The official first look at the next Dreamblade expansion, Night Fusion, has been posted here.
My Thoughts
Blah. The pieces are always a mixed bag with new expansion previews. Most of the previews give little indication of how well the expansion will fair in tournament play, but they are an invaluable starting point for understanding the expansion.
What irks me about each consecutive Dreamblade expansion so far, is the fact that they just introduce more and more and more. Baxar's War, the first expansion, offered some solid pieces and very few new mechanics. Bazar's War is my favorite expansion because of this.
Dreamblade launched with a comprehensive rulebook. It was advertised as "all the rules the game will ever have". Every planned ability was supposedly listed. Sadly, new expansions have not followed this mantra.
Surely new mechanics and abilities can't be bad? I wish that was the case. There are tons of abilities in Dreamblade and Wizards of the Coast has, for some reason, made most of them completely unplayable or made abilities that are far superior. For example, Skirmish and Advance are almost required because they allow pieces to be moved around the board. Movement is king in Dreamblade and abilities related to it are far more desirable. Other abilities, which could be usable, are often attached to a creature that is unplayable or is given a cost that is infeasible for any warband.
I don't want to get off track here, but needless to say, abilities are not balanced in Dreamblade. WotC is not helping the situation. Instead of giving players new pieces that are playable with old abilities, they develop new pieces with new abilities or pieces with restricted old abilities.
The Night Fusion preview is a perfect example. Every piece has restrictive versions of old abilities. Instead of giving the game a decent Bodyguard, they develop another spawn expensive piece, but give it a damage restricted bodyguard feature. I truly wish they could just release some figures that are solid and playable with abilities that are already in the game. Screw all this new bullshit.
I guess this is one of the reasons I'm dropping Dreamblade. New expansions are just becoming bloated and overly advanced for my liking. For every ounce of good an expansion brings, there is enough garbage and overpowered pieces to make purchases a losing proposition. And WotC wonders why sales are in the gutter.
Showing posts with label Dreamblade. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dreamblade. Show all posts
Sunday, July 29, 2007
Friday, July 20, 2007
Dreamblade: Organized Play Canceled
It is a sad day for any fans of the Dreamblade CMG from Wizards of the Coast. WotC has decided to cancel the 1k and 10k tournaments and other mainstream Organized Play aspects. Here is the Dear John letter:
This is not a surprising announcement, but it is a sad one. Dreamblade is a great game that only suffers from a fairly high price point and low player population.
Dear Dreamblade Players:Does this spell the end for Dreamblade? Not yet. Local Edge tournaments will still be supported, but historically they have been hard to maintain. The prizes for Edge events are sub par. Plus Edge events are easily ruined by veteran players playing top tier warbands forcing newer players to "buy up" or "ship out".
As you prepare your warbands for Augusts’ Dreamblade 50K championship, many of you may be wondering about the future of Dreamblade Organized Play (OP).
When we designed this game, we envisioned highly competitive organized play as one of the key things that makes the game great, and we provided robust organized play with Dreamblade. Despite our best efforts however, we didn’t get enough tournament players, and we can’t continue supporting the game with the same depth of OP that we’ve offered in the past. As a result, we will no longer be supporting the 1K and 10K events. The August 50K event will continue as scheduled, as will Edge Tournaments. We love this game and we know you do too. It’s a painful change but a necessary one.
Night Fusion, Dreamblade’s fifth set, releases in September and promises to be our most exciting set to date. It includes a number of new features that we have been reserving for Dreamblade’s second year. The success of Night Fusion will be very telling for Dreamblade as we gauge demand for the future. We hope fans come out in droves to support it!
Thank you for your passionate support of Dreamblade and your patience during this time. We hope to have the opportunity to continue to bring you this innovative and revolutionary game experience for some time to come.
This is not a surprising announcement, but it is a sad one. Dreamblade is a great game that only suffers from a fairly high price point and low player population.
Monday, January 22, 2007
Two Weeks = Many Victories
Well I haven't been gaming a ton lately due to school and a busy real life. It is amazing what can get in the way of gaming! Damn roof leaks! Anyways the little gaming I have done has taken place at my local game store; Reality Check Games (the premier gaming hangout in upstate South Carolina).
The Spoils TCG
The past two Sundays have featured Invitational Qualifier (IQ) tournaments for The Spoils TCG. I took home first place in both tournaments and received an invite for the Invitational being held in March. I am still debating whether I will pursue competing in The Spoils on a more serious note and attend the tournament. There will be a free pre-release for 1st Edition: Part Two at the invitational so I would come away with some cards regardless.
Dreamblade
I have participated in two Edge tournaments for Dreamblade in the last two weeks. Included within that was a post release sealed tournament for the new expansion set, Chrysotic Plague. It was a three way tie for first at the sealed tournament so I technically finished first! I was actually in possession of first leading into the final round where I lost (again) to Andy who I just can't seem to shake a win from!
The prior constructed tournament brought me my first win against my good friend Dave. It's always nice to beat the person that taught you a game. I finished second overall which was my highest placing to date.
