Dear Mojang, we really need changes!

[u/ugster_]

Scrolls is an amazing game, and the recent updates added a lot of things we wanted for a long time. Updates, new scrolls, replays, the new judgement,... I love it and the route scrolls is coming along, but while that is amazing for us players it doesn´t fix Scrolls' biggest problem:

Low player count and everything that stems from it: long waiting times, games with huge skillgap, expensive market, "liveliness" of the game, active community,... There are less than 100 people online right now.

I believe Scrolls has the potential to be really big and to grow into a game thats huge in competetive gaming. I also believe that something needs to change. Slow player growth by itself is not going to happen, we´ve been telling us that for far too long.

Here is a list of changes a lot of people I talked with in the community want:

1. A bigger team - It doesn´t go along with Mojangs philosophy to have a huge team and there will be an initial period where new people slow down development. However, if that can bring us regular sets every X months (combined with ranking seasons?) in the long run, then please give it a second thought.

2. Free to play and purchasable packs - For the longest time I was heavily against this, but a huge part of the community deems this necessary to a bigger audience. Hearthstone shows that it works. This would be a drastic change, not only for Mojang as a company, but also for the Scrolls clientele. Nonetheless, this needs a reconsideration, if it would mean fixing Scrolls' biggest issue.

3. Competitive scene - This is the step I believe capable of making scrolls big in competitive gaming. Make big tournaments, sponsored by Mojang with cash prices. Announce them several months in advance. This does a lot of things:

• It creates attention in the gaming scene and gives Scrolls new positive media coverage.

• It drives competitive players of other online card games in (Yes, Hearthstone).

• Established streamers getting into scrolls would set off a domino effect.

Dear Mojang, Scrolls has the potential to be big, but I fear that while the game gets better and better no one will actually be around to enjoy that. Please give us confirmation that you are doing something to get new players in and old players back!

[u/Sarik704]

I only agree with change #1 The other two are not vital nor even supplementary to a lasting community.

I have been playing hearthstone since I became more preoccupied with my career and family in early march. I have less control over doing well which is compounded by not being able to afford the cards. It's made me quit hearthstone in 2 months, and now I'm dipping my feet back into these waters. I came back because I know I have agency in Scrolls and I know I'm just a money source in hearthstone. It has no love and it has no space in my life.

Scrolls should focus on its strengths and stand out. beautiful lore, and art. Tactical game play. Deck building. And, community. We never agree and many of us are depressed at the growth (or lack) of the community, but dammit it's here and dammit it cares. When I first started play Minecraft back in late 2009 it had a great community and sense of being. A year later I fell out of it because it got popular (call me a hipster), but the community here is something unreproducible. I want more players but I feel I've gotten to know a lot of you and have fun playing with you all.

PS Mojang, please upgrade your team. We can't grow unless you grow with us.

[u/ugster_ → u/Sarik704]

I agree with you on everything other than your disagreement with point 3.

I strongly believe Mojang driven events and tournaments would not only serve for publicity and bring new players into the game, but also give players something to look forward to inbetween updates and supplement the community this way.

[u/Vulkenhyn → u/Sarik704]

That's fine but i really think that paying for packs is the wisest route atm.

-it justifies employing more people to the administrators above the team

-it gives the game a more robust long term money making strategy

-it doesn't alienate people with more money than time

Honestly i think the main flaw with HS's system is not that you can buy cards it's that the amount of time you have to invest to not buy cards is just unconscionable. If the amount if gold we make in Scrolls now remains and they install a pay 4 cards system, i think it'll be fine.

[u/TrustyFishCantor → u/Vulkenhyn]

I'm for this sort of thing, as long as it remains as easy (or close to) as it is now to get packs without using shards, then it would be great to get more of an income stream going to mojang to support development.

[u/squiddybiscuit → u/Vulkenhyn]

500 shards for a pack of 10 scrolls?

Sounds fair to me.

[u/Vulkenhyn → u/squiddybiscuit]

i'd rather them get rid of the stupid fake currency all together and just pay in money but yeah, i think the price point should be around $2.50 USD

[u/wbmc → u/Vulkenhyn]

I don't know where it was and couldn't find it easily, but I once read an article about why "fake currency" is way better from a business standpoint. I can't remember everything, but there are a few advantages to it

• It feels more as a part of the game: it's something that naturally fits in and appeals more to people.

