Uprising could have been in November. There could have been a whole year of Bostria rolling out to conventions, video seminars and BoW "preorder the new thing" weeks with him saying "big things will happen for YuJing". They could have used YuJing's performance in the campaigns as a reason. They could have taken away the Crane rank because ninjas assassinated them all. They could have done a lot better as well, but it would have been really easy to do so much worse.
Eh, I think the question wasn't so much about "what could CB do for the evulz?" as it was about "what pitfalls CB actually avoided while managing this particular faction split?".
What could have been done better? Uprising 2 person starter, JSA Vs Imperial army. Great for YJ players because it let's them field 2 factions. Great because it patches holes in YJ immediately. It also communicates to everyone that the two factions are separate and allows a unique situation to convey this in a single product. It also allows players to immediately see the difference between the two factions mechanically and stylistically. They may well have had to release a second box for other JSA characters because they couldn't fit their current JSA box into a 6 or 7 model starter, but those JSA players can wait a month for that release and proxy models using the new rules. Rather that than make YJ players wait 6+ months.
Wouldn't that be great only for YJ (and ex-Yu-Jing now JSA) player ? 2 players box are made to attract and conquer new players so they must showcase two factions with strong different identities and looks. JSA/Imperial Army don't fit that description (yet ?)
Not to be rude, but I think my post covered your questions already :) Imperial Chinese high tech power armour army and rebel ragtag Japanese close combat force feel distinct enough to me. Even ISS starter Vs the new JSA pack are clearly at odds with each other stylistically. The colour schemes will be different and the silhouettes of each faction will be different. Also yellow Vs white and red is pretty stark.
Then perhaps they should've released a different sectorial at this time rather than JSA so that when they did the Uprising event it could follow the pattern @Superfluid suggested. If JSA really had to be done now then the other suggestions such as doing the NA2 book as the Uprising book with 2-3 merc factions based on who helps the JSA in the fluff (or more specifically write the fluff so the factions you want to assist have a reason to assist). For example, a Pan O and JSA mixed force. There were plenty of viable options. Sadly, the assumption seems to have been that more YJ players will just pick up the new box than will be annoyed by how things were handled. That's not only a risky assumption but also not a gamble I'd be taking given the weight of research around the human psychology of loss and how it's likely to impact sales (even more so when you take away things people have spent money on).
Yeah, I get the reasoning why it would make sense to do it now. But Yu Jing got theirs last year. I find it very doubtful they'd get two, especially year after year.
Fine, 2 years ago. I still don't see them giving Yu Jing 2 consecutive 2 player starters, no matter how entitled some people feel.
So much this. You know what could be even better? FREE JSA vs Imperial Army starter for all Yu-Jing players. Maybe this will at last satisfy all of them. And of course bankrupt a company and close game but it doesn`t matter in shining light of 10% immediate satisfaction.
Should’nt we stop before this topic become like April with 90 pages of « why CB is mean to Yu-Jing and how » ? Back on the subject of 2 players box, I feel like ariadna (kazak) vs a high tech army could bring some hype. With both Aleph and Ariadna starter being old, it would be a good time for resculpting them and putting them in a 2 players box
I think they could have made an exception as a concession. You're right that it would have been unusual to give one faction two starters so close together.
Some people just bait and look to make others show him the door so he can cry wolf... because why say anything productive when you can snark and feel superior? this line is for @sarf btw. 2 players box with Aleph is a very risky proposition, since Aleph is an advanced faction. I already suggested (in the Aleph subforum, I think) that a "hacking advanced 2 player box" of Tunguska Vs Vedic would have been epic (centered on hacking rules, explanations, specific missions, etc...), but if Tunguska will be released independently, I have almost no hope of that happening. By process of elimination, then, if we assume it won't be a repeat of any 2 players box that removes 4 factions... then we add to that how Shasvastii and Tohaa are not ready to start selling (one because of the models not being ready, the other because of rules not being ready), so that leaves, indeed, only Ariadna and Aleph as the major factions that could be there, since NA2 will get its own box (JSA Uprising) and the other factions are remixes of existing models and few new ones.
This isn't even an argument. Here let me try: you know what would be even better for CB financially? Free money from all their customers! Just send all your money in your bank to CB! Immediate financial security and significantly higher design capital for so many more releases for everybody! No? Bad idea? My point exactly.
Ariadna vs Aleph would be be a very weird experience for new players. You can't give Aleph any really nice toys which define the faction, because an Ariadna starter just isn't going to have the tools to deal with them (TO camo, ODD) is going to ignore them (hacking) or will completely negate them (T2 ammo, shock from a Scout or mines vs NWI). You also can't add any really sweet Aleph models because Ariadna doesn't have anything with points-parity. The APHMG Vet Kazak comes in at a hefty 47 points, but it is getting released early in a blister. Maybe we'll see a new Kazak expensive heavy though? (My dream of an S6 HI dog-warrior could come true!) I don't deny that you can play around both factions' strengths, even at low points. For completely new players though, the differences in capabilities between the two factions could lead to very negative experiences, which is the last thing you want in a starter product. It would be the Spektr problem from Icestorm, only worse. The release schedule we have ended up with means that its the "most likely" outcome... but Varuna vs Vedic is also possible, which has a much better parity of tech level rules-wise.
I don't see Varuna/Vedic, unless they get rid of Operation Icestorm. Which I also don't see, because Beyond Icestorm was only last year and doesn't really work without Icestorm being a thing.
