Jeremy 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"\nHello brewers,"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nWith today’s update, we introduce an entirely new Playtester with many feature improvements over the old one. Details below!\n\n"},{"insert":{"image":"https://i.imgur.com/e5iMwsX.gif"}},{"insert":"\n\nPlaytester Features"},{"attributes":{"header":1},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Mulliganing"},{"insert":" - We now support London mulligans, providing a dropzone to ship cards to the bottom of your library on the overlay that appears when you first open the Playtester. You can also take free mulligans for days if you’d prefer."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Card sizes"},{"insert":" - Depending on your monitor size, you may immediately notice cards appear bigger or smaller than you’d like. In the Settings menu along the bottom toolbar, there are four options for card size (i.e. cards in play) and hand size."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Other settings"},{"insert":" - The Settings menu includes a variety of other personalization options including: disabling/enabling hand curve, showing/hiding card labels, enabling/disabling an upkeep reminder, enabling/disabling a static card preview on hover, toggling foil overlay, setting sleeve color, setting playmat color, and toggling light/dark mode. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Click type"},{"insert":" - Along the bottom toolbar, there’s a toggle for Actions click/Options click. Actions click is enabled by default on most devices and allows you to use drag and drop, play cards from your hand with a single left click/tap, and tap cards in play with a single left click/tap. Right click/long press will provide you with a wide variety of additional card options. Options click, meanwhile, makes card options menu appear on left click/tap instead. This is enabled by default on iOS because right click is not an available action. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Hand options"},{"insert":" - A dropdown menu to the top right of your hand provides you with a number of hand options. These include: moving to another zone, viewing full hand (in an overlay… helpful for really big hands), hiding/showing hand, revealing hand in the Popout (more on that later), discarding a random card, and ordering your hand by Salt, color, name, type or mana value. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Library options"},{"insert":" - You are provided with a number of library actions when you right click/long press it (left click/tap with Options click turned on). These include: drawing, drawing X, moving the top card to another zone, searching your library, shuffling, revealing the top card, and peeking at the top X cards (used for scrying and other top deck manipulation). "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Card options"},{"insert":" - You are provided with many card actions when you right click/long press a card (left click/tap with Options click turned on). These include: tapping, moving to another zone, flipping/rotating/dimming, adding all varieties of counters, adding custom power/toughness, viewing/setting card notes and oracle, creating token copies, and deleting the card from game (used for cards added from search… more on that later). "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Multiselect"},{"insert":" - On desktop, you can select multiple cards in play at once either by left click-dragging over an area, or by Ctrl-left clicking multiple cards. Selected cards will be highlighted in orange and can together be moved, tapped, grouped, aligned, given counters, etc (as described under “Card options” above). On mobile, you can initiate multi-select by long pressing an empty place on the battlefield (single tap with Options click turned on) and tapping “Select on click”. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Power/toughness sum"},{"insert":" - On desktop, with multiple cards selected, the number of cards selected, their total power and their total sum will be displayed in the lower left corner of the battlefield. These sums take into account added P/T and any +1/+1 and -1/-1 counters on the cards. Hopefully this will make big attacks a bit easier to calculate damage for!"},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Card grouping"},{"insert":" - Cards can be snapped, or “grouped”, together using either multiselect or by dragging with Ctrl pressed. When a card is dragged in this way, hovering over another card will allow you to snap it into 6 different positions depending on where you drop it. An outline of the card will show you where it will be placed. Please note: A grouped card can be dragged away from its group at any time. In order to move a group together or tap it together, all cards within the group will need to be multiselected."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"More actions"},{"insert":" - Right clicking/long pressing an empty spot on the battlefield or clicking “More” (top left on desktop, bottom left of the battlefield on mobile) will provide you with a number of additional actions you might find helpful. These include: tap/untap all, new turn (untap and draw), proliferate all counters, add a token, add a card from search, create a custom card, select call, and select on click."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Add a card from search"},{"insert":" - Mentioned above, this option allows you to search the entire database for a card and put it into play. You may find this particularly useful if simulating stealing/copying another players’ card. The “delete card from game” option mentioned above will allow you to fully remove these cards when they’re destroyed rather than erroneously having them end up in your graveyard. