So I am going to break my own self-imposed Social Media rules for a sec and talk about L5R on my private Facebook account. I sit here now in the Washington DC airport and am reflecting back on this past weekend. We knew it was going to be an important weekend, and we worked really hard on a presentation that would show the European L5R players we hear their concerns, understand them, recognize where we as a company have been failing L5R, and the steps we are taking to correct it. I think this concern actually goes beyond European L5R players, but we were pretty certain it was rooting inside of Europe. It was going to take more than a good presentation though to speak to our players. It was going to take a group of L5R players who were willing to listen openly and honestly. This was the most important part, and Europe, you did not disappoint. You guys and gals showed up and listened, willing to hear us out, and willing to give us a fair chance. You didnt pull punches though and in the Q&A section you asked hard, yet fair, questions and again you were open to hearing our honest answers. That, by far, was the toughest part of the weekend that anyone had to do. It is really easy to walk away from a game or company that you feel is not listening to you. It is really hard to stick around, listen, and give them another chance, and for that we can never thank you enough. But as we said Saturday night, the key here is Deeds, Not Words. We need to show you guys we are worthy of the trust you have placed in us. We need to show you that we are going to do the things we have told you we will do. Some of this has already begun. We put the choice of whether the Naga were coming back in your hands. Depending on how that tournament went, 2016 was going to look very different. We put the choice of whether you accept these Snake Men as allies in your hands. Again, that shifts the entire story for 2016 and beyond. Expect to see these types of choices going forward. We stumbled a bit in these first decisions by not explaining the impact of your choices up front, but that is not how we will be proceeding. Going forward, you will have engaging and meaningful choices to make, be it deciding the future of the Naga race or the return of the Oracles or many other future choices to come. The one and done tournaments of the past, where you make some choice that is resolved and then we move on, will be relegated to events appropriate to their importance and will be much, much fewer in scope. Beyond this, we will be lifting the curtain so you can see what impact your choices will make, and often we will be asking you to make this choice far in advance. Dont be surprised when we say things like Item X will be found in two years, and this tournament/Imperial Assembly poll/whatever will determine which clan finds it and what they do with it. How your clan reacts to the discovery of this item will change how your clan proceeds in the times they are facing. We are partners in this game of ours, AEG and yourselves. We are the GM, you are the players, and we are fully embracing this relationship moving forward, as evidenced by allowing our new World Champion to put a child on the throne as Regent. It is very important to us that we all recognize the AEG-players relationship for L5R and the Story; not one of Storytellers and Story readers, but as a partnership. Shifting gears to other promises we have made from the presentation, we on Design made some promises too. We promised you would see design decisions to help balance the economic disparity between one start and another players start. The first of these impacts you will see in Twenty Festivals, namely with the new Holding Forgotten Legacy and the new restriction on the Unicorn Stronghold, but expect to see more in the future if the environment demands it. We are also re-focusing on making sure the Personalities feel like you are playing that clan, and you are not simply playing with a Red version of a Crane or Unicorn card. While some Personalities without much, if any, text will always exist, we are focusing on reducing the number of these. This will help combat these feelings of generic personalities. One other point that didnt make it into the presentation that I want to share here, is we are also working on increasing the impact of your Fate hand. In Ivory, several discussion we have had with players indicate that they feel the Fate hand does not do enough to move the battle in one direction or another. In Emperor it was too swingy, so now it is on us to find a good balance where your Fate hand is impactful, but not solely deterministic. These last two promises are effects that are not as easy fixes as something such as adding Forgotten Legacy to the environment, and as such, will be a more organic process. Switching gears again, I am really excited for L5R moving forward. I know this is exactly what one would expect me to say, but it is very true. People who know me well know I am an honest person who does not artificially inflate things. I feel integrity is the measure of a person and when I say statements such as these, it is important to me that people dont say Oh that is just Bryan exaggerating again. I am not just excited for L5R though, I am excited for the community. There has been a rift building in the community over the past year plus, and we at AEG take responsibility for our part, not handling L5R in the way that players clearly want L5R handled. I feel this wounds are being mended, however, and that the community is feeling better about L5R now than they have in some time. The community is regaining hope, and we love this, because we love you guys. We are part of this community with you. When the tournament is done for the day, we dont go back to our hotel rooms each night to plan for the next days activities. We go out there with you. We go to the dinners with you. We go to the bars and pubs with you. We play more games with you. This past weekend, I was out until at least 2 or 3AM each night hanging out with all of you, only to get up at 7AM to start the next day and I LOVED IT! I have been all over the world and played with L5R players everywhere. America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, England, Ireland, Scotland, Spain, France, Germany, and more. You name it, I have likely been there. Never have I gone anywhere and found L5R players that were anything short of amazing. You will never find a better group of gamers in any game. That is not fluff, that is what I truly, honestly believe. I love you guys, and even though this World Championships but a bit dodgy going in, by the second night I was out there with you guys once again until far too early in the morning, just as it should be. I wouldnt want it any other way. Europe, I just want to say this. Thank you. Thank you for being the quality human beings that you are. You share a place in my heart. I am honored to call each and every one of you a friend.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 20:30:08 +0000
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