Wednesday 24 July 2013

Thank you sir, may I have another (kick in the teeth)? - Imagined Slights

Good Wednesday everyone,

As I start writing this I am sat in my dentist's waiting room awaiting having a massive filling, but despite the up coming needle, the drill and the filling, none of that is on my mind, instead it is the general feeling of malaise (I think that's the right word) to how things are progressing with Malifaux v2, Wyrd and GenCon.

Now before I start with my apparent 'bitching' and 'moaning' I need to make it clear, I fully understand that if I declare any personal vendetta that Wyrd may have against me, or some random conspiracy then this is nothing more than a paranoid rambling.

So it came to light in a tweet from Eric last night: https://twitter.com/ericjgames/status/359796575746273280 in this tweet Eric confirms that the Leviticus crew is not yet ready and as such will not be appearing at GenCon.

I assume by this he is referring to the sculpts, either they were low priority or what they have seen has not passed quality control and so won't be 'good enough' to be sold at GenCon.

Being objective, this is a good thing. Last year when I bought my Dark Debts crew, I was left feeling quite underwhelmed by the end result, if this is a problem with the sculpts (which I presume it is) then it is better for them to be held back rather than released at a sub par quality.

But as everyone knows, I am not an objective person. So this is not how I feel.

No, instead I think back to the entire Malifaux v2 process, my involvement within the closed beta and how at virtually every single stage of this game's development I have been left feeling disappointed.

And for me that's one of the main issues. Real life is full of disappointment; not getting the promotion you were after, not passing your exams, pretty much 90% of things not matching up to your expectations, disappointment is everywhere!

And isn't that why we have our hobbies? We read our books, we listen to music, watch films, play video games and wargames to escape reality and for at least a while leave the reoccurring disappointment of real life behind. For a couple of hours you can be Judge Dredd, a USCM Marine, an all powerful sorcerer and forget about your day job serving food, or data processing.

There are occasions when you can bring others, friends, partners, wives and girlfriends into these fictitious worlds and that makes the experience even better! Euphoric even!

So imagine how it must feel to be where I am today, I tried to enjoy Malifaux v2, I really did. In the end after getting head aches and frustration I gave up, I took the advice of others and left the game alone, promising myself that I would wait until GenCon, and then using my store credit I had built up last year from being a Henchman buy the v2 book and a crew of my choice.

Now don't get me wrong, I know I can still do that, but NONE of the art (outside if Leviticus and his crew) appeals to me. I can go through bits and pieces if you want slowly tearing the selection down, but none of it do I like.

You see before the Closed Beta started I had seen the Raspy art, and I thought this was better than the original crew look, but then that's not hard, I hate the original look, as in I REALY hate the original look.

Then a few other crews were show cased either through Eric's blog, as Henchmen exclusives or in the Closed Beta. I saw almost all and was 'meh' to them all at best. Let's not forget McMourning who I actually dislike to a high level as well.

But then something magical happened, I saw the Leviticus art and I fell in love. I told myself "maybe there is hope for me and this game, because if the crew looks anything like the art, this will look amazing!"

Since then we've had Open Beta and the card art was released (all of which is available in my Dropbox, which includes everything from the last update and card art that has since been taken out of circulation - and yes it was put up there before Nix's) :D

I looked at this art, saw Nicodem looking - well, like Nicodem, Ramos looking like Ramos and Seamus looking like a pedophile ( sans moustache) and thought "we'll at least I still have Leviticus to look forward to".

Then I get this news.

Yeah I know, I can wait until after GenCon and pick it all up later, hell I can still use more store credit and make the same purchase as before only without the exclusive Miss model (and considering I don't play Arcanists I'm not so fussed on that) or I could instead spend my credit on other things, but remember I'm still not sold on v2 and with that'll mind I'd rather not 'waste' my money, which buying a tonne of other stuff at GenCon just 'because' would be.

So what does that mean for me?

