i know that i have not been checking/updating myself with the AGOT pages of late, but even when i do glance around i only see a few of the old familiar names. Are that many people dropping or are they just not posting? i feel like a puppy dog who has been kicked.

aloha,

binder

greybinder said:

Probably a combination of the two, but depending on which "familiar faces" you are referring to, a good chunk of the "high profile" community folks gave up the ghost when organized play cut standard as an officially supported format.

Do you think/know if we will see them at the big tournaments?

aloha,

binder

greybinder said:

My guess? Probably not. A good chunk of them were not interested in the "LCG-only" format that the big tournaments will be held in and a fair degree of doubt was expressed "on the way out" that the big tournaments would actually happen. Since "big tournaments" essentially comes down to the staggered Regionals (that people don't seem to be breaking down the door to hold), an "invitational" for Hedge Tourney winners and a North American Championship in Minnesota (that met a lukewarm response at best) and a primary format at Gencon that the "old timers" feel alienated by, I'm thinking we're not likely to see much of the competitive-level AGoT players that were the "familiar faces" through about August 2008 much in the near future. They may still be playing locally, but I doubt people are going to do much traveling specifically for Thrones anymore.

Yup, the game has taken some repeated heavy blows in the last year which were just too much for some people. I came dangerously close to it, and if we were sticking strictly to the official league rules in the most absolute way here, I probably would be out as well.

Still though, I really do miss a bunch of the old guys, and I wish they had the heart to at least come chat it in the Off Topic boards so I could have some good Battlestar Galactica discssion and the like. So, if you know any of the old guard, try to convince them to come talk in the Off Topic area at least.

Hmmm, yesterday i thought about starting this topic too.

Mathlete wrote that he´s going to take a long pause from the game, Rings registered for the boards but hadn´t shown the contribution we´re used to till date. I wonder if Luke is still in the game?!

Former regular visitors from my area are moneylender and AegonTargaryen, both registered for teh new boards and that´s it till date, both are however still playing but lately with a smaller engagement .

Mathlete's "long pause" became longer than he originally intended (ie. near permanent) with the cut of ITE and 5KE. He'll probably pop in here one day to say hi.

The STM guys were mostly on the way out, but still looking for a reason to stay until the ITE and 5KE cut. I haven't seen any sign of them since.

If rings does end up hosting a regional, that may be the extent of my traveling for the year. Keep me posted.

I'm so glad I got my one shot at Gencon before all hell broke loose.

As for Regionals, I can't say that our store expects to host one this year, for a number of reasons. We don't have as many players, the Rewards Kit doesn't seem worth the money, and frankly things are so tight in this economy that putting up the money and effort for an event this big at this time just doesn't make any sense for us. As much as I'd love to host another regional, or any other major event, I can't justify it as a retailer. Our sales are still solid, but honestly the switch has cost us money becuase people used to spend alot more on boosters than they spend now on CPs.

I miss many of the older guys -- Madkassel, Clu, Rings, ProfessorAJ, Mathlete, I better stop now, even though I am leaving out some important and great people. Its sad that they gave up the game, but different people play for different reasons. There may be some things that would cause one or more to come back, but I can't think what those might be.

JerusalemJones said:

I'd think one of those reasons would be the FFGs announced events in your backyard. Other than your local players, I'm not sure how many people are going to want to/be able to travel to Minnesota twice, let alone three times.

Oh, and wasn't the retailer's loss of "more boosters to fewer people" revenue supposed to be made up by "fewer Core Sets and CPs to more people"? Is that not panning out? As a retailer, is the Core Set increasing interest in the game to the point that more people are buying cards than before?

I have had more people interested in the game, but that doesn't mean I have more people playing the game, sadly. One guy, who played with us off and on with our own decks couldn't wait for the Core Set, but now he works 6 nights a week, so he doesn't make it into the store. Nick stopped playing LCG, and only shows to play Standard. I'm sure his reasons are the same as a lot of other peoples -- the LCG envirnoment doesn't make for a very competitive environment, and he also feels it doesn't foster good deck building skills. Well, sure, at present. They really aren't alot of cards in the mix for LCG. But as the format grows, and options open up, that will be fixed. Sadly, he knows alot of the inside reasons for why the change happened, why Ravens is more geared towards Standard as opposed to LCG, yet still continues to harp on those issues as problems. These are problems that will fix themselves, over time, as the LCG grows and evolves.

