"Preconstructed Deck" Confusion - Playability? Wasted crystals?

[NPB]

I just wanted to ask some quick questions for clarification regarding the preconstructed decks and actually playing with them.

I just started playing and was intrigued enough to go ahead and preorder the Collectors Edition of the physical cards, as I have often had the same "like to play but want a full set" mentality with previous card games. After doing so, that loaded me up with 15,000 crystals to use with the merchant.

When playing card games on the go (physically), I tend to usually grab preconstructed decks because it's a bit more balanced and easier to get new people into playing. I may even do that with the physical cards later, BUT . . .

Am I correct in understanding that even if one were to purchase any (or all) of the preconstructed digital decks through the merchant that the decks aren't actually playable in that form?

My situation: Thinking the same way I do with physical cards, I've used 1,000 crystals from that 15,000 to buy each of the preconstructed decks, not realizing that they apparently cannot actually be played like preconstructed decks the way a physical game would work. My initial Hero was a Human Rogue.

So, let's say that I decide I actually want to play with that preconstructed Shadow Elemental deck. I know (now) that you can't just jump into using that deck by just picking the deck from a list. Instead, I have to wipe out my previous Human Rogue deck and choose a Shadow Elemental Hero. This is where I get confused on the following issue(s):

To swap between Heroes and relevant affiliations, you use the online form, and you keep your XP and crystals while losing your gold and cards. I get that stipulation, but I *don't* get how that affects previous purchases.

Is this saying that if I were to try to use one of those preconstructed decks I just purchased by changing my Hero, I would lose *all* of those other NINE preconstructed decks I just purchased? Would I also lose all the crystals I just spent to get those preconstructed decks?

That seems a ridiculous way to market "preconstructed decks" that punishes those who want to try different affiliations in digital form. If anything, they should perhaps be marketed as "collections" of cards that can be sold off or added *if* they match your affiliation. To call them "decks" when they cannot be used AS DECKS makes little sense to me. I hope I'm misunderstanding something here, rather than dropping $100 on the physical collection, only have my goal of actually playing with various preconstructed decks limited only to physical play.

Can someone clarify those points on how the precon decks and deck/Hero swapping works? Am I destined to lose nine preconstructed decks if I attempt to play with one of them now?

[whirlowisp]

Huh? I don't get what you're trying to say. You "Clear" the deck you had and just construct a new deck with your new hero and deck and hit "Save". Now if you want to use your old Hero, you just go to "Load" and click the Hero's avatar. And I never lost Gold/XP building a new deck from the starter decks sold in the Merchant.

[FlintMask]

Yeah, you only lose gold and cards if you reset your entire account, not by building a different deck. You never lose any cards (or gold) while building different decks. Also, you can save a deck you like one per hero, so if you want to keep going back to a pre-built you can by pressing the "load" button. Hope that answered your question.

[cccino]

There are no preconstructed decks per se. To change your hero you go to the deck builder in the game and hit "clear" and select one of the hero cards (or else "load" if you've previously saved a deck with the hero you want). Do not use the reset form to clear your account!

[Warr Byrd]

As everyone else has mentioned, to build a deck with a new hero, just go to the deck screen and select a new hero (make sure that the "Hide Unusable" box isn't checked) and add cards. The "Starter Decks" that you buy at the Merchant with Shadow Crystals contain the basic cards you need to build a deck of that type, and currently cannot just be selected to use as your deck. However, at one time, Kyle was stating that this would become possible, and that you would be able to play those decks "straight out of the box," as it were.

[NPB]

Thanks. That all makes sense. I guess my point of confusion was in thinking that resetting the account and changing the deck with a new Hero were teh same thing.

But why, then, would the site say that if you want to switch your Hero, you use the form on the site that resets the entire account? Based on what I'm seeing in the replies here, one should just be able to change the deck itself and swap in a different Hero card. Is the site perhaps suggesting that you use the account reset to change your Hero if you are so early in the game that you literally want to change your Hero without being able to just purchase a different one? Otherwise, I don't see why anyone would ever want to change their Hero using the method the site itself describes.

[Warr Byrd]

Is the site perhaps suggesting that you use the account reset to change your Hero if you are so early in the game that you literally want to change your Hero without being able to just purchase a different one? Otherwise, I don't see why anyone would ever want to change their Hero using the method the site itself describes.

That is exactly what it is suggesting; it is intended for people who are not far into the game yet and haven't bought Shadow Crystals/gained enough levels to earn enough Shadow Crystals to buy a new Starter Deck.

[Infraynor]

How... how... how... how...
You gone n messed up

[Heathen]

If you really did use the reset account aption when you had 15,000 or so crystals I would email the devs asap in order to get them back. Good luck man!

[NPB]

No, I didn't. I was simply asking about the situation before I dumped the idea of ever playing with those theme decks.