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Post by Zxqueb on Sept 28, 2007 8:11:18 GMT -5
It's true Trev. They are on endcaps in the electronics section around here.
I haven't seen a battle damaged hog though.
I'm hoping they use envoys for the PVP. Otherwise fellowship and rules disputes are going to be issues. Still no reply from Mr. Tuttle on that front. Go figure.
On another note, now that I've played a while, sniper rifles don't really bother me as much as they did. Sure they are powerful, but so is a lot of other stuff in the game (fuel rod, grenades, rocket launcher, warthog, cortana, sgt johnson). It feels like heroscape where so much is broken, nothing really is. I've been playtesting a spartan sniper/cortana build against a mono covenant and it goes about 50/50. The spartain seems like it should rock so much face on paper, but on the battlefield things seem to even out.
Z
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Post by TrevortheAwesome on Sept 29, 2007 13:10:49 GMT -5
I did finally pick up my Warthog. That is an amazing sculpt. Absolutely love it. The biggest thing for me is that the Spartan has that 11 attack with Superior Targeting, allowing it to hit the average figure better than half the time. And if you'll recall my MW playstyle, I like to hit the shots I take. My buddy and I are experimenting with moving to bigger maps, and the problem I'm seeing is that, with no range restriction, the Needler can shoot as far as the Sniper Rifle, with no penalties to accuracy. That doesn't jive with me, but maybe I'm just overthinking it. Meh. If you're an Envoy, you can go read my scathing post on the Envoy Announcement forums.
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Post by warlord1985 on Sept 30, 2007 3:21:00 GMT -5
Aww please Trevor, enlighten us with your scathing post. All opinions are welcome here where opinions are allowed unlike WK's.
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Post by southpaw13 on Sept 30, 2007 19:02:40 GMT -5
No offense Dave, but I wish you wouldn't post crap like that. It's simply not true.
If you can post your opinion in a respectful manner without insulting every tom, thingy, or harry then your posts aren't bothered on WK site. Go look, you'll see lots of opinions that aren't overly positive of WK but they aren't calling names or starting flame wars either and that's why they are left alone. Go ahead and call me wizkids fanboy, whatever. But you know what I'm saying.
Michael
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Post by warlord1985 on Oct 1, 2007 0:00:46 GMT -5
[Dave's post censored because I didn't like his opinion] Z
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Post by Zxqueb on Oct 1, 2007 15:14:50 GMT -5
Take THAT!
Z
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Post by warlord1985 on Oct 1, 2007 22:13:19 GMT -5
Then of course theres the ASS effect.
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Post by TrevortheAwesome on Oct 2, 2007 2:44:11 GMT -5
One scathing post, coming right up!
...
Let me start off by introducing myself, for those that don't know me.
My name is Trevor Halligan, I've been a consumer of WizKids products for more than five years (since the release of MechWarrior: Dark Age in 2002). I've served as a WK Envoy since 2004. I've played MechWarrior competitively on both the National and World-Championship stage, and have had involvement in the game's development on many levels.
In my time playing WizKids games and helping market WizKids products, I have seen a great many game lines rise and fall; games that hit and continue to this day (MW, Pirates), games that started popular and fizzled out (Shadowrun, Crimson Skies), and games that never were popular to begin with (SportsClix, Creepy Freaks). I've seen Brand Managers come and go, great decisions and bad, and approximately 1,000 posts stating with unflinching certainty WizKids is "killing [insert game line here] with this decision".
Through it all, I've done my best to act as a positive voice for the company, both on the forums and in the real-life communities. I am visible when I go to major cons, I do my best to keep forum posts even-keeled and well-thought-out, and I always am quick to play the "let's take a deep breath and let the creative people do their work" card.
Generally, WK doesn't let me down. In MechWarrior, when an issue with unit balance is discovered, it is usually addressed. This action may not come in as rapid a fashion as I, or the community at large, would like, but no glaring unbalancing element has allowed to "break" that game, because the creative people behind the game have listened to player and Envoy input and made appropriate decisions to address the issue at hand.
And on a broader scale, when the community felt the game was being marketed in a way that didn't bring in new players, WK addressed that as well. Approved Play for MW has undergone many iterations since the game's inception to strike the right balance of feasibility for WK versus desirability for the player base. Hell, the entire Solaris VII game is in existence mainly because players continually bothered WK for years on end to do something more with a ruleset that debuted at Gen*Con five years ago.
