7 hours ago, Suzume Tomonori said:

Am I really getting grief over having different purchashing habits than other people?

I apologize if I've offended you guys somehow, but I am honestly surprised at getting hostility about being undecided about how many cores I want.

Im reminded of Netrunner core set where card counts varied from 1-3 copies in the box and you only needed 3 copies for some very specific cards (the criminal hardware was the only reason I would have invested in a 3rd copy at the time, so $40 for one card is a bit rough).

I think the modern LCG boxing formula is 1x Faction cards, 2+ x Neutrals. However, if you get 1xProvinces, Strongholds, and Clan Champs with 2x everything else, I can see only wanting 2 copies. I doubt that will be the formula, since I don't think the math on the product info means 1x everything, but I understand the concept of not wanting to overbuy.

14 hours ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

If they don't, whichever clan is previewed last will be nicknamed "the Shaft Clan."

14 hours ago, Yandia said:

I would say whichever clan has everything wrapped up in one week instead of two is the shaft clan.

How about we compromise? The Unicorn Clan will go last and have one week of articles instead of two, but we'll throw in another one-week delay so that both articles come out after Gen Con.

2 hours ago, Ide Yoshiya said:

An excellent point. I confess I'm a bit anxious to learn what the Unicorn Clan is going to be like in the game. Seeing a new version of L5R built from scratch with no cavalry placement step means that for the first time, the Unicorn can be costed as efficiently as other clans' characters. That has me pumped.

What has me hesitant is their stated unwillingness to discuss their plans for multiplayer, and as strange as it may sound (since I realize multiplayer is not for everyone and 1v1 will always be the default for competitive CCGs), not having a general idea what it's going to look like beyond a fair conjecture that it will happen given their response, is keeping me a fair distance away from investment in the game. A sufficient distance, anyway, that needing to know everything about it is not a present concern for me.

The story, however, I will follow regardless of whether or how heavily I buy into the LCG, so I like that they are unrolling both gameplay previews and short stories in equal measure.

I've always viewed multiplayer as a fun non-competitive way of playing when you have a bunch of friends and just don't feel like playing the 1v1 at the moment. That said, I do find it odd that they've intentionally not answered questions about it. Presumably, they will unveil it at some point. One wonders when they will do that, especially since they're already behind in terms of the two article types that they are currently running out to the community.

I love the story of the game. It's what kept me playing L5R even when my clan was unable to muster a competitive deck that I enjoyed playing. But when I did eventually leave the game, I left the fiction behind as well. It just becomes more difficult to stay invested in the story when you're not involved in it. At least it was for me. That's why I am more interested in cards right now.

Once I become invested in the game and get my cards and begin playing, the fiction will become exponentially more important. But, for now, I just want to confirm that I want to play this game right now haha. Because, to be honest, I enjoyed the Crane clan preview, but I doubt I'd ever want to play that clan.

I'm very interested in Lion, Crab and Phoenix, which is why I was so disappointed that they moved the fiction to this week. This week I should be learning about the Lion's card pool but, instead, I have to wait an additional week for that :(.

3 minutes ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

I've always viewed multiplayer as a fun non-competitive way of playing when you have a bunch of friends and just don't feel like playing the 1v1 at the moment. That said, I do find it odd that they've intentionally not answered questions about it. Presumably, they will unveil it at some point. One wonders when they will do that, especially since they're already behind in terms of the two article types that they are currently running out to the community.

I love the story of the game. It's what kept me playing L5R even when my clan was unable to muster a competitive deck that I enjoyed playing. But when I did eventually leave the game, I left the fiction behind as well. It just becomes more difficult to stay invested in the story when you're not involved in it. At least it was for me. That's why I am more interested in cards right now.

Once I become invested in the game and get my cards and begin playing, the fiction will become exponentially more important. But, for now, I just want to confirm that I want to play this game right now haha. Because, to be honest, I enjoyed the Crane clan preview, but I doubt I'd ever want to play that clan.

I'm very interested in Lion, Crab and Phoenix, which is why I was so disappointed that they moved the fiction to this week. This week I should be learning about the Lion's card pool but, instead, I have to wait an additional week for that :(.

Maybe they're being so secretive about multiplayer to make it all the more epic when they reveal that the Gen Con storyline tournament will be a single, massive, 350-multiplayer game!

...ok, so that might be a little on the unlikely side, but still, I can't imagine such a game wouldn't be entertaining to watch, one way or another. Either it would be an incredibly epic match, or it would fail in an epically spectacular way!

