It’s been a while but I did write about Magic: Legends. While it did include my first impressions, I didn’t think it would also include my last impressions. After all, I didn’t start up the game anymore after that. I mean, I did stare at the patch notes multiple times but noticed that nothing changed and in the end, it was inevitable… Magic: Legends is shutting down on October 31st, 2021! Spooky!
Steve Ricossa published a statement on the official Twitter account, saying that they missed the mark but that they also were proud of what they achieved. I quote here: “Most importantly, we’d like to thank all the players who explored the Multiverse with us and provided feedback during the Alpha and Beta testing phases.” – Yeah, let me try to get into that real quick…
Magic: Legends sucked. It was super slow-paced and eventually not worth it at all. The game’s world felt lifeless, which is bad for an ARPG. The servers were located in America which is bad for Europeans. The gameplay is repetitive and grindy, which is bad for enjoyment. The publisher was Perfect World which is bad for people that wanna stay Free-to-Play. In the end, the people behind this title will refund everything that people have spent in-game so far but I honestly feel like they could’ve been onto something here. I honestly liked the Necromancer Class and was kinda excited about this but then it played so badly and I feel like the game didn’t have to flop necessarily.
For starters, the game could’ve been great in Singleplayer with Local/Online Co-Op. I believe that PvE is the way to go, especially when it comes to balance and ARPGs. I also believe that instance-based games are better than the whole thing that Magic: Legends had going on with instances that exist… Even if I added friends to my friend list, I wouldn’t be able to play with them which sucked ass. Meanwhile, the game was laggy and I didn’t see any players in my world at times, which is weird in a supposed MMORPG. This game would have been a lot better in Singleplayer.
And then there’s also the issue of stuff not getting explained properly, like the stats and whatever… but the tutorial stretches on forever. Elder Scrolls Online doesn’t have a tutorial that is this long but its gameplay systems felt a lot more complex and quite simply, I believe that a “learning by doing” approach could have been a lot better here… and you could still give the player a codex of sorts that explains *everything* in case they really do need the help. That way, you’d be able to start up a new character without having to go through slow gameplay and boring tutorials again,… and again…
Most importantly, they acted as if the game’s system was so complex that it needed that long and slow-paced combat when in reality, the game really was just a button-mashing contest where you spammed one button to gain mana and one button to use the mana. The customization and itemization in the game also felt slow and boring. In Diablo 3, you’d get your first legendary item within the first half-hour or whatever but in Magic: Legends, you’d still be stuck at common stuff after two hours.
There were plenty of things wrong with Magic: Legends and I really hope that the developers will take the player feedback and improve the formula. The premise was there. The market was there. The product… was not. And that sucks because the Magic: The Gathering universe is quite cool actually and I’d love to get into it more if the stage was set but until then I’ll have to hold off and just ignore the fact that Magic: Legends ever existed… or rather, that it still exists until Halloween this year. Scary.
Cheers!
This post was first published on Indiecator by Dan Indiecator aka MagiWasTaken. If you like what you see here and want to see more, you can check me out on Twitch and YouTube as well.
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