I was almost exclusively a dishonor player in my heart.

Yet I hated the solitaire of it. I am extremely happy for the change. However I will admit and agree that the 2 attacks are the same thing except one is blue and the other red.

In the L5R universe there are a lot of strong female characters Hida O Ushi, Bayushi Kachiko, Matsu Tsuko the list goes on. So why change the sex of Doji Hutori, he is one of my favourite characters and one of the reasons I got so interested in the Crane Clan. I was so excited to hear they had reset the story line, but VERY upset they changed this pivotal character. I cannot see the reason for doing this, totally gutted.

I actually like they way things are going. New changes stops the Crane/Scorpion infinite battle and fixes a bunch of other old design problems. No more gold screw, no more early loss snowball effect, and no more huge army stalemate.

1 minute ago, Kakita Onimaru said:

I actually like they way things are going. New changes stops the Crane/Scorpion infinite battle and fixes a bunch of other old design problems. No more gold screw, no more early loss snowball effect, and no more huge army stalemate.

It does almost feel like the launching point for the LCG was a meeting where the first thing said was "Ok, what are all of the worst problems of the CCG, and how can we make them non-existent?" For better or worse, many of the most drastic mechanics changes seem like things specifically designed to address common criticisms of the CCG.

I really like the way this is heading, for now.

On the whole, we have two decks, honor/dishonor/military, rings, provinces.

We dont have huge army stalemate, seems they addressed the snowballing and keyword madness. The fate mechanic seems interesting

I hope the cards in the end have more contrast because they do seem a bit bland. Also i hope they didnt streamline the conflict too much. We shall see. For now, it is good.

10 hours ago, Kikaze said:

its not about balance. just... whenever i explained crane to any new player, i said "they are the guys that never enter combat or interact with you. we basicaly just set up a clock, SWEAR that we are weak enough that you WILL easily break our provinces, also SWEAR that we will get to 40 honor, and just look who achieves his victory condition faster since we will avoid interaction". this "setting up a clock and delaying" defined the clan's playstyle in my book.

You explained to new players that you just sat there and masturbated against your opponent while he was trying to interact with you? That sounds like AWESOME fun!

The way the game seems to be going is that there will never be a tug-o-war between honor and dishonor decks if you are both crushing provinces as well. Somebody is going down within the allotted time frame, imo. That, to me, is a great thing to have in the game!! No more watching two players masturbate while time is being called.

I really like what I've seen about the honor and conflict systems. Having honor tied to card draw seems not only thematic (the more sneaky tricks you employ the more honor you sacrifice), but will also offer some tense late game choices as honor scores creep towards victory or defeat and strongholds are in danger of being broken.

Honestly I'm thrilled.

But I was more of a Daidoji guy anyway.

Regarding the story, it's really motivating when you're playing from behind. Don't worry filthy scorpions, we are coming to get you (Kachiko is mighty fine tho).

5 hours ago, Sparks Duh said:

You explained to new players that you just sat there and masturbated against your opponent while he was trying to interact with you? That sounds like AWESOME fun!

The way the game seems to be going is that there will never be a tug-o-war between honor and dishonor decks if you are both crushing provinces as well. Somebody is going down within the allotted time frame, imo. That, to me, is a great thing to have in the game!! No more watching two players masturbate while time is being called.

I once, at a tournament back during the Jade storyline, watched my friend playing Ninja honor(yeah) against Phoenix military. It was one of the most pathetic displays I've ever seen. The Ninja player had an overwhelming force of personalities, and the Phoenix player had over 30 honor and a card that could get him honor every turn. Either one could have won if they'd just considered an alternate victory condition, but they did not and time ended up being called. It was so hard not to scream at my friend "Just jump him!"

I think the idea of there being a "political" military victory will make both honor and dishonor decks run a lot more smoothly. This gives them an obvious win condition when you get into the awkward combinations of honor and dishonor games. I think this shows a lot of promise to have a way for what were traditionally a "non-military" decks to actually play the game in an interactive way. However, we will have to see if there is still going to be some form of out of battle control or not.

