Must have missed the "OMG... I'm so quitting the game" posts that Ireland seems to be referring to here.

While not the biggest fan of the "new look", can't say it will reduce my Vs. buying habits even 1%. Can't say it will increase them, either.

It's not a specific post I'm referring to...but I never said I was quitting the game, either. The context was something like, "If you want to play WoW, do that and stop trying to change VS. And don't let the door..."

Either way, VS just got better.

this as I look at it is another chapter in the history of vs. At my shop we have a few new faces playing the game and I hope this will help them along the way.

guys, this is the kind of attitude it's going too take to get our game back up to where it used to be. and with the release of Legends, there's never been a better time to drag new people into our game and bring old players back!

Meh.

I'm an "old player".

Played from Marvel Origins to Heralds of Galactus.

This isn't going to bring me back.

I miss the good old days. The "Curve" days.

Thats why I like the DS game.

omfg i agree with captain ireland wowwwwww scarryyyyyyy

Ok, I like the changes, I posted that somewhere else. What I am unsure about is the rule changes. Perhaps some questions to throw out there for everyone to ponder.

1. Gold colored costs - never used to be that way, could change the game drastically, could not.

2. If everything is going to have icons instead of words, then all those icons will mean certain effects are still active even if you are stunned. Hence the concealed sun/moon thing. Mutant would have to fit in there too. Are we going to have icons for Mutant?

3. Key words could be a problem too. Loyalty seems fine. But what about activate. What about the cards that say exhaust yourself or a character you control? Does that have its own symbol now too? Or do you lump that all in with the 'tap' symbol. Cards like Rogue and such could copy much more abilities if that was the case, right? Cards that reference activate abilities become that much more powerful too.

4. Highlighting flight and range seems like a neat idea. More beneficial to a computer game though. In which you could play flying kick and then it highlights that icon temporarily. The split attack and defense is actually easier to explain to new people though. Turn the cards around and touch bases, now its easy to compare attack with defense and vice versa.

5. The symbols for teams seems a bit arbitrary. There are alot of teams out there. I suppose if its licensed specifically, Marvel will chose the icons based on ones already used for their comic books. Tie everything together. Though some of the symbols will be obscure of course. Good thing they print the team names too.

6. I am waiting to see the foils though. No one has mentioned that fact yet. Supposedly shinier, better, less obvious when shuffling.

7. Reprints are expected, we see the return of Savage Beatdown. Now they can give out the 'new' savage for the winner of PC Indy. How sweet would that be? Maybe if they did that, some people might come on back to this game.

8. I am most worried about the gold colored cost actually. I hope we don't have to pay for our plot twists or locations. That seems...uhm, not VS? That is how WOW plays. I will play WOW if I want to tap resources and play a slower game. I would rather play VS like it was meant to be played. Simpler is fine, drastic changes, not so much.

All I wonder is: Why?

Was the way cards were made so awful, it warnted such changes?

Isn't this going to confuse players new to the game?

I mean, hey, I'm all for change where change is needed, but this feels a bit unnecessary.

There are some things I like however, along with things I don't like.

Pros: Cleaner looking cards and it allows for more art to be seen. Helps create a more interesting look and feel to the game. The new foils seem very interesting and I am excited to see them.

Cons: The Symbols. Uggggg. The worst thing you can do on a playing card is make something smaller. Shrinking the flight and range symbols is not good because late in a tournament, its easy to skip over who has flight and/or range even with the symbols as they were. Making them much smaller and having them on the card without a card having them can cause confusion easily.
The same goes for the concealed symbols. I liked the dark cards. This seems like it was more of a money saving move.

The new activate symbol can be easily confused with exhaust.

The team names having symbols instead is also kinda unnecessary.

Overall, the changes seem interesting and exciting, but just seems unessecary and possibly confusing for newer players.

As for the rules change, I honestly hope it is something in the right direction. Rules changes can make or break the game very easily, and I hope it's the former.

UDE saved money on ink and the foiling process. Also they lost contracts with former artists; hence the reprintings. However, as long as there are no drastic changes to the game, I suppose I like the new look cards, I guess I'll just have to get used to it.

Symbols=Cool, bad for new players.

Also, the new Hulk is a house. I need four of him asap for my MK deck.

Those are two of the most ridiculous statements I have ever seen. And I have seen alot.

Hilarious stuff, thanks!

Why do you think they did it then, all-wise, all-powerful Stubarnes? So they could spend MORE money on ink and foiling? I mean come on! Trust me, they saved dough. I'm not even being derogatory or negative towards the state of the game and your annoying me with your asanine commentary. As far as artists pulling out. I work for Top Cow and have lots of friends in the industry, so you wanna attack my comments, fine be ignorant.

Hrm.

Magic changed its card face for its 10th anniversary. It seemed like it was time for an update for the granddaddy of CCGs, especially since card design had evolved signifigantly in that span.

The change of the card face for Vs. seems awfully premature to me. It smacks of a desperate cry for help: "Please come play our game before we go broke! We promise you'll understand it now!"

With that said, I don't think that changing the card face is necessarily a bad decision for the game itself; we all know how essential it is for us to bring in new players (or bring back old ones) for the game to continue. But it does feel like the game has stooped to the lowest common denominator in its quest for a broader range of players. If the rules changes and set design reflect an 'easier' game, I won't be playing much longer.

Still, hope endures. Perhaps the slicker card face will get the game picked up in retail outlets like Wal-mart and Target, reaching even more players. Perhaps the 'simplified' rules will only be apparent in new starters or pre-constructed decks intended to introduce noobs to the game. It's entirely possible that the things I love about VS will still be intact after the restructuring of the Legends sets. I pray this is so.

Oh, and about the new design itself? The only thing I don't like is the new location of the team affiliations. When I sort my cards by cost and team, having both along the left side of the card has helped in the past. This will make sealed an even longer process, especially at Release Celebrations.

And please give me lots of Ally in DC Legends :)

The colors will remain.

The sun / moon will only replace the keywords concealed and concealed-optional, so I don't think that this "move" is a saving money one...

Couple of thoughts that answer the previous two comments.

Why the change? Why now?

UDE learned from its mistakes. It really is that simple and has nothing to do with saving money or being desperate.

The game started to "Pro" from the begining and lost a lot of casual players. Add to that the number of obscure characters and teams being thrown out there (X-Statix, Wild Pack, Morlocks... really, we needed these teams?) There were too many teams with each new set with little content focusing on older teams until the X-Men set a year ago. Several of the teams that came out could have been folded into each other to make subteams instead of new teams that aren't played. (JLI could be a subset JLA, Birds of Prey is pretty much Gotham Knights, and Villians United and Secret Society could be the Injustice Gang.)

So now the teams will be more streamlined, focus will be placed on more popular characters, and the rules will be cleaned up (not overhauled, as some people fear.) But how do you get new players to notice the game or old players to know the game has fixed what was wrong? By changing the packaging and the cards. Yeah, it is a cheap stunt, but it is also an effective marketing tool. Noticed how your favorite soda has subtly changed its lables over the years... same idea.

I am one of those players who was in the decline because I could care less about Legion or Heralds, never cared about going pro, and was becoming more interested in the WOW card game. (And no, I don't want VS to be WOW with capes. I like this system a LOT better.) I heard about Legends and Giant Sized VS months ago and my interest was peaked. I loved raid decks for WOW, but thought it would be a lot more fun with superheroes. I am still very excited for the next couple of months, and plan on buying more boxes of Legends than I have any other set.

I am that old casual player that this campaign was designed for. Hopefully I am not the only one.

For the love of- CONCEALED CARDS ARE STILL BLACK. ####.