WotC Info Part III

Here?s more answers to some very good questions:

- The game is called Star Wars Trading Card Game. The first expansion of that game features Episode II content and is called ?Attack of the Clones.? The second expansion, set to hit shelves in July ?02, will be called ?Sith Rising.? The third expansion will be ready by Nov. ?02 and will feature Episode IV content (set is not yet named).
- Star Wars Gamer #10 will feature an encyclopedia for the Attack of the Clones cardset only. Future issues of Gamer will most likely feature articles/special sections on specific SW:TCG expansions.
- Currently cards cannot be attacked while they are being built. Building a unit takes place outside the three arenas of battle, off in the Kuat shipyards if you will. It is possible that future sets may have some sort of ?guerilla attack? against units that are being built, but there are currently no cards that do this. One of the beautiful aspects of this game is its flexibility and ability to evolve from expansion to expansion, which allows us to consider many, many possibilities for new mechanics.
- Dividing one?s power to attack multiple targets would fall into the realm of a special ability. That is, not every card can do it, but if a card calls out this ability in its rules text then it is able to attack multiple targets. For instance, most of you have seen the Anakin Skywalker card that?s up on the web. It?s rules text states, ?Pay 2 Force = Evade 2 (Prevent up to 2 damage to Anakin.) Not every card can use the Force so not every card can Evade damage. Attacking more than one target, or attacking more than once a turn, would work the same way.
- Light and Dark Side units cannot fight on the same side. We tried this out during playtests, but it just doesn?t feel right. It seems to fit better to keep the game focused on the epic struggle between good and evil. However, there are Neutral cards, and their loyalties are open to the highest bidder.
- Build Cost refers to how many build points it would take to bring a card from your hand into an arena of battle. It is represented by a colored number in the upper left-hand corner of the cardface.
- Force Cost refers to how many force points you would have to pay to activate a force-related ability, like Anakin?s Evade ability. Some of the Battle cards also require you to pay a certain amount of Force to play them. You start with 4 Force at the beginning of the game, and you gain 4 Force at the beginning of each new turn.
- Our Organized Play department is currently discussing the tournament rules for dice.
- Combat simulates a battle in which all arenas are engaged at the same time.
- I am currently discussing the possibility of getting card images up online.
- 11-card boosters are $3.29 and have a rare in every pack. 5-card boosters are $1.99 and have a rare approximately once in every three packs.
- I am working on getting the Star Wars TCG section of wizards.com up as soon as possible.
- Currently there are no weapon cards. As with the previous question about attacking cards as they are being built, this is something that we could very well introduce in future sets.
- Currently cards do not move from arena to arena. Again, it could conceivably happen in the future.
- The complete game (using all the advanced rules) can take anywhere from 20 minutes to over an hour. Average time is usually around 45 minutes to an hour.
- Certain types of cards in one arena can affect cards in another arena. As I mentioned before, character cards do not currently hop aboard ships. But Ion cannons in the Ground arena can fire at Starships in the Space arena. Likewise, certain Starships with the Bombard special ability can fire at units on the Ground.
- To ?finish building? a card means you have paid the appropriate Build Cost and that card can go immediately into battle.
- ?Infantry? tends to represent a faceless group of soldiers, while a Character has a specific identity. A card like ?Stormtrooper Platoon? would go in the Ground arena, because no

 

-==>>- 11-card boosters are $3.29 and have a rare in every pack. 5-card boosters are $1.99 and have a rare approximately once in every three packs.<<==-

Does this seem a bit strange. Two packs costs more than one 11 card booster and you are not guaranteed a rare? $3.98 for 10 cards (no guaranteed rare) and $3.29 for an 11 card pack with a guaranteed rare? Somehow this price point may be aimed at kids... but on the other hand it seems like "taking candy from a baby!"

Restrainingbolt

 

That game is looking worse and worse.

 

I'm sure with the cards in hand and a firmer grasp of posible strategies, the rules will make more sense.
so far it seems that the tapping is a carry over from Magic, and the Force, is essentially Mana (not a far off comparison outside of ccg either), so I can see how magic Haters might resent this game.
It seems like it will be a lot more than Magic with Star Wars overtones, however.

