Regarding unplayable or overpowered cards

Jeff wrote:

Take a look at Ashur Tablets. It's basically Ascendance with some bonuses and drawbacks. No doubt in my mind that LSJ thought about Ascendance when designing Ashur Tablets.

That definitely made my day

Actually, if you look at the history of rec.tradingcardgames.jyhad you can see that whining has led to a change in many cards.

5th tradition hospitality is now playable, but not the cheesy powerhouse it used to be. Drawing out the beast now does not stack so Vliam with a ani skill cannot torp a full brujah justicar by playing 10xDrawing before range

So yes, don't listen to the naysayers and do whine, something good can eventually come out of it !

I also want to point that lsj made cards from the Dark sov/ancient hearts era playable by removing stupid cost or pointless burnable clause on them. If people can play acquired ventrue asset in their shambling hordes deck, it's in large part to his efforts.
" I guess what I'm trying to say is, if I can change, and you can change, everybody can change." -R.Balboa

Reyda wrote:

So yes, don't listen to the naysayers and do whine, something good can eventually come out of it !

BAN PROTECT THINE OWN!

Reyda wrote:

I also want to point that lsj made cards from the Dark sov/ancient hearts era playable by removing stupid cost or pointless burnable clause on them.

I think it is worth mentioning that LSJ did not design DS and AH. Those were second-tier WotC designers. LSJ only got involved in design when White Wolf took over production of V:TES starting with Sabbat War. The cards were noticeably more evenly balanced thereafter, though at times a bit on the conservative side (with good cause).

galliard wrote:

Is there an authority (like LSJ before) who would i adress nerf/buff suggestions for cards?

there are tons of unplayable cards now and it would be nice to use them. its better to improve existent cards than make new expansion in my opinion

just making Ascendance trifle would make it playable. Or make Deal with the Devil cost x pool but burn 2x cards at random from another metuselah hand.

is there anybody to whine to?

I completely agree that there are a lot of cards that are so suboptimal that they "can't" be played. I also agree that the weakness of some of those cards could be mitigated by "tinkering" with the text. For instance, I think that The Sixth Tradition: Destruction should be playable on any vampire who has committed diablerie since the beginning of the game. I think that Patagia: Flaps Allowing Limited Flight should allow you to burn one blood at any time to give the Nosferatu bearer Flight until the end of the turn. Corruption should be able to target predator's minions as well as preys. Clan hosers should have a burn option, and the list goes on.

The practical problem is that you would have to print a new edition of the game since the changes could be so expansive. Also there would have to be one authority who arbitrarily makes those decisions, some of which will be unpopular to some people. One authority (LSJ?) performed widespread changes on the most horrible cards from DS and AH when the game went to White Wolf. That was great; I'm all for doing more, but that makes one of me.

And speaking of Ascendance: I made the Angelica Ascendant deck as a challenge to see if I could use multiple Ascendances effectively. Because of two potent vampire specials, I could use Ascedances for intercept or to create up to two pool a round. That's an efficient use of a card slot. I think that Ascendance is not quite good enough for a normal master slot, but is a little too good for a trifle slot. I could say that same thing about a lot of masters, though. I think Ascendance is superior to almost any Powerbase. Should Powerbase: Washington, D.C. be changed to make it playable? Probably, but it seems like a lost cause, doesn't it?

@Jeff Kuta: You are of course right that it is necessary to refer to previously designed cards when designing new cards.