Reynad's Thoughts On Artifact | Game Review

[@wizardwhohasmorempthanhp]

REYNAD WAS RIGHT

[@Ideeem]

What was he right about? And what event happened?

[@alexalexandrov3317]

@@Ideeem artifact died

[@Theyungcity23]

@@Ideeem artifact died again

[@xplicitmike]

I really don't understand all the hate Reynad gets. He's legitimately a very smart guy. His commentary is usually on point, and his analysis when it comes to cards, games, and meta is pretty damn amazing. Not shilling here, just stating my honest opinion. Anyway, nice video Reynad, thx for the upload.

[@dinospumoni663]

Yeah Reynad is dope. People don't like him because he often comes across as arrogant or elitist, understandably. I still think he's great.

[@xplicitmike]

@@chrisperry1869 Maybe I'm out of the loop then, but the only thing I can think of is him being a sarcastic smartass all the time. I wouldn't really consider that as image destroying though, I think it's pretty funny.

[@xplicitmike]

@@chrisperry1869 whoa did that really happen? I guess I was out of the loop; I thought people just hated him because he's an asshole. Is that all he's done or am I missing something else too?

[@Trifelivin]

Who hates Andre, its all memes

[@explosionmental2781]

EleGiggle

[@darkgedi]

Dude is going to make one of the best card games we've ever played. This was brilliantly articulated and I couldn't agree more.

[@GerhardvdLinde]

Dude Valve should honestly just watch this video break it down and make the best card game to be ever made.

[@ethanalspencer7294]

The point about it not being clear whether your decision was good or bad is excellent. While its certainly not a one to one scenario, this is why a casual player like me was so frustrated with Hearthstone way back when Freeze Mage and Charge Molten Giants were pre-nerfed and just starting to get popular. I hadn't really yet conceptualized the game as 'there are these set decks people pulled from online that are minimaxed in this specific way', so it was infuriating in my head when I had a ton of damage on the board and had to make the seemingly arbitrary decision that seemed to be 'yeah this thing that you have done in every other time youve played to win the game, the objective explained to you in the game from the very start? Now if you do that you actually lose, guaranteed' It felt like the game was saying if I shot a goal, some of the time I lose instead of getting a point. Just cause.

[@Ares42]

I mean, it's easy to ridicule the complaints about monetization after Valve did a complete 180 on the one thing everyone complained about. Most people didn't complain about the entrance fee, it was mostly used as a talking point as for why the game might struggle. The thing people had an issue with was the fact that you couldn't play the game in any meaningful way without having to constantly put in more money.

[@taserrr]

Everywhere I look people still seem to think they changed that within 24 hours due to the backlash, they don't decide something as major as that within 24 hours, they already planned on implementing phantom draft for free.

[@a.spirit8408]

@@taserrr ... but they waited to see if they could get away with it not being free?

[@johntable2836]

@@a.spirit8408 yep

[@leooooo6482]

The credit card is the best card in the game... as always. But this time your winrate becomes basically 0% without it.

[@jim_carry]

I still think it deserves a ranked ladder system and at least one way to earn new cards for free.

[@christophercurtin5081]

Also I love this kind of content! Keep it up Reynad

[@OzymandiasFGC]

I'm a big Artifact fan, yet allot of the criticisms here are totally fair and I highly recommend finishing the whole video before passing judgement.

[@anghbalahr2971]

I´m sorry. But Artifact just seems like Hearstone with 18$ entrance-fee slapped onto it.

[@OzymandiasFGC]

@@anghbalahr2971 I've played Hearthstone for around 3 years now, its VERY different. I personally much prefer it.

[@Theaquasnake]

@@anghbalahr2971 Not even close.

[@Softlol]

Angh balahr how does this look like HS? It have 3 freaking boards lol.

[@patleaf2432]

The third point is so dead on ( hard to know what’s the right or wrong move.) I couldn’t put my finger on what it was about this game that bothered me but you articulated it perfectly. Also just going to say the majority of people who don’t comment and play ccgs in the real word absolutely respect your opinion on card games. We know what you’ve done and the content is always top notch. This is the best detail video about artifact. Ty.

[@serkket9199]

On the point of not having free cards given away and marketplace value: It's a terrible feeling to most players. When you buy the game, as a casual player or maybe just a player from another cardgame (HS, Shadowverse, etc.) you don't got into it thinking "I'm glad I can sell these cards later on". You probably just want to play the game and experience the cards available. The cards themselves having real value isn't something you think about at all. So having to pay to progress at all comes off as greedy and annoying. I guess if you are into playing the market, it's an interesting idea but what market are you going to play if the game is dead?

[@supreme1572]

The free cards and value argument was illogical LIES that I cant believe people actually believed just because Gabe said it. The real reason there werent any free cards is because the market place and pack opening systems would be interpreted as gambling and Valve would get in trouble with gambling laws around the world. This is why free card games like Hearthstone dont have a market place for cards, to avoid being classified as gambling since the game company hasnt assigned an official value on any card.

[@Kadlec10sge]

I could listen to Reynad talk about this kinda stuff for 5 hours and not get bored

[@psdjklgfuiob]

chad

[@Greamzih]

Nowadays when I hear about a new game, especially a free to play one, the first thing I want to know is the monetization scheme. Every review should begin with that.

