Yes, it was. It's the explanation you're going to get. Story drives the game, this is where they want the story to go and what makes sense in their vision.
Huh, so the semi-facetious 4chan greentext troll was correct about the article contents. Way to run square in to the low bar I suppose. Either way, they've done their level best to convince me not to pre-order this thing and this article hasn't done much to reverse that. An article that should have been about how they plan to fix the now gutted Yu Jing was instead just more ad copy for the upcoming book. That's about as tone deaf to the feedback as one can get. And this is to say nothing of how that posted quote from a Crane agent manages to be both laughably incompetent while being evil in a way that lines up with something one would expect from a Saturday morning cartoon villain (though I'm not sure even Cobra Commander would consider any of that a good idea... so maybe that bar is too high). It doesn't even make sense within the context of the setting and is just another step toward Flanderizing Yu Jing as some jobbing heels instead of an actual power to contend with. In 1st Edition they started off as the underdog to PanO and while their was a dark undercurrent (Wu Ming for example), even things like the status of the Japanese and Uyghar was less down to traditional ethnic tensions and more down to neither of those cultures wanting to integrate in the same way the rest of Asia had (Yu Jing wanted to be a melting pot, but those dudes wanted to remain seperate side-dishes basically). Then Human Sphere came along and gave us some Judge Dredd level police-stating and brainwashed zombies and we were pushed squarely in the dark side of the pool. But at least they appeared to be competent about it. It was something hidden from the public eye, it was all down to the dirty black ops every other faction was playing at. But that quote? Not even actual cackling madmen that exist would go so far as to think that would be a competent thing to do. This is what takes it from being clandestine evil Yu Jing in to full-on Yellow Peril pulp villainy (which doesn't fit this setting at all let alone being kind of just insulting on the face of it). This whole thing has just been a bloody mess, so it's safe to say I'll be holding my gaming bucks back in the meantime. No interest in the new book and with many units I used a great deal gone from my faction the urge to actually play again has slipped to the wayside. I guess I'll check back in again when the Invincible Army drops. Whether that is in a few months or next year, who even knows. But CB can consider any hype I may have had for a book release well and truly blunted. I'm not frothing angry, I'm not ranting, I'm just, well, disappointed (tired even). This is a game I was passionate about, it is a game I worked hard to form a community for in my city before the concept of Warcors were even a thing. But this camel's back is starting to get heavy with straw, and while this may not have broken it, I think it is time to have an earnest talk with a chiropractor.
I find that "Invisible Army" typo SOOOO appropriate Also, what a joke of an article. Guess I'll be gone from this game and company for a long long while.
It is a shame that we will loose some people over the in-universe explanation of a shift in gaming rules and product. Hopefully the move will be executed well and the game will end up in a stronger place, and gain more players than it lost. As to people banging on about the Crane agent's quote being of cartoon villainy levels, I think it might be necessary to dial it down a little. What was quoted is not nice, and as some have pointed out, probably not greatly effective in-universe. However I am sure even a cursory search of the internet could find hundreds of similarly distasteful, violent and or stupid things said by prominent people in power throughout history. I bet some World War II generals are on record as saying some pretty messed up things, and if you want something more contemporary, just grab a quote at random from the sitting U.S.A. president. I am not trying to defend the mass grave/tombstone speech, I am just saying it is hardly 'cartoon villain' levels.
No, CB is not losing people about the in-universe split of a fictional faction: if you think that, i don't know if you have even read our posts. CB is losing people because of their utter lack of respect for their paying customers. And i tell you this like a player that was gonna order both the book and JSA box even after i knew JSA was gonna hard split from YJ, but i can't condone this kind of pissing on some players from the company I'm giving my money to; some people here seems to think CB is doing us some kind of favour by allowing us to buy their game, and that's frankly very stupid.
