Why does this game's oarent company INSIST on keeping the most important cards too expensive for the majority of it's player base? Don't they want more players and thereforeore revenue? Every video game in existance is trying mass appeal and still getting tons of money yet table top games seem to refuse to let their best experiences and best tools drop below 15-30 bucks a card, if youre lucky.
>>47951484
The game company doesn't.
The second hand market does. We're the ones who value these cardboard cards at obscene prices.
How exactly did you forget that every business in this market makes the majority of their profit off of the "whales"?
Games Workshop constantly increasing the required size of your army, cost of miniatures, etc.
The Endless D&D splat books.
MtG keeping the required special land base around
Pic semi-related, the most recent Mechwarrior vidja that grew out of the Battletech board game. Posts like this are not as uncommon as you might think.
>>47951484
They can't just print a lot more cards because the collector market is what props the game up in large part. There's an episode of NPR or something about MTG and Beanie Babies that you should look up.
>>47951600
>>47951484
http://www.npr.org/sections/money/2015/03/11/392381112/episode-609-the-curse-of-the-black-lotus
>>47951484
The official prices set by the parent company are 15 random cards for ~$5.
Wizards doesn't price their individual cards, the community, fans, and second-hand retailers do. When you see a $15 card it's because the majority of players are willing to buy that card for that price, not because Wizards is overpricing their tiny printed plastic squares.
>>47951484
Because Konami is right, pachinko makes more money than videogames.
Gambling for Tarmogoyfs makes more money than designing a good game experience.
>>47951484
You're an idiot. They make the chase rares rare so they can sell more packs, they don't control the secondary market. As to why some cards cost so much, there are people who make an actual living just playing in tournaments, these cards can substitute for skills in terms of being a source of income, naturally they're priced to reflect this.
>>47952650
>these cards can substitute for skills
Jesus Christ. Only the absolute worst players believe this.
>>47951633
Do you honestly believe WotC is blind to the secondary market? Don't be retarded
>>47952683
>substitute for skills in terms of being a source of income
Jesus Christ. Only the absolutely ignorant can't understand English-language praising.
>>47952689
Do you honestly believe whether they're blind to it or not has anything to do with the fact that they have absolutely no real control over it? The only way they could sway the market to price their cards lower is by making every card in a set shit and undesirable. I'll assume I don't have to explain to you why that would be a bad decision?
>>47953473
Don't you mean make ALL the cards good and desirable with a large print run?
If a set brings many good cards with a large print run, it'll be easier for you to build a better deck without too much investment. See: Mirrodin. Should also note that reprints and generally better or redundant cards would make it easier for someone to have access to an existing deck. If you print only shit sets, however, the one or two good cards will be massively inflated and nobody will want to crack packs, making them even more expensive. In turn, since the cards are bad, they'll have zero value everywhere, thus making every pack purchase and even worse decision.
I don't see how you've come to the conclusion that making all cards shit would be the only way to sway the price. It's like you didn't even think things through. Mmmm...
>>47951548
I remember years ago people were laughing at "goldvision" players like this one, as they tended to be little Timmies (using mtg terms). Ie. They spent a lot on the game, and yet most of them were horrible players with shitty non-viable builds.Quite often they got their ass carried upon the fact the game allowed teaming up and playing as a team vs. full on pub team.
They also defended "organized group vs pub" gameplay, as they were like "it isn't our fault pub players can't make themselves a premade!", so it's fine for us to obliterate other players! And then they cried for nerfs when their Timmy 5-man party got paired against a pub full of Spikes.
Ah, mechwarrior I miss you, but you became way too cancerous for me to play.
>>47951484
Because Wizards knows that its product sells best when people can gamble with it.
Ever wondered why Wizards will so staunchly say limited print runs, high demand sets are made for drafting? Because if they don't their product is illegal. It'd be literal gambling.
MTGO is basically illegal. Did you know that? When you boot up MTGO you have to say 'I don't live in any states where online gambling is illegal' or you can't get any prize payouts. Unlike in paper magic, where wizards doesn't strictly own or facilitate the secondary market, MTGO is made to explicitly simulate it. If any federal body decided to scrutinize MTGO the shitty waiver at the front wouldn't save Wizards, it'd be destroyed.
Also, the reason cards are expensive isn't Wizards. It's because of collectors who treat Magic cards like the stock market. There's an entire subreddit dedicated to speculating on MTG card price changes, where collectors buy singles in copies of hundreds.
Also: What would happen if Wizards announced the end of the reserved list?
>>47955065
Some fat neckbeards would commit sudoku.
>>47952761
What exactly are you praising? The cards? The language?