The other flip side is that gamers (and everyone else, for that matter) are just spending less money overall. The economy is tight, and people that would have given the game a try a year ago don't have the money for a second (or third) card game, even if the cost is more effective. Our Magic players still play Magic, they just buy less of it (and online retailers make that a hard sell, even, outside loyal customers who understand how important it is to support the local store, now so more than ever). Plus, people like Khal Viper would usually drop $20-$40 each week on boosters, now he spends at most $30 a month, less depending on the Chapter Pack. I'd need to add 3 new players, buying 3 CPs each, to match what was lost in booster revenue. And after the FFG Holiday sale, I'm barely selling what booster packs I have left (though, since I picked up 4 boxes for myself off the sale, I can't really argue about it too much, and it is allowing us to draft cheaply ).

Right now I have three solid players locally, another who shows up during school breaks and for larger events (he comes here for the Magic releases and stuff like that, as he goes to school 3-4 hours drive away), and a few people who have given the game a try but are not reliable enough to count on. I used to have another player who got into the game because of the LCG nature, but I haven't seen him since November. There are other people who got into the game last summer who I also haven't seen in months. Hit or miss players like these do not sell card games, its the ones who show up on a regular basis that sell games. Even once a month casual gamers are better than the occasional drop-ins.

Lotsa things, some having to do with the game and some not.

On the game side, I'm not sure I have much for complaints except for the poor delivery of the product (and just plain stupidly broken cards). The LCG model is better for me, but the extraordinary delay on the core set turned a "brief hiatus while I wait for the core set" into many, many months and a comfort with not playing the game.

On the game community side... the break to the new boards was a clean break from the game community I knew and loved these past 6 (?) years. I don't really recognize it. I don't really know the people here. I don't really see it as a community at this point, but it will surely grow into one and me hanging around isn't going to help that.

Even the off topic boards... is there a BSG thread there, now? Otherwise its uber-geek comic and whatever discussions that I don't get and that the majority of the old school players of the game don't, either.

But mostly, there's this... I bought a cabin. The entire fall was spent by my family touring western wisconsin looking at land and cabins and such. In December we closed on a very cool property... 20 acres, cabin (water, heat, plumbing, etc.), 2 car garage. Awesome! Just 75 minutes up the road by Mauston, Wisconsin. That cost a chunk of change and takes up a ton of my time. I don't have the time or cash to devote to the game at this point.

Best of luck to all of you, though!! Don't lurk on the boards... post! Don't think you have nothing to contribute... you do!

I never posted very much but I was a long time lurker who discussed the game with people through PM's on the old msg boards. The meta in Canton/Massillon, Ohio died with the announcement that ITE/5k was being rotated out. Everyone was waiting (too long) for the Core set and when the older sets were dropped - we just quit playing all together. I felt particularly burned since I had bought 5k boosters the night before I saw the post by FFG.

The change in format really hurt our local store as they are still sitting on product that is never going to move as it stands today. The blown release dates and constant changes to the game were a bit much for us all. Once the LCG format grows a bit and if Martin can release a book to renew interest in the setting - maybe then we will revisit the game.

I still lurk, on those occasions I have time.

I have no real problems with anything to do with the LCG format (love the set packs), the rotation (we play classic anyways), or these new boards (although they are slower I find).

My biggest hang up is that of the few gamers in my meta that used to play... we're all just incredibly busy, and have been for so long that really, I can't remember the last time we actually were able to arrange a game. I'd say it was roughly back around the release of Epic Battles. I've picked up a few chapter packs since, but it's really hard to maintain the same level of enthusiasm when the fun isn't happening.

So... yeah. Here, but not really participating unless something really catches my eye.

Rave here.

The STM took a vote and all quit the game at the same time, after they announced the core set, Wyndwalker, Kerberus and I were planning on playing on the side, but after they banned the block, we just decided to stop.

I still lurk occasionally, I spent six years of my life playing this, it's hard to quit it cold turkey.

But I'll definitely be ready to throw down when Raven comes back up!

madkasel said:

Well actually, I started a BSG thread here in the attempts to lure some people into discussing it. Lol, and don't even try to say that BSG discussing isn't an ubergeek activity already. You don't get out of it that easily, ser. Also, I had a comic discussion thread started on the old boards too. Hmm... I'd love to see a Heroes thread here when the season starts up again, and some political threads dealing with the change over in administrations.

Honestly, I'd love to read all the sorts of off topic discussions we used to have, regardless of whether all the "oldies" participate in the game or the main game related forums. Even if you're not interested in the game any longer, this community (I still think of it as a continuous entity) is full of people that I would call friend, but ones that I might not have an email address or phone number to contact, and certainly ones that I don't see every day. Communicating and exchanging thoughts and ideas here was one of the easiest ways to stay in touch, game related or not.

