This would definitely fix one problem. The card pool will develop faster and there will be more of a shake up at each event which will generate more excitement. Though at the same time it aggravates another key issues with LCGs, which is the barrier of entry for new players. They are front loading a barrier right now.

I'm hoping this will be accompanied by other announcements that could help alleviate the ladder issue like faster rotation or some sort of discounted catch up product for people buying these products late into their life.

See, I'm okay with the meta developing slowly. Everyone in my area is still deciding what clan they want to play, much less figuring out how to tune their deck to the meta.

I'm just worried injecting a bunch of cards so rapidly will lead to more game-breaking stuff happening sooner.

I know that sounds paradoxical, but I've seen it happen many times in many games. Right now, we have a bunch of mediocre cards and we're having to make do. The bigger the card pool gets, the narrower the meta becomes and power creep seems inevitable. I'd rather that happen later than sooner.

If each pack contains one clan character and one clan conflict card then really we are just looking at 6 new characters per clan. Its not THAT bad honestly.

They should really consider this model:

Core set Release.
1 month later: 6 packs in 6 weeks.
3 months later: Deluxe Box.
3 months later: 6 packs in 6 weeks.
Repeat steps 3 and 4 over and over.

This would give an LCG more commonality with a CCG. The hype train would build every 3 months instead of the slow trickle that occurs every 1 month. Maybe subsequent LCGs could extend that 1 month initial burst to 3 months depending on the success of the launch.

Hey I just met you.....and this is crazy

I'm releasing six packs....in six weeks baby

I'm all ok for growing the meta faster, at least initially.

What I cannot understand, why going through the logistic nightmare of shipping one pack a week for six weeks, instead of releasing one big box early December instead...

9 minutes ago, theninthguardian said:

I already have friends who loved the game but won't touch it because the 3-core entry fee is too much for them. Add 6 packs practically right of out the gate and that's a significant hurdle. I was able to spread out my purchase of cores from GenCon to now, but telling a brand new player that they'll need over $200 to get in is going to be rough.

It's no different from getting into literally any TCG though, and is STILL a better value option.

Do you think that people at the pokemon or MTG world championships are doing so with piles made from the 30 quid special edition things with the shiny in your local Toys R Us, or have they handpicked hundreds of bucks worth of cards on Ebay/crack open a display case every 3-4 months? You can play CCGs casually, or you can play them competitively.

Granted, setting up a scene like that right from the word go is a bold move, but firstly, L5R isn't really a new game, secondly, most people that buy into LCGs only buy into one core regardless of how the follow up model looks. Nobody would be putting a gun to peoples heads to make them buy the full 6 in 6. Could easily buy one every month or so and pretend it's 'normal'. Or you could buy one every couple. Whatever.

1 minute ago, franzvong said:

I'm all ok for growing the meta faster, at least initially.

What I cannot understand, why going through the logistic nightmare of shipping one pack a week for six weeks, instead of releasing one big box early December instead...

It's possible they might ship out all 6 dynasty packs to all stores with each pack having their own release window that stores have to abide to.

2 minutes ago, franzvong said:

I'm all ok for growing the meta faster, at least initially.

What I cannot understand, why going through the logistic nightmare of shipping one pack a week for six weeks, instead of releasing one big box early December instead...

There is really no significant difference, logistically, releasing 1 pack each week vs. releasing 1 pack each month.

5 minutes ago, franzvong said:

I'm all ok for growing the meta faster, at least initially.

What I cannot understand, why going through the logistic nightmare of shipping one pack a week for six weeks, instead of releasing one big box early December instead...

So long as all 6 are at whatever distributers warehouse they ship out of, one a week is no different than one a month.

Just had a thought.

Maybe each participating retailer is gonna be given like, 2 of these packs. The intent being that they hold a tournament and the winner gets a pack and a random or two gets one. Then the next week they hold another event, and so on.

The intent here not being to fully release the sets way ahead of schedule, but instead to give people something they want to play for, like in a CCG? Part of my scepticism about the whole LCG model is that even though I like tournaments for the games, I also like them for the prizes. And in a game where everyone has everything what do you play for? Turns out, lots of very nice tokens and promos and stuff, but maybe they're experimenting with new ways of roping people into turning up on a regular basis?

Six packs in six weeks? I thought the whole point of the LCG format was to get me to spend *less* than I do on Magic.

My wife is so not gonna be onboard with this...