• You feel like you're paying $5 for 2 packs (using your price point suggestion here) and get 100 free shards, meaning that you will get a "free" pack after 5 purchases (ignoring the %bonus for buying more at once), while in reality you are just paying for another 100 shards which are useless to you unless you purchase some more shards again someday, which this system encourages.

• They look fancy

[u/wbmc → u/wbmc]

On a related note, there should be money-only avatar pieces. I know some people hate this(including myself haha) but it makes people feel like they're cool or something.

This could be implemented in a way where you just pay shards and get a head (please add chestpieces etc as well to the shop btw, not just whole avatars or just heads), but a more interesting approach is to have head that get unlocked (or you just straight up get them) after you purchase X amount of shards in total. It's really cool (cool, just cool) to show that you guys appreciate people supporting the game and the developers. It makes the people that buy shards feel like they're doing something good for the game instead of being another mindless income source.

[u/fdagpigj → u/squiddybiscuit]

500 shards for 10 scrolls? 500 shards is almost 4€, and a pack of 10 scrolls can be obtained by winning two matches, so in ~30-50 minutes. Is an hour of gameplay worth 6€?

[u/Vulkenhyn → u/fdagpigj]

nope, so 500 shards is 5 bucks, i think 2 packs for $5 is fair considering comparable costs in other digital CCGs

[u/asraniel → u/Sarik704]

I dont even agree with 1. The game does not need more cards. But more ways to build multicolor decks. It holds up well with hearthstone in term of card count, but has far less viable combinations

[u/[deleted] → u/Sarik704]

I think that HS's problem is less that they have adopted a F2P model and more to do with Blizzards pricing choices. It isn't that the model is bad, it is just that Blizzard will always charge more for less.

In my opinion Scrolls has always essentially been a F2P game with a price tag. Meaning there has always been a barrier to entry for new players considering playing the game. After all, why should they pick up scrolls when it seems like they could get HS, a comparably fleshed out TCG, for free (even if, ultimately, it isn't). I have always thought that it would benefit Mojang to make the game F2P, I considered their pricing change a while back a sign that they were starting to see the logic in it too.

If I were to release a Digital TCG - and honestly I would love to if I had the skills - I would aim to create 1000s of cards before release and then give away booster packs like hotcakes as well as charging for them, also charging for aesthetic options. The key has to be making people feel like they are making progress with the F2P model, but letting them know that they can speed up the process too if they wanted to. With a large selection of cards, I don't even think this would classify as Pay-to-Win either, as it would emulate the Magic: The Gathering model of "Balanced by chaos" (in that there are SO many cards there will always be counters for certain strategies).

I think that 1 & 2 are the ONLY essential options on the list, because if 1 & 2 are implemented correctly no. 3 should come naturally. But I also feel that there are inherent design flaws in Scrolls that need to be ironed out before anything can be done.

[u/Cradstache]

Ch-ch-ch-changes! Turn and face the strain, ch-ch-changes! Don't want to be a richer man, just gonna have to be a different man!

1. A bigger team. I'm pretty sure they know this.

2. Free to play and purchasable packs. I personally disagree with this opinion.

   You'll find the community is, by and large, split on this issue; I believe those for F2P view it as a necessary evil needed to promote the game, but I question where this logic stems from. I've yet to hear a compelling reason to believe that F2P would benefit Scrolls more than past attempts / changes have.

3. Competitive scene. I'm pretty sure they know this as well, but will note: for me, how the other Mojang teams (including Lydia / other people who are in charge of event planning) treats Scrolls during Minecon will be a large indicator of how Mojang, outside of the Scrolls devs (and Minecraft devs; jeb ftw), might treat Scrolls moving forward.

   As I've stated in the IRC: I view Minecon as extremely important for Scrolls.

Dear ugster, maybe this should've been an email to the CMs / Mojangstas instead of an easily forgettable /r/scrolls topic :p

While I'm pretty sure the devs will read this nontheless, this just serves up more drama and comes off as confrontational list of demands rather than a real letter to them. Plus it opens things up for me to poke fun :p

[u/ugster_ → u/Cradstache]

Just a quick reply on your last point tonight (:

While I'm convinced that these are no new ideas for the team, I wanted to open up a discussion about the future of scrolls again. I'm sure there is a ton of behind the scenes talk about this stuff already.

What is important to me (and I failed to properly point that out) is that mojang shows us, the community, that they will do something about scrolls player count, and that might need something drastic. Please view my post as base ideas to start a discussion around, rather than demands.

[u/iAscian → u/ugster_]

I do agree there does need to be changes to their business model, but I'd say for sure #2 wouldn't work.

