I was just wondering if anyone had any idea as to when this SotG will be coming out or what might be addressed in it. I'm hoping they state what cards from blocks 1 and 2 will become block 3 legal, but that's probably just wishful thinking.

I'll assume we'll get it around next monday.

Ken_Masters said:

Don't hold your breath.

It was already said that we won't know what block 1 or 2 cards that will be reprinted so they are block 3 legal until a few months after block 3 has started (March). So you'll probably be waiting another 5-7 months.

J_Dub: why are they waiting until after block 3 is going to announce what cards can be used in block 3? It's not that I don't believe you I just don't understand the logic, or lack there of, as to why. I mean if people already have block 1 and 2 cards and FFG knows which ones are going to be usable in block 3 why not tell us before block 3 actually begins. That way some of the cards may either gain or retain there value. It just seems like the better choice to announce it before hand, but oh well.

they will probably just say "We are an awesome company, every card in set 11's usable, and the games going along great. see you in the arena!"

Ken_Masters said:

Ken,

There is one assumption you have made in the above quote that is erroneous.

That erroneous assumption is what's causing the entire logic problem.

Trane,

If you're going to post, can you actually contribute something to the conversation rather then just wasting bandwidth and server processing time?

unfortunetely antigoth, what i am saying is quite likely to be true.

Antigoth: Please enlighten me as to what erroneous assumption I'm making? Are you referring to the fact that I said FFG knows what cards will be watermarked from block 1 and 2 that can be used in block 3 already? That is indeed an assumption I am making, but one that I feel should be plausable since they already know what's coming in the upcoming sets for next year. (since they work sets in advance and what not)

I mean as blunt as Trane put it might seem harsh but more than likely he is right. FFG hasn't released anything on time since they got UFS (including SotG addresses) and don't really seem to be too worried about it. I mean when I look at some the other products they sell and how they support them the UFS support seems lacking. I'm not trying to start any negative FFG campain or anything just an observation.

I hope Trane and I are pleasently surprised but you can't help but feel that things are lacking somewhere on the management end. And it might be that they just don't have enough people working on UFS, because I know that the guys who are working on it are awesome and working very diligently. It might just be too much for them to do alone.

I guess I'll just wait and see what the SotG says whenever it does come out.

I doubt we will be getting any news to impact the game for this SOTG since FFG is so bucy with holiday sales and the release of set 11. So just have fun with family and friends and play some UFS when you can !!

sorry. i have a tendency toward bluntnese. i can remeber antigoth "trying to make me disapear" on the old site. no ofense ment by my statement. i have to agree with you ken_masters that ufs is not nearly as suported as other FFG games.

"FFG does not support UFS as much as it's other games"

• FFG currently supports over 50 different games. Only 7 of those have permanent buttons on the home page. One of those 7 is UFS.
• UFS is provided ongoing prize support where venues can get free prize support for each of their tournament. Which FFG is provided more support then that?
• UFS has its own line co-ordinator Paul Bromen. Not all FFG games have their own line coordinator.
• FFG has been offering playmats as additional prize support with their UFS pre-releases.
• FFG has developed an implemented a regionals system for UFS.

What are they doing for their other games that they're not doing for UFS?

Advertising? Putting up stuff on their new site that links to UFS besides having to dig through three pre dial up slow pages? Showing some form of initiative and actually releasing something on time?

Before you say I'm "wasting bandwith" and trolling.... You asked

B-Rad said:

B-Rad - I did ask, don't sweat it. I never took your response as "wasting bandwidth" or trolling. The forums are slow, they're also a work in progress. They're all written in .asp script, which means that each of the calls for the forum taxes the server. <Personal Opinion> I'm not sure if the people designing the forum understood the type of volume or load that would be placed on the server. I'm also not certain if there will be a new server in the future that will speed this up. </personal opinion> I know that this new forum is not completed, and is in fact a work in progress.

Re: Advertising... FFG is starting to advertise UFS in some industry publications. Hence word of set 12 starting to leak out.

