The best
game lines represent a relationship between fans and the production
company. My first gencon, PP took over a
local restaurant. They renamed every
item on the menu for warmachine characters and had open gaming in the
back. When hurricane Katrina devastated Louisiana,
they put out a charity resculpt of Vlad I to raise funds for the victims. When they had to raise prices or start using
new materials, they explained their decision in simple language—no razzle
dazzle—just the facts.
They set
the standard for quality, design, and community engagement. I did not like every choice they made but I
knew they had a plan. I trusted that
they had it under control. If I doubted
for a moment, my faith was soon restored.
Flash forward to a year after MKIII’s release and I am let’s
say…concerned. Please keep in mind that
although the following is inherently critical, it comes from a love of the game.
I have
talked about my dislike of the ubiquity of theme forces and steamroller. I realize those issues are design choices. I may not like the end result but that is a
matter of personal preference. At the
end of one of those posts someone commented that I sound frustrated—which is
true. That frustration started the day
we heard that the old PP forums were closing.
Those forums were my warmahordes fix.
I had all my battle reports, tacticas, and game design articles
there—not to mention the extensive community user reviews and introductory
guides. One day Privateer press said
that the forums would be closing down shortly.
There was no explanation, no answer as to whether the old material would
be available again, no idea of whether there would even be faction forums any
more, no understanding of the decision process…just that they would be gone.
To be
fair, I probably would not have been happy with the forum cancelation no matter
how PP handled the transition. That
being said, with a reasonable explanation I could have moved on with a modicum
of fuss. However, the announcement came
at the same time as the press ganger program cancelation. Press gangers got a personal explanation, a
community thank you, and a detailed timeline.
Forum rats got a vague bulletin, a couple days to pack up their stuff,
and an uncertain future. The inconsistent
approach between these two announcements left me puzzled, especially since some
of the most active forum contributors were also press gangers. The entire process felt haphazard--a term I
never thought I would be using to characterize my favorite game company.
During
this process, one of PP’s talking points was the introduction of the community
integrated development program. We would
get to test drive new concepts, provide feedback, and talk to developers
directly. The catch was that the CID
forums were strictly controlled—only certain kinds of discussion were allowed
and only people committed to a certain amount of regular gaming were encouraged
to submit a CID application. To their
credit, PP said that initially they would accept anyone who applied straight
out of the old forums. They stressed
that this was a step forward in game design and community engagement—which it
was. It also came after a factional
do-over for Skorne and Cryx.
I took
from this that while the base mechanics were sound, Privateer Press’s internal
development process was so out of touch that with three years to create the new
edition, they still screwed up a quarter of the original mainstream faction
design. As with so much in MKIII, this
left me feeling vaguely uneasy. I
expected their to be balance issues. You
cannot fully balance a game system with over a thousand models, multiple
formats, and millions of potential competitive pairings. There were going to be some challenges. It was the scale of the required adjustment
that surprised me. Combine that with
Privateer Press’s no-notice forum closure, the end of the press gangers, and
PP’s lack of transparency and it has been hard to keep faith in their
implementation.
The
preceding points are important because they set the tone for how the community
views Privateer Press as a company and their ability to deliver a quality
product. They are entitled to a SNAFU or
two. Their ability to identify problems
and respond relatively quickly is to their credit. I have just seen a lot of things this edition
that make me question their grasp of the larger game and player
experience. PP has historically set a
high bar for professionalism, quality, and engagement—and they have usually exceeded
those expectations. If I sound overly
critical it is because recent behavior is out of character.
Moving
on, let’s talk about game design, faction identity, and design choices. Khador has always had its quirks. We do not get arcnodes. We cannot have a focus 8 caster. With the exception of Behemoth, we do not get
accurate jack shooting. Until recently,
I felt these were interesting design choices that added color. Now, having played a bunch of games in MKIII,
I am not so sure. I look at other
factions and I see an elegance of design—a uniformity of purpose and
concept. Sloan is a good example. She is powerful, thematic, and accomplishes
her goals. All of the grimkin casters
have that excellent fusion of versatility and power that make for fun effective
play. By contrast Zerkova 1 has a
variety of options that look good on paper but make for clunky play. Old Witch II is proof that PP can design a
versatile spell slinging caster in Khador that is fun and effective. Zerkova is proof that some ideas need some
polish before going prime-time. I feel
the same way about Kozlov, the MOW kovnik, and the decimator. You can get value from them but they do not
seem to work as cleanly as you would think.
I feel as
if PP has these preconceptions about Khadoran design that trump all
reason. It is as if because we have
durable jacks, we cannot have a decent ranged stat. Why cannot Khador have a focus 8 caster?
The more
I look at certain design choices the less confident I become in PP’s
vision. Take the decimator—one of the
jacks in the Khador battle box. Here is
a jack with a 2-shot gun that has less range than a hand cannon whose special
affect is to push targets farther away.
If you boost to-hit on both shots you only have enough focus to boost
the damage on one of the hits. This is
on a RAT 4 chassis by the way; so on average you are hitting defense 10. Its melee weapon has sustained attack which
would be great if you did not need to spend 1 focus to charge, 1 focus to boost
the hit-roll, leaving one focus to buy a second attack. What if the saw had critical shred? How about a range 12 dozer with powerful
shot? I love the idea of the decimator
but in practice it has consistently disappointed.
Look at
the vaunted gun carriage. Before the
recent CID it was a great model. After
the CID it is still a great model…but 2 heavy cannon with range 10? A mobile artillery piece designed to trample
massed infantry? It is exactly this kind
of disconnect between stated roll and actual profile that makes me think
someone at PP is playing in a different world.
All is
not gloom and doom. The recent decision
to release all the beta theme forces was a refreshing bit of jiggery
pokery. Privateer Press may not be
getting everything right but they have always been good at changing direction
on the fly for the good of the game.
Blood and iron is not my cup of tea but hey, I’m happy they continue to
innovate. I want to see how they handle
mercenaries and theme forces—the fact that this issue seemed to come as a
surprise was disheartening…but they are taking steps to resolve the issue.
In
summary, I feel like Privateer Press has lost touch with the average player
experience. That might just be a
function of my chosen faction though. I
am probably still salty about the obvious lack of quality internal playtesting
invested on the current model range. I
do not know if that is a byproduct of PP’s factional bias or something
else. Once all the CIDs are finished for
the base factions, I think the game is going to be greatly improved—it is just
going to take a while to get there. This
leaves me in a weird place. I want to
continue playing but numerous MKIII related issues have killed warmahordes in
my area. I am going to focus on building
my collection and wait to see where PP takes the game. There are good things ahead—I just hope they
come soon enough to rejuvenate my local community or I am going to be sitting
this edition out.
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