Artifact Dev Tracker

Artifact is coming to Steam in just two days! In the meantime, we're happy to launch the first in a new series of Artifact comics, called Prelude. Artifact is more than just a Dota card game — it is a shared universe with a storyline that will deepen the history, expand the world, and change the fates of the heroes of both games.

We'll also be releasing a second comic called Call to Arms on launch day, which sets the stage for a series of events that will transform the world of Dota forever. Don't forget to come back and check it out.

We're also updating the beta, once this afternoon's stress tests have complet... Read more

Features

• You can now recycle cards into event tickets at a rate of 20 cards to 1 ticket. There is a "Recycle Cards" tab accessible from the collection. Note that each card will currently show "N/A" where the market price would be until the market is open. Sort by market price will sort by mana cost until the market is open.
  
• You can now play bot matches and Call to Arms without claiming your starting package. This lets you try more of the game before you reach the point-of-no-return on refunds.
  
• Added an AI difficulty selector.
  
• Added some premade decks to the bot's deck selection options to make it easy to quickly practice against various opponent color combinations.
  
• Added a new cursor and cursor size settings control.

Deck Editor Fixes

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The Artifact public beta is starting later today. All attendees from this year's International and everyone who redeemed a beta key will find the game activated in their Steam account.

Since lifting the NDA on the private beta yesterday, there's been an overwhelming amount of feedback on all parts of the game. Much of that feedback has been a clear signal that we underestimated how much interest and excitement the community has around certain features that weren't available in the initial beta build.

We want to take a few minutes to talk about some of those missing features now:

• There was no way to do a draft event with friends. We didn't prioritize this play mode, and had planned to enable it sometime after release. We've heard your feedback: drafting with friends is a core part of what you w...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-ep1QnXLQ8
I enjoyed helping design the shop in Artifact and I think it provides a lot to the game. We knew we wanted the heroes to get more powerful over the course of play – and in fact we experimented with some experience and leveling systems to accomplish that. We quickly came to the conclusion we could get a lot of the feeling of improvement from a shop which sold items that upgraded the heroes. Rather than collect experience, players would collect gold. Th... Read more

Q. What do I get when I buy Artifact? Your purchase includes 10 card packs, 5 event tickets, and two complete starter decks. The two starter decks are Red/Green Brawler and and ... Read more

We’re 19 short days from Artifact’s release, but already the community has been busy creating a variety of tools to support the game. Every time we see one of these community creations pop up, whether it’s a draft simulator[howlingmind.com] or a deck builder[www.artifactfire.com] or even a personality quiz... Read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCW_-t6KYJs
Upkeep kills are the most delicious of kills.

Not all hero kills are equal. Losing a hero in combat is generally the least painful way to lose a hero. Your hero delivered their combat damage, blocked damage, and was there the whole round – so contributed their presence to your ability to play cards and use their activated abilities. The death will result in your hero losing one turn of presence (the following turn) for the sometimes sizeab... Read more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvCr3w6CJGc Losing a hero might not be as bad as you think.

Many players immediately gravitate to red because the heroes are often huge and robust, and the feeling of losing a hero on the flop is so bad. Red is solid – but it doesn’t dominate – and that in itself indicates the penalty of hero death is probably overrated. The loss of a hero can hurt a lot; the temporary loss of the attack and block the hero provides, and the reduced... Read more