I really wonder how long some folk will wait for the new product.

The sooner we have it the better.

A two year wait is a pain, but making "significant mechanical changes" takes time and I don't think any of us want a rushed release. If they're going to be mucking around around with the game we know and love I'm glad they're at least taking the time to muck around carefully.

The game will be incompatible with the CCG. I suspect significant changes that will redesign it so it is different enough that it will take a solid 12+ months of design and playesting. We have 22 months to go and I want a quality product. Now, go try FFG's other products in the mean time...

redesign plus they would probably use the following year to kill Chtullu properly. AEG also want to release a last set and a last RPG book so the 2 years is probably to give them time to wrap it all.

Yeah, the sale isn't an immediate change over. And it is a decent timeline for the production of a game. Keep in mind, FFG generally doesn't announce what games they are making at a given time.

redesign plus they would probably use the following year to kill Chtullu properly. AEG also want to release a last set and a last RPG book so the 2 years is probably to give them time to wrap it all.

Well, Evil Portents is the last set and Atlas is the last RPG book (due out this month). So, AEG is almost done with the change over.

Any sort of complete overhaul to mechanics/distribution wouldn't really work well without a hiatus. You need it to provide that "separation" between the old product and the new, so that the new product can be judged on its own merits rather than just as a comparison. That said, most people understand the hiatus in a sale to another company, whereas if AEG did it themselves but put the game on hiatus there would be riot and hysteria.

That said, it's my lowly opinion that we'll likely see demos of whatever FFG cooks up at Gen Con 2016. It's a golden opportunity to solicit player feedback and shape the game. Star Wars LCG demoed very early at Gen Con, when it was still being developed as a cooperative LCG a la Lord of the Rings. Based in part on player feedback, they opted after that to switch the model to a competitive one.

So while it's gonna be a while before we hold the product in our grubby little hands, it might not be nearly as long before we get our first sneak peek.

The lengthy hiatus is the biggest negative of the change in ownership. But I would not want FFG to try a launch of the brand new L5R after only maybe six months of development and playtesting.

2017 just seems like a 'safe' date for FFG rather than anything substantive. If everything goes well we might even seen something appear earlier. With the last few sets from AEG still to come the wait won't seem that bad.

After all, I'm still waiting on wave 2 for Star Wars Armada!

2017 just seems like a 'safe' date for FFG rather than anything substantive. If everything goes well we might even seen something appear earlier.

I doubt if we'll see a major new FFG game release somewhere other than GenCon, and GenCon 2016 would be...ambitious.

I'm sure we'll see information start to filter out well before then, though.

Me no want rushed product. Two years, safe bet. Give them time to work out the kinks they make with mechanical changes.

I mean, some people can't even get a house finalized in less then a few months. This is significantly more.

I disagree. The Sooner we have the product the highger is the chance it is not as good as it could have become. I rather wait for 2 years and get a high quality ´product with good mechanics and solid rules than to get the product in 1 year or less and get a game which is as finished as Gothic 3 was when it was launched.

A good game takes time and impatience is something which killed the most Game labs be it for Video Gaming or traditonal ones.

So beeing patient will pay of more than getting fast results.

I am with the crowd that will gladly wait for a good game, and do not want a rushed one.

Yep. Far better to wait and I am happy to do so.

A terrible relaunch will kill the game. An amazing relaunch could give it another decade - or longer. I would much rather have an amazing box in my hands that I can use to show everyone how amazing L5R is than a box that hits the bin after gathering dust for two months.

I just want them to get it right. I'm ancy about the time, but more because a lot can happen in two years.

I am with the crowd that will gladly wait for a good game, and do not want a rushed one.

"Gladly" is a bit of a stretch... however, I think many people will be willing to wait (and those who do not are being a little unrealistic).

Also, after years of <ahem> "mis-steps" by AEG... a high quality product at (re)launch is very important.

Thaddok

I'm willing to wait the two years and see what happens. My 4e books should do just fine in the meantime.

Better not to rush things.

I'm amazed we're getting it so SOON.The sale goes down in September of 2015 and we're gonna have the redesigned game in our grubby little claws by summer of 2017? That's INSANE.

I'm amazed we're getting it so SOON.The sale goes down in September of 2015 and we're gonna have the redesigned game in our grubby little claws by summer of 2017? That's INSANE.

Unless FFG already had plans on how they would (re)design L5R... before they bought it.

As the saying goes, you can only have 2 of good, fast, or cheap. With an LCG you already have cheap locked in, so would you rather have good or fast? I know which one I'd prefer. Then again sometimes AEG didn't deliver on even one of the three. It sucks to not have new L5R for a while. Then again, we have no idea how it's going to shake out with what the AEG design team already had pretty much in the can. It's entirely possibly there will still be some material released to at least stave off card starvation. At this point I think Blackest Storm has to be done because it should be off to the printer soon if it were to actually come out. And we've heard on Facebook that Onyx is basically done save some polishing and editing. Might just have to make it last, and hope we actually see it.

I have to imagine there were some early concept documents drawn up as part of the business plan to buy the property from AEG. A little less than 2 years seems about right.

I haven't bought L5R product in a long time. The news of the sale of the L5R brand came as a shock, but then I saw that the plan was to transform it into a LCG. This would make the game affordable to me. I've gone this long without being able to play a game I enjoyed, I think I can make it until 2017.

Also, assuming the Fall kotei season continues as planned, it will end up being less than 2 years between the two products.

We've been actually in discussion on what we should do currently with the card game mechanics in terms of accepted play sets.

So far for our local play group we're leaning towards Gates set to present for the next year and a half so we can keep the new players we have interested as they will still be able to play most of their cards they had from the last set and we will still keep the current ban list active.

Makes me also wonder what other play groups and local shops have decided to do in their areas.

We're still waiting to see how the current set will be released before we finalize any decisions.

Hopefully AEG shared the changes they were going to do for there LCG before the sale. With those maybe it can speed up the process. But since FFG came to AEG in the first place I think they already have plans on how they want the game to become.