The Ultimate Quest Mode Thread

[timmermac]

I originally made this thread some years back as sort of a quest mode progress thread, and I'm creating this new thread for a similar purpose. So here's how I'm hoping this thread will run. It's open to anybody that plays quest mode. Anything quest-mode related can go in here.

Here's what I'm looking for people to post:

Funny/cool/strange things that happen during matches
The best random rares that people get
cool random booster wins
Best starting pools in a new quest
Best card shop experiences - i.e.: "I just purchased a Champions of Kamigawa Tournament pack and got Keiga, Ryusei and Jugan as the rares! Woot!"
Preferred tweaks to quest.preferences
Overall quest record
Opponents that you totally own or get owned by

Bugs should go in the release thread for the beta being used. If using a snapshot, there's a snapshot bug thread in the Developers' Corner sub-section

[timmermac]

And I guess I'll get it started off. I've only played one match in this quest and I already have 3x Nightmare.

[Stampedo]

Are you in charge of the quest mode development?
I mean, is this thread meant to improve this mode, or just to share our experience with the quest mode?

[timmermac]

I don't do any programming/developing, aside from providing the rare useful idea. I'm just a forum moderator and someone who has played Forge for several years. This thread is here for people to share their quest mode experiences. Speaking of that, I just picked up a Worship as a random rare. My deck is turning into my usual everything-including-kitchen-sink type deck.

[Fizanko]

I think there's some kind of time distortion coded in the Quest mode.

Yesterday, while i was waiting a dozen of minutes for a file to download before i shutdown my system, i decided to use that time to play a couple of Quest duels to see if it could provide me with some more interesting cards than i had in my deck.

When i finally shutdown my system after quitting Forge and checking the file was there, it was already 2 hours that have been spent.

Be careful , Quest mode is really addictive
(at least i got some good cards to improve my deck from that)

[tasteful]

quest mode is all i play. its the perfect magic format in a lot of ways. i think they should probably raise the minimum decksize back up to 60 though. although playing combo decks all the time is pretty fun

[timmermac]

Currently 8-1, and I've managed to get 5x Nightmare and 2x Goblin King. Only match I've lost was the first one to Oberon.

Edit: Correction, make that 6x Nightmare

[friarsol]

quest mode is all i play. its the perfect magic format in a lot of ways. i think they should probably raise the minimum decksize back up to 60 though. although playing combo decks all the time is pretty fun

It's not like the devs are forcing you to make 40 card decks. If you'd rather have 60 card decks, build 60 card decks.

[Fizanko]

Don't worry, after some defeats and a couple of victories you're going to be able to build your 60 cards decks without a problem, even monocolored ones.

[Xyx]

I stick to the following stipulations:

Vintage legal decks
60 cards, no more than one of each restricted card. Without that, decks become absolutely degenerate. I've played enough of that in Shandalar.

Non-fantasy
20 life, no pets. I think the life point "leveling" is cool and the store perks are great, but the free mulligan feels like cheating and the pets are totally busted.

Empty all-prices.txt
I played my first quest before I discovered the "Download Card Prices" button and it was AWESOME! It was like Shandalar, but with planeswalkers and everything! I played for hours on end. I was stoked to visit the store after each match and I was ecstatic when I got to purchase a mox. But then I downloaded the card prices for a new quest and discovered that pretty much all the good cards were forever out of my reach. The whole "zero to hero" aspect (which was one of the things that made Shandalar so awesome) was gone. This reduced my enjoyment of Quest Mode to the point where I decided to delete all-prices.txt. I might play 100 games in a single quest but there's no way I'm going to play the 500 games required to save up for one Black Lotus.

No traveling
Traveling resets stores, so the best strategy is constant traveling in search of good cards to buy. Tedious best strategies are a game design flaw. (insert MaRo quote)

Default quest.preferences
However, I also like upping the "boosters in store" count since otherwise stores get uninteresting fast. After a dozen or so duels I have all the commons I'll ever need, so I'm only checking in for the rares. But with just two boosters on offer and a bazillion bad cards printed, that often means there's nothing for me.

[Fizanko]

I might play 100 games in a single quest but there's no way I'm going to play the 500 games required to save up for one Black Lotus.

http://i.imgur.com/nBJgxG1.jpg

I think much more than 500 games (if you didn't change the starting and rewards gold of course)

Now playing with ante can sometime bring interesting possibilities to work around those kind of spellshop prices

But playing with ante without using the fantasy mode can bring insanity when you lose your most valuable card (as in fantasy mode you can buy an expensive upgrade to have the spellshop allowing you to buy your lost card(s) after a match)

[friarsol]

No traveling
Traveling resets stores, so the best strategy is constant traveling in search of good cards to buy. Tedious best strategies are a game design flaw. (insert MaRo quote)

Traveling is a fairly new thing in quest, added when Quest Worlds were. But I agree, Traveling needs to cost a nominal amount of money (like 200-500 gp) and limit how often you can activate it (Once every 3-5 wins/matches). We discussed this at the time the developer in charge was adding it, but he never got around to it.

Default quest.preferences
However, I also like upping the "boosters in store" count since otherwise stores get uninteresting fast. After a dozen or so duels I have all the commons I'll ever need, so I'm only checking in for the rares. But with just two boosters on offer and a bazillion bad cards printed, that often means there's nothing for me.

Yea I think I'm going to revisit the balancing there. Forge used to just scale boosters with your wins. At one point I added more boosters in the early game, and pushed out how quickly gaining boosters scales, causing an inverted bell curve, but 2 boosters is probably just two few.

[KrazyTheFox]

"I can deal with some big creatures," I thought. "My little ones can block forever," I said to myself.

Then, of course, a turn 3 (their second) It That Betrays.

[Fizanko]

Wow that must hurt so early game (lucky AI to have been able to put it on the graveyard on turn 1 so it could Animate Dead to workaround the huge 12 mana the card is)

[timmermac]

I usually get around the whole expensive cards deal by having all my quests start with the maximum amount of credits that Forge can support: 999999999.