[@bowietsang920]

Reynad, thanks for sharing your thoughts. You may be salty at times but you are a damn intelligent and articulate man! I have learned a lot from you

[@Stratocaster42]

What an absolutely fantastic analysis of this game. I'm stunned by how articulate and concise you are. I'm loving this game and hope Valve listen to you, because many of the issues you point out, and their suggested changes would make this game even better. Thanks for taking the time to make this :) Phenomenal

[@Zederok]

That sort of RNG is not what I was expecting. Thank you for steering me away from hearthstone 2.0. I'll wait on another game that is similar enough to HS with zero/low RNG.

I like Artifact and I enjoy playing it.. that said, this is the first Review I've seen that discusses issues with the game that actually makes sense and that I agree with. I hope someone at Valve sees this and really takes it to heart.

[@goochipoochie]

Thanks a lot Reynad. Insightful as always Few major points of the video Pros : 1) Good looking board and UI 2) Meta doesn't settle extremely fast like other games Cons 1) Hard to learn harder to master ( not in a good way ) 2) Cards with big impact rng, rng based on just +stats with only 2 outcomes 3) Game design makes analysing your choices very hard, ultimately lowers the feeling of reward 4) Buff cards with no major visual effects + attack tally only at the end of the round makes it more of a mathematically enjoyable game but lacks in the visual delight

[@panchorosselli]

The level of soft editing, to make every phrase sound AMAZING is INSANE. Like, I was hearing this, was waiting for a patch on a game to download, started watching the video. The amount of little edits is beautifull to watch. Holy shit, props to whoever edited this. Also the game... I don't enjoy it. RNG is bad and a lot of people getting excited at getting more money from the cards that actually playing the game is something that I know I will probably fall into. Already stopped playing it, for my sanity. The game is not worth it.

[@wizardsmix7961]

Just play magic the gathering instead. Its pretty much strictly better

[@Jakezor2k1]

Was looking for this comment! Absolutely perfect editing. The original video on this must have been 2+ hours long.

[@Galokot]

The editor was Stambo, you can find him at twitter.com/StamboHD

[@panchorosselli]

@@wizardsmix7961 Was checking out magic arena, but I play HS since it came out basicly and, its not bad, but i don-t think ill stop playing it (im almost f2p, i spend close to no money) so playing 2 card games plus other games plus work and school its kinda complicated so the game has to be insanely good. I think Ill stick to HS for now.

[@reynad27]

Stambo definitely killed it with this video. We're lucky to have him on board.

[@nickel]

makes sense

[@keiganogrady7481]

Hey nickel

[@jawher9]

Overwatch themed Card Game ???

[@achatmaster95]

Read the comment, was like - yeah it does make sense -thumbs up. and then i realized it was ohnickel. havent heard of you in a good while, you probably dont even remember me. how you been?

[@rmcdaniel2424]

The only part he is wrong about is randomness. Randomness also makes bad players be able to compete someone with a better player instead of the better play ALWAYS winning. You’ll never see a noob star craft player. Just saying

[@arete7884]

@@rmcdaniel2424 thats why i never want to play a card game

[@SelvenXXUP]

The monetization is still a core problem for me, although it's been kinda improved with the phantom draft. The thing is that the free rewards make the game more appealing *because it lacks human touch*. When you are playing table top, in front of someone you get that interaction that goes outside the boundaries of the game. If you are playing casually at your local shop you can make jokes during the game. Sometimes even during tournaments, depending on your rival. You try to guess what your opponent is planning through their expresions and through playing you make an idea of his style of play. He gains some identity. And usually, after the game ends you talk about it. You start looking at everything you did, about his experience, if some move you made put him in trouble, if he was actually baiting that other move... Which, at least for me, puts you into the mood for more. And you can always pick the cards years later and play a friendly match, even when your cards are no longer relevant. I don't have that in a PC card game. When the game is over my oponent fades in the air. Do I feel like playing against another phantom? it depends solely on what I've earned in the last game. Did I win? Did I get frustrated because of bad RNG or was it exhilarating because it pushed me? Did it leave me mentally drained? How rewarded did I feel with my decisions in comparison with how hard did I feel I was punished by my mistakes? I played HS (I'm thinking in going back, but the game got a little bit toxic for me. Not the comunity, the game and its strategies did) and the game kept me thrilled by pushing those ranks and the reward that came at certain levels. The first days after a expansion I did a ton of arenas to farm and grind those packs to get at least one working deck for the meta (and also because ladder was chaos during that time and was full of smorc decks, since it was usually the first days of the month too). And that kept me going and going for many games in a row. Because the reward made me feel like I've earnt something, that I accomplished something and last 15 minutes were not a total waste of time. The idea that it will devalue the cards in the open market seems ridiculous to me, since they give free skins in DotA. And that doesn't devalue most of them. In fact, the realy rare ones that come with each session battlepass sometimes get ridiculously expensive because they don't drop or rarely do (1000+ or sometimes 2000+ for a skin? C'mon. That's ridicolous). But even if that's the case they can do other things. Like alternate arts. Physical card games now have full arts and what not, and people love them. Why not allow you to get some of this during the phantom drafts? They could do that in many ways! For example, at the end of the draft they could let you chose between 3 alternate arts for different cards. The rarity of the cards could be related to the wins you got. They could even create alternatives to the dragons, since they are obviously the animal carriers from the game (one skin for it, at least). And they could be traded as well. In fact, I believe they would be highly demanded. You could make some the reward for reaching X rank for a determined amount of time, like winter or christmas, thanksgiving, easter or things like that, and remain there until the next reward is set. Which would make copies of that art limited. Also, the "its cheapier that other card games" I feel is bullshit. Yeah, it is true now. But expansions are sure to come, it's how this card games evolve and avoid turning stagnant. Will it still be cheap then? Sure it'll be... If I want to play the same over and over. If I get just one deck evey expansion I'm sure I can play the game for less than 30 euros, and that would be a tier 1 deck. But how much fun will that be? for how long will it be fun? Also, unless I want to pay a ridiculous amount for a certain hero (I've heard some are being sold for more than 13E) I will have to get/buy packs. And what I'll get from them is random. The format of the game is a TCG. You want to make it cheap? Then give the cards like a LCG. Where we all get the same cards. So I don't have to buy 10+ packs to get the card that I want or buy it for 16-20 bucks. So I actually risk not enjoying the game in the future because of a paywall. Do I want to risk 20E to try it and taste it? maybe more if I get hooked and the game seems promising and ends up dissapointing? Do I want to risk it? Why? So that initial wall, which I'll admit it's not that much, keeps me out because I'm not sure I'll enjoy it. Yeah, fake drafts make it better because that's another game mode that I don't have to pay with, but I enjoy the thrill of building a deck around an idea as much as playing it, so I need the constructed format as well. And I wonder. Will I have that? Or will I be limited because I don't want to spend 200 bucks every expansion?

