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Making a good op: A BattleForge [Game On] test post
Blue map
Hello darkness, my old friend.Registered User regular
Hello darkness, my old friend.Registered User regular
I just want to get this out of the way asap: I am not posting a [Game On] thread in H&A, the only purpose of this thread is to obtain feedback and advice for improving a potential op for a BattleForge [Game On].
With that bit of necessary unpleasantness out of the way, let me elaborate: For a couple weeks now i have seriously considered starting a [Game On] thread for the game BattleForge, with my one main issue being the fact that my writing and spelling skills are typically only passably good at best. So rather than just throwing together an op and senselessly posting it while hoping for the best, i have instead opted to try and obtain as much feedback as possible in an effort ensure that the [Game On] doesn't become dead on arrival because thread title was idiotic and the op was a nightmarish combination of terrible grammar and awful spelling.
What i'm looking for is any advice on any additions or modifications that could potentially make for a better op and thread title. Any constructive criticism, be it pointing out typos, exposing flaws with the format style, giving suggestions for a better thread title or posted video or anything that could potentially assist in making the thread more successful over all.
Alright with all that out of the way, let's actually test this post:
Pending thread title: [Game On] BattleForge: A free to play TCG/RTS hybrid from EA
I'm not quite sure if the thread title is too wordy or not. I'm also not sure if it's a good idea to mention the free to play aspect of it because on the one hand it might be easier to get people to try it if they know up front that there's no cost just to try the game. But on the other hand "free to play" games tend to carry a negitve stigma, although i think having the EA brand name in the title would eliminate a fair portion of said stigma.
BattleForge is a trading card game/real time strategy hybrid developed by EA Phenomic. Released on March 24 to mixed but generally positive reviews and free to play since May 26, the game started with the 200 card Twilight set and received its first 60 card expansion, Renegade, on the first of September.
Free to play?: BattleForge is supported via micro transactions and point box purchases for the in game currency, BattleForge points. BattleForge points (BFP for short) are then used to either buy new cards from booster packs, or to barter at the ingame auction house. If you are dedicated it's entirely possible to get BattleForge points without paying a single real life cent, namely through selling gold (the typical exchange rate is 500-800 gold for one bfp) and buying cards low and selling them high at the auction house.
As a side note, other forms of ingame currency (namely gold, battle tokens, victory tokens and honour tokens) are earned in game and do NOT require a micro transaction or points purchase.
How does it play?: All the basics from other real time strategy games are well covered in BattleForge. The game supports anywhere from 1 to 12 players in the campaign mode, and competitive game modes support both 1v1 and 2v2 deathmatches in both collection, where any card you've obtained can be used in your deck and tome, where you use a purchased tome of 6 booster packs and try to construct the best deck possible using only those cards.
In terms of actual base building and fighting the closest analogy i can think of is a combination of Dawn of War 2 and Magic: The Gathering mixed in with a little bit of World of Warcraft. That analogy is mediocre at best though, so it will be much easier to simply show you with a series of extremely helpful tutorial videos, courtesy of EA.
A rough general summary of the game if you can't watch the videos for whatever reason:
As you have probably already guessed, the complicating factors stem from the fact that with 260 cards representing everything from basic defense towers and skeleton cannon fodder to flying corsairs and summoned meteor showers, there are a truly dizzying array of potential deck options at you and your opponents disposal.
What are the system requirements?: Taken directly from the official site
As a side note, the actual requirements are slightly below what they state on the sight. My computer only has 1.7 Ghz processer and it can still handle the game. It's ugly looking on my computer, but it maintains a playable 20-30 frames per second.
How do you get it?: You need to have an EA Account to play BattleForge. If you do not have an EA Account, you can select “Create Account” to open an EA Account. As previously mentioned in this post, the game is free to play and can be obtained from the official site: http://www.battleforge.com/portal/site/BattleForge
Alternatively, you can buy a retail BattleForge box for about 20$. If you buy the retail box you start with 3000 BattleForge points (roughly 30$ worth), 64 cards and the full game unlocked right from the start, to unlock it simply enter the code on the back of the manual into the ingame store.
If you're playing the free version you will need to get to either level 4 PvE (easy) or get to level 10 PvP (hard) before you can trade or use the auction house. You also can't log into high population servers if you haven't leveled, but since the servers (overlord and razorleaf) never get that crowded it shouldn't be an issue.
So discuss on, anything about BattleForge from finding a 2v2 partner or talking about recent patches to discussing deck building strategies and brokering card trades is obviously both allowed and encouraged. Hopefully we can get a decent group of Penny Arcade regulars so we can get 2v2 teams where your partner doesn't freak out just because you accidentally played Sunstriders instead of Nomads at the start of a match.
I think that about covers everything in terms of what can be covered in the op. The game does a good job of showing you the various ropes, and alot of it is learned through simple experimentation. This is my first thread so if there are any questions about the game, suggestions for the op, typos, instances of poor grammer etc. that need to be dealt with just ask about it in the thread or pm me and i'll try and take care of it.
