So, this was in WK's news, and it merits a great deal of comment - not just the tongue-in-cheek, reserved rhetoric that we abide by there, but an open, backlash-free discussion of what this declaration means for our beloved game. Herein, find the contents of the article with each paragraph addressed with my own opinions. Feel free to respond in kind.
From Wizkidsgames.com:
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Looks like they have been paying attention to not only the constant complaints on the forums, but moreover it seems that the comments section on those surveys were actually worth filling out. While I didn't get around to reading the APCR PDF, here are the "briefly outlined" changes from the article:We?ve spent the past few months carefully considering the feedback we?ve received from retailers, envoys, and players, and we have concluded that a few changes are in order. Although the bulk of these changes won?t come into play until early 2006, we are putting some of them into motion sooner. These changes are explained in detail in the red sections of the revised Approved Play Comprehensive Rules, but we have also briefly outlined them here for your convenience.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Clear as mud. And they didn't discover that their constant rules changes - for whatever reason they want to spin for it - have caused complications, they had to have it beat into their skulls by the players. I remember butting heads with Magister because "fixes" he was helping to implement were only serving to unbalance something else. Even as far back as Hypertime, there were plethoras of complaints pointing this out - why did it take so long to believe it? I certainly can't fault them for wanting to stand apart from the rest of the industry, but until this announcement all indications were that they were evolving toward the exact same patterns. I hope their claim holds true.We?ve always been clear about how we meant the Approved Play program to work. We?ve been looking to foster a casual, comfortable, friendly, and welcoming alternative to the more competitive organized play programs that are so prominent in the rest of the game industry. At the same time, however, we have been attempting to balance the needs of a big program with a small staff, and we have made a number of rules changes over the past couple of years that were intended to reduce our workload by building preventative rules into the ?front end? of the program to reduce or avoid excess manual work on the ?back end.? We?ve discovered that these two efforts have been working at cross-purposes. With the changes we have just made to our Comprehensive Rules, we?re starting the process of reversing this trend.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I like this a lot. I can't tell you how many times I've seen new people show up who haven't been properly taught the game and don't really have anyone to try it out with, and because they haven't registered they're lucky to get a pick-up game on the side, much less compete. With this, even if a new player isn't eligable for the prize (and if they're new - how well will they do, really?) they can still compete for the honor or at the very least the chance to see if they even like the game. It's a tremendous learning opportunity that was previously impossible outside of the Demo's. Further, allowing Judges/venues to participate is a very good incentive in light of all of the recent limits (ie. testing) that many volunteers feel devalue their efforts. Many players will still have mixed feelings about envoys playing while they officiate, though.The first major change is to introduce wider accessibility to our events. Any player, whether registered or not, may now participate in any WizKids event that is not rated/ranked. Although players must still be registered in order to be eligible to receive a prize, this change opens up the majority of WizKids Approved Play events to any individual who wants to participate. In addition, envoys and venues may now participate in their own events, as long as the event in question is not rated/ranked and the envoy or venue does not accept any prizes. Rating and ranking requires us to enforce a competitive standard for certain events, but there is no need to apply that standard to the entire system. We need to maintain records of our players and events, but we?d prefer to encourage registration with the ?carrot? of prizes rather than a ?stick? that prevents people from enjoying a casual game with their friends at their local game shop.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Since I'm nowhere near to becoming an envoy, I have only passing sympathy for judges who get stuck with the lackluster trade fodder that many have complained about. Also, as a toy collector the "chase" variants have always been a hook - until WK decided to make them the same as winnable prizes. Stupid, stupid, stupid. I whole-heartedly support this change.The second major change revises the way we reward our envoys. Our existing system rewards envoys with better LE game pieces based on the number of players they recruit to participate in their events. We?ve heard both complaints and compliments regarding this system, and we have integrated a few improvements to alleviate the former and enhance the latter. Although envoys are excited about receiving LE rewards, they are less than thrilled about receiving multiple copies of the same figure, and they do not like rewards that are also available in Boosters. The new system eliminates duplicate rewards, and future expansions of all product lines will divorce the super-rare ?chase? pieces from the LE prizes available through Approved Play events. Prizes and rewards will return to their rightful place as highly valued collectibles.