With the new system, its true. I can get triplicate copies for half the cost as before.

Downsides:

I don't get more than three copies of some cards, which allowed me to make multiple decks using that one card.
Can't trade off extra 'commons' to people just getting in to the game (without deliberately buying extras).
Can't purchase just one for the cheaper price of 10 dollars because I really only wanted the 'common' cards and one copy of one of the rares.
Higher price to buy just one of every card in the game. (Now minimal monthly purchases are 15 dollars and not 10).

Upsides:

Pretty much everything FFG front man already mentioned.

Your thoughts?

I just don't see any downsides. It is a great move. As for wanting more than 3 copies of a card, just use proxies and then sub them from one deck to another when needed. I don't believe that would be difficult if you know your decks.

Great idea, and if you want more than 3, just need to buy another pack. I am currently buying 2 packs a month and then trading for the occasional 3rd card. I still might buy two of each or just switch to one

Will we be able to purchase copies of the rare cards from the core warhammer invasion set then?

For those who havenet sen the news item, and for simple reference purpose in the furure when the news item has left the front page:

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp

As a person who was waitng for FFG to get their collation straightened out before I buy into their LCG's, I think this is a much needed and intelliegent move not only for the consumers but for FFG as well. Its the most logical step that could be taken. While each pack price does increase to $15, in order to get the exact same contents (with numerous duplicates that are frankly a waste of paper due to lack of use) one must spend $30. I see no drawbacks here.

In order for me to purchase all the cards in triplicate for two players (I buy for my spouse) it would cost me $60 a month for each release and then I would have a ton of cards left over that have no use. This way I get exactly 3 copies of each card for a better price and ensures that I will continue being a loyal customer of their LCG format. Before this announcement, I was weighing the pros and cons heavily. I simply could not afford the $1200 it would cost in order to make sure two players have an equal playing field to play the Call of Cthulhu LCG.

I say bully to FFG for this. They listened to the feedback to ensure their products are well represented, and ensure their customers are happy.

There is absolutely no downside to this. None whatsoever.

I will also further say that I will not be buying onto the LCG formats until all packs are done in this fashion through reprints.

I realize that FFG simply cannot recall their current production runs as that is financial suicide. But once a production run is out of print and it is time to reprint, it should be reprinted in the new triplicate format with the commensurate price increase to $15.

Because this is the price breakdown to collect triplicate copies of each core, expansion and asylum pack for two people to play Call of Cthulhu LCG:

6 Core sets = $240
3 Expansion sets = $75
6 asylum packs each = $60 x 15 different asylum packs = $900

For a total of over $1200...

Once this change occurs I will be quite happy to jump on board.

(The expansions arent so bad IF you are buying for 2 players, because 3 expansions work out perfect, but the core sets have got to change to triplicate format even if the cost goes up to $80+. I simply cannot abide wasting that much paper to hold so few cards for retail packaging. Call me a hippy if you will, but thats a flagrant misuse of resources right there)

Hellfury said:

Completely agree with your point about invasion. Its so new that it wont be too affected by the funky earlier collation presented to the LCG format.

My point was solely directed at CoC and GoT (Especially GoT as that LCG has quite a few game packs for it. There is now way in hades I would buy into that game for two players at the current price it would take, and that price make the current CoC price tag pale in comparison.)

FFG has now made 'Gamer OCD' a much easier disorder to deal with...

I think this is a mostly good change. This is move will actually cost me more money since I only buy one battle pack per release. It does address my one concern however that with so many 1-of copies if there is a situation where I am looking for a certain card I don't run into the fact that it can be like searching for a needle in a haystack. It still seems a little weird getting 3 copies of a hero but I'm glad there will no longer be an issue where some great utility cards got delegated to a 1-of slot.

Unfortunately now that new cards will always be 3-ofs I do actually feel like I now have an incomplete set of cards since 1-of cards will be a thing of the past. This leaves me a little sore since there will be no cheap way for me to really remedy the problem. I would love to see an online only set that brought all of the core cards and corruption cycle up to a complete set but their is no way that it could really be a profitable move for FFG. I am sure this will be less of a problem as the format changes and more top tier cards are printed though.

Overall I think it is a good change but I feel like it is going to discourage me from playing more than one or two LCGs due to the increase price. I was thinking of picking up AGoT but I might just have to wait for a 40k living card game (DO IT) instead as $30 a month would be the most I would be comfortable spending on LCG expansions a month. At the same time I realize this was not a change made for players like me so I understand how for the most hardcore players this actually will allow them to take up other LCGs as well without having to alter their budget. For users like this it really is a great deal. For new or casual players it is an increased upkeep and might keep some players from exploring expansions beyond the core set. I know for me $10 is my sweet spot for impulse buys without putting too much thought into it first.

I totally love new format!!! And new distribution policy

I must say, i love the new change. Happy new year to u all.

Yeah actually I thought that perhaps the 15 dollar min and max gave me less control over how much I buy. That the 5 extra dollars might throw me over the impulse-buy barrier...

I'm thinking about it now and telling myself "OH just buy the thing! Don't biggy size your fast food combos three times and you've now saved the five dollars!!!" and it makes sense... however, if I have to think about something and aren't automatically inclined to do it, the impulse buy nature isn't natural.

I still intend to buy 1 or every warhammer invasion now. The impulse buy of some CoC at times has ... well IDK... I still feel inclined to maybe buy one or two here and there... hmm...

