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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 15:43:22 GMT
Post by cageyj0nny on Feb 12, 2018 15:43:22 GMT
So here in the UK we seem to be thriving with the new UKISS events going on all over the country. In addition the Welsh masters which is arguably our biggest and most prestigious event has upped the player limit from 128 to 160 odd.
Locally we have had a couple of newer players over the year or so but bringing new players in does seem more difficult than other systems. All in all though i'd say the UK is in a pretty good spot at the moment.
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 15:55:36 GMT
Post by Deadman619Inc on Feb 12, 2018 15:55:36 GMT
The local meta that I have been involved with for the last several years has generally been waning. Even during the so called peak of MK2, the community was considered to be dying. Although the meta has recently gathered several new members. One thing that must be considered when trying to recruit players is what kind of game they wish to play. Anther important factor is having the support of the game store. You need the store owner's help to host events, regardless of the nature.
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 15:57:25 GMT
Post by HubertJFarnsworth on Feb 12, 2018 15:57:25 GMT
New England seems to have had a drop-off of overall events; three or four years ago there was a big kurfuffle about stores having overlapping events because there were simply more stores running monthly events than there are weekends in a month, now I only see 3 or so per month advertised on Facebook. That said my local store has gained more than we've lost and our monthly steamrollers have seen an uptick in attendance since October or November; the last three have had 14+ attendees up from 8-10 back when there were more events every month.
Speaking to one of the organizers of CaptainCon last week it was looking like their biggest con yet (granted this was Saturday night so the final tally may differ) and the New England Team Tournament and Masters events both looked pretty packed. So overall I think we're probably down some regular players due to various circumstances but there's still no massive die-off from what I can tell.
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gordo
Junior Strategist
My star is green?
Posts: 548
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Post by gordo on Feb 12, 2018 16:19:20 GMT
So my area (South Jersey/Philadelphia) struggled for a long time until a few of us got industrious and started a league called a Skrum. Basically it's like a steamroller but you play only one game a week. It makes it really easy for people to play. It started with 12 people for our first and now we just finished our 5th Skrum with 32 people! It's a great way to introduce causal gamers to a more competitive scene. I really can't recommend this method enough.
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 16:26:51 GMT
Post by HubertJFarnsworth on Feb 12, 2018 16:26:51 GMT
So my area (South Jersey/Philadelphia) struggled for a long time until a few of us got industrious and started a league called a Skrum. Basically it's like a steamroller but you play only one game a week. It makes it really easy for people to play. It started with 12 people for our first and now we just finished our 5th Skrum with 32 people! It's a great way to introduce causal gamers to a more competitive scene. I really can't recommend this method enough. Oooh, I like that idea. Good on you guys!
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 16:58:01 GMT
Post by 36cygnar24guy36 on Feb 12, 2018 16:58:01 GMT
I understand that more casual gaming can help new players in, however I don't think Warmachine is a very good casual game, getting good requires a lot of effort and getting smashed repeatedly. If someone only wants to play casually they are probably better off with another system. And I'm not saying that to sound d'baggey, I just think there are better games than Warmachine if you just want a fun goofy time.
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gordo
Junior Strategist
My star is green?
Posts: 548
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Post by gordo on Feb 12, 2018 17:07:26 GMT
I understand that more casual gaming can help new players in, however I don't think Warmachine is a very good casual game, getting good requires a lot of effort and getting smashed repeatedly. If someone only wants to play casually they are probably better off with another system. And I'm not saying that to sound d'baggey, I just think there are better games than Warmachine if you just want a fun goofy time. I think this is what really made the Skrum great. After the first 2 rounds or so, people end up playing gamers of a similar caliber. All the while everyone is getting better because we just start a new one a few weeks after the first one ends. Smack is talked, challenges are made. We even have our own dice now. And since everyone gets to talking, the veterans start advising the noobs to help them come up. Meanwhile the vets use it to test their "why not?" lists.
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 17:11:37 GMT
via mobile
Post by 36cygnar24guy36 on Feb 12, 2018 17:11:37 GMT
I understand that more casual gaming can help new players in, however I don't think Warmachine is a very good casual game, getting good requires a lot of effort and getting smashed repeatedly. If someone only wants to play casually they are probably better off with another system. And I'm not saying that to sound d'baggey, I just think there are better games than Warmachine if you just want a fun goofy time. I think this is what really made the Skrum great. After the first 2 rounds or so, people end up playing gamers of a similar caliber. All the while everyone is getting better because we just start a new one a few weeks after the first one ends. Smack is talked, challenges are made. We even have our own dice now. And since everyone gets to talking, the veterans start advising the noobs to help them come up. Meanwhile the vets use it to test their "why not?" lists. That actually sounds really good
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crimsyn
Junior Strategist
Posts: 389
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 17:19:37 GMT
via mobile
Post by crimsyn on Feb 12, 2018 17:19:37 GMT
My experience is that these goofy events work for people that play a lot of competitive play and have a lot of time to play. For people with limited time it's hard enough to get games that they don't want to "waste" it in not "serious" events. This game as a steep learning curve and demands a lot of enough to keep up with the changes to regular play... Even champions is residual when compared to masters/steamroller. I’m pretty sure Warmachine is the only game I’ve ever played where I’ve heard people say they don’t want to waste time by having fun playing the game.
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 17:33:30 GMT
via mobile
Post by 36cygnar24guy36 on Feb 12, 2018 17:33:30 GMT
My experience is that these goofy events work for people that play a lot of competitive play and have a lot of time to play. For people with limited time it's hard enough to get games that they don't want to "waste" it in not "serious" events. This game as a steep learning curve and demands a lot of enough to keep up with the changes to regular play... Even champions is residual when compared to masters/steamroller. I’m pretty sure Warmachine is the only game I’ve ever played where I’ve heard people say they don’t want to waste time by having fun playing the game. The fun only comes when you're no longer a filthy scrub!