World of Warcraft TCG
I have played very little of the WoW TCG lately. I just can't bring myself to pay the outrageous prices to be competitive in this game. The rare, epic, and then legendary card distribution is just a turn off. On top of that there are so many good cards in Onixyia Raid deck loot packs that you really can't compete without them. An Onixyia Raid deck costs $30 a pop and you are probably only going to get one or two cards you can use. With decks requiring anywhere from 2-4 of the better cards it can get expensive quick.
However, I do still play the game online via OCTGN. It allows me to test any deck build I can think of and that has kept my interest in the game. There are better strategies coming out week by week so it has renewed a bit of my faith in the game. It is a fun game, but the card distribution just forces it to be a "rich man's game".
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
I have not bought the expansion pack and plan to wait a few weeks before doing so. Every passing day makes me want to resub my account though!
The Spoils TCG
The past two Sundays have featured Invitational Qualifier (IQ) tournaments for The Spoils TCG. I took home first place in both tournaments and received an invite for the Invitational being held in March. I am still debating whether I will pursue competing in The Spoils on a more serious note and attend the tournament. There will be a free pre-release for 1st Edition: Part Two at the invitational so I would come away with some cards regardless.
Dreamblade
I have participated in two Edge tournaments for Dreamblade in the last two weeks. Included within that was a post release sealed tournament for the new expansion set, Chrysotic Plague. It was a three way tie for first at the sealed tournament so I technically finished first! I was actually in possession of first leading into the final round where I lost (again) to Andy who I just can't seem to shake a win from!
The prior constructed tournament brought me my first win against my good friend Dave. It's always nice to beat the person that taught you a game. I finished second overall which was my highest placing to date.
World of Warcraft TCG
I have played very little of the WoW TCG lately. I just can't bring myself to pay the outrageous prices to be competitive in this game. The rare, epic, and then legendary card distribution is just a turn off. On top of that there are so many good cards in Onixyia Raid deck loot packs that you really can't compete without them. An Onixyia Raid deck costs $30 a pop and you are probably only going to get one or two cards you can use. With decks requiring anywhere from 2-4 of the better cards it can get expensive quick.
However, I do still play the game online via OCTGN. It allows me to test any deck build I can think of and that has kept my interest in the game. There are better strategies coming out week by week so it has renewed a bit of my faith in the game. It is a fun game, but the card distribution just forces it to be a "rich man's game".
World of Warcraft: The Burning Crusade
I have not bought the expansion pack and plan to wait a few weeks before doing so. Every passing day makes me want to resub my account though!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Dreamblade
If anyone has been following my gaming activities lately they may have noticed that I haven't touched or talked about an MMORPG or even a PC game in a month or so. That is because I have been at my local game store!
I have been pretty much glued to collectible card games (aka. trading card games). Well along with the card games comes another form of gaming nirvana; tabletop miniatures. I decided last week to get into Dreamblade and tonight will be my first full night playing it. Hopefully it will be a ton of fun.
What attracted me to the game is the chess like play. While each player can and often does have different miniatures it does not mean the game rewards the player with the better pieces on the table. This game rewards the person who is a better player.
The rules for Dreamblade are dramatically different than most table top miniatures games. It is played on a pre-defined chess like board. The figures come pre-painted and all rule information is printed on the bottom of the miniature. Pieces move around the board one square at a time and combat is decided via the roll of a set of dice.
With dice comes randomness, but even the newest player learns quickly how to mitigate the luck factor and strike only when the odds are in their favor. There still is the chance for GREAT dice rolls that can turn a game around, but even then a good player will have control of the board to prevent luck from stealing a victory.
This is a great game for those players who don't want massive miniature armies to manage and collect. The warband size is limited to 16 and it is not too often you will find the need for multiple copies of a single high value miniature to be successful. With just a starter set and a quick romp through your local game shop's common/uncommon bin (or eBay) you can piece together a working warband.
Hopefully I will have more to say later when I get done with my night of Dreamblade, but until then have fun!
I have been pretty much glued to collectible card games (aka. trading card games). Well along with the card games comes another form of gaming nirvana; tabletop miniatures. I decided last week to get into Dreamblade and tonight will be my first full night playing it. Hopefully it will be a ton of fun.
What attracted me to the game is the chess like play. While each player can and often does have different miniatures it does not mean the game rewards the player with the better pieces on the table. This game rewards the person who is a better player.
The rules for Dreamblade are dramatically different than most table top miniatures games. It is played on a pre-defined chess like board. The figures come pre-painted and all rule information is printed on the bottom of the miniature. Pieces move around the board one square at a time and combat is decided via the roll of a set of dice.
With dice comes randomness, but even the newest player learns quickly how to mitigate the luck factor and strike only when the odds are in their favor. There still is the chance for GREAT dice rolls that can turn a game around, but even then a good player will have control of the board to prevent luck from stealing a victory.
This is a great game for those players who don't want massive miniature armies to manage and collect. The warband size is limited to 16 and it is not too often you will find the need for multiple copies of a single high value miniature to be successful. With just a starter set and a quick romp through your local game shop's common/uncommon bin (or eBay) you can piece together a working warband.
Hopefully I will have more to say later when I get done with my night of Dreamblade, but until then have fun!
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