Elements. Fantasy cards game

[DarkGate]

I think a good idea would be for the manage deck area to only load one element at its start so it doesn't lag as much
because as more cards are introduced
its only going to lag more and more

[ktchong]

I should note that I am trying to collect all available cards for all elements. Most likely I'm not the only one who's doing this. I want to collect 20 of every pillar and 6 of each of everything else. Right now I have at least one (usually more) of every available non-rare card, plus some rare cards. So that may be causing the slow loading. The loading is getting slower and slower and slower... as my collection grows bigger and bigger and bigger.

What are the currently available rare cards? Does anyone have a list of them?

[Rubber Rodger]

Ah, guys?

I just ran into something that I'm praying is a bug.

I started a level 4 match and got xxshinobixx as my opponent, a death elemental. He won the coin spin, and played 3 fire pillars. So far, so good. Then his fourth card (still on the first turn) was... Mark of Fire.

Since when are the Marks playable cards??

[rob77dp]

Mark of Fire card is a glitch result from earlier versions of the game. Just like a pillar - no worries. :-D


--rob77dp

[ktchong]

Another weird bug:

Sometimes Lightning showed up in my shield slot. The shield slot showed the Lightning picture and the word "Lightning" in it. This may have happened when I used Dimensional Shield and Lightning in the same turn, but I'm not sure. Later, I could still use a Dimensional Shield to replace the Lightning in the shield slot. This had happened twice before, but I couldn't duplicate the problem.

The bug happened again. This time I captured some screens of the problem.

I played against daraph666's Fire deck (with Quantum and Bone Pillars.) He had two borrowed devourers. I had 2 summoned Phase Dragons (original + parallel) and (in my hand) 3 Dimensional Shield and 3 Lightning. I used the Dimensional Shield, and "Lightning" showed up in my shield slot.

Then daraph666 stole on my "Lightning" shield. The stolen "shield" showed up not in his shield slot but in his permanent row next to his pillars. My shield slot (i.e., the empty outline) also disappeared. See for yourself:

Screen Capture 1

The "Lightning" is between his Bone Pillars and Fire Shield.

I used another Dimensional Shield. This time it showed up correctly in my shield slot. He stole my shield again. But this time it also showed up correctly in his shield slot. My (empty) shield slot was also restored.

Screen Capture 2

Two more turns passed. I did not use another shield.

Near the end of the game, the second stolen shield (i.e., the one that was correctly displayed) expired. But the first stolen "shield" (or whatever that was) still existed in his permanent column.

Screen Capture 3

[bot!]

zanzarino is actually working on a card for entropy called Lilith that takes control of opposing creatures

nice to hear)

[bot!]

question to zanzarino!
I had about 21 400 points,then I pressed pvp button and refused to start the game lots of times
my score went down to about 19 000
now,when I try to submit my scores,I see my rank,but my name is not in the table
(there is only my old name with 21 400)
is it a bug?will I be able to submit my scores later?

UPD: everything is ok

[bot!]

pls fix a bug when AI uses lycanthropy without paying quantums...
it is really annoying

[marauder68]

Not necessarily. The fact that it's not being used a lot right now just means there are other cards that are even more overpowered than it :P

Reverse time is not overpowered. The weapon that lets you do it over and over and over and over again IS.

[Geoffx]

Mark of Fire card is a glitch result from earlier versions of the game. Just like a pillar - no worries. :-D


--rob77dp

Yeah, but what if the mark shows up like this...



http://img440.imageshack.us/i/2mof.png/

He started off with Marks of Fire x 2 + all his normal starting cards giving him an advantage right off the bat. Having 2 Marks of fire in this fashion is not fair, as it cant be stolen or destroyed.

[ktchong]

I keep running into many level-4 players who are using variations of this strategy:

1. Most of them use Mark of Air; a few use Mark of Life. Mark of Light is theoretically possible, but I have not seen a Light player using this strategy.
   
   
2. Their decks consist of some combinations of Air and Life pillars.
   
   
3. Life summons Rustles. Every Rustle can photosynthesize one Light quantum into two Life quanta.
   
   
4. Air summons Firefly Queens.
   
   
5. Firefly Queen uses Life quanta (generated by pillars + Rustles) to create Firefly.
   
   
6. Each Firefly generates one Light quantum per turn. An army of Fireflies generate mass quantities of Light quanta per turn.
   
   
7. Then a group of Rustles convert those Light quanta back into twice as much Life quanta.
   
   
8. Then multiple Firefly Queens use those Life quanta to create even Fireflies, which generate even more Light quanta.
   
   
9. Most importantly, Life summons Empathic Bond, which heals the player's HP every turn. The masses of Fireflies feed the Empathic Bond with massive stream of HPs.
   
   
10. The deck may include everyone's favorite weapon, Owl's Eye. The optional Owl's Eye deals with the occasional threats pose by dragons, Otyughs, or whatever.

The good thing about Firefly Queen is it has 7 HP and can't be easily disposed of with a single spell or creature. It is too big for most Otyughs to swallow; and Lightning, Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt, and poison or disease usually can't kill off a Firefly Queen quickly enough. Once two or more Firefly Queens are summoned, they can be difficult and slow to kill.


So, this strategy and its variation use few cards that complement each other:

• Three cards are the keys: Firefly Queen , Rustle, and Empathic Bond.
  
  
• Firefly Queen and (optional) Owl's Eye use the same element: Air.
  
  
• Rustle and Empathic Bond use the same element: Life.
  
  
• So only two types of pillars are needed: Air and Life.
  
  
• Rustle and Firefly form a loop that self-generates and multiplies Life/Light quanta.
  
