There is a lot to e worried about and plenty legitimate complaints, but there seem to be just too many people all too willing to ignore that we are not past the threshold where all "old employees will go away and they'll hire new ones who have no passion". There are plenty of people who are putting in the work to make more of a game they are passionate about while also satisfying the directions of "the proprietors". People that care about gameplay. People that care about story. Or at least people that care about balancing the wishes of a diverse fan base in addition to the voices of the investors.
Throwing out products to see what works is a way to gauge reaction. If the right stuff works out, that can still lead to an enjoyable game with exquisite world building. As far as I can tell the only thing that is really problematic right is that not all dozen Constructed formats work out well enough for everyone to like everything, but almost every "Standard sucks" tirade I've read in the last years always had a "That's why I stick with Modern" portion that just shows that there is a niche for that player to enjoy.
I personally agree this is a lazy product, but that also kinda means it can fail without me having to be sad about too much resources being taken away from premium sets and major supplemental releases.
This obviously is meant concerning the actual design of the products. There are legitimate issues with distribution and local support and possibly the way competitive tournaments have been handled, but that's really a different set of issues way beyond a product release like this.
Once all is said and done the real problem won't be the many different IPs with many different mechanically more or less unique cards that nevertheless are easily legible, but having the same card reprinted in a dozen different Collector Boosters and Secret Lairs with textless/borderless versions with illustrations that make it hard to tell even the cardname or mana cost because all was incorporated into the artwork, or because they thought black-on-black planeswalkers would look cool and forgot they were still making game pieces that sometimes need to get played by people that don't have permanent internet access.
Add to that the cards that will have two versions with different English cardnames courtesy of the Godzilla-experiment.
eye of ugin is banned card and they confirmed A Flip walker Ugin was intended for M19 they ran out of time and there’s no Pre-spark creature form of Ugin before he became a spirit dragon.
I doubt Ugin is "best known" for their appearance on that card considering Ugin also has been a pretty major player in multiple recent story arcs.
Tourach really fits the bill, because the very first thing your mind goes to is "Discard two random cards for two black".
Something doesn't quite add up about this discussion. Fan art isn't protected by copyright afaik, since it is itself infringing on copyright, so the artist shouldn't need permission to use it.
IIRC from another case WotC may have the ability prohibit someone from using their characters, but cannot simply claim and use the fan-art without permission either since they only have the right to the character not that particular piece of art. So that should put this in a situation where neither party has sole proprietorship of the artwork. A third party selling a second level infringement to either of them wouldn't follow the usually incorrect formula of "two wrongs make a right" either.
I mean one thing is liking tha change, one thing is bull*****ting that magic was about crossovers all along
Don't really understand why Mark Rosewater is being hypocritical about this.
Outside of the discussion whether MaRo should have changed his opinion (or even has; I've not invested any research into whether this is a development he personally favors), I think,, seven/eight years is enough of a time to consider a change of opinion just that, rather than calling it hypocrisy.
Not that he is specifically stating personal opinion in the quoted reply either, reads more like a statement about the company's stance and policy at the time.
What I find remarkable are the endless wishlists and requests for actual Magic worlds, characters, returns and themes that are still awaited, or denied.
I don't suspect this product will take away from any of that, but it does feel jarring.
Nah, world building is a significant bottle neck. Which is why their departure from three-set blocks was accompanied with a significant expansion of their Creative team. This is probably a partial reason why this cross-over experiment does make business sense: Using an outside IP saves them building a world from scratch. Though building worlds from scratch is actually a strength I value in their product.
Isn't the entire point of UB that everything in UB is not in their shared universe? Of all the issues people bring up, I think that's one that has been addressed.
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Throwing out products to see what works is a way to gauge reaction. If the right stuff works out, that can still lead to an enjoyable game with exquisite world building. As far as I can tell the only thing that is really problematic right is that not all dozen Constructed formats work out well enough for everyone to like everything, but almost every "Standard sucks" tirade I've read in the last years always had a "That's why I stick with Modern" portion that just shows that there is a niche for that player to enjoy.
I personally agree this is a lazy product, but that also kinda means it can fail without me having to be sad about too much resources being taken away from premium sets and major supplemental releases.
This obviously is meant concerning the actual design of the products. There are legitimate issues with distribution and local support and possibly the way competitive tournaments have been handled, but that's really a different set of issues way beyond a product release like this.
1
Add to that the cards that will have two versions with different English cardnames courtesy of the Godzilla-experiment.
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I doubt Ugin is "best known" for their appearance on that card considering Ugin also has been a pretty major player in multiple recent story arcs.
Tourach really fits the bill, because the very first thing your mind goes to is "Discard two random cards for two black".
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That one is going to linger. While the suggestion was denied, you cannot prove the negative.
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IIRC from another case WotC may have the ability prohibit someone from using their characters, but cannot simply claim and use the fan-art without permission either since they only have the right to the character not that particular piece of art. So that should put this in a situation where neither party has sole proprietorship of the artwork. A third party selling a second level infringement to either of them wouldn't follow the usually incorrect formula of "two wrongs make a right" either.
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Outside of the discussion whether MaRo should have changed his opinion (or even has; I've not invested any research into whether this is a development he personally favors), I think,, seven/eight years is enough of a time to consider a change of opinion just that, rather than calling it hypocrisy.
Not that he is specifically stating personal opinion in the quoted reply either, reads more like a statement about the company's stance and policy at the time.
Nah, world building is a significant bottle neck. Which is why their departure from three-set blocks was accompanied with a significant expansion of their Creative team. This is probably a partial reason why this cross-over experiment does make business sense: Using an outside IP saves them building a world from scratch. Though building worlds from scratch is actually a strength I value in their product.
1
Isn't the entire point of UB that everything in UB is not in their shared universe? Of all the issues people bring up, I think that's one that has been addressed.