Old Fashioned CCG Fan

I don't know how you can think a card game based on three movies is so severely limited while one based on six movies is not. So you get 6 hours more to cull images from, not even really considering LotR movies are an hour longer than Star Wars movies, so it's more like 3 hours more. Sure, there's the Expanded Universe novels, but there's also tons of background story and information about Middle-Earth (and I seriously doubt a set based on novels and comics will have the appeal of a set based on the movies, especially since most of WotC's target audience hasn't read any SW novels). Just because The Silmarillion isn't written like a storybook doesn't mean it doesn't have stories to tell. And there's tons of things in the LotR books that didn't even make it into the movies (like the Barrow-Downs and Tom Bombadil) that Decipher can put into the game. They can make things from the books and not just the movies (most of the lore on the cards already does come from the books), so they'r enot exactly hurting for material. And they have an 11-year plan for the game worked out already, which is one of the advantages of working on a license where all the source material is already released. Sure the last two movies haven't come out yet, but anyone who's read the books knows what to expect.

Both series have two movies left, so I see them as being roughly in the same boat. And LotR is significantly more popular than Star Wars these days, which balances out any advantage you want to give Star Wars for the original trilogy source material. Popularity counts for a lot, and unless Episode 2 really makes up for the damage to the Star Wars name that Episode 1 did, the Star Wars license won't have the allure it once did (honestly, I don't think it ever will). And Decipher won't go out of business without LotR or Star Wars. They didn't always have either license and they were okay, and if they lost both, they would still be okay (although granted they'd probably be a much smaller-time operation).

 

Ok, you say that the EU wont help the TCG then how can some of Tolkien's other novels help LoTR? I mean the game is based towards people who saw the movies not towards people who have read the books. Many of the people I know who saw the movie had never read the books before. There is no way Decipher can stay in business more then two years after the LoTR movies end. That simple. If you know of a way tell me.

Now I never said that the TCG will knock LoTR out of the top slot. Magic will do that on its own as it always does. The reason for that is simple. Wizards makes it so that if you miss an expansion in a game you can pick up the next one and still be competitive. Dont tell me that about the CCG. I dont care what you say if you were not buying three boxes of each expansion you were going to get beat. It is that simple. You want an example? When Courascant first came out we had people playing with regualar decks against a political deck. Guess who won? Want another one? Pod racing. Unless you get extremly good draws, if you dont have an Anakin or Sebubla pod racer in your deck you will lose. Now I played the CCG since it came out and in my opinion and the opinion of others that I have played cards with, in three different states, the CCG does not rank up there with other card games.

 

Thank you for making my point. If you didnt get any tatoonie or R3 how can you beat them? You just said defense shield and were talking about how you got them in each of the boxes that you bought. All I'm saying is that Wizards constantly has produced games where you dont have to have a ton of money invested to win. And trust me here in the CCG you did.

 

>>If you didnt get any tatoonie or R3 how can you beat them?

Politics: This got harder after they made teh Defensive Shield to stop it, but you could collapse the Senate with Proton Bombs as Dark. I usually play Dark so I'm not as knowledgable about what to do as Light.

Podracing: One of my favorite decks is Court of the Vile Gangster, and I could beat my friend's Light Side podracing deck in the race every time. I included 1 or 2 Thermal Detonators, and enter the race with a generic podracer. Just after he drew the last card to win the race (which is during the Dark control phase, race victory is checked in the Dark move phase), I Snipered my Thermal Detonator and a carefully tracked 3 destiny took out Anakin's Podracer every time (I don't care what you think Kenix, tracking cards is NOT CHEATING! If I've seen the card during the game, it got put back in the deck, and the deck wasn't supposed to be shuffled, how is failing to forget where it is possibly considered cheating? The other player could keep track of it too if he wanted.). Generic podracers can't be destroyed by Thermal Detonator since they don't have a destiny number, and nobody includes an extra podracer in case their first one gets blown up. And besides, they'd be too far behind to catch up, especially since all their podracing support interrupts have to target my podracer, which can't be done on a generic. And even if my opponent weren't podracing, the Detonators aren't useless because they can always boost my Bounty retrieval or just blow dudes up.

 

While I believe that some of their ideas were good ones to improve the game, the fact is that many of them were immpossible.

Which ideas were impossible? I know you don't mean their idea to release cards with action figures and the like...

You had people complaining about Vader and Qui-Gon fighting each other and people said they wanted Jania, Jacen, and Anakin (Solo) cards.

Originally the prequel expansions *were* gonna be seprate. Lucas Licensing agreed...then later changed their mind. Personally I don't think it's that big a deal. It's just a game. And there were scenario tournaments for the purists.

But LFL was constantly unhappy with the way Decipher treated the license and constantly asked them to make changes. They didnt.

Apparently you have some inside inforamtion that the rest of us don't. I'd be interested to hear where you get this from.

Also Wizards did try to keep the CCG going. They offered to buy Decipher three times when they first recieved the license. Decipher turned them down each time.