MJK, you mentioned that Ion Cannons in the battle arena can fire into the Space arena... but Arena Combat takes place first. Does that mean Ion Cannons can only affect a the space arena directly after a battle or preemptively before the next turn? Or will rules or cards be able to affect this.

Also, any possibility of "Side Arenas" being added to the game, like a Pod Racing arena?

 

Thanks MJK. I like this game more and more with each new little part of the game that I learn about. I like to collect as well as play CCGs so I have a few questions related to that.

1. Are there foil cards?
2. How many cards in the inital release?
3. How many rares/uncommons/commmons?
4. Can you tell me the probabilites or sheet counts for the rares, foils, etc..
5. How many booster packs per box?
6. Are there any promo cards that will be avaliable before April and how can I get my hands on them?

And again, thanks for taking the time to answer our questions.

 

RE: "Does this seem a bit strange. Two packs costs more than one 11 card booster and you are not guaranteed a rare? $3.98 for 10 cards (no guaranteed rare) and $3.29 for an 11 card pack with a guaranteed rare? Somehow this price point may be aimed at kids... but on the other hand it seems like "taking candy from a baby!" "

Yeah it costs more to collect rares from buying 3-5 card packs, but there's always the option to *not* buy the 5 card packs. I'm sure it is just a way to get into the game for cheap and if you like it, you can spend more money on it if you want, or if your a little kid, and you just want to play a fun game and don't really care about rares, you can buy a lot for cheap. If you ask me, the extremely cheap cost of starting out the game says a lot about the confidence Wizards has we'll like this game.

I agree there is a lot of similarities in what I hear about Magic (I've never played it) but that doesn't mean it can't be improved from Magic (for the critics that don't like it that is). It can still be fun, even for a Magic hater, becasue I am sure it won't be exactly the same. Just like Deciphers 3 different SW games were all so different yet they all had some basic similarities. WotC uses the term "tapping", but in Jedi Knights TCG it was called "rotating", and that game is pretty fun for a lot of people that give it a shot. Basically I'm saying that if anyone was to criticize this based on some basic similarities between this and Magic, they should consider the whole spectrum. We don't know the entire game or all the cards, which can have a significant effect on the game.
I for one like the sound of it and am looking forward to it!

Vina Del Mar, please join our Yahoo group we started for *fans* (or prospective fans) of the new game, where we discuss what we like about the game and gear up for the release, without those that would rather nitpick it to death just becasue they personally don't like it.

Please check out our fansite with a link to the group at www.thisisgood.com/starwars

 

MJK,

I'm still waiting for the answer to my question: will Shannon Baksa be portraying Mara Jade in this new game!

I'm still unsatisfied with the idea that all I have to do is win 2 of the 3 arenas to win the game. That seems ... lame. Suppose I win the Space and Ground arenas only by a narrow margin, but my opponent thoroughly trashes me in the Character arena. Why should I win the game? I should have to win all three arenas.

Really, I have yet to see what is so new and exciting about this game. This is the "advanced" turn sequence? I'd hate to see the beginner's turn sequence! Jedi Knights is more complex than this game seems to be, and has a more satisfying method for resolving the game and for establishing "build points".

More dice. (groan) Why use dice to determine build points? What possible purpose does that serve? Introducing a random element in combat I can see, but why introduce a random element into build points? I can't conceptualize that.

Sorry, I didn't intend to just come out here and rant against the new game. I really do intend to give the new game a fair chance. I'm just not convinced yet that it is going to be worth my while.

Okay, in an effort to be constructive, here's some gameplay questions...

1. Dark/Light Side Build Step: you say during this step the player may send retreated units back into battle. But all of my units are untapped in the Ready phase, and my units can't retreat until after the Build step. Are there other ways to force a unit to retreat (tap) between the Ready phase and the Build step?

2. Battle Phase: In each arena, my units attack my opponent's units one by one, in order of their speed, until there are no untapped units left ... on either side, or just on one side? If it is "on either side", how do my untapped units attack when all of my opponents' units are tapped?

3. Battle Phase: Let's say I currently have the highest speed unit in a particular arena. Do I choose who I attack, or is it automatically the opponent's unit with the highest speed?

Okay, one more rant. Dark side always wins speed ties? Why didn't you guys just make sure there were no ties to resolve by making sure no Light side card had the same speed as a Dark side or Independent card?

