So WK announced thier 2007 convention exclusives today. Surprise, surprise, no MW. I do not understand WK marketing strategy of posting a link to such an announcement on their MW page that advertises the fact that they are not offering any exlusives that appeal to their MW fan base. All it is likely to do is upset already anxious and discontented MW players.

Smooth move.

Sigh.

well consider MW has been running for atleast 5 years. Pirates and HorrorClix are their newer branches wich they want to focus on and get new people in.

perhaps a shame there s no mw con exclusive. but not like there will be much product to buy in order to apply for 1 *unless you buy like 3 action packs at once i suppose.

personaly i dont mind seeing no MW ones since i cant make it to any of the conventions and dont feel like shelling 20-30 bucks for 1 on ebay.

I agree Corlan, I'm sitting back taking my time just getting those few random pieces I need from past sets. I can ake the breather to not worry about getting another "exclusive" overprice peice right now.

yes, WK is the enemy, we must never trust them or their nefarious ways!

Don't blame WK. Horrorclix, particularly, is the latest one out, and possible a system which could bring in more customers for them.

Although fear creeps in, I'm sure most of us are giving WK the benefit of the doubt. A breather's not a bad idea, and abscence makes the heart grow fonder, as they say ;).

They do seem to also be adding things gradually. There might still be a Mechwarrior exclusive.

Dude,

They still haven't COMPLETELY cancelled the Deception Vixen and Vengenance Warwulf. Maybe those 2 with their respective pilots are for us later in the season.

Besides, I'm happy as well that there are no new pieces coming out in the immediate future. Just paid off my tuition and boy am I broke:knockedou .

You know, if "Vengeance" comes out as con swag, they ought to tweak the point cost or the collector #, and put it out with its pilot. That'd be a lovely hosejob for those who bought from those pirates in Hong Kong.

I would have liked to have seen a con-ex MW piece this year. But I do understand why theres not one. Our game is hurting. Except for some type of expansions that are probably going to be less then 10 pieces each. There really isnt going to be anything new or spectacular for MW, until Solaris comes out and I dont know how that is going to be.

As was stated earlier, MW has been going for over 5 years and it has had its share of problems, and it also has become a little bit stale.

I dont mind them taking this year off. Next year, hopefully the game has been righted and we have a convention piece them.

Of the 4 prizes they have show us. Heroclix has two of them and I believe thats there best selling game. So those two our a no brainer.

Horrorclix and Pirates have one each but neither game is alive in my area. Pirates has been completely dead for almost 8 months now and Horrorclix is on the list of tourneys at only one store; but no one ever shows up to play. I dont know how either game is doing in other areas of the country or the world but its not alive here.

But back to MW, I have been using trades and ebay to get some hard to find pieces I've wanted. Still searching for some, but I dont mind the break. Not having to get one this year at the con just helps send my money through ebay for the pieces and cards I'm still after.

BUT!!!!! If one does surface, since Seth did say that he still had a surprise to bring out. I'll have my money in hand and be in line at the con just to get mine.

Corlan,

Man, I really loathe having to disagree with you, but WizKids isn't exactly giving us MW players the props we deserve. With the exception of the LE Dropship, we've been hosed every single year since then with regards to Con exclusives. I have to agree that I don't mind TOO much since I too cannot make conventions where these items might appear...but I would think that Mechwarrior DESERVES some lovin' right now.

I mean...we've been put into limbo for the entirety of 2007! No expansions, no idea where we're headed, and it looks like we're being sent to the back of the bus when it comes to recognition. Take a look at WizKids' website and their distribution "consolidation". No mention is made whatsoever about Mechwarrior...NONE. It used to be that whenever a press release was put out about things WizKids had in the works, they would end with something like "WizKids® is a Seattle-based game developer and publisher dedicated to creating tabletop games driven by imagination including such popular games like Mechwarrior, HeroClix and Pirates." HeroClix and Pirates were the only two games given attention in the press release. Mechwarrior...nowhere to be found in the press release. So what are we? Second cousins to a bastard stepchild now?!? I thought Mechwarrior saved WizKids' collective a$$e$ when they screwed up and alienated their Mage Knight fan-base. What? Are we the next in line to get kicked in the teeth? Doesn't Mechwarrior's popularity, longevity and powerful continuity mean nothing now?

