Magic: The Gathering will soon be making the jump from tabletop card game to full-blown action-RPG. With Cryptic Studios at the helm, Wizards of the Coast is funding the so-called Magic: Legends for consoles and PC with a projected launch date for sometime this year. Players will directly control some of the fictional universe’s most powerful Planeswalkers, each of which has its own unique playstyle and suite of abilities. Similar to Blizzard’s Diablo series, these will come in the form of traditional archetypes (ranger, mage, warrior, etc.), but with a twist.
In keeping with the brand, players will be able to manually construct a loadout of sorts represented by a card-based UI. These can be collected by levelling up and through other means, though only a limited number will be considered active at any given time. It goes without saying, of course, that you’ll be able to team up with others in co-op in order to save the Magic multiverse, and many have already been doing just that via an open beta.
While the majority opinion appears to be in favour of the gameplay, though, many testers have taken issue not only with performance, but monetization. As a free-to-play experience, Cryptic recouping costs and turning a profit was inevitably going to come in the form of in-game purchases, but it would appear that the developer hasn’t quite managed to strike a perfect balance between free and paid-for rewards.
One key change being made as a direct result of beta feedback is to the Dimir Assassin class. Previously only unlockable by reaching level 50 via a premium Battlepass, the stealthy customer will be accessible without having to spend any money following a future update. And as far as performance is concerned, executive producer Steve Ricossa states that the team will continue to work hard on optimizing and improving servers in the run-up to Magic: Legends‘ official launch. That’s not all, though, and for more about what the developer has to say, be sure to hit the link below.