Would you pay dilithium for alternate card art?
Veterinary Phlox
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in The Bridge
I think it would be a cool option if some cards had alternate art to purchase.
Etana Jol is the character who first got me thinking about this. While her scene running around with Riker is certainly the more prominent, I think I'd like the card more if it depicted her in uniform instead. And it's not like we're likely to see a second Etana Jol.
It would also provide an option to spruce up older cards that would presumably pay for itself - art can be expensive.
Given how competitive the game can be, I could see a lot of people eschewing cosmetics, but personally I think it could have potential.
Etana Jol is the character who first got me thinking about this. While her scene running around with Riker is certainly the more prominent, I think I'd like the card more if it depicted her in uniform instead. And it's not like we're likely to see a second Etana Jol.
It would also provide an option to spruce up older cards that would presumably pay for itself - art can be expensive.
Given how competitive the game can be, I could see a lot of people eschewing cosmetics, but personally I think it could have potential.
Six degrees in Inter-species Veterinary Medicine. Treating all manner of critters, from Tribbles to Humans.
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I feel the same way, I haven't spent money in the past 6 months save the Campaign premium reward track, but it is a good idea non the less
Very much yes
Is it a fun idea? Yes, and I like it. Would I pay for such an option? No, not personally (maybe if it was a very small cost). It doesn't make me try any harder in events for that game either.
I mean the dilithium cost would have to be less than a whole new character, but from DB's point of view it is 'cheaper to make' than a new character? A character's just stats and art, and the stats are just numbers (oh and the license to use the likeness, but a bunch of 'new' characters are variants anyway, so that's not always a factor). I don't know what DB pays their artist(s) (given the way the art's been really nice lately, enough to keep them from slacking off I guess), but whatever it is, that same amount of work could make a wholly new variant, does it make sense to spend it on something players could get for much less dil/money? Presumably how the game works now is what DB thinks will get the best return on the effort that goes into new crew, it seems like cosmetic variants would just lessen the return for basically the same amount of effort.
By and large the undercover operative trait fits under these parameters well, with perhaps one glaring omission Leland, and perhaps 2 questionable ones Lily Sloane unless she is portraying a character from the holonovel I don’t think that was ever mentioned, and TA Daniels although the latter we do know that is a large part of a temporal agents work similar to say Harris. Now it could be implied to that Etana Jol was working as a covert op for a lot of the time but that is a big assumption.
For cosmetics alone I would not spend any other currency than credits, and even that is questionable.
What he said...
The whole point of this game is that it pulls multiple versions of our characters from a "SNAPSHOT" in their timeline. That's the way they end up with multiple different versions of the characters with different stats. The fact that a character is in a certain outfit or pose is literally because it represents the scene or moment from which they were pulled. To that end, DB is free to produce as many "VERSIONS" of the character as they want, not as many outfits as they want.
Swapping the character's art basically takes away what DB has marketed as their unique twist. Now I'm not sure whether the OP simply wants to replace bad art with better art, but I feel like if DB ever wanted to do this, they'd probably have to simply replace every copy at once, to avoid confusion.
Same
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So long and thanks for all the fish.
This. I recall reading an early Timelines FAQ, and this issue came up. DB said that each piece of artwork has to be approved seperately.
As long as you are approving a new piece of artwork, might as well assign it to a new card.
Thread starter called for it and gave DB ideas....i just pointed out what DB would make of it... And i don t need different artworks for the same crew, we already have enough money grabs in game...no need for another...
This being said, I wouldn't be surprised to see alternate art get a bit more attention, which may comparatively mean the basic looks "bad," even if it's really just a bit more plain.
This is an excellent point for the character. I still think she looks better in the uniform than the bed sheet. And I could see the justification for her having been an undercover operative that episode.
This is a fair point, but DB has a fairly steady release schedule for new characters. They could expand this, but increase the rate of new releases could lead to other problems. Alternate Art avoids this.
There are certainly downsides, including the risk that few players would take them up on this. (And it's not like developing the system for a one card test takes less effort than developing that system for everyone.)
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Those games also have one CARD for each character. Please refer to my above post for more information.
I disagree. Take Magic the Gathering for instance. You can have a single card with 3, 4 or 5 different pieces of art. The functionality doesn't change at all. The name is what ties the functionality to the card, not the art. So Archnia Janeway would always be the same card it is now but you could have a pose from a different shot in the episode so it would still make sense that it's that version of that crew.
I also don't think it's necessary for every crew to have alternate art.
I see where you're coming from, but I have to reiterate that the only true reason to ever change the art would be to correct absolute travesties like Mirror Data and Blood Oath Jadzia Dax. And to that I would add, if they replaced the art, they'd have to replace ALL copies at once and announce it, to avoid confusion.