I think there definitely are some valid downsides to the points discussed, and I'd like to add my own two cents

For impulse buys obviously lower is better and $10 is a pretty good sweet spot. However, the whole thing about LCG's is that, especially with this new release scheme, it doesn't need to be an impulse buy anymore. I would think this more akin to an MMO subscription. It's the same price for the majority of the major ones, and I think because the releases are monthly, people can plan for it just like they would an MMO. It's hard not to relate card game with impulse buy, but there's really no need for it to be impulsive with this format.

Vermillian, I can understand what you're saying about giving common cards to new players, but I think that's less of a concern with this format. There are no CCG's that I can think of where you could buy the core set and a quarter's worth of product for $85 ($40 core plus $15 month with new format). That's a very low barrier for entry compared to most CCG's. Also, that price would be for a color or a faction, etc. This is for a (except for the core set) complete playset. In fact, if I were just inclined to play order and my friend destruction, it seems that the cost for both of us would be $42.50 since the cards are easy to split.

I am the kind of person who wants every deck building option available. I really enjoy building decks and playing different styles to see how they work, so I can't express how much this announcement excites me! I was just keeping up with Invasion, but now for the same price I can keep up with Invasion and AGoT. Martells, here I come.

yep, me too, im glad its changed to the new format and will happily pay the extra, for us its cheaper by far in the long run

It is probably eliminating the trade aspect, but i think it os ok.

Bravo FFG. Love the LCG format, but was still having issues with this. I'd love to see a supplemental set that was available to bring my CoC core set and first couple of cycles and asylum packs up to snuff. But I know it is hard when that would also torque off the people who have bought in triplicate so far...

Very happy about what this means for the future of this game.

I really don't see a downside. If you want to use a certain card in multiple decks, buy another AP (or whatever they call them for the other games, I play the Cthulhu LCG). 2 APs will get you 6 copies of each card for $30, while for the same price for the old APs you'd get 9 copies of commons, and 3 copies of the rare.

This ends up being way cheaper for me. I only have 3 copies of 2 of the APs, 2 copies of 2 or 3 others, and 1 of the rest.

For those of you who want to wait until the next cycle starts, remember, at least as far as the Cthulhu game goes, there are some great cards already printed that are going to OWN you in a tournament.

I coudn't see a downside to this decision, in my opinion is a great decission. Expansions will become available easier to everyone than now and this is great for game and for players!!

sepayne7l said:

Tournaments? Where?

Even if I did have some locally, thats not the reason I play. If I wanted CCG tourneys, I would play that popular OTHER ccg.

I was thinking and this announcement really makes me think that mystery box #3 on the main page (the smallest blacked out box with a ?, and yet to be filled it) will be a new LCG....

Hellfury said:

I was talking about the adventure league type tournaments. We're hoping to set one up locally. Casual stuff with folks that just love the game.

I agree, I am not interested in tourneys similar to THAT ccg.

Lars said:

I hope you are right.

Lars said:

where have you see it?

(sorry for my poor english)

here

its in the box with the two other new games (runewars and Horus Heresy) with the text "The Answers are Coming...Winter 09/10)

Alright, I'm going to give the downside to this format. IT is a small one, and easily dealt with. But this is a downside that the community needs to address:

Retailers may be less inclined to carry these games.

I'm not saying this to be negative. I myself am a retailer, and an early adopter of the LCG format. And they have been successful for us, and I've run OP for all three games lines Warhammer being perhaps the most successful, but I won't digress from my topic. But there are still many stores that have not carried, nor at present plan to carry the LCGs. The biggest reason is that they don't understand how these games work in their stores. They seem to want to treat them as regular ccgs, which have a larger turn-over rate. Ccgs players will $20 just for random boosters. Serious players will buy multiple boxes of a new expansion, meaning $100s in sales on the front end. You don't get that with the LCG model, and now instead of a possible $30 from players, it'll be $15 per month.

This is entirely the wrong approach for these games. When FFG came out with the initial LCG format, they compared it to board games which is very true. The Core sets are like buying the base game, and the monthly packs are expansions. LCGs cannot be treated the same way as CCGs, and it takes a different mindset in how to handle them, sell them and promote them. Buy treating the product as though it were a board game with expansions, it puts the game into a perspective and sales niche that the store owner can relate to. So it takes a different approach to sell these games, but one that is based on an existing model, that needs to be modified slightly. After all, very few stores have Organized Play for Arkham Horror or Battlestar Galatica or Descent, but the LCG wants to follow regular ccgs with their type of OP which again needs to be modified.

I know quite a few game store owners. About half of them don't carry the LCGs. And I always look for them when I travel, and try to push them to other stores. If you have a local store, work with them to carry the products. Some but not all, for some reason will be willing to order you the product, and if they see the game selling for them, or being played in their gaming area (if they have one), will be inclined to continue ordering it. Again, unlike ccgs which can survive with large online sales, the LCG format is going to succeed more at the local, game store level. It is designed that way. And as the brand grows, so too will its presence in gaming stores. As us players become more selective in our gaming purchases, LCGs become a very efficient model for what I used to spend on Game of Thrones I can now spend on monthly Thrones and Warhammer, and the occasional Call of Cthulhu pack. And with this change, it will be even cheaper. For $45 I can stay current on all three games, and believe me I can blow $15 a week pretty easily, I'd much rather buy a card game. And depending on what newer games FFG releases, I may even give some of them a try.