deathcritis1 said:

Not really. The only people getting frustrated with games like UFS due to a lack of major tournaments are those who were invested enough in the game to begin with to be that interested in the big events. By and large players will get bored/fed up with a game in this manner because there's no tournaments where they live .

Polygon said:

I don't know about that, my playgroup is getting disgruntled with the delays and the lack of tournaments around us. And when I say around us, I mean cities and states that we are willing to travel to like toronto (doesn't really count cause it's 30 min away), ottawa, hamilton, rochester, NY city, and/or any of the mid-western states which covers a huge area. I was talking with my team/playgroup and we are frustrated taht there is nothing for us till feb-march which is 3 months away, and I still haven't gotten a reply on the Regionals that I am trying to set up.. which reminds me to email Paul again.

Cetonis said:

This is a definate possibility, however if you were to have a legacy event circuit you could get all those players that have left the game get back into the game, and more casual players show up at tournaments because they can use any card in their collection. There are downsides and upsides to a Legacy portion of the circuit, its kind of like Magic's Extended format.

I always liked to think that it was the work of the community and company as a whole to keep a game going.

Our local playgroup advertises more then either our local game store that sells UFS (which btw, the owner hates the game and doesn't want it in his store, that doesn't help). Honestly, a sheet of paper on a push-pin board saying there is a pre-release coming isn't enough to make people come and spend $15 for a brand new game.

The playgroup itself? We've gotten... 4-5 new players this year and lost about the same due to reasons (most of them are just busy, we've only had one quit the game). We play at the local college, we got sick of the lack of support outside of the UFS guys at our store, and we even have tournaments using lots of fun random restrictions (we've had the heavyweight, featherweight, build your own character, and this week, Universal Fighter) to try to get our new players outside of their starting decks and building new ideas. The guy running the tournaments hands out prize support from stuff he's bought online for cheap.

I honestly think FFG selling to Gamestop and other game stores is a perfectly legit idea. We're a card game based on fighting video games, it makes sense that the game would sell well, especially if there was some way to let the people buying those packs know how to find a local game store in the area that plays the game. I'm still hesitent to say we should sell to Target/Wal-Mart/K-mart but that's my personal opinion.

quarzark said:

Around here, we've done our part. People still come out to play, we've organized a system where people can indirectly contribute to the moving of stock while not needing to buy tons (we figure that if they want their own stuff they'll buy independantly of that structure) yet can maintain the competitive edge they want to play.

Personally, I feel FFG could have done more were it not for the adjustment period, but we've managed to do okay without for now. The true test I feel, is now. They (alongside we) have to :

1) Convince old players to start up again (provided they kept their stuff)

2) Convince new players to either pick up the game on a whim (or srsly)

3) Create an environment where playing UFS does not become stale.

So far? I feel that collectively, we're failing on all parts.

As a fellow gamer from the early 90's Magic scene, I remember the good old days of ccgs as well as anyone. Yes, word of mouth worked wonders for that game. Ready for a reality check?

ITS NOT 1993 ANYMORE!

Collectible card games are not a new idea anymore. They have been done to death, in hundreds if not thousands of incarnations. In the first 2-3 years of ccgs word of mouth was all there was. It wasn't a big industry yet. TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

As I told Josh (original head of OP for STG) in the earliest days of UFS, regardless of the fact that UFS is a small game made by a small compnay, it still has to sit on the shelf next to Magic. Whether you like it or not, Magic and Yugioh are always going to be the game's competition. That means the game has to be able to be competitive with them. If Magic and Yugioh are advertising on TV, you have to advertise on TV. If you aren't willing to do that kind of mass market appeal, at least target your audience better. Advertise on the web to video game players or on Street Fighter fan sites etc. DO SOMETHING!

I was fortunate to meet maintain relationships with the STG staff and had several occasions to give input on a variety of topics. During a visit to their offices I proposed to Steve the following idea: Why not sell UFS in Target and Walmart in starter deck form only? Inside the starter, include information about what ccg tournaments are and where to find them so that you hook people in the mass market and then immediately send them to their local stores to play and buy boosters. Steve's response was basically: Good idea, too bad we made such a huge deal out of never selling in the mass market stores. STG had a responsibility to live up to their word, FFG does not. NOW GO SELL TO THE MASS MARKET!

