I think MarthWMaster was referring to the hypothetical case in which neither AEG nor FFG mentioned the sale/acquisition and L5R CCG players and RPGers were left to wonder why no further product was forthcoming, why the AEG forum closed, etc, etc.

As time has gone by (and the wound of the sale and silence to follow has been allowed to heal), I have come around more to the idea of the reboot back to a more iconic state. Personally, I believe that this can still be better accomplished with less heart ache and fan anger by moving the storyline forward in the CCG (a soft reset) than back to the Clan War (a hard reset). And I would still prefer the BSG Reboot to the Hard Reset, honestly. And in greater thought, a BSG Reboot of the L5R setting has enough merit to it that I might just do a separate post for it.
 
Tackling your other points:
 
1) Roll and Keep Streamlining - An overhaul of the central engine could do a lot to improve the playability of the game. I, honestly, have never seen my RPG players happier than with my recent houserule of "Explode or Free Raise" on rolling a 10. It has served to make the game much more dynamic. Adding to that, I made the default TN 15. Unless it is an opposed roll, or a significantly harder challenge, everything is a TN 15. Except Combat, which is its own beast, and probably needs a separate streamlining.
 
2) Courtly Intrigue - This is a generally accepted fact that I have seen around here. L5R needs better Social Interaction rules, as it is a central pillar to the game and is woefully under developed.
 
3) Skill Streamlining - I am also in favor of this. Why are Intimidation and Temptation separate Skills from Courtier? Why is Forgery a separate Skill from Calligraphy? I get the various different Weapon skills, especially when Mastery Levels are a thing. I do feel a more ruthless approach to Skill is necessary, though it might cause a need to rethink XP and Insight progression as well.
 
4) Element Glut - I kind of agree with the spirit here, but disagree with the implementation. I feel L5R RPG could strongly benefit from a serious application of Complexity Tiers. Your Tier 1 (Entry Level) is simply: 5 Rings based on 2 Attributes each (except Void), Family Bonus, School Bonus, School Techniques, and Skills. Make your game fun and playable at Tier 1, even if that means no Shugenja. Tier 2 would introduce more advanced mechanics, like Spell-Casting, Advantages / Disadvantages, and Equipment. Need a variety of Weapons? Not at Tier 1. At tier 1, big weapons are Strength + 3, Keep 3; medium weapons are Strength + 2, Keep 2; small weapons are Strength + 1, Keep 1. Armor is either Light (+5 Armor, 3 Reduction), Heavy (+10 Armor, 5 Reduction, but +5 TN to all physical Actions) or not there at Tier 1. Keep the varied weapons and armor to Tier 2. Tier 3 is when you start introduce Monks and Kiho, Kata, Minor Clans, Imperials, Mass Battle, Glory & Status, etc. Make the element glut scalable, as a means of better on-boarding players.
 
5) The Importance of Honor - This is really a double-edged sword. Any way you introduce Honor into the rules system to stress its importance, you reward the higher Honor PCs while punishing the lower Honor PCs. Honor truly needs to be a two-sided challenge in order to be fair at the gaming table. One thought I had was to make it work similarly to the Virtues in Exalted. Honor starts with a base value, which a PC can increase using RP and XP. It gives you a static bonus to resisting certain types of checks (seduction, fear, etc), but in order to take dishonorable actions, you have to FAIL an Honor roll with a particular TN. And you can always spend a Rank of Honor to automatically fail that check.

It says nothing of the sort. In fact it says nothing except that they want to make a few bucks of the property they bought.

Smash Up's future looks to be as bright as Love Letter, which is to say, they'll keep milking that cow until the udder falls off.

But that's the beauty of LCGs!  people all buy the product because it's cheap!


And then they don't show up to Tournaments/Game Nights, because they feel no pressing need to put their minimal investment to use.

The thought of L5R following Star Wars into the abyss makes my heart weep.
 
Personally I like to think of the hiatus as being similar to the break Dr. Who took during the 90s. The franchise had become kind of stagnant so fans needed a chance to start missing it and be ready to fall in love with it again.
 
I think as long as the content's good people will be interested. Having an extensive background might not appeal to the general public, but if you just look at 'people likely to play card games' I think you'll find they like being able to immerse themselves in the lore. And they have Kaze no Shiro and the L5R wiki to let them do that.
 
More important, however, is the need for a large and active player community. One of the things that really hurt the old game was that the player base shrunk considerably between Emperor and Ivory. We went from an environment where it wasn't uncommon to get 90+ people at a tournament to one where you were lucky if you got 50. People aren't going to be willing to invest money in a product if they aren't going to be able to make use of it.

And I'll counter with Disney's decision to make the post episode 6 expanded universe non-canon and that episode 7 is exactly the type of new starting point I was talking about.

Somehow Maul has become to canon what Revan was to Legends as of TOR; that is, a character surviving well past the realm of plausibility due to fan appeal.

Somehow Maul has become to canon what Revan was to Legends as of TOR; that is, a character surviving well past the realm of plausibility due to fan appeal.

