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Although I will admit the Xi Zhuang is a fantastic spec-ops (perhaps a bit overtuned if I'm being honest... but this is in a faction where levels of MA, boosts to CC, and extraneous CCWs are the norm; so our sense of efficiency is kind of warped), I really am dreading any kind of re-imagining of him (though a re-sculpt would be welcom... oh, crap I said it, he's defecting now... sorry everyone ).

The ban is only for a couple of months, characters will then come back with a bonus.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
The ban is only for a couple of months, characters will then come back with a bonus.

Regardless, it shouldn't have happened. I was fine with the JSA split, for the most part because JSA is still JSA, but the way they're implementing this is just bad. Narrative affecting the game? Sure, all for it. Removing models people own from competitive play? However temporary, it looks bad when they just rip things out of people's collections, especially when some of those have models less than 6 months old (Tarik spitfire, Andromeda). They could've given us a quick message at the end of the campaign and said "here's the results, this is what's happening, and we're overhauling the profiles of x y and z". Instead they told us from the get go, if you don't win you're losing models

Personally, I'm going to try and get it going in my group to ignore this change, even though I don't personally lose anything. I play PanO and Steel Phalanx, Andromeda is awful and Rao is a tiny upgrade over a regular Bagh Mari, so I really couldn't care less if they're gone. On a matter of principle, however, I don't want to see people in my group not being able to use models for no real reason (because yes, they could've rejigged profiles without flat out removing them)

We knew that the campaign will change things during its course and it only effects ITS... really, as if there were only one way to write good lists for Infinity...

edited by BrookM

 Red Harvest wrote:
Ah the Banhammer has fallen on:
Yu Jing: Guǐ Fēng Xi Zhuang

Bah. I've not had a chance to use mine since I bought the set!

No longer ITS legal...

Oh, I'm OK.

Second-hand quote pulled from elsewhere but apparently HellLois(the guy who basically 'runs' ITS) posted on Facebook about the Backdoor stuff:

The guy running the ITS narrative stuff @HellLois has confirmed on Facebook that they are NOT gone for the rest of the season.

They are also NOT getting profile changes or updates.

There WILL be some kind of bonus added for them when they do come back, as part of the next "stage" of the Season 9 narrative.

So literally these characters were pulled because a Combined Army player won events and picked them.

wooo...narrative? *shrug*

Well if that's the case it's a missed opportunity.

 .Mikes. wrote:
Well if that's the case it's a missed opportunity.

The more frustrating part is that there's two factions(Tohaa and Combined) who can affect the event without being affected by it.

IIRC, the old L5r CCG did something similar - part of the prize at some events was to affect the storyline. Although I believe in that case, it was moderated by the designers, not just letting the winner handicap the competition. :0

Ah, so CB is just letting factions troll each other now. That should be super effective at promoting a non-toxic community.

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
IIRC, the old L5r CCG did something similar - part of the prize at some events was to affect the storyline. Although I believe in that case, it was moderated by the designers, not just letting the winner handicap the competition. :0

(Not necessarily addressed to you Andrew, but just just a response to comments I've been seeing here and in other places.)

This is hardly a meaningful handicap. Its not being able to use a single character in ITS events for part of a single season. Thats 1 out of 34 units for ISS. Only 1 out of 42 for vanilla Yujing. 1 out of like 50+ units for vanilla Haqq. Losing Tarik for a few months isn't a handicap. It's an opportunity to try new units and new tactics.

If you bought Red Veil and either the Beyond Red Veil or Dire Foes boxes and haven't expanded your army since, now is a good time to try something new. You don't have to go out and buy anything, just check out some of the other options in your army and proxy Tarik or Xi Huang or Andromeda or Rao as something else.

Remember, this restriction is JUST for ITS events and JUST for a little while. You're still free to use the models you own in games if you want to. Nothing has been taken from you. Instead of complaining why not embrace the narrative nature of the event and try playing some games without these characters? And if you weren't playing these characters anyway, why complain?

Who said the CA player chose the banned characters?

 BrotherGecko wrote:
Ah, so CB is just letting factions troll each other now. That should be super effective at promoting a non-toxic community.

The ships already sailed on that one. While nothing as bad as the 40k community, Infinity’s is one of the worse community’s in the hobby.

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
Who said the CA player chose the banned characters?

For now, this ^ - can anyone cite a source on this "A player picked the banned units" story?