Here are the issues with the game and the reasons a ton of people have left:

1.) The game isn't fun. First and foremost, it just isn't fun. Control is too controlling and when that gets handled aggro gets too aggro. Cards have never been interesting while being conservative. It's all about the big splashy dynamic effect. A lot of agruments here about what constitutes fun, but this is really a problem. When the game gets out of balance the playtesters often get blamed. Here's why I am forever sick of this complaint: 1.) Playtesting is hard. It's hard to evaluate the strength of a card when it is just text. For some reason, when you are used to playing with pictures and templates your brain has a hard time adjusting. 2.) A lot of people on the playtest team don't contribute much. I was certainly guilty of this when I was on PT. I tested sets 5, 6, 7, and 9. I was on the team through 11. I suck. I should have devoted more time. I blame myself for the things I didn't do, like read set 8 at all. 3.) Cards get changed between PT and print. Rejection wasn't the card it is today in PT. Neither were a lot of other cards. We couldn't do anything about it. 4.) We can't influence design. One of the primary design goals of UFS has always been to push the envelope. The problem with this is that cards get written at a huge power level and then toned down. A lot of card discussion I've had boild down to me saying "This card is too good" and someone else saying "Sure it's amazing, but is it broken?". Defining what broken is is almost impossible but the one thing it IS easy to agree on is "Does it kill on turn 1-2 100% of the time? ". If that was a yes, generally, changes were made. See the problem there? Cards like Injury Assets don't kill at all. They prevent death which seemed like a good thing when they were written because at the time aggro was going nuts. It's hard to win an argument for being conservation when one side is always trying to turn up the volume. 5.) Playtesters are volunteers. We don't all have twenty hours a week to work on this stuff and sets were only in development for about six weeks. Sometimes life happens to people and suddenly Higher Calibur slips through. 6.) Playing with several sets that don't exist at the same time is difficult. Testing set 9 meant playing with set 7 and 8 which weren't out yet, in addition to playing with 4, 5, and 6. It's hard. don't kd yourself. It's also the reason why it's hard to get new playtesters to make meaningful contributions. The first thing they have to do to test a new set is read three other sets they've never seen and figure out what to do with it. That's 800 cards dumped on your lap. Good Luck.

2.) UFS is too hard. UFS is a very hard game to play. It takes a very small amount of time to learn the basics of the game and much larger amount of time to become "good". In the average game of UFS you make three to four times the amount of choices you make in the average game of nearly anything else. For that reason, but not that reason alone, UFS can be very frustrating. Cards in UFS also tend to be much better than cards in other games. The average creature in Magic does not deal 5 damage (or put another way for those not familar with Magic, deal 1/4 of your opponents life) but the average UFS attack does. You can be attacked 4 or less times and die in UFS, and often you are attacked only once. That doesn't leave a lot of room for mistakes. Guess who makes mistakes? New players. They make mistakes and then they die. When people do that they either feel stupid and embaressed for making the mistake or they fail to realize what they did and keep making the mistake (and thus keep losing). The hardest lesson for me to learn playing UFS didn't happen until about the 9th game or so I played. It was the second round of a sealed deck release event for the game back in March 2006. Seth and Josh from STG had driven to a local store from Memphis to run the event. I had so far lost every game I had played, including round 1 of the tournament when, as I sat down and shuffled up for round 2, something just clicked in my head. I got it, the lesson I needed to learn to start winning. it was this: UFS is all about having the best turn you can have without going overboard. If you have 6 cards in your hand and are able to play all of them, what you need to decide is how many you should play in order to maximize your turn and get into the best position to win the game without overextending your hand (playing too many cards) so that you cannot block, and without committing too many foundations so you can still play abilities on your opponents turn and be able to block. UFS is all about tempo, not board advantage, card advantage or anything else. It's not even about tempo in a sense of out-pacing your opponent. You have to feel the game. "Am I going to be able to attack this turn or will they just block out?" "Are they going to kill me if I don't attack this turn and put them on the defensive?" "Do I play this foundation or block with it?" Can I afford to commit this foundation to play this attack or is keeping the foundation ready to threaten them with more important than some damage and momentum?" These are important questions to consider each game and they are quite difficult to figure out when you are just starting. Honestly, the way to make the game more user friendly is to make cards less explosive. If it were actually difficult to dop more than 5-9 damage a turn players could play a little looser and still have a good result. As it is now, I'm sweating if I haven't played 2-3 Blood Runs True on turn 1. Make the game simpler, with less abilities, less damage, less vitality gain, and more ineteresting cards (how about a casino terrain asset for Ken that lets players play 5 card stud?) and you might have something. Magic is probably the most creative game out there. If nothing else, just steal from them.

