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2 years ago ::
Apr 15, 2011 - 1:45PM
#21
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Date Joined:
Nov 29, 2003
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I think I'm more concerned with the ~3-month lead time to event announcements, vs. the full year announced at once. Having only around 3 months in advance makes it more difficult to prepare travel, will incur more costs for travel and lodging, as it's generally cheaper to book far in advance, in addition to getting time off of work, etc. I don't understand why the change there...
It's actually a 6-month lead time, not sure why he stated 3 month as he goes on to explain that everything through June will be known at the beginning of the year.
And yes, the removal regional prereleases is major flaw in the plan. They already tried that once, it bombed horribly and they brought them back.
Scott would be a lot better off stating the following explicitly, "Banning regional prereleases will put more money in the pockets of store owners, even though fewer players will participate in total, rather than the BS statement of "what the players want".
4. Don't speak dumb, or you'll be struck dumb.
Remember, the name of the game is heads I win, tails you lose.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 15, 2011 - 1:48PM
#22
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Date Joined:
Oct 11, 2007
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Killing big prereleases is a terrible, terrible idea. A lot of people go to those who have absolutely no interest in going to a GP, because they consider themselves exclusively casual players. Yes, a prerelease is a tournament too, but that's not all it is. It's your first chance to play with the new cards, and that alone is enough to excite a lot of people. It's a place to go where there are tons of other players, tons of people to trade with. There's no way a local store can replicate that experience. A GP might be able to, but unless it's really close by, who wants to go to a GP that they don't intend to play in?
Don't get me wrong, I don't mind there being more GPs. I am still peeved about missing the last one in Toronto, and if we get another Limited* GP here sooner rather than later, that's awesome. But you guys should be smart enough to realize that GPs and prereleases appeal to different groups of players.
* Or Constructed, so long as it's a hypothetical format where good decks cost reasonable amounts of money. But I don't think we'll be seeing that format anytime soon.
blah blah metal lyrics
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2 years ago ::
Apr 15, 2011 - 1:54PM
#23
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Date Joined:
Nov 29, 2003
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Killing big prereleases is a terrible, terrible idea. A lot of people go to those who have absolutely no interest in going to a GP, because they consider themselves exclusively casual players.
Even bigger is the number of casual players who dislike or hate playing in game stores but like seeing the new cards in hotels or conference centers.
4. Don't speak dumb, or you'll be struck dumb.
Remember, the name of the game is heads I win, tails you lose.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 15, 2011 - 7:21PM
#24
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The idea that more GPs are going to fulfill the large event needs is ridiculous. Areas with regional pre-releases MIGHT get a GP every year or two, and that will cover it? This only works for the prominent but overall minority of players who travel several hours to multiple PTQs and GPs.
Even with the regional pre-releases, some of the LGS's around here are filled with pre-registered players days before the event. I guess I'll have to trek to the suburbs just to get a good pre-release.
This was already tried a few years back and the reception was negative enough for Wizards to admit their mistake. I don't think we'll be that lucky this time around.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 15, 2011 - 10:35PM
#25
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Date Joined:
Oct 16, 2009
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The local game stores could potentially band together to pick up the slack though. I know that my LGS has had to start renting out a nearby church gym to be able to fit the 60+ prerelease attendees, and i feel that, while far smaller than a regional prerelease, one lgs alone via a similar method could easily handle 100 people. If they were extremely enterprising, they could even band together with the other local releases, and have a larger one. Will it happen? Knowing human tendency for slackness, likely not.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 16, 2011 - 5:30AM
#26
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Date Joined:
Dec 14, 2009
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A co-worker and myself have just gotten back into magic around Zendikar. We've been attending every Prerelease since then. We love the atmosphere and they idea that we don't have to spend hundreds of dollars on a deck to have fun just pick up some packs and see what happens. He esp. likes the artists and gets something signed and print and he has them all hanging up in his home. We are both upset to see regional prereleases go the stores here are few and far between I mean I travel 45 minutes just to go to a FNM every once and a while and it's super crowded just at that, not to mention an internet gantulet. This is a heavy hit to casual player. More GP's and no Regional Prereleases do not equal out at all. Like it has been said before you are looking at a different demographic.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 16, 2011 - 5:51AM
#27
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Date Joined:
Jan 22, 2006
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It makes me a little sad to see people complaining about losing their Regional prerelease. I remember back when I had a regional prerelease in my area (it was killed in the first round of changes). I had a streak of prerelease attendance that lasted thirteen sets, but I have missed the last five in a row. It's unlikely I will attend another prerelease. I'm just too old to cram into a dirty, sweaty game store full of twelve-year-olds dropped off by their parents for a poorly run four round tournament. It's a pity -- the buzz and excitement of my first big prerelease (held in a huge convention center room) really brought home how big Magic was and made it feel like a legitimate hobby. I doubt I'd play at all now if I had attended an in-store prerelease instead. It's been amazing to see how Rashad & co manage to give a live video feed from regular swiss rounds, while WOTC can't even show the quarterfinals of a PT live! (not to mention their text coverage usually lags 2 hours behind during the swiss)
Just one thing to keep in mind -- Rashad has worked on WotC's live event coverage for many years, so any criticism of WotC's coverage is still criticism of Rashad as well (and makes one wonder why he couldn't advocate successfully for any internal changes previously).