[@BecomeHeroes]

Man, I never really watched you before because as a MTG player I never really enjoyed Hearthstone but after starting artifact you have really just taken the words out of my mouth. So well articulated and problems bought forward constructively. Going to watch way more of your content moving forward.

[@cabalpaxiarch7239]

Alpha is still considered to this day one of the most interesting and well designed magic sets of all time, specifically because of those top down designs you're describing. Yes, designing a set with specific archetype synergies is nice and also fun, but it takes a lot of talent to make a set with mostly top down designs and that's what Richard Garfield did with Alpha and that's why he's the best that was or will be. Alpha exploded with success because it challenged the imagination. It didn't serve you linear archetypes, it made you look at the cards and figure out how to best combine them. Top down designs also allow you to insert more flavor into the mechanics (Raging River for example).

[@rodgermccallister1606]

Great video! I always love watching videos of much more in-depth game design because Im an amateur game designer and Im always looking for ways to improve in terms of design. This review was engaging throughout the entire 40 minutes, something incredible in this day-in-age of people just making the longest videos possible for the algorithm gods of youtube to recommend them. Keep posting this type of content and keep us posted on the bazaar. Looking forward to playing it

[@EUSilverleaf]

Pro's: Very much enjoyed the video. Really recognizable, well-voiced thoughts. I agree with most standpoints. Cons: Talk about internet trolls. Who really cares...? Summary: Excellent video. Would recommend.

[@allskatersondeck]

I rarely leave comments on videos. Watched/lurked your streams and videos since Hearthstone. Really enjoy your content and this is some of your best content. As someone who very much enjoys artifact, and was looking forward to it for quite some time I can say I can agree with you on all points. Im sure that the game will improve tons overtime, and I'm looking forward to that. Was rooting for you in the weplay event, fuck the haters, keep doing you. Looking forward to trying the Bazaar.

[@theguyinurbed]

I love these kinds of videos, thanks reynaldo

[@epilef120]

Is that his real name or something? I just watched this video and I'm going to know watch others. What's his nationality? (Or is this just a little "joke", "nickname" or something?)

[@theguyinurbed]

His real name is Andrey Yanyuk, and reynad is just his first name but mixed up a bit. Also he was born in Ukraine, they reynaldo thing is just a meme

[@epilef120]

@@theguyinurbed oh I see, thx my man o/ what does he do these days?

[@theguyinurbed]

Stream hearthstone, and other card games like MTG arena. He did IRL streams for awhile but not so much anymore.

[@epilef120]

@@theguyinurbed Thx o/

[@PwnzorProductions]

Hey Reynad, I think it would be really cool if you looked at other card games and analyzed/rate how fundamentally good they are. Especially ones with very different mechanics than the mana style hearthstone/magic, like Pokemon and Yu-gi-oh. I would love to hear your opinion on how good these other card games are.

[@darebrained]

Pokémon is a lot more similar to MtG than Hearthstone.

[@davidbronstein2040]

Don’t even bother with Yugioh, the game is broken and Konami will never fix it because they are still making money through rarity bumps and short prints.

[@PwnzorProductions]

@@darebrained I feel like hearthstone is much more similar to magic than Pokemon. Both Hearthstone and magic use the mana system to play cards, they have similar effects like charge and haste, and the goals of the games are the same with attacking the enemy directly to bring their life to 0. Pokemon is very different because it is an open deck style game, with a lot of search and draw power, you have energy cards in order to fuel attacks, and you have things like evolution that do not exist in either hearthstone of magic.

[@darebrained]

@@PwnzorProductions while on the surface this seems to be the case, magic is of the game's you mentioned by far the most about combos, with Pokémon and YGO being a shared distant second and Hearthstone being a distant third to EVERYTHING. Also in Magic resource management is the most important among the mentioned CCGs, with Pokémon again second, YGO third and Hearthstone not really having much resource management aspects in comparison. In terms of RNG, which game has the most RNG? Hearthstone, then YGO, then Pokémon and magic with by far the least, especially true if you look at competitively relevant cards. Hearthstone and Magic are if you look closer actually polar opposites.

