It's official that FFG is closing the WFRP 2nd edition forum.

Although my stance here in the community has always been clearly in favor of the new 3rd edition, I can't help but feel saddened by the news.

I played 2nd edition a lot, and even though my participation on that forum was lacking in the past year or so, I always liked to go lurk about and see what kinds of fan art, story ideas and house rules that community came up with. It is a pity that it will all be deleted.

I also wonder if the bitterness that some 2nd edition players feel for the 3rd edition (and it's community) will intensify. Will they all pack up leave and join a forum community elsewhere (eg.: Strike to Stun)? I know that some will probably stay for the Rogue Trader and/or Dark Heresy forums, but still... I sense a lot of discontent.

How do you all feel about the deletion of the 2nd edition forum?

Still playing 2nd ed., there's just too much good material to leave behind and still have the majority to get hold of! I dunno, WHFRP 2, WFRP 3, Dark Heresy, Rogue Trader and that's just my responsibility in my group. Who says RPGs don't make money?

Bad idea.

It's a real slap in the face to the fans of 2e, and I imagine this might tip several people who were on the fence about 3e back away from switching.

I loved 2e, heck I loved 1e, and I'm already switching to 3e (from now on I'll just refer to it as WFRP). But seriously, how much does it cost to maintain a forum? Wouldn't remaining 2e stock and PDF sales more than cover it?

Business decision of course, but if it's pushed by the thought that more people will run out and buy WFRP without 2e forums to otherwise confuse them, then bad call.

Definately in bad taste.

Warning - the above text contains opinions that come from the gut of a single fan. If the above words cause you consternation, stress, mild headaches, or hair loss, you should immediately log off the web, turn off your computer, go outside, and get a life.

Not intended for use by small children.

May I use that disclaimer of yours in my signature?

It might save me some future grief.

Eh. I've been expecting them to do it for a while- Strike To Stun has usually been more useful anyway

I think it's a bad idea too.

What they should do is integrate the two forums. Certainly it would be 3e-centric as FFG is in the business of selling the product they're responsible for creating. However, there's too many 2e resources that are going to be vital for filling gaps in the 'fiction' until 3e supplements can be released. Those that have fully embraced 3e can certainly use and share campaign ideas with our 2e brethren - the fiction is fully compatible.

There's room in the 3e forum to include 2e ideas, thoughts, opinions and whatnot. Rethink this FFG, and bring the groups together...don't wedge us apart.

I don't see how it should make much difference. After all, it still says Warhammer at the top, doesn't it? All it means is that there is just one forum- we can talk about 2nd edition stuff on it if we want to, FFG barely seem to make a show here anyway.

I suspect the availability of the 2e books in pdf to also disappear once nWFRP is on store shelves. They want people that want to play WFRP to buy the new game. Since FFG also hopes to attract a lot of new fans with the new game, it makes sense that they wouldn't want to confuse newcomers by presenting them with two WFRP forums when they come to the site, one of which is for a game that is no longer in print or supported. What does FFG gain by continuing to maintain the 2e forums? Goodwill from the people who aren't purchasing/supporting the new game and in many cases bad-mouthing it? Also, there is nothing preventing fans/players of 2e from posting in the WFRP forums, but since the emphasis should be on the new game, a separate forum for 2e is counter-productive.

Necrozius said:

Go for it - it was my signature line on another forum. Which is also dead. . . sigh.

phobiandarkmoon said:

Yep, StS is a venerable Warhammer site. It's been around for as long as I can remember. Not danger of it shutting down anytime soon.

Server Goddess is a great mod and I'm sure she will welcome any refugees.

While I am moving to playing 3e, I think FFG should take a bit more time to keep the v2 forums up. Granted, v2 isn't "supported" once 3e comes out, but I don't see it as a big deal to leave the forums up for people to discuss. It doesn't take much bandwidth or maintenance to keep a sub-forum open. I think they should keep them going for a few months at least before closing them down. My opinion, anyway.

Disappointing but expected given FFG's past actions.

