I'm sure some of you have noticed that I haven't been updating my blog very regularly. I kinda feel like you deserve an explanation as to why you haven't seen anything new on these pages lately, so here it is.
To be perfectly honest, I'm a little disenchanted with the WoW TCG right now. I missed Worlds because I was sick. The last Regional I played in before that was in November. There have only been 2 Realm Qualifiers anywhere near me since then and they were both on the same day. I have absolutely no idea when the next one will be or if there even will be a next one in my area.
There hasn't been a major tournament of note on a larger than Regionals scale since Worlds and nothing with March of the Legion. The set is now very old as far as TCG sets go and there has been nothing to showcase it. Darkmoon Faire Orlando is next week, but I've grown tired of March of the Legion by now and am ready for the next set. This is another reason I think there should always be a major event for a new set when it comes out. Dark Portal has DF Austin last year. Fires had Nationals all over the world. In my opinion, UDE really dropped the ball by not making MotL legal for Worlds and then leaving a gigantic gap before the first event with it. The early word is that they're going to go ahead and drop the ball again with DF Columbus.
For those of you who haven't already heard, DF Columbus will be sealed deck with Servants of the Betrayer. Don't get me wrong, I'm all for limited only major events. But I think they really botched the scheduling of these things going all the way back to Worlds. Like I've already said, MotL should have been legal for Worlds. This would have created even more buzz about the set. If they were going to limited DF's, Orlando should have been the one, right at the end of the MotL shelf life before Servants comes out. Then Columbus should have been the first week Servants was legal.
There are several reasons to have a major Constructed event right after release. From a competition standpoint, it gives the best players an advantage because they will be the ones who are able to quickly adapt to the new environment and recognize the best cards and decks. From a marketing standpoint (aka The Bottom Line), people will tend to buy up more of a set if they know they will be able to play it immediately and after the pros show which decks are going to be popular, people will be out looking for the cards to make those decks. A sealed deck event will be nice, and it will still be right after the release, but it doesn't really give people a reason to want to go buy cards like a Constructed event does.
The complete and utter lack of communication on the part of UDE has been frustrating to say the least. Ben Drago made big announcements regarding the future of Organized Play at Worlds, but there has been almost nothing since then. First, Realm Qualifiers were supposed to start in January. Then February. Feb 2 rolled around with no announcement and people went to Regionals that weekend with no idea whether they were playing in Regionals or Realms. Many TO's weren't even sure. The next weekend was upon us before a late Friday afternoon announcement that we would be starting Realm Qualifiers that weekend and the previous weekend was Regionals.
The next day was the one Realms I have had in my area and the turnout was great. More than half the field had no idea it was a Realm Qualifier though. There is very little info about the Realm Championships themselves. There is almost no info about Nats. The U.S. and Canada have been merged and they're supposed to be at GenCon again, but that's it. My PTO has said Worlds is going to be in Paris, but UDE can neither confirm nor deny that. There are only 2 Darkmoon Faires on the schedule and both in the U.S. The Honor Rankings are supposed to be split into yearly and lifetime which still isn't done. The rankings haven't displayed properly in almost a year. There are just so many things that don't seem to get done.
In all the downtime, I've picked up Legends of Norrath and gotten into the SAGA beta and those have been taking up a lot of my WoW time. Legends of Norrath is a great game that's designed by people who are really about pleasing their customers. There are a lot of things that they do that I don't necessarily agree with, but at least they're doing things and telling us what and why they're doing it. There is a $5K tournament this weekend that is a qualifier for a $100k Championship at GenCon in August. Next week, the newest set drops with release tournaments all next weekend.
Also dropping next week is the official SAGA release. I've been in the beta for a while now and the game is very fun. Expect to see some blog coverage here as the game goes live on March 4th.
Also happening next week of course is Darkmoon Faire Orlando. It almost saddens me to say that I find myself wanting to play SAGA and LoN more than I do WoW next weekend. My trip to Orlando is already paid for from a time when I was still excited about WoW. For now, I'm checking to see what the damage is going to be if I cancel and stay home to level my SAGA nation and check out Inquisitor.
Servants of the Betrayer is just around the corner along with hopefully more tournaments from Realms all the way up. Hopefully a new set and renewed tournament scene will reignite my love for the game, but for now, I just don't find myself wanting to play WoW these days. I will continue to write and play, but at least until something changes, my heart just isn't in it right now.
Tags: World Of Warcraft
Related to:
World of Warcraft TCG