[@reynad27]

That might be fun. I used to love the Yugioh gameboy/PS1 games as a kid.

[@Coeurebene1]

Fair review. As a hardcore strategy player Artifact is pretty much the dream game for me, but I also understand that after a hard day at work some peopel would prefer to relax with a game like HS. There is definitely room for both!

[@Snack6288]

Thanks for taking the time to make this. I wish the “bad” rng cards could be limited to a different game type or maybe classified as something like MTG Unglued?

[@swedishZ0mBi3]

Good video, a lot of perspective unlike most reviews.

[@Alfonso88279]

Do you know why I am not playing artifact? Because I can't to get something without paying. In other games I have daily quest, or gold, to get grow ingame. In artifact, I have to use my wallet. So, to me, that's important. To a lot of people it is. When I saw Kriparrian wasting 300 bucks and not getting the two decks he was trying to get, I realised that Artifact is not and can never be, my game. I have not 300 bucks to waste in videogames. Great video overall. Too far from most player problems (money first, then play), but very good opinions.

[@leroyjenkinson4866]

5:59 "future expansions" hahahahaha

[@Krokodilius]

For me, shadowverse still has the best looking cards. I had a feeling this game would die quickly when i saw the 3 board format at the reveal. It just looks like a bad game and something people don't want to invest themselves into. I don't care for the dota genre either, which was another personal draw back. 20$ wasn't an issue as i've paid that for many yugioh PSP games over the years, although they are the best card video games ever made...it's not even kinda close: multiple story modes, 8000+ cards.

[@resq2nick]

this is the first video ive seen from your channel, i really like it, good job

[@boomknight1015]

The game is just so annoying. I want to at lest place my heros and minions spawning in and choose the spot. As well as if a minion dies in front of someone, it moves them in front of the nearest minion across of them. Having no real control of placement just turns into, do you luck into getting a massive amount of minions in a few fields then win because a person don't have auto damage on hitting a tower. Or board hero wipes which such because if you lose all of your heros because of a double 4+4 all hero damage in each lane. If you lack good items by then, you lose that turn because you can't play anything and the next turn you can't play anything. Which is retarded. Because if 4 or 8 damage can kill your heros all at once, you need items to counter that. You get items through killing minions and heros. If you are behind then you fall farther behind because every hero just got killed and now you can't play anything at all. The early game is shit because you HAVE to have some key cards that are not base cards auto given to you. On top of needing Key cards to not fall behind if you loose the first 2 turns or lose your heros in the first turn. Then it snow balls and it's not recoverable with out key cards. Some being locked to only Blue or Black which you may not even have heros for that color to use those cards you need to counter something. It's just a mess that needs some cards, you can play with no heros. As well as at lest hero placement then it would be such a better game.

[@guangyaowang1891]

agree on everything beside the "card design synergy" The game have just been released and if all the players have already known what card belong to what type of deck, then the game would get bored quicker than hearthstone.

[@EdGeLV]

I was watching and thinking the same. What if its too early and people havent yet found the best combos. What if the base set is the "base set", and additional expansions will provide sinergistic cards?

[@snakeking5009]

@@EdGeLV But releasing a game without those clear synergistic cards doesn't give people a framework to build around when they deck build, and that's the point I think that Reynad was trying to make.

[@zengokigyh]

I'm re-watching this while contemplating to replay after 74h in with most cards. And I'm actually surprised at how true the 50 hour tutorial he mentions was for me as well. And how the many mathematical number tweaking cards are lame and boring in the long run. The 50-50 randomness or 25% chance to copy a big card. Is actually indeed not fun when on the receiving end. This is way too long of a video but he does sum it up very accurately.

[@jamiemc2313]

Outstanding review. I completely agree with you on nearly every point and you nailed it better than anyone else. I would add that you didn't mention the game's current lack of progression and reward loop present in just about every major release. We have been told it is coming, though it is a bit perplexing and even worrying it wasn't a higher priority given Valve's knowledge of the modern gaming market. I would also partially disagree with your ststement that the game should appeal to Gwent players. I was for a time competitive Gwent player and a big part of earlier Gwent's appeal was the lack of RNG and the extreme control you had over the outcome of the game. Artifact does not have thst same appeal for me, even if the game carries a complexity and mathiness found in Gwent. Awesome review Reynad.

[@pommefrite8693]

"I would add that you didn't mention the game's current lack of progression and reward loop present in just about every major release. We have been told it is coming, though it is a bit perplexing and even worrying it wasn't a higher priority given Valve's knowledge of the modern gaming market. " It was similar for Dota, so I'd tend to think it's not a high priority for Valve, arguably rightly so. "Reward loops" are a very artificial, maybe even unhealthy, way to keep you interested in a game. It certainly does work in general, but that doesn't mean it's a good thing. If the game itself is good enough or if you like it enough it should be a sufficient incentive for one to play. If anything it's nice that some companies are resisting trends.

[@67tedward]

Gwent removed so much complexity recently FeelsBadMan

[@AlucardSange]

Yeah, I loved pre-homecoming Gwent, but it was mostly due to the control and decision making you did throughout the matches. Every match you I played felt like old control warrior vs control warrior in Hearthstone. Gwent, for me at least, was a game about deck building, finding synergy, and optimization, and that's what I loved about it; Artifact seems like all the complexity will be in the matches with most decklist coming straight from the net w/o much variance.

