Which do you prefer?

[Qunify]

If you were playing a new CCG built for Facebook, which would you prefer to purchase?

1. Booster packs - which guarantee 5 random cards across all categories, but many will be duplicates.  There will be your basic assortment of commons/uncommons, with one rare guaranteed.

2. One card - but the card is guaranteed to be one you don't already have, and you can choose your category (for instance if you were a Superhero, and your powers were Fire and Energy, you could choose to get one Fire Power Card).   

[Ripplez]

if the card is one we dont have, how will we get duplicates of it?

[Qunify]

if the card is one we dont have, how will we get duplicates of it?

In that scenario, you wouldn't have duplicates.

Since it's a Facebook game, we need to make deck creation relatively simple.  So we were thinking of having the player add 9 character cards and 9 power cards.  And that's it.  So, because there is so little cards in your deck, we were considering not having duplicates...

BUT... the reason I pose the question here is because sometimes game developers can live in a bubble... what I think might work might really not work at all.  Sometime it's best to stick with "what works" instead of trying to be innovative.

The deck creation thing however is impossible to get around.  We can't appeal to a large audience if we make them create 60 card decks. 

If we went with the booster pack option, then we would allow duplicates but no more than 2.

Also, as an alternative, we were considering having duplicates be used to "upgrade" the card similar to Battleforge.

[Ripplez]

what does upgrade the card mean?

[Qunify]

what does upgrade the card mean?

Let's say you get a card called "Bolt".  This card costs 50 resources to play, and does 30 damage to any target.

If you have received 3 additional Bolts for a total of 4, then you could click on a button that says "upgrade".  Now, this card still costs 50 resources but now does 35 damage.

That is what I mean by upgrade.

[Ripplez]

what if when you bought the card you could either get a random card from a category of your choice OR a duplicate of something you already have. that would let you allow duplicates for an upgrade mechanic while still doing whatever option 2 was supposed to do

would that work?

[Qunify]

what if when you bought the card you could either get a random card from a category of your choice OR a duplicate of something you already have. that would let you allow duplicates for an upgrade mechanic while still doing whatever option 2 was supposed to do

would that work?

It's an interesting idea...

We decided to stick with booster packs.  As a future sprint, we will allow the purchase of single cards. 

Thanks for your input though... I really appreciate it.

[Monox D. I-Fly]

what does upgrade the card mean?

Let's say you get a card called "Bolt".  This card costs 50 resources to play, and does 30 damage to any target.

If you have received 3 additional Bolts for a total of 4, then you could click on a button that says "upgrade".  Now, this card still costs 50 resources but now does 35 damage.

That is what I mean by upgrade.

I see, similar to HD Xyth by nullvoid, eh? Combining two identical cards to get their stronger version, though to make a Level IV card you must have 8 identical cards which will be combined pair by pair.