Welcome to the Theme Age

Which might include a CID that includes Burrowers, please!

There is a certain comfort in having your faction(s) 'dialed in', the 'best' build/tactics known.  Initiation of MK3 shook this up for each player/faction and even now, almost two years in, there is still not consensus on the absolute best list per warlock or Theme.  That's pretty amazing considering our collective gamer mentality of min/maxing to 'ideal' for competitiveness. 

TB's alone have 18x4 warlock/Theme combos. I know for certain I have not played more than 30% of these.  Themes do limit us somewhat by allowing(?) for rejection of some combos as untenable due to lack of an answer(s) to the common competitive problems (High ARM, recur, incorporeal, spam, etc.).

There are some clearly strong(er) combos in each faction, but so far PP monitoring appears to be catching significantly powerful outliers to prevent stagnation within a faction and especially to prevent rejection of the new. Sometimes not catching these as quick as some would like (including myself when spam like G3+Slayers, M2+Nomads has minimal diversity of builds AND is highly competitive, but has really poor replay value or interest from a non-tournament opponent's viewpoint)...CID as it relates within Themes also appears to be adjusting weaker veteran models, with mixed results/reviews.

The Constant Change of MK3 may not be appreciated by some.  (I did not own Warroom until about 9 months into MK3 and now find it/me inseparable!)  I find it mildly sad that some MK1-2 WMH veterans within our venue quit after the transition to MK3.  Loss of comfort from that list(s) that used to work so well?  The Constant Change doesn't seem to allow for resting on one's laurels for too long, good!  I believe many of us, veterans, are patiently waiting for that tweak that will make a Theme/model set more adequately competitive.

As for a game with overall replay value?  Theme-enhanced or Theme-limited New War is amazingly complex as long as you have a field of opponents with sufficiently diverse army builds.  

I am not sure if a discussion about "what if..." or "without free points.." really helps. PP made the decission that they wanted the game to be played in themes. Some people like that others don't. I would be really supprised if PP will change their policy so all discussion about what would happen if X would be changed can not be answered.

For trolls i would assume that if their were no theme forces we would see a lot of lists with mulg and champions.

PP wants you to play themes because it is WAY easier to balance the game if every model in a faction can not be played with every other model in the faction. Rök with Doomy 2 is the perfect example. They have broken good synergy, but that is OK, since IF you want to play them together, you either have to play non-themed, or at least in a theme that does not give you any good benefits or free points for playing the list you want to play. Rök effectively costs 19+13=32 points if you decide to play outside theme. You lose 13 free points by skipping theme. He might be broken as F with Doomy 2, but he is not broken enough to be worth paying 32 points for.

Another reason why they want you to always play themes is because it is way easier for a new player to build a list and to understand an opponents list if all lists consist of ~20 options rather than ~200 options.

The final reason is that if you can only bring a limited number of models, you need multiples of those models. That means they get to sell more models, and they make more money. PP is a company, and if they do not make more money they will go out of business and there will be no more warmachine. Themes help them get money out of crusty old gamers that have a pretty big collection, since those guys now need double champions and double fennblades and double X. Them making money means they will keep producing this great game we all love, so that is also a good thing... even if it costs us money...

I just want to take Fire Eaters, Warders and Runeshapers in the same list. Because I like them.

PP says that's fine but I will lose 90% of the time.

In MK1 and 2 I COULD do this (and did often with a random army list generator) and my skill/experience with the game would often offset even a bad 'pull'.  Skill and experience still allows me to play non-optimal lists in MK3 with a chance, but that chance decreases significantly when facing a larger army with a decent theme benefit added (depending on opponent's skill level of course).

I do not view this as a problem, but an introduced MK3 limitation (or advantage) system that has some of my TB collection literally under my bed, until such a time as CID, hopefully, gives me a reason to field them with confidence.  

The phrase 'picking 3 units out of a hat' reminds me of Kriel Company, where ranged units/models was the one particular characteristic chosen, with poor consideration for models/army balanced melee destructive capability.  In that Theme's regard, not optimal combos currently IS a problem.