If this is the example of the new design teams work I think I'll pass on this set.
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TOYOTA PRODUCTION SYSTEM HISTORY

I have to agree... if tankdrop was fixed, charge damage limited to 2 or 3, the artillery finally fixed.... then some of the JF units would be somehow playable again. But not the Panther. It still would not change that a normal 2-damage infantry can chase it around the board.

Not the Gyrfalcon either. No 18 defense mech that relies on ranged combat will ever be playable so long as it has infantry to fear.

I don't think you're being fair. These preview units are only filler units for the set. A couple of 18 defense mechs and an overpriced tank are too little to cry foul on.

In the case of the Panther and Gyrfalcon, my suspicion is that the design team was a little worried in allowing a high firepower mech get loose without a serious drawback, and ended up being a little overcautious in how they handled the balancing. It's understandable, and I'm optimistic in that I think at least a few of the JF units will be rather well balanced.

I can't expect them to get EVERY unit right, and I'd rather that the ones they get wrong be underpowered, rather than overpowered. I'm going to be fair and see how the new design team does the next 2 sets to see what they can do.

Maybe some of the special rules for clan JF will also balance out the low defense on some of the units.

That defense is nasty to overcome, I agree. Out of the units between say, 110 and 130 points (non LE), 13 have a defense of 18 (or less), while 30 have a defense of greater than 18. You can find other Mechs with comparable stats for around the same price range that have a better defense, in many cases 20.

Oh well.. at least the new Mechs will have beaks! It's all about the beaks. Are you willing to suffer a little damage for that chic beak? I would hope so! :)

fleabitfox

The arguement that you can't base your judgement of the new set on the stats of two units is flawed. Yes, the odds are 2 out of 124. But when you factor in that JF will only get around 1/9th of the units in the set, (11 factions minus BR and SW) that number comes in around 2 out of 14. (1 in seven are this bad? Look at any other faction in any other release. Result: unconclusive.)
Were these units picked randomly or with some critiria, and if the later, what? No one has said. You're shooting in the dark there, fella.
The arguement that these are 'filler' units is just as faulty. What proof are you basing this accertion on? Why would WK flaunt thier lamest units? With your continued financial viability on the line, and a history of poor PR, you want to excite potential buyers at this point, not alienate them further. (Well, a REPUTABLE company with a FUTURE would want to.) The only proof you can point to is the past history of lame previews. Not scientific.

Remember Counter Assault? They baited us with the HL Longbow and the Rifleman. Very lame. Hardly indictactive of what the rest of the set turned out to be.

I don't think the guys making this stuff have a clue about what constitutes a good unit.

Well, one flaw in your argument here is the assumption that the units are divided evenly among the factions. In fact, that has never been the case. Perhaps the best example to illustrate this is the last set that introduced a major new faction with faction abilities: Liao Incursion. In that set, there were 10 factions (including mercenaries), and 124 units. By the logic you used above, each faction should have gotten 12.4 units (1/10th of the units in the set). As we all know, that wasn't the case. House Liao got 19 units from that set (plus an additional 12 LEs). I think we all have every reason to believe that Falcon's Prey will also be skewed in the distribution of units to factions, and I, at least, can only assume that the faction that will get the most units in the set will be the Jade Falcons, based on prior experience. Ignoring past history and prior evidence is also quite unscientific, I might add ;)

Mainly from past experience (which is not unscientific, it is the first step to being scientific, observation and hypothesizing), as most previews in the past have been of the less stellar units of each set. If you look back at the earlier previews, most of them would be 'good' units in the eye of someone who wasn't uber-competitive and didn't hold that "not every unit has a use" as law. Someone who thought every unit is playable would have a different opinion.

Also a lot of them were units that looked fun to try out because they were interesting/looked 'cool', take for example the HL Longbow, the Merc Centurion (with shield and axe), the Gyrfalcon, etc. All of these mechs looked fun to try at least once or had some kind of neat aesthetic/theme to it.

I think it's pretty safe to say that the people who make the previews don't have the same mindset as the uber-competitive players who only take interest in units that are really excellent or really change the dynamics of the game. Which is fine, it jsut emans the uber-competitive players will not be impressed.

Btw just so people understand, don't read the comments as criticism, whenever uber-competitive players say "This unit is unplayable because of so-and-so, we don't necessarily mean "OMG this set is going to suck!!!111oneoneeleven"

My hypothesis is that this set will suck. My proof is past sets sucked. My second piece of proof is the 3 units we have stats for suck. My third piece of proof is whiz kids has poor quality control and play testing. My last piece of proof is that Mechwarrior Darkage is still not properly balanced so that 90% of all the pieces for the game can be used in a highly competitive environment and win. This does not mean I don't like the game, based on the current facts I have no intention of spending a dime buying boosters.
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Type 9 transmission

then quit now. sell your stuff. in 6 months, tell me you were right. just dont come here, on a forum provided and supported by Wizkids, and tell them why they suck. if you hate it that much, leave. im sure the game won't miss you.

Just to play Devil's advocate here, the Realms are not provided by WizKids. They are provided by RealmsWorx, which is a private company. The only way they've been supported by WizKids is in a variety of exclusive sneak peaks and the recent Realms-exclusive offer. It is a bit confusing at times, given that Kevn Goddard (Draddog) is both a co-owner of RealmsWorx and is an employee of WizKids, but that is not true of all of RealmsWorx.

close enough. to bash WizKids here is bogus. if you hate em that much, sell your stuff, and never come back.

not necessarily you, freeptop