Card Shop?

[DennisBergkamp]

I've managed to convert the MOTL list into a format we can use (after throwing lots of regular expressions at it!)
Now, I've removed all of the duplicates, and I'm not sure which ones I removed exactly, but it seems I'm using the most expensive version for most of them... these can be tweaked a bit probably.

[Rob Cashwalker]

great... do you think the conversion can become automated in the program?

[Chris H.]

I have taken a quick look at the list and some of the cards are priced at just 1.

Hmmm ...

Enormous Baloth =1
Force of Nature =1
Mahamoti Djinn =1
Stangg =1

[DennisBergkamp]

Hmm, yeah now that's weird...

As far as automating this, it should be possible, but it's tricky with all of the duplicates.

[Rob Cashwalker]

Duplicates are easy - just average them.

I've been playing it a bit, and here's my take. The starting credits is high, at least as long as all the rares were 200.... I sold off a few cards that I didn't put in my starting deck, and while I haven't won a single match, (0-3) selling unwanted cards that I get from losing has put me up to about 1000 credits, so I can buy any rare that fits my deck that happens to show up.
So adding the card shop also affects the value of having cards added to your pool even when losing.
On the flip side, it does evoke the fun feeling of a role playing game, or like Zelda, where you had to purchase some of the items critical to defeating the labyrinths.

[DennisBergkamp]

Yeah, perhaps I should make the reward for losing less worthwhile (or non-existent).
Or maybe start the selling percentage of cards even lower (15 - 20%?).
Another idea is to punish players for losing by subtracting a small amount of credits.

Now, there is still luck involved of whatever cards show up for sale (most of the time crappy stuff shows up, especially in the beginning).

[Rob Cashwalker]

A little bit of all of the above sounds right. The number and rarities of the cards in the shop seems OK. The selling percentage is not terrible, but yeah, drop it a bit. Starting credits should be dropped down. The number of cards gained after a win or loss can be reduced because of the card shop making up for the slack. Random variation in card prices along with real prices should then balance the card shop itself.

[mtgrares]

Perhaps someone has mentioned this and maybe they haven't. Instead of changing the prices, just change the amount of money that the player wins. Shorter quests would win more money per game than longer quests.

[DennisBergkamp]

I don't think that would work, because as it turns out, people play hundreds of games (they don't end it after just 10 - 40 games).
The card shop is also more of an addition that's useful for quests that are that long, since really not that many cards show up.

[DennisBergkamp]

Another thing I've noticed with the MOTL list is that it doesn't include WorldWake cards for some reason??

[Rob Cashwalker]

Sure it does....
http://www.magictraders.com/cgi-bin/set ... gi?set=WWK

I checked a few and found the cards on the main list.

[DennisBergkamp]

Ahh, I see... the version of the list I saved (must've been 3 - 4 days ago) did not have any of them.

[Rob Cashwalker]

Brand new cards might take some time to appear on a list... in that case, just default to a 300/100/50 scale.

[Chris H.]

I just played my second match with the newest quest update r585. The card shop is also useful for those people who play short term quests. It is nice to be able to buy several cards to help fill out a 2 color 40 card deck or a 3 color 60 card deck.

I am lucky that I won my second match and won credits rather than loosing credits.

[Chris H.]

I think that we should remove the basic lands (snow and non-snow) from the list of cards that we can sell. I just sold a hand full of snow-covered basic lands and was able to buy the Demonic Tutor that was priced at 511 credits. This is just to good of a deal to pass on.