3.) Complaining. For as much as everyone on the boards likes to trumpet the strength of community on these boards, we don't tolerate each other well. When players having trouble with the game come on to voice their concerns they are often shouted down. Why? No one likes a complainer. That goes double when what's being complained about is near and dear to you. I've got a couple secrets though: 1.) Where there's smoke there's fire, and 2.) the people complaining care about the game. If they didn't care they wouldn't waste their breath. As consumers of this product, it's your right to demand it is held to a higher standard. Now then, the problem is, people on the boards get offly defensive about something that they have nothing to do with. No one here wrote the cards, no one here is responsible for the state of the game. Why then get so bent out of shape when someone's criticizing it? Is it because the people doing so seem unreasonable, like the only want to complain instead of finding a solution? if so, then that's probably for a couple reasons. Back when STG was running the game we had direct contact with the people making the game. You could easily call Dave or Seth (the designers) and talk about cards. You could call Josh and talk about (and suggest) tournaments, and you could call Erik or Steve and talk about the games direction, licenses, etc. It was easy and everyone could do it. That is what developed the sense of community in the first place. Staffers ran and commented on the boards. If you had a rules question, the designers answered it. If you have a problem with a card, the head of OP argued with you about it. If you had a broken deck, you posted it and they'd play it in the office. It was the best experience I've ever had in terms of customer service and it made us all very confident in the game. Now that FFG owns it, all the old guys are gone and there's no communication. It's been stated in the past that FFG doesn't even read these boards. I've seen a post or two from Steve in the past but that's nothing compared to what it used to be. Customer Service was the way UFS could compete with the bigger games and win. By taking the personal approach and becoming your friend, everyone felt important. Your voice was heard and you knew it. It's no wonder people are just screaming now. When there's no one listening it's natural to raise your voice. When you're arguing only with peers there's no reason to assume they are any better informed than you, so your opinion is difficult to change. The other reason people are less willing to listen to "reason" and keep on complaining? Something has been broken one way or the other since the game began. The stock answer has always been "wait and next set will be better". Sometimes, most times, it is, but all that waiting gets old. Make it right the first time. Maybe that's why set 11 is so **** late now? Is Hata, a guy who's never designed a card in his life before landing this job, getting it right? I hope so. Will it be worth wait? We'll see. There are a ton of people I used to argue with who are now gone. The game is worse for it.

4.) Ultra-rares. UR's suck. That's the simple truth. They are often either character specific or over-powered. One isn't fun to open, the other isn't fun to collect. If you ever want to play in tournaments, you're going to have to collect the good ones, and that's expensive. Stop making UR's. Tournament exclusive promos should be enough. This game used to be touted as the "cheap" ccg because it was $3.49 a pack. Big deal. Open 14 boxes of Cutting Edge, get 1 Addes Syndicate, buy the other 3 on ebay, marvel at how "cheap" it was. Yeah right. Now at $3.99 there's really no reason for this.

5.) Bannings. No one likes banned cards. Remember those Addes Syndicates, those $100, then $75, then $45, then $0 because they got banned Addes Syndicates? How did that feel? I sold mine a little while before they got banned because I noticed they were going down and I wanted to cash in and then buy them back for cheaper later. Glad I never got around to it. I did the same thing with Blood Runs True and haven't bought them yet because every month I expected them to get the axe. Still surprised they haven't honestly, even if I'm not entirely sure they should anymore. 3 of the 4 other guys I used to play with got caught with Addes. That sucks for them I guess, but they wanted to play competitively so I guess they deserved it. Huh? What? That's crap. The question that should have been answered is: "Why make the card in the first place?". In there quest to make the game exciting, design pushes the envelope. It's like Steve said "I want to make an omlet. How do you make an omlet?" And someone else said, well Steve, first you gotta break some eggs." So then Steve gave design a stove, a skillet and some eggs and said "Alright guys, break some eggs for my omlet." And design picked up the skillet and smashed it into the eggs, and hit the eggs with the skillet, and set the kitchen on fire, smelled the eggs cooking on the recently set ablaze counter and said "Steve, omlet accomplished." I don't think omlet was accomplished. I think we should have demanded they try again. "How do you do that guy?" Errata! It's time to unban everything and issue errata. End of story. People are smart enough to remember errata. If someone doesn't know the errata you can be **** sure they're going to hear it from every opponent they play. Errata cards and we can still play them. That's something. Banning cards only gives you nothing except a bad taste in your mouth and the idea that maybe your money is better spent elsewhere.

6.) Rotation without reprints. Rotating cards is good. Not reprinting cards is bad. Originally, there was going to be an SNK battlepack for set 11 that was going to contain Burning Knuckle. Boy that would have been cool. Some of my favorite cards in the game are rotated, and until FFG takes Legacy seriously, I won't get the opportunity to play them. Reprinting cards is great because not only does it give players a chance to play with old favorites again but because it allows design to give the game a set of cards by which to balance the environment around. It's the reason Magic has a core set. The old cards are known quantities in the game. It's easier to design sets around them than it is to design new versions of them that may or may not work as well. It's also less expensive to reprint since you aren't buying new artwork all the time. A benefit for players is that there cards aren't suddenly worthless every February. I have a set of Soul Powers and Fortune Tellers that are destined to be coasters unless they were to be reprinted. I have boxes of cards gathering dust I would love to play, and I really would enjoy myself more, if they were just legal. And no, I'm not just trying to make a case for Legacy. I want the benefits of rotation and of playing with the newest sets of cards, I just want there to be less new cards in those sets because I want them to be infused with reprints.

