Hey guys! We have found that customer feedback is a major driving motivator for companies. We recently heard that FFG is considering restricting Kotei's and GK's to cons only, and as you can imagine this means many people will effectively be locked out of the competitive scene. Join us in taking this opportunity to change this before it becomes locked in! Email the company! Please leave a like to spread the word. If you're not sure what to say, here's what I wrote:

(Direct your emails to [email protected] )

"Hey there! To Whom it May Concern:

I heard recently that all koteis and grand koteis may be at gaming conventions, whereas for past games regional and store championships were also major events. For those of us who can't regularly attend conventions, this effectively locks us out of the competitive scene, and doubly so for our brethren who don't live in the USA or Europe. This game has exceptional potential for competitive success - I never thought I'd find another game with as good as chassis as netrunner, but I daresay that L5R is even better.

I want to urge you to enable all of your excited players to participate in the competitive/storytelling aspect of the game, no matter where they live and whether or not they can afford plane tickets, hotel rooms, and con fees.

I live in Sacramento CA and I have easy access to all of the Bay Area cons, so this doesn't affect me quite as much. Still, I heard of many people who went to GenCon and only played L5R... As much as I enjoy the con experience, not everyone wants that experience, and several hundred dollars as an entry fee seems a steep asking price for admission to an event in which you ONLY go for L5R.

Anyway, thanks for making such a great game!"

Source?

I started a discussion about this, and agree wholeheartedly that the Kotei should not be associated with a convention. However, there were a lot of people arguing that if you can't afford to play don't play?

If this is the case, I'm very concerned. I have to work at most conventions I attend, so this means I would be almost barred from participating in L5R competitively. The price and travel would also be prohibitive for lots of players, and it's frustrating to attend an entire convention to play just one game. I would hope they would hold Koteis much the same way that they do regionals in Netrunner and other games. Having Grand Koteis at conventions is fine.

FWIW The info I saw posted for the Irish kotei indicated that the con pass was included in the registration for the kotei, so at least for that part of potential expenses, there won't be extra fees. I can understand the dilemma for those working at conventions though.

Kotei (Grand and otherwise) are a limited section of the competitive scene. Stores still have the ability to run OP tournaments, including traditional, Store, and Regional tournaments as they choose. Nationals, Worlds and Kotei are the upper echelon of competitive tournaments, not the end-all-be-all.

• https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/op/l5r-lcg/
• https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/op/order-kits/

Also, are all the Kotei to be at conventions? I know there are only 20 Kotei planed for 2018.

Are those tournaments supported by FFG though? And do they have an impact on the storyline?

I've played Diskwars, Mageknight, Golem Arcana and so on. All of them counted ALL the tournament results towards the storyline. Only being able to influence it if I go to a select tournament is pretty much impossible given my schedule and really cuts the fun out of the game, which I play as much for narrative as I do for the actual gameplay.

31 minutes ago, Duciris said:

Kotei (Grand and otherwise) are a limited section of the competitive scene. Stores still have the ability to run OP tournaments, including traditional, Store, and Regional tournaments as they choose. Nationals, Worlds and Kotei are the upper echelon of competitive tournaments, not the end-all-be-all.

• https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/op/l5r-lcg/
• https://www.fantasyflightgames.com/en/op/order-kits/

Also, are all the Kotei to be at conventions? I know there are only 20 Kotei planed for 2018.

Word is that FFG is replacing Nationals and Regionals with the Kotei series, and that they all will be at conventions.

Unsure if/how this impacts Store Champs though. I have heard mixed reports on this. However, since store champs fed into Regionals, that could be problematic.

The Discord is a buzz with the news.

In the other LCGs and other ffg games regionals are done in gaming stores but not sure if they have any story effect or decision making at that level. At the regional level hatamotos can gain more points for their clan right? rather that is the minimum level for that to take effect?

Another note from discord (I am paraphrasing, don't have the real text), but from the FFG OP Europe Lead responded to someone's tweet. But the intention is to do OP for L5R differently than other events, and while they eliminate Store Champs, they intend to include much larger prize support for a "bonus event" once a quarter for a store, to sort of replace the Store Champ level of prize support. Regionals and Nationals are being replaced by the Kotei, and will be treated differently. You are not supposed to think about L5R in terms of Store Champs/Regionals/Nationals anymore.

Doesn't bother me really. FFG seems to stay convention focused, so it's not a huge surprise. Also, it means those decisions everyone complains about only really matter at conventions.

I do'nt think we need to get on the hate train here. If you're concerned about it, send an email, and if not, that's ok too =) Just here for publicity and getting the word out to those who aren't on, or don't pay attention to, discord.

4 hours ago, FiddlerJones said:

Are those tournaments supported by FFG though? And do they have an impact on the storyline?

It looks like Stores will get a chance to run an official event during the Kotei season, one which will give players a chance to vote on the second Role for their Clan. It's mentioned in the explanation of the Elemental Points system, but no further details yet.

Second role is fine and good, but I'm talking about the actual storyline. A big part of the appeal of competitive L5R is the ability to influence the story, and that needs to happen on every level. Maybe let winners at the store "bonus events" vote on some story decision? Clan roles are ok, but they don't mean a lot flavor-wise.

I'm not a fan of conventions to play in competitive games unless there is some sort of package deal. If I can get a reduced rate on the convention pass as part of the Kotei then I'd be in for it. Otherwise, no. I don't think it's good to have to pay for the entire con plus the Kotei when 90% of the time at the con will be playing L5R.

Probably means very little to me personally as the only major event I'd take part in either way is World's given no other major conventions are reasonably close and I tend to be working while at Gencon.