As a huge CCG buff (top 10-100 finishes in YGO, Hearthstone, MTGA), I tried to get into Artifact for ~80hrs. There are some really great things buried in the game:
1. The heroes add a bit of consistency to draw RNG. The equipment to upgrade them was also pretty cool.
2. The three lanes set up can create some crazy mind gaming / outplay comebacks.
3. The draft experience was fantastic. The color restrictions of the heroes was a bit less punishing than MTG but still required some thought.
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Unfortunately there were WAY too many issues for the game to survive:
1. Expense was way too high to play constructed. No one is going to pay ~$60 for a single deck in an unproven game.
2. The RNG was too obvious. It doesn't matter how skill based the game actually was when a significant portion of games were decided by coin flip attacks. The frustration will drive people away.
3. Game length. 20 minutes is just too long to spend with Artifacts simple mechanics and RNG losses.
4. Progression. There was no meaningful rewards for playing. Keeper drafts were prohibitively expensive. Getting packs naturally was just too slow to feel like you'd ever be able to make a decent deck. Competitive ranking was non-existent at release.
I actually think an Artifact re-launch could be successful.
1. The heroes add a bit of consistency to draw RNG. The equipment to upgrade them was also pretty cool.
2. The three lanes set up can create some crazy mind gaming / outplay comebacks.
3. The draft experience was fantastic. The color restrictions of the heroes was a bit less punishing than MTG but still required some thought.
---
Unfortunately there were WAY too many issues for the game to survive:
1. Expense was way too high to play constructed. No one is going to pay ~$60 for a single deck in an unproven game.
2. The RNG was too obvious. It doesn't matter how skill based the game actually was when a significant portion of games were decided by coin flip attacks. The frustration will drive people away.
3. Game length. 20 minutes is just too long to spend with Artifacts simple mechanics and RNG losses.
4. Progression. There was no meaningful rewards for playing. Keeper drafts were prohibitively expensive. Getting packs naturally was just too slow to feel like you'd ever be able to make a decent deck. Competitive ranking was non-existent at release.
I actually think an Artifact re-launch could be successful.