Fantasy Flight Games announces set rotation policy

www.fantasyflightgames.com/edge_news.asp?eidn=5179

They excluded lotr from rotating.

Its been tossed up before about vtes rotating, and frankly, we dont need to if we get in print and re-launch right;

Vamps wouldnt neex to rotate, as contesting less is optimal.

Of the thousands of greenbacked cards, half are wallpaper, a quater are vital, and the remaining 25% are between the two.

If we have a cam-themed base set (4th ed) as a relaunch, issue new stuff and reprints, and push reprints hard in precons, we're golden.

We launch vekn sets with reprints and precons (TU is more marketable) and between all of these sets (Ill include the next up anarch wet too) we can reprint all, or very close to all, of the 50% of cards players wpuld need. No rotarion, have the latest prints in the "suggested" catagory on searches, and new players get big pool of never rotating cards.

We just have to be in print, and staples get printed with sets. We are missing a bloodlines set and laibon, but they will come, and we end up new player friendly and manufacture less wallpaper.

Still need back in print though. (Side note, I started DM and TU as full sets with reprints in SL, just havent finished)

ReverendRevolver wrote:

They excluded lotr from rotating.

Yeah, sensible move given that it's a cooperative game. They're also finishing out and ending the current edition of GOT, and will be relaunching the game with a new edition which will have the new cycle rotation scheme. I'm not very familiar with the GOT game, but from what I understand, most players are happy with that decision.

Its been tossed up before about vtes rotating, and frankly, we dont need to if we get in print and re-launch right;

With head-to-head CCGs, there's always a best deck. That only changes when the card pool changes, be it through phasing out cards and/or adding new ones. Given that, I think FFG's decision is sensible, and I like that they made this announcement a few years in advance of rotation happening, and that their expansions will have a 3-4 year lifespan (almost twice that of Magic).

With multi-player CCGs (V:TES and Shadowfist), there is no best deck. It definitely helps the life of the game to add new things, but adding new things doesn't necessarily mean - and typically doesn't mean - that old things are made obsolete and supplanted by the new things. Having many viable decks and archetypes keeps the game experience engaging and replayable. As such, I don't think a rotation system is really appropriate for V:TES. Furthermore, the absence of a rotation system in V:TES has been one of the keys to it's longevity. Players really appreciate that they can leave the game for years, come back, and still use the cards they bought and still be competitive. I don't ever want to break that trust with the players.

There are problems with not having a rotation system, of course, and FFG did a good job of highlighting them. V:TES does have a steep learning curve, and there's a huge body of cards to familiarize one's self with. However, I also consider those things to be assets and strengths of V:TES. It has an enormous exploration space and an incredible amount of opportunity for creativity and personal expression.

Vamps wouldnt neex to rotate, as contesting less is optimal.

There's already a sorta kinda rotation system for vampires with the grouping system. I wasn't keen on it at first, but I've grown to like it, especially when designing.

Of the thousands of greenbacked cards, half are wallpaper, a quater are vital, and the remaining 25% are between the two.

That's another big problem with not having a rotation system, which FFG pointed out. V:TES has a ton of cruft, some of which creates barriers for further card design. I'd love to do some renovation work on the game, but there's no way I'm doing that unless (*crosses fingers*) the game comes back in print. Unless that happens, I want to keep old cards as they are. Renovation also causes a trust issue with players, as people who've left the game for a while and are returning want to trust that old cards still work the way they thought they did. If renovation were to ever happen, it would have to be paired with a big marketing/announcement/information campaign.

BenPeal wrote:

There's already a sorta kinda rotation system for vampires with the grouping system. I wasn't keen on it at first, but I've grown to like it, especially when designing.

the grouping system is nothing short of genius. It allows for rotation, but doesn't make the groups that are rotated out obsolete. I wonder what a grouping system for library cards might look like.

One of the things that has always bothered me about the way the game was released was that there has never really been a core set. Each base set has always had a theme with many of the staple cards reprinted in either starter decks, or in the set as a whole. Given the nature of the Game, it seems unavoidable, but I can't help but feel that this is a sub-optimal way of doing things, and I don't have a better idea, either.

I would also rather much move away from the random distribution, in favor of a more LCG style distribution.

self wrote:

BenPeal wrote:

There's already a sorta kinda rotation system for vampires with the grouping system. I wasn't keen on it at first, but I've grown to like it, especially when designing.

the grouping system is nothing short of genius. It allows for rotation, but doesn't make the groups that are rotated out obsolete. I wonder what a grouping system for library cards might look like.

One of the things that has always bothered me about the way the game was released was that there has never really been a core set. Each base set has always had a theme with many of the staple cards reprinted in either starter decks, or in the set as a whole. Given the nature of the Game, it seems unavoidable, but I can't help but feel that this is a sub-optimal way of doing things, and I don't have a better idea, either.

I would also rather much move away from the random distribution, in favor of a more LCG style distribution.

We need to launch a base set of cam themed new stuff and staples, with precons geared at new player acquisition if we see print again. Id rather PoD than LCG distribution. But, id take boosters in a heartbeat if it meant being printed.

if it were cleverly done, you could probably merge cam/sabbat, even without folding the anti-tribu clans into the regular ones (which is another discussion altogether). A Camarilla themed base set doesn't change the oscillating weirdness that's been all of our "base" sets. because of the anti-tribu there's a profound amount of overlap between the two by design.