Tales of Tribute - Am I too stupid for the game?

Frogmother

The game feel way to complicated with too many factors/resources and effects which are not explained to the player. I gave it several tries but I have no idea what I am doing.
I read a guidance on how to play it, but there are still mechanics and effects which I dont understand.

Enemy-of-Coldharbour

You are not alone. I still can't beat the intro game, and you can't do dailies unless you beat the intro game. The whole thing seems based off of pure luck and nothing else. WORST GAME EVER!

sharquez

Victory is make blue number 40 or higher (80 for instant win) or turn all patrons towards you by fufilling their requirements and clicking on them.
Red number turns into blue number at the end of your turn. you can use red number to kill agents or fulfill patron requirtments to buy bonuses
You need gold (yellow number) to buy cards and can turn coins into writs by clicking treasury
You start with 10 cards and that number can go up or down depending on whether you are removing cards from you deck or buying more.
Your goal is to make the best deck with combos that reaches the biggest number the quickest.

SilverBride

I started playing when ToT was first introduced and there were only 4 decks. It took me quite awhile of playing before something finally clicked and I got it. Now there are 11 decks and I have no idea how anyone new to the game will ever figure all these out and understand how to play.

Too many decks now and the ranking system are why I no longer play.

The_Boggart

Not enough Info, sounds like endless archive, recently they invent items but no implementation documentation is included

jaws343

It'd be helpful to know what parts are getting you caught up. Once you understand the paths to a win, it really is a simple card game.

And the NPCs basically offer an unlimited experience to learn how to play.

jaws343

SilverBride wrote: »

I started playing when ToT was first introduced and there were only 4 decks. It took me quite awhile of playing before something finally clicked and I got it. Now there are 11 decks and I have no idea how anyone new to the game will ever figure all these out and understand how to play.

Too many decks now and the ranking system are why I no longer play.

I think your mistake here is thinking that you need to learn to play against players with all of the decks. Play against NPCs until you are familiar with the decks. Pick a deck during selection until you have mastered it against NPCs, then move to the next once. This is essentially what everyone who started playing when ToT launched did with the first 4 decks.

It is the same strategy that works for any new deck. Learn how to use it against NPCs before playing other players with it.

LouisaB75

I agree. I learned by playing against novice NPCs with the first four decks, then once I was familiar with those, I starting switching out one of the decks for one of the others until I figured out that one and then again. I still haven't even tried the most recent deck out, although I have it. I also haven't played against anyone other than NPCs, which is a pain for the dailies unfortunately as NPCs don't count.

Would be nice if group finder could be used to have people giving lessons on ToT by explaining through the chat to newer players. Well, I guess it could be in custom groups but I have never seen any there.

SeaGtGruff

It "clicked" fairly early for me, iirc sometime shortly after the tutorial.

The basic rules are very simple, so focus on understanding those first.

Then work on understanding how the various patrons and their decks work, starting with the original first four patrons and not moving on to the next one in line until you feel like you understanding the ones you've been playing with.

Also, watch what the NPC does as far as which cards it buys, and which cards it removes from the tavern when it can, as they are the cards it thinks are good ones.

So try to learn from and mimic what the NPC is doing to a certain extent, but also be aware that the NPC can make bad moves so don't just imitate its moves or you'll end up making similar mistakes.

FlopsyPrince

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

You are not alone. I still can't beat the intro game, and you can't do dailies unless you beat the intro game. The whole thing seems based off of pure luck and nothing else. WORST GAME EVER!

I would agree.

I found it complicated and far too random when it first was touted as a "wonderful" part of a release. Nothing has pulled me back to waste my time on it. I would not play ESO if I wanted to play an online CCG.

Yes, some are sure to still defend/embrace it, but it was a shameful thing to highlight for the release instead of even bug and quality of life fixes, if not more features more tied to an MMO.

Carcamongus

It was completely incomprehensible to me at first. What worked was realizing you win if you get all patrons to favor you, so I started to practice pursuing that goal on novice NPCs. Along the way I slowly learned about combos, actions, etc. This was a good way to learn and win because the novices never used patrons. Technically, one can still attempt to learn this way, but now the NPCs tend to overuse patrons (which also means games last longer).

agelonestar

I agree with the OP. It's a horrible game. It takes far too long, it's totally over-complicated with precious little instruction, and the rewards aren't worth the time input.

And I'm livid that there's now a lead locked behind it.

I'd love for it to be taken out of ESO and moved to its own game.

tsaescishoeshiner

The intro describes the basics, and the tooltips flesh out the rest of the mechanics, but there's no real way to learn the strategy. It can be hard at first to tell which decisions in the first minute were the ones that had a big impact later on.

