Cards down

In a post on its official Reddit, Bethesda has announced that all future content and development plans for The Elder Scrolls: Legends have been put "on hold for the foreseeable future", w?hich is ?being translated by many as the death knell for the PC and mobile card-battler.

"This decision will not in any way affect the release and development of GAEA’s Asia-specific version of Legends, which is operated separately, but will inform our decisions on content and feature development going forward," notes community manager Christian Van Hoose in the update. "You can still download and play Legends on all existing platforms and compete online as well as in the single-player modes. We will also continue to support the game with monthly reward cards and regular in-game events. New expansions and other future content, however, are no longer under active development. We will continue to provide ongoing mainten??ance support."

The Elder Scrolls: Legends joined the burgeoning digital card game market back in March of 2017, when it was released for PC, iOS and Android devices. Legends then went through a studio transition in 2018, when development was passed over from Dire Wolf Digital to Sparkypants. While many players enjoyed Legends over the preceding two years, it has struggled to find a foothold among more dominant titles such as Wizards of the Coast's Magic: The Gathering Arena and Blizzard's Hearthstone.

As something of a commiseration, all players will receive The Tamriel Collection update free of charge on their next login. The post has over 400 comments at the time of writing, featuring many understandably disappointed players. The servers remain live for now, but if this is indeed the end for Legends, then hopefully its dedicated community will find equal joy with one ??of the game's contemporaries.

An update on The Elder Scrolls: Legends [Reddit]

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We're over the moon with this one

Today's contest is for card packs to usher in The Elder Scrolls: Legends releasing the Moons of Elsweyr content!

The Elder Scrolls is everywhere. You can't escape it. It's on consoles, PC, mobile, board games, smart speakers -- you name it, it has an Elder Scrolls game.?? Is there a k??art racer based on the series yet? There should be.

There may not be a TES dating sim, but there is a card game! The Elder Scrolls: Legends just expanded with Moons of Elsweyr. We're giving away bundles of packs to help give you an edge when you steal cheese via card-based battle. Don't? ever say we don't do anything for you!

Read a descr??iption provided by Bethes?da since I would totally screw this up:

The Elder Scrolls: Legends, a strategy card game that explores the series' characters, creatures, deities, and lore, is back with Moons of Elsweyr, available now on PC, iOS, and Android devices.

In the new Moons of Elsweyr ex??pansion, The Khajiit of Elsweyr have taken up arms against the encroachment of Imperial control, led b??y Euraxia Tharn, and call upon any allies willing to aid them. Things become more dire as ancient dragons are unleashed upon the land with devastating machinations all their own. Moons of Elsweyr welcomes over 75 new Elsweyr-inspired cards along with two new mechanics -- Wax & Wane as well as Consume -- two new pre-made decks to get you rolling, a new playmat, and more.

With dragons in the skies, Imperials on the ground and the undead just waiting to be called up from their shallow graves, things are really heating up in The Elder Scrolls: Legends.

See? This is why no one likes cats.

Here's what our prize bundle includes:

• 4 Moons of Elsweyr card packs
• 1 Moons of Elsweyr legendary card

Use the widget below to enter to win. Enter daily to receive great success. For bonus ultra success, follow ??Dtoid and TES: Legends ?on Twitter and share our contest post with your friends.

While you're waiting to see who won, tell us in the comments below why people k?eep allowing cats to do this kind of stuff. They're always knocking things off tables and picking up arms against Imperial encroachment, and damn it, I'm tired of it.

We have five prize bundles to meow at you. Winners will be drawn Wedne?sday, July?? 17.

The Elder Scrolls: Legends is free to play across PC and mobile devices.

Contest: Win a card pack bundle to cel??ebrate TES: Legends - Moons of Elsweyr

The post Contest: Win a card pack bundle to celebrate TES: Legends – Moons of Elsweyr appeared first on Destructoid.

What a 'feature!'

Bethesda, hilariously, has had a hell of a time dealing with Sony policies over the years. Sony infamously blocked Bethesda when it came to console mods, and now here the publisher is dealing with another issue in 2018. This time, speaking to Game Informer, Bethesda's Pete Hines says that their vision of The Elder Scrolls Legends involves cross-play all-around; and that platforms that don't s??upport that vision might be ignored entirely. 

Hines elaborates: "It is our intention in order for the game to come out, it has to be those things on any system. We cannot have a game that works one way across everywhere else except for on this one thing. The way the game works right now on App?le, Google, Steam, and Bethesda.net, it doesn't matter where you buy your stuff, if you play it on another platform that stuff is there. It doesn't matter what platform you play on, you play against everyone else who is playing at that moment. There's no 'Oh, it's easier to control, or it has a better framerate on this system.' It's a strategy card game. It doesn't matter."

When pressed about PS4 support specifically, Hines replied, "We continue to talk to all of our platform partners. But those [terms] are essentially non-negotiable. We can't be talking about one version of Legends, where you take your progress with you, and another version? where you stay within that ecos??ystem or its walled off from everything else. That is counter to what the game has been about."

Fornite is obviously the straw that broke the camel's back (once people realized that it basically screwed up your entire Epic account it made national news), but this has been an issue for some time now. While Microsoft used to be the holdup in previous generations, Sony has had a stranglehold on cross-platform play recently. Minecraft even works across Microsoft, Nintendo, Apple, and Google platforms -- a feat that the former touts as an?? accomplishment, even going so far as to advertise their?? "friendship" with Nintendo as a feature.

