Stop DOTP 2014

[thanosyro]

To all the talented programmers and modders of the DOTP 2014. Please stop updating this game and focus on Duels instead. Now its the time guys. 2014 is now a lost cause with many cards NOT function (with each new set things become worse). So please consider going with the Duels no matter how long it takes.

[Xander9009]

Duels can't handle the number of cards we'd be working with, and it'd mean converting thousands and thousands of cards not just from one version of a programming language to another, but also converting from XML to Lua, and we're not even sure how to fully manage that.

It's not getting worse and worse with each new set any more than would with Duels. We don't have dozens of new cards that don't work each set or anything, we've got a handful. There may be some bugs to deal with since they're newly coded, but that would happen regardless of which game we go with.

If you're feeling that strongly about it, I'd be more than willing to lend you some assistance if you'd like to try converting the CW from 2014 to Duels. It'd be great to get it working for Duels. Of course, there's another one coming out, Arena, that might be a better choice. But it'll depend on how it's done. However, it might very well be a completely different system altogether. We won't know until it's actually released.

[thefiremind]

Of course, there's another one coming out, Arena, that might be a better choice.

I was in doubt whether starting a topic to discuss about that or not. I didn't, not just because it's really early, but also because the devs seemed to manifest little to no care about AI, at least for the moment (I haven't seen what they wrote personally, but I'm following a topic about it on the NGA forums). If they decide to give up with AI entirely, modding Arena would be a lost cause even before starting.

[Splinterverse]

@thanosyro

Here are some of the reasons that Duels can't compete with DOTP:

-- It doesn't allow you to select which deck the AI will play. And, in my opinion, the AI doesn't seem to be as "smart" as the AI for DOTP.
-- There is no free-for-all, 4-player mode.
-- Duels eliminates some of the points at which players are supposed to be able to interact, skipping phases.

Not to mention how far we have come in that a low percentage of cards are missing from DOTP. We even have most of Ixalan.

If you have found bugs, please report them. We do try our best to fix them. If you don't get a response, post again. Sometimes there are so many messages that we may miss a bug.

I will be checking out Arena, but as TheFireMind said, if they have no plans to include AI play, there really will be no point for me.

[thanosyro]

the topmost issue in DOTP is the horrible ai in custom decks and the incapability to control non basic lands. In second comes the increasing non functional cards with complex rules. On the contrary i have big respect for the ai in Duels thats why i wish your talents focus on Duels. Ofcourse nothing matters if there would not be a magical tool like Riiak's Deck Builder also. Anyways thank you all and sorry my english.

[Splinterverse]

the topmost issue in DOTP is the horrible ai in custom decks and the incapability to control non basic lands.

The behavior of the AI can be somewhat controlled within the code of the cards. If you see the AI playing a card poorly, that card may not have all of the AI code it should. If you post a note about the card and what you witnessed, we can take a look and see if it is missing any AI code.

As for the lands . . . there are MM and non-MM lands. You have to make sure that the deck uses non-MM lands if you want the AI to be able to use them. We spent a lot of time making non-MM versions of cards for this reason. If you are using decks that have been uploaded here, they may contain MM lands. Open them in the deck builder and replace the MM versions with non-MM and you should have a better experience.

In second comes the increasing non functional cards with complex rules.

Let us know which ones are non-functional and we can try and fix them. The more cards that are created, the more likely this will be a problem. Duels would have the same issue, especially since it has converted to a different coding language now.

On the contrary i have big respect for the ai in Duels thats why i wish your talents focus on Duels.

Remember that Duels and DOTP were made by the same company. The AI in Duels may have been dumbed down like the rest of the game was by limiting the number of cards, phases, etc. I think the AI only appears to be better to you because there are fewer cards in Duels and so you don't notice it making mistakes. If we were to mod it with as many cards as the CW, I think it's performance would be even worse.

[thefiremind]

In second comes the increasing non functional cards with complex rules.

Choosing Duels over DotP2014 wouldn't be a total upgrade, but more of a trade-off: there are mechanics that work in DotP2014 but don't work in Duels. You can take a look at my tests and results and you'll find some (for example: Phyrexian mana, the "doesn't die on 0 life" characteristic, the forced_skip attribute, and flipping a coin - although the latter can be easily reproduced while renouncing the cool coin animation).

In a world where everybody has unlimited time at their disposal, we would mod both platforms... unfortunately, that's not the world we live in.