As a Scorpion player, I feel that the new politics are just another combat. It will work mechanicaly, maybe very well, but it doesn't feel politics anymore. If only some rings, the most honor related one, were politics exclusive, it would feel a little better. At least they kept dishonor as a win/lose condition, and that's what I was the most worried about.

Anyway I'm eager to try the game!

12 hours ago, TechnoGolem said:

wonder if the base stats will top out at 3. These values seem a little on the low side to me.

The province cards show stats ranging from 2 to 4, so I guess character stats will suffice, and encourage players to engage in combat from turn 1 (also for the ring effects).

17 hours ago, Kikaze said:

ok, first of all: there is ZERO reason to assume the clan will be underpowered. we have seen so little. so anyone that says "they ruined the crane clan" i'll consider just a rant post.

however...

one trend that is obvious is, the whole thing of "i play in action phase and always avoid interaction in combat" will go. political actions will be a form of conflict. how do you feel about that?

personaly i believe it is good from a balance standpoint, but for me it just wont feel different/unique enough, its just military fight using political power and cards. with attackers, defenders, and province and battle resolution as normal. it feels too vanilla and non-unique, i dont think i'll enjoy(subjective) playing political decks for that reason.

what are some other people's opinions?

while political attacks will be similar to military ones, they won't be the same. I'm sure there will be specific political conflict actions.

Think Melee and Range attacks - similar but mechanically distinct

1 hour ago, Barbacuo said:

As a Scorpion player, I feel that the new politics are just another combat. It will work mechanicaly, maybe very well, but it doesn't feel politics anymore. If only some rings, the most honor related one, were politics exclusive, it would feel a little better. At least they kept dishonor as a win/lose condition, and that's what I was the most worried about.

Anyway I'm eager to try the game!

The province cards show stats ranging from 2 to 4, so I guess character stats will suffice, and encourage players to engage in combat from turn 1 (also for the ring effects).

Ring of Air gains honor, Ring of Fire dishonors a personality,

I'm wondering who else is going to field political decks. There needs to be someone beside Crane and Scorpion, ideally two factions, but who is there? Phoenix and Unicorn?

Given the ability on the Phoenix Province and the description of them, I think Phoenix will be a Switch-style deck: Politic at the Military types and Military at the Political types.

I could imagine a Crab Yasuki-based Politics deck.

1 minute ago, SirEuain said:

I'm wondering who else is going to field political decks. There needs to be someone beside Crane and Scorpion, ideally two factions, but who is there? Phoenix and Unicorn?

Dragons seems to be a mix of the 2, so I guess they will be able to build a 100% political deck after a few dynasty packs (especially if they use an influence system à la ANR).

I believe Crab might get some political stuff (Yasuki). I was surprised that the Border Defender had such a high political skill. I am extrapolating off that.

Everyone can play political decks. You have one military and one political conflict every turn, just build your deck to prefer characters with political strength.

15 minutes ago, Mirith said:

I believe Crab might get some political stuff (Yasuki). I was surprised that the Border Defender had such a high political skill. I am extrapolating off that.

Yasuki is still a Crane family in the pre-coup era.

17 minutes ago, Iuchi Toshimo said:

Yasuki is still a Crane family in the pre-coup era.

No, not at all. Yasuki were a Crab family from 387 - 1157.

Dueling rules were revealed in the Reddit AMA

Dueling involves a challenge between two characters based on those character's stats (military or political). Each player will make a bid on their honor dial to add to their participant's stat. This works just like the bid in the draw phase: the higher bidder gives honor equal to the difference to the lower bidder. The character with the higher total stat at the end wins, with consequences determined by the card that started the duel. -ED

Makes for some interesting situations where losing a duel might be better for honor/dishonor decks

Political Conflicts make sense. I'm ok with it.

1 hour ago, Iuchi Toshimo said:

Yasuki is still a Crane family in the pre-coup era.

The Yasuki became a Crane family during the Gold arc when Daidoji Hachi was unexpectedly found to be the heir to the family. Before that it was firmly Crab (have defected long ago from the Crane).

As a long time Crane player, I am pretty excited and looking forward to a more proactive play style!

10 hours ago, Jedi samurai said:

Ring of Air gains honor, Ring of Fire dishonors or honors a personality character,

Fixed for ya!