One giant circular table, and you can only interact with the people to your immediate right and left.

Alternatively, whichever clan has the biggest turnout, that many tables, no clan repeats, and at the end cut to a Top X based on how many tables there are (which is, of course, also a multiplayer game).

48 minutes ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

I'm very interested in Lion, Crab and Phoenix, which is why I was so disappointed that they moved the fiction to this week. This week I should be learning about the Lion's card pool but, instead, I have to wait an additional week for that :(.

More importantly, I have to wait an entire extra week before I can make a viable proxy deck to actually play the game :). I have several people on the hook for this game, and I'm waiting for the Lion spoilers so I can convince them to buy in. Two of those interested are leaning towards Lion, so I'm counting on the spoilers to reel them in. Hmmm, that's two fishing metaphors I've used ... maybe I should splash Crab in one of those decks...

I too would like the spoilers much quicker, but I won't attempt to argue with their marketing voodoo; they clearly know what they're doing, considering how many times I've myself bought games I shouldn't have just because of the teasers. As much as I would probably prefer the card spoilers this week instead of story, I understand that it's just my personal opinion, and I don't think there is a right answer to the whole "I play the game because of the story" vs "I like the story because of the game" debate. To each his/her own. I did enjoy the Crane story, so I certainly won't be disappointed if they do the story this week, but I certainly would prefer both due to the delay.

9 hours ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

So, if showing previews is the best way to hype the game, I don't envy the marketing team come September and October when they need to keep the hype train going once we know every card in the box.

Easy! Once the Core Set is spolied in full, and there are PDFs with all the rules, they'll start hinting at new cards in the first Cycle. He who controls the spoilers, controls the universe.

9 hours ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

I think, at the end of the day, their marketing strategy is fine if they stick to their schedule (which they fell off of last week).

I guess that depends... May be they skipped last week precisely because the wanted to coordinate their schedule, in which case they won't make up for it. Or it was some other issue and, having already happened, they may consider it wise to keep one week's worth of content in reserve, as a buffer just in case. If there are no more hiccups, they can always double their content output in the 1-2 weeks previous to Gencon.

9 hours ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

I'm just saying I would prefer the card previews right now because, at this moment, I'm trying to discern my interest in this re-imagining of the game that I love. They got me on the hook. It's time to reel me in. Show me what my clans can do.

Not really; the time to reel everybody in is as close to the time the game is actually available as possible. It makes sense for them to coordinate with Gencon when Fumio is out of the bag, and then harpoon all us in with further unexpected content (storyline results, new cycle spoilers, whatever). If they completely spill the beans now, however much we may individually like it (and I know I'd do), their marketing efforts will have lost a lot of steam for when it matters the most.

9 hours ago, Joe From Cincinnati said:

The lore can always be filled in at a later time. The card previews have an expiration date: August 17th. Once we hit Gencon, the previews mean absolutely nothing. So it makes sense, from a marketing standpoint, to front load those to ensure we get them all before Gen Con.

The current timeline right now has them not previewing one clan before Gencon. So, they either need to change their schedule, accelerate their schedule or risk just completely skipping over a clan, which will inevitably annoy the people who want to play that clan. And, like you said, this game is defined by clan loyalty. So skipping a whole clan will alienate a whole clan's playerbase (granted, not as much as cutting them from the game entirely...)

I'm with some other posters in that, if you are in the game just for the mechanics and not for the lore, "fiction week" feels somewhat wasted. Honesly, I'm here more for the lore than the mechanics and I was disappointed when we got just the Crane story (much as I enjoyed) and zero spoiler content. I think it would be much better if it had included the Hotaru card, with no further explanation, as an advance for the full clan mechanics the following week.

I was furious for a second when I saw an Arkham horror article go up but nothing for L5R.

Then I realized it was Tuesday and I've been refreshing the main page between stuff at work for nothing.

2 weeks with nothing is rough....

We got a new spoiler, a Neutral province today.

4 minutes ago, RandomJC said:

We got a new spoiler, a Neutral province today.

Silly me about thinking about rushing a military beatdown of the crane. Between this province, their duelist, and having to defend myself politically I see more of a chess match to these games.

Interesting thing is this is a fire card. If we assume Shameful Display is fire or air (as it has to do with honoring and dishonoring), then Crane can't run this, shameful display, and art of peace at the same time.

19 minutes ago, JRosen9 said:

Interesting thing is this is a fire card. If we assume Shameful Display is fire or air (as it has to do with honoring and dishonoring), then Crane can't run this, shameful display, and art of peace at the same time.