  
• Once Rustles and Fireflies are in play, pillars become unnecessary.

There is one benefit for playing against that deck and its variations: if you win, you will easily win a Firefly Queen or two. Which can be sold for coins. And since those decks are becoming more and more popular, you can win and sell Firefly Queens again and again.

What sucks is that you usually can't win a rare card out of them.

[ktchong]

Here a suggestion for zanzarino to minimize the luck factor in Elements:

Allow a player to redraw a hand (i.e., all eight cards) at the start of a game. Each player can use the "Redraw" option (a) only at the beginning of a game, and (b) up to twice.

For example: Let's say a player's hand does not have any pillar card at the beginning, or maybe he gets only one pillar out of his eight playable cards. So he has the option to redraw his starting hand. He can reshuffle and redraw all eight cards. He can redraw up to twice at the the start of the game.

If a player gets at least three pillar cards at the start, then he is unlikely to redraw. Let's say he already has a good hand in the beginning, and he redraws because he hopes to get an even better hand. There is always a possibility that his next hand will turn out to be a worse or very bad hand with no or one pillar card, in which case he will be screwed. So there is an incentive for players to not abuse the redraw option.

So players who are most likely to use the redraw option are those who are dealt with very bad, unplayable hands in the beginning.


Here is a suggestion on how to implement Redraw:

• The "Redraw" button should appear at the top, beside/after the "Menu" and "Done (Spacebar)" buttons.
  
  
• The Redraw button only appears during a player's first turn, before he plays any card from his hand.
  
  
• If he uses any card from his hand, the Redraw button is immediately removed.
  
  
• Initially in the beginning of the first turn, the Redraw button says "Redraw x 2". That means the player can redraw two more times.
  
  
• If the player uses the Redraw option once, the button becomes "Redraw x 1". That means the player can redraw one more time.
  
  
• The other player will see a message saying something like, "Your opponent is redrawing."
  
  
• If the players uses the option again, (i.e., the second and last time,) the redraw button will then be removed.
  
• The other player will see the same message again.
  
  
• After the second redraw, a player will not be allowed to redraw again. Every player can redraw up to twice, and only at the beginning of his first turn.

I believe giving the players the option to redraw cards twice in the beginning will minimize the luck factor. Ideally, both players in a match will start with at least three or four pillar cards in their hands, so both parties can avoid a very bad starting hand, so both can concentrate on playing out their strategies without being crippled by a bad draw in the beginning.

[Bianary]

Here's an obscure bug:

If I have a dimensional shield down and the AI uses gravity pull on one of my creatures (via Chaos Seed), the first round of attacks do not kill the gravity pulled creature. The second round, still into the dimensional shield, does.

[bot!]

2ktchong I dont think redraw option is so necessary
the luck factor exists in any card game and it is absolutly normal imho
once you are lucky,the other time your opponent...
the only situation,when it is necessary,is when you have no pillars at all
(in MTG you can redraw in this case)

idea: what about implementing "counterspell" cards,which will let you to "cancel" opponents spells?
I am not sure how to organise it properly,but it will make the game more unpredictable

[bot!]

zanzarino is actually working on a card for entropy called Lilith that takes control of opposing creatures

but how much it will cost?7-8 quantums?

[8fu]

Hey Guys!

I lost my rating and all my Cards, except my current Deck:-(
I think it was because of closing the IE in a running match...
I was close to 30k score and had nearly every Rare, so it really hurts.

Zanz, could u pls reroll the account?

The game is great and I can`t wait for the real PVP.

[zanzarino]

@8fu:
I rolled you account back to the last available backup.

... and yes, closing the browser while the game is saving might lead to having only half of your data saved on the server. Just wait a few seconds after the last match/bazaar/manage deck operation before closing the game.

[rob77dp]

Or never close Elements! :-D I would play 24-7 if I could... Also, 8fu, every time i finish a lengthy-ish session of Elements playing, I take and save screenshots of both "My Deck" and "Main Menu" pages - you know, just in case! Cheers and hope that rollback worked for you - you were way up there.


hopelessly addicted,
--rob77dp

:-P

[8fu]

Thanks for the rollback Zanz...

Lost about 10k Rating 15k Coins and a few of my Favorite Rares: Arctic Squid, Eternity and Pulverizer!
That really sucks...
I didn`t really want to close the Browser, but my INet-Connection failed, bad WLAN.
And than i closed the game before it was reconnected and could submit data.

Don`t want to whine around here... have fun

[Pilchard123]

I keep running into many level-4 players who are using variations of this strategy:

1. Most of them use Mark of Air; a few use Mark of Life. Mark of Light is theoretically possible, but I have not seen a Light player using this strategy.
   
   
2. Their decks consist of some combinations of Air and Life pillars.

etc,etc.


The good thing about Firefly Queen is it has 7 HP and can't be easily disposed of with a single spell or creature. It is too big for most Otyughs to swallow; and Lightning, Fire Bolt, Ice Bolt, and poison or disease usually can't kill off a Firefly Queen quickly enough. Once two or more Firefly Queens are summoned, they can be difficult and slow to kill.


So, this strategy and its variation use few cards that complement each other:

• Three cards are the keys: Firefly Queen , Rustle, and Empathic Bond.
  

etc.etc.

There is one benefit for playing against that deck and its variations: if you win, you will easily win a Firefly Queen or two. Which can be sold for coins. And since those decks are becoming more and more popular, you can win and sell Firefly Queens again and again.

What sucks is that you usually can't win a rare card out of them.

No offence, but that's kinda old news. I've been using that deck for....since I could. I got it from these forums actually. What's wrong with a good strategy?

Advice:steal the idea!!!!!!!! I did.