With that bit of necessary unpleasantness out of the way, let me elaborate: For a couple weeks now i have seriously considered starting a [Game On] thread for the game BattleForge, with my one main issue being the fact that my writing and spelling skills are typically only passably good at best. So rather than just throwing together an op and senselessly posting it while hoping for the best, i have instead opted to try and obtain as much feedback as possible in an effort ensure that the [Game On] doesn't become dead on arrival because thread title was idiotic and the op was a nightmarish combination of terrible grammar and awful spelling.
What i'm looking for is any advice on any additions or modifications that could potentially make for a better op and thread title. Any constructive criticism, be it pointing out typos, exposing flaws with the format style, giving suggestions for a better thread title or posted video or anything that could potentially assist in making the thread more successful over all.
Alright with all that out of the way, let's actually test this post:
Pending thread title: [Game On] BattleForge: A free to play TCG/RTS hybrid from EA
I'm not quite sure if the thread title is too wordy or not. I'm also not sure if it's a good idea to mention the free to play aspect of it because on the one hand it might be easier to get people to try it if they know up front that there's no cost just to try the game. But on the other hand "free to play" games tend to carry a negitve stigma, although i think having the EA brand name in the title would eliminate a fair portion of said stigma.
Test op in spoilers:
BattleForge is a trading card game/real time strategy hybrid developed by EA Phenomic. Released on March 24 to mixed but generally positive reviews and free to play since May 26, the game started with the 200 card Twilight set and received its first 60 card expansion, Renegade, on the first of September.
Free to play?: BattleForge is supported via micro transactions and point box purchases for the in game currency, BattleForge points. BattleForge points (BFP for short) are then used to either buy new cards from booster packs, or to barter at the ingame auction house. If you are dedicated it's entirely possible to get BattleForge points without paying a single real life cent, namely through selling gold (the typical exchange rate is 500-800 gold for one bfp) and buying cards low and selling them high at the auction house.
As a side note, other forms of ingame currency (namely gold, battle tokens, victory tokens and honour tokens) are earned in game and do NOT require a micro transaction or points purchase.
How does it play?: All the basics from other real time strategy games are well covered in BattleForge. The game supports anywhere from 1 to 12 players in the campaign mode, and competitive game modes support both 1v1 and 2v2 deathmatches in both collection, where any card you've obtained can be used in your deck and tome, where you use a purchased tome of 6 booster packs and try to construct the best deck possible using only those cards.
In terms of actual base building and fighting the closest analogy i can think of is a combination of Dawn of War 2 and Magic: The Gathering mixed in with a little bit of World of Warcraft. That analogy is mediocre at best though, so it will be much easier to simply show you with a series of extremely helpful tutorial videos, courtesy of EA.
7 Extremely helpful tutorial videos in the spoiler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zmbSSOZcRY&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6bzGgR6YSs&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9HTy4tu7w8&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUGdHGzvWs&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0wasPCnyK8&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4x3hDNDt-Uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEtyRD3Ht2s&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6bzGgR6YSs&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=4http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S9HTy4tu7w8&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=3http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpUGdHGzvWs&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=2http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0wasPCnyK8&feature=PlayList&p=AB8AAB4D3BE8CCF9&index=1http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4x3hDNDt-Uhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dEtyRD3Ht2s&feature=channel
A rough general summary of the game if you can't watch the videos for whatever reason:
A standard BattleForge deck contains 20 cards from 7 different factions. These factions Fire, Shadow, Frost, Nature, Bandits(fire/shadow hybrid),Stonekin(nature/frost hybrids) and Legendary(no color affinity).
BattleForge's basic gameplay is based around taking and holding two different types of basic structures, monuments and power wells. Monuments give you colored orbs which allow you to play bigger and more vicious cards. Power wells are used generate power, which is then used to play said big and vicious cards. Victory conditions are simple in both PvP and PvE. In PvE you simply do as you're told, which typically means destroying X or protecting Y. In PvP the objective is even simpler, destroy your opponent by either completely leveling all of their buildings and units, or by destroying all of thier monuments and preventing them from building a new one for 60 seconds.
BattleForge's basic gameplay is based around taking and holding two different types of basic structures, monuments and power wells. Monuments give you colored orbs which allow you to play bigger and more vicious cards. Power wells are used generate power, which is then used to play said big and vicious cards. Victory conditions are simple in both PvP and PvE. In PvE you simply do as you're told, which typically means destroying X or protecting Y. In PvP the objective is even simpler, destroy your opponent by either completely leveling all of their buildings and units, or by destroying all of thier monuments and preventing them from building a new one for 60 seconds.
As you have probably already guessed, the complicating factors stem from the fact that with 260 cards representing everything from basic defense towers and skeleton cannon fodder to flying corsairs and summoned meteor showers, there are a truly dizzying array of potential deck options at you and your opponents disposal.
