Genre: Strategy, Turn-based strategy (TBS), Card & Board Game
Artifact
Deployment Deep Dive
I have some good news, some more good news, and some bad news. The good news is that after our previous post, we received a deluge of emails. More good news - it’s high quality feedback that people have clearly spent a lot of time thinking about. The bad news? We’re slow readers, so it’s taking us a bit more time than we thought to thoroughly comb through all of your emails. But we are a determined bunch!
Now enough chit-chat, let’s dive in:
One of the first heavy RNG components that players faced was the initial board setup. “The Flop”, as it used to be called, would randomly deploy the first set of heroes and lane creeps. Let’s take an in-depth look at how deployment has changed.
Board Layout The board still has 3 lanes, but each lane is exactly 5 slots. The slots also have a fixed position, so adding units on either end of the lane doesn’t shift the positions of any units. There are some rules for deploying on top of units if the lane gets too full or if there’s just something in your way, which you’ll find at the end of this post.
Lane Creep Deployment Before each round, a melee creep is deployed into the leftmost empty space in each lane.
Hero Deployment, First round Heroes are deployed in three stages in the first round.
Let’s take a step by step look using this match-up.
Step 1, Mid - Both players choose one of their first three heroes. They can choose to deploy them in one of the three middle spots in the lane. The heroes and their deploy locations are simultaneously revealed.
We’d like Treant to survive a few rounds to build up a creep advantage in a lane. Treant would make a juicy target if we put him in the off lane, and we have a chance that we might be unopposed in mid. Treant’s passive aura can affect the whole lane from the center position so our opponent might play center mid just to prevent that advantage. We might get lucky depending on where our opponent deploys.
We are going to play our tree to the mid position.
Looks like our opponent saw through our plans!
Step 2, Off lane - Each player chooses their second hero (one player deploys to the first lane, the other to the third lane). The hero and their deploy locations are simultaneously revealed. This hero will be the most vulnerable since the enemy will be able to respond with full knowledge.
We don’t mind if Wraith King matches up against any of these enemies. So we can safely put him in our off lane. Bristle is nice to play in the second slot of any lane since you might get some free creep kills with Quill Spray. He can also take a hit so we would expect our opponent to play him now.
We are going to play our Wraith King in the fourth position.
Let’s see what our opponent chose.
Step 3, Safe lane – Players now deploy their last hero into their safe lane (the lane their opponent deployed into in the previous round). You have full information about what you are facing now, so you can deploy your final hero to the most beneficial of the three available spots.
Mirana is a good choice to put in the safe lane for better Sacred Arrow positioning and so she doesn’t get killed. Because we deployed bounty last we are guaranteed we can take advantage of his track ability. Hopefully we get some cards to save him, but we are fine with the trade.
We are going to play our bounty hunter to attack their Bristleback.
Let’s see where Mirana went.
Not the best, but I think we ended up in a good spot!
Hero Deployment, Subsequent rounds You still get an additional hero to deploy in the 2nd and 3rd rounds plus any hero that returns from the fountain. Later deployments have no restrictions on where heroes can be deployed.
Additional placement rules
Deploying a hero on top of another hero will bounce the old hero to deploy next turn.
Deploying a hero on top of a creep will destroy the creep.
When you play a creep card you can choose the exact slot in the lane to deploy it into.
Playing a creep on top of a unit will destroy that unit.
Additional Notes
Armor works differently from the base game.
Tower health is dependent upon the game mode.
Let us know what you think!
Looking Forward, Looking Back
When the members of the team decided to reboot Artifact we all did it for different reasons. Some of us loved the original game and wanted to see it thrive. Some of us liked the freeing sense of creativity you can have with a card game. Some of us love trying to figure out how something is broken and see it fixed. There was one unifying reason for all of us - we thought that there was something special in the game, and with hard work we could bring it to light. Thanks for the feedback over the last two weeks, it's been great seeing how many of you share those feelings.
There is one class of concerns raised that we wanted to address specifically. Those from the founding players of Artifact - the people who played extensively and built a collection in the original game. There are some great ideas floating around for things we could add, and they mesh well with our own. We want to make sure that there are some incredibly cool and special things that we deliver to our founders, but we aren't ready to implement them yet.
We mentioned in our previous post that we were focusing on gameplay first. That wasn’t just a random choice - We wanted to make sure the game had a strong foundation to build upon. It's not going to look polished because we're going to be changing things a lot during this process based on feedback and data. It's really important to us that we take your ideas for how to improve the game into account, so please email them to ArtifactBetaFeedback@valvesoftware.com. We are going to read all of them.
