Recent reviews by ACatWithHomophobiaInItsEyes<3

Excellent and clever

With the dust mostly settled and set 2 around the corner, we have a better idea about the state of the game and it's economy. To be honest, it's really not that bad. And the game itself is a lot of fun.

## Quick points on the economy:
- The game incentives playing consistently. You get a free pack every day for logging in, there are daily missions for currencies, and there are chest keys available in the "Park Lobby" each day. There are also a ton of events and in-game tournaments to play in, with some very good rewards.
- You're gonna hear a lot from SV1 players about how so many little things have been nerfed: pack cost, Grand Prix rewards, mission rewards, and more. But a lot of the new additions to SV:WB are there to pick up some of the slack. For example, the new Weekly Lobby tournaments reward the 1st place finisher (out of a lobby of 16 people) with enough currency to craft any legendary card of your choosing, + 3 packs. The free pack on log-in is new. The park chest, while usually underwhelming, can still give golds and legendaries and quickly adds up. They're also giving out 20 packs and a free complete deck, legendary included, with each expansion release.
- Card sets are small, meaning less filler legendaries and greater ease in completing a set. Over the past month of playing the foundational set, I'd wager that roughly 2/3rds of all cards have had a home somewhere at some point in time. Not being able to "vial" (disenchant) a card until you have more than a playset of it is frustrating and should be changed, but at least most cards have a decent chance of being useful.

**TL;DR:** While a side-by-side currency comparison with SV1 makes SV:WB look bad on paper, actually engaging with the game on a consistent basis can easily support a F2P player.

## Gameplay:
- Shadowverse is a very swing-y game where one mistake can lead to death. More often than not, players are taking turns clearing each others boards to the best of their abilities. Figuring out how best to execute a clear while using less resources than your opponent is one of the game's tactical cornerstones and makes for some very fun and involved mental puzzles.
- Unlike a game like Magic, your health total in SV:WB feels more like it's 8-12 than 20, as each class has means to suddenly close out a game with 8-12 damage once it's in the later turns. Knowing these health thresholds and on what turns they're important takes time and game knowledge, but playing around them effectively and finding the lines for both your own and your opponents lethal damage is satisfying and rewarding.
- The evolution and super-evolution mechanic adds to the game's explosiveness and makes for some deep strategic decision making. While there are cards designed to be used with evolution, I've made use of evolving every card in my deck in specific use cases.
- Don't let the salt lords fool you: the game is actually really well balanced (at least at the time of writing). Classes and cards which were dismissed during the first couple weeks later found a solid footing in the meta. There is little to no RNG in the game's card design. Some cards are definitely more overpowered than others like in any card game, but they all have counter-play and can be played around accordingly.
- The Shadowverse Park aspect of the game where you create your lil avatar, dress it up, join and clan, kick a soccer ball, and play at little card tables is actually kind of refreshing. Interacting with something other than menus and HUDs is a nice change of pace for a digital ccg.
- The ranked system consists of a a bunch of "ranks" and tiers, and 5 "groups". Even when you lose, you gain a small amount of ranked points to move up rank tiers; your W/L ratio then affects which "group" you're in at the time, with higher groups giving bigger multipliers to how many ranked points you receive each game. I find the result is that climbing the ranked ladder is usually less tilting than other PvP games; it's nice to at least always be making progress in one way, even when losing.
- It's fun and has some drip!

The game is also getting some solo "puzzles" and a draft mode soon!

- Communicative and passionate devs moving fast with suggestions
- INCREDIBLY generous free-to-play model, and cheap premium option
- Truly excellent maps that etch their way into your memory quickly and reward exploration
- Great vibes, chill players
- Charming writing and quests
- Fun variety of professions with limitless potential for more
- Innovative "Episode" structure will allow players to experience future content together regardless of account progression, without making previous episodes and areas irrelevant

- Extremely important aspects of the game (why new episodes have their own separate combat skill that must be leveled fresh from 0, how to access storage deposit nodes across the world, what your permanent choice of class means, etc.) are obfuscated and poorly explained, potentially leading to confusion and frustration
- Combat feels similarly obfuscated, with upgrades and the vulnerability system almost feeling like they're not there at all
- The grind is arguably a bit much at times, especially when trying to meet side quest requirements
- Some skills currently feel a bit aimless
- Lack of low-intensity methods for a chunk of skills; expect something similar to OSRS Agility training for most professions (though the production professions are decently chill)

All in all, this is an extremely promising start for an MMO in early access and I'm excited to see what's next.

yeet

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER DOLLAR.

10/10, would dollar again.

Not made by Riot therefore 0/10 worst game of my life.

Has dat luscious, SCRUMPTIOUS ass.

69/8 - would bang.