The winner chose what faction would receive the upgraded HVT profile, I do not know who invented the narrative he chose the banned units, it is false.

 Dysartes wrote:

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
Who said the CA player chose the banned characters?

For now, this ^ - can anyone cite a source on this "A player picked the banned units" story?

Comes out of this thread that a certain someone(not me; I'm still adamant in my "I'm not posting there" rule) has even contributed to...

Bonus, here's the battle report/discussion surrounding one of the purported picker of character's games. Apparently there was some questionable nonsense.

 -Loki- wrote:

 BrotherGecko wrote:
Ah, so CB is just letting factions troll each other now. That should be super effective at promoting a non-toxic community.

The ships already sailed on that one. While nothing as bad as the 40k community, Infinity’s is one of the worse community’s in the hobby.

Maybe it is because I don't really have a local Infinity community at all but...I haven't heard/experienced this myself!

What gives it this reputation?

Is it the 'official' forum?

I mean, maybe it's that? It is a bit...much over there at times.

Or is it something else?

Both the official forum and the social media crowd. Local groups are always going to vary a lot - you'll find friendly groups for games with toxic online communities and vice versa. Same with smaller online communities - the Infinity chaps here are fine, despite some fairly vocal disagreements.

But basically if a new player jumps on board and goes online for discussion and winds up at the official board, I wouldn't be shocked if they dropped the game.

The Australian Infinity Facebook page pretty damn awesome. Just saying.

 .Mikes. wrote:
The Australian Infinity Facebook page pretty damn awesome. Just saying.

The Facebook groups, in my opinion, can be very hit or miss. Some are helpful and useful--some are just overly moderated to the point of "no criticism!".

 -Loki- wrote:

 BrotherGecko wrote:
Ah, so CB is just letting factions troll each other now. That should be super effective at promoting a non-toxic community.

The ships already sailed on that one. While nothing as bad as the 40k community, Infinity’s is one of the worse community’s in the hobby.

I actually like the 40k community for the most part. I like it because it is comfortable with grumbling and being realistic about the state of the game (not always true of course). Infinity when I first walked into the greater community resembled a cult to me sometimes. I mean you have Warcors trying to do damage control by being obnoxiously positive about everything CB does and very dismissive of any complaint. I don't know why CB outsourced PR to Warcors as so far in my encounters with them they have been wholly unqualified for it. But given how CB does it's own PR...I guess that makes sense.

So far I've found that the saltier voices in the community have made me more confident in finding a way to enjoy the game. I've already spent tons of money the first time I drank the koolaide of "everything in the game is good" if it wasn't of the salty boyz expressing a useful counter to that I'd probably not look at the game any more.

I also seem to come back to the game just as the new controversy breaks out so that might flavor my opinion.

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
Who said the CA player chose the banned characters?

For now, this ^ - can anyone cite a source on this "A player picked the banned units" story?

Comes out of this thread that a certain someone(not me; I'm still adamant in my "I'm not posting there" rule) has even contributed to...

Bonus, here's the battle report/discussion surrounding one of the purported picker of character's games. Apparently there was some questionable nonsense.

So, I've sat down and read the thread about the B4ckd00r event.

There is no reference in there to the CA player picking the banned characters.

What appears to have been the case is that the B4ckd00r had negative effects for all factions apart from CA and Tohaa (sp?) if they didn't win the event - though it wasn't clear what those would be. As it happened CA "won" the event - without gaining anything from doing so, apparently - and therefore all the negative triggers, well, triggered.

I assume that the characters were pre-picked by CB before B4ckd00r began.

 -Loki- wrote:
Both the official forum and the social media crowd. Local groups are always going to vary a lot - you'll find friendly groups for games with toxic online communities and vice versa. Same with smaller online communities - the Infinity chaps here are fine, despite some fairly vocal disagreements.

But basically if a new player jumps on board and goes online for discussion and winds up at the official board, I wouldn't be shocked if they dropped the game.

Ah, OK thank you for the explanation - makes sense!

I largely avoid the 'Official ' forum for many of the reasons you outline - it seems a very...unwelcoming place.

I'm glad that, for the most part, there's really no need to go there as we've got users here like Kanluwen and others who do a really good job of making sure we're well informed here, in this thread.

 Dysartes wrote:

 Kanluwen wrote:

 Dysartes wrote:

 PsychoticStorm wrote:
Who said the CA player chose the banned characters?

For now, this ^ - can anyone cite a source on this "A player picked the banned units" story?