I'll give you one compliment (so far) on the gameplay. Being able to retreat sounds like a nice feature. That let's me build my forces without exposing them to battle yet.

I'm sorry, I can't get away from the rants right now. I was looking back at some old posts, and you said, "We?re familiar with what makes gamers happy, because we?re gamers too. And we have the desire (fanaticism?), the creativity, and the resources to provide gamers with what they want year after year, expansion after expansion."

So far, we haven't seen any creativity. IMO.

 

I just don't know. I'd like to think my good old Star Wars CCG gave its life to make way for something fun, but so far, I'm just not getting excited by this new game. A lot of the gameplay elements listed here, all of them really except retreating and building, seem disappointingly bland and pedestrian. I agree with what BPJ said in one of the other threads about the game needed to be more than just Star Wars characters slugging it out in Star Wars locations. But so far that seems like all it's really going to be.

Let me be more specific about what I like and don't like. Retreating seems interesting, letting you protect someone important who seems to be at risk. Like if in SWCCG you were using Jar Jar, and then Sebulba came down, you could have Jar Jar retreat to safety while Luke dispatches Sebulba, then Jar Jar returns when the threat is gone. If things like that could happen, that would certainly be cool. Also what might be cool is if there were cards that could force an opponent's cards to retreat, it could be helpful for breaking up a horde. Kind of like that thing the Protoss can do in StarCraft (I forget what it's called), where you freeze enemy units, but you can't attack them either.

Building could be interesting, but only if there's something more to it than the basic rules we have heard. Being able to attack units in progress would be great (Hey, that's another StarCraft kind of thing! Why couldn't WotC have gone after THAT license and left SW with Decipher? Then we could have both games!), I think something like this has to be included. Or something else to screw your opponent up, like a way to "unbuild" something of theirs by a point or two. If it's just "stack counters till you can flip", then it just becomes a slight variation on SWCCG's saving up of Force (which it seems this game does too). The only difference is that your accumulated resources go on units-in-progress instead of staying in your resource pool, which really only seems to limit you (In SWCCG if you were saving Force to play Executor and drew Vader and Tarkin, you could play them instead. If you'd already placed a bunch of Force on Executor to build it, you wouldn't be able to change your mind like that.) But done right, the build mechanic might be very clever.

That's about it for what I like, everything else seems like it was made from off-the-shelf CCG parts. I've never been a fan of just drawing one card a turn. It would seem to me that such rules would force you to either devote a significant portion of any deck to getting extra card draws, or just getting stuck with nothing fun and new to play each turn. Evening up to a certain hand size is a much more preferable standardized drawing mechanism, especially with the option to discard one card like in LotR, so you still get that one card draw you would have gotten anyway with the 1 card per turn rule. You're also guaranteed an ample number of cards to work with each turn, even if you just played a bunch. Though I'm really partial to unique drawing mechanisms, like those in SWCG and Jedi Knights. The way it ties in with your resources (Force cards in JK, Force Pile in SWCCG) is brilliant, and gives you a little more uniqueness to your game.

The win condition seems a bit too simplistic and easy. Not easy in the sense of easy to win, more like easy to come up with. And Artie's example of squeaking by in two arenas while getting walloped in another is great. That was one of the thing that bothered me about Young Jedi, especially in the first set, when the only planet that could really be hotly contested was Tatooine. You'd wage an epic battle in one arena, while the other two consisted of a few guys poking each other with sticks. And if your guys poked with better sticks both times, you'd win even after losing the epic battle. Not right.

Rolling for build points just seems like a bad idea. Having that random of an element in something as strategic as resource management is just taking away an easy way to add significant depth to the game. I also do

 

RE: "Does this seem a bit strange. Two packs costs more than one 11 card booster and you are not guaranteed a rare? $3.98 for 10 cards (no guaranteed rare) and $3.29 for an 11 card pack with a guaranteed rare? Somehow this price point may be aimed at kids... but on the other hand it seems like "taking candy from a baby!" "

-==>>Yeah it costs more to collect rares from buying 3-5 card packs, but there's always the option to *not* buy the 5 card packs. I'm sure it is just a way to get into the game for cheap and if you like it, you can spend more money on it if you want, or if your a little kid, and you just want to play a fun game and don't really care about rares, you can buy a lot for cheap. If you ask me, the extremely cheap cost of starting out the game says a lot about the confidence Wizards has we'll like this game. <<==-

What type of calculator are you using? How do you get into the game for less and buy a lot of cards for cheap with the packs priced at $1.99? Two packs with 10 cards cost more than one pack with 11 cards (rare included).

