish I knew more about swing to suggest improvements but if there is a place where I can get a crashcourse I might be able to provide some suggestions or fixes.

- Server game join screen
Yikes this is cluttered and most of the info is conveyed in a confusing way. Part of the confusion stems from the client having no states for clicking. When you click a game once you have no idea which row you picked, no highlighting or any other state information.

- Phases can be tedius
It would be neat if it skipped the phase if there was nothing to be played. It wouldn't need to be automatic since that might tip the other player off about the hand but it might be nice to pop up something to the user to allow them to skip all those interactions for a turn. This would require thorough testing of the game engine to make sure there are no regressions.

[PalladiaMors]

I'd like to request support/implementation of the "Block Party" format. In this format, you can play with any deck that is legal for any block constructed format. So you can have matches between a Mirage block deck and a Theros block deck, or between an Invasion block deck and an Innistrad block deck. I realize that it won't be fully playable right now because the older blocks are still quite incomplete, but we could start playing with the already complete blocks for the time being.

Basically the idea in this format is to use nearly the entire MtG card pool, without having overpowered decks like Legacy or Vintage. It can also be interesting to see decks from different periods facing each other, and the format is very diversified, the amount of different available strategies is huge. A lot of cards see that would never see play in the eternal formats are commonly played in Block Party. It also stimulates people to build and play with block decks, while right now it's nearly impossible to find people interested in playing any block constructed formats.

This used to be a pretty popular format during the 2000s, here are some links of live and online tournament results.

Block Party uses the banned/restricted cards list from each individual block format. The full list can be found under the Block section in the ban lists on the WotC site.

I know this isn't going to be a high priority right now, since not too many people play this format nowadays, but it could be of interest to some people besides myself and it's a super fun format. It also gives a meaning to all the effort that goes into coding all the cards that don't see play in the most commonly played formats. Please consider implementing this when you guys have some time to spare. Thanks!

[Lysk]

My personal feature wishlist:

• An extra-turn-display, maybe in the player-info panel, that shows +x, where x is the remeining extra turns of a player (+0 if his or her current turn is an extra turn and it's his or her last remaining extra turn. invisible in normal turns without remaining extra turns)
• A different colored border for cards with conditions that indicates if the condition has been met. For example the trap cards.
• Put some use to the collection Viewer: Let users mark cards as favourites, that then become chosen over their other versions in all decks they load to play with. Maybe expand the preferences by a bool that toggles this behaviour. Favourites could also be checked upon importing a decklist. Or provide an additional "Pimp Deck"-button in the deck editor, that swaps all matched cards in the currently open deck with their favorited versions (if there are any). The algorithm could also shuffle versions if multiple versions of the same card are selected.
• Collapsible player boards. Multiplayer Matches with a defeated player (or more than one) waste a lot of potential display space.
• Implement "always yield to this" and "always yes to this" functions to help players handle the stack more efficiently.
• (Kinda lower than low prio) While I'm on the stack, multiplayer commanders would love you (even more) if there was something like a "Yield until something affects me or all players or the last end step before my turn" function.
• A few Chat improvements: Whispering to folks. Buddies. Emotes, maybe even Emoticons.

[rigeld2]

Stop. Stealing. Focus.

That would be my ideal feature. I'm really tired of accidentally skipping a phase because I'm typing in another window and XMage steals focus and grabs a spacebar.

[crazykupo]

The launcher - I love some of the backgrounds.

And then some of the backgrounds are awkward looking to me. Boobs.

I don't see where I can use my own or maybe pick the one I want. Am I missing something? If we can't, can we get this?

Awesome program. I love you guys.

[Doctor Weird]

The launcher - I love some of the backgrounds.

And then some of the backgrounds are awkward looking to me. Boobs.

I don't see where I can use my own or maybe pick the one I want. Am I missing something? If we can't, can we get this?

Awesome program. I love you guys.

Those background images are bundled in the launcher's jar file, I'm pretty sure there's no easy option to change them right now like there is for the program itself.

I can't answer for the last question, about getting that feature, but if you're really determined to cut out or even add/replace some of the images you could always edit the file yourself, if you're willing to. It's not that complicated, depending on how much you want to change.

[BeorTheOld]

I was wondering if xmage could implement a deck hand tester. Something that you can load a deck into and get a hand of 7 cards, there could be a button that allows you to mulligan and another button to get a new hand of seven cards.

A lot of people use xmage for playtesting decks they are making and the tool would be useful to me and others.