No it's not exactly cartoon villain-ish level. Cartoons are slightly more nuanced. This is somewhere between cobra commander and 40k Imperium. The article did a fine job in explaining where the JSA are going in the future, what territories they have now and how they got where they are now and why YJ still has ninjas. It's a good ad for the box and book. No such direction for YJ though. But it's amusing seeing how an article to calm down YJ players is more focused on explaining to JSA players how YJ still have ninjas among other things.
Correction, what you and a few others see as a lack of respect. There are also a great many that are either fine or actively excited for this split and for the new options available. Additionally (and this is strictly just opinion) it seems like many, likely most, of the vocal complainers would not be satisfied with anything less than a wholesale rollback of the changes. Too bad. CB has their vision for their product. They will act as they see fit to grow their livelihood and passion project. Since it is strictly a luxury good and in no way, shape or form necessary for survival, anyone displeased with that vision in the abstract and with how it is executed can move on.
I guess I just don't get it then. I fail to see how writing an in-universe story about an population insurrection, being used as a vehicle for explaining the splitting of previously joined forces, is some how disrespectful. They have decided to move some profiles around. Changing how a player is 'officially' be able to organize their forces, but not actually removing anything. They are planning to release a whole supplement explaining the in-universe politics that brought this about, and released a few marketing blurbs to try and explain/hype up the split. I can understand being upset with the changes to your roster, but i hardly think the company is 'pissing' on their customers.
The article is about explaining some of the reasons of the move and the dedication the team has to keep the lore of the game believable and realistic and to this purpose gives an overview to the events covered by the book as well as how the chess pieces settle after the events. It clearly shows a company dedicated to their player base and showing they do not do things "for the lolz" I honestly do not know what you expect from the article and what is the article you wished to have that you would approve.
An explanation of how these changes improve gameplay. An explanation of how CB plans to deal with the faction that has been ripped apart, not for mechanical reasons, but for reasons of storyline. This is not a RPG. Gutier is not the DM. The lore serves the game, not vice versa.
Ummm... no, actually, it doesn't. The story they want to tell (as laid out in this article and other communications) is what drives CB, and they fit the game around it. You may or may not like it, but that's the way it is.
The problem is the article only focuses on the fluff part. Unfortunately for CB they have developed a sanctioned tournament system, promoting competitivity. What YJ players want to know is what plans are within a short to medium time lapse to compensate the faction for having around 17 profiles ripped off of their list selection, some of them very useful tools in highly competitive environtments. Or at least when to expect some reinforcements. Thing is there's currently an ITS season running. And now YJ players have only their generic rooster with a third of units less and the ISS. You see, I don't think is a healthy idea for a company trying to promote a competition scene to chop a third of the options off for a single faction in the middle of the season. No competition that could be considered fair would reduce the number of tools a participant has and that were commonly accepted by everybody at the start of the competition.
I think you just said more good things to Yu Jing players in that sentence than the recent official CB material :(
If Gutier wants to tell a story then he should write a novel. So, yes, the lore serves the game. I wonder how many people give a fuck about the lore when the minis hit the table? I don't. I don't know anyone who does. People play the game because they like to play the game, they like the minis, not because of the storyline. It is a spice to enhance the meal. New players come to the game because: demo games, friends play, cool minis, game looks fun, nice terrain, etc. Lore is something they learn later on. Letting the tail wag the dog, which is what this is, is foolish. This time. And next time a different set of you and others. And so forth, until only you --yes, you-- and the other keepers of the flame, the iN-crowders, are left. This is how the death spiral starts. Slow erosion of the player base. I doubt CB's vision is one of self-destruction. Also, I doubt we players want them to have such a vision. Hence the warnings we are giving them. Ignore your customers at your peril.
Ok lets back a bit back, what faction was "ripped apart"? frankly for the vanilla Yu Jing player the net loss is at worse 5 profiles and at best 1 the raiden. it is not as if Vanilla Yu Jing lost anything substantial other than the theoretical access to units and profiles they generally never used.