[@jamiemc2313]

@@AlucardSange Yeah I think there's truth to that, though high level Gwent was still a brain burner in many ways that Artifact is. Lots of numbers and risk assessment. You had to calculate the perfect amount you would need without ever overcommitting to any one round, while equally calculating your opponent's spikes and answers. Gwent there was much more known information that you could count on but also had to account for. That's where the game feels quite different to me.

[@imo098765]

The reward loop, is winning

[@airmanfair]

I don't know what is wrong with the Artifact subreddit. I've posted a few things regarding MMR/ladder systems and people downvoted most of what I said to oblivion. There is a level of fanaticism in that subreddit that isn't rivaled in any other gaming subreddit I've been a part of.

[@davidbronstein2040]

Your first mistake was using reddit

[@aeowinh]

A LOT of people are such a blind fanboyz of Valve, so when Valve make a game people just think that are the best game create in the history. So when someone put criticism you will get downvoted and insult into oblivion.

[@SaithMasu12]

thats why i stay the hell out of there. I dont like these communities that either go full fanboy or full anti, but rather stick to a sane case to case based review. If you cannot add valid critisim into a community, that community is doomed. Plain and simple.

[@feluto7172]

Reddit is cancer always

[@HighLanderPonyYT]

Reddit is a cesspool full of idiots who just downvote cause they disagree, I wouldn't waste my time posting.

[@CyberManiaInternet]

You had me at blunt. Great video, made me get a better insight on Artifact and games in general.

[@Physicism]

love watching your game design videos reynad. really helps me with issues im having with my game. cannot wait for the bazaar!

[@imbritish]

I have to disagree with your sentiment that 'It's OK if the game isn't big' 1.It's a Valve game. That means something. It's not nothing if one of the biggest game developers in the world, with infinite budget and extended time can't make a big impact. 2.It's a multiplayer game. Single player niche game with low interest? No problem. The people that love you will love you. Their experience won't be effected. Multiplayer? Now we have an issue. You need a healthy pool of players to match with. Period. The foundation of multiplayer = players.

[@naderfarmandrad7983]

Reynad you’re never going to please to internet. Just keep doing what you’re doing and ignore negativity.

[@awoowashere]

This is what i call content. I can't wait for Bazaar.

[@hutianliang7191]

About the randomness, it's not just to make the game play out differently every time though. It introduces an element of gambling into the game, which I think can be quite addictive to many people. Well, at least it's really fun to watch the Yogg every time.

[@becausewin]

thanks noodle. this is the most important review yet on the game. I was already on the same page with the pros you talked about, the aesthetic is 👌. Your analysis on the mechanics and rng was really helpful and makes a lot of sense. Not sure how I feel about the game or whether I will bother buying it anymore.

[@johnjoy7916]

Thanks, as a hearthstone and magic veteran this was informative and helpful.

[@adamalami5731]

Although I completely disagree with the analogy you created about Melee, I did very much enjoy this video. Super quality content

[@Sabamonster]

I agree with a majority of your points, I did want to mention something about what you said in regard to letting your heroes die. Personally, I feel like that's part of the complexity of the game. It's not as straight forward as other card games, which for me, is what makes it enjoyable. In order to know whether you made good or bad decisions you have to actively try and learn the game. You have to analyze your own decisions against the outcomes across several games. I personally really enjoy that. When you make an active decision to allow your hero to die, and it's a good call, that means you've gotten to a place where you can see that there is even a decision to be made. Where as a less skilled player (or less experienced) wouldn't even realize that there is one and would just always opt to save their hero. Like you said, you don't feel like you've solved the game after fifty hours of playing it, honestly I think decisions like that are part of the reason for that. Not talking shit mate, just giving my two cent. Good review all around though.

[@PokemonWalkthroughDS]

Learning how to wave dash takes like an hour or two but I understand your point

[@pezit]

I think some people do like that kind of randomness, I personally agree that the other kind is more fun though.

[@wiz4e]

I see all of your points and overall logic. I agree with 100% of it. Thanks for the review, Reynad :)

[@Warsun-Warspike]

Great insight and commentary here, thank you! Well thought out opinions instead of just another regurgitated hype/hate video.

[@mightyghost3604]

On the criticism about having to little "impact feel" on playing card. Here is an counter argument. Not every card playing, actions need to be explosions. Artifact have many flat effect cards, this is true. But some that has effect, they have a fucking awesome visaul. What this does is that it creates a contrast, and make what was a deciding play really stands out. I personally like this approach, rather than Michael Bay approach.

[@Elyndyr]

One of the biggest flops in gaming history

[@clintonlim5405]

I respect you more for this video. Ez thumbs up.

[@Unf0rget]

Straight up that volatile rng is why I stopped playing hs. I hate it. I spend my time on a game and if that time means anything is not in my hands to such a degree that I just cant take it anymore. Its defended as inherit to card games but its actually multiplying the inherit rng of cardgames to a new tier of ridiculousness that will reject a wider audience, just because its easy.

[@NantisN]

What a great analysis, I´m impressed. Maybe I should watch more of your content since until now I wasn´t a huge fan. Your review makes hugely sense and there are great insights within your thoughts. Thank you. I am a huge fan of Artifact btw, only since release though, not beta.

