Magic Legends is gearing up for a big beta update tomorrow, but before it drops, Perfect World and Cryptic have posted a dev blog to explain what’s in it – and more importantly, why what’s in it is in it.
“The feedback from the majority of our open beta testers is that while the collection aspect of Magic: Legends is fun, it was taking far too long to collect enough spells to make meaningfully different decks,” PWE’s Steve Ricossa explains. “Our planeswalkers wanted to be able to get to the point where they could mix and match spells and colors earlier in the experience so they could play the way they wanted to. We’ve heard you, and while collection will still be part of the game, we’re making sure no one has to wait too long to get right into the experience. We’ve already doubled the spell drop rate, added full starter decks with all class unlocks, and are unlocking your second class as soon as the tutorial is over, and we’ve taken all of this a step further.”
How? With a “streamlining” of the tutorial. Unlocks come sooner in the process and at a faster rate to boot. The team is also prepping a quick-play queueing system, improved perfromance, and a buffed chat UI. Finally, expect some changes to the business model, as PWE notes it’s adding a new class, costume, and spell unlocks to the early levels of the May battlepass, in addition to the “ability for players to buy Battlepass levels,” plus booster packs are being tweaked.
“The Booster Pack is also moving in a new direction that more closely mimics the booster packs from Magic: The Gathering. With the May 20th update, the Dimir Assassin Class will be removed from the Booster Pack, and in its place is a bundle of 10 spells as the grand prize. Each of the 10 spells included in this Grand Prize can also be acquired through upgrading the Mystical Study in your realm through normal gameplay. Each grand prize win will grant you one random spell from that pack, and you won’t get repeats. Due to the nature of needing to win multiple times, the odds have been improved dramatically. They’re now 10:1 which is closer to pulling an actual mythic spell from a pack of Magic cards, and the full odds will be posted directly on the booster pack purchase page. Our goal with these changes is to allow players to speed up their normal progress through Boosters without giving them a power advantage over others.”
Ricossa closes the missive by noting PWE still has big plans for the game in the lead-up to the real launch, including endgame, new content, and the console release: “The console version of the game is well into development and some members of the team have been playing exclusively on console test kits as we continue to optimize the experience.”
Our State of the Game blog for the May Update is here! Quickplay, deckbuilding, performance, and more on what's planned for the future of #MagicLegends. 📜 > https://t.co/EzJxBqEqDo pic.twitter.com/lxAkECuLkr
— Magic: Legends (@BeAMagicLegend) May 18, 2021
