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Evilgm

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Posts posted by Evilgm

  1. Posted

    As the Attacker you will resolve the Ring twice, once normally in Step 3.2.6 (resolve the Ring) and then again in Step 3.2.7 (Claim the Ring).

    As the Defender you will resolve the Ring in Step 3.2.7, even though normally you wouldn't get to resolve the ring.

    Qwer1138 reacted to this

  3. Posted

    21 hours ago, TheHobgoblyn said:

    I mean, if we are talking about fundamental flaws that make the game not as functional or fun as it could be...

    I mean, there is the fact that you get as many resources on turn 1 as you get on turn 8 unless you are using some very specific cards which means anything you could conceivably drop during any turn of the game can be dropped on turn 1. Couple that with the fact that the game is designed around losing your guys at the end of the turn which makes bowing a guy just as good as killing him most of the time, and basically for the game to function at all taking provinces on turn 1 has to fundamentally be a viable thing or else it would be impossible to take a province on any turn.

    And losing your guys at the end of the turn also means that defending is all but entirely pointless. You just lose any characters you put on defense regardless of whether you win or lose anyway and you don't deprive them much by winning. All you will have gotten out of the effort is to have spent your characters and cards delaying them a turn, but next turn they will have as many resources to buy things as the previous turn and get to try again. As a result games seem to very much revolve around two people generally ignoring their own defenses and just going all out in trying to knock down each other's provinces first.

    Most games never even make it to round 4 and I feel like the CCG very rarely ever got to such a point. I could make a theme deck in that and, even though I wouldn't win, I would at least get to feel like I played some of my cards. In this LCG, I feel like there is way too much pressure on every decision and I get trampled before I even get to play anything.

    Honor running was not possible in the starter set and I am sure it has just gotten worse as more and more characters who can easily knock down provinces on their own get released. And since no one can honor run anyway, that also means no one is inherently taking necessary steps to mitigate dishonor.

    Also-- it feels super weird that it costs you the same 1 fate token to keep around a 7 cost guy or a 1 cost guy for an extra turn. It actively makes lower cost characters even less viable for play than they would if paying fate to get an extra turn out of a card was simply not a thing at all.

     

    Just so many fundamental about the game that I am sure sounded like nifty ideas at the time and definitely there are some people who enjoy it, but I wonder how many people put up with it primarily due to loyalty to the IP and how many really think the game is better with these sorts of rules. But it really seems to me after playing it enough times that the whole game was already starting on the backfoot before any questionably designed cards hit the printer. The sheer number of banned, restricted and errata'd cards certainly makes it seem like those in charge aren't even denying that there are some deep problems. Some of the worst offenders were even some of the very first cards printed meaning there isn't even some basic point one could roll back to and say "the game feels good and runs well under these very basic conditions" before adding in imbalanced cards and mechanics bloat.

    A lot of this sounds like theory crafting that doesn't apply to how the game actually plays.

    Ascarel and DarkHorse reacted to this

  4. Posted · Edited by Evilgm

    Hasbro cancelled the Transformers CCG for the same reason they cancel all their CCGs- so that Magic is seen as the only one that is worth a long-term investment.

     

    WotC cancelled the Harry Potter TCG when it was literally the second best selling toy line in the US. 

  7. Posted

     

    2 hours ago, Schmoozies said:

    Except that we've had Tyler state in multiple interviews on various podcasts that they do put pushed effects on the Elemental locked cards. 

    Yeah, I can see how Icon of Favour is really blowing up the scene, and Dragon have definitely been going all in on Niten Student. Or perhaps it's just a coincidence that just as in cards without Role Restrictions, some cards with Role Restrictions are bad, and some are too good. Certainly Supernatural Storm and Voice of Honour and Let Go and Censure and Shinjo Ambusher have all been kept in check by their Role Restrictions.

     

    2 hours ago, Schmoozies said:

    As to the results of the Australian and Policsh GC's yes we saw some alternate decks, but how well did those decks actually do.  

     

    But this was the whole point of freeing the Roles... The top players had their best Role more often than not. But now everyone gets to play the one they want. A Role doesn't no longer has to be competitive for someone to build a deck out of it, and people aiming to be competitive very little has actually changed.

    Bazleebub and Hinomura reacted to this

  8. Posted

    1 hour ago, Schmoozies said:

    Except many of the similar powered cards that aren't element locked have other costs on them (usually influence that makes them harder to splash in outside clans) or higher base cost to play.  I get that you oare the other side of hte coin and felt that the roles should have been "freed" a while ago, but you're narrative does not automatically negate the legitimate concerns of others.

    Except my narrative didn't involve declarations about how cards were playtested and balanced, because I wasn't involved in playtest, and thus can't say such things with the certainly you seem to have. 

    What I can say with certainty is that the two major events that happened at the weekend (Australian GC and Polish GC) saw 4 different Crab Roles, 4 different Crane Roles, 6 different Dragon Roles, 7 different Lion Roles, 4 different Phoenix Roles, 4 different Scorpion Roles and 4 different Unicorn Roles, so perhaps the draw of the supposedly "so powerful they need to be dealt with" cards isn't as big as you think it is.

  11. Posted · Edited by Evilgm

    I think it's simply a data interpretation issue. Odds are if I was playing in an Elements Unbound event I would have played the same deck that was currently legal, because it had the best Role for the deck. And that is true for a lot of Clans- it wasn't hard to always have access to one of the best Roles for you Clan. And if there's Regular and Elements Unbound events running at the same time, it makes sense for me to play in the one where I can better predict the format, as it gives me a better chance of winning. And even going forward, most of the competitive players in the game will continue to play what is considered the Clan's most competitive Role. However, now that 25% of the players that wanted to play something new and different can do so in official events, regardless of what the top tier players think. For me that was the entire point of the freeing the Roles.