[@Ivan-td7kb]

I think the aspect of Artifact where it's not immediately clear if a decision is good or bad, is what gives Artifact the depth that it has.

[@Yatsura2]

Which doesnt sound like a good thing.

[@gamikhan9087]

I hope people would see this video before critiquizing reynad.

[@jinghle]

Agree with the sentiment. I also hope people will spellcheck their comments before posting.

[@Advo42069]

I can't stand Reynad. The sound of his voice, the tourettes twitching in his face, the elitist pompous attitude... everything about his personality is annoying to me. With that being said, I can't ignore his ability to make decks and see potential in cards and card games. In other words I respect his opinions. He created one of if not the first "Zoolock" deck before Hearthstone's first expansion. A deck type which is still being used to this day and is still one of the top decks in every expansion since. There's not anyone else that can say that.

[@Cecekcz]

my new favourite word

[@gamikhan9087]

whoops

[@LaMangouste]

@chefaopt That's how it's spelled in another language, probably not a native english speaker.

[@trapprkeepr]

I'm so glad Gwent doesn't have " % possibility to ________" That randomness would ruin my day I think. I really want to make the move to the much anticipated Artifact but if I bought myself an expensive deck I don't even know if I'd feel so great about winning? Maybe I'm overthinking that part but I don't like the idea of pay to win?

[@Audovic]

Very good video Reynad! This editor is really good.

[@fernandovilla902]

A deliciously thorough review

[@varungollapalli4388]

100% agree with you !!

[@marczwander893]

I think its fun to not know wether a decision was good or bad. In real life we constantly make choices like that and we should not be upset that we can‘t rationalize everything. We are all just doing what we think is right, that‘s what we do. And I also love the ‚little victories‘ with ‚math‘ cards.

[@b1ffd]

I am really enjoying Artifact, and I agree with all of your points. Well said.

[@walruslolbertarian5586]

I wish there was some kinda log in bonus or incentive to "just play" as I'm not enjoying it at this point and don't want to throw a bunch of more money at it to get competitive

[@TheGoukaruma]

Refunded it after a few games. It felt like nothing I did matters. Maybe that is only at the beginning but you don't crate a game that starts with not having fun.

[@LaMangouste]

That video made me follow your twitch, great analysis keep it up!

[@ggtohh7186]

You are soooo right on. Rng is my biggest issue, but now that i think about it your next point was amazing. The HALLMARK of knowing in like a 4-1 draft game that there isn't any mmr to the game is seeing your opponent go for a hero kill in a lane they are winning. You want to trap my Red beefy hero in the lane where you are winning, unless you're trying for an 80, why on earth are you trying to kill him off? It's literally a free redeploy in a turn that i had no way to move him if not for you killing him in a lane that i can never win. But they do it, soooo often. I'm just like, Thank you??? Free perfect run. But it's very hard to figure that out, and very counter intuitive. One possible solution is to force redploys to go back into the same lane after the first initial lane choice, and allow only movement effects to give you the option to move lanes, like blink dagger or relentless pursuit, or whatever. Or give it a resource like you have to kill a hero to give your next redeploy movement, but then we've changed the game extremely just to solve just a part of that issue. You really knocked this out of the park, very well done.

[@daveninjaneuro7089]

What people fail to realize is that randomness that is not predictable is the essence of addiction. Slot machines. That's the point of getting people to pay money.

[@doomsvortex]

Hey reynad, thanks for taking the time to make this review. I was really interested in this video after your comments on stream. Your points are really solid and I felt they made tons of sense, and a lot of your examples sufficiently cover bases. However, in my opinion, it feels like a bunch of your points ignore the fact that Artifact is a "three-lane, one deck" system. I felt that some examples of RNG raised are actually not that bad. For example, Ogre Magi's multicast definitely has an issue to snowball out of control at times, but that is something that only affects the current lane he is on, and this is the same with Tidehunter and Bounty Hunter. This means that lane choice is a lot more important in the grand scheme of things since you can ignore their lanes and focus somewhere else, forcing them to relocate heroes and switch up their strategy. Milder RNG may end up with longer games as less drastic effects may result in a longer time investment that may not yield quicker results, and that is why it is pretty fun to watch streamers scramble to TP heroes to different lanes to solve their predicament in my opinion. I do agree 100% with the Cheating Death case though, that card is toxic to me at the moment and I have no idea what effect it would have on the constructed scene. Boring buffs, like "+x to all creeps/heroes" and other number buffs and simple effects, definitely sounds less exciting than others. But in a game where there are micro and macro levels to the battlefield, I think this is pretty acceptable. I am welcoming of more interesting cards as you said, but I do not think it is as bad/boring as you make it out to be. Regarding your "It's not immediately clear to the player if a decision is good or bad", I felt that at this point you kind of forgot the game that Artifact was. I do agree if it was a single board layout like MtG or HS, but it is because it is Artifact that this point shines the most and it is a strong point. The game was meant to be based on DotA, and even with all the heroes killing each other in the lanes the core is to destroy the Ancient in a Battlefield. There is no way a battlefield is meant to be clear-cut, and if it was the case I would lose my interest as the game would feel more like a sellout rather than trying something different. Also, I believe that the best form of this would be the day that almost all cards are viable for play and many different decks are playable, and the core of the gameplay would be the player's wit and adaptability. Yes, it is a disadvantage to the more casual player, but Artifact was not meant to be that way, and whoever advertise this game as the HS killer made a big mistake. When I first saw the gameplay I knew it was a niche game and totally different to HS, so either a fanboy went apeshit and spouted nonsense, or Valve made the worst marketing campaign slogan and failed big time. Either way, as a fan and viewer of multiple card and strategy/thinking games, I enjoyed your video since you laid out your points in a really nice and concise manner. I really wished, however, that you had linked your points more to the core idea of Artifact instead of just judging certain mechanics by themselves in respect to other games out there, as Artifact had something drastically different. Thank you.

