[Ensign Q]

Im gonna leave this game. Sadly for me I wasnt able to find players here that were on the same wavelength plus some other complaints.

wall of text:

in April 2019 i "rediscovered" the game i had a starter pack of in 1996 and became a collector til Holodeck Adventures. I followed the state of the game losely til Mirror Mirror and by that time the game had changed too much from PAQ Era, to really know whats going on.

Yet I never forgot about it all those years, so I was happy to learn the game is still semialive at this place. So I got Lackey, joined the Discord, crawled through thousands of cards and had a million rules headaches.

Quickly I noticed the game is in kinda bad shape. 22nd was the latest addition and not only it destroyed the TNG era RPG Aspect of the game for me it also was incredible powercreeped and felt unfair compared to my FED Allstars I naturally build first.

Then there was the complete inconsistency of terminology and an awful to search Glossary document. Many cards were basically not playable by rules without that document, bummer.
The game felt tremendously mismanaged, the cc rather printing dreamcards (which is everybodys favorite thing) instead of putting the real hard work into it, cleaning the basement by mass-errata cards.
Still I managed to build better decks, tried different affilation until I found my love in Borg. So I built, played and tested the deck like crazy. Better said, I wanted to test, because there was basically not a single player to find on the discord or the forums. So I decided to drive to worlds, enthusiastic to play as I was. Until the next set screwed my plans and made the deck I build unplayable. (Borg became gendered). So I did quit for the next 6 month. Afterall there was no one to play with anyway.

Coming back in January it seemed the discord grabbed some traction. Every other day a new player arrived and woke me up, thanks to Kamiuara pinging everybody in the middle of the night. Yet, still no one played the game. I pmed a lot of players, joined every Dojo, finally cashed in some games. Rules were still a mess, but when I came to the forums to point out inconsistencies and find answers I was just trolled a lot. So I learned step by step about the vicious sides of this community. Others were really harsh on tournament matches, me making mistakes because of the clunky lackey interface or unexperience. Or surprisingly calling timeout when they lead in points.

I still loved the game though, so I contacted some individuals that were at least willing to test some decks.
Which was fun and helped my finetune my strategies, but shortly after those persons revealed my tricks to the public, just to shatter all the time I put into figuring them out. Just to have an edge in an upcoming tournament or just to spit in my meal.

Long story short. I got frustrated by this game a lot and often coming to the forums to let off steam, instead of being helped or simply ignored I was provoked or trolled. My personality and the personalities that survived this game are not compatible. Over the long course of the game, the remaining players are like minded and everybody else left, leaving no room for fresh ideas or critics. I even applied as playtester to help the cc, just to get ignored, reminding me of the mismanagement.

Afterall too few people play this game to fulfill my desire to play and find someone whos a loyal companion and great opponent.
Appearently there are even conspiracies against me in the background to drive me away from the game.
So Ill go on my own. I wont be missed.

[Orbin]

... I even applied as playtester to help the cc, just to get ignored, reminding me of the mismanagement.

Ouch, I'm sorry to hear that. We definitely could use more playtesters and it saddens me that you didn't receive a response on your application. How did you submit your request to join playtesting?

NOTE: I'm not involved in the playtest application / acceptance process, but maybe there is something wrong in the process right now that needs to be addressed.

- James M

[MidnightLich]

I have been working with Austin to get new playtesters brought on board. It's been a slow process - Austin has a big family, and I've been struggling with my mental health. But those aren't excuses - I sincerely hope my slow response time is not a major factor in your decision.

-crp

[Smiley]

I'm sorry to see you go. I too think that the game needs some tough decisions to be made for it to become a game that can welcome new and old players to it again.

I'm not much of a Lackey players as I rather play IRL with cards in hand as all my games online have ended up being 3-4 hours long to do the same thing as I would be able to do under an hour.

I hope to see on the board in the future and hopefully on the other side of the table one day.

[Professor Scott]

I still loved the game though, so I contacted some individuals that were at least willing to test some decks.
Which was fun and helped my finetune my strategies, but shortly after those persons revealed my tricks to the public, just to shatter all the time I put into figuring them out. Just to have an edge in an upcoming tournament or just to spit in my meal.

I don't mind revealing myself to be one of the persons you alluded to here. I made mistakes in revealing some your strategies. I did so not to hurt you, but to relish in the genius in the tech. As you should know by now after playing against me for months, I would never have revealed any of it had I known you were treating the TNG Playtest as a full on no holds barred tournament. Apparently it was my own naiveté that everyone was treating it as an experiment and playing for fun. Once again, I am truly sorry for this. In the end, you chose to go another route with the deck that I have no doubt was just as well designed. You elevated my game-play, and for that I thank you. The only reason I feel we truly had a falling out was the offline comments that I truly had a hard time forgiving you for. I had since had time to think and I feel they were made in the heat of the moment. you are nonetheless forgiven.

I can't speak for anyone else as to whether or not you will be missed, but I can promise that you will not be forgotten.

[SudenKapala]

Sorry to read all this. Even sorrier, that I wasn't on time with getting Lackey installed -- and into my system. I could've used a few games with you to practice -- you were one of a few that actually reached out to teach me. And I was of a mind to get back to you eventually, for a few games. But life gets in the way, and Corona, and honestly I am not much of a digital gamer... so, delays.

