The open beta of the new action RPG Magic: Legends is now available for all players for free on PC. However, initial opinions are mixed to negative. In particular, the cash shop seems to be an issue for many. MeinMMO takes a look at the voices of the players.
What kind of beta is this? On March 23, the beta of Magic: Legends started. In this, players can test the new ARPG for free on PC via the Arc Launcher or the Epic Games Store.
The beta offers all classes of the game, over 175 different abilities, and over 170 equipment items that can be farmed in the six playable areas. A tutorial introduces the basic mechanics. You can find more about this in our extensive overview of the Magic: Legends beta.
How is the beta received? Looking into the forums, on Reddit, or in the comments here on MeinMMO, there is a lot of criticism about the beta.
This criticism relates to the technical state, problems with the content, but especially the monetization. Most players are unhappy with the cash shop and especially the content that can be purchased.
The cash shop is the biggest criticism
What’s so bad about the cash shop? One of the biggest points of criticism regarding monetization is that some content is locked behind a paywall – particularly one of the classes, the Dimir Assassin. This class is currently only obtainable through random packs or for a large amount of gold in the auction house.
The probability of drawing the class from these packs is, according to many players, extremely low. According to YouTuber Vulkan, the chance is about 1:250 (via YouTube). The packs aren’t necessarily cheap:
- a booster pack costs 300 Zen
- a bundle of 5 packs costs 1200 Zen
- the smallest unit of Zen is 1,100 Zen for €9.99, the largest unit is 22,000 Zen for €199.99
- Booster packs thus cost between €2 and €3
You can also earn Zen in the game itself by exchanging in-game currency, but this takes significantly longer. If you want to buy the class solely with money, it can quickly get expensive. Additionally, the cash shop contains battle passes, boosters, and cosmetics.
This is what players say about it: Monetization is one of the biggest criticisms that frequently appear on Reddit and here on MeinMMO. Reddit user iTheKillaVanilla has opened one of the larger threads in the subreddit and complains about all content:
A game launches into open beta, it has a cash shop with more stuff to buy than the game has features. It is in beta and still offers not just one, but two season passes!
In the forum, the user vanic, despite praising the game, also criticizes the monetization: “The double XP boosts and such don’t bother me, but hiding classes (Dimir) behind packs is disappointing. Yes, you can technically buy it in the game with gold, but for most players that is unattainable” (via Arc forums). And even outside the cash shop, there is a lot of negative feedback.
Technical issues and lack of introductions
This is what bothers the players: Another major point of criticism is the poor connection that players from Europe particularly complain about. In our tests, it also occurred that there was a larger delay (“lag”) between activating an ability and its actual occurrence. This went so far that spells did not even hit targets anymore.
Additionally, some of the cutscenes are still very clunky. The characters’ mouths either do not move at all or only very asynchronously to the spoken words and do not run smoothly. Some players also complain that the game runs “too slowly” – their own character is somewhat too sluggish, and the use of abilities is too clunky (via Arc forums).
Reddit user Niloc1308 summarizes the technical problems in his thread, which he describes with the following title: “Magic: Legends was not ready for open beta.”
What’s the problem with the content? Magic: Legends offers some complex and profound systems, such as deck building, which allows you to determine your own playstyle. Equipment is also part of this, with which you complete your build.
However, these systems are particularly lacking for newcomers. Those who do not already have knowledge of Magic would struggle to navigate through the beta because the systems are not well enough explained or accessible, especially the core feature of the decks. The player vats 3 writes in his detailed feedback on the Arc forum about this:
“As the game currently stands, you can’t even swap a card in your deck until about five hours in. And even then you probably don’t even have the cards to see a positive change.”
The user Awesome_Bruno writes about another problem with it on Reddit. He says that he has already reached “endgame” at level 30 and at the highest difficulty. However, other than constantly grinding the same things, there is absolutely nothing to do – and the drop rate for only very few spells is way too low for this (via Reddit).
Not everything is bad
Despite all the criticism, there are also players who are actually enjoying the beta and cannot fully understand the criticism. Forum user leonidas, for example, enjoys the game despite problems with the UI and some bugs (via Arc forums):
- the combat system
- the beauty of the game
- the mechanics, which are challenging but not too complex
Even MeinMMO reader Rahmaron has to praise one thing despite the criticism of the game:
“I would like to highlight positively that you can fully earn the season pass in-game – you rarely see that. I also like the customization options for my planeswalkers and that I can freely rotate the camera. A function to zoom in/out with the mouse wheel would be great too.
I’m curious to see how it continues, as we’ve already been surprised with the gear, which was added at the players’ request.”
In comparison, however, the positive voices are noticeably more subdued and less frequent than the negative ones. Magic: Legends is set to release in 2021, in its final version for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, as well as backward compatibility for Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5. How much player feedback will be implemented by then and when the first updates will come remains to be seen.
Further impressions from before the beta can also be found in our hands-on report with the devs: I thought Magic: Legends was like Diablo – I was completely wrong