Let's say one 6 year old buys 4 packs of your reasonably priced (easy to get into the game) cards, and another buys two packs of the regular release.
4 packs @ $1.99 = $7.96 _20 cards (one or possibly two rares if lucky)
2 packs @ $3.29 = $6.58 _22 cards (two rares guaranteed)

The bottom line is the cards are MORE EXPENSIVE in the supposedly cheaper packs. It's a blatent rip-off in my opinion.

Seems WOTC can't do anything wrong in your book, even if it's taking advantage of young kids who perhaps don't know better. Seems to me a $1.39 (or the originally announced $1.49) price point might have been a bit more reasonable. I seriously doubt any hard core gamers would be interested in picking up the non rare packs. These cards aren't aimed at people who know better. They're aimed at kids and parents who will pick up a pack or two without realizing what they're buying.

With respect to the gaming rules and mechanics of the new game... I'm still reserving judgement. Seems to me the newly announced rules are a bit confusing to me. I'll have to wait and see how the game works when the game is released.

 

Ok. I am sick and tired of everyone pretty much sitting here bashing the new game before it is even played! I mean come on all we have in front of us are the rules. If back before SWCCG came out if someone posted the rules we would all be saying the same thing. Also I think moving away from Decipher is probably one of the best things that could have happened to the Star Wars card game. Don't get me wrong, I played the Decipher game and enjoyed it, but I also have played numerious other card games and SWCCG just did not rank up there. The gameplay was just too complicated for some people to pick up. I cannot count the number of people that bought a box of cards from the card shop and disgusted with the complex game play stopped playing.
Another problem I have with SWCCG is the way they built the game. You really had to have four of the Ultra Rare cards just to be able to compete in the game. Which means you have to go out and basically buy 10 boxes and hope you get them. That was another thing that turned a lot of people off from the game because they wanted one where they could buy maybe one or two boxes and while not winning all the time still be competitive. We all know that that could not happen with Decipher's game.
Yet another problem with Decipher is just the way the game was going itself. I mean come on entroducing a new game play aspect each expansion is really just confusing. It all started with sabbacc then went all the way up to politics and defense shields. Everyone here is talking about how they think wizards is ripping off little kids with the pack sizes and costs. What about Decipher making it so that if you didnt buy any of the new expansion your deck would be useless because you wouldnt have any senators or no podracers. I think making it so that if you only have some change and dont know what to spend it on, having packs that cost less are a good idea. So you arent garenteed a rare at least you can buy some.
Decipher basically started out with a good card game when card games were fairly new out on the market. Look at Magic, Wizards big game, where you dont neccesarrily have to have any rares, or a lot of them anyway, to be competitive. I know one guy who built a deck of commons and that deck didnt win all the games he played but he didnt lose them all either.
Also Wizards doesn't make it vital to have the new cards. While they might introduce a new ability for creatures in a new set a deck from an older set will work just as well. If you tried to play a deck from Jabba's Palace that won the world championship against a Courasant deck it wouldnt be a challenege. In my opinion this is one of the main problems with the way Decipher used Star Wars.
Someone was complaning about how dice rolls would be too random for building. My question is Why? Have you ever had someone build onto your house? Do they ever get it done when they said they would? NO! Bad rolls will be like bad draws because everyone will be equally vunerable. Bad rolls and bad card draws will happen. Forgive me for saying this but, Live with it!
Now I know I am probably going to be yelled at for saying this but you have to admit some of what I say is true. Star Wars long ago lost its ability as a card game and became a fan game. The only people you saw playing SWCCG towards the end of Decipher's run were star wars fans. If that continued you would have seen star wars become another star trek. Only collected and never played. Also for the LotR card fan do you honestlly think that Decipher would really be paying as much attention to LotR if they still had star wars? The answer is no. Look at the other games they have put and you can see my proof. To be perfectly honest, Decipher has five years of life left, the amount of time for LotR and a possible The Hobbit expansion, before it goes under. They just dont have another game that can support the company.
So my message to all? First sorry you had to read all this and second give the new game a chance. Don't compare it with SWCCG because two

 

Ok that was just utter crap (no offence). Everything you bashed Decipher for Wizards has done also. And it is true of BOTH companies. They BOTH ramp up powerlevels, make new abilities, you can make decks in both games with no rares and do well. Hell if you just replaced Decipher with Wizards in your rant you could have a standard I hate WotC rant.