When I was starting off, I paid attention to what cards I felt my opponent was using a lot to their advantage, then I started picking up those cards and thinking about how to get more benefit from them.

I enjoy Tribute casually (which I think is how it's best enjoyed), but sometimes the competition makes me a little anxious.

I think the best way to learn is to play with a friend, but I haven't seen a lot of people doing that. Playing against the NPCs can teach you if you give yourself goals like trying to win faster or making cool combos and interactions work.

BlueRaven

Keep in mind the “novice” npc opponent has been made way harder then when the game was first introduced.

KaGaOri

The game is too complicated for me too. Never played similar type of card game before and tutorial didn't explain much - it's just bunch of "click here to perform action A" but nothing about what A actually does in game and how to use it to win.

Somehow managed to win tutorial game when it first droped and later the one game necessary for Razum Dar's quest (after so many tries and several hours of frustration). Wanted to do tutorial on more character recently to get permanently rid of that horrible screeming quest NPC, but wasn't able to win even once and eventually gave up. Even novice NPCs are too hard and given how long the games are (30 min+), only slimmest chances of winning and very underwelming rewards, it just isn't something I'll be interested to engage with in the future.

FlopsyPrince

KaGaOri wrote: »

The game is too complicated for me too. Never played similar type of card game before and tutorial didn't explain much - it's just bunch of "click here to perform action A" but nothing about what A actually does in game and how to use it to win.

Somehow managed to win tutorial game when it first droped and later the one game necessary for Razum Dar's quest (after so many tries and several hours of frustration). Wanted to do tutorial on more character recently to get permanently rid of that horrible screeming quest NPC, but wasn't able to win even once and eventually gave up. Even novice NPCs are too hard and given how long the games are (30 min+), only slimmest chances of winning and very underwelming rewards, it just isn't something I'll be interested to engage with in the future.

The length of the games are a major drawback in my view.

At least they removed the screaming NPC for the tutorial!

loosej

Some videos that helped me a lot when I started playing tribute. Once you understand certain basic mechanics it gets a lot easier, and more fun.

My personal nr. 1 advice would be to always be thoughtful about which cards you buy. If a card gives you nothing useful, don't buy it just because you still have coin left to spend. You're drawing a new card that is potentially a lot better, and too expensive for you to buy, leaving it for your opponent. Better to end with a deck of 10-15 cards and know what to expect every turn, than to have 30+ cards and roll the dice every time.

Nr. 2 advice: if there are patrons in the game that give you 1 power starter cards, you should always upgrade these before your 1 coin cards. The very good cards tend to cost 6 coin and up. Upgrading those 1 power cards first increases your chances to draw a hand of 6 coin early by a huge amount, and if your opponent doesn't do the same thing you're halfway to winning the game. For the same reason you should focus on buying cheap cards early on that provide 2 coin on their own without combo conditions. Unless there's actually a lot of power cards to be bought early on, then you can rush for power immediately, but that's an entirely different strategy.

TaSheen

I doubt you are too stupid.... but I'm pretty sure I am! That's okay, it never did sound like fun anyway....

FlopsyPrince

loosej wrote: »

Some videos that helped me a lot when I started playing tribute. Once you understand certain basic mechanics it gets a lot easier, and more fun.

My personal nr. 1 advice would be to always be thoughtful about which cards you buy. If a card gives you nothing useful, don't buy it just because you still have coin left to spend. You're drawing a new card that is potentially a lot better, and too expensive for you to buy, leaving it for your opponent. Better to end with a deck of 10-15 cards and know what to expect every turn, than to have 30+ cards and roll the dice every time.

Nr. 2 advice: if there are patrons in the game that give you 1 power starter cards, you should always upgrade these before your 1 coin cards. The very good cards tend to cost 6 coin and up. Upgrading those 1 power cards first increases your chances to draw a hand of 6 coin early by a huge amount, and if your opponent doesn't do the same thing you're halfway to winning the game. For the same reason you should focus on buying cheap cards early on that provide 2 coin on their own without combo conditions. Unless there's actually a lot of power cards to be bought early on, then you can rush for power immediately, but that's an entirely different strategy.

Advice like this should be woven into the tutorial, or at least an optional one outside the path.

dinokstrunz

you answered your own question.

daemondamian

I started playing ToT for the lead (kept playing it because I unexpectedly enjoyed it) and at first it seemed very complicated but after many matches I know more now and win maybe 70% of them though I only play against NPCs.

My advice is to keep playing and watch what your opponents do, read the cards carefully - if something does or doesn't do what you thought it might you will soon learn and remember what it actually does.