Several developers have gone on record stating that they're not happy with the decision, even Bethesda themselves with Fallout 76 following its E3 reveal -- and more will probably follow?? suit. As the market leader they can go on like this as the punching bag for a while, ??but if they fall underneath the wrath of Nintendo or Microsoft in a generation they'll likely have to rethink their position. Until then we wait and go without cross-play because one single company is holding out.

Bethesda May Not Release The Elder Scrolls: Legends On Systems That Don't Allow Cro?ssplay [Game Informer]

The post Sony’s rigid cross-play stance might prevent Elder Scrolls Legends from seeing a PS4 release appeared first on Destructoid.

No morrow

Creating digital card games is a tough gig, even for giants like Hearthstone. You have to constantly be shifting the goal posts to get pe??ople to buy into new sets, balance them, maintain a pro scene if applicable, and keep folks a?ddicted while making money. Often times the prices for building a collection are jacked up, which doesn't bode well for return users in a now crowded market.

Bethesda is experiencing some of those growing pains actually, as The Elder Scrolls: Legends is changing developers and completely overhauling its systems over a year into its official release on PC. Confirmed to IGN, Dire Wolf Digital, the original studio is out, and now Sparkypants Studios is in. Their first order of business is to create a new UI from the ground up, while the "overall game design" will remain the sa?me. Existing collections will stay, but the direction is being changed to move toward its "untapped potential."

Bethesda goes through a considerable amount of effort to not blame Dire Wolf Digital, stating that they "made an excel??lent game," and once again cite the different direction. Um, let's see where this leads.

Elder Scrolls Legends [IGN]

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Grab it on the Bethesda launcher

The Elder Scrolls Legends, a game we haven't heard much about since it was announced at E3 last year, is heading into open beta. You can grab it today by loading up the official Bethesda launcher (yep, yet another one to install). The launcher, which is very messy at the moment, also hosts Fallout Shelter and the Fallout 4 Creation Kit.

Card games have basically become this year's MOBA craze. Though they've always been around a lot of developers are chasing that Hearthstone money?. And like MOB?As many of them will collapse, but I suspect for Bethesda, brand recognition is going to go a long way.

I'll be trying Legends in earnest when it's actually out.

Elder Scrolls Legends [Bethesda]

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I'd rather take an arrow to the knee

Bethesda seems to be on a streak of trying to cash-in on already saturated markets. First it was The Elders Scrolls Online, and now it's the Hearthstone-like card game, The Elder Scrolls: Legends. Publishers can't help but see the amount of money that World of Warcraft and Hearthstone rake in and not want a piece of the pi??e, but they don't understand that ?everyone has already had their fill.

Legends had its first gameplay revealed just before PAX East 2016 with the announcement of a beta, and I was excited. I love The Elder Scrolls, and I love Hearthstone, so maybe this would be my new addiction?

Sad to report, that most likel?y won't be the case.

The Bethesda rep couldn't describe the game to me without comparing it to Magic the Gathering and Hearthstone, which begs the question of what i??s original here? Well, for one, the playing field is split down the middle, and cards on the left and right sides can only attack other cards on those sides of the enemy.

Other differences include the bland, mostly brown and uninspired art style featuring characters from The Elder Scrolls, clunky attack animations, and?? the inclusion of the "took an ar??row to the knee" meme. Yes, really.

That being said, I should note I've never played Magic and don't have a grasp on how it plays, but I've heard it's like a more advanced Hearthstone. The split down the middle certainly changes strategy a bit, bu?t it isn't revolutionary. 

One difference I did enjoy, however, was the ability t??o give yourself one extra point of mana three times per match at any time, meaning when I had a powerful card with a high mana-cost in my hand, I could use it a bit earlier. Each player starts with 30 health, with special runes that activate for every 5 hitpoints lost, granting them an extra card.

None of these differ??ences made me want to make this my go-to competitive ??card game. I walked away from my hands-on disappointed. I was so excited to get my hands on this ever since it was announced last E3, and it ended up being nearly a total letdown.

There is still hope, though, as currently Legends is nearing the beta phase and will include arena and story modes that haven't been revealed to the public just yet. I'll give the game another go once I've got access to the beta and can get some more quality time with the title, but I don't see it pulling me away from Plants vs Zombies: Heroes and Hearthstone anytime soon.

The post The Elder Scrolls: Legen?ds is a brown, c?lunky, cash-in of a card game appeared first on Destructoid.

Won't meet its Q4 2015 target release

I have to admit, I'd completely forgotten about The Elder Scrolls: Legends. The collectible card game was announced at Bethesda’s E3 conference this year, but then immediately drowned out by Dishonored 2 and Fallout 4 news.

Legends was scheduled to be launched in Q4 2015, but as Bethesda’s VP of Marketing Pe?te Hines tweeted, the chances of it coming out thi??s year are slim:

@tal_elmar i t?hink it's safe to ?say it's not coming in the next 15 days.

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) December 16, 2015

While the game is already playable,?? it's been delayed to give it some mu??ch-needed polish:

@tal_elmar that's the idea. (I'm playing it right now :-)

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) December 16, 2015

No new release window has been announced just yet, so we could be in for quite a long wait before The Elder Scrolls: Legends sees the light of day. If only there were some other, more established digital card game based on a well-loved f?antasy IP we could be playing in the meantime…

Oh well, at least Chronicle: RuneScape Legends is coming soon to fill that? completely unfilled niche. That’ll make up for?? this delay.

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