Peak Queue Times, Physical Infinity Game and Feb Community Set!
Greetings, Rift Runners!
We hope you've had a chance to enjoy the new Exiles community set that came out last month.
We've got some huge things planned for 2024, so this will be a full rundown of what's in the cards for us this year.
Peak Queue Times:
Perhaps most importantly, we've implemented Peak Queue times, with next to zero wait times. We've tested this quietly over the past couple of weeks, and players who've happened to be playing during these times have been loving the lack of any wait time beyond 30 seconds, much thanks to over 10 part-time QA staff who are constantly in queue during Peak Queue hours.
The times you'll always find a match in Infinity Wars are the 3 hours following the start times in major world cities shown above.
These are for days that aren't Australian public holidays, but with this new system, we should see more people start to log in during these times, so you should still have minimal wait time even if it is a day off work in Australia. We are a bit limited in the time zones we can put on at the moment, but we've added some more times during the US weekend to do the best we can for now.
Upcoming Patches:
The patch notes for our most recent patch above can be found here. Your upvotes and encouraging comments are always welcome and greatly help the mighty algorithm.
In the coming patches we'll be showing a countdown timer to those peak times. We'll also be updating the daily rewards to simply count the number of days you've logged in altogether up to seven, rather than consecutive day logins, so more of you can get the higher tier rewards alongside other games you play semi-regularly.
We'll also be making a bunch of changes in alignment with PlatformDisciple's recent video, that sums up some great improvements we can make to the leader board, Prestige Passes and their prizes.
For those interested in competitive, we've finalised the designs for the initial implementation of Ranked and will have more news of the playtest for the first version of it soon.
Physical Four Player Infinity Card Game:
Whilst the Infinity Wars developers are busy giving you the features you've been asking for, I'll be working on something complimentary to the Infinity Omniverse. Codenamed "Infinity Commanders" we'll be bringing the cards you know and love, finally into the physical world, with an accompanying heavily revised ruleset, that accounts for not having a computer to do all the math and hide player's plans, and made for four or more players.
This will be specifically aimed at players of Magic the Gathering's Commander mode, which is now the most popular mode in Magic. It brings us full circle since the command zone of Infinity Wars was originally inspired by the community made Commander ruleset for MtG, before it was cool.
Being a physical game, coders won't be involved with it (other than getting to playtest it in their time off), so this will have little to no impact on our developers, and also serve to bring new players to the game through Local Game Store partnerships.
I've recently engaged a designer of Fantasy Flight Games fame to support the prototype development and advise our market strategy.
Dev Tourney & Team Updates:
To commence 2024, we made some changes to our team and held an in-house developer tournament to welcome the new members.
Jason's primary focus won't be with Lightmare herein. We're incredibly grateful for all the hilarious videos, keeping the community informed and entertained. He will still be involved with marketing and community strategy, and creating some epic content for your enjoyment.
The role of community manager is now being shared by Dylan, Prism and myself, so that Prism can focus as much as possible on player growth.
Speaking of Prism, I'd like to introduce you to him. Prism, aka RealPrismsword, is our new "Infinity Wars Player Acquisition Coordinator" and is primarily tasked with any activities that will support player growth. This includes nurturing our competitive scene, supporting the design of community sets, and uploading more content for our channels (psst, see my latest draft here!) to support engagement.
Prism is a highly competitive player of other card games and his accolades include finishing Masters in every single season of Legends of Runeterra and reaching Legend multiple times across different formats in Hearthstone. He's also an Esports writer and coach for various card games. He'll be coming fresh to IW, so we look forward to seeing what great insights and player growth-focused actions he can bring to the game.
Another new team member is Ben, aka http404error, who's been doing brilliantly as our new head of card design. Not only has he done a great job of designing our upcoming community sets in communication with our players, but of his own accord, he's created a 23-page Product Analysis of IW, which has beautifully articulated many needed changes that have been sitting in my head, with much more on top of that too. So he's off to amazing start.
Check out our Patreon for EXCLUSIVE benefits for supporting Infinity Wars’ development.
Remember the only way you'll be able to get your hands on Platinum bordered versions of the community sets is to preorder them the week before the release.
If you love what we're doing, and want to support us by becoming a Patron, you automatically get 9x Playsets of Platinum Community Sets amongst $60USD of value at the $10USD tier, so you never miss a set!
February Community Set:
As you can see above, some of the new cards you can play a bit over a week from today are looking incredible and will be a bunch of fun to play! This time we're giving a bit more love to Factionless, Sleepers of Avarrach, Order of Solace, and an new exciting Dual Faction Genesis Industries and Exiles character! These cards will reward players that both can make proper reads on the opponent, and for those who want to explore whole new strategies.