My point is this: WK, at least in the spectrum of MechWarrior, has always had a very fluid relationship with its player community. I wholeheartedly believe that the voice of the player is heard and given due diligence in the grand scheme of MW's overall picture. Individual players and behind-the-scenes folks don't always see eye-to-eye, of course, but I personally am 100% convinced that Tony Rivera (MW Brand Manager) and Kelly Bonilla (MW Lead Designer) are willing to do anything it takes to keep MW a successful brand, and are open to player and Envoy input to help achieve that goal.
This brings me to Halo ActionClix.
When Halo was first announced, I hit up my contacts inside WK to see what I needed to do to get in on the action when the game was ready for external playtesting. I love the Halo universe, and wanted an opportunity to be a part of helping make the game the best it could possibly be. However, my contacts were unaware of Halo's playtest cycle or what steps it would take to be included in such. Now that I have the rulebook in hand, it appears that the only playtesting done for the game was internal.
Certainly I can't criticize the decision too harshly -- with a property as hot as Halo, you can't afford leaks beforehand, and knowing whom to trust with an NDA can be a dicey prospect. However, I'm inclined to believe that such a small playtesting sample could point toward a reason as to why the game features the decidedly overpowered Sniper Rifle and slighly underpowered Shotgun, as well as a ruleset that, while solid on the surface, appears to be in need of another coat of fine polish.
But this is a minor quibble. HAC is a great game, and I'm very excited to be invested in it, and can't wait to find people to play it with.
But, wait a second! I can't find people with whom to play! I went and tried to do an Event search the day after I bought my first boosters, and Halo ActionClix wasn't a searchable game line on the Events page! That's weird!
A little research showed me that "PVP tournaments" would start a month after the game's release, on 10/19, but that venues would only receive tournament support if they ordered $300 worth of product.
Confused, I went and perused my Account page on the WizKids website to see how I could go about signing up to be a HAC Envoy. I enjoyed the game, and wanted to help build a player community locally, so I figured I'd take the plunge and volunteer. But there was no such option.
So I went and perused the "Ask" thread on the HAC forums with Mark Tuttle, and this is what I found when he was asked as to whether there's an Envoy program planned for HAC:
...
So, let me get this straight. You, as a company, have paid what is sure to be a ton of money for the license to the biggest property IN ENTERTAINMENT HISTORY. ("According to Microsoft, first-day sales of Halo 3 reached $170 million, making it the highest grossing American entertainment property within 24 hours of release ever." - Wikipedia.) You have invested time and effort to build a balanced and fun gaming system around it. You have an army of volunteers, experienced at running your company's games, willing to do the legwork on a local level to help this game become a sustained, long-term success, AND YOU'RE NOT USING THEM?? You're choosing not to support your new hotness at release because the game is "simpler" and "more casual"?
And not only that, but the ONLY way a brick-and-mortar venue (your bread-and-butter outlet for sales) can host tournaments for your hot new game is if they order $300 dollars worth of product??
Tell me something -- if I'm a store owner, why am I going to invest that kind of money in a game that the company isn't supporting out of the box the way it does its most successful game lines?
If I'm a venue owner, the majority of my business likely comes from sales of Magic: The Gathering. It's my cash cow, so I'm focused on keeping up my DCI certification, I keep an employee on the clock at all times that can demo the game and run tournaments, and I'm heavily invested in that game. Magic is what allows me to stock and supply all the other niche-market games that come and go over time. I can't afford to spend my precious time getting to know every game that comes down the pike. WizKids games are good for me because volunteers from within their community come to my store and help run the games, answering rules questions, making rulings, and generally taking care of all that stuff so that I don't have to. If I had to run every WK tournament with my own staff... I wouldn't. Now all of a sudden, WizKids is telling me that I have to be responsible for running these tournaments, and I only get to host them if I order a large amount of their product? As a venue owner, I'm starting to think that looks like a good time slot to run another Pokemon tournament.
I am STRONGLY of the opinion that the reason MechWarrior as a game line continues to this day is because there is a set tournament system with dedicated volunteers constantly helping to expose the game to a new audience through play in brick-and-mortar venues across the world. The game itself appears to be crumbling under the weight of five years' worth of rules expansions, unit errata, and past mistakes. But without the Envoy program and AP, the game would have died long ago.
I also strongly believe that the reason Star Wars PocketModels appears to be on the verge of failure is that WK chose not to support it, even though it should have been a success based solely on the license behind it. HorrorClix almost exploded on the launchpad because WK was slow to support it and loath to communicate its plan for the line with the community. Now it has a small following that may or may not be sustainable.
Halo ActionClix is a GREAT game. If handled right, it should be a money-maker for this company for years to come. But the ham-fisted handling of this license has been nothing short of inexcusable to this point. If this is what we can look forward to in terms of support for new game lines, I don't think I'm going to make it a second five years.
