The point of a wand is to have a lot of zero pip spells that do something. That lets you do something more useful than pass, while still saving up pips for more powerful spells.
If the cards with the new starter wands all use a pip, then the wand is pointless. That's fine until players get their first two pip spell at level 5, but beyond that, it could well confuse new players or teach them bad habits.
This could be avoided if players got a new and better wand at level 5. Just giving out what used to be the starter wands would work for that. Better wands are for sale in the shop, but new players probably won't know that they should go buy one.
Thank you for your feedback on the new starter wands. I appreciate your comments and concerns about the 1 pip starter wand. Players will receive a zero pip wand upon completion of Unicorn Way, which may help.
To me it almost seems more like a preview wand. If you are completely new to the game, it gives you a chance to at least try out the first spells of the different schools to help you choose with some knowledge which school you would want to pick as your secondary school.
Yes, that was exactly the thought! We wanted to give people more variety of spells that they could see during the initial experience of the game. The idea was to let them graduate to 0 pip cost spells once they have a better feeling for the game.
I wasn't aware that a wand was given at the end of Unicorn Way, presumably as a quest reward. That wasn't formerly the case. If it's going to be a quest reward, that's the right spot for it, since that's right after a player hits level 5. It sounds like you've already taken care of it.
I did notice that what used to be the one early quest reward wand that a player got (Antiquated Wand for the quest How Disarming) now gives a bunch of 1 pip cards, which makes it pretty much junk. I'm not sure if the reward for that quest has been changed since I played it.