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Tracking stuff"},{"insert":" - Along the bottom toolbar, you can track a number of different metrics including turn count, life total, poison, experience, mana pool, and energy. Each can be modified by a menu opened by left click/tapping on the metric. On desktop, Ctrl+left/right clicking can be used to more quickly increase or decrease the metric your cursor is currently hovering over."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Random generator"},{"insert":" - This menu can be found along the bottom toolbar. From it, you can flip a coin, or roll a d4/6/8/10/12/20."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Popout"},{"insert":" - Also along the bottom toolbar, this button will open a new window that mirrors the battlefield with all confidential elements (such as hand and static hover card) hidden. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Keybinds"},{"insert":" - On desktop, there are a multitude of keybinds available to help speed along your playtesting. You can find a list of all of these keybinds either by clicking the “Keybinds” menu in the upper left-hand corner of the battlefield or by pressing ? (Shift+/). "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"attributes":{"bold":true},"insert":"Attractions"},{"insert":" - This is a silly one, but we’ve added support for the Unfinity Attractions mechanic. If you have an out-of-deck category called “Attractions”, it will be included under “View other zones” (along with a Junkyard) at the bottom right of the Playtester. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nRegarding the old Playtester"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"If you prefer the feel of the old Playtester, it is still available via a link at the top of the new Playtester. Just please be aware that it will not receive any updates in the future. That said, we’d love to hear what you prefer about the old one so that we can ensure the new one meets your needs. Though there are no immediate plans to do so, we’ll likely remove it once we’re certain there’s no reason for anyone to be using it. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nThat should be it, but honestly, there’s a lot of depth here and it wouldn’t be surprising if we missed something. What do you think of it? Are there any missing features you’d love to see or existing features that don’t quite work the way you’d like?\n\nIf you have anything to suggest or report, you can find us here, "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://twitter.com/archidekt"},"insert":"@Archidekt"},{"insert":" on Twitter, or over in "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://discord.gg/eZg3mvJd7v"},"insert":"Discord"},{"insert":". As always, feedback is greatly appreciated!\n\nThe Archidekt Team"},{"attributes":{"header":3},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\n"}]}
Edited 10/19/2022, 4:58:52 AM
31
akimon3 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Loving the new playtester! playing with large hand size is definitely easy on the eyes\n"}]}
2
michael(Alpha User)
18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Reducing the card size in your hand will likely make the play zone size as large as you want it to be (by reducing the hand size). Check out the settings in the lower right of the page to change the size of cards in hand. \n"}]}
0
magnumforce2006 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Not sure why there are so many aggressive sounding complaints, because I think this Playtester is WAY better!\n\nI have 3 notes/requests\n\n-Could we have an additional labels option to keep P/T and Loyalty on Creatures/Planeswalkers and turn off the rest of their text info? (as opposed to either all or nothing? Keeping the whole label is cluttered, but erasing P/T makes it look weird when you have some modified and unmodified p/t creatures).\n-Nonland cards currently default to the top of the playtest area when clicked from hand. Can we have them align to the center instead?\n-Could we get keybinds for adding/removing +1 counters?\n\nOtherwise no notes here. This looks and plays great!\n"}]}
Edited 10/20/2022, 7:44:55 PM
0
Zectzozda(Common Patron)
18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"It'd be great to have a button that automated the start of the turn: increment the turn # (this should start at 1 and not 0 I think), untap and draw a card. \n"}]}
0
michael(Alpha User)
18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Right click anywhere in the play area and click the next turn button (or press N) \n"}]}
Edited 10/21/2022, 1:39:49 AM
1
Zectzozda(Common Patron)
18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Starting a new game doesn't reset the floating mana\n"}]}
0
bburns123 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"This update is somewhat frustrating, seems like a pull away from functionality for aesthetics... maintain quick-primary functions and then implicate account-wide changes that are toggle-able... don't force us to flip to an older version of the decktester just for quick hand draws and turn 3 plays. Also, commander visibility is super important (Don't hide it), text is impossible to read, especially on older cards without the pop-up card viewer enabled, and the start-up hand / battlefield view ratio is crazy, maintain the smaller UI unless the text is readable from hand.\n"}]}
0
michael(Alpha User)
