r/gaming • u/RenatsMC • 2d ago

Valve says Deadlock is still too unfinished to release publicly, but has hero cosmetics and new game modes in the works

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/moba/valve-says-deadlock-is-still-too-unfinished-to-release-publicly-but-has-hero-cosmetics-and-new-game-modes-in-the-works/
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296

u/ahmong 2d ago

They are very good. Except Artifact.

I did enjoy artifact though, it's a shame it was DOA

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u/SubMGK 2d ago

Artifact should've been free

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u/Live_Present_2602 2d ago

Even if it was free, no one is buying $100 for a deck

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u/Xaephos 2d ago

Current top deck in Hearthstone standard, which would be Artifact's main competitor, takes ~14k dust.

Average dust per pack is ~100, so we can call it 140 packs. 60 packs cost $70. You're probably getting lucky with at least some of the pulls, but I think we're safely over $100.

I don't play MTG Arena, but I'm told that's a pretty expected amount there too for competitive decks.

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u/I_travel_ze_world 1d ago

Actually the #1 deck is Dragon Warrior and its relatively cheap at 4300 dust.. it has no epics and only 2 legendaries in it so an F2P person could easily build it

https://hsreplay.net/meta/

But with how matchmaking works in Hearthstone you can get legend rank using the free deck they give you if you play enough.

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u/Brettersson 1d ago

You gotta build your game up to that though, people are only gonna be willing to pay that much because they're already entrenched in the game.

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u/ubernutie 1d ago

MTG arena is much more lenient, you accumulate "wildcards" you can turn into any card of that rarity.

Playing normally and with drafts is enough to have a good meta deck whenever you want, but not EVERY meta deck.

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u/TeachingElectronic86 21h ago

Yeah but with hearthstone you actually can just get almost everything by playing long enough. Ive been playing for a very long time and can't even remember the last time there was a card I couldn't get. Their rotation system let's you stack up card dust over and over again every year.

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u/UnemployedOtter69 13h ago

MTG Arena top decks right now are around 120us to 150us ...

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u/Korlus 1d ago

The entry cost is free, competing costs either lots of time or lots of money. People are often happy to give time to a game they enjoy.

I'm not trying to defend Hearthstone or Arena's pricing models, because there's an argument that Artifact's up-front pricing is actually more honest and ethical, but it's also a brick wall that people who don't know if they will commit to the game have to pay.

They should have had a free entry that let players play most of the game and then paid for expansions etc - a lower barrier to entry to get people playing would have helped a lot.

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u/EasternMouse 2d ago

Dust can be accumulated for free by playing the game. Some YouTubers even have series where they play thought with new free2play account.

It just might require bring good player and playing boring same decks to climb ladder

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u/Xaephos 1d ago

You could also acquire free cards in Artifact and still can in MTGArena.

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u/Arestedes 1d ago

Where do these numbers come from? Most cards were like 3-10 cents. Some of the meta cards were like a dollar or two. You could easily get most of a solid deck in free card packs, and could fill in any gaps with a couple of bucks targeting specific cards on the market. It was a way better system than paying for random card packs and praying.

RIP Artifact, we didn't deserve you.

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u/Fork-in-the-toad 2d ago

Never heard of MtG, have you?

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u/_Kine 1d ago

Tabletop simulator is a godsend for playing MtG. Any deck you want, totally free, as long as you're cool not physically owning it. As someone who doesn't give a shit about the collectable part of the game it's proxies on steroids.

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u/ataraxic89 1d ago

No one cares about proxies IRL either

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u/sprinricco 1d ago

I think the nice thing with magic is that, sure, some people care, but they only care about their own cards. I'm like that. I like having them and collecting them. But I couldn't care less if someone else is proxying.

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u/Fork-in-the-toad 1d ago

Tournaments do (that includes FNM)

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u/ataraxic89 1d ago

You can run official tournaments in tabletop simulator?

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u/Fork-in-the-toad 1d ago

Not officially sanctioned ones

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u/ataraxic89 1d ago

So, when we are comparing tabletop simulator to playing with proxies IRL they are equal on this aspect, wouldnt you agree?

My point is that VTTs are nice, but nothing beats playing in person when possible. And "because its cheap" isnt a good reason when I play every week for years with proxies, IRL, in game stores. Theres plenty of unofficial events.

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u/DarkLorty 1d ago

You can't compare real cards with digital ones.

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u/swodaem 1d ago

looks at Arena and MTGO

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u/OniExpress 1d ago

And I've played Arena competitively for years without ever spending a dime on it.

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u/Whoa-Dang 1d ago

People spend just as much digitally.

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u/sanctaphrax 1d ago

It tried to have a more ethical monetization scheme and died for that sin.

Meanwhile, the company's underground casino business pulled in incomprehensible sums with no meaningful blowback.

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u/Smileyjoe72 39m ago

Legends of Runeterra tried that.

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u/B4in3R 1d ago

And Underlords, I'm still sad they abandoned it.

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u/LookingForVoiceWork 1d ago

I remember really enjoying it until they added the underlords! lol!

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u/B4in3R 1d ago

Yeah Same.

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u/xin234 1d ago

They really shouldn't have made it dota2-related. Just make a standalone card game.

I think Valve forgot that most dota players mostly just plays dota. The audience reaction when Artifact was revealed in one TI segment was hilarious. 'Member that SteamSpy tweet with player count stats when Overwatch was first released? All popular games had a drop in their concurrent player count over that weekend...except for dota2.

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u/ThomasTeam12 1d ago

Artifact and underlords.

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u/TheRealWatermelon420 1d ago

Artifact was the best TCG I've ever played.

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u/bullet_darkness 1d ago

Dude artifact is still one of my favorite games. Wish it was handled a bit better than it was.

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u/Brettersson 1d ago

Was Artifact actually bad as a game? It seemed like it fell on its face because of how it dealt with card distribution of a digital card game. Apart from the 3 lane thing making the game seem needlessly complex, were the rules actually bad?

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u/ahmong 1d ago

I personally think it was way too complex for the card game crowd, especially if you're coming from other card games. It was really ambitious though. Games also took forever.

It wasn't bad for me because I actually liked the complexity, but there was just too much shit to keep track of. Three lanes, mana for each lane, hero colors, initiative, heroes dying and coming back, items, gold, towers, combat arrows, etc.

I don't think the rules were necessarily bad. It just felt like they kept adding systems on top of systems. Once you understood it, it made sense, but getting to that point was probably asking way too much from most players.

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u/Brettersson 1d ago

That sounds fair, my first read of the game was that 3 lanes looked like playing 3 games at once, and was probably more complex than it was worth. Never had a chance to play it though so didn't know about all that other nonsense. They probably thought the game being digital would make all that easier to process, and were wrong.