So what I suggest is that everyone forget who is making what game and just concentrate on what we know about this game.

Things I like (or might like given the cards to support it)

Random build numbers: This is an interesting concept IF there are cards which can help boost your build number. They have already shown that you get a bonus build number for spreading out and I think thats great. That way you are much less likely to see a player just concentrate on something like space and ground. They might also be able to have interrupts which say something like "next turn the build number is 3 no roll is necessary". If however there are no cards which help you modify build numbers then I agree it could make for boring games.

Speed Numbers: This seems very D&D like to me. And thats not a bad thing, thats a good thing. This gives you different strategies on what to use. Slow heavy hitters, fast characters who do little damage, or a mix.

Force concept: I dont' know I just like it

I think this game looks like it has potential but I don't think any of us can really judge it without seeing some cards. So what I would like to see is a small "deck" 10-15 cards which might represent an average deck in this game. I think this would let everyone here make better judgements on what they like and don't like about the game.

Oh and "I'm still waiting for the answer to my question: will Shannon Baksa be portraying Mara Jade in this new game! "

All I have to say is she better be. Any answer to this super important question?

 

let me ask you this. when was the last time a star wars deck with no rares did well in a tournement?

 

Your question on a deck without rares winning a tournament is simply a red herring. If you are investing the time to play in a tournament, then almost certainly you have invested some money to get some rares. That is one of the problems people have with WotC getting the license. Their time and monetary investment is null. And as for the game itself, I know my brother, who just knows the basic rules, he and I occasionally whip out the Introductory Two-Player Set and have a lot of fun...all commons there. Winning a tournament, in any CCG, is about having rares...it is unavoidable.

 

Restrainingbolt, your linear thinking does not allow for the fact that a little kid with only 2 bucks and some change can at least buy one pack. If he has more, he can buy the 11 card packs. I am not saying WotC can do no wrong. I am simply stating the fact that (at least where I live) no one holds a gun to my head and forces me to buy anything. There is nothing wrong with having options.

 

Bacabachaui wrote:
-==>>Restrainingbolt, your linear thinking does not allow for the fact that a little kid with only 2 bucks and some change can at least buy one pack. If he has more, he can buy the 11 card packs. I am not saying WotC can do no wrong. I am simply stating the fact that (at least where I live) no one holds a gun to my head and forces me to buy anything. There is nothing wrong with having options.<<==-

And your tunnel vision with respect to WOTC and this new game doesn't permit you to admit the fact that given a kid might only have two dollars, it doesn't necessarily warrent that a company like Wizards of the Coast needs to charge them more per card than an adult. The fact they can't afford the more expensive pack shouldn't justify the company charging them more. $1.49 was tolorable. $1.99 is a rip.

Do you honestly believe the 5 card pack is worth $1.99? Forget the choice issue and your rationalization that "no one is holding a gun to their heads."

 

Are you familiar with the retail industry? If so, then you would already have a firm grasp of the concept that buying more means paying less.

 

Yeah... retail industry concepts. Great. Expain to me how many rare M&M's come in a box of candy? Forgive my naievity. I suppose I need to get the king size box.

Restrainingbolt

 

you can always forego the purchase of boxes and packs etc and buy the rares already out of the packs. I bought a premiere edition Luke Skywalker for $10 for my buddy back when we were still playing the game, about 5 years ago.

 

DL: Sure, buying more means paying less, but I think the issue here is, is there any real reason for WotC to even offer this other style of pack, EXCEPT to make more money off the gullible? If you want to buy more, buy a box and you'll pay less per card than a regular pack. If you want less, buy singles and even though you'll pay a high price, you'll be sure you get the card you want. Or you can buy regular, just an 11-card pack. What necessitates the need for this 5-card pack, other than money-grubbing? If the 5-card packs had a rare in ever one, $2 is fine. People who just want the rares (which is everybody after about a box's worth of packs) can save at least $1 per pack, and others will at least be sure to get something that's worth their $2. If it doesn't have a guaranteed rare, then $1.50 is fine. But to charge $2 and not guarantee a rare is a little bit much. To continue your line of thinking for "buy less, pay more", suppose WotC offered 2-card packs, with 1 out of every 10 packs having a rare, for $1 each? Would you think anything was wrong with that? The frequency of rares continues to decrease (1:11 to 1:15 to 1:20), the number of cards continues to decrease (11 to 5 to 2), and the price per card continues to increase (30 cents to 40 cents to 50 cents) while the total price decreases ($3.29 to $2 to $1). But I doubt anyone would say that was a good bargain.

