The Latent Toxicity of the Power Generating Starter Cards

Personofsecrets

During January of this year, I identified the problematic gameplay patterns caused by the power generating starter cards.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/625285/lets-talk-about-war-song

"Because of War song, the waters are muddied with regards to starting the game with a small advantage as second player to help cancel out the advantage that first player has via their first pick."

As of September, I had decided that the power generating starter cards are the games top issue.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/643566/the-5-game-pieces-most-severely-in-need-of-reevaluation

"Although we are talking about what may amount to meaningful draft choices, it also means that players are hoping to rely on an opponent inopportunely drawing War Drum in the early game while they are able to capitalize on such poor opponent draws with their own good fortune."

"It's irresponsible to potentially gate deck progression on the first and second turns based on a 50% chance."

Someone not thinking too much about their economy can do something like buying a The Lesson of Ayem or Deepwoods Ritual on a starting turn, not make their power generating starter card into a Writ of Coin and then suffer for several future turns as they are constrained by their economy.

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Because we just got a new patron with a power generating starter card, I'd like to talk about how these design decisions are being made and where they are going to.

https://elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/64851

What lessons did you take from previous patrons that you've applied during the development of Almalexia?

John: Ultimately, each deck players pick for a game of Tribute only contributes 1/5th of the total cards seen in game. Previously with the Druid King, we wanted to give players a consistent way to see more cards in the Tavern during a game. With Almalexia, we felt players needed more interaction with the cards their opponent purchased so they can tip the scales of randomness in their favor.

So, we could say that both Druid King and Almalexia were released as ways to alleviate certain game issues. I don't believe that it is unfair to interpret the design choices implemented in the creation of those patrons as being done in response to issues vocalized by the players.

So what about the newest patron Mora?

https://elderscrollsonline.com/en-us/news/post/64277

Hi, John! Thanks for joining us today to discuss Tales of Tribute. To start, we’d love to know how you approached designing this new deck.

John: When we examined the game state of recent Tales of Tribute releases, we knew it was time to add a deck that focused on fast games and raw power instead of calculated action sequences.

By applying the same interpretation of their work, which again, I think is fair, we come to the conclusion that the designers are releasing new patrons that have playstyles which reduce game issues. That makes some sense, but comes with a fatal flaw.

As I pointed out in my August state of the game post, one shouldn't try to fix game wide issues with a bandaid fix.

https://forums.elderscrollsonline.com/en/discussion/640875/evaluating-the-2023-state-of-the-game-and-suggestions

Yes, Almalexia has somewhat helped with the abuse of some strategies or individual cards. That said, trying to counter a game wide problem of power cards with a Patron effect that has a signifigant cost (not making a writ of coin) is not sufficient to curve the power of early game power cards.

So although I believe that Druid King and Almalexia are successful, I believe that they should be icing on the cake. Their effects need to be complimenting game aspects that are solid. They shouldn't just be bandaid issues to problems that have been baked into the game.

And I've had some recent observations regarding how Mora is yet another bandaid fix to underlying issues. One recent observation is with regards to the irony of the Patron having a power generating starter card.

Personofsecrets wrote: »

Another thing that I should touch on is how the power generating starter cards inhibit game progression. Again, another simple design change that could help prevent games from being jammed up and taking more time than necessary.

One of Mora's most problematic lines of play is when Mora contracts appear in sequence and lead to blow out turns. This type of gameplay happens in part because the designers have to encourage players to keep their Mora starter card.

And why do players have to be incentivized to keep the starter card? Because it is a power generating starter card that jams up the early game.

And why is it a power generating starter card? Because the designers found an issue with game speed and therefore created a set of cards that generate power and therefore direct players toward winning the game via prestige victory.

See how that all works? But remember, I already pointed out the irony of this line of reasoning. Again, the irony is that power generating starter cards jam up the early game and therefore cause the pace of the game to be slower than is necessary.

So if slow games are a problem, then power generating is not intuitively the answer to the problem. The non-intuitive answer is to give guarantees to players in the early game that they will be able to buy the cards that they want to buy.

My most recent observation regarding the power generating starter cards takes matters a step further.

I recently had an opponent tell me that they are choosing Red Eagle and Mora because they want to have quick games. We have had some quick games. We have also had 20 minute games. So though they have the strategy to have quick games, the choice that the game gives them to remediate the issue isn't necessarily working.

Now take one more step with me.

They told me that they choose Red Eagle and Mora to have fast games when an opponent is going Rajhiin or Almalexia, both deck styles that can lend themselves to longer games.

But why is it that their opponent, me, is picking Rajhiin and Almalexia in this scenario.

Well, because I am second player in this scenario. When I see that the opponent has picked a patron that gives a power generating starter card to the starting card pool, then I am strategically inclined to pick Rajhiin for the chances of getting Pounce and Profit/Grand Larceny or going Almalexia because it doesn't do much insane for player one and it gives player 2 numerous options regardless if a power generating starter card is poluting the opening hand or not.

So why is it that that there is a need for Mora? Why does my opponent and myself do this macabre dance of picking patrons that the other person doesn't want to use.

Well, I just said the answer.

And I'll say it again.

And I'll say it until the end of history.

This all happens because of power generating starter cards undermining gameplay.

And I know why it's attractive to designers to mix things up with coin flip scenarios like what happens in TOT where sometimes you get the power generating starter cards and sometimes you dont. They do it in order to add variance to the game and therefore add to the overall types of different games that can be possibly had. In short, they are trying to make the game more fun.

But they don't need such design space. TOT already has enough choice matrixes for anyone interested in the game. And instead of making the game more fun, they are inhibiting players from doing what they want to do.

So I encourage them to take my evaluation here and figure out the starter card situation.

Don't create new game elements that are just bandaids to old game issues.

Strike at the root.

Get rid of power generating starter cards.

P.S. It doesn't help that none of the decks seems to lend themselves that well to the second player advantage of starting with an extra gold. Of course, the power generating starter cards create an entire metagame where certain Patron choices become great or average just depending on if they are present or not.

spartaxoxo

On the one hand, I agree that power starter cards are often an issue.

On the other though, they can sometimes be the only way to deal with early game agents.

Personofsecrets

spartaxoxo wrote: »

On the one hand, I agree that power starter cards are often an issue.

On the other though, they can sometimes be the only way to deal with early game agents.

This is certainly an important point. There are a number of Agents which are giant issues such as Envoy of the Draoife and many players need much help to remediate the issue.

Like it or not, agents, like combos, are a core part of TOT that makes it what it is.

A more complete solution to the idea that you present would be to limit agent health and alter pre-existing cards to generate a power. One particular case that I really used to enjoy was when a Hostile Takeover could function as a card that generates enough power to remove the Prowling Shadow/Jeering Shadow. It probably wouldn't hurt the game to have a few more cards generate 1 power or so.