Tuesday, July 15, 2014

Farewell to Magic Online

No, I'm not selling out and uninstalling Magic Online, although some may be tempted to do just that in the days and weeks ahead. But today marks the last day of the version 3 client of Magic Online. Tomorrow, it will go down for the weekly downtime, and when the downtime is over, the former "beta" client will be the only client for Magic Online.

So how do I feel about this personally?
  1. It's going to change how I host. While the new client mostly has the same functionality, it works quite differently in some regards. Some of the methods I use to host will have to change accordingly. As a result I will be trying different things until I figure out the best system moving forward.
  2. It's disappointing. When Wizards announced they were starting work on the new client, I was happy to hear it. Version 3 is far from perfect, especially in its visuals. Once Wizards had something usable, I equally supported their decision to run both the old and the new side-by-side. But now, with the new version far from perfect, Wizards is pulling the plug. I understand their decision, but ultimately it's disappointing that more progress wasn't made prior to this point.
  3. It's frustrating. I will be the first to admit that the new client is better in many ways to the old. But some things changed without any real improvement; it's not better, just different. Many players, including myself, have to adapt to new ways of doing things. This is inevitable, understandable, but at the end of the day, it's also frustrating.
  4. It's necessary. For months now, the word from development has been that any new features for Magic Online would have to wait until the old client was turned off. The only way that Magic Online will continue to improve is if Wizards only has to focus on one version of the client. No matter how bumpy the process, turning off the old is necessary if the new is ever going to live up to expectations.
Still, I am grateful for one thing: as bad as the transition from 3 to 4 might be, it can't be nearly as terrible as the transition from 2 to 3.

What do you think of the transition? How are you planning on dealing with the changes? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading.

2 comments:

  1. I've been thinking a lot about this issue and, frankly, I was on the fence. I could give you 3,000 words on my reasoning. But, really, I think there's only one way to deal with this if one really loves the game of Magic and really wants Standard Pauper to be a part of the game:

    One is just going to have play a lot of Standard Pauper on Magic Online :-)

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  2. To be honest, I forgot the change was coming. I've been happily playing with version 3, in complete denial of the coming doom. I suppose the first thing i'll do is uninstall version 3 from my PC, shedding a little tear as it goes. Then, I'll cut back on my Hearthstone, opting to play as much as possible on the new client. I will curse, I will be frustrated, I will scream to the sky... sooner or later, I'll get used to it, and maybe forget the one and only client I've ever known... and loved...

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