With all that said, let’s look at some of the fun stuff to come! Also, speaking of things that aren’t finished yet, check out this sweet placeholder art. ;)
Mirana
Mirana has a pretty standard stat line for a Black Hero. (Stats overall have been scaled to around 60% of the original game.)
Leap gives her excellent mobility and can be used defensively and offensively. You can select your landing spot so it’s possible to buff specific units and go for a knockout punch.
Her include card, Sacred Arrow, is versatile and powerful. (Probably a bit too powerful right now, to be honest.)
Wraith King
Wraith King looks fragile for a green hero, but his built in death shield makes him one of the most survivable units in the game.
Reincarnation makes killing Wraith King a bad time for all the enemies in his lane.
The Decay from Hellfire blast works similarly to regeneration, just in reverse. Unless a hero gets healing it often means death after two turns.
Sticky Greevil
With the increased amount of movement in the game, a cheap blocker like this little guy can really gum up your opponent's plans!
Morphling Whelp
As you might have guessed, this unit is hilarious.
Does it copy both Passive and Active abilities? Of course it does!
Defenstrating Ogre
This is one of the few blue creeps with a big stat line.
Bouncing returns a hero to be deployed next round, or a creep to the hand.
You need to be careful not to bounce units with a strong deploy effect.
Sheep Stick
So cute you might almost feel bad for killing your enemies.
What's the plan - Beta 2.0
This week we wanted to talk about the Artifact Beta 2.0, what it will include, and when it will happen.
We’ve been focusing on gameplay changes first. The biggest change is zooming out to allow players access to all three lanes at once. The majority of effects still work on individual lanes so they still maintain their identity, but it’s less likely that a player will get shut out in the same way they used to.
We’ve also focused on making the game easier to pick up. We aren’t selling cards, so you won’t face an opponent with a stacked deck. We’ve also added a new draft mode, Hero Draft, that gives you a taste of constructing decks without all the pressure.
The beta will exist as a new executable and access will be granted to individual accounts. When we are ready to send out invites we will let you know the process.
Here’s the current road-map:
Test boring stuff <- We are here
Trickle out invites, starting with players of the original release (ramping up similar to Dota 2)
Work on the Beta, eventually transitioning to an open beta
Leave Beta (hopefully quicker than Dota 2)
FAQ: Q. I didn’t play the original. If I buy the original game now, will I be able to get in? A. No, we will prioritize people who purchased before today’s date.
Q. I played the original, will I have access to my stats, cards, decks, etc. from the original game? A. In the new version cards are unlocked through play. Individual cards are likely to have been changed, removed, or brand new; so old decks and stats wouldn’t be valid.
Q. Can I buy cards/packs in the Beta? A. We have some ideas about what we’d like to sell, but none of them are cards/packs.
Q. I’m a member of the press, a celebrity, a streamer, an influencer, a pro gamer, etc. Can I get in? A. Selection will be mostly random. So… maybe?
Under Construction
First off, we wanted to say thanks for all of your tweets, emails and posts. The continued interest in Artifact has been encouraging, and we sincerely appreciate all of the feedback!
You might notice some changes soon – we are starting tests on our systems and infrastructure. This shouldn’t impact live Artifact but we wanted to give you a heads up.
Expect more news after the launch of Half-Life: Alyx!
Towards A Better Artifact
When we launched Artifact, we expected it would be the beginning of a long journey, that it would lay the foundation for years to come. Our plan was to immediately dive into our normal strategy of shipping a series of updates driven by the dialogue community members were having with each other and with us.
Obviously, things didn't turn out how we hoped. Artifact represents the largest discrepancy between our expectations for how one of our games would be received and the actual outcome. But we don't think that players misunderstand our game, or that they're playing it wrong. Artifact now represents an opportunity for us to improve our craft and use that knowledge to build better games.
Since launch, we've been looking carefully at how players interact with the game as well as gathering feedback. It has become clear that there are deep-rooted issues with the game and that our original update strategy of releasing new features and cards would be insufficient to address them. Instead, we believe the correct course of action is to take larger steps, to re-examine the decisions we've made along the way regarding game design, the economy, the social experience of playing, and more.
So what does this mean?
Moving forward, we'll be heads-down focusing on addressing these larger issues instead of shipping updates. While we expect this process of experimentation and development to take a significant amount of time, we’re excited to tackle this challenge and will get back to you as soon as we are ready.