 

First I would like to say that I never said to show me a deck without rares winning a tournement. I only said show me on that did well. Also I would like to state I am not bashing Decipher. I am just saying that everyone is sitting here bashing the new game so someone has to be devil's advocate. Do I like SWCCG? Yes. Do I like all aspects of the game? No. Wizards does not go to the extremes that Decipher went to with new expansions. Now onto the objections:

resource management is a key strategic element to most, if not all, CCG's. It should not be a random factor like the random outcome of a battle/attrition.

Why shouldn't it be? I could sit here and point out all the ways that the production of one thing could take longer then the production of the same thing another time.


ANH gave us the ability to blow up the Death Star or planets. Hoth gave us shielded sites and combat vehicles and artillery weapons. Special Edition gave us objectives (probably the best enhancement to the game)and so on...progressing just like the movies and adding a little bit more to the universe to play with. By the end the game was so diversified in how you could play the game, you could literally do practically anything from the star wars movies. You didn't have to just battle.

Right you didnt have to just battle but it does make you have to buy the new expansions to stay competeive. If you dont believe me take out your objectives and play someone who has one in a deck. With Magic it was a lot more possible for a deck that was good before the release of an expansion to still be good after it without having to buy new cards.

Now people on here are complaining about paying $1.99 for packs that might or might not have a rare but no one is complaining that to be competitive in SWCCG you had to buy multiple boxes of the latest expansion.

 

i just hope the card imaes are put up on the web, and i wish the cards had a little more for adding to the lore of SW, the the Decipher SWCCG cards did. I also hope the go to great lengths to create a card for pretty much every background character like SWCCG did

 

Hey, Michael:

I'm fairly interested in the new game, and I'm glad to see an official rep fielding questions on TF.net.

My few questions, first, concerning gameplay:

1) Is there a maximum level of Force points that one can accrue, or can one simply wait and earn an unlimited number of points to use at his leisure?

2) It *appears* that one person (Light Side) rolls to determine the build points for both sides - that, at each turn, both sides accrue the same initial build points, even if those points are determined by a dice roll. Is that a correct?

3) Is there any difference between "finish building" and a sort of deployment, where the card then moves to the arena?

4) Can you give more detail about the battle phase, specificially, the attack? Does an attacking player choose which card he's targeting with his card? (It's also implied that multiple cards can target one enemy card in the same turn. Is that right?)


Now, distribution/sales questions:

1) In the Insider, the levels of rarity are mentioned as common, uncommon, and rare. Are those still the divisions? (That is, there aren't any plans for ultra-rare, gold-foil, holographic impossible-to-find cards, are there?)

2) TF.net is reporting the following MSRP's for the sets:

Trading Card Game - $6.99
Starter Deck - $9.99
Booster Pack - $3.29
Value Booster Pack - $1.49

The trading card game (two decks of 30) costs less than the starter deck (one deck of 20). Is that right???

3) Will the preconstructed decks have cards that you can only get in those decks? (That is, does one have to buy the two-player box AND the one-player box to get a complete set?)

4) It *appears* that the dice, markers, and - MOST IPORTANTLY - the playmat will only be available through the two-player box. Is that also correct?

Sorry for all the questions.

Bubba

 

you can buy dice and counters at any comics or hobie shop.

 

Of course dice and counters are readily available. Like I said, "MOST IMPORTANTLY - the playmat". As it stands, it seems like a two-player game would require ONE of them to buy the two-player box for the mat.

Two more gameplay questions for Michael:

1) Must one USE all the build points during a turn, or do they carry over to the next turn?

2) Is there any way to "un-build" character, space, and ground units to quickly free up build points? (Something analogous to mortgaging property in Monopoly?)

Thanks.