Good thing about Tales of Tribute is the fact both decks are squished together. So even if you do encounter a broken build you can try to actively deny it or use it yourself.

Game ends up forcing you to not just learn your favorite combos for victory, but also to learn and exploit other combinations your foes might use on you!

Sometimes you can gauge exactly how a game is going to go just by the deck colors picked, and it's always fun to win with a color your opponent picked. (And a little humiliating to lose to a color you picked to). I do know the moment nobody picks the blue or orange decks you can just go full ham on taunt cards and other agents since there's less of a chance they'll get knocked out before you can use them next turn.

Luck does play an important factor, because it's a game of chance. But like Poker, it's also a lot of skill involved. Which is why people who don't know what they are doing lose more often than not, and the leaderboards keep having the same people on top over and over again.

Anyway, right off the bat, in your point 3 video, I see a lot of mixes of colors in your hand. I am actually unsure of what your strategy was that match because your hand is a mix of things. And I also see none of the black contract agents on your side of the table. Did you make use of the black deck? How much use did you opponent get out of it?

My guess is this person used the black cards to thin their deck of cards that were a hindrance to getting this kind of combo off, and then loaded up on crows (the purple cards). Many of the purple cards have "draw a card" as part of their combo, so if you can get a purple combo chain going, then you can suddenly generate a ton of coin and power all at once.

The risk of the strategy the other player seemed to be playing from the video is that it can take a long time to go off, as you often have to steadily build up to the conditions that allow this combo to go off over time. So, a counter strategy can be something like a Pelin rush strategy (the red cards) to hit 40 long before the crow user is able to get this kind of combo to go off.

Anyway a crow combo chain strategy is why you were close for so long, only to suddenly lose. It's a high risk, high reward strategy because it's slow to build up power and coins. This means that someone can win while you're building up to this kind of combo. But once it goes off, it can often mean victory right then and there. And if not victory, a big lead. I don't see a luck based win in that video (though they happen), I see a long-term strategy that paid off for your opponent.

Buying a variety of good cards instead of going for a strategy that makes full use of combos is a common beginner mistake. I am unsure if you made it or just got an unlucky draw, so I'm not necessarily saying this is advice to you. Just throwing it out there. I mean the royal you, not you in particular. But in general you should find a strategy you're good at executing in a variety of situations and then mostly buy cards from the tavern that serve that strategy, rather than just buying every useful seeming card.

This game has more skill to it than people give it credit for. There are people I can recognize in TOT that I know I'm in for a tough match because they're just better than me. And some that I also recognize that I win against the vast majority of the time. And also still plenty of new names and faces.

It takes a while to get used to it. But once you do, it's a lot of fun.

I was fairly sure I wouldn't be playing the game much. Figured maybe enough to get achievements. First game against another player the player saw he wasn't going to get a quick win flipping the Patrons each turn and the player quit. I didn't get the win and haven't been back.
To many other fun things in game to do so I don't need the frustration. Many in my guild enjoy the game so I am happy for them. Just not something I want to do.

spartaxoxo wrote: »

kargen27 wrote: »

I was fairly sure I wouldn't be playing the game much. Figured maybe enough to get achievements. First game against another player the player saw he wasn't going to get a quick win flipping the Patrons each turn and the player quit. I didn't get the win and haven't been back.
To many other fun things in game to do so I don't need the frustration. Many in my guild enjoy the game so I am happy for them. Just not something I want to do.

They fixed that bug, of concede not counting for a win. You should try again if that what was holding you back!

Okay, I might have to try again some time. For now I started a new character on the EU server that is my only character and I am doing the content there that I haven't done in a long time. Has been fun starting with nothing.

I have enjoyed the card game more than I expected. First I did the 30 NPC dailies and learned how to beat the NPCs, then started the player daily. I basically had to learn how to play all over again because the NPCs are really easy on you compared to other players. Not only do you need to understand the decks work, but also how the patrons work as well. With other players you may also have to keep preventing a quick patron victory while trying to get the most prestige at the same time.

A player can use the Crow patron just like in your video, but that can backfire as well. It only works if the other player cannot match it in the same turn. I’ve learned the hard way not to rely on it too much because once you flip it, you cannot use it again unless the other player flips it back. It’s basically a finisher.

