Upcoming PVP Changes
There’s some concern about the state of spells in PVP right now. We’re not totally satisfied with PVP at this point even though we know there are many upcoming changes planned for the future. Personally I rather enjoy a casual game of PVP in SAGA a lot more than most RTS games out there. There’s something that just came together in a nice way that I don’t seem to find in most other games. But with all that in mind here’s a few things we’re looking at doing for the future.
1. We’re going to set a 4 unit limit on the battlefield of any specific card type. SAGA is very much modeled after the CCG concepts that many of us grew up on and while I’m loathe to add in arbitrary rules like this we’re thinking it is something that will simply pay off so far as “fun” is concerned. Making PVP more competitive and fun is the end goal…so this is looking very likely for a near future update.
2. Another thing we’re looking at doing for a near future update is allowing deployed units to return to your reserves by garrisoning at any spawn capable point you own. So if your opponent is playing the sit and spell game you can hastily garrison those low CP units in favor of some more sturdy troops and thereby adjust your battle plan. This of course introduces some new quirks and benefits into the game and we’re interested to see how it plays out. The general consensus so far is this could add a really nice flair to the PVP and quest system.
So these are the two “tweaks” we’re looking at right now. There’s no guarantee of course that they’ll be included ever, but if I was a betting man I’d probably be doubling my money soon. Beyond this we’ve a lot of changes we’re hoping to make both before and for the future expansion which should include the world conflict system. I can’t being to express how excited I am for that. Personally it’s more exciting than tournaments though I know a lot of you live and die for tournament style play as well.
Anyhow, that’s enough for now – it’s time to get back to work!
Monk's Corner 
March 7, 2008 at 3:11 am
Looks good to me, although i have no experience in pvp. It just makes sense from my ccg history that allowing infinite amounts of high powered cards is just not a good rule.
The garrisoning thing is really cool also. I would have loved that in pve!
rei
March 7, 2008 at 3:23 am
Both of these ideas are just brilliant. I look forward to the implement of both, and will begin adjusting my own armies to reflect. 🙂
March 7, 2008 at 3:29 am
I am really anxious to hear what the world conflict system is and what it will consist of. I personally envision a world map that shows the current game territories owned by the order and brotherhood that changes with pvp battles that are won/lost and have specific epic quests etc. that people have to team up to complete in order to gain specific places. The possibilities are awesome. I am really excited to hear what it all entails.
March 7, 2008 at 4:15 am
That is all and good, but fails to address the problem with certain direct damage spells which are now running the game and pvp. Fireball for one should be just removed from the Neutral set of cards if not removed from the game entirely. Faction spells should always be superior to any Neutral spell and this is far from the case with Fireball as it is currently the best damage spell pound for pound in the game.
March 7, 2008 at 8:36 am
I love the first thing you all are thinking of but the second one just makes me droooooool lol very nice would love to see these in game if ever possible. Keep up the good work saga kicks butt.
March 7, 2008 at 6:11 pm
Arkanus: This doesn’t include, of course, any balance changes which may occur for the next update. We plan a few of those as well. One area is does help is this: If players are trying to use the sit and DD spell you to death you can easily swap your tactics to deal with it which weakens the ability of players to just use DD spells and win a match. We are, however, still searching the options list for more ways to improve things. If you all have suggestions please post them on the http://www.playsaga.com/forums – you can post them here but they’ll only be read by me in most cases. =)