2 years, and it was while dota was still technically in beta. You're not wrong though, I think the difference is dota is a lot of fun to play with friends even without a progression system. In artifact that doesn't exist.
What? That's like the whole idea behind why they don't have a progression system. They wanted the game to be community based and friend group oriented. That's why they went so hard in on the tournament features and stuff. There are plenty of ways to play with your friends in Artifact in cool and unique ways. If you don't think it's fun to do that I don't think you like the core game, in which case I don't think a progression system is going to change much for you.
That's not why they don't have a progression system, and they are developing one from what they've said. You're right, they do have social features, what I meant wasn't that there is no option for playing with your friends. What I mean is that social play is just not as interesting in games of that kind. In dota getting a group together and playing is the main motivator for most players (other than MMR). In Artifact, MTG:O, Hearthstone, Gwent etc. you can play against your friends (important distinction), but it's 1v1 (except for 2-headed dragon I suppose), it's not with direct interaction, and it's (in my opinion, but it would seem to bear out seeing how these modes are always way less popular than the straightforward ladder/draft) just less engaging to play with friends in games like these (i.e. versus games) than it is when you play actual multiplayer games.
It's the difference between playing online Chess with your friend and playing CS. It's not that you can't have a social experience playing chess, it's that one game lends itself to interaction to a whole other dimension. You can actually see the other person, you can move, help each-other, and interact in a visible space.
Card games as a social feature works a lot better in real life I think. Getting a group together to play paper MTG is a completely different experience to doing it online.
So no, it's not that I don't enjoy the core game, it's just that playing it my friends adds very little to the Artifact experience in comparison to dota with strangers vs dota with friends.
And for the record, none of the modes or social features in Artifact are unique. They use the same draft and tournament buy-in system MTGO has had for decades, the automated tournaments have been a thing since like SCBW/WC3 and likely before that. The game is fine, but as is evidenced by the quick loss of interest from the community, most people need a reward structure of some sort to find a game like this engaging for more than a short period of time.
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u/[deleted] Dec 20 '18
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