What are the system requirements?: Taken directly from the official site
Windows XP/Vista
DVD-Drive (not needed if you purchase the game as a digital download)
Internet connection: 512 kb (DSL oder Cable)
CPU: 1,8GHz AMD64 or Intel Core (or comparable)
512 MB (XP), 1 GB (Vista)
Graphics card with 128 MB, NVidia GeForce 6000-Series or better, ATI Radeon 9500 or better
Minimum 10 GB hard drive space for Installation
Display: minimum 1024x768
DVD-Drive (not needed if you purchase the game as a digital download)
Internet connection: 512 kb (DSL oder Cable)
CPU: 1,8GHz AMD64 or Intel Core (or comparable)
512 MB (XP), 1 GB (Vista)
Graphics card with 128 MB, NVidia GeForce 6000-Series or better, ATI Radeon 9500 or better
Minimum 10 GB hard drive space for Installation
Display: minimum 1024x768
As a side note, the actual requirements are slightly below what they state on the sight. My computer only has 1.7 Ghz processer and it can still handle the game. It's ugly looking on my computer, but it maintains a playable 20-30 frames per second.
How do you get it?: You need to have an EA Account to play BattleForge. If you do not have an EA Account, you can select “Create Account” to open an EA Account. As previously mentioned in this post, the game is free to play and can be obtained from the official site: http://www.battleforge.com/portal/site/BattleForge
Alternatively, you can buy a retail BattleForge box for about 20$. If you buy the retail box you start with 3000 BattleForge points (roughly 30$ worth), 64 cards and the full game unlocked right from the start, to unlock it simply enter the code on the back of the manual into the ingame store.
If you're playing the free version you will need to get to either level 4 PvE (easy) or get to level 10 PvP (hard) before you can trade or use the auction house. You also can't log into high population servers if you haven't leveled, but since the servers (overlord and razorleaf) never get that crowded it shouldn't be an issue.
Various gameplay videos
Helpful BattleForge related links
The PA friends list, just post in the thread if you want to be added to it.
Sorry about the commentary in the videos, but it was nearly impossible to find decent quality videos that didn't have music blaring over the ingame sound.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EkOmKmN_S8&feature=player_profilepagehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZFEZr3_1Zw&feature=PlayList&p=0F91204F81DAA540&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=7http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STXiN-iTBFU&feature=player_profilepagehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=be-JaNB0M60&feature=related
Helpful BattleForge related links
http://www.battleforge.com/portal/site/BattleForge/landingpage
The BattleForge official site, where you can download the game, buy BattleForge points directly from the source and check on the various updates for the game.
http://forums.battleforge.com/forum/
The official forums, the community isn't very large but there are a group of regulars who help the new players with their various questions and there's an employee run "watch list" in general announcements where they give the community advance notice if they're going to buff or nerf certain cards.
http://www.ea.com/
EA's official site is another place you can download the game. You can also contact customer support here if needs be.
http://battleforge.wikia.com/wiki/BattleForge_Wiki
The link to the BattleForge wiki. It's an excellent place to research the various cards and game mechanics of BattleForge, although some parts of it are in need of updating.
The BattleForge official site, where you can download the game, buy BattleForge points directly from the source and check on the various updates for the game.
http://forums.battleforge.com/forum/
The official forums, the community isn't very large but there are a group of regulars who help the new players with their various questions and there's an employee run "watch list" in general announcements where they give the community advance notice if they're going to buff or nerf certain cards.
http://www.ea.com/
EA's official site is another place you can download the game. You can also contact customer support here if needs be.
http://battleforge.wikia.com/wiki/BattleForge_Wiki
The link to the BattleForge wiki. It's an excellent place to research the various cards and game mechanics of BattleForge, although some parts of it are in need of updating.
The PA friends list, just post in the thread if you want to be added to it.
Nobody, this is a test post.
So discuss on, anything about BattleForge from finding a 2v2 partner or talking about recent patches to discussing deck building strategies and brokering card trades is obviously both allowed and encouraged. Hopefully we can get a decent group of Penny Arcade regulars so we can get 2v2 teams where your partner doesn't freak out just because you accidentally played Sunstriders instead of Nomads at the start of a match.
I think that about covers everything in terms of what can be covered in the op. The game does a good job of showing you the various ropes, and alot of it is learned through simple experimentation. This is my first thread so if there are any questions about the game, suggestions for the op, typos, instances of poor grammer etc. that need to be dealt with just ask about it in the thread or pm me and i'll try and take care of it.
My Steam profile thing: http://steamcommunity.com/id/Blue_map/ Battlenet: BlueMap#1493
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What you've got there is good. I might include one or two pictures right at the start to hook people, and then at least a couple screenshots (including one or two showing the interface!) spoilered. You do need to proofread some ("How do i get it?", "and alot of fun", "but iv'e never actually").
Side note: nice avatar.
Side note: I switched to this avatar just before the launch of RFG. Partially because RFG is an excellent game and partially because my old Portable Ops avatar was pretty blatantly stolen from a SA goon.
Edit: I found some good pictures, but won't be able to put them in because of 56k rules. I will put them in if i decide to make a proper op though.
I went and applied the changes to the op. I think i'll give this thread another day or so to try get some more feedback and then (barring circumstances outside of my control) post the op over in G&T.