(The purpose of this thread is to answer questions that pop up a lot and hopefully clean up the forums. Know that complaining in the forums about something doesn’t get much done. Feel free to contribute.)
First off, keep in mind Kongai is not meant to be like a trading card game or an MMO. You can read more about what Kongai is meant to be here
If you want a quick summary, Kongai is meant to be a metagame, tying several of Kong’s best games into one big sitewide summation through card challenges. As a game itself, it’s meant to be balanced – no overpowered or underpowered cards. It also encourages good strategy and yomi, or guessing what your opponent will do.
If you have a suggestion that isn’t listed here, look through the forums to find out if anyone’s suggested it before, and if not, create a new topic about your idea and how it should be implemented, or send an email to feedback@kongregate.com – that way, when it’s time for Kongai to be updated, the developers can look and see which ideas receive support.
With that said, here are some things that come up a lot:
Kongai should have a card trading mode
Kongai should have an option to have nude character art
Kongai should have a card leveling option
Kongai’s timer is too long/stallers are annoying
This character is overpowered/underpowered
This attack is bugged
Buying cards is unfair
It’s too hard to win cards by playing matches
Kongai is too luck-based
Kongai should have 2 vs. 2 matches (like in Pokemon)
Kongai should have an option where you can capture the opponent’s cards
Hey, here’s a fake card I designed/a new set idea!
Is Popo/Amaya a boy/girl?
Does Marquis survive if he gets hit while using Life Drain
A quick response to each one:
Kongai should have a card trading mode
First off, Kongai is not meant to be a TCG. Because cards are meant to be won by weekly challenge, it is meant to be that you only need 3 cards to build a deck, and 6 to build a solid one. Trading cards isn’t as practical in a game where one card missing or replaced can throw a whole deck off (compared to a game where a deck has 60 cards)
In addition, trading cards would make it too easy for somebody to create several extra accounts and pick starters. Then, by trading over those cards to their main account, they can make any deck in the world with little effort. This defeats one of the points of Kongai – to tie the whole site together.
Kongai should have an option to have nude character art
Short and sweet, Kongregate is a 13+ site, not an 18+ site, and it’s too easy for someone to lie about their age.
Kongai should have a card leveling option
The general idea with adding new mechanics to the game like this is that it requires too much rebalancing and takes away from what Kongai is. In this case, the game is meant to be one where skill is important, instead of experience. This would also hamper people who do not share a timezone with much of the Kongai fanbase, because they tend to face players of highly different skill rank. It also causes a bit of slippery slope effect – players who have played longer/win more will be more powerful, and win more, and the reverse for players who lose.
Kongai’s timer is too long/stallers are annoying
For the timer issue – there are some players who think out their moves and analyze all the possible outcomes. Also, some people like to chat while playing, and the timer allows people to think and enjoy playing. There have been many good proposals as to how to make the timer better, but these are unlikely to be implemented, especially if all you do is complain in the forums.
As for stallers, it’s possible that:
The server has timed out/stopped receiving and sending out signals temporarily
Your opponent’s internet connection isn’t very good, or they have a type of internet which affects the way they play multiplayer games
A lot of people are using the server at once, so it’s going slowly
And many other things. However, if you’re sure that the opponent is intentionally stalling, kindly ask them to stop, and then if they continue, consider reporting them on their profile or leaving them a message on their profile asking them to not stall next time. Also, use that cool new multi-tabbing feature to open music or chat in a second window (or talk in the Kongai chat, or Kongregate chat)
This character is overpowered/underpowered
Sirlin, Kongai’s designer and balancer, tries to make the game as balanced as possible. It’s safe to say that no character is completely overpowered, or underpowered.
Chances are, if a character is overpowered now, they won’t be so overpowered later. And usually, overpowered characters have a counter. At the time of this writing, Cornelius/Girdle, Balthazar Bomb-Britches, Zina, and Bestor/Prism were thought to be very powerful. However, each one had their own counters, and hopefully in future updates would become slightly less powerful.
As for underpowered characters, they’re likely to receive updates in the future that will make them more powerful. I personally encourage, along with other people, constructive discussions about whether a character really is underpowered or overpowered, how to counter them, and how they can be changed.
This attack is bugged
There is a bug report option below the game. Starting an angry thread about it isn’t the best option, but getting community feedback and help testing through the forums or chat is a good way to confirm the problem. Keep in mind if you think an attack misses too much or procs too much, you may just be singling out experiences you’ve had where you lost because the attack missed or proced a lot.
Also, known bugs and other Kongai quirks can be found at the Kongregate Wiki
Buying cards is unfair
On the contrary, it’s a good way for people who have jobs and thus not enough time to win cards through challenges or winning matches to catch up with other players. If you’re upset that people are buying cards that haven’t been released through challenges, just wait until all cards are released and replay cards come out.
It’s too hard to win cards by playing matches
Again, Kongai is meant to tie the site together, and if anything you should be happy you can win cards through winning matches, even if it’s only a 3% chance – it means that you can focus on Kongai if you don’t enjoy other games.
And if the card drop rate was above 3%, it’d be too easy to win cards by playing matches, and people who aren’t good would fall behind too much to
catch up.
Kongai is too luck-based
First off, if this is about Popo, just run something to counter – Ambrosia/Girdle is one of the best ones.
If this is about you missing/not proccing an attack, you’ve had or will have good luck to balance it out.
Otherwise, luck is a good way to balance cards. Take an attack like Phoebe’s Rapid Lashes. The damage done, energy cost, and proc rate are all too small that minute adjustments are hard to make. Changing hit rates makes even the most minute of adjustments possible.
Kongai should have 2 vs. 2 matches (like in Pokemon)
First off, requires too much rebalancing. Certain character combinations would be overpowered. Take Tafari, who prevents opponents from switches, and has a powerful close range attack, and someone like Anex, who hits for high damage at far range. If you want another reason why not – the game is balanced on the 1 vs 1 three-card style. This means that by changing the mechanics a slight bit, (in this case, allowing five card decks) makes cards like Zina and Bestor unbalanced. Now imagine a drastic change like 2 vs 2. It just wouldn’t work.
Kongai should have an option where you can capture the opponent’s cards
Kongai is not the Pokemon RPG (or any RPG, really). It’s a multiplayer competitive game. You can’t capture Pokemon in multiplayer battles, right? It’s to keep most players on a single goal – winning.
Hey, here’s a fake card I designed/a new set idea!
There are threads for this. Here is one: http://www.kongregate.com/forums/18-kongai/topics/85698-make-your-own-card
Is Popo/Amaya a boy/girl?
Beta testers have shown with Tarot Card: The High Priestess, an item which reduces the hit rates of male characters, that Popo/Amaya are both probably female. However, the card album hints at Amaya being a male. So canon-wise, Amaya is male, but game-wise, is female.
Does Marquis survive if he gets hit while using Life Drain
This applies to all drain attacks as far as I know, but he will die if he the damage he takes is greater than or equal to the HP he drains plus his current HP. So if Marquis uses Vampiric Touch on Anex with 30 HP while Anex uses Chakram Slash for 19 damage, and Marquis has 5 HP, he will survive, because he drains 15, takes 19, and has 5, and (15-19+5)=1 – he survives with 1 HP. Any less HP or more damage will cause him to die.
Note that during the animations for regaining health, you’ll appear to have the amount of health drained, instead of how much you actually have.
Any other questions can be addressed in the Kongai chat or forums.
Feel free to improve or counter my points or add new ones.
Also, any better titles would be good.
TL;DR – No.
