We're going to skip talking about Rules 0 ... because it's a preamble, and the best intentions can only be judged once the dust has settled. So let's talk about Rules Article 1: The Indomitable Knot.

There’s a lot to love within the gameplay – team construction, the Combat Dial, the Standard Powers. However, there’s something that we knew wasn’t as beloved, and it’s time for it to go: Pushing Damage.

Hard to gauge the impact of this ... since the dawn of "Clix", with Mage Knight, there has always been "pushing damage". It's going to take 20+ years of unlearning ... but I guess it's not about the people who have been there from the start. Think about the children!

Love the changes. Every time I get too used to something, they change it. Keeps it fresh

I'm all about keeping things fresh and making the game more accessible to new players.

for me a non competitive player , this change is justdumb and not needed , This can push older players out of the game

I'm not a fan of dropping Indom.

If they wanted to simplify the game, and still maintain utility for WP, Indom and CS, then it may have been better going with:

"Standard Characters can only have 1 Action Token before having to clear. Willpower allows a character to take an action even with 1 Action Token, placing a second Action Token." That makes Willpower really useful, as well as Indom. Those are the characters that can have up to 2 Actions tokens, whilst everyone else can only have 1.

I really try not to be one of those "everything is ruined forever" types but I'm really not sure this is a good idea. I think it says something that when they got rid of pushing damage they had to change a whole bunch of other stuff with it. That should have been a warning that there messing with a core game mechanic.

I'll admit that the game might not end up feeling too different, as for a while they've been handing out Indomitable and power cosmic to more and more figures. But pushing damage has been a huge part of the most basic game strategy for so long, and the presence or lack of willpower has been a core part of how figures are costed for just as long. I'm having trouble imagining what gameplay will be like after these rules. The dynamics of stuff like leadership, swarm teams, cheap medics, incapacitate and colossal figures is all going to change because of this.

I don't know for sure that post-pushing damage Heroclix is going to be a worse game than the current version, but it's going to be a very different one.

I just don't think this adds to gameplay. Willpowed/Indom is a worthy and substantive game mechanic that's being lobotomized so Heroclix for dummies can be pushed to a new market that won't really care about this change. And I think that's a mistake...

I would mind this a lot less if characters that would have had Indomitable continue to get the Indom symbol in case WK wants to take a step back to our current rules.

I've been here from the start and I don't care. Honestly, I don't even think it's bad.

And if you don't like it, play it the old way.

Not to be the only positive person on here, but I actually really like this change. When I first started playing I entirely avoided characters that lacked indom. I think you really have to be in a competitive mindset to keep taking pushing damage. I just couldn't bring myself to push that new batman I just got to death. Of course, like most players, I got over this mental barrier. It was still my least favorite part of starting to play. I understand disliking change. It can be hard to look back on all the work you've put into games with certain rules. I am actually looking forward to playing games without having to worrying about hurting my own characters. I feel that this should be game against your opponent, not your own pieces. I do ask you all this: When's the last time you liked a changed Wizkids made? From the voice of a once new player, I ask you all to give this change a chance.

I'm a bit confused by your comment. Do you not like that the indom symbol is the new standard?

Maybe I missed it in the article, but I can still push for a 2nd token, now there is just no consequence for it? And there is no way now to push beyond 2 tokens?

So how is incapacitate affected? Im thinking it still gives them a token, but if they have 2 already deal the 1 unavoidable damage perhaps?

Unless of course they are changing incapacitate as well. Hmmm.

We can't have Incapacitate any more. The understanding of tempo control and how simply giving a token out over giving damage to a character is too hard for new players, and it's not fun to just stall a character when you can knock it out! Not being able to use your characters creates a "feel bad" state!

Sheesh. I hope I'm not right about this.

I cautiously LIKE some of the changes on the surface. However, being someone who's used to digging DEEP in understanding the inner workings of game rules, classroom management, research, and the like, I see very many obvious ways that this breaks or invalidates a great many figures and dial designs in the game, both current (Professor X and Magneto team up that gives Colossal symbol, which included Colossal Stamina) to past (many figures were designed with the idea of pushing from an "activation click" or from a more offensive first click to a more defensive second click, such as Morph of the Exiles).

Shoot. With that said, I might not even run Morph again now, ever. That piece went from mildly playable on a lark to "now unable to fulfill his ideal tie-up role seen on click 2, as he will get knocked past it every time."

1. Above examples about figures that intentionally got better or shifted abilities from one click to the second.
2. Colossal Retaliators did not need any assistance to be good. Now they are getting the ability to very likely strip off their own tokens consistently, too?
3. Many figures in recent sets were given Colossal Stamina despite not actually being colossals. How do those even play, now?
4. Assuming Indomitable cost points until this upcoming Future Foundation set, we now have a great many figures who might be slightly or significantly overcosted due to the complete loss of an ability. This came up when WK took away Hypersonic Speed Option 2, and there was talk then about going back and adjusting their points values by 1-5 points, but that never happened then, so it won't happen now.
5. What about Bystanders, especially ones that don't cost points?
6. What about non-standard characters? Is the definition of "standard character" going to incorporate this inability to push, whereas non-standard characters do not? That is extremely unlikely, but it could be a wrinkle we haven't seen.
7. The change to Masters of Evil is particularly problematic. It enforces melee-oriented play, but giving the team a melee-centered variant on the Police team (really just a fixed version of the original Morlocks TA) does very little for much of the keyword, especially when it is combined with Thunderbolts as it commonly is.
8. Certain characters and game elements lose considerable functionality due to their explicitly referencing pushing damage. The 2015 Wolfsbane OP figure--THE best Wolfsbane available--loses the ability to safely change clicks when pushing, as pushing does not occur, now. The Telephone Booth does absolutely nothing as printed, now.
9. With pushing damage not existing, Incapacitate is effectively nerfed hard. Now, at this time of this message, we don't know if Incapacitate is being altered to compensate, but if it isn't, then its use is now substantially less beneficial.
10. The very act of giving every character in the game the inability to push does not work from a thematic perspective (this puts Artie and Leech on the same level of gumption as your average Captain America) nor from a storytelling, comics perspective (heroes often are forced to overexert themselves, risking injury to pull off heroic stunts; see the MANY times Power Man dislocated a shoulder in the 1970s).

So, yes, while I think some of the changes are potentially for the better, especially if properly implemented from here on, I see a great number of issues underlying them that heavily impact the game structure as a whole, especially the structure of pieces and elements created prior to this upcoming design philosophy.