I'm going to say this and I want no one to take offense by it nor do I want anyone to think I actually took it from any source from FFG themselves, just conjecture:

First off FFG sells a new product. They're still willing to support it by the PDF'S, but they do need to focus on their new business model, so I can completely understand the business model...though I don't personally agree with it. I feel like they should have given it a year or so. However, for LOTR by GW, soon as WOTR came out LOTR was simply scooped, edited and changed into a WOTR product, so it's not the first time I've seen this model. When GW is done with things, the old is destroyed. They don't like what they used to be laying around (anyone familiar with the squats will understand this). If GW (as some rumors suggest) did push FFG to make a fresh, innovative game experience I can easily see them also saying, well now that we have the definitive RPG, get rid of the old in every way possible. It is kind of their MO, to bury what was good and not so good about their genre.

But here's the part where some people might be bothered, the thing about second edition and third edition forums being so close is second edition fans are brand loyal and just lost their brand. Totally makes sense why they're pissed off and to see the new version always above there site on a mass forum list has to hank them off a little. Angry 2e fans do in from time to time to complain about the change. That is not always the case (as their are other complainers, myself included about some of the new rules), but I can see where they want the 3e boards to run smoothly, focused on healthy dialogues about 3e (not necessarily in praise of 3e because I see a general level of criticisms floating around by the fans too) without direct attacks from angry fans. It's like trying to talk apple computers with Microsoft guys. Microsoft guys hate Apple, Apple guys hate Microsoft. There is no forum to discuss Microsoft at Apple and vice-versa I'm sure. As a matter of a fact, if it comes up, most of the time, it'll be a back handed insult against the competitor product.

If Strike to Stun really is 2e focused (never been there) I'm sure if info about 3e is posted up it's going to get cut down pretty quickly. Just like if you talk about Warhammer in a Warmachine group, you get cut down. Which is fine, it just breeds descent and focus to a forum. So maybe by severing the ties to the 2e fan base (besides providing all their products in PDF - which is huge and they still didn't have to do that) it will help them clean up these forums from some relentless attacks against it that sometimes don't come off as constructive dialogue, instead seem like they're intended to derail and be deconstructive about the game itself. It's just a thought and again, I'm in no way pointing fingers, but I can see the logic.

commoner said:

Actually, there IS a 3rd edition forum on Strike-to-Stun. And a 1st edition one.

The Admin of that site has stated that she wants to support WFRP - all editions. She herself may not be a fan of 3rd edition, but because it IS WFRP, she has a place for it.

commoner said:

Strike-to-Stun has forums for WFRP1, WFRP2 and WFRP3, as well as forums for General Warhammer Discussion and Roleplaying . Members commonly post to all of them.

There are also forums for W.A.R., WFB, Mordheim, and WH40K:DH, as well as others.

Strike-to-Stun is focused on WFRP, and its fans.

Cheers

Sparrow

NezziR said:

Unless GW Legal sends a Cease & Desist order to her.

crimsontree said:

That... would suck. But I don't see that happening. I mean, it's been running this long.

I guess the cease and desist order would be dependant on whatever free speach rights are available in the Strike-to-Stun's hosting country. Thoguh it may not stop them trying.

It's really bad but as long as sites like strike to stun are around it's not a great loss. Anyway the motivation of FFG looks like it want's to make money on it's own version of the game, be it good or bad. So it is not a surprise...

But the decent thing to do would after this would be to make the PDFs of 2nd ed free downloads.

And after all I think Jay owes us a session demo video

crimsontree said:

Lets not tempt fate, losing STS after the annoucement of the end of WS and the new edition would be the last straw

Armrek said:

I cant see them doing this as they will likely be lynched by those people that have paid for the PDFs already.

Loswaith said:

Plus, for those books that are high on fluff and low on rules, they wouldn't be able to sell us the same stuff again - so it'd be a bad marketing call

phobiandarkmoon said:

Unless the fluff was as dire as the stuff in Realms of Sorcery

commoner said:

You have no idea what you are speaking about, dont you? Advice for the future: Educate yourself and take a look at the sts forum before posting nonsense. FYI STS has a 3rd edition subforum.

Loswaith said:

Well; as Server Godess and myself are coming from the same little nation I would say we have quite extensive free speach rights here, so no worry.