Since the "Pro Tour-style events" are not going to be open to the public, it doesn't really matter where they take place. I suspect they will choose a location that is the least expensive.
Historically, WotC's philosophy regarding Pro Tour locations has not matched this attitude. They mandate one event in each of North America, Europe, and Japan. They also typically choose one "exotic" location that is attractive as a tourist destination (e.g. Hawaii, Rome, Paris, Kuala Lumpur, etc.). The point of the Pro Tour is promote Magic, in part by creating a dream for competitive players to aspire to. Flying out to Tokyo or Prague is a lot more alluring (from my American perspective) than getting a quarterly flight to Seattle.
It's actually a 6-month lead time, not sure why he stated 3 month as he goes on to explain that everything through June will be known at the beginning of the year.
No, it's a 3 month lead time for earliest announced events. Around January 1, they will announce the events from April 1 (three months later) to June 30 (six months later).
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2 years ago ::
Apr 16, 2011 - 10:20AM
#28
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Since the "Pro Tour-style events" are not going to be open to the public, it doesn't really matter where they take place. I suspect they will choose a location that is the least expensive.
Historically, WotC's philosophy regarding Pro Tour locations has not matched this attitude. They mandate one event in each of North America, Europe, and Japan...
I think its quite clear that WotC's philosophy regarding Pro Tours is changing quite a bit. Currently, they are a big public relations event that attracts anyone interested in Magic. That won't be the case for 2012.
Imagine if they held a 2012 Pro Tour in New York. They would have to hire lots of extra security to turn away all of the Magic fans that came expecting to watch/play/trade/buy/sell! You think those fans would be happy? Especially the ones who rode a 4-hour train to get there and booked a hotel room. That would be a bad way to promote the game.
They are much better off holding them in a location that's not exotic and has great internet connectivity. They'd probably get a great deal near Seattle if they booked the same a venue for 5 weekends a year!
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2 years ago ::
Apr 17, 2011 - 12:35AM
#29
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I think its quite clear that WotC's philosophy regarding Pro Tours is changing quite a bit. Currently, they are a big public relations event that attracts anyone interested in Magic. That won't be the case for 2012.
On the other hand, they do reach a lot more people through the website's coverage than those that are on site. Also, if you're at a Pro Tour, you'll usually know less about what's actually happening at the PT than if you were reading the coverage. The PT is was a strange beast - you had 300, 400 people playing Magic in side events, and not quite as many playing in the actual PT. To me, losing the event character of the PT is not that bad if the Grand Prix get beefed up - more trader booths, longer artist sessions, better award ceremony, better stage design.
If the GPs become the event tournaments and the Pro Tour an exclusive/more private place for professional play, I'm okay with that. The "PT lifestyle" would become the "GP lifestyle", where you'd be event-hopping for the fun of it.
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2 years ago ::
Apr 18, 2011 - 7:02AM
#30
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Date Joined:
Dec 15, 2009
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Killing large prereleases? I really, really hope that's restricted to North America as the announcement says it is. But I doubt it.
I'm one of many players for whom a large prerelease is my only taste of "larger communal Magic experiences". A prerelease is an awesome time of getting to play with new cards, in a Limited setting (i.e. no need for a £500 deck), and experience the "big hall of Magic players" vibe in London. If they shut down the big London prerelease, I fear I'll cease all contact with the DCI at all.
I've been to local prereleases. 20 players in a scout hut is nowhere near as much fun as 200 players in a conference centre. There isn't the critical mass of players who'd like to draft on the side rather than play sealed. There isn't the fun things on the side - artists and traders with huge 30p rare boxes and so on - that economies of scale allow.
You say we should go to a Grand Prix instead? I can't see that being fun enough to justify the journey and the time away from family. A prerelease manages that level of fun, but I don't think a GP will. Perhaps I'll give it a go once, but I've played in DCI constructed Magic tournaments 3 times in the past 12 years, and it doesn't seem likely the frequency will increase.
Sigh... It'll be sad to put an end to my 12-year-long prerelease habit. It was one of the marks of the calendar year. I'll keep going to London for as long as the large prereleases happen there, and I really hope they continue and this announcement really is restricted to North America. But if the large prereleases stop, I fear I probably will as well.
My wife and I enjoy playing 2HG togeather and these regional pre-releases were really the only places we had to do it. It was bad enough the TO only managed to get it to fire 50% of the time, but now that format is gone which is a shame.
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