[crazykupo]

The launcher - I love some of the backgrounds.

And then some of the backgrounds are awkward looking to me. Boobs.

I don't see where I can use my own or maybe pick the one I want. Am I missing something? If we can't, can we get this?

Awesome program. I love you guys.

Those background images are bundled in the launcher's jar file, I'm pretty sure there's no easy option to change them right now like there is for the program itself.

I can't answer for the last question, about getting that feature, but if you're really determined to cut out or even add/replace some of the images you could always edit the file yourself, if you're willing to. It's not that complicated, depending on how much you want to change.

Okay I didn't even know a .jar is really just a .zip. I unarchived it, deleted the ones I didn't like, duplicated the ones I do like (renaming so I still had 1.jp ... 17.jpg) and then ran "jar uf XMageLauncher-0.3.4.jar backgrounds/" to update the jar file with the changed background folder.

Amazing what one simple question leads to the right google search. Thanks so much!

[Doctor Weird]

Okay I didn't even know a .jar is really just a .zip. I unarchived it, deleted the ones I didn't like, duplicated the ones I do like (renaming so I still had 1.jp ... 17.jpg) and then ran "jar uf XMageLauncher-0.3.4.jar backgrounds/" to update the jar file with the changed background folder.

Amazing what one simple question leads to the right google search. Thanks so much!

Glad you could figure it out on your own.

I might as well go all the way and add that if you wanted to add more (or fewer) images you could do so by editing one line in a class file in the jar (you'd need a proper program of your choice to open the .class file, of course).

The file is in XMageLauncher-0.3.4.jar\com\xmage\launcher\XMageLauncher.class

The line is:

Code: Select all

int imageNum = 1 + r.nextInt(17);

This is what picks a random number when the launcher starts to decide what image to display. Change the 17 to the new number of images in the backgrounds folder and that's it. Unfortunately, both for fewer or more images the number needs to be corresponding, or else the launcher won't... well, launch.

But like I said, I'm just adding this for the sake of adding it, you already got your solution sorted and I'm sure it serves you just fine.

[Faavre]

I love this software. It works really well when my end is connected to fast internet or the localhost server. It also works great when the servers have few users and my opponents have fast internet connections too.

You are doing nice work here. I just want to be helpful, since I am such a big fan of your software.

Here are my suggestions and feedback:

- FYI I use a Windows PC.


- When joining a match, the "Join" button sometimes moves just before I click and I end up joining a draft as the final member, so the draft begins and I have to leave because it was just a misclick.
Other times I misclick and join a match in the wrong format or with a player I've already played too many times.
These misclicks happen because the option to join a given game is scrolling with the game list.

A solution would be to put the join button next to the user's name as well as in the game list.

Another solution would be to install a button that joins the next oldest game in the given format within the given parameters without having to try to click "join" on a moving button. Parameters could be just like the ones in the "New Match" dialogue box. This way, the person waiting longest would get joined and drafts wouldn't get ruined. Plus, I'd get to choose my own parameters for the type of game I join.


- The scry disappears if anything but the scryed card is clicked. This results in accidental scrys to the top of the deck.

I tried minimizing, pressing ESC, etc. but short of a rollback or restarting the software from Task Manager I can't get it back.


- The Interface is intuitive, but certain features interrupt the GUI.

e.g.: Scrolling to view magnified cards often just stays on, even after scrolling opposite to turn off magnification. This blocks the cards until I can scroll over another card or the same card again.

e.g.: Turning on the preference to view card details when hovering over the card completely masks the cards under my cursor so I can't play anything and this leads to misclicks as I try to click the little edge of my card.


- Trying to read comments is nearly impossible, since the constant updates always cause scrolling to reset to the most recent comment. I can hold the scrollbar to keep my position after I jiggle the scrollbar but the comments have still continued moving on up and during busy periods this is time-consuming and frustrating.

The joining players ought to be in a separate box.


- One of your background images is light gray. Light gray makes white text hard to read. This should be replaced with black or orange or anything but light gray.

- In order to update the software on a limited connection, I have to download updates on a device with unlimited internet, then copy and paste the downloaded files into the existing xmage folder. Then, I have to open the "installed" file and change the Xmage.version value to match the download version. Then, the Xmage launcher recognizes it but occasionally the server does not. When this happens I have to start over using a backup copy of the previous version and update the software using the Xmage Launcher on my limited connection.

