Our minor pre-Steam launch patch is live! This patch contains an important fix to our minimum attack mechanic, and a few card tweaks to maintain balance against this fix. We are also changing our store offerings, which are detailed in this post here. With only 8 days left until the Steam launch we're getting hype!
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News Thread
Pre-Steam Mechanics Fix Part Deux
In order to make gameplay decisions more intuitive, we are implementing a change shortly to the targeting mechanics on area of effect spells. Generally, area of effect spells that can only target units will now ALSO only deal damage to units as well. This change is accompanied by a slight increase in power for the affected spells. We believe this change makes gameplay decisions much more intuitive; body-blocking your base as a defensive play has much less chance to backfire, and players will not feel the need to wind slower units the long way around the base when facing off against warlocks. We are very confident that this change will be an improvement to the game overall and will be rolling it out shortly.
Addendum: we apologize for the short warning time for this change.
Addendum: we apologize for the short warning time for this change.
Just a Few More Days!
The Steam launch is almost here! Steam Early Access will be available at 12:00 AM PDT on Friday morning! Get hype!
Steam Beta Shutting Down
We wanted to inform our Steam closed beta testers that the Steam beta will be shut down tonight in order to prepare for Early Access. Thank you for helping us test Cards and Castles! You will be able to play again after purchasing Early Access. If you have already connected your account to Steam, you will simply need to enter Options -> Account Management, deactivate and reactivate your Steam connection to receive your rewards. If you need any help, please do not hesitate to contact our customer support!
Steam Early Access releases tonight at midnight PDT!
Steam Early Access releases tonight at midnight PDT!
Neutral Stat Adjustments
Some shenanigans have been happening with our neutral units on the eve of our Steam release, and some of their stats have been tweaked slightly!
HEADLESS GUARDIAN: Seems this guy just charged himself into a brick wall! Ouch! He's a bit hurt, so his HP has been reduced to 6.
CRAXUS THE UNDEFEATED: Turns out Craxus has been using steroids to get an edge on the competition this whole time! His constant roid-rage has finally taken its toll, reducing his HP to 9.
MERCENARY: The mercenary has decided he's not getting paid enough, so his will to live has been sapped. His HP has been reduced to 3.
TREANT: Some foolish pyromancer ignited a twig, and now the treant is really angry! His attack has been increased to 4.
EARTH KNIGHT: This guy finally polished up his dirty armor, so his HP has increased to 11.
GUARDIAN: Training in some sort of time chamber has increased his attack to 3, but reduced HP to 7!
SCOUT: He got a new scarf. HP increased to 5!
We've taken care to tweak the stats on these units so that their core functionality remains the same. Thank you and we hope you enjoy this Steam's eve and the upcoming EARLY ACCESS STEAM RELEASE!!
HEADLESS GUARDIAN: Seems this guy just charged himself into a brick wall! Ouch! He's a bit hurt, so his HP has been reduced to 6.
CRAXUS THE UNDEFEATED: Turns out Craxus has been using steroids to get an edge on the competition this whole time! His constant roid-rage has finally taken its toll, reducing his HP to 9.
MERCENARY: The mercenary has decided he's not getting paid enough, so his will to live has been sapped. His HP has been reduced to 3.
TREANT: Some foolish pyromancer ignited a twig, and now the treant is really angry! His attack has been increased to 4.
EARTH KNIGHT: This guy finally polished up his dirty armor, so his HP has increased to 11.
GUARDIAN: Training in some sort of time chamber has increased his attack to 3, but reduced HP to 7!
SCOUT: He got a new scarf. HP increased to 5!
We've taken care to tweak the stats on these units so that their core functionality remains the same. Thank you and we hope you enjoy this Steam's eve and the upcoming EARLY ACCESS STEAM RELEASE!!
September Ranked Reward: The Skull Castle!
Announcing the September Ranked Reward: The Skull Castle!
All players who reach at least Rank 15 by the end of September will be rewarded with this unique Castle!
Follow this link to see screenshots: http://www.cardsandcastles.com/main/sep ... ll-castle/
All players who reach at least Rank 15 by the end of September will be rewarded with this unique Castle!
Follow this link to see screenshots: http://www.cardsandcastles.com/main/sep ... ll-castle/
Formerly dk the pk
Warlock Academy Expansion!
We are excited to announce that our next card expansion, The Warlock Academy, will be releasing on October 22nd! The Warlock Academy is a school of magic and mischief founded by the legendary warlock Sarus, who currently serves as headmaster. The Warlock Academy accepts students from all over the world, so there will be plenty of ninja, viking, crusader and pirate shenanigans at the academy too!
Warlock Academy is a single-player focused expansion, with 18 new scenarios each granting exclusive Warlock Academy cards! This is a different release model than our previous booster pack releases; players will be guaranteed to collect all the cards by purchasing each new campaign! Please note that this is not the model we will use for every expansion, we do plan to return to booster packs in the future.
