NeoGAF

The Alpha for Cryptozoic's Hex: Shards of Fate is scheduled to begin today (Oct 8)! They'll be doing a stream on their Twitch page at noon Pacific time that should officially kick off the Alpha with the first wave of invites going out soon after.

Note: Alpha is currently Windows only and is going to be released in waves based on Kickstarter amount donated (with slacker backers coming later). They have said they are going to get a Mac client working ASAP.



What's Hex: Shards of Fate?

It's a digital Trading Card Game with tournaments and booster packs and drafting! And it is also an MMO with dungeons and raid bosses and guilds! It is all things for all people! Or at least all people that like card games. Which they should, because card games are awesome. It is being made by Cryptozoic Entertainment, the makers of the World of Warcraft TCG (the one before Hearthstone) and other board games.

What this means is that you can spend your time entirely playing against the computer unlocking more cards for your PVE character and only ever playing with other players cooperatively and never have to worry about building some crazy tournament competitive deck or buying loads of booster packs. (I don't believe any of this stuff will be in the alpha which is scheduled to start today.)

Or you can totally ignore all the PVE shenanigans, buy a bunch of boosters packs (2 dollars each), and do booster drafts after booster draft playing against other players all along. Or just buy the cards you need and go build the constructed deck of your dreams to compete in tournaments for glory and prizes.

The most efficient way to find out about it would probably be to check out this How to Play video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfOfGvkdzlI

And yes, it is a lot like the seminal trading card game, Magic: The Gathering. But have you seen Magic Online? Eek. Hex is also offering a lot of unique mechanics taking advantage of the fact that it is a game that exists purely in the digital space.

How can I get in the Alpha?

Anyone that contributed to the Kickstarter campaign should get in pretty soon. They'll be starting with the people who put in the most money and then begin adding more folks in waves assuming the server remains stable.

If you weren't in the Kickstarter there's a Slacker Backer option available that gives you Alpha access as well as a little haul of goods for when the the game comes out for real for 50 dollars: http://hextcg.com/donate

What's in the Alpha?

Originally Posted by Kickstarter Update

Features in the Alpha
- Make an account
- Full play set (4) of PVP cards
- Full deck building interface
- Make and Save decks
- Play single matches with other Alpha gamers
- Chat!
- First look at the Entrath interactive globe
- Enjoy the (still in progress but greatly improved) interface elements!
- The game going up and down as we patch and fix all the problems we discover as part of the Alpha
- BUGS! This is Alpha; it will be riddled with bugs! That’s just the way an Alpha is, its part of the alpha process!
- Seriously... BUGS!!!

What do the cards look like?

Check em all out here: http://hex.tcgbrowser.com/




Links and Resources

- hextcg.com - Official game site including official forums for news and updates.
- http://hex.tcgbrowser.com/ - Site to browse all currently revealed cards and build sample decks.

I haven't been keeping the most up with the community so if there's any other links or resources I should add please let me know. A strategy website or two would probably be a good idea but I just don't know which ones are good.

Originally Posted by Orayn

Beta is mostly likely coming next year, right? I really should have funded at a higher tier.

I think that is the plan. But anyone that backed at any tier will get Alpha access at some point. That was one of the stretch goals.

As a dirty blue mage I really like the design of this card:



All the ways they are taking advantage of digital are great. This card can't really exist in a paper game (without horrible memory issues).

Originally Posted by Voror

Nice to see this starting soon. Still trying to come up with a keep name though.

Now are we getting all the cards from our tier with the alpha or will that not happen till the final version?

In Alpha everyone gets a playset of every PvP card. So for a bit there we'll all get to play with everything our heart desires. Presumably they'll wipe that at some point and then we'll get our KS loot.

Awesome OP, Ultron!

Originally Posted by Teknopathetic

"Now are we getting all the cards from our tier with the alpha or will that not happen till the final version?"


IIRC, for alpha everything is unlocked and you get 4 of each card. I'd imagine rewards and things like that won't happen until some time in the beta when the game starts to roll over into launch.

To add to this: as alpha goes on, more and more PVP features will be implemented. So, eventually, we'll get unlimited drafting, tournaments, etc. during the alpha period.

Originally Posted by Xater

Has there been any information on how they will handle wipes?

Wipes will stop as soon as backers get their rewards sometime during the beta. Apart from that, we know really nothing else about wipes (frequency, number, etc.).

Originally Posted by KniveSmith

An hour left for the reveal stream, if everything goes according to schedule, no?

As far as I know, we haven't heard of a delay [yet] so hopefully everything is on schedule. Hopefully.

Originally Posted by Toma

Stream?

On their official twitch page, they are kicking off the alpha with a stream - the very first official Hex game with one of the fans (already chosen and it's someone who contributed a lot to the community).

And they actually have tried to fix some of the things people consider "broke" about Magic. The resource system and charge system do a little bit to try and mitigate mana screw and flood. Though they will still happen.

Easily the best thing is that it will be a digital product that isn't shackled to the physical cost of cards or Wizards of the Coast's inept software development team.