Regarding releasing product on time. I understand how frustrating it can be. I also understand why there have been delays. At this point Set 11 has been shipped. So all they have to do is work to ensure that Set 12 hits in March when advertised.

Baby steps right?

Antigoth: Currently FFG has how many people on staff exclusively for UFS? (Paul, James, Steve, and another one or two: I believe) I'm just comparing that to the 10 or more employees that STG had for the exact same product, which at that point in time was debatably less popular (going off how turn outs at worlds has increased every year, almost doubled every year). To me that seems like the original acquisition from STG was done in a haste and unprepared manner, and then the sequential late releases of every single UFS product since they have owned it doesn't help. Like I said I greatly appreciate all that the current staff is doing (like working on the new website, new OP stuff, and the current promos) but it just feels like they may have bitten off more than they can chew. I am also optimistic about the future of UFS, but I'm not going to ingore the facts that are written all around.

I apologize for getting so off my original topic, but I do also greatly appreciate everyones input thus far and feel it's been very productive. This is yet again one of the things I love about this game. The great community of players who also genuinely care about this products success and future.

Ken_Masters said:

They don't announce what cards are block 3 legal, any card with a 4 point symbol are legal. There will be some block 1 and 2 cards that will be reprinted with the 4 point star, but until they are offically released (more then likely a few months into block 3) they won't be legal anyways. So sure they can say "hey we're reprinting these cards" but until those reprinted versions are released you won't be able to legally use the older versions in block 3 anyways. So it really doesn't matter if they tell us what cards are going to be reprinted until they come out. They usually never announce (if ever?) what promos are coming out in league kits, or really any promos for that matter. So I wouldn't expect any announcement ever, and don't expect to find out what cards are being reprinted until a month before they are released or not even until they are released and show up at the stores.

Ken_Masters said:

You've got the three correct. I'm not aware of anyone else who is specifically assigned to UFS within FFG.

STG upon it's closure had more people assigned to UFS, BUT! Keep in mind that GW had shaved STG to the point where the sole product they were creating was UFS. Yes they were distributing Talisman, but that was it.

So various people who were STG staff, who would normally work on other things had nothing other than UFS to work on. What most people are not aware of were the staffing cuts that were on going at STG. Also, from a design perspective - while Steve was around, it was Dave reporting to Eric, (Much as James reports to Steve now). That was all they had for development staff.

While it may not seem like it, FFG is a much better home in the long term for UFS. Yep... there sure are growing pains. But the product that is going to be rolling into 2009 will be much stronger long term then before.

I would love to see FFG advertizing for UFS in France

Couple of things...

I don't remember FFG ever stating that they will do a State of the Game anouncement on the first buisness day of every month. Even STG didn't manage to pull that off. But I don't remember FFG ever promising a SotG with any set regularity or time period in which it would come out. It is flat out ignorant to hold them to the fire for something they never said they would deliver with the schedule you're assuming they should.

Yes they try to work several sets in advance. As we've seen with recent events, sometimes the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry. Sometimes things we thought were set in stone, need to be gone back to and reworked. It is also not always prudent to anounce things ahead of time. If certain things are not getting re-printed right away, or if certain things are going to be reprinted slightly differently, anouncing what cards will be reprinted could cause more harm than good.

I also have to wonder where this idea of "STG had more staff devoted to the game so that made them more devoted to the game than FFG and FFG isn't properly supporting it" comes from. Anyone who has any idea of how to run a buisness, or how the buisness world works knows that simply having more staff does not nessicarily equate to better service. I've seen companies devote 15 people to a project where another company might devoted far less to a very similar project, and seen the 15 do a far worse job. Quantity does not equate to quality. That is not to say that the individuals working at STG did not do a phenomenal job, or that they weren't doing a quality job. Just because 10 > 3 does not mean that STG > FFG.

I just wish FFG could advertise in things like game stops and other video gaming magazines I think that would help the promotion of UFS. Before STG had reps to travel personally to stores to promote the game obviously now thats not an option so I hope soon some alternate advertising methods take place.

