After seeing the new update of Artifact, it is quite evident that Valve wants to push the game into the esports market. But will it survive against the industry’s top giant title Hearthstone? In this battle of cards, which title will prevail?
Not free to play
The game mechanics are quite different from those of Hearthstone, the biggest difference will be the implementation of a more consumer-friendly business model, to which the company in Seattle has made us accustomed to. First of all, Artifact is not free-to-play. However, a starter edition will be available. In the edition, you can add, buy, and exchange cards in the Steam Valve store. We are not sure if it is the famous store that we are already used to buy and exchange Dota cosmetics or if it will be a separate section built specifically for this new game.
The Artifact Beta 2.0 signup page is live.https://t.co/ahaXEz1Ol3
Everyone is welcome to sign up, but players of the original version will be given priority. If you were expecting an email from us but didn't get it for any reason the link above will still work for you.
— Artifact (@PlayArtifact) May 22, 2020
Buy the cards you want
What will be absolutely new and different will be the opportunity to buy the desired cards, instead of having to try their luck by unpacking decks after decks, praying to God you get the card what your deck needs. A change that will surely be appreciated for TCG fans who want more freedom in creating their own deck. The value of the cards, therefore, will only be determined by the demand and the offer, exactly as it already happens in the Steam market. Obviously, the random element will be present as in any card game, but in addition to the skills of the players, it will be counterbalanced by the possibility of creating decks, without worrying about drafting unnecessary cards.
Steep learning curve
In this battle of cards, as for the difficulty, Artifact appears decidedly more complex than Hearthstone, and images have shown us how within a single lane can coexist more than 100 units, making the battle perhaps even too confusing, complex, and difficult to follow. A bit like Dota 2, therefore, the learning curve is steep similar to Dota 2.
One million dollars for its official tournament
After the success of Blizzard with Hearthstone, this new title by Valve, Artifact wants to make a qualitative leap in terms of this genre of card games. The developing company, Valve has again done what it does best, attracting the community with competitions of big prize pools. Back in 2019, they announced a $1 million competition for the game. However, things didn’t turn out to be in the favor of Valve and they had to postpone the event.
On the other side, Blizzard keeps on arranging different tournaments for their title like
- HCT Winter Championship
- HCT World Championship
- The Masters Tour Online
With the current progress, it seems like Blizzard is very much focused on keeping their title alive. On the other hand, Valve has a limited number of members in a team that focuses on both Dota 2 as well as Artifact development. Therefore, it becomes difficult for the dev team to continuously roll out the updates for Artifact.