I don't think we can assume that about Shameful display. After all, this province feels very Earth ring, yet is a fire type.

The Lion will HATE this card...

Lion's got the honor to go heavy on card draw :).

The effect isn't as strong as it could be, since your opponent gets to choose the discards. Still this province likely discards 2 or 3 cards in the average case which is certainly not a bad thing.

I like how the 'when revealed' Province abilities appear to encourage cautious reconnaissance in the early stages rather than all-out aggression from the get-go.

It triggers only on reveal much like Endless Plains. Also, much like that Unicorn province, I'm not a big fan of luck based effects. This trend reminds me of the "Ninja Slot Machine" that was popular (?) out of Scorpion, where attacking face down ninjas did bad things, but it was total luck.

Hmm. This province encourages you to keep attackers low in number, while Endless Plains encourages the opposite. As much as I criticize Endless Plains, it's stock just went up a pinch. I'd still rather have a reusable action (if that option exists.)

New thought: Night Raid is a great card to put under your SH!

I like the card, not a fan of the name. I guess the same problem with Shameful Display. It just seems weird to be making attacks on things which are events. Also shouldn't the attacker be the one raiding? I think I would of liked something along the lines of Narrow Pass or Storm Ravaged Plains. Maybe even Bandit Hideout. Something that showed why your supplies are cut short

4 minutes ago, JRosen9 said:

I like the card, not a fan of the name. I guess the same problem with Shameful Display. It just seems weird to be making attacks on things which are events. Also shouldn't the attacker be the one raiding? I think I would of liked something along the lines of Narrow Pass or Storm Ravaged Plains. Maybe even Bandit Hideout. Something that showed why your supplies are cut short

Best I can offer is that the defender finds out about the impending attack and raids (but does not fully attack) the attacking army the night before the battle. ...or something like that.

9 minutes ago, JJ48 said:

Best I can offer is that the defender finds out about the impending attack and raids (but does not fully attack) the attacking army the night before the battle. ...or something like that.

Seems like a Harrier or Scorpion thing to do against an invader.

14 minutes ago, JRosen9 said:

I like the card, not a fan of the name. I guess the same problem with Shameful Display. It just seems weird to be making attacks on things which are events. Also shouldn't the attacker be the one raiding? I think I would of liked something along the lines of Narrow Pass or Storm Ravaged Plains. Maybe even Bandit Hideout. Something that showed why your supplies are cut short

I dunno.

I think it's okay. Some provinces are actual places, like Mori Kuroi and the Endless Plains. But plenty of them could easily be described as actions that occur during the battle.

Defend the Wall, Night Raid, Shameful Display, The Art of Peace.

All of these things could be interpreted as events that occurred during the battle that affected the outcome. Crab were attacked at the Wall, so defending it further empowered them. Or the attacking army was raided in the night (because they're attacking a province they are not familiar with). A shameful display occurs (maybe a Samurai dishonors himself in a duel, although the image on the card indicates some sort of affair between people in the two clans being discovered), or the Crane fold to their attackers in the hopes that such a display will breed peace (I guess?) between the two clans, similar to Moto Chagatai submitting to death in order to end the war between Lion and Unicorn.

We've actually seen more events at provinces than we have actual provinces :P.

The Art of Peace is more intended to represent the repercussions in court for attacking the Crane (them leveraging it to make themselves the victims and the attacker a dishonorable conqueror). This supposedly acts as a deterrent enough that people won't attack at all, hence peace.

I feel like Provinces are a bit of a misnomer, and calling them events or strategies instead would make more sense. I imagine they hung onto provinces simply to keep the tie to the old game.

I think this is another card that demonstrates how potentially important it could be to scout your opponent's provinces with smaller armies before sending a big force.

Night Raid on a stronghold seems like a good idea to me unless you're playing Phoenix, as Mori Kuroi is just too good not to be used as your stronghold province card.

A lot will depend on what the elements end up being on the rest of the provinces, but, I think this one Will see a fair amount of play. I'd grade it slightly behind Shameful Display

FFG has my full and complete permission to slam all of the Phoenix stuff together into one week. Also, they should tell everyone that all of our cards suck, and not give anyone any hints on interaction or use.

No one ever expects the inquisition.

29 minutes ago, Ishi Tonu said:

I think this is another card that demonstrates how potentially important it could be to scout your opponent's provinces with smaller armies before sending a big force.

I can see Deathseeker being really good for this. You get a benefit for winning or losing, plus you scouted/triggered the province