I think for most of the old players, these forums--which are horrible--and the "repeated blows to the game" that someone mentioned above really hurt. Part of the problem for the East Coast meta seems to be that since rotation, some people are interested in the new format and others are only interested in the standard format. (I suspect the new people are mostly interested in the new format because that is the "new competitive" format, not because LCG is, in fact, more fun.)

Another hit to our personal meta is the focus on "brick-and-mortar" shops. I strongly suspect (I'm about 85% sure on this) that if we could have shipped the League Kits to home addresses, we would have been playing League right now. (I actually purchased a League kit and had it shipped to a store, but haven't gotten around to actually playing because the store location is sort of inconvenient even though it is the closest store in miles.)

A few other personal observations. The fact that these "blows" to the community keep coming around New Year's is horrible. The winter season seems to be a sort of intermission and when unwelcome news hits, it's difficult for people to get excited to come back from the break. Given that people likely have other new toys to get into that they received during Christmas/other religious holidays, LCG A Game of Thrones can seem pretty boring.

Lastly, I just wanted to put in a plug for an event that Finitesquarewell and I are working on. We are planning a large STANDARD format event (meaning ITE and all sets since) that is not FFG-sanctioned, but will nevertheless have lots of neat prizes worthy of traveling to. For example, we will have handmade wooden house cards, metal gold dragons (that look gold), and various other prizes. We hope to hold this sometime in the next 2-3 months, probably in Glen Burnie, MD (though we still aren't positive on the venue). At the tournament, we will also have draft--based on a draft cube I am working on, and may also have a multiplayer and/or an LCG side event. Finite and I will be posting more info in the next couple of weeks--still have to finalize a few more things.

the *actual* prizes that people are going to find the event worth traveling for are will probably be two replica LOTR swords (the only replica ASOFIA sword in existence is an overpriced, silly looking attempt at longclaw) worth around $300 total.

*we're working on the details, yet

If you are doing a draft cube tournament may I recommend a list being made available of what is included in the draft (IOW are certain House mechanics represented evenly, minutely, or largely ignored)?

Considering you having a standard tournament, why not just have a regular old ITE/5Ke booster draft? Though some of the fun for you might be putting together the draft cube and it would be good to have some cube testing. I guess I can see it both ways.

E

Kennon said:

It would be nice, but this new community seems very disspirate. Unconnected. No zing-zing of posts. No interplay of personalities.

Plus, it's just ugly as sin, nigh unreadable and slow as 2002. The forums themselves seem to push me away.

I'll go hit the BSG thread now.

madkasel said:

~ Sounds like a party at Madkasel's other "Kasel".

Heh, That would be pretty epic, a trials of the mad king at the beach. ~ No pressure MadK (btw, good to see you on the boards Your Grace ;-))

I still lurk from time to time, but it is only to keep in touch with people. It is sad that the state of the game is as such, but such is the times we live in. People can't travel like they want. Many of us have familys, children, work and other life obligations that just seem to get in the way of gameing (not that we are complaining). For me, once the LCG change over happened, I felt it was ok for me to "give up the ghost" as someone said earlier in this discussion. I found closure and saw an ending point to the game that I lived and breathed for a good five years. It is more difficult to give up the community than the game for me.

blah blah I'm just rambling. My point is "new game, new faces". There are still a few of the "old folks" left, but they have moved on to other endevors.

I don't know about everyone else, but our meta is kinda sorta still playing. We pretty much played competatively and thought that the move to lcg only was a major cut in level of competiveness. I'm not going to argue whether that's true or not, just what we thought. So we haven't been paying attention to the forus or anything like that. Just been playing amongst ourselves with ite and 5ke. maybe once there are more cards we will come back to the tourney scene. If there is still a tourney scene.

#1 - thanks for the kinds words by some people.

#2 - MadK plus cabin = about time. He would dig it the most, and I bet his family has a BLAST there. Good job Drew.

#3 - I am trying to resurrect a meta here, and will be running a regionals. We have our first league set up a week from Saturday. Hopefully can get 4-8 but I am not counting on it. We do sell base sets, and I am hopeful. If people can play a ton of dominion, they can play this1

#4 - I have been horrible on posting. Between work (banking is..."fun"...these days), a new child, my new job banning these boards, and...well let's just say i am pissed at Kennon or Stanton for introducing me to Warstorm (et. al. - all the Challenge Games) which is a time-soak. But, mainly it is not being able to take a quick break at work and post. I have to remember to at home in limited CPU time.

#5 - I will still have Regionals, Kublacon, and hopefully at least the first few days of Gencon. I really hope to see old friends there.

Hahaha, what's so bad about introducing you to Warstorm? Other than it being an addictive little bugger of a game. Maybe FFG should be looking into some web games of a similar nature. You know, I've got this idea for one....