Scrolls, second game from Minecraft creator, gears up for open beta June 3

[Captain Electric]

PC World has an overview of what's in store for Mojang fans:
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2039901/scrolls-the-second-game-from-minecraft-creator-mojang-gears-up-for-open-beta-on-june-3.html


Scrolls

I'm getting the impression that it will be slick and worth playing, maybe sort of a cross between PoxNora and King's Bounty. However, I'll be very surprised if it's better than PoxNora, a game I've been playing for years and which Scrolls seems to be taking a lot of inspiration from: http://www.poxnora.com


PoxNora

I also think we might be seeing something new emerging in general (into the mainstream, that is--it's been around for years), which I'm more or less happy about: strategic online card-trading wargames. Or, in the case of another newly-found gem that just went into open beta, MMORTSCCGRPGBBQ: Kings and Legends Global looks like PoxNora on a massive scale ( http://www.gamefuse.com/kings-and-legends-global ), crappier graphics with a grade-A interface at least, I haven't tried it yet so I can't comment on the gameplay. But I do plan on trying it, which means it looks interesting to me at least.


Kings and Legends Global

There's also HEX, a CCG MMO without the wargame. Just you and your opponents around a table. A really big table? A table with a really long queue? Don't ask me how they're stuffing an MMO into this concept, but they are. Check that one out here in an interview with its creator:
http://www.gamezone.com/originals/2013/05/26/interview-hex-lead-developer-dan-clark-talks-about-the-first-mmo-trading-card-game


HEX

I know I've left out some games like Battleforge--and there are some great single-player gems too like Guardians of Graxia, Armageddon Empires and Solium Infernum. When another favorite past-time of mine went big (tower defense), it resulted in games like Defense Grid, Dungeon Defenders, Prime World Defenders and the in-development Defense Grid 2. So yeah, I'd like to see where all of this CCG/wargaming goes.

Just remember devs, the more RPG elements and the more persistent bits, the better.

P.S. Obviously from the get-go, this isn't a thread just for Scrolls. So if you see any interesting news bits about Scrolls or any other cool games in this weird genre full of genre-flavors, post about it and give us links. PoxNora was an obscure niche game when I discovered it, and even since SOE bought it, gave it ample resources and brought thousands of players to it, it's still not a game you're likely to have heard about. That's the nature of a niche, but there are some really awesome niches out there. I've spent hundreds of dollars on PoxNora over the years (which is my fault, not that I regret it--but hardly anyone complains about the prices over there).

[Tenzhi]

Both are PVP-only card games?

[Captain Electric]

I don't know about Scrolls, but PoxNora has single-player campaigns as well as 1v1, 2v2 (and so on) pvp. There is actually a large group of players who do the single-player campaigns more than the PvP, me included. PoxNora is a game for Altitis in a way too, because you can build themed decks and many of your cards turn into champions on the battlefield (and your champs are persistent/can be leveled up and specialized). We've been begging for multiplayer co-op campaigns for a while.

When City of Heroes closed I thought about trying to get a group of people interested in a super hero themed game using customizable "super group" decks, but even if I had made the time to do it, I figure I wouldn't have been appreciated for splitting people into yet another spiritual successor-ish project. A game like PoxNora with super heroes and villains would be so awesome though.