[@FergusWho]

Not knowing immediately about whether your decision is correct or not is actually a very good thing. It means the game has a lot of depths and requires more time to perfect. It's like playing chess. You have so many options in your first move but new players won't be able to tell which one is the best. It's totally fine. On the other hand, games like hearthstone where you can figure out optimal moves easily are just too shallow, where most of the time you won't have that many options. So we can often see people using scripts to get to legendary rank. In this kind of game sometimes you feel like your decisions don't matter most of the time. Even most of the pro games all came down to RNGs, since both sides can easily play the best move all the time. In artifact a good player will have much higher win rate than a simple game like hearthstone.

[@kubakeska5932]

Your video is like voice from my heart...

[@helemaalnicks6215]

Good warning. I used to play a lot of HS arena, but I quit mainly because of a 7 mana card that dealt 5 damage and made a 5 drop. It was the final straw probably. The part where you defend yourself about being good at card games is really silly, you don't have to defend yourself like that.

[@yasaswy]

RNG, Hero deaths will make sense for someone from Dota.. farming gold and beefing up the carry was very important there hero deaths were strategic and used for and against many times. Just curious did u ever play MMDOC and like it? i loved it with the larger design and synergy ur talking about.

[@anthonyyaghi6342]

Great video ! This is the first time I watch one of yours. Everything was clear and your opinions are backed up with some actual example, clean. Here is what I think, I like debating this kind of stuff so anyone feel free to respond: 1. RNG point: I agree even thought some of the example are not as bad as you describe them for example bounty hunter, unlike the random secret shop item the outcome fall under 2 options only and it is easy to take its effects into account, if you are playing a lane against bounty hunter you take his extra damage into account when doing your planning instead of assuming his damage is X and panic when he gets +4 from jinada. 2. Hard to tell good decisions from bad ones: yes sometimes you can't tell immediately if a move was a good one but I don't see why this is bad. It isn't like you don't know what is good and what is bad, but like in chess, the effect of a move may not be apparent in 1 or 2 turns ahead but you need deeper analysis of the game replay to see what can be improved. For me this is more rewarding than a simple system. 3. Synergy/archetypes: I feel like they tried to follow the same philosophy as in Dota and let players create the synergy by mixing heroes/spells while taking into consideration the meta but I don't know if they succeeded. It definitely works for Dota but may not be the best thing to have with artifact, I still have to see what people come up with in the next few updates.

[@Kenshinhugo]

Good Take on rng, gotta share my take on the bad feedback on optimal plays. The lack of feedback on a play is the most interesting parts of this game as an esport and the worst part in hs which bother me. I really don't get it how anyone can be a pro in hs when it is not a difficult game in terms of ceiling or finding the optimal play(or doing the optimal play). Hs is really a game of paper, scissors and stone. Where showing stone/paper/scissors(playing a deck optimal) is not hard and choosing the play(deck/order) is all there is to it. I won't be getting this game anyway cause of the non dueable rng but just sharing opinions.

[@losveratos]

There's a reason why someone like Kripp is always among the very best of arena ranking along with others like Hafu and the same 500ish people are pushing each other every month in the top 100 of legend rank. It's called a high pro ceiling. Your opinion on that isn't subjectively wrong... its pretty clearly objectively wrong. Seriously... go look at Firebat's numbers in regards to certain perceived "bad matchups" in the Rock/Paper/Scissors game as you called it. He consistently mitigates those losses by finding effective strategy or tech cards that allow him a gameplan to struggle through to wins that other players can't seem to get. I just don't understand how anyone could possibly try to act intelligent and speak like they know what they're talking about when they attempt to say HS has no pro level skill. You don't have it maybe.... but it's certainly attainable in Hearthstone.

[@wmhburgess]

It was a bit rich for Reynad to be saying that he was very good at artifact with the gameplay that was going on in the background, not sure if that was him playing or not but whoever it was wasn't very good. My favourite play was the untested grunt into the tower with burning oil when the tower was going to die anyway, essentially just discarding the card.

[@misomiso8228]

EDIT: Also your criticism of hero Kills is very inciteful.

[@blackyle3]

So bounty and ogre magi have the same rng as their dota counterparts?

[@dmarsub]

18:30 that is exactly my biggest worry about the game. This is a similar problem as with chess. You need to read many books and study it for years to get to the interesting gameplay instead of just checking 6 to 8 individual outcomes 3 turns ahead.

[@dobattlers]

100% agree on the rng discussion

[@BenReierson]

Respect. Good review.

[@airmanfair]

The turn one bounty hunter + 10g bounty happened to me last night! It felt realllllly bad to lose that game turn one. Everything after that point felt like an uphill battle and I eventually lost (this was in an expert phantom draft too btw).