Xmage Launcher ought to detect the version in the downloaded Xmage Client files, or have the "installed" file inside the newest downloaded Xmage Client folders.


- These players be spiky, swearing and going way over trash-talk levels of overboard insulting behavior. Although it's rare for this to be anything other than ignorable, I'd like to block their usernames.

Sometimes the rudest players will stalk users and ensure that nobody else can join that user's games by always joining first. It's obnoxious and a good reason to be able to block a username.

Even if the stalker can work around a block by signing in with a new username, at least it's a hassle for them too and may prevent it from being too aggressive.

Blocking IP addresses is overboard though. It's nice to be able to play whomever I want, even if we weren't getting along under a different username.


- Convoke is so incredibly slow unless your connection is lightning fast.


- Players can join as many games as they want to join. So, they do.

Being in a bunch of games is slow and leads to poor play and inconsiderate game-play. Players ought to be limited to 2 simultaneous games consisting of 1 tournament and 1 match.


- Your game logs are just numbered and dated. I can't efficiently use them unless they are titled with: my name, opponents' names, "Win" or "Loss", round win-loss record and timestamp.

Even better would be for Xmage to spit-out a spreadsheet for me with this information and the game logs in it every time it closes, or just update a spreadsheet within Xmage.

Keeping data is very useful. Please help make it possible and convenient.


- Sometimes, players join Standard games with Legacy decks. I assume they just hacked the software. However, this is an annoyance when practicing the Standard format.


- During pre-release seasons the unreleased cards are fun to play and useful for deck-testing. However, I'd like to be able to specify whether or not they are allowable in my Standard games.

- If a player's internet speeds are so slow that game play is impossible, I see no reason for the software parameters to allow these players to join the servers. I think parameters must be set on the actual servers or you would have set them more tightly in the software already.


- Filter lands slow down game play when internet speeds are limited because they create extra clicks, as does the Convoke mechanic.

If I only need colorless manna from a filter land, it ought to just create colorless manna for me.


- Once the stack is resolved, effects from the stack, such as which creature has a new ability or attribute are invisible unless "Show tooltips when hovering" is turned on. Even then, if one of several creatures has a temporary static ability, it is sometimes turned off, for example "target creature cannot block" does not show up, so I can't react to it before actually choosing blockers if I missed the red arrows on the stack.


- The red arrows occasionally block the text under the usernames.


- The two boxes on the right of the battlefield make it impossible for someone to view their hands and card previews unless they have a high resolution screen. Other people have to close the chat box and the preview pane in order to see all 7 cards in their hands. Even then, they can't see more than 7.

The preview pane should be floating or stuck in the same row as chat. The game logs ought to scroll horizontally and without line-breaks. They are already color-coded so we can read them this way.

If it's impractical to move the content out of the side of the GUI, then the cards in hand ought to stack like the battlefield cards so that they can be seen next to the chat box and preview pane.


- When cards are programmed wrong, maybe you could list the defective cards on the Xmage Games page somewhere so that we can avoid the mistakes or avoid playing the cards altogether on Xmage until it's fixed.

You always fix the mistakes so quickly it is really excellent. However, they can really surprise and frustrate me. I'd prefer to see the mistakes before I play and without visiting the Xmage Forum.

[Doctor Weird]

- The scry disappears if anything but the scryed card is clicked. This results in accidental scrys to the top of the deck.

I tried minimizing, pressing ESC, etc. but short of a rollback or restarting the software from Task Manager I can't get it back.

I agree with most, if not all of your points. Just thought I would mention that if you click the card on the stack causing the scry (e.g.: clicking the Serum Visions currently on your stack) it will bring back the pop-up window with the scry cards to choose from. I've had that same problem happen to me before but luckily I happened to find clicking the card brings it back, which is why I find it odd how you mention "clicking anything but the scryed card" but maybe I'm just understanding it wrong or it somehow doesn't work for you. It's not an ideal "fix" or solution to it but hey, just letting you know for next time.

- The two boxes on the right of the battlefield make it impossible for someone to view their hands and card previews unless they have a high resolution screen. Other people have to close the chat box and the preview pane in order to see all 7 cards in their hands. Even then, they can't see more than 7.

Pretty sure this is what gets mentioned almost once a week around this forum, I'll just go ahead and give you this link as well while I'm at it: viewtopic.php?f=70&t=13632#p162924

Mind you, I do actually wish both the hand and stack areas were handled a lot differently (the whole GUI, actually), but again, just letting you know ways to remedy the situation.