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Post by warlord1985 on Oct 2, 2007 8:38:34 GMT -5
I'd like to quote everything, but that would take too long. I'll just say... *Quoted for MotherF^cking Truth: Trevor is spot on! /Quoted for MotherF^cking Truth*
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Post by Zxqueb on Oct 2, 2007 8:47:10 GMT -5
Good post Trev. Well thought out and well written. Let's hope it gets the attention of someone who can make some positive movements forward.
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Post by southpaw13 on Oct 2, 2007 10:36:23 GMT -5
For the record, I totally agree with Trevor SP13
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Post by tjpandv on Oct 4, 2007 9:33:46 GMT -5
Two stockists in my local town. One has had zero stock delivered as the distributor messed up (and is now saying that they have sold out and has no more stock to pass on) and the second shop has some stock but doesn't seem to know a thing about PVP events. If there was a deadline to register, sounds like this guy missed it.
Not looking good I'm afraid.
Are we supposed to be able to search for events through the WK site? I can't see Halo as a "Universe". Any ideas?
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Post by asburygrad on Oct 10, 2007 22:21:45 GMT -5
Unlike Warlord, I did find something to quote! I am STRONGLY of the opinion that the reason MechWarrior as a game line continues to this day is because there is a set tournament system with dedicated volunteers constantly helping to expose the game to a new audience through play in brick-and-mortar venues across the world. The game itself appears to be crumbling under the weight of five years' worth of rules expansions, unit errata, and past mistakes. But without the Envoy program and AP, the game would have died long ago. I also strongly believe that the reason Star Wars PocketModels appears to be on the verge of failure is that WK chose not to support it, even though it should have been a success based solely on the license behind it. HorrorClix almost exploded on the launchpad because WK was slow to support it and loath to communicate its plan for the line with the community. Now it has a small following that may or may not be sustainable. As the commissioner of the More Taste League would say, this is the yin and the yang, the bada and the bing! I got so excited about SW Pocketmodels at GenCon this year. So I came home, bought packs, looked for a local tournament . . . and found zipp. I now play on rare occasion with a buddy, but we have to choose between that game, MW, and HaloClix for our precious 2-hour session once a month. Bummer. I played CBT (and bought every single d**n sourcebook) for about five years, but could never find anyone to play against in college in Baton Rouge, LA or at seminary in Lexington, KY - so I had to give it up. No players = no choice. Then comes MW - and BT lives again in my life! I have played people in four different states, and against players from Austraila, Spain, and Canada. Approved Play makes this possible. Without it, I fear for two amazing licenses - Star Wars and Halo - and their futures at WK. Maybe Z has it right - maybe WK figures they can sell enough product up front that they don't need AP anymore. Only time will tell. But I sure will miss being able to find people to play, just like all those years of Battletech sourcebooks but no players . . .
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Post by Zxqueb on Oct 11, 2007 7:43:21 GMT -5
I sure hope I'm wrong.
I don't really mind that they are letting heroclix and MW envoys take care of the Halo events. But I am hoping to see a searchable halo section on the WK web site soon. No way to find games = no AP = dead game.
Z
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Post by tjpandv on Oct 11, 2007 9:12:22 GMT -5
I sure hope I'm wrong. I don't really mind that they are letting heroclix and MW envoys take care of the Halo events. But I am hoping to see a searchable halo section on the WK web site soon. No way to find games = no AP = dead game. Z Quite agree about the search ability on the WK Events page - another good example of how not to plan ahead... A couple of e mails to Topps UK and the UK distributor got me to a local store that will be holding the PVPs in November. They are also holding a single booster event in late Oct that ONLY costs $16 to enter... Like the game very much and found that this lot did some good work: Grunt w Plasma Pistol ODST with Magnum Pistol Spartan with dual Magnum Pistols Spartan with Fuel Rod Gun Spartan with Sniper Rifle The fuel rod comes into its own if you place your spawn points next to a blocking square. If your opponent moves in for a loot, you can really hurt him when he's trapped up against the wall. OVer clear terrain, the options are more limited. I've yet to come across a Cortana or a Sgt Robinson. Sgt Robinson's ability to give a 50 point unit a "free" activation does rely on 50 pt units being around to use this on. We don't tend to re-spawn too many 50 pointers unless there is a good chance of a grenade attack from the spawn point. They seem to be easy kill/upgrade points for your opponent. Its also pretty easy to forget the "console" effect on game play with weapon swaps and the like. All too often I treat it like a proper war game with set forces and deployment zones. It get much better when you play it "freestlye".
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