7.) Too few tournaments for Character and Team Asset Champion cards. The idea of getting to be part of the game should be exciting to anyone. As someone who has done it, I have to say it is pretty great. There is a problem though. There are too few opportunities to do it. Champion cards should be given out like candy. There should at least be 24-36 a year. Adding that many (up from I believe 7) would cost FFG no extra money. None. The champion promos are printed alongside scout promos big fat foil sheets. The way to fit more champion cards on the sheets? Print less scout cards. Give scouts 4 promos a month instead of six (one a week, which makes more sense to me anyway) and suddenly you have the space. What would this do for the game? With more tournaments a year, with one roughly 2-3 times a month, they could easily be placed all over the US and anywhere else more than 4 people are playing the game. How cool would it be to have a shot at getting a card several times a year without having to go to a remote local in Canada or Indianapolis? There could be contests to win a tournament for your store, or just win one for the store flat out. There should be tons of these things. It can only help promote the game and it would certainly give everyone something to look forward to.

Now then, before I go, here's something I am sick of (I bet you can't wait to hear it). I am sick of reading people giving the advice to not play tournaments, to not build tournament level decks, to not take the game seriously. This is a game that was built around the idea that it would be played in tournaments. That's what your weekly leagues are all about. Those are tournaments. You are playing for cards you can only get there and if you miss them they aren't coming back around. They are free the first time and after that you are buying them on Ebay, CSI or Troll and Toad. Telling people not to take the game seriously is just telling them to build bad decks and play poorly. If you want to do that there events your scout can run that enforce it like switcing decks with your opponent and such. Even in those events though, take it seriously. Build the best bad deck you can. Otherwise you are going to look at your deck at some point and think "Man, this thing is a pile", and then you're going to spend the rest of the night explaining that you're having fun losing but if you were playing your good cards you'd be having more fun winning, and that's no fun.

Now, here's something I like: Team Format events. UFS has the best team format of any game currently going, so do more with it. It's fun, even in a crappy environment because decks WILL be somewhat diverse. Woot.

There's no reason to tell people to play the game WORSE. Instead, tell other people to make the game BETTER.

I have to agree with many of the points made here.

The game needs to reach more people in order to grow. If this means selling it at places other hobby shops, then so be it. I think Gamestop is an excellent place to sell and promote this game. What better place to market a game based upon fighting video games than a video game store?

There need to be more tournaments that matter. If not, at least spread them out. I am sick of hearing about all of these major events that happen in the same parts of the country - none of which are California. SoCal has a large population, but is a gaming dustbowl for major events. More tournaments spread throughout the year and in more locations across the states and Canade would give more incentive to play the game, especially to new (or possibly) new players. Also, I think the prize support should be looked at. I miss the time when there wer 30+ promo characters floating around (around set 3) to where every pack was a surprise. Now, after the first week of the month, the packs are boring. There are tons of unreleased promo characters out there, put more of them into rotation to help encourage people to play.

While I dislike bannings, I do see thier neccessity. Some cards need to go. And as much as I hate bannings, I hate errata more. It confuses new players if a card doesn't work as pritned (which also goes with more consistent rulings on cards....), and this may turn them off. Granted, being told they cannot play with a card is also bad, I think it does less damage than errata. Plus, having to memorize errata can get tedious when the amount of cards requiring it constantly increase. Simple errata can be effective, and I only favor using errata when it is simple and can prevent a card from getting the axe. Anything more requiring something more complicated than a changed line of text should just be banned. There are cards that I think need to be dealt with, but I will not derail the thread by mentioning them (there aren't many, really).

BRING AGGRO BACK!!!! I hate control games. Especially in this game. This is a game about beating face. I would much rather lose turn 2 to an aggro deck than a slow death to control or mill. Fighting video games are about beating face, so why is a card game based upon them heavy into control? Control is unplugging your opponent's controller. They can't do anything until you decide to kill them. Mill is just waiting out the clock. Neither is fun in the video games, and neither is fun in card games. Plus, a dynamic aggressive game wil bring the game back to it's roots and pull in new players. Make attacks matter, and make dealing damage over multiple turns the norm instead of being discouraged.

I think that about sums up what I think will make the game more enjoyable.

I think this game is going to be pretty hard to salvage. I plan on quitting mainly because the game is so **** stale. Also, I am tired of playing the same 4 people every week. I mentioned on the old forums that I played in the Naruto tournament last week only because I would rather play in a 12-man tournament than a 4-man tournament. Almost all people wo play CCGs are mentally competitive, and we enjoy challenges everywhere we go. Playing against the same 4 people every week is boring as balls.

