This is the second time I'm just baffled by u/RiotUmbrage (in two occurences). Some more and I'll be considering starting a cult.
Feels like the insight and vision is three steps beyond what's usually considered 'good'. The statement on esport for example (goal is to have games that last for tens of years into hard skill ceiling into esport as a way to value mastery of the game) is just wonders.
I'm just sorry that ends in a game that probably won't fit my tastes -_-
Is baffling... good? D: What did you hear that wasn't appealing to your tastes?
I guess my mastery of nuances is also baffling :-D.
I meant it as a praise (first time was your 'state of the meta' statement). Nothing I heard wasn't to my taste, it's quite the opposite.
It's the game that isn't really sticking with me. LOR is a fantastically well done game, I absolutely don't question the choices made (well ... some, but that's marginal), and I am in awe of how well you guys do what you do. But I'm afraid it's not what I enjoy.
I think design space is too small // granularity too large. Gameplay is too much synergistic, self-centered, and the balance between ingame decisions versus pre-game decisions is too much skewed toward pre-game decisions. Basically, too much MTG-like. End result is interactions with the opponent matter ... not that much. And the game becomes repetitive too fast.
I prefer 'muddy' games where your plan (eg deck) doesn't 'simply work', neither does your opponent's, and the largest part of the game is how each improvise and make do with what each got to try to get back on tracks. some tracks at least, even if not the planned ones.
(In card games that points to TESL/AEG's L5R, which clearly are my top 2 among 10 or 20)
Again, this is only my taste. For the record, 'been playing LOR since open beta, playing two different accounts several games a day. before that I had a comprehensive experience with 10 or 20-ish comparable games, and some less comparable (clash thingy).
Hope this long wall of word fully answers to the questions you didn't ask :D
Thanks for taking the time to reply!
If players feel like in-game decisions don't matter enough, we've failed. Mastery can't just be deckbuilding. This is something we think about a lot, and we've seen some (but not complete) similar feedback from the highest level players as well.
I do think decks will still have clear "Plan As" to a higher degree than you see in some other games just due to how often the game drives through Champions, but we definitely can provide more ability to gear-shift / pivot in-game too.
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