Release date : 3rd June 2013
Version : Beta
Price : £13, 15, or $20 (USD), available on www.scrolls.com
Platforms : Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X, Linux version should be coming, in the meantime you can run it using Wine. Release on other platforms has been hinted-at (the game is built in Unity3d for this purpose), but nothing else has been confirmed yet.
Scrolls is a multiplayer trading card / strategy game created by Mojang, the company behind Minecraft.
Like any other card game it is about collecting and trading cards (here, Scrolls obviously), building a collection of cards that work well together called a 'Deck', and putting it to the test by challenging other players for ultimate supremacy !
Players familiar with card games will find many elements they already know, but Scrolls brings some elements from board games to the table.
The Board you'll be playing your Scrolls on is equally divided in two, each player has a 5x3 tile set to place his units.
On each side at the end of the board are the Idols. Break 3 of your opponent Idols and you win ! Loose 3 of yours and be doooooomed !
Scrolls look like this :
What is special here is the countdown.
Basically, once your unit is in play, his countdown number will decrease by 1 point every turn until it reaches 0, at which point the unit will automatically attack in a straight line hitting the first target in sight and resetting his countdown value to its original number.
Playing the right cards at the right time is one thing, but taking this countdown into consideration and placing/moving your units accordingly on the board plays a great deal in whether or not you'll be able to win a game.
Resource managing is another aspect of every card game, the thing with Scrolls is that in order to build your resource pool you will have to sacrifice some scrolls.
At the beginning of a game you will start with 5 scrolls on the first turn, and will automatically draw 1 new scroll each turn. You will then be given once during your turn the possibility to sacrifice 1 scroll (and only 1 per turn) for either 1 additional resource point to your pool, or the ability to draw 2 new scrolls.
In order to summon things you need resources, so you'll end up sacrificing scrolls, but you also need scrolls to play so it is all about managing your hand with care.
This example is a Creature scroll, but there are 3 other type of scrolls :
- Structures : they usually are unable to move, they provide protection and all sorts of useful buffs, they can also do damage from a distance.
- Spells and Enchantments usually apply positive/negative effects on units and can make or break a battle.
The game has serveral game modes to play :
- Tutorial
- Trials : A series of challenges with special rules.
- Quick Matches : against the AI or a random player
- Challenge Matches : to crush your friends !
- Ranked Matches : to climb up the ladder and prove to the world you have the manliest beard of all !
- Tournament : The option is grayed-out at the moment but there sure will be some !
But what about Scrolls ?
When you purchase the game, you can choose one of the three preconstructed Decks based on each resource type to get you started
The 3 resources types are, Order, Growth and Energy.
Each one defines a certain theme and play-style, Order is military where units have a good synergy with one another, Growth represents the forces of the wild that can swarm you in the blink of an eye if you're not careful, and Energy is technology, slow to start, but deadly once you are settled.
As you gain many scrolls and build a decent collection, you can, of course start to build your own Decks, and mix resource types as much as you want.
As you play, you will gain Gold after each match, or when completing Trials for the first time.
There is a second currency Shards, that you buy with actual money.
But wait a second !??!! I was promised free updates ! and doesn't that make the game Pay2Win ?
Like they did with Minecraft you will get every new addition to the game as they implement it without having to pay anything more.
Any Scroll or item in the game can be purchased with both currencies, Gold and Shards, and it will be the same for new Scrolls introduced in the game.
There is no plan for any content locked by a real money pay-wall.
The items you can purchase are mostly all random :
- 1 random Scroll (100 Gold)
- 1 Random Growth Scroll (175 Gold)
- 1 Random Energy Scroll (175 Gold)
- 1 Random Order Scroll (175 Gold)
- 1 Scroll Pack of 10 : Contains 1 Rare, 2 Uncommons and 7 Commons (1000 Gold)
- A selection of 6 Scrolls (2 of each resource) that is different for each player, where you can only buy 1 of each, and that changes every week. ( 100 to 1000 Gold depending on the Scroll)
The only two things that are not randomized are :
- The two preconstructed Decks you did not pick when you bought the game. (6500 Gold each)
- Cosmetic full outfit of body parts for your Avatar. ( 5000 Gold )
The fact that everything is randomized to a point does not grant any particular edge to someone that would choose to pay with real money for everything.
Having more Scrolls than someone else doesn't mean you will face-roll everything, in this type of game, knowledge of your cards, and how to play them effectively prevails over everything.
Add to this that the game is quite generous with rewarding the player with in-game currency. Especially if you compare it to other games that use a similar approach.
As of June 6 you automatically get 2000 Gold when you purchase the game to spend in the Shop to start buying new Scrolls.
www.scrolls.com said:
You usually get less than 100 Gold for a loss, and I've seen victories for close matches at 350 Gold.
Doing all the solo Trials (divided in Easy/Medium/Hard difficulty) will give you 9400 gold not even counting match bonuses. (The Easy ones alone yield around 2000 Gold)
Incentive to buy things with real money is as you can see minimal, and so are the advantages, the better options for it are to buy the preconstructed Decks, or the Avatar items that are the items that cost a lot.
Official Assets Pack
I keep getting the 'Loading Store' message when I try to purchase the game !
https://account.mojang.com/
Create an account, or migrate your Minecraft account, verify the account and you should be good.
If you already migrated or verified your account, log in again you may have to verify it one more time and then you should be good to go.
If that doesn't work, your best bet is Mojang's support.
Why no Paypal ???
Paypal is currently only unavailable to buy Shards ingame but the possibility should be implemented soon.
4th June 2013 : Paypal available to purchase the game
Microtransactions ? Real money ? But I already paid for the game !
You didn't read this post did you ?
Read the 'Shop' section.See also this thread on the official Scrollsfan forums and this page on the official site.
Damn Bugs !
Report it on Mojang's Bug tracker page, can't hurt.
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First attempt at an actual |OT|, any suggestions / additional informations or corrections to my English (did my best xD) are more than welcome
I hope you'll enjoy it, I will keep on updating it as much as I can.
