The Dreaded PC Debate!
July 15, 2008

 

Today’s Article is from Thrillhouse:

 

Dragon,

 

Given the high power for low cost figures in Force Unleashed, like Revan, Kazdan, the new Vader, the new OBW, etc., combined with the same for A&E like Storm Commando, Luke's Speeder, the Hans, etc. does it seem like we've moved on to Minis v2.0?  The round based figs were v1.0, but everything with a square base has thrown those old obsolete figs under the bus.  I understand that this is how the Wizards grinder works, but to me we've made a step change to newer, more powerful pieces. 

 

I know that that read more as a rant than a question, but there is a question in there to gauge how a hardcore SWM player like you sees the playability/obsolescence of the old figs vis a vis the new figs. 

 

Thrillhouse

 

Thanks for the letter Thrillhouse.  On a quick side note before we get going, the round vs square bases have nothing to do with anything.  The square bases were simply done with A&E as a way to mark the 30^th anniversary of Star Wars.  It really doesn’t affect the pieces powers.  Okay, it looks like we get to cover the heated PC debate.  No, I am not talking politically correct, although that sucks too.  I am talking about power creep. 

 

Let me start with by basic views of what harmful power creep is, and what is good power creep.  Power creep is there in every game that expands.  You can’t get away from it because new characters mean new powers, abilities and mixes of costs and stats.  Good power creep, which I refer to more as growth, is when a game changes and evolves (also known as the meta game), but is kept in balance.  In games like SWM, if you are not adding new abilities and powers, the game will grow stale and will die.  It’s all that is new that provides flavor and life to games that allows them to endure.  Do you really want a game where the only powers/abilities are the ones that were introduced in Rebel Storm.  “Growth” is when things change, but stay in relative balance.

 

Bad power creep is when new aspects come to the game, but they quickly over power the old meta and sets, making it so nothing else is playable.  You have to play that set with those pieces or you are toast.  You cant expect a game to have nine sets out and have the figures from set one playable as well as when they were new, but you should be able to expect the figures from the last few sets to remain playable.  Granted meta shifts will always take their toll on what figs work and what don’t, but again that is to be expected.

 

Now to be a bit more specific.  Shooters have grown.  Of that there is no doubt.  Bounty Hunters is the set that really raised the bar for the shooters, but they have grown stronger over all the sets with different abilities.  Melee figures on the other hand have struggled on that same power curve. You have two figures with the same cost but one is melee while one is ranged, and the ranged figure will win most of the time because they can strike first and more often.  Melee was vastly underpowered and over costed.  Once the sets got back on a more even distribution, this is something that Rob (the maker) has been working to fix.  This is the change we are seeing.  It is unfortunately making the old minis not very playable, but lets face it.  How many of those old figures have even been competitive in the past several sets.  They were poor to begin with.  In a way, yes, melee has reached a 2.0 style, although it still seems to miss the mark as often as it hits it.  We see some Jedi that look fantastic for their cost and what they do, and then in the same set we will see a Jedi that looks like they are missing half their card for what they cost.

 

One thing this game has done very well is to make pieces that connect with older pieces, bringing them back from the minis graveyard.  Who cared about the Elite Clone Trooper before Bacara came out?  I have dusted off my CS Qui-Gon because of the rising number of force users that really need to be force defended to stop, like Mara, Jedi.  From the first few sets there are still about a quarter of the figures that can still be effectively played, which isn’t bad.  Look at the new sets and you are only looking at 75-80% of the set being playable.  I keep waiting for something that will bring the CS Jedi back.  It really would not take much to make the old Jedi playable again, but in the end we are more likely to get new versions of the characters.

 

Just keep in mind that most people that play a game drop it after a few years, and since the success of the game depends on bringing in new players, sets that are that old cant have lynch pin figures or its going to cause problems with the new players trying to get started.  As of right now, the only figure that resembles this is R2 Astromech.

 

Just keep in mind what Qui-Gon said: “Keep your concentration in the here and now where it belongs.”  The future of this game is good, and has been very well taken care of as a whole.  There is a reason we are the #1 minis game. ;)

 

Thanks for the letter Thrillhouse.  I hope this addresses your question.  If you have any further questions drop me another line.  If anyone has any questions, just send me an email at sithdragon13@yahoo.com.  I will get to ALL emails, so if you have sent something be patient.  Believe it or not I am reaching the end of my stored emails. J