Source
r/MagicArena•
whence

The quest system is making me resent this game.

general discussion

I keep rolling quests to win with two-color decks, for colors I haven't invested any wildcards into. This makes it nearly impossible to win with those colors with what I currently have.

It seems like the best strategy for quest completion is to invest heavily into a single color, reroll quests without that color, and play a single-card splash for the other color. The best color choices for this are likely red and black, neither of which are in the deck I'm trying to build towards.

Posted Apr 4, 2018, 9:00 PM UTC

2936
Alianos•

I haven't had many problems with the quest system. If it requires me to play a deck I don't own, I just don't do it and reroll it the next day. As long as you don't complete a quest in 3 days, there is no theoretical loss in gold.

But I agree, requiring wins with a specific Color combination is just bad design. The problem is, that the quest system is basically copied from Hearthstone, where you can always jam together a relatively okay deck in any class and just spam them in Casual. This is not possible in Magic, unless the opponent is completely manascrewed, you will not win without a somewhat viable deck.

16
whenceOP•

Sure, if you play daily it's not as big of an issue. But to log in after a day or two and be stuck with multiple off color quests just feels bad. And then the next time I log in, the quests I couldn't complete will still be there.

When I do attempt off-color quests, it's as you said: without good cards in those colors, the only way to win is if the opponent has bad mana issues. It feels wrong to be hoping for a non-game, but that's what ends up happening.

4
Sheant•

I don't understand this. I'm usually able to drag out a win with the starter decks in 2 to 6 matches.only when that fails will I start to makes changes to the deck. And the losses allow me to hover between bronze and silver levels. Learning to play different decks is an important skill!

3
WalkFreeeee•

The higher your rank the more of an issue it is, specially if you don't want to tank it. Also, once everyone is playing optmal decks, playing offcolor decks becomes a huge pain.

1
Sheant•

Oh, sure, which is why I keep my level low while grinding for cards. I even often do runs of quick concedes for this. Allows my opponents some cheap wins as well.

2
fr0d0b0ls0n•

The real problem is when you have to do your first 4 wins avoiding 1 or 2 quests.

They need to drop the 225 gold quests for real. Even Hearthstone it's removing the 40 gold quests in the next patch.

1
houseurmusic•

I agree, I really dislike having to play a WG deck when I have been focussing all my resources to UB. It is so frusterating to have to play an inferior deck with one you have no experience with.

11
Protikon•

Forcing you to try new archetypes is kind of the point, but the investment problem is very valid.

3
Stealth-Badger•

As a counterpoint, I like them. It makes me dig into the random cards I've opened and see if I can brew something up. Perhaps you will enjoy them more once there is a casual room?

Fwiw I've only given up on one of those quests so far (G/W).

I do think they could be a bit clearer about what "counts" for a colour combination. For example, I have a R/G dinosaurs deck randomly splashing 2x Nissa and a Locust god (because I opened them and yolo). Does it still count for R/G? What about R/U?

6
-Omni•

No, a red-green deck must be only red and green. I tried with my RG dino (which plays Cut, which has a black Aftermath) and it did not count for the red-green quest.

Monogreen with red in the sideboard could work, haven't tested it.

2
PaoDeLol•

i love them, it feels so rewarding to barely achieve a fifth of a pack after 2 wins. another 4 days and i can make a pack out it. feela great.

4
whenceOP•

Would you say it gives you a sense of pride and accomplishment?

2
PaoDeLol•

a fifth!

2
IronCookuru•

But they’re so much fun! I know this because the developers told me. The quests to just cast x spells of a certain color weren’t as much fun, because people would slap together whatever and finish the quest as fast as possible. So making them harder means they’re more fun, because you get to have the fun of building a deck in a specific color combination you probably don’t play and slamming into actual good decks until you manage to somehow pull off a win for a quarter of a pack worth of gold. Fun!

This was the reasoning they gave for these quests, by the way, that it’s more fun this way.

