I’ve played a lot of CCGs over the years and Warhammer 40K: Warpforge is one of my favorites. IMO, it used to be better than most other similar games on the market. But not so much nowadays, mostly because of intense corporate greed.
Warhammer 40K is dope, man. And it’s an excellent IP for a digital card game. At release, the game had interesting components and felt very streamlined. Simple yet effective mechanics. Starting the game at 2 power. Ephemeral cards acting as hero powers. Each turn you have something interesting to do, decisions to make. That was good.
I spent about $200 on the game since its release, in the form of premium campaigns. I bought all of them until the Space Wolves.
Did I have a good time? Yes, I played for 150 hours on PC, and 85 hours on mobile in 2 years. That’s about $0.85 per hour, which isn’t bad at all. Do I regret it? No, but… Had I known the publishers would become so greedy, I wouldn’t have bothered playing, let alone spending money at all. But… In the end, yes, I had a good time.
Now, sure, I have a bunch of premium campaigns which give me tons of free packs forever. At the same time, the developers’ greed and laziness are reaching a point at which I don’t even care anymore. I mean… What’s the point of having an infinite supply of cards, if you have to fight against both the game and the devs to keep up? I just feel that I’m done, here, and nothing will bring this game back for me. Sad indeed.
I thought I’d write this diatribe to get it out of my system and move on. Here’s what I think screwed up the game the most. Let’s begin.
Classic vs Skirmish
The issue is how they handled it afterwards: They made it the default mode. Yep, even for Draft. A poor attempt at making things faster. Most games now take less than 5 turns and are swingy as hell, in order to cater to the mobile crowd.
You had a game with depth and interesting decisions. But you favoured speed and volatility. Well done…
The economy in this game is an absolute fucking nightmare. And you know what? It feels like it's on purpose. I’m 100% sure they’ll never fix any of this. Hey, I’m convinced they’ll add even more convoluted shit as they go.
Duplicate mitigation
Few games have legendary duplicate protection. Fine. I’m not saying this game should flat out have one. But when you keep getting the same legendary over and over, they should give you a wildcard or something. Right now, it’s useless.
And upgrading cards don’t count as a mitigation device IMO… Forge is yet another excuse of a system.
Making the new cards overpowered, is pretty lame. It encourages the whales to buy-in. And encourages F2P players to grind like there is no tomorrow. That’s greedy and lazy. But that happens often, nothing new. If it was only that…
Locking new content behind a stupid battle pass for a month sucks. Making the battle pass nearly impossible to complete as a F2P player sucks too. Locking some of the best new content behind the battle pass’ premium track sucks even harder, man. But wait, we’re not even done, here!
Once the release / battle pass (or whatever) event ends, then the said new content goes live throughout the rest of the game. Now guess what happens a week later? They’ll nerf the shit out of it so hard, you won’t believe it.
The OP cards the whales paid for? Worthless now. The OP cards you had to grind for a month like a motherfucker? They’re shit now. Oops!
Rince and repeat for the next release. That’s total ass, I know. But that’s how they roll. Welcome to Warpforge!
Not only did it have potential… It was excellent at release! But man, they destroyed it.
I don't know what I'll play next. Who knows what new CCGs will come out in 2026. Let’s wait and see!
Have fun!
-Num7
Did I have a good time? Yes, I played for 150 hours on PC, and 85 hours on mobile in 2 years. That’s about $0.85 per hour, which isn’t bad at all. Do I regret it? No, but… Had I known the publishers would become so greedy, I wouldn’t have bothered playing, let alone spending money at all. But… In the end, yes, I had a good time.
Now, sure, I have a bunch of premium campaigns which give me tons of free packs forever. At the same time, the developers’ greed and laziness are reaching a point at which I don’t even care anymore. I mean… What’s the point of having an infinite supply of cards, if you have to fight against both the game and the devs to keep up? I just feel that I’m done, here, and nothing will bring this game back for me. Sad indeed.
I thought I’d write this diatribe to get it out of my system and move on. Here’s what I think screwed up the game the most. Let’s begin.
Classic vs Skirmish
Enters Skirmish mode.
Nothing wrong with the mode itself. It’s a cool secondary mode.
The issue is how they handled it afterwards: They made it the default mode. Yep, even for Draft. A poor attempt at making things faster. Most games now take less than 5 turns and are swingy as hell, in order to cater to the mobile crowd.
You had a game with depth and interesting decisions. But you favoured speed and volatility. Well done…
Layers upon Layers of Currencies
There are so many currencies in this game. Crystals, black stone, skulls, gold, generic campaign points, premium campaign points, forge level points, duplicate cards, wildcards, vault tickets, battle pass points… Jesus Christ—I mean, sweet Baby Emperah…The economy in this game is an absolute fucking nightmare. And you know what? It feels like it's on purpose. I’m 100% sure they’ll never fix any of this. Hey, I’m convinced they’ll add even more convoluted shit as they go.
Duplicate mitigation
Few games have legendary duplicate protection. Fine. I’m not saying this game should flat out have one. But when you keep getting the same legendary over and over, they should give you a wildcard or something. Right now, it’s useless.
And upgrading cards don’t count as a mitigation device IMO… Forge is yet another excuse of a system.
P2W, New Releases and Power Creep
Also know as the infamous “release → monetize → nerf” cycle.
Making the new cards overpowered, is pretty lame. It encourages the whales to buy-in. And encourages F2P players to grind like there is no tomorrow. That’s greedy and lazy. But that happens often, nothing new. If it was only that…
Locking new content behind a stupid battle pass for a month sucks. Making the battle pass nearly impossible to complete as a F2P player sucks too. Locking some of the best new content behind the battle pass’ premium track sucks even harder, man. But wait, we’re not even done, here!
Once the release / battle pass (or whatever) event ends, then the said new content goes live throughout the rest of the game. Now guess what happens a week later? They’ll nerf the shit out of it so hard, you won’t believe it.
The OP cards the whales paid for? Worthless now. The OP cards you had to grind for a month like a motherfucker? They’re shit now. Oops!
Rince and repeat for the next release. That’s total ass, I know. But that’s how they roll. Welcome to Warpforge!
Time to Move on
I know, if you’re still reading, you must think that I’m pretty butthurt. And you’re probably right. But I swear, this rant is coming from a good place. I loved Warpforge and I’m sad that it went down the toilet of corporate greed so fucking hard.Not only did it have potential… It was excellent at release! But man, they destroyed it.
I don't know what I'll play next. Who knows what new CCGs will come out in 2026. Let’s wait and see!
Have fun!
-Num7
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