Playtest Application

KevinM wrote:

If you're going public, go fully public. After the design team creates some cards, put them on a sticky message and let EVERY playgroup play test them and give feedback here.

There's no real reason to keep any of this private, since you're making it public (some of those) who is on the design team and who is going to be a play tester. It's not like anything (money) is at-risk. and if openness is better, then fully embrace it.

100% support for this. make the cards public, long before they become official and start appearing on the tournament scene. I honestly believe that the power level of some cards which appeared in the last couple of expansions is way too high, so it's better to be safe than sorry.

1) Robert Guerrero Acedo, , Cádiz (Spain). I play around Cádiz normal.


2) Yes, why not? Is a secret.


3) Three to five games for week, and tournaments. (weekly casual game)


4) 30h, sometimes more time if i will play any tournaments, o brainstorm decks.

5) Block Tzimisce (VIC/AUS) and Toolbox Abonwe (ABO/FOR) my favourites.


6) Yes, no problem. I have a flat, many friends players and princes. We can do good partys while playing.


7) vekn.net/index.php/forum/30-expansion-sets-a-card-ideas/10601-card-ideas-new-toys-for-the-bahari

Conversionde hate Bahari. They only make blood win bloodless vampire turning to Bahari, if we mix it with princes as "Anson" double master in turn. Liquidations, guns and Ashur tables have a pool orgy and crypts entire game.


8) Cooperation between clans
Being more selective in sects
Earn other ways

9) How old are you and if you think a Methuselah while playing. What clan and sect?

Thanks. ^^

1) Chris Hammond , melbourne australia

2) Yes

3) weekly

4) 8

5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two):
Combat, Weenie,

6) Hells yes

7) Villein: Can be used top creat timeout focused decks. Not balanced due to poor focus on ousting/

8) Reprints of all cards for newbies, downloadable pictures fomatted for printing and playing proxie decks allowed in tournies

9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best playtesters? All good

1) Please list your first and last name, e-mail address, and city/country where you play. If you regularly play online using JOL or another system, you may list that in addition to your physical city.

Brandon Haas, , San Jose, California.

2) Do you promise to keep secret all the cards and content of the playtest until at least 12 months after the release of the set?

As long as VEKN exists, I'll have and adhere to this obligation, yes.

3) How often do you actually play VTES? Describe in a sentence or two (weekly casual game, tournaments, etc.)

I play 3 games about every 2-3 weeks and tournaments 2+ times/year.

4) Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on VTES-related things? (including deckbuilding, playing, forum posts, organizing events, etc.)

I'm always thinking about it. As far as sitting down and consciously planning, ~5 hours/week. Playing, it averages 2-3 hours a week (based on answer #3 above). On the forum, 5-8 hours a week. Total: 12-16 hours/week.

5) Pick up to two of the following as your favorite decktypes to build and play (yes, I know it may be hard to pick just two):
Bleed, Vote, Combat, Toolbox, Crazy Combo/Trick, Weenie, Star Minion, Allies/Imbued, Specific Clan (name the clan), Specific Discipline (name the discipline)

I like toolbox and star decks.

6) If selected as a playtester, do you promise to play at least 2 games per week (for 1 month) using at least some of the cards from the playtest? These would need to be at least 3 player games.

It would depend on the timing. If it is on a school break (i.e. over the holidays, summer), I could probably do that. Otherwise, no.

7) Pick any card idea from this forum (that hasn't been picked yet in this thread), include a link to it, and describe why it is or is not balanced. Feel free to compare to existing cards, give examples of a potentially broken combo, etc.

Here's one I just made up:

Quinton McDonal Adv
Gangrel
8 capacity
FOR ani cel pot pro
Independent. Anarch. When you gain control of a vampire, that vampire may become anarch.
Merged: +1 stealth +1 bleed

Edited: Baron is cool, but not as cool as +1 stealth with cel/for

8) What are the top three things that you think could be improved about the game?