MickyD from Team Tapout just played in a YGO regional last week. The last regional he went to, he ran 6-1. The regional two weeks ago, he ran 3-4. He even expressed to me that it was a huge kick in the face to him and how much he liked it. He said it was something new because that has NEVER happened to him in UFS. He also expressed, like me, that he would rather play in a tournament of 50+ people rather than just a little tournament like the local ones.

Other problems I have is the organization. Last year it was ballin, but this year, prize support was horrendous. It really wasn't worth my money spending to travel there. I mean, spending $500 to chill with amazing superstars is cool and all, but as far as racking up tools to utilize for the game, it wasn't worth it at all. Another thing is that people who played in the grinders got no compensation when Steve announced that everybody qualified. So yeah, take the $8 of gas out of our pockets, eh? I think Steve did all he could tho by handing everyone a pack of the now current set, and I fully respect that.

As for expanding into the mass market, that should have been obvious from the start. Magic and YGO are the top two CCGs right now, and they have been for the past 5 or so years. It's obvious to use their blueprints and feed off their success ideas. By just selling your product in hobby stores, your game is never going to get as big as the leaders. Remember the first Street Fighter CCG? Blockbuster exclusive card game? Yeah, right, amazing, genius idea there, eh?
One guy mentioned a great idea to me about a year ago. It was something like, "If you want your game to be big and you still want the support the hobby retailers, then sell only the starter decks in the mass market stores such as Walmart and sell the booster packs in the hobby stores." I thought that was pretty genius.

Man up. It's time to expand. Do you want your game to grow?

At this point, considering we've heard a lot of opinions in the same vein, maybe it's time we make a collected document and send it to FFG. We know they're not gonna be reading this and I doubt we don't want them reading this.

So who wants to take care of that? Cull through the topic, write a letter of introduction, then quote the important posts. Don't forget to ask if the people really want to be quoted, as well.

EDIT: Apparently I'm gonna be doing that, but these things take time (which means I'll probably be done in the evening). Is anyone not okay that I use part of their post as part of the collective message?

By the by, I'll post the entire thing here before sending it off. Mainly because I have absolutely NO idea who to send it to.

Okay, I've decided not to cut posts from this thing. I'll send the following e-mail to FFG, verbatim.

and its pretty awesome. seriously.

maybe customer support is the way? or the so loved ffgsteeve

So... here's the thing. I would definitely appreciate anyone contacting me with Steve Horvath or Paul Bromen's e-mail so I can send this directly to them. Keep in mind, this is a resume of the topic, and not the topic in and of itself, and I may have had a bit of a personal bias when it comes to writing. So, enjoy if you can. If there's nothing wrong with it, I should send it as soon as possible.

* * *

People are leaving the game.

It may be hard to fathom from where you stand (I have absolutely no idea of the numbers for UFS and doubt they ever will be published, so I'm only going with reactions), but people are leaving the game.

It must be said that some of the high-end competitive players, some you may have met before for those of you who have been following UFS' footsteps for a while now, are leaving or at the very least considering leaving. In fact, a topic was recently started on the forums based on Team Tapout's inevitable retirement from UFS. I'm not writing you to discuss why is it important we pay attention to their departure, but more to show you the discussion that is currently going on. As it is common knowledge that the forums are not being read, or at least will not be answered, I have taken it upon myself to send FFG the details of this discussion, and a brief resume of what these players feel.

Many players have voiced concerns over the direction the game is headed. While it is true that we have been hearing cries about the game dying in various locales since UFS was transferred over to FFG (I'm sorry for the lack of a better word, but it is the best one I can come up with) and yet it is still alive, to hear more and more people I've met on my very small travels quit the game is disheartening. It is even more disheartening to know that no one is replacing them.

The discussion, right now, is obviously heated. It is an indisputable fact that the players care about this game, in fact they care far more than I've ever seen players care about a card game. I've not seen this kind of fandom since the days of Paul Heyman owned ECW, to make a not-so relevant reference. They want to play UFS and they've done all they could to foster an environment where playing the game is good. They feel that FFG is not doing enough right now, and that it definitely could do better. What is it, though that they feel so strongly about? From the discussion, opinions on three different subjects recurred : Advertisement Opportunities, Organized Play and Card Decisions. Keep in mind, many of the ideas presented could arguably be presented in categories, which is why I have taken the liberty to split them up for ease of reading. (As an aside, a link to the topic will be included at the end of the e-mail if you wish to see the discussion yourselves)

Advertisement Opportunities

From the topic, players feel that this is currently being squandered. While it is true that local playing groups are formed by the people who invest time to form them and nurture them, beyond this players do not have much power. They feel that the game's advertisement potential is not being realized. Various ideas that have been said in this discussion that could be considered :

• Selling the game (starters only or completely, both options were suggested) outside of Brick and Mortar stores.

• Dealing more with the licensed properties' owners for possible cross-over appeal and marketing possibilities.

• Targeted advertisements at fighting game fans and video gamers in general, again banking on the possible cross-over appeal.