I don’t enjoy the games where it’s constant patron flipping, which seem to be a lot, but I do enjoy a good match that keeps pushing the prestige each turn until finally someone hits 80. The game has multiple strategies to win and frequently you have to employ more than one or even completely change strategy mid-game depending on the cards. Sometimes the tavern just keeps filling up with undesirable cards or I pick up what I think is a good card only to replace it with a better one for my opponent. There was a lot of both for me today.

While I bought the new chapter right when it was announced I actually started to play it actually as the event in that zone went live and hence I unlocked the card game pretty late. I'm now close to reaching level 3 (where do I actually see that level except for when the game finishes?) and still need to learn cards and combos. There could definitely a better tutorial for introducing the game. But it seems learning as you play is the choice ZOS took here.

My ultimate problem with this game is, you have to play all your cards at hand. Why am I not allowed to keep cards in my hands and try to build up combos? Why are cards I do not play put on the stash of played cards when I finish the round? So builing up combos is therefore more of a luck than a valid strategy. Note, I'm only playing vs. the noob NPC and have no interest in PvP. And still I got slain by the simplest NPC as he at one point played combo after combo after combo where I could only play cards that did not grant any combo at all. Don't get me wrong, I don't mind loosing to the simplest NPC but the way it had the "luck" of being able to buy out all combo cards and when it was my turn there were either cards there I couldn't afford or that just allowed me to place 2-4 cards of the left stash onto the used one. Also, why is the NPC allowed to pick the first two patreons? I though its player one chooses one patreon, player two then 2+3 and the selection ends with player one selecting its 2nd patreon.

In general I feel that red and purple decks are simpler to play as yellow or blue (starter) decks. Haven't unlocked others so far so can't give an opinion on those.

Same issue, i keep trying but i'm just not good at this game.

francesinhalover wrote: »

Same issue, i keep trying but i'm just not good at this game.

What platform are you on? Or can you make a clip of your gameplay? Maybe someone here can give you some personalized tips.

I agree op.

I too gave ToT a go. I have all the achievements except 1 and my conclusion is that it's more luck than skill, by a LANDSLIDE.

I was in voice chat playing against a friend who is new to ToT, literally they don't know what they are doing. I lost 3 in a row because of RNG that always favored my friend.

We have all seen it. None of the cards on the deck favor your hand, so you get what might help. Or you buy a card that is ok for your hand but every move you make gives them a card that plays right into their hand.

NPC's are way to easy to beat and playing against players is like pulling teeth. Either steam roll in one direction or the other because of bad RNG.

SeaGtGruff wrote: »

Bat wrote: »

You played against someone who used the laziest tactic of the entire game. Buy all crow cards. Use Duke patron when you have drawn enough cards to have an abundance of gold. Win. A lazy strategy that works way too well.

IMO, that isn't the laziest tactic, and it certainly isn't foolproof. The laziest tactic is probably spamming Rajhin every turn. That probably isn't foolproof, either, but at least you're more likely to be able to use that tactic on every single turn. With Crow, you must compete against your opponent for buying the Crow cards, so it's unlikely that you'll be able to buy every Crow card that comes up, let alone the specific ones that let you draw additional cards. And then you still need to draw them in ways that let them combo effectively. Your opponent could win while you're still busy buying up whatever Crow cards you can and waiting for them to combo in a huge way that pays off.

Agree. I see way more Rahjiin spammers on leaderboards than Crows too, but that might just be confirmation bias. Rahjiin and Orgnum spam are cheap, easy, and not reliant on RNG. At least Orgnum got a change that makes it much less obnoxious to deal with. I think that Rahjiin should too.

I'd be curious to know which decks are most used by the top 100 players. I know in other games they display this information.

Played quite a bit of ToT as I enjoy these types of games. But after many runs you start to realize that it's luck dressed up in a fancy outfit.

Sure, you can manipulate that "luck" a bit like other card games, but overall it's just RP. Which of course is appropriate.

I still enjoy playing, but I'm certainly not fooling myself.

I was sceptical when it was announced, I still think it‘s not something worth to be labeled as a Chapter feature, but since I started playing ToT a week ago I’m pretty much obsessed. And can’t tell you what it is, but it stops me from doing most other stuff as I just want to play another round. I hate the RNG though as that‘s in most cases the deciding factor of who’s going to win or lose.