SolennelBern said:

::facepalm:: soooooooooooooorry... the "dudettes thing" seemed to be a reply to my previous post. Apologies!

(and yep, it seemed to me like your second post was kinda contradictory with the one about GD, but I couldn't figure out why! Again, sorry)

Julia said:

Hahahah no apologies necessary Julia, my poor writing at times seem to provoke that!

SO glad I have 200$ worth of games locked up with this pre-order....

A July release will be 11 months from the date FFG made its first (and only) announcement for the product. Has FFG ever flubbed a release date this big before?

Skywalker said:

Often, this is par for the course, especially for FFG.

Rex was just released, and the initial plan way back in 2007 when they announced that they had obtained the rights to the Eon games was to have their Dune released in 2009, along with Borderlands. We're still waiting on any info whatsoever on Borderlands.

Oh, and have you ever heard of the FFG game Reins of Power? It was first announced in the last century, and most recently in 2008 for a 2009 release, and still no show.

I'd much rather wait and get better QC/QA from them then suffer through something like the people who bought Forbidden Alchemy or to get another Quest Compendium. That, plus I already have a ton of games to keep me busy through any length of time and waiting.

I'm not quite sure I understand all of the vitriol directed at FFG over this. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to have this game here as much as anyone, and short of that I would love to see some more previews. But where does this mentality come from that FFG is "required" to give us previews? Or that if a release date gets pushed back from when they originally estimated it is some grievous offense that the company has committed against its fan base?

And if everyone who is so upset with FFG would really be placated by a simple statement from them of "Sorry the game isn't finished yet and we don't know when it will be..." then is it really that big of a deal? Or if that isn't good enough would you rather they makeup another estimate like "The game will be out at the end of May", only to have it pushed back again?

I guess I just don't understand the entitlement mentality in which it's our "right" to "know" every detail of everything that goes on behind the scenes at FFG. Release date estimates are just that, estimates. Frankly they are made to be broken and pushed back. I want the game or a preview of it as bad as anyone. What I do not understand is why anyone would be upset with FFG if they haven't given one lately.

What I do get upset with FFG (or any game company) over is when I receive a game that has faulty components, poorly written rules, typos and misprints, and has to be FAQed and Errataed to death. I also hate it when I buy a product that is obviously poorly play tested (if at all) and totally imbalanced (Sea of Blood). So what I am hopeful of is that FFG has simply pushed back the production in order to fix issues with the game. Whether it's from a component standpoint ala the latest Mansions of Madness expansion fiasco, or that further play testing has revealed problems that need fixed I do not know. I would much rather though that they take their time (even if it means no previews!) and get it right, rather than rush to meet a deadline and release a crap product.

Columbob said:

Well but didn't FFG had to negociate with the Dune devs for some/parts of the mechanics/theme? That could explain de delay...but for Descent 2nd I see nothing that could slow FFG from giving us news except that they realised they can't meet their schedule.

I have greater respect for the one who is straight honest than someone who tried to hide and is bad at it to boot...

Columbob said:

+1 to this

I'm suddenly reminded of the Gears of War board game...that thing sat all the way at the bottom of the upcoming list with a nice VIOLET label ("In development") for, what? THREE YEARS?!

I laughed the entire time, waiting for FFG to just give up and drop the license...only to be greeted one morning with a huge news post about Gears of War: The Board Game, just in time for GenCon 2011!!!

This is why I think FFG is just dragging its feet with some of their games so that they have a fat happy stack of releases for GenCon 2012. Hell, they dominated the vendor hall last year (while Wizards of the Coast had a rather pathetic corner), why not do it this year, too?

I'll just say that it's a **** good thing that the wife and I started a GenCon kitty as soon as we got back from last year. I'm not doing the "Only $300 to spend" thing this year! FFG is on to my scheme, and plans to bogart the ENTIRE STASH!

The lack of news does seem strange, though. It's not like FFG is not up to telling us that it's "back to the drawing board." They told us about Star Wars, didn't they? For that matter, I'm used to seeing at least 2 or 3 news items a day from FFG; for the past few weeks, though, we're lucky we get ONE. It's just an odd trend, is all.