Anyway... sad to see you go. But I also noticed a lot of frustration at times, from your direction. And it's only a game -- it should remain fun for you, or it's not worth it. So I respect your decision.
I hope you have, or find, other fun stuff to spend time with!


PS: don't feel too proud to come back after a few months (or days) if you miss aspects of the game -- or us.

[Spectre9]

The wheels do turn slowly I agree.

It's very hard to overhaul the game overnight.

Unfortunately there's a need to keep pushing sets to keep things fresh and engaging but there's way more work for everything already in the game to balance it all out.

The people that are involved are doing a lot of volunteer work we just don't always see it.

[BCSWowbagger]

but when I came to the forums to point out inconsistencies and find answers I was just trolled a lot. So I learned step by step about the vicious sides of this community.

Aw, c'mon, dude. You spend a lot of time in that forum trolling. (I have deliberately stayed out of those threads as much as practical.) There are even things you're right about where I have a hard time taking your side, because your way of supporting them is so abrasive and so defensive. I don't know any forum on the English-speaking Internet where you would have had a better experience or more patient users than you had here -- and then you throw back accusations of "trolling" and "provocation" in their faces?

I've enjoyed my games against you and hope to play you again, but I rate this post "very uncool."

See you later, in any case.

[KazonPADD]

I’ve not played you, so I’ve got no beef with you and would normally see this as a bad thing.

However, all I’ve heard from other players is bad things, there are discussions behind the scenes about how to address bad sportsmanship issues now, and I’ve witnessed you throw your toys out of the pram (The Neutral Zone release event) where you rage quit and outed another players deck strategy, mid tournament. I’d played that same player the week before, your reaction was unjustified and overblown, and 100% bad sportsmanship.

Before you blame the community, I think you need to take a look at your own actions first.

[Caretaker's Guest]

Before you blame the community, I think you need to take a look at your own actions first.

[SudenKapala]

Reading the below text, from a member that consistently manages, in a way I respect very much, to hardly ever say anything harsh or personally critical (but he doesn't shy away from it; and if he is critical, it's in very polite and constructive ways -- like here, even), made my rethink my own reaction.

Aw, c'mon, dude. You spend a lot of time in that forum trolling. (...) There are even things you're right about where I have a hard time taking your side, because your way of supporting them is so abrasive and so defensive. I don't know any forum on the English-speaking Internet where you would have had a better experience or more patient users than you had here -- and then you throw back accusations of "trolling" and "provocation" in their faces?

My reaction was out of my personal feelings. But I really found myself having that exact same problem. And that isn't like me (or, I believe, like Wowbagger), at all.
Also, my first reaction didn't address what I feel is the disrespectful manner in which you voice some of your concerns -- and opinions! -- about the hard work some people put into this game. Others here have pointed out that you may be right about some of it, but you seem to take these shortcomings of the game personally. As if it was done to hurt you. And while I am not active on other fora, I feel this certainly must be true. I don't feel that I've ever seen any "viciousness" against you personally, that wasn't out of frustration with what you had written.

We talked a bit, not long after you had joined, about the very... direct way you immediately addressed some many choices the developers (had) made; and I was honoured, and happy, to see that you actually were prepared to listen to my "advice" and let your positive attitude shine through more in your texts, instead of only the negative.
I was sad to see this reverse again -- not for myself, but because I seemed to see that, once again, you were making your own life (and others') harder than needed.
And I've seen people react in the most laidback manners to some of your rather harshly-written criticism.
But I felt you were/are a good guy, who just expresses himself in an awkward, sometimes "abbrasive", way, due to what I perceived as an inadvertant inability to write more positively. (But again -- I did see you work on that, and improve!) And due to what I perceived as low frustration toleration. And believe it or not -- I have the latter problem, too, IRL. I just don't voice it (here) like you do. But I recognize it when I see it, and because of my own experiences, I sympathise with both sides of the toy-throwing.

Anyway, I always remembered our talks, and I have this flaw where I tend to (want to) see only the positive in people. So, with that in mind, I felt sad to see you go.

But, while I detract literally nothing from my previous post (read it again if you like), I feel I must add that I agree with too much that others wrote here. I felt that, aside from supporting you, I also have a sort of moral obligation to support them / the community.
Because this --

conspiracies against me in the background to drive me away from the game

-- is decidedly untrue, as far as I know/feel; but I not only try to understand a bit of you, but also of others' sentiments in this topic.
And aside from them, I also realised that I wanted / had to be fully honest with you. Because the comment that Caretaker agreed with, below, does apply -- and I hope that in my own wall of text, you may find something that you can benefit from in that regard -- in the future, if not here.

Again: don't feel bad in staying or returning; but if you can find it in you to listen to what's been said here, it may improve your experience and that of others.

Take care, man!

[Nerdopolis Prime]

Sad thing 1E lost a player.

Good thing it was you.

[Maelwys]

Sad thing 1E lost a player.

Good thing it was you.

I find his entirely distasteful and unnecessarily cruel. I understand that some players had an issue with this user, but does that necessitate the posting of such a thing here, especially a full month after he's already left? What is the purpose of this, aside from rubbing further salt in the wound?

[JeBuS]

Chris beat me to the punch. My own reaction was:

Why revive a dead thread to insult someone who hasn't posted since? Why couldn't you resist the opportunity to be insulting and simply be civil instead?

[Nerdopolis Prime]

Its distasteful you have the balls to condamn a man because he voices his opinion.

You´ll survive it.