Weaken S:CE
Make it easier for titled vampires to become anarchs
Make a card that gives anarchs a table action worth taking (i.e. club illusion should have been "any anarch may take a D action to bleed their prey at +1 bleed that costs 1 blood" or something to that effect)

9) What question would you add/change on this application to ensure we get the best playtesters?

I don't know who the "best" playtesers are. I would change this to ask for a specific trait you are looking for in playtesters so that people could give more pertinent advice.

1) Bart Van Gheluwe, belgaman[at]hotmail.com, Brasschaat, Belgium

2) yes, I promise

3) We used to play about 2 times per month, but the last year we only played the game 3 evenings or so... We have played the game since 1994, Jyhad cards are still an important piece of our decks. We have never played a tournament, but we used to have a dedicated core.

4) I used to be a couple of hours per week, but as stated in answer 3: the last year or so has been very calm related to VTES.

5) Indeed, it's very hard to choose two deck types, since I like to vary a lot. That's why I choose two deck types all other players will try to kill my deck first: it raises extra tension.
I like the crazy deck (without the combo/trick part ) filled with Malkavian Pranks, Games Of Malkav and other completely unpredictable cards because it often drives the other players into despair: their well thought-over, powerfull and balanced decks don't perform as expected. It often backfires, though
I also like my Imbued deck with a lot of events that cripple vampires. The other players always grunt when they realise "it's that deck again". But, as with any deck, it can be beaten...

6) Since we don't like our current play rate, a motivational factor is very welcome to reactivate our sleeping player group. So yes, I promise to play at least two games per week during one month when playtesting.

7) + 8) I probably talk in stereotypes, but I'm just happy to talk about the game again. So don't blame me for being obvious

In our play group we have never encountered a deck that wiped every table. And doing the same trick over and over again becomes pretty boring as well. And predictable... We like to experiment. Sometimes a deck idea works great in one game and gets immediately smoked in another. When the other players know you often use a certain way of playing, they will prepare themselves and hit that deck (type) on its weak spot. But it might be a whole other play experience on tournaments... I've never been on one, so I couldn't tell.

Example: I notice here on the forum a lot of people see Villein as a problem. We haven't played it often. Powerful cards / combos tend to draw too much attention and in that way they may become very ineffective. If every other player has some Sudden Reversals in his/her deck (we usually have), a deck relying on masters to get pumped and without a backup plan will fail big time. Sure, it will slow your own play down, but isn't it fun you have the possibility to kill every big plan? You can't foresee every situation, but in VTES as I know it there's cure for every cancer... You just hope no other player has created a medicine against your disease. We've seen decks relying on big cap vamps and massive pool gain wipe a table and a game later get smoked by relatively small vamp combat decks before they could pull off their first trick... (example:(ok, it's card intensive and a big risk relying on so much different cards needed in one round AND if you don't watch out your library deck is gone before you know it and you're ousted...) Bum's Rush, Torn signpost, Concealed weapon, Wooden Stake, Decapitate in the round after a big cap vamp was being brought into play. There also were some additional strike cards and some Psyche! cards in that deck to counter some S:CE or damage prevention cards. It's probably not the best deck idea ever, but in that particular situation it worked quite well ). Brainwash is also fun to cripple big cap vamp decks, especially when they have no "service" weeners.

We have never used proxies, but it might be an interesting idea to get new players onboard since the initial costs might be too big just to get started. (but miniature games like Warhammer also cost you an arm and a leg to play it as you should). I think it must be possible to have different categories of tournaments / game nights:

• a "only official and original cards allowed" competition. It's still a CCG.
• a "proxy" competition. Here you can show your deck building skills without financial/availability restrictions.
• a "check what selection of fan based expansion cards is allowed" + "proxy" competition
• a "buy a preconstructed deck and go" competition. Here you can show your situation handling skills.
• a "I have to show my skills in every forementioned discipline" competition

I would like to see V:TES evolve to WOD:TES (World Of Darkness:The Eternal Struggle) Other players I know despised Imbued in the crypt, but I would like to see werewolves, ghouls, mummies, whatever... in the crypt to open whole new play dynamics. It would be nice to see specific strengths and vulnerabilities between the different types of monsters...

9) no questions to add