Actually, some people aren't taking a portion of their lives seriously enough.

Granted, the material in the announcement is what's important, but it is WizKids' material to announce, not ours (the BattleMaster community).

Privileged information is just that; privileged. If you abuse a privilege you may lose it.



Wolverine

Ahem!

*Steps up onto his soapbox to join the debate*

Well guys, it's all good and wonderful that we're shooting the breeze about the various problems inherent with the Mechwarrior game, but let's think about this for a second...

Problems arise from each expansion because WizKids creates pieces that, when used on their own OR used in conjunction with pieces from earlier sets, create all sorts of mayhem with the game.

Everyone has been talking about the infamous Infiltrating Army O' Doom and how WizKids changed the rules to make that problem...go away.

We discuss the ol' Shoot and Scoot, also known as the Tank Drop Strategy, and how it becomes a major pain in the rear.

We bemoan the continued introduction of more and more "Bumperbots" such as the Arnis Drummond Dasher II, making the game little more than a pinball alley with Drummond bouncing from mech to vehicle and back again, racking up some serious damage to his opponents.

These, and other problems, are all addressed by WizKids...but what concerns me is not HOW they are addressed, but WHEN they are addressed.

Simply put, Dark Ages was the purest form of Mechwarrior we could want. No artillery to worry mechs and vehicles, no VTOLs to give us headaches about Move-n-shoot tactics, and no true bumperbots.

But of course, we the players want something more, something different, something better, something COOL! So...WizKids gave us FFE, and the artillery started falling, and the Legionnaires started charging, and the transports started infiltrating. Suddenly, we found ourselves entangled in a quagmire of new abilities and quirks that were causing all sorts of havoc.

After all, how can you hide from a mech that infiltrates 20 inches, and then can charge another 20 inches for 5 points of damage? That is just devastating...unless you invest in a meat-shield.

As a result, WizKids changed the rules on mechs infiltrating, so the Legionnaire wasn't QUITE as popular as it once was.

The long and the short of it is this...WizKids keeps creating this little brushfires we call design flaws. Of course, the real problem is two-fold, with the fault lying at the doorstep of WizKids AND us.

WizKids puts these expansions out on a three or four month basis (at least according to current trends). As a result, there can't possibly be enough time for those folks to take the new pieces and playtest them enough to understand the ramifications their new rules and stats will create on the battlefield.

Our part in this mess is simple...lack of patience.

We, the gamers who love Mechwarrior, are always looking for the next "fix" (i.e. the newest Limited Edition piece, or the newest expansion). Anything to add to our armies, and possibly use to overwhelm our opponents. If it works, use it. So we're always asking WizKids for more, and they're giving it to us...but when we get it, we tend to find the cheesiest ways to utilize the pieces until our armies are these little monstrosities based around the newest "ability", such as the Arnis Drummond being popular for charging of 5 points of damage, with Evade and a damage dial that allows him to keep his stats for another round of charging.

It isn't WizKids' fault, nor is it our fault...it's a combination. WizKids' goal, as with any company, is to make money. You make money by keeping new stock in the hands of your customers, so the sooner you create a new expansion, the sooner the sales revenue will go up.

At the same time, whenever we hear of a new expansion, we're dying to find out what goodies are in the set. Admit it folks, when you hear that the boosters have arrived, you want to get some (or in the case of collectors...ALOT), so you can break them open and start figuring out how to assimilate them into your armies and make them better.

The solution:

For WizKids...expand the product cycle to six months, so the gamers can use the current expansion and get used to it. Dark Age went for over six months before FFE came out, and by then we were proficient in DA, so we were ready to get FFE. But the recent release of FFE, DFA and LI like dominos falling in rapid succession makes it tough for WK to put the sets together in such a way as to know how the rules will be affected by the new pieces, and make the necessary corrections BEFORE they release them to the masses.

As for us...just sit back and be patient while WK makes their corrections. We've got enough pieces to play for months.

:D

Troy Light

@Wolverine

No one announced any of the new materials. It's existence was acknowledged. That is the extent of what was revealed. It is my contention that no wrong was done nor was confidence breached by the person who did this, if I hear otherwise fine but thus far I have not. Thanks.

@Lord_Vader

The information was given to BattleMasters as a courtesy and in confidence. In other words it shouldn't be discussed at all with non-Envoys. To me, this includes even mentioning that this information exists.

We disagree, and that's fine.

I've had my say. At this point it's up to the Mods.



Wolverine

There is lot of things wrong in MWDa and exepting them dosen't fix them at all. WK should hear us saying our opinion and thus fixing rules as we players want it. After all its us players that know problems of the game best becouse we are ones who play it.