It would be fair to say that the digital digital card game, Artifact, failed to make a significant impact following the launch of its high profile in late 2018. A few weeks after its arrival, users' numbers had plummeted – and now, after a year of Peace, Valve has finally announced further changes to the game, including even its own important card-making model.
Designed for Magic: Gathering creator Richard Garfield, who left Valve last March, Artifact struggled from players, refusing everything from the complexity of the game to comparing issues with its own pricing model, which – unlike Hearthstone and Gwent's competition – is included in the cost up front, aside from the extra card charge . By the time of July's arrival, Artifact had not seen 100 players online during a 24-hour period.
Valve said a little bit about Artifact for about a year, but suddenly, earlier this month, it started to make fun of the game's new features, saying it would reveal "more news after the launch of Half-Life: Alyx". Now, as Alyx comes out the door and slides in the light of marble updates, Valve has kept its promise, citing some early versions of what it calls Artifact 2.0.
According to the company, it has been "focused on gameplay change first", and the biggest of these is seeing the Artifact action zoomed out so that players can watch all three modes simultaneously. "Most of the results still apply to each of the routes so they still retain who they are," he said, "but there is little chance that the player will be shut down the way they used to.
It also introduced a new draft mode, the Harry Draft, which is designed to give players "the taste of building desks without all the pressure."
Perhaps the most imp ortant change revealed so far, but – and one that highlights how radical Valve is aiming for its transformation – is that the previous Artifact monetization model will be completely abandoned, and Valve will no longer sell cards and game packs. Instead, the cards (which are either modified or completely new to the reboot) will be unlocked by playing, meaning that old titles and players' statements will disappear.
The purpose here, says Valve, is to make the experience "take it easy", and to take away the ability to buy cards means that players "won't face an opponent on a full flight."
The developer says it has "some ideas about what we would like to sell" instead of the cards, even though it has almost eliminated the word "magic" hats.
Valve has not yet released a beta release window for Artifact 2.0 (which will take on a whole new level), but it says access will "opt out" for individual accounts. It will be prioritized for Artifact early release players, and then the open beta will start when the beta is closed enough. Valve says it hopes to reach 1.0 "faster than Dota 2".
There is not much to collect now that plans for Valve's future go away, but to find the complete dissolution of the original Artifact & # 39; s failed for the first few months, it is worth reading the Eurogamer investigation into the matter, as written by Mike Stubbs.