Magic Workstation needs an update

jukai · Joined: 02 Aug 2006 Posts: 24

We've had the same version of MWS available to us for like at least a year and this is shareware(kind of). I mean if the programmers made it open source then we would see more updates. I am not too sure but the present version has been the latest version of MWS for like at least a year if not more. I wouldn't mind too much to buy this program if it is good.

I think they should:

allow more frequent shuffling. right now its like 2 secs per shuffle which is kind of annoying, maybe they could put a limit on how much times you can shuffle in a period of time but no restrict it to slow shuffles.

Better user interface. Especially the background and maybe the avatar. We dont want to see the same plain background all the time on MWSPlay do we?

What do you think?

Laplie · League Staff Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 547

version .95 (which will now be v1.0) has been in the works for like 2 years. With it, comes a lot of stuff and a whole new game engine.

As for what you said:
The shuffling thing is new to the latest version. In previous versions you could shuffle as many times as you wanted. They put the limit to prevent shuffle flooding. This shouldn't matter because the deck is randomized by 1-2 shuffles anyway.

Changing background and avatar is possible with themes. I highly recommend them since you're able to get real card backs, real mana symbols (instead of colored circles with letters), as well as the updated 8th ed cardface. www.mwsdata.com has them. The catch is, your opponent won't be able to see you changed background or avatar unless you have the registered version.

Ronnan · Joined: 08 May 2005 Posts: 161

do you know aproxemately when it will be released?
i mean rather 2 years or 2 months

Spyx · Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 853

The thing I want most for an update is multiplayer support (as in more then 2 players) 2HG would rock!

Ronnan · Joined: 08 May 2005 Posts: 161

i already played 2hg on mws
well, in lan:D

Kytep · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 76

Laplie · League Staff Joined: 31 Aug 2004 Posts: 547

Spyx · Joined: 31 Oct 2004 Posts: 853

Still in apprentice manascrew/flood seems almost absent, while in mws it happens all the time. Today in mws I was playing zoo and I kept a four land hand (3 temple garden + 1 stomping ground) while on the draw. First draw: the 4th temple garden, followed by another stomping ground, a sacred foundry and a plains...
And it's not like stuff like that happens just once...

Kytep · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 76

[quote="LaplieThere are people that have actually run statistical analysis and found that shuffler is sufficiently random.

So in any randomized deck, you should expect 9.2 lands next to other lands (assuming 24 lands).

I can't find the link to the guy that did this with mws, but i'll post it as soon as possible.[/quote]

Thank you very much for your post, and I'll admit that it is conceivable (but extremely unlikely, IMHO) that my perception (and memory) of non-random MWS shuffling is wrong. I'm getting more tempted to run some MWS shuffles and statistically analyzing them. I'd appreciate it if you could post a link to that MWS article. Thanks.

(I'm still not quite convinced, based on this article, but it helps. I could handle a 3-land or even 4-land pocket every now and then, but it seems to me that MWS runs tend to be a least 5 (or more) lands long, and happen almost every game (and often early, at that). Further, having lots of experience with real-life cards, I know that such long clumps don't happen nearly as often in the physical world as they do in MWS.)

Kytep

AKF · Joined: 17 Jan 2006 Posts: 65

I think that since mws is a simulation, people will scrutinize its undesirable effects more than real life decking.

Also, people tend to play more on mws than in real life, because cleaning up, shuffling, drawing, and all that stuff is a pain in the neck if done repeatedly, and that people usually get bored playing the other guy for more than three games in a row. MWS sets it up automatically, and you can play ten games in a row with ten different people, so you're less likely to get bored.

Thus, if we got a clump in five games in real life, we would just dismiss it as unlucky, but, since you could play over ten games on mws, you will get more clumps. Once clump wouldn't really stick in your memory, but two does, and three will irk the shit out of you.

this might be the reason why people keep complaining about mws. I acknowlege that computer random is not truly random, but heck, we're playing on computers, deal with it.

Also, Apprentice, from what I heard from a lot of people, mana weaves for you, so you get less clumps.

Malhavoc · Joined: 21 Sep 2004 Posts: 156 Location: Italy

Apprentice gets less clumps because it deliberately unclumps lands. Ah, that would be called "cheating" in real life.

Strovil · Joined: 11 Mar 2005 Posts: 567

Kytep · Joined: 21 May 2006 Posts: 76