18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"For one, even though you're frustrated I appreciate that you're comment isn't an outright attack like some of the comments we've gotten. \n\nFortunately, I believe all of your concerns are a bit unfounded. Take a look at "},{"attributes":{"link":"https://archidekt.com/forum/thread/3422403/1"},"insert":"this part"},{"insert":" of this post. You can more or less achieve a very similar layout to the v1 playtester by enabling a few settings, whilst keeping all the new goodies we've implemented. \n\nWe chose settings we believed would be best for the majority of users based on screen size and analytics we have on our users. What we've found is that the user base is "},{"attributes":{"italic":true},"insert":"extremely"},{"insert":" split on this (size and layout). Fortunately we also implemented a slew of settings that more or less allow you to control every aspect of the playtester. Once you've updated your settings, it'll remember what you have set (unless you clear your cache) so ideally you should be good to go. \n\nIf I'm off base here and you've tried tweaking the settings and you still don't like the new playtester that's totally fair. Let us know why and we can add features until we get there.\n"}]}
Edited 10/21/2022, 1:04:05 PM
1
cyr62110 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"This is absolutely awesome. It will make easier to play on the playtester over Spelltable.\n"}]}
2
wadledo 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"I'm finding that everything being hidden as default rather than on the side panel makes it much more difficult to use. Having to click multiple times to increase your turn counter if I don't want to hit N, for example. Maybe having a side panel with everything that is currently on the bottom line, but allowing it to slide out of sight?\nThe cards in hand constantly dancing around is kinda disorienting. \nI'd prefer to be able to either default to right justification or Right for Creatures, Left for non-creatures. Center isn't really useful, especially since it doesn't really give a order for when they came onto the battlefield, since they alternate. \n"}]}
2
MTGplayer999 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"too complicated. Prefer the previous tester instead. Much easier and not as complicated\n"}]}
-1
Jeremy 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Could you give any examples of what feels more complicated to you? There are certainly more features available, but you should be able to interact with it on the same basic level as the old one. The feedback is appreciated though!\n"}]}
1
OldmanJables 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Congrats on the successful launch! At first blush I was pretty down on the new playtester but upon further examination and more use I've come around on it in a lot of respects. Very crucially, and I don't know exactly how viable this may be for the team, but finding a way to make the playtest options be more visible would I think go a long way towards alleviating a lot of the basic user complaints and issues. As it is the settings option feels incredibly sequestered and nested, I had no idea it was available until I started reading the comments here.\n\nAs for the playtester itself, I like a lot of what it's doing, but it does feel like 5 steps forward 1 step back. Now that's exceptional good all told, but the few steps it does make backwards are pretty frustrating loses that have a lot of interplay with each other. In particular I feel that the drive for aesthetics has harmed utility and visual readability in ways that hurt my experience. I'll break down my issues below.\n\nThe loss of the sidebar is a big one. It feels like a lot of previously very accessible and essential features have been lost or made into a \"where's waldo\" subgame that frustrates the pace of my average playtest. Additionally, The new playtester is also very visually flat and minimalistic, which I feel creates problems because a lot of elements are often too small and the design overall doesn't do enough to visually separate unique play elements, which makes everything bleed together. \nI find that the new card size options aren't granular enough, and I'm left feeling like I'm either stuck with cards that are altogether too big and clog the field, or cards that are altogether too small and impossible to read. At least one more size option between small and normal would be lovely. Similarly but in the other direction I find that the card name labels are now more essential than ever but are now altogether massive, making them aesthetically ugly and harder to parse/read, all the while obscuring card art which in turn paradoxically harms board and card readability. \nCard spacing is also a weird issue. Cards in hand are spaced out really far apart by default, which looks extremely jarring and unnatural. Conversely cards are placed on the field slightly too close together, causing them to overlap when tapped in a way that is also jarring and unnatural (and ugly!) \nCircling back to cards in hand, there's a lot of unused white space in the new back row that holds your hand, deck, etc. The old playtester had issues where having too many cards in hand made parsing your hand impossible, and I think that the bones of your solution to address this is an excellent one, but it comes with some drawbacks. Because of the way the hand has to contour around the hand arrows and the dead space to their sides, merely having more than 9 cards in hand makes playing from your hand incredibly troublesome and clunky. Overall usability here takes a real hit, which is strange to say of changes made to improve usability. I feel that a middle ground between the two playtester's hand presentations would solve both sides of the issue. As it stands while the worst case scenario in the old hand view was indeed very, very, very frustrating, but it was a rare occurrence; the issues found with the new hand view come up relatively regularly, which makes them much more frustrating in aggregate.