[@alanbland1976]

I completely agree about how they handled RNG. The game is great, but the presence of Cheating Death on either side of the board can completely kill your enjoyment. I completely disagree on hero death. I like that there's a lot of nuance as to whether or not killing their hero, or saving your hero is good. It adds a lot to the depth of the game, even if it does make things harder to gauge as a new player. The monetization issue is maddening. If something is a quality product it shouldn't be contentious that the makers ask for money for it. If it's not worth the cost for you then you should just move on to a different game. It shouldn't be cause for months of whinging. F2P is slowing killing video games, and a lot of gamers are screaming for more of it.

[@paulelephant9521]

Well, Valve should have listened to Reynad. You could nit pick a couple of his points, the rng was definitely there, but actually meant the best player nearly always won, his example of losing the game t1 was a very unusual thing to happen and good players either used the rng to their advantage or avoided cards like Ogre Magi. But they still felt bad, and that's a problem. Still surprised they didn't even try and hold on for a second set, Valve's internal metrics of the game must have been disastrous!!!!

[@thecoon1945]

a wise man right there. There is a point i do not agree with and it is the issue about killing enemy heroes being a bad thing sometimes, i think that makes the game more rich and complicated, which is a good thing, you will never stop learning, it means you will have to think wisely about when to commit. This been said I'd really like to know how anyone could argue the point about randomness: that must be recognised as a problem. Thank you for your Job

[@thegamersmanifesto3671]

I couldn't quite put my finger on what it was about Artifact that wasn't sitting right with me, this absolutely hit it on the head. Especially the +/- numbers and oddities of when to kill heroes aspects.

[@azell2913]

15:50 you got that wrong it always stuns the first 3 in front of him then the 50% chance on everyone else usually the heroes are going to be in that cone if your gonna use it.

[@alexlandsbergs]

thanks for this vid. informative.

[@Illien0]

I think Reynad is right with his summary, I like Artifact and I like the mathsy part of it too. I like how everything changes the battlefield slightly pushing one advantage and back, but I can definitely see how that would be boring. One thing Reynad said I'm not sure about. The thing about having cards that arent fun to play, is that the strength of red heroes primarily lies in their combat; the part of the game that happens automatically and isn't very engaging. You get cards like Duel which are fun to use, but I dont really see many different effects a red card can have that arent boring or just rehashes of the same concept. Reynad says it's fixable, but I don't know.

[@danielh4295]

I think the out-modifiying stat nature of the game is kinda lame as well. When u see your opponent with 5-6 gold cards in his hand u just know there’s no way to kill anything.

[@B0ieru]

Hi Reynad! Do you think an example of good RNG is the creep spawn method in Artifact?

[@reynad27]

Yes! If the game randomly summoned 0-3 creeps every turn, that would be bad RNG. Since it spawns 2 creeps but in different positions, that's good RNG.

[@bLub0123]

I usually dont watch your content, however this video is pretty damn well reflected and your arguements are very solid. First of all I wanna mention that in fact I do like and play the game. However I didn't really distinct between different kind of randoms before but it is a very big point youve got there (Because you didn't find an Artifact example of good random, I would argue that arrows probably are. Sure they still can have very different outcomes powerlvl wise however its not always better to get one over the other arrow, actually you quite often can adeptd your strategy based on different outcomes). The biggest problem of randomness in artifact to me currently is the flop. It can totaly screw you over before the game even started. One should have some kind of influence on it. On the other hand I highly disagree with you on not knowing wether a particular play was good or bad. I think thats a very positive aspect of the game. Thats the exact reason it's not solved within the first 50h. Thats also the reason why insanely high winrates (for a card game) are possible in this game, because skill matters a lot and there are plenty of difficult choices to make. However like you said I would describe my self as kinda competetive and prob even hardcore card player ;)

[@WOLFSERGI]

played the game for a little over 11 hours and I totally agree with this review, I have never been so frustrated with RNG than I am with this slot machine of a card game.

[@dmarsub]

*Hey Reynad,* i would *love to hear your opinion on "Griftah"* from the new hearthstone set. Imo its the highest skill card in the game on its own and a perfect example of Rng well done! (The powerlevel is another question) Discovering not for card power level but for "discreptancy of my vs opponents deck/gameplan synergy" is unique and interesting. But it really unpopular what do you think?

[@Drysco]

Love the editing in this!

[@benjamingranger5475]

The issue of knowing whether a decision was good or bad is purely a question of experience, as you imply it. But in that sense, it's more similar to chess for beginners which I don't think is necessarily a problem, as long as you're ok with the fact the game will never be for a wide audience. And regarding the lack of archetype definition, I see that also more as an intent from Valve to provide more flexibility in deck building (as opposed to HS where every expansion tells you which 20 cards you should put in your deck: jades, tribal mechanics...). Having said that, I don't think it's really achieving that. I'm not experienced yet on Artifact but somehow I don't enjoy the deck building part because of that complexity, aside from draft. For me, this is a big issue for a card game.

[@uchuuseijin]

I feel like the 50-hour tutorial aspect was unfortunately a feature rather than a but. How else do you get that DotA feel? DotA is kinda like if Melee's bugs were designed intentionally

[@ccwisp]

I hate that when you place a minion on board it randomly goes face, left or right. It would make sense to let you choose what to attack if there is no minion in front of you. good review