Somehow Maul has become to canon what Revan was to Legends as of TOR; that is, a character surviving well past the realm of plausibility due to fan appeal.

Somehow Maul has become to canon what Revan was to Legends as of TOR; that is, a character surviving well past the realm of plausibility due to fan appeal.

To be perfectly accurate, September 11th was the day they announced the license transfer. Any storyline balls that may have been dropped, were dropped much sooner. If you're referring to the license transfer itself, I would have to disagree: they recognized their handling of the license was not what it could be, and rather than let it stagnate and die, they sold it to a company that they saw as capable of continuing L5R.

I think they will (or given the timetable, already did) take all of the elements that define L5R, and figure out a way to distill and streamline them into a game that honors the spirit of the CCG, while being relevant to the present age of customizable card gaming.

Those who enjoy storylines will care if the new games starts off as a confused, jumbled mess.
 
The LCG would benefit from having a solid jumping off point for people to get into the story.  Here are the Clans, this is why they fight, rumblings of something bigger on the horizon.
 
 
I don't think it is reasonable to expect FFG to pick right up from where AEG dropped the ball on September 11th, 2015.  They'll need creative space in which to craft the new story.

Why would you doubt it? It's not like FFG doesn't have a string of LCG hits to base your predictions on.

Please make this iOS compatible and I will play the crap out of it on my iPad mini. This would be amazing and push me in to playing 2 Ed.

Doomtown was never a T1 game to begin with and AEG did not work hard enough to update some of the clunky outdated ccg design flaws.  I do not think FFG will make this mistake with L5R.  Time to stock up on those surgical sponges because L5R is going to be modified like a post-op ladyboy.

Honestly, Kickstarter projects are starting to get out of hands... The original idea of Kickstarter was great, helping startup to be able to get funds for their project. But now, when I see well established companies using Kickstarters, I find that unacceptable and a cheap way to get more moneys.
 
I don't understand why people are jumping into Kickstarter projects when it's from very well established companies.
 
I don't think FFG is a startup company. So my answer is No.

there is a series of modules that are/were fan created (heroes of rokugan).  you can google that and find a good starting point for playing.  there are restrictions to some parts of the rules but those are laid out for you.  there are also play by post sites out there as well.  there is the l5r fb page as well. and there is an online HoR3 online gaming group on facebook as well.

I've always liked Mantis specifically because of the Tsuruchi and their ranged attacks (though Kitsune were fun, too)!  My favorite deck involved having just enough force to threaten a province, encouraging the opponent to defend, then firing a bunch of arrows and killing enemy soldiers before running home.  Eventually, the constant attrition would (ideally) allow me to build up my army enough to not have to run, though Unicorn blitz decks that built up quickly were always a pain (then again, aren't cavalry the natural counter to archers in any game?)

That makes very little sense in the context of the CCG considering Snake and Otomo were never playable options. Anyway.

My favorites.....
 
First I wanted to play Ninja and when I got the chance, I loved it, but the chance was taken away.
Then I think my favorite was the Snake Clan. I liked the idea of a lost clan who once hunted the darkness and then got emerged in it... and shortly after I took up their cause, they were supported in the fiction as though the game was responding to my and many other's desires.
 
But, I think eventually as I learned more and more about Japan, I found myself more drawn towards the Imperial families-- particularly the Otomo. Maybe it was completely headcanon on my part, but I kind of feel that to a degree the Imperial Families were the only ones allowed to act anywhere close to the sort of arrogance mixed with moral murkiness showing both high and low ethical values as real samurai tended to display. Most other clans seemed to fall into the category of caricature the longer the game went on.
 
Its like the game got so married to the concept that clan X did this one and only this one particular thing, perhaps partly because the mechanics of the game become ever more tightened up and more balanced, that it didn't feel like any individual from any Great Clan could really properly display the whole gamut of a real individual.

Tremendous success is an understatement. It broke the record for the most funded RPG of all time, going for over a million dollar and unlocking some incredible stretch goal, including a demo for a movie pitch.
 
 
On the subject of Pinnacle, they posted on the own site about what will happen for Doomtown, and while they stayed vague, it doesn't seem they want to continue the line. At best, I can see them selling the license to other designers (for the card game of course)

When I first saw this topic, I laughed and thought I sure hope not.
 
But after thinking about it, I don't want cards that target humans.  Or non-humans.  I want cards that are less restrictive and allow us to come up with fun interactions.
 
 
One of my great frustrations with Emperor Edition was that there were so many cards that all got put to the side since they could never be used in the deck you were running.  The LCG model should alleviate that issue to a certain degree, since there should be no useless cards printed.  I would imagine that the designers want to create cards that get played in more than once out a niche deck that a grand total of three people are playing.
 
 
An Example
 
 
A classic card for the CCG that is played in Dueling and Tactician decks.  Not seen elsewhere very often.
But imagine this....
 
 
A much more useful card that would have seen play among many more decks.

And honestly, who gives a flying flark if a random Male Naga attaches "Samurai Boots" because they didn't bother to put a "CREATURES WITH FEET ONLY" trait on it?

Muh immersion.