Captain Andrews is a new Factionless character who comes with an army at his back! He was once a lowly Soldier of Fortune like any other, but his prowess in combat kept him alive and earned him the two most important currencies on the battlefield: scars, and respect. In skirmish after skirmish, Andrews developed a reputation for bringing his fellow mercenaries home safe. When his fellow soldiers insisted he take on formal leadership of their warband, he accepted the duty begrudgingly. Quickly growing into his role, the newly appointed Captain Andrews would lead those around him to find the real honor in war: to survive.
Captain Andrews comes with a squad of Soldiers of Fortune, and specializes in recruiting additional Factionless characters to power up your mid-to-late game in a variety of deck strategies. Depending on the direction you choose to build your deck in, you might be able to flood the field with small characters, get extra value out of the Trading Post, or just fuel discards and overcharges.
Coylespiracy Theorist is our newest card hinting at the influence of the Exiles on Genesis Industries! Locked away deep in hidden research facilities, a group of Genesis scientists found evidence left behind by a particular Rift Running Agent hinting at an imminent catastrophe of dire proportions. As they glimpsed into other realities in search of forbidden knowledge, the unknowable truths they learned warped their minds and bodies alike. Now, they toil in the shadows to spread their dire warning, if not by words, then by tooth or claw...
Coylespiracy Theorist introduces a new combat keyword, Piercing, an effect previously available on a few existing cards such as Profane Critter. If he manages to sink his fangs into your opponent’s Fortress, Madness, Misinformation, and another Coylespiracy Theorist will be added to the opponent’s deck. This will bog down your opponent’s draws and quickly become a nuisance if this conspiracy cannot be contained! But beware, an unlucky draw could bring the consequences of the forbidden truth right back to your own doorstep.
Jackal Snow is another card that will help push Factionless strategies to the forefront!
After an unfortunate tumble through a micro-rift, Jackal was suddenly torn away from a revolution on his homeworld that he will never know the conclusion of. Stranded on the world we know as Reish, Jackal encountered a defenseless village under attack by demons. Swept up by the tides of war, he quickly found new purpose and a new revolution, lending a voice (and firepower) to the downtrodden. His willingness to stand up to empires and powers of all kinds has earned Jackal countless favors from his contacts, and he's ready to call them in whenever needed. While Jackal's memories of his home world eat away at him from time to time, his guiding purpose is one thing he never lost: protecting those around him, no matter the cost.
Jackal’s prowess on the battlefield is complimented by his ability to find the right person for the right job. By spending resources, you can summon a 6/8 Hunter that will help answer opposing threats of various kinds.
Corvane the Crawling Rot is our newest card to help support the Sleepers of Avarrach!
The machinations of the other Sleepers were unoptimized, perhaps. Messy, without a doubt. Even complacency, Corvane had learned to tolerate. After all, they served the same inevitable and just purpose.
As the newest intelligence within the hivemind of the Sleepers, Corvane was all too aware of the daunting task which the cleansed worlds presented. But as long as a single seed survives, the forest can regrow, and Corvane patiently but single-mindedly pursues that vision. After all, the underestimated foe is the one who will prevail.
And so, Corvane set out to save all life from itself, one drop at a time.
Corvane’s body oozes with a unique concoction of poisons. Anyone that slays them will be poisoned, eventually succumbing to the same fate. However, their job is never over and if you manage to clear the way with enough Fortress damage, Corvane will rise again until they can claim victory in the name of the Sleepers.
Writ of Resurgence is a new artifact card to assist a variety of strategies for decks including the Overseers of Solace.
LOG #26: Advances in understanding of micro-rifts have inspired our scribes to develop new emergency survival equipment. Initial results promising.
LOG #31: Today’s incident reminds us of the gravity of the task which lies before us. We must redouble our efforts.
LOG #38: Breakthrough- Capture of latent rift energies may be possible to reduce lethality. May have additional uses.
LOG #42: With armament stations at the ready, the time has arrived for the first field tests. Awaiting your command.
Writ of Resurgence functions as a way to move your creatures in and out of the battlefield. Time it well to dodge certain kinds of removal! While somewhat slower in tempo than similar effects, it presents added flexibility and a bonus of extra stats to boot!
The Pre-orders are now live!
You can jump into the game right now and purchase your pre-orders to receive a playset of platinum cards with the set’s release this weekend!
Make sure to check out the Infinity Wars Patreon on your way out!
We wouldn’t be able to continue developing this wonderful game, and building this incredible community, without the support of our Patrons.
Consider becoming an Infinity Wars Patron for all of the best and most exclusive benefits today!
See you on the Battlefield, Rift Runner!
~ AgentCoyle & the Lightmare Team