While I personally have no idea how feasible any of these are, it is tough to argue that these, done right, would not bring new players to the game. One of the many problems I have encountered in my UFS playing is that people do not know of this game, and that word of mouth is seemingly not enough. It has done some playgroups right, but others have had zero interest from word of mouth. A buzz must be created, especially with ShadoWar on the horizon and a new set rotation.

Organized Play

This topic was felt more strongly about. Various players are currently putting forward that there is absolutely nothing to do in UFS from Gen-Con to January-February, and for the most part, they would be right. There is no incentive to travel during that period, not even short haul trips to medium sized events. While the community has a responsibility to work with FFG in the planning and organization of these events, many feel that FFG has not done enough to maintain player interest in competitive UFS, especially during those times. Reasons mentioned follow :

• Lackluster Prize Support at Large Tournaments

• Downtime for the Period Ranging from September to January/February

As with the first subject, there were various suggestions which I will do my best to condense and communicate properly.

• Eliminating the September-January/February Downtime

• Year-Round Circuit

• Additional Large-Scale, FFG Supported Tournaments

• Spreading Tournaments to Most Locations

• Augmenting Coolest Prize in Gaming™ Possibilities

• Revising Prize Support for Local, Medium and Large-Scale Tournaments

In short, various players are dissatisfied with the current Organized Play environment and wish for a change. Perhaps it is incoming and we simply have not been informed yet. However, these are the considerations these players wish addressed if possible and implemented if necessary.

Card Decisions

Another subject which is strongly felt upon, especially when it pertains to banning cards. Some players feel that FFG has been too happy with the bans recently, regardless of it being necessary or not. While it was the least discussed subject, suggestions were obviously made. The two main suggestions were the following :

• More Errata and Less Bans.

• More Involvment from Playtesters

The last part may be up to us, but it has been mentioned in the thread that playtesters often skimp on their duties. Plus, it has also been mentioned that bans, while necessary for the growth of the game, have happened with great frequency recently, which might have turned away people from the game.

Ultimately, I would like to reiterate that every single player, with perhaps two notable exceptions, has posted suggestions and ideas in order to help and improve the game and where/how to play it in their eyes. Let me finish this message to you, FFG, with a quote from fellow player Mt. Do : “ One last thing, unlike YGO and M:TG, FFG as a whole and not just FFG UFS, have one of the greatest CCG communities through the UFS gamers. We act like family and that you can not deny. We will crack jokes. Drink with one another at conventions. Argue about cards till we are horse. We are an incredible community that encourages veteran gamers and noobs alike. Once people see that they will realize that such an awesome community is a big bonus for them to jump right in.” I do not want to say that the entire community believes these are the best, and only solutions. Just that they are suggestions and ideas that are borne to this community that loves the game you design and produce, and unlike the harsh tone you may find in the topic, this letter is a work of concern and love for your product. Thank you very much for the time, any time, you spend with this letter.

Respectfully yours,

-Guillaume “Hatman” Favreau

P.S. : If you wish to directly read the feedback on this matter, the forum discussion can be found at : http://new.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_foros_discusion.asp?efpag=0&efid=26&efcid=5&efidt=14086

While I do not expect any answer on this thread from FFG, the link has been included if you wish to peruse it.

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Sorry about the formatting error, I'll fix that when I send it.

I know i thought about quitting many times. More often than not its due to bad play experinces ranging from people being bad winners (They know who they are and i'm glad they quit) Or from the complete unbalanced of the game itself. But I try not to quit because I see the potential in this game, and i want it to return to its roots like it is promising. I meet chubbs briefly at Gen-con and he was nice guy little wild, but arent we all and its a shame he wants to quit. I hope later on down the road he gets back into the ring, maybe all he needs is a break.

Hatman go for it and if they don't listen or say some S**t like "oh the games going to be much better next year" without giving any details than i,m quitting by said next year and I nor my crew will never touch this game ever again I mean already half my crew went back into Yugioh and their the one's who got me into this game in the first place. Someone on the forums once said: " people need to stop complaining about stuff cause FFG staff don't read the forums" hit the nail on the head cause with STG the players put in the time and money out of their lives and funds to make this game work and look at what was givin in return: excuses and bulls**t excuses at that.

Well, at the very least on the banning front I would imagine that with someone who actually has a clue about power level now near the top of the ladder it is unlikely that we will see a continuation of the Dave Freeman trend where a majority of the cards were either stupidly powerful or generally useless. So, bans of cards printed from now on should be very rare and probably due to unforseen interactions. It is still possible - probably likely even - that at least one of Dave's later debacles (Rejection, Lord of the Makai, Blood Runs True, Olcadan's, Ways of Punisment, Battle Prowess) will get the hammer at some point, if not more. Feline Spike I imagine is more of an errata candidate (to let anti-multiple cards work on it) and would also be less necessary and/or harder to use should certain ones of the previous cards go. It may be unfortunate that they can't magically undo the mistakes past, but in getting James on board they have effectively done everything they can right now in terms of preventing future bans.

