Because, of course, a first/second/final draft, not quite ready for public consumption, is gossamer and spiderwebs, of no substance, rather than a product simply requiring last touches before being released...
Well....guess we got additional information, not that many here will like it I guess.... Apparently Bostria recommends Yu Jing players play ISS in the meantime until the "hole is filled"....and that ISS will get new stuff this year....no mention about Vanilla getting new stuff though, which is a bit concerning... I am not very fond about the way he said that Vanilla now has a spot for a new sectorial free that will eventually be filled....as if it needed a spot...unlike some of the other factions out there who somehow seem to have 3 slots easily without a need to "make room" for a new (4th) sectorial...it's a funny joke I guess, just not when you actually play Yu Jing.... So yeah...you heard it from Carlos himself...this year will be a tough year for the State Empire... Can't wait to see the numbers for Yu Jing during this online campaign....I feel like the prediction I saw in another thread that JSA will outperform Yu Jing could be quite right, and extremely sad from a fluff point of view really....this has a very high chance of becoming another kick to the nuts for Yu Jing in the fluff right from the get go... Oh well, with that said, at least now we know what's up.....
So the expectation is no IA this year, Tohaa and Shavastii are taking up the first half of 2019 as they go into production end of 2018.... Well that certainly fucking sucks.
CB and odd business decisions are old friends, to put it mildly ;) Nah, I'd certainly expect IA this year.
That's new. Last we heard, which was end of January, was Tohaa were going to start being designed at the end of the year. Doesn't mean they're going into production. Shav I think we know even less about.
Pretty much. I mean, if the story is written well it might be neat. I love neat story arcs. But as it stands, the seeming utter lack of awareness as to why YJ players might be upset is troubling. Partially because it might be more a matter of not caring than not understanding.
Considering how extensive the Squat model range was (i.e. not very) at the time, it's pretty equivalent to the Exrah situation.
I've been chatting with my local Vanilla Yu Jing players, looking at what they have run in previous tournaments (not often appearing actually is the interesting answer there) but also regular game nights and other play opportunities. It's clear from this examination that the use of JSA units in Vanilla Yu Jing was far from isolated or rare. So the impact of these changes on our local players appears to be greater than that seen in the wider international meta. That's why I'm doubling down on my call for early access to Invincible Army. Even if the model support isn't ready. Even if they were supposed to be a big drop later in the year. Even if CB thinks that this isn't the "right move" or the "right time". It IS the right move. It IS the right time. Invincible Army should come now. As soon as possible, even if only as a PDF.
The fact that they didn't have something ready to go to counteract the removal of JSA is big screw-up on their part. If it's not ready... then it's not meant to counter-act or counterbalance anything; YJ was just supposed to eat it so they could attract new players. Or, it doesn't exist and never will, in which case it's just CB/Bostria blowing smoke. There's a problem in niche industries, which rely a lot on hype from a core audience, who focus on expanding too much at the expense of that core audience. Some of the stuff I heard from Bostria in Vegas might indicate thinking along those lines; a focus on creating new products that are exciting and leaving old products (Neoterra etc) to fester because those have already been "sold."
IIRC only one vanilla player from the last Interplanetario didn't run a removed unit JSA unit. Oniwabans and Kitsune were particularly common.
You seem to not have been around when it happened, I was and we had two Squat players with vast armies who were eagerly waiting those new models that were shown in the book. Squats had an extensive range not dissimilar to imperial guard of that time and they got removed, not split to a new army, gone removed from the fluff to never be talked again. Oniwabans, Kistune, Ninjas, Raiden and for the point starved Keisotsu and Tokusetsu, rarely Aragoto, the entire JSA for the vanilla Yu Jing were 7 out of 17 unique units 3 almost the same 2 to save a point or two one rarely used and Raiden, out of the 7 Ninjas remain who more or less can do what the other two can not as easy but they are by no means bad at it, it is mainly the Raiden slot that will be missed from Vanilla Yu Jing, though he can be replaced with Lunah, I think this is the unit most will feel its loss. Moving forward to more important stuff I said as it has been quoted, do not start fights and respect other players opinion especially for the loss.
A quick bandaid would be increased AVA on some important remaining units, specifically Guilang, Daofei and Hac Tao.
Squats had Black Codex rules in 2e, so they weren't formally removed until 3e (Big Black Book edition). I was playing quite a bit around then, and loads of people had wacky ass armies because Armorcast was working the area, and I never saw what you described. Imperial Guard had a much wider range of miniatures than Squats at that time, pewter sculpts of each of the different IG regiments (Tallarn, Mordians, etc).
I am thinking more mid 2nd edition when it was announced, Squats back then even had a regiment plastic box, not many armies could boast that, end of second edition, 3rd edition yes, sure after a decade of getting nothing other armies had more, but right after RT and on the start of second edition they had easily comparable to what IG had and way more than other factions had. In any case "to Squat" is to remove something completely and deny its existence, not even give it the honour of a proper burial, this is not what happened here.
In case there was confusion, I was equating what happened to the Squats with what happened with Exrah, not with JSA.
Personally, i'm glad that CB is willing to take this kind of decision to stay commited to their fluff and have it impact the game, as it makes it way more interesting. Still,i understand that some players are pissed about it. They have every right to be pissed because they've lost something they liked, and even though i usually like this kind of event with hype building and stuff, it really seems like CB did it poorly this time. There's nothing wrong with giving some players their toys before others, in this context it could even lead to something super thematic: JSA players rejoice while Yu-jing players are getting angry before they get their own treats and flip the table. The thing is, considering IA isn't in the Uprising book, and it's a release way too big to not be in a book, nothing new will come for Vanilla player before months and that is WAY too long, the hype will deflate and all that will remain is anger. Sure, Yu-jing (and especially ISS) got some much love and gravy last year that it should kinda make up for it, but that's not how it feels because at one point we could play all those + aragotos and oniwaban, and now we can't, so it just feels like we're losing. I'd still wait for the end of the story before condemning CB, maybe they have some ace up their sleeve, or maybe they will improvise something (wu-ming haris? please?), but for now it doesn't look good for Vanilla players. Overall i don't really care because i only play ISS, but even though it's just a game and some people are going a bit too far about this issue, you can't blame them for being sour when they just lost 30% of their rosters without any counterpart for the months to come...