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 18:10:46 GMT
via mobile
Post by jisidro on Feb 12, 2018 18:10:46 GMT
My experience is that these goofy events work for people that play a lot of competitive play and have a lot of time to play. For people with limited time it's hard enough to get games that they don't want to "waste" it in not "serious" events. This game as a steep learning curve and demands a lot of enough to keep up with the changes to regular play... Even champions is residual when compared to masters/steamroller. I’m pretty sure Warmachine is the only game I’ve ever played where I’ve heard people say they don’t want to waste time by having fun playing the game. If you have limited time you want to play the game that drew you and not a variation for those that want/need a break...
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Doooom
Feb 12, 2018 18:43:43 GMT
Post by haraldtorvatn on Feb 12, 2018 18:43:43 GMT
My experience is that these goofy events work for people that play a lot of competitive play and have a lot of time to play. For people with limited time it's hard enough to get games that they don't want to "waste" it in not "serious" events. This game as a steep learning curve and demands a lot of enough to keep up with the changes to regular play... Even champions is residual when compared to masters/steamroller. I’m pretty sure Warmachine is the only game I’ve ever played where I’ve heard people say they don’t want to waste time by having fun playing the game. I have heard that too. The "Age of Sigmar-refugees" we got summer 2016 was like that. They would not play league with upgradable models because they wanted to "learn the game". The most extreme of them could not play with us peons at the club, because he played against soimone better on Vassal. When he turned up at the club to play a bit to practice moving models around for a tournament (the big, yearly tournament in Oslo) he found he could not play fast enough and lost on clock. He did not go to the tournament and has not been seen since. Also, one of the things which went wrong when 3. edition came, was that we did not have a escalation league. I wanted to, the others wanted to jump straight to 75 points. Most of them are not playing now.
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Doooom
Feb 13, 2018 4:31:32 GMT
Post by Charistoph on Feb 13, 2018 4:31:32 GMT
I also think right now, the big issue with recruiting new players is because of themes. Nothing turns someone off more than having to buy a list of required models to play the game and have a fair fight against the rest of the community. Its expensive to buy into a specific theme and there are not enough generic themes to help new players with fledgling collections. Yes, and no. It is no more expensive to buy into a specific theme then to buy in to a collection you want. The only difference is what you want and the theme do not match. It is when you want to either have two Themes running (because of Steamroller) or be able to have what you want AND a Theme you are willing to run is when you start running in to expensive. My experience is that these goofy events work for people that play a lot of competitive play and have a lot of time to play. For people with limited time it's hard enough to get games that they don't want to "waste" it in not "serious" events. This game as a steep learning curve and demands a lot of enough to keep up with the changes to regular play... Even champions is residual when compared to masters/steamroller. Part of the problem is, Steamroller and Masters are no more "regular play" then King of the Hill or Who's the Boss. True regular play is what you find in the Prime/Primal. My experience is that these goofy events work for people that play a lot of competitive play and have a lot of time to play. For people with limited time it's hard enough to get games that they don't want to "waste" it in not "serious" events. This game as a steep learning curve and demands a lot of enough to keep up with the changes to regular play... Even champions is residual when compared to masters/steamroller. I’m pretty sure Warmachine is the only game I’ve ever played where I’ve heard people say they don’t want to waste time by having fun playing the game. I've seen it happen in 40K all the freakin' time, from 5th through 7th. If you didn't have 1500+ points at the store, you were written off. Too many people only wanted to practice their tournament lists. I only managed to get 3 games in across all those editions because of that. Part of that was also due to store time being devoted to building and painting as well, but when you hear it being said to others, it is just sad.
Journeyman Leagues are the best option to bring people in. It is what it is designed for. True, it is not "regular play", either, but it trends to be more "regular" than Masters. If you have people who are hesitant to start because of time, extend the weeks to 2 weeks to allow time to play and prepare. Get old players involved with the challenge by creating/allowing battleboxes for the 'Casters/'Locks they hardly ever use. Winning is easy if you are comfortable using your best team, but can your experience match up to be good with your 6th string team?
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cain
Junior Strategist
Posts: 243
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Doooom
Feb 13, 2018 13:15:30 GMT
Post by cain on Feb 13, 2018 13:15:30 GMT
In our meta its almost none recruting of new players and fewer small/local tournaments. There is a couple of big tournaments which still goes strong.
Overall trend in our meta seems to be that it is developing into a small nich game of nich game for hard core competetiv gamers who has ton of time to play and learn and tons of money to buy new models when new dynamic updates and themes arrive. Some will say that has always been the case with warmahordes, but it seems even more true now.
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gorsk
BattleBox Champ
Posts: 52
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Doooom
Feb 13, 2018 13:35:30 GMT
Post by gorsk on Feb 13, 2018 13:35:30 GMT
Speaking as a perpetually new player (I have played 3 games in this my first year), Warmachine has a dauntingly steep learning curve. There are three stores playing within an hour. New York and Philly are reasonably close for weekends. Players are focused on getting in reps for the next tournament or working with their teams.
My challenge is that I can only play on weekends. I need to be less introverted and ask for more games. When I go out to the store on weekends, the guys are nice. One or two even took some time to slog through what had to be a painfully slow 50 Point game with me. But I left feeling that I need to finish getting a 75 point list table ready (models attached to bases with arcs marked) and spend serious time studying general rules and my models’ rules.
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