In general, I'm confused at how people seem to be convinced that the upcoming sets will be just as poorly balanced as the previous ones, when there is a new and clearly competent person in charge of such things now. There's no doubt that the damage from the last three sets and various other policy issues will need to dealt with for the game to be reasonably healthy, but the quality of future sets should not be a major issue. Not saying that James is going to be the best designer ever, but he can certainly tell a broken or useless card when he sees one. I'm very curious to see how this "every card in set 11 will be playable" promise is going to pan out...

On the vendors front, one thing they might be able to do if they do decide to sell to, say, Gamestop, is to see if they can have scouts/interested players post little flyers at or give some contact cards to the Gamestops/EBs in their area, for people who show an interest to get a hold of to show them the ropes and such.

Homme Chapeau said:

Hattman....I approve this message

As for all the replies, whether you agree or not, what matters is that you weighed in on the topic. I don't want Shane or Chubbs to quit. I don't want to hear that players that I want to play against are leaving for others games. I want UFS to be at , or rather, above M:TG and YGO. It can be done.

As cheesy as this sounds, this whole post should be considered a rally point. There are ideas that are on this thread that could change the current state of the game. Word of mouth can only do so much. FFG has to meet us halfway.

deathcrisits, I hope you reconsider the whole quitting thing. I am certain that we will get a reply soon enough.

Finally, I should state that in no way was I trying to be negative. With the realization that some of the coolest people I know, who helped our meta grow by always supporting us, It dawned on me after speaking to Chubbs that something has to be done. We are up against some tough competition and some of that competition is taking our gamers away. It sucks, but it is the bitter pill that needs to be swallowed. Shane himself has stated the situation in Hanover. Others in his postion have done the same.

Do you want this game to grow? I do.

Do the gamers want to see this game to grow? Judging by our replies, I can say so.

So what will be done?

Mt. Do asked in his last post - what is going to be done to see this game grow:

There are only a few things that I can do personally to help the game grow. But since I stated earlier that it's in our hands to help the game be as successful as it is, I figured I should put my money where my mouth is, and state what I'm going to do:

• Before I left for work this morning, I forwarded this thread off to Paul. From the AIM I got from James at about 1330 this afternoon, I get the feeling that the FFG offices are aware of this thread.
• As a Scout: Ensure that I book my tournaments on time each month, and ensure that my retailer is aware of what's going on, and that I do everything to ensure we get our prize support in a timely fashion.
• Help a player become a scout at a local shop where the other scout quit last month, and do what I can to help him through his baby steps of re-establishing the game at his shop.
• Work with the third shop in our town to get their scout to sign up to the new OP site, so they can get their events sanctioned, and start getting prize support again.
• Prepare to start planning for doing serious demos in Feb. so that we can have new players who are ready to buy into UFS and get started with Set 12 when it releases.

That's what I'm committing to do to help this game that I love.

What are you willing to do?

People will quit the game, and it is just a fact that the game isn't one of the "major contenders", so when a player quits or a playgroup dissolves, it hurts, but it happens.

The only thing I would like to comment on really is the theory behind selling UFS in the mass market.

Basically if you have been to walmart or target recently, you will notice the "card section" is terribly overpacked and full of junk. Sure they have the Yugioh, Magic pokemon and Naruto, but there also is baseball cards, football cards, neopets, star wars pocketmodel, pirates, some heroclix, Wrestling cards, Dragon Ball cards, not to mention probably a dozen other now-defunct games. Throwing UFS in there will do nothing but say "oh look a street fighter card game. must suck" and people will pass it up. There will be no focus and no promotion on the product in those places.

So sure, throw it in the mass market stores, but there would need to be a MASSIVE marketing campaign to bring awareness to the general gaming populace. The additional production of cards plus advertising would undoubtedly raise costs for everyone including the end gamer. This will drive more players than already buy exclusively online to purchasing from places like CSI, again not encouraging B&M stores to keep the game well-stocked.

One solution instead might be find out how the blazes a place like CSI can sell boxes of the newest sets for $42-$52 a box? Speaking from prior experience, boxes cost your local retailers (USD) $43-$50 a box. MSRP according to FFG is $83.76 a box. Anyone with even a remote sense of business knows that selling boxes for 1-7$ a box more than you paid is utter lunacy unless you are moving ridiculous amounts of product, or clearancing it out. So I would like to know if they are paying less than normal retailers are, and if so why they are being allowed to sell for these price.

These seem like unrelated statements to players leaving, but if we want the game to succeed, we need more retailer support. More game stores need to carry it to grow new playgroups. Big tourneys are nice and all for existing competitive players, but without new blood, the metagame will become stagnant.