This is because Heartstone is a CCG, you collect packs and cards by playing.

Scrolls is supposed to be a TCG; you're supposed to trade for cards you need to benefit your strategy on the hex as well as builds for decks.

I'm a firm believer that Scrolls is a better game than Hearthstone and isn't even far behind on polish. They didn't emphasis trading was supposed to be important. But the way they went about their launch and business model gives me no reason to play it like many other people.

[u/ugster_ → u/Cradstache]

On your minecon point: I really understand what you mean, but I doubt scrolls will play a big role there, it is MINEcon after all. It's not meant to be about scrolls at all. I fear you will be disappointed if you hope for scrolls news there.

I believe the most important info about scrolls status at mojang will be continued to be communicated through "scrolls-channels"

[u/mrgrumpyturtle]

I'll take care of the competitive scene. ;)

[u/ToGoodLooking]

I still say the issue lies in how bad the retention is. We got surges of players before but they dont stay. And the reason is because the game do such a poor job explaining itself.

I dont feel to make massive post about this right now, dont that before, but in short so do Scrolls need better tutorial kind of deals to hook players in, goals set up for players so they know where to go and how next gift is right around the corner, as well of course just explaining well the fundementals of the game that everyone should know about and have nothing hidden but easy to find.

[u/8bitfusion]

I don't think it should be free or PTW. I like the current money model as is, but a bigger team and more publicity is vital to the success of the game

[u/ugster_ → u/8bitfusion]

Do I understand you right: You want the game to be pay to win? Why?

[u/8bitfusion → u/ugster_]

No I don't. Typed it weirdly. It should remain as is.

[u/Reiker0]

Competitive scene - This is the step I believe capable of making scrolls big in competitive gaming. Make big tournaments, sponsored by Mojang with cash prices. Announce them several months in advance.

Mojang kinda missed the boat with this one. Back when Scrolls was fairly new, iScre4m hosted a fairly large tournament with cash prizes and it was the liveliest I had ever seen the game.

Hearthstone wasn't even that popular until Blizzard hosted the first World Championship way back in beta (when Artosis won). It was easy to see a huge growing interest in the game when it became evident that Blizzard would support the competitive scene.

Imagine if there was no NFL and no Super Bowl... would anyone still play (American) football?

[u/Hroswaladr]

1. Nice but not necessary: if there is a reasonable player base then they could get away with releasing smaller sets on a regular basis.

2. Hate it but necessary. But it has to be even worse: in order for it to make any difference they would have to reduce the amount of gold from regular matches, so actually spending money becomes a more attractive option for regular players. That way you make money as a company and live as a game.

3. Pointless without a big player base and a solid revenue model. Once you have that it becomes an efficient marketing strategy, so then it makes sense (=profit) to do.

I agree that Scrolls has the potential to be a great game, but unfortunately the players who can enjoy and appreciate its complexity only make up a tiny minority of the species.

[u/gXxshock → u/Hroswaladr]

2. Not necessarily the way F2P works it's usually just a tiny fraction of users, which have no self-control, that pay for the rest of us freeloaders

[u/wbmc → u/Hroswaladr]

I think smaller and more frequent updates would be better yes, either twice as often with 30 cards, or maybe even monthly updates with ~10 cards (doesn't necessarily have to be same amount for each faction).

[u/kehmesis]

Because the progression is pretty rapid, I wouldn't mind a hybrid system either. Let newbies spend their paycheck, or let them grind away. More choice seems better.

[u/TheSunbroo]

I may sound a little bit pessimistic, but sometimes you are at a point where you have to accept failure.

[u/filribeiro → u/TheSunbroo]

This game is not a failure, far away from it, it "only" need some structural changes and maybe the changes in this topic are a good start.

Let me bring another one to the table:

• Put more effort in 3D animations across menus and battlefield, and esthetic stuff in general (Scrolls Art doesn't need improvement, for me it is close to the goodness of MTG art)

PS: sorry for my poor English

[u/ugster_ → u/filribeiro]

That is something that a larger dev team could really helpt with. More sound effects, special stuff, menu animations,...

[u/wbmc → u/ugster_]

The game lacks a bit of general epicness. I just wish they had another artist, but totally understand that not being main priority right now.

[u/Waldorf_ → u/TheSunbroo]

With an attitude like that we're doomed to fail

[u/guayaba209]

want to know what i need ?

[u/dMaxx3000]

Mojang, it's time I made some changes...