I haven’t been shy about my gaming history. For miniatures games, it’s actually been
pretty light on different systems. I got
into miniatures well after most of my other gaming, and the first game I played
a lot of was Warmachine. The second game
I played a lot of was Malifaux.
I was around both games when they went through a major
edition shift. I was thinking back to my
days at the Privateer Press world.
Warmachine
I played a lot of Warmachine – usually hitting up the
game store once a week or more to get a few games in. I started my Cygnar when Escalation came
around and played through into Mark 2.
There were a lot of issues with the rules – none that made the game impossible
to play, but certainly fiddly ones that made the game a little off if you
didn’t keep up with the rule changes on the forums. These rules problems didn’t come up every
game, but they came up frequently enough.
Mark 2’s open beta came up and I gave the game a good
go. I tested, enjoyed what I was testing
a bit, but I didn’t quite feel like the game was what I enjoyed playing. It all felt a bit off. The game size was increasing drastically, and
what I enjoyed in Cygnar – playing a melee-based army – was becoming less viable.
I ended up leaving the game behind shortly after
Warmachine Mark 2 was officially launched and drifted for a while before
finding my next miniatures game.
Malifaux
I ended up picking up Malifaux probably six months after
it was launched at GenCon. I played
through with Neverborn through the first couple books, then spread into Ressers
when I saw Avatar Seamus in the third book, and picked up Guild with the
arrival of McHammish in the fourth book.
I love Classic Malifaux, but I also recognize there were
certainly places the game could be polished. Playing casually was okay, but every few games
you’d run into a rules interaction that required a lot of head-scratching or a
run to the rules forum to determine.
Sometimes those expanded into questions about “Attack” versus “attack”
or “Damage” versus “Wounds”.
When M2E was announced, I had a number of thoughts of
what I’d like to see changed. When I got
my first chance to see it, a lot more had changed than I expected. Similar to my reaction with Warmachine, I was
initially put off by all the changes. I
don’t like a lot of change personally. I
had immediate flashbacks to how I went through the Warmachine Mark 2 test and
the end results. I prepared myself for
the worst.
But my experiences with Warmachine had also helped to
prepare me mentally for the changes. I
had been through the loss of a game that I considered my primary game before,
and come out okay at the other end.
Second Generation Awesome Dan once called me pessimistic because I said
that I expected there would be a time where I didn’t play Malifaux
anymore. The same thing had happened
with Warmachine, after all. Through that
lens, it was easier to deal with.
Add to that the fact that Wyrd was giving me an
opportunity to influence how the game would end up. I made a deal with myself: I would not drop
out of the playtesting until it was done.
I would endure the bad parts of the game and work to make them
better. I would put in more effort to
put the game on what I felt was the right track now because it could influence
the game for an entire new edition.
After all, I reasoned, if I dropped out of playtesting, or if I
complained loudly but without substance, I had only myself to blame if the game
did not come out well at the end of the tunnel.
Wyrd was giving me the opportunity to make recommendations. Wyrd had demonstrated they would listen to
us. If at release the game was still not
something I wanted to play, I would leave it behind and move on to the next
game. But if they moved it to something
I enjoyed, I would have (at least in my mind) made the game into something I would
enjoy for years to come.
With that philosophy, I went back into the game and
tested the heck out of it. Some things
worked. Some didn’t. Sometimes they listened to me. Sometimes they ignored me. Sometimes I was on the majority side clamoring
for a change or to maintain the status quo.
Sometimes I felt like a lone voice.
But whatever came up, I tried to remove all emotion from the post and
present a sound and logical rational for the issue.
And you know what?
The game did change. Slowly at
first, but every iteration moved the game closer and closer to a system that I
enjoy to the point where now I have a hard time finding a compelling reason
(other than all the models not being available yet… an issue to be resolved
before the year is out) to go back to v1.
Things could still prove to come out wrong at the end, I
fully recognize that. I’m still holding
myself to the same deal I made when I was on the other end of the “excitement
for M2E” spectrum. I will not make my
final decision until I see the final product.
But the way things are looking right now, I’m quite excited for the
release at GenCon.
To those who are disappointed in M2E, I am not
discounting your opinions. If my
experiences with WM gave me any lesson, it’s this: every game is not for every
player. I immensely enjoyed the first
version of Warmachine. I did not enjoy
the second one. But I can’t with a
straight-face say it’s a bad system. If
anything, I have a hard time arguing that it’s not a better system now than it
was before. The game is more popular
than it ever has been. But at the same
time, it’s not the game for me anymore.
M2E is still in a stage where it can change. If you do not like something about the game,
now is the time to try to make changes.
Already with the first wave of changes in open beta, a lot has seen
adjustment. It’s clear they are
listening to us. Take heart in that.
But if the game ends up being something that you don’t
want to play anymore on the other end of release, that’s okay too. I don’t look back at Warmachine with anger
for them changing the game. I remember
the years of enjoyment I got out of it when I was playing. I hope that people who leave Malifaux after
v1 will look back the same way.
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