BlindProhet: I'm not sure what business school you study at, but having a third of the people to do the work that clearly took the full load is not an effective business model and directly reflects upon the management (since they do the hiring). Agreed Quantity doesn't mean Quality. The only reason I brought up the point is because with the lack of consistency that FFG has delivered thus far, one can't help but wonder if maybe they are under staffed. No business can be successful if the workload per employee is unobtainable.

It is not to speak in ignorance when you, as a consumer, expect a company to make public there plans and thoughts as to the direction of the product, because that's what the SotG is each month. Also since the SotG is something that Steve used to do and he is still here working on UFS at FFG it's only logical to expect an SotG every month, unless he has suddenly changed his views on the matter, which would seem odd since he's been incharge since the beginning. Agreed expecting it the first day of the month is a little much and that was not my intent thus why I waited and even then I wasn't demanding anything, but rather just asking the question to see if anyone knew and maybe I missed something. I'm sorry you clearly felt that I was attack FFG and that upset you, because that was not my intent I was only trying to see when or if the SotG for December had come out yet.

Scubadude: I agree that promotion in Gamestops or in GameInformer couldn't hurt and that it would be awesome to have reps like STG did to promote the came in all regions. Both could help out alot with the awareness factor of the game.

Senglon said:

i would love to see UFS advertised in america. unfortunetly neither of these seem like they will hapen in the near future.

Ken_Masters said:

The workload unobtainable? Did you read the last SOTG? The release was pushed back because of a PRINTING issue. It is not Steve's, Paul's, or James' fault...unless you want to blame them for trying to insure you had a quality product when you opened your packs. Personally I would rather have correctly printed cards then ones that are missing colors, or the art isnt centered.

They have been consistant. They want to make the game better all around and they have taken steps to work towards that goal. They hired James who not only was a very sucessful player who understands the game, but also someone who has a business degree to work for them. They made sure we did not receive a product that was below our expectations. Sure we all would like to see more as far as advertising and support, but it does not happen overnight. Deals have to be struck, contracts negotiated, financing, and much much more goes into advertising. It is just going to take a little time...

Scuba: I agree and those ideas would be awesome. Hopefully it works out cause I think it would be a huge help to supporting and growing this game.

it would still help to add a couple more people. maybe by new printers 2.

Ken_Masters said:

In response to paragraph 1:

I'm sorry, but I didn't realize that because it took one group 10 dedicated full time devoted people to get one product out, that it would take another group the exact same amount of people to do the job. Actualy that makes no sense. Just because there are 'only' 3 full time people we know about we don't know the number of people who devote part of their time to the game. Furthermore not everyone works at the same pace, or has the same ideas on how to complete things. New eyes typicaly come at things with fresh perspectives allowing possible improvements in efficiency. The motto at my job is "Work smart not hard".

Having worked in retail, and knowing quite a few people in retail I can relate all manner of annecdotal evidence to support this. Such as it taking someone days to check in a stack of guns that takes another only a handfull of hours to do the same amount with less mistakes. Too burdensome a workload to one group might not be the same with another group. To make an reference to UFS lets say you build a deck of 100 cards to kill and you think its as efficient as it can be and works alright. Is it impossible of me to come in with a 60 card deck and kill? No. More does not equal better.

In response to paragraph 2:

You're expecting things. Which is also called assumeing. There's a nice little cliche'd saying that goes along with assumeing. Secondly I don't believe, though I could be mistaken, that you were the only one in this thread asking about, or commenting on the fact that FFG has yet to release a SotG. Regardless nothing has changed as far as the game has gone since the past month. The set was delayed, and that was conveyed to us, they notified us about how that will affect next year. They deployed a new website and forums. They've communicated to us they're working on new tourney software, working on forum improvements, stablizing the site. From other posts elsewhere word has been spread that they're aware of certain things, they're working on organized play issues, advertising, and so on and so forth. Its not like they're not communicating to us. Honestly the state of the game is, "Please see November's state of the game and we'll talk after the next set is released." Because up untill then...nothing is going to change because there's nothing to induce change between now and then.

Just because they are not communicating in the manner that you want them to, on the schedule you desire, does not mean they are not communicating.