Magic The Gathering: Arena

Magic The Gathering: Arena Dev Tracker




24 Sep

Post

725dc20d11ee9798942b23799c16636fc5a904b7


Check out the directory to find your favorite MTG Arena streamer!


23 Sep

Comment

Ha! I love it. Also, the patch will likely return when the warm weather does. I'm one of those "always wears a hoodie" people, and the official jacket that I'm wearing in the more recent video is way too warm for Summer. So that's when I switch to the lighter hoodie (with the patch I lovingly applied myself).

Comment

Originally posted by Dimentive

So, it’s just like how Spectacle works. Makes sense.

I hesitate to be pedantic (even though it sort of is my job), but it's not exactly like Spectacle. Spectacle is a choice about which alternative cost to pay for an action, which takes place in the step of performing an action outlined by my "favorite" rule, 601.2b. The choice you make for Adamant in Arena takes place later, when determining the total cost, activating mana abilities, and applying your payment (601.2f through 2h, which is sort of one blob in the GRE).

So, there is a rules difference, yes. But there's also a UI difference - when you drag out a spectacle card, the screen dims and what we call a browser opens up of all the alternative costs you could pay (or the normal one). Whereas with Adamant, you'll see the normal battlefield and two buttons in the bottom right of the two autotap strategies. #wotc_staff

Comment

Originally posted by klawehtgod

Could you briefly explain what is meant by "payment-time solution" versus "priority-time solution"?

Priority time is when you're dragging the card from your hand, payment time is when we reach the step where the game rules demand payment for the action (after picking modes, targets, etc). #wotc_staff

Comment

Originally posted by Filobel

Thanks for the info. I wasn't aware of the way MtGO implemented it, but it seems you're approaching it in a similar way.

On a side note, how much communication is there between the MtGO and MtGA team? Did the two teams discuss this mechanic, or did you both arrive to a similar solution independently?

I'd argue our solutions are pretty different. They have you make a choice at priority-time, which constrains which mana is qualified to pay for the cost. We have an autotap-only choice at payment time, which determines which of two autotap solutions to execute.

We have meetings with MtGO and paper R&D about upcoming sets to communicate which cards or mechanics that have digital playability or implementation problems. But in terms of "fingers to keyboard" solutions, our code bases are divergent enough that we don't have too much to discuss about EXACTLY how we're going to solve the problems a new set presents us. #wotc_staff

Comment

Originally posted by Diet_Goomy

so it basically works as a sudo kicker mechanic when it comes to the program?

There's a lot of differences (timing, UI, rules interactions), but I suppose there are similarities too. They both happen between you dragging the card out from your hand and your opponent seeing the action you've performed. #wotc_staff

Comment

Thanks for the link. We'll investigate this! #wotc_staff

EDIT: Wait... this video is from July. Nowadays at least we don't autopay if the payment-time solution is different than the priority-time solution. But it appears this is a situation where that happens. We'll find out why.