Ultimately it means, if I want to make the sensible choice, and wait until Leviticus is available on general release and buy him, his crew & extras plus rules, that means that while everyone else is running around with their new books and new crews, I'll be sat with my old books and old models.

Is that of my own choosing? Yes and I acknowledge that, but that doesn't mean it doesn't suck.

It doesn't mean that I don't feel indirectly picked on because I think the rest of the art looks like shit (in my opinion) and stuff that I'd rather use GW or Warmachine models instead of (and I never thought I would say that).

I dunno, I think I've talked myself into a wall here, and I'm sure if you're still reading this you're probably shouting at your screen telling me to grow up or stop acting like a pussy.

But I just have to say one more thing, and that is the final nail in the coffin for me: I have no idea when this crew that I want so badly is going to be released. For all I know Leviticus could become the next Avatar Hoffman, for quality and price reasons I could be waiting two years for this (which would super suck as my store credit only lasts a year) or for all I know it could be out in September.

If I knew then I could wait, I'd have no problem waiting, I just wish I knew "if my friends are running events and talking about new shinies/hotness, how long do I have to wait before I can join in?"

I guess that summarises the whole thing. It feels like there's some sort of exclusive club that everyone else is invited to, but I never got my invite.

I want to say that it's because I'm cutting off my nose to spite my face, but I really don't see how refusing to buy models that I don't like the look of counts as that, or how if I want to get a proper V2 experience it's using the models that were designed for that game.

********

Ok I'm done.

- Your friendly neighbourhood Doctor Loxley

6 comments:

  1. Not sure what you mean by using the models designed for that game, it's not like you can't use your v1 models in v2.

    And yes it does sound like paranoid ramblings ;) ;) ;)

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    1. I know I can use my v1 models in v2, but I don't want to for a few reasons. The main reason is that when I left off I was not enjoying playing v2, so the plan was to try again once the dust had settled and give it a go with a nice full colour rule book in hand.

      Because of association I don't want to play with v1 models. I can't play with v1 models and not want to play with v1 rules, so the plan was to play with v2 models (at least as a majority of my crew) and then make a whole new judgement and see if I then (as I really really want to) enjoy the game.

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  2. If you want to enjoy something stop picking holes in every single detail of it, sounds more like you enjoy being a victim, if so, at least you are secretly happy about this whole sordid affair.

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    1. Really curious as to who wrote this. Almost everyone who comments on my blog does so with an account (however having what is probably the least read Wargaming blog on the net certainly helps) and so seeing an anonymouse comment gets me curious - is this on accident? Did the person intent to be anonymous and if so do I know them?

      I'm not mad or upset, just... Curious.

      ***********

      I've made no secret that this post is very much me wallowing in self pity, and if I haven't made it clear enough let's try this: "THIS POST IS ME WALLOWING IN SELF PITY!" How's that?

      We're all allowed bad days, and perhaps I have more bad days than most, be it self induced or not, but trust me when I say that there is a lot I've wanted to say for a long time about people and processes but I will not because I would rather rise above it. If indirectly this omission of information has made me come across as someone who enjoys being a victim then clearly the wrong impression has been made.

      But as I have been very public about in the past, me like everyone else (yes even you) can be childish from time to time, and this news has me feeling like a child who looks forward to Christmas and is then told by his parents that he has to wait until February to get his presents. Is it childish? Yes, but should I feel embarrassed or ashamed for feeling disappointed about not bring willing to take part in something I was super excited to take part in (GenCon)? Fuck no!

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  3. What about 'selling' your store credit to other members of your local gaming group (assuming some of them are still liking M2E enough to want to buy stuff)? That way you would not have to worry about your store credit running out and allowing you to pick up levi as and when he becomes available (hopefully well inside 2 years!!).

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    1. I have thought about that, but knowing my own terrible ability with money I'd probably just spend it all on crap rather than keeping it aside.

      Nah I think I'm just going to nut-up and shit-up.

      What I want is coming, so it's just a matter of time :)

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