I don't Pretend to have all the solutions, but the serious lack of general awareness by the gaming community hurts this game more than anything else.

Basically I think FFG are going to do whatever they can to make the game phenominal, and I hope we can support the game as much as possible.

Well, if you must know, the playgroup I am in is thriving. We have increased in size which is good. We have done what you have mentioned.

But what else can I do?

I am going to go to 1UP.com and try to talk to someone over there. I figure that there are a few Street Fighter fans there and who knows what will happen after that. Will FFG get questions about the game from EGM b/c of it? Who knows? But I am saying that action is needed and so here I go.

Now that's what I'm talking about, thank you my french compadre for emailing that to the FFG crew, if they don't want to read the furoms, that's fine, but they have to see this message and hopefully it brings some change.

There has been a lot of good ideas tossed back and forth through this thread. It is a great idea to post this topic and discuss this as well as make the FFG staff aware of these concerns.

Personally I agree a bit with both sides. Yes FFG does need to throw their support behind this game and step up the advertising and support. There is no question about that, and no one can say differently. I work in retail, in one of the most highly sucessfull companies in the US. The thing is...NOTHING that we sell is anything that anybody needs. Yet as a company, even through good times and bad times we flourish. FFG and specifically UFS is the same way. No one needs to play UFS to live day to day. People play because they enjoy it and without trying to reach out to your customers, both current and future, things will fall apart. It is honestly retail 101.

I do agree with Antigoth though. It is also partly falls on our shoulders as players. Word of mouth is some of the best advertising any product or company will ever get. When you are going through a game store and hear "Man I love this game" do you not stop and look over to see what they are playing? I know I do and I picked up UFS because a couple of people I met at a gaming store introduced me to it. Our playgroup has expanded the very same way. Guys would walk by and ask what the game was about and when we sat down and got them playing they quickly became a part of the group and now come to the weekly tournaments.

I am a little dissapointed about the lull in major tournaments between the end of August and February. A huge tournament is packed with so much fun. You meet all kinds of new people and everyone just has a good time. I would like to see more tournaments that are sponsored and supported by FFG to come along more often. Regionals is a great idea with also the other major tournaments as well that we have, but I do not think it should stop there.

I enjoy playing this game. I love thinking up new decks and playing with the guys in my store as well as everyone I've met. I am not at the point where I want to go grab a pitchfork and torch and start a linching mob after FFG staff. We know they have been brought aware of this thread through emails, letters, and convorsations on AIM and honestly thats all we can do right now. I truly hope as a company they will work to move this game along and have it grow.

On a personal note...Shane, Cubbs, Micky D, and Philly Cheese...Guys I had a great time playing with you. You guys were fun and a blast to play the game with. I hope that me and Mt. Do will be able to catch back up with you guys in PA play some games and hang out. I hate to see you guys go, but don't forget about us.

sir_shajir said:

I haven't e-mailed it YET.

I am, however, about to. I wanted to gauge reactions. Just fixing things here and there.

Jypsy, while I may have not agreed too much with you thread, you made an observation that most people may have not been paying close attention to. How is CSI selling UFS for that cheap? Of course I do belive that when STG was in charge that they never really bother to force the retailers to sell for market price. Of course I could be wrong and TBH, you can't tell retailers what price to sell you stuff. None the less, an explantion would be nice. Once again, good call.

I have an idea that has to do with tournaments in which gamers play decks from one gaming company. I have to poner it some more b/c while it might be a good idea, it needs alot of work.

I will post it later.

FFG is aware of these issues.

When James first started, I sent him a very similar email detailing the same marketing /advertising and OP suggestions that are contained in your message. I mainly pushed for mass-market retailing and more cross promotion including upcoming games and the new Street Fighter movie. I broke down what the target market for UFS consumers is, and where the most pressure should be applied. James's background is in marketing. He understands these issues and I'm sure he is considering them when he discusses the game with Paul and Steve. However, not all of the suggestions can be accomplished. There are feasibility issues here as well other walls to get through. Hopefully some will stick.

The transition period coupled with having a new designer has led to some setbacks, including the ldelay of set 11 and the lack of any significant OP programs at this time. Thankfully, both of these will be remedied soon. Set 11 will be out in a few weeks, and once it hits, I think many of us will be playing UFS like crazy again. Regionals are coming up soon, and the plan for 2009 is to have no down time - there will be year-round events.

So while I agree with many of the points raised in your email, just know that FFG most likely has already considered them.

Mt_Do said:

Not hard to figure out if you look at CSI's buisness and what makes sense. They can buy a box and sell it for a $1-10 profit and it makes sense. Selling it at that price gets traffic as a internet buisness you live and die off of traffic. Traffic can cause people to purchase things where the margin is much higher such as singles. Who cares if you make $6 on a box when a singular feline spike pulls in at least $20-30 all by itself.