>>47955065
Cards *generally* are expensive because old print runs weren't made for the current player base. Even without speculators port, wasteland, and FoW would be expensive because of how few of them are out there.
If a card that had a print run in the last 4 years is expensive, then its a result of wizards limiting how many of that card there are. Example: lili of the veil. Easily the most expensive card printed since Tarmogoyph or something. Expensive simply because its mythic and is thus supply constrained.
If you want an example of speculators fucking things, you can look at Jace Vryn's Prodigy. There was no reason for that to get as expensive as it was besides speculation. There have been dominant mythic 4 ofs in standard before, but they never got over 40-50. Jace shot up because 'its a flip card, it's not going to be reprinted'.
>>47953520
I assure you that Wizards being poor at designing a game is not because they want to put more money into secondhand seller's pockets.
>>47955568
Jace was in the undisputed best deck in the standard format last season so there was a reason for him to be so expensive desu.
>>47957411
>>47957411
>>>47953520
>I assure you that Wizards being poor at designing a game is not because they want to put more money into secondhand seller's pockets.
Which is really sad for the biggest TCG.
>>47951484
They're afraid that the dipshits who are holding old cards as "an investment" will somehow affect their bottom line if they go back on the reserved list, which is comically untrue but they also don't give a fuck about eternal formats so nothing will happen.
>>47960201
They tried printing some of the shit that's on the reserved list as foil-only nonbooster stuff. FtV Karn, Duel Deck Negator, stuff like that. Which, according to the original wording of the Reserved List, was completely fair game.
Then something happened that they refuse to talk about, and then publically announced that they were closing that 'loophole' and wouldn't be reprinting anything from the reserved list, even in foil version in nonrandomized product. And that they were not allowed to say WHY they were making that change. Or why they could not just repeal the reserved list.
Which means it involves the legal department in some way, shape, or form.
>>47960166
Well, as always, it could actually just be that /tg/ knows jack shit about Magic.
>>47957411
Here's the thing: they're not poor at game design nor do they really care about secondary market prices. All they need to know is that their "poor design" works by giving them more sales and that's kinda their thing. They're a business. They care about profit. They only care about secondary market when its prices are so high they know they can just reprint whatever card they want to get extra profit without flooding the market, thus keeping roughly the same value (see: Tarmogoyf).
>>47954914
>MTGO is basically illegal. Did you know that?
wow, can't believe the entire hasbro legal department didn't notice that one
>>47961426
They didn't notice judges were employee's until just recently. They didn't think pro's could be considered employees till just recently. Don't act like wizards isn't cutting legal corners all over the place. These are the people who are too scared of the legal costs of repealing the reserved list, after all. Shouldn't be expecting them to put too much effort into it.
>>47951484
The Wizards of the Coast are real wizards. They practice powerful magic that convinces many a nerd to spend thousands of dollars on pieces of cardboard. Real fucking magic.
>>47951633
>what is artificial scarcity
IT'S NOT MY FAULT THAT FOOD IS SO EXPENSIVE. SO WHAT IF I RUN THE ONLY FARM IN THE WORLD, AND I ONLY GREW ONE POTATO? IT'S ALL THE MARKET'S FAULT
If WoC pulled a yugioh made rare cards cheaply available, then the secondary market will fold in on itself and the perceived "value" of magic cards in general will decrease, which is not good for the brand
>>47951548
>The Endless D&D splat books.
I wish.
5E's getting like one book every 6 months at this rate.
>tfw between prize winnings and trades etween matches I literally play Magic for free
Draft is the best format and it costs the same for everyone. If you draft enough you'll build up a standard collection. If you play standard enough you'll be able to trade the cards you don't need to get into Modern. If you play Modern long enough you'll be able to trade into Legacy.
There's a certain natural timegating/experience barrier built into the game by its players which creates a nice little playpen for kids and mouthbreathers at the bottom tables of standard tournaments.
If it bothers you, just play proxy tournaments among your friends.
>>47968042
They suck at finding the right balance. I want more to work with, but not the book per month treatment 3e and 4e had either.
At least stuff gets play tested now.
>>47968004
This is flawed thinking. It wouldn't be good for the brand if this were the 90s and magic could actually collapse in on itself. This isn't a possibility anymore. Magic has gotten self sustainingly large and the internet and convention circuits ensure that they will always be able to push their product in front of a fresh audience to increase numbers. What would actually kill magic is if they fucked up organized play. THAT is where the actual value is created, the demand fueled by tournaments. Not the reserved list. Abolishing the reserved list would make secondary sellers more money, Starcity for instance has actively lobbied for it. Abolishing the reserved list can only lose wizards money through lawsuits.
>>47951548
>username is NoSkillz
Its like pottery