     

    I'm also not super convinced there's a large proportion of the game's competitive US playerbase that isn't active online, simply because I don't think the game has that many players.

    Hinomura reacted to this

  12. Posted

    1 hour ago, Kaito Kikaze said:

    While I can appreciate the desire to remove peer pressure from the equation as much as possible, it's important to also keep in mind that the *whole point* of the role choice at worlds is for the top of clan players to represent their peers. While they did in fact earn their right to make that choice, it doesn't mean they are (or should be, in my opinion) consequence-free for making a choice that goes against what their clan wants. 

    I've seen what happens when people are upset at the choice that is made, and I'm sure neither you or FFG intend to be advocating bullying, but the "consequences" from upset people for a choice in a game is just bullying. The negative reaction to the Scorpion choice at Worlds 2017 ranged from passive-aggressive to flat out aggressive, and none of it was acceptable or should be encouraged. The reality that the people attacking Mark for his choice were both factually and morally wrong seemed to matter not at all to FFG, as comments from the Design Team said they like seeing the community reaction to the Scorpion choice.

  13. Posted

    17 hours ago, RafaelNN said:

     

    The previous sytem might seem restrictive (I didnt find it restrictive at all but thats personal opinion) but it made you cycle playstyles regularly and so ensured some variety, or at list a rotation.

    The idea that changing roles constantly created new decks and playing styles is a fallacy that has been disproven repeatedly by tournament results. It rarely created new decks, it only ever temporarily weakened good decks until the Roles cycled back around again 4 months later. New cards created new decks, and the Roles were more likely stop people being able to play those new cards as enable them. Role Locking wasn't an amazing tool that constantly allowed the tournament environment to rotate and change- just ask anyone who has played against Crab since the start of the game how different that matchup feels. 

    I have played the same deck since before the first Gencon event- Bid 1 Scorpion Dishonour. The most impactful changes to my deck were not due to Roles changing, but due to the Restricted List. Not once was I put in a situation where I felt I had to change my playstyle because of the available Roles.  The top Clans had access to the Roles they wanted for their best decks. Scorpion were never stuck suffering with a poor Role and forced to build entirely new decks. Nor were Crane. Or Dragon. Or Crab. In fact that only Clan to really suffer from poor Role choices were Lion, who went into Worlds with no Keeper Role in the Clan perhaps best able to take advantage of those Role locked cards. 

    Role locking didn't balance the environment in even the slightest way. And in reality since the top players in a Clan were picking the Roles that best suited how they wanted to play, which was generally the same way they got into a position to be involved in that decision, the only people who were seeing their deck building opportunities lost were those that wanted to try something new. 

     

    There was some merit to Role Locking when the card pool was so small that variety was otherwise impossible. But now there are enough good cards in each element that decks can be built to fully take advantage of most of them- Air, Earth and Water each have cards that most Clans will happily build around. And now there's a chance for people to do that, instead of every Scorpion deck using whichever Air/Keeper Role is currently available but otherwise playing a weaker or stronger version of the same deck. And if in the unlikely scenario that everyone just ends up playing the same deck, we are in absolutely no different a position than we would have been had Role Locking remained.

    ZebioLizard2, Hinomura, HirumaShigure and 1 other reacted to this

  14. Posted

    It is likely that a standalone multiplayer product wouldn't be profitable enough to exist, so they needed to include some otherwise legal and useful cards to justify it. It sucks for people who don't like multiplayer, but means that the option can exist for the people that do, which to me is a a fair trade off.

     

    And honestly, if only 30% of the cards are completely unusable in regular play that's still a better percentage than most Cycles ;) 

    kempy and Bazleebub reacted to this

  15. Posted

    But the fight winning card in that combo is Toturi, not the Monk. One of the main benefits of abilities on characters is that they are paid for when you buy the character, but the Examplar not only costs a Fate to activate, he also requires you to play other cards to actually generate any benefit. It's a potentially powerful ability, but it has significant limitations. 

  17. Posted

    2 hours ago, Daigotsu Arashi said:

     

    If you want to bully with duels you have to put cards in your deck than boost the success of your duels, instead of have optimal cards that plays by itself in your deck.

    That argument would hold more weight if the cards that boost the success of your duels weren't Banzai! and Fine Katana, cards you'd be playing anyway.

  18. Posted

    2 hours ago, Simplegarak said:

    By my calculation, you could currently have a max of 31 holdings right now in the game. The article confirmed 6 new ones that are 1 copy each, bringing the total after the clan pack to 37.

    That... could lead to some interesting guarantee set ups.

    Or you don't see the Kaiu Daimyo and have a deck clogged with Holdings.

    Simplegarak reacted to this

  21. Posted · Edited by Evilgm

    6 hours ago, countergreen said:

    especially how much of a big problem Crab turned out to be.

    How big a problem are they?

    They've won one Kotei more than Phoenix. They've won one Kotei more than Scorpion. They have the same Favor points as Crane, two fewer than Scorpion. They're fourth in the Glory Race. They aren't making up a disproportion amount of players at events. They aren't making up a disproportionate amount of players in the cut.

    They certainly don't seem to be a big problem. There will always be a best Clan, and it appears to be Crab at the moment, but they're nowhere near the runaway Clan that Scorpion were for most of last season.

    Simplegarak and phillos reacted to this

  23. Posted

    Why would I trust you when I've seen how well Unicorn can perform in the hands of a competent player? Unicorn topped the Swiss at Birmingham Day 1A and put 6 players into the cut in the event. Your doom and gloom predictions are baseless whining- Unicorn were certainly bad last year, but good players have shown that that simply is no longer the case.

    twinstarbmc, Bazleebub and Hinomura reacted to this
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