Point Cost Shifting and Model Redemption

Warmachine is at a dangerous place in it's release cycle: a new Hordes book has been released and is shaking up the meta a bit, while all the Warmachine armies sit unchanged since the last book update (note: this happens for Hordes as well, just on the opposite cycle.)

This phenomenon will naturally be resolved when new releases start flowing again, so it's not like the game is in any danger of imploding. What I find most interesting is that it is almost always during this period of time that talks of "Mk. 3", "Mk. 2 Remix", significant errata, etc, start cropping up.

The obvious explanation for this desire is that players get burned out on playing with and against the "same 'ol stuff", and thus seek to shake the system up in the most explicit way possible. While I do think this is part of it, I think there is an thought process which leads to that conclusion, and examining that thought process yields the root of the problem.

Armchair Developer: Helping Out Man-O-War

Every Warmachine release cycle is an intoxicating experience. From the moment a new book is announced the world comes to life with all the possibilities. Every model you feel needs an improvement could finally see salvation; every problem you have may finally have a counter; a beloved warcaster may get a powerful new tool. Its very difficult to not get caught up in at least a little bit of hopeful excitement.

However, with that bliss comes some inevitable level of crushing disappointment. No matter how good a release cycle is, it's never going to be quite as good as you had dreamed it could be. Or, even worse: something you dreamed of actually became real, but it's rules suck or it's model is ugly as sin.

The best release cycles offset that disappointment with general quality. As a Khador player, the Vengeance release cycle contained almost nothing I had been hoping for (an Iron Fang solo was the only item on my list,) but the overall quality of the models is more than high enough (for me, that's "usable and fun" up to "amazing") that I almost don't care that none of my dream additions came through.

I said "almost." Every release cycle, the same dream goes unfulfilled.