Potential different option:
- Make Soulbound Reward cards "Ghost" cards for all accounts
- By adding them as "Ghost" cards, it allows all players, new and old, to use them at the max level in the league they play in (levels the playing field)
- Make these Soulbound Reward cards ineligible for any Daily Quest Focus bonuses unless the cards are owned by the player and maxed to the level of play
- Add an additional 5% RP boost per 'owned' Soulbound Reward card played in battle and won
- Soulbound Reward cards will not be "Ghost" cards for tournaments or brawls, only for Ranked play
The only unlocking allowed for Soulbound Reward cards should be for Land. They should not be allowed to be burned for DEC, or unlocked to be sold. The incentive to accumulate these cards for the Ranked play bonuses, advantage in Brawls & Tournaments, and ability to stake on Land is more than enough to keep players engaged in my mind.
I don't think any perma-soulbound solution solves any of the concerns Dave mentioned except for concern B), and having perma ghost cards just introduces new B) problems... How long would these ghost cards exist? We would need to permanently design all future gameplay around having these cards permanently available and maxed for league...
And if a player owns fewer BCX than they have been given Ghost Credit for, do they then get to choose whether to play the ghost card or their underlevelled owned card?
The ghost cards would work exactly like they do know where they are tied to a core set. When that core set exits Modern, for example, the ghost cards for that set exit as well. Everything is already programmed this way so not additional work in that area.
The system would also assume the highest level between player owned and ghost card, again like it already does. Until they make the card selecting more universal to allow for picking certain levels if you have them available, I don't see why this would change until then.
I think its an interesting solution @brybro27 ... My hunch is that a lot of people want them unlocked, so I don't know if there'd be enough interest to pass this idea.
Having said that if we do remain soulbound forever because we can't find a compromise, then I think your idea is would solve the MAJOR problem we face with competition. So I'm thrilled to see the suggestion as it alleviates my biggest worry. Thank you for sharing it and lets see what others have to say.
I kinda like this and I kinda don't. Even though they wouldn't be earning rewards from the ghost cards, I'm not really a fan of new players just being given the same cards maxed for their league that we had to work to obtain. I'd be ok with giving them ghost cards consistent with the under leveled card cutoff though. Meaning.. if they're playing in Silver, they're given max Bronze ghost cards. Playing in Gold, they're given max Silver ghost cards.