1/28 Update
Item Card Changes:
Blade of the Vigil: Cleave increased from +2 to +4
Keenfolk Plate: Added "Equipped hero's attackers have -1 Armor"
Stonehall Pike cost reduced from 6 gold to 5 gold
Stonehall Plate cost reduced from 6 gold to 5 gold
Barbed Mail cost reduced from 6 gold to 5 gold
Assassin's Veil cost reduced from 6 gold to 4 gold
Phase Boots cost reduced from 6 gold to 5 gold
Broadsword cost reduced from 7 gold to 6 gold
Keenfolk Musket cost reduced from 7 gold to 6 gold
Chainmail cost reduced from 7 gold to 6 gold
Fur-lined Mantle cost reduced from 7 gold to 6 gold
Red Mist Maul cost reduced from 10 gold to 9 gold
Obliterating Orb cost reduced from 10 gold to 9 gold
Ring of Tarrasque cost reduced from 12 gold to 10 gold
Cloak of Endless Carnage cost reduced from 13 gold to 10 gold
Claymore cost reduced from 15 gold to 14 gold
Platemail cost reduced from 15 gold to 12 gold
Hero's Cape cost reduced from 15 gold to 12 gold
Private Lobby & Tournament Changes:
Added Random Two Color deck option for private lobbies and tournaments. This gives both players different randomized 2-color decks in each match.
Added Speed Timer option for private lobbies and tournaments. This allows players 10 seconds to take each action.
Automated Open Tournaments are now 'Chaos Blitz'. Chaos Blitz is Random Two Color, Speed Timer, 8 player free-for-all lasting for 1 hour and 30 minutes
Bug Fixes & Other Changes:
Hovering gold in the HUD displays the amount of gold spent but not yet revealed through playing items (this is a clue rather than an exact amount because of hidden information with Hold, Shop Deed, etc.)
Fixed Rebel Instigator combat arrows not appearing sometimes
Fixed issue with Plague wards spawn particles
Fixed losing a few seconds from the action timer after deployment
Fixed tournament draft replays not showing selected cards
Fixed long persona names getting cut off
Fixed crosslane targets sometimes not showing in Last Action text.
Fixed Chat Wheel lines for Rebel Decoy, Pit Fighter of Quoidge, Zeus, and Beastmaster
Reduced low end noise in deck building ambient audio
Added particle effects for some passive abilities
Slightly reduced draw card animation speed (time between draws remains the same)
Slightly increased the time between Eclipse beams (intro/outro time remains the same)
Improved stability
Updated localization files
Unchanged:
Still in it for the long haul
1/18 Update
Fixed the game engine pausing when bringing up the Steam Overlay.
Added buttons to the HUD for viewing decklists.
Fixed not being able to inspect heroes in Minimap.
Fixed Marrowfell Brawler dialog not working.
Fixed being able to get the Fought Well bonus in tied games.
Visual improvements for Keenfolk Musket, Sow Venom, Fury Swipes, Corrosive Skin, and Hellbear Crippler.
Fixed visual bugs with heroes sometimes overlapping during deployment.
Thundergod's Wrath now shows its played card after the animation.
Various stability improvements.
Reduced length of various animations and effects:
Card draw
Entering and exiting shopping
When opponent plays an Improvement the camera no longer scrolls to the target lane
Dimensional Portal, Defensive Bloom, Sow Venom
Eclipse, Thundergod's Wrath, Poof
1/11 Update
- Fix Mac clients not being able to connect to Artifact network.
- Removed 60 seconds to surrender notification.
- Fixed AI taking a few extra seconds to play when you pass.
1/10 Update
Added a bindable key for typing a custom message on your tower in the active lane.
Increased maximum custom message length.
Increased visibility of chat wheel mute button.
Replaced "Chat with Opponent" button on the end game screen with an "Add Friend" button if you are not friends with your opponent.
Last action is shown as a mini card on the HUD.
Fixed many cases of last action details not listing the targeted cards.
Fixed glossary keywords not working when inspecting active ability actions.
Fixed some cases where the last used AI deck was not saved.
Added the ability to send and receive friend requests on the end game screen or using the steam icon in-game.
Fixed various Call to Arms leaderboard UI bugs.
Game clock:
After you receive the coin, the game clock now waits an additional 5 seconds before it begins ticking.
The tournament timer now grants 30 seconds per round, down from 1 minute, and starts at 2:30, down from 3:00.
The standard timer now grants 1 minute per round, down from 2 minutes, and starts at 3:00, down from 5:00.
Draft gauntlets and Constructed gauntlets now use the tournament timer rather than the standard timer. (Call to Arms and Global Matchmaking use the updated standard timer.)
Fixed a bug where animations that killed multiple heroes would start your clock ticking down before the animation finished.
Fixed a bug where you could pass very quickly using the spacebar during a long animation, causing the opponent’s clock to start ticking down before the animation finished.
Hats:
The imp's holiday hats have been put back in the attic.
This update introduces independent skill ratings for constructed and draft games. It also includes an account leveling system that tracks your overall experience with the game and allows you to unlock level icons and a set number of tickets and packs. More information on both systems is available on the update page and the patch notes below.
