The number of Factions, Reinforcement Packs, and Mercenaries available right from the start will ensure the highest of replay value! I have a spot picked out for it in between Ascension and Nightfall. Yes, I am a Playdek Fanboy and have no regrets.
If you play Nightfall online, please add me. I'm always looking for a game, and a lot of the regulars have dropped out to play Magic.
I'll be back to playing Nightfall as soon as Martial Law drops. That expansion adds so much, right now the cards are kind of limiting. With Magic, Le Havre and Summoner Wars within such short time of each other it's hard to look at anything else right now anyway
Between this, magic 2013, assassins creed recollection expansion, and le havre this is shaping up to be one of the best months in ios gaming history. My wife is going to be pissed when she gets the bank statement.
Based on when it was submitted, about how long until it's available? Sorry, I still haven't learned Apple's timeframe.
I first started playing Magic the Gathering back in the day, 1995. I have always been a huge fan, but let's face it, MTG is a DECK BUILDING GAME. This is where it really shines as a game. If you subtract the deck building aspect what you have is half a game - that's why the MTG app is just ok in my book, still fun, but just ok. Summoner Wars is a game that is extremely well suited for the iPad as was Ascension and Nightfall before it. You get 100% of the game, meaning it hasn't been dumbed down for the iOS devices. Needless to say, I can't wait!
Super excited about this one - I've been following the release status of this one for seemingly forever (I remember when this was on the release docket for December of last year). I've never had the chance to play with the original factions, but I have played a couple dozen games with the physical version of the Master Set that came out last year. I'll definitely agree with the assessment that this is one of those "easy to learn, hard to master" type games. Every faction/player adheres to the same general move/fight ruleset, with special powers/conditions spelled out on the cards themselves. It's not pure strategy, there are tactics involved (what is the best thing to do with my current hand? Should I play this card or burn it to build "magic" to summon something stronger later?) and of course luck (combat success is determined by die rolls, plus getting a good hand when you draw). Probably the closest touchstone to Summoner Wars on the app store right now is Hero Academy. Combat rules, movement rules, summoning requirements, and win conditions are a bit different between the games, but it'll give you the basic idea of what to expect - a "deck" of units with specific attributes played out on a grid. Summoner Wars is more like a miniatures fantasy war game than what you might normally associate with most other deck building or card battling games.
I wonder how well this will work as an asynch game? Nightfall suffers from slow asynch progression, especially in a 5 player game, which is just downright painful and not much fun at all. One persons turn can take days due to it constantly having to check in with people to see what they want to do. I have never played Summoner Wars, so does anyone who has have any thoughts on how well it will work asynch? Mind you, I'm burned out on asynch play now anyway and am taking a break from all such games, but eventually I'll get to playing asynch again (though probably not 20 games at a time any more, just 2 or 3 games at a time). I'm going to buy this game day one, but stick to playing offline, and/or live games.
This is exactly why I was way more hyped for Summoner Wars than Magic this whole time. This wait is going to last forever. Also, the initial release will feature 8 factions up to the Jungle Elves and the Cloak, which leaves the Master Set, Mercenaries and the Filth for DLC. That's 8 extra factions already in the pipeline with more to come for the physical game. Summoner Wars should easily dominate the card and tactics gaming arena for a good while to come.
Playdek has actually made an effort to make Summoner Wars even more async friendly, as they've changed a few cards to make it so opponents don't have to respond a lot when it isn't their turn. This is not going to be like Nightfall which lends itself very heavily to live play, like Magic. It's more like Ascension which has some player interaction, but largely plays out in separate turns.
The App was submitted last Friday. Should be out late this week. Mercenaries are in the initial release. Only The Filth and Master Set factions to be released later. From the Playdek Product page: I totally agree!!!
This game really needs more hype around it. I remember reading about it months ago, being really excited for it and then promptly forgetting it and just having a vague recollection there was something on the horizon I like the sound of possibly with the word summoner in it! Very much looking forward to playing this. Hope they have a community build up around it, tournies and guilds etc.
i hope there is an IAP to fully unlock the whole game.. what i meant by fully unlock was that after you buy that, any future expansions (deck &/ reinforcement) would be free.. it may come with higher price tag than individual packs combined together right now.. but in the long run, it will pay off.. if there is, i wouldn't mind paying a big bucks.. $10? $15? not a problem.. from how playdek handles their customers, i have confidence that they will continue releasing juicy stuffs for this game =D
But is that the Mercenary faction with Rallul or simply a set of Mercenaries that are in the reinforcement packs? My money is on it being a new kind of reinforcement pack, very unlikely that it's a faction or they would have said 8 more factions to be unlocked. Also, even a week's wait is going to seem like forever!
I highly doubt they'll have an unlock that unlocks all future expansions too. Maybe they'll offer a package deal for all the initial released stuff, though. Also, I hope they don't take a beating in the iTunes reviews since you can download it for free, but don't get everything for free. Pinball Arcade went free for a week, with one machine (normally it's 99 cents), and people are posting one star reviews because they didn't get all the machines free. Sigh.
Wow, I've just been over to Plaidhat's website to have a look at this in more detail, just wow. Now I REALLY can't wait for it, looks absolutely amazing!! The world is awesome.
From Playdek's Facebook page: Looks like with a single purchase all of the initial release items can be purchased.
The Bundles tab on the Ascension store pretty much guaranteed they would do a package item as well. I wonder how much the savings are for us fans