2
[deleted]•

[deleted]

1
tenkenjs•

I think it’ll be fine once they add in casual play. With competitive only matchmaking, it’s definitely frustrating trying to run some jank against high gold decks

1
qwoto•

Did they ever actually say they are implementing a casual mode? Did they say if it would give rewards too?

1
tenkenjs•

I believe they said there would be multiple modes so I would assume an unranked mode is coming.

1
kooshans•

Pauper mode to complete quests would be a great thing to have here. Or a mode where you can battle it out with a pre-selection of featured decks, which you can only use to complete quests.

1
whenceOP•

That's a great idea, but they'd need to up the drop rate of common wildcards.

1
trinquin•

Put off color cards in sideboard.

0†
iAmLeroy•

Does this really work?

1
The_Barbaron•

Negative. As far as I can tell, if the quest is for a GB deck, you can ONLY have GB in the deck.

3
Cruces13•

He meamt play monocolor and put your second color in the sideboard. Im not sure if it works.

3
thetoxy•

I just wish the quests were more interesting.

-Win a game by milling your opponent -Win a game without casting any instant or sorcery spells -Win a game without playing a basic land -Win a game without casting a creature spell -Win a game using only artifacts and enchantments -Sacrifice X creatures

I don't know, some of those are probably too specific to be a daily quest. But that is one thing from casual Magic that I miss in Arena; I could play theme decks or decks with alternate win conditions and most of the time my opponent wouldn't be using the best deck they own to try and stomp me.

Right now all the in-game incentives are just to win. You can't even really get the cards to make a for-fun deck unless you rack up enough wins to expand your collection. If the incentives pushed people more towards non-premium decks, it seems like constructed would be a lot more fun. (and a lot less Scarab Goddy)

0†
Daethir•

Those quests would create the same problem OP is complaining about time 100. Winning by milling your opponent require a very specific deck, the only people who could complete are those that decided to build a mill deck or whale with a full collection, you don't want your daily to be out of reach for 95% of the players. I don't even think it's possible to win without using creature in standard.

Those kind of hard challenge can be fun as a one time achievement, not something you do everyday. Being forced to win without creatures for the 6th time in a month sound like the most tedious and unfun thing ever.

5
Stinkis•

Maybe have they could have rewards for achievements that are repeatable every month. That could give other, bigger goals than just dailies to work on.

2
AceClown•

Agreed, they're asking us to build something without giving us the correct tools or materials.

1
WalkFreeeee•

I don't even think it's possible to win without using creature in standard.

Planeswalkers, board sweepers and / or spell based win conditions like [[Torment of Hailfire]] or [[Primal Amulet]]. Certainly possible. (right now my arena deck runs exactly one creature, [[Champion of Wits]])

1
MTGCardFetcher•

Torment of Hailfire - (G) (SF) (MC)
Primal Amulet/Primal Wellspring - (G) (SF) (MC)
Champion of Wits - (G) (SF) (MC)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call

1
Stealth-Badger•

[[approach of the second sun]] seems like the obvious one. Fwiw I've won a load of control mirrors by just decking them with the random rivulet + deserts in my deck.

I still think these types of things as a daily quest would be awful, mind.

1
MTGCardFetcher•

approach of the second sun - (G) (SF) (MC)
^^^[[cardname]] ^^^or ^^^[[cardname|SET]] ^^^to ^^^call

1
WalkFreeeee•

Forgot about that card. I just mentioned that stuff because it's what I use on my deck, heh.

And yeah, I agree the quests are bad, just wanted to correct the part about it being impossible.

1
Lakadella•

Then dont do them :) If the quests is what is keeping you from playing you are the weirdest person out there. You can say that you dont like them or they are stupid or whatever, but if they are the sole reason you dislike the game, then just dont do the quests.

0†
Daethir•

If you don't do your quest you're losing half of your gold income, which less booster, and not being able to build a collection is a valid reason to be frustrated. And OP never said the quest were keeping him from playing.

1
Lakadella•

Read the title of this post :)

1
Daethir•

Okay

"The quest system is making me resent this game."

No mention of OP dropping the game :)

1