Card Balance
A common pattern in physical card games is to design around the goal of never changing cards, and to only make card changes or bans in extremely rare cases. Our initial approach to the game was to follow this type of methodology and keep balancing changes as a last resort, in large part because we thought players valued immutability very highly.
Since the release of Artifact, there have been a lot of discussions surrounding this topic. Input came in many forms, some from online discussions, some from direct feedback with players, and some through discussions among our own team members. This caused us to take a step back and spend a bunch of time debating the merits of the different arguments presented.
In the end, we struggled to see the benefits of immutability outweighing the numerous downsides. The average player mainly wants the game quality to be high above all other considerations. Players who focus a lot on deck building would prefer a more diverse and engaging meta to play around. While some card collectors enjoy having a small number of really valuable cards, many others are happier in a world where the full set value isn’t overly dominated by one or two cards.
Further consideration also made us realize it was the wrong approach from the development side. An extremely high bar for making iterations will indirectly cause future set development to be worse off. Long term set creativity will suffer if we are reluctant to try new ideas because of fears around not being able to make adjustments.
Our conclusion was that embracing ongoing card balance for a digital game has a lot more upsides for the game as a whole. Once we shifted over to this new mindset, it became obvious to us that it was a more natural fit with how we tend to develop games. Starting with today's update, we will be taking an incremental approach to balancing, with the primary goal being to improve the gameplay quality over time. New set expansions will undoubtedly cause bigger meta shifts, but we'll use incremental balancing between sets as a way to make sure that gameplay quality is as good as it can be.
We think player activity and demand is by far the biggest factor for overall card value, so we expect this to be a net positive for everyone over the long term. We also believe the marketplace remains valuable as a whole, as some changes will cause some cards to go down in value and indirectly cause other cards to go up. However, we realize that some players had a different expectation when buying from the marketplace, and so as a result we'll allow a one time buyback exception for the next two weeks. Any player that previously purchased today's changed cards from the marketplace can now visit this link to learn how to sell the cards directly back to us for what their peak selling price was in the 24 hours prior to this announcement. This sell back process will begin tomorrow, Dec 21st.
Card Changes
Axe
Base stats changed from 7/2/11 to 6/2/10.
Bloodseeker
Base stats changed from 7/6 to 7/7.
Blood Rage (signature spell) mana cost changed from 5 to 4.
Cheating Death
Mana cost changed from 5 to 4.
Old Text: "If there is an allied green hero in this lane, allies have a 50% chance of surviving with 1 Health when they would die."
New Text: "Active (Cooldown 1): Give a unit a Death Shield this round. May only be used if there is an allied green hero in this lane."
Drow Ranger
Gust (signature spell) Old Text: "Silence enemy heroes this round."
Gust (signature spell) New Text: "Silence an enemy hero and its allied neighbors this round."
Jasper Daggers
Gold cost changed from 7 to 5.
Old Text: "Equipped hero has +2 Attack and Pierce."
New Text: "Equipped hero has +2 Attack and Pierce. Equip Effect: Purge your opponent's effects from equipped hero."
Lion
Finger of Death (active ability) Old Text: "Deal 8 piercing damage to a unit."
Finger of Death (active ability) New Text: "Deal 8 piercing damage to a unit. Quicken." (Quicken means "reduce cooldown by 1, but not below 1".)
Outworld Devourer
Base stats changed from 4/6 to 4/7.
Timbersaw
Reactive Armor (passive) Old Text: "Timbersaw has +1 Armor for each of its attackers."
Reactive Armor (passive) New Text: "Timbersaw has +1 Armor for each of its attackers. Each of Timbersaw's attackers have -1 Armor."
New Features
Added Skill Rating. Skill rating is specific to a particular time period and game mode (draft or constructed) and ranges from 1 to 75. Once you've earned a rating, it will not decrease this season. Every matchmaking game outside of the Call To Arms featured event contributes to skill rating adjustments.
Added account levels and unlocks. Every matchmaking game grants experience that contributes to account level. Increasing account level unlocks portraits and a number of event tickets and card packs.
Added Quicken keyword. On activated abilities, this means "reduce cooldown by 1, but not below 1". (See Finger of Death in the card changes section.)
Added Equip Effect keyword. On items, this ability will trigger immediately after the item is equipped to a hero. (See Jasper Daggers in the card changes section.)
Bug Fixes
Fixed some words being underlined on ability tooltips in-game.
Fixed the complete deck list not being visible for the opponent in Call To Arms gauntlet matches.
Fixed some instances of Red Mist Pillager not showing their combat target arrows after being spawned.
