I agree. The reason it works well in Heroclix is you get ten figures to use when building a team. Getting stuck with one ship and being forced to add it to a team, or make a whole team around is ineffective at best. This is not a sealed type game and Wizkids should not try to shoehorn it as such in their quest for the almighty dollar.

this conversation is probably similar to the one WK had when working out this event...

the one booster is a good balance between randomness and cost. no way are we going to pay ~$40 for a sealed event.

If you only had a few players you could probably all agree to each buy a couple of the blind boosters and play with what you pull. Wouldn't be much more expensive than a HC sealed (with some special exemption from unique rules for the poor sap that pulls two of the same ship, hah). You wouldn't want to play with the Collective scenarios, though, with just two light ships each.

But yeah, that's probably the only way I could see it working.

Yeah, I would actually prefer it this way. I don't like the partially constructed, partially sealed format, and the only way I see sealed events working with this game is pretty close to the way they've designed their sealed ships - all in a similar points range, with a couple of readily usable configurations that add up to the same amount.

If the sealed ships were $10 apiece, and the format was to buy 2 or 3 and build a 60 or 90 point fleet, I might be more swayed by them. I wouldn't want that to be the norm, or several OPs in a row, but from time to time it would be an interesting change of pace.

Yup, my excitement for this style is based on the assumption that it will not be the new norm.

Hmmmmmm.

I'm now getting an idea.

These boosters would actually be pretty good for a "New Guy Night" type of thing for introducing new players to the game.

1. Bring a buddy with you.
2. Each of you get a blind booster.
3. Each of you build a 30 point ship. (veteran player can help new player)
4. You then team up and play against another vet/noob team.

Might be a really fun way to have players learn how to play in a minimal stress situation and they leave with a cool ship.

But that would require the new guy to invest $15 for the blind booster before learning to play and deciding whether or not they like the game. That's something that would make me wary or participating in.

That is an excellent idea, I like it!

$15 may be a tough sell as a point of entry, but since the purpose of New Guy Night events is to get new people into the game, who will then presumably go on to spend more on the game, and they're not an event type that is held just all the time, I would expect the ships to be offered at a discount. Game companies do this kind of promotional stuff all the time, with cheap or free stuff as a gateway into the game.

And someone at Wizkids is reading this right now saying, "suckers!!!, I told you if we introduced blind boosters the ants would fall in line and buy them!"

Never as a standard sales model, for me, nor as the norm for OP games. But if they're a bit cheaper than a normal expansion? Sure, for the occasional sealed event.

Well it looks like they are going to be the standard for the next six OP games, and my venue is charging the same price as normal expansions, and they don't mark up OP stuff

I've spoken at length about my feelings on the blind boxes in the upcoming Collective series, so I won't get into it again here, but ... yeah

if this brings in more players then I am all for it. WK is going to be focusing on D&D pretty soon so when you complain about this you may be sorry in the future...if our OPs go away.

I have absolutely no problem with OP's going away, as it would probably make the game a whole lot more enjoyable as a whole. That being said, Wizkids is going to keep milking that cash cow the same as they do with Heroclix. OP will be firmly entrenched, with great pieces or cards you can only get by winning/playing in a tournament, all the while getting more expensive for stores and players to participate in.

I don't see the blind boxes themselves being much help in recruiting new players to the game, and I don't think that's their purpose, either.

Don't know about other areas/stores, but at least where I am the blind boxes don't appear to be much of a selling point, and the rest of our players seem to range from interested to disgruntled, none are enthusiastically positive or negative a lout them, though.

I think the Dominion War OP series was great. The participation prizes were cool and the scenarios were a lot of fun, and taken straight from very memorable episodes. I'm not the world's biggest fan of WK's exclusive prizes, but I can live without them in my collection, and more importantly, I get that they're a draw for some players, and definitely contribute to the thriving in-store player base, which is something that I appreciate. I can see how that OP series was effective in drawing players in, and I don't think that throwing blind boxes in will add to the appeal of the game for new players. If anything, I'd guess I will have a neutral or negative impact on recruitment of new players.

OPs are fine, they're fun, but they're my least favorite type of game. If OP events go away, and the only opponents I have left are people who like the game enough to continue playing it, I can't say I'd be disappointed.