Hello and welcome to In General. I am your host Grandpa Growth. In General deals with broader topics, just about anything at all relating to Magic the Gathering. Today I am going to share some of my thoughts on the new MtGO client.
I realize this was a hot topic about a month ago, so some might consider me late to the party. I intentionally stopped using modo for a couple weeks prior to the update and didn't start picking it back up again until very recently. So if you have been wondering where Ill-Gotten Games has gone it will be back soon! An entirely new season with Commander gameplay, drafts, Momir Basic, and Pauper for sure. If you have a format or deck that you want me to play, make sure to let me know.
I talked last week about how I am a late adopter of new technology. In this case, it was for a good reason. I tend not to buy new games or download new software right when it comes out because there are bound to be issues with launching any new product. Luckily, the new MtGO client only had some minor hiccups. Wizards didn't even fumble the roll out! This flashy new edition is surely an upgrade and does actually fix a lot of the problems that existed in the previous iteration of Magic Online. That being said, it isn't without its problems. Let's go through some of the outstanding issues.
1. Performance and Latency
I was sincerely hoping that the new client would feature a substantial increase in performance. Now I know that for some people, they never experienced any issues, even with the previous version. However, I know that for the majority of users, MtGO was just what happened between the crashes. The program itself was not optimized very well, it monopolized much more of your computer's hardware power than was really necessary. This lead to slow performance, frequent lag, and disconnections. We all remember the more recent server crashes that sent a premier events the way of the dodo.
It was my hope, and the hope of the game's development team, that the new client would directly address these issues and solve them outright. As far as the tournament cues, the issues seem to be mostly resolved. However, even in the casual rooms, the time it takes for the client to register the click of a mouse is uncomfortably high. If my pc can handle high frame rates for modern shooters, MtGO should look and feel seamless at all points.
2. Classifieds and Trade Screens
The only thing that has changed about the trade screens is the look. Pure aesthetics. I don't know how long you have spent trolling through the dregs of the bot farms, but I was really hoping it would get simplified. Nowadays, you can just input what format you want to play, what deck you want to use, and poof! The client magically hooks you up with the first available person who also wants to play that format. This change had been a long time coming, and frankly should have been introduced years. But why can't it be that way for trades?
There are already good models for what this software looks like. Have you ever bought something online? Amazon, Autotrader, Channelfireball, they all have a more advanced search and matching feature. If I want to buy a Daze, why can't I just search Daze and have the classified page send me back every user in the trade room at that moment who has at least one copy of that card available for trade. Further refinements could include: only people trading play sets, sorting by prices, or a variety of other factors. Why do we not have this?
3. Deckbuilding Screens
Much has been made of how the collection screens have been reorganized and there are claims that the whole system is more responsive and moves much faster. I have experienced a noticeable increase in the performance of the client on these screens, at least when compared to older versions. My complaint about this is the exact opposite of number two above. The advances in form have not followed those of the function.
They changed the nuts and bolts. They changed the buttons, and the functions, and the flow of how you work through the system. The WAY that you build and organize your decks has changed fundamentally. The process has been streamlined.
However, it LOOKS almost exactly the same. The subscreens where you assemble your deck, sideboard, and when you are browsing through you collection are nearly identical. The screens are still far too small. You can rarely work with your entire deck. You need to scroll side-to-side or shrink down the other windows in order to manipulate and see your entire deck at once. In fact, this new version of modo has even more little windows clogging up the screen. This was already a problem before and I felt we rightly deserved a solution. Instead, we got punished. The good Worth Wollpert giveth...and taketh away.
Well, that's all for today. Thankfully. What are your thoughts on the new MtGO? Is it better, worse, or somewhere in the middle? Leave your comments below and let us know what you think. As promised IGG will return soon and, as always, I will be back next week with another In General.
-GG
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