To Quote SkywalterDBZ on Reddit:

Quote

"Hi, Our Core Set is an almost non-customizable experience compared to Netrunner, Lord of the Rings, etc so we're patching the game ASAP so every dynasty deck isn't just 3 copies of every clan card, a Keeper/Seeker, and a Maya Mystic. kthxbye"

Edit: I approve as long as the next cycle/deluxe/whatever is still 5-6 months out.

well that just lost me.
I don't have any gaming funds right now but hoped to get caught up in a couple of months...WAY too expensive now.
This was a really poor decision...much like the Blind Buy Destiny starter for stores...there has been a change in FFG marketing lately and it is not good.

Giving each clan 12 cards is much better than the 2 with just one release. As we saw with the ToA preview, many of them were suspect. Counting all the possible splash cards and neutrals, the flood of cards will make tournaments rather interesting.

What I don't want are more floods in the future.

5 minutes ago, Hidatom said:

well that just lost me.
I don't have any gaming funds right now but hoped to get caught up in a couple of months...WAY too expensive now.
This was a really poor decision...much like the Blind Buy Destiny starter for stores...there has been a change in FFG marketing lately and it is not good.

Why can't you get the packs in a couple of months? You would only be 3 or 4 packs behind. Or just get what you can when you can.

The Destiny starter was a horrible blunder, agreed. But I disagree this is a bad move simply because a percentage of people cannot buy them immediately. The game and packs are not going anywhere. And if your community and friends are anything like mine, I am sure people will let you use some cards until you get your own.

I don't like this decision ... like everyone else said, waaaaaay steeper cost of entry. I hope they cancel it. If they don't, I won't have the packs until January at earliest ...

Couldn't they have released a box instead ? I get that they want to accelerate the meta but to me it seems counter-intuitive of the LCG model itself.

Please keep in mind you do not have to buy every pack every week in order to catch up. By the time you do decide to purchase the new packs you can weed out which ones you don't want right away. For example, if you're a Crab player there might be a crab card in the 2nd dynasty pack that does not interest you at all. You can decide to buy that pack later for a secondary clan deck or if the card ends up being good in the future with a different type of Crab deck.

My real take is that the 6 packs were always intended to be part of the early metagame so there could be a fresh restart after worlds.

A world champ a little over a month after release is quick, but the 'core set only' meta game gets solved pretty quickly. In fact I'm pretty sure that with a couple month lead time, the competitive players have already solved it..........#6countercrane.

The 'real' season begins after worlds. That is not an attempt to take anything away from those going to worlds this year, but next year is when you will really see competitive play take off, and I suspect that players will.not want to begin the new season with a core set only meta.

FFG added some of the fringe things like magistrates and shadowlands that are an intergral part of Rokugan lore. They might have wanted it out of the core set for logistical purposes but I bet they wanted these things available early in the game to try and recapture as many of the old players as possible. Those that were fanatical about a certain archtype of old could get turned off by not having it in the core set and with a slow release when they finally get their Naga pirate oni they are several months behind and may not be in a place to catch up.

I think you get a better shot at grabbing those people early by showing off a bunch of the other things that will be coming. For example some of the old school shadowlands players might be turned off that there were no shadowlands I. The core set, but, show them six dynasty packs that have shadowlands cards in them that they can get within 6 weeks as opposed to 6 months and they are likely to grab a core set now so they can be in track with the rest of the crowd.

If you rely on a slow trickle of cards at the beginning and then miss the mark on the first deluxe expansion then you could further alienate those that were hoping to come back.....but didn't see the clan/faction they were hoping for. While this is an LCG it's unlike any other in that is hard a massive amount of pre-existing support......but that also comes with certain expectations. FFG is just trying to meet as many of those as possible.

Do these packs come with three of each card? Im suddenly anxious abour ordering two more core sets. If i cant afford to play the game then id really not be happy about going all out on cores...

1 minute ago, codegnave said:

Do these packs come with three of each card? Im suddenly anxious abour ordering two more core sets. If i cant afford to play the game then id really not be happy about going all out on cores...

yep full playset of every card!

1 minute ago, codegnave said:

Do these packs come with three of each card?

Yes.

yes all current LCG packs come with 3x of each card. If these packs didn't follow that model their would be riots within the community I think

Yes, Dynasty Packs and Deluxe boxes come with a full playset of their cards. No need to buy multiples.

I think this is a good plan by FFG. There are seven clans in the game so the cards get dilluted between the clans pretty severely to begin with. Im sure the dynasty packs vary in terms of strength for each clan. So, if you like a certain clan you might want to pick certain packs before others from the first cycle, not necessarily in the right order. Im fine with it as long as there will some "breathing room" somewhere between expansions, otherwise the meta will become too fluid and chaotic.