Thing and New Player Confusion

Hello all - I was playing a game with a relatively new player recently (she's played ~15-20 games at this point, so new-ish is likely a better descriptor), and when she ran into Thing, she was very confused. Let's take a look at the card:

Thing
+1 stealth action.
Add 2 blood to a Gangrel in your uncontrolled region.

What was unclear to this player is where the blood that gets added to your uncontrolled Gangrel comes from. She knew that it couldn't be from the blood bank (this is literally what she told me) because those cards all say "from the blood bank." Scouting Mission, Enchant Kindred, Govern the Unaligned, and many more cards use this phrasing.

Enchant Kindred
[ pre ] Bleed with +1 bleed.
[ PRE ] +1 stealth action. Move 2 blood from the blood bank to a younger vampire in your uncontrolled region.

She tried to figure out where the blood comes from and concluded that it must come from the vampire playing the card. Once she found out that the blood was supposed to come from the blood bank, she was at least marginally confused because Thing didn't follow the wording precedent set by other cards that she was familiar with.

So I guess I'm trying to ask if there was a reason that this card doesn't follow the typical wording. Was the wording altered on purpose? Is the difference in wording meaningful? Am I actually wrong and the blood does come from the vampire playing the action? And if none of those things apply then can we update the text on the card so that it clearly explains where the blood comes from? Thanks!

One can hardly think of clearer and simpler wording than Thing. It is the old template that is needlessly complicated. The whole notion of blood bank has no place in the rules, it is only there to say that players should bring more than 30 tokens with them.

It is confusing wording for a new player, and possibly for returning players.
No harm in making the wording consistent with other similar card effects
(see changed text below)


]Thing
+1 stealth action.
Move 2 blood from the blood bank to a to a Gangrel in your uncontrolled region.

I much prefer the old template (which I edited original wording above to reflect this) which imo is much clearer than the present "Thing" description.

I'm also very fond of the phrase "Blood Bank". Due to it being a term players in my meta have been using from the 90s and still use today. I does have a place in the rules.

So I guess I'm trying to ask if there was a reason that this card doesn't follow the typical wording. Was the wording altered on purpose? Is the difference in wording meaningful? Am I actually wrong and the blood does come from the vampire playing the action? And if none of those things apply then can we update the text on the card so that it clearly explains where the blood comes from? Thanks!

I'm not sure about answers to any of these questions, but the change certainly was deliberate. From "Output Changes" under "Rules":

R0089 : Add/give/move X blood from the blood bank

Use 'add X blood' (without 'from the blook bank').

I don't agree with some of the text change decisions that have been made, including this one. There doesn't seem to be any awareness that inconsistency in wording among cards causes confusion for new players. Changing existing templates is a wonderful long-term goal, but it is not a good idea to implement them now in the VEKN expansions.