What kills a game...

There is some local talk about where is GW gaming systems and this little gem popped up and I thought I would share it here...





















> If I may add to the conversation, I also have some opinions on the waning of fantasy.
> 
> Now, I'm not a hardcore Fantasy veteran dating way back. In fact, I
> played some 40k when I was young, jumped back into it a decade or so
> later. I always thought Fantasy looked amazing, and the armies were
> really evocative, so I jumped into 7th Edition with arms outstretched. I
> even bought the hardcover book with the limited edition tote bag and
> all. 
> 
> Unfortunately I jumped into fantasy with Ogres at a time when learning
> to play with Ogres was like learning about sex by putting on a gimp
> outfit and walking into a fetish club. So I got creamed, over and over
> again, and did all that I could to learn how to play the game. But it
> as a chore. I found Warhamer 7th horrendously fiddly, and some of the
> rules seemed inane. For example, to my noob eyes, the whole "guess
> range" of artillery seemed like a rule to allow experienced players to
> snipe whatever they wanted while making new players flounder all the
> time. Yeah, I get that the battle boards delineate everything into a
> grid nicely, but some of us aren't as great at math. I also thought it
> silly how one guy will come up to my battle line, kill five people, and
> thirty others would stand there slack-jawed, maybe too intimidated to
> do anything but wait until next turn, when they coul get killed again.
> The examples are endless.
> 
> Anyway, when 8th was in the horizon and I read about how they were
> revamping the system, I was excited. Preordered my book and started
> building a new army.
> 
> Here we are, and 8th has been out for a while. And while people still
> play it, the population has dwindled. It's just not doing good. Why?
> 
> Here's what I see down here:
> 
> 1. Veterans will not stop complaining about the new rules. Like,
> nonstop. I'm not saying that they don't have merit in some of their
> complaints, but sometimes I wonder if the game moved on and they just
> don't want to adjust. Instead of talking about what changed and how
> they can adapt their army to it, they complain about how it doesn't
> work anymore.
> 
> Do you know how hard it is to get people to try a game when the players won't stop complaining? 
> 
> 2. People keep complaining about how all the tactics are gone and the
> game is too easy and cheap to win. Yet somehow in 7th no one had any
> complaints about how their Dark Elves or Demons gang raped Ogres
> consistently. Winning seems to be a problem when they're not the ones
> doing it.
> 
> 3. They complain about how things are overpowered. Yet they can't stop
> talking about the brutal killer combos they have in their own lists.
> 
> 4. Comp. The veterans decide that since they knew 7th so well, it gives
> them the authority to rewrite 8th into 7.5 to fit their vision. This
> one really gets me. From being told that I can't use certain units in
> my army just because, to completely arbitrary shit like "Empire are
> not allowed to field gunlines unless they're painted as Nuln" and comp
> scoring questions such as "Does your opponent's army look like an
> army?" (as opposed to what, an aborted fetus? And yes, both of these
> are comp questions that have shown up here in Miami). For every comp
> rule added to nerf one army, another gets a boost, it all just reeks of
> perception and amateur game design.
> 
> This one really alienates players. Who wants to paint regiment after regiment to field some other guy's dream army?
> 
> 5, Elitism. I'm tired of hearing about how 40k is simplistic, a dice
> fest, etc. Talk to me about what's good in fantasy, not about what's
> bad in everything else. It's like voting for a politician based on
> nothing but smear campaigns.
> 
> So these are some of the things I've seen. 8th may have made a lot of
> missteps, but you know what? I don't know that. I can't see the game
> past the bullshit. I haven't even finished assembling my army. It's
> hard to get excited about a game past the negativity of the fan base.
> How do you convince me or any other noob to try a game, when all we
> hear is how good it used to be and how it sucks now? I'm not advocating
> fanboyism, but some balance in the gaming world would be nice. 
> 
> Again, this is just my opinion, I could be wrong.