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Purchasing Cards
Procedures
How do I buy cards for my own account?
What payment options do I have?
How long does it take for my cards to arrive?
Can I buy a gift of cards for another player?
Informative
What does my card purchase gain me?
How much should I buy to be competitive?
Are there any ways to gain free cards?
Options
How do I cancel my order?
Can I return my cards for a refund?
Can I sell my cards later, on my own?
Troubleshooting
I clicked "Complete Order Now"
or "Complete Transaction" twice, and I got billed twice! What can
I do?
Procedures
How do I buy cards for my own account?
- Click the buy
cards link in the menu bar along the left edge of this page.
(The menu bar should always be visible on the left edge of every page at this
site.)
- Log in, using your account name and password.
- Follow the instructions on the page.
What payment options do I have? NIOGA accepts
the following forms of payment:
- Major credit cards (Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover)
- PayPal
- Personal check
- Cashier's check or money order
How long does it take for my cards to arrive?
- If you use a credit card, your cards arrive nigh-instantly (within
a few seconds).
- If you use PayPal, your cards will arrive within 24 hours. NIOGA is currently
working to provide nigh-instant service for PayPal sales.
- If you send us a check or money order, your cards arrive within 24 hours
after we receive it. It usually takes 1-3 days for your mail to arrive (or
1-2 weeks for international mail).
When your cards arrive, they will simply appear in your account.
Can I buy a gift of cards for another player?
At the moment, no. NIOGA is currently working to add this capability.
Informative
What does my card purchase gain me? When
you buy cards, you buy pieces of virtual property. These cards become
your property.
NIOGA guarantees that we will faithfully represent and maintain your cards
in our "virtual space" forever (or as long as the game of Sanctum
itself exists). Although your cards are not tangible items you can hold or touch,
they still exist online, and they behave like any other permanent objects. They
won't diminish over time: Even if you take a year-long vacation from Sanctum,
your cards will still be here when you return.
If you buy enough cards for your account, your
account becomes ranked. Ranked accounts may sell or trade their cards,
just like property.
NIOGA reserves the right to periodically modify any cards online. We do
this primarily to fix bugs or improve game balance. It is NIOGA's policy to
solicit player input in our public discussion forums and mailing lists first,
and to take any public consensus into consideration before making changes.
How much should I buy to be competitive?
Around $40, you should have enough cards and trade material to build 2-3 very
strong decks. After that, it's a matter of your skill, not your cards.
Put another way: If a top-12 player were to "start all over", with
no cards but with all his skill, then with a single ~$40 purchase, plus some
trading, that player could probably rebuild 2-3 of his favorite killer decks.
Then he'd be right back in action at, or close to, his top-12 level.
A rule of thumb is: "$20 is a house."
Roughly every $20 in purchases lets you trade for 1 complete house, where "complete"
means you have every one of the cards that a top-12 player's deck in that house
would have. Thus, the $19 threshold for ranking your account should let you
build 1 good deck (plus several others that are only partially complete, but
still strong enough to be fun). (This assumes some amount of wise and patient
trading.)
To be truly "competitive", players usually need 2-4 good decks in
different houses, so that their opponents can't anticipate what they'll use.
It is rumored that the $40 figure is the level at which you can build those
2-3 decks.
Additional purchases beyond this threshold tend to increase your breadth,
by allowing you to play more houses. They don't necessarily increase your depth,
i.e. your best decks might not get any stronger (because they're already as
strong as they can be).
Are there any ways to gain free cards? NIOGA
provides several methods to obtain free cards.
- Patient trading. One way to slowly amass cards is to trade patiently.
Most Sanctum cards have settled down to well-known commodity values, through
general community consensus. There are always a small number of eager players
who knowingly offer "more" than a card is worth, just to ensure
that they get what they want sooner. It's like Priority Mail: They're deliberately
"paying" a premium for faster "service". If you diligently
scan for these trades and accept them, over time your collection will grow
without bound.
- Hunt the Wumpus! Wumpus is a special ongoing NIOGA promotion. Once
per day, at a random time, Wumpus enters the Gate and accepts one challenge
from a random player. That lucky player gains 3 free packs of Sanctum cards
for a win, or 1 free pack for a loss.
- Player-run Tournaments. Various player groups or cabals periodically
host tournaments for all players, with prizes of free packs to the top finishers.
Tournament play tends to be highly competitive, with all players using
their best decks.
- Contests. NIOGA occasionally organizes a contest in our public forums
and discussion list, with prizes to the top finishers. This usually requires
some creative thinking.
- Public Beta. Volunteer for the Public
Beta Test. This requires that you do some testing work. Generally, every
specific bug fix, card change, or new card becomes a testing task. Beta testers
test these items and send in reports. For this effort, you earn Beta Reward
points, which you may redeem for free packs or special cards.
Options
How do I cancel my order? If your order has
not yet been processed, write to us at
support@playsanctum.net .
If you have already received your order, it can't be cancelled.
Can I return my cards for a refund? No. All
sales are final.
Can I sell my cards later, on my own? Yes.
As long as your account is ranked, you may resell your cards in any forum you
wish, inside or outside of Sanctum. You may do any of the following:
- Post an auction on eBay
- Post a sale notice on your own web site
- Log in, write a sale notice in your tag, and sit in the Gate
Basically, any way you could legally sell your stamp collection, you can also
use to sell your Sanctum cards. It's your property, and your effort, so anything
within reason is fine with us.
The only requirement is that your account must be ranked. (An unranked
account has no way to transfer any of its cards out, so there's no point in
trying to sell it.)
Troubleshooting
I clicked "Complete Order Now" or "Complete
Transaction" twice, and I got billed twice! What can I do? Write
to us at
support@playsanctum.net .
v2.10.00 Last updated 2005/08/05
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