The most complicated deck so far seems to the Almalexia one.

Czeri

I'm currently trying to wrap my head around Mora's deck. I don't get why anyone would willingly play any of the cards, considering they benefit your opponent, often much more than they benefit you. I mean, there's an agent card that gives like 1 power to the player and 3 gold to the opponent. The NPC I was playing actually bought and used it, and I was very careful not to knock it out...

SeaGtGruff

KaGaOri wrote: »

Even novice NPCs are too hard and given how long the games are (30 min+), only slimmest chances of winning and very underwelming rewards, it just isn't something I'll be interested to engage with in the future.

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

The length of the games are a major drawback in my view.

When I play against the Expert NPCs, my matches usually take between 5 and 10 minutes, averaging a bit closer to 5 than 10. Granted, this might be affected by the NPC's level, the patrons chosen, the player's skill, and the RNG of the Tavern.

spartaxoxo

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

Enemy-of-Coldharbour wrote: »

You are not alone. I still can't beat the intro game, and you can't do dailies unless you beat the intro game. The whole thing seems based off of pure luck and nothing else. WORST GAME EVER!

I would agree.

I found it complicated and far too random when it first was touted as a "wonderful" part of a release. Nothing has pulled me back to waste my time on it. I would not play ESO if I wanted to play an online CCG.

Yes, some are sure to still defend/embrace it, but it was a shameful thing to highlight for the release instead of even bug and quality of life fixes, if not more features more tied to an MMO.

I feel no shame in saying I love Tales of Tribute and I am very glad they highlighted it as a feature of High Isle. I had been wanting something fun to do in Taverns as a mini game and it delivered. I even had more fun than I thought I would in the Tales PvP battles. I don't like the way the ranked system works (should never be zero point battles) but I do quite enjoy Tales regardless.

spartaxoxo

BTW if there's something you don't understand, please ask! I'd be happy to help.

wrrn519_ESO

Frogmother. @Greentreant. Whisper me anytime for some help. We could play a few matches so you get the gist of the setups. If I can't help. We can still be friends

ProfesseurFreder

Tales of Tribute is, not to put too fine a point on it, rubbish. I waited for years to get a playable card game-within-the-game -- and when we finally got it it was THIS crashing disappointment. Yeesh, Gin Rummy or Klondike would be better than this junk.

FlopsyPrince

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

KaGaOri wrote: »

Even novice NPCs are too hard and given how long the games are (30 min+), only slimmest chances of winning and very underwelming rewards, it just isn't something I'll be interested to engage with in the future.

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

The length of the games are a major drawback in my view.

When I play against the Expert NPCs, my matches usually take between 5 and 10 minutes, averaging a bit closer to 5 than 10. Granted, this might be affected by the NPC's level, the patrons chosen, the player's skill, and the RNG of the Tavern.

Those of us who suck at it (I did in the few games I tried when it was released) would just lose quicker in that case. Keep in mind that "expert NPCs" would by definition be much harder to beat. (Why would you call them "expert" if not.)

spartaxoxo

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

KaGaOri wrote: »

Even novice NPCs are too hard and given how long the games are (30 min+), only slimmest chances of winning and very underwelming rewards, it just isn't something I'll be interested to engage with in the future.

FlopsyPrince wrote: »

The length of the games are a major drawback in my view.

When I play against the Expert NPCs, my matches usually take between 5 and 10 minutes, averaging a bit closer to 5 than 10. Granted, this might be affected by the NPC's level, the patrons chosen, the player's skill, and the RNG of the Tavern.

Those of us who suck at it (I did in the few games I tried when it was released) would just lose quicker in that case. Keep in mind that "expert NPCs" would by definition be much harder to beat. (Why would you call them "expert" if not.)

They're supposed to be harder to beat but they're not.

HatchetHaro

Czeri wrote: »

I'm currently trying to wrap my head around Mora's deck. I don't get why anyone would willingly play any of the cards, considering they benefit your opponent, often much more than they benefit you. I mean, there's an agent card that gives like 1 power to the player and 3 gold to the opponent. The NPC I was playing actually bought and used it, and I was very careful not to knock it out...

It's a power rush deck; the point of playing it is to buy those cards early on and rush yourself to 40 Prestige using the Mora combos before the other player has a chance to build up their deck using their extra gold. In the hands of a good player, matches can end very quickly. However, if the player using Mora does not know how to control their deck and doesn't think to perhaps leave some cards unplayed if their hand is suboptimal, they'll end up giving their opponent more resources than needed. It's high-risk high-reward.

Hapexamendios

I just found it to be boring.