Advanced Fallen Worlds TCG (f2p, browser)

[kylie]

        Just a plug for my latest little addiction...  Advanced Fallen Worlds.

        This is a game quite similar in play to Magic (but using dice to resolve combat).  Before picking a starting set of cards, read the faction descriptions carefully, and see if you can get a peek at the Library (black navigation bar at top; card filters on the left side of page) to get some sense of what each faction offers in total.  However, once you start collecting, it is much easier than Magic to combine cards of various colors (or here, factions).  If you like to mix up the factions in one deck, you can do a whole lot of that by building around one of several Neutral faction capital cards (a "city" card that determines how many HP you have, and some special abilities).

   The pros: 

         *   Many options for how to build your decks and what timing to play what (pre- or post-combat deployment, distinct phases of play).
         *   A variety of bots you can play at various difficulty levels.  Even (if you are patient) multiplayer/team games can be filled with bots.
         *   The Easy level bots really are quite easy.  Good chance you can become a coin farmer without grinding for months or paying.
         *   Coins (game currency) for every win or loss.  You get more coins if you play for consecutive days, or use the site daily. So you really can expand your collection fairly quickly, just by farming the bots with a little persistence.  You can pay if you like that sort of thing, but you certainly don't have to.  I played often, but within the frame of a couple weeks I am close to utilizing the "10 boosters for the price of 9" deal.  Whee! 
          *   Easy to use Market:  Post a few cards for sale (for coins), remove them at will, or commit coins if someone will sell cards you want (remove at will).
          *   All in your browser -- no downloads (if you like that). 
          *   You can exit games in progress with bots when you like, and continue later.


     The cons:

           *   Still a few bugs.  Some cards may take effect too well, weaker, just strangely, or not at all on occasion.
           *   Currently a small user base.  Easier to find bots (always available) than people (just a few really active ones).
           *   Only one form of booster pack currently available.  There has been some promise for more faction specialty boosters later.
           *   Game interface involves a lot of scrolling and clicking.  Sometimes I think there are too many phases, some little used.
           *   Interface sometimes short on info -- whoever is blocking who in combat, etc.   (I imagine they have to improve this eventually?)
           *   A small card set as yet, 350-ish cards in total so far?  (Maybe a con for some people.)
           *   This is a reboot (and upgrade) of a game that suffered a database crash in the past.  I do hope it wouldn't happen again, but just fyi!
           *   I think, lots of very masculine card themes, mediocre art, and a bit too "modern" flavor on the controls -- but your mileage may vary (a lot)!


Con or Pro???  :  Potentially addictive if you like games like this.   
         

[kylie]

          Well, lately they seem to be having a bit of a managerial crisis.  The active player base is still small and some are asking for new rewards (for playing people in particular) --- and somehow the two staffers got together and used this as an inspiration to declare they have been letting everyone win coins too rapidly already!    

           So now we have a guy who has himself been selling off his many extra cards, even rares, for as little as 1 coin each to help newer players in a tiny trading market, saying they can't fund the game if it keeps rewarding people so much in regular win coins.  I sense a little contradiction here.  It's all well-intentioned, but all this is going on while people are still reporting bugs in ten or twelve cards -- stuff just not working -- some weeks. 

           At least, the programmer does swing through and fix and update things very often, and that part is still impressive.  He's obviously trying to actively start adding other game modes, too. 

          But right now, I'm afraid they need to make up their mind what they are doing and whether this is going to be a long-term, more indie mass game or a short-term, copy the pro models, "leet" game for a smaller core really.  They seem to be talking a lot about what "other games have done" to make money all of a sudden.  They promise money earned will go back into the game...  But it's sounding like they will tighten up again on fueling a community that is still very small, and not all that diehard really yet.  And the software/ cardset is not quite 100% set yet either...  Though the game concept is generally good.
 

[kylie]

        There has been some overhaul of the coin rewards, so it's not nearly so easy to gain cards as it used to be.  The multiplier for playing consecutive days was finally deemed too easy and removed...  It was partly replaced with a system that gives set rewards for cumulative (not necessarily consecutive) days of each month played, with a variety of rewards built in, not just coins.  As for playing games, now it's mostly flat rate rewards but a graded system.  The system there pays more for playing more humans or (to a lesser extent) simply playing more opponents -- as well as winning.  So, it's possible to still advance at a somewhat slower pace by playing multiple bots per game when you have built up enough cards to do that well!  Or you can still grind along playing individual bots too, but it would take 34 wins (it's 3 coins per win versus individual bots) to get a booster pack... Overall: starting out may seem a bit steeper than it was with coin multipliers in effect, is my suspicion. 

        Starting players can have some advantage in Daily Rankings if they are very active, because the good ones might gain levels faster and relative level gain is now tied to that form of payout -- which includes coins and/or some other things.  However, the overall payouts for those rankings are not so huge except at the very top (where you could get a booster pack or a rare card) and they only pay once per week.

         There are still a few cards in Achievement sets that are given each week for using certain other cards a certain number of times (some in a game, some just over the week).  Of course, these become easier as one's collection expands.  But the cards on offer change each week, so they also provide at least some opportunity for new acquisitions.  As long as you have some time, and preferably free deck slots (the slots take a little startup time to acquire), to rearrange things and chase those.

        And there are still really quite a few bugs, some of them quite funny.  Sometimes I wish they would slow down and fix the stuff they have up, instead of apparently working so much on adding features for various other styles. 

        At the same time, there is an expanding range of stuff going on.  A few new cards have been added and there is some hint of a wider expansion already in the works (or is that a revival of cards that existed before the last database crashed??)...  There is also now a Gauntlet with bots of increasing difficulty and its own weekly ranking and payouts, although I found it daunting on first approach and have not really gone there yet.  Maybe that serves to reward the better equipped collections?

         It's a lovely concept...  Still a very slowly growing and small player base.  You can have quite a bit of fun just playing bots though, I'm finding.

         

[kylie]

           Unfortunately, this apparently did not pay for the development costs and it has finally come to an end.

           It was a lovely concept for deck building and often, play balance.  I hope some other games may show up that allow so much variety of strategy and so much immediate encouragement to keep collecting.

[Inkidu]

Well that's unfortunate. I never picked it up because I'm tired of fantasy tcgs, but always a shame when something goes under. :|