\nOne last note, in terms of functionality right now tokens are very frustrating. They often get spawned in odd places on the board and don't really seem to work with the other game elements? Cards put on the field will just entirely ignore them, often overlaying directly on them. Tokens also ignore tokens and will overlay them, this is especially frustrating for decks that make a lot of tokens, because spawning and manipulating your tokens quickly becomes a massive logistical nightmare. Above all else I hope this is one of the first things that gets worked on.\n\nNow enough negativity for a second. In terms of everything else I think you guys knocked it out of the park. There were a lot of areas where the old playtester was extremely cumbersome and slow to use or navigate that have been made immensely better here. With some touch-ups to the layout and visual design of the playtester I think you will have entirely surpassed the old playtester and will have markedly improved your already incredible website for the better. I can't thank you folks enough for the excellent work you do. Archidekt is such a fantastic deckbuilder and I could only have dreamed of something half as great even five years ago. Love what you guys do, and I look forward to seeing how the site continues to evolve under your passionate and excellent stewardship! :)\n"}]}
0
Jeremy 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Hi there! Thank you for the kind words and the thoughtful suggestions. I apologize for the slow response, but I figured I'd hold off responding until we got some of this done. We've just implemented the following changes:\n\nWe've added an option in Settings to turn a sidebar on to track life, mana pool, etc. It's called \"View static counter options\"."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Two additional card size options have been added, including one between the old normal and small. Trying to come up with new names for the different sizes was getting rough though, so they're just on a scale from 1 to 6. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Hand spacing was definitely weird sometimes. We've added an option in the Settings to dictate the maximum number of cards you can see in your hand at once. This should help a lot with larger hand sizes. "},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"Tokens now should now behave more like \"normal\" cards, appearing in the middle of the top row upon creation. When copying, they'll now be slightly offset so it's easier to keep track of how many you've made."},{"attributes":{"list":"bullet"},"insert":"\n"},{"insert":"\nWe're still tweaking more, but hopefully this gets it closer to what you're looking for!\n"}]}
2
Nu3vo1019 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"I like the new interface but I'm finding that some cards disappear from my decks at times when click the back button.\n"}]}
0
Shane1516 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"I really enjoy all the new additions and quality-of-life improvements to the playtester however I would personally like to see and that is having the ability to playtest multiple decks at once. I don't know if that isn't allowed because it would technically be like a free online magic player but having the ability to test your decks in mock games would make it far easier to evaluate how good they will perform in a real setting. I don't know if that would get you guys in trouble with MTG or Wizards but I would greatly enjoy having the ability to test my decks against numerous other types of decks before buying all the cards for a deck that completely gets bodied and having to replace most of the deck. Technically the user would just be playing by themselves but I imagine that's not the best defense in court...\n"}]}
0
michael(Alpha User)
18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"You kinda hit the nail on the head with this one. We don't have any intention of building something that facilitates users playing magic against each other since we don't feel like poking wotc's legal team. \n\nWe are aware people do this by just opening multiple browsers, or screen sharing pieces of the site, but it isn't expressly built for that. So if you want to use it that way, that's your choice, but yea, unfortunately we wouldn't ever build a way for multiple users to connect and play magic. \n"}]}
0
nuLLism 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"I love the new playtester! However, there are some things I like about the old one that I found convenient- for example, I liked it when there was the huge card image on the right side of the screen. Something like that that's like a collapsible overlay would be epic! Also, a second life tracker would be nice to keep track of the damage I deal. These are small things, and there are workarounds, but those are inconvenient and while are not annoying to manage most of the time can begin to grate. Regardless, thank you for the great update and I wish you all the best. \n"}]}
1
michael(Alpha User)
18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Check the settings. The static card is what you want for the card in the upper right. As for the second life tracker, I'm adding that back in today. Thanks for the feedback!\n"}]}
1
buddy1477 18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"Great update!\n\nQuestion regarding hand size: I recall there being a setting that allowed you to change how many cards are viewed before the rollover happens, but I cannot find it now. Was it removed or am I just blind?\n"}]}
0
michael(Alpha User)
18 months{"ops":[{"insert":"I believe what you're looking for is in the setting called "},{"attributes":{"background":"rgba(22, 22, 22, 0.95)","bold":true},"insert":"Max cards shown in hand. "},{"insert":"I think that's what you're looking for anyway, let me know if that helps!\n"}]}
0