Wow, this is wrong. Did you not read my comments above? Neither Wizards nor Decipher had the say in this matter, LL did. And guess what--Lucas Licensing turned down the option to continue the CCG.

Decipher made it that you had to spend big bucks to be competitive (with games like Magic you can skip an expansion or build a deck of commons and uncommons and still do well in tounements)

As I've said in another thread. For every money deck out there, I can name two that are just as competitive for significantly less money--maybe 20 bucks tops.

...and they also made it too easy to cheat. Dispite what people say on here counting cards is not an essential skill for card games. It is cheating. If anyone disagrees with me then just go to a casino and see what they say.

When the SWCCG is featured at The Swan, I will. Till then, there are plenty of ways to shuffle a player's deck to combat this if this is that much of a pet peeve.

I have put a lot of money into the CCG but the person I am mad at is Decipher.

Boo hoo. If you all you can cry about is that you "lost" money, then maybe you should ask yourself why you even got into the game in the first place. If a player is going to invest in a CCG like it was a commodity on Wall St. then I am sorry to say, but that is a very bad piece of judgment. CCGs aren't stocks, it's a game. Players should invest in a CCG beacuse they want to have fun, meet other players, and be competitive NOT because they expect to collect interest like money sitting in a bank account.

So if money s the focus of your investment it's LL you need to be mad at. They're the ones who made the decision to pull the plug.

Knowing that Decipher knew they lost the license but that in an effort to make money they turned out expansions at a rapid pace.

Yes, Decipher knew they *might* lose the licence (it wasn't finalized till the Fall) and so released the expansions that fast so that the game could have as large a card pool as possible for the future. Obviouslly they were going to make money on the expansions regardless when they were released.

Well now I will end this and let everyone start saying how wrong I really am.

Noty so much "wrong" as "misguided" and "misinformed".

 

The fact is that Wizards tried to buy Decipher so that the CCG could continue to be published. Also I enjoy how you are saying I am crying about losing money. Yeah right. I am the one who is saying that the reason most people on here dont like the TCG because they have spent thousands of dollars on the CCG. I could care less. Do you want a list of every game that I have played that died? Aliens vs Predator, C-23, X-men, Austin Powers, Doomtown, Doomtrooper, Mechwarrior, the list goes on.

Also I find it funny that the license decision wasnt final until the fall but Wizards has stated that it was known that the license would be moved for a year. They had that long to work on the game.

Another thing, one of the impossible things about what Decipher wanted to do, how about having the top CCG player getting a part in Episode 2? From my understanding it is Lucas that decides who is in the movies not Decipher. I just personally think that Decipher did not put out the god game everyone on here says the CCG is. In my opinion, and many others, the CCG comes up short when compared to other card games. Was the CCG good? Yes it had a sound idea but the game went downhill when Decipher introduced new game mechanics for one expansion and you not seeing it again in any other expansion. This makes it that unless you want to buy three boxes of an expansion to get the cards that you need when the expansion comes out then you are behind and you cannot compete in tournements.

 

I could care less. Do you want a list of every game that I have played that died? Aliens vs Predator, C-23, X-men, Austin Powers, Doomtown, Doomtrooper, Mechwarrior, the list goes on.

Good. As long as you could care less and know how the CCG industry works we don't have to listen to that argument anymore.

Also I find it funny that the license decision wasnt final until the fall but Wizards has stated that it was known that the license would be moved for a year. They had that long to work on the game.

Which is why LL's comment "we listened to both comapnies and gave both an equal shot at convincing us" is nothing but a load of crap. LL knew all along who they planned on giving the licence to--duh!! Oh and, um, LFL told Decipher they couldn't say anything in reagrds to the license. So who was really playing the deception game here: Decipher... or Lucas Licensing?

Another thing, one of the impossible things about what Decipher wanted to do, how about having the top CCG player getting a part in Episode 2? From my understanding it is Lucas that decides who is in the movies not Decipher.

You sound like the Champion would have gotten a major part or something. Personally, I can't think of a better prize in all the world than to have a "bit-part" in a SW movie--and it's great PR for Lucas (like when he spoke to one of the SW fans who was waiting in line at a Meng's Chinese Theatre in '99). I mean, the Naboo celebration scene alone was comprised of half of the employees at Skywalker Ranch. You're telling it isn't feasible to let the CCG Champ lead an eopie around for one second of screen time?! I don't think that's too much to ask at all.

Oh, and uh, Decipher did have quite a hand in deciding who would get to play Mara Jade, now didn't they.

Yes it had a sound idea but the game went downhill when Decipher introduced new game mechanics for one expansion and you not seeing it again in any other expansion.

Which mechanic are you referring to?

 

In my opinion, and many others, the CCG comes up short when compared to other card games.

You and those "others" are in the minority.

SW:CCG has always done well in the CCG industry. In January, after the announcement, SW:CCG was still the 5th top seller in the market. SW:CCG has always been one of the top ranked CCGs, and was ranked the #2 CCG of all times, right behind Magic.

In your opinion SW:CCG may have come up short, but the majority of people who buy and play CCGs disagree with you.