matamagos said:

1. How do you know there aren't play testers posting on these boards every day?

2. People have offered their views as to why particular changes have been made in recent FAQs. I think most of us completely understand why the changes were made. Besides, if some one revealed themselves as a play tester (or even if Nate explained why the changes were made himself), people with different oppinons would still question their decisions. I'm not sure how having them explain things to us would change things much.

This community is well listened to, and have very much been taken into account. Just look at the changes made to the card distribution in chapter packs and the differences between the KoS and PoS expansions.

Its also a violation of the NDA to talk about being a playtester.

its like the first two rules of fight club

matamagos said:

But does it really help? What do we really hope to accomplish by having Nate explain everything FFG does with the game (because you will never be able to limit this to "the big stuff;" everything is "big" to someone)? What is Nate going to say that is going to make those Lannister players who don't agree with the measures suddenly agree with them? Is it just an exercise in letting those that disagree vent their frustrations directly on Nate? Or are we looking for an opportunity to change NATE'S mind and get him to change the measures back - leaving a different set of people upset or disagreeing with that decision?

Someone is going to dislike every change or decision that is made. That's pretty much a given, based on human nature. If FFG has chosen not to put someone out on the boards as a public whipping boy, especially when no matter what they do, someone is going to want to yell about it, you can hardly blame them.

Deathjester26 said:

If this is the case I ask them to visit time to time the spanish, the french and the italian forum, please:

spanish: guardiadelanoche.com/foro/index.php

french: letronedeferjce.forumactif.com/forum.htm

italian: www.agameofthrones.it/forum/index.php

These are the ones I know. Sorry if I forget some other from germany, uk or another country.

In these moments, when I have verified them, the spanish one has 37.819 posts, the italian has 20.220 and the french has 15.351. The general page of this forum, the official from A Game of Thrones LCG, shows me 14.026 posts. So, any of the previous european forums seems to be bigger and more active than this one.

About the idea of an "official" poster I can assure you that in the forums where they exist they are very respected. Of course they have to listen to some complains, but his principal purpose is to approach the community and the reality of the tables to the designers. We say to them: "here in city X people play a lot this combo and it completely destroys this faction" or "we will be glad to see some supplement about magic rules (thinking in roleplaying)"... etc. this kind of things. In my opinion, it is more a question of sharing information, of dialog, than of pressing to the company.

PS: Is there any other american forum? I have been googling for it but couldn't find any..

Also in italian forum there are some complain about the lanni ban. We have lots more complain about stark cards, most of all the new Agenda cause remind past Stark fear :-)

But globally we are excited to what FFG is giving to us... and it was difficult for some old player that saw rotation comes back enthusiastic... but now we are excited to what they are offering... subthemes... exciting subthemes... of course there were some design carded too strong (Venomus, Alchemist for example).

Only the fact that since KOTS complains they quickly changed distribution make me trust them, cause they are listening...

...and Lanni have too much power (best draw, best gold, best kneel) to not change something in the enviroment (card errata, stark core and Defender cycle that don't give them nothing)... hope that the balance will succede... at the moment We trust the job of playtesters and Nate... and I'm personally sure that they are doing their best!!! So Let's go on... beating Lanni ;-)

Interesting figures there on the foreign language forums. I'm curious though about when those particular boards were opened versus this version of the US (and in some ways, International, as several posters here prove). We've gone through umpteen different revisions of the main FFG boards and lost a great deal of posts each time. So total length of time open would also be something to consider.

Also, for anyone unfamiliar with the good ol' Ozark dialect, 'umpteen' just means my memory is too foggy to count accurately.

I'm not sure how I feel about asking Nate (or anyone in FFG) to comment here. On one hand, it makes sense that those people should try to stay in touch with the player base. On the other hand...

• I think Ktom is right that it's just as likely Nate's posts would stifle discussion, and I agree with others that Nate's opinions might not persuade anyone anyway...they may just open up a can of worms;
• It seems like Nate (or someone at FFG) is plenty in touch with what's going on "on the ground"...erratas like AGH and the change to distribution suggest this, so maybe his personal involvement isn't necessary;
• I would rather Nate/FFG focus on game mechanics and design rather than spending valuable time reading/posting (which would require more time spent not designing, and therefore increase the lag time and/or cost of sets); and
• Most AGOT players apparently aren't competitive players, and they probably aren't people who post on these threads. I understand that the FAQ probably won't apply to casual players who don't check such rulings, so Nate's comments wouldn't be directed at them anyway. But it makes the most sense for Nate to focus on the market as a whole, rather than try to satisfy a relatively small group of players with periodic messages. In other words, if he's going to spend time commenting online somewhere, it's more efficient for him to do interviews with gaming magazines, etc.

All in all, I think FFG has done a pretty good job since AGOT transitioned to the LCG, and policy changes (card rulings, distribution changes, news postings, etc.) have been especially good since the King's Landing block began (I think). Based on the past year or so, I would say the game as a whole is improving, and I credit this to the responsiveness AND care of people like Nate...even if they don't post on here personally.

~And who's to say Nate isn't stealthily posting with a separate, non-FFG account anyway?

Lars said:

Well I have never heard of an NDA that has the fight club rule (And being a programmer, you have to sign all sorts of NDA's... after all I've had access to a company's finnancial data at past jobs, so NDA's are very important.) Even Apple's NDA's allow you to mention you are under an NDA (And no they are not signed in blood and enforced by Steve Jobs' pet tibetan demon.).

One point to make if FFG's NDA is like any other NDA, it must be hard to comment in the boards after all, how does one separate public knowledge from insight gained at having a look at future cards. And If he makes a slip especially on a public forum... his job is on the line.

So Nate's own commenting ability is limited, as is anyone else under the geas of NDA. So I doubt many of them would come out of the woodwork. Of course granted this is all speculation, I may be wrong.

This post is more to everyone, although I use Twn2dn quotes (sorry for my weak english)

Twn2dn said:

Exactly! We know that they read. BTW Someone is reading, so they did have time to read, right? So why posting from time to time as official voice is that big addition? After all "General discussion" is really not that hard to read. Weren't we all happy while The Spaniard posted about KotS?

Twn2dn said:

Of course not. Posting official contention is not the same as discussion like normal user. There is nothing to be afraid of.

Twn2dn said:

You know, they really were not interested in lowering the cost if they did KotS. That should have never happen. BTW changing PotS is NOT a prove that everything is ok - it is a prove that things always may be improved.

Oh and one thing: Nate answers questions by email (wow - he do have time for us!). It may be a better way to him than forum, I understand. Problem is, he sometimes answers (very quick!) and sometimes not. Did you notice that people paste his words in Rules section when tough or new question arises? People sometimes need official stand. And imagine a situation where ktom stops helping us (oh no!). Maybe writing official answers at boards ( only when needed ) is not a bad idea? By email you have to write to single users and forum is read by whole group (and you always can search for past questions).

Twn2dn said:

So we are small group of players? (I wonder how many people read gaming magazines BTW) So, these forum boards are completly unnecessary then. Most AGOT players apparently don't read it. But hey, they got new programmer! And know what? They improved searching! What for? That was completly waste of money and time. What is the purpose of FFG website anyway? Most AGOT players apparently don't know about it. Rules question link? Probably not used at all. This is a card game, we don't need Internet, we have all things needed in Core Set box! Close the website and save more money, then we would have cheaper packs.

Twn2dn said:

Ok agree. But things can be better. Why did they reprint Core Set so late? They don't know how business is going? Someone officialy could answer here all those people who wanted to buy and didn't know where. Or maybe that was not necessary too?

Twn2dn said:

~And who's to say I am not FFG programmer?