It seems my last post was on 20 October 2015, just over 5 months ago. According to Iron Grudge (great little app), the last game of Warmachine I played was on 22 October 2015 using Calaban and a proxied Blindwalker against Shae and a Galleon. I remember I won the game convincingly, even considering the extra unit of Swamp Shamblers I'd placed on the table...
What I do remember however is how much of a negative play experience this game was. It was maybe my 3rd proxy game with the Blindwalker and my first game with Calaban in a long time. I wrote up a large, very negative article about the Blindwalker following this game, as well as a "Calaban 2.0 - Post Blindwalker" article.
However I can't bring myself to post them. I don't know whether it's because I don't want to be crushingly negative without some follow-up in terms of constructive or positive thought, or because I just don't really care about Warmahordes Mk2 anymore.
The Mist Weaver spoilers made it quite clear to me that I am not going to be playing Warmachine again until at least Mk3 (with one notable exception).
There are a lot of deep systemic and meta issues in both the game and Privateer's game development/growth model that has finally reached a boiling point for me after seething for so many years, as anyone who has read this blog can attest. While I think rage and whining are part of the lifeblood of competitive gaming, there is cause to pause for thought when passion turns to apathy.
Coming back to the Mist Weaver, ignoring the fact that it is a very weak Minion model outside Gators (the ever-present Minion power problem), it has also put the nail in the coffin of Gator design and given me late-Mk1 Skorne flashbacks, when Skorne went from slowest grind/denial faction with no pathfinder and limited ranged power to fastest faction with great assassination tools and pathfinder everywhere in the space of a single book.
I started Gators when power attacks were necessary, when they had basically no guns and made up for it with some anti-ranged tech. Now you have almost no power attacks, and you have a gunline to rival Legion/Cygnar as a legit list build featuring arguably the best ranged unit in the game and arguably the best battle engine in the game, all backed by a bevvy of Eyeless Sight/Magical shooting. I loved the Sacral Vault as a game piece, but with the Croaks and now this Mist Weaver (plus that useless medium based Bog Trog guy), we're too far gone. This approach to PvP games design is not for me.
There remains little flavour (thematic or strategic) in the game's design - just skews and SKUs, and a game which has meant so much to me over the last 10 years running on auto pilot.
See you on the pitch.
Sadness :-(
ReplyDeleteSorry to hear that…though I mostly agree with your assessment. PP has a lot of issues on their plate which seem to have resulted in a duct tape and super glue approach to current game design—recent rule tweaks, clear better-than model releases in many factions, and theme list releases which seem built specifically to bring less relevant casters/locs into the competitive meta. As a pig and Khador player, I have just decided to flesh out my collection while focusing on other games until MKIII comes out. We are probably a couple years off MKIII but them’s the breaks.
ReplyDeleteCheers dude, as you can see from the ending link I've picked up Guild Ball and am writing about that now (although quite happy with things at the moment so rants are minimal :) )
DeleteIt feels like Warmachine used to early Mk2, but with even less and prettier models!
The Croak Raiders are a really strange design choice.
ReplyDeleteThe Mist Speaker feels random and useless to me, I'd have preferred Tale of Mist over Vortex personally.
Sad to see you go, you've been the go-to place for Minion rants for me!
Best of luck man, hope you'll get back to writing if/when things improve.
Thanks - I agree re: Croak Raiders. People don't understand when I critisize that design decision: "but they are so good!". It's part of the issue.
DeleteI am glad to see that someone else gets it. I have similar issues with the splatter and battle boar which completely invalidate the gunboar and largely call into question the war hog. It seems clear to me that PP is trying to fix some of their balance issues by releasing models to “solve” problems—which is fine—but when those releases invalidate other models you are not fixing the problem. When your releases become overnight list staples that define the meta then you have just swung the pendulum in the other direction.
ReplyDeleteMKIII incoming ;-)
ReplyDeleteLooks like, PP took your threat seriously, JS.
ReplyDeleteI have to say I am quite honoured that people take the time to come and post comments on my farewell post :P
ReplyDeleteI've sold all my stuff already (at breakeven/profit) but I doubt the game will fundamentally change enough for me to buy back in. My gaming group has so much crap though that I'll be ok to borrow stuff to practice for my last WM tournament....
This is the first place I went to after I got over the initial MKIII high!
DeleteHere's to things (hopefully) changing for the better!
http://imgur.com/3KCsMFf
ReplyDeleteFunny, as of today, merc/minion contracts are no longer a thing. Can mix bacon and gator meat as much as you want in your gumbo.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's really as of two months from now :)
DeleteAs I said, I no longer have any Minion models (except a Swamp Horror, sitting lonely on my desk) so this doesn't really affect me one way or the other.
I think the decision makes sense from a business perspective at least - bigger collections. There will almost certainly be list-specific restrictions rather than 'mix as much as you want', and inevitably this will turn out the same as Theme Forces did (some casters' optimal list will be a theme force list and you'll feel 'forced' to play that).