Rules and Suggestions for Commenting

We encourage discussion of balance and design on the Subreddit. In time, your comments will show up in the game as well!

Rules for Commenting in the Subreddit

1. Don’t be mean.

2. No comments about grammar mistakes

Please do not point out grammar mistakes unless it's genuinely hurting your ability to understand the effect of the card, and when doing that, try to ask it as a question, such as: "Does this mean...?" Grammar policing is no fun, and if the card gets in the game with improper templating we'll simply update it to be consistent with other cards. (Feel free to tell us, either in reddit or Discord, after the card gets in.)

You can find a more in-depth explanation of the value to be found in strict grammar templating in other "custom card game" communities, and why it is less relevant for Collective by design, here.

Suggestions for Commenting

1. Point out broken rules

Call /u/NickCollective or /u/Backroll if there is a dispute that you can’t seem to resolve.

2. Point out bugs

You can load submitted cards into your in-game Card Creator. Use this to learn how a card was created and find potential bugs or side effects. If you find something wrong with the card, whether it’s a bug in the card or in our engine, please mention it. (If it’s a bug in our engine, mention us by username again) Examples include:

  1. The card has an unintentional bug or side effect
  2. The card's text is misleading
  3. The card’s animation is not as clear as it could be

3. Back up balance suggestions with evidence

If possible, try to compare the new card or update to other existing cards. They can be cards in Collective or cards from other games. We chose to keep the design of our cards similar to other popular games so that they could be compared more easily.

4. Provide specific suggestions

"This is so bad it’s unplayable" is less helpful than "This should cost 2 less mana" (a position which other commenters can either agree or disagree with).

5. Be mindful of rarity

Pay close attention to the rarity of a card. Decisions on what can appear at what rarity are left up to the community to decide, but we suggest you keep the following in mind:

  1. More complex effects should be higher rarity and therefore less common at lower levels of play, where people are still getting a grasp on the rules.
  2. Cards which are heavily situational should be kept at higher rarities, regardless of complexity; Iron Fist is a good example of this. This is because when cards like this are drafted mid-game (which is more likely at lower rarities), it can make winning feel "cheap."
  3. With the addition of a limited/draft mode, where players construct a deck just by drafting, rarities are more important than ever. So far, we (the developers) believe that there is an overabundance of "Uncommon" level effects. We recommend development of simpler cards which can appropriately be given the Common rarity, as well as a higher number of impactful or complex cards which deserve the "rare" rarity. Cards with complex effects can be designed as a series of decisions which the players can choose between; a good example of this is Blood God's Avatar.

With the increasing importance of rarity in the game, we encourage discussions about rarity in the comments of a card. Keep in mind that because rarity changes are [Cosmetic Update]s, there is little reason to take down a card of the wrong rarity; instead, you can plan ahead and submit a [Cosmetic Update] at no cost.

Commentary

You can provide commentary (max 200 characters) by replying to your own post with a reply, starting with "Commentary:" and it will show up during in-game voting! You can talk about meta motivations, planned archetypes, Realm balance and lore, or just what you were thinking when you made the card.

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