We are going to be posting card previews and mechanics details very soon! Stay tuned!
Warlock Academy is a single-player focused expansion, with 18 new scenarios each granting exclusive Warlock Academy cards! This is a different release model than our previous booster pack releases; players will be guaranteed to collect all the cards by purchasing each new campaign! Please note that this is not the model we will use for every expansion, we do plan to return to booster packs in the future.
We are going to be posting card previews and mechanics details very soon! Stay tuned!
CP For Losses!
We are making a few adjustments to the small CP earned from playing multiplayer matches. While we still expect quests to be everyone's primary source of CP, we felt these changes to the standard CP reward would be beneficial:
- CP earned from a multiplayer game are now randomized! This means you could get an unusually high or an unusually low amount of CP for completing a game.
- Live games, that last for AT LEAST FIVE MINUTES, will now award CP to both the winner and the loser of the match! We felt this change would be the most beneficial to new players who not win as many matches as a veteran. We will be closely monitoring this change for any exploitative or abusive behavior and adjust accordingly should a problem arise.
- Because CP is now awarded for losses as well as wins, generally the CP earned per match will be proportionally lower. Overall you should earn CP at approximately the same rate as you did pre-patch.
That's it, enjoy everyone!
- CP earned from a multiplayer game are now randomized! This means you could get an unusually high or an unusually low amount of CP for completing a game.
- Live games, that last for AT LEAST FIVE MINUTES, will now award CP to both the winner and the loser of the match! We felt this change would be the most beneficial to new players who not win as many matches as a veteran. We will be closely monitoring this change for any exploitative or abusive behavior and adjust accordingly should a problem arise.
- Because CP is now awarded for losses as well as wins, generally the CP earned per match will be proportionally lower. Overall you should earn CP at approximately the same rate as you did pre-patch.
That's it, enjoy everyone!
Draft Mode is now the TOURNAMENT
We've just rolled out some big changes to Draft rewards and pricing! Draft is now being renamed to TOURNAMENT MODE because of its new emphasis on competitive risk and big prizes! While the core gameplay of Draft remains the same, it is now possible to earn MUCH bigger prize pools for winning high in the Draft. To balance this, the entry fee is much riskier as well!
Here's an overview of the new format and prizes:
Tournament is now ONLY 5 games.
Entry fee: 3500 CP, or 30 silver points. The high CP cost is necessary to balance out the high rewards, but players who pay silver can potentially walk away with a MUCH higher prize pool than the value of the silver.
5 win prize: 3500 CP, 2 booster packs, and 1 epic pack (this is the bonus pack with 2 rares and a guaranteed epic, as well as increased chance of legendary)
4 win prize: 1750 CP, 2 booster packs, and 1 rare pack (contains 3 rare cards)
3 win prize: 800 CP, 2 booster packs
2 win prize: 500 CP, 1 booster pack
1 win prize: 250 CP, 1 booster pack
0 win prize: 1 booster pack
We hope that the new prize table makes the draft tournament much more exciting and rewarding! We may also introduce new tournament formats in the future.
Additionally, the matchmaking for tournament matches is now strictly based on the number of wins, so the tournament gets harder as you progress! For example if you have 4 wins, you may only be matched against other players with 4 wins.
We've reset everyone's FREE TOURNAMENT ENTRY to celebrate and get everyone started, so open up your draft screen and see what you can win!
Here's an overview of the new format and prizes:
Tournament is now ONLY 5 games.
Entry fee: 3500 CP, or 30 silver points. The high CP cost is necessary to balance out the high rewards, but players who pay silver can potentially walk away with a MUCH higher prize pool than the value of the silver.
5 win prize: 3500 CP, 2 booster packs, and 1 epic pack (this is the bonus pack with 2 rares and a guaranteed epic, as well as increased chance of legendary)
4 win prize: 1750 CP, 2 booster packs, and 1 rare pack (contains 3 rare cards)
3 win prize: 800 CP, 2 booster packs
2 win prize: 500 CP, 1 booster pack
1 win prize: 250 CP, 1 booster pack
0 win prize: 1 booster pack
We hope that the new prize table makes the draft tournament much more exciting and rewarding! We may also introduce new tournament formats in the future.
Additionally, the matchmaking for tournament matches is now strictly based on the number of wins, so the tournament gets harder as you progress! For example if you have 4 wins, you may only be matched against other players with 4 wins.
We've reset everyone's FREE TOURNAMENT ENTRY to celebrate and get everyone started, so open up your draft screen and see what you can win!
Introducing Black Market Limited!
We've just added another limited purchase item to the store: the Black Market Limited Pack gives you 10 cards including 1 LEGENDARY, 1 EPIC and 4 rares, all for only 25 SILVER! This pack is limited to only one purchase per account. We have not decided whether we're going to keep this item or not, so get one while you can!