Of course, this is a contributing factor to the reputation of Vanilla PanOceania as a lacklustre option
Kind of want to be devil's advocate, but I'd would push for at least some new models or profiles to round out some areas PanO struggles with (infowar, erc). Granted it does not have to be as good as the competition, and keep it only a few new models like the JSA release but enough that PanO does not feel left out. That said, I agree with the sentiment.
Without the ability to retire/rotate units powercreep will always happen but much like inflation it is not always a bad thing. However if the faction is not lacking in power then the faction is not urgently broke. If it's not broke then the cost/benefit for tinkering with it is not very good as Hecaton pointed out. When the new branches hit they might get a good look at but I would not expect any sort of big shakeup tell n4.
I can't believe I'd ever see the day that this happened but its true. Ever since GW got new management 40k has been revitalized with a lot of focus on balancing units. However, we have gone years complaining about certain units in Infinity like bolts and have gotten nothing. Not even a responce from CB. And then theres the Yu Jing fiasco.
Let's not take it too far, the 40k balance is still atrocious. However they are listening to the comunity more, which they never did and that is an improvement
They are listening more because its different management. Apparently the higher ups got sick of sells slump and brought in some new management and with them came a complete turn around in how they manage the game. Balanced issues aside, 40k has seen quite a boost in popularity because of it. Whats depressing is CB is not likely to listen until they get hit in the wallet. Even then it took Gamesworkshop practically a decade to change course so yeah.......
40k has always been cyclic, with the business model of as long as we pull in as many teenagers as people age out we are good to go. Rick Prestly 4th ed "We wern't concerned with balance as much as creating a game that had cinimatic moments". Right now they are in an uptick, right before they do something to annoy the returning players in a hope to pull in fresh blood. Ive seen it at least 6 or 7 times in the 20+ years I have followed. I have been critical of a lot of things CB has done lately, they have stumbled in a number of ways. Yet the models are still very attractive, and for now, the community is amazing (IRL, forums are different). Im not jumping ship but I am cautious of if they understand that as a company, they do need to address some issues, and that the old ways don't carry so well in the bigger league they are now in.
I think we might be seeing the start of a change with the Uprising book, Yu Jing/JSA handling aside, the fact that they wanted to avoid printed profiles to allow for tweaks without making the book outdated is a good sign. That said with the pace of releases this year I doubt CB has the man power to go back and adjust underperforming units until it’s done with this push to get promised sectorials out the door. Which would mean chances are we won’t see reworks (unless a unit overlaps two sectorials) until 2020, which does seem like a long time to be looking at my Bolts/Singh/Teutons/KotHS/FK collecting dust...but hopefully it’ll be naturally in queue rather than a crisis management situation as income drops.
When were Bolts released again? Man, they've been lack luster for years. If CB were going to change them it would have been with N3. Maybe we need to wait for N4 in 2025? :P
Its the express opposite, it leads directly to a two tier rolling system that GW has where only "New" models have the best rules and old ones are left to languish. The game needs a living rulebook, thats the whole point of "free" rules and paid background books. By being unwilling to work out units that have issues because they are already "printed" you undermine the entire strength of the system.
I don’t like aleph units in pano sectorials. Pano should be able to handle stuff itself like a proper hyperpower. Also units added/fixed in a sectorial doesn’t need to be added to vanilla. It could be excluded altogether like CSU or extra aleph units, or excluded with SWC tax like OS infiltrators. Both are bad IMO though.
Personally I get around this by owning and playing multiple sectorials, allowing me to get play variety in. That being said, I picked up some 2nd hand MO and must say I can REALLY feel the age of the profiles...no DEUS VULT-ing in space for me till they get to do something beyond be a Joan delivery system.
Just an addendum here, from knife to CCW is a downgrade (knife is Shock and Silent damage PH, CCW is... just PH dmg). Otherwise, I agree 100%
Even so... shock & silent, VS +1dmg, I still think it is a downgrade to get a SWC instead of a knife.
Somehow Aleph managed to get both smoke and eclipse smoke on their CC troops along with cheap link fillers with a chain rifle. But Pano is too high tech for that. All that tech goes to +1BS, that’s why everyone has shinier toys than us.
As a filthy nomad in my heart of hearts, the securitate just show that the longer the sh** profile goes without an update, the more optimised it will be when released :D