SolennelBern said:

How about that: They'll give the news when there are actually news to give.

Prends ton mal en patience.

Columbob said:

T'inquiètes, je suis patient.

Each company has it's ways to do business and give infos to it's fans. Some are more generous and some are not at all. Like many i'm awaiting this game with great anticipation and don't mind the wait IF it leads to a great quality product (components, well written rules, play tested games, etc).

I already stated one company as an example and antithesis to FFG. Not that i'm saying one behavior is better than the other but one shows a lot more respect than the other.

My point is, I tend to be more generous too with those who are with it's fans.

I checked the website and according to it, it shows Descent 2nd Edition as being 'At The Printer'.. how long has it been there for?

Since 7 August 2011.

Columbob said:

That is not my experience with FFG, though I can think of a few outlying examples.

Descent 2nd Edition 'At The Printer'.

oh my, that means 3-4 months at least...

Kartigan said:

I'm not quite sure I understand why some people think the idea of high quality control and good expectation management are mutually exclusive. Surely FFG can do both. I agree that quality control is important and though the delays may be due to improving quality control (and that's just a guess) FFG could also be compensating with expectation management with little to no effort. Its the fact that FFG doesn't think it worthwhile to spend this little effort that is getting people's goat.

Skywalker said:

Lovely!

Skywalker said:

How long have you been following FFG for?

It used to be they'd announce a slew of releases for the current year at the GAMA trade show in March, and easily half of those would start hitting shelves only in the next year.

Now of course they only do GenCon and showcase the upcoming releases for the fall, which is a much easier target to hit as they already have a bunch of advance copies for sale at the con. Except for the stuff supposed to hit the shelves in the next year, i.a. Descent v2.

Would all of you really be that much happier if they'd just say "Sorry, you'll just have to wait some more." In that case, just assume they did say it. Maybe then you'll rest easier.

Columbob said:

Since they released Dragonstar in 2001. I have been a pretty prolific customer of FFG over all its product types over the last 11 years.

And yes, I would be much happier with an explanation for the delay (is it quality management?) and noting what they expect the effect of that delay to be. Given we don't know what the explanation is, I can't see how assuming it is said helps at all.

Are people really annoyed with FFG for not drip-feeding us with information on this game? Or is it simply that we so desparately WANT more info on this game, that we constantly go on about it? The latter is easily forgivable, but seriously, if you fall into the formers camp, you need to relax. Just think of the amount of video games that are announced months and months (often years) before they hit the shelves, often with NO new information until just before they come out.

While I'd love to get more information, and have pretty much read and digested EVERYTHING I can find on it to date, I'm certainly not about to march on FFG with torch and pitchfork in hand...

Columbob said:

I would love to know because I am also interested in other games. And if this one takes like another 3 months, I would first buy something else and then look back at this one.

Because this game is already going to be like 70 euro's, which is quiet a bit of money. I am not saying the game is expensive, just saying its alot of money. So I don't want to buy multiple games that fast after each other.

The picture is come from Hong-Kong website, Wargamers club online, and they will release Chinese version of Descent.

It looks like they play one game, and someone left comment on their forum.

I try to best I can to translate it into English.

The Quest is well balance, and Heroes and Overlord have same wining ratio. Game paly is much faster ( little down time?)

New plot system is very good, it puts more stories into quest, and win or lose between encounters and chapters will impact your adventure.

Overlord's action not just an DM, and his/her choice has much more important, therefore, Overlord feel like you

Introduction part is qutie nice, players don't need to read a lot of rules(but winning the quest still need read more rules)

Overall, Descent 2nd include all structure from previous edition's expansion. It keeps all the good part, and put into one box. Now you can say, if you don't have time to run D&D, Descent 2nd is another choice. Expecting full version show up.

kerl,

Thanks for taking the time to translate and post this.

kerl said:

Missing some part of translation.

Overlord's action not just an DM, and his/her choice has much more important, therefore, Overlord feel like you play the game, not just run the game

(I guess OL has more control or something?)

I think its less controll.

I think they are using the same system as in manion of maddness with selecting a story and then the consequences