What scares me the most is that we're probably looking at a mass overhaul of the Mechwarrior game by the beginning of 2008. The vibes I got from WizKids' "chat" with the Mechwarrior community late last year were that they feel the game is growing old and needs to be redone. Honestly, it makes me want to pull out my old Battletech miniatures and start playing CBT again. At least with that game I could have fun, with each and every battlemech being different and having it's own flavor that didn't get stale after the first use. No need for pilot or gear cards, no need to go to eBay to buy all the really cool pieces that I can't get from tournaments, since WizKids' idea of giving us "goodies" is selling LE prize packs to retailers, who turn around and sell them on eBay for lots of dollars.

I have to agree with the title of the first posting..."With friends like WizKids..." who needs enemies? Mechwarrior isn't stale, it just needs fresh ideas. The tournaments that we've seen in the last six months are JOKES! I took a look at one of the January events with the whole farmer aspect and immediately decided that I didn't want to play in it. Is this the way WizKids respects us as a gaming community? By giving us scenarios that give you a headache just trying to grasp the ground rules? This is nonsense!

Troy

Troy the last 4 scenarios were designed by players as result of a contest and i do think these sport some nice ideas (for 1 i see people using the aquatic movement type)


A thing i found at some of the articles wich made my neckhairs erect was that past year when there was an announcement about Wizkids on Battlestar, Pirates, Horror, that there s no mention of MW (as if its added to the list of Crimson Skies, MageKnight, ShadowRun, Creepy Freaks, Sportclix, Raceday )

I do hope the 2007 era will be a year for R&D to fix and maintain an active playing field for the loyal players (not the ones who switch to whatever next comes up) as yet we have to guess whats gonna happen in 2008 if there still will be a MW or if we d all convert to CBT using our MW minis.

I guess Mechwarrior has its popularity by the PC Games and novels since the 80s, but since the last MW pc game was canceled and they decided to go with the "popular consoles" but imo lack the MW feeling. perhaps with games like Warmachine rising up and Warhammer still standing strong affects the choice of people quiting and switching games.

lets hope the pre-constructed battleboxes may change this a bit. though i believe sales would be less high then with the regular booster format (production should be cheaper and stores can order by demand basicly and not having boosters 3 sets old still collecting dust on the shelves.

One thing I noticed is that there is no prize listed for 'Constructed' events in February, and that there are no 'Constructed' events in my area for the month of January (Md-Va.). Instead, there is a succession of 'Sealed' and 'Draft' events often involving purchase of Wolf Strike and a non-Wolf Strike booster. Sounds like a way of clearing out picked over merchandise from the retailer's shelves.

My bet is that in 6 months there will be only Solaris events and that sometime after that a decision will be announced that although MW pieces are 'Solaris compatible', that they can't be used in Nationals. There will be no further National or International MW events (other than Solaris with the new pieces....). It happened to Mage Knight, we're next.

frankly, MW survived lawsuits (the whole battledroids thing, then the unseen), the collapse of FASA, and now...whats going to kill it: the very fans that say they support the game...instead of predicting doom and gloom, why not do your part to keep the game afloat?

Consider the notion that if they are trying to completely restructure the game, it is highly unlikely they are going to put time into something they will be giving away. We have a fairly recent release in Wolf Strike, we have recent battleforces in the form of Ares and Phantom War sets, and an ongoing system of Approved Play with prize support. If there are anxious players out there who can't be patient for a few months while improvements are made, then they can go find something else to play. If you find yourself getting depressed at the lack of new plastic crack, then do something creative, like casual games. Massive 3000 point battles. Ares vs. <insert battleforce here>. Evil Giant Pumpkin. Make-your-own-storylines. SOMETHING that will keep the game fresh in your mind. I imagine you already have an extensive collection at your disposal. Use that 3 pound mass of nerves between your ears and try to have some fun with it.

And you can take that condescending comment and melodramatic "sigh" elsewhere. It impresses nobody.

There are two types of announcements on the WK website (most game websites are the same way BTW):
1. company wide/general announcements. These types of announcements get posted on all of the gamelines' websites at the same time. Its the way the news database is structured.
2. gameline specific announcements. These types of announcements only get posted to the specific gameline's website.

If you look atthe annoucnement, it is a general one that covers several gamelines. Look in the other gamelines and you will also see the announcement even though these games are either not active or have nothing to do with AP or conventions (AKA games like Tsuro).

Don't read any more into it that a limitation of the website database structure.