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">I really don't see how this is much different other than judges will be netting better loot. Do the attending players have to be registered in order to qualify or can judges just report the total number of players in attendance?As part of reevaluating our reward system, we asked ourselves what we expected the minimum envoy commitment to be. The answer to this question was ?running regular events with (at the very least) four players in attendance.? The new envoy reward system is designed to reward envoys who meet our expectations throughout the course of a release with a complete set of LE game pieces. Envoys for most of our core CMG lines (HeroClix, MechWarrior, and Mage Knight ? MLB SportsClix rewards will be handled more informally on an event-by-event basis) who meet the basic expectation of 16 players per month (four players at each of four events during a given month will satisfy this requirement, even if all four players are the same individuals each time) will receive the Full Reward kit for that month, which will include three to four LE pieces, adding up to a full set of the Approved Play prize pieces for the release. CMG envoys who receive the Full Reward kit every month throughout the course of a release will also receive a bonus kit, sponsored in part by Wizard Entertainment, which will include a complete set of the mail-away/redemption figures for the release. Envoys who do not meet these expectations, but who still run events with a certain base attendance, will receive a smaller kit to thank them for their efforts. Envoys who go above and beyond will also receive additional rewards and incentives from the WizKids Envoy Program team. Envoys for the Pirates and Rocketmen lines (Privateers and Space Marshals, respectively) will receive a copy of each prize made available to players as an envoy reward. These rewards will be included in the prize kits themselves. These changes will go into effect gradually over the course of the coming months?details by product line are laid out in the rules document.
<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">Yadda, yadda, fucking yadda. With virtually every WK press release, if you ignore the first and last paragraphs you can get the body of the report without risking PR brainwashing. Sure, they want us to have fun - how else will they be able to bilk us out of our disposable income?What are we looking for in making these changes? It?s simple: We want you to have more fun playing WizKids games and organizing WizKids Approved Play events. We?ll continue to evaluate and improve the program throughout the year, and you can look for more improvements in early 2006. Although the long lead time necessary to produce our products dictates an environment slow to change, we want you to know that we are listening and are working hard to make WizKids Approved Play into the program that we all want ? open, casual, and above all, fun. In the end, playing games with friends, old and new alike, is what all of this is about.
Bottom line, if they really do intend to make genuine improvements, it will be worth sticking around for another year...which I was probably going to do anyway. As it applies to HeroClix, however, it may be too little too late. The whispers about Marvel's license expiration have started up again, and if it does turn out to be true this time it will likely mean the end of the franchise as we know it. I dare anyone to argue that DC can hold this game up by themselves. The most likely possibility in that event is that the much-quibbled advent of HC2.0 will happen...with either wave after wave of video game characters, another dredging of independent comic licenses, a few last-ditch DC sets, or some semblance of original character creations complete with fiction ala Mage Knight. I'd wager that within a year of Marvel's exit, HeroClix would be in grave danger of being cancelled altogether. But I digress. I'm eager to see if history repeats itself, or if these new methods will usher the phoenix to ascend from the ashes of a burning ship.
Whatchoo tink?
See, I am one of these judges who keep getting stuck with the, as you put it, lackluster trade fodder. I, for one, really do appreciate what WK is trying to do here. I got MM envoy prizes for 4 straight months. Getting all Level 4 figures besides one every months, I was just tossing the entire bag into the trunk of my car in the last 2 months. I didn't even look through the 4th bag of them I got. You think we've got it bad, MK warlords have it worse than you imagine. They've gotten the same thing for nearly 6 months, and with almost no variety.
The thing is the original system punished people like me who, for whatever reason, can barely scare up 4 people for every tournament, while people getting bigger tournaments got better stuff. The theory isn't horrible, but they're essentially saying we don't work as hard as them and don't deserve as much. That's pure bullshit. I probably work as hard if not harder than any envoy I ever met. I'm all the time busting my ass coming up with clever scenarios to keep things fresh and varied and making sure my players have all the materials and prizes they need and, most importantly, HAVE A GOOD TIME! I can nearly guarantee that my shop has more fun than anyone...and I've had players tell me that.
I'm glad to see the changes. I only wish they'd be happening sooner. I mean, sometimes it isn't enough that we sacrifice our playing time for, not just other players, but for WK themselves and sometimes getting the same thing over and over isn't really a way of saying thanks. And, despite what anyone says, we all know they do listen to us. That's why they have forums.
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