Comes out of this thread that a certain someone(not me; I'm still adamant in my "I'm not posting there" rule) has even contributed to...

Bonus, here's the battle report/discussion surrounding one of the purported picker of character's games. Apparently there was some questionable nonsense.

So, I've sat down and read the thread about the B4ckd00r event.

There is no reference in there to the CA player picking the banned characters.

When reading it yesterday, there was a reference to it--it might have been edited to reflect the poster finding out otherwise. I can't see edits as I refuse to sign up for the forum as long as PsychoticStorm is kept on as a moderator.

What appears to have been the case is that the B4ckd00r had negative effects for all factions apart from CA and Tohaa (sp?) if they didn't win the event - though it wasn't clear what those would be. As it happened CA "won" the event - without gaining anything from doing so, apparently - and therefore all the negative triggers, well, triggered.

Wellllllllllllll, arguably, CA "gains" that certain characters that are commonly considered problems for them to deal with(Rao being one of them--Bagh Mari can be tough for some of their stuff to deal with and a Rao Haris with some solo Bagh Mari can be rough).

I assume that the characters were pre-picked by CB before B4ckd00r began.

Putting it bluntly, the reason why I am even slightly inclined to believe the idea that CB allowed the player to pick the banned characters is that the 'closing' of this half of B4ckd00r took place at a Spanish event--and that, as we saw with last year and the addition of Bit & KISS to CA's ranks, they don't ever actually factor in the notion that people will hop from army to army during the course of an ITS season(the person who added Bit & KISS to CA's ranks played Military Orders by all accounts for the entirety of the season; boosting up his 'alt' army by playing a powerhouse). They're just basing their "balancing" off of the population of players reporting for that faction.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 jake wrote:

 AndrewGPaul wrote:
IIRC, the old L5r CCG did something similar - part of the prize at some events was to affect the storyline. Although I believe in that case, it was moderated by the designers, not just letting the winner handicap the competition. :0

(Not necessarily addressed to you Andrew, but just just a response to comments I've been seeing here and in other places.)

This is hardly a meaningful handicap. Its not being able to use a single character in ITS events for part of a single season. Thats 1 out of 34 units for ISS. Only 1 out of 42 for vanilla Yujing. 1 out of like 50+ units for vanilla Haqq. Losing Tarik for a few months isn't a handicap. It's an opportunity to try new units and new tactics.

If you bought Red Veil and either the Beyond Red Veil or Dire Foes boxes and haven't expanded your army since, now is a good time to try something new. You don't have to go out and buy anything, just check out some of the other options in your army and proxy Tarik or Xi Huang or Andromeda or Rao as something else.

Remember, this restriction is JUST for ITS events and JUST for a little while. You're still free to use the models you own in games if you want to. Nothing has been taken from you. Instead of complaining why not embrace the narrative nature of the event and try playing some games without these characters? And if you weren't playing these characters anyway, why complain?

Alternatively, they could have picked basically anything else.

Hell, they could have gone whole hog and made it so that a specific unit within the army was suspected of being infiltrated/compromised rather than a character.
But no. They went characters and picking Xi Huang and Tarik was just bad form on their part. They went out of their way in the Red Veil booklet to plug Xi Huang and the Dire Foes pack and then they put Tarik into a product literally labeled BEYOND RED VEIL...so any pushback with regards to those two characters being chosen is solely on them.

ISS also could have had a Mercenary Character(Sforza, Ashcroft, or Lunah) pulled. Haqqislam could have had a Hassassin pulled and PanO could have had a Knight pulled.

I've never had an issue with the official forums, but I've largely stuck to the Nomad subsection and the painting blogs. It always seems fine. Largely a positive place. The people I've interacted with directly have largely been friendly as well, though I've not interacted with any of the bigger metas.

Official forums are welcoming, as long you echo whatever few key leading people are voicing and never question or criticize CB. Poor moderation, karma system are additional negative things.

It's remarkable how well has this behavior carried to other social media.

 Knight wrote:
Official forums are welcoming...

Ah...

...wait for it...

 Knight wrote:
...as long you echo whatever few key leading people are voicing and never question or criticize CB. Poor moderation, karma system are additional negative things.

...that doesn't sound very welcoming!

When is the next occasion that will get us the next major news drop?

Should get some at an event in May, then it'll go quiet until July and GenCon.

Oh it